[beeping] [car engine starting] [lighthearted rock music] - Jersey is.

- Jersey is.

- It's not the trash can that everybody calls it.

[laughing] - Jersey is.

- Jersey is.

- Jersey is my home.

[rock music] - I'm from Plainsboro, New Jersey.

- Asbury Park, New Jersey.

- Jersey is my home.

- You took my answer.

[man laughing] - Bellmawr, New Jersey.

- I'm from Hazlet, New Jersey.

[all talking at once] - [Interviewer] If you could look into the camera and tell us your name and where you're from.

[soft music] 10 years ago, we started driving Jersey.

When people asked us what we were doing, we'd tell them, finding out what it means to be from New Jersey?

But it didn't really matter what the territory was, honestly.

We were capturing lives, ours and other people's.

We were telling stories, ours and other people's.

Human drama and human comedy and everything in between.

[clock ticking] Here are the stories.

[soft music] - I've been here before, I believe that.

- The truth is always changing.

I know that 'cause it happens all the time.

- I always wanted to be free, finding the loopholes in life.

- Life is meant to have fun, yo.

And art is what gets you out of that dark place?

You know, we all been there.

- [Interviewer] How you doing, nice to meet you.

- My heart and soul is like right down the middle of this street.

This was such a magical place.

And it's kind of like that thing that you can never go back there again.

- We have an inherit and indivisible right to a clean and healthy environment.

♪ How far you gonna run ♪ - Well, that would be a remarkable fairy tale.

- God bless you.

- Thank you so much.

- Some of the questions get answered, some of them don't.

More questions always come up as a result of what we're exploring.

- He's here right now, tell him.

- [Interviewer] I'm here right now.

[man laughing] [rock music] ♪ Lift us up ♪ [laughing] ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ [laughing] - It's very emotional and a very creative and community-building venture.

- And then while I was painting this, I realized that I used to swim there as a kid.

So that kind of changed everything for me.

So we do know what we wanna do when we're seven, really?

It's just a matter of whether or not we forget it.

- I kind of wanna be a show girl.

I wanna be a show girl that's really just myself.

Like I wanna be if Frank Sinatra was a dancing girl.

That's what I wanna be.

It's a little overwhelming sometimes but come on.

- [Interviewer] Stare directly into the camera for three or four seconds.

Come on over closer to the light.

Come into the light.

- Yeah, don't do that, you'll scare a little kid.

- [Man] I'm Dirk from Belgium.

- How did you get here?

- I have this mic in my hand, I wanna break into it too.

♪ Fly me to the moon ♪ Hey, where you from?

Nice tie, pal.

I feel like with the mic, I have to do something, and a tie on, no less.

- I've been playing guitar for 27 years and I'm gonna be frankly honest, it's rebellion at it's finest.

[crowd cheering] [rock music] - Well someone has heavy questions.

- [Interviewer] Well I just want to get those out of the way first and then I'll ask what your favorite color is.

[laughing] ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ - It's true.

♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ ♪ Lift us up ♪ [soft rock music] ♪ Lift us up ♪ [laughing] - Does that answer your question?

- Again?

- That's awesome.

[birds chirping] - I went to like a bunch of different places and I saw strangers everywhere and my mom always says, don't talk to strangers, don't go near strangers and don't walk with strangers.

So pretty much what I know about strangers.

Because like, I think I'm gonna learn about it in the future, maybe.

- [Interviewer] Gotcha.

So your mom told you what to do and you feel safe about it?

- Yeah.

- [Interviewer] Let me ask you something, do you have a lot of friends?

- Yeah, I have like 1 million friends.

- [Interviewer] How do you make these friends?

- If you don't know someone, you go up to them and ask, you ask something about them and then you, and then if they have something like in common maybe, you can maybe be their friend.

Or if they like you, you can be their friend.

So, or if you like them, you can definitely be their friend.

- How do I look?

Oh, oh no, I'm waiting for you.

You tell me when.

Stand right here?

[warm up vocals] - Okay.

- I got my hair all done up, I colored it.

Yeah, it looks nice.

I look good.

- Guys, quiet.

Put that down and leave it down, please.

[soft music] - I got it.

There we go.

[burping] - Sorry.

- That's all right.

- Are you gonna put that in there [laughing]?

- [Interviewer] Yeah, I'm filming.

- Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.

All right, we're good to go.

- [Interviewer] You can come closer.

Closer still.

- I feel really.

- That's good, that's good.

- Do I look in the camera or do I look at you?

- [Interviewer] You look at me.

- Why?

- Because, or you could look into the camera.

You wanna try that?

- No.

- Okay [laughing].

- Should I do an introduction or just- - [Interviewer] Yeah, so you can say hi.

I'm Dr. Peter Alaviri, I'm a- - Okay.

- Oh hey.

- Right there.

- Is that a boogie?

- [Interviewer] There's nothing in your teeth.

[laughing and snorting] - Hi, I'm New Jersey.

- My name is Jim Keady, K-E-A-D, as in doctor, Y.

- My name is Anna and I'm from Lakewood, New Jersey.

- My name's Rich Meyer, Morristown, New Jersey.

I came out here to help.

