- [Announcer] This GUMBANDS podcast is made possible by The Buhl Foundation, serving Southwestern Pennsylvania since 1927, and by listeners like you, thank you.

(upbeat music) - Hey, it's GUMBANDS number 11, 011.

Our guest today is Day Bracey, one of the founders of the amazing Pittsburgh Beer Festival now known as Barrel and Flow that this year was named the best beer festival in America by USA Today.

Day was born and raised in Braddock, studied at IUP in Indiana, PA.

Made his mark as a comedian, eventually teaming up with Ed Bailey and starting a podcast called "Drinking Partners."

He says we met in 2015 at Hop Farm Brewing when we were food and beer judges.

I've been on his podcast several times, and now I thought it'd be fun to ask him some questions.

It was fun and enlightening.

We're recording this on the morning of September 14th, and you know, it's really pretty cool this morning.

- Yeah?

- I mean, it's like a fall day almost.

- This is the first time I'm wearing like a full, like leg pants.

Like I mean my knees and my shins are covered.

- I know exactly what you mean.

I have shorts on, but as I drove in, I felt like, wow, should I have worn long pants today?

Yeah, it's that kind of day, so.

And we're lucky today to have you, Day Bracey, here with us.

In the last five years, you've done so much.

Five years, 10 years?

- Yeah, about a decade, I would say, yeah.

- All around Pittsburgh, organizing things.

You have, and this won't come out in time, but you even have a festival this weekend in Sewickley.

- (chuckles) Yeah, yeah.

The reward for hard work is more hard work.

- Okay, and this one's called Mavuna?

- Mavuno Festival, it is the 27th year.

Sweetwater Center for the Arts has put this on for 27 years, and it was for the last 26 or so, a series of events throughout the week.

And for the last three years, they've been putting on a festival.

And this is my second year curating that festival.

So I'm really excited to see what we can do.

- Cool, no, I think, you know, there's a lot of people in Pittsburgh that don't think of black history of Sewickley.

(Day laughing) But I know how it's very rich.

And this, I think I did a story about the Sewickley train station 'cause Duke Ellington used to play there when he came to town.

There's always been a very active black community, probably servants in many people's houses, but Sewickley's got a great history.

And when I did my pie show, I always love this too, we found a black-owned pie place in rural Virginia, Woodruff Pies.

And I mean, we had a great time there.

And as I was leaving, the woman said, "We know how you found us."

And I said, "Yeah?"

I found them online.

She said, "My brother."

And I said, "Your brother?"

And she said, "He lives in Sewickley and we assumed you met my brother and that's how you made this connection."

I said, "I did not know that."

But you know, it's always interesting to find out that the world is almost as small as Pittsburgh.

- Yeah, it very much is.

And I keep forgetting that you're a historian.

So every time I sit next to you, like I'm learning.

Like every other minute, there's like a new fact that's dropped.

I'm like, "Okay, now I gotta, like, go to the fest with these new facts."

- Well, that's okay, but you're most famous for what's now called Barrel and Flow.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And like, can you remember how that started?

- So, you know, being a comedian, you know, we saw that there were two major forms of funding for the arts and entertainment in America, right?

It's booze and grants, right?

So, you know, there's a lot of grants.

It's hard to get those, you gotta know people and this, that and the other or whatever.

But we saw a lot of black folks, like, you know, in the arts and entertainment, they were performing.

We're at venues as a comedian, performing and whatnot, and we're seeing a lot of this money being exchanged, right?

You know, people are buying food, people are buying booze, like doing all this, and then at the end of it, like I was getting this check and it was like tiny.

And I'm like, "How am I getting least paid and I'm the funniest here, right?"

I mean, I'm bringing all these folks or whatever.

And what we saw was that there was a huge opportunity by going directly to the suppliers, right?

Going straight to the people who make the booze that supplied these shows.

So we started "Drinking Partners" podcast.

And that gave us the opportunity to, one, get our name outside of just the stages that we were on, but then, two, platform other folks in the city that were doing cool things, and three, connect to the brewing industry directly, as opposed to, you know, being paid to sell their booze at the improv or at any of these comedy shows and whatnot.

And in doing so, we were able to, you know, lift our brand up and, you know, raise the prices of our tickets because we were giving out free samples, we were providing, you know, quality comedy and whatnot, and places for people to kinda like grow their career and brands.

And yeah, we saw that there weren't a lot of other black folks in this space.

And, you know, Fresh Fest came as a result of trying to connect more black folks directly to the brewing industry, much like we did with our comedy career.

- All right, I'm just gonna bounce back then for a second.

Comedy career, you started with standup?

- Yeah.

- Alone?

- (chuckles) Yeah, yeah.

- And somehow you met Ed Bailey.

- Yeah, so we, you know, we were a couple of the only black folks in the comedy scene at the time.

And, you know, Ed is hilarious.

And, you know, again, we would see each other at these comedy shows and at the, you know, outside we would get to talking, just kinda like rapping to each other, just, you know, bussin' it up.

And people would kinda like form circles around us and just start, like, listening to us, right?

And (chuckles) at some point, we were like, "Why don't we just, like, bag this up and, like, you know, sell it?"

So that's where Drinking Partners came in.

It was like, "Okay, well let's create this platform or this show where we get to invite people to these conversations that he and I were having and make it feel as if they're having a drink with us."

And that's where the, you know, "Drinking Partners" podcast started.

And yeah, it's been a great ride since.

- So you began as a podcast, but did you ever do that on stage?

Did you ever, like, just have the two of you do that sort of Drinking Partners thing or was that strictly a podcast?

- So we have done some co-hosting.

You know, we've MC'd events together on stage.

We've done live podcasting where, you know, we go in front of the crowds and whatnot.

Our first live podcast was at Brew Gentlemen in Braddock, which is my hometown.

And that really was the connection to the brewing industry.

So we did this live podcast, it was a big success, and then Brew Gentlemen was like, (indistinct) was like, "Hey, you guys are great, you're funny.

You guys should go, like, talk to these other guys we did this event, Freshman Cask, with, Hitchhiker and Grist House."

