Brooke Lizotte: Daily Keyboard Rendezvous. Building an Audience Through Playing and Storytelling

Brooke Lizotte is my guest for this episode.

Brooke is a keyboard player with a resume too long to share here. One Sunday afternoon I sat down with Brooke in a recording studio in Seattle.

I was introduced to Brooke by Raymond Hayden. Ray shared with me that Brooke is one of his mentors and that I would find him to be an enjoyable guest to have on the show. Ray really missed the mark. Brooke is perhaps one of the most enjoyable people I have ever had the chance to interview.

Brooke started taking piano lessons at a young age. Throughout school Brooke was always enjoying playing piano and performed in a number of bands and productions.  He attended Green River College where he performed with the schools award winning jazz band.

After college Brooke played in many bands in the greater Seattle area eventually his bands opened for national acts such as Bob Marley, The Tubes, Bootsy Collins, The Ohio Players and many more…. I am purposely leaving names off the list, you have to listen to find out more.

Brooke moved to LA to continue his musical journey working in the movie and tv industry.  He also opened a coffee shop in LA . The stories from the coffee shop are must listen stories.

Eventually Brooke ended up in Europe and continued his musical career.  Family brought him back to Seattle where he is now living again.

For over 200 days straight Brooke has performed live on Facebook from the recording studio he oversees.  These Morning Rendezvous shows often go for over an hour and attract an audience from around the world.

Meet Brooke Lizotte. Keyboard player, storyteller, world traveler. Listen to his music on his YouTube channel or Tune into his Morning Rendezvous on Facebook.

Brooke Lizotte Episode Transcript

Brooke LIzotte [00:00:00]:

Which is another wow factor because it’s fun and fast and kicks ass.

Todd Phillips [00:00:22]:

Welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. Here’s your host, Scott Cowan. Well, welcome back to this episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast. Today, my guest is Brooke Lizotte. Brooke is a keyboard player, we’ll say based out of Seattle, but he’s gonna explain more to that. Brooke, thank you for making this happen.

Brooke LIzotte [00:00:41]:

Thank you. A pleasure. So, Brooke,

Scott Cowan [00:00:44]:

we’re sitting here in a studio, which you gave me a tour of, which is amazing to me. How I know about you, and this is this is always the fun part. We get to pick on Raymond Hayden. Raymond Raymond gets mentioned in a lot of the episodes, but, Ray Ray said you need to talk to Brooke, and here I am. And it took took quite a while for me to actually get around to, reaching out to you. But I’d like to know how did you meet Ray and tell the our listeners some dirt. We need dirt on Ray.

Brooke LIzotte [00:01:16]:

Yeah. Well, there’s plenty of dirt on Ray.

Scott Cowan [00:01:18]:

Perfect.

Brooke LIzotte [00:01:19]:

But, you know, I’ll be careful.

Scott Cowan [00:01:21]:

Alright. And I’m just kidding. No. I am too. So for for Ray, who I was I told Ray I’d I’d tease him. Alright. So I’ll probably no. I’ll probably leave that in.

Scott Cowan [00:01:30]:

We’ll just live there. So, Brooke, how you you also know another friend of mine, a long term friend of mine, Rene Fabre.

Brooke LIzotte [00:01:37]:

Yes. Went to school with Rene.

Scott Cowan [00:01:38]:

Okay. So why don’t we let’s go back that far.

Brooke LIzotte [00:01:40]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:01:41]:

How did you get started in music? What’s your story?

Brooke LIzotte [00:01:45]:

Well, the that was that moment in in life was in college.

Scott Cowan [00:01:50]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:01:50]:

Green River College in, like, seventy, seventy one, two, three in there. And, Renee’s a wonderful fella and a wonderful pianist. He has a couple of chords that every time back then when he would play his chord, I called it, his voicing, it was just absolutely heaven.

Scott Cowan [00:02:15]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:02:16]:

And and to this day, I would like to him to show me that chord. Alright. But anyway Okay. Rene’s  Rene was a real good friend. We haven’t really been in touch through the years, but it feels like we have because that was a that was a very special time. And the band was great. Band happened to collect kids. We were 18 years old, who played I had already been playing hard all their life.

Brooke LIzotte [00:02:42]:

So the youngsters, us back then, were came in, you know, playing hard and wanting to play. Mhmm. And, and Real Good in the band basically exploded immediately being great, the the jazz ensemble. And that ended up touring up and down the coast and, the, the, what you call it, the, the various festivals and and, college, conferences and contests. And there was the, who was a great band leader? Anyway, some of them would do their, contests or, you know, get together, and then bands from all over the country would come down. Stan Kenton had one. Okay. And we were a couple of times in there, and we’d roll in and just kick ass.

Brooke LIzotte [00:03:30]:

And and, so that area, that was college. But I go back I started when I was about five, and

Scott Cowan [00:03:37]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:03:37]:

My roots are Beethoven and Chopin.

Scott Cowan [00:03:39]:

Oh, okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:03:40]:

And, and but the old man who taught me, I stayed with him for years. I mean, I studied with him until I was in my late teens. William Coburn up in the U District here in Seattle. I grew up on Queen Anne Hill.

Scott Cowan [00:03:53]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:03:53]:

And he was and and I didn’t know this until I was growing up, was a wise old guy, and he was old then. Like, he was in his sixties. I mean, I was five. And so somebody, you know, I mean, he, you know, he he was ancient. And, and fast forward to now, I’m 60 was a while ago. I remember it well. And, but he was ancient. But we just became he’s he didn’t have kids, so we just bonded.

Scott Cowan [00:04:26]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:04:26]:

Because I happen to want to play wanted to play. Okay. And so I was one of those students for him who came in hungry and came back as prepared as I could be next week.

Scott Cowan [00:04:36]:

Unlike little Timmy whose mom was making him play. He didn’t want to.

Brooke LIzotte [00:04:40]:

And and I wanted to.

Scott Cowan [00:04:41]:

What do you think was your what was the draw for you? What do you where do you why do you think it

Brooke LIzotte [00:04:46]:

I think it’s in your bones or not. Okay. I think it’s I think it’s, you know, I don’t I don’t know if that’s meaning. It’s,

Scott Cowan [00:04:52]:

You were just kinda born to do this.

Brooke LIzotte [00:04:54]:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It’s all I’ve ever done. And, the, and so he would play things, and if he could see this kid get a rise out of it, he’d put that aside. And then if something else didn’t, we wouldn’t even approach it. And and he was giving me he was going through kind of the the pop hits of those great classical composers. Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:05:15]:

We didn’t, like, go deep into any particular composer. He brought up Moulin Sonata.

Scott Cowan [00:05:21]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:05:21]:

And he brought up, you know, the minute waltz, and he brought up for Chopin, and he brought up Griggs Concerto in a minor, and he brought up the ones that are kinda where they’re hits.

Scott Cowan [00:05:31]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:05:32]:

You know, I call it I kinda call it it isn’t technically true, but kinda what the classical pop hits of the time for those guys. K. Technically true, but kinda what the classical pop hits at the

Scott Cowan [00:05:38]:

time for those guys.

Brooke LIzotte [00:05:39]:

K. And and he would he he was just he’s a story in himself, but one thing he did along with the classical stuff and intended to be so he would see the ones that I really just bounced at, and we’d learn those. And he might have to rewrite them and re-transcribe them because if I’m holding my hand out. My five fingers spread, every pianist has some reach.

Scott Cowan [00:06:06]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:07]:

From thumb, tip tip of thumb to a tip of little finger goes as far as your hand does. Some less, some more. Right. And but a five year old, I’m taking my thumb away now.

Scott Cowan [00:06:21]:

Right. You have a much smaller reach.

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:23]:

There’s your reach.

Scott Cowan [00:06:23]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:24]:

So he would completely rewrite these pieces to fit a little hand, and his manuscript was breathtaking. He was old school.

Scott Cowan [00:06:34]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:34]:

So he would his penmanship musically, I still have pieces that he rewrote for me.

Scott Cowan [00:06:42]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:42]:

And I show them to people and and, you know, and that that’s, you know, bygone art.

Scott Cowan [00:06:48]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:49]:

Although people still scratch quickly live in studio. I mean, they so penmanship is important, but not like that. You know? They you know? Well, we all

Scott Cowan [00:06:57]:

type everything now or text it to each

Brooke LIzotte [00:06:59]:

other. Yeah. And and there’s Finale and and, there’s some other there’s several now that, do, spit out charts

Scott Cowan [00:07:07]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:07:08]:

That, are, you know and so back to that. So but one thing he did back then was that he gave me a boogie woogie. Whatever. Right? And he would selectively play things, and if I dug that one, we’d learn that one.

Scott Cowan [00:07:27]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:07:27]:

Because what that did for me, and he knew I needed because kids wanna get out and play, and there’s you know, they had nothing to do inside back in the fifties. So, you know, you wanna get outside and ride a bike and throw a ball and ride on, you know, build, and then back then skateboards, you had to make your own. And, and just whatever, be with your friends. So he knew that there’d there’d be competition for my wanting to practice. And he bill he appreciated that I had a built in wanna practice. Okay. But he gave me a boogie woogie because that my pals, girls and boys, loved that stuff. So they’d wanna come in while I was practicing.

Brooke LIzotte [00:08:09]:

So my front room always had people in it with me practicing. So it was this peer pressure, peer support

Scott Cowan [00:08:15]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:08:16]:

That made me want to go back to him next week and show him what I did and, you know, how good I was and, you know, lord knows. I mean, some of it, I he he was quite gracious. And and and I learned a lot from him because, you know, I probably hit far more wrong notes than right notes because you’re five and six and seven and eight and on. And, he would he said, yes. He compliment what I did right. He said, that this part right here, that that’s very nice. Yeah. And let’s work on that a little bit.

Brooke LIzotte [00:08:53]:

And then he said, yeah. Now let’s work on this part. He didn’t say this sucked. Right. But we’d start evolving what I did well so I could take it another step.

Scott Cowan [00:09:02]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:09:02]:

And then we go into the hard stuff that I really maybe didn’t even get too much.

Scott Cowan [00:09:07]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:09:07]:

So he was his his, critique was, really important part of anything. Whoever critiques your work, hopefully, they’re good. Hopefully, they give you support and then constructive criticism. Easier said than done sometimes depending on who’s delivering that and who’s receiving it.

Scott Cowan [00:09:33]:

Sure. Well, I I think as a young child, my mom wanted me to play piano, and and I I just didn’t want to. I just didn’t I regret that at this point of my life, but at seven, eight Yeah. Didn’t want to. My mother wasn’t a trained piano instructor. So Right. There was some

Brooke LIzotte [00:09:58]:

Yeah. My no. Nobody in my family was Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:10:01]:

Where it was. So did you have a piano in the home? Yeah. You did have and did they get that for you or was it already there?

Brooke LIzotte [00:10:05]:

No. There is one there because the my older brothers and the baby in the lot, they the older brothers and sister, one sister, they all had lessons. Now now they she didn’t know Coburn then. Mhmm. And and she tells story or did of, you know, the the whack of the ruler on the back of the hands, and she did she some of my siblings had that experience where it was a crotchety old gal who was mean. And, she didn’t want me to have that, so she looked around and she found a good one. But, there was a piano there, and she tells stories of me, you know, I mean, back when, you know, the keyboard would I’d bump bump my head on the keyboard when you’re small.

Scott Cowan [00:10:47]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:10:47]:

And but she tells stories to me, I my hands are above my head, reaching up and playing and finding melodies.

Scott Cowan [00:10:55]:

So you really you at a very young age. Yeah. You really this was natural to

Brooke LIzotte [00:10:59]:

you. Yeah. Yeah. I enjoyed that thing up there and the sounds it made. And so and then I would right away, we I would play, again, the rehearsals, my private practice, would become, half a dozen my friends were hanging on. I say, now, be quiet here, you know. I mean, just, you know, or she would say. You can stay boys, but be quiet.

Brooke LIzotte [00:11:22]:

Okay. Or girls, and there was always a mix. And then I would give house concerts, And I have some pictures of those.

Scott Cowan [00:11:30]:

Oh, that’s awesome.

Brooke LIzotte [00:11:31]:

Oh, it’s just and the girls and the guys, everybody’s got on their Sunday best, and they’re looking sharp, you know.

Scott Cowan [00:11:38]:

And how old were you about this time?

Brooke LIzotte [00:11:39]:

Oh, seven or eight or nine. Okay. And he would do recital recite recitals.

Scott Cowan [00:11:44]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:11:45]:

And in his home, University District, which had the upstairs beautiful piano, would hold on now 50 chairs. He would empty it out and put chairs in there. And everybody’s parents and friends and aunts and uncles would come, and he’d do a theme. And he’d play a little bit and then have us do something. And so there is a lot of early performances.

Scott Cowan [00:12:07]:

Okay. And then when you moved on, say, to high school?

Brooke LIzotte [00:12:11]:

Yeah. Well, junior high.

Scott Cowan [00:12:12]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:12:13]:

I was thirteen, seventh grade, and hadn’t played anything but boogie woogie and classical. Okay. And and somehow some, Mancini, baby elephant walk, we moved into some pop, themes.

Scott Cowan [00:12:31]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:12:31]:

Exodus theme.

Scott Cowan [00:12:32]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:12:33]:

Cobra and I still have that still have those, that sheet music, you know, when there’s 20¢. That kinda thing is really good. And but I met some guys in, somehow, I don’t I have to ask them how I met. But there’s there was a band on on Queen Anne called the Neurotics.

Scott Cowan [00:12:55]:

The Neurotics.

Brooke LIzotte [00:12:56]:

It was all the rave and played all the sock hops in the teen fairs and the, you know, the community centers and and the sock hops after school and and street fairs and what have you. And and they somehow discovered that I played.

Scott Cowan [00:13:09]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:13:10]:

And so they came over to my house one day. And back then, the rule I was 13 years old. A couple of them were in high school. One was in junior high, and that’s probably where the connection was because the rest of the boys were in high school. And they, you know, and I they they found out that I played, and they came over, and and I didn’t know kinda what to play for them. So I played, you know, this Harry, you know, piece, Griggs Concerto on a minor. You know, it’s classic intro.

Scott Cowan [00:13:43]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:13:45]:

And it’s hair raising and, you know, and, so they’re that they all, you know, and there was a wow factor. And then I played Bumble Boogie. K. Which is another wow factor because it’s fun and fast and kicks ass. And so I was hired. And back then, you got into the band if you had gear. It didn’t matter how well you played. And I didn’t know I mean, I I had a good year because I had been playing already for ten, thirteen, five, eight years.

Scott Cowan [00:14:13]:

Eight years. Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:14:15]:

So I I had a good year, and I could pick up stuff real quick. So it was, you know, the oh, that’s I ended up that was the way I was playing pop music was the rock and roll stuff.

Scott Cowan [00:14:25]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:14:26]:

And dad got me a a Vox Continental organ, which turns out to be one of the classics. Okay. You either had a Vox Continental or a Farfisa. The Doris had a Farfisa. Okay. The Dave Clark five and John Lennon had a Vox. Okay. So it was one or the others.

Brooke LIzotte [00:14:42]:

The the Soul guys had the b, the Hammond b three.

Scott Cowan [00:14:45]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:14:46]:

The r and b and jazz guys or gospel. Right. And, but I was it was rock and roll and, the Stones and the Temptations and the and the whatever’s Beatles. And the Northwest there was a Northwest sound that was rock and jazz blend. Mhmm. And it kinda still is kinda rock and jazz blend. So that has stuck. That’s kind of, part and parcel what’s happening up here.

Brooke LIzotte [00:15:12]:

And, blues tossed into there. But, they came over, so I was in. And, we played all those I got great pictures of that too. And then, and in there and then that went its way, and I and I ended up getting a b three.

Scott Cowan [00:15:29]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:15:30]:

And that turned on a whole other genres, areas of, music. And I fell, and I started things started getting funky. And rock and roll rock and roll changed. It became, you know, Zep and Stevie Wynwood and and, you know, Jethro Tull and and Stones and and and and and Hendrix and it and it’s things started getting I discovered Herbie Hancock Oh. A young Herbie. Mhmm. Which I dug immediately. And, and then on it went.

Brooke LIzotte [00:16:06]:

And, and I they’re friends of mine, African American family, the Browns. I met when I was 18. Just just I I was 18, 17 and ’69, and I graduated in ’70. So I was 18 then. And, that was a great time to be steady in rock and roll and funk and r and b because those those were the classic guys.

Scott Cowan [00:16:31]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:16:31]:

And so I was, you know, deep in it and just loved it and was playing real hard, playing my best, best I could. And that’s about that time is where I went to college and met Renee. Okay. Because so the Green River thing, the Green River College was that band in school.

Scott Cowan [00:16:46]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:16:47]:

It was in ’70. But I met Coleman Brown and and and his family and cousins. It was the Browns. And, they’re soulful and bluesy, and that’s what they’re all about. Otis Redding, James Brown.

Scott Cowan [00:17:02]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:17:02]:

And and I played b three, and I had and I got a Clavinet pretty quickly thereafter, which is a funk machine. Clavinet is the funk machine that’s not organ. Okay. Stevie Wonder

Scott Cowan [00:17:14]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:17:15]:

Superstitious.

Scott Cowan [00:17:16]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:17:16]:

Clavinet.

Scott Cowan [00:17:21]:

Clavinet. Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:17:22]:

Legendary in the funk, and then everybody had a clan if you were a funky.

Scott Cowan [00:17:27]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:17:27]:

Still do. In fact, I got a 72 clam sitting out there that’s funky as you wanna know.

Scott Cowan [00:17:33]:

Alright.

Brooke LIzotte [00:17:33]:

And but I met Coleman and William Coleman, really. And then he invited me down. There’s a club down on Second And Union called The Vault, which was legendary downstairs. And, 18 and over, and all he sold was potato was potato chips and Coca Cola. And, kids, you know, from the Navy would it was it was that kind of place. Alright. And, we’ve is in in Septimus, the owner, Ronnie, leaving me right now. But he he’s alleging, kind of plays the accent and lived to a ripe old age, but that was his club.

Brooke LIzotte [00:18:16]:

And he loved the Browns, and they were called just us at the time. And, I somehow connected with them, and I I hauled the b three down, and I could play and kick ass. And and they immediately we just became the best friends. So it was Ronald Brown, Gorman Brown, Frankie Brown, Herman Brown, Cynthia Brown, Lily Brown, and Brooke. And Brooke. So I was adopted. And I have and have played with them off and on since. The bass player, Ronald, plays with our Wednesday night jam.

Brooke LIzotte [00:18:53]:

Okay. So I’ve played with him since I was 18. Alright. And then then things got funky. And then I brought that my blend of funk and rock and classical and god knows what to the jazz band and stayed with it through the two years. It’s a two year school.

Scott Cowan [00:19:09]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:19:10]:

And and stop taking any other classes. And it was so I stayed there for another year or two coming back to be the anchorman.

Scott Cowan [00:19:20]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:19:21]:

Do the ensemble because I was learning a lot from it. The director and I were best friends. It was traveling and doing the festivals and working hard to be good, and and so I was it was I enjoyed it. Okay. So I stayed long past really going to school. I just came to sign up for that. And then on went life.

Scott Cowan [00:19:43]:

Well, let’s let’s let before we go on with life, let’s let’s talk about Seattle in the late sixties, early seventies musically. What were you experiencing here? What did you see?

Brooke LIzotte [00:19:53]:

Well, one, I I couldn’t get into clubs. Right. So, it was, you know, from afar. But, the band, at that point, the neurotics up into well, by the I that I I did they were doing clubs, but you could do clubs. But you as a kid, in which we all were underage, you had to stay on stage in the break, be right next to the the stage at a designated table

Scott Cowan [00:20:20]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:20:20]:

With a chauffeur Mhmm. Or in the green room with a chauffeur. And, so I didn’t go to clubs.

Scott Cowan [00:20:30]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:20:31]:

And so at that point, what I was, I I didn’t I mean, I saw there were there was a Dave Lewis trio. There was a lot there was a couple of Oregon gods who were just great. Of course, Louie Louie came out of this region. Mhmm. And the the Sonics and the Wailers, they were Tacoma.

Scott Cowan [00:20:50]:

Yes.

Brooke LIzotte [00:20:50]:

Tacoma had more of a blue collar, you know, attitude. Mhmm. And it kinda still does. I mean, that’s probably genderfied, but back then, it was kinda night and day. Yes. And, and those bands kicked ass. So that was that scene, and they were kind of that half generation older than me. And, well, a lot of these kids were because I was just playing so young at a young age that I was involved, but they were older.

Brooke LIzotte [00:21:24]:

Vietnam Vietnam took some of them away. That’s what when the neurotic soft guitar player went off. Okay. And he returned, but that the band had ended. But, so the scene was, jazz and r and b, and and I was able to kind of know of it, kind of, you know, it’s one step removed because I was, you know, I was, you know, half I was adopted by the Browns. Right. So, I was in, you know, that world and well received. I mean, I might be the only white guy in some clubs we played.

Scott Cowan [00:22:03]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:22:04]:

And, so you gotta be funky. If you’re only if you’re the only white guy on stage, you you gotta hold up that end of the stage or you’re gonna get cackled for a minute. And, so knock on wood, I could.

Scott Cowan [00:22:21]:

What did you do after Green River?

Brooke LIzotte [00:22:26]:

Seventies. Had a band called Bridges

Scott Cowan [00:22:29]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:22:29]:

That was the local, collectively, the just the the finest players around us. And that that ended up being managed. I wrote a lot in that band. That’s when I started writing.

Scott Cowan [00:22:41]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:22:42]:

And have ever since. Just my own material is what, you know, and and you ride that wave. If you don’t hit a home run or two, then you’re constantly working on the next project in almost any industry.

Scott Cowan [00:22:56]:

That’s true.

Brooke LIzotte [00:22:57]:

And, and I was hitting some long balls and and has, you know, kept me afloat and feeding me until now.

Scott Cowan [00:23:03]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:23:03]:

But, in the process, some amazing moments. Bridges ended up being managed by, Ulysses Lewis, Norm Vlodin, and now my still dear friend, Sid Clark, as a co writer, but manager in helping Ulysses. There was a band called Ballin’ Jack

Scott Cowan [00:23:23]:

k.

Brooke LIzotte [00:23:24]:

That was ended up, with national renown, and Sydney was their manager. And they were a rock and soul. That term, that Seattle almost invented that. Rock and soul. Rock and roll and soul band. Kickin’ ass but soulful, like a sly in the family stone. Okay. Seattle, a lot of the bands were that just without trying.

Brooke LIzotte [00:23:48]:

They just was. And so it was that scene was was cool. And it’s still kinda here.

Scott Cowan [00:23:55]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:23:56]:

Jazzy, but funky, but rocky, but you know? And so that was, yeah, that was all around us. And Bridges was that eclectic blend. And Ulysses owned the Paramounts. Oh. This one, the one in Portland. Okay. And one outside of Vancouver or I’m sorry, San Francisco called Warner’s, Warner Theater.

Scott Cowan [00:24:23]:

Alright.

Brooke LIzotte [00:24:24]:

And his dream and was, was, realized during that era was that he would have bands come up and down and bridges was he managed us. And he would put us on front, you know, thirty minutes, forty minutes in front of anybody who’d let us. They’re coming through. If they didn’t have an opener, he’d say, well, you know, you got an opener? No. No. We don’t. Well, he said, I got a really good band. I mean, yeah, well, they’ll do how long you want.

Brooke LIzotte [00:24:50]:

Oh, half hour, forty minutes. We had a lot of that. And we would get on, not complain about having no room on stage because you don’t move the headliner’s gear. They’ve taken all day to get right. If you’re gonna be a opening band, you squeeze in next to the monitor and don’t touch you know, you know, don’t ask for much. And and our sound men and our stage crew, yeah, we were well, endowed that way, were mind me, they were polite, minded their business, and they were really sharp. So immediately, the crews knew that they knew what they were doing. So they were good politically for us.

Brooke LIzotte [00:25:30]:

We would walk on stage, and we’d be ready to go. And the house loved them, and and and and that ends up giving you a little bit more oomph in the monitors, a little bit more lights. They don’t you don’t get the specials. You don’t get the fancy stuff. They’re not gonna drop any of that on you. That’s for the headliner. And, boy, there’s there’s more stories than we have time for there.

Scott Cowan [00:25:55]:

Well, give me an example of who who who was the headline are you guys open for?

Brooke LIzotte [00:25:59]:

We did a number of dates with Bob Marley. Really? And his his first time through The States. And that changed my life because there was a fellow who was committed to his material to the point of, you know, he was shot at and and he left Jamaica because they were after him. Right. Federalist, you know, it was like, you know, this this guy’s talking trash to us. Let’s go get him. And they tried. They came into his compound, you know, the gun’s blazing.

Brooke LIzotte [00:26:23]:

I don’t know if you know any of that story.

Scott Cowan [00:26:25]:

I did not know that story.

Brooke LIzotte [00:26:26]:

And so that’s when he left, went to New, London.

Scott Cowan [00:26:31]:

So you opened for Bob Marley.

Brooke LIzotte [00:26:33]:

Yeah. And, who else do we do? There’s Dylan was in that lot. Bootsie Collins came out of parliament Funkadelic.

Scott Cowan [00:26:42]:

Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:26:44]:

There’s stories there too. There’s stories on all of these.

Scott Cowan [00:26:48]:

On all of these.

Brooke LIzotte [00:26:49]:

And, who else we do? Four Tops, Richie Havens. Who is Joan Collins? We so because the band was quite, able to carve our set list out, all our own material.

Scott Cowan [00:27:07]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:08]:

Mostly mine. Okay. And so we could get funky or we could get rocky or we could get kind of, you know, ballad ish. Bring in the clowns. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit. And and and and we didn’t have to hit it hard.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:21]:

We could we could get kinda jazzy

Scott Cowan [00:27:23]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:24]:

Comfortably. We could go there. I mean, we’re we weren’t a jazz band, but we could get jazzy.

Scott Cowan [00:27:29]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:30]:

A difference. I I’m not a jazz boy, but I can play into that.

Scott Cowan [00:27:33]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:34]:

I can get jazzy. And, because, you know, jazz boys know all those songs. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:27:41]:

You

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:41]:

know, I I don’t I’m I’m my repertoire is my own material.

Scott Cowan [00:27:46]:

Alright.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:46]:

So I’m not good going in and going into a piano bar thing where somebody calls out Misty.

Scott Cowan [00:27:52]:

Alright.

Brooke LIzotte [00:27:54]:

So I don’t put myself there. But, anyway, let’s who else do we play for? I’d have to think.

Scott Cowan [00:28:05]:

Well, that’s quite the list. Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:28:07]:

It it is in that realm.

Scott Cowan [00:28:08]:

So did you play with so were you playing at the the Paramount in Portland as well? And did you and did you go down to San Francisco? Were you playing the Warner’s Warner’s. You’re playing all three of these. Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:28:17]:

Yeah. And he also was connected to, Queen e, Queen Elizabeth, the Opera House in in, Vancouver, BC. Oh, wow. So we played the Queen E on different events. And the Commodore Ballroom, there was a there was a ballroom here called the Eagles. Mhmm. And the Commodore was Vancouver’s Eagles. Gotcha.

Brooke LIzotte [00:28:39]:

Where everybody played that, couldn’t do I don’t know if they had a bigger theater in Vancouver because they not every well, it must have been the Queenie because Marley played the Queenie. And Buffy Saint Marie, we played with her, and and, that was at the Queenie. But the Commodore was fun. It it was the rock hall like the Eagles here was.

Scott Cowan [00:29:05]:

Never saw anything at the Eagles. Rene has told me a story of he he sat on the floor while the Grateful Dead were playing at the Eagles Nice. Auditorium, but I’m like, ah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:29:14]:

Yeah. I saw I saw The Clash up in Vancouver. Oh, you did? Yeah. That that London Calling tour. Oh. You know, funny thing is that they were in a they weren’t in the Commodore, but they were in the Commodore size kinda like small ice arena.

Scott Cowan [00:29:28]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:29:29]:

That, you know, not not a big rink. Right. Not not a big stadium slash ice rink, but, and place was packed, of course. But and I I I was pleased to see, surprised to see as well. The, The Clash came on, and they weren’t very loud. They didn’t play loud. The the PA had them loud enough to fill the room.

Scott Cowan [00:29:54]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:29:54]:

But they I mean, we were used to some ear shattering music then.

Scott Cowan [00:29:58]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:29:59]:

You know, where there’s a stack of marshals, and they did not need a stack of marshals, but they had nobody knew that then.

Scott Cowan [00:30:08]:

And,

Brooke LIzotte [00:30:11]:

the clash was surprisingly just I I appreciated it because I in that time frame, Marley wasn’t loud. They were they were more like a country man. They came in with their axes Mhmm. And rent Fender Twins and whatever they wanted and put those on stage somewhere. And because the loudest thing on stage for Marley were or was or were, the voices

Scott Cowan [00:30:35]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:30:36]:

The I three, the ladies, and him, and the kick and the and the snare.

Scott Cowan [00:30:42]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:30:42]:

And the rest kinda percolated and bubbled underneath that. But the voice was he was very it was voice on top, please. And the ladies’ harmonies Mhmm. Floated over everything, and they were not loud. Of course, the the PA got them up out front.

Scott Cowan [00:30:59]:

Sure.

Brooke LIzotte [00:31:00]:

So it it got loud enough out there.

Scott Cowan [00:31:02]:

But it wasn’t

Brooke LIzotte [00:31:03]:

Not on stage.

Scott Cowan [00:31:04]:

Not that giant wall.

Brooke LIzotte [00:31:05]:

You didn’t have to fight Marshalls.

Scott Cowan [00:31:07]:

Gotcha.

Brooke LIzotte [00:31:07]:

So and and Bridges wasn’t that way.

Scott Cowan [00:31:10]:

Alright.

Brooke LIzotte [00:31:10]:

And then the band after that, for me, it was called Zero Deals, half of Bridges, and just a trio that was a keyboard, drums, stack of two keyboards Mhmm. And drums. So that was an interesting progressive thing, funky but progressive. And and that because it was just me, really, and the other keyboardist, Grant Reeves, Art Ford on drums. The other keyboardist was wonderful keyboardist and one of the finest, saxophone players I’ve ever played with, and flute. And so when he would go and his hands would get off the keyboards, one or the other of us on our synth, whichever synth Mhmm. Would play bass when the other was not.

Scott Cowan [00:31:55]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:31:56]:

And if I was my hands were busy on piano or some other synth part, he’d cover bass and we that was worked out.

Scott Cowan [00:32:04]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:32:05]:

And, but he was he was, quite good. Just absolutely. And one of the kind of the best around. And, and then and but that was not allowed. It wasn’t a martial band.

Scott Cowan [00:32:19]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:32:19]:

So, thankfully, I have friends that have lost a bunch of their hearing because they That was their realm. And it wasn’t mine, so my hearing, you know, thank goodness, at 70. I’m okay. I can hear just fine.

Scott Cowan [00:32:32]:

You can hear just fine. I could go down so many rabbit holes on this because

Brooke LIzotte [00:32:36]:

Well, so somewhere in in in in, ’89

Scott Cowan [00:32:40]:

Alright.

Brooke LIzotte [00:32:41]:

In the eighties, I grew a family k. And was playing there’s a there’s a art college here called Corniche. Yes. And I was a over a decade, it was a little mini career in the from about late seventies, who who I met an amazing dancer, and we became an item for quite some time. Mhmm. And she was just a brilliant modern dancer, and she plugged me into Corniche. And because I am my instrumental, my solo piano able ability to just go and play, just improvise now, play what you see.

Scott Cowan [00:33:12]:

Go. Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:33:13]:

I was very comfortable with that. And I became their kinda main, accompanist for their advanced modern classes. And, it ended up being a job for me, and the kids started, you know, popping out. And, so it became I cultivated that and was at Kearney for about a decade, and then University of Washington, and where else? Private, dance, studios Mhmm. Would hire me to come in. And because I could play rhythmically and melodically, where sometimes they want, they’ll have a percussionist come in. Well, I can I can go there? As as you may know, piano is really a drum. It’s 88 drums.

Scott Cowan [00:33:56]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:33:56]:

With different note different tones Right. Or different, notes, frequencies. So play for so I could go either way for them. So, it was, I was very they were comfortable with me, and I was comfortable in the medium. And it is a beautiful medium. Dance and music and theater, it almost gets operatic. It gets the stories get involved. We did some just beautiful concerts that I remember vividly through those years because I would do their big, choreographer would do have a big concert plan for the end of the year, and I would write and perform the music.

Brooke LIzotte [00:34:34]:

And either put it all on computer, so the pit was full of computers that I’d run or, solo if that was called for. And, that was a wonderful time.

Scott Cowan [00:34:47]:

I’m laughing because the all those computers are probably probably less computational power than your phone right

Brooke LIzotte [00:34:52]:

there. Right. But, a bunch a bunch of little, the little Macs.

Scott Cowan [00:34:58]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:34:58]:

SC. Okay. Alright. Yeah. And, hey, I always had two or three because in case that one always went down and I was ready. But the and then I moved to LA. Why? Because it just felt right. Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:35:16]:

And the whole family moved down, and I was on a, National Endowment, grant. Oh. Writing for a national, choreographer k. That, was so I wasn’t having to work. I I had some freedom to where I where I could be in work, and I ended up getting a a bit of a residency at, Santa Monica College had a very powerful dance program, and and as did UCLA. And from my kind of at that point, a bit renowned within that small world.

Scott Cowan [00:35:59]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:36:00]:

Modern dance is a very small world. And, I was a well, my interest in going to LA because my best friend was down there pitching, working in film and TV. Mhmm. So I thought, well, that sounds good. And because I was I clubs was kinda not my favorite place. It just you don’t make you just kind of you know, you don’t make much of a living out of it, Unless, you know, I mean, then you could make a living. Mhmm. Although you had to work a lot to make it.

Brooke LIzotte [00:36:37]:

And, so I was floating on this grant, a national grant. I I took took that opportunity to go on and get down there and pick up the the accompaniment, which was more lucrative and clean, fun, inspiring environment that, in effect, all I had to do was play and practice. So it it my chops, it was selfishly, as now with the rendezvous Mhmm. With my morning rendezvous that I do everyday have since COVID began. I mean, that’s its own story. We might get to that. We might

Scott Cowan [00:37:09]:

get to that.

Brooke LIzotte [00:37:10]:

But but it’s it’s I come in early and practice for two or three hours, do the show, which is just me quietly in this sanctuary. It’s bizarre as damn thing. We’ll get to that.

Scott Cowan [00:37:21]:

We’ll get we’ll there’s the teaser. We’ll come Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:37:23]:

To that.

Scott Cowan [00:37:25]:

So down in LA, did you like living in LA?

Brooke LIzotte [00:37:29]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:37:29]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:37:30]:

It was it was really good for me. It was fun. I have family and friends there.

Scott Cowan [00:37:33]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [00:37:33]:

And you need that in the millions of people. That helps. That that helps you be grounded. And, and I was plugged right in to where it was working for me. And, stayed there a number of years. And then I, opened a cafe, put my nine foot piano in it, espresso bar, which the coffee scene was not in LA at all. It’s still not. Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:38:01]:

No. It’s not. Well, it is people know what a latte is. They didn’t know what a latte was. I and I was I had been in the coffee business by, just by attrition because because I knew, the Stewart brothers who became SBC, who became Seattle’s best coffee, all SB, Stewart brothers. Right. And they were on this little teeny hole in the wall in Pierce Avenue

Scott Cowan [00:38:26]:

Yes.

Brooke LIzotte [00:38:27]:

Brewing their they were called the wet whisker. Yes. And, Dave, the brother, I I was living in a loft downtown and was wandering around and smelled coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:38:41]:

Smell

Brooke LIzotte [00:38:42]:

great. So I swallowed my nose, and it was him over there with this little red roaster in this little hole in the wall as bad as big as where we’re sitting right here. And it smelled great, and I just said, you know, hang out. This is new. What’s this? And, you know, I was sipping his stuff. He had a little thing. And and, and then I met a a a fellow that managed one of his, stores. Wet Whisker was a store.

Brooke LIzotte [00:39:07]:

There weren’t many, one or two. And, met that kid, and he was over by another loft I had moved into. So this happened kinda quickly. Interesting. And, he, so I got to know really good coffee and how to make it from the guys that were that they were kind of the pioneers.

Scott Cowan [00:39:28]:

They were certainly the pioneers in this region. And coffee I love coffee. So that’s that’s a

Brooke LIzotte [00:39:33]:

great story. I was always I was always my their coffee was my their their aesthetic, the brew aesthetic

Scott Cowan [00:39:39]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:39:40]:

May determines a coffee. It’s like anything. It’s, you know, what your tequila tastes like. Well, it tastes like different than somebody else’s.

Scott Cowan [00:39:47]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:39:48]:

And, and I always preferred their aesthetic was a medium dark roast.

Scott Cowan [00:39:52]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:39:52]:

And and and and, Starbucks was a little more of a of a French snap.

Scott Cowan [00:40:00]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:40:01]:

And I preferred the thick, rich, calm of a little bit matte. It’s not quite shiny. The oils aren’t out yet, and that happens in fifteen seconds.

Scott Cowan [00:40:10]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:40:11]:

And, I mean, so I so point I’m making is that I got to be quite wise just by hanging around and being interested and seeing the different and having my favorites. And that little fast forward in that era, the little red roaster was bought by, Lee Brick. His first name is leaving me. Lie? Anyway, I’ll think of it. But, who started, Lighthouse Roasters. A wonderful and he was Ed Liebrecht. He was one of the original roasters at Starbucks, and he left Starbucks because he didn’t agree with their aesthetic. He was a medium dark roast guy, like Stewart Brothers.

Brooke LIzotte [00:41:00]:

And so he opened his own, and he bought that little red roaster from, Dave or whoever, Stewart’s.

Scott Cowan [00:41:08]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:41:08]:

And that started Lighthouse up in Fremont. And I think it still has it because it’s it’s a legend, really. That’s a legendary piece of Seattle folklore. And it probably still works. It just cranks out just fine.

Scott Cowan [00:41:22]:

Alright. So question I always ask us towards the end, but I’m just gonna slide it in here because we’re talking coffee. Where do you go for a good cup of coffee these days around here?

Brooke LIzotte [00:41:31]:

My my stove. Your stove.

Scott Cowan [00:41:33]:

How are you preparing it?

Brooke LIzotte [00:41:35]:

With, kind of an Italian, you know, the original Italian. Yes. Take it apart in the middle. Yes. That’s

Scott Cowan [00:41:43]:

how you’re making your coffee. And whose beans are you using typically?

Brooke LIzotte [00:41:46]:

Right now, my favorite bean is, Mukilteo Roasters. Okay. The, monorail espresso blend.

Scott Cowan [00:41:56]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:41:57]:

Because underneath the monorail in the old days down at Nordstrom’s Yes. Was a monorail espresso.

Scott Cowan [00:42:07]:

Yes. It was.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:08]:

And they had great coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:42:09]:

Yes. They

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:10]:

did. And I lived in a loft about a half a block away.

Scott Cowan [00:42:13]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:14]:

And which my loft era. That’s another story.

Scott Cowan [00:42:16]:

That’s another story.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:17]:

And and, which started a whole lot of the then famous bands.

Scott Cowan [00:42:23]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:24]:

Because I was an old I was old school at that point. Okay. And they were kids, and I let them rehearse in my place. So that’s that that includes Mother Love Bone Into Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains. So there’s there’s stories there, but that’s because of my loss, not because of my my musical.

Scott Cowan [00:42:42]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:42]:

Oh, I was using it for my music. Sure. But I also made friends with one of the the the drummer out of Love Bone. Greg Gilmore is still a dear friend of mine.

Scott Cowan [00:42:50]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:51]:

They became Love Bone. They became Pearl Jam

Scott Cowan [00:42:53]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:42:55]:

When Andrew died, which I went through that with Greg. So I was there in that time frame. They were working in my studio practicing. And, anyway, so, that I digress. So, Mukilteo Roasters, I I discovered through a bass player friend of mine, he said, it’s the only stuff. Is it? And I tasted his coffee. And he said, it was my aesthetic, that dark and rich, but not sharp.

Scott Cowan [00:43:22]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:43:22]:

And, and so I’ve since become friend friends with Gary Smith, the Mukilteo Roaster guy, and he’s an old musician, that we’re that we know everybody in the world and in, in this world. Right. And and we were probably in the same room a dozen times and didn’t know it. And he knew of me, and, and he’s over on Whidbey Island. And I, Mukilteo Roasters, that’s their base.

Scott Cowan [00:43:49]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:43:49]:

Yeah. I guess it used to be a Mukilteo Roasters I don’t know. But now it’s on Whidbey. No. And, and so I discovered that’s where I discovered I it is on a teeny little airport. Like, a little airport. It looks like somebody’s driveway.

Brooke LIzotte [00:44:03]:

I’m a pilot, private pilot. Should you

Scott Cowan [00:44:05]:

fly in to get your beans?

Brooke LIzotte [00:44:06]:

To absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:44:10]:

And and That’s economically viable. Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [00:44:12]:

Yeah. That’s a $300 bag of beans. And, so so I’ll go in, and, that’s where I met Gary. And we started realizing we know everybody collectively that’s in this immediate scene. You know? And his mentor and, I guess, partner maybe, but certainly mentor, was Dave Stewart. So his aesthetic is that. So it’s no wonder. So so it’s one and the same.

Brooke LIzotte [00:44:43]:

There’s his blend, muckle teal. I mean, his he has several. He has a happy hippie, which is a great blend That’s very in roast, and and, monorail espresso, which is their kind of sister share their sister. They’re the same, but not.

Scott Cowan [00:44:58]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:44:58]:

And I could either one’s great.

Scott Cowan [00:45:00]:

Okay. Alright. Well, we hijacked that threat. Well, let’s let’s

Brooke LIzotte [00:45:06]:

oh, boy. I’m sorry about

Scott Cowan [00:45:08]:

that. No. No. This I warned you. This is how the show goes. I mean, we’re gonna, you know, we this is not scripted. So it it goes where it goes. And coffee can lead any conversation as far as I’m concerned.

Brooke LIzotte [00:45:18]:

So I had Ed Liebrecht. Okay. When I opened my coffee shop in Hollywood, when I moved down there in the nineties Okay. Nobody knew they had they wanted coffee. Come in and wanted coffee, black or white. You know? That’s British. But black or with cream.

Scott Cowan [00:45:33]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:45:34]:

And, and I ordered I I built a coffee shop and had Ed shoot me down his house blend, which was my cup of tea.

Scott Cowan [00:45:45]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:45:46]:

And, he sent me down a fresh, you know, five pound bag regularly, and, you know, damn near warm and see what I got it. And, and so I had the best coffee in in in LA. And people from San Francisco and New York and Chicago and Europe who are in LA trying to make a name for themselves, they knew right away. They’d come in, and I’d make them a dopio. There’s, there’s, Vito’s. There’s a couple of really good cafes around here. Vito’s is one because they made their espresso. Their single shot

Scott Cowan [00:46:21]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:46:21]:

Is really a ristretto dopio, So which is restricted. Ristretto is a short shot.

Scott Cowan [00:46:28]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:46:29]:

And that’s what the word means, restricted. And then it’s really a doppio, so it is like nectar.

Scott Cowan [00:46:36]:

Oh.

Brooke LIzotte [00:46:37]:

It’s great. It’s a good one. And, and they have their own coffee. And but led, Ed’s Lighthouse was just wonderful. But I may I always made a really rich shot of coffee, And guys that were new, they would say, you know, oh, you know, I’m from I’m from New York. You know, actors coming in trying to make a name for themselves. I say, you know, how do you like your espresso? I said, never mind. Just start with this.

Brooke LIzotte [00:47:00]:

So you taste our coffee. I’ll give you a shot. And I would make it a double ristretto. You know, just load it. And they everybody loved us because it was the best coffee. It was not, you know, it wasn’t aluminum beverage, or it wasn’t some people were still doing cappuccinos with a scoop of something out of a jar. So they it was not there. There was one Starbucks in LA at the, Century Plaza or something that was in Century City.

Brooke LIzotte [00:47:29]:

It was a Starbucks. But people would come in, famous people, you know, Because the coffee shop was in Theater Row, which is equity waiver, 99 seats or less, little black boxes, houses, some fancies, most not Mhmm. Of where people keep their acting skills up. Equity people in TV and film who are out of work will come into the better equity waiver theaters and just keep working their craft. They’ll get into good houses and rehearse, and and they always have a second because if they get a job, they’re gone. So their second will take their spot in that equity waived theater production.

Scott Cowan [00:48:14]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:48:15]:

I had a stuck a cafe right in the middle of those dozen theaters over about a half a block where little theaters all around us, and I called it the in between. It was in between them all. And and all of those people, if they’re from another city, immediately, you know, we’d be packed.

Scott Cowan [00:48:35]:

Because Put your piano in there.

Brooke LIzotte [00:48:36]:

Yeah. That’s all it fit. Almost. And it was long skinny thing, and I put it in and and we had, you know, modular kinda as if this was a bench or just a stool. I had a bunch of those everywhere, so it was sitting low in little tables. Mhmm. And it was totally settled. The the black back blackboard with, you know, they didn’t see any of that shit.

Brooke LIzotte [00:48:56]:

And, people would come in and, oh, I could I where to start? Well, it comes to mind was Michael Bolton was seeing, who is the girl what was her name? She ended up being in Desperate Housewives, and then she was in the one of the Terminators, and then she did, I’d you’d know her name in a minute. Pretty girl, Bernette. I’m

Scott Cowan [00:49:20]:

drawing a complete blank.

Brooke LIzotte [00:49:22]:

Yeah. No. And and, yeah, I you would, it it’ll come around. But, she and Michael Bolton were going out at the time. She happened to be in, a production because she was in between shows. And and and the Hudson Theatre, right to one of my sides, they were surrounded by theaters, was kind of the best one of the bunch. They’re well heeled, beautifully rendered, so it was very professional. It wasn’t just a black box with a few lights.

Scott Cowan [00:49:49]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:49:50]:

It was, a full tilt production facility. And so they would that would draw the out of work, TV actors and film actors who would come in and, get agents to come and see them and just, you know, they’d work it. So there was always there was that kind of buzz, and there’s rehearsals during the day. So the place was full during the day. And then at night, after the show was over, which was, you know, ten or something, eight to ten, whatever their shows or something like that, I’d start doing music. And because there was a nine foot and I was part of the schedule, I did Monday, you know, weekly or daily, evening, music, and I’d plug myself into the schedule. And then as soon as the word got out that there was this little cafe that pay you something out of the till, and and and they have to didn’t mind that. They were just wanting to, again, show themselves in LA, in Hollywood.

Brooke LIzotte [00:50:56]:

And there was a grand piano, a serious grand piano with a nice set of lights and sound sitting in this really funky little cool cafe, and the owner would rather insist that you do your own music. He didn’t want it to turn into a piano bar. And so that was my rule. I said, you you know, people would come in, and, I’d say, well, you know, this is for original music. And a lot of that goes on down there because that’s what they’re after. Mhmm. So they’re that’s they they weren’t trying to be a piano bar. They were there to show off their stuff, and then they would have try and have agents or managers or what have you come in.

Brooke LIzotte [00:51:31]:

And so they were, you know, they had that scene, you know. And, that was a that was a fun time. I that I still work with a number of the people I met out of that, you know, in my film and TV work. Wow. So that was in the nineties, and then I moved back up here. We bought a house on Bainbridge Island, and I was involved in a studio, production. And and my wife and I went our separate ways, and, I had a couple of kids. And, actually, we’re still really good friends.

Brooke LIzotte [00:52:09]:

Thank you. You know, thank goodness. And, but it was we were we were on different roads, and I moved back to LA because that’s where my phone was ringing. And and so shortly thereafter, my youngest son called me up and asked me, he said, dad, can I come live with you? Because his older son was probably a little heavy handed on him now that he was the old the man in the house. And the youngster was quiet and reserved, and the elder was the opposite. I said, sure. So he moved down. It was, you know, dad and son in LA, a studio city we lived.

Brooke LIzotte [00:52:46]:

And that’s where I got into, a song film and TV song placement. Was it my best friend, has done it all through the he worked for BMG, and he pulled me in to be his kind of creative guy because we knew we had played he was the drummer in Bridges. So we had known each other since the seventies. So we knew each other’s ear, and we could look at each other and know what we are thinking about music. And say green, and we both had the same green in our mind.

Scott Cowan [00:53:13]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [00:53:13]:

You know, we wanted blue but not too and we both knew what that meant. Or it’s gotta be this but in a a little more, you know, a little more mustard. Okay. So, that taught me that business. And then I went on the road with Dan Reed. Dan Reed Network out of Portland was a funky, hard, hidden rascal, and he was a big he had a couple of big hits in the late eighties.

Scott Cowan [00:53:42]:

How did you get connected with Dan?

Brooke LIzotte [00:53:45]:

Art Fort, my same friend from Drummer and Bridges Mhmm. To BMG’s in charge of their film and TV music placement on the publishing side for, The World. Pulled me in to help that and produce events, and we did Sundance. And so that’s that therein. But he knew Dan from Portland because Art was from Eugene, and he just knew the Dan Reed network. I didn’t. Although we had met back in when Dan was climbing the ladder, he would come up here and play, when is that place down under the monorail? Anyway, one of the big clubs downtown. And, we almost had it.

Brooke LIzotte [00:54:31]:

It was a Greek restaurant for a while. Anyway, and a lot of people played there because it was kind of the big club in town with Aquarius being the big club north of town.

Scott Cowan [00:54:45]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [00:54:46]:

And, and he and Dan was in there planning, you know, lying around the block. He was well known.

Scott Cowan [00:54:53]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:54:53]:

And my loft was down another loft was downtown, one near the, the monorail that that where I frequent. And and that was close to, Astor Park. Yep. Thank you. And and after Dan Reed played Astor Park, and I didn’t even go. I was whatever. I was probably I had my nine piano nine foot piano there. So that was an event production, you know, performance gallery that had his his stories in there too.

Brooke LIzotte [00:55:30]:

But, and I lived there. And, he brought Dan over after the show, and we hung out and I played. And Dan, you know, there was a guitar around. I don’t think he brought his. And, we just clicked. And he’d sing and play something, and I just play right on it. And so, fast forward, when I moved to LA, Dan would had come down there. It was great to see him and reconnected, and we played at in in my studio.

Brooke LIzotte [00:56:02]:

I had a studio with Art and and, a friend of ours who is is, one of the kind of higher echelon, upper echelon in film and TV music in in LA. We had a, studio. We’ve had two through the years, actually. And, and I used it. They they were working during the day. I used it for production stuff, practice and production stuff. And Dan came along, and I helped him do a song of his. I played and recorded it for him in our little studio, and we just it was just magic.

Brooke LIzotte [00:56:37]:

And he said, wow. He said, this is great. He said, I’ve got some dates in Europe this summer. You wanna go? I go, yeah. Sure. And it it it became a long and still connected career. I’ve done a couple of albums with him, and, I have gone last time. It’s been a little while now, three or four years.

Brooke LIzotte [00:56:55]:

Of course, it’s been two years before any of us track traveled. So it’s been a few years now since I’ve been over there. And, and his and I would go over and do one, I was playing with not the network, he had a Dan Reed band Mhmm. That was a lot of those songs, the hit songs, but done differently. And we kinda did them funky in our own thing. We weren’t trying to do the record. Okay. And, and it was well traveled.

Brooke LIzotte [00:57:22]:

And that was so much fun. That was first time really in kind of my professional life that I did Europe, and I was traveling along with the band, bouncing along in in either a rented van we had or on the train and crisscrossing, The UK and going up to Scotland and then bouncing up to, the Scandinavia and crisscrossing. And I crisscrossed and play in the smallest little birds in Sweden, you wanna know. And then some of the big halls. And then we would do festivals too, the big festivals in the summertime. Because, Dan’s he was known over there. Because when when the when the network hit in late eighties out of Portland, they where they really hit was not US. They had sent it there in, whatever the label was.

Brooke LIzotte [00:58:10]:

There’s a a a a, a London office too for that label. And, and then and maybe still, if you are big in LA or or or the label in LA was jumping up and down about you, They were they were cautious until they heard you and thought for themselves. Okay. So they knew their market. And Dan Reed, funky rock and roll thing, hard hitting, kinda four on the floor, but with a guitar hero

Scott Cowan [00:58:38]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:58:39]:

Brian, who I’ve in fact, he sat in with me about two months ago. I mean, I’m still in touch with Brian. Oh, and all those guys really. And, he they sent it to, Joni Metcalf in not Arista. Anyway, one of the labels. Big label. And she was the head of A and R. And she always had a stack of CDs like this that she never got to, of new acts.

Brooke LIzotte [00:59:08]:

And then this came over, but this was a little this was a separate act list because it came over from her label, Los Angeles version. And her dad came in every every week and bought a pile of stuff because because he loved listening, and so he was her listener. And he heard Dan Reed and brought it to our attention immediately. Said, you’re gonna like this. This kid’s good. And they’re hard hitting, and she just dug it. And so they signed him up and, and brought him over, and their first gig was opening for the Stones at Wembley Stadium. And they went on and did the European tour.

Brooke LIzotte [00:59:50]:

And so he’s well known Yeah. In in Europe. And, one of those was platinum. I don’t maybe the second was too. I’m not sure.

Scott Cowan [00:59:58]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [00:59:58]:

And then but then then that ran its course. Grunge and, depressed, hard hitting rock and roll took over from guy gets girl spandex pants. You know, poignant, important topics that were done seriously instead of wanking, you know, hairdo.

Scott Cowan [01:00:23]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:00:24]:

And, and Dan was a blend of that.

Scott Cowan [01:00:27]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [01:00:27]:

To be fair to Dan, they were serious as a heart attack, but the material was light. It was, you know, girl in a red dress, tiger in a red dress, and and it was all about guy gets girl. And he got he has since got much more pointed and poignant in his material. So but so it the that kind of turned off like a switch. And he went into, electronica, and he got out of the business for a while just because, it was ending up being too self destructive for himself. So he decided to just kinda, disappear for a while, and and then he discovered that music and writing music and playing is what he wants to do, so he came back in.

Scott Cowan [01:01:08]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:01:08]:

And that’s where I reconnected with him in that second life of his. And it was in Europe because he was living over there. He lives in Prague. He’s been out of the country, expat, for a long time. And we’re still in touch very, very much. So coming home from coming off of one of those tours, I was here seeing mom, not living in LA anymore because I was over there most of the time. And, in betweens and then he’d have me do dates with the band, and we’d also do house concerts, just him and me, which was much more lucrative. So we we could both, you know, bank better on that.

Brooke LIzotte [01:01:49]:

And, and now it’s just so much fun. So I came home and I was hanging, and that’s when I met Michael. Mhmm. And I was just gonna go back over with no real plans. I mean, I was still doing stuff with Dan, but it was a lot easier if I was over there for him to get me for a weekend for a two hundred dollar ticket instead of a $1,200. Right. So it’s it’s like from here to LA. It’s easier if you’re here than if I was in London working in LA.

Brooke LIzotte [01:02:14]:

Mhmm. But, anyway, here I am. Michael corralled me, and I still come and go. I did I did, last summer, I did a wonderful, set of concerts in, Vienna, where a a woman, who, was a fan of my morning rendezvous, we’ll get to we’ll get to or maybe come into this after. And, but from, these morning rendezvous, I’ve met some people around the world. And this one gal in Austria is is an artist and, really, actually, an amazing artist. And, she became a fan and a friend, and we connected. And she said she said, yeah, I sent her my albums.

Brooke LIzotte [01:03:02]:

And she played them for some people, and a conservatory was just quite taken by it and said, we we’d love to have him come over and do a concert. So she hosted me, and and and the, the, conservatory, gave me a date, gave me a concert. So over I went. This was, like, in June, past. And, and, and then she set up another house concert with an artist in Vienna. One was a little out of Vienna, about an hour out down the Danube. And then, the other was in, you know, on the old town close to Beethoven’s Old Hang. The Top Floor of this old beautiful, you know, apartment and piano in it.

Brooke LIzotte [01:03:51]:

And so I did both concerts, and it was just magic. And and and, it’s hard to explain, but Beethoven and Mozart and Haydn and Chopin, especially Beethoven and Mozart, they were Vienna. I mean, that was like that was the, you know, king of the hill. That was rock. That was the stardom was in Vienna.

Scott Cowan [01:04:16]:

Mhmm. And

Brooke LIzotte [01:04:17]:

then you’d go elsewhere. Chopin would come to got his chops in Vienna and then went back to Paris.

Scott Cowan [01:04:24]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:04:26]:

But I the fact that my roots were more Vienna than they were Seattle or LA or Chicago or New Orleans or Nashville, those were not these were not my roots

Scott Cowan [01:04:41]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [01:04:41]:

Aesthetically. It was Vienna. And I could feel that my hair was standing up for the whole time. And they’ve asked me back. The, the conservatory wants me to do a residency, and which is work with the kids on improv, because it’s all my material. I mean, it it might be some of it’s set.

Scott Cowan [01:05:01]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:05:01]:

A lot of it isn’t. It’s heads and themes and patterns and and and images, and then I stretch and go away and come back.

Scott Cowan [01:05:09]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:05:10]:

And, so and she she could spot that in a minute because we were rehearsed in the theater there. And and the gal that runs the place, dear woman, was he she became a friend. And, she and so the residency will be improv for whoever wants to be involved, and then I’ll do a weekly concert.

Scott Cowan [01:05:33]:

And when will this be taking place?

Brooke LIzotte [01:05:35]:

Well, it was supposed to be done in December. Mhmm. But but they got they got locked down again.

Scott Cowan [01:05:40]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [01:05:40]:

So we’re just we’re it’s sometime this year.

Scott Cowan [01:05:43]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:05:44]:

Probably I mean, I don’t mind not being in Vienna Vienna or having to trudge along getting to and from Vienna in, Austrian winters. Now they don’t mind. Like, when I was in, Sweden for many a winter

Scott Cowan [01:06:01]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:06:02]:

And, yeah, you’re up to your waist. But nobody minds because that’s their life and they deal with it. Right. And I got pretty good at dealing with it. I’d be there, but I don’t mind it being later spring or summer. Okay. Just saying. Alright.

Scott Cowan [01:06:17]:

My daughter lives in Telffs. I don’t know that. It’s just out of Innsbruck.

Brooke LIzotte [01:06:22]:

Oh, that’d be nice.

Scott Cowan [01:06:23]:

Yeah. It’s about twenty twenty minutes or so from Vinsbrook. It’s a little town. And, yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [01:06:28]:

She’s What’s the other we’re we’re, Alessandra is is the artist’s diner, a wonderful visual artist. And we did a collaboration that was her visual painting that she chose over the pieces Mhmm. That she became to know be be became knowing or of, aware of. And, so we created this digital environment where she projected on the entire stage

Scott Cowan [01:06:55]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:06:55]:

While I performed to that my song with that image and I sat over it. And a wonderful trick that’s just a cheap thrill is and I did this in my lofts because you get great big white parachutes and drape them over everything. And if there’s any lumps, like a piano is a lump Mhmm. And then there’s a backdrop, it becomes this two d, three d environment you project from the front. It’s like a pop up gift card where, you know, something pops up, and as you’re looking low straight at it, it has dimension. You see in front and, you know, front’s a tree and the back’s the sky or something. So there is relief. And the same thing happens on stage.

Brooke LIzotte [01:07:38]:

And so it’s just wonderfully cheap and, you know, you get white whatevers Right. And drape it on the back, and then I drop it over the piano and I wore all white. So here I am in I’m immersed in the image, And people just love their place as pack. And but back to the roots. They were very comfortable with my progressively neoclassical bent.

Scott Cowan [01:08:07]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:08:08]:

Because I run. And and, you know, I mean, I’ll fly up and down and sideways and cross and just have fun and, you know, and, they were they they they hung on every note. It was I was so tickled because that’s not always the case. If I’m playing a club in Seattle, I’m careful what songs I pick. If I’m getting, you know, too esoteric, it won’t hold the crowd. It’ll hold people near me. Mhmm. Because people who wanna come and hear me will come up close.

Brooke LIzotte [01:08:45]:

And then if if if if I hell throw hell to the wind, I’ll play to them anyway. And if it’s something light and pretty if I get too light and pretty in some clubs, it it gets stepped on because people aren’t ready for that unless they’re really there to listen to whatever I give

Scott Cowan [01:09:03]:

them.

Brooke LIzotte [01:09:03]:

Okay. Okay. In in some clubs, that’s not the case. They’re coming in for, you know, other reasons. But, boy, did I feel that in Vienna. That’s my point. Okay. I just felt that connection.

Brooke LIzotte [01:09:16]:

And, I’m excited to go back. COVID. Yeah. That stopped it.

Scott Cowan [01:09:22]:

Kind of tired of that word. Tired of asking the questions of everybody. Like, what did you do during COVID? But it’s real. But your morning rendezvous. Started because. Right. Why don’t you explain that to the listeners so that they have an idea and we’ll make sure that they can find you. But let’s let’s talk about that.

Brooke LIzotte [01:09:41]:

Well, the, along came, you know, the lockdown. And and, I I live right next to the studio and, which has a magnificent piano in it. And I’ve been you know, that was two years ago, and I’ve been here a good almost ten. So, I mean, you know, so two things. And and I’m careful to speak with this. I know this is public, but, so I’ll speak to it, you know, with with my appreciation of it being my situation. And I have friends and family that this is not the case. But with me, most of my life is somewhat monastic and a bit of a hermit where I’m, you know, eat, sleep, piano.

Scott Cowan [01:10:28]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:10:28]:

And with this environment, I’ve been able to get up and come in here early and practice, put my hours in, playing, practicing, writing, recording, and then get out of the way of the studio if they’ve got a day something. Mhmm. And then their day’s done, and I’ll come in late at night, go off into the wee hours, and, and practice and play and record. And just me, I mean, I don’t turn it into a party. I’m I’m I’m careful that way. I just don’t run that way. When I do a recording session, I like it to be a closed session, which just means me and who’s essential to be here. Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:11:08]:

I don’t want, you know, girlfriends and friends of friends and bring it into turn it into a party. I might have a party at the end of it. But closed session, I just it keeps me focused and quiet and you’re controlling the air. But so, so I along came COVID. And in truth, my situation didn’t change much because I was still waking up, eat, sleep, come in here. And, and so but we all had to be careful elsewhere. So, anyway, so, Raymond, all of our friends were doing things streaming with their Paypals and their Venmos to try and keep making money. Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [01:11:57]:

And they and then, you know, keep their crowd entertained, and, hopefully, their crowd would, you know, slide them $20 on PayPal. And, and that that became an approach that a lot of people did. And it was funny. It was sky it was really it was touch. I was touched by seeing people doing that. I thought it was great. You know? And I’d chime in. I’d watch in some of it and and, you know, let them know I was here and say, you know you know, just, you know, back them up.

Brooke LIzotte [01:12:26]:

And in in Raymond, I call him. We’re all if that’s you know, if you play if you play keyboard, you’re a.

Scott Cowan [01:12:37]:

Gotcha.

Brooke LIzotte [01:12:37]:

And, and and I met him when I moved home. So it’s been inside of ten years we’ve been friends and friends right away. I mean, he’s he’s just such a, you know, a wonderful, you know, you know, open book and, you know, big hearted man. It’s easy to be friends with that man.

Scott Cowan [01:12:57]:

That compliment paid for by the Friends of Raymond Hayden Foundation. I I agree. He’s he’s

Brooke LIzotte [01:13:06]:

He’s a good man.

Scott Cowan [01:13:07]:

He’s a good man.

Brooke LIzotte [01:13:08]:

And and he and mister Tacoma. And so part of it, he plugged me into Tacoma. He pulled me down there in in my, band up here that we’ve played far too occasionally. But and and because everybody’s busy in the rest of their world. Mhmm. But called Dreamwreck has bands, Smith in it, Rod Cook, John Bayless, and it has a hell of a band. And and Raymond dug the band, and he got us booked down there, and and then that in turn got me some solo things down there. And and we’ve been friends since.

Brooke LIzotte [01:13:37]:

I mean, he he we had this thing called the evening of keys, which was a handful of piano players, and I immediately got adopted into that. So we would do, you know, four or five piano players go up and do twenty minutes. Okay. And, but, so along came COVID. And here we sat, or I sat, and he was just doing what I do. And Raymond said, he said, wait. What do you think about going? You should you know, push go and go online, you know. Get out there and, you know, everybody you know will come check you out.

Brooke LIzotte [01:14:15]:

And and I thought about it. I said, well, yeah. She said, why not? I’m just doing what I do. You know, open up the door. And, so he he, helped me do a little event thing, and we first called it breakfast with Brooke because I decided to do it in the morning.

Scott Cowan [01:14:32]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:14:33]:

Because the people I haven’t got nowhere to go. And, nor at night either, but a lot of people were doing nights. And and and it just felt right to do something in the morning because I was in here practicing anyway. And so he helped me, you know, went those event things and got that going, and, started just a few days after that idea because Easter was just right around the corner. And, so that’s when I started, and I started going every day for about a year, every day. And I start taking a day off, you know, because I couldn’t go anywhere. Nobody was going. It wasn’t like, you know, any other choice, really.

Brooke LIzotte [01:15:11]:

And and I’m doing this every day anyway, so why not? And, and that the the the rendezvous, I call them, the group of people are are, I I’m doing I’m not doing every day. I’ll do it now, of course, with the construction here. My morning shirt shouldn’t toast, so I’m not doing mornings. So what I’ll do is the weekend.

