Video published by Daniel’s Music Foundation here on YouTube (link is external)
Smile-O-Meter Friday:
Episode 10 – Featuring Jake Nielsen (Posted - Thursday, June 30, 2022)
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[00:00:00.00] Text, Smile-O-Meter Friday. With Daniel & Ken.
[00:00:03.81] A smiling sun.
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[00:00:05.72] Hosted by an unlikely duo who are just trying to bring a little sunshine into the world.
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[00:00:11.60] Daniel and Ken
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[00:00:12.47] Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing well.
[00:00:16.04] Hey D. Can you believe that summer is already here? Warm weather, barbecues, concerts, and outdoor fun.
[00:00:24.62] With plenty of smiles. So that can only mean one thing. It must be time for another episode of Smile-O-Meter Friday.
[00:00:36.89] So much has happened since the last episode. We offered 26 free group classes a week for the entire spring semester at our music center. And we hope to have up to 50 classes per week in the fall to get us back to our pre-pandemic level of providing about 1,200 free classes a year.
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[00:00:56.15] Students shake tambourines.
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[00:00:58.02] We also hosted the second annual Danny awards live in New York City at Symphony space with over 500 attendees and 300 live stream viewers.
[00:01:12.89] And speaking of the Danny's, today we are honored to be highlighting one about 2021 Danny award winners.
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[00:01:20.88] A man plays guitar on stage.
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[00:01:24.52] An amazing guitar player, singer songwriter, and performer from Aromas, California, Jake Nielsen.
[00:01:35.98] Jake is funny, super cool and has had a really interesting life. Hi Jake, good to have you on Smile-O-Meter Friday.
[00:01:47.56] Awesome. Thank you. It's really good to be here.
[00:01:50.41] Jake, can you tell us a little bit about how you got started as a musician?
[00:01:55.09] I was born into a family of athletes, rodeo cowboys and sports and all that. And I actually when I was probably about 7 to 9 years old I used to ride like baby bulls in rodeos and stuff like that. And my parents probably didn't really like it too much. And I kind of got hurt a lot. So that went out the window, but I loved it like I just-- all I wanted to be was a bull rider. And then I got into baseball and I got to play one season of regular baseball in little league.
[00:02:29.38] And that inspired a whole league called the Challenger League where they had people with disabilities, kids with disabilities to come out and be part of Little League and play. And it was pretty cool the San Francisco Giants actually let me come to Candlestick Park when they played at Candlestick. And they brought me out on the field and talked all about that.
[00:02:51.94] And yeah, I just always wanted to play sports. And actually at my junior high, I actually made this sixth grade basketball team. And people actually got cut and I got picked to actually play because I could hit a 3 and all that kind of stuff.
[00:03:06.64] But there is a lot of discrimination from the refs. They wouldn't let me play in certain games. Certain refs wouldn't want me out there and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I couldn't play sports like I really wanted to put 100% into it, and I couldn't do that. So my family, my uncle Jamie bought me my first guitar and thought that I could go as far as I want with music.
[00:03:30.43] He made me make a promise because he was only like 17 at the time, and he threw down like $500 and he made me promise something that he would play. He actually passed away last year. So it's been like really hard without him. We had a musical connection me and my uncle. So that's why I always-- if you ever noticed, I have a handkerchief in my back pocket. And when I play-- and that was his handkerchief and the handkerchiefs we had at his funeral. So if you see my videos from the past year, I always have a handkerchief hanging out in my back pocket. And that's for having my uncle with me at all times.
[00:04:10.07] I'm sure he was super proud of you.
[00:04:12.58] Yeah, right. Yeah, he always-- he would come to shows and he definitely let me know and I'd be like, I promise you. See dude, I'm the-- I didn't give up on him.
[00:04:22.67] I've seen a number of your videos, and you do this really cool crutch slide. What made you start doing that?
[00:04:31.45] Yeah. So once I got into music, I was watching all the old footage of all the greats legends Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, all those guys. And they used to take their guitar and they would slide it across the microphone stand. So I'm like, whoa, I can't really do that because if I let go my crutches and all that, I might go down. So the next best thing for me was to use my crutch and slide it across the strands. We call it the Chainsaw Massacre. It doesn't really sound that good but people love it.
[00:05:02.23] That's awesome. You toe all the time. How many shows do you do a year, and what are some of the challenges that you face when you're on the road all the time?
[00:05:10.87] Every year it seems like we're getting more and more shows. We're about 200 plus shows a year. Yeah, some of the things are just being born with cerebral palsy and being stuck in the car for a long period of time or the trucks and stuff. We don't really have a touring bus yet so we travel in like an SUV, whatever car we have at the time. And I get really sore riding in the car for too long. And other things are stage stairs aren't built for people with disabilities. They're hard enough for people like walk regularly to get out for them.
[00:05:46.84] And yeah, when I first started, my brother would throw me up on stage. He just grabbed me by my belt, hugged me up there, get on there. Now my band. Now my band does it. So it's not pretty but I get up there. Getting down is another thing that's even harder.
[00:06:02.57] And now let's check out a clip of Jake performing at the Danny awards.
[00:06:08.26] [MUSIC PLAYING]
[00:06:08.62] (SINGING) Nobody love me. No, nobody seemed to care.
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[00:06:13.21] Jake sings and plays guitar.
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[00:06:16.16] Nobody loved me. No, nobody seemed to care. Well, now you're worried. And you're troubled. You know, fuck off, I say, yeah. Say everyday, yeah. Everyday, yeah. Everyday, everyday, everyday, yeah. Well, everyday, yeah. And every day, I get the blues. Hey. Well, I wouldn't say farewell. But it's you I had to lose.
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[00:06:57.03] Grins
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[00:06:58.50] Jake, I have another question for you. What do people say or do that you would prefer that they stop saying or doing?
[00:07:06.16] I'll give you two. One of my pet peeves is when people come up to you and just go, whoa, what's wrong with you? And it's like, I never understood that one. And the other one is when people stare at you. That has got to me probably my whole life is when people stare. And it's funny because I play in a band and people stare at me all the time on stage. And that one feels good. But once I get off stage and people just stare at me, I don't know. It gets to me.
[00:07:34.92] Yeah, I know how that feels. That's why we made these shirts, Just Call Me By My Name. And we're going to send you one, Jake.
[00:07:44.97] I'd rock it for sure.
[00:07:46.99] On the other side of that, what is something that people say or do that makes you smile and that you really appreciate?
[00:07:56.31] One time, I had a lady come up to me that had cancer. And she'd seen my show. And then, she came up afterwards and told me how much it meant and how inspiring it was. And she just wanted to keep fighting. So when, hey, I could touch people like that and they come up and talk to me about it, it really means a lot.
[00:08:18.23] What's next for you and Triple Threat when it comes to your music?
[00:08:21.80] So right now, our single "Everyday Thing" just came out on major music platforms. And the full length album will be coming out in July. So once that happens, we'll be back on the road and just gigging.
[00:08:39.35] Where can our viewers go if they would like to hear more of your music?
[00:08:43.58] You could go to jakenielsenstriplethreat.com. It's our band website. And we have all the links to Spotify, Pandora, Apple, iTunes, and all that stuff. And it also has a lot more information about me, the band, and what got me into music and all that.
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[00:09:02.12] He nods.
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[00:09:02.96] Jake, you are really awesome. And thank you for joining us today.
[00:09:08.51] Yes, sir. Thank you, Danny. You are too. And I love what you guys are doing at the Danny's Music Foundation.
[00:09:14.36] As we close out another episode of Smile-o-Meter Friday, we wanted to leave you with this thought. When we started Daniel's Music Foundation over 16 years ago, we wanted to be an organization of impact, providing our music programs to just one more person and then just add one more class. That was the whole concept. I guess you can say we took our approach from the starfish story, which some of you may know.
[00:09:44.54] There was a young boy on the beach. And he was picking up one starfish at a time and throwing it back in the ocean. And a man walked up to him and said, son, do you see how many starfish there are here? There's no way you're ever going to be able to make an impact. There's no way you're ever going to be able to help them all.
[00:10:06.14] And then, the young boy picked one up and threw it in the ocean. And he said, I made a difference to that one. So if you know someone who might be interested in our programs, please tell them about us. And share our website at danielsmusic.org. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Smile-o-Meter Friday. And see you next time.
[00:10:30.28] [MUSIC PLAYING]
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[00:10:30.28] They smile and point their fingers..
[00:10:32.38] Text, Smile-o-Meter Friday. With Daniel & Ken.
[00:10:35.98] Thanks for watching! To learn more, visit Daniels Music dot org
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