And we're like, "Why would you, like, send us to the competition?"

You know what I mean?

Like, you don't go to Lowe's and you be like, "Oh, you like hammers?

Well, Home Depot has great hammers, you should go check those guys out," right?

But as a result of that, like that collaborative kinda understanding that the brewing industry has that like, you know, a rising tide raises all ships type thing, right?

Because of that collaborative effort, we, you know, kinda sort of looking at our careers less as comedians who were like competing with other comedians and other, you know, artists or whatever for, like, attention, and then started to turn our podcasts and our careers into something that was more collaborative and saying, "Well, hey, if we're doing something cool and you're doing something cool, how can we do something cooler together?"

And that was really, you know, that introduction from doing those live podcasts, you know, with Brew Gentlemen and the rest of the industry or whatever.

So we have, you know, me and Ed have done a lot of time on stage together.

- Cool, and have you always liked beer or is that just a thing that happened?

(Day laughing) - So light beer's weird.

I drink a lot of it because it's cheap, right?

You know what I mean, you know, Natty Ice was the thing that kept us going in college.

I ran a fake frat called Tri Chi XXX, you know.

So we bought a lot of it, we supplied a lot of it to folks back in the day, and, you know, it was just, it was a cheap way to, you know, become intoxicated.

I really didn't, like, like the taste of it, but, you know, it was affordable.

It wasn't until, actually, I had a beer, Sierra Nevada, once, like, you know, during my college days, I like saved up and like spent $4 on a beer, like, you know?

And I was like, "This isn't bad."

But then outside of college, they would have dollar nights down at Hemi's and they had dollar blue moons.

And like, that was the first time that I had like a beer that I had liked the taste of.

Like, they put little orange in it.

- [Rick] Right, right.

- And I was just, it felt fancy and I was just like, "Oh, this is like drinkable and delicious," like juicy, right?

So that was the first time I like tasted beer that I liked.

And I, you know, that was really about it.

And then it wasn't until, you know, much later, I was, you know, close to 30 when I bought my first mix pack from Full Pint.

And they had this beer in there called Perc E Bust, and it was a coffee porter.

And that was like, I was like, wait, they're making beers that tastes like other things.

Like, that's crazy, you know?

And that was like the beginning of when I started to really dive into the craft beer scene.

And me and my roommates had this system set up 'cause we were all still pretty broke, but we had this system set up where each week one of us would buy a case of craft beer and then like introduce the rest of the house to it and whatnot.

So that was my introduction into the craft beer world.

- Well, I mean, the craft beer world is so much better tasting and all of that than the traditional beer that when I was in college.

You know, I can't say that I was ever that big a beer enthusiast, but, you know, craft beer has made it a whole new world.

And we're lucky that you've been there too, to sort of connect some of these things that haven't been connected before.

I'm just gonna jump back again.

You've mentioned college a couple times, where did you go?

- IUP, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

- All right, and what did you study?

- I started out at secondary math education.

I went to babysit my nieces for a summer and came back and told my counselor, I'd never wanna work with kids, so I changed my major to journalism.

So yeah, that was my major, journalism.

- And you said Braddock was your hometown?

Were you actually born there?

- Yep, born and raised right next to the Edgar Thompson Steel Mill.

- Yeah?

Family worked there in the mill?

- Yeah, my stepdad worked there for some time, yeah.

- Okay, but I have this weird memory that you once told me that you learned to drive in Shallotte, North Carolina.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) - I don't, my sister lives in Shallotte, North Carolina, and I mentioned that and you said, oh, that's where I learned to drive.

- Yeah, yeah, so my mom is a Cherokee, born on a farm, raised on a farm down in Wilmington, North Carolina.

- Okay, not far from Shallotte.

- Right, you know what I mean?

So I spent a lot of summers, a lot of time down in Wilmington, and my aunt lived in Charlotte in a trailer park down in Charlotte and whatnot, and that's where, you know, if you're gonna let a kid take a car out on the open road, Shallotte is a nice town for that.

- No, and because of my sister living there, I wonder, you know, I hesitated to say to people Shallotte, because it sounds like Charlotte, like I'm mispronouncing Charlotte.

- I thought they were mispronouncing it too.

I thought like, you know, my hit cousins were just like, you know, saying the wrong thing.

I'm like, "you mean Charlotte?"

They're like, "nah, Shallotte."

And then I went down there and it's not Charlotte.

- No, it's S-H-A-L-L-O-T-T-E.

And so the second or third time I went down, I thought, I'm gonna do some research about this.

And I found out that it's called Shallotte because the Shallotte River comes through downtown Shallotte.

- See, you look at this historian, you always learn something with this guy.

- And what I learned then was it was originally called the Charlotte River, but it was mispronounced so often they just called it Shallotte.

So it does sound like a mispronunciation of Charlotte because it was a mispronunciation.

I thought perhaps it was a Native American word or something like that.

But it's just a mispronunciation of Charlotte, Shallotte.

So different corners of North Carolina.

There are these cities that did that.

So anyway, you meet Ed at a comedy club and the two of you become drinking partners and start this podcast.

You've done a lot of those.

- Yeah, we lost count, but somewhere around 300 or so.

- Right, and I think that's how I met you.

- Yeah, yeah, so, well, yeah.

So we got invited to do the food beer pairing competition down at Hop Farm for Hoptober Fest.

And you and Hal were two of the other judges, you know, and, you know, we were there and we were eating, and I remember, you know, you were sitting there, you and Hal, and you were like all professional about, everybody was like, you know, you guys were doing your bites and then sitting them to the side and doing the judging and like, you know, and we were just like, eating everything.

Like, oh my God, I can't believe like, we get to do this.

You know, we're just, you know.

So then, you know, I wanna say maybe an hour or so into it, you know, you folks were done.

People kept coming over to the table to you and like, you know, you're telling them all these stories and whatnot, and like, we're still like eating.

- [Rick] You're sitting at the bar, I can remember.

- We're sitting at the bar, we're just, we're still eating or whatever.

And we get through about like 12 of 'em and we're like, full.

And we're like, how many more do we gotta go?

And they're like, there's 27 of these.

We're like, what?

So it ended up taking us like three hours, I wanna say, for us to finally like, finish it.

It felt like somebody had like locked us in a closet and made us smoke a pack of cigarettes, right.

Like, I didn't, I never wanted to eat again after that.

But yeah, that was the first time that we had met.

And you know, I remember coming and saying, "Hey, you know, would you like to be on the podcast?"

And you were gracious enough to say yes.

And that was like a big deal because, you know, like we had just started out, we didn't really know what we were doing.

And to have somebody as accredited as you come on the podcast really gave us, you know, kind of a one.

It was a lesson in, you know, broadcasting, right.

And then two, like I said, it really legitimized us as a podcast.

We had a big thing down at Black Forge and like a bunch of people (indistinct) live.

- See, and I was guessing that's where I met you was at Black Forge.

- Well, that was the first, that was the podcast that we did after we had invited you on.

- Wow, I didn't realize that that thing down at Hop Farm was before that.

I do remember both events, but I didn't, I had the sequence out of order because I think I can remember asking you there, you know, where do you live?

And you said Beaver, and I was surprised that you live so far away, so far away.

Like, what is it 40 miles?

- Yeah, about, yeah, somewhere around there.

- 30, 40 miles east of here or west of here.

- Yeah, about North, I'm gonna say.

- Northwest, yeah.

Because you know, the Lincoln Highway went there once.

So, but anyway.

And you told me about Mrs.

Chong's restaurant in Beaver Falls.

- [Day] Oh man, it's so good, it's so good.

- So that's a question I always like to ask people here.

Favorite places to eat.

Still Mrs.

Chong's?

- Mrs.

Chong's is amazing.

She will always be, you know, even like in this region, I mean, it's wild that it's in Beaver County because that restaurant is some of the best Asian food that I've had in this region, you know, period.

So I'd say that, you know, Blowfish Barbecue, shout out to Hootie, whenever you can find him.

Wherever he is at, the best smoked Mac, you know, the brisket, get the brisket Mac.

Oh man, it is, it'll change your life.

- I love his chicken legs.

(laughs) - You can't go wrong, you know, but yeah, no, so I would, you know, anytime I get a chance to get some of that, that's, you know, my favorite place.

- Okay, no, it, you know, and all these things come together and at Barrel and Flow, at the beginning it was called Fresh, Fresh Fest, for three years?

- Yeah, yeah.

We did two years Fresh Fest, the pandemic came in, and then we had to do a digital festival, Digifest, which it was wild because, you know, we all learned about it and, you know, there was a couple of months of like, oh, are we gonna do it, are we not?

And I was actually on my way to like, canceling the event.

And then, you know, there was this outcry from the community going like, don't cancel it, like, do something digital, do anything you can, but, you know, don't cancel it.

And like, I didn't want to do what a lot of other people were doing in the digital format of like, Zooms.

They were just like doing a Zoom thing or whatever.

That's boring.

So, you know, luckily working with Work Hard, our digital company that we work with with Drinking Partners talked to them and we found a way to have a format that allowed people to watch it on YouTube.

You know what I mean?

Like, we were able to film, broadcast that, you know, make sure everybody was safe by keeping everybody distant and making sure that we followed the science and the masking and the mics and whatnot.

And we hooked up with Davor as a result of another person in the community that gave us that connection and was able to ship the beer out, the collaborations that we did for the festival to 25 states, which allowed us to raise somewhere around like 60 grand that went to artists and small businesses that year in a time when a lot of folks weren't working.

- [Rick] That was 2020?

- That was 2020.

- And then 2021 you come back to a live festival.

- Yeah, we came back and we rebranded as Barrel and Flow.

It's actually, it's funny because this is a hat that was, we originally gonna be Fresh Fest again, and it was Refresh.

We had these hats made, and then I found out that Puff Daddy owns the rights to Fresh Fest after spending all this money on trademarking, it came back and was like, yeah, Puff Daddy owns this.

And at that point I was like, well, how about we rebrand?

So we rebranded to Barrel and Flow and, you know, Barrel and Flow for us incorporates, you know, everything that's in the barrel, all the fermentable, right?

It used to be Fresh Fest Beer Fest.

And we got a lot of black folks in various industries, the wine, kombuchas, the, you know, liquors saying, Hey, we don't have space either, you know what I mean?

Can we come here and whatnot?

So we went from beer to barrel and Barrel and Flow.

And the flow represents the art, the food that's there, the art that's there.

And through the barrel flows the creativity.

- Well, the flow is, I think so, so important at these things.

I remember that from the very first one over on the north side at Nova Place was, I don't even know if it was called Nova Place then.

- Yeah, yeah.

No, it was like the very first year, I wanna say that it was Nova Place.

- Yeah, and I just remember going to this festival and thinking like, this is the way every festival should feel, honestly.

I mean, it was such a, everyone was so happy and involved and tasting things, and I was surprised to see, you know, food vendors there that I knew.

And it was just a remarkable thing.

I mean, from the very start.

And that had to be part of, you know, the genius of you guys putting this all together.

- Yeah, I mean, so, you know, we had been doing the podcast for a few years, and again, we realized that there weren't a lot of black folks in these spaces, in these breweries and whatnot, you know, so our motto is, if we're your only black friend, we'll introduce you to more black friends, right.

- [Rick] Which is a great thing.

- Yeah, you know, so, you know, that first year, the festival, the first couple of years was just a bunch of like former guests, right?

Because we were doing this podcast and we saw so many people, so many, you know, small businesses and artists and breweries who were doing really cool things, and we got to do these cool things with them, but they weren't doing cool things together.

And we were like, why isn't anybody like talking to each other, right?

I mean, in the city of Bridges where nobody crosses bridges, right, so we decided to, like with this festival, build those bridges and also, you know, build some opportunity for the black community here in Pittsburgh to enter into this $400 billion industry that is the alcohol industry, which meant bringing in black representation from around the country to showcase what is possible for folks, you know what I mean?

We don't have, you know, a black middle class neighborhood here, there's no black owned breweries.