Scott Cowan [01:15:36]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:15:37]:

Or I might do a a later midnight rendezvous, evening rendezvous, and everything quiets down.

Scott Cowan [01:15:44]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:15:45]:

And so I’m doing a little bit more, a bit spontaneous, and put out a quick event, and and the same core group of people show up. So where are

Scott Cowan [01:15:54]:

you where are you putting these on at?

Brooke LIzotte [01:15:57]:

The church. Well How so?

Scott Cowan [01:15:59]:

What church? Are you streaming

Brooke LIzotte [01:16:00]:

them to? Whoever wants to listen. On Facebook. Facebook. Okay. On my page.

Scott Cowan [01:16:05]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:16:06]:

And Facebook live. K. And which is amazing because I I do it I my entire technical, you know, setup is my, phone. Now I have an advantage because the phone is a galaxy. It ain’t none fancy. Well, it’s there in top of the line galaxy, but which happens to have a great little camera and a pretty hefty little microphone. So which is amazing in itself, frankly. I mean, what the heck? And so I set it up looking down the keyboard, and it’s about a foot and a half away from an awesome piano.

Brooke LIzotte [01:16:48]:

So it’s gonna sound good. Mhmm. I mean, it just can’t help but sound good. If it’s in tune, you hear it. If it’s not, you hear that. But it sounds big and full. And then the room, the sanctuary, and the church is gorgeous. So I, I just, by chance, have a great sounding instrument.

Brooke LIzotte [01:17:07]:

And then I sing a little bit too, and I just turn, kinda poke my head, look toward, lean in a little bit to the camera, and, you know, tell the story and get out and come back over here and play. So it’s by mostly mostly piano. And and, but I tell the story in some of my songs because ain’t nobody here else to do it, so I do.

Scott Cowan [01:17:28]:

And those have been well received.

Brooke LIzotte [01:17:29]:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’ve done well. What’s that? Three hundred and sixty five days a year has been two. So I probably have four or 500 Joes under my belt.

Scott Cowan [01:17:41]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:17:43]:

And, the same bunch, it has now that they’ve let us out of prison a little bit, the the turnout is a lot less initially. But I I’m just here for who wants to show up. I’m okay with if if, you know, if it’s if it’s not a couple of thousand people showing up for the if it’s a hundred.

Scott Cowan [01:18:04]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:18:06]:

And then by the by with the little legs behind that, I keep everything on my site Mhmm. On the Facebook so that people can revisit it if they want to. And they always do people. So all of a sudden in a week, I’ve got two or three or four more times more people than were there the day I did it. That’s amazing. Because they come back, and and it’ll happen. I have friends in LA that will either tune in when I do it Mhmm. Or they know that there’s something on my side, and they’ll turn me on and just have it in their office and not sit and be involved in the in the chatter.

Brooke LIzotte [01:18:38]:

Because a lot of people come there, they’ve made friends with the other rendezvous. So their friend horizon has expanded to people all over around the world, and they’re chanting it. And I don’t pay a lot of attention when I’m playing because I’d be distracted. You know, it would my focus, I have to so I’ll play and I know that so, you know, they’re listening, but then they’re engaging with who, you know, and and so it’s I’ve created this space for them. And so I I have to and choose to let them do what they want. We only have a couple of rules. No news.

Scott Cowan [01:19:16]:

Thank you.

Brooke LIzotte [01:19:17]:

No news. This is our no news hour of love. And nothing negative. This is this is not a pity party. This is not this is not a prayer group. I understand we all go through things where we want a little help or a little pat on the back. And if that’s the case, you know, take it off of here. This is not for that.

Brooke LIzotte [01:19:42]:

We’re here for the music and for just for love and to connection this. We’re gathering. We started this gathering when they told us not to, so it allowed us to gather at a time when we were told not to. I mean, figuratively speaking. Because nobody could get together and sit around the piano and listen to somebody to play for an hour, hour and a half.

Scott Cowan [01:20:05]:

So how much longer do you think you’ll do this?

Brooke LIzotte [01:20:08]:

And, I don’t see any end. I’m coming into our second year anniversary. And and and because I’m playing anyway, because I’m practicing. I mean, at my at my age, I have to play every day. I just do. And and I practice and, you know, bust my butt and go through my exercises. There’s an exercise couple of exercise books I use. One and they’re all 200 years old.

Brooke LIzotte [01:20:37]:

And, you know, not literally my printed page, but their author. Really? And because they’re classical. And, and that just you know, it’s like calisthenics. You know, there’s only, you know, that’s it is calisthenics.

Scott Cowan [01:20:53]:

How many hours a week are you practicing?

Brooke LIzotte [01:20:57]:

Well,

Scott Cowan [01:20:59]:

And I mean practice, not the rendezvous. So practice.

Brooke LIzotte [01:21:02]:

Well, the rendezvous, what’s interesting is that it is still that fast and flying

Scott Cowan [01:21:07]:

Mhmm. And

Brooke LIzotte [01:21:07]:

flowing, you know, what I call neoclassical. And I mean, you know, I play funky and rootsy, and I got some, you know, reggae in me, and I got some gospel in me. So it’s not all esoteric, classically, you know, sounding. It’s it’s not. It’s yeah. I I cover a wide range that way. But so even the rendezvous are challenging because I’m playing, you know, like, you know, there’s no tomorrow.

Scott Cowan [01:21:36]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:21:36]:

So it I include that in my rehearsal.

Scott Cowan [01:21:39]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:21:39]:

But so I do two hours in front of that. So there’s three hours in the morning and then at least three at night. Four usually. And so, you know, so that’s six, seven hours a day. And, you know, so it’s but it’s what I do. And and at the moment, I don’t have a girlfriend or a wife or a dog. So so I can you know, that’s what I do. And thankful for it.

Brooke LIzotte [01:22:10]:

Very thankful for it. And and I’m and I mentioned that I’m careful, having, you know, been very thankful for kind of this turn of events

Scott Cowan [01:22:21]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:22:22]:

That has maybe something to do, but not in my heart anything to do with COVID. But it has it is related to everybody being, you know, locked down.

Scott Cowan [01:22:34]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:22:35]:

That that it instigated this my my opening up my doors so people could come in on what I’m doing anyway.

Scott Cowan [01:22:42]:

Right. Alright. Question I love to ask musicians. Two part question. Washington state related. And for you, you know, I’m gonna pair you down. Can’t say somewhere in LA or somewhere in Europe. We can maybe you can slide those in, but like to do this because we’re exploring Washington state.

Scott Cowan [01:23:01]:

As a performer, the coolest venue you’ve played at?

Brooke LIzotte [01:23:09]:

Theater or club? Anywhere. Well, the theaters, there are several. I mean, Paramount’s wonderful. K. Kirkland’s performance theater is lovely, played there a number of times. There’s an Everett Theater, the classical something.

Scott Cowan [01:23:27]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:23:28]:

And it’s fun. Clubs. I found out about it through Raymond, the one Louie’s. Louie Cheese.

Scott Cowan [01:23:39]:

Which is closed now.

Brooke LIzotte [01:23:40]:

Oh, is it now?

Scott Cowan [01:23:41]:

It’s it’s gone.

Brooke LIzotte [01:23:42]:

That was that was a Shangri La. That was hiding.

Scott Cowan [01:23:45]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:23:46]:

Its stage and sound system, and they didn’t have a piano. Right. I mean, I that’s I the the first handful have gorgeous pianos that I mentioned. Because that’s, you know, otherwise, I have a fine digital piece of great several.

Scott Cowan [01:24:04]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:24:04]:

But and thank goodness because they work great. But it’s not an acoustic piano. It’s not playing a Steinway seven or nine foot piano. Alright. So so, let’s see. Where else? You know, they have a little club out north called the North City Bistro.

Scott Cowan [01:24:20]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:24:21]:

And, the Blooms own that, and they’re sweethearts.

Scott Cowan [01:24:24]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:24:24]:

And they have he’s a musician, and he picks and chooses the music that plays there. And it’s a little wine bar, so it’s unassuming. And and and but it’s it’s they’re so, accommodating. They they we become really close friends. I’ll go in there with a friend of mine, has me come in and he’s a a blues art player, singer, you know, and and he has plays with various guys in a band situation. But, short of that, he will ask me and we’ll go in and just the two of us play and play a couple of sets each and then combine in one set. So I’ll take the middle set

Scott Cowan [01:25:02]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:02]:

And have it be what I do. It’ll be like a rendezvous. In fact, done at a time or two where I’ll set up and stream the rendezvous

Scott Cowan [01:25:11]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:11]:

From there on that night. And, but because we’re in Seattle, when we advertise, those people show

Scott Cowan [01:25:18]:

up. Right.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:19]:

Because now they can get out. We can get out now.

Scott Cowan [01:25:21]:

Part two of the question.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:22]:

Oh, side note. Still, they Ray has a lovely piano. He has well, it’s an upright.

Scott Cowan [01:25:29]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:30]:

So it looks unassuming, but Yamaha makes a series that’s a u. It’s it’s the nomenclature. It’s a u series

Scott Cowan [01:25:37]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:38]:

That are great.

Scott Cowan [01:25:39]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:25:39]:

They’re a great piano for what it is. Mhmm. For but it’s doesn’t sound like a little spinet that grandma puts the pictures on. It actually has some beef and some some voice, and and and and and it’s lovely. So it’s, it’s a fine instrument to, you know, play a nice short set on.

Scott Cowan [01:26:01]:

K. Part two of that is where where have you seen music performed in the area that you’ve enjoyed from a from the audience standpoint?

Brooke LIzotte [01:26:10]:

Sea Monster.

Scott Cowan [01:26:11]:

Sea Monster. Not familiar with that.

Brooke LIzotte [01:26:13]:

Yeah. It’s it’s if we were 21, it’d be our favorite club. Okay. Because it’s funky, jazzy improv. And then some not, but they are serious on the improv original, what you do. If you’re good and funky and jazzy, come on in. And Joe Doria is kind of, you know, holds court there. And Joe’s a a local organ god.

Scott Cowan [01:26:34]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:26:35]:

He’s over the top. Good. Okay. And the Jimmy Smith b three throws the pedals like he grew up on them, probably did, and is ridiculous. And he has great players with him consequently, and they’re just flying, not even looking at each other at each other. Alright. So it is funky, jazzy, tear it up, fifteen minute songs. You know, I’m all about that.

Brooke LIzotte [01:26:56]:

I can get that.

Scott Cowan [01:26:57]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:26:58]:

And, Joe, he’s kind of, you know, the, he’s kind of the, like I say, he holds court there. He has played there, you know, once a week for years. And, so certainly the sea monster.

Scott Cowan [01:27:12]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:27:13]:

And let’s see. Where where else? I don’t go out much.

Scott Cowan [01:27:16]:

Oh, we’re about I’m a total

Brooke LIzotte [01:27:17]:

whole buddy. Go back in the day back in the day.

Scott Cowan [01:27:19]:

So, like, you mentioned Astor Park.

Brooke LIzotte [01:27:21]:

Yeah. That would be one of the kind of the rock halls.

