April 1st - Drag Race contestant Sapphira Cristál, Digital Money, and Cartreze Tucker goes BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Brett Cullum talks to RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE Season 16's Runner-up Sapphira Cristál about his/her/their appearance at the PUNCHLINE Comedy Club on April 17th at 9:30 pm. Surprisingly, Sapphira was raised here in Houston, and we talk to him/her/them about doing things like going to church with Beyoncé and Frenchie's chicken.  Then R. Lee Ingalls talks with banking professional Tim Stokes about electronic payment apps such as Zelle, PayPal, and Venmo.  Finally, Brett has an interview with Cartreze Tucker of BACK TO THE FUTURE, which is at the Hobby Center through Sunday, April 5th. 

TICKETS FOR SAPPHIRA:

https://www.ticketmaster.com/sapphira-cristal-houston-texas-04-17-2026/event/3A00645222574E72

TICKETS FOR BACK TO THE FUTURE: 

https://www.tuts.org/back-to-the-future-the-musical-2026/?gclsrc=aw.ds&&adtype=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22748810795&gbraid=0AAAAADlaWWt0lBx12-HW5Ndc2rp7N77k4&gclid=CjwKCAjwvqjOBhAGEiwAngeQnbtXGtmpA6yb9_m9FzbjXYV4jqh6GChsdtss_1V-SSw_18asPPuRBxoCuKwQAvD_BwE

Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here.  Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond.  Check out our socials at:

https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/

Transcript

Show Setup And Guests

Brