Arts and Craft
A new chat show that dives into the lives of musicians, filmmakers, performers, and artists from all walks of life, revealing the untold stories and hidden secrets that drive their creativity. Hosted by Nancy Magarill and Peter Michael Marino.
Arts and Craft
Rachael Sage - singer, songwriter, visual artist
Rachael Sage is a prolific songwriter, singer, visual artist, and ballet dancer and the founder of Mpress records. She has toured nationally and internationally and has shepherded a wide array of diverse artists in the music-sphere. On this episode we chat about the value of maintaining relationships for booking gigs, nurturing artists while running a record label, and the fine line between music and visual art.
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Rachael Sage is a soulful vocalist, innovative multi-instrumentalist and award-winning singer/songwriter and producer from NY who has earned a loyal international following for her dynamic piano playing, delicate guitar work, and improvisational audience interaction. A six-time Independent Music Award winner, Sage has toured with an eclectic list of artists including Howard Jones, Beth Hart, Ani DiFranco, and Grammy® winners Shawn Colvin and Judy Collins – with whom she also recorded a critically-acclaimed duet of Neil Young's "Helpless". Her music has been dubbed "witty, graceful, and powerfully intimate" by NPR Music, and American Songwriter described Sage as "one of the most compelling and creative singers and songwriters of the modern era". Her new album Canopy is due Fall 2025 on MPress/Universal/Virgin. For more information, visit rachaelsage.com.
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Produced and Edited by Arts and Craft.
Theme Music: Sound Gallery by Dmitry Taras.
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<v Rachael Sage>When I'm painting, I'm hearing music in my head.
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<v Rachael Sage>When I'm listening to music, I'm seeing the visual.
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<v Rachael Sage>And just the day to day, moment to moment joy that I get from colors, from color therapy, from art, and seeing the wider world, the people, the architecture, the nature, I feel like that's really the essence of my spirit and who I am is trying to have vision.
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<v Nancy Magarill>She is a label head, a prolific songwriter, singer and artist.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>She is also a visual artist and ballet dancer.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And a shepherded diverse artist through the music sphere.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Rachael Sage joins us on today's episode.
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<v Nancy Magarill>My name is Nancy Magarill.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I am a singer, songwriter, composer, performer, graphic and web designer.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>And I am Peter Michael Marino and I am a writer, producer, creator, performer and educator.
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<v Nancy Magarill>We are New York based artists you may or may not have heard of.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>And we are here to introduce you to other artists you may or may not have heard of.
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<v SPEAKER_4>Hi, hello.
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<v Nancy Magarill>My god, I feel like it's been so long since I've seen you.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Pete, just to give you a little backstory.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, what's your backstory?
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<v Nancy Magarill>So, I don't even know how long ago it was.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Rachael and I were part of an ASCAP workshop, and we met, and we instantly became friends, and I started doing backups for you almost pretty soon after, right?
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<v Rachael Sage>It was pretty quick, yeah.
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<v Nancy Magarill>It was pretty quick, and it's really funny, we just did an interview with Celia Chavez, and we were talking about blending, and the art of blending because she's been touring with Pink, and Enrique Iglesias, and all these people, and one of the things I have to say, because I never was a good blender, and I really realized, oh my God, the whole time I was working with you, I never really understood how important it was to blend.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Now, you never were hardcore about that, and we were so loose, but how different it could have been if I had really been working on blending with you.
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<v Nancy Magarill>But our sounds are so different anyway.
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<v Rachael Sage>They are, but I think that's what I love, because I was obsessed with Indigo Girls at the time, and Amy and Emily have such different voices, and yet they sound so beautiful together.
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<v Rachael Sage>So, I was very eager to let both of our voices shine, and I thought that was a lot of the beauty of it, so.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, that's interesting, and it's funny, I never thought about it because it was such a different time in music.
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<v Nancy Magarill>That's true.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Where are your backup voices coming from nowadays?
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<v Rachael Sage>That's a great question.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Because you're on tour, you are out there, you are busy.
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<v Rachael Sage>You are, I guess so, I don't know, I get more tired when other people remind me what I'm doing, you know, and then I think about it and go, same.
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<v Rachael Sage>What am I doing?
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<v Rachael Sage>What am I thinking?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, I thought it was my job, sorry.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yes, you're right, I'm working too hard to pay my rent.
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<v Rachael Sage>Well, let's see, I do a lot of them myself on recordings, and then once in a while, I recruit someone local to me here in the Hudson Valley, the wonderful Americana duo, Annalise and Ryan have appeared on a handful of my albums, and then a couple of members of my current group, The Sequins, also happen to sing fabulously.
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<v Rachael Sage>So, Kelly Halloran on violin also sings, and I don't know if you remember Trina Hamlin from back in the day.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I don't remember her from back in the day, but I know her name for ages.
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<v Rachael Sage>Yeah.
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<v Rachael Sage>She plays harmonica and she sings.
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<v Rachael Sage>She has a very deep, rich voice, kind of like you, so it all works out.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Well, it's funny because your voice, sorry, Pete, your voice has gotten a lot deeper.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Is that because you were sick or is that where your voice is at right now?
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<v Nancy Magarill>Because you always had a much higher-
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<v Rachael Sage>Oh, not for many years.
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<v Rachael Sage>I think my voice probably went through a bit of a change maybe 10, 15 years ago where I just abandoned all my high soprano-ness and leaned in harder to the man in me.
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<v Rachael Sage>But really, those had been all my favorite singers growing up, who were a lot of those types of deep voices, you know, Mark Cohn, of course.
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<v Rachael Sage>So yeah, I don't know.
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<v Rachael Sage>It was interesting today, I was trying to reach some super high notes and I found it really difficult.
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<v Rachael Sage>Then when I had to go do some harmonies that were really low, it was really fun.
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<v Nancy Magarill>So it was a conscious choice?
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<v Rachael Sage>I guess a little bit, yeah.
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<v Rachael Sage>Then also time and age, I feel like my voice naturally has definitely deepened a lot.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, it's very rich.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Are you born and raised?
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<v Rachael Sage>It's all those candy cigarettes.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Are you born and raised in the Hudson Valley?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Is that where you're from?
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<v Rachael Sage>No, I was raised in different parts of Connecticut and New York.
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<v Rachael Sage>I was actually born in Port Chester, New York, home of the original Sam Ash, I believe, so where I picked up my first synthesizer.
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<v Rachael Sage>I know.
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<v Rachael Sage>Although I don't know if you read that B&H is taking over the Sam Ash space.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, the one on 34th Street, right?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I don't know if they're making that a music space though.
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<v SPEAKER_4>Totally.
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<v Rachael Sage>It's just a tangent.
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<v Rachael Sage>I just read that.
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<v SPEAKER_4>I know.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>What else do they need?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>It's such a big place already.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>So how does somebody who is your satellite is, you're based in the Hudson Valley, but you've got shows like in Brighton, in the UK Brighton.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>How does that happen?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>How do you get shows in other countries?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>And Brighton is great.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm sure you've been there before.
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<v Rachael Sage>Oh, I love it.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>It seems like you're, from what I've seen of your work, it seems like it would probably go very well over there.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I will send my friends to see it as well.
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<v Rachael Sage>I was going to say, it seems like you have a kinship with it as well.
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<v Rachael Sage>From the tone in your voice.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I do.
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<v Rachael Sage>Yeah, I think it's like the downtown New York is to Manhattan as Brighton is to the broader London area.
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<v Rachael Sage>So, super fabulous, super LGBTQ plus.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Super vegetarian.
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<v Rachael Sage>Exactly.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Don't go swimming there.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>The rocks and the water are horrendous.
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<v Rachael Sage>Good advice.
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<v Rachael Sage>I don't swim, but I will remain a non-swimmer.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You don't swim.
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<v Rachael Sage>No, I don't like it.
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<v Rachael Sage>It's another topic, but I don't mind a good long hot shower, but don't ask me to go in the ocean.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>How are you booking shows in this place that you're not swimming in?
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<v Rachael Sage>Well, I have been touring a lot more in the UK, actually, for the last over 10 years than in the US.
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<v Rachael Sage>So funnily enough, the same way, but my audience there has expanded and just been more enthusiastic, you might say, on a larger scale than the US, but the process is absolutely the same.
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<v Rachael Sage>You cast lines to venues, you try to book a tour, you go over there, maybe the first time, and you're working with promoters or not, and you're just kind of making a go of it.
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<v Rachael Sage>So I laid that groundwork over a decade ago, and it wasn't with any big fanfare or anything.
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<v Rachael Sage>I think I booked myself into the Troubadour and the Green Note and a handful of other places, just like I had done prior to that in Germany, actually.
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<v Rachael Sage>Just real grassroots, nitty gritty, van breaking down by the side of the road.
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<v Rachael Sage>All the things that give you character cut to a few years after that.
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<v Rachael Sage>You meet the odd agent, they come and go, but you hold on to some of those venue contacts.
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<v Rachael Sage>It's kind of been that type of a process.
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<v Rachael Sage>More recently, I've supported a lot of bigger artists there, which has been very helpful to me.
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<v Rachael Sage>You just try to win those hearts and minds.
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<v Nancy Magarill>How did you get those gigs with the bigger artists?
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<v Rachael Sage>Very similar.
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<v Rachael Sage>I do the same thing in the US too, but with not quite as prolific results, because it's just so much bigger here.
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<v Rachael Sage>But I am not afraid to send an unabashedly enthusiastic self-pitch.
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<v Rachael Sage>And I try to think of it from the other person's perspective.
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<v Rachael Sage>And I think being a label head helps me to do that maybe a little bit more easily than some other of my peers.
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<v Rachael Sage>But I'll just point blank, say, the venues I've played before, the following that I have in each place, what type of radio support I've had, why I think I'm a good match with this artist, and just sort of make a little ebullient legal case for why I would be the perfect support for these upcoming shows.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>You said you're a label head?
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<v Rachael Sage>I am, yeah.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>What does that mean?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>What does a label mean?
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<v Rachael Sage>It means that I've been running a record label for quite some time, almost 30 years.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Wow.
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<v Rachael Sage>I know.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Isn't that crazy?
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>So, and what does that mean to the people who don't know?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I mean, of course, I know everything about it.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>I just want to help our listener.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Yes.
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<v Rachael Sage>Well, what that means is way before everybody ran a record label, I took that leap of craziness around 1996, I guess.
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<v Rachael Sage>Initially, I was just putting a logo that I made on my own CDs and calling it a record label.
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<v Rachael Sage>Then the years went by, I ended up getting distribution, being able to get my CD in different retail stores, remember them, back in the day.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>So you have to have a label for your stuff to get into a CD store pretty much.
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<v Rachael Sage>Well, back then you did.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Back then.
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<v Rachael Sage>Now, you really don't.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Now, it doesn't matter.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Well, not because everything's online pretty much.
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<v Nancy Magarill>That's right.
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<v Rachael Sage>Totally different landscape.
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<v Rachael Sage>Physical was queen at that point.
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<v Rachael Sage>And Nancy and I, we remember going to Tower Records and waiting in line to get some artists who we love to sign something, like Kate Bush signed The Red Shoes for me and Sting signed-
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<v Nancy Magarill>Do you know, I never did that.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I never waited in line for anyone to sign anything.
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<v Rachael Sage>Well, I lived across the street, so I was able to be lazy about it.
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<v Rachael Sage>I would sort of see from my window that the line was waning.
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<v Rachael Sage>And then, did you ever play, you did, right?
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<v Rachael Sage>You played in-store performances there.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Did you ever do that?
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<v Nancy Magarill>At Tower?
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<v Nancy Magarill>No.
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<v Nancy Magarill>No, I never played at Tower Records.
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<v Rachael Sage>They had, I'm surprised because they did embrace the one near us on Laura Broadway.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>We're talking about the one by NYU, right?
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<v Rachael Sage>Yeah.
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<v Rachael Sage>They embraced a lot of independent artists at a certain point, and it became fairly accessible to just knock on the door of the guy who booked that, and again, make a case that you could bring 50 people, 50 of your friends to play there and do a promotion for your album.
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<v Nancy Magarill>So, see, I wasn't able to play solo at that time.
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<v Rachael Sage>Got it.
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<v Nancy Magarill>So, I had the whole band.
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<v Nancy Magarill>I had the whole Nancy Magarill in the herd.
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<v Rachael Sage>Right.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Such a great group.
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<v Nancy Magarill>It was always a band thing, so I never ever did anything like that until I started doing some tours when I moved overseas and then started playing different places.
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<v Rachael Sage>It's like herding cats, right?
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<v Rachael Sage>We're literally wrangling people to all show up and to rehearse and all of it.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>With your label now, what is it called?
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<v Rachael Sage>It's called Empress Records, and somewhere in there around maybe 15 years ago, I signed my first other artist, Seth Clear.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, I remember that.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yes.
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<v Nancy Magarill>That was when I had label-free radio.
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<v Rachael Sage>That's right.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
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<v Rachael Sage>And I think he's right up your alley, just a beautiful singer-songwriter with a really expansive range and kind of in the James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen realm, really, really interesting guy.
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<v Rachael Sage>And he also produces and does film.
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<v Rachael Sage>So, you know, a polymath for sure.
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<v Rachael Sage>And then as that progressed, I signed a handful of other artists like Melissa Farik, a band called Fragile Tomorrow comprised of three brothers.
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<v Rachael Sage>And two of them actually were advocates for cerebral palsy.
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<v Rachael Sage>They have CP and just amazing guys.
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<v Rachael Sage>So we really embrace music and musicians with a story and a lot more to them than just writing songs, but the songs have to be great.
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<v Rachael Sage>And then as people, you know, we want to know that they're also just amazing people who are giving back to the community and, you know, people we'd want to drive with on long tour stretches and have over to dinner.
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<v Nancy Magarill>You know, I just saw Ryan Haddad at Playwrights Horizon.
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<v Nancy Magarill>He's an actor who has cerebral palsy.
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<v Nancy Magarill>And it was really fascinating, like great stories.
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<v Nancy Magarill>It seems like they need to connect somehow.
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<v Rachael Sage>Yes, definitely.
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<v Nancy Magarill>Be really interested in to bring them together.
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<v Rachael Sage>It would be.
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<v Rachael Sage>Let's Yenta it up.
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Did these people who you are, is it repping?
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<v Peter Michael Marino>Is that the right word?
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<v Rachael Sage>It's a great word, sure.
00:12:42.650 --> 00:12:46.910
<v Peter Michael Marino>Are these people who you're repping under your label, did they find you?
00:12:46.910 --> 00:12:52.810
<v Peter Michael Marino>Or did they write you enthusiastic emails the way you wrote emails and, you know?
00:12:52.810 --> 00:12:54.150
<v Rachael Sage>It's funny you should say that.
00:12:54.150 --> 00:12:56.110
<v Nancy Magarill>I think it was an ebulence.
00:12:57.170 --> 00:12:59.010
<v Rachael Sage>It's been a mix.
00:12:59.010 --> 00:13:08.550
<v Rachael Sage>I would say 50-50, you know, there was an artist, well, there is an artist named Grace Pettis who's phenomenal, and I'm obsessed with her music.
00:13:08.550 --> 00:13:24.070
<v Rachael Sage>She has a very gritty kind of Sheryl Crow sort of a voice, and then she also, she writes country, Americana, beautiful folk songs, and I heard her perform at South by Southwest, but in a very intimate setting, an unofficial party.
00:13:24.070 --> 00:13:30.650
<v Rachael Sage>And just her and a guitar blew me away, and my tour manager Meredith is kind of a right hand to me in the label.
00:13:31.050 --> 00:13:37.730
<v Rachael Sage>And we just looked at each other knowingly going, okay, how do we collaborate with this superstar?
00:13:37.730 --> 00:13:38.630
<v Rachael Sage>She's amazing.
00:13:38.630 --> 00:13:43.370
<v Rachael Sage>And then she turned out to be the nicest, most down to earth person, and really wants some support.
00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:48.790
<v Rachael Sage>And then on the flip side, the boys in A Fragile Tomorrow, they're men now, but they were boys then.
00:13:48.790 --> 00:13:50.270
<v Rachael Sage>Actually, some of them were in their teens.
00:13:50.270 --> 00:13:52.230
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I like how she went, they're men now.
00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:54.430
<v Rachael Sage>Yes, oh yes, manly men.
00:13:54.470 --> 00:13:56.290
<v Nancy Magarill>And her man voice.
00:13:56.290 --> 00:14:02.150
<v Rachael Sage>They were already pursuing it professionally as professional kids and teens.
00:14:02.150 --> 00:14:06.650
<v Rachael Sage>They were home schooled, they were driving around in a van, playing gigs, you know, like Hanson.
00:14:06.650 --> 00:14:08.070
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh my God, that's so sweet.
00:14:08.070 --> 00:14:19.390
<v Rachael Sage>So to me, that was incredibly inspiring because of course I would have loved to have gone away with this proverbial circus at their age, but did not have the right parents for that endeavor.
00:14:19.390 --> 00:14:26.610
<v Rachael Sage>So, you know, they came to me, I thought that they needed some development and it was exciting in that way.
00:14:26.610 --> 00:14:28.150
<v Rachael Sage>So a very different scenario.
00:14:28.150 --> 00:14:33.030
<v Rachael Sage>We sat down at Think Coffee in the East Village and I was just kind of like, well, what do you want to do?
00:14:33.030 --> 00:14:34.110
<v Rachael Sage>You know, how can we help?
00:14:34.110 --> 00:14:34.870
<v Rachael Sage>That's very flattering.
00:14:34.870 --> 00:14:38.750
<v Rachael Sage>You came to us, you know, what specifically, you know, are your goals?
00:14:38.750 --> 00:14:44.250
<v Rachael Sage>And then once we figured out they were pretty well aligned, that was able to move forward.
00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:45.830
<v Rachael Sage>So it's really varied through the years.
00:14:45.870 --> 00:15:00.950
<v Rachael Sage>And Case Choice, we released, I don't know if y'all remember their song, Not an Addict from the 90s, but it was one of my favorite rock songs, kind of akin to Veruca Salt and Nirvana, just very edgy and rock.
00:15:00.950 --> 00:15:03.550
<v Rachael Sage>So that was out of the norm of our style.
00:15:03.550 --> 00:15:09.850
<v Rachael Sage>But I said, what the heck, you know, just because it's going to scare my parents doesn't mean I shouldn't sign it.
00:15:09.850 --> 00:15:12.190
<v Nancy Magarill>That means you should sign it for that reason.
00:15:12.670 --> 00:15:17.530
<v Nancy Magarill>How do you balance your career as an artist and theirs?
00:15:17.530 --> 00:15:19.690
<v Nancy Magarill>Presuming they're all touring as well?
00:15:19.810 --> 00:15:20.590
<v Rachael Sage>Yes.
00:15:20.610 --> 00:15:22.270
<v Nancy Magarill>How do you balance that?
00:15:22.270 --> 00:15:23.530
<v Rachael Sage>That's a great question.
00:15:23.530 --> 00:15:25.090
<v Rachael Sage>Well, we're not management.
00:15:25.090 --> 00:15:28.150
<v Rachael Sage>So we're not micromanaging their touring, per se.
00:15:28.150 --> 00:15:30.030
<v Rachael Sage>We're not booking their gigs.
00:15:30.030 --> 00:15:38.930
<v Rachael Sage>And we're not managing the day to day of, let's say, for example, their finances from their tour income or, you know, other things they may be doing in music.
00:15:38.930 --> 00:15:40.650
<v Rachael Sage>We're just their label.
00:15:41.350 --> 00:15:44.590
<v Rachael Sage>So, you know, I say just, but of course, that involves a lot of things.
00:15:44.590 --> 00:16:01.330
<v Rachael Sage>So we're shepherding them through the demo process, the A&R curation for their albums or their singles, overseeing potential videos that will be using that Mpress Records released audio, but maybe not their, you know, their TikTok videos.
00:16:01.330 --> 00:16:02.490
<v Rachael Sage>That's on them, you know.
00:16:02.490 --> 00:16:12.030
<v Rachael Sage>So anything that uses those master recordings that we're helping them realize and executive produce in effect, that's the extent of our involvement.
00:16:12.030 --> 00:16:18.750
<v Rachael Sage>And then there have been a handful of artists who have completed their albums and brought them to us completely finished.
00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:20.490
<v Rachael Sage>And we just love them as they were.
00:16:20.490 --> 00:16:22.230
<v Rachael Sage>So we've licensed their records.
00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:33.270
<v Rachael Sage>For instance, James Mastro, who you may know, a guitar player who plays with Ian Hunter and just a lot of rock artists, Alejandro Escovedo.
00:16:33.270 --> 00:16:35.650
<v Rachael Sage>And he'd played on my own albums for years and years.
00:16:35.810 --> 00:16:42.110
<v Rachael Sage>So when he came to me with his own completed rock album, I was pleasantly surprised.
00:16:42.110 --> 00:16:43.790
<v Rachael Sage>I just didn't even know we'd been working on it.
00:16:43.790 --> 00:16:44.930
<v Rachael Sage>I was like, what?
00:16:44.930 --> 00:16:45.730
<v Rachael Sage>Rockstar?
00:16:45.730 --> 00:16:51.270
<v Rachael Sage>Like, yeah, let's put this out together because it really, you know, it checked all the boxes for us.
00:16:51.270 --> 00:16:53.530
<v Rachael Sage>Great songs, great performances.
00:16:53.530 --> 00:17:00.610
<v Rachael Sage>You know, the odd quote from someone like Patti Smith, never hurts when you're devoting a record, right?
00:17:01.650 --> 00:17:09.510
<v Peter Michael Marino>Who are your, well, I have to ask, like, we just tend to, we tend to be talking lately to people who have been around very famous people.
00:17:09.510 --> 00:17:10.950
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, sure.
00:17:10.950 --> 00:17:12.370
<v Peter Michael Marino>Who's your famous person?
00:17:12.370 --> 00:17:14.990
<v Peter Michael Marino>Like, who's your, like, I had this experience.
00:17:15.070 --> 00:17:16.570
<v Nancy Magarill>Rachael has many.
00:17:16.570 --> 00:17:17.970
<v Rachael Sage>No, I don't know about that.
00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:18.750
<v Peter Michael Marino>Give me a good one.
00:17:18.750 --> 00:17:19.270
<v Peter Michael Marino>Give me a good one.
00:17:19.270 --> 00:17:21.350
<v Rachael Sage>I gravitate toward the more obscure.
00:17:21.350 --> 00:17:22.430
<v Rachael Sage>Nancy knows that.
00:17:22.430 --> 00:17:23.170
<v Rachael Sage>I really do.
00:17:23.170 --> 00:17:24.350
<v Rachael Sage>And I think you're similar.
00:17:24.770 --> 00:17:29.370
<v Rachael Sage>We like to discover and find people that then years later are huge.
00:17:29.370 --> 00:17:30.730
<v Rachael Sage>And we're like, what?
00:17:30.730 --> 00:17:32.390
<v Rachael Sage>We knew them at the Sidewalk Cafe.
00:17:32.390 --> 00:17:36.870
<v Rachael Sage>So I guess an example of that would be, this isn't a very embarrassing story.
00:17:36.870 --> 00:17:37.570
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yay.
00:17:37.790 --> 00:17:46.650
<v Rachael Sage>Years ago, a friend of mine, maybe you know him, Randy Craftin, a wonderful percussionist who toured for years with, oh my gosh, do you ever just forget names?
00:17:46.650 --> 00:17:46.810
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:17:46.810 --> 00:17:47.450
<v Rachael Sage>We'll come back to that.
00:17:47.450 --> 00:17:48.290
<v Nancy Magarill>That's called old age.
00:17:48.290 --> 00:17:49.690
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, we edit it in.
00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:51.070
<v Peter Michael Marino>No one knows we forget anything.
00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:54.530
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, you may have to edit this now.
00:17:54.530 --> 00:17:55.190
<v Rachael Sage>I'm sorry.
00:17:55.190 --> 00:17:56.850
<v Nancy Magarill>No, I always edit it.
00:17:56.850 --> 00:17:58.650
<v Rachael Sage>We can be real.
00:17:58.650 --> 00:18:02.470
<v Rachael Sage>So he brought me a cassette by a young woman.
00:18:02.470 --> 00:18:03.230
<v Rachael Sage>A cassette?
00:18:03.230 --> 00:18:04.910
<v Rachael Sage>Name Regina Spector.
00:18:04.930 --> 00:18:06.090
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh my God.
00:18:06.090 --> 00:18:07.070
<v Nancy Magarill>I love Regina.
00:18:07.070 --> 00:18:07.710
<v Rachael Sage>I love her too.
00:18:07.710 --> 00:18:08.330
<v Rachael Sage>She's so great.
00:18:08.330 --> 00:18:10.850
<v Rachael Sage>He said, take a listen to this.
00:18:10.850 --> 00:18:12.410
<v Rachael Sage>It's just a demo.
00:18:12.410 --> 00:18:13.810
<v Rachael Sage>I'm curious what you think.
00:18:13.810 --> 00:18:18.390
<v Rachael Sage>This is years and years ago before she toured with the Strokes and really got to the next level.
00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:19.730
<v Rachael Sage>I don't know what demo it was.
00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:27.350
<v Rachael Sage>It certainly wasn't anything I ended up loving and being obsessed with later as a fan, but it didn't really connect with me.
00:18:27.510 --> 00:18:29.610
<v Nancy Magarill>You passed on Regina Spector.
00:18:30.010 --> 00:18:30.390
<v Rachael Sage>Sort of.
00:18:30.390 --> 00:18:31.790
<v Rachael Sage>She doesn't know that I passed on her.
00:18:31.790 --> 00:18:34.250
<v Rachael Sage>So he brought me this demo.
00:18:35.190 --> 00:18:42.070
<v Rachael Sage>My comment at the time was, I really love this, but it reminds me too much of Fiona Apple and there already is a Fiona Apple.
00:18:42.070 --> 00:18:46.190
<v Rachael Sage>In hindsight, I actually don't think Regina Spector sounds anything like Fiona Apple.
00:18:46.190 --> 00:18:50.370
<v Rachael Sage>So it must have just been something about this demo that maybe someone else had produced.
00:18:50.370 --> 00:18:57.410
<v Rachael Sage>And you know how that goes when we haven't just quite found our own sound of how we love to make records.
00:18:57.410 --> 00:18:58.450
<v Rachael Sage>And that's what that was.
00:18:58.450 --> 00:19:01.170
<v Rachael Sage>And yeah, so I just kind of ended up with a pile.
00:19:01.170 --> 00:19:02.450
<v Rachael Sage>That's the embarrassing one.
00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:14.570
<v Nancy Magarill>But that's so interesting, though, because, you know, I guess I didn't think of it in that time period that you would have had an opportunity to even work, have artists at that, like Regina Spector coming to you.
00:19:15.310 --> 00:19:17.210
<v Peter Michael Marino>But she wasn't Regina Spector at that point.
00:19:17.750 --> 00:19:20.650
<v Rachael Sage>No, she was playing like the open mic at the sidewalk cafe.
00:19:20.650 --> 00:19:21.490
<v Nancy Magarill>Exactly.
00:19:21.490 --> 00:19:21.950
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:25.250
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, I was going to say open mic at the sidewalk and having a cassette.
00:19:25.250 --> 00:19:26.810
<v Nancy Magarill>But it's so great.
00:19:26.810 --> 00:19:29.530
<v Nancy Magarill>Like, you're right, because we are surrounded in New York City.
00:19:29.530 --> 00:19:38.350
<v Nancy Magarill>We've all had, you know, I did a gig at Mercury Lounge and Jennifer Charles was opening.
00:19:38.470 --> 00:19:42.790
<v Nancy Magarill>Or maybe I was opening for Jennifer Charles is probably more like it.
00:19:42.790 --> 00:19:46.970
<v Nancy Magarill>And Jeff Buckley was right there in the green room with me.
00:19:46.970 --> 00:19:53.090
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, he actually came to Cheney, Cafe Cheney a couple of times when I played, because she was a waitress there.
00:19:53.090 --> 00:19:54.730
<v Rachael Sage>I remember, I was probably there.
00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:54.930
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:19:54.930 --> 00:20:02.470
<v Rachael Sage>Because I remember him just being around and we all played shows there and he was going to play in a couple of hours at 11 or whatever.
00:20:02.470 --> 00:20:02.810
<v Nancy Magarill>We were on at 9.
00:20:02.890 --> 00:20:04.070
<v Nancy Magarill>He was just always around.
00:20:04.070 --> 00:20:06.690
<v Nancy Magarill>And I remember I actually said something to him.
00:20:06.690 --> 00:20:10.610
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, and I used to rehearse next to him on 54th Street.
00:20:10.610 --> 00:20:12.770
<v Nancy Magarill>There was a 54th Street on the west side.
00:20:12.770 --> 00:20:22.750
<v Nancy Magarill>There was an old recording rehearsal studio and his band used to record, rehearse next to me, right before he was a big star.
00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:25.110
<v Nancy Magarill>And then he took off right at that time.
00:20:25.110 --> 00:20:31.210
<v Nancy Magarill>And then I saw him at the Mercury Lounge and I said something to him and I was like, oh my God, I'm such a fan and he disappeared.
00:20:31.310 --> 00:20:33.330
<v Nancy Magarill>He wouldn't talk to me the rest of the night.
00:20:33.330 --> 00:20:36.730
<v Nancy Magarill>He was so uncomfortable with people being recognized.
00:20:36.730 --> 00:20:38.270
<v Nancy Magarill>Being recognized, yeah.
00:20:38.270 --> 00:20:41.570
<v Nancy Magarill>And it was such a shame because I'd seen him everywhere.
00:20:41.570 --> 00:20:47.910
<v Peter Michael Marino>Nancy, I'm just having a memory of we often talk about how we know each other and it's always like so weird.
00:20:47.910 --> 00:20:48.910
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's from the Cabaret World.
00:20:48.910 --> 00:20:49.830
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's from my Kyoto.
00:20:49.830 --> 00:20:51.050
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's from Everett Bradley.
00:20:51.050 --> 00:21:05.390
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's from, but I believe one time I went to a concert at that very tiny cramped back room at the sidewalk and you were there, but you were sitting really close to the musician and you were going, sit here, sit here.
00:21:05.390 --> 00:21:07.190
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I was like, it's too close.
00:21:07.190 --> 00:21:08.230
<v Peter Michael Marino>I can't.
00:21:08.230 --> 00:21:09.490
<v Nancy Magarill>Did I know you then?
00:21:09.490 --> 00:21:09.950
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
00:21:09.950 --> 00:21:10.230
<v SPEAKER_4>Yeah.
00:21:10.230 --> 00:21:14.550
<v Peter Michael Marino>It must have been very early on in our relationship.
00:21:14.550 --> 00:21:17.030
<v Nancy Magarill>I don't remember knowing you that long ago.
00:21:17.030 --> 00:21:19.070
<v Rachael Sage>I know what you mean about the closeness though.
00:21:19.070 --> 00:21:20.970
<v Rachael Sage>That stage.
00:21:21.010 --> 00:21:21.170
<v SPEAKER_4>Yeah.
00:21:21.170 --> 00:21:23.530
<v Rachael Sage>Your cocktail seat was like on the stage.
00:21:23.530 --> 00:21:27.090
<v Peter Michael Marino>I mean, that is if you have, I've also been to shows there where there's five people.
00:21:27.090 --> 00:21:28.530
<v Peter Michael Marino>So, you know.
00:21:28.530 --> 00:21:30.390
<v Nancy Magarill>I once had a djembe like that.
00:21:30.390 --> 00:21:31.130
<v Rachael Sage>Oh, go ahead, say it.
00:21:31.150 --> 00:21:32.550
<v Rachael Sage>The bitter end, yes.
00:21:32.550 --> 00:21:44.490
<v Rachael Sage>I once had a djembe stolen out from under my nose at the edge of the stage at the sidewalk cafe while I was slightly turned left at the upright piano.
00:21:44.490 --> 00:21:45.990
<v Nancy Magarill>Wait, and it was on stage?
00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:50.330
<v Rachael Sage>It was, you know, like just on the stage, right next to the center mic.
00:21:50.830 --> 00:21:53.790
<v SPEAKER_4>And someone just swiped it and walked out with it.
00:21:53.990 --> 00:21:55.230
<v Rachael Sage>Holy shit.
00:21:55.230 --> 00:21:56.890
<v Rachael Sage>Because the place is so tiny.
00:21:56.890 --> 00:21:59.730
<v SPEAKER_4>And there were people sitting on the floor, sitting at the tables.
00:21:59.730 --> 00:22:01.510
<v Nancy Magarill>And nobody saw it and stopped them?
00:22:01.510 --> 00:22:02.250
<v Rachael Sage>No, no.
00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:04.030
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh my God, that's crazy.
00:22:04.030 --> 00:22:05.530
<v Rachael Sage>It was probably just some hippie.
00:22:05.530 --> 00:22:07.250
<v Peter Michael Marino>They had $3 margaritas there.
00:22:07.250 --> 00:22:08.790
<v Peter Michael Marino>That's what I keep thinking about.
00:22:08.790 --> 00:22:15.990
<v Nancy Magarill>I have to say, I loved, I don't think I have, maybe I played sidewalk cafe once, but I loved playing the small, intimate clubs.
00:22:16.210 --> 00:22:23.310
<v Nancy Magarill>Cafe Chenet to me was such a joyous place to play, because you just were there with people.
00:22:23.310 --> 00:22:30.910
<v Nancy Magarill>There's something, like we were just talking to Celia about these big arena shows that she's playing, and how great that is, and what that feels like.
00:22:30.910 --> 00:22:37.650
<v Nancy Magarill>But there is something about being in the same room with people where you're right there connecting with them.
00:22:37.650 --> 00:22:38.950
<v Nancy Magarill>That's so magical.
00:22:38.950 --> 00:22:48.870
<v Nancy Magarill>I mean, Pete, you've also played, I remember the first time I saw your Lance show was down in the basement around Penn Station somewhere.
00:22:48.870 --> 00:22:51.170
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, and it was so intimate and amazing.
00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:51.850
<v Nancy Magarill>And I love that.
00:22:51.850 --> 00:22:56.370
<v Nancy Magarill>I think there's a real balance that happens between those kinds of shows.
00:22:56.490 --> 00:23:10.910
<v Peter Michael Marino>I feel like I learned about that intimacy stuff when I started going to the UK a lot, and just seeing like how they use back rooms of bars, and front rooms of bars, and front, you know, storefronts, just weird places.
00:23:10.910 --> 00:23:21.850
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I feel like America, at least back then, wasn't as hip to, you know, going to something that, you know, It's relegated to cabaret only here.
00:23:22.830 --> 00:23:39.350
<v Rachael Sage>And interestingly, you know, I'm often asking the lighting person in a slightly larger room to put a little bit of light on the first few rows so I can see human beings and kind of pretend it's more cabaret a little bit, or just more intimate, because when you're in a small space, you see everyone in the room.
00:23:39.350 --> 00:23:46.670
<v Rachael Sage>You can really play to that person in the seventh row, and the eighth row, and the first row, and we're all in one space.
00:23:46.670 --> 00:23:55.270
<v Rachael Sage>And in a much bigger venue like your last interviewee you were mentioning, that can be sometimes a little bit isolating even.
00:23:55.270 --> 00:23:58.350
<v Rachael Sage>I get more nervous when I can't see anyone.
00:23:58.530 --> 00:23:59.450
<v Peter Michael Marino>Absolutely.
00:23:59.450 --> 00:24:00.850
<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm exactly the same.
00:24:00.850 --> 00:24:02.210
<v Peter Michael Marino>You have to have the house lights up.
00:24:02.210 --> 00:24:06.030
<v Rachael Sage>I have to just imagine a couple of besties in my front row.
00:24:06.030 --> 00:24:10.010
<v Peter Michael Marino>Do you always have people in the front row lip-syncing along or singing along?
00:24:11.470 --> 00:24:14.690
<v Peter Michael Marino>Are you able to not watch them or?
00:24:14.690 --> 00:24:16.430
<v Rachael Sage>That's the best if you have that.
00:24:16.530 --> 00:24:17.450
<v Peter Michael Marino>You like that.
00:24:17.450 --> 00:24:18.730
<v Rachael Sage>Of course.
00:24:18.730 --> 00:24:20.110
<v Rachael Sage>Sometimes I'll even joke.
00:24:20.110 --> 00:24:25.610
<v Rachael Sage>I'll put them on the spot and say, don't mind me if I change the lyrics.
00:24:25.610 --> 00:24:27.450
<v Rachael Sage>I know you know them.
00:24:27.450 --> 00:24:29.310
<v Rachael Sage>But I like to improvise.
00:24:30.110 --> 00:24:32.690
<v Rachael Sage>So this third verse may be different from what you-
00:24:32.690 --> 00:24:34.670
<v Rachael Sage>Yeah, absolutely.
00:24:34.670 --> 00:24:35.190
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:47.630
<v Rachael Sage>I mean, I'd say about 30, 40 percent of what I do nowadays in my show is improvised musically, just in terms of the way that I play piano and some arrangement things.
00:24:47.630 --> 00:24:50.030
<v Rachael Sage>And I don't ever write a set list.
00:24:50.290 --> 00:24:53.070
<v Rachael Sage>And I work with people who know the repertoire.
00:24:53.070 --> 00:24:54.150
<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow.
00:24:54.150 --> 00:24:58.150
<v Nancy Magarill>That's interesting because I find, and I think you're very similar.
00:24:58.610 --> 00:25:02.210
<v Nancy Magarill>You and I both work very hard on a lyric.
00:25:02.210 --> 00:25:05.530
<v Nancy Magarill>Like, lyrics, there's some people that could give a crap about lyrics.
00:25:05.530 --> 00:25:06.830
<v Nancy Magarill>Lyrics matter.
00:25:06.830 --> 00:25:08.690
<v Nancy Magarill>And you and I have talked about this before.
00:25:08.690 --> 00:25:10.530
<v Nancy Magarill>Lyrics really matter to me.
00:25:10.530 --> 00:25:12.170
<v Rachael Sage>That should be a T-shirt for us.
00:25:12.170 --> 00:25:12.570
<v Nancy Magarill>Right?
00:25:12.570 --> 00:25:14.030
<v Nancy Magarill>Lyrics matter.
00:25:15.250 --> 00:25:23.290
<v Nancy Magarill>But I feel like I don't know if I ever could then rewrite one of my songs in a live show.
00:25:23.290 --> 00:25:26.310
<v Nancy Magarill>Like, I would have a really hard time with that.
00:25:26.350 --> 00:25:32.250
<v Rachael Sage>More like there are interchangeable go-to words that I might sort of mix up.
00:25:32.250 --> 00:25:38.810
<v Rachael Sage>And then musically, for sure, I'm going to noodle out on the piano in a different way every time.
00:25:38.810 --> 00:25:43.050
<v Rachael Sage>Yeah, and sometimes the word improvises interchangeable with forget.
00:25:43.050 --> 00:25:44.430
<v Nancy Magarill>I was just going to say that.
00:25:44.430 --> 00:25:47.810
<v Rachael Sage>But then you're spontaneously rewriting.
00:25:48.230 --> 00:25:49.550
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, I've had that.
00:25:49.550 --> 00:25:54.410
<v Peter Michael Marino>When people come to one of my solo shows, they're like, oh, you cut that part about the blah, blah, blah.
00:25:54.570 --> 00:25:57.410
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I go, no, I just forgot it.
00:25:57.410 --> 00:25:59.770
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I'm glad you remembered that one part, though.
00:25:59.770 --> 00:26:03.430
<v Nancy Magarill>And the beautiful thing is, though, most people don't even know most of the time.
00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:04.450
<v Rachael Sage>Of course, yeah.
00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:08.590
<v Nancy Magarill>Only you know, really, when you forget a lyric or something, or you mess up.
00:26:08.790 --> 00:26:10.730
<v Nancy Magarill>And it's human to mess up.
00:26:12.050 --> 00:26:16.570
<v Peter Michael Marino>Where did this ability to play instruments come from?
00:26:16.810 --> 00:26:17.770
<v Peter Michael Marino>And even music?
00:26:18.530 --> 00:26:21.590
<v Peter Michael Marino>What were your influences, Rachael Sage?
00:26:21.590 --> 00:26:23.450
<v Rachael Sage>Rolling up my proverbial sleeves here.
00:26:24.710 --> 00:26:34.190
<v Peter Michael Marino>Rachael's wearing a fantastic yellow knit sweater that has daisies on it with just the top button buttoned.
00:26:34.190 --> 00:26:37.810
<v Rachael Sage>Marking the end of Passover where we can eat carbs again.
00:26:37.810 --> 00:26:42.270
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's the traditional marking the end of Passover by buttoning the top button of your knit sweater.
00:26:42.270 --> 00:26:43.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>That's it, yeah.
00:26:43.110 --> 00:26:46.030
<v Nancy Magarill>I'm going to pretend I followed Passover.
00:26:46.030 --> 00:26:47.430
<v Rachael Sage>I did it for you.
00:26:47.430 --> 00:26:48.830
<v Nancy Magarill>Thank you.
00:26:48.830 --> 00:26:51.970
<v Rachael Sage>I'm always happy to deprive myself on behalf of anyone else.
00:26:53.490 --> 00:26:54.630
<v Rachael Sage>But we digress.
00:26:54.630 --> 00:26:57.030
<v Rachael Sage>I love your humor, both of you.
00:26:57.030 --> 00:26:58.450
<v SPEAKER_4>We get each other.
00:26:59.290 --> 00:27:12.370
<v Rachael Sage>The caveat before I answer this question is that if I knew how I mastered but really learned to play piano, I would clone that process and apply it to 17 other instruments I wish I could play.
00:27:12.510 --> 00:27:15.850
<v Rachael Sage>The reality is, it was a very natural process growing up.
00:27:15.850 --> 00:27:23.930
<v Rachael Sage>I happened to have a piano in my home, in the living room that my very not musical parents just had the foresight and the good sense-
00:27:23.930 --> 00:27:24.710
<v Peter Michael Marino>Furniture.
00:27:24.710 --> 00:27:25.410
<v SPEAKER_4>To have, yeah.
00:27:25.410 --> 00:27:26.930
<v Nancy Magarill>But they're artistic.
00:27:27.230 --> 00:27:28.410
<v Rachael Sage>They're creative, yeah.
00:27:28.410 --> 00:27:31.550
<v Rachael Sage>And my parents love music.
00:27:31.550 --> 00:27:32.630
<v Rachael Sage>They love Broadway.
00:27:32.630 --> 00:27:33.970
<v Rachael Sage>They love Doo-Wop.
00:27:33.970 --> 00:27:36.490
<v Rachael Sage>And my dad loved The Beatles.
00:27:36.650 --> 00:27:41.570
<v Rachael Sage>They were two different sides of the same coin, which is to say that they both loved melody.
00:27:41.570 --> 00:27:54.490
<v Rachael Sage>If it was a song they could hum with a good tune, that became sort of the barometer of early encouragement with their, you know, just strange daughter who took to the piano with no lessons.
00:27:54.750 --> 00:27:58.050
<v SPEAKER_4>They didn't really understand it, but they'd say, oh, honey, that's a good tune.
00:27:58.050 --> 00:27:59.090
<v SPEAKER_4>Write another one like that.
00:27:59.090 --> 00:28:01.130
<v SPEAKER_4>Or like, I don't know, that's not such a good tune.
00:28:01.130 --> 00:28:02.570
<v Nancy Magarill>They really didn't understand it?
00:28:02.570 --> 00:28:02.990
<v SPEAKER_4>No.
00:28:02.990 --> 00:28:04.250
<v Nancy Magarill>I find that shocking.
00:28:04.250 --> 00:28:05.010
<v Rachael Sage>Absolutely not.
00:28:05.010 --> 00:28:11.390
<v SPEAKER_4>So they would be like, sweetheart, I don't know, but it seems like Billy Joel uses both hands.
00:28:11.390 --> 00:28:15.890
<v SPEAKER_4>You know, or like, you know, you don't have to always be at the bottom all the time.
00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:17.150
<v SPEAKER_4>Why don't you play the top two?
00:28:18.170 --> 00:28:36.130
<v Rachael Sage>There were sort of like macro encouragements slash criticisms that were very like Jewish stage parenty without them being musicians or understanding music really where they were nonetheless encouraging that I should someday be a composer.
00:28:36.130 --> 00:28:45.170
<v Rachael Sage>You know, they heard me noodling with one hand in a catchy way or have pounding out a beat with the left hand and they were kind of like, all right, sweetheart, put it all together.
00:28:45.930 --> 00:28:48.230
<v SPEAKER_4>Dance monkey, dance.
00:28:48.650 --> 00:28:51.630
<v Peter Michael Marino>Did you have a cassette player and you recorded yourself?
00:28:52.170 --> 00:28:54.890
<v Peter Michael Marino>I mean, I'm thinking we're all from the same era.
00:28:54.890 --> 00:28:56.310
<v SPEAKER_4>We are.
00:28:56.310 --> 00:28:58.290
<v Rachael Sage>I've confirmed it on Wikipedia.
00:28:59.910 --> 00:29:01.690
<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm from the tape recorder era.
00:29:01.690 --> 00:29:03.910
<v Rachael Sage>Totally, and proud to be so.
00:29:03.910 --> 00:29:13.230
<v Rachael Sage>Yeah, around 11, 12 years old, there started to be some discussion in my extended family, actually, who would only convene on holidays like Passover.
00:29:13.530 --> 00:29:17.330
<v SPEAKER_4>Maybe we should get her a four-track for her bat mitzvah.
00:29:17.330 --> 00:29:18.510
<v Nancy Magarill>Hanukkah.
00:29:18.510 --> 00:29:20.090
<v SPEAKER_4>Yeah, maybe.
00:29:20.090 --> 00:29:24.830
<v Rachael Sage>But the bat mitzvah was the big one where you got the big gift that everybody pitched in on.
00:29:24.830 --> 00:29:36.450
<v Rachael Sage>So instead of, I don't know what it would have been, a set of, you know, Encyclopedia Britannica or whatever, they all decided that I should be getting a four-track.
00:29:36.450 --> 00:29:43.970
<v Rachael Sage>And I really didn't have the, you know, kind of the big picture yet to understand what that was or why I would end up loving it.
00:29:43.970 --> 00:29:49.970
<v Rachael Sage>When it first arrived in a box, I was actually kind of deflated, like, this doesn't seem like a present, you know what I mean?
00:29:49.970 --> 00:29:51.030
<v Nancy Magarill>This isn't a pot, Mr.
00:29:51.030 --> 00:29:51.210
<v Nancy Magarill>Gibbs.
00:29:51.210 --> 00:29:52.470
<v SPEAKER_4>This is electronics.
00:29:52.470 --> 00:29:55.190
<v Rachael Sage>Like, don't I get a necklace?
00:29:55.190 --> 00:29:56.470
<v SPEAKER_4>Like, it was just me.
00:29:56.670 --> 00:29:57.750
<v Nancy Magarill>Want a try?
00:29:57.750 --> 00:30:05.030
<v Rachael Sage>I'm such a femme, I'm such a girly girl that, like, I, even back then, present to me meant, like, something sparkly and pretty and colorful.
00:30:05.150 --> 00:30:06.170
<v Peter Michael Marino>You are.
00:30:06.170 --> 00:30:11.210
<v Rachael Sage>I just, like, wrangled with this piece of equipment, and I'm not naturally very technical.
00:30:11.470 --> 00:30:13.770
<v Rachael Sage>And I really wrestled with it for days and days.
00:30:13.770 --> 00:30:22.770
<v Rachael Sage>And finally, I figured out, oh, like, these two Fostex mics and these two speakers, but turn them off when I put the headphones and, like, stick this mic by the piano.
00:30:22.770 --> 00:30:23.710
<v Nancy Magarill>Press this button.
00:30:23.710 --> 00:30:24.430
<v Rachael Sage>Exactly.
00:30:24.430 --> 00:30:29.510
<v Rachael Sage>And eventually, I started making demos at the piano with this four-track.
00:30:29.510 --> 00:30:35.010
<v Rachael Sage>And as you can imagine, when I figured out how to bounce tracks, that was, like, that was the coolest, right?
00:30:35.010 --> 00:30:36.070
<v Nancy Magarill>Oh, my God.
00:30:36.070 --> 00:30:37.430
<v Rachael Sage>That's like what the Beatles did.
00:30:37.430 --> 00:30:39.070
<v Nancy Magarill>Did you want to explain how you bounced them on?
00:30:39.070 --> 00:30:39.750
<v Rachael Sage>No, you can explain.
00:30:39.770 --> 00:30:41.030
<v Rachael Sage>You're actually more technical than me.
00:30:41.050 --> 00:30:53.350
<v Nancy Magarill>If I can remember exactly how to do it with a tape recorder, what you would do is you would press record on the one track you wanted to record to, and then you'd hit the other two.
00:30:53.510 --> 00:30:55.810
<v Nancy Magarill>You'd have to send them over a certain way.
00:30:55.810 --> 00:30:56.830
<v Nancy Magarill>I can't even remember.