Scott Cowan [01:27:24]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:27:26]:

Jazz Alley

Scott Cowan [01:27:26]:

Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [01:27:27]:

Is a jazz hall. Langston Hughes is the r and b. The African American community, lives and and thrives through that hall.

Scott Cowan [01:27:41]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:27:44]:

You know, they have the gospel and the R and B and the funk, and and it’s just beautiful. That that that’s a real home for that music. Let’s see. Where else? Well, let me

Scott Cowan [01:28:01]:

ask you this question.

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:02]:

Yeah. I I’m just trying to think because, like, right now, there’s a bunch of places you go. It’s like that you go see I go see people that I know and they’re my friends. Sure. So I go there for them.

Scott Cowan [01:28:14]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:14]:

And I might not, you know, wanna come back to this club next weekend unless I know you. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:28:21]:

Where haven’t you played that you’d like to play?

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:25]:

I haven’t played Jazz Alley.

Scott Cowan [01:28:27]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:28]:

And I’d enjoy that. Now, I’m not real I I’m different for Jazz Alley.

Scott Cowan [01:28:32]:

Sure.

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:33]:

But I know John, Demetrios? Yes. Demetrio? Dimitri?

Scott Cowan [01:28:38]:

Yeah.

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:39]:

Yeah. But I know him. The first Yazali was in the U District

Scott Cowan [01:28:43]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:28:43]:

With his wife then. And my loft was about two and a half blocks up 40 Fifth or or up University Way from him, and he’d come up and hang out. And when I was having shows and things, so that’s I met him through that. And, but I’ve never tried I never asked him to play Jazz Alley. Well, he actually has a guy booking it, because I was never, you know, straight out jazz. Okay. And, but I would enjoy that because they have a nice instrument.

Scott Cowan [01:29:18]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:29:19]:

And where else would I wanna play? Well, I’ve done shows here.

Scott Cowan [01:29:25]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:29:26]:

And people don’t know what this looks like, but it’s a beautiful venue.

Scott Cowan [01:29:29]:

Yes, it is.

Brooke LIzotte [01:29:30]:

And it’s a it seats it’s a beautiful sanctuary that seats about am I too far away? You okay? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I’m sitting back. It’s okay. The, I’ve done a number of shows here that we’d fill the place.

Brooke LIzotte [01:29:45]:

And filling here isn’t much. It’s probably a 75 people.

Scott Cowan [01:29:48]:

Right.

Brooke LIzotte [01:29:48]:

But still Yeah. A nice crowd. It’s a

Scott Cowan [01:29:50]:

nice crowd.

Brooke LIzotte [01:29:50]:

And and even a hundred is fine. They’re not quite so sardines, because we still have the key the pews. Mhmm. And pews are godly, excuse the pun, uncomfortable.

Scott Cowan [01:30:01]:

Yes. They are.

Brooke LIzotte [01:30:01]:

Or is that ungodly? Either way. And, but and so I we packed it, and it’s a little bit shoulder to shoulder. And so, 75 or a hundred is better, and that’s that’s easy to gather. Okay. And, but that hasn’t been during COVID.

Scott Cowan [01:30:22]:

Okay. Where

Brooke LIzotte [01:30:24]:

else where else would I like to play?

Scott Cowan [01:30:26]:

You ever played the triple door?

Brooke LIzotte [01:30:28]:

Yes. Thank you. A number of times. And both their side room, where I had to bring a piano, and the big one where they have that lovely, yeah, a soundway. Mhmm. I’ve played it a number of times. It’s fine. It’s just fine.

Scott Cowan [01:30:44]:

It’s funny because I I asked that question to most of the guests that are musicians. Right? And the triple door is almost everybody’s choice. It’s so funny to me. It’s like, I I don’t know what I don’t know what I expected, but the triple door rises up from that. Where do you wanna play? Like, as a performer, people say the triple door. Where do you like to see music being performed? People say the triple door. It’s Mhmm. It’s a they’ve done a great job there.

Brooke LIzotte [01:31:10]:

Yeah. Well, a friend of mine that I, a dear friend that I’ve, Richard Russell is his name. He’s a singer songwriter, and I’ve been met him through being asked to do the keyboards on his number of albums. So through the years, we become friends musically, and he’s a philanthropist and was very much involved in the triple door existing.

Scott Cowan [01:31:36]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:31:37]:

And they do a blues they do a fundraiser for the Port Townsend Blues Society, something like that, something. And it’s an annual thing and a big fundraiser at the triple door. And Richard’s always invited to perform, because he is. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [01:31:55]:

And, you

Brooke LIzotte [01:31:56]:

know, he’s kinda responsible for it. And, and, he brings his band, he’s living in Hawaii, and he brings his band over, and I’ll play keyboards with him. Okay. And he’ll give me a middle kind of minor set of my own material.

Scott Cowan [01:32:10]:

Oh, okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:32:11]:

So I’ll stretch out.

Scott Cowan [01:32:12]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:32:13]:

And it’s and and I and anytime I play with Richard, he’ll give me kind of you know, the band will leave the stage and I’ll take it for a minute.

Scott Cowan [01:32:22]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:32:23]:

Triple to respond.

Scott Cowan [01:32:25]:

Well, I wanna respect your time because you gotta get back to practicing. What Two questions. Well, one’s more of a statement. Question, what didn’t I mean, we could go on and on and on. I mean, we I know we skipped over a bunch of stuff. But what didn’t I ask you that I probably should have asked you?

Brooke LIzotte [01:32:46]:

Well, let’s see. That’s an interesting question. As we’ve just covered some stuff, kind of my my past. Uh-huh. And and what’s interesting is that, and you don’t know this, but kinda discovering the feeling that I’ve discovered, and felt for the first time that I was in Vienna was real interesting. Because that my roots. I did it just, of course, those are my roots because that was the first music I learned and it wasn’t, you know, the pop stuff or the rock stuff or the r and b back then.

Scott Cowan [01:33:25]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:33:26]:

And so that was interesting. But we we covered that because that’s kind of that’s new in my life.

Scott Cowan [01:33:32]:

K.

Brooke LIzotte [01:33:33]:

Cove the COVID, you know, the the morning rendezvous Mhmm. Or rendezvous if it’s in the evening, the evening rendezvous. If it’s late, I call it the, midnight rendezvous. That’s two years old, so that’s a new part of my moment Mhmm. Which is just including people in kinda what I do, but it’s really so consequently, it’s like it’s been one of the most prolific times in my life. Really? Because I’m cranking out stuff every day. Okay. And it has generated two, and I’m, on the verge of a third album in two years.

Brooke LIzotte [01:34:11]:

Wow. So it’s really created, and that’s and then all the stuff isn’t on there that, you know, I feel could be on, because I picked and chose. And, and that’ll continue. And, so let’s see. What happened you asked? Well, that’s it. I’m, I just, this is what I do and it’s continuing and I’m very thankful for it. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:34:36]:

So people wanna listen to your music. They wanna they wanna attend. Where can where can people find out more about you? Are you just on Facebook or do you have other sources?

Brooke LIzotte [01:34:45]:

I well, they my name is Brooke Lizotte, and and and there’s a one after it.

Scott Cowan [01:34:51]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:34:51]:

Because all the there are a few Brooke Lizotte’s, and they’re all girls. Because, my my Brooke has an e after it. K. And that in fast forward, of course, my mom decided that a long time ago. And but she must have liked the way it looks because masculine is k, Brooke.

Scott Cowan [01:35:14]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:35:15]:

Or s, Brooks, brother suits.

Scott Cowan [01:35:18]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:35:19]:

So Brooke, k, with the s, and e is feminine. So all of my mail comes as miss because the post office,

Scott Cowan [01:35:31]:

their Infinite wisdom.

Brooke LIzotte [01:35:33]:

Their their systems and others, just any postal system, they’ll they’ll flip a coin for masculine or feminine. So the Terrys and the Alex and the, you know, the who else? What other is can tow the line like that? Brooke is one. Although, it’s spelled differently, but there’s others like Terry with a r r y or r I. R r. Yeah. Yeah. Or what have you? Pat. Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [01:36:01]:

Yeah. The old Saturday Night Live skit for Pat.

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:04]:

So Alright. Don’t call me Shirley.

Scott Cowan [01:36:08]:

Well, I thank you so much for taking

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:10]:

Oh, it’s been a pleasure.

Scott Cowan [01:36:11]:

This was this was great for me. And, we’ll put links in the show notes so that people can find you.

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:16]:

Oh, I was gonna say, I have a, YouTube channel.

Scott Cowan [01:36:20]:

Oh, okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:21]:

And that where there’s that shows a lot of the stuff I’ve done on film too. Okay. Some of the artists, the the pieces I did, for the Sony Pictures things. And, so that includes things that are not my material that I’m playing on, though.

Scott Cowan [01:36:39]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:39]:

The the the the, the work I’ve done with Randy Meisner from the Eagles.

Scott Cowan [01:36:43]:

Oh, really?

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:43]:

And and and one of our pieces is on there. Okay. And, and, so they’ll see the film and TV side of me.

Scott Cowan [01:36:57]:

Excellent.

Brooke LIzotte [01:36:58]:

And then a bunch of my materials on there too. And and and then

Scott Cowan [01:37:05]:

Are you on any do you make sure there’s nothing you can throw at me? Okay. Are you on any of the streaming serve are you is your music on Spotify or

Brooke LIzotte [01:37:14]:

Yes. It is on all of those.

Scott Cowan [01:37:16]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:37:16]:

And and, of course, that’s digital. And I’ve done I’ve done, I have a small, bit of, CDs in case people want CDs because all their I I got those really for the rendezvous people because they all almost all of them, bought a CD or both from me because I could sign it, and and it’s it’s a memory piece. Sure. I mean, CDs and and hats, and I well, I don’t have hats or or T shirts. But when you go somewhere, you’ll pop for a $20.40, 60, all of a sudden you’re spending a hundred or $200 at the merch, but it’s a memory piece for that night.

Scott Cowan [01:37:59]:

Absolutely.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:00]:

So the rendezvous people, they’ve almost all of them have chose to have a CD. Okay. So they remember being there when that was recorded because it was recorded live at the rendezvous, one of one of those days.

Scott Cowan [01:38:14]:

Oh, very nice.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:15]:

Okay. And so, so that they they would have to come to me directly.

Scott Cowan [01:38:22]:

Okay.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:22]:

And they that could be done if they’re a Facebooker, you know, PM me

Scott Cowan [01:38:27]:

Mhmm.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:27]:

And say, you know, if you want a if you want a CD, then we make arrangements aside. Okay. But they can also download from any of their favorite sites.

Scott Cowan [01:38:37]:

Okay. Excellent. Well, again, thank you so much.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:40]:

Yeah. Thank you. It’s been a real treat, and thank you. We both can thank, Keybro, Raymond.

Scott Cowan [01:38:45]:

Yeah. I guess so.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:46]:

Yeah. That’s enough. I’ve got him on the back.

Scott Cowan [01:38:50]:

There we go.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:50]:

But, We

Scott Cowan [01:38:50]:

don’t wanna send him to him too.

Brooke LIzotte [01:38:53]:

But this has been a pleasure. Thank you. You too.

Scott Cowan [01:39:04]:

Join us next time for another episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast.