In this engaging episode of Newz and Trendz, hosts Dave and Len sit down with the esteemed entrepreneur, writer, producer, and director, Dave Wooley. From humble beginnings in Harlem to becoming a pivotal figure in the entertainment industry, Wooley shares his incredible journey, one marked by passion, purpose, and perfection.
Listeners are taken on a historical ride as Dave recounts his pivotal role in shaping Delaware's entertainment scene, his groundbreaking projects like the Cliff Brown Jazz Festival, and his lifelong friendship with icons such as Dionne Warwick and Dr. J. Unveiling tales of determination and creativity, Dave emphasizes the importance of mentorship, humility, and remaining true to one's purpose.
With insights on forthcoming projects and a heartfelt discussion on the dynamics of black excellence, this episode offers a deep dive into the life of a man dedicated to empowering communities through the lens of entertainment. Join Dave and Lynn for this inspirational conversation that promises to leave you motivated and enlightened.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:12 Music.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:19 All right, y'all, get ready for another edition of News and Trends with your host, Dave and Lynn.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:25 Talk to him low How could I possibly Be inconspicuous With my flow It's ridiculous
00:00:25 --> 00:00:30 That's quite an accent See I'm from the south What's up with the most huge Welcome,
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 welcome, welcome to News and Trends with Dave and Lynn.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:38 I'm one of your hosts, Dave McCoker, proprietor of Dave Martin,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:43 Inc., promoter, marketing specialist, and all-around good guy.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 I'm hanging here with my partner, Mr. Leonard Young. What's going on,
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47 Mr. Leonard Young? Good, good.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Everything's good. This is Leonard Young, CEO of National Black Guide,
00:00:52 --> 00:00:57 DelawareBlack.com, Black Media Specialist, and all-around good guy. How you doing, Dave?
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 I'm sorry, how you doing, David? David.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:05 Oh, yeah. Yeah, I guess I'll be David today, you know, so I don't have any problems.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:11 I don't have problems being that today, But I'm good, man. I'm good. I can't complain.
00:01:12 --> 00:01:16 Made it through the weekend into another beautiful week. It was hot over the weekend.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 Oh, yeah. Blazing and humid.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:24 Yeah, that's right. That's right. It was pretty bad. It was pretty bad.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:31 If you went out this weekend and you were hanging outside, I'm more of my ass
00:01:31 --> 00:01:35 off to you because I tell you, I was in air all weekend.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 Yeah i wasn't trying to be out there like that i'm
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 i'm not mad yeah yeah yeah so
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 but it was a good weekend and i'm glad that we
00:01:45 --> 00:01:50 made it to the other side i'm really i was really looking forward to tuesday
00:01:50 --> 00:01:54 this week because of this show man because we got we got we got we got somebody
00:01:54 --> 00:02:01 formed today don't we oh yeah we do wow worldwide celebrity yeah there you go
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 there you go but um First of all,
00:02:03 --> 00:02:07 I just wanted to give a shout-out before we get started with our guests and everything.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 You know, first of all, I want to give a couple of shout-outs.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:16 Yesterday, I was watching DJ Tim Dogg's show, his internet radio show that he
00:02:16 --> 00:02:22 does on WJVS Radio, one of the only Black-owned stations here in Delaware.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 And he gave us a big shout-out yesterday, talking about our show,
00:02:26 --> 00:02:27 how much he enjoys our show.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:32 So I just want to return a favor and say thank you, sir. And you know always
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 watch your show And I really appreciate everything that you do So thank you
00:02:36 --> 00:02:40 DJ Tim Dog For the shout out And I also wanted to,
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 I'll also bring something up that you and I had talked about.
00:02:44 --> 00:02:51 We just want to thank all of our listeners that we have that tune in to News
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 and Trends on a regular basis.
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 Look like Glenn and I said something not too long ago that we want to have listeners in 50 states.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:06 Well, we're getting there, guys. We got at least 16 right now.
00:03:06 --> 00:03:11 So we're doing pretty well. And I just wanted to give a shout out to the following
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 states. Of course, Delaware.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:18 Of course, we got to go with D-Ware first. Pennsylvania, California,
00:03:19 --> 00:03:28 Texas, Maryland, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina,
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 Indiana, New York, Illinois.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 Arizona, Georgia, and Rhode Island.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 And thank you guys for tuning in.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:45 Len and I really appreciate everyone who's taking the time to listen to our show.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:50 And we have some people that have listened to everything that we have to say.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:58 And as soon as our show is uploaded or comes on, everybody is tuned into it.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 So we really want to say for all of those people that have been listening,
00:04:02 --> 00:04:03 we really appreciate you.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:09 And please, please continue to stay with us. We're hoping for bigger and better things.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 And you guys are really pushing us that way. So thank you.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 Len, you got anything you want to add there? Yeah. So, you know,
00:04:16 --> 00:04:20 what Dave just read was, I think that's our top 15 states.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:22 So, like, there's more, but those are the top 15.
00:04:23 --> 00:04:28 So if by chance you want to hear David read your name, you know,
00:04:28 --> 00:04:29 make sure you tell your friends.
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 Listen, News and Trends with Dave and Len.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:36 Right, right. Right. And we definitely, and not to slight the other states,
00:04:36 --> 00:04:40 I didn't mention, I just happen to have those on the list, but we,
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 we want to say thank you to everybody.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:46 So, okay. So once again, we appreciate you all.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:53 So, all right. So with that being said, Len, let's talk about who we got on the show. Okay.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:58 So today we have none other, and, and, you know, Dave, I mean,
00:04:58 --> 00:05:04 David, we are fortunate that we're, we're fortunate that He's local to us because,
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 I mean, you know, he's not local to everybody, but he's local to us.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:14 But today we have Mr. Dave Woolley, writer, producer, director and entrepreneur.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:20 Dave Woolley, MBA, is a veteran entrepreneur, writer, producer and director.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:24 He has produced and directed many world class entertainment events,
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 including television and sporting events, tours and concerts.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:33 Dave is also an adjunct business professor at Wilmington University and
00:05:34 --> 00:05:45 He is an NAACP Image Award nominated writer, as well as a co-author with Ms.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:49 Dionne Warwick's bestselling autobiography, My Life As I See It.
00:05:50 --> 00:05:56 In 2020, Dave Woolley was named talent slash content advisor for the Joe Biden
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 presidential inaugural committee.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:07 Dave was also recently featured in the Mike Tyson, the knockout documentary on the ABC network.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:14 Of course, we say he is also the writer, producer, co-director of the Dionne
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 Warwick Don't Make Me Over documentary.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:22 And the film won first runner up at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:30 It also won Best Feature Honor at the Gene Siskel Film Center's Black Harvest
00:06:30 --> 00:06:36 Film Festival. And the film also won the audience award at the Montclair Film Festival.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:42 And this is Dave Woolley's feature film directorial debut. you.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 So without further ado, we have Mr. Dave Woolley to the show.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:52 Thank you. Thank you. Such an honor. Thank you. I mean, I'm here with two of
00:06:52 --> 00:06:57 my dearest friends, Dave, David.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:07 Listen, man, congratulations on the expanding, you know, the platform to the
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 multi-16 and more states.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 I can see that 50 plus number around the corner because you guys,
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 you know, really doing an incredible job on this show.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:20 I can't thank you for the love and support that you've given me and my family
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 and career over many, many years.
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 So, you know, this is our first interview together.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:32 So, Dave, I'm going to go ahead and start off here.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 And so I remember you had invited me.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:39 There was an event at the Grand Opera House. It was probably about five years
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 ago where you were getting an award from the city.
00:07:43 --> 00:07:50 And one of the things I remember, you told this story, and I want to say two
00:07:50 --> 00:07:55 words, but I kind of want you to tell this story because this is a story I still remember to this day.
00:07:55 --> 00:08:00 And I think about often just as far as the entrepreneurial spirit.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:04 So probably when I say these two words, you're probably going to smile because,
00:08:04 --> 00:08:08 Of course, it's your story. Shopping carts.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:18 Yes, yes, yes. So if you don't mind, if you can just kind of share this story
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 with us, because I mean, and David Coker, I don't know if you heard this story,
00:08:21 --> 00:08:25 but when I heard this, I was like, man, I was like, this guy's a hustler.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:30 Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I want to hear the list.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:38 Well, thank you first again. You know, my life has been basically an ordinary
00:08:38 --> 00:08:43 guy who grew up in Harlem, New York, who just happened to live an extraordinary blessed life.
00:08:43 --> 00:08:48 But, you know, I learned early on that I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:55 So when I was about six years old, me and my boys, we used to go down to a supermarket called A&P.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:00 Yeah, I guess down there, I was about eight and we used to carry groceries.
00:09:01 --> 00:09:05 So, you know, the old ladies would come out with their bags and needing help
00:09:05 --> 00:09:10 to put the groceries in the car or carry it to their apartment and that kind of a thing.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:14 And they would give us, you know, a quarter, 10 cents or whatever,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 a chump change, you know, for helping them.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:20 So that's how I got my spending money because I grew up in a Douglas Project
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 single. We didn't have a lot of money at all.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:30 What happened was I remember vividly there was a shopping cart on the wall of the supermarket.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:34 It was $25, a little shopping cart, portable shopping cart that you pull your
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 groceries home or your laundry or whatever.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:42 I saved up all my little 50 cent tips until I got up to $25 and I bought that shopping cart.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:46 So now when women came out, I was the only 10 dudes on the corner.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 I was the only one with a shopping cart.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:53 So I had a competitive advantage over all my competitors.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:59 So what I realized is that that 50 cent tip, now that I had a shopping cart,
00:09:59 --> 00:10:00 I started getting a dollar tip.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:08 So to make a long story long, I ended up taking those dollars and bought a second shopping cart.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 And my best friend, Clyde, was able to use that shopping cart.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 The deal was like, listen, man, at the end of the day, we split 50-50 because
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 it's my shopping cart. And you're going to make more money.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:23 You know, you're going to make more money because now you have a shopping cart.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:31 So he said, no problem. So that summer, I had 10 shopping carts that I had saved up and bought.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:37 And I had 10 dudes working for me. That's when I realized the difference between
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 being an employer versus being an employee.
00:10:41 --> 00:10:45 And none of those dudes said, hey, man, why am I giving Dave half my money?
00:10:45 --> 00:10:50 You know, like I should buy my own shopping. They had no problem using mine and splitting it.
00:10:50 --> 00:10:55 So, you know, I learned very early the difference between, once again,
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 being an employer versus being an employee.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:04 And I vowed from that point on early in my life that I would always be employer.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:10 And God has blessed me. I've worked for myself full-time my entire career,
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 my entire life. I've never had one,
00:11:13 --> 00:11:17 most people would refer to as a nine to five. I've been able to sustain myself
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 and raise my family and have a pretty good life.
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 So that's how I got into entrepreneurship very, very early on.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:27 Matter of fact, we memorialized the children's book called Little Man.
00:11:27 --> 00:11:32 You can find it on Amazon and it's about my life. I wrote it along with Dionne Morwick.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:36 It's called Little Man and it tells that story among a couple others.
00:11:37 --> 00:11:41 So yeah, I'm glad you remember that story. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's funny.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 I always think about it because I was like, man, like, you know,
00:11:44 --> 00:11:49 that's so smart that, you know, just the forward thinking and probably just
00:11:49 --> 00:11:55 that entrepreneurial magic you had, but to actually buy a sharpened cart.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:59 And then now you have 10 people basically working for you. Exactly.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 Now, to transition. So you just mentioned Dionne Warwick.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:08 How did that relationship, that friendship come along?
00:12:08 --> 00:12:12 Wow. You know, it's been over 20 years, maybe or so.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:18 I met Dion, as you know, I have a long history in the sports and entertainment business.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:25 So at the time, 1990, taking you back, I was the president and co-owner of a
00:12:25 --> 00:12:29 company called DJ Group, which my business partner was Julius Dr. J. Irving. thing.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 And for seven years, I was the president of that company based out of Philadelphia.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 So I would drive from Delaware, you know, to Philly every day.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 We had our office on 14th and Locust in Philly.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 That was a big time position, as you can imagine.
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 You know, for those that don't know, you know, there certainly would not be
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 a Michael Jordan without a Dr. J.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:54 So, you know, we start talking about passing the baton. To put it in perspective,
00:12:54 --> 00:12:58 that's who I worked with, And that was my business partner.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:04 So, you know, one day we got a phone call in the office and it was from the great Dionne Moore.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:08 And Julius came to my office and asked, you know, did I want to meet with her?
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 And I said, absolutely, absolutely.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:15 And he and I, you know, got in the limousine that weekend and she was going
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 to be in Atlantic City performing.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 And we went and we had a business meeting with her. And that's,
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 you know, it's more to that. But that's how the introduction started.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:28 And then from that point, she didn't realize that was Julius's business partner.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 And that's a funny story in itself.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:37 But once she realized that, you know, she just kind of, we just kind of just became dear friends.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:41 And I started giving her business advice on her career.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 And then one thing led to another. And she and I became business partners.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:49 Wow. And it's so funny because you just dropped another name.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 How did you team up with Dr. J, Julius Ervin?
00:13:55 --> 00:14:02 Well, back in the mid-80s, I haven't done many, many concerts.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:08 My first concert was right there at the Ambrosia Nightclub in Wilmington,
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 where I brought in Norman Connors.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 That was in 1985 and sold out.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 I got the promotional button. bug from that
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 from that perspective so so
00:14:19 --> 00:14:23 from there i wanted to get beyond just
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 promoting entertainment you know entertainment acts and
00:14:26 --> 00:14:30 things of that nature and in wilmington you know i've had the pleasure of bringing
00:14:30 --> 00:14:35 people like norman of course patty labelle tony bennett went and marcellus the
00:14:35 --> 00:14:42 ojs the whispers i you know natalie cole you know a whole slew of names came
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 through Dave Willey Productions,
00:14:43 --> 00:14:48 who I was fortunate to bring to the city for various different events,
00:14:48 --> 00:14:49 including the Jazz Festival.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:54 I wanted to break out of that and do something more national.
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 And at the time, boxing was huge.
00:14:57 --> 00:15:01 Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson was just about coming on the cuff.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 So I wanted to figure out how to get into that business.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:08 So I eventually figured that out and obtained the close circuit rights to a
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12 fight, which featured Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 I did that closed circuit, which was exclusive.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:21 And then I went on to do in 88, the Tyson, Mike Tyson versus Michael Spinks
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 fight, which was one of the largest fighting in history at the time.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:28 I was able to secure the exclusive television rights. Now we talk about pay-per-view,
00:15:28 --> 00:15:33 but before it was closed circuit and we had to go to a venue to watch them live.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:39 So I was able to secure the rights to the entire state of Delaware and Virginia to that fight.
