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.