Dustin is a Writer/Associate Editor at The Experience Magazine, and he has tons of experiences and stories from traveling all over the world. He is a passionate Bluegrass bassist, and we learn a lot about what Bluegrass is and how it started.
In the midst of a pandemic, this is an episode that gets us traveling without leaving our home, and certainly will inspire you to travel the world.
Dustin is a Writer/Associate Editor at The Experience Magazine, and he has tons of experiences and stories from traveling all over the world. He is a passionate Bluegrass bassist, and we learn a lot about what Bluegrass is and how it started.
In the midst of a pandemic, this is an episode that gets us traveling without leaving our home, and certainly will inspire you to travel the world.
Hi, welcome to what matters most to you. In each episode, I interview a guest from somewhere in the world. And I ask, what it is that matters most to them. My name is Anna Cei. And this podcast is brought to you by The Pink Spider Web. Let's call someone and hear what they have to say. Hi, and good morning. I mean, good afternoon. What time is it?
Dustin:It's one in the afternoon here in Los Angeles.
Anna Cei:So hi, Dustin, I should say. Welcome to the podcast.
Dustin:Thank you. Good to be here.
Anna Cei:And you are in Los Angeles. Before we dive in and talk about what matters most to you and why? I think many people want to know a little bit about you. So you are in Los Angeles. And what's the weather like?
Dustin:Today? It's 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and really nice weather. It gets cool at night. It's the weather for the quarantine has been perfect, we've had some rain, it's been cold. There have been good reasons to stay home for a while. And now that it's high. Everyone wants to go to the beach, of course. And but you know, the weather's perfect,right?
Anna Cei:You've been in Los Angeles for a long time. Are you from there originally?
Dustin:No, I was born in Orlando, Florida. And I've lived al l over the States. And I also lived in Moorpark, which is not far from where I live today, when I was a little little kid. And there when I was a kid, so I'm from Southern California. And I grew up in Los Angeles, but I was living in other places. And and I've lived here for 20 years, and it's home for sure.
Anna Cei:It's a good place to live?
Dustin:It is a good place to live, actually. Yeah.
Anna Cei:And what do you do for a living?
Dustin:Well, you know, I was doing freelance publicity and writing for two online publications. And I was doing pretty good getting free accommodations, getting paid to write sponsored content for athletes. And now that sort of come to a stop. And I also play bluegrass music professionally. And that is a lot of fun. I would prefer to be a professional bluegrass musician full time, which is something I'm trying to do, is play more
Anna Cei:So have you done than that a very long time?
Dustin:Yeah, I've been playing professionally bluegrass now for about 10 years.
Anna Cei:You have to tell for those who doesn't know what bluegrass is? What kind of instruments are sure?
Dustin:Yeah, it's hard to explain it. bluegrass music is Appalachian country music
Anna Cei:and Appalachian is the Eastern Mountain chain and in the United States.
Dustin:That's right. Yep. It's the mountains in the United States that goes through Canada goes through Nashville goes through West Virginia and South Carolina. And the music the native music from there was people playing guitars, mandolins , fiddles, cellos in their homes, because they were so poor that couldn't even afford a radio.
Anna Cei:So they said that poor man's music?
Dustin:The roots are I wouldn't say 'poor'. Well, here's the deal. It was created by this guy named Bill Monroe in 1949. in Nashville, and his band was sort of the supergroup of bluegrass that all bluegrass bands follow to some degree, they either break the rules of Bill Monroe or they completely follow Bill Monroe.
Anna Cei:When in time was this?
Dustin:1949 was the creation of bluegrass and Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium. The lineup of that band those became the most influential bluegrass professionals in the world. And some of those people, believe it or not, are still around or people that played with them.
Anna Cei:Wow.
Dustin:So bluegrass has a sort of nucleus of a supergroup and the closer you are to that inner ring, the people that have played with those people the higher you are in the world of bluegrass regardless of how experienced you are or how much you've played with them. If you've played with one of the Royal bluegrass members, that makes you bluegrass royalty. Five or six people.
