Darnell Miller on Celebrating Black Music and ‘Pride @ The Loft’ in Wilmington DE
Episode 184 • 29th May 2025 • Queue Points • Queue Points LLC
00:00:00 00:17:44

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Jay Ray:

What's up y'all?

Jay Ray:

It is Jay Ray, co-host of Queue Points, the podcast, dropping the

Jay Ray:

needle on black music history.

Jay Ray:

And I am.

Jay Ray:

So excited, thrilled, honored that.

Jay Ray:

On June 7th, an event is gonna be happening in Wilmington, Delaware,

Jay Ray:

hosted by the amazing Darnell Miller, and it's called Pride @ The Loft, and

Jay Ray:

it's part of his Live @ The Loft series.

Jay Ray:

And right here on Queue Points right now, Darnell Miller is here.

Jay Ray:

What's up man?

Darnell Miller:

I'm good.

Darnell Miller:

I'm good.

Darnell Miller:

I'm glad.

Darnell Miller:

I'm glad to be in my space doing this.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And, uh, you know, I'm excited about Live @ The Loft in general.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

But, uh, I, I guess more so Pride @ The Loft,

Jay Ray:

man.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

So first of all, thank you so much for inviting me to be part of the experience.

Jay Ray:

So for those of you who are coming through, uh, I will be here hosting

Jay Ray:

the event that night hosting.

Jay Ray:

And, um, I'm so grateful.

Jay Ray:

So thank you for that.

Jay Ray:

What, why Pride @ The Loft now?

Darnell Miller:

Well, um.

Darnell Miller:

I felt like the time was right in the Live @ The Loft series because

Darnell Miller:

I had been doing it for some time and I kind of got a rhythm.

Darnell Miller:

I'm not where I want to be, but I kind of got a rhythm and it was a idea I've

Darnell Miller:

always had because just based on my research, excuse me, a lot of the.

Darnell Miller:

Um, a lot of the black queer population in Wilmington, Delaware

Darnell Miller:

specifically are always saying like, well, we don't have anywhere to go.

Darnell Miller:

Where can we go?

Darnell Miller:

Where can we go to hang out?

Darnell Miller:

And then not be crazy?

Darnell Miller:

Or not be like, you know, and it could just be about music or just to be about

Darnell Miller:

fun, or just to be about whatever.

Darnell Miller:

And so I figured, you know what, why not do something?

Darnell Miller:

About it.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

And I know in this area that hasn't happened and people could debate

Darnell Miller:

me if they want to, but I, I'm old enough to remember, or to even know.

Darnell Miller:

Um, but something like that hasn't really happened around

Darnell Miller:

here in probably 30 plus years.

Darnell Miller:

Wow.

Darnell Miller:

You know, when there were multiple places for people to go and in

Darnell Miller:

Delaware now there's only one.

Darnell Miller:

And it's, you know, defined by one thing.

Darnell Miller:

And if you're not into that one thing.

Darnell Miller:

And then, you know.

Jay Ray:

From your perspective.

Jay Ray:

Why is it important that we have spaces where folks can go to be themselves?

Darnell Miller:

I, I think that with, especially my, my main

Darnell Miller:

thing is music, and it's the music industry and the artists in general.

Darnell Miller:

Um, I think that because the music industry is so crazy right now.

Darnell Miller:

It's insane.

Darnell Miller:

And we don't get to be, we don't get to hear like real, authentic live music.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And then a lot of times artists are not in a space where they could be

Darnell Miller:

vulnerable and powerful at the same time.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

And people forget that artists are.

Darnell Miller:

Out there on stage, night after night, or getting night after night,

Darnell Miller:

whatever they're doing, and they're walking outta that thing sometimes

Darnell Miller:

broke, not even breaking even.

Darnell Miller:

And they're tired, they're mentally drained, but there's not their, there's

Darnell Miller:

not a moment where they can get everything that they, that they poured out to people.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

And so I Live @ The Loft is like, I wanted to make it a space where the artist

Darnell Miller:

is heard and the audience is engaged and, but also the artist gets fed too.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

You know, it's, it's an interesting thing.

Darnell Miller:

Every time an artist comes here, they say, wow, this was great.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

You know, I feel a whole lot better.

Darnell Miller:

Or, I didn't know it was going to be like this.

Darnell Miller:

And, you know, it's just a great night of engagement.

Darnell Miller:

It's a, it's a, it's a two way street.

Darnell Miller:

It's not just gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.

Darnell Miller:

But it's really a give and take the whole night.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Um.

Jay Ray:

So we're gonna have, Janay Keys is gonna be here performing

Jay Ray:

Janay Keys,

Jay Ray:

Marcus G

Darnell Miller:

Marcus G.

Jay Ray:

Big Grizz.

Jay Ray:

And Big Grizz.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And I didn't know that Big Grizz and Marcus G did a song together.

Darnell Miller:

You see how spirit

Jay Ray:

comes together, just work itself out.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

And my thing with this whole, just these past few Live @ The

Darnell Miller:

Lofts, that specifically this one, you have a vision, but it's not necessarily

Darnell Miller:

the vision that's supposed to happen.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

But like the universe said, no, you need what's needed in there.

Darnell Miller:

You know what I'm saying?

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And so that's how I just, after a while, I just let those pieces fall into play.

Darnell Miller:

I let 'em fall into play.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

You know, I was like, well, who can I get the hostess?

Darnell Miller:

I don't know what to do.

Darnell Miller:

And a little birdie spoke to my ear and said, that's

Darnell Miller:

Johnnie.

Darnell Miller:

Hey.

Darnell Miller:

Hey.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

So let's talk a bit about.

Darnell Miller:

Live @ The Loft in general.

Darnell Miller:

When did the idea come to you to do this?

Darnell Miller:

Well, I don't know if I should say this, but what, uh, so, um,

Darnell Miller:

I was doing like a run of shows.

Darnell Miller:

First of all, I'm gonna back it up 'cause I didn't really just get it from

Darnell Miller:

this situation, but I grew up in a.

Darnell Miller:

Church where when artists would come to town, you would host the artist and the

Darnell Miller:

artist would sometimes do a house concert.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

So I grew up on the house concert, uh, philosophy, and I've always done stuff

Darnell Miller:

like that, but informal, like I've had friends over, I cook and we just play.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

You know what I mean?

Darnell Miller:

Just a night.

Darnell Miller:

So, but me and my drummer at the time, we were doing this run of acoustic

Darnell Miller:

shows and we were doing these so far events and up until that point,

Darnell Miller:

and again, it was the universe.

Darnell Miller:

I refuse to play where anyone is talking over me anymore.

Darnell Miller:

I don't work too hard and I done,

Jay Ray:

don't come up and Live @ The Loft talking over the artist.

Jay Ray:

That's a rule though.

Darnell Miller:

That's a rule when the artist is playing.

Darnell Miller:

You don't move around, you don't talk, you listen.

Darnell Miller:

So I refuse now at this point in my life to to play a room where I

Darnell Miller:

gotta battle with conversations.

Darnell Miller:

And so we were doing this run of shows and uh, you know, I was like,

Darnell Miller:

Wayne, they're listening to us.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

Like they li they listening and they're like engaged and they're, they're,

Darnell Miller:

you know, they're laughing, you know, they're laughing at my corny jokes and

Darnell Miller:

all that kind of stuff, and, and, and, and we would leave and like, no kidding.

Darnell Miller:

I mean, we would leave as we're packing up to leave like our igs, we get like,

Darnell Miller:

like 80 to 90 followers in that night.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

And then the next night, same thing.

Darnell Miller:

And I was like, okay.

Darnell Miller:

I was like, let me investigate this.

Darnell Miller:

I was like, okay, so these are like elevated house concerts.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

So I was like, I, you know, I, I wanna do that.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

I love that idea.

Darnell Miller:

I love a intimate space, you know what I mean?

Darnell Miller:

Because you get to know the artist in a more intimate setting

Darnell Miller:

without, you know, all the pro tools and the stems and everything.

Darnell Miller:

It's just them and maybe another.

Darnell Miller:

Musician or whatever, you know?

Darnell Miller:

And I was like, you know what, I wanna do that.

Darnell Miller:

'cause I like that and maybe I could get a little coin off of it.

Darnell Miller:

Amen.

Darnell Miller:

Amen.

Jay Ray:

Yes, yes.

Darnell Miller:

You know?

Darnell Miller:

Well that's

Jay Ray:

important.

Jay Ray:

'cause you know what?

Jay Ray:

When we, we have to keep spaces like this a alive.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

It's needed right now.

Darnell Miller:

Absolutely.

Darnell Miller:

My prediction is like.

Darnell Miller:

I mean, I don't claim to be no guru, no wisdom, but I predicted that, you know,

Darnell Miller:

ticket prices go higher and they will.

Darnell Miller:

You know what I mean?

Darnell Miller:

Venues are closing.

Darnell Miller:

Yep.

Darnell Miller:

Artists and independent artists need to start thinking about alternative venues.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And the smaller venue, the more intimate venue is gonna be the

Darnell Miller:

way that you win your audience.

Darnell Miller:

It's like evangelism.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

I go from town to town proselytizing.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

You know what I mean?

Darnell Miller:

And that's how it's gonna be.

Darnell Miller:

Now as an indie artist, it's gonna be a little rougher 'cause it's all on you.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

You know what I'm saying?

Darnell Miller:

But that's the, that's the way you're gonna build your fan base or

Darnell Miller:

when your audience is that smaller venues like this or things like this.

Jay Ray:

Mm. So.

Jay Ray:

In speaking to, if you could speak to folks out there in the world, in

Jay Ray:

Wilmington, Delaware about why they need to be in this room for Pride @ The Loft

Jay Ray:

on June 7th, what would you tell them?

Darnell Miller:

I would say that because it needs to happen in light

Darnell Miller:

of whatever things I've been hearing from that's been happening around

Darnell Miller:

in the area, it needs to happen.

Darnell Miller:

You need to support these spaces, not only independent artist spaces, but other.

Darnell Miller:

Queer spaces, like, you know, and I'm, I'm gonna make that call to

Darnell Miller:

all my church folk and my believers.

Darnell Miller:

'cause my question is, what Bible are you reading?

Darnell Miller:

Are you reading the same Bible that I'm reading?

Darnell Miller:

Because like Jesus always.

Darnell Miller:

Went to the non, the

Jay Ray:

nons.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

His disciples were made up of nons.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

He talked to women in public when women weren't supposed

Darnell Miller:

to be addressed in public.

Darnell Miller:

So like, you know, I'm put in a call to just this area in general.

Darnell Miller:

Number one, Wilmington, free yourself.

Darnell Miller:

That's the problem.

Darnell Miller:

This is a repressed, oppressed area.

Darnell Miller:

You can feel the cloud.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

You know what I mean?

Darnell Miller:

You know, free yourself and open up your mind.

Darnell Miller:

Open up your opinion.

Darnell Miller:

Come out and celebrate.

Darnell Miller:

It's not gonna be what you think about, it's not gonna be what you think.

Darnell Miller:

Mm-hmm.

Darnell Miller:

When you get here.

Darnell Miller:

So don't be coming in here and thinking like jokers is gonna be

Darnell Miller:

vogueing the house down and stuff.

Darnell Miller:

Mm-hmm.

Darnell Miller:

That's all stereotypical.

Darnell Miller:

Mm-hmm.

Darnell Miller:

It's music.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

It's music.

Darnell Miller:

It's music.

Darnell Miller:

Come enjoy this music.

Jay Ray:

Absolutely.

Jay Ray:

So.

Jay Ray:

Come out Pride @ The Loft, we're gonna have, uh, Janay Keys, Marcus G Janay Keys.

Darnell Miller:

She can sing, man.

Darnell Miller:

My

Jay Ray:

God.

Jay Ray:

So she can say opera.

Jay Ray:

Oh, my funny Janay Keys story is I went to a Juneteenth event

Jay Ray:

with my mom two years ago.

Jay Ray:

Oh, wow.

Jay Ray:

Jena Keys was singing, and of course I have to meet the

Jay Ray:

performers like, who's singing?

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

I was like, oh my God, girl, you killed it.

Jay Ray:

She met my mom.

Jay Ray:

We had the best conversation.

Jay Ray:

She's the sweetie lady.

Jay Ray:

And so she, we remembered each other, so this is like, oh,

Jay Ray:

that we get to be in this space.

Jay Ray:

Marcus G met randomly as I was, uh, shooting

Jay Ray:

my brother was spending that, uh, Queerapalooza last year.

Jay Ray:

Ended up meeting Marcus G 'cause I was shooting pictures.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Big Grizz is the only one I haven't met and I haven't met Eddie.

Jay Ray:

Eddie is going to be here.

Jay Ray:

Eddie doing the, he's the bartender.

Jay Ray:

He kind of looks like, you know what Eddie?

Jay Ray:

Eddie does?

Jay Ray:

Look.

Jay Ray:

Zo is here.

Jay Ray:

Y'all is.

Jay Ray:

Shout out to Zo.

Jay Ray:

I could not do this without Zo.

Jay Ray:

He, it is like, I was like,

Darnell Miller:

he

Jay Ray:

looks like Eddie.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, that is true.

Jay Ray:

Um,

Darnell Miller:

my only question is like, what is Eddie gonna wear?

Darnell Miller:

But Eddie has a, he created, he did exactly my normal bartender.

Darnell Miller:

Her name is Danita.

Darnell Miller:

We call her Danita Jo.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah after Janet Damita Jo, I love.

Darnell Miller:

But um, you know, I was like, Danita, like I got a vision.

Darnell Miller:

You can, you don't have to come to, you don't have to work at this one.

Darnell Miller:

But my vision was to have an all queer team from the

Darnell Miller:

door person to the bartender.

Darnell Miller:

'cause I just want people to feel, you know, comfortable.

Darnell Miller:

And so I was like, Eddie, who can I get?

Darnell Miller:

You know, at first I was going, I was, I talked to your brother, Eddie

Jay Ray:

Uhhuh.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And I was like, no, no, no, no.

Darnell Miller:

He was like, I don't know if I can make it.

Darnell Miller:

But I was like, no, Eddie.

Darnell Miller:

The next day Eddie sent me the drink menu and I was like, he did

Darnell Miller:

exactly what needed to be done.

Darnell Miller:

So it's gonna be yes, colorful.

Darnell Miller:

And if you need to get there, he gonna get you there quick.

Jay Ray:

Yo, please be here, Live @ The Loft, June 7th, Wilmington, Delaware.

Jay Ray:

Check Darnell's page, check, uh, my page.

Jay Ray:

All the information will be there.

Jay Ray:

But more importantly, y'all.

Jay Ray:

Support these kinds of events.

Jay Ray:

We will, we need them.

Jay Ray:

Like the thing I love about the Loft before we get outta here too,

Jay Ray:

uh, Darnell is, well y'all talk about the radio show now, right?

Jay Ray:

Oh, we, we cannot go anywhere.

Jay Ray:

Ain't

Darnell Miller:

nobody right.

Darnell Miller:

We

Jay Ray:

gonna definitely talk about the radio show and, um,

Jay Ray:

this space has such energy in it.

Jay Ray:

And that's also the thing too.

Jay Ray:

The loft is, is part of the fa part of the family that is

Darnell Miller:

happening here?

Darnell Miller:

Mm-hmm.

Darnell Miller:

Well, you know, I remember when I first moved in here, I was in the

Darnell Miller:

middle of like being on the road, so I didn't spend a lot of time in here.

Darnell Miller:

But after I got settled, um, all I did was just have friends over.

Darnell Miller:

And I would cook and we would jam, or I would, we would just hang out.

Darnell Miller:

And even now, like I have a, a, a buddy of mine that's in from la, you know, who's in

Darnell Miller:

the middle of like, working on his album.

Darnell Miller:

He just came to this side of the world to, you know, hang out.

Darnell Miller:

And, uh, it's always, I've always wanted to make it an inviting space.

Darnell Miller:

Now it's a work in progress because now it's, uh.

Darnell Miller:

It's, I know what I want this to be, you know?

Darnell Miller:

'cause I, I teach here, I record here.

Darnell Miller:

We do Live @ The Loft here.

Darnell Miller:

You know, all those things.

Darnell Miller:

And, um, so it's a work in progress.

Darnell Miller:

Like I'm, you know, I'm trying to work, I'm, I'm trying to get funding Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

To make it exactly how I want it.

Darnell Miller:

Uh, money cometh now.

Jay Ray:

Absolutely.

Jay Ray:

And the fact that you put that out mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

In this format is important.

Jay Ray:

Before we get outta here, we must talk about your radio show.

Darnell Miller:

Yes, indie Planet, uh, I am.

Darnell Miller:

It's Indie Planet.

Darnell Miller:

It, it airs every Monday night on wjvsradio.com.

Darnell Miller:

You can log on, and we have our own app, WJVS Radio.

Darnell Miller:

WJVS Radio is a black owned station.

Jay Ray:

Period.

Darnell Miller:

And that's, that's the first thing I want to say.

Darnell Miller:

It's a black owned radio station.

Darnell Miller:

And, um, they had approached me, you know, like, do you wanna be on radio?

Darnell Miller:

And I was like, no, I don't.

Darnell Miller:

You know, but secretly, but secretly, secretly, I was like, well, you know, I

Darnell Miller:

could, I could be, I could play Questlove.

Darnell Miller:

I could be that guy because I've always had ambitions to like.

Darnell Miller:

Do that kind of stuff.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

But I'm the type of person, like I have the ambition, but if you bring

Darnell Miller:

it to me, I'll be like, no, I'm okay.

Darnell Miller:

But like, I really want, I'm that guy, I'm that guy.

