The Shift with Mike & Joe

"We did not reopen after that company party. Nobody knew. I got the same message that everybody else on staff got." Last December the staff at Kentmorr went home from the company party, and that was the last night. Drew Ewing found out the way everyone else on staff did, from the same message. Then the landlord hired him to turn everything off and empty the place out. A few months later he was running it. Episode 45. Drew Ewing was born and raised on Kent Island and went to school there all twelve years. Mike and Joe both play his new place, which is how this conversation started. Restaurants go back further in his family than most. His family ran Holly's in Grasonville from 1955 until his grandmother sold it in 2014, and Drew helped her close it. Before Holly's, a great grandfather ran the snack shack on the ferry, and that man's parents kept a bar in their house off Evans Avenue that served African American customers who could not get served anywhere else. He calls himself fourth generation. Really fifth. He came up at Big Bats, got talked into Kentmorr by the bartenders who came to his bar after their own shifts, and worked his way from bartender and server to bar manager and operations. When it closed, the marina's owner, a man he had gotten close to over a few years of beers and business talk, asked him a simple question: what if we just did it? Channel Side at Kentmorr Marina opened on May 28. Holly's Cafe lives in the old front bar, pouring coffee from Open Seas Coffee Roasters at the north end of the island. The Holly's creamed chipped beef is back, beer braised in Natural Light. The crab is Maryland only, the beef comes from one Maryland farm, and when the August rockfish moratorium forced him onto farm raised fish for a month, the regulars could taste it. Drew is plain about what he thinks hospitality is for. You work forty, fifty, sixty hours a week, you have a little extra change in your pocket, and the place you spend it should know your name and ask how your mom is doing. He trains his servers to forget about the tip and take care of the table, because servers are closers: you are only as good as your last table. He takes care of the musicians the same way, which is why Mike and Joe like playing there, and Mike and Joe push back on the business side of it in turn. A lot of the hour is hospitality as a craft: being the place that knows your name, what a night of live music has to earn a restaurant before the band is worth it, and the $18,000 it now costs a restaurant to show NFL Sunday Ticket. There is a tipping debate too, which Drew settles by correcting Joe's movie. It was Reservoir Dogs. The renovations are not finished. There is a beach to redo with shade and games, a new bar by the patio, a playground so families stay a little longer, a polar bear plunge he is trying to set up, and an all day music idea that ends with Mike and Joe battling for the biggest tip jar. Brit, a longtime bartender, runs the coffee bar, and the chef is Ryan, a Kent Island kid Drew went to school with. Under all of it is one idea: keep a working marina a working marina, keep Kent Island from turning into Glen Burnie, and let a younger generation of local owners, from Big Bats to Cult Classic to Ten Eyck to Baker's, lift each other up. It opens with Mike taking his shoes off, and one of them ends up thrown at Joe. Drew will not say what his old band was called. He will say that the band house behind Holly's had two drum kits set up at all times and an open door for anyone who wanted to play, that friends of his still tour with Pianos Become the Teeth, and that his dad is Uncle Ward, a working bar musician. Near the end the talk turns to AI. Joe has been using Claude to take the admin and posting work off his plate, and admits it can even tell him Mike talks less than he used to. Drew is on the fence, worried about what happens to art, music and marketing when a machine does it, and about the day the price goes up once everyone depends on it. And it closes where it should: a sunset on the marina, and a story from Folly Beach, where Drew's Kent Island buddy turned down the famous dock bar. We get to do that all the time. What shift have you experienced in your life? CHAPTERS 00:00 Wayfinders Testicular Health Fund 00:13 Mike takes his shoes off 01:56 Welcome to Episode 45: Drew Ewing 03:32 Holly's in Grasonville 07:54 Why it isn't called Kentmorr anymore 14:50 How he ended up at Kentmorr 19:21 A bar in a house in Grasonville 24:16 The tipping speech: Pulp Fiction? 30:18 Servers are closers 38:05 Holly's creamed chipped beef is back 39:09 Sponsor: Wayfinders THF and Putts Fore! Nuts 40:41 Where does the seafood really come from? 43:16 Farm raised rockfish tastes like grass 53:30 The company party, then the closing 58:06 Don't turn it into Glen Burnie 1:04:06 Mike set himself on fire 1:12:52 How much money do you lose when Mike plays? 1:15:16 The NFL Sunday Ticket problem 1:24:02 Drew is on the fence about AI 1:33:34 The dock bar at Folly Beach THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY WAYFINDERS TESTICULAR HEALTH FUND Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Aware. Wayfinders THF is a Maryland 501(c)(3) dedicated to impacting the lives and health of young men by fighting testicular cancer through awareness, education, fundraising, and community support, with a focus on men aged 14 to 35. A component fund of Chesapeake Charities. Website: https://www.wayfindersthf.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wayfindersthf Donate: https://ccharities.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2419 PUTTS FORE! NUTS - 2nd Annual Charity Mini-Golf Tournament Saturday, October 17, 2026, 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM Embers Island Mini-Golf, 2305 Philadelphia Ave Suite #4, Ocean City, MD 21842 Event info: https://www.wayfindersthf.org/putts-fore-nuts MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Channel Side at Kentmorr Marina and Holly's Cafe at Channel Side, Stevensville Holly's Restaurant, Grasonville, 1955 to 2014 Open Seas Coffee Roasters, Kent Island Big Bats Cafe Cult Classic Brewing Ten Eyck Brewing Company, Queenstown Baker's, Stevensville Pianos Become the Teeth Reservoir Dogs, and the Mr. Pink tipping speech NFL Sunday Ticket Jay Fleming, The Shift EP 34 J. Coursey Willis, The Shift EP 42 CONNECT WITH DREW EWING AND CHANNEL SIDE Channel Side at Kentmorr Marina, with Holly's Cafe 910 Kentmorr Rd, Stevensville, MD 21666 Website: https://channelsideki.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/channelsidekentmorrmarina Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591245211438 SUPPORT THE SHIFT WITH MIKE & JOE Website: https://www.theshiftwithmikeandjoe.com Donate: https://www.theshiftwithmikeandjoe.com/giving-page-2-1 Email: [email protected] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheShiftWithMikeAndJoe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshiftwithmikeandjoe TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theshiftwithmikeandjoe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574975860350 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shift-with-mike-joe/id1813198065 Podbean: https://joer7.podbean.com CONNECT WITH MIKE & JOE Michael Waskey Music https://www.michaelwaskey.com Kent Island Academy of Music (Mike) https://kentislandacademyofmusic.com Image & Sound Media (Joe) https://www.imagesoundmedia.com Joe Bryan Music https://www.joebryanmusic.com PODCAST PRODUCTION GEAR (EPISODE 45) Cameras: Sony A7 IV, Sony A7 V, Sony FX3, Sony A7C II Main Audio: Shure SM7B (Joe, Mike & Drew) Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 18i18 Audio Software: Reaper Video Editing: DaVinci Resolve Studio Lighting: Amaran 100x & 200x softboxes plus Amaran tube lights The Shift with Mike & Joe is fully produced by Image & Sound Media. https://www.imagesoundmedia.com #TheShiftPodcast #KentIsland #EasternShore #Kentmorr #ChannelSide #Hollys #MarylandSeafood #RestaurantLife #MarylandPodcast #WayfindersTHF

"It was projected on a theater screen. Best supporting actor, Walter, played by sandwich. They didn't even put my name on the screen." Somewhere in Annapolis there is an award for best supporting actor, and it went to a ham sandwich. Dan Sadler built the sandwich, puppeteered the sandwich, and did the voice. When the film played on a theater screen, the credit read "played by sandwich," and his name was nowhere on it. He calls that the real award. Episode 44. Dan Sadler is a drummer, a sound guy, a filmmaker, and, this week, a man with four jobs and a two year old. Joe knew him from the Ryan Keith Band, back when he covered Sturgill Simpson at Cult Classic and turned the whole room. Mike and Joe have wanted him in the room for a while. Dan grew up in Annapolis with a twin brother he claims he kicked out of the womb first, an art teacher mom, and a sports dad. He came up drumming in a hard, loud rock band and did not touch country until he joined the Ryan Keith Band, and now he cannot stop listening to Waylon and George Strait. Most of the hour is one man doing the math on a life in the arts. He runs sound for the Annapolis Maritime Museum, plays drums for hire with The Leftovers, shoots video and photos under his own name, and works a remote nine to five doing the paperwork that gets cellular antennas onto towers for first responders. His wife runs a veterinary clinic on one salary. His four are trying to catch her one. The heart of it is Play A Song, the festival he brings back this year on Sunday October 4 at the Eastport Democratic Club. It started as a way to grieve Sean Hetrick, a best friend and Annapolis singer songwriter lost to addiction during COVID, when the memorial had to be livestreamed. One concert turned into a fundraiser, then an annual event, and then the Sean Hetrick Bereavement Benefit, a fund through AMFM for the family of any local musician who dies unexpectedly. The money conversation is the one Mike and Joe keep coming back to, and Dan is plain about it. He quit bartending ten years ago to chase video and music full time, made salary, got let go overnight when a franchise decided he was not in the budget anymore, went jaded, and clawed his way back. Now he is bartending Sunday nights at the same bar he grew up next to, arriving on a little reggae penny board, because it is easy money and it is his neighborhood. There is a whole thread on Mike McHenry, the local guitar player so intense on stage and so gentle off it that he once handed Mike his Acoustasonic, minutes after they met, and told him to take it to a gig. And there is the three day stretch nobody would script: Dan proposed to Stephanie on a Thursday with her parents watching from Florida on a livestream, a best friend married on the Saturday, and the first Play A Song ran on the Sunday, where the two of them sang a duet. Play A Song runs 12 to 5 on Sunday October 4, doors at 11, all ages, at the Eastport Democratic Club in Annapolis. Mike McHenry, the Ryan Keith Band, the Timmy Metz band, and Dan's own Leftovers close it out, with SoCo Butcher on the food and a tie dye station for the kids. Two police officers once called the last one of the most loving and peaceful events they had ever worked. There is a lot of film in here too. Kensington Studio Sessions and its 200 episodes. Shrug Productions, the improv heavy crew he directs. The Remnant, an uplifting short about a plane crash survivor who will not eat his best friend, who happens to be a living ham sandwich. And a Barry style script he keeps trying to write, built around a real Hollywood stunt double. And then the shift itself, which for Dan is not the nine to five. It is the freshman year of high school when he took in his niece, the moment his fiancee went all in, and the son who arrived and made all of it times a thousand. What shift have you experienced in your life? CHAPTERS 00:00 Wayfinders Testicular Health Fund 00:12 The pre-show ramble 00:48 Two plays and a pillow to the face 01:28 Beer dandruff and beard oil 02:13 Welcome to Episode 44 02:36 Sturgill Simpson at Cult Classic 03:02 Drums for hire: Ryan Keith Band and The Leftovers 03:43 Outlaw country was not his wheelhouse 04:15 "Hard drunk rock band" 04:45 Mike the metalhead 05:38 Music comes in waves 06:10 Born and raised in Annapolis 06:47 A twin brother 07:21 "I got tired of him and I kicked him out" 07:41 Danny Paul, Charles Clinton and Jon with no H 08:20 Joe's first name is Charles too 08:54 The bands he plays with now 09:22 AMFM, the Annapolis Musicians Fund for Musicians 09:47 Play A Song, Sunday October 4 10:17 Sean Hetrick 10:49 "He lost a battle with addiction" 11:02 How one concert became a festival 11:52 The Sean Hetrick bereavement fund 13:13 What AMFM does for a musician who loses a gig 14:13 Nothing like it on this side of the bridge 15:49 The planning committee is Sean's family 16:21 Joe: addiction is no joke 17:27 Good Samaritan House and the recovery tents 18:58 The lineup: Mike McHenry, Timmy Metz, The Leftovers 19:40 Mike McHenry offstage and onstage 20:09 "You want to borrow it? Take it to a gig" 20:47 A 45 minute jam with a guy who had no drummer 21:44 Dan's update: the Ryan Keith Band 23:16 "Once you play one set, you're a leftover" 24:03 The drummer who sings lead 25:40 He remembers the changes from the lyrics 26:24 Rehearsing Treaty Oak Revival in this room 27:11 Jesse's wedding invitation 28:35 "Just play the song" 28:59 Twelve bags of beer and a host in recovery 29:59 "It was Yuengling Light, guys" 30:27 Quinn 30:56 Brad the fiddle player 31:34 Sponsor: Wayfinders THF and Putts Fore! Nuts 33:54 Tides and Tunes at the Annapolis Maritime Museum 35:46 "I didn't have to play a single note" 36:33 The September sunset series 37:51 Thousands and thousands of viewers 38:06 Do you use AI to cut the clips? 38:45 Joe edits inside Resolve with Claude 39:37 "The only AI I'd be interested in" 40:51 The website that updates itself 41:36 Kensington Studio Sessions: 200 episodes 42:02 Shrug Productions 43:58 Erica Rowe and Wyatt Unger 45:34 Which Shrug is the real Shrug 46:20 The projects he is proudest of 46:49 The Remnant 47:26 "I was a ham sandwich" 48:32 The cameo rule: subtle or stupid 49:42 Best supporting actor, credited as "sandwich" 50:42 The Uninvited 52:32 The next scripts, and the two year old 53:18 Do short films make money? 55:09 A Barry style script 56:01 Rick Kane, Bruce Willis's stunt double 56:38 "We better be having fun" 57:18 The marketing job 57:34 Sean's father-in-law hired him 58:24 Let go overnight 59:24 Four jobs 59:48 The 9 to 5: cell towers for first responders 1:00:43 Flock cameras 1:02:25 Audio, video, photo: "it's just me" 1:02:50 Bartending Sunday nights at The Point 1:03:40 Full circle, ten years later 1:04:13 His wife runs a veterinary clinic 1:04:36 "My four jobs is trying to catch her one salary" 1:05:03 How he met Stephanie 1:06:13 The penny board 1:06:46 "You seem a lot cooler than Mike" 1:07:07 The one session nobody names 1:08:05 A new question for the show 1:08:36 What the shift means now 1:09:03 The biggest shift: his family 1:09:15 His grandfather's house 1:10:32 Thirty seven, married four years 1:10:54 Proposal Thursday, wedding Saturday, festival Sunday 1:11:32 The duet 1:13:11 Taking in his niece 1:13:49 "I got you" 1:14:43 When Stephanie went all in 1:15:28 Kids cause the shift 1:15:44 "My dad job" 1:16:26 Working remote 1:17:40 Play A Song: the details 1:18:12 SoCo Butcher does the food 1:19:33 Over $6,000 raised already 1:20:13 "One of the most loving and peaceful events" 1:21:04 All ages: tie dye and face painting 1:21:30 danielsadler.net 1:22:09 Wave to the cameras THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY WAYFINDERS TESTICULAR HEALTH FUND Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Aware. Wayfinders THF is a Maryland 501(c)(3) dedicated to impacting the lives and health of young men by fighting testicular cancer through awareness, education, fundraising, and community support, with a focus on men aged 14 to 35. A component fund of Chesapeake Charities. Website: https://www.wayfindersthf.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wayfindersthf Donate: https://ccharities.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2419 PUTTS FORE! NUTS - 2nd Annual Charity Mini-Golf Tournament Saturday, October 17, 2026, 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM Embers Island Mini-Golf, 2305 Philadelphia Ave Suite #4, Ocean City, MD 21842 Event info: https://www.wayfindersthf.org/putts-fore-nuts MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE AMFM (Annapolis Musicians Fund for Musicians) . Play A Song Music Festival . Sean Hetrick . the Sean Hetrick Bereavement Benefit . Eastport Democratic Club Ryan Keith Band . The Leftovers . Ben Heemstra . Kensington Studio Sessions . Shrug Productions . The Remnant . The Uninvited . Rick Kane Mike McHenry . Timmy Metz . Quinn . Brad . Treaty Oak Revival . Sturgill Simpson . Waylon Jennings . George Strait . Foo Fighters . Meshuggah . Barry (HBO) Annapolis Maritime Museum . Tides and Tunes . SoCo Butcher . The Point . 49 West . Stan and Joe's CONNECT WITH DAN SADLER Website: https://www.danielsadler.net Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dnlsadler Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.sadler.7 Shrug Productions: on danielsadler.net and YouTube Play A Song Music Festival: Sunday, October 4, Eastport Democratic Club, Annapolis AMFM: https://www.am-fm.org SUPPORT THE SHIFT WITH MIKE & JOE Website: https://www.theshiftwithmikeandjoe.com Donate: https://www.theshiftwithmikeandjoe.com/giving-page-2-1 Email: [email protected] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheShiftWithMikeAndJoe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshiftwithmikeandjoe TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theshiftwithmikeandjoe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574975860350 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shift-with-mike-joe/id1813198065 Podbean: https://joer7.podbean.com CONNECT WITH MIKE & JOE Michael Waskey Music https://www.michaelwaskey.com Kent Island Academy of Music (Mike) https://ken

"I thought I invented something. I was like, I have discovered an electric guitar." Before he owned an electric guitar, Bryan wrapped a pair of Radio Shack headphones around the body of his acoustic and plugged them into the family stereo. It worked well enough that he was convinced he had invented something. Not long after, somebody handed him a guitar tuner with a bad solder joint. It would not tune anything. Plug a guitar through it and it distorted, which was the only thing he had ever wanted it to do. Bryan Ewald is probably the most watched guitarist on this side of the bay that nobody stops in the street. He is the player in the PRS Guitars demo videos. Andrew Dorbin, who was on in EP 32, is the one filming them. Josh Willis, last episode's guest, had an EP produced by him. Mike and Joe have been circling this one for a while. The PRS job started as a wrong number. Somebody applying for a spot in the wood shop put nineteen year old Bryan down as a reference, PRS called, and by the end of the call they had offered him a job instead. He spent less than a year in the finish hall, worked out he was better at playing guitars than building them, and left. Years later Jim Cullen went to bat for him and a guitar turned up with no strings attached, no exclusivity, nothing to sign. Then somebody asked if he would make a video. He is careful about how much credit he takes for those. He writes and records the backing tracks at his house, bass and drums included, then walks into a room where a guitar he has often never touched is waiting, and plays it live in a couple of takes with the cameras already rolling. No fifty passes, no editing to taste. Seventeen pickup positions and a marketing sheet he is allowed to ignore. And he can hardly watch them. He puts the demos at maybe sixty percent of what he can actually do and describes most of it as his worst playing, filmed in what he compares to hospital lighting. There are a handful he wishes he could scrub off the internet, and one or two he loved so much he was annoyed when new pickups meant it had to be reshot. The bands are the rest of it, and there have always been several at once. Non-Fiction with Meg Murray. Starbelly, which he joined right as its songwriter stepped out to go solo, and which has spent years backing other people, Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens and Warren Zanes of the Del Fuegos among them. The Jarflys, which took off like a rocket on Jimi HaHa's name and held a Tuesday residency at Armadillo's. Jimmie's Chicken Shack, which he only joined four years ago once his kids were grown. A ten piece Steely Dan tribute. A Ray Charles show with Take 6 that started as a Vegas residency and got chased across the country by the pandemic, city by city, until the airports went quiet. The money conversation is the one Mike and Joe keep coming back to with everybody, and Bryan is unusually plain about it. He was twenty and out-earning every friend he had. Five years later they had all passed him, because bar gigs never kept up with the cost of living and there are only seven nights in a week. So he raised everything at once, teaching, studio, gigs, and waited for the phone to go quiet. It rang more. He built a rate card priced at the top so he always has room to come down, quotes backyard barbecues at five or six times what people expect, and has noticed that the clients who pay the rate without flinching are the easy ones. Underneath all of it is a kid in Arnold whose family had no musicians in it at all. A grandfather with a chain of camera stores in southwest Virginia, which is where the gear obsession came from. A beat up fifties Harmony for his ninth birthday because his mother could not afford a piano. A stepmother who would not have drums in the house, so the amp went in a Radio Flyer wagon and got pulled across the Bay Hills golf course to a friend whose brother had a kit, for half an hour after school before the brother got home. Friends calling the house to make him play YYZ down the phone. An amp pointed out of an open window until a neighbour came and knocked. Then his own two. Aidan makes his living playing music, drums with everybody, sings Joni Mitchell tunes, and has a band called The Candy Rocks that sounds like the Beach Boys meeting Queen. Julian has released seven albums in a month under three different names and has a couple more coming. When Julian was thirteen his dad told him to wait until he was off tour and they would set up a proper mic in the basement studio. Bryan came home and the record was finished. He had sung the whole thing into his phone. The last stretch goes wide. What AI does to a room full of people who make things. Why there will never be another Beatles and why that is fine. Paul Reed Smith taking a pickup apart to make it one percent better. Paris for a seventh anniversary that broke even on the gig fee, followed by a firm understanding that next year would be Cracker Barrel. Red Rocks, still unplayed. And a plan for retirement that is really just a list of places he passed through on tour and never actually saw. Josh Willis, EP 42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pPvZr_lIk0 Andrew Dorbin, EP 32: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fquWZC29yLg What shift have you experienced in your life? CHAPTERS 00:00 Wayfinders Testicular Health Fund 00:47 Welcome to Episode 43 01:14 "So you work at PRS?" Not exactly 02:09 Teaching at a music store at fifteen 03:37 George Thomas takes the blinders off 04:21 A job he never applied for 05:18 Less than a year in the finish hall 06:27 A guitar, no strings attached 07:01 "Do you want to make a video?" 08:25 Why the factory video became the benchmark 09:00 He writes and records the backing tracks himself 09:57 Two takes, live, no editing 10:53 The guitar is in his hands 40 minutes before filming 13:47 Joe subscribed ten years ago, hunting an SE 14:17 "Whatever the guitar looked like, that is how you played it" 17:40 The day he decided to just play like himself 19:06 Tom Walls and the private stock eight string 21:41 New pickups, and every old video is obsolete 22:59 Everybody tells him to start his own channel 24:49 Rhett Shull, and what that life actually costs 28:12 Tim Pierce does the math on courses 30:43 "It is a five person job" 32:50 Why he never moved to LA or Nashville 33:46 Five years later, the plateau 34:26 "Bring something that is not replaceable" 35:15 Free Fallin' and the skill nobody credits 36:25 The hang is everything 37:26 Eight months on fifteen seconds of Allan Holdsworth 38:19 The first paying gig: a reggae band, two days' notice 39:53 Too nervous to overplay, which was exactly right 41:16 "Songs are king" 43:26 Limitations make the coolest parts 45:52 The part he loved that did not make the record 47:42 Tuned to bejesus, quantized to the grid 50:54 "Do you have a band now?" 53:14 Starbelly 55:22 Jimi HaHa, and the record Island sat on 57:30 Joining Jimmie's Chicken Shack 58:07 Take 6, and a Ray Charles show 1:00:56 A ten piece Steely Dan tribute 1:02:35 Sponsor - Wayfinders THF & Putts Fore! Nuts 1:04:32 The Quad Cortex solution 1:07:47 A piezo blend for the Fleetwood Mac gig 1:10:36 The gear gene, from his grandfather 1:13:07 A beat up Harmony for his ninth birthday 1:13:57 An amp with three knobs that would not distort 1:14:38 The broken tuner that became a distortion pedal 1:16:45 The amp in the Radio Flyer wagon 1:18:46 They never told him to have a fallback plan 1:21:26 Mike charged five dollars more, and sent the check 1:23:42 Work smarter, not harder 1:24:25 The phone rang more 1:25:48 "I do not walk into a restaurant and offer $17.99 for a steak" 1:27:48 A rate card priced at the top 1:30:57 Fewer calls, better calls 1:33:19 Mike's dad and the pep talk 1:35:09 What a low rate tells people about you 1:38:01 Rachel Yamagata 1:39:13 A rock band karaoke gig at the Jetty 1:40:17 The email that came two days later 1:41:00 "No, I live in Arnold, Maryland" 1:43:01 Two cars totalled falling asleep at the wheel 1:45:15 The pandemic ends the gigs 1:46:20 Producing an EP for Josh Willis 1:49:19 The session drummers are his two sons 1:50:27 Julian has written thousands of songs 1:52:21 Meeting his wife at Middleton's 1:55:16 "What was the secret?" There is not one 1:56:50 Aidan makes his living playing music 1:58:40 "You have a son who is a drummer, right?" Both of them 2:01:49 Calling out his own son 2:03:50 Drive against talent, and who actually wins 2:06:33 Why singing is the most personal thing 2:07:14 "All my friends say my music sounds the same" 2:08:17 He came home from tour and the album was finished 2:10:46 Recording 98 Rock onto a 120 minute cassette 2:11:48 "That solo could not be improved" 2:13:49 Singing into his parents' answering machine 2:15:15 Twenty percent then, five percent now 2:15:58 "Most of it is my worst playing" 2:17:47 Where he is actually comfortable 2:20:38 Trusting Andrew to find the take 2:23:46 The hill he will die on: clean tones 2:26:18 "You have to get it in your hands" 2:28:30 Thirteen year old him would hate his guitars now 2:31:22 Pell.Leo, Brantt and Julian Ewald 2:32:31 Seven albums in a month 2:35:41 There will never be another Beatles 2:36:43 What AI does to all of this 2:39:34 "I am never going to retire" 2:42:16 Paul Reed Smith will stop when he has to 2:44:41 A lifetime of not taking vacations 2:45:42 Paris for their seventh anniversary 2:47:41 He has never played Red Rocks 2:48:28 "A room full of guitars I will start selling today" 2:49:32 Jimmie's Chicken Shack at the State Theatre 2:51:17 The young players coming up 2:53:39 Morgan Gonts 2:54:53 Aidan in a Cars tribute THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY WAYFINDERS TESTICULAR HEALTH FUND Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Aware. Wayfinders THF is a Maryland-based 501(c)(3) dedicated to impacting the lives and health of young men by combating testicular cancer through awareness, education, fundraising, and community support, with a focus on men aged 14 to 35. A component fund of Chesapeake Charities.