Anna Cei:Are you part of that ring?
Dustin:So, you know, I'm really honored to have played with Roland White who was in Bill Monroe's band as a young man and Roland is still around and lives in Nashville and he comes through LA and we play bluegrass. He's an intense guy. He's one of the legends one of the truly great legends of bluegrass. His brother was Clarence. Clarence White, unfortunately was killed by a drunk driver and Palmdale in 1972. And Clarence was considered the greatest bluegrass guitarist ever. There's never been anyone better than Clarence and Roland is considered one of maybe the top mandolin player in bluegrass. There's a few there's a few mandolin players but Roland is is a mandolin player specifically. So that that's a subculture within the Bluegrass
Anna Cei:Is bluegrass mainly centered Like around the East Coast or like, is it national by now?,
Dustin:That's the thing, Bluegrass is worldwide. They have a they have a jam in Ginza that's been going on for years. They have an Osaka group.
Anna Cei:And that's Japan just for those who don't know Ginza. Yeah,
Dustin:That's just Japan, in Japan, right. And then they have them in Paris, France, and Dublin, all over the world. And, and then in New York City on the East Coast, they certainly they do have a big bluegrass community. In the big cities like LA and New York, the players tend to be more professional and master level because they're usually studio musicians or something. And as a hobby they play. bluegrass. Or their doctors, you know, so the big city bluegrassers tend to be like higher level and then in the Midwest, it's more just folks getting together and jamming playing together more of a community sort of thing in the Midwest, I think
Anna Cei:you said you started about 10 years ago with bluegrass or
Dustin:Yeah, so yeah, you know, I started working with Randy Torno at the Blue Ridge picking parlor, which was a famous blues eh bluegrass music store in the 70s in Los Angeles., Our friend Judy, owned that, and ..Judy Hersh. And so I met a large group of people that I still know today, and we still play bluegrass together on a regular basis. We usually try to play once a week. There's still a few of us together. But anyways, Randy Torno. He's a famous, he was the executive producer on the TV show "Chips" in the 70s and the TV show "Fame". And he owned Republic pictures in the 70s. You know, he was like a Hollywood guy. And he's also
Anna Cei:a film guy like in the movies. Yeah,
Dustin:Film guy. Yeah, film movie guy. And he also plays mandolin Banjo and teaches guitar, jazz guitar, bluegrass guitar. He's a big bluegrass guy. Started well, I started working at his music school. And I would play the upright bass with his guitar mandolin, and then all the students would play.
Anna Cei:Mmm.
Dustin:So the bass really adds to the school and we got going there for a few years where we would do three or four classes per week. So it was sort of like a full time job. Sometimes I would play the bass for six hours a day.
Anna Cei:Oh, wow.
Dustin:Yeah, it would just go on and on
Anna Cei:How were your fingers after that?
Dustin:Well, you know, it's funny. I'm fair haired and fair skinned, and I my fingers blister easily. So from pulling for no other way to do it. I wear a glove on my right hand.
Anna Cei:Ah, six hours. Yeah,
Dustin:yes, some bluegrass players do that. Now some bluegrass bass players don't use a glove. And what they do in Nashville, I've been to Nashville and played with a lot of the pro guys and hung out jammed in Nashville. They get these blisters on their fingers on their right hand. And they carry this little, this little medical box around with needles in it, and they pop the blisters to continue playing. And the other thing you can do before you get the blisters, like if you're going to play for three days straight for 12 hours a day, you can take your three fingers, and you can take super glue and glue a giant thing that fuses onto your skin. And that makes it so tough that it won't blister. But the problem is, after the three days, the superglue will peel your skin off. Because it's like fused on there. Mmm. And that usually causes a huge blister itself.
Anna Cei:So before bluegrass, did you play any instruments was music part of your life before?