Darnell Miller:

So he came to me and uh, I was like, well, let me think about it.

Darnell Miller:

And, you know, about a couple weeks later I was like, well, I'll do something.

Darnell Miller:

I want to be, I wanna play independent music.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

Independent artists, independent black artists.

Darnell Miller:

Now, I, I love all genres and I'm all for, listen, I love everything

Darnell Miller:

from death metal to hair metal to country, to, I love it all.

Darnell Miller:

This particular show, I wanted to focus on the black indie artist because

Darnell Miller:

whenever you look, when you, whenever you go to the, uh, DSPs mm-hmm.

Darnell Miller:

And you say you type in indie, it's like all these, you

Darnell Miller:

know, alternative type bands.

Darnell Miller:

So no one thinks that a black artist is, can be a independent

Darnell Miller:

artist, but to me, the ultimate independent artist is Eric Robeson

Jay Ray:

Abs.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

And still independent.

Darnell Miller:

Absolutely.

Darnell Miller:

So it's like I wanna lift up all these wonderful black indie artists,

Darnell Miller:

and we're in a great age, a great space now where there's so many,

Darnell Miller:

you have Kevin Ross, you have.

Darnell Miller:

People like El mean you have people like Cleo Soul, you still have your

Jay Ray:

font foreign exchange.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

You know, yes.

Darnell Miller:

I play the heck out of font.

Darnell Miller:

Like I love, I'm a FTE fan.

Darnell Miller:

Like for Real Little Brother.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

I'm sorry.

Darnell Miller:

They, this is their farewell tour.

Darnell Miller:

But, uh, so I wanted to lift up those.

Darnell Miller:

And now you have people like Ann Nesbe.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

Jagged Edge Brownstone.

Darnell Miller:

They're also now independent artists.

Darnell Miller:

Yep.

Darnell Miller:

You know, and so.

Darnell Miller:

I just wanna lift all of them up and to show that it's not just rock and

Darnell Miller:

alternative rock, but it's some good soul.

Darnell Miller:

And the thing I like about Black and the artists is that it's not monolithic.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

It's, it runs the gamut.

Darnell Miller:

So I'll play the Sheela who I love.

Jay Ray:

Oh my God.

Jay Ray:

Shout out to you.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

I'll play all of that.

Darnell Miller:

And, and, and some in between.

Darnell Miller:

Yeah.

Darnell Miller:

So every Monday night, 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM w JVs radio.com.

Darnell Miller:

You heard it?

Jay Ray:

Yo, thank you for continuing to do all the work that you do.

Jay Ray:

For what you do here in the community in Wilmington, it

Jay Ray:

is necessary and appreciated.

Jay Ray:

I know you, I mean, you are a legend, so not

Darnell Miller:

really.

Darnell Miller:

You

Jay Ray:

are okay, but you are.

Jay Ray:

Listen,

Darnell Miller:

he been, I knew your music.

Darnell Miller:

He been doing some good heroin right now.

Darnell Miller:

So

Jay Ray:

I knew Darnell's music before I knew you.

Jay Ray:

So, mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Listen, you out here doing your thing.

Jay Ray:

Um, so definitely check out the radio show.

Jay Ray:

Definitely be here for Pride @ The Loft on June 7th.

Jay Ray:

Gotta be here for that.

Jay Ray:

You gotta be here.

Jay Ray:

And, um, thank you man for inviting me to be part of this journey.

Jay Ray:

It's my pleasure.

Jay Ray:

Appreciate

Darnell Miller:

you and I hope this will not be the last No.

Darnell Miller:

That last thing that we do together.

Jay Ray:

Listen, we cooking, you know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray:

We gonna get this pot that, that kitchen back there.

Jay Ray:

We gum be cooking.

Darnell Miller:

Gumbo.

Darnell Miller:

Gumbo.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

Fish and grits.

Darnell Miller:

Yes.

Darnell Miller:

All that except everything.

Darnell Miller:

Except for okra.

Jay Ray:

No okra.

Jay Ray:

Oh, we gotta have a conversation offline.

Jay Ray:

Oh my God.

Darnell Miller:

I love okra.

Darnell Miller:

Anyway.

Darnell Miller:

I knew something y'all.

Darnell Miller:

I knew something was wrong with I knew Okra.

Jay Ray:

Y'all, thank y'all so much for tuning in for

Jay Ray:

this episode of Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

Definitely follow Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

Definitely follow Darnell Miller and be here on June 7th.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate y'all.

Jay Ray:

We love y'all.

Jay Ray:

Peace.

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