00:30:56.830 --> 00:30:57.770
<v Nancy Magarill>Like A-U-X, aux.
00:30:57.770 --> 00:30:59.010
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, maybe it was an aux.
00:30:59.010 --> 00:30:59.810
<v Nancy Magarill>I don't remember.
00:30:59.810 --> 00:31:00.430
<v Nancy Magarill>Aux send.
00:31:00.430 --> 00:31:02.630
<v Nancy Magarill>You would just have to send them.
00:31:02.630 --> 00:31:07.430
<v Nancy Magarill>So you'd play, you'd push play on two tracks and send and record on another.
00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:08.950
<v Nancy Magarill>It was all this...
00:31:08.950 --> 00:31:13.610
<v Nancy Magarill>Remember how Jen Munson was talking about splicing and splicing old tape?
00:31:13.610 --> 00:31:14.830
<v Nancy Magarill>It was the same kind of thing.
00:31:14.830 --> 00:31:15.590
<v Nancy Magarill>I did that too.
00:31:15.590 --> 00:31:18.970
<v Nancy Magarill>You just did all these workarounds to get...
00:31:18.970 --> 00:31:19.690
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:31:19.690 --> 00:31:24.170
<v Nancy Magarill>You would take two tracks on to one, so then you'd have those other two tracks that you would record something else.
00:31:24.170 --> 00:31:25.270
<v Rachael Sage>But you could do that again and again.
00:31:25.270 --> 00:31:25.550
<v Nancy Magarill>Right.
00:31:25.550 --> 00:31:28.210
<v Rachael Sage>You'd start to get a lot of noise build up, a lot of hiss.
00:31:28.210 --> 00:31:28.530
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:31:28.530 --> 00:31:31.150
<v Rachael Sage>But I felt like I could be Kate Bush.
00:31:31.150 --> 00:31:35.770
<v Rachael Sage>I could have ten of me singing the same part and suddenly I was in my own choir.
00:31:35.930 --> 00:31:37.330
<v Rachael Sage>And so that was very satisfying.
00:31:37.330 --> 00:31:41.430
<v Rachael Sage>And the beginnings of me wanting to be a music producer, I guess.
00:31:41.430 --> 00:31:41.910
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:31:41.910 --> 00:31:45.950
<v Peter Michael Marino>So I'm sensing some, what's the word?
00:31:45.950 --> 00:31:46.310
<v Peter Michael Marino>Nerd.
00:31:46.590 --> 00:31:48.070
<v Peter Michael Marino>There's some nerd-dom here.
00:31:48.110 --> 00:31:49.270
<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, no doubt.
00:31:49.270 --> 00:31:49.630
<v Peter Michael Marino>Okay.
00:31:49.630 --> 00:31:49.890
<v Peter Michael Marino>All right.
00:31:49.890 --> 00:31:50.330
<v Peter Michael Marino>Great.
00:31:50.330 --> 00:31:57.830
<v Peter Michael Marino>So your high school years, were you like the weird kid who went home and wrote music?
00:31:57.830 --> 00:31:59.330
<v Peter Michael Marino>And I was like, what is she doing?
00:31:59.330 --> 00:32:02.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>Or were you like auditioning for Oklahoma?
00:32:02.110 --> 00:32:04.070
<v Nancy Magarill>You were a ballet dancer, weren't you?
00:32:04.950 --> 00:32:05.710
<v Peter Michael Marino>I was.
00:32:05.710 --> 00:32:06.350
<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, my gosh.
00:32:06.350 --> 00:32:14.190
<v Rachael Sage>But it's funny you mentioned Oklahoma because Oklahoma was the first Broadway show my parents ever, my mom took me to and I was three or four.
00:32:14.190 --> 00:32:19.830
<v Rachael Sage>And I came home and that was the thing that prompted me to start playing piano by ear, was Oklahoma.
00:32:19.830 --> 00:32:21.250
<v Rachael Sage>God bless Oklahoma.
00:32:21.250 --> 00:32:21.530
<v Nancy Magarill>Wow.
00:32:21.530 --> 00:32:24.870
<v Rachael Sage>And to this day, I'm just so grateful I was brought to that show.
00:32:25.070 --> 00:32:33.930
<v Rachael Sage>And I bang that out with the right hand, high, probably the last octave on the piano, the legs dangling off the bench.
00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:38.050
<v Rachael Sage>And that's when my parents are like, what is she doing?
00:32:38.050 --> 00:32:39.930
<v Rachael Sage>Like, what do we have on our hands here?
00:32:39.930 --> 00:32:40.890
<v Rachael Sage>And that was the beginning.
00:32:40.890 --> 00:32:45.290
<v Rachael Sage>So, but high school, I really wasn't a musical theater person at all.
00:32:45.290 --> 00:32:53.750
<v Rachael Sage>Unlike Nancy, I did not have this kind of rich, vibrato, semi-operatic ability at that age.
00:32:53.750 --> 00:32:55.830
<v Rachael Sage>I mean, I still don't, but I had-
00:32:55.830 --> 00:32:58.510
<v Peter Michael Marino>They didn't make musicals for your voice back then.
00:32:58.510 --> 00:32:59.070
<v Rachael Sage>Now they do.
00:32:59.410 --> 00:33:02.750
<v Rachael Sage>Yeah, now I could have been in rent or something, but they weren't doing that.
00:33:02.750 --> 00:33:07.990
<v Rachael Sage>There was a gal named Laura Vecchione, who is now a wonderful singer-songwriter.
00:33:07.990 --> 00:33:08.630
<v Nancy Magarill>I know that name.
00:33:08.630 --> 00:33:19.710
<v Rachael Sage>She went to my high school and she got the leads in all the musicals, because she was like 14 and she sounded like she was 45.
00:33:19.710 --> 00:33:22.890
<v Rachael Sage>She just was like, and could do anything.
00:33:22.890 --> 00:33:31.470
<v Rachael Sage>So I did all the straight plays, ironically, did all the Shakespeare and the high school version of the Chekhov play or whatever.
00:33:31.470 --> 00:33:37.350
<v Rachael Sage>I fancied myself a young Meryl Streep, and then I would go home and make the demos.
00:33:37.410 --> 00:33:41.170
<v Rachael Sage>Then I also, like Nancy said, I was studying ballet pretty seriously then.
00:33:41.170 --> 00:33:42.070
<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow.
00:33:42.070 --> 00:33:42.390
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:33:42.390 --> 00:33:43.230
<v Rachael Sage>I was like a little-
00:33:43.230 --> 00:33:44.270
<v Peter Michael Marino>You were a little weirdo art kid.
00:33:44.270 --> 00:33:45.670
<v Rachael Sage>Crazy, weirdo artsy kid.
00:33:45.670 --> 00:33:46.130
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
00:33:46.130 --> 00:33:47.890
<v Rachael Sage>Nothing's changed.
00:33:47.890 --> 00:33:54.990
<v Peter Michael Marino>What would you, this is a question I haven't asked in a very long time on this very popular podcast with my mom.
00:33:57.450 --> 00:33:58.270
<v Peter Michael Marino>She loves it.
00:33:58.270 --> 00:34:01.470
<v Peter Michael Marino>Every morning, she loves it.
00:34:01.470 --> 00:34:03.130
<v Peter Michael Marino>What would you-
00:34:03.130 --> 00:34:04.010
<v Peter Michael Marino>Okay, two questions.
00:34:04.010 --> 00:34:08.630
<v Peter Michael Marino>One, you're at a party, you don't know anybody, someone says, hey, Rachael, what do you do?
00:34:08.630 --> 00:34:10.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>What's your answer?
00:34:10.110 --> 00:34:13.250
<v Rachael Sage>Now, I have to remember what I'm like at a party.
00:34:13.250 --> 00:34:15.690
<v Nancy Magarill>It's been so long.
00:34:15.690 --> 00:34:16.990
<v Peter Michael Marino>I support that answer.
00:34:16.990 --> 00:34:20.750
<v Rachael Sage>No, I would say I'm a composer and a visual artist and a poet.
00:34:20.810 --> 00:34:21.450
<v Peter Michael Marino>Okay.
00:34:21.750 --> 00:34:25.090
<v SPEAKER_4>I usually leave out record label owner business.
00:34:25.090 --> 00:34:30.750
<v Rachael Sage>Because if I'm at a party, what I would ask someone else generally is, what's your passion?
00:34:30.750 --> 00:34:31.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>What?
00:34:31.290 --> 00:34:32.930
<v SPEAKER_4>Really?
00:34:32.930 --> 00:34:40.190
<v Rachael Sage>I'm very sensitive to the fact that most people don't necessarily get to do their passion for their day job.
00:34:40.190 --> 00:34:42.270
<v Rachael Sage>Almost everyone I know doesn't get to.
00:34:42.270 --> 00:34:44.550
<v SPEAKER_4>Wow.
00:34:44.550 --> 00:34:49.530
<v Rachael Sage>I'm more interested in what they do on a Sunday, on the weekend that they get enjoyment from.
00:34:49.730 --> 00:34:51.790
<v Rachael Sage>So, yeah, that's me at a party.
00:34:51.790 --> 00:34:55.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>I have no idea how I would answer that question at the party.
00:34:55.110 --> 00:35:01.590
<v Peter Michael Marino>And then my second question is, you cannot do anything related to the arts, okay?
00:35:01.590 --> 00:35:02.970
<v Peter Michael Marino>You're not allowed anything.
00:35:02.970 --> 00:35:04.050
<v Peter Michael Marino>What else are you going to do?
00:35:04.050 --> 00:35:04.930
<v Rachael Sage>Kill myself.
00:35:04.930 --> 00:35:05.490
<v Rachael Sage>I mean, really.
00:35:05.970 --> 00:35:06.570
<v Rachael Sage>I don't know.
00:35:06.570 --> 00:35:07.990
<v Rachael Sage>I'm not good at anything else.
00:35:07.990 --> 00:35:11.730
<v Peter Michael Marino>Nancy, we just found our clip to promote the podcast.
00:35:11.730 --> 00:35:13.430
<v SPEAKER_4>No, but I don't want to say that.
00:35:13.430 --> 00:35:14.390
<v SPEAKER_4>It's terrible.
00:35:14.390 --> 00:35:16.090
<v Rachael Sage>We do not promote that.
00:35:16.090 --> 00:35:21.450
<v Rachael Sage>But I have thought about this with respect to two things, and I'll be get serious here for a minute.
00:35:21.450 --> 00:35:24.670
<v Rachael Sage>You know, there are a lot of eye diseases that run in my family.
00:35:24.670 --> 00:35:32.450
<v Rachael Sage>So the possibility of me someday having much less vision than I have now, which is not so great now, is very real.
00:35:32.450 --> 00:35:38.550
<v Rachael Sage>And I've thought often what would be more difficult for me to lose my hearing or to lose my vision.
00:35:38.550 --> 00:35:48.110
<v Rachael Sage>And surprisingly, I think losing my vision would be much more painful for me because I think of everything visually.
00:35:48.330 --> 00:35:50.470
<v Rachael Sage>I even think of music visually.
00:35:50.470 --> 00:35:53.250
<v Rachael Sage>When my hands go on the piano, I'm making shapes.
00:35:53.250 --> 00:35:56.610
<v Rachael Sage>How I learn to make melodies is from the shapes I see.
00:35:56.610 --> 00:36:00.870
<v Rachael Sage>When I kind of have synesthesia, I don't know if I clinically do, but I feel like I do.
00:36:00.870 --> 00:36:04.770
<v Rachael Sage>Where when I'm painting, I'm hearing music in my head.
00:36:04.770 --> 00:36:07.330
<v Rachael Sage>When I'm listening to music, I'm seeing the visual.
00:36:07.330 --> 00:36:20.230
<v Rachael Sage>And just the day to day, moment to moment joy that I get from colors, from color therapy, from art and seeing the wider world, the people, the architecture, the nature.
00:36:20.230 --> 00:36:26.950
<v Rachael Sage>I feel like that's really the essence of my spirit and who I am is trying to have vision.
00:36:26.950 --> 00:36:28.990
<v Peter Michael Marino>Wow, that's a really good answer.
00:36:28.990 --> 00:36:32.150
<v Peter Michael Marino>And there's some of your artwork behind you right now.
00:36:32.150 --> 00:36:33.950
<v Peter Michael Marino>I believe it looks like what I recognize.
00:36:33.950 --> 00:36:35.690
<v Rachael Sage>A little bit, yeah, not too much.
00:36:35.690 --> 00:36:39.690
<v Peter Michael Marino>I looked at your artwork, which is also on your site.
00:36:39.690 --> 00:36:44.350
<v Peter Michael Marino>We must have been separated at birth because we're with both those people that it's like, what do you do?
00:36:45.070 --> 00:36:46.190
<v Peter Michael Marino>What don't you do actually?
00:36:46.230 --> 00:36:47.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>That's the question they ask.
00:36:47.110 --> 00:36:47.730
<v Rachael Sage>I don't draw.
00:36:47.730 --> 00:36:49.390
<v Peter Michael Marino>I'm like, don't worry, I'm bad at a lot of things.
00:36:49.390 --> 00:36:50.310
<v Rachael Sage>And I don't cook.
00:36:50.310 --> 00:36:51.490
<v Rachael Sage>I don't cook and I don't draw.
00:36:51.610 --> 00:36:53.670
<v SPEAKER_4>I'm a terrible, normal person.
00:36:53.670 --> 00:36:56.050
<v Rachael Sage>Oh, okay, great.
00:36:56.050 --> 00:36:59.630
<v Peter Michael Marino>But I looked at your artwork and your artwork looks like music.
00:36:59.630 --> 00:37:01.630
<v Peter Michael Marino>It looks, it doesn't look like you're reading music.
00:37:01.630 --> 00:37:03.110
<v Peter Michael Marino>It looks musical.
00:37:03.110 --> 00:37:05.290
<v Peter Michael Marino>There's something vibrant.
00:37:05.290 --> 00:37:12.450
<v Peter Michael Marino>Like you want to see it like on a, you want to see it on a 12 year old shirt, you know, like, I don't know why I picked the 12 year old.
00:37:12.450 --> 00:37:18.630
<v Peter Michael Marino>But yeah, it just looks like, oh, that's like a happy kid or that's a yeah, there's a happy spirit wearing that shirt.
00:37:19.070 --> 00:37:20.990
<v Nancy Magarill>You know what's funny about your artwork?
00:37:21.470 --> 00:37:22.750
<v Nancy Magarill>I have some stuff.
00:37:22.750 --> 00:37:24.030
<v SPEAKER_4>I love your artwork, by the way.
00:37:24.030 --> 00:37:24.550
<v Nancy Magarill>I was just saying.
00:37:24.550 --> 00:37:30.630
<v Nancy Magarill>Some of it's very similar, but the difference, and this is, I think, so much the difference between the two of us.
00:37:30.630 --> 00:37:34.090
<v Nancy Magarill>Yours is vibrant, bright, these beautiful colors.
00:37:34.090 --> 00:37:35.710
<v Nancy Magarill>Mine is black and white.
00:37:35.710 --> 00:37:37.790
<v Nancy Magarill>It's all black and white.
00:37:37.790 --> 00:37:38.710
<v Nancy Magarill>Which I love.
00:37:38.710 --> 00:37:39.430
<v Nancy Magarill>And I love it too.
00:37:39.430 --> 00:37:41.310
<v Rachael Sage>Very fine, very detailed.
00:37:41.310 --> 00:37:41.570
<v Nancy Magarill>Yes.
00:37:42.110 --> 00:37:45.490
<v Peter Michael Marino>Look at the two of you next to each other on this podcast right now.
00:37:45.730 --> 00:37:47.590
<v Peter Michael Marino>You're like salt and pepper.
00:37:47.590 --> 00:37:48.170
<v Nancy Magarill>It's true.
00:37:48.170 --> 00:37:49.810
<v SPEAKER_4>I love that.
00:37:49.810 --> 00:37:55.150
<v Nancy Magarill>Well, I also have, and I feel bad for Pete because I never get dressed when we're on these.
00:37:55.150 --> 00:38:05.490
<v Nancy Magarill>I always wear the same, like, I come in my door, everything comes off, and I put on my lounge pants and a t-shirt, and that's all, like, I will never get dressed.
00:38:05.490 --> 00:38:09.890
<v Nancy Magarill>So I actually was dressed when I came home, and I took everything off.
00:38:09.910 --> 00:38:12.710
<v Rachael Sage>You've got a chandelier over your head, Nancy, so you win.
00:38:12.710 --> 00:38:14.010
<v Nancy Magarill>Do you remember Kim Wayman?
00:38:14.010 --> 00:38:14.970
<v Nancy Magarill>It's beautiful.
00:38:14.970 --> 00:38:16.390
<v Nancy Magarill>So do you remember Kim Wayman?
00:38:16.690 --> 00:38:17.830
<v Nancy Magarill>She made that.
00:38:17.830 --> 00:38:18.590
<v Rachael Sage>It's stunning.
00:38:18.970 --> 00:38:21.830
<v Nancy Magarill>Kim and I, I don't even know how you guys can see it.
00:38:21.830 --> 00:38:23.910
<v Rachael Sage>I'm obsessed with chandeliers, so.
00:38:23.910 --> 00:38:36.710
<v Nancy Magarill>So Kim Wayman and I were good friends for a while, and I went with her to her house in New Jersey, and this was up in, like, the middle of nowhere, and I was like, oh my god, I love that, and she's like, take it.
00:38:36.710 --> 00:38:37.970
<v Nancy Magarill>She's like, it's just sitting here.
00:38:38.550 --> 00:38:50.410
<v Nancy Magarill>So I brought it into my apartment, and I actually, I reached out to her during the pandemic, and we had gotten in contact, and then I lost contact with her again, and then I found out that she's passed away.
00:38:50.410 --> 00:38:51.330
<v Rachael Sage>Oh no.
00:38:51.330 --> 00:38:51.590
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:38:51.590 --> 00:38:52.530
<v Nancy Magarill>That's so sad.
00:38:52.530 --> 00:38:54.310
<v Nancy Magarill>I know, and it's so crazy, and I'm like, and I-
00:38:54.310 --> 00:38:56.150
<v Rachael Sage>But how touching that you have this reminder of her.
00:38:56.150 --> 00:39:00.030
<v Nancy Magarill>I have this amazing piece of art that she made, and she made this.
00:39:00.030 --> 00:39:00.690
<v Rachael Sage>That's incredible.
00:39:00.690 --> 00:39:01.410
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah, she put this together.
00:39:01.410 --> 00:39:06.490
<v Rachael Sage>Well, another time, you'll have to give me a zoomed in, you know, tour of that piece, because it's beautiful.
00:39:06.730 --> 00:39:12.910
<v Nancy Magarill>It's incredible, and it makes this apartment look so regal, and so European, actually.
00:39:12.910 --> 00:39:13.590
<v Nancy Magarill>I love it.
00:39:13.590 --> 00:39:13.890
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:39:13.890 --> 00:39:19.030
<v Peter Michael Marino>I can't help but think, I always give people on our podcast an assignment.
00:39:19.030 --> 00:39:20.190
<v Nancy Magarill>He does.
00:39:20.190 --> 00:39:20.970
<v SPEAKER_4>Oh, boy.
00:39:21.330 --> 00:39:22.150
<v Nancy Magarill>It's his new thing.
00:39:22.150 --> 00:39:24.150
<v SPEAKER_4>I still have homework PTSD from school.
00:39:24.150 --> 00:39:25.730
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's so weird.
00:39:25.730 --> 00:39:35.410
<v Peter Michael Marino>No, but I'm like saying like, oh, like how do we do like some kind of visual art installation that's about chandeliers, and what do they mean, and how do they relate to music?
00:39:35.610 --> 00:39:37.170
<v Rachael Sage>I have an album called Chandelier.