Dustin:Yeah, I have. I've always played guitar. You know, I went to the Ohio State University in 1989. And I was studying theater there. And I was into music and I got paid to learn how to play the banjo and professionally play the banjo and the run of this play. And it was really great. You know, and I can still play a little bit of banjo but it's not my primary instrument. But that was sort of, you know, a great memory of playing music and you know, playing with the band. And the one thing about bluegrass that's different than other music is, for rock, rock and roll for example, if Chuck Berry plays a song, and then Metallica plays that song, Metallica's version can be completely different. It might have the same words, but it could have a different structure. And those rules are okay, in rock and roll. But in bluegrass and in jazz, what you're trying to do is you're trying to reproduce a certain sound a certain song. There's music involved, that you read, there's that you there's a melody that you have to achieve. And if you don't achieve that melody, then you're not playing the song. So that separates bluegrass from rock and roll where rock and roll is sort of anything goes and jazz and bluegrass are like you can't wing it. You have to play the song. And that's sort of a skill that's really hard to learn as a musician, like a lot of the heavy metal guys. Well, it's hard to say but you know, everyone's different.
Anna Cei:But yeah, but it's a little bit. I'm thinking of pop songs in Sweden or like midsummer or whatever. Even somebody else thinks it is the same song. You know, you can't change the rhythm. You can't change the beat or the phrasing. It's the same song. Yeah, well, that's awesome. Maybe we can listen to some bluegrass music here.
Dustin:Absolutely. Cool, cool, cool...
Anna Cei:That was great! That was some bluegrass music. Maybe some people have never heard bluegrass before.
Dustin:Yeah, yeah.
Anna Cei:So spreading the Bluegrass. Yeah. So now we know a little bit about you and what you listen to and what you play. And now we're all very curious to know, what did you pick? How do you want to answer my question? What matters most to you?
Dustin:Yeah I thought about that. You know, what matters most to me. And of course, I think it goes without saying good health is is paramount to anyone's life. Because without that, you can't really do anything else. I think what matters most to me is the lifestyle that I have, where I get to travel around the world and meet so many people. It's a real important thing that I do. That's where I met you Anna, and, and those memories are so important to the definition of me. And I never know what's gonna happen, you know, I just go and I usually always have an interesting time and, you know, I'm, it's a...
Anna Cei:it's it, the independency of it all that appeals you?
Dustin:No, like, I don't know, I don't know how I got so lucky when I was young. And when I was 18, I started going to Bangkok and Thailand alone, and I felt like I was on planet Mars, it was so far away. And there was no iPhones or anything. I mean, you were really out in the middle of nowhere. And that sort of appealed to me. And then once I was there, I was like, Well, now I really want to go to like the jungles of Malaysia to the Cameron Highlands and see, you know, just like places that maybe no one really goes to.
Anna Cei:So that came along in your life already as an upper teenager or a young adult then?
Dustin:Right. Yeah, I sort of got bit by the bug early on. And when I got going, and when I got out on the road, I was lucky that, you know, there are always scams and so on and getting ripped off. But I did meet some great people who were sort of legendary travelers and writers and just travelers and they sort of sat down with me, and they told me what I needed to do and where I needed to go and what it was I was even I didn't even know why I was traveling. Like, I didn't understand that I was connecting to their culture.
Anna Cei:Mm hmm. And before that, were you traveling with your parents as a child as well?
Dustin:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I grew up like literally grew up before I was a year old. We flew from Florida to California. We've lived in California and traveled a lot when I was a little kid. And we used to travel to Hawaii all the time. And yeah, my my dad's a pilot, and he's always traveled around the world and taking me with him. So I grew up as a kid in Katmandu and Hong Kong. And once I was in Hong Kong, I sort of on my own and alone and meeting expats who were saying, look, you have to come to Hong Kong, you have to live here, get a job. That's how you get into the world stage. And I didn't really understand why people from Switzerland were living in Hong Kong, and working there. But now I can really see what was going on. You know, it was
Anna Cei:right, right
Dustin:There was a good time, it was a good experience.
Anna Cei:But it's not the traveling alone. It's just said something about what matters to me is my lifestyle. So how have you incorporated this in your life? Or?
Dustin:Well, you know, I write for the experience magazine at ee world news.com for seven years now. And I've done some travel writing for them. And the great thing about travel writing is contacting a small boutique hotel in Kyoto and hearing the concept of their new hotel. And then, you know, they asked me to come and stay there and you know, use all of the features of the hotel and write about it. And
Anna Cei:I think a lot of people, including me become quite envious right now.
Dustin:Yeah, well, you know, it gets addicting, like, you want to just continue to connect with other people who can hear I'll tell you an interesting story about Kyoto is a friend of mine, put me in touch with Mr. Yamamoto in Kyoto, and he owned a Airbnb called Yuurakuan. It's an old tea house. And in Japan, a tea house means, a house where the geisha entertain people. So it has a little room. And this this house is 100 years old, and the ceilings are really low. But the place had been totally remodeled to accommodate eight, or even 10 people all at once. It was a really cool old house. And he couldn't, he couldn't book it. It was going for $500 at night on Airbnb. So I went and stayed there. And he bought me this giant bottle of Sake and looked at the house and talked about it and took pictures. And I wrote an article about it and what it was and where it is, and you know, I can send you the link. And after I wrote that article, that place was sold out to Chinese tourists who could read the article in English, but not in Japanese. Ah, and they understood what that place was, and how you you know, they in Japan, they call it floor life, they hang out on the floor in the living room. And that house had a huge living room with these chairs that you sit on the floor. And Chinese people love that. This place,. And this was a really cool place to special place with one of the little moon viewing backyards in Kyoto. And so you know, that experience is really I'm addicted to trying to help people and write about where they are and who they are in a way that would help them. You know, that's really exhilarating,
Anna Cei:Mmmm. So you first experience this, and then you share it through your writing.
Dustin:Right
Anna Cei:And that kind of gives you joy?
Dustin:Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.
Anna Cei:And so this was a story from Japan. And are there any other gems you want to share? Travel gems.
Dustin:for travel writing? Well, let's see. You know, I haven't written about it, but I have been traveling lately in the South Pacific. And I've always loved the South Pacific. I grew up going to Hawaii, to Waikiki, a Oahu Island and I've been going to Maui and Kauai. But Guam is in the South Pacific. It is deep in the South Pacific. And you know, Guam is a really different place. I like going to the islands in the South Pacific and I want to go to Yap. Island, and I recently went to Okinawa. But lately I've been trying to go to as many South Pacific Islands as as I can. And it's a special place. Okinawa is a is a really special South Pacific Island. It's actually sort of near Taiwan. It's not far from Taipei, and way,way south from Japan, out in the middle of the ocean. And the thing about Okinawa is, of course, the cuisine is incredible. And the people are really genuinely great people, the people of Okinawa, but it's a sad place, because there's so much war and loss, and it is an island out in the middle of nowhere, essentially,
Anna Cei:yeah,
Dustin:I went up to Hacksaw Ridge where a lot of Japanese and American soldiers lost their lives
Anna Cei:in Second World War, right.
Dustin:Yeah, so yeah, that took an hour. That was my thoughts on Okinawa. I thought it was a nice place, but it's sort of sad.
Anna Cei:Is Asia, your travel like, favorite destination? Or is there any other places Africa, Europe, How about the rest of the world?
Dustin:I'd love to go to Africa, I'd really like to go to the Maasai Mara, in Africa, which is near Nairobi, Kenya.
Anna Cei:Have you been there yet?
Dustin:No. I've never been there. And I'd like to go there. Last year, for the first time I went to Paris and Rome, Italy, as well as Florence. And I'd never been to any of those places.
Anna Cei:So what do you think was the hen and what was the egg? Do you think that you were born with this innate wish or desire to travel? And then you found yourself or you made your life that way? Or do you think because of, you know, your opportunity your life, You found that, Oh, this is something I can do?
Dustin:Yeah, that's a good question. I think being in sales and selling life insurance
Anna Cei:You have done that too?
Dustin:Yeah. Yeah.
Anna Cei:So how many professions have you had?
Dustin:Well, as musician, if you want to be a musician, you have to be ready to do anything
Anna Cei:as a side kick
Dustin:Oh, yeah, as a side job, don't go side jobs. But yeah. But when I got into sales, I seriously got into sales, where I can actually make some money and be taxed on it, and so on, I discovered that the way to live is to make money, save it up, don't spend anything, and then set up a goal and a budget, and then go travel somewhere, then come back, and get back to work making the money that you need to pay your bills and save up and go to another place. And you sort of get addicted to it. And the thing that happened to me is, especially in going to Japan, where all my friends live, and my friends are very helpful in showing me things about Tokyo and Osaka. And with getting free accommodations at hotels, so that I read articles about I can I can really travel cheaper than I can when I stay home and fill up my car with gas every day and spend all this money on parking. So I sort of get addicted to going someplace new anywhere, someplace anywhere.
Anna Cei:Mmm, mm, mmm. So I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who share your desire to travel and but also feel like they can't. So what do you think can make that possible? Do you have any advice for people how to go about it, though?
Dustin:I don't know. No, I don't, I'm really not sure how to get there. You know, the people that I know, that don't have a lot of opportunity to travel and still do travel, are younger people, you know, they they're sort of able to like they're able and willing to go live out of a van. So they can go to Ireland and so on. And I'm not so willing to do that
Anna Cei:anymore.
Dustin:Anymore I'm also older you know,
Anna Cei:yeah, yeah.
Dustin:So yeah,
Anna Cei:But I think that, personally speaking because I'm a traveler too us you know, and I did very similar when I was young I you know, saved up money and I traveled extremely inexpensivly, but then as I get older, I noticed by my friends they want you know, more comfort or they want to be assured that they can really do something, whereas I still take a lot of chances and you have to give up stuff and that's another thing people say you're so lucky that you can travel or you can live abroad but I have also missed tons of weddings of you know funerals and you know important holidays like Christmases or midsummers because I've been in another part of the world.
Dustin:Yeah,
Anna Cei:I've chosen that lifestyle. So how do you think you're gonna like be how is this gonna play out in the future for you?
Dustin:Well, right now the airlines are at a complete standstill and
Anna Cei:exactly,
Dustin:travel ban. So 14 days if I would go to Japan right now, I'd have to stay in a hotel for 14 days. And same thing if I go to Hawaii right now 14 days so
Anna Cei:quarantines, so you are actually allowed and it's you are would be able to actually fly to Japan. But once you arrive, you will have to stay in quarantine.
Dustin:That's right. You're supposed to be quarantine in your hotel.
Anna Cei:Right. So you're on your way to Japan. That's cool.
Dustin:Yeah. Yeah, like I said, I went to Okinawa and I really liked I really liked the music and the food and I like to check out more of Okinawa. It's not what I expected. You know, I watched Anthony Bordaine special in Okinawa. It sort of looked like a cool Japanese Hawaii with a big military base. But I really didn't see any servicemembers there. They're sort of off on one corner of the island and the islands very remote. You have to travel with a car far distances to get anywhere. And there is a city called Naha, but it's an interesting place to, to check out you know, everyone is Japanese, Chinese, Southeast Asian, traders, that history of that island before World War Two is really incredible. All those all those people that were out at sea they would hang out in Okinawa night from Southeast Asia, Philippines, Chinese people. China is very close to Okinawa. So there's always been a huge Chinese influence there. And and then the Okinawan people, so I'd like to check that out more for sure.
Anna Cei:Are there any other dream travels that you would like to do that..?
Dustin:dream traveling? Yes, yes.
Anna Cei:You mentioned Africa.
Dustin:Africa. Yes. But you know, where one place I'm dying to go is Moscow.
Anna Cei:Mmm.
Dustin:I speak some Russian from college. And, and, you know, aside from the politics over there, of course, and the fact that every iPhone is hacked I really think Moscow is a beautiful city. I'd like to go into summer when it's warm. And drink vodka, you know? even go for a few days. So yeah, that's my dream travel. And then like I said, I want to go to to Nairobi, Kenya, and check out the Maasai Mara, or Johannesburg. I wouldn't mind going to Johannesburg during the middle of the terrible drought right now. You know, I want to go on a safari.
