We are so thrilled to have two beautiful people joining us today on Experience Michiana.

We have Nikki, who is the artistic and creative director at the Acorn Theater.

And we have artist Andy is Sy-dow or Si-Dow.

You got to tell me, how do I pronounce that, Andy?

Sydow rhymes with kiddo.

Oh, I got it.

Okay, Andy.

Sydow.

There we go.

Well, thank you both for joining us.

And, I'm actually going to start with Nikki, because.

Nikki, I have a feeling that you are so excited about this concert that is coming up at the Acorn Theater that you're actually wearing a t shirt of about it.

So, yes.

There you go.

I love it.

The last time I was with you, Kelly, I had this shirt on then too.

I think your viewers are going to think I have only one shirt.

And, you know.

And if I did have only one shirt in my wardrobe, this would be a good one.

Yes.

Yeah.

It was.

It was coincidence.

I swear it was.

Yes.

I am so excited about this show with Andy.

Thank you so much for having us on.

To talk about it.

I am, as you mentioned, the artistic director here at the Acorn, and one of my most favorite projects that I work on is our annual singer songwriter competition.

And last year, Andy was one of our finalists and ended up being, named our runner up.

So he took second place in the competition and, you know, as I prepare for that competition for the months leading up to it, I think I know all of the music that's been submitted better than anyone because I listen to literally every single song.

And sometimes I get an inkling from the first note, right when I open up those submissions and listen to them at home.

And with Andy, that definitely happened, with his submission, his song, Two Drink Tickets.

When I opened it up and I was listening to it in my home office, I was like, oh, this guy's for real?

This guy is going to make the finals.

I knew that, and this guy could win the crown.

I, you know, I just felt really strongly about, the quality of, of Andy's musicians ship.

So I'm really, really excited that we're able to bring him back up here to Three Oaks for a concert on April 26th.

So what moved you when you heard his song?

His lyrics are so incredible.

He's constantly telling a story and not always the same story either.

Right?

So, when Andy, is is is singing a song and he's just connecting to you, and, I really love, I love lyrics, right?

I like to hear what an artist is trying to share.

But also, he's got just such an interesting quality about his voice, that it's it's one of those that I'm fond of saying.

I could listen to him sing the phonebook.

Right.

Like this is a person that if I could hire him to just come to my house, sing for me while I'm folding the laundry, or living my daily life like that would be super cool.

I would have that soundtrack on in the background of my life, for sure.

And he's a brilliant musician.

Is multiple instruments, that Andy can play and, yeah, I just, I, I'm super excited about about what he's doing with his music.

I think that shows Absolutely.

Andy, let's bring you on in.

Well, first of all, I'd like to know, how did you get involved with music?

Did you come from a musical family?

So, yeah, my, both my parents, played growing up.

You know, my dad plays guitar still and some piano.

My mom took piano lessons her whole, childhood.

So it was around the house, kind of my whole upbringing.

And they had me in piano lessons in elementary school.

You know, and I was playing saxophone in the band and then kind of started writing songs and, playing guitar in high school.

And so it was just kind of always, around.

And then on, on Sunday nights, a lot of times we'd go down to the Boulder Theater for this radio show called E-Town, and we would just see different artists play, most weekends.

I would say we went down there just to check out the music.

So it was just it was everywhere.

As a kid.

And, so what made you decide that you wanted to make this a career?

Well, I tell people, music keeps me up at night and gets me out of bed in the morning, so I wasn't really sure.

I didn't know what else to do.

So, I, I think I knew at some point in high school that, that's for sure what I wanted to do for a living.

And, and I was lucky to get to, to go to college for, piano and, just kind of keep pursuing it from there.

You can now, you know, it's one thing to.

I mean, it's it's wonderful that you play so many instruments.

That's one thing now, writing songs that that's that's a whole nother gift and talent.

What kind of drew you to that and and how easy or how difficult do you find that to be?

Yeah, well, I was I was drawn to it from a lot of those performers that, that we saw at E-Town growing up.

You know, and just from stuff I was listening to, with my dad, could have been Ben Harper or, Natalie Merchant or.

I mean, so many, so many different artists.

And there's times when songs come easily.

But a lot of times it's got to be molded and crafted over a period of time.

But I love my favorite part of the writing process, I tell people, is when the song is done and you play it back on a voice memo and it sounds just right, and I just love that feeling so much, and it drives me to keep doing it.

And where do you get your inspiration from when you're writing your songs?

Oh, all over the place.

I usually start with a musical riff or a line, and go from there.

It usually more than I'm more of a music first than a lyrics first person most of the time, but I can get inspiration from anywhere.

It could be something going on in my life, or a story I have heard, or a number of other things.

So I just try to always be open to the things that are going on.

So what is it like?

I know, I mean, I don't know why I'm thinking baseball.

I don't even watch baseball.

But, you know, they kind of say when you swing the bat, you know, you miss more than you hit.

How is it that kind of similar with songwriting that you kind of go through a lot of songs before you really find the one that that, that that fits and that works for you?

What's funny, you mentioned baseball because I just put out a song called It's Baseball Season Again, like last week on Opening Day, because I'm a big baseball fan.

So, you know, I that's absolutely true.

Sometimes I try not to be too precious, but sometimes I'll have a lyric or a riff and I'll be afraid to dig in and write the song if it's not perfect, you know?

And that's that's not a you can't do that.

You just have to dive in and do it anyway.

And it's just kind of how it works.

You might have a great idea that doesn't turn into a great song, and you might have what seems like a pretty mundane idea that when you finish it, is a great song.

So it's kind of a it is kind of a numbers game in some ways, and I'm sure sometimes, songs take take a while and you probably may maybe have to put it down for a little while and come back to it at some point.

I have a lot of those.

Yeah, I have so many times where I'll, I'll have a riff, like an instrumental riff and a couple vocal lines or even a verse, and it'll disappear down into my voice memos.

In six months or a year or three years later when I'm sifting through, you know, just doing my morning writing, I'll sift through the voice memo and it'll pop up.

And then all of a sudden that time, has given me the gift of, I don't know, clarity or ignorance.

I don't know what it is, but I'm a lot of times able to pick it back up from there.

That's awesome.

Well, Nikki, tell us when the concert is.

I believe it's Saturday, April 26th.

You've got it.

Yes.

That's correct.

7 p.m. here at the Acorn.

Okay.

And will there be other artists joining Andy?

Yeah, actually, we have another local artist, Doug Hiasch, who will be, joining us, for the concert.

And we're really excited to feature, a rising star, Molly Cooper, who is a high school student who is one of those artists that will go off in the future and do something and will be sitting here in Southwest Michigan saying, we knew her.

So she's she's going to open up the show at seven, so it'll be Molly and Doug and then Andy.

Very nice.

Andy, what can, people expect when they come to the concert on Saturday, June 26th?

It's it's going to be a fun time.

I tell stories, I play piano and guitar, sing the songs, obviously.

I just hope it's, a fun community event for everybody.

Now, this is not your first time performing there.

No, no, the the, songwriter competition last year, it was in July, right?

It was.

Yes.

Last July was was my first time there.

And it's a really, really cool, theater.

It's a really special place.

Not every town has an acorn.

Right.

And that's what I was just going to ask you.

What?

What was it like performing there?

Because it really is a special theater and a special community.

Yeah.

I mean, it was full, for one thing.

People come out for for that event and it was lots of fun.

But it's a really it's a really cool venue because that building, I think has been there for a while.

And I love I love stuff like that, you know, there's there's so much history and magic in the walls, and you can feel that when you walk in.

Absolutely.

Well, Nikki that's on again Saturday.

The 26th.

What's coming up as well?

Over the spring and summer months.

Gosh, that whole weekend we're busy here.

Kelly.

It's Art attack weekend in our community.

So we're kicking things off on that Thursday night with our annual launch party for Art attack.

We have a student showcase of visual artwork.

Students from New Buffalo and River Valley schools will be showing their artwork and then we're going to follow that with an open mic night.

I'll be seeing that event and I may, you know, be playing a couple songs myself that night.

That Friday night School of American Music on April 25th is hosting Patricia Barber here for a fundraiser for School of American Music.

Of course, Andy's Saturday night.

And then in May, we have just an incredible lineup of musicians, starting with Lissie on May 2nd, we have Michael McDermott, we have the flat five, we have Chicago Farmer in the field, notes.

Jackie.

Jackie Venson, sorry, and Matthew Logan Vasquez I was trying to combine their names and I knew that that's not right.

It's just it's been growing and growing.

Just a few weeks ago, we announced Steve Earle in June.

Just earlier today, we announced, Sean Mullins coming back in June and the steel wheels coming in in August.

We just are constantly adding new shows, which is why my brain sometimes has trouble finding them all up in there.

But we just have an incredibly, wonderful and diverse lineup of, of of events for people.

So Acorn live.org is the place to go to find out all the details and see who's coming up.

We have someone for everyone and to get tickets as well.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

You can you can get tickets.

A lot of our shows do sell out in advance.

But you can sometimes, you know, come up to the box office the day of the show and get lucky even for some of those busier shows, but Acorn live.org or our box office, every, every time we have a show, the box office is open at 4:00.

All right.

Well, thank you both for joining us.

Andy, it was wonderful getting to know you a little bit more.

So thank you for taking time to be with us.

And, Nicky, as always, good to see you all.

So good to see you, too.

And the best of both of you.

Thanks for being with us.

Thank you Kelly, thanks.