"Some people party in fields. Some people party in houses. I like to party in cemeteries." On the second night of a true crime trivia event at Cult Classic, a woman came in wearing a wig and a set of scrubs and said she was only there with her daughter. She had played the night before. She stood out. Josh started writing alternate question sets the following month. J. Coursey Willis is back, thirty two episodes after EP 10. Everybody on Kent Island calls him Josh. Nobody knows what the J stands for, and he is not telling. The true crime night started as a throwaway line at the end of the bar over tequila. Rory keeps a little notepad behind the bar at Cult Classic, scratches things into it and puts it straight back. Josh said something about true crime, Rory wrote it down, put the notepad back, and called the next day to say do it. The first case was the Beltway snipers and it sold out in a couple of hours in the venue room. It has grown into three nights in a row, third week of every month, and its own culture with it. Three weeks of study per case for Josh, sixty to ninety questions written so no two nights are the same, mug shots between rounds, and teams of up to eight who split the case between them so nobody has to learn the whole thing. On the Watts case there was a two thousand page court release, and more than one person read all of it. There is heckling, there are arguments, there is a lot of wine, and no, not everybody gets a trophy. The rest of it is the same instinct pointed at different things. Sippin' in a Cemetery came out of drinking in cemeteries as a nine year old behind his house on Cox Neck, and is now twelve people, two hours, a glass of wine and a storyline that connects the headstones to each other. The Unmarked Path is the same idea walking the Narrows. Where the Water Narrows is a dinner at the Narrows restaurant, seven courses and seven stories, told from the county slips out. He also runs Historic Kent Island, which he started because the Heritage Society preserves what has already been saved and somebody needed to be the one saying this needs to stop and here is why. Interpretive signs on the Cross Island Trail and at Terrapin Park. A grant to restore the Ringgold burial ground, where there are only three stones left standing and a 1809 deed suggesting there are more people under there than anyone has counted. Ground penetrating radar to find out. And then the failures, which he is unusually straight about. Ninety percent of the ideas flop. A two day driving tour in Talbot County that was a great time and could never be repeated. A concept album story he loved and nobody else did. It got dark enough that he was thinking about going back to a regular job, and it took Jen saying they needed more money to pay the bills for him to sit down and write out every idea he had. Underneath all of it is the thing he only half expected to talk about. Josh is adopted, and found out somewhere around nine years old. He describes it as a foggy patch in his memory, a clear before and a clear after and nothing in between. What went missing was not a family, his mom and dad Bob and Sheila are the greatest parents in the world, it was a version of his own story. He thinks that is exactly why he spent his childhood in the woods looking through the windows of empty houses and reading headstones and wondering whose story that was. He was two days old when they got him. He is only starting to look into it now, and mostly because the book needs it to be accurate. The last half hour goes wide: the graveyard now under an auto body shop parking lot in Stevensville, the old house across from the high school that he rented in 2006 and heated with two fireplaces, what happened to the hotel at Love Point, a lobster boat in Maine that costs $1.5 million to get into, vape cartridges turning up where the arrowheads are, the wine, the Norton grape, Pallet Palooza, and ChatGPT briefing Joe on his own guest and confidently describing a completely different man. EP 10, his first time on the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZxnY1ud8yI What shift have you experienced in your life? CHAPTERS 00:00 Wayfinders Testicular Health Fund 00:14 "What are you introducing me as?" 01:18 Welcome to Episode 42 02:53 True Crime Tuesday becomes True Crime Cult 03:08 Rory's notepad at the end of the bar 03:54 Case based trivia, with the dark stuff in it 04:22 Night one was the Beltway snipers, and it sold out in hours 04:43 Three weeks of work for every case 04:58 Two nights, then three 05:23 The woman in the wig and the scrubs 05:46 Why it became a cult 06:38 Today's announcement: the Ocean City murders 07:17 Mug shots, and Brad behind the bar 08:55 Somebody read all 2,000 pages of the Watts file 09:23 "If you're stupid, I'll call you stupid" 10:36 "Have you ever killed a person?" 11:05 The joke he had to read off the phone 12:19 The night a team thought it was a lecture 12:59 What color was the t-shirt 13:16 Devin memorized every phone number in the case 16:02 Jen in the back with the spreadsheet 16:33 Spelling the oil field exactly right 17:42 "A light colored shirt is not a color" 18:41 The black shirts you can only be given 19:02 Sippin' in a Cemetery 19:26 Drinking in cemeteries at nine years old 20:29 "I like to party in cemeteries" 21:36 Connecting the headstones into one storyline 22:28 Somebody will stand over your headstone one day 22:57 "We thought that was going to go better" 23:14 Twelve people, two hours, and please stop filming 25:11 Cemeteries used to be parks 26:09 The mediums who knew things they should not have 27:23 Joe's dad and the Savannah ghost tour 28:09 The book 29:04 Bridges, half price wine, and a laptop 29:43 A memoir of Kent Island 32:00 The graveyard under the body shop parking lot 32:43 The old house across from the high school 35:31 Whatever happened to the hotel at Love Point 36:55 Bill Cockey, and a headstone in the wrong place 37:56 The farm where Claiborne's fort was 38:37 Sponsor - Wayfinders THF & Putts Fore! Nuts 40:09 What Historic Kent Island actually does 41:09 "This needs to stop, and here's why" 42:00 Restoring the Ringgold burial ground 43:57 The songs they shot in that cemetery 44:58 Where the Water Narrows: seven courses, seven stories 47:10 The Unmarked Path 48:00 ChatGPT confuses him with Jason Morton 49:18 "Ninety percent of them flop" 49:45 The driving tour that never took off 52:04 The concept album nobody cared about 52:43 "We need more money to help pay some of these bills" 53:57 "You have found a pocket of history you're making cool" 55:06 Growing up on workboats 55:39 Finding out he was adopted 55:57 "That's not my story" 56:40 Raised by the island 58:22 The genetics question in class 58:53 Two days old 0:59:58 "You've been accepted, don't mess that up" 1:02:21 The County Slips documentary 1:02:50 "I can't be director, producer, writer" 1:04:58 A double entendre 1:07:12 The largest congregation of workboats in Maryland 1:07:55 "It's like watching a dog die" 1:08:13 The lobster boat in Maine 1:09:51 $1.5 million and 800 traps 1:11:13 Where do you think the seafood comes from 1:12:12 No white perch 1:13:08 Vape cartridges on the beach 1:13:42 Back in the studio this fall 1:14:10 "Are you giving up music?" 