Anna Cei:So Johannesburg and Nairobi in Africa, and Moscow. Have you been to Russia before?
Dustin:No, I've never been to Russia.
Anna Cei:And how about any other places in Asia still?
Dustin:Oh, you know, I went to Dublin, Ireland last year. And I'm Irish, actually. So it was a lot of fun. And I wouldn't mind checking out Northern Ireland, which I didn't get to, as well as Scotland, which is, you know, on the UK on the very top north.
Anna Cei:So you ancestorship is Irish. You were not born in Ireland. Right?
Dustin:That's right. Right. My ancestors. Yeah, my great great grandfather came from a part of Donegal, which is in the middle of Ireland there. And during the potato famine, they all moved to Belgium, and lived there a bit and then they moved from there to New York City
Anna Cei:came over by the boat.
Dustin:Yep, came over by the boat. They were all really smart. So they did really well in engineering and so on. And
Anna Cei:so Irish music or Gaelic music, Isn't that something that also? I don't know, I'm not sure about bluegrass but, but something that would appeal to you that kind of music?
Dustin:Absolutely. Yeah. When I went to Ireland, I went to see musicians play all over. I heard him play all over and bars on the streets, busking. Yeah, I mean, that's really what I wanted to hear was a lot of the Celtic music and I wasn't disappointed. It's a lot like bluegrass, but it has a little bit different of a lilt. In bluegrass, we play a Celtic song called red haired boy. And it's sort of an homage to Celtic music is sort of a, they put three licks together that are supposedly Celtic, but it's actually a bluegrass song. So there's a little bit of a bleed through in the mix. A lot of the early bluegrass people were were Irish, you know, who would play Appalachian music at home.
Anna Cei:Yeah. Wow. You know, you're really seeing the world. And I think what matters most to you has inspired a lot of people to travel. Unfortunately, most of us are not allowed to travel this moment. But this too shall pass. Right?
Dustin:Right. That's right. This will come to an end. That's right,
Anna Cei:it will come to an end this pandemic, and then we will all suddenly start traveling again.
Dustin:That's right.
Anna Cei:But even sometimes, I think you can also travel in your own hometown. Take LA, for example, which is your hometown. There's a lot of different cultures and neighborhoods and subcultures in LA alone.
Dustin:That's right. Yeah, you know, I've been walking around my house now. I'm really just rediscovering the neighborhood where I live. And I'm trying to like shop locally and support local business people, because these times are so hard for everybody. So everyone needs, you know, to support the local community, I think,
Anna Cei:right But then I can sit here and dream and I can interview people who travel the world and I can make plans for the future and be inspired by people like you, Dustin.
Dustin:Oh, thank you Anna
Anna Cei:Well you really do inspire me both with your you know, your passion for the Bluegrass, your passion for travel and your passion for writing. And and you kind of break the rules of also, I think that's another thing with travelers, they kind of tend to break the rules. So what's expected from you or, you know,
Dustin:yeah, that's true. Yeah, you're right. Yeah,
Anna Cei:they are the true also connectors to make a better understanding of people who are from other places,
Dustin:Right. Yeah. The change of perspective in travel is so important. Each time you travel, your perspective shifts a little bit. And you can't predict which way it's going to go or how what's going to affect you, but you're on the road. And then there you go, you learn something about yourself or..
Anna Cei:That's one thing that's for sure it does affect you one way or another. And you need to rethink your value system. And I think that, for me, at least, what is the most important part of traveling is that I grow as a person, I see new ways of solving problems, or I see new ways of entertaining or I see new ways of socializing, or new ways of solving issues and like trouble that one can have. Right an learning from others is the big big reward of traveling, think.
Dustin:Absolutely.
Anna Cei:Well, thank you so much, Dustin, I wish you a wonderful Wednesday.
Dustin:Thanks Thank you.
Anna Cei:Bye bye