Statistically, it's the worst place in the country for black owned businesses, so with this festival, it's really important to showcase to the folks here what is possible outside of these borders, right?

- [Rick] Or within these borders.

- Within it, right, you know what I mean?

And like, you know, and that's as a result of Fresh Fest and now Barrel and Flow, you know, we're in our sixth year between the two of 'em, you know, we're, you know, we became the number one festival in America.

You know, we have so many businesses and opportunities and stories that have come outta this festival.

And a lot of people ask me, well, why Pittsburgh?

And I tell them it couldn't have happened anywhere else.

Right, the cost of living is cheap.

So as an artist, I'm able to, you know, I'm able to be self-employed.

I couldn't do that in California or LA, right?

And, you know, because of the need for, you know, the building of black wealth and community here, you know, a lot of people come here and a lot of people want that here, as opposed to say in LA or Philly or in Atlanta that already has that, right.

They don't need it nearly as much as Pittsburgh does.

And by building that and showcasing that because of the opportunities that Pittsburgh provides, people come in from all around the world and are amazed at what is possible.

And at first I thought this was a thing that was unique to Pittsburgh, but I mean, people came in, the second year of the festival, there was an Indian family that flew in and, you know, I was like setting up and it was like too early for anybody to be there.

And I'm like, "hey, hey, can I help you?"

And they're like, "Hey, we're, you know, we're just finishing our meal and then we're gonna get to volunteer," and I'm like, "what?"

They're like, "yeah, we flew in from India to volunteer at this festival."

And I'm like, holy, you know, but it shows how much of a need a space like this was, you know, how much of it was needed, not just for Pittsburgh, but for the world, right?

And, you know, and the more we do this, the more we see people coming in from Guam and the Netherlands and Australia.

I just got invited to the Barcelona Beer Festival in March, right?

Because like, you know, of what we're doing here in Pittsburgh, they want me to come out and teach them our ways, right?

- That's the best.

But from the beginning you had this really great idea of these collaborations where you pair an otherwise white brewery with a black artist, another comedian or something, a local politician, all kinds of people collaborating on a beer, which is like, where did that idea come from?

- So, you know, when you're trying to build community and whatnot, like, you know, you can either do the common enemy thing, which is what a lot of folks do, nefarious folks.

Or you can build a common goal.

And that's where the collaboration came in.

You know, we wanted to do a black beer festival, and it was like, well, how are we going to build these bridges?

How are we gonna do a black beer festival in a city that doesn't have any black breweries?

And that's where this collaborative method came in, because all these breweries kept coming to us and going, "hey, you know, love your podcast, love what you guys are doing.

Like you wanna do a collaboration?"

And, you know, again, that helped our career a lot.

It also helped boost the local brewing scene because we were able to introduce them to people who normally wouldn't be going into their breweries and whatnot, and they were, you know, that cross promotion, right?

So with that, we were like, well, how do we extend that beyond just, you know, ourselves?

And if a couple of comedians can do it, anybody can do it, right?

So with this, we have, you know, so this is an example of one of 'em, Attic Brewing outta Philly, and then Melanated Matchmakers podcasts and, you know, Black Brew Group, they came together to make this brew.

You know, they have a conversation, they talk about the styles that they like, they brew something that they like, and then they pay a black artist to design the label.

It's a paid and accredited black artist, right?

So a lot of folks were, you know, you look at the industry and a lot of the industry at the time was utilizing black images, Biggie and this, that, and the other, you know, Tupac on their labels, but nobody black was a part of it or being paid.

So we know that beer drinking culture likes black culture, you know what I mean, so we know that.

Now how do we do that in the right way?

How do we actually pay black folks for the products that they're selling?

And these are mutually beneficial relationships that have built bridges over the last six years.

- That is excellent, and I mean, and neither one of those entities is really Pittsburgh, but they come together in Pittsburgh.

- The label is always the template that they use.

And it's the Barrel and Flow template.

And, you know, it gives credit to everyone that's involved in the project.

And every year we change the wave for Barrel and Flow to incorporate various colors and whatnot.

But we always keep that gold here because that's the tide of Pittsburgh.

So everywhere you go in the country, there's that gold Pittsburgh wave.

- So now breweries all over the country, all over the world, come to you and say, "we'd like you to be involved."

- Yeah, yeah.

It took off pretty, like quickly.

We did that first festival in 2018.

We planned to sell 700 tickets.

We sold 1200, you know, we ran outta glasses.

I remember, like, I remember walking through the festival, like, you know, running around and somebody was like, like carrying a rocker glass, like with beer in it.

I was like, "yo, did you bring that into my festival?"

They're like, "they gave this to me at the entrance."

I'm like, "what?"

And I go over the entrance and they're like, "we ran outta glasses.

We had to go to Restaurant Depot and get some more."

So like, they ran outta glasses two times.

Restaurant Depot closed.

And then they ended up having to get Dixie Cups, like, to like hand out.

And each time we like took $10 off, $10 off or whatever.

And I remember Tracy Certo, who ran Next Pittsburgh at the time, she comes in and like, you know, I feel embarrassed 'cause like she's coming to this festival and she's handed like this Dixie cup.

And I'm like, I promise you it was a much classier affair earlier, right?

But, you know, I mean, that showed like the interest that, you know, there was in having something in the brewing industry that wasn't white dominated, and then the year after that, we ended up selling 3,400 tickets and, you know, breweries coming in from all over.

And now, you know, each year we have anywhere from like three to six countries represented brewing in this festival.

So yeah, it's pretty wild.

Like when I think about it 'cause then, you know, you do it so long you forget, but.

- Well, and then this year, USA today names it the best beer festival in America.

- [Day] Yeah.

- You know, how does that, I mean, you have to be over the moon.

- (laughs) You no, I mean, honestly, like when you go into the festival, right?

Like, the reason why people are so ecstatic to be there is because everybody's being paid, right?

Everybody is benefiting from what's happening there, right?

We pay our artists, you know, the festival model for a long time and to a degree still today is one of like a cash grab model, right?

The only people that are being paid typically are the venue and the producer.

You know, talent isn't being paid.

They're paid off of exposure.

Brewers are being paid off of exposure, right?

Guests are overpaying.

And the experience is lackluster a lot of times.

With this festival, we pay our artists, we pay the brewers, we pay our staff, all living wages, right?

We make sure that like, when you're there, you're not just drinking beer.

Each of these breweries are either black, which is a unicorn, or they're doing a collaboration.

So there's a story behind it, and then of the, you know, all the folks that are there, whatever, only about half of those booths are beer or, you know, alcohol of some sort.

The other half are small businesses.

You got two music stages, four art stages, you know, small businesses and food vendors, right?

So like there's so much to do there beyond the drinking.

There's so much culture there.

And everybody there wants to be there because they're benefiting in some way.

They're not just being paid below wages to show up and pour something until it's time to go, right?

And that is what I believe is what creates that atmosphere of like, love.

Like when you go to the fest, a lot of people, it's hard for me to sell it because every time I talk about it, it just sounds like a festival where people go, yeah, whatever.

It's not until you go there and then you come back and like, it's almost like a cult.

Like once you walk in and you like leave, you're like changed, and it's like a, I can't wait to come back, I'm bringing like five friends.

- That sounds like an exaggeration, but I know that that's what gets me back every year, is you have an elation while you're there and you see people you know, you meet new people.

It's just, you know, sort of the ideal atmosphere at a festival.

- I mean, it's also, we are very intentional, like from the ground up in building in inclusivity, right?

Like when you build something with, you know, the lowest people on the totem pole in mind, you build it better for everyone involved, right?

So when we first started this festival, you know, I like to call this a festival, you know, that services the servicemen, right?

I grew up in the food service industry, customer service, you know, the whole nine and whatnot.

And I know what it's like to be treated poorly to, you know, be paid less than what you're worth, to be looked over, right?

So in this, you know, we value everyone that's there, right?

And like, when I'm there, I'm not like, you know, a lot of people are like, you gotta get somebody else to do that.

And I'm like, when I'm there, I'm doing whatever's necessary.

You know, when you see me at the fest, I'm carrying like bags, I'm like filling ice.

I'm doing whatever's necessary, and, you know, as a result, like, you know, we built this festival.

We went to the women, we went to the LGBTQ community, we went to brewers, we went to artists.

"Hey, what do you hate about festivals?

What's the worst thing about festival?

What do you, you know, like, what would you, if you wanted to, if the perfect festival, what would you have, right?"

And doing that, in listening to the community, we were able to build this festival up that like, and having folks on our board is a very diverse board.

So it's not just a festival of who I am, right.

As a black man, right.

It's a festival that has the voices of all these other communities, and in doing that, you see all these communities present and happy, and you really notice like how rare that is in the country in general.

Like, how many mixed spaces are there truly.

I mean, racially, you know, like.

- You are totally right, when you're there, you think like, wow, there's white people here and black people here, and we're all mixing together and it seems to work.

Why don't we have more of this?

- Yeah, yeah.

Like, and once you see it, like a fish doesn't know it's in water until you take it out, right.

But that's the thing, once people see it, they can't unsee it and they want more.

And that's why like every year people are one, they're waiting for the next fest.

They want to get that feeling again, but then two, you see a lot of the efforts go on throughout the year.

Like the festival is once a year, it's extended to a week now, but like throughout the year we're doing the work and people are always saying, "Hey, how can we get this more often, right?"

- And, you know, it is one week.

It's basically also one big day.

And you know, this year I remember it looked like it might rain, but it didn't, I mean, it didn't while I was there, and I was really impressed this time, I remember with a food vendor who called himself low country cooking, I think, and that, because I'd lived in South Carolina for a while, I thought, oh, low country cooking.

Look, he's probably coming from the Carolinas.

He goes, "nope, I've never been there."

He just knows that tradition of low country cooking.

I think he's from Greensboro or Greensburg, not Greensboro, but Greensburg.

So, I mean, it was, and it still is an incredible time.

And, you know, it doesn't matter if you drink beer even.

- No, I mean, we have an art enthusiast ticket and with that art enthusiast ticket, right?

Like, you get the music, you get the vendors, you get the food, you get access to the opportunities and whatnot.

You know, we have job opportunities there.

We have, this year we had a STEAM tent, you know, science, tech, engineering, art, math that showcased, you know, the arts and sciences of the brews.

We had the Brewers Guild there that was showcasing job opportunities.

We had Point Park and Penn State there showcasing education opportunities, right?

We had live brewing from Three Rivers Association of Serious Home Brewers, right?

Like they were doing live brewing on site.

So that, you know, people can see that you can do this yourself in your basement, right.

We don't want to just have a good time.

That's a large part of it, we also, this is a movement, the purpose of this festival, again, from the beginning was to introduce new people to it.

And if we're gonna do that, we need to, you know, we need to have those opportunities.

Our art director this year doesn't even drink beer.

He doesn't drink alcohol at all, you know, but he gets paid to curate the art for the festival.

So that's, you know, that's one of our messages is, you know, you don't have to brew, you don't even have to like beer in order to make money from this industry.

- Well actually, I read that, I put this quote down that I'd read from you that said, "not just beer, it's culture."

And that's totally cool.

I wonder, so it happens once a year, summertime, how much of your year does that take up?

I mean, the whole year getting ready for it.

You're working now on 2024.

- Yeah, yeah, right after this, I'm going to a couple of meetings to set up, you know, venues and hotels and things of that nature for next year.

You know, it's a year long effort.

You know, it gets more intense as the year goes, you know, goes and whatnot.

But it's, you know, if you've been there, it's a massive undertaking.

And, you know, a lot of those elements take so long to put into place.

But then the beauty of it is watching it develop every year.

Because I'm surprised even at like, what it becomes, when it's all said and done, it feels like a race.

And you're like doing as much as you can like to hit the deadline.

And then you get there and whatever's happening is happening.

And then you see all these other people, right?

It's a living, breathing thing, right?

So I'm walking around the fest and I'm hearing music that I didn't book.

I'm seeing like art that I didn't, like, but, you know, I'm seeing, you know, like these dances and this, that and the other.