00:15:39 --> 00:15:44 Fast forward, Julius Head was retiring, and he reached out to one of his friends
00:15:44 --> 00:15:50 because he was always a big boxing fan, and he wanted to find out who was the
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 players in the boxing game.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:57 I think he called Steve Wynn, who's the proprietor of the Mirage in Las Vegas.
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 And Steve did some checking with top rank in a couple of the boxers,
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 and he said, well, there's a black guy, the only black guy in the country who
00:16:04 --> 00:16:09 owns these rights and has experience in this arena. and he just happens to live
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 in Delaware. His name is Dave Woolley.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 So it turns out Doc and I were only 30 minutes apart. Right.
00:16:17 --> 00:16:22 Yeah. And we've been friends ever since, man. It's like a big brother to me. I love him.
00:16:23 --> 00:16:31 Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know, you hear the stories that he's telling it, you know, now.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:36 You're a young guy, so you don't know about all this stuff that he's talking
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 about. But I remember these events that he's talking about.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 And, you know, that Tyson fight,
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 he kind of downplayed it because he and I talked about it yesterday.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:49 But that was like a big, big thing when it happened.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:54 And it was at the Brandywine Raceway, which is no longer here.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 Did you ever hear about Brandywine, Slyner? It sounds familiar.
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 Was it off of like 495?
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 It was up on 2.02. Yeah, yeah.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:08 But it was, you know, how many people was there, Dave?
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 Man, we had over 30, I believe. Wow. It was packed.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:17 Yeah, it was packed. It was packed. I mean, yeah, that's, you know,
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 and nothing like that had ever happened here in Delaware before.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 Nothing like that, you know. And, you know, so like I said, you know,
00:17:24 --> 00:17:28 it was being a little modest there, you know, but it was really big.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:35 The stuff that Dave Woolley was doing back then, nobody else was doing and you know, but let me,
00:17:35 --> 00:17:40 and I'm smiling and I'm laughing as he talks because let me take it back a little
00:17:40 --> 00:17:45 bit further, you know, to when I met Dave Woolley, you know, so you know,
00:17:46 --> 00:17:52 I was in college when I met this guy and there was this band that would show
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 up at the University of Delaware every now and then when I was in school.
00:17:56 --> 00:18:01 And the band would come in and just turn the place out And they had this dude
00:18:01 --> 00:18:07 playing drums that, you know, the band was named after the drummer's name.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 It was called the Dave Woolley band. And I was like, you know,
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 I was like the Dave Woolley band, you know, that was like.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:19 But every time they played it, the place would be sold out letter.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:20 It would be I mean, it'd be packed.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:27 I mean, and three piece band made all the music that you wanted to hear.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:32 Well, I sent you the clip. did you ever watch that clip later look i'm putting
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 them on the spot dave i'm putting i don't i don't know if you sent it to me
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 i don't know i did send it to you but i'm going to send it again.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 The the band was just awesome matter of fact you know
00:18:42 --> 00:18:46 mister that used to sing with best his father
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50 played keyboards in that band oh wow larry
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 yeah it's right larry snuff yeah yeah larry snuff
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56 but i'm telling you that they were just fantastic and
00:18:56 --> 00:19:02 every time they came to the school we all were there to see him and I remember
00:19:02 --> 00:19:07 touching base with him and getting a chance to talk to him and whatever and
00:19:07 --> 00:19:13 you just knew talking to him that this guy was different you know what I mean then the next time,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:18 You know, it seemed like a couple years went by and he just said 1985,
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 right? When you started doing the big stuff, right?
00:19:22 --> 00:19:28 And I'm like, that can't be the same dude playing the drums in that band, right?
00:19:29 --> 00:19:33 It was. It was him. It was him. And like every time I turned around there was
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 some big event that Dave Woolley was doing.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:44 So what I want to say to you is that, you know, you've had a you know, you've had a career that,
00:19:44 --> 00:19:49 You know, a lot of people, a lot of the big names of who you are and a lot of
00:19:49 --> 00:19:55 people who have been connected to you in the sports field or the entertainment field.
00:19:55 --> 00:20:01 But, you know, it's interesting that, you know, you've been right here in Delaware.
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 You've been in Delaware for how long now?
00:20:03 --> 00:20:08 When did you first come to Delaware? 80, 1980, 81. OK, I met you in 81.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:13 I met you in 81. So, you know, so you haven't been here that long.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:18 So, now he's been here all this time, and there's still a lot of people who
00:20:18 --> 00:20:22 don't know who Dave Willey is, but they've been to a lot of his events,
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 and they didn't even know who he was.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 And so he's a very humble guy.
00:20:28 --> 00:20:32 He's a guy that likes to be, you know, he's not going to tell everybody,
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 I did this, I did that, you know.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:40 But what I want to hear is a little bit about your drive.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:46 Drives you? What makes you want to present these type of events that you've
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 done? And is it the people?
00:20:50 --> 00:20:59 Is it the money? What is it that makes you want to do these events that you've done?
00:20:59 --> 00:21:03 And even the things that you're doing now that a lot of people don't know about.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:06 Thank you. Thanks for taking me back on a memory lane. Yeah.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 I was a freshman at the UD at the same time.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:19 So you're absolutely right. You know, to me, going back to that Brandywine racetrack,
00:21:19 --> 00:21:25 by the way, Leonard, those tickets back then were $30 a person.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:30 Wow, okay. Hey Dave, I'm already doing the math in my head.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:39 I'm like, hold on, 30 times 30. like okay,
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 and that that was we outgrossed the
00:21:45 --> 00:21:49 the spectrum in philadelphia wow and
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 that had never happened where delaware you know
00:21:52 --> 00:21:56 made more money in a venue than the spectrum and that put me on the national
00:21:56 --> 00:22:01 map because of arum you know donkey i mean these guys like who promoted that
00:22:01 --> 00:22:05 you know and that's how my name you know that's that's that's what set me up
00:22:05 --> 00:22:09 for you know the rest of the fights that have produced and promoted since then.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:14 You know, that's a very good question. You know, I have a mantra.
00:22:14 --> 00:22:19 I call it my three P's. My daughter has always teased me about it because I've
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22 raised them on it. And it's simply a passion,
00:22:23 --> 00:22:27 purpose and perfection. You know, the first thing in life, you have to find
00:22:27 --> 00:22:32 out what your passion is, you know, because that's what you love to do.
00:22:32 --> 00:22:37 And then you realize that that's your purpose, meaning that that's what you're
00:22:37 --> 00:22:40 going to do for the rest of your life. And you just hone in on it.
00:22:40 --> 00:22:44 You just hone in on it. You learn as much as you want and learn about it.
00:22:44 --> 00:22:48 You know, and you work at it every day because that's your purpose.
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50 That's what you wake up to do.
00:22:50 --> 00:22:57 And then perfection, The last P, you know, you never accomplish perfection because
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 perfection is a lifelong journey.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:02 You know, life is not a destination. It's a journey.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:07 You know, it really is a journey. So perfection is honing in on your craft,
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09 is learning, is researching, is reading.
00:23:09 --> 00:23:13 So those three, these passion, purpose, and perfection are what really early
00:23:13 --> 00:23:19 on started me to allow me to do some of the things that I, you know,
00:23:19 --> 00:23:23 dreamt about doing and was able to bring it to fruition.
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26 I mean, I've had over five careers. You know, I started, as you just said,
00:23:26 --> 00:23:35 as a drummer, and then I started as a promoter, producer, a professor, an author, a director.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:43 You know, so it just kind of continues to morph as I continue to want to reinvent and recreate myself.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:49 But it takes, you know, everybody can't say that, but it starts from those three Ps for me.
00:23:49 --> 00:23:54 You know, there's a saying that says, you know, it all starts with commitment.
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 You know, even in a relationship, you have to have a commitment with that woman.
00:23:58 --> 00:24:02 You know, you have to have a commitment in your life. You have to have a commitment in God.
00:24:03 --> 00:24:07 You have to have a commitment because without a commitment, you never get started.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:14 Without a commitment, you never get started. And without consistency, you never finish.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:19 So, you know, I always go into a situation. I say, OK, commitment, consistency.
00:24:20 --> 00:24:25 Once I'm committed to doing something, I'm in. And then I understand that it takes consistency.
00:24:25 --> 00:24:30 For example, you mentioned the Dionne Ward documentary, which I'm thrilled to
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 have been involved with. It was my brainchild.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:36 As you mentioned earlier, I wrote, produced, and co-directed,
00:24:36 --> 00:24:41 and it's my very first movie. that's going to air later this year on primetime
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 in CNN with limited commercial breaks.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:47 You know, it features Snoop Dogg. I did the interview with Snoop.
00:24:47 --> 00:24:51 I did the interview with Stevie Wonder, with Quincy Jones, with Alicia Keys,
00:24:51 --> 00:24:57 with Smokey Robinson, with Clive Davis, with, you know, it's a who-whos of entertainment.
00:24:58 --> 00:25:03 Icons that are featured in this film. But sort of with a commitment,
00:25:03 --> 00:25:05 I told Dion, I'm going to make, I want to make a documentary on you.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 But it also, remember the consistency.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:15 It took me five years to produce that one film, 90 minutes, five years.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:20 So if there was no consistency, we wouldn't have a product today.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:27 So I think one of the things that young folks, you know, forget is perseverance and consistency.
00:25:28 --> 00:25:33 And then also the knowledge, having formal education really is an asset because
00:25:33 --> 00:25:35 what you don't know in business will hurt you.
00:25:35 --> 00:25:42 But my greatest accomplishment, guys, my greatest is being a girl dad. Woo-hoo!
00:25:46 --> 00:25:51 We can talk about all these accomplishments and all these things that I have done.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:55 And you're right, But, you know, I find it very hard for me to talk about myself
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 because, you know, but for the grace of God.
00:25:57 --> 00:26:01 And I've always been that kind of a humble dude. I try to let my work speak for me.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:07 And in Delaware, I never wanted to be the local guy. I always wanted to be a national guy.
00:26:08 --> 00:26:13 So even going out to clubs, I remember I ran into Leonard one time many years
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 ago and I showed up to this event. And he said, well, you know,
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17 this is big because you day will. He's here.
00:26:19 --> 00:26:26 You don't come out to nothing. So when you see you walk in, you know, it's big.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 You know, I just never wanted to be the guy that was always in a club every
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 Friday. You know, you always saw him.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:36 But, you know, my greatest accomplishment is I have two daughters.
00:26:36 --> 00:26:41 I was very blessed to have been awarded custodial custody of them when they
00:26:41 --> 00:26:43 were two and three years old. One is Vita.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:49 Davida Woolley, and the other one is Davina Iman Woolley. Those are my two heartbeats, bam, bam.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:57 And I'm very proud because Vida, who's now 25, has her bachelor's degree in
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 finance from Wilmington University.
00:26:59 --> 00:27:03 She has an MBA in finance from Wilmington University, and she graduated a couple
00:27:03 --> 00:27:08 of years ago in the middle of COVID at 23 from Drexel University with a law degree.
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 So at 22, she passed me. Okay, congratulations.
00:27:13 --> 00:27:17 You know, usually in a family, you have, if you just get one.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 Just give me one child.
00:27:24 --> 00:27:28 Right. I was blessed with two because Davina, my youngest, we call her D,
00:27:28 --> 00:27:34 you know, she's 24, and she had got her bachelor's at Wilmington University
00:27:34 --> 00:27:38 in business management. And she got her MBA from Wilmington University.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:43 And she was one of the only one from Wilmington University to get into what
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 is basically an Ivy League school, Georgia Tech.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:50 I mean, they're up there with FIT, the top tech schools in the world.
00:27:50 --> 00:27:55 And she just got her master's last year from Georgia Tech in information science, computer science.
00:27:55 --> 00:28:01 She does coding and all that. So both of my baby girls are doing phenomenally
00:28:01 --> 00:28:04 well, 23 and 24, self-sufficient, living on their own.
00:28:05 --> 00:28:11 As a matter of fact, my oldest just yesterday made me a grandfather.
00:28:12 --> 00:28:15 So I've got a new toddler. Oh, congratulations.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 That's breaking news.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:23 Yesterday made it two months. Wow.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:30 Okay. So I'm in the pop-up business now. That's good.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:38 I'm sitting here listening to you, and I just realized how many similarities we have.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:42 Of course, we have the name similarity, but my daughter's name is Davina.
00:28:42 --> 00:28:47 Wow. And she was a law student. Wow.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55 Okay. You know, we were in Flint.
00:28:57 --> 00:29:00 Yeah. Yeah, University of Delaware. Exactly.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:05 And Dave. Dave.
00:29:06 --> 00:29:12 Uh-huh. So you might not know, when the Dave Woolley band was playing at University
00:29:12 --> 00:29:19 of Delaware, where David Coker, he said he was singing at that time. He said he's a singer.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:23 So if you ever need any backup, rocked up vocals, they'll make that.
00:29:25 --> 00:29:26 Make sure you get Dave Coker.
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 All right, I'll keep that. I'll let you all know.
00:29:34 --> 00:29:37 Well, that's too funny. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I was just sitting
00:29:37 --> 00:29:41 here listening to you talk. I was like, wow, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
00:29:42 --> 00:29:45 But again, those are the things that motivate me.
00:29:46 --> 00:29:51 It's the God in me. That's the man in me. And I've always been spiritually grounded.
00:29:52 --> 00:29:57 People have a predilection of who this guy Dave Woolley is, because to some
00:29:57 --> 00:30:00 degree, I've kind of lived my life as an enigma.
00:30:00 --> 00:30:03 Many times i show up to places and
00:30:03 --> 00:30:06 you know they think it's a white guy because of
00:30:06 --> 00:30:11 some of the things you know i've done you know i've promoted tony bennett and
00:30:11 --> 00:30:15 loretta young i mean i mean you and you think the country western even country
00:30:15 --> 00:30:21 western concerts and tours uh so you know i never limit myself based on being
00:30:21 --> 00:30:24 an african-american i always wanted to think outside the box and do something
00:30:24 --> 00:30:26 that has never been done before.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:34 So, so, you know, it's, it's nice to, especially folks from a small town like Delaware,
00:30:34 --> 00:30:38 you know, you have to think bigger than Delaware because there's a world out
00:30:38 --> 00:30:44 there, you know, and, and for me, I don't drink, you know, I don't drink alcohol,
00:30:45 --> 00:30:48 you know, I haven't drank my entire career, you know, as an adult,
00:30:48 --> 00:30:50 you know, just don't drink. I've never done drugs.
00:30:50 --> 00:30:54 And it allows me to have a clear head every morning when I wake up.
00:30:54 --> 00:30:57 So, you know, those are some of the things that kind of motivate me,
00:30:58 --> 00:31:03 I mean, really, and spiritually guide me as I'm trying to take on that next thing.
00:31:03 --> 00:31:07 The other thing I try not to do is repeat myself career-wise.
00:31:08 --> 00:31:11 You know, Leonard, you were very, very, I want to thank you publicly,
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 you know, when a few years ago,
00:31:14 --> 00:31:20 Dover Downs honored me with two big, huge nights where I was able to bring in
00:31:20 --> 00:31:24 some of my friends to come to Delaware to perform, I think, for me to honor my career.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:30 And that was Dionne Warwick, the OJs, Freddie Jackson, Melba Moore,
00:31:31 --> 00:31:34 Glenn Jones, Gene Kahn, Norman Connors.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36 They all were on one stage. Yeah.
00:31:37 --> 00:31:43 And, you know, I remember the Dennis McGlynn, who's the CEO of Dover Downs.
00:31:43 --> 00:31:48 I said, look, Dennis, I want to do this. And but I need two nights in the board.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:54 And he said, how, you know, and, you know, his people were Dennis.
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 OK, well, let me talk to my people.
00:31:56 --> 00:31:59 And I reached out to Leonard Young. I said, hey, Leonard, I need you to do me
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 some e-blast. You remember Leonard? Yeah, I do. Yeah.
00:32:03 --> 00:32:08 UK, we hadn't even met, I don't think, physically. But I had been following
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 your work. I was very impressed with you.
00:32:10 --> 00:32:13 I'm always looking like, who's the next guy? Who do we pass the baton to?
00:32:13 --> 00:32:17 And you're certainly the guy. And you came up and you started doing the e-blasses.
00:32:17 --> 00:32:20 That was amazing.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:24 But anyway, the folks at Dover Downs told me, like, listen, Dave,
00:32:24 --> 00:32:28 the executives told me, like, you know, we have billboards all over 95.
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 We have all this marketing material.
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 We have never been able to sell out two nights. And we're Dover Downs.
00:32:34 --> 00:32:37 And and and so we'll give you
00:32:37 --> 00:32:40 friday night but we we won't tie up the you know this casino because
00:32:40 --> 00:32:43 i needed hotel rooms i needed you know food for
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 my artists you know i mean limousine transportation they had
00:32:46 --> 00:32:50 to bring a lot to the table for me to do this show there so they said well not
00:32:50 --> 00:32:54 two nights so anyway i said dennis i'm not going to do it with one night and
00:32:54 --> 00:32:58 this is me talking to the ceo he says well let's have emergency meetings so
00:32:58 --> 00:33:04 he brings his folks he brings his folks into the boardroom. I come down to Dover and meet with them.
00:33:04 --> 00:33:07 And again, I'm sure they were shocked because they thought I would look differently.
00:33:08 --> 00:33:11 And I said the same thing in a meeting. I said, listen, I'm going to sell out
00:33:11 --> 00:33:14 two nights. And I need two nights. And I'm not going to do it at the show.
00:33:14 --> 00:33:16 This is too big. And this is my career.
00:33:16 --> 00:33:22 And Dennis stood up and said, Dave Woolley said he can sell out two nights at Dover Downs.
00:33:23 --> 00:33:26 He's going to sell out two nights at Dover Downs. So he's got it Friday and
00:33:26 --> 00:33:29 Saturday. Period. And we walked out.
00:33:30 --> 00:33:35 And sure enough, we sold out two nights. It had never been done before.
00:33:35 --> 00:33:38 Big time gross, you know, in terms of box office receipts.
00:33:39 --> 00:33:47 But more importantly, the backstory to that is Dennis was also the CEO of Brandywine Racetrack.
00:33:47 --> 00:33:53 So back in 1988, when I sold out the racetrack, he never forgot that.
00:33:54 --> 00:34:01 So now he's the CEO of Dover Downs Casino. And he says, no, you guys don't know what this guy can do.
00:34:03 --> 00:34:08 I'm telling you, if he says that, he can do it. He didn't even go into the lecture.
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 I've seen him sell out a racetrack.
00:34:10 --> 00:34:15 So, but I just want to thank you publicly, you know, for your support,
00:34:15 --> 00:34:19 because we had to put together a grassroots campaign and folks came out from
00:34:19 --> 00:34:21 all over. Wow. Okay. Awesome.
00:34:22 --> 00:34:26 Thank you, my friend. In fact, if I know it's so important, I probably would
00:34:26 --> 00:34:27 have charged some more money.
00:34:29 --> 00:34:32 I would have charged a little bit more for them E-blasts.
00:34:36 --> 00:34:40 Yeah, listen, I look forward to collaborating with both of you guys because,
00:34:40 --> 00:34:44 you know, I look at the guys that are doing stuff in town and,
00:34:44 --> 00:34:47 you know, I want to pass on my wisdom.
00:34:47 --> 00:34:51 I want to team up. You know, there's a lot of things I have in mind that I love
00:34:51 --> 00:34:53 to produce and help team up.
00:34:53 --> 00:34:56 And and so when when i when you asked to be for
00:34:56 --> 00:34:59 me to be on this show i knew it was a true honor i mean
00:34:59 --> 00:35:02 because i love you both and and we just got to figure out and then whatever
00:35:02 --> 00:35:06 we figured out we're gonna come right back on this show yeah and okay everybody
00:35:06 --> 00:35:12 in fact they we they we yeah they we need one of them 30 30 000 attendant payoffs
00:35:12 --> 00:35:18 do it big wait you gotta look you gotta to look at inflation,
00:35:18 --> 00:35:21 you know, and present-day value.
00:35:21 --> 00:35:25 So present-day value, that $30 was probably like $100 a ticket.
00:35:27 --> 00:35:30 1988 versus $218. Yeah.
00:35:31 --> 00:35:34 You can't even think about just putting gas in the car to get to them.
00:35:37 --> 00:35:44 You know, so. But, yeah, that's, you know, this is what I'm talking about, folks.
00:35:44 --> 00:35:47 Matter of fact, let me just say this right quick. You're listening to News and
00:35:47 --> 00:35:49 Trends with Dave and Lynn.
00:35:50 --> 00:35:56 David and Lynn. David and Lynn. David and Lynn. You have been replaced. Yeah, I know.
00:35:58 --> 00:36:01 Yeah but you listen to our show
00:36:01 --> 00:36:04 and our guest it's dave woolley we want
00:36:04 --> 00:36:07 to thank you guys for listening and we want to thank dave for
00:36:07 --> 00:36:12 hanging out with us today i got a question for you i want to i want you to talk
00:36:12 --> 00:36:21 about the clifford brown jazz festival the the the the biggest free jazz festival
00:36:21 --> 00:36:25 on the East Coast, right? Yeah.
00:36:27 --> 00:36:31 Tell us about your involvement with that.
00:36:31 --> 00:36:35 Wow. Now we're going back to the 80s as well.
00:36:37 --> 00:36:41 Well, first of all, I want to give a big shout out to Norman Oliver,
00:36:42 --> 00:36:49 Zanthia Oliver, Trippie Kongo, Brown, Senator, and Hanifa Shabazz.
00:36:49 --> 00:36:54 Because, you know, February of this year, I was very, very honored.
00:36:54 --> 00:37:00 Last month of Black History Month, they did a street naming in my honor.
00:37:01 --> 00:37:07 And those folks are heroes in our community, and they recognize me for my body of work.
00:37:07 --> 00:37:13 And Leonard was there. Right, Leonard? I surely was. Front and center.
00:37:13 --> 00:37:20 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I just wanted to thank them publicly and for
00:37:20 --> 00:37:25 you, Leonard, because you were there as well, you know, documenting this thing, because oftentimes,
00:37:25 --> 00:37:29 you know, we don't even recognize until many years after we're dead, you know.
00:37:29 --> 00:37:32 So that was a very, very emotional moment for me.
00:37:33 --> 00:37:39 But it really, 16th and Clamont, North Clamont Street, so is now David F.
00:37:39 --> 00:37:42 Woolley Way, which is really surreal.
00:37:42 --> 00:37:49 But it really started back to around 85 when I started producing concerts.
00:37:49 --> 00:37:53 So I had built a reputation in town.
00:37:54 --> 00:37:59 Putting on big shows and people buying tickets and people having a great time at my shows.
00:38:00 --> 00:38:05 But David, you touched on something that was what most people don't know.
00:38:05 --> 00:38:10 I had built a fan base with my band. Right, right, you did.
00:38:10 --> 00:38:13 Four years before, five years before I even did a concert.
00:38:14 --> 00:38:20 So, you know, back in 1980, 81, you put my name on a Flyer Dave Woolley band
00:38:20 --> 00:38:25 And we could sell out ballroom because of the band, not because of the show, like you said.
00:38:26 --> 00:38:32 So that band base transferred over to when I started doing concerts.
00:38:32 --> 00:38:35 It was like, oh, remember that guy with the big, with the cool band?
00:38:35 --> 00:38:41 Well, he's doing shows now. So that's how my, that's how my fan base built in
00:38:41 --> 00:38:42 terms of the community support.
00:38:42 --> 00:38:46 So moving forward the mayor
00:38:46 --> 00:38:50 at the time and the city of wilmington used to
00:38:50 --> 00:38:52 have people on a market street more i believe they probably
00:38:52 --> 00:38:55 still do you know local entertainers performing a
00:38:55 --> 00:39:00 local band bands uh playing and then you know throughout the city of wilmington
00:39:00 --> 00:39:04 and various different parks during the summer etc so they reached out to me
00:39:04 --> 00:39:09 to help coordinate all of that because i knew all of the musicians as well because
00:39:09 --> 00:39:14 i'm a musician as well many people don't even know that I started with Norman Connors as his drummer.
00:39:14 --> 00:39:19 And then I played with Phyllis Hyman and Gene Conn and Michael Henderson, rest his soul.
00:39:19 --> 00:39:23 But at 16, I started, I became a professional musician back in Harlem.
00:39:24 --> 00:39:28 So, you know, I've been in this entertainment industry my entire life.
00:39:28 --> 00:39:32 So moving to Delaware, like I said, in 80, I started handling the local bands
00:39:32 --> 00:39:34 for the city of Wilmington.
00:39:34 --> 00:39:40 And then after I started doing the big shows at Ambrosius in the boardroom,
00:39:40 --> 00:39:44 I had the vision of putting together a jazz festival.
00:39:44 --> 00:39:50 I went to the then mayor, Dan Frawley, and pitched him the idea.
00:39:51 --> 00:39:57 And because of my success as a promoter in town, you know, Dan was cool.
00:39:57 --> 00:39:59 Dan kind of reminded me like a Bill Clinton.
00:40:01 --> 00:40:08 He was the coolest dude, you know, for a white guy, but he was always on the
00:40:08 --> 00:40:09 east side of Wilmington.
00:40:10 --> 00:40:14 And Dan and I had a great relationship because I would call him and say,
00:40:14 --> 00:40:17 listen, man, I'm bringing the OJs to Ambrosia. He said, oh, man, really?
00:40:17 --> 00:40:22 How did you do that? And he would come there and I would let him come on stage
00:40:22 --> 00:40:24 and, you know, say a few words, you know, and introduce them.
00:40:25 --> 00:40:29 And then I say, hey, man, next month I'm bringing the whispers to Wilmington.
00:40:30 --> 00:40:32 And all of these were financed by myself.
00:40:32 --> 00:40:35 I mean, this is me running my business.
00:40:35 --> 00:40:42 So, you know, I had a huge reputation of promoting significant concerts,
00:40:42 --> 00:40:44 Phyllis Hyman. I can go down a whole list of names.
00:40:44 --> 00:40:49 So when the notion came to doing a jazz festival, I went to him and I had the
00:40:49 --> 00:40:51 background. I had the infrastructure.
00:40:52 --> 00:40:57 I had the fan base. And I told him I'd like to do a jazz festival a week on
00:40:57 --> 00:41:01 Rodney Square. I had already been producing concerts on Rodney Square for the
00:41:01 --> 00:41:02 city of Wilmington anyway.
00:41:03 --> 00:41:07 And I gave him my word. I said, listen, man, I promise it will be packed five nights.
00:41:07 --> 00:41:12 It was an election year. I said, I'll put you in front of, you'll have,
00:41:12 --> 00:41:14 you know, I think it was about 5 people.
00:41:14 --> 00:41:18 I said, you'll be in front of 25 people that week. It's an election.
00:41:19 --> 00:41:22 And that's exactly how I pitched it to them.
00:41:22 --> 00:41:25 How would you like if I put you in front of 25 people? He said,
00:41:25 --> 00:41:27 all right, you got my attention.
00:41:29 --> 00:41:32 So that's how the Jazz Festival started.
00:41:34 --> 00:41:38 Listen, you have to know who I am to know that.
00:41:38 --> 00:41:43 I don't run around pat myself on the back saying, And listen to what I do.
00:41:43 --> 00:41:46 There are others that claim that they started. People have told me.
00:41:47 --> 00:41:51 Or that they're the founders of it. No, no, seriously. That they're the founders of it.
00:41:52 --> 00:41:57 But you know how far I am from doing that? Right.
00:41:57 --> 00:42:01 I was 28 years old. I mean, you know, like how far I am. So I'm not going to
00:42:01 --> 00:42:02 go back and argue and prove it.
00:42:03 --> 00:42:05 But the one thing I will say is I have proof.
00:42:06 --> 00:42:09 So it's not what people say they did.
00:42:09 --> 00:42:13 It's like, what can you prove? I can show you the original flyer,
00:42:14 --> 00:42:19 the original advertisement with the city of logo saying produced by Dave Woolley Productions.
00:42:19 --> 00:42:22 I have them right here in my office, in my archives.
00:42:23 --> 00:42:27 I have the contracts. I usually shut people up when they start making claims.
00:42:27 --> 00:42:31 I usually shut them up. I say, OK, well, who was the first act to perform on
00:42:31 --> 00:42:33 a jazz festival if you produced it?
00:42:34 --> 00:42:38 And, you know, just think about that. Now, that's like saying,
00:42:39 --> 00:42:42 like, what's the name of your first child? Yeah.
00:42:42 --> 00:42:48 You know, so when I don't remember, well, I do.
00:42:50 --> 00:42:55 Because I booked them because I built the stage. I hired the sound company.