- My name's Brian Nola from South Jersey.

- My name is Margaret and I am 9-years-old.

- Hello, I'm King Phillip from Medieval Times in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

In Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

- You wanna do it all over?

- I'll do it all over, yeah.

- Hi, my name is Dr. Peter Alaviri, I'm a principal and assistant superintendent at Weehawken High School.

- My name is Corey Altrap, I'm from Tom's River.

- My name's Johnny from Montclair, New Jersey.

- Hello, I'm King Phillip from Medieval Times in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

- Liz Terese, Morning Show co-host, 94.3, The Point, or mommy to my kids, pick one [laughing].

- It's Bob Ellis and I'm from Ocean Grove, New Jersey [laughing].

- Johnny, be quiet, okay?

Okay, thank you, sorry.

- Hey Steve, thanks for having me today.

- [Interviewer] Where are you from?

- I grew up in Mars but I was born on Venus.

- My name is Brian Newman, I'm a band leader, trumpet player, singer.

I love playing music with some of my best friends and we just love making, let me try that again.

- Hi, I'm New Jersey.

Everybody knows me.

- My name is Aaron Shamrock, I live in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

What makes me happy is riding my lowrider.

- Hi, I'm Chelsea, I'm from Totowa.

My style, I dress how I want, I do what I want.

- I'm a Puerto Rican, homosexual, skinhead bellydancer who owns and operates a vegan food truck.

And more.

- My name is Brian Newman.

I'm a band leader, trumpet player, singer, and arranger.

We write music and play music with some of my best friends and we just love playing beautiful venues and playing for beautiful audiences, and just having the most fun we can have.

- I am wonder woman, I do it all.

I raise kids, I run a home, I play roller derby, I start a business, sell a business, work a job.

I never stop.

- I'm a local organizer and activist.

I've been doing grassroots education and political organizing here in Monmouth County for the last 20 years.

- Hi, my name is Ryan Bott.

I'm a nice guy.

- Well, I really think I'm the kind of guy who likes to sing from early in the morning to late at night.

♪ You know I'd go from rags to riches ♪ - I'm the kind of guy that wanted to make people happy.

Little did I realize, that's the way it was.

I just decided that happiness is what life's all about and if you could be happy, that's it.

Is that all right?

Really?

[mumbling] Thank you Steve, thank you.

- I would like, I guess, if people watch this and it makes them feel comfortable with trying to learn more about somebody else.

And even if it's somebody they do know but more so just other people and recognizing that we're really way all more the same than we are different.

And if that would help them to bridge a gap to be more inclusive of people in their lives, that would be a cool thing.

But I think if you genuinely are interested in someone, not interested in like, oh I wanna date, just interested in the person and you are asking, connecting, goofing around with them a little bit, but it's an inclusive feeling, not an exclusive feeling, that people like it, and I think that they will find themselves wanting more of that.

- [Interviewer] What makes you happy?

- Oh, being present.

Being in the moment is like, that is the key to happiness.

You know like, expectation, and not being present is the downfall of our mind.

There's not one thing that makes me happy.

It's not like, surfing or the sun or kids.

That they all can make you happy.

But they can all also make you miserable.

If you're not in that moment, they can all make you miserable if you're not in that moment.

When you're thinking about being somewhere else or you're thinking about what was or what could have been, that's not happiness for me.

- [Interviewer] Let me ask you, I've been asking everybody this same question, what do you do to make yourself happy?

- I got my family.

And we're together.

and her friends and they're here and that's all that matters.

That's it.

- Well I have known other people who've lived in one place for many, many years and then, talked to them while they were making their move and going some place else.

And it just didn't really occur to me that even when you are going some place that's gonna be wonderful, it's still sad to leave home.

- I never regretted my choosing this career.

And I was very successful raising a family and taking care of my husband and animals and yet still being a full time teacher that really enjoyed coming into the school.

And I love my kids, no matter what grade.

Whatever year it was, I always had a wonderful class.

And I think children are very perceptive.

They were able to know that I cared deeply for each and everyone of them.

And I had a favorite song.

I would always start each day the same way.

I would walk into the classroom and the children would all sit down and then I would sing, "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck".

And I would walk around the room and sort of do this to each one of the children and they loved it.

They felt loved and I really did love them.

And that was the way we started our day every day.

- And I moved home, I packed up everything.

My children moved in, my son moved here.

The day after, he died.

Maybe two days after.

My daughter was still in high school.

So after she finished school that year, I moved her down here to be with my mother and the following month, I moved down.

And I've been here for the past five years.

It has been the most difficult, gut-wrenching, beautiful, enlightening, eye opening, life changing experience.

And it makes me so happy that he trusted me with all of this.

And it makes me so angry that he trusted me with all of this.

But all I can do is honor his request and honor my promise.

Because the one thing, one of the many things, I learned from my father was that, all you have in this life is your name and your word.

I made a promise and I'm gonna keep it.

- Do you know that in history, there's never been a time when somebody wasn't killing somebody in the world?

I think somebody made some statistics.

There was 20 minutes sometimes when somebody wasn't killing somebody or starving somebody around the globe.

What have we learned?

- [Announcer] So it is my privilege today to welcome Mrs. Tova Friedman.

[attendees applauding] - I'm gonna take you with me and express and tell you a story.

Once this story, once I'm finished and once it's said, the story belongs to you.

And I'll tell you why.

You're young, you have many years to go, and you'll be able to tell this story to others because it's very, very important.

Because you will see how hatred and prejudice can destroy a people.

I am at the age where I'll be very lucky if I'm here 10 more years.

I'm 79, older than some of your grandparents.

So I won't be here to tell the story.

And someday you will go somewhere, you'll go to high school, you'll go to college, you'll get a job and so forth and people are going to say it didn't happen, it couldn't happen.

People don't do things to other people.

Human beings can't do that to other human beings.

That's what we thought.

That's what my father thought.

That's what my mother thought.

So I'm gonna tell you what people do do to other human beings if they are not careful.

And I'm telling this story for you so you can be careful.

And when you see ugliness and meanness and prejudice and bullying and so forth, you are there to maybe do something about it.

- We were only allowed a certain amount of mail from back home.

I don't remember exactly, once in three months, or was it six, I really don't remember.

But I remember I received the first letter from home and it was from my adopted uncle.

But the hand, the address, but the handwriting, I recognized, it was my father's.

So my father was still alive when I got my first letter.

And he had received my letter first, you know, I made to my adopted uncle.

And he said that he was happy that I'm okay and everything is good here and hope to see you soon, love Dad.

No, he put love Uncle.

And so I was very encouraged that my father was alive.

That means everybody's alive.

It wasn't true anyway.

The next letter, months later, when it was given to me, it was not my father's handwriting anymore.

And I start panicking but I start saying to myself, control yourself, you cannot give yourself away.

And it was from my uncle, from my adopted uncle, who just said, we had a horrible, horrible harvest.

It wasn't harvest time.

And I'm sorry that I have to let you know that.

Please take care of yourself.

Love your Uncle.

So I destroyed the letter right away, it was not harvest time.

I understood, you know.

I was smart enough to understand what he meant by it.

- A neighbor was very willing to take me.

He took my mother, I must've been eight, nine months old, 10 months old.

Because things were happening, the war hadn't broken out yet.

I was a year old when the war broke out.

But my mother said, no, she was born as a Jew, I tell you, these were her words that she told me about, and she will die as a Jew if she has to.

She came from a religious family.

So she and the fact is, that many children that were saved by Gentiles survived.

But many times, they never did.

They survived, but their parents never found them again.

So this was her choice.

- [Interviewer] You say her family was a religious family.

Were there rabbis in the family?

Were there rabbis?

- Lots, she comes from a dynasty of rabbis.

They were called the Guerra, Guerra is a dynasty, you know.

In Judaism you have these dynasty's, your rabbi, your child, your son, every, the whole generation.

She must've come from 10 generations of rabbis.

But she herself felt that she was more modern.

In fact, that was the issue that when she lost, she lost 150 people.

Every brother and sister and everyone of their children and their parents.

She came out at the age of, I don't know how old she was, maybe 35, 36, something, completely alone.

Just me of course and my father, it was a miracle.

But she that she was punished because she did not follow the Orthodox way.

So until she died, at the age of 45, she felt that she left this small town with all her family, she moved to Danzig, Gdansk, which is a very modern city, 'cause my father was very modern.

And she said to me, you know what God said?

Just to think about it, you know.

You left them, now I'm gonna take them away from you.

That's what she thought.

And at 45, she just laid down and died.

She went to sleep and she didn't get up.

- [Interviewer] Your mother sounds like she was tortured by many things.

- Completely tortured.

She was a tortured person.

And it's interesting, she told me that.

But you know, the effect it had on me, all her stories?

I'm not a tortured person.

- [Interviewer] Why?

How did you manage to avoid that familial thing?

- Because I wanted to undo it.

- It was October, I remember that much.

It was Ovacik and I stood in front of the gate and it said in many languages, never again!

And I couldn't make myself walk in.

And stood and I read those signs, you know, never again, over and over and over again.

And finally the sun came out, strange and it hit me on my neck and kind of pushed me to the gate.

And I said, "Girl, open the gate and go in".

And I did.

I said to my father, I said, you told me to lead witnesses to tell what happened.

I am here to tell you I haven't forgotten.

I want you to know, all of you know, I have felt such an energy around me.

I felt that I was surrounded by every one from whoever I knew, our town or the town's places.

And I said I'm glad that you've waited for me.

I came and I promise you will never ever be forgotten as long as I live.

And if possible, even after I am gone, you will be remembered.

[humming] [soft music] ♪ Let us pause in life's pleasures ♪ ♪ And count it's many tears ♪ ♪ While we all sup sorrow with the poor ♪ ♪ There's a song that will linger ♪ ♪ Forever in our ears ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ 'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ For many days you have lingered around my cabin door ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ As we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay ♪ ♪ There are frail forms fainting at the door ♪ ♪ Though their voices are silent ♪ ♪ Their fleeting looks will say ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ 'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ For many days you have lingered around my cabin door ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ [soft music] ♪ 'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ For many days you have lingered around my cabin door ♪ ♪ Hard times come again no more ♪ ♪ Oh hard times come again no more ♪ [soft music] - And then the curtain starts opening and this sound of, it's like, just open this door in the ground and the sound of hell rising up.

It was, and somebody fired a bottle rocket or something at me and I was like woo hoo!

And then crash, crash and I'm like, gotta out of the way 'cause the kids are finally zooming in and it was just terrific.

And then somebody of course called the police.

And there was smoke everywhere like fireworks had been going off.

And the cops arrived and one was a woman and she walked in and, she must've been a mom, she walked in and goes, oh no, we're not having this [laughing].

[upbeat rock music] - [Interviewer] Throughout our 10 years of wandering, there was, there is, perhaps no other community that was more consistently inspiring, giving, or honestly more fun to spend time with than the artists, the performers, the music makers, the dancers, and the singers.

And maybe it has something to do with the fact that just like us, they create.

Not for recognition or because they make millions of dollars doing it, but because they're compelled to do it, because they love what they do.

That's the glue, lovers stick together.

- I find music a way to just escape from the outside world because sometimes I get really angry and I don't really know what to do.

So I just grab my headphones at home and I plug them into my mom's phone and I hit Pandora and I just feel like I'm the only person in the world.

♪ Why was he holding her hand ♪ ♪ When he's supposed to be mine ♪ ♪ Judy left the same time ♪ - Nobody knows, one, two, hold it further back, go.

♪ Nobody knows where my Johnny has gone ♪ ♪ And Julia left the same time ♪ - It just makes me feel like I'm just, it's hard to describe 'cause it's just an amazing feeling.

The fact that you know that people are clapping for you and loving what you're doing.

I just love knowing people are happy with something I did.

- [Music Teacher] A little bit of "My Way".

And now one, two, ready, and now the end is near.

One, two, ready, go.

♪ And now the end is near ♪ - Keep going.

♪ And so I face ♪ - [Interviewer] Was that difficult to get up and to audition like that, for you?

- At first it was but then it turned out to be fine.

- [Interviewer] What made it turn out to be fine?

- At first I thought that they would make fun of me but they didn't.

♪ The end is near ♪ ♪ And so I face the final curtain ♪ - [Music Teacher] Good.

Are you more comfortable singing by yourself or in a group?

- In a group.

- [Music Teacher] Okay, I appreciate your honesty.

- She said before the auditions, you can't call out or say any mean things or comments to the performer.

- And that helps.

- Yeah.

- I think you have a lower range.

Okay, so I'm gonna put a little note here, lower range, so that when I try to place a part, I'm gonna pick a song that's lower.

All right, you can go sit down.

Great job.

It happens all the time.

You never know who's gonna step forward.

You never know what music means to somebody or is going to do for a child.

I get emails all the time from parents who thank me for bringing music into the child's life because sometimes it's the one subject area that they really, really excel in.

And they're having such difficulties in their academics and music really is an outlet for them and that student sometimes ends up just shining in the concert.

They might have a solo or a speaking part, it could be, and that's very meaningful for me.

And about the shy, sometimes we have very, very shy students.

They don't utter a word in class but then they volunteer to try for a singing part and they sing like a bird.

And it's beautiful and absolutely that child gets a part in the concert and usually when we do our dress rehearsal for the school, the day before, some of the teachers are absolutely shocked.

Some teachers have had that student in a previous year or if they've changed their grade level they had 'em, and they just can't get over it.

And that's very true with our special ed students too.

We have a lot of students who you would never, ever suspect that they can sing or they can play an instrument like they do and it's just such a moment.

Lots of tears in the audience.

Lots of tears from the parents of that child who is so excited to see their child participating with typical peers and just rocking it.

♪ I've had my fill ♪ ♪ My share of losing ♪ ♪ And now as tears subside ♪ ♪ I find it all so amusing ♪ ♪ To think I did all that ♪ ♪ And may I say, not in a shy way ♪ ♪ Oh no, oh no not me ♪ ♪ I did it my way ♪ ♪ For what is a man, what has he got ♪ ♪ If not himself, then has naught ♪ ♪ Not to say the things he truly feels ♪ ♪ And not the words of someone who kneels ♪ ♪ The record shows I took the blows ♪ ♪ And did it my way ♪ [audience applauding] - The Point, Jersey Shore's hit music channel.

[speaking at once] Nice to meet you, by the way.

- Funny you should ask me about rock and roll.

- And that's why I'm here asking you.

- Here's what I'm gonna tell you, my take on rock and roll is I grew up at the Jersey Shore.

Loved Bruce Springsteen, loved Bon Jovi, loved all the '80s rock bands, everything right.

And I thought, well that was cool.

Now I have a child that's 11-years-old who, despite me, wants to be a rock and roll star.

And he's a musician and he's really talented.

And now I go to a concert and I picture my son on the stage, I have a whole different take on what rock and roll is when it involves my son becoming a rock star [laughing].

- [Interviewer] So is it not as positive or is it just different?

- It's a little scary.

As a parent, you wanna give 'em a fall back plan [laughing].

Like maybe be a teacher and do gigs on the side.

But there is something to be said for a kid that grows up at the Jersey Shore, and knew who Clarence Clemmons was and took up the saxophone for that reason, and knew Max Weinberg and took up the drums for that reason.

And now on his very own merit, he's performing with bands and he's barely a teenager.

So I do love that the history seems to have grown in him just from hearing my music.

So if rock and roll can stay rock and roll and spread to other generations like that, I'm all for it.

To me, it's a raw energy.

There's pop music and there's so many genres that are great but there's something about a raw voice and a loud guitar and somebody wailing on a drum set.

And you just put it all together with some really cool dudes, and females too.

I don't mean males necessarily.

But people that don't exude the standard of beauty that you see on a magazine cover but that they're just using their raw, unique energy.

And they're not perfect but when they come together as a band, it is perfect.

That's what it is to me.

[rock music] ♪ Baby you got me ♪ ♪ Baby you got me ♪ ♪ Baby you got me ♪ [audience cheering] - [Interviewer] What is it about music to you that inspires you?

That makes you, in your free time do that instead of some of the many things that other people do?

You spend a lot of time playing around with music, working on your own solitary, et cetera.

What is it about music that does that for you?

- The thing about it is that there is something, it's not definable.

It's a quality that we, why do we even do it?

It doesn't make sense.

There's no reason that it should make us feel the way it does but it does.

And you don't have to be educated, you don't have to be involved in it.

Every culture has music and that's not an accident.

There's something primal, there's something visceral.

It's beautiful, it's upsetting, it's a release.

It unifies us in a way that very few things do.

In my opinion, there's two things that really do, that's music and silence.

- [Interviewer] Music and silence?

- We can appreciate both and I think there's a lot of depth in both of those things.

I think I learned that more during lockdown than I previously had.

♪ And baby I broke them all for you ♪ ♪ Because if you and I were flat broke ♪ ♪ You made me feel like a million pounds ♪ ♪ You do, and I was made for you ♪ - Well, it's a combination of dedication to what you're doing.

You make up your mind you wanna do theater, you enjoy it.

So many people forget that here's an enjoyment in performing or directing.

They think of the money, they think of the billing.

They think of all these other things that are I guess important to them.

But what's important to some of us is the work we do, that it's recognized, and it's appreciated, and it's respected by our peers in the business.

And I think that is the fulfillment.

I get a fulfillment when I know young kids that have worked at SurfLite that I've directed or students that I taught.

When I see them develop, like yourself, move on to other things.

And out of having met me say or learned their craft from me, it has enabled them to go on into the business.

And I get a big thrill when I see someone that I remember back when, move on and become a very important actor, musician or producer.

A young fella that I taught in 2000 as a young intern up at Weathervane, is now producing on Broadway.

He's in that short period of time, he has moved on and he still says Guil, you taught me so much.

So what do I teach them?

I teach them my experience, what I've gone through.

But most important is something that you vow to yourself, that it's something that you love doing and is something that you will never stop doing.

And I think it's that approach.

It's also stubbornness.

I'm not gonna let rejection stop me.

I'm not gonna let some praise stop me.

It's always moving on to the next experience and you can never put a lid on it.

If you put a lid on it, you say if I don't make it in five years, I'm through with the business, well then you don't belong there.

It's an open-end thing.

At any age, it's the beautiful thing about theater, you can start at 18, 19-years-old and you can work until you drop dead on the stage, like many actors have.

Chester Morris dropped dead at the Buck's County Theater.

Tyrone Howard dropped dead in a shoot.

I mean, you never end unless you say I don't want it anymore.

And I love it, I absolutely love it, even the hard parts of it.

The challenges, the disappointments.

I love that part of it because it makes me better.

I learn from all of that, it's a learning thing.

Anything that happens to you in the business to me is a learning thing and it never ends.

'til the day you stop, you never stop filling up more inside of you about what you have to offer and what you have to give.

- [Interviewer] Guil, can I ask you to do something from the theater?

Can you recall a piece of a soliloquy or some dialogue from a favorite piece that you've done?

- Oh, wow.

I haven't done anything for awhile.

- [Interviewer] A line from a song, something that comes to mind.

- Yeah, well, I call it my signature role because I played it so many times and it's a show that I know like my heart.

And it's from a show called "The Fantastics".

And I've done it here on this stage, directed it, and played the role of El Gallo.

And at that time, the musical director that I hired in New York was Jason Robert Brown, who is now a very top composer, having done "Parade" and other shows on Broadway, he's gone on.

And I can do a little bit of ♪ Try to remember the kind of September ♪ ♪ When life was slow and oh so mellow ♪ ♪ Try to remember the kind of September ♪ ♪ When grass was green and rain was yellow ♪ ♪ Try to remember the kind of September ♪ ♪ When you were tender and had all the fellows ♪ ♪ Try to remember and if you remember ♪ ♪ Then follow ♪ ♪ Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow ♪ ♪ Deep in December it's nice to remember ♪ ♪ Although you know the snow is hollow ♪ ♪ Deep in December it's nice to remember ♪ ♪ Without the hurt, the harm is hollow ♪ ♪ Deep in December it's nice to remember ♪ ♪ The fire of September that made us mellow ♪ ♪ Deep in December our hearts should remember ♪ ♪ And follow ♪ ♪ Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow ♪ - Harmony ♪ Follow ♪ [audience applauding] - [MC] Ladies and gentlemen, Guil Fisher.

- One, two, three, four.

[gentle rock music] ♪ Come a little bit closer ♪ ♪ Hear what I have to say ♪ I used to play a place, the Melody Bar, It was by a train station, that was a lot of fun.

I don't know if it's still there but man, the goings on there [whistling].

I wish it was still part of what I do.

I should check it out.

Maybe it could still be part of what I do.

Go up there, get laid a lot, and do a lot of drugs and [beeping].

No, I'm only kidding.

Well, the get laid part I'm not.

Don't tell my wife.

Are we rolling?

♪ We don't hear the music playing ♪ ♪ Let's go out and feel the night ♪ Back when I was 20-years-old, we were all in each others' basements, looking for any gig that would have us.

And I guess the older you got and the more you honed your craft and whether it was wanting to sing like Johnny Ramon or Tom Waits, or Southside Johnny, or Roy Orbison, you got it honed in the basement and then you brought it out and you did your thing.

And to the guys who songwriting had become a part of their lives early on, they would write their songs.

But everybody started out wanting to sound like somebody else.

So until you got a taste of what it was like to play live and all that stuff, you could not let too much time go by and make the decision that you were gonna write songs so that you could make your mark.

I was 16 and I quit high school because a couple of the boys that I was playing with at that time, a couple of my friends in a band called Home, we were working six and seven nights a week.

I was making more money than my parents put together and my mother used to be upset with that.

I don't like the fact that you didn't finish high school.

My father is, oh, Viola, he's making more money than the both of us.

Leave him alone.

So I kept right on with what I was doing and here I am, 40 years later [laughing], 45 years later.

And it's been good to me, music.

Music's been great.

I worked hard at it and I got it to a point where making a living is pretty good with all of the irons I have in the fire with this thing or that thing and it's been good to me and thank God.

♪ 'Cause I'm still in love with you ♪ ♪ I wanna see you dance again ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm still in love with you ♪ ♪ On this harvest moon ♪ Back when Chuck Berry was having hit records and rock and roll was fairly new, Buddy Holly and then the British Invasion and all that stuff.

Even before the British Invasion, jazz that was blues-oriented that turned into rock and roll, they spoke of that music as the music of the devil.

And it was because when you hear a shuffle being played, when you hear an uptempo song being played by a big band, a jazz band, or a blues band or then a rock and roll band, it just makes you wanna jump up and dance.

And when you jump up to dance, obviously you're gonna grab a girl by the hand to jump up and dance with and want to dance close with each other.

So it lends itself to being intimate with whoever it is you're dancing with.

And a lot of parents, they frowned upon it because it was leading to too much too soon as far as kids were concerned.

You know, 16-year-old kids, 13-year-old kids wanting to dance with each other on the dance floor and parents were like no, no, no, that's not gonna happen.

My child's not doing that.

Although, it was being done by older people and swing bands and swing band eras and big band era.

But I think it was the fact that it was happening to younger kids where people were getting all bent out of shape about it.

So rock and roll, it just makes you wanna jump up and touch the sky.

♪ I loved you from afar ♪ ♪ Now we are lovers ♪ ♪ I love you with all my heart ♪ The first time I saw a rock and roll band, in communities way back when I was a kid, they had pool clubs.

There was a pool in your town or two towns away and somebody who belonged and was a member of that pool, some family, would invite your family and you'd go and swim all day and have a barbecue all day, picnic, and nine out of 10 times, they'd have a band.

And because rock and roll was so prominent at that time, 1964, or '65, where I was 10, 12-years-old, people were doing it.

People were rocking out poolside.

And I remember standing there thinking, the bass guitar is going right through me.

It's making me shake and shiver.

And then you'd see the girls dancing in their bikinis and you're like damn, I wanna do this.

[chuckling] I wanna do this.

[harmonica playing] There was a girl that lived in town, Pam, that lived across town and I used to ride my bike over there as a kid and we used to listen to records.

Her older sister used to play records and we used to dance in her livingroom.

And then they'd throw me out when it got too late, like 7:30 at night [laughing].

All right, that's enough, go home.

But that was the first girl I danced with.

I was probably about 10-years-old.

Nine, 10-years-old.

Wow, those were the days.

♪ I wanna see you ♪ ♪ Because I'm still in love with you ♪ ♪ On this harvest moon ♪ I'm Bob Bandiera.

I've been rocking for a long time and I'm gonna be rocking for even longer.

Come to the show tonight, come to the show tomorrow, be in your own show.

- [Interviewer] [laughing] Thanks, man.

[gentle rock music] ♪ Ask what people say ♪ ♪ You're riding high in April ♪ ♪ Getting divorced in May ♪ ♪ Not ever gonna change that tune ♪ ♪ When I back up off you too ♪ - Yeah, I love rock and roll, man.

I love that lifestyle.

I love that feeling that it doesn't matter.

You're in it for the moment.

You like to party or whatever it is.

We're punk rock about the way that we play jazz, we're punk rock about our lives.

Maybe not punk rock anymore, I have a little baby.

We're a little more tame now these days but it's a way of life.

It's a way of living and playing music as being yourself all the time.

That's what I take from it.

No matter what anybody says, you're not trying to fit in with any norm, you're trying to be yourself.

You don't wanna be the next John Coltrane, you wanna be the next yourself.

[trumpet playing] - Damn.

- Cool.

- [Interviewer] Okay, we're rolling.

In our earliest work, we began interviewing a group of school-aged children, asking them questions about leadership and the American presidency.

- Hi, I'm Evan and if I was president, I would make junk food more expensive and healthy food more unexpensive.

- My name is Lev and if I were president, I would allow no killing people.

- Hi, my name is Erin Palmer and if I were president, I would try to stop all the wars everywhere.

- If I were president, I would tell everybody who's wealthy and has a lot of money to give money to people who are homeless 'cause they would need homes.

- If I was president, I'd sell puppies and sell toys.

- If I were president, I would give money to the poor because it's the right thing to do.

- Everybody wants to live a free life, so if somebody says I wanna live the American Dream, I wanna live a free life where I could do what I wanna do.

I could listen to music that I like to.

I could say things that I want to.

- [Interviewer] We visited them every four years and expanded our questions each time.

These were kids who were born just after 9/11 and have come of age in the time of COVID-19.

The work of continuing to explore their evolving thoughts is always interesting and encouraging and one of the most rewarding parts of our journey.

- I think what I want out of life is I want to feel happy in where I live and who I surround myself with.

I think it's really important to surround yourself with positive people.

Friends and family and whoever you chose to be with.

And I always want to feel content and I never wanna feel bored in my life.

I wanna keep it interesting and be happy about who I am and the impact I leave on this earth [laughing].

[guitar playing] - When I was six-years-old, I was like oh, this is so cool.

Look at this camera?

This is awesome.

And it wasn't until this time that I really understood how awesome this whole thing is.

The fact that you can see the progression of me as a person, my political views, my world view throughout basically my entire childhood.

So this is honestly amazing.

- I think it's great to be able to go back and look at the old ones.

Especially because in the eighth grade one, there were ea lot of people who were more educated than I was at the time.

So it's cool to be able to go back and see okay, they knew this then and I knew this now.

I wonder what kind of views we would share now?

- [Interviewer] What do you think about being filmed like this over the years?

- I love it.

To be honest, I love attention and everything.

Having cameras around me is a lot of fun [laughing].

And being interviewed is just something different.

And I love being just talked to and asked questions and not be in charge of making the conversation as much as I do that a lot.

But I love it.

- I think originally it was a little awkward because you were this kid and you have all these cameras in front of you and stuff.

But it doesn't seem so uncomfortable anymore.

I kind of see it as just talking to someone and sharing my thoughts, speaking my mind.

- I think it's fascinating because I really love the ability to see how everybody grows up.

And even though we've gone our different ways, we get to see what the outcome of everybody's different situations and life experiences will shape them into who they are.

- In the future, after I have my cool kid, I can show them what a cool kid I was [laughing].

Nah, but it's just cool.

It's like a video diary that you don't have to actually manage.

- Do you think when you're the age of myself and of your parents, do you think that you'll look back on these videos and watch them?

- I think so, definitely.

I think it'll be funny.

I'll be ale to make fun of myself probably for all of my interviews and just say, why would you say that [laughing].

But I think definitely, yeah.

- It's always interesting to look back at how you were years ago and how you thought and how you've changed since then.

How you've hopefully improved.

And I think it's also good, I think it can show you how much you've grown since then as well.

- I think it's gonna be really fun to be able to show people who might not have known me as a kid to get to see how I've grown up.

And to get to see how all the other kids have grown up and how they have changed and the different things that have affected their lives.

- [Interviewer] Do you think when you're the age of your parents now, you'll look back on these interviews?

And what do you think you'll think of them?

- I probably will and I'm probably gonna close my eyes and give it to the person I'm watching with.

And then I'll let them laugh at me after.

Yeah [laughing].

- [Interviewer] What's one thing that you know for certain is true?

- I know there's a God because I've experienced God personally through oneness and connectedness with other people.

And no lack of separation.

It's been proven to me through my personal experiences.

It is the state of love in itself and there's no perceived separation whatsoever.

Everybody's your friend.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, that's how I see it.

- I think you always have to follow your blessings.

It's the only way to be happy in life.

And happiness is defined in so many different ways by so many different people.

So whatever makes them happy and makes them go to sleep at night with a smile on his face and wake up in the morning roaring to go, I think that's what we all should be doing.

- It's not just well I'm here to make the money and I've gotta do a big production and on to the next one.

It's a genuine commitment, fervor, and passion and everyone feels it.

So I'd say to anybody, not only in theater, if you love what you're doing, you can only uplift the world.

- Because everyday is different.

Problem of yesterday is a little different today and you have to learn not to stress so much about a particular thing 'cause tomorrow it will look a little different, usually a little bit better.

And you need to be more open with people and you need to be more open with yourself that there are certain problems that you will never be able to solve and just make the best of it.

- It makes it so much easier when your husband or your father comes home and they're in a good mood.

They spent a day with people laughing.

Not just huh, huh, like laughing.

Something was funny that day.

There's always something hysterically funny that goes on in the store, either from the people who work here or the people who shop here.

And I guess maybe that's as much a part of me as anything else.

- I think that there's something out there, how can I put it, that's smarter than us.

Something, someone maybe that's got it all figured out.

When I meet him or it or her, I hope she sees it from my point of view, the world.

I hope there's no hatred in their heart as there are in so many other people's.

- I guess redemption is an everyday thing, isn't it?

And I once wrote a poem, I guess it's about redemption.

It's each breath is a risk, a journey to the unknown and yet I still breath.

It's about redemption, I guess.

- The American Dream is an optimistic dream and then you wake up and you're dealing with reality.

And I think people are beginning to understand that happiness isn't something you own, happiness is something you experience from being alive and what comes at you.

And I think part of the reason why people's attitudes are changing is because of the rough times we're going through.

People are appreciating material possessions less and experiences more.

They're appreciating the happy accidents more.

- My opinion is that people have a problem about the difference between forgiveness and forgetting.

I may be wrong but I don't think so, that people believe if they forgive, they forget everything and everything is nice.

It's not true.

I remember everything, everything bad that happened in my time.

But I am not angry.

- It surprises me in one sense but in another sense, change sometimes takes a lot.

In order to change, you've gotta remember it's not that long ago that we did experience racism.

It's really not that long ago slavery was in act.

It really was not that long ago such a things as sharecroppers.

My mother was a farmer in North Carolina and she was a sharecropper.

And she came up during the time that during the marches and so forth so we're only looking at one generation.

So you've got a lot of this stuff that has to be changed in the hearts of the people, the children's children.

And I honestly believe that the nation is still moving forward, regardless of what we see right now, regardless of what is coming about.

But a change is gonna come, I believe yes.

I'm hopeful for that, I really am.

It's surprising that we have, the division is being so profound right now, showing itself.

But sometimes it takes that in order to get where we need because it's causing people to rise up that generally would not say anything.

They're coming up and they're standing up right now for what is right and what is just and that's what we need.

- This isn't just a political issue.

There are people, particularly children, who are terrified right now.

And I think anyone who is in a leadership position has a moral responsibility to make sure that their words inspire or their words offer solace and their words should not invoke fear.

- Of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

- Liberty and justice for all.

Liberty and justice for all.

Liberty and justice for all.

Liberty and justice for all.

Liberty and justice for all.

Liberty and justice for all.

A round of applause for everybody.

Thank you.

[crowd cheering] - I figured that at some point I'm gonna make a transition to the next dimension and expect the most important thing is that things are left a little bit better as a result of my having been there, I suppose.

I never really thought there was a moral purpose to my specific, singular life.

[interviewer speaking off mic] I know, I just think, that I spin in my own universe and I do what I wanna do and I don't think it ever hurts anybody and I just wish other people would live their lives like that with less judgment.

That's the thing I think that hurts people the most really is other people's judgment.

If people were less judgmental, I think the world would be such a better place.

[gentle rock music] - How you start and end is what really matters 'cause people are always gonna remember how you start something and how you finish it.

So you can make it or you can throw it all away.

So you do, when you open the show, you really have to set the tone for everybody else.

Like, hey guys, it's time to start.

Get your mind right.

Let's do this [chuckling].

[rock music] ♪ Out here in field ♪ ♪ I work for my meal ♪ ♪ I give right back into my music ♪ ♪ I don't need to fight ♪ ♪ To prove my right ♪ ♪ And I don't need to be forgiven ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ [rock music] ♪ Don't cry ♪ ♪ Don't raise your eyes ♪ ♪ It's only teenage wasteland ♪ ♪ Someone, take my hand ♪ ♪ And travel south crossland ♪ ♪ Put out the fire ♪ ♪ And don't look past ♪ ♪ The exodus is here ♪ ♪ The happy ones are near ♪ ♪ Let's get together ♪ ♪ Before we get much older ♪ ♪ A teenage wasteland ♪ ♪ Just a teenage wasteland ♪ ♪ Teenage wasteland, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Teenage wasteland ♪ ♪ We're all wasted ♪ - We are at an undisclosed location somewhere in the State of New Jersey.

- New Jersey, baby!

- Without fear, the only thing that exists is love.

Love is everywhere.

[rock music] - Everybody wants recognition.

Everybody needs somebody to tell them how good they are.

- Who do you think you are young man?

- My name is Chad Jesus and I never speak to the camera.

- You're a smart ass, aren't you?

[gentle rock music] [audience applauding and chanting] [gentle music] ♪ We are exactly what you see ♪ ♪ Bruised and scraped up knees ♪ ♪ Still we find our way ♪ ♪ Some come as quickly as they go ♪ ♪ Some choose their own roads ♪ ♪ But still they find their way ♪ ♪ And God knows how hard it is to lose ♪ ♪ Pray through whichever one you choose ♪ ♪ That you will find your way ♪ ♪ Nah, nah, nah, we'll find our way ♪ ♪ Nah, nah, nah, we'll find our way ♪