And like, there's so many different things that I didn't even know were gonna be there.

But that's what happens when, you know, you kind of bring this community together.

And at this point, I'm not so much, you know, like, you know, I'm, you know, founder of the Fest or whatever, the lead of it, however, whatever.

But like, I feel more of a shepherd of a community because the community, like, you know, I feel like even if I were to, you know, die today, this community would still exist and it would still, you know, persist in some manner because, you know, I'm more of a shepherd of the community as opposed to a leader of it.

So they come to me and say, "this is what's going on," like, and I'm like, "all right, let me see how I can fit this in, you know?"

- Do you do comedy at all anymore?

- Yeah, yeah, you know, still hosting, still doing some comedy from time to time.

It's less than I did before the pandemic.

But yeah, still getting on stages when I can.

- And the podcast still going on?

- [Day] Still going on again, you know, finding time when we can, you know, but yeah, we're still doing that.

- Oh, but I mean, how nice did this podcast expanded?

And then there was also Ed and Day in the 'Burgh, which was a video series, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

So I wanna say like, you know, it was in midst of the pandemic and whatnot, very local, decided to switch over to a TV channel, Hearst broadcasting, whatnot.

And they reached out to us.

We had done some project with them in the past, and they reached out to us and said, "hey, you know, do you wanna take Drinking Partners to the streets, you know, in a video format?"

And we were a little hesitant at first working with a big, you know, rich white corporation.

You know, I'm always a little hesitant, but, you know, we were like, "Hey, you know, let's try it out."

And as a result, like, I mean, I can't even, I didn't know what to expect, but it has been a great, like, one boon to our career, but also like seeing so much of the cool things that happened in Pittsburgh.

I mean, I thought I knew growing up here and with the podcast, then you get down to the streets and you realize like, there's so much going on here.

- That's exactly what, when watching those things, I think, like, I didn't even know this place existed.

- If you didn't know it.

(laughs) Like, now that actually makes me feel good.

I'm like, all right, cool.

We are introducing to Ricky Sebak, it's crazy.

- But you know, that's the beauty of Pittsburgh, I think, is that it has so many surprises.

And, you know, we do have this incredible black history here as well.

I actually got to be a judge down at the Soul Food Festival in Market Square a couple weeks ago.

And the guy there was telling me, like pointing out all these places, the early restaurateurs, whom I did not know about, you know, starting things in Pittsburgh.

And of course, we have this incredible jazz history that is, because I've talked to Tom Roberts, even more than we know about, I mean, there's a post-war era, and we know a lot of Lena Horne and Billy Eckstein and people like that, but there's even earlier than that, a lot of the black culture starting early jazz here and all of that, so I just think that, you know, we have to sort of protect that and embellish it and keep it going.

- Yeah, I mean, that's a large part of this festival is about, you know, before this festival, there wasn't a lot of large celebrations of blackness in this area.

And, you know, again, a part of this festival's goal is to eventually build a black middle class neighborhood.

And I genuinely believe that a black-owned brewery could be a catalyst to that.

You look at a lot, you know, I heard a lot of the stories from various breweries.

One in particular was Trobes.

We went out to Hershey and heard the story about them, you know, building their brewery, kind of like at the time where there wasn't a whole lot around.

And then seeing the property value go up as people wanted to like, move next to a brewery or, you know, and then seeing all of the folks, you know, the way that they brought people up from like the ground up, you know, they came in and they were maybe wiping tanks or like serving tables and then became, you know, brew masters, right?

And the wealth that they were able to build in that community as a result of that brewery.

And I see a black-owned brewery as a catalyst to that.

And this festival showcases, while we do have breweries come in from all across the country and the world, and we have talent come in from all over the place and whatnot, it's essentially a Pittsburgh festival.

You know, 75% of the folks that are participating there are from Pittsburgh, and a large majority of them are black, right?

So when we look at that number one festival in America, we have black Pittsburgh to thank for that.

- Right, and we have to somehow preserve this and keep it going or, you know, embellish it, keep it, you know, lively and fun like you do, because it is a, you know, a crucial part of all of this.

I think of any city, certainly any American city.

So where does it go?

How, you know, do you have dreams?

(Day laughs) I mean, I guess, I guess a black middle class neighborhood is a dream that you keep mentioning, but I mean, beyond that, I mean, now that you've been in the best beer festival in the world or in the USA today.

- Yeah, you know, I don't, you know, so my goal really, I guess one of the goals that I have moving forward is to move the festival outside of the city, right?

There are black folks all across the country and all across the world who would benefit from being connected to this industry, right.

And, you know, and the model in which we have created to do that is scalable and repeatable anywhere, right?

And, you know, I've visited other cities, Chicago's and Toronto's and New Orleans' and LA's, and they all go, "we want this here."

And it's wild to visit a place like New Orleans.

And, you know, I'm sitting with the head of the business association down there, and he's like, we need this in New Orleans, right?

A place that's so rich in black culture and history and like, you know, things of that nature.

- [Rick] Food.

- And food and the whole nine.

But for them to say, "Hey, we need this here."

It's because like, again, this festival isn't just a fun time, it is a mechanism for change, right?

So a goal of mine is to get this out there and introduce the black communities in these other areas to the brewing industry.

You know, I also, you know, and looking at, you know, maybe doing some sort of like brick and mortar at some point.

And then my partner is, she started Babesburgh, which is a festival, or at least a movement that seeks to connect women and, you know, folks in the area and beyond in a meaningful capacity, you know, similar to Barrel and Flow, where we brought the black community together.

Now, you know, we're looking, you know, she's looking to bring women together in that same vein and utilizing the economic power of the brewing industry in order to do so, so, you know, there's some things on the horizon, but those are two of the biggest things is Babesburgh and, you know, just getting the festival outside of Pittsburgh.

- Wow, so, you know, I don't wanna see it leave Pittsburgh, but you could be elsewhere at the same time.

- Yeah, so, I mean, the festival will always be, the main festival will always be here in Pittsburgh the second week of August, right.

Second week of August is significant because it's the birth of hip hop, right.

You know, so we want that main event to be here in Pittsburgh always.