00:42:56 --> 00:43:01 I hired this stage and light company. I was out there in the rain and not just
00:43:01 --> 00:43:05 in Rodney Square, but also Rockford Park,
00:43:05 --> 00:43:11 the 4th of July celebrations I mean, we can go on I was there that night, when it rained Yeah.
00:43:12 --> 00:43:17 I was there, I was there, I remember that There was people everywhere Yeah,
00:43:17 --> 00:43:22 yeah, I mean I brought Patti LaBelle to Rockford Park I brought Natalie Cole
00:43:22 --> 00:43:24 to Rockford Park I brought Tony Bennett,
00:43:24 --> 00:43:28 Mel Tomei Leslie Uggams, I mean, I can go down a whole list of things.
00:43:28 --> 00:43:33 But for me, when you do these types of things, it's a collaborative effort.
00:43:33 --> 00:43:38 So I'm not saying I was the only one, because the city of Wilmington had people
00:43:38 --> 00:43:41 that worked there that also helped in terms of staff.
00:43:41 --> 00:43:44 But these things come out of entrepreneurs.
00:43:45 --> 00:43:46 They don't come out of the city.
00:43:47 --> 00:43:50 They're not done by the city. The city of Wilmington is not a promoter or producer.
00:43:51 --> 00:43:55 It's done by an entrepreneur. Who was the entrepreneur? And
00:43:55 --> 00:43:58 as I mentioned throughout this uh interview you know that
00:43:58 --> 00:44:01 i've been doing my whole life so this is not so so
00:44:01 --> 00:44:04 it's so funny and when when when i see people it's like
00:44:04 --> 00:44:10 so what else have you done you know right so if you look at the trajectory of
00:44:10 --> 00:44:14 my life and what i've done since then it makes sense because you know from there
00:44:14 --> 00:44:18 i went on to do boxing and then i went on to do you know uh producing television
00:44:18 --> 00:44:22 you know creating special events for television, et cetera.
00:44:22 --> 00:44:24 So you took me way back then.
00:44:25 --> 00:44:30 Yeah. Yeah. Well, I wanted people to know because I know the truth and that's
00:44:30 --> 00:44:33 why I wanted to make sure that people knew the truth because I knew that.
00:44:35 --> 00:44:40 I knew what the real deal was. I wanted to make sure. See, this is what I'm talking about, folks.
00:44:40 --> 00:44:46 This is history. This is a lot of stuff here that he just unrolled in this short
00:44:46 --> 00:44:49 period of time that we've been on that you guys are probably sitting there,
00:44:50 --> 00:44:54 you Delawareans especially, saying, wow, I didn't know.
00:44:54 --> 00:45:01 You know, I didn't know. And again, I'm going to say this again.
00:45:01 --> 00:45:04 I'm sitting in there watching this guy playing drums.
00:45:07 --> 00:45:15 He's playing drums he's like you know you know he's like my man anderson pack you know,
00:45:15 --> 00:45:20 playing drums on the drum you're not thinking too much about you know the skills
00:45:20 --> 00:45:27 that this guy has but i've watched it i watched it unfold he's one of the he's
00:45:27 --> 00:45:29 one of the reasons that i got in promotions.
00:45:30 --> 00:45:33 I don't know if you remember that. No, stop that.
00:45:36 --> 00:45:44 But there was a group of guys, the East Coast production. You remember? Yes. Yeah, of course.
00:45:45 --> 00:45:49 Leon. You know, I used to be Leon and Darius, Gregory.
00:45:49 --> 00:45:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I used to, me and my buddies,
00:45:54 --> 00:45:57 we used to be like their apprentices and learning
00:45:57 --> 00:45:59 the motion game and everything so when they
00:45:59 --> 00:46:03 used to do all their big parties especially out to the out
00:46:03 --> 00:46:06 to over in newcastle at the where am
00:46:06 --> 00:46:09 i thinking about from walmart when they used to have yeah yeah yeah
00:46:09 --> 00:46:15 yeah you know what i'm talking about yeah yeah the wilton community
00:46:15 --> 00:46:18 center where they used to have a lot of their events yeah we would be right
00:46:18 --> 00:46:22 there just watching everything learning everything so we started our own group
00:46:22 --> 00:46:28 so but a lot of that stuff came from watching guys like you and those guys hanging
00:46:28 --> 00:46:29 out with Mimi Brown back in the day,
00:46:30 --> 00:46:34 first year, you know, and just learning a lot of stuff back then.
00:46:34 --> 00:46:38 So a lot of you guys that are listening right now and you're hearing this stuff
00:46:38 --> 00:46:41 that, that Dave's talking about, even, even Leonard, cause Leonard,
00:46:42 --> 00:46:45 this is history for a guy like Leonard, you know, cause I've been around,
00:46:45 --> 00:46:48 of course I've been around as long as Dave has, but, you know.
00:46:49 --> 00:46:52 But even hearing a lot of the stuff that he's talking about and,
00:46:52 --> 00:46:57 you know, So knowing about some of these big events and how they turned out,
00:46:58 --> 00:47:03 wow, this is information, people, that you guys should be like, oh, my God.
00:47:03 --> 00:47:07 But I'm going to say this, with all the successes that you had,
00:47:08 --> 00:47:12 tell us about some of the failures that you ever had.
00:47:15 --> 00:47:20 Well, you know, I don't believe in failure, you know, because what I believe
00:47:20 --> 00:47:22 is never let a setback set you back.
00:47:23 --> 00:47:26 You know, you know, when I hear no.
00:47:27 --> 00:47:34 You know what I hear? Opportunity. You know, because we can talk about the successes.
00:47:34 --> 00:47:38 We can talk about the things that have, you know, that have come to fruition.
00:47:39 --> 00:47:43 But just think about all the things that didn't come to fruition.
00:47:43 --> 00:47:46 I could have worked on this, the artwork documentary.
00:47:46 --> 00:47:49 It's titled The Artwork Don't Make Me Over. You guys are welcome to Google it
00:47:49 --> 00:47:51 or whatever, you know, for five years.
00:47:51 --> 00:47:55 And I could have finished it and not liked it and not and it never came out.
00:47:55 --> 00:47:59 So, you know, there's no guarantee even with consistency, you know,
00:48:00 --> 00:48:04 even with a commitment that at the end of the day, when you produce a finished
00:48:04 --> 00:48:06 product, that it's going to be received well.
00:48:07 --> 00:48:13 So, you know, once again, I don't believe in failures, you know,
00:48:13 --> 00:48:16 because I think it's all God's plan.
00:48:16 --> 00:48:23 I really do. I think that if you think of a slingshot, you pull a string back,
00:48:23 --> 00:48:24 right? The rubber band back.
00:48:24 --> 00:48:29 Sometimes you got to go backwards and then you let go and then you soar into the sky.
00:48:29 --> 00:48:32 You know, so going backwards, sometimes that feels like a failure.
00:48:32 --> 00:48:35 Sometimes it feels like you're not going forward, but it's really God setting
00:48:35 --> 00:48:37 you up for your trajectory.
00:48:37 --> 00:48:43 You just have to stay and be faithful and understand that everything happens for a reason.
00:48:44 --> 00:48:55 It really is. but for the grace of God. So, you know, being a kid who grew up in Harlem.
00:48:56 --> 00:49:00 You know, who moved to Delaware when I was 19, 20 years old.
00:49:00 --> 00:49:05 Before I moved to Delaware, I had already experienced a tremendous amount of
00:49:05 --> 00:49:10 success because as a drummer, I started at six years old. I gave up my shopping cart business.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:16 Just think, I couldn't have been a Bill Gates' shopping cart. Right.
00:49:19 --> 00:49:22 And I realized that, you know, I wanted to get out these projects.
00:49:22 --> 00:49:27 And I knew that drumming was going to be my ticket. of the projects.
00:49:28 --> 00:49:30 So, you know, nine years old, 10 years old, you know, I just,
00:49:31 --> 00:49:35 I was able to get a drum set and then I was able to buy a drum set, a really professional.
00:49:35 --> 00:49:39 And I became a studio musician by the time I was 14, 15 years old.
00:49:39 --> 00:49:42 I was playing on records, the early hip hop records, Grandmaster Flash.
00:49:43 --> 00:49:47 So I had built a reputation, you know, as one of the top guys in New York City.
00:49:47 --> 00:49:52 So coming to Delaware, I had already had a level of success.
00:49:53 --> 00:49:58 Success, you have to have parents, You have to teach kids that success is built on success.
00:49:58 --> 00:50:02 So when that first grader brings home a report card, you take him out and get some ice cream.
00:50:03 --> 00:50:08 You give him five dollars, say, man, and you take that certificate on his wall
00:50:08 --> 00:50:12 in the bedroom so he can see that he made the honor roll. She can see that she made the honor roll.
00:50:13 --> 00:50:18 It's important that you pat these kids on their back and reward them because
00:50:18 --> 00:50:20 that's how momentum happens.
00:50:20 --> 00:50:23 You know so we can talk about all of these different things
00:50:23 --> 00:50:26 i've been blessed to to have achieved but you
00:50:26 --> 00:50:29 know it it has been momentum it didn't start
00:50:29 --> 00:50:34 when i got to delaware and even playing drums you know i i play drums because
00:50:34 --> 00:50:37 people had never seen a guy play drums like that at delaware and that's what
00:50:37 --> 00:50:43 made me popular concerts you know so so again you know don't don't don't look
00:50:43 --> 00:50:47 at failures as a failure to look at it as an opportunity as an opportunity,
00:50:48 --> 00:50:50 I like that I like that alright.
00:50:52 --> 00:50:58 You got anything you want to I mean to be honest I've been right there I got
00:50:58 --> 00:50:59 about eight questions for Dave but,
00:51:00 --> 00:51:09 you know I figured you did well hold on Dave so if I can get a okay so can I
00:51:09 --> 00:51:12 ask two very quick questions with very quick answers,
00:51:12 --> 00:51:18 Dave Wooley Way do you ever ride by just to see the sign Absolutely.
00:51:19 --> 00:51:24 Absolutely. And it brings a tear to my eye. Okay. That day it brought a tear to my eye.
00:51:25 --> 00:51:29 I also want to say, guys, you know, that video, if you go to my timeline,
00:51:30 --> 00:51:33 Xanthia called me, the local station in Wilmington.
00:51:33 --> 00:51:37 I've never had this many people watch the video. They were like, who's this guy?
00:51:38 --> 00:51:41 Over 5 people have viewed that video.
00:51:41 --> 00:51:46 You look at the other videos of city events, you know, 200, 100 people watched.
00:51:47 --> 00:51:51 I think it was that last time I looked, it was 5 people. Wow.
00:51:51 --> 00:51:53 Watch that speech I gave that day.
00:51:54 --> 00:51:56 That's it. And then... I watched the same thing.
00:51:57 --> 00:52:00 The letter told me about it. He said, but Dave had me over here,
00:52:00 --> 00:52:05 you know, filming, you know, and I said, oh, they named the street after him?
00:52:05 --> 00:52:10 And it's funny because I hear again another similar. I grew up right up the street from there.
00:52:11 --> 00:52:18 Wow. See, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so we, David, yeah, we, we twins, right, twins,
00:52:19 --> 00:52:22 what's the other quick, yep, yep, so the other quick question is,
00:52:22 --> 00:52:27 um, I just read an article today, and it was saying more millennials and teenagers
00:52:27 --> 00:52:33 specifically, but that age range does not want to work a nine-to-five job,
00:52:33 --> 00:52:34 they all want to be entrepreneurs,
00:52:35 --> 00:52:39 now, and I know you said you've been an entrepreneur all your life.
00:52:41 --> 00:52:44 I guess quickly, what advice would you give for like teenagers who are all,
00:52:45 --> 00:52:48 I feel like social media makes everybody want to be their own boss.
00:52:48 --> 00:52:52 What advice, quick advice would you give for, you know, people who are kind
00:52:52 --> 00:52:57 of just starting the workforce or need to start the workforce and don't want to do a nine to five?
00:52:58 --> 00:53:02 Well, the first thing that the quickest way to fail is do something for money.
00:53:03 --> 00:53:07 You know, that's the quickest way to fail because you're not going to be fulfilled.
00:53:07 --> 00:53:09 You know, remember, passion, purpose, and perfection.
00:53:09 --> 00:53:13 You have to find something you have a passion for because then money becomes
00:53:13 --> 00:53:14 like a scorecard, you know.
00:53:14 --> 00:53:20 So you have to find something you love to do and then figure out how to make money from it.
00:53:20 --> 00:53:23 But, you know, read, learn what a business plan is.
00:53:23 --> 00:53:27 You know, people look at my career and I have a bachelor's degree in business
00:53:27 --> 00:53:28 administration. I have an MBA.
00:53:29 --> 00:53:32 You know, I've been a professor at Wilmington University this year,
00:53:32 --> 00:53:35 last year, more 25 years.
00:53:36 --> 00:53:38 So when they honored me at the event you were talking about,
00:53:39 --> 00:53:40 I think they said I taught over 5 students.
00:53:43 --> 00:53:47 It's important to know the fundamentals of a business.
00:53:47 --> 00:53:50 So whatever kind of business you want to pursue as an entrepreneur,
00:53:50 --> 00:53:56 learn the fundamentals and then look at people that are doing it and then model yourself after them.
00:53:57 --> 00:54:02 I'm humbled that you guys said maybe I inspired you, but there was people that
00:54:02 --> 00:54:04 inspired me as well, including both of you guys.
00:54:04 --> 00:54:10 So, you know, it's you got to find somebody who inspires you and then,
00:54:10 --> 00:54:13 you know, try and make your own way within within that kind of framework.
00:54:14 --> 00:54:15 All right. Thank you.
00:54:17 --> 00:54:20 Yeah. You know, this has been this is great.
00:54:20 --> 00:54:23 You know, thank you so much. I rarely do interviews.
00:54:23 --> 00:54:26 You know i got
00:54:26 --> 00:54:29 that i got that impression because i know what i was trying to get i was
00:54:29 --> 00:54:32 trying to nail him down you know he's okay you know
00:54:32 --> 00:54:36 you know and i was like okay he's not an interview guy but we're going to get
00:54:36 --> 00:54:42 him because we need him to come on and tell the story and we want we want we
00:54:42 --> 00:54:48 want people to know you know you know delaware has a lot of treasures you know
00:54:48 --> 00:54:50 here and don't wear, you know, we,
00:54:50 --> 00:54:53 there's something you know about, there's something that you don't know about,
00:54:53 --> 00:54:58 but, you know, I know every time I meet somebody and I hear their story,
00:54:58 --> 00:55:00 I call them a treasure, you know,
00:55:00 --> 00:55:04 you know, I told, I told Dave the other day, Leonard, how you and I met,
00:55:04 --> 00:55:08 you know, of course I've talked about it on the air before, and, you know,
00:55:08 --> 00:55:12 and the relationship that Leonard and I have, I, you know,
00:55:13 --> 00:55:17 it wasn't, it wasn't a chance meeting, it was something that was supposed to
00:55:17 --> 00:55:23 happen and you know I thank God every day that I you know had a chance to have
00:55:23 --> 00:55:26 met this guy because you know.
