One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Hey it's Irish Dave and welcome to Experience Michiana.

I'm here at the Potawatomi Zoo and you can find out why I'm here.

There's a lot of good news.

There's also some sad news about the rhino.

Well, it's good for him, but sad for us.

But all is well.

That ends well.

And they will be getting a new rhino.

But you can find out more about this on next week's show.

On this week's show, we're going to go to Three Oaks in Michigan for a show at the Acorn Theater.

It's a married couple called DuPont Phillips.

We're going to learn more about that.

Also an art exhibition that I had no idea existed, which is actually artists who are homeless and they're putting their art on display, and then all the money is going back to them to try and help them in the circumstance that they're in.

So that is something that's very cool and you'll want to hear about on this week's show.

But first to another married couple, a very famous married couple from this area.

They're called the bergamot, and they've got a new show coming up at the DeBartolo, and we're going to find out about it right now on Experience Michiana.

We are so excited to announce there is a new album and a new concert coming, and it's because of the bergamot and our friends Nathaniel and Jillian join us now.

Guys, thank you so much for being with us.

Your West Coast in it right now, aren't you?

You know you are, Kelsey, for taking in some of that West Coast sunshine, right?

Bringing it back.

We'll bring it back South Bend and catch a flight tomorrow early.

Squirrely because we are going to be back at Notre Dame's DeBartolo on September 19th.

Yep.

And, we're recording this a little early.

But this, you people at home, you're seeing this, a couple of days before, and we're really looking forward to it.

You have, the the thing that's created this is you have a new album coming out, and so, it has its own feel to it.

So give us a sense of what people can expect, what's what's kind of the motivation behind it.

You guys really are about bringing joy and togetherness.

And so is that woven through this album, too?

Absolutely.

The name of the album is called Give Love Away, and the decision that we made was we were approached by a doctor, Mark Dorries, at the University of Notre Dame, about doing a collaborative album with the Notre Dame Children's Choir and doing kind of a youth centered album about lifting up the youth and giving hope and empathy in a time of darkness and despair, as we all know.

And we thought, you know, what are some of the ways that this could happen?

How can we dream this up?

We looked like have successful bands in the past work with choirs and what does that look like?

That took me to Another Brick in the wall part two by Pink Floyd, and I quickly realized that this and Jillian, I agree that this is something that we want to do, that it's that that song, The Pink Floyd, is a little bit of a different vibe and different energy, but we wanted to use that creative source of, of of, excitement and bring it to this project.

So it's a collaboration with Notre Dame children's album It's definitely very bergamot in the way that it weaves through stories about life and the changing seasons as we're entering fall here in the Midwest, and some of the other things I think that we I obviously heard the album a lot working on in writing with Nathaniel, but I think we mentioned in the album the word sun and moon and stars, like we incorporate a lot of light elements.

So this is a very, not only is it, from a lyrical standpoint, an album that's very uplifting to listen to because it focuses on themes of love, growing up and having empathy and listening to other people.

But it also incorporates literal like light.

Yeah, like into it, like, lyrics.

I'll go short little quick dive on one song, for example, so you can kind of get an idea of where the inspiration is coming from.

There's a song I really love on it called March Leaves, and the idea is, is that we were taking a hike in the National Forest in Indiana, land on the national dune land, and we saw a tree in March that some leaves from the last fall.

And I thought, what a great inspiration, you know, to have this kind of dedication through the winter.

We think that fall is when all the leaves fall, but not always, not for all trees.

And so looking at this tree, finding inspiration and trying to share this with the youth that was an an inspiration for this album.

And we hope that these songs can have a lot of meaning for the listeners.

Now, this isn't the first time you guys have collaborated.

If I recall, when you had a concert in town, last time, the children's choir was a part of that as well.

Yes.

That we did our big Christmas concert, a South Shore Christmas at the Morris last year, and we invited the Notre-Dame Children's Choir on stage, and it went so well that we're doing it again this year, the day after Thanksgiving at the Maurice with the choir.

On November 28th.

And we had such a blast getting to teach the kids, getting to be with them and just performing in unity with our harmonies.

And it just was so uplifting that we thought, what better way to work together again than on this album?

So we actually wrote all of the songs for the album from scratch, and we got to create these themes of love and peace and unity with the kids.

And you hear it on the album from songs like Beauty that we See, which is really focusing on the positive things of life to a song called Give Love Away, which is all about truly being the essence of love every moment of your day.

So it's been really cool.

Now, most artists, work right up until the deadline, changing things, tweaking things.

Yeah.

How soon did you actually put the album to bed or or have you are you still at home?

So we started writing, in early, January, February, March.

And then we traveled to London to be in London for almost a month, working with our, producer Matt Wiggins, that we really love.

And so that just kind of snowballed.

Then we brought, Matt from London to University of Notre Dame to recorded the DeBartolo in May Arts Center, which, by the way, is one of the most incredible musical spaces in the country, in the world, right here in South Bend.

And so then we recorded there and then it just as anybody who's made album or worked in music knows, it's.

Or if you haven't, you know that albums they take a long time once you record everything, that's when the real work starts.

So then we pushed it right up to the deadline when we had to have the album done, which I think was like some time nearly and.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

And then we pushed into the album release, which was just a couple weeks ago.

So, you know, we're performing at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

This album was written and dreamed about thinking of what this performance would sound like in this space.

So I hope that there's many performances to come, but this is going to be the world premiere concert.

You're going to see it in a world class space with an unbelievable children's choir, with us on stage in an auditory, auditorium.

That's just amazing acoustics.

So we're really excited to bring this all the stage.

I mean, talk about making positive core memories.

Yeah, with those that you love coming to this concert.

I mean, this is going to be next level, but we hope it's a sonic bath of sorts where it's it's giving, you know, it's really going to be a full presentation dreamed up in this space, recorded in the space and now brought to the audience.

So speaking of that, the concert is coming up on the 19th here in September, and it's going to be at 8:00, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

What's the best way for people to get tickets to that?

Yeah, you can either get tickets on our website, the Bergamo dot dot com.

That's the B E R G A M O T.com.

Or you can go on to DeBartolo website as well.

They're located on both.

So you guys are notorious for not doing anything.

You know, just sitting around with your feet up.

You know, totally the opposite.

What I hope you guys, besides producing the record, I'm sure you're also out and about doing some shows and some other things.

What are you guys been up to lately?

Oh my gosh, we honestly have been, I would say buried in the sand working on this project.

It has been a monumental project to get this album out as quickly from the idea stage in November of 2025 to today.

So it's literally been a nonstop work hustle, flying all over the world, corralling the choir, you know, teaching and learning and writing and editing.

So I would say that's taken up a lot of our time.

Plus, we're preparing for a really special tour that is literally going to start on September 19th.

That's the kickoff date for the tour and for the album.

So that tour is going to take us all over America.

We're also going to be infusing our Christmas concert into it.

So we're preparing for that.

And yeah, I mean, between all that and then we're also planning for the future.

There's going to be another new album next year, just to record, which is going to be really exciting, and there will be an album release for that.

So lots of things going on.

I mean, it's, it's in the arts, you know, you have to stay multifaceted.

As we all know, working in different spaces, getting different projects ready while you're performing one, you're getting ready for the next.

So definitely a lot of that going on.

And gosh, yeah.

And one of the coolest things that's happening is next year on Valentine's Day, February 14th, we are going to be on stage performing with the full South Bend Symphony.

So we are preparing for that right now.

And it's a whole thing because it's going to be a night of love songs.

The greatest love songs from our top original love songs to the greatest cover love songs of all time.

It's going to be next level exciting and crazy to pack for that, performance of a lifetime in that way.

And I'm sure we'll be coming back and chatting about, all that and the amazing symphony orchestra that's up and symphony orchestra in Michigan.

I mean, there's so many great things to come out and support, and, we're just glad to be a part of this community.

So I just want to flash back just a second.

You guys kind of got your start, you know, high school, but, like, at the Acorn, right?

Yes.

Was that, open mic night talent show?

What was that?

Yeah, that was an open mic night, and I believe it was at 2008.

Yeah, yeah, it was opening night, 2008.

I had started playing open mic nights at, middle earth back in 2001, 2002.

And then we, you know, always had this passion for the community that's involved in open mic nights.

I love the elements of supporting other artists and supporting each other.

And then we found that the Acorn was doing it.

And that's a legendary place and, very historic.

So we thought, hey, let's go do this.

And, and we were off and running.

I mean, that was I remember stepping up on that stage, you know, nice wooden floors and everything and seeing it and experiencing that.

And it was a definitely a life altering moment.

And it all starts with, you know, community, like I said, with these open mic nights with people giving opportunities to to people who are starting established people, allowing other people to step on stage and say, hey, here's your 60s give it the best you got.

And, that can change someone's life.

And in our case, it did.

And that leads us into our next segment on the show, is actually another couple who just won the singer songwriter competition and their concert that's coming to the stage.

So that's great.

But thank you guys so much for, not only continuing to share your music, but continuing to bring it back to the stage here in the Michiana area.

And we are so excited for the concert coming up on the 19th at 8 p.m.. Be safe in your travels and we can't wait to see you on stage.

Thanks so much, Kelsey.

We love you all.

We love Michiana.

Well if you happen to see the Acorn Singer Songwriter competition, you might recognize some of these faces there.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Kylie & Chris, this is exciting, because we had the opportunity to watch all three of the top three winners collaborate into one production.

Isn't that amazing?

Yeah, we're really excited about how it all worked out.

Yeah.

Okay, so I have to ask you.

How did you guys work to come up with something like this together?

You want to take that one?

Well sure.

Well this is actually the second time we've pulled this.

We are, we are a couple and we are also solo artists who play together often.

And when you enter songwriter competitions you do it as one person.

And so this is actually the second time we've both gotten into one separately and really confused.

The judges, when they realized, I think these guys know each other.

But we got to the acorn and, only 1 or 2 people knew we were a couple, and then we really hit it off with Chris Gold, who ended up also being in the top three.

And our music just made so much sense to that crowd that the folks at the Acorn were gracious enough to say, hey, we want to do this again.

We want this on our stage for a longer period of time than a couple songs each.

I love that.

Let's talk a little bit about what your music style is so people know what to expect.

Yeah I always say that I lean a little bit more.

Pop singer songwriter Kris leans a little bit more folk singer songwriter, but the Venn diagram is pretty deep.

There's a lot of overlap there.

And so so it's, it's fun to get to, to get to collaborate on that and, and find kind of the the middle ground between our two styles.

And then Christopher's a little more like traditional folk singer songwriter.

Okay.

And but he's also so entertaining and so, there's a lot of humor to what he does, but also a lot of sincerity.

And we kind of felt like he was a kindred spirit right out of the gate.

I love it.

So you guys kind of went from I guess a from competitors to now a blended family.

Yeah.

Yeah yeah I would agree with that.

I mean actually backstage Christopher Gold and I were, we were kind of really hitting it off about shared taste because we're both like folk singers that love metal and we're like, covered in.

We're like, I'm kind of in the wrong genre here.

And so we started really just kind of talking about life and musical taste.

And by the time we were all playing together, and then and then ended up getting to play again in the top three.

It really felt just like, just like a hang at that point.

I love it.

So let's talk about this event that you guys are going to be putting together.

It is a one night only concert.

Is that correct?

That is correct.

And when is it happening?

It is on September 20th.

So this weekend.

Awesome.

Okay.

And we're going to be doing the at the Acorn now.

You guys have performed there before obviously to you what makes the Acorn such a special and unique performance venue?

This was my first time the singer songwriter competition was actually my first time at the venue.

And, you know, it's kind of tucked away in this little corner.

And as soon as we as soon as I got in there, you could just tell it's a really special place.

It's, I was really struck by the care from the entire staff and the volunteers at the venue.

They're clearly just a group of people who really care about bringing music to this community.

And that isn't always the case.

You know, you don't always get a group of people who are that, that passionate about what they're doing.

And it was just really clear right out of the gate that they really care about what they're doing.

And so it's a beautiful room.

It sounds great.

All of that stuff is true.

But I think what makes it really special is like that group of people really takes good care of us as musicians, and the community was really willing to come out and gamble on some new musicians.

And all of that together was just a really special combinatio I love that.

And for those people who maybe aren't as familiar with your style of music, whether that be folk, more of the indie style.

I know the spaces like The Acorn are wonderful to be able to, to be a part of that.

Now, when you guys collaborate together, I know there's probably a difference in how does it work between, you know, your solo artist work and the work that you guys collaborate together between both you two as a partnership, but also bringing Christopher Golden to that equation as well?

Yeah.

In this case, Christopher Gold is going to be opening the show.

So he'll be doing a solo set of his stuff.

So he really gets to be in charge of that part of it.

But for Chris and I, we before we were a couple, we were just fans of each other for like a decade.

And so we were already familiar with a lot of one another's music.

But when we collaborate together, it is sort of a way of figuring out, how we translate kind of the recordings we've created to the stage.

And so we do kind of this mix of, you know, I play piano, Chris plays guitar, we both sing together all that stuff, but we also incorporate a little bit of like drum machine and a little bit of looping and things like that in so that we can give it a little more texture and a little more interest and since we've been collaborating together more, it's sort of been this experiment to figure out, like, what do we want our duo sound to be on stage?

And we've gotten it to a spot where we're we're really exciting, excited about how it how it all works together.

And I'm interested to hear how has your music shifted since you guys enjoyed each other's music and now have become partners in life?

You want me to answer?

Do you want to go first?

Yeah.

I think that, Chris is an incredible instrumentalist and I consider myself a vocalist first.

I, and I being with someone who is such an incredible instrumentalist has given me the ability to be a little bit more ambitious with what I do musically, because I have someone who can support me on that side of it.

And also just being with someone who can add like additional vocal texture to what I do and all of that.

It just makes everything feel, a lot bigger than I felt like I could accomplish on my own.

And I think although he is like a super capable frontman, he is also willing to willing to, like, take that backseat and support me when when the situation calls for it.

And I try to do the same for him, where it's like, I'm happy to just be the sideman and let you shine for a minute.

You know, I love that.

I love that in a partnership.

So I'm excited to see all of you guys up on the stage.

It's happening again this weekend, September 20th.

What time is the show and how can people get tickets?

I believe, I believe the show starts at 8 p.m.. And then at the Acorn's website, there's still tickets available.

All right.

Perfect.

Anything else?

You guys want to share with us?

Yeah.

Well, I guess all I would say is that we're, We're kind of beginning the journey of making new records right now.

Oh.

That's Kylie.

Yeah.

Kylie is about to make her her debut full length.

She's been cooking up songs for a while and has never gotten the chance to put a string of ten together.

It's always been like, shorter works, which is a lot of fun, but she's definitely the type of artist where I think people deserve that.

She deserves like an hour out of people's time rather than less and stuff.

She's, she's working on a new record right now, and and that's going to be what we're going to be spending the next year or so.

You know, obviously continuing to play in Michigan as much as we can and, and in surrounding areas.

But we'll we'll be hitting the studio quite hard this year.

So if people are discovering the two of us for the first time and want more, the I would say the best is on its way.

So I love it.

Well, thank you guys so much.

Good luck to you.

Have a great show and we're going to have to follow you along this journey.

Yes.

Please do.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you for having us.

Well, there is some beautiful art hanging out behind me, and you have one more chance to get out and experience it, and maybe even purchase a piece.

I have my friend empty here.

Thank you so much for having us today.

This is a really unique workshop that you guys have put on along with this exhibit.

All of this benefiting motels for now.

You are originally the creator and the founder of this and what it came to the process to create something like this for our community?

Sure.

So, I was fortunate enough to, start working at motels for now.

This is a low barrier homeless shelter out by the airport here in South Bend, which houses about 115 people at a time.

Oh, wow.

I started working there, and I started noticing that our guests would paint and draw on their doors or their walls, or alter their clothing or their vehicles, or bring interesting objects back to the motel.

And I am an artist.

And so I noticed this, and I talk to people about it.

And then I just started making drawings with people and the motel, let me take over one of the rooms, turned it into an art workshop, and we have since outgrown that space taken over the former lobby of the motel and filled it for a ceiling with art supplies and, and restore their artwork.

That's incredible.

Incredible.

You have a background in art.

Talk to us about that.

Well, I've been making art since I was a kid.

I went to Notre Dame for art in undergrad.

Okay.

I have been developing art workshops, making art in community with community for the last 20 years.

And moved back to South Bend and was trying to figure out what I was going to do.

So getting connected with motels for now has been a dream come true.

This artwork is my favorite artwork that I, see anywhere, and it's so creative.

So I want to talk about, like, that creative outlet that our friends have in putting these arts together.

But also, you know, what does it look like for for them to be able to put their thoughts, put their feelings, their emotions into art?

Sure.

Well, I was describing before that it was happening one way or another.

Yeah.

colthes, walls, doors.

What I've done is just created a safe space to keep artwork safe.

A space for people to experience art who might not choose to do it otherwise.

But everybody who walks in the door is an artist.

Whether they grab a pencil and make a single mark on a page and I make a drawing with them, or if they're very confident and they just need some supplies and they run with it.

So it's been very exciting to see, our guests develop their voice voices as artists, to have an experiment with different materials, with different imagery.

And I just think that it is transformative to see one's artwork, you know, professionally mounted on the frame shop here in South Bend.

Donated their labor and supplies to make sure we could hang the artwork, really nicely.

It's also a game changer for these folks to sell their artwork in some cases, not just on a street corner for ten bucks, but to have it hung up in a gallery setting and to, have an audience for their creations.

And then to get, a gift card with those funds back, for selling their artwork is really huge.

That's amazing.

And there's so many different mediums to write.

Well, how do you collaborate in that process?

Well, it's interesting.

Some of the guests bring me supplies every week.

I was made out of, like, toothpicks.

Exactly.

Yes.

There was a plastic horse that was just lingering around the property for a while, and it turned into a beautiful collaborative artwork.

It's going to be featured in South Penn's local dry bar on display.

So I just think that in time, I mean, there's 115 people there.

Yeah.

And over the course of the year, there's 300 people that would come through the site.

That's a lot of artists.

Like we have a roster of artists that we're going to be able to draw from, to put together different exhibitions.

In the future.

I'd like to see people with lawn ornaments that we've painted, you know, and it's visibly changing South Bend.

But I want everybody to consider themselves collectors and to come down and buy a piece for themselves or for somebody else as a gift, and to start to put this incredible artwork in homes across the city.

Absolutely.

And the exhibit has been on display since, since June, since June.

Okay.

So a couple months now and you guys are coming to your your closing event.

Talk to us about that when that's happening.

Sure.

So September 22nd.

It's a Monday from 5 to 7.

We want people to come down here to Our Lady of the road at 744 South Main Street.

It's also going to act as an art supply drive.

So we want folks to bring us their used art supplies, bring us new art supplies, even house paint, anything that we can get our hands on we will use to make art.

I love let's go check out some of the other art too.

So I mean, there's there's even poetry in there, right?

Yeah.

And different kinds of artwork.

And this piece is really so these are actually plants growing at motels for now.

The artists inked up, they saw, a TikTok video about how to create a scene like this.

And, and they asked me, how do I do that?

And, and so we use the materials in the art workshop to create a series of, of these images.

How have you seen some of the different folks?

How have you seen their work grow and expand through the workshop process?

I just think that, that folks have they really are following their own instinct.

I'm an artist in the space.

I'm not a teacher.

I mean, I am an art now.

I mean, I'm an educator, but I don't teach art.

If they want their something, they may have a question.

I'll answer it if I can.

But we might look up a video together, or I might get a resource for them.

Or they might teach me something.

There's an artist who's taking, South Bend Tribune newspapers, mashing them up with water with a stick, and then creating, sculptures out of that material.

We have many of them over here.

So this one here.

So, Moses.

Oh, this out takes newspaper.

And when when it dries, it's rock hard.

And so he taught me something new.

And we've been able to share that with other artists at the motel.

That went to.

That's really.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

And these are all for sale so people can buy them.

That's right.

Okay, so make sure that you 20, 20 to 40, 20 to $60 to sell reason.

Yeah, exactly.

I love that.

What is your what's your goals?

Well, I we're going to keep this going.

I, this is going to change out over time.

Yeah actually.

So even if you came to the opening, we probably have another half as much artwork that was adding before the closing reception.

Okay.

So there's going to be new art up on the walls.

You should definitely come out and get some new artwork.

Yeah.

I just think there's going to be a lot of surprises.

I think you're going to see artwork unlike you see anywhere else.

I love it, what a great experience.

And you guys can check this out for your upcoming event.

And maybe in the future you guys will have this.

You have a social media where people can check out some of that.

Yeah.

So there's a Facebook event for the, closing reception.

Okay, great.

The New Day intake center.org, has, a separate page just for the art workshop that details the history of the workshop.

Who are supporters are how you can support it.

What's what our wish list is for art supplies.

And I think that's important to remind you guys to this is also, you know, helping to bring in more of the supplies so that we can continue this process and continue the creativity, especially here in Michiana.

Absolutely.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

I do.

So don't forget to join me next week here at the Potawatomi Zoo on Experience Michiana.

And if there's anything that you think we should experience.

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