1:15:11 The cabin that doubled in price 1:16:43 Why he does not do album releases any more 1:18:40 The Shift Live at Cult Classic 1:19:08 Don't call Rory big man 1:19:38 Pallet Palooza, and burning whatever you hate 1:21:02 The New Year's Eve dumpster fire 1:21:45 Why the haunted trail is on hold 1:22:47 A night at the winery, hunting for a grave 1:23:16 A tyrant, his wife, and the courts 1:24:57 The wine, and how little of it there is 1:26:02 The Norton grape 1:28:09 You only get that vintage once 1:29:07 Sipping on the short bus 1:29:46 Where to find him 1:29:59 Join the murder of crows 1:31:02 Cemeteries under code names THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY WAYFINDERS TESTICULAR HEALTH FUND Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Aware. Wayfinders THF is a Maryland-based 501(c)(3) dedicated to impacting the lives and health of young men by combating testicular cancer through awareness, education, fundraising, and community support, with a focus on men aged 14 to 35. A component fund of Chesapeake Charities. Website: https://www.wayfindersthf.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wayfindersthf Donate: https://ccharities.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2419 PUTTS FORE! NUTS - 2nd Annual Charity Mini-Golf Tournament Saturday, October 17, 2026 · 11:30 AM - 6:00 PM Embers Island Mini-Golf, 2305 Philadelphia Ave Suite #4, Ocean City, MD 21842 Event info: https://www.wayfindersthf.org/putts-fore-nuts Register / donate: https://ccharities.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list/event?event_date_id=2419 Sponsorships available at every level - team, tee box, prizes, t-shirts and more. CONNECT WITH J. COURSEY WILLIS Website: https://jcourseywillis.com Gatherings and tickets: https://jcourseywillis.com/pages/gatherings The Murder of Crows: https://jcourseywillis.com/pages/murder-of-crows The Unmarked Path: https://jcourseywillis.com/pages/the-unmarked-path Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jcourseywillis Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JCourseyWillis TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jcourseywillis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JCourseyWillis Historic Kent Island: https://historickentisland.org True Crime Cult tickets: https://cultclassic.simpletix.com Cult Classic Brewing: https://cultclassicbrewing.com Chesapeake Manor Vineyard: https://chesapeakemanorvineyard.com MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Cult Classic Brewing · The Narrows Restaurant · Chesapeake Manor Vineyard · Bridges · Kentmorr · Harris Crab House · Baker's Liquors True Crime Cult · Sippin' In A Cemetery · The Unmarked Path · Where the Water Narrows · Pallet Palooza · Songs & Stories of the Island's Son Historic Kent Island · Kent Island Heritage Society · Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum · Maryland Historical Trust Kent Narrows · Love Point · Ste

"I can't figure you out." That's what Joe's first counselor told him in treatment. She had clients who'd been born addicted, clients who'd watched a parent murdered, and then she had Joe — good childhood, both parents, both sets of grandparents, no reason anyone could point to. She couldn't work out how he'd ended up in the chair across from her. This is Part 2 of the two-part swap. Last episode Joe asked the questions. This week Mike turns it around, with help from ChatGPT, and gets a lot further than either of them expected. The first half is the long way round. Queen Anne Colony, the year and a half when his parents split and he lived across the bridge at Cape St. Clair, and coming back to Centreville in fifth grade as the new kid in the lowest grade in the school. Karate from middle school to seventeen. Hunting with his dad, then guiding for his uncle's outfitting business until fourteen-hour days in the cold burned it out of him. The guitar his dad bought off another kid his senior year, and the hours spent getting Blackbird wrong until it was right. Then the jobs, and there are a lot of them: scraping and waxing boat bottoms at Island Yacht Brokers at thirteen, alone in the yard hitting rocks with a piece of wood and calling the play-by-play. Painting houses. Landscaping in Juneau, Alaska, and a salmon and halibut charter. A seasonal naturalist gig at Tuckahoe State Park with owls and red-tailed hawks. Cutting greens at Queenstown. And thirty minutes at J.Crew before he told them he had to get something out of his car, drove away, and never went back. After the break it turns. Joe got clean at 31, when his son was two, and then spent about six years working inside addiction treatment — residential coordinator, admissions, and eventually a counselor. He's clear-eyed about what he saw: treatment is a good thing and treatment is a business, and the further up the chain you go the more the second one shows. He walks through two clients he had at the same time, one on private insurance and one on state, and why the one who needed him most got seen least. And then his own story, told plainly. Skoal as a cart boy at Prospect Bay. Beers left behind after tournaments. Being against weed until he wasn't, then a full-blown pothead inside two weeks. The first Percocet, which he names as the real turning point. The Oxycontin years. Why he never ended up shooting heroin — and the night before treatment when he asked his dealer to do it for him, and the dealer said no, because he knew Joe wouldn't go if he did. Two relapses after that, one at ninety days installing satellite dishes for DirecTV, and one nobody knew about for two years until it surfaced during step work with his sponsor. He changed his clean date and told his home group. He's just as matter-of-fact about a couple of drinks in the last six months. The hardest decision he's ever made wasn't getting clean. It was accepting he had to go all in — and it came down to reading a pamphlet in a common room between groups and not being able to answer no to a single question on it. The last half hour is lighter and better for it: how he found out he could sing by calling his own answering machine and singing into the voicemail, the only book he's ever read and the ten pages of it he skipped, and what success actually means when you're honest that it includes money. There's a baby due October 2nd, a twelve-year-old with two travel teams, a print-on-demand t-shirt