Liner Notes Episode 5: Dejehan "Luckystickz" Hamilton

Dejehan: [00:00:00] When I was a student at Berklee, I had opportunity to just from access standpoint, to share stages with like Brian McKnight and Chilli of TLC and most recently Patti LaBelle, I don't know. I was like, that's crazy.
Meredith: Welcome to Gritty History, a podcast from the City of Hamilton and Hamilton Civic Museums, taking you beyond the physical museums and diving into fascinating stories from the city's past and present. In this audio series, we'll explore the people and places that make Hamilton Ontario so special. Our first series liner notes digs into the work of Hamilton Music. My name is Meredith Leonard, and I'm a senior curator at Hamilton Civic Museums. Joining me for this series is Russ Piva, AKA StereoRuss Musician and host of Inside The Music with StereoRuss, thank you so much for joining us. Let's press play.
Russ: today we're joined by Dejehan Hamilton, professionally known as Luckystickz. He's the founder and [00:01:00] executive director of the TuneIn Foundation, which provides music education, providing opportunities such as artist development. Leadership summits, volunteer programs, and artist showcases. Deshaun is an international award-winning speaker, recording, artist, songwriter, and musician as the first Canadian steel paying graduate on scholarship at Berklee College of Music.
He's living proof of how perseverance can turn challenges into opportunities. We feel so lucky to have him here today with us at CFMU Studios. Dejehan, thanks so much for coming today.
Dejehan: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Uh, an amazing, uh, introduction. I was almost like, who, who's he talking about? And I love the little lucky that you slipped in there.
Yeah, that was cute.
Russ: Yeah, I'm sure I wasn't the first to ever do that one.
Meredith: So, Dejehan, you were one of the first people we chatted with when we were starting research for this exhibition. And your enthusiasm for Hamilton's music community was. Infectious. It was so inspiring. Um, can you share a little bit about your own journey and sort of what brought you to a career in music?
Dejehan: Yeah. Well, once again, kudos on this [00:02:00] amazing, uh, exhibit and, and idea. I think it's. Super important for us to recognize music in the city and the rich history of music in the city. It really is part of the cultural fabric of Hamilton. Um, my journey started in the north end of Hamilton. I was raised up on, I grew up on a street called Francis Street, um, near Burlington Street.
There wasn't a lot of people in my neighbourhood who were musicians or, uh, exposed to the music scene. But, um, I always say that music chose me and I feel as though I knew from a very young age that that's. What I wanted my life to consist of in some way, right? So, grew up in the church. I went to a church called Hamilton Church of God.
It was a Pentecostal church. So I grew up around instruments and music and uh, charismatic, you know, worship environments, which also really helped to hone that. [00:03:00] Passion that was innate within me to be a musician. So I would sit down there and that was my first school. Like that was my first music school.
Watching the drummer play, watching the keys play, watching the bass play, watching how they, um. Do dynamics and how they really build the the energy around a moment, right? And watching the singers also lead from a praise and worship standpoint, and the same thing, how they really are able to move the crowd.
So honestly, that was my first introduction to. Um, my musical journey up to the point where I told my mom that I wanted to, uh, buy a drum set, I wanted a drum set for the house, and she was like, deja, you don't know how to play drums. Like, where did you learn? You've never taken lessons.
Russ: So how old were you at the time?
Dejehan: At the time, I would've been [00:04:00] probably seven or eight years old. Yeah. And there was a talent night at the church and I signed up for the talent night to do a drum solo rendition. And ended up telling my mom, yeah, I'm doing this drum solo. So she was like, okay, I guess we're gonna see if he can actually play drums or not.
And I went and I, and I played a solo, I don't remember how it went, but it was good enough to convince my mom to be like, oh, he can actually play. And, and, okay, this is something that I'm going to invest in on his behalf. So I was, uh, super blessed and fortunate to have a parent who invested into my, my talent.
So fast forwarding a few years after that, I was 11 years old and I now was actively playing drums, but I needed a community to hone this talent and have other people to be able to play with. And, um, [00:05:00] my older brother had introduced me to this steel pan orchestra based here in Hamilton that was full of young people like me.
They were, we were all a couple years apart and it was called the Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra. And it fit so perfectly because my mom is from Trinidad and Tobago. My dad is from Jamaica, and the steel pan is from Trinidad. It's the national instrument of the country. So from a cultural perspective, it was the right fit from a age perspective, it was also the right fit.
And then just from a passion perspective, it was like, wow, I get to actually be a part of a band. So that was my first actual band experience. I went there to play drums and because I just was a lover of music, a lover of instruments, I used to, um, the rehearsals were like two hours long, so they would have a 15 minute break in between.
During that 15 minutes, we could do whatever we wanna do, socialize, eat, um, or continue practicing.
Russ: Yeah. Right.
Dejehan: [00:06:00] So I was like, okay, let me go over to the steel pan and start to doodle around on it. So there was another player who was the same age as me, and he was playing the tenor steel pan, which is actually the lead steel pan.
That's the one that plays all of the melodies in the music. And he was. Running over, drilling over on his own independently. The song that we, we were learning. And I was like, can you show me how, like what you're, what you're doing, like what you're learning? So he showed me, and within that 15 minutes I learned up to the part that the band was doing for the first 45 minutes.
Right. Little, little did I know, right? 'cause I was just having fun. Little did I know the band organizers, Kathy and Karen, um, these are two phenomenal women in our community as well that deserve recognition. Who started this steel pan orchestra to um, instill. That social cohesion, but also having music as a tool, as [00:07:00] a root to empower young people.
They are basically, I guess, the archetypes from what I currently do right now. And, um, they were watching myself and the other player run through this. They saw the progress and then they were like. Why do we have this kid on drum set? Like, let's put him on steel pants.
Russ: Yeah, you can do it.
Dejehan: But I was anti Anything else?
Drums.
Russ: Drums or bust?
Dejehan: It was, yes, exactly right. So very narrow minded at that time. But I'm a kid, right? I'm 11. Yeah.
Russ: Yeah.
Dejehan: Um, so yeah. Anyways, they approached. Me and said, would you like to learn how to play the steel pen? I was like, absolutely not. This was just for fun. I'm, I'm okay. Well, spoke to my mom about it and my mom was like, it's not gonna hurt you.
To learn another instrument. So that was how I ended up now adding the steel pan into my repertoire and fell in love with the steel pan and then really became a [00:08:00] full fledged percussionist, um, playing both drums and the steel pan. My first gig, um, with the steel pan orchestra. On drum set was at actually at Queens Park.
So they also gave me amazing opportunities along with the other young people to have that touring experience from a very early age. Learning about stage performance, late learning about all the things that I teach right now to others. That development started for me at 11 years old. Drum set started very early within the church realm as well.
I started playing for the the church band and then, um. Yeah, that, that led me to continuing music. I think my first steel pan gig when I got my own steel pan was somebody's wedding, which was a, A huge honor. That's a big first gig. It is a big first gig, right?
Russ: No, no pressure.
Dejehan: Absolutely. So yeah, I really had a community around me that nurtured me and invested into me, [00:09:00] and yeah, really built that.
Like I said, that archetype. That I currently have now to give back. To other musicians.
Russ: The story is very similar for a lot of musicians and even non-musicians who are music fans. So like, you know, you start on piano. Mm-hmm. Or you start on guitar, and then for some it becomes just a hobby. For some people it becomes a lifelong hobby.
For some people it becomes their career.
Dejehan: Yeah.
Russ: So at what point did you decide, I kind of want to do this?
Dejehan: Mm. I think, like I said, it, it chose me. So there was never a moment when I decided I wanted to do it. I felt like I always just knew I wanted to do it. Like I, I, I also saw it as a means to transitioning my family's situation.
Um, so grew up with a single mom. And it was my sister and myself who were kind of the younger ones in the house. And then my older brother, he was much older, so he [00:10:00] was already out of the home when, when I was growing up. But um, yeah, we weren't like necessarily, I. Like, we had food in the fridge. You know, we, we had clothes on our back.
My mom made a lot of sacrifices. She actually worked at McMaster University so that her foresight was that we would all be able to go to a McMaster on like, for for cheap or for free, because she was a, a employee here. None of us went to McMasters. Sorry,
Russ: mom. Sorry, mom.
Dejehan: Yeah. Never worked out.
Russ: But that's the mentality she had.
Dejehan: That was the mentality that she had. And because we were in a lower income neighbourhood and we didn't have the most right, I saw music also as a a vehicle to help my family perhaps. You know, get out of our situation. So that was also another driving force in me deciding to say, I really want to do this.
So I, I started to now dream bigger. I started to say, okay, well now we're in the north end, but [00:11:00] how are we gonna get to New York or la or like. To the states, like how do we get to that next level? And mind you, I didn't even know what was available for me out there at that time, but I just knew that this would be able to change my environment and give me bigger opportunities if I took this seriously.
Russ: I think that's a very common thing for musicians. They, they know that there's opportunities, but there's no roadmap,
Dejehan: right.
Russ: Everyone's story is kind of the same 'cause it's a musician's journey, but everyone's journey is wildly different and unique. Mm-hmm. So I guess that kinda leads into the kind of work that you're doing.
Mm-hmm. So do you mind sharing with everyone kind of what TuneIn Foundation does and how it helps the community?
Dejehan: Yeah. So TuneIn Foundation is a nonprofit organization based here in the beautiful city of Hamilton, Ontario. Um, we believe that each and every single individual has a creative, um, spark within them in some way.
And we try to. You know, tap into that by using the power of [00:12:00] music, using creativity, and using leadership as those vehicles to. Ignite that purpose within every individual. So we run a, a number of programs through the TuneIn Foundation. We started initially in 2015 and we were running, uh, music camp for kids called Musicapalooza.
And that was, uh, started with myself and a few buddies from Mohawk College where I went to for one year for their music program. And, uh, it grew into. Us being in three cities in Ontario, we were in Ottawa as well, and we had a camp out in Oakville. And we ran that camp for 10 years. Uh, and then eventually it evolved into us now working with emerging artists through a program called The Blueprint, and that's a 12 week artist development program where we teach literally from, I guess the A to Z, um, within that 12 weeks of not only [00:13:00] what it means to be a performer, but what it means to be a business, right?
Because music is, you know. If you wanna say 80% business right. And my background is in music business management. That's my, that's what, that's what my degree was in. Uh, so arts development is one of our initiatives. And then we do a lot of work with Young, with youth, right? So we, um, have a program called The Plug, which is a volunteer program where we plug in young people into their community and we marry the two together, making sure that they're not just.
Being sent out there in the wild to volunteer, but we're connecting them to spaces such as this where we're saying, Hey, you can come and volunteer. I'll introduce you to Russ. Um, and then outside of that, we do arts integrated assemblies. So we go to a number of schools throughout the year and we use the story of the steel pan, the history of the steel pan to actually teach resilience.
And then the last part of what we do is, um, we have something called the Future King Summit. The Future King Summit [00:14:00] is a male leadership empowerment mentorship program where we bring a whole bunch of young, young men in and we bring in a whole bunch of other mentors as well. And we have, uh, a full day of just.
Mentorship and tutoring and everything like that. So we are between the two landscapes of music and leadership, and we use creativity as that vehicle to kind of tie everything together.
Meredith: Uh, this seems like the ultimate example of paying it forward really. You sort of like absolutely saw a need and then used all of your, your knowledge and your experience to make.
Make the path a little easier for everybody else coming up.
Dejehan: Yes.
Meredith: Great. Is there other people and sort of who else is involved in like the day-to-day operations of the foundation?
Dejehan: Yeah, so we have two program assistants. Um, we have Jasmine and Romi, so they are my left and right, right and left, whichever, wherever they wanna stand.
Um, but they really are the engine that helps to keep all of these things [00:15:00] going because I couldn't do it all by myself. Um, we have an awesome board of direct. As well who helps with the, you know, high level governance and strategic direction of the organization. So, small team, but we're mighty
Meredith: through this process of, of meeting so many people in the music industry.
I've really been struck by how enthusiastic and supportive everybody is, um, of each other and, and just of the industry itself. Like the efforts to like expand that circle and bring more people into music in a variety of ways. For you, what? What makes Hamilton's music scene unique?
Dejehan: I think that. What makes our city unique, our music scene unique is that we are a city with a small town vibe.
Therefore, it's, it's much easier to an extent of like, what we're trying to really craft with the blueprint is crafting that, um, that infrastructure, that ecosystem. Of musicians who are working together supporting one another and [00:16:00] championing one another, which helps to then build a more robust industry.
So what makes us unique is that we have the. More tight-knit communities within the music scene, which allows us to then be able to collaborate, which then allows us to be able to build and sharpen one another. They say as iron sharpens iron, right? So because now we are working together because then you also now get into this healthy competition because now you see somebody doing something amazing.
They're inspiring you, you know, you're inspiring them. And now we're both elevating. Together. So I really think that that's what sets us apart or what makes us unique as a music city, is that even with the challenges that we currently have, we are also able to come together and say, okay, well how can we work together to.
You know, overcome these challenges that we, that we face, which may be harder in a, a bigger city or a more dense [00:17:00] scene where people may be a little, a lot more scattered.
Russ: What advice do you give to people who want to get into music as a career?
Dejehan: The, the advice I give to any person who wants to get into music is to continue to study your craft.
There are. Amazing. Like go, like, go to school. Not, and it doesn't have to be, you know, formalized school, but really go to school on your own. There's so many, so many resources online that we have. Um, you can watch performance tapes, you can listen to podcasts, you can read books. Whatever it is that you wanna get into, whether it's through performance, through production, through engineering, through business, there's so many resources that are available to us, um, essentially for free.
Right? That, and get a mentor. So those, those would be be my two things that I would say, like, have a mentor. That can teach you. Every teacher has a had a teacher, right? As well as, um, really study your craft.
Meredith: If you're enjoying this conversation, you might wanna check out the [00:18:00] punching in exhibition, which explores the work of Hamilton's music scene on display at the DER Experience Center, located at 28 James Street North throughout 2026.
Now back to our conversation.
Russ: I know a lot of people, you know, there, there's the, the, the education via YouTube that's very common. Tell us the value of a mentor.
Dejehan: So yeah. The value of a mentor is having, literally mentor is just someone who has the experience and has done it before, right? They have made mistakes and they have had successes, and they could help to develop what's already inside of you.
Right. Each and every single one of us has that, you know, that, that spark inside of us. But they can help to hone that and craft that and develop that and guide it. It's molding, right? It's as if you are clay and you have a person who's just, you know, molding you into the amazing piece of art that you are becoming, right?
[00:19:00] So I think that's the, the main value is to make sure having somebody who has done it before you. To guide you through the rollercoasters, the ups and downs, the pitfalls. Somebody to be, to be able to say, Hey, you're gonna actually experience the highs and you're gonna experience the lows when you're in the highs.
This is how you ride that wave. When you're in the lows, this is how you sustain until you can get back to the highs. That's, uh, priceless, right? To be able to have that. So university, YouTube. Is great for information, but university experience, having that mentor who can guide you through is invaluable.
Russ: And one thing I noticed about in, in, in the Arts is that there are highs and there are lows. So, you know, maybe not getting too detailed, but like in the arts, like what are some highs, what are some lows that we're speaking about?
Dejehan: Yeah, I think the highs are definitely when you see your dreams coming true, right?
When, if it's performance wise, you're getting to perform with people who maybe you idolized or [00:20:00] looked up to who have been inspirational to you, to your journey, to your musical journey. So the. That are, that is some of the highs, or you just released your first EP or your record, or you hear your song on the radio or you get to work.
If you are in production, you get to work with an artist who you've always wanted to work with. Um, those are the highs of the highest. You see your name on the credits of a project that you're really proud of. Um, the lows is that self-doubt, right? We, we end up being our biggest critics. Oftentimes the, the work never seems like it's good enough.
It never seems like it's ready. We're not sure how people are going to receive it or receive us, and those are those low moments. There's the moments of even like financial instability, right? Like, okay, can I keep doing this? Can I keep sustaining this? There's also those lows of coming off of the highs coming off of a stage or a platform or a recognition, and then maybe having to go back and.
To the Amazon warehouse, right? Yeah. To make better money. And you have to [00:21:00] make the money to keep doing what you, what you love. So. I think that, yeah, from, from a high and low standpoint, it's just about understanding balance and figuring out how to keep those dreams alive and recognizing that success is so different for everybody.
The, the measure of success, like really just define it for yourself. Have your own definition of what success looks like to you, but also be kind. To yourself. Right? Be kind to yourself, be fair to yourself was also what I was going to say. Um, and understand that the highs and lows are all part of the journey is what makes this journey beautiful.
And um, there's this musician, his name is Lar Lewis. He's a Grammy Award-winning drummer, right?
Russ: Yeah. Love Larnell. Love Larnel.
Dejehan: So Larnell Toronto.
Russ: He's Toronto
Dejehan: based from Toronto, right? Larne grew up in the same church, uh, organization, right? So I watched Larne as like a young, he's older than me, but as a young man himself [00:22:00] as a teen when he was there, really developing and becoming who the world knows him to be now and.
I had the opportunity to have many conversations with him as a youngster and saying like, how do I do this? How do I do this music thing? How do we, and he said, you just really have to love it. Meaning that, love it through the hard. Right. Love it through all of the different parts of it. The good, the easy, the hard, the unsure, just really if you love it, that will help to sustain you and carry you through.
Meredith: Looking, looking back on, on your career, both as a musician and an educator, are there any sort of memorable moments, um, that really embody what you do or that have really stuck with you that sort of keep, uh, fueling what. What you do or have just like been an inspiration in, in your practice?
Dejehan: Absolutely. I think from multiple standpoints, from my own professional career, um, as an artist, I've had the opportunity to play, you know, on main stages of festivals that I [00:23:00] always wanted.
I, I know from a local standpoint, I wanted to play Super Curl and I had the opportunity to do that. Um, in Toronto, we played Afro Fest and all of those things when I was a student, um, at Berkeley. Had opportunity to just from access standpoint, to share stages with like Brian McKnight and Chile of TLC and most recently Patti LaBelle.
I don't know, like that's, that's crazy. Pat, pat label.
Meredith: Wild.
Dejehan: Love that. Um, and then just from like, uh, administrative standpoint, uh, from through the TuneIn Foundation, I really enjoy the ability to see. Emerging artists who they're, many of them have had their own journey in music already. Some of them have even won Junos in certain categories already, but that spark died for them.
And being able to see that they were able to come into a program that reignited, that spark, supported them in the areas where they felt like they had roadblocks, [00:24:00] um, or had plateaued, and seeing them now back out there, um. Living their dreams once again. You know, um, those are highlight moments for me when I was working with, um, the kids through musicapalooza, seeing kids come in not knowing how to play a lick of anything, and within two weeks of working with them, they're performing in front of their parents.
They're performing in front of their families and their, you know, confidence has increased everything, you know, so. Those are, I guess, some of the high moments and the highlights in my journeys thus far.
Russ: What age groups do you normally work with?
Dejehan: We used to work with Youth seven to 14. Um, that was what Music Kaluza focused on in terms of our age group.
We now, um. Take on the artists from the journey of them. Probably be more in the 19 and up range. So we are now working with like, merging and mid-career, um, artists. [00:25:00] So how do you get involved with the programming that we do? Uh, so blueprint, uh, applications open in, I believe it's February. They close in March.
So it's usually about a month of application time. Um, you apply online, you submit, you know, all the things in the application. We do a, a quick little interview with you just to learn about your journey, and then you are selected with, uh, from a panel if you're going to be a part of the program. The program only has cohorts of 10 at the moment, so, um.
Unfortunately, like, you know, some, some people have to wait from maybe, maybe another year, but it, it also gives them time to develop even more. So we take you on from a point of, we wanna kind of, uh, see that you've done a little bit of work and that you're serious about your journey, and then we will come along and partner with you to hopefully be able to take you to the next level.
Russ: Yeah. Because I know that the amount of effort and [00:26:00] resources you're putting into it, like you wanna make sure that the people on the other side are also going to take advantage of that.
Dejehan: Absolutely. Right. Exactly. 'cause part of it is we also want to see that you are gonna continue afterwards with. All the, you know, resources that have been put into you that our ROI is not your money.
'cause it's a free program by the way. Um,
Russ: nice.
Dejehan: Good luck. Yeah. But our ROI is on in seeing you put into action all of the development that, you know, you've, you've picked up from the program. So we, we just did our 2025 year snapshot. And the, the stats were amazing. And when it came to, uh, the amount of hours, I think each artist received 180 hours of mentorship.
Um, and. The value of what each artist received was if they were to pay for this, it would've been like a $5,600 [00:27:00] program. Right? So from all the facilitators and everything that they received, there's performance, paid performance opportunities that artists receive from being a part of the program. We just had fresh up Fest and Blueprint Collaboration a couple weeks ago.
It was amazing. And that was a paid performance opportunity that. Comes out of four artists who are chosen from the blueprint. And then all throughout this year there was different performance opportunities around the city. We had something called Soundtrack of the City, which was a collaboration with the city of Hamilton.
We had Soul Sessions, which was a collaboration with the Hamilton Farmer's Market and Black Owned. Um, we had Common Threads, which was a collaboration. So we had a whole bunch of, uh, collaborations and just performance opportunities, and we continued to just. Provide platforms for these artists to, uh, grow and thrive and put into practice what they've learned.
Meredith: And if people are looking for more information about, about Tune in the foundation, the program work, can they find that
Dejehan: they can find it on our website at tuneinfoundation.org. People don't say www anymore, do they? Yeah, no, we
Russ: can now. Yeah,
Dejehan: we can [00:28:00] www.tunetuneinfoundation.org. You can also follow us on our Instagram at TuneIn Foundation.
Um, we're on Facebook, but. Yeah, you can find the bulk of our information on those two, uh, platforms.
Russ: Being that you're someone who grew up in the North end and you're in the throes of it, you know the amount of work you're doing, you're performing, you're doing all this. Like, do you ever take a step back and just kinda reflect on kinda your life in, in music in Hamilton?
Dejehan: I'm extremely grateful. I'm extremely lucky, right. Um, to be able to do this. But I think that. Yeah, it's not lost on me. I, I, I recognized when I had the opportunity to go to Berkeley College of Music, because again, I didn't even know Berkeley existed. Uh, the year before I went, right, I was at Mohawk College.
I was already, I think 18 at the time, or 19 at the time. And I, I thought I loved music and knew what I wanted to do and the pathways, and it was, wasn't until I got to Mohawk College when there was other [00:29:00] students who were speaking about, oh, do you know about. Player or this musician or this person, they went to Berkeley and I was like, what's Berkeley?
And they all looked at me like I had 10 heads. They're like, are you sure that you're a musician? Like, how don't you know about Berkeley? So, uh, getting into the school was great. I'm in Boston. I'm at this. Institution and I'm now thinking to myself, it's happening. It's, it's really happening. And then there was the next moment where I was like, there's probably a whole bunch of other young people who grew up in the north and like me, or wherever they're growing up, like me who don't know about the access, who don't know that this exists and that this is possible for them.
And if I'm the only one getting to experience it, then that's not good enough for me. I wanna be able to. Go back and let everybody else know that, yo, this is a opportunity. This is something that you know you could be a part of. So that's where MusicaPalooza was born. That's where TuneIn Foundation was born.
It was to go back to my community. [00:30:00] And spread the word and create access and create opportunities so that other people can have their Berkeley moment, wherever, whatever that, you know, looks like for them.
Meredith: This always feels like an unfair question, um, but just being, being in the Hamilton music scene, um, do or do you have any favourite artists, artists you're listening to now, any artists that have come up through your program that you'd like to hype?
Who should people take a listen to if they're looking for local talent?
Dejehan: To be fair, um, I can't, I can't, I can't answer the question like that because I feel like all of the people who've come through the blueprint are like my children, right? And you know how this is like asking who's your favourite child?
Out of all, you can't, you can't choose on record. I can't choose. I just wanna encourage everyone who's listening to this to. Really go out there and support the local artists in the city. Do go out to their shows, right, listen to their music online. And yeah, just really embrace that. We have so much rich [00:31:00] talent here.
We have so many incredible talented people, producers, artists, singers, songwriters, et cetera. So I, I will reframe this question to say that. They're all my favourite, um, and I highly encourage everyone to support. You know, all of your local artists in the city,
Meredith: it's, and with 2026 being the year of music in Hamilton, there's so much happening.
So there's so many opportunities to go see a small show, to go see a big concert, to connect with music industry professionals. So if, if you're interested, if you're looking at this as your career, I definitely en encourage you to just get out into the city. Um, and everyone, everyone is so lovely and so welcoming, um, and I think it's a great place to get started in a music career.
Russ: Anything else you'd like to share?
Dejehan: I just wanna thank you guys for having me and, and thank you for this exhibit. And thank you for this opportunity to share our stories and to highlight the amazing industry and the, the people who make up this industry in this city. It's, um, encouraging, [00:32:00] right? It's encouraging to know that there's people who care.
About what we're doing here in Hamilton and that there are people who want to hear these stories and want to invest into the industry in different ways, whether it's just by, you know, sharing stories or coming out to shows or, yeah. So I really wanna thank you both for having me here and, uh, keep encouraging everyone to keep supporting music in Hamilton.
Meredith: Yeah. And thank you for such an inspirational conversation, not only for musicians, but I think anyone working in, in the creative field. There's been so many wonderful pieces that I've read and I was like, oh yeah, that, that connects to me working, working in the arts as well. Um, so thank you. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your experience as well as your, your thoughts for the future.
Dejehan: Thank you.
Meredith: Thank you for listening to the Gritty History podcast, brought to you by the City of Hamilton and Hamilton Civic Museums. This episode was host. By Meredith Leonard and Russ Piva, produced and edited by StereoRuss Media. The series episodes were recorded at CFMU studios at McMaster University, [00:33:00] Catherine North Studios, and Bridgeworks.
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