Rita On The Road

Unknown Speaker 0:00
We're broadcasting from the entertainment capital of the world in Las Vegas. This is Rita on the road. I'm your host, Rita Pardew. This is where we talk to people that are the lifeblood of this city. Part one will speak with Barbara de rochet, event chair for the festival of trees and lights from the Down Syndrome organization of Southern Nevada, and her daughter Michelle. Part two will talk to breeze sane development director from the American Heart Association, and part three will be like a fly on the wall at the band rehearsal of the Jasmine all stars as they rehearse for the show tonight at Gatsby's in Henderson. And now part one with Barbara de rochet. Thank you, Rita. And I'm glad you brought your daughter Michelle. Hi, Michelle. Hi, Rita. And you were saying this is your first time in a radio studio.

Unknown Speaker 0:54
Oh, yeah, my first time and I love it.

Unknown Speaker 0:57
Me too, you might just get hooked on it because radio has been part of my life for a long, long time. Well, we're here today to let our listeners know about the importance and what's going on in the Down Syndrome Community over it's

Unknown Speaker 1:14
really we want to enlighten the public to promote a positive attitude and understanding of Down Syndrome and to be a source of support and information and education for families and individuals with Down syndrome.

Unknown Speaker 1:27
That's wonderful. And Michelle, because you are part of the Down Syndrome Community. Tell us about some of the things because you've got a unique title, tell it tell our listeners what you do.

Unknown Speaker 1:39
Okay, my name is Miss Charlotte, daresay I work at Affinity Yala. I worked there for five years. And I learned about Office stuff computer at our ethics. And I am a business do you thumb it said to assistant, I help my supervisor out by scanning and entering documents. Plus I help create a page for customers if they needed help.

Unknown Speaker 2:10
That is awesome. And Barbara, you were mentioning about a skill set that you are currently working on with the organization to help young people and help everyone in this community learning about computer skills because I think that's what opened the door for Michelle.

Unknown Speaker 2:26
That's exactly right, Rita, you know, this festival of trees and lights is our 34th annual year. It's our biggest fundraiser benefiting the Down Syndrome organization. And that money goes to providing services, activities, education, job development, and independent living, which is very important to so you know, this year, we're we're also looking for computer lab to have a computer lab ready for our members so that they can get a job just like Michelle has. That's wonderful and a good paying job to you know,

Unknown Speaker 3:01
well. That's what I wanted to mention to our listeners, though. You're you're on a mission today, because coming up. And this lady has been working so hard. She you made reference to the festival of trees and lights. And I know you're so busy with that. So if you could just kind of give us a little bit of history, how this came about. And then what you're planning now to, you know, kind of get people motivated that they're going to they're going to come to this wonderful gala event.

Unknown Speaker 3:29
Absolutely well that the Down Syndrome organization started 35 years ago. And then 34 years ago, they actually started their big fundraiser, the festivals of trees and lights. And if you've never attended it's it's holiday magic. It really is. We have about 30 exquisitely decorated trees around the ballroom. It's at Westgate, by the way on November 19. And we have wreaths and baskets and menorahs and also just a whole nother area for auction items. So we've auctioned off the trees. The next day, we deliver them to the highest bidder, and you're set for Christmas. It's really a remarkable,

Unknown Speaker 4:14
although it sounds like it's going to be very beautiful with all the colorful decorations and that people can actually bid on them. Do you have a website or a phone number that we could give out just for reference for people that and what is the website

Unknown Speaker 4:31
DSLs en.org. Okay, and you can you can go online you can find out all about it. You can sign up to attend

Unknown Speaker 4:39
if we're peeking some interest out there which I'm sure that we are because this is it's a beautiful hotel over at Westgate really and it and so save the date November 19. And I believe the gala if I'm not mistaken. 530 to 10 is what the event will be okay

Unknown Speaker 4:59
the doors Open for the gala at 530. But we have a special viewing event open to the general public with Santa and Mrs. Claus a photo op. And that'll be fun. That's from 11 to three on the same day on the 19th.

Unknown Speaker 5:12
That is awesome. So you can get your, your holiday cards and pose with Mr. And Mrs. Claus, it sounds like a lot of fun. I also wanted to touch on you mentioned about these trees? Can you explain what people do if they if they are so creative that they would like to actually design a tree?

Unknown Speaker 5:30
Absolutely. And people get very creative there, we have some trees that we provide until until they're gone. Other people want to purchase their own trees. And that's fine. But they're you decorate them you find you decide a theme, and then you decorate it that way. And you get donated items under the trees. It's, it's exquisite.

Unknown Speaker 5:51
Well, it sounds like and I'm relating to an experience where I was living in Pasadena, and at the Huntington Hospital, all the departments during the holiday season. It became like a team building type thing. And and then they would have them on display all month. And then people could bid on them like what you're doing. So this is something that if your company has a creative group, and you're wanting to do something that's a team building type thing. So I guess you could go to your website and find out more specifics about how to fill out an application to be one of those sponsors. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And

Unknown Speaker 6:30
organizations have, like you said, Team buildings, it's it's a very big, some individuals just want to do it on their own. It's it's up to it's up to the designer. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 6:42
Well, it sounds like a wonderful event. And I appreciate that you have come in today. Is there anything else that you would like to mention to our listeners? Because this is something that you're a volunteer, right? Oh, yes, you're a volunteer. This is something that touches your heart, as well as it touched mine. It and I have a nephew who's on the autism spectrum. And that that kind of comes under the same umbrella with what you're doing. So it touched my heart is well, what motivates you to do this each

Unknown Speaker 7:15
oh my gosh, time my daughter. I mean, a lot of a lot of people with special needs really don't do anything. They stay at home, they watch TV, they just don't have a social life. This gives that to them. It. It just fills their life. It fulfills them.

Unknown Speaker 7:33
Exactly. And Michelle, we're so proud of you that you are holding down a job, you are thriving at it. I also learned that you and your mom learned to Sign together. So you're also a informants interpreter. There you go. Performance interpreter, I love your title. Thank

Unknown Speaker 7:51
you. So that means I signed to music, I performed to the hip IEOs at the strip by all different kinds of songs, the IQ for them. And also Smith Center just hired you. Yes. And this myth center hired me to teach some sign language plus performing.

Unknown Speaker 8:12
That is wonderful. Well, I want to thank you all for coming in today. This has been very informative. We wish you much success with your upcoming the festival of trees and lights. That's going to be November 19. Doors open at 530 over at West Gate at West Gate. And once again, let's give out that website.

Unknown Speaker 8:37
It's dsosn.org. And that stands for Down syndrome organization of Southern Nevada. So D S O S n.org. Thank you. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 8:56
We're welcoming to the KU in the studios, breeze St. Cheese, the Development Director at the American Heart Association. So glad you could make it today.

Unknown Speaker 9:07
Hi, Rita, thank you so much for having me.

Unknown Speaker 9:09
Well, one of the reasons and I wanted to give you a little backstory, so you understand why this for me personally is very important. Before the pandemic, I was learning that I could not get a full breath of air for some reason. And I thought, well, I'm pretty active. I exercise I do public speaking in radio. But what's what gives here? Well, I soon learned through my doctor and a cardiologist with an external monitor that my heart was stopping in my sleep. So consequently, since then I now have a pacemaker. I'm on your team, wonderful. Association. My message is for everyone to be heart smart.

Unknown Speaker 9:55
I love that same Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 9:56
Thank you, but I want to you're the one of the experts here. are today and share with our listeners why being heartsmart is so important. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 10:06
definitely well, I will say that one of the main things that you just brought up that I think is so important is that doctor visit, you know, making sure to do your regular checkups. There are so many people that have doubt about their health concerns, and then don't go to the doctor. And we saw that, especially during the pandemic. So it's so important that you do that. One of the most recent ways that we've been learning about an American Heart Association is life's essential aid. And why that's so amazing is because it's brought in eight main elements to cardiovascular health. And it's a test that you can do online that shows the main areas that you might, you know, see to improve your cardiovascular health. So I think that's really important for people to see in relation to that. Number eight was added from seven, which would include sleep, and so all the ways that we measure our sleep has been able to be tracked so that we can see how that plays into our cardiovascular health. And actually, if you just type in life's essential aid, it will take you directly there. And like I said, it gives the breakdown of what's included in that, and how that relates to the cardiovascular health, stroke, and other major health problems.

Unknown Speaker 11:12
Exactly. And the thing about it, is that, you know, people think, Well, we, you know, we have learned about some of the warning signs that if you have, like a face drooping or slurred language, and and those are things visually to look out for, or the tingling in the arm, or numbness or whatever, those are all important things to be mindful of. But I, in my case, I had no idea my heart was stopping in my sleep, I did not have a stroke, I didn't have any of those typical warning signals. So those, I just want to reinforce to everyone how important it is to do that annual checkup. And for me, I reserve Valentine's Day. That's the holiday of love. And it's your way to love your family. You know, your parents, if you have children, or just loving yourself and self care. It's so so important. Well, another reason I wanted you to come in today, Priya, last year, because of we were still in the throes of the pandemic, there's such a thing called the Heart Walk. So tell us back

Unknown Speaker 12:27
in person, yes, I've been referencing it as our comeback walk. Because the way I see it, you know, locally here in Las Vegas, there are many ways to support us, nationally, but also here locally in Las Vegas, and we do so much here. And I think that Heart Walk is the opportunity for us to drive into our actual communities, right? Like it's our event that is geared towards families, children, business partners, you know, bring people out to walk hand in hand together and support heart health, while also getting great information and awareness about, you know, CPR, demonstrations, blood pressure checks, some of those key factors that are very easy for us to do that will sometimes indicate certain health risks, right? So yeah, we're excited. We're bringing it back. And here we are three weeks out.

Unknown Speaker 13:15
Let's give our listeners all the details. I see that it's going to be on November 12. Over at a beautiful location.

Unknown Speaker 13:22
Yes, Tivoli Tivoli village this year, it's the first time for us to go out there. We've done it in different places throughout, you know, our time here. But Tivoli was an opportunity, there was something with coming back from the pandemic and that shift, I wanted to be in a place where there would be additional eyes on Heart Walk that are not necessarily there for Heart Walk, right? Like people that come out to support us they know about American Heart Association, they know about Heart Walk, but potentially shoppers or tenants of Tivoli village, they may have never heard of us or even be aware and maybe there will be a life saved just by looking at our booths that we have set up some of our sponsorship information. I think it's a great place to, to have awareness and to your point, it's absolutely beautiful over there.

Unknown Speaker 14:04
Exactly. It's going to be a great resource opportunity for people. But the thing about it is that, you know, it's I think we're so busy and caught up in things and in all our daily lives and everything, taking care of oneself that is so important and and actually talk about this. And for our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning into 91.5. Jas and more to catch this. But also to follow up if you heard us mention something. You can also go to the Ku nv.org website. And there's such a thing as a podcasting page. We're also a podcast where we have a dual purpose here. I love that. Yeah, I do too. I do too. It's very important. So once again, let's give out since I've given out our KU in the.org website. Let's give out the American harvest. sociation once the

Unknown Speaker 15:02
Yep, the Heart Walk website is www to the number two.heart.org. So if you go on there, you can search your location. And to your point read it. Many people, it's a Saturday morning, November 12. But if you can't come out and walk with us, we have we call it what we call move more Wednesdays. So every Wednesday leading up to Heart Walk, we encourage people to get out and walk at least 30 minutes every single Wednesday. It's kind of that accountability time that we look at to say, every Wednesday, let's you know, let's let's move and get our bodies you know, warmed up and hearts going strong. So I would like to add that as well.

Unknown Speaker 15:37
I love it. That is great. Pre pandemic I was doing so well getting 10,000 to 14,000 steps

Unknown Speaker 15:44
a day. That's amazing. Yeah. So active,

Unknown Speaker 15:47
you know, but then, who knew as my breathing and not getting a full breath? Really was a major major warning. Yeah. So that's why our listeners, you know, as you're tuning in, and you're you're catching this, it is so important for your own personal self care to have that annual exam and check it all out, you know, because we're different people, different individuals, you know, unique individuals. And sometimes our warning signals are might be a little bit different. Absolutely. That's again, is there anything else where I see our time is kind of slipping away from us. So anything else that you'd like to share?

Unknown Speaker 16:27
No, Rita, thank you so much again for just sharing this important information and thank you so much for your story. And I'm definitely going to take the takeaway of Valentine's Day I think that's great you know, we have February is where read month and so that kind of goes hand in hand but for heart health, but I'm definitely going to keep that as a takeaway and we're very grateful to be here today and for your journey and saying yes to going to see your doctor with your with your health concern.

Unknown Speaker 16:50
Thank you. And now part three, stopping by the Jasmine All Star rehearsal with Linda Woodson Paris red Kathleen was good Nikki Logan and the leader of the group rod Hanley

Unknown Speaker 17:05
to three N.

Unknown Speaker 17:25
You to the moon and the stars. Let me see what spring is like god Jupiter and Mars.

Unknown Speaker 17:43
Let's take it back at letter A. again one more time. What what

Unknown Speaker 17:48
I'm I'm a fly on the wall here at the Jasmine All Stars verse reader on the road. Thank you so much, you guys, I I thought I could sneak in here and be very cool. But I know you've got a concert coming up this evening. And Rod Hindley, the arranger and leader of the group rod, tell us a little bit of background. And how did this because you're you're celebrating an anniversary, aren't you with it when

Unknown Speaker 18:15
we started this group about 10 years ago, as of adjunct to promoting vocal jazz, in the schools in the universities in town. And we've done a lot of mentoring with UNLV and CSN and some of the high school programs. And we have grown to the fact that we have recorded four albums out of this whole deal. Linda has been with us the longest along with Kathy. And Bill King is also with us. And let's see who else you are going to introduce somebody you want.

Unknown Speaker 18:47
Well, yeah, I think well, let's, you know, part of the reason I wanted you to be on this premiere show of Frida on the road is that you guys may not know it and I'm for our listeners at home right now we've got the I'm in their rehearsal studio here. And it's pretty cool. You got a cool setup here. But rod and I first met each other back in Atlanta back in the early 70s. We had the same agent. And somehow Ron ruff had us all at some big thing in Atlanta. We're all supposed to just be jamming and sitting in and I was kind of one of the new people on the scene. And I you know, I was okay with sitting in. I knew my keys and the songs and I could count it down. But I didn't know who to go with. And somebody said that rod Hanley, he's a musician's musician. And so I thought, Okay, I'll go up, and he accompanied me and the rest is history. We have been friends for this long. And so that's kind of why I wanted to see since you're celebrating your 10 year anniversary, and we're going on 50 plus years of friendship. i Oh, I don't know we were babies. We were just babies. We crawled out of our cribs. But if you could each go around introduce yourself and and just how his music and friendship kind of gone hand in hand for each of you. So okay, I

Unknown Speaker 20:10
can start I'm Kathy and I grew up singing with my two older sisters is a trio sort of, for those of you who are as old as I am sort of like the McGuire sisters, and we just love singing, we sang all the time in the car and everything else. And now I just love singing with this group. I just it's so much fun. It's just a lot of fun and great people in the group. And now we've sort of morphed into all professionals in the group. So it's just, it's fantastic.

Unknown Speaker 20:41
Well, it's sounding fabulous to everybody and I'm Sorry, I interrupted I was trying to just creep in tippy toe in but well Alright, let's move on down the line. And I see on Linda on your Connect scrubs, the MD She's a doctor, folks, so if anything happens to me, I know I'm in good hands related. I don't know, man.

Unknown Speaker 21:04
So when I had the opportunity to join this group, I grew up you know, listening and loving Manhattan transfer and that tight vocal harmonies. So it just really resonated with me to be able to be a part of this group. And like Kathy says, you know, I just love doing it. I love you know, the the ensemble numbers that we do, they just really sound great. They're fun, and I'm just happy to be here. And

Unknown Speaker 21:29
me too. I mean, I'm getting like the free concert. I got the free ticket here tonight. So you all sound great. I know you're gonna do fabulous tonight. Over at Gatsby. Gatsby Gambit? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 21:42
As opposed to Gatsby's in a hotel on the Strip.

Unknown Speaker 21:46
Right, Brian? Great. To hear this this club. Yeah. So this is in Henderson, folks. So if you're gonna go go out there, the old. Exactly. Okay, there you go. All right, moving on down the line.

Unknown Speaker 22:00
Yes. I'm Paris. And I'm, I love singing in this group, because it'll be kind of the first time I get a chance to actually do like four and five, you know, part harmonies and is just this is so cool. I mean, my my family was a very musically inclined and so my mom used to teach. She had a gospel group. And but they did back in the 50s. And 60s, they did a like take six harmonies. And so it was Yeah, so this is like I'm like, Oh, great.

Unknown Speaker 22:32
I get to do some harmonies. This is great. What other people can do harmony. So I'm really excited about it. Oh, fantastic. You all are sounding Fantastic. All right. There's one point we don't believe you

Unknown Speaker 22:43
out. Nikki Logan. And I just want to say that I've sung all genres of music. But this is literally back to basics. When I heard the songs, the music, you sit up tall, you get your breathing, you have to mesh with other people. It's not about you. It's about everybody in the group. And I really love that. So I've just been in Vegas forever. And I love traveling around and I'm really looking forward to the show on Sunday tonight. Yeah, that'd be great.

Unknown Speaker 23:05
Fantastic. Well, what else do you want to share? Because 10 years 10 years that you've been doing this? So what's it like? Writing the arrangements? Do you have something in mind rod with, you know, certain vocalists like oh, I want them to be on that part or

Unknown Speaker 23:22
each person has a vocal register soprano, alto, tenor or bass. And so in, we write for the sound of it. And the sound of it is complex harmony. A lot of people say y'all are singing them sour notes. But actually, when you do them correctly, they sound wonderful. And we've been so lucky to be able to record four albums with different different personnel, but mostly the same personnel. And the four albums that we've got are available on Rod handley.com. You can check it out.

Unknown Speaker 23:56
That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, you know, and please, as we finish this up, too, I want you to once again, say where what the website is. And also, you may or may not know this, but I've been posting pictures and everything I had, and talking about what you've been, what you're going to be doing and then you know, so hopefully that helps because that's another thing too with musicians. You become your own marketing manager to at times you know, especially a local group so is everybody little local Las Vegas. Well, I know you all live here now obviously, but you want to give a shout out to where your home is from. Okay. New York, upstate

Unknown Speaker 24:35
love it

Unknown Speaker 24:35
all right. New Yorker. Okay, Paris. Everywhere. Everyone can relate.

Unknown Speaker 24:41
Los Angeles. Yep, I hear ya.

Unknown Speaker 24:43
Upstate New York and just outside of Philly.

Unknown Speaker 24:46
Okay and broad I wonder if we could tell you Yeah, well Wasn't there a little bit of ama in there too.

Unknown Speaker 24:53
Started out in Alabama, but I was able to escape.

Unknown Speaker 24:58
Same here same here. Live In Atlanta for a while, but actually Indiana, I was originally Indiana but kind of grew up in St. Louis. But you know, here we're yakking so much. We just have a few minutes left. You want to close it out with some some more music and we'll take it out on that. And we'll just kind of tease our audience what you're going to hear tonight. When you go to two over at Gambit and Gatsby's over in Henderson, you're going to have a fantastic time they put on a great show. And like Kathleen said, all pros all pro so thank you for letting me crash your rehearsal.

Unknown Speaker 25:37
Thank you Rita for for being here. We appreciate it. And also we want to mention that at gasp Is the food is superb. So that's why this place is making it because they got good food and they got jazz five or six nights a week. Really guys and Darfur is the curator of the club and he keeps talent flowing in there. It's amazing. You can go broke trying to go there every night. Here's a

Unknown Speaker 26:00
little bit jazz, all stars.

Unknown Speaker 26:03
If you ever plan to mold or west. Travel my way take the highway that's the best guess get your kicks on Route 66. rides from Chicago to La more than 2000 miles all the way. Get your kicks on Route 66. Now you go to St. Louis with Joplin, Missouri and Oklahoma City. You see? Gallup New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona

Unknown Speaker 26:51
we heard to lose.

Unknown Speaker 27:01
Thank you to this week's guest, Barbara de rochet and Michelle from the Down Syndrome organization of Southern Nevada. Three is saying of the American Heart Association of Southern Nevada, and the Jasmine All Stars performing tonight at Gatsby's in Henderson. If you'd like to listen again, you can find this episode at KU when v.org on the podcast page. Until the next time, I'm Rita on the road

Transcribed by https://otter.ai