idea he keeps not starting, and a barn studio he'd build tomorrow. Part 1 — where Joe asks the questions — is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJ31SxHqSk What shift have you experienced in your life? CHAPTERS 00:00 Wayfinders Testicular Health Fund 00:45 Welcome to Episode 41 01:12 Part 2 of the swap — Mike asks the questions 01:44 "What's your favorite thing about me?" 02:16 A weekend of gigs, and a voice that's shot 03:00 The guy who asked to sing at Betty's 05:47 "You don't cuss anymore" 06:29 "I wish you would just buy a new car" 07:18 Childhood, and a brother named Jake 08:55 His parents split — moving to Cape St. Clair 09:21 Back to Centreville in fifth grade 10:25 The new kid in the lowest grade in the school 11:40 Redneck row, and where Joe parked instead 12:18 Hunting with his dad 13:21 Guiding in his twenties, and burning out 13:52 "Have you ever killed a man?" 14:11 When music entered 14:57 Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam 15:33 The guitar his dad bought him senior year 16:05 Sitting down with Blackbird 17:59 Karate, middle school to 17 19:40 Mentors, and both grandfathers 22:13 Mr. Nicely and the wood carving class 24:12 A real fear of heights 24:41 Wishing he was a better guitar player 25:34 Maine, Alaska, Yellowstone — and never Europe 26:40 Every job he's ever had 27:06 Island Yacht Brokers at 13, and hitting rocks with a stick 29:30 Thirty minutes at J.Crew 29:55 Brett, and the move to Juneau 31:56 Tuckahoe State Park, owls and hawks 33:15 What's the actual goal when you cut grass? 34:09 Queenstown Golf Course grounds crew 36:54 Getting clean, and going to work in treatment 37:25 Serenity Acres, and what an RC actually does 38:46 Admissions, insurance, and a pay cut to go back 41:30 George, and the job at Evolve 42:34 Burning out, and picking up a camera 42:59 Sponsor — Wayfinders THF & Putts Fore! Nuts 44:31 What makes a treatment center good or bad 44:49 "It's a great thing. However, it is a business." 46:53 Why insurance decides who gets care 47:48 Private insurance vs. state insurance 50:50 Too much recovery, recovery, recovery 52:12 Skoal at Prospect Bay 53:33 Against weed, then full-blown in two weeks 54:27 Percocet, and the real turning point 56:39 The Oxycontin years 58:05 Why he never shot up 59:04 The night his dealer said no 59:41 Going to treatment at 31 1:01:05 DirecTV, and a thought out of nowhere 1:02:07 Back to treatment the second time 1:03:22 The Tylenol with codeine he hid for two years 1:04:33 Telling his home group, and changing his clean date 1:05:50 The hardest decision he's ever made 1:06:11 Going all in on a 12-step program 1:08:00 The NA pamphlet in the common room 1:08:51 Two weeks of "Hi, I'm Joe" 1:09:29 Why videography 1:11:36 Learning aperture off YouTube 1:14:10 Priorities — and a baby due October 2nd 1:16:13 Print-on-demand t-shirts 1:17:23 "Drunken Grown Ups" and other dumb shirts 1:18:47 If money weren't an issue 1:20:08 The studio he'd build 1:21:49 When he figured out he could sing 1:22:12 Singing into his own answering machine 1:24:18 Finding your voice, and being scared to belt it 1:27:37 Rapid fire 1:27:52 The only book he's ever read 1:29:38 Dog or cat 1:30:34 What does success actually mean? 1:31:04 "That definitely does include money" 1:31:38 Wanting to spend $5,000 without worrying 1:34:09 The dream house, and a big finished barn 1:36:07 What he hopes his grandkids say 1:37:31 When he feels most alive 1:38:31 What would surprise someone who knew him at 18 1:40:10 Wayfinders Testicular Health Fund THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY WAYFINDERS TESTICULAR HEALTH FUND Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Aware. Wayfinders THF is a Maryland-based 501(c)(3) dedicated to impacting the lives and health of young men by combating testicular cancer through awareness, education, fundraising, and community support — with a focus on men aged 14 to 35. A component fund of Chesapeake Charities. Website: https://www.wayfindersthf.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wayfindersthf Donate: https://ccharities.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2419 PUTTS FORE! NUTS — 2nd Annual Charity Mini-Golf Tournament Saturday, October 17, 2026 · 11:30 AM – 6:00 PM Embers Island Mini-Golf, 2305 Philadelphia Ave Suite #4, Ocean City, MD 21842 Event info: https://www.wayfindersthf.org/putts-fore-nuts Register / donate: https://ccharities.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list/event?event_date_id=2419 Sponsorships available at every level — team, tee box, prizes, t-shirts and more. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Dave Matthews Band · Nirvana · Soundgarden · Stone Temple Pilots · Pearl Jam · Toadies · Phish "Come As You Are" · "Blackbird" · "Yellow Ledbetter" · "Wild Horses" · "Folsom Prison Blues" · "Bad Moon Rising" · "Stir It Up" · 40oz. to Freedom Queen Anne Colony · Cape St. Clair · Centreville Middle School · Kent Narrows · Betty's · Pintail Point · Prospect Bay · Queenstown Golf Course · Tuckahoe State Park · Juneau, Alaska · Salisbury University · Mardela Springs · Fairlee Island Yacht Brokers · J.Crew · DirecTV · Serenity Acres · Evolve · Narcotics Anonymous Chesapeake by James Michener · Surviving the Game · Ultimate Guitar · ChatGPT SUPPORT THE SHIFT WITH MIKE & JOE Website: https://www.theshiftwithmikeandjoe.com Donate: https://www.theshiftwithmikeandjoe.com/giving-page-2-1 Email: [email protected] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheShiftWithMikeAndJoe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshiftwithmikeandjoe/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574975860350 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theshiftwithmikeandjoe Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shift-with-mike-joe/id1813198065 Podbean: https://joer7.podbean.com CONNECT WITH MIKE & JOE Michael Waskey Music Website: https://www.michaelwaskey.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelwaskeymusic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelwaskeymusic Kent Island Academy of Music (Mike) Website: https://kentislandacademyofmusic.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KentIslandAcademyOfMusic/ Image & Sound Media (Joe) Website: https://www.imagesoundmedia.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094021747690 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imageandsoundmedia TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@imagesoundmedia YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imagesoundmedia Joe Bryan Music Website: https://www.joebryanmusic.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550810556745 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joebryanmusic TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joebryanmus