00:55:27 --> 00:55:32 We definitely have a good relationship, and it's been good for the both of us.
00:55:32 --> 00:55:36 So I really appreciate him as well as I appreciate you, because I know in the
00:55:36 --> 00:55:40 past, if I've asked you to come out, I know you've come out to a couple of my
00:55:40 --> 00:55:45 birthday parties and so forth, and we always have a good time and so forth.
00:55:45 --> 00:55:50 So I really do appreciate you, and I appreciate the fact that you allow me and
00:55:50 --> 00:55:52 Leonard to have you on the show.
00:55:52 --> 00:55:56 So this is what we want to do now. we're going to transition a
00:55:56 --> 00:55:59 little bit and everyone you are listening to news
00:55:59 --> 00:56:01 and trends with dave and lynn david of course you
00:56:01 --> 00:56:05 know and lynn here we go again anyway
00:56:05 --> 00:56:10 you know um and we always uh value your comments and everything so if you have
00:56:10 --> 00:56:14 any comments make sure to reach out to us and we definitely will put them on
00:56:14 --> 00:56:18 the air you know anytime we get any feedback or anything i share it with leonard
00:56:18 --> 00:56:21 and we always try to make sure we put it out there so we want to thank people
00:56:21 --> 00:56:24 who have been listening to our shows and giving us feedback,
00:56:24 --> 00:56:27 and we definitely really appreciate it.
00:56:27 --> 00:56:30 So this is what we're going to do now, Mr. Woolley. We're going to do this.
00:56:31 --> 00:56:35 We're going to go into, usually we have a couple of topics that we'd like to
00:56:35 --> 00:56:38 discuss, and since we have you on with us today,
00:56:39 --> 00:56:45 we have a couple topics that we wanted to talk about exclusively and get your
00:56:45 --> 00:56:46 input on them as well. Okay?
00:56:47 --> 00:56:49 Is that all right? Okay. Absolutely.
00:56:50 --> 00:56:54 All right. So the first thing that I wanted to bring up, you know,
00:56:54 --> 00:56:59 I don't know if you got a chance to see, there was a big comedy show recently
00:56:59 --> 00:57:05 with Kevin Hart and Chris Rock had been doing shows together.
00:57:05 --> 00:57:09 Right. And two of the biggest names in comedy out there, you know,
00:57:10 --> 00:57:12 you can't get much bigger than those two at this point.
00:57:12 --> 00:57:20 And so the last show They had a guy come out And open up for him And do a 20
00:57:20 --> 00:57:22 minute set That nobody was expecting to see.
00:57:23 --> 00:57:27 Mr dave chappelle exactly now here
00:57:27 --> 00:57:30 you got you got chris rock you got kevin
00:57:30 --> 00:57:33 hart and dave chappelle opening for you know
00:57:33 --> 00:57:36 so you know so it just
00:57:36 --> 00:57:39 makes you see these three guys you
00:57:39 --> 00:57:41 know and they you know they're all calling each other the goat you know
00:57:41 --> 00:57:45 and everything you know because they are the top
00:57:45 --> 00:57:47 of the the food chain when it comes to you know
00:57:47 --> 00:57:50 the celebrity comedy guy it's now you know
00:57:50 --> 00:57:54 and so they do this concert and they
00:57:54 --> 00:57:56 were very humble with each other they they gave each
00:57:56 --> 00:57:59 other props but when you look at something like that when you
00:57:59 --> 00:58:05 see three kings like that and three at the top of the game and and you know
00:58:05 --> 00:58:11 the same game but they're also different when it comes to their styles and and
00:58:11 --> 00:58:17 who they are you know what do you see when you see something like that or Or, you know,
00:58:17 --> 00:58:20 when you look at somebody who's
00:58:20 --> 00:58:23 promoting an event like that or putting something like that together,
00:58:24 --> 00:58:28 you know, the audience that you're looking at and all of that type of stuff.
00:58:28 --> 00:58:33 Tell me what your thoughts is when it comes to this type of seeing this type
00:58:33 --> 00:58:38 of thing come together when you have these three guys with these big personalities
00:58:38 --> 00:58:41 and they put their eagles aside to come together like that.
00:58:42 --> 00:58:44 You know, it's inspiring. It's black excellence.
00:58:45 --> 00:58:49 You know, it's Black excellence at its best. And it's inspiring.
00:58:49 --> 00:58:54 You know, we really, as African-Americans, you know, when you look at the entertainment
00:58:54 --> 00:58:59 industry, I mean, or even in sports, I mean, look who dominates,
00:58:59 --> 00:59:02 you know, the culture, you know, the hip hop culture.
00:59:03 --> 00:59:09 So when you put these folks together, you know, I mean, all things are possible.
00:59:09 --> 00:59:16 And so I get encouraged. You know, I have done things similar to that.
00:59:16 --> 00:59:20 I remember, you know, one of the events I did, people said it would never happen,
00:59:20 --> 00:59:22 which I brought Dr. J out of retirement.
00:59:23 --> 00:59:28 And I wanted him to play one last one-on-one game against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
00:59:28 --> 00:59:30 I did that in Atlantic City.
00:59:30 --> 00:59:33 It was my brainchild. It was a pay-per-view event. People said,
00:59:33 --> 00:59:34 oh, that'll never happen.
00:59:34 --> 00:59:38 Two great icons coming out of retirement. I made it happen.
00:59:38 --> 00:59:42 I produced it and I directed it. I mean, that was my baby.
00:59:42 --> 00:59:47 And people said the same thing, kind of like what we're saying about Dave Chappelle
00:59:47 --> 00:59:50 and Chris Rocking and Kevin Hart. You know, when we come together.
00:59:51 --> 00:59:55 It's nothing that we can't do as a community. That's right. That's right.
00:59:55 --> 00:59:57 Leonard, what was your thought when you saw this?
00:59:58 --> 01:00:01 Yes. I mean, you know, kind of like Dave said, you know, I just think it's amazing, too.
01:00:02 --> 01:00:09 And like you said, David, there are three comedians at the top of their game,
01:00:09 --> 01:00:14 and they all have different fan bases, you know?
01:00:14 --> 01:00:17 So, I mean, like, they're comedians. They're all black comedians,
01:00:17 --> 01:00:24 but, you know, Dave Chappelle has his people who are faithful to him, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock.
01:00:24 --> 01:00:27 And, you know, I always think it's great when people team up because,
01:00:28 --> 01:00:32 you know, kind of like Dave said, you know, I always think of the quote and
01:00:32 --> 01:00:38 I forget who said it, but it said it's basically like alone you can run faster,
01:00:38 --> 01:00:41 but together you can run farther.
01:00:41 --> 01:00:44 So you know it's kind of like okay like you know
01:00:44 --> 01:00:47 if if we really want to get to where we need to be
01:00:47 --> 01:00:50 and i mean not even to talk about delaware but just black
01:00:50 --> 01:00:55 people in general you know everybody wants to do their own thing and and i get
01:00:55 --> 01:01:00 that you cannot work with everybody but you know i think there's a lot of people
01:01:00 --> 01:01:04 that we can work with but it's like you know everybody wants to be a boss nobody
01:01:04 --> 01:01:08 wants to be an indian i mean everybody wants to be a chief nobody wants to be an indian So,
01:01:08 --> 01:01:11 you know, I think it's just great that they teamed up and, you know,
01:01:11 --> 01:01:12 just brought to that unity.
01:01:13 --> 01:01:18 Now, I do question why they called the goat, the actual, the animal goat Will Smith.
01:01:18 --> 01:01:22 But I mean, you know, that that that's neither here or there.
01:01:22 --> 01:01:26 But um yeah i mean you know i i just think it's black excellent i always think
01:01:26 --> 01:01:31 about that picture that i saw circulating social media where it's like eddie
01:01:31 --> 01:01:38 murphy wesley snipes who else arsenio hall martin lawrence and it's like man
01:01:38 --> 01:01:41 like you have some of the greatest medians of our time,
01:01:42 --> 01:01:46 and they seem to be friends or at least friendly you know i mean so i mean i
01:01:46 --> 01:01:48 don't know like i like I just think it's a good look.
01:01:48 --> 01:01:53 And hopefully it spurs, you know, younger generations to kind of do the same.
01:01:53 --> 01:02:00 You know, in order to have something you've never had before,
01:02:00 --> 01:02:03 you have to do something you've never done before.
01:02:03 --> 01:02:06 Right. You know, in order to have what you've never had before,
01:02:06 --> 01:02:08 you have to do something you've never done before.
01:02:08 --> 01:02:12 So, you know, these are groundbreaking things that have never been done before,
01:02:12 --> 01:02:16 you know, and that's why, you know, people get excited. But,
01:02:16 --> 01:02:18 you know, it all starts with a thought.
01:02:19 --> 01:02:23 And I always say thought are things, you know, hold on to your thoughts because
01:02:23 --> 01:02:24 they're intellectual properties.
01:02:24 --> 01:02:29 And these guys understand that. They understand how to build a brand and understand,
01:02:29 --> 01:02:31 you know, all of the things that go into that.
01:02:32 --> 01:02:35 And, you know, they've been extremely successful. But, you know,
01:02:35 --> 01:02:39 it doesn't take that level. We can have that same kind of level of success right here in Delaware.
01:02:40 --> 01:02:43 So, you know, when you come together, once again.
01:02:44 --> 01:02:47 Yeah, that's true. That's true.
01:02:47 --> 01:02:52 I never get, like, when you look at this group, these three guys,
01:02:53 --> 01:02:58 you know, I watched the interview with Chris Rock and Kevin Hart.
01:02:58 --> 01:03:01 Kevin Hart has a show called Heart to Heart that he does on YouTube,
01:03:02 --> 01:03:06 and he interviews a lot of people, but he had Chris Rock on this particular show.
01:03:07 --> 01:03:11 And when these guys talked about their
01:03:11 --> 01:03:14 their their guys who inspired them
01:03:14 --> 01:03:17 of course they mentioned richard prior they said richard fox
01:03:17 --> 01:03:22 but you know these guys revered eddie
01:03:22 --> 01:03:25 murphy like a lot of the young guys revered
01:03:25 --> 01:03:29 kobe bryant you know you know the the guys
01:03:29 --> 01:03:31 who are playing basketball now all the superstars now were
01:03:31 --> 01:03:35 kobe bryant fans you know uh they they
01:03:35 --> 01:03:38 missed the michael jordan era you know because there's you know
01:03:38 --> 01:03:41 they didn't see the michael jordan there they saw the
01:03:41 --> 01:03:43 next guy which was kobe you know and so a
01:03:43 --> 01:03:49 lot of these guys you know they're kobe well these guys these three especially
01:03:49 --> 01:03:54 were eddie murphy guys you know they they loved eddie murphy eddie murphy of
01:03:54 --> 01:03:59 course was a richard pryer guy you know so and eddie was on posted saturday
01:03:59 --> 01:04:02 and had come back to Saturday Night Live, I think it was a year or so ago,
01:04:03 --> 01:04:08 and he hosted, and out came Chris Rock. Out came.
01:04:10 --> 01:04:15 Out came Dave Chappelle. You know, Kenan Thompson came out and stood on the
01:04:15 --> 01:04:17 stage. They stood next to him.
01:04:18 --> 01:04:26 And, you know, it was just really interesting to see the respect that they had for this guy.
01:04:26 --> 01:04:34 And even talking, even in the conversation that Chris Rockin and Kevin Hart
01:04:34 --> 01:04:39 had, you could see how they revered Eddie Murphy.
01:04:39 --> 01:04:43 And just talking about Eddie, you know, Kevin Hart said something like.
01:04:45 --> 01:04:48 Eddie was talking and he wasn't talking about anything particular,
01:04:48 --> 01:04:50 but he said, man, you can hear a pin drop.
01:04:51 --> 01:04:55 He said everybody was sitting there like waiting on the next word to come out
01:04:55 --> 01:04:58 of his mouth. And he said it could have been scoobala, something like that.
01:04:59 --> 01:05:02 And nobody would have cared because it was Eddie Murphy talking, you know.
01:05:02 --> 01:05:07 So when you see these type of guys and then they can get on stage and cut up with each other.
01:05:07 --> 01:05:10 You see them with the goat they got a chain around the
01:05:10 --> 01:05:13 goat's neck they're talking about this goat
01:05:13 --> 01:05:16 is glad that he's here instead of at a jamaican restaurant you
01:05:16 --> 01:05:20 know you know but this
01:05:20 --> 01:05:23 is this is what i you know when i saw this
01:05:23 --> 01:05:26 man i was just like wow just to be in that place when
01:05:26 --> 01:05:29 people are sitting there and this guy walked out and does the
01:05:29 --> 01:05:32 opening right 20 minute opening set
01:05:32 --> 01:05:37 for these two dudes you know so right i did you know i just thought it was fascinating
01:05:37 --> 01:05:40 and that's why i wanted to bring the story up because you know it's not something
01:05:40 --> 01:05:45 you see every day it's not something that that is going to happen every day
01:05:45 --> 01:05:50 that you can see three black men with egos as big as theirs because we know
01:05:50 --> 01:05:52 they have we know they got egos,
01:05:53 --> 01:06:00 But put those egos aside to work together and be the best that they can be at it.
01:06:00 --> 01:06:02 So I just want to work better.
01:06:03 --> 01:06:09 Let me just jump in for a second because I've worked with artists of this caliber.
01:06:11 --> 01:06:16 And for me, in terms of doing a show, you're saying a lot of people don't know who I am.
01:06:17 --> 01:06:20 And you remember we had that conversation yesterday and I said, that's my design.
01:06:22 --> 01:06:25 That that's that's because of me you know
01:06:25 --> 01:06:28 i always thought it was more important
01:06:28 --> 01:06:33 to be respected than to be popular i've always thought it was more important
01:06:33 --> 01:06:37 to be respected than being popular i wasn't interested in being popular i'm
01:06:37 --> 01:06:42 a promoter i'm a producer i i can put my name all over i mean a lot of times
01:06:42 --> 01:06:45 people will come to my show they go who's doing this right this name nowhere.