00:39:37.170 --> 00:39:37.570
<v Peter Michael Marino>All right.
00:39:37.570 --> 00:39:38.390
<v Peter Michael Marino>Well, you've already done it.
00:39:38.390 --> 00:39:39.390
<v Peter Michael Marino>Assignment?
00:39:39.390 --> 00:39:40.190
<v Peter Michael Marino>You get an A+.
00:39:40.750 --> 00:39:48.930
<v Rachael Sage>I never drew them and I never painted them, and I agree with you that would be an amazing embodiment of what's magical about them.
00:39:48.930 --> 00:39:52.010
<v Nancy Magarill>But before, because we're getting close to time, and I want to bring this up.
00:39:52.010 --> 00:39:54.350
<v Nancy Magarill>You have a new record coming out, which we haven't talked about.
00:39:54.350 --> 00:39:55.010
<v Rachael Sage>I do, yes.
00:39:55.210 --> 00:39:56.970
<v Nancy Magarill>Is the record called Canopy?
00:39:56.970 --> 00:39:59.170
<v Rachael Sage>It is called Canopy, yes.
00:39:59.170 --> 00:40:00.050
<v Nancy Magarill>Tell us about it.
00:40:00.130 --> 00:40:00.730
<v Rachael Sage>Sure.
00:40:00.730 --> 00:40:02.070
<v Rachael Sage>Thank you.
00:40:02.070 --> 00:40:05.230
<v Rachael Sage>The title track, Canopy, is coming out May 9th.
00:40:05.230 --> 00:40:07.190
<v Rachael Sage>That much I know.
00:40:07.190 --> 00:40:24.070
<v Rachael Sage>It is about inclusivity and safety and just trying to, in whatever way we possibly can as individuals and collectively, create that space for other people to feel like they can be fully themselves, be safe, and be who they are.
00:40:24.070 --> 00:40:27.410
<v Rachael Sage>That's the theme of this album in a lot of ways.
00:40:27.550 --> 00:40:30.570
<v Rachael Sage>Obviously, when I wrote it, good timing.
00:40:30.570 --> 00:40:35.230
<v Rachael Sage>There was a lot going on, but not quite as much as there is now.
00:40:35.230 --> 00:40:37.530
<v Rachael Sage>Funny how music can be like that, right?
00:40:37.530 --> 00:40:38.150
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah.
00:40:38.270 --> 00:40:39.470
<v Peter Michael Marino>You are a sage.
00:40:39.470 --> 00:40:41.290
<v Peter Michael Marino>You've already thought of it before.
00:40:41.290 --> 00:40:42.710
<v Nancy Magarill>I like that.
00:40:43.910 --> 00:40:46.750
<v Nancy Magarill>I mean, it is, look, I wrote a song.
00:40:46.750 --> 00:40:52.990
<v Nancy Magarill>I've written many songs years ago that I cannot believe are still relevant today.
00:40:52.990 --> 00:40:56.330
<v Nancy Magarill>They're just about what's going on and it kills me.
00:40:56.330 --> 00:40:57.970
<v Nancy Magarill>Amy Ziff had said this recently.
00:40:58.150 --> 00:40:59.090
<v Rachael Sage>I love her so much.
00:40:59.090 --> 00:41:05.770
<v Nancy Magarill>I can't believe it's 2025, and we're still having to fight for the same things all over again.
00:41:05.770 --> 00:41:11.810
<v Nancy Magarill>I think it's, but music for a revolution.
00:41:12.630 --> 00:41:16.730
<v Nancy Magarill>We have the gift and we have to do what we can to try to push it along.
00:41:16.730 --> 00:41:17.150
<v Nancy Magarill>It's true.
00:41:17.150 --> 00:41:23.830
<v Rachael Sage>I forget that exact Bernstein quote, but our mutual friend, Dave Agar, the wonderful cellist who you should have on your show.
00:41:23.830 --> 00:41:24.670
<v Nancy Magarill>Yes, absolutely.
00:41:24.670 --> 00:41:26.390
<v Rachael Sage>He's another big link between us.
00:41:26.390 --> 00:41:26.610
<v Nancy Magarill>Yeah.
00:41:27.070 --> 00:41:38.970
<v Rachael Sage>In the footer of every e-mail he sends is that beautiful quote from Leonard Bernstein about we must make music more fervently than ever before, however it goes in times of war.
00:41:40.150 --> 00:41:49.790
<v Rachael Sage>The tour that I'm about to embark on this summer after I do this under the canopy tour, is called the Joy Equals Resistance Tour.
00:41:49.790 --> 00:41:50.530
<v Nancy Magarill>I like that.
00:41:50.830 --> 00:41:57.850
<v Rachael Sage>I'll be doing that with some other pure artists, including the fabulous Kristen Ford, who's on Righteous Babe Records.
00:41:58.910 --> 00:42:14.850
<v Rachael Sage>It was her idea to do a tour like that, and I was just so right there because I thought, well, we'll go into all of these pockets of panic and just try to create some joy, some peace, and some resolve.
00:42:14.850 --> 00:42:17.230
<v Nancy Magarill>So it's going to be a US tour?
00:42:17.230 --> 00:42:18.210
<v Rachael Sage>A US tour, yeah.
00:42:18.330 --> 00:42:24.930
<v Rachael Sage>We'll be starting it in a handful of shows in June, mostly July, September, and October.
00:42:24.930 --> 00:42:26.010
<v Nancy Magarill>Very cool.
00:42:26.010 --> 00:42:29.430
<v Peter Michael Marino>Listener, go to these shows.
00:42:29.430 --> 00:42:31.190
<v Nancy Magarill>And check out her music.
00:42:31.190 --> 00:42:34.170
<v Nancy Magarill>We're going to have a link in the bio and on the website.
00:42:34.170 --> 00:42:35.690
<v Nancy Magarill>So definitely check it out.
00:42:35.690 --> 00:42:38.530
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, but I have a feeling it's really fun to watch you in person.
00:42:38.530 --> 00:42:41.190
<v Peter Michael Marino>I mean, just watching your videos is like, this is fun.
00:42:41.190 --> 00:42:42.410
<v Peter Michael Marino>I love this person.
00:42:44.270 --> 00:42:45.530
<v Peter Michael Marino>There's something going on.
00:42:45.530 --> 00:42:52.430
<v Peter Michael Marino>I was going to say earlier too, it's interesting that you said growing up that your parents like played Broadway shows.
00:42:52.430 --> 00:42:53.550
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, that was the big thing, right?
00:42:53.550 --> 00:42:54.070
<v Peter Michael Marino>A record.
00:42:54.070 --> 00:42:56.310
<v Peter Michael Marino>Like you'd see South Pacific and then you'd buy the record.
00:42:56.310 --> 00:42:57.570
<v Rachael Sage>And Saturday Night Fever.
00:42:57.570 --> 00:42:58.410
<v Rachael Sage>It was a healthy mix.
00:42:58.410 --> 00:42:59.470
<v Peter Michael Marino>Oh, that's a good mix.
00:42:59.470 --> 00:43:00.290
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:43:00.290 --> 00:43:07.470
<v Peter Michael Marino>But that there's something interesting to learn that early on that you can tell a story with music.
00:43:07.470 --> 00:43:10.390
<v Peter Michael Marino>Yeah, and you really get that especially from a Broadway show.
00:43:10.450 --> 00:43:17.750
<v Peter Michael Marino>I mean, I guess if your household plays classical music all the time, perhaps, perhaps you might think, oh, there's something going on here.
00:43:17.750 --> 00:43:20.570
<v Peter Michael Marino>But with musical theater, it's all story.
00:43:20.790 --> 00:43:22.990
<v Peter Michael Marino>It's always a story.
00:43:22.990 --> 00:43:30.090
<v Rachael Sage>And I try to remember that more because I do have this very kind of cryptic, abstract side of my brain.
00:43:30.090 --> 00:43:39.870
<v Rachael Sage>And I was more like that in my teens and 20s, and especially in college, when you just have all these feelings and they're coming out just with words and it's not necessarily a story.
00:43:40.230 --> 00:43:45.330
<v Rachael Sage>And then the older I've gotten, the much more story-driven my aesthetic has become.
00:43:45.330 --> 00:43:59.930
<v Rachael Sage>And I credit that mainly to being part of the folk scene where you get up in front of a group of peers and not only is your song a story, but you're also kind of expected to tell a little spiel, a little story about the song.
00:43:59.930 --> 00:44:04.690
<v SPEAKER_4>So even if you have to make one up, it kind of ties it all together.
00:44:05.070 --> 00:44:07.690
<v Nancy Magarill>And it's true, your songs used to be very cryptic.
00:44:08.470 --> 00:44:11.070
<v Rachael Sage>I was pretty weird back in the day.
00:44:11.070 --> 00:44:16.410
<v Rachael Sage>Some of the early tunes, if I listen to them now, I'd be like, oh no, is she okay?
00:44:16.410 --> 00:44:17.950
<v Rachael Sage>What was going on?
00:44:17.950 --> 00:44:25.610
<v Rachael Sage>And now I think I write for much more of a place of, how can I offer some solace through a song?
00:44:25.610 --> 00:44:29.250
<v Rachael Sage>And then I think I needed the offering maybe a little bit more.
00:44:29.250 --> 00:44:30.690
<v Rachael Sage>But that's the journey.
00:44:30.690 --> 00:44:32.530
<v Rachael Sage>That's what growing up is all about, right?
00:44:32.630 --> 00:44:44.910
<v Rachael Sage>How do we become someone who is kind of sharing some perspective from being someone who is, I don't want to say flailing, but just really seeking, searching early on.
00:45:13.292 --> 00:45:14.332
<v Peter Michael Marino>Hey, thanks for checking us out.
00:45:14.332 --> 00:45:17.152
<v Peter Michael Marino>Links to today's guests can be found in the show notes.
00:45:17.152 --> 00:45:22.112
<v Nancy Magarill>Don't forget to subscribe, like us, rate us, and tell all your friends about Arts and Craft.