But the goal is like to maybe have some satellite, you know, early spring, maybe doing something in Toronto, late fall, doing something in New Orleans, right.

And just kind of traveling that around the country throughout the years.

But always having that lynchpin here in Pittsburgh, because again, it is a great place to visit in the summertime.

There are a few places in the world that you are gonna have more fun.

I mean, the people in Pittsburgh, when you get a sunny day in Pittsburgh, I mean, there's just very few places that celebrate and have that enthusiasm that Pittsburghers have for it.

And then, to be honest, I mean, I've been kind of selling Pittsburgh like a third world country 'cause I'm like, people come in, they're like, I can't believe things are so cheap here.

Like, you know, like they get a drink and they're like, $6 for a drink, oh my God.

You know, it's like, I'm like, yeah, have you seen the cost of real estate here?

It's also amazing, right.

So yeah, I think that this is a great place, and I think it would do the festival a disservice to move it from Pittsburgh in the summer times.

- And I didn't know this connection to the history of hip hop.

So this year's 50th anniversary, and I didn't realize from the beginning that was a connection.

- Yeah, so Fresh Fest actually was an old, was an old hip hop festival back in like the late eighties, early nineties that shut down.

So that was originally what Fresh Fest was.

That's why Puff Daddy owns it, because, you know, I don't think he has a Fresh Fest going on, but you know how people would just like buy trademarks and be like, well, I don't want you to use it.

Right, you know what I mean?

So, but yeah, I mean, from the very beginning it was a connection to hip hop.

And that second weekend was always, you know, like when we were looking at dates and whatnot, was the birth of hip hop.

- Cool, I wanted to ask you, just because I have a relatively new podcast here with GUMBANDS and, you had to grow up knowing the word gumbands.

- [Day] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, okay.

But because you've done so many and I think I was on 100.

- Yes, you were.

- That was a live one.

But because of that, I wonder like, who are the guests you really remember?

Who should I have on this that, you know, I haven't thought about yet?

Or you must have favorite guests over the years.

- Yeah, so.

- [Rick] No promises.

- Yeah, no, a couple of, the couple of ones that stick out for me, some of the more fun ones.

We had Sarah Enlamorado and Summer Lee on the same podcast.

They came in, the sister reps.

And that was a great podcast, it was lively.

We were excited because, you know, me and Summer went to the same, you know, high school, we're both from Braddock and, you know, it was a lively podcast about, like, this was when they were like first running and whatnot.

And it was about like, this hope and change and like, the excitement of young folks getting into politics and whatnot.

Another one was Mikey and Big Bob.

Having them on and just like having like four comedians just have fun for an hour or however long that podcast was, was just, man, to this day, one of my highlights, of course, you coming in with the Le Reservoir, like, I mean, you know, showing us up with the cognac, that was, again, that was a big memory for us 'cause it helped to legitimize us.

Federman was another one.

Having him down at Brew Gentlemen was a big one.

And we do a live podcast every year for the festival.

And the one year we had Garrett Oliver, who is, you know, like this godfather of brewing, of the brewing industry.

He also happens to be a black man and world famous.

And to have him come into Pittsburgh for that year and discuss, you know, his background and whatnot, and really, you know, having him open up about being a black man in the industry, being so prominent and assuming that just by being black, more black folks would come to him for opportunities.

And him understanding and saying, you know, I understand that, you know, I need to meet the people where they are.

And that is, was huge because, you know, people get to a place in their careers and they become complacent a lot of times.

And they go, well, I'm here.

Why can't you get here?

And, you know, for us, people like yourself, people like Garrett Oliver who have stepped outside of their normal roles or whatever, or, you know, constantly are reaching out, I see you all over the place, right.

You know, and one of the things that folks love about you, and one of the things that you know, I admire the most is that like, you are reachable, right?

Like, you don't just, you haven't gotten to a place and you're like, well, I'm just gonna gate keep this and just kind of be here or whatever, you actually are still like growing, evolving, and are a part of the people and whatnot.

So that was a big thing, having Garrett Oliver come in for that.

And, you know, those are for me, some of the most memorable ones.

- Okay cool, and that's it.

I always remember a college professor I had that one day, he said to the class, you kids don't want to hear this, but you will get tired of everything in life.

He said, except for one thing, learning new things.

And that's it, I mean, surprises are what life is all about.

And, you know, to stay open to all possibilities I think is really, really important.

I thought, like, here, we record these in the morning.

I did bring two of my little taster glasses from Barrel and Flow, and I didn't know if you've had any of this.

- Oh, I love it.

- Yeah, Barmy?

This is Barmy Soda, which is made by East End Brewing.

This is their hop water, do you know this?

- [Day] Yeah, it's very good.

- Oh, you know, because I play records at the Independent Brewing Company on Wednesday nights, and Kelsey the bartender mentioned this and I thought, like, you know, I don't know hop water, there's apparently a brand called Hop Water, but this is locally made by East End Brewing.

I dunno, is that Larimer over there where they live?

- Yeah, in Larimer.

- And I just thought, you know, cheers.

- Cheers.

- I like it because I'm not crazy about flavored water, but there's something about this flavor that feels totally natural.

- Yeah, I mean, it's nice.

They actually did a collaboration this year with a black-owned brewery out of Toledo called Black Frog.

And it's two parts.

It was a beer and then it was a Barmy, I wanna say it was like a raspberry soda sort of seltzer situation, and then you mix the two to make a Raspberry Rattler, I guess is what it's called.

- [Rick] I didn't know about this.

- Yeah, yeah, so like, it was a two-part that they did.

And it was a Barmy branded from East End and Black Frog this year, so very familiar with the brand.

And it's a nice way, you know, again, like a lot of the, when I first got into doing the festival, you know, the industry was still in a different place and we were just like cracking beers at like 9, 10 AM, right.

You know what I mean?

- [Rick] You're a better man than I am.

- Yeah, like, we were just like, you know, I go in, we'd have a meeting, they're like, "you want a beer?"

And I'm like, "of course I want a beer.

I'm at a brewery, right."

And I think at some point the industry was like, we gotta slow this down, right.