01:06:45 --> 01:06:47 It's so small on the flyer.
01:06:48 --> 01:06:52 And I think that's why I've had such a long career, longevity.
01:06:52 --> 01:06:54 We're talking almost 40 years now.
01:06:54 --> 01:07:00 So these guys, when you start talking about respect and you bring in an Eddie Murphy,
01:07:00 --> 01:07:08 who's still with us and some of the other legends as well, they bow down because
01:07:08 --> 01:07:10 they know he paved the way.
01:07:11 --> 01:07:14 So Eddie doesn't have to go out there and say, I'm this, I'm that.
01:07:14 --> 01:07:17 He doesn't have to do a big Netflix. He's Eddie Murphy.
01:07:18 --> 01:07:21 He earned the respect. I tried to live my life.
01:07:21 --> 01:07:24 And I know you guys do the same thing where it's about, hey,
01:07:24 --> 01:07:30 everybody don't have to know what I did this, I did that, who did that. Just respect me.
01:07:31 --> 01:07:36 And that's the ultimate gift that this is all about.
01:07:37 --> 01:07:41 It's so funny. We talked about Dr. J earlier, and me seven years,
01:07:41 --> 01:07:44 president of that company and his business partner.
01:07:45 --> 01:07:48 I've been in rooms with him and Michael Jordan.
01:07:49 --> 01:07:53 And how Michael Jordan bows down, you know, and this is why Michael's playing.
01:07:54 --> 01:07:58 You know, can I get an autograph? Michael Jordan asking him for an autograph.
01:08:00 --> 01:08:05 Can we get a picture? You know, so again, when you get to that certain level
01:08:05 --> 01:08:09 of respect and a certain level of paving the way,
01:08:10 --> 01:08:15 like at the point where I'm at in my life now, I don't feel I should have to
01:08:15 --> 01:08:18 go out and say, hey, do you know who I am? You know, no.
01:08:19 --> 01:08:23 You know, that's, that's, you know, look it up, you know, Google it.
01:08:23 --> 01:08:26 Tell us, hey, they, they, tell them Google it.
01:08:26 --> 01:08:29 That's my brother. You're Googleable.
01:08:30 --> 01:08:34 So, so these, these guys, you know, they, they, and we know,
01:08:34 --> 01:08:38 especially as African-Americans, we know that our ancestors,
01:08:38 --> 01:08:42 you know, we've come a long way, but we got a long way to go.
01:08:42 --> 01:08:46 So we're still not there. So, you know, we have to be thankful for the folks
01:08:46 --> 01:08:50 that paved the way. And that's why I'm so excited behind you and Leonard.
01:08:50 --> 01:08:55 I mean, you guys, you guys got both. You got the wisdom, you got the energy,
01:08:55 --> 01:09:00 you got the synergy, you know, I mean, so you guys make a great team.
01:09:00 --> 01:09:03 Yep. And then, you know, I'm going to piggyback on what you said,
01:09:04 --> 01:09:08 because, you know, I kind of felt the same way when I started my business, DelawareBlack.com.
01:09:08 --> 01:09:14 You know, the goal wasn't to put my face on everything or my name on everything.
01:09:14 --> 01:09:18 And just like you said, like, I mean, it's my website, so I could have I could
01:09:18 --> 01:09:19 have my picture all over that thing if I wanted to.
01:09:20 --> 01:09:25 But, you know, but, you know, my goal was I always wanted to promote other people.
01:09:25 --> 01:09:30 And, you know, people didn't know, have to know who I was. And for a long time,
01:09:30 --> 01:09:33 people didn't know who I was because it's like, OK, unless you know me,
01:09:33 --> 01:09:37 if you know me, you know me. If you don't, you just say, OK, so, you know.
01:09:37 --> 01:09:40 And so, I mean, I definitely agree with that. And kind of like you said,
01:09:40 --> 01:09:42 you know, I think it's just passion.
01:09:42 --> 01:09:45 Like if it's something you love to do you
01:09:45 --> 01:09:48 do it regardless of the money you do it regardless of
01:09:48 --> 01:09:53 the fame you do it because you know it makes you feel a certain way you know
01:09:53 --> 01:09:57 when you do it so you know i i definitely agree with that yeah one of the things
01:09:57 --> 01:10:02 i want to say that i'd say that too let me just say this because it's funny
01:10:02 --> 01:10:06 because all of us seem to have the same story because i I told you yesterday.
01:10:07 --> 01:10:11 I'll throw a party or something, or I'll be doing an event.
01:10:11 --> 01:10:15 And nobody in the room will know it's me that's doing the event.
01:10:15 --> 01:10:17 Because I'm sitting there. They might see me walking around or whatever the
01:10:17 --> 01:10:21 case may be. Leonard's been around me when I've done these events.
01:10:21 --> 01:10:23 I don't tell anybody. I don't.
01:10:24 --> 01:10:26 You know, I just want to see everybody having a good time and just enjoying
01:10:26 --> 01:10:30 themselves. Right. You know, so I appreciate that.
01:10:31 --> 01:10:35 And that's a great picture of three of us together. You got to post it. Yeah. I know.
01:10:36 --> 01:10:39 I think I have it somewhere. Don't worry, Dave. Dave, don't worry.
01:10:40 --> 01:10:43 I was planning on posting that when I put the link up.
01:10:43 --> 01:10:47 So don't worry. I got it. I already got it. All right. So you thought I figured that.
01:10:48 --> 01:10:51 Nope. Nope. I got it. I knew it was your event and it was Philly.
01:10:51 --> 01:10:59 I couldn't care if it was in New York. I was going to be the hotel by the Philadelphia airport. Yeah.
01:11:00 --> 01:11:04 When you got it, when you got your hat, I met your fiance at the time where
01:11:04 --> 01:11:08 I went up there and, you know, I mean, again, this is what I'm talking about.
01:11:08 --> 01:11:12 You know, we're talking about Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Kevin Hart supporting
01:11:12 --> 01:11:15 each other, but here are the three of us supporting each other.
01:11:16 --> 01:11:21 Hey, Hey, Hey, so, so David, David, when you put that picture up,
01:11:21 --> 01:11:26 make, make sure you either put it side by side or top to bottom with Chappelle, Rock, and Harden.
01:11:31 --> 01:11:36 You're going to be shy because you're going to say, are you comparing yourself to these three guys?
01:11:38 --> 01:11:44 Why not? Why not? One of us can measure up to Kevin Hart there.
01:11:47 --> 01:11:48 They'll be like, which one's Dave?
01:11:53 --> 01:11:57 Who's the goat who's the goat yeah who's the goat well i might as well put the
01:11:57 --> 01:12:04 picture of the goat on there right now now you know but but we're talking about young folks,
01:12:05 --> 01:12:11 You have to remain humble. You know, I met Michael Jackson at the height of
01:12:11 --> 01:12:12 his career. I had dinner with him.
01:12:13 --> 01:12:17 I mean, this is the most humble person you could imagine.
01:12:18 --> 01:12:24 So what I've learned, having produced, you know, umpteen hundred concerts and
01:12:24 --> 01:12:28 tours and all that kind of thing, is that the bigger the star,
01:12:28 --> 01:12:33 the bigger the celebrity, sports or athletic, the more humble they are.
01:12:34 --> 01:12:38 It's always the the ones that were the opening acts that gave me hell you know
01:12:38 --> 01:12:40 I was like, you have one hand.
01:12:42 --> 01:12:46 Who demanded a limousine, demanded hot food. You know?
01:12:48 --> 01:12:53 It's like, you have one hand. Right. I get the onions over there. You know?
01:12:53 --> 01:12:56 I just said a regular part of
01:12:56 --> 01:12:59 the demo you know ain't got no problem with that You know, I said a band,
01:13:00 --> 01:13:06 you know, so what I've learned in my career is, is the bigger,
01:13:06 --> 01:13:11 the bigger the entertainer, the more humble they are, you know, and, and that goes,
01:13:11 --> 01:13:15 that goes, I mean, that goes across the board,
01:13:15 --> 01:13:17 both sports and, and, and, and entertainment.
01:13:18 --> 01:13:22 So what I've learned is, and thank God, and you guys are the same way as to be humble.
01:13:22 --> 01:13:25 So don't put that picture out there and put us next to them because we ain't
01:13:25 --> 01:13:27 trying. Right, right, right.
01:13:29 --> 01:13:36 Hey, Dave, and you can probably testify to if this is true or your experience,
01:13:37 --> 01:13:40 but another thing I've heard is a lot of the big celebrities,
01:13:40 --> 01:13:42 entertainers, music people,
01:13:42 --> 01:13:45 a lot of them, of course, they have great talent, but a lot of them are kind
01:13:45 --> 01:13:50 of shy and maybe not as extroverted as we think their persona is.
01:13:51 --> 01:13:56 Do you find that happened to be true with some or a certain number of?
01:13:56 --> 01:14:00 Yeah, you know, success is a lonely process.
01:14:01 --> 01:14:05 You know, we work hard to become successful. And then I remember Dr.
01:14:05 --> 01:14:07 J. telling me, you become a prisoner of your own success.
01:14:07 --> 01:14:12 Right. You know, he couldn't even go down to, you know, to a supermarket,
01:14:12 --> 01:14:14 you know, with, you know, one.
01:14:15 --> 01:14:17 I said, well, you're so tall, you can't hide it.
01:14:19 --> 01:14:22 People have to look up. And then when they see you, they want a picture.
01:14:22 --> 01:14:27 You know, so, you know, they are very humble. They are very shy.
01:14:28 --> 01:14:31 They are withdrawn. And that's why they have certain, you know,
01:14:31 --> 01:14:33 certain small team around them.
01:14:33 --> 01:14:38 So it's not important that, you know, like for me, people just think about in
01:14:38 --> 01:14:41 the 80s, you know, how did they really know the OJs?
01:14:41 --> 01:14:43 I mean, why would they go to the east side of Wilmington?
01:14:43 --> 01:14:47 I remember I used to have them park their bus out in front of Ambrosia.
01:14:47 --> 01:14:48 They said the OJs on the side.
01:14:48 --> 01:14:52 So people, this is before social media, guys, Facebook, Instagram,
01:14:52 --> 01:14:56 people, that word got around. Oh, the bus is in front of them.
01:14:56 --> 01:15:00 So, you know, they're really coming. I remember the first concert I did in Wilmington.
01:15:01 --> 01:15:03 People were like, who's this day? Well, are we giving them $20 for a ticket?
01:15:04 --> 01:15:07 He might take our money, and we don't know these people coming for real.
01:15:07 --> 01:15:11 It took that kind of education also in that town.
01:15:11 --> 01:15:16 I remember doing a show at the boardroom. I think I had Pieces of a Dream,
01:15:16 --> 01:15:20 and it was like $15 for a ticket plus two drink minimum.
01:15:21 --> 01:15:25 People bought the tickets thinking that the $15 included two free drinks.
01:15:25 --> 01:15:29 You know, they didn't even understand what minimum meant, you know,
01:15:29 --> 01:15:33 that they had to drink two drinks in addition to their ticket.
01:15:33 --> 01:15:36 So, you know, I went through that whole educational process.
01:15:37 --> 01:15:40 Educate the community like like this is what happened.
01:15:41 --> 01:15:45 So, you know, it really is about being humble throughout.
01:15:45 --> 01:15:51 And, you know, I spent time with Rick James, you know, another dude you would
01:15:51 --> 01:15:56 think would be loud. No, he wasn't that kind of guy, he just wasn't.
01:15:56 --> 01:16:01 I mean, the image I recently was, for the film, I went to Snoop Dogg's house.
01:16:02 --> 01:16:07 To interview him for the documentary. You know, I mean, just they all have the same demeanor.
01:16:08 --> 01:16:10 Very, very, very, very quiet.
01:16:11 --> 01:16:14 Very, very small group of people around them.
01:16:14 --> 01:16:18 And, you know, because when you become that popular and that famous,
01:16:18 --> 01:16:20 who can you trust? Right.
01:16:20 --> 01:16:25 Well, it's funny that you said that about the whole thing with Dr. J.
01:16:26 --> 01:16:31 I'll never forget. I had a fan album with me and a couple of buddies of mine.
01:16:31 --> 01:16:33 And I'm in my 20s at the time.
01:16:34 --> 01:16:38 We decided we were going to go to Philly to Boyd's.
01:16:38 --> 01:16:43 Now, Dave knows about Boyd's clothing store up there in Philly. Yeah, of course.
01:16:43 --> 01:16:46 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That was his place. That's where Julius was.
01:16:46 --> 01:16:49 No, well, that's where I'm going. This is where I'm going, okay?
01:16:50 --> 01:16:53 So we're up there in Boyd's, and Boyd's was having this shirt sale.
01:16:53 --> 01:16:56 Every now and then, they would have these shirt sales that were really nice.
01:16:57 --> 01:17:00 So these shirts would be marked down now, Leonard, I'm talking about back during
01:17:00 --> 01:17:04 the 80s, you know, these shirts would be 50, 60, $70 back then,
01:17:05 --> 01:17:08 you know, and they had them marked down to like 20 something dollars.
01:17:09 --> 01:17:10 You know, that was a steal to us.
01:17:11 --> 01:17:14 So we would go out there and that's because that's all we could buy in there
01:17:14 --> 01:17:18 with shirts and maybe a couple of ties, you know, because this place was expensive.
01:17:19 --> 01:17:22 So we go in there, man, I'm looking around at the shirts and whatever,
01:17:22 --> 01:17:26 and I hear this deep voice in back of me talking to this guy.
01:17:26 --> 01:17:30 And they said well we got
01:17:30 --> 01:17:32 that section over there for you just come on hang out over
01:17:32 --> 01:17:36 here at this section whatever way and we we got you covered he said all right
01:17:36 --> 01:17:40 bro i turned around and i started screaming look i started screaming that's
01:17:40 --> 01:17:45 not the day that's not the day that's not like that right right and he heard
01:17:45 --> 01:17:49 me and he turned around and just laughed you know and so forth you know he said
01:17:49 --> 01:17:52 he said where you guys from we said we're from delaware,
01:17:52 --> 01:17:55 He said, oh, yeah, I know Delaware. I know Delaware. Like that, right?
01:17:56 --> 01:17:59 You know, so, and this is right, you know, I'm trying to think.
01:17:59 --> 01:18:03 Was this around the time the Fish State, Pittsburgh came out?
01:18:04 --> 01:18:08 Oh, wow. Yeah, because Doc is a Pisces. I'm a Pisces, too. So,
01:18:09 --> 01:18:11 our birthdays are a couple days apart.
01:18:12 --> 01:18:17 So, and I was like, I said, see, that's what makes him so cool because he's a Pisces. That's why.
01:18:18 --> 01:18:21 That's why. Just like that, right? you know but even today
01:18:21 --> 01:18:24 when you look at doc when doc goes anywhere he commands
01:18:24 --> 01:18:27 respect i mean you know he's just got he's still
01:18:27 --> 01:18:30 the coolest dude on earth you know and yes
01:18:30 --> 01:18:34 michael wanted to copy everything that doc michael took
01:18:34 --> 01:18:37 everything that doc was and just took it up
01:18:37 --> 01:18:41 to a different level you know but still
01:18:41 --> 01:18:45 paying mr dr j though the whole time you could see that and everything and michael
01:18:45 --> 01:18:53 jordan did yeah so but but but um but um yeah yeah yeah yeah but i never get
01:18:53 --> 01:18:57 we fanned out man i ain't gonna lie we had that i was like that's not today like that right.
01:18:59 --> 01:19:05 Yeah but he was cool he was real cool about the whole thing so but anyway moving
01:19:05 --> 01:19:09 on uh we i just wanted to bring that story up and um so we're gonna move on
01:19:09 --> 01:19:13 to our next story and leonard why Why don't you go ahead and talk about that one?
01:19:14 --> 01:19:18 Yep. So the next story is something that I saw on social media over the weekend,
01:19:18 --> 01:19:19 and I thought it was interesting.
01:19:20 --> 01:19:26 And then we got more clarity to it. So the next story is regarding two actresses,
01:19:26 --> 01:19:29 Kiki Palmer and Zendaya.
01:19:29 --> 01:19:33 And so what it is, is there was someone who made a Twitter post,
01:19:33 --> 01:19:35 and I'll read a verbatim.
01:19:35 --> 01:19:40 They said, I would like to do a deep dive, a deep drive on the similarities
01:19:40 --> 01:19:45 and differences between Kiki Palmer and Zendaya's careers.
01:19:45 --> 01:19:51 This may be one of the clearest examples of color, how colorism plays out in Hollywood.
01:19:51 --> 01:19:57 They were both childhood stars, but their mainstream popularity is very different.
01:19:57 --> 01:20:03 So for anyone who's not familiar, Kiki Palmer and Zendaya were both on the Disney Channel.
01:20:03 --> 01:20:06 They both had their own shows with their headlines.
01:20:07 --> 01:20:12 Kiki Palmer is of darker skin. Zendaya is of lighter skin.
01:20:12 --> 01:20:20 And what the lady is saying is that since Disney, because Zendaya is lighter
01:20:20 --> 01:20:26 or more fair skin, that her popularity, along with her pockets,
01:20:26 --> 01:20:30 have grown a lot faster than than Kiki Palmer.
01:20:30 --> 01:20:34 So just for reference, Zendaya is worth about $20 million.
01:20:34 --> 01:20:37 Kiki Palmer is worth about $7 million.
01:20:37 --> 01:20:43 And Kiki Palmer had a response to it, which I thought was one of the best responses I've ever seen.
01:20:43 --> 01:20:50 So she says, a great example of colorism is to believe that I can be compared
01:20:50 --> 01:20:52 to anybody. So this is Kiki Palmer talking.
01:20:53 --> 01:20:58 I'm the youngest talk show host ever. The first black woman to star in her own
01:20:58 --> 01:21:05 Nickelodeon show and the youngest and the youngest and first black Cinderella on Broadway.
01:21:06 --> 01:21:10 I'm an incomparable talent. Baby, this is Kiki Palmer.
01:21:11 --> 01:21:16 I've been a leading lady since I was 11 years old. I have over 100 plus credits
01:21:16 --> 01:21:21 and currently starring in the original screenplay that's number one at the box
01:21:21 --> 01:21:23 office right now, Jordan Peele's movie. Nope.
01:21:24 --> 01:21:28 I've had a blessed career thus far. I couldn't ask for any more,
01:21:28 --> 01:21:30 but God continues to bless me.
01:21:30 --> 01:21:36 So David and Dave, I'm not sure if you've heard about this, but regarding Kiki
01:21:36 --> 01:21:38 Palmer and Zendaya being prepared.
01:21:39 --> 01:21:45 So Dave, if you can kind of give me your take on it and maybe even on her response.
01:21:46 --> 01:21:52 You know, it's unfortunate that she would even have to take that kind of response.
01:21:53 --> 01:21:57 I've had the pleasure of meeting with Kiki and her mother, and her father,
01:21:57 --> 01:22:00 by the way. Her mother is more like her manager, her father.
01:22:01 --> 01:22:04 They have a great story.
01:22:05 --> 01:22:08 I don't want to digress in between, but the parents.
01:22:09 --> 01:22:13 And, you know, Kiki speaks for herself.
01:22:13 --> 01:22:21 You know, this is once again, one of those scenarios where respect is so important, you know, and, and,
01:22:21 --> 01:22:24 you know, you'll never see me start talking about I did this,
01:22:24 --> 01:22:28 I did this, I did this, you know, it's like now with the internet,
01:22:28 --> 01:22:30 you know, everything's Googleable.
01:22:30 --> 01:22:38 You know, there's a Wikipedia page, you know, there's an IMDB that has your credit.
01:22:38 --> 01:22:41 It was the first time I saw her really kind of feel like she had to come out
01:22:41 --> 01:22:46 and, you know, list her credentials, but she probably fell back into doing that.
01:22:46 --> 01:22:49 So you know that's unfortunate but but you know
01:22:49 --> 01:22:52 once again they both were great right you
01:22:52 --> 01:22:55 know and you really shouldn't we shouldn't even be trying to compare them you
01:22:55 --> 01:22:58 know why is it when you have two people of color you want to compare them they
01:22:58 --> 01:23:03 don't compare two whites you know like like you know like we can both we can
01:23:03 --> 01:23:07 have they both do two different things and i'm so proud of kiki but the secret
01:23:07 --> 01:23:13 weapon behind kiki is her mother i mean her mother is the bomb i mean really.
01:23:17 --> 01:23:22 But she had to defend herself. She had to say how she sees herself,
01:23:22 --> 01:23:23 and she's absolutely correct.
01:23:24 --> 01:23:28 She broke down a lot of walls and a lot of doors. But when you get to a certain
01:23:28 --> 01:23:31 age, you look at things like that differently.
01:23:32 --> 01:23:37 You'll never see, for example, Denzel talking about, I was in training days.
01:23:38 --> 01:23:40 I was going to follow up your story.
01:23:42 --> 01:23:45 You get to a certain point, you just don't, you don't need to do that.
01:23:46 --> 01:23:49 Yeah. And, you know, and also, in fact, David, before you respond,
01:23:49 --> 01:23:54 you know, I think one other thing about it too, is I don't see them as being that far apart.
01:23:54 --> 01:23:58 Now I get, you know, Zendaya, you know, is worth a little bit more,
01:23:59 --> 01:24:02 but they both have had fantastic careers.
01:24:02 --> 01:24:04 They're both super talented.
01:24:04 --> 01:24:09 And to be honest, somewhat, you know, I believe sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles.
01:24:10 --> 01:24:14 We know they're not both going to be worth $20 million and they're both going
01:24:14 --> 01:24:16 to have all the same accolades. People are just different.
01:24:17 --> 01:24:22 They choose their own careers. They choose their path. They choose their roles.
01:24:23 --> 01:24:30 Be honest. If Kiki or Zendaya were my daughter, $7 million and $20 million,
01:24:31 --> 01:24:34 maybe for us who aren't billionaires, we'd be like, damn.
01:24:34 --> 01:24:40 But you know I mean they're both super talented and Kiki probably could have
01:24:40 --> 01:24:43 chose certain roles that could have got her there Zendaya you know probably
01:24:43 --> 01:24:48 could have chose certain roles that got her there so you know I think it's just
01:24:48 --> 01:24:53 you know how people are different but they're both super successful what you think David?
01:24:54 --> 01:24:57 Well I've kind of watched both of their careers over the years because I've
01:24:57 --> 01:25:03 had kids that watch their shows you know coming up you know and I remember watching
01:25:03 --> 01:25:07 Kiki at 10, 11 years old, you know, on Nickelodeon.
01:25:07 --> 01:25:11 Hold on, you said you were watching her? Okay, Dave.
01:25:12 --> 01:25:15 You heard what I said because I had to watch it.
01:25:16 --> 01:25:21 You know, and I watched her, you know, her career, you know,
01:25:21 --> 01:25:23 I watched her career unfolds just like Zendaya.
01:25:24 --> 01:25:30 It's just interesting because you know, the colorism thing is never going to
01:25:30 --> 01:25:35 go away, unfortunately. You know, it's always going to be something that people
01:25:35 --> 01:25:37 are always going to play into.
01:25:37 --> 01:25:43 You know, Viola Davis, one of the best actresses that we have.
01:25:44 --> 01:25:47 Living on this earth you know you know
01:25:47 --> 01:25:50 she talks about it all the time how many parts you
01:25:50 --> 01:25:54 know she's a award-winning actress we've seen
01:25:54 --> 01:25:56 her win awards we've seen her acting but she talks about
01:25:56 --> 01:26:00 the parts that she didn't get because of her color you know
01:26:00 --> 01:26:03 and because she didn't look like some other actress or
01:26:03 --> 01:26:06 whatever the case may be so it's really a shame
01:26:06 --> 01:26:09 that we still all these years are still having
01:26:09 --> 01:26:12 to deal with stuff like this especially when
01:26:12 --> 01:26:15 it comes to these type of things
01:26:15 --> 01:26:18 as far as hollywood and entertainment goes but this
01:26:18 --> 01:26:23 is everyday life as well because we still had that problem when when you know
01:26:23 --> 01:26:27 dave dave touched on it earlier when people would beat him and they thought
01:26:27 --> 01:26:32 he was a white guy you know and because you know because of the stuff that he's
01:26:32 --> 01:26:37 done and he walks in he comes in this sharp black professional and everybody's like okay.
01:26:38 --> 01:26:41 Automatically there's a little shift and everybody's thinking wait
01:26:41 --> 01:26:48 hold on can this guy do what he said he can do before they met you though oh
01:26:48 --> 01:26:51 there's no question in their mind oh okay this guy's gonna come in he's gonna
01:26:51 --> 01:26:56 do this this this and then you walk in and you look different and when they
01:26:56 --> 01:27:00 start questioning things so you know it's really a shame that she had to,
01:27:01 --> 01:27:03 feel that she had to defend herself because, ooh,
01:27:04 --> 01:27:08 you notice Zanzara hasn't said anything, if you notice. She hasn't really.
01:27:09 --> 01:27:12 Uh so the one thing i will say so zendaya
01:27:12 --> 01:27:15 has faced the colorism promise in the past and i
01:27:15 --> 01:27:19 mean zendaya is very classy what she said is she
01:27:19 --> 01:27:22 says you know i use my roles
01:27:22 --> 01:27:25 to well she said two things she said i use
01:27:25 --> 01:27:28 my roles to try to put more african americans in
01:27:28 --> 01:27:31 the films and stuff i'm in and then
01:27:31 --> 01:27:35 the other thing she said that i thought was even classier um
01:27:35 --> 01:27:38 some people thought it were controversial she also said that
01:27:38 --> 01:27:41 when there are roles that
01:27:41 --> 01:27:45 are when they're looking for a darker skinned woman
01:27:45 --> 01:27:48 she will bypass those roles
01:27:48 --> 01:27:52 to give those people opportunities you know because you know a lot of people
01:27:52 --> 01:27:55 want to grab the data for anything they can because she's so popular right now
01:27:55 --> 01:28:00 but she said certain roles she'll bypass so that they can specifically give
01:28:00 --> 01:28:05 somebody a darker complexion yeah one thing i also wanted to take a light skin
01:28:05 --> 01:28:07 person and and put makeup on.
01:28:10 --> 01:28:15 Well one thing i wanted one thing i i want to make sure we don't get mixed up
01:28:15 --> 01:28:20 here you know you cannot judge a person's net worth by their success right you
01:28:20 --> 01:28:24 can't judge a person's net worth by their success i can tell you a bunch of
01:28:24 --> 01:28:28 people that are worth a lot of money in hollywood that are not successful,
01:28:28 --> 01:28:33 you know, and I can tell you, I can show you a bunch of people that were extremely
01:28:33 --> 01:28:36 successful in body of work that didn't get the paydays that,
01:28:36 --> 01:28:39 you know, that they deserve, like the Lou Gossip Juniors,
01:28:39 --> 01:28:44 like the Danny Glovers, but even, even Chadwick Bowick, when,
01:28:45 --> 01:28:51 when he died, I believe his net worth was $3 million. Wow. Wow.
01:28:51 --> 01:28:56 And out of $3 million, out of $3 million, a million went to taxes,
01:28:56 --> 01:28:59 and he had to split the other two with his family.
01:29:00 --> 01:29:06 And it was reported that he made $2 million to play, to do the Black Panther role.
01:29:06 --> 01:29:12 That film grossed over a billion dollars. He was a star and made $2 million.
01:29:12 --> 01:29:18 So, you know, again, you know, you can't look at a person's net worth and judge
01:29:18 --> 01:29:24 it. I mean, but this is the same brilliant actor who did James Brown, right?
01:29:24 --> 01:29:26 Yeah. What else did he play? What else did he play?
01:29:27 --> 01:29:30 Thurgood. What else? Yep. What else? Jackie Robinson.
01:29:31 --> 01:29:35 Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson. Look at the range.
01:29:36 --> 01:29:41 Now, this man only had a three, if we say only, but, you know, died with that.
01:29:41 --> 01:29:46 So, you know, you can't look at it that way because it really doesn't.
01:29:46 --> 01:29:50 And this is why I go back to, you know, my three Ps, that passion,
01:29:50 --> 01:29:54 you know, because when you look back, you can't, Denzel says it all the time,
01:29:54 --> 01:29:56 you know, you can't take that money with you.
01:29:56 --> 01:30:00 There's never hurts behind a funeral procession, you know.
01:30:00 --> 01:30:05 So, and the ones that, the funny things, the ones that have had huge paydays
01:30:05 --> 01:30:10 like the Denzels, who I spent a lot of time with, by the way, in Delaware.
01:30:11 --> 01:30:15 He was a dear friend of Butch Lewis's, who was, you know, a dear friend of mine, my mentor.
01:30:16 --> 01:30:19 You know, we did a lot of boxing events together. In fact, I was with Butch
01:30:19 --> 01:30:25 Lewis for his 65th birthday down in Rehoboth where Denzel and Lenny Kravitz,
01:30:25 --> 01:30:26 we had a three-day party.
01:30:27 --> 01:30:33 You know, so I'm sitting in front of these guys and Denzel pulls out a flip phone, you know.
01:30:33 --> 01:30:38 I mean, so you really just can't look at somebody's net worth and say,
01:30:39 --> 01:30:42 you know, they have been successful because it just doesn't work that way.
01:30:42 --> 01:30:45 It really doesn't. Look at Cecily Tyson.
01:30:45 --> 01:30:50 I mean, look at Martin Luther King. He didn't die of a millionaire.
01:30:52 --> 01:30:59 It's the purpose. It's the body of work. It's doing God's work that really is what governs me.
01:31:00 --> 01:31:08 Okay, all right. Well, you know, and that's important because I love the fact
01:31:08 --> 01:31:12 that you keep referring to your religious base.
01:31:13 --> 01:31:19 That's very important. We tend to forget that that is always supposed to be
01:31:19 --> 01:31:23 the base that we have and that we're supposed to draw from.
01:31:23 --> 01:31:30 I know a lot of times nowadays when you hear a lot of athletes and entertainers
01:31:30 --> 01:31:32 when they're talking and they're
01:31:32 --> 01:31:37 getting awards and stuff or they're being drafted or something like that,
01:31:37 --> 01:31:41 they always start, let me thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
01:31:41 --> 01:31:44 You know, if you ever notice, that seems to come out a lot these days.
01:31:44 --> 01:31:47 And you have to have that base.
01:31:48 --> 01:31:53 And, you know, I appreciate hearing you say that because, you know,
01:31:53 --> 01:32:00 we're in precarious times right now. There's a lot going on.
01:32:00 --> 01:32:04 The years have shown to us that nothing's promised.
01:32:04 --> 01:32:11 And, you know, I was listening to the news yesterday. They said 900 cases of monkeypox in New York.
01:32:11 --> 01:32:14 And I was like, monkeypox, you know, and I'm saying to myself,
01:32:14 --> 01:32:19 you know, you know, we got plagues on top of plagues coming now,
01:32:19 --> 01:32:22 you know, and it's really interesting.
01:32:22 --> 01:32:25 And, you know, they're developing vaccines for this.
01:32:25 --> 01:32:30 They're developing vaccines for that. And, you know, so we just have to stay
01:32:30 --> 01:32:31 diligent and stay focused.
01:32:32 --> 01:32:35 Prayerful in, in, in everything that we do.
01:32:35 --> 01:32:39 And especially when it comes to dealing with the people that we have to deal
01:32:39 --> 01:32:44 with on a regular basis and, and making sure that we, that we give the respect
01:32:44 --> 01:32:46 to those that we need to get the respect to.
01:32:46 --> 01:32:52 And that's why we have Mr. Dave Willie on this show today is to pay respect.
01:32:52 --> 01:32:53 See how you see what I did.
01:32:55 --> 01:33:01 We need to pay respect to one of, one of the, one of our hidden treasures and,
01:33:01 --> 01:33:05 and to also show, you know,
01:33:05 --> 01:33:10 the humility that comes along with being a, being a person like himself,
01:33:11 --> 01:33:15 a great entrepreneur and also a businessman.
01:33:16 --> 01:33:19 And, you know, also my partner, Mr.
01:33:19 --> 01:33:22 Leonard Young, who's the same type of guy and someone that I,
01:33:22 --> 01:33:26 and, you know, looking at you two guys, I try to strive to be the same way.
01:33:27 --> 01:33:30 So with that being said, Dave, what we're going to do is take a moment,
01:33:31 --> 01:33:34 have you talk about what you have coming up,
01:33:35 --> 01:33:39 you know, any of your social media pages you want to put out there,
01:33:39 --> 01:33:43 you know, so forth and so forth, you know, so, you know, we can let people know
01:33:43 --> 01:33:46 what's going on with Dave Woolley in the near future.
01:33:47 --> 01:33:51 Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for that. You know, I think we were all put here to
01:33:51 --> 01:33:52 be of service to one another.
01:33:52 --> 01:33:57 It's that simple. I think what I'm doing, I think I'm doing God's work.
01:33:57 --> 01:34:02 You know, I was put here to entertain, educate, and enlighten and empower people.
01:34:02 --> 01:34:06 And that's what I try and do with my body of work over all of these years.
01:34:06 --> 01:34:12 You know, I'm really thrilled behind this next venture, the Dionne Moore Don't
01:34:12 --> 01:34:13 Make Me Over documentary.
01:34:14 --> 01:34:18 That will be premiering on CNN. I actually know the date.
01:34:19 --> 01:34:22 It's prime time, limited commercial interruptions.
01:34:23 --> 01:34:26 You know, you talk about historical things, you know, so.
01:34:27 --> 01:34:32 CNN picked it up immediately. CNN is the number one cable broadcaster.
01:34:33 --> 01:34:38 CNN is in 100 million homes, which is virtually every home in the United States.
01:34:38 --> 01:34:42 So that will be out later this year. And what we got to do is when we announce
01:34:42 --> 01:34:46 the date, I'll come back on and we'll talk more about the film.
01:34:46 --> 01:34:50 They're putting out a press release. I don't want to, they're putting out a
01:34:50 --> 01:34:52 press release real soon on a date. I do know the date.
01:34:53 --> 01:34:58 It's going to be huge. So I'm really excited because that's my first endeavor
01:34:58 --> 01:35:02 at producing, directing, and writing feature film.
01:35:02 --> 01:35:06 So, you know, you got this guy from Delaware who from University of Delaware
01:35:06 --> 01:35:09 had this little band who went from a little band.
01:35:10 --> 01:35:15 To doing shows at a little black club called Ambrosia who started doing shows
01:35:15 --> 01:35:19 at Rodney Square who started doing shows, you know, producing shows at Rockford
01:35:19 --> 01:35:23 Park who went on to do this and this, this and Red Wine Racetrack.
01:35:23 --> 01:35:27 You know, so here I am now, you know producing i'm the
01:35:27 --> 01:35:31 only producer on a documentary so you know it's me and
01:35:31 --> 01:35:33 that's unusual usually it's 10 15 on a movie you
01:35:33 --> 01:35:36 see the film credits um to have to
01:35:36 --> 01:35:42 have a film like this you know be purchased in and acquired by cnn it's huge
01:35:42 --> 01:35:46 but it all started with the wilmington base and i think one one last thing i
01:35:46 --> 01:35:50 want to talk about humility is you know you look at the people that are featured
01:35:50 --> 01:35:55 in the doc where i did most of those interviews and wrote wrote the questions et cetera,
01:35:55 --> 01:36:00 is the reason why I'm able to reach those kinds of folks, if I had a different personality.
01:36:01 --> 01:36:06 You know, if you were bragging and loud and, you know, obnoxious, that kind of.
01:36:07 --> 01:36:12 I mean, that's how I've been able to maintain all of these relationships all these years.
01:36:13 --> 01:36:16 I'm going to see the OJs next week. They're retiring.
01:36:17 --> 01:36:21 So I'm looking forward to seeing them in Atlanta. But, you know,
01:36:21 --> 01:36:24 I brought them to Ambrosia in 1987.
01:36:26 --> 01:36:30 I think I might have been there that night.
01:36:31 --> 01:36:36 I've had a relationship with OJ since 87, and here we are, you know, 2022.
01:36:37 --> 01:36:42 And maintain that relationship. Right. So you maintain those relationships by
01:36:42 --> 01:36:45 being honest, by doing the right thing, by having distance ethics,
01:36:45 --> 01:36:47 and always putting God first.
01:36:47 --> 01:36:54 So I'm on Instagram Dave underscore Wooley of course Facebook Dave Wooley and
01:36:54 --> 01:37:01 that's that's about it in terms of how you really want to reach me contact Linnet and contact Dave,
01:37:02 --> 01:37:11 yes hey yeah hey David we're his managers now yeah,
01:37:13 --> 01:37:18 that's right yeah right through that's all I answer.
01:37:22 --> 01:37:25 Well folks you know there you have
01:37:25 --> 01:37:28 it you have heard from the man the myth the
01:37:28 --> 01:37:30 legend mr dave woolley um we are
01:37:30 --> 01:37:36 so glad um lennon and i are so glad that he decided to stop by and hang out
01:37:36 --> 01:37:41 with us and come on our show and it is something that we truly look forward
01:37:41 --> 01:37:46 to and glad that we were able to get it to happen we look for him coming back
01:37:46 --> 01:37:50 and hanging out with us when his documentary comes out on Dion Warwick.
01:37:50 --> 01:37:54 I've heard a lot about it and I can't wait to see it myself personally.
01:37:55 --> 01:38:00 So we look forward to that. And so we will definitely bring you back on for that.
01:38:01 --> 01:38:04 And any other, any other thing that you got going on, we're going to bring you on.
01:38:08 --> 01:38:13 Because we try, we try to hang out. We try to hang out. Right, Leonard? Yeah.
01:38:14 --> 01:38:20 Atlanta, you know, the stadium, of the casas and everything. Yeah, there you go.
01:38:22 --> 01:38:27 I'm currently in Atlanta right now. Oh, you are? Yeah, yeah.
01:38:29 --> 01:38:33 I'm working on a film project here. But listen, the next thing we got to announce
01:38:33 --> 01:38:36 is what we're going to do, the three of us. So that's what I'm looking forward to.
01:38:36 --> 01:38:39 And I want to be the one that holds the goat when we take the picture.
01:38:40 --> 01:38:41 I want to be the one that holds the goat.
01:38:46 --> 01:38:48 Hey, you got it. You got it.
01:38:48 --> 01:38:52 So this time we're going to take it in a Jamaican restaurant so we can eat afterwards.
01:38:55 --> 01:39:00 Put a little curry on them. There you go. There you go. There you go.
01:39:00 --> 01:39:01 There you go. I might be the senior.
01:39:02 --> 01:39:06 The only reason why I say that is because I seniority, you know. No, no, no. Dave,
01:39:08 --> 01:39:14 you don't even need to explain yourself. Like, we good. You got the goat. You hold the goat.
01:39:16 --> 01:39:19 You know, the senior guy holds the goat. yeah there
01:39:19 --> 01:39:24 you go there you go there you go yeah this is
01:39:24 --> 01:39:27 fun man i love uh yeah we we yeah we
01:39:27 --> 01:39:33 we love you too guy and we really appreciate you and guys look you have been
01:39:33 --> 01:39:37 listening to news and trends with dave and lynn you just got a history lesson
01:39:37 --> 01:39:42 you got all kinds and then don't pay attention to my partner at the moment but
01:39:42 --> 01:39:45 uh you just got a history you just got a history lesson.
01:39:46 --> 01:39:48 And you know you've got some knowledge and my
01:39:48 --> 01:39:51 man dropped some knowledge so make sure when you
01:39:51 --> 01:39:54 go to listen to this show just let everybody know
01:39:54 --> 01:39:57 share it send it out there we want
01:39:57 --> 01:40:00 everyone to listen to this show well all our shows because
01:40:00 --> 01:40:03 we we try to put all our shows out there we always try to have
01:40:03 --> 01:40:06 interesting guests on all the time and so but
01:40:06 --> 01:40:10 we want to thank you for tuning in tonight and with
01:40:10 --> 01:40:13 that being said Leonard you got anything else that you want to add you know
01:40:13 --> 01:40:15 Dave I just want to give you a special thanks thank you for
01:40:15 --> 01:40:19 coming on and it's funny because just being on the interview what
01:40:19 --> 01:40:22 we really need and i would and i'm sure
01:40:22 --> 01:40:27 david and would love to work on we need a dave woolley documentary i mean i
01:40:27 --> 01:40:30 i don't know if that's in the work but but i'm no but i'm no but i'm like i'm
01:40:30 --> 01:40:36 i'm serious because when you spoke about all the stuff you did and i like one
01:40:36 --> 01:40:39 of the things you said too how you didn't like to kind of repeat yourself so
01:40:39 --> 01:40:41 like you you don't want to fall in that mold.
01:40:41 --> 01:40:44 Everything was something different, but bigger.
01:40:45 --> 01:40:52 And to be honest, I know the Dionne Warwick documentary won a lot of awards,
01:40:52 --> 01:40:55 but I'm sure the Dave Woolley documentary would be fired.
01:40:56 --> 01:40:59 Wow wow yeah i'm sure
01:40:59 --> 01:41:02 i'm sure that's something to think about because i think it
01:41:02 --> 01:41:07 is something that needs to be done i mean look they look there was a film that
01:41:07 --> 01:41:12 won an oscar last year where they took some footage of some stuff that they
01:41:12 --> 01:41:17 put away and and just thought that they never show ever and quest love went
01:41:17 --> 01:41:21 out there and grabbed that stuff and said hey yeah stuff is valuable, right?
01:41:21 --> 01:41:28 And they won the Oscar with Summer of Soul because everybody wanted to see it.
01:41:28 --> 01:41:31 Everybody would want to see that documentary, man. I'm telling you,
01:41:32 --> 01:41:35 everybody would want to see it. God bless you guys. God bless you guys.
01:41:36 --> 01:41:42 So hopefully... If they put a movie on me, I just got to figure out who's going
01:41:42 --> 01:41:44 to play you and who's going to play Lena. You know what I mean?
01:41:48 --> 01:41:49 That's funny. That's funny.
01:41:52 --> 01:41:54 Maybe we'll get Will Smith to play later.
01:41:56 --> 01:41:58 That way I can slap him.
01:42:04 --> 01:42:09 Thank you guys. Yeah. Thank you. All right.
01:42:10 --> 01:42:14 Thank you guys again for listening to News and Trend. We're going to sign off
01:42:14 --> 01:42:20 and say goodnight and don't forget to tune in on Friday to our weekend roundup at six o'clock.
01:42:20 --> 01:42:25 You know, that's our show. We always like to have a little fun and just try
01:42:25 --> 01:42:27 to do some things that everybody would enjoy.
01:42:27 --> 01:42:32 So we hope that everyone will tune in on Friday at six o'clock to our weekend
01:42:32 --> 01:42:35 roundup and we'll talk to you then. Have a good evening.
01:42:46 --> 01:42:51 Tune in next week, ladies and gentlemen, for another edition of News and Trends
01:42:51 --> 01:42:53 with your hosts, Dave and Lynn.
01:43:05 --> 01:43:06 Thank you.
01:43:07 --> 01:43:12 Music.