(laughs) This is not sustainable.

So a lot of the, it's the better for you movement.

So the low ABVs, no ABVs, seltzers, hop waters, things of that nature that give you the flavor, the bite, the sensation almost of drinking without like, you know, destroying your liver at, you know, 9:00 AM.

- Well, I mean, you know, I don't know, what else should I ask you about?

I'm so happy that you're here in Pittsburgh.

I'm happy about all the work that you do.

You know, anything else here that we should know about?

I mean, these things you brought, Goodlander?

- Yeah, so again.

- Oh, I think I saw Goodlander in one of your videos.

- Yeah, so Goodlander, local cocktail brewery and whatnot.

We met them on the show and Ari Cole did that collaboration with Goodlander.

So Ari Cole is one of the artists that we introduced to the brewing industry, has since done a lot of amazing things.

He has this ongoing series, Slappers And Bangers, one of the best dance parties in the city, and they did that collaboration there.

He designed the label of the bottle.

That's actually his logo on the front of it.

And yeah, so that's the collab that they did.

You know, we have, I did a collab with Ultragenius.

There's two black Brewers, DaShawn and Daelyn, and then they brought me in to do it another day.

So we called it Three Day Weekend.

So it's cool to still be doing these, you know, collabs myself.

And then one of the perks of the TV show.

We went down to the 25 Wines, the Roberto Clemente Museum and whatnot, and they.

- In Lawrenceville.

- In Lawrenceville, and they made this couple of bottles of Ed and Day Cabernet.

It's part of the Edinburgh.

- It sounds good, doesn't it, Ed and Day Cabernet.

- So, you know, like, it's just, and then the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival, which was sometimes I forget and it's wild.

But that was my introduction to festing.

I was the director for, a director of comedy for the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival for three years, actually, the first year of Fresh Fest was my last year at Pittsburgh Comedy Festival.

I did both of these festivals in the same month of August.

And I got to meet, you know, W. Kamau Bell and like a lot of these bigger name, headliners or whatnot as a result of that.

And I learned a lot about fest making from the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival that I then applied to Fresh Fest and beyond, so yeah, it's been a pretty awesome career and whatnot.

- So when people ask you what do you do for a living, what do you say?

(Day laughs) - I hustle, you know what I mean?

- You say I'm a shepherd of the community?

- I mean, it just, it's weird 'cause a lot of people actually do, a lot of, like, it has been coming up more often, you know, people will just see me think they go, what do you do when I don't see you, right.

You know what I mean?

Like, 'cause whatever I'm doing can't possibly support my lifestyle, right, and they're right.

It takes a lot, right.

This Mavuno Festival, you know, I do some consulting, I do comedy, I do hosting, I do the Fest.

There's the TV show, we do the podcast, like, you know, it's kind of like, you know, the life of an artist.

I remember when I first started comedy.

Another comedian, Aaron Kleiber, who is one of the greats here in Pittsburgh, and he shared this article that said that, you know, a lot of standup comedians, they start their career in standup comedy, but they don't stay there.

They typically branch out in other things in order to like, you know, maintain.

So writing, acting, producing, a lot of these other aspects, right.

So I, from a very early part of my career said, well, I'm not gonna pigeonhole myself to just stand up, right?

And then again, like, and again, I, when I met you, I remember being like at this, you know, Hoptober Fest and whatnot, and like, folks were coming up and like, you know, they're sitting down, they're talking to you and you're regaling them with like, stories of like their hometown and the bridge that they crossed to get here and like the shirt that they're wearing.

And like, you know, and I remember like, you know, kind of looking more into your career, whatnot, and I was like, man, this guy, like, he like gets paid, goes around, he gets like, he eats food and like meets people and gets to like, do all this fun.

So I was like, I'd love to do that.

So I honestly, I based a lot of my like career off of what you were doing and saying, well, I mean, you know, I'd love to do something like that too.

So, you know, because you platform so many other people, seeing how that helped boost your career, right.

You know what I mean?

Like, when you support the community, the community supports you as well and how like, well loved and and appreciated you are as a result of that.

So I kind of wanted to do that same thing.

And like, if you look at all these various like things and whatnot, they are means of platforming other folks, you know, brewers, like comedians, the city of Pittsburgh, women, artists, to name some.

- And they're all thankful and they all like you.

And thank you, and you know, I think that's the beauty of all of this.

And I thank you for being on GUMBANDS because I've learned a lot and, you know, aspects of this that I never really considered.

I've always known it was important, but I didn't think I knew how important it was.

- Well, that means a lot coming from you, sir.

And again, I appreciate you and everyone that has supported everything that we've done throughout the years.

None of it is possible, you know, I don't make art.

I don't brew beer, I don't, you know, I don't cook foods all like that or whatever.

It really does take a community, I don't hold the cameras.

You know, like it takes a community to make this happen.

- [Rick] And you help raise everybody up.

- I mean, I think that we all, you know, I'm a very lanes driven guy, I stay in my lane, right?

And if somebody comes to me for something, I let 'em know that, that if I can, I can.

But if I can't, I direct 'em to somebody else's lane and whatnot.

And I think as a result of that, when you realize that you're just a piece in a larger puzzle, I think that really is the key to success.

- I thank you so much.

- Thank you, sir.

- I just wanna ask, is there a story behind the necklace?

- Yeah, so a friend of mine makes these, she's a German woman and she does hip hop style jewelry.

And I always wanted to be a rapper, but I can't rap or afford gold.

So this is a nice, you know, affordable way to kinda like, be in the lifestyle and also support, you know, people that you know, and artists and whatnot.

It's also a conversation starter, a lot of people go, oh, that's, you know, that's a nice necklace there or whatever.

- It's a microphone.

- It's a microphone, right.

And as a comedian, like, it's very apropos.

So yeah, I mean, I started wearing this at the beginning of my comedy career.

And honestly like, I was supporting artists then.

And I've been supporting artists since.

- So this is a vintage piece.

- Yeah, I've had this for 11 years now.

2012 I got this piece and yeah, I've got more since then, but this is my baby.

- I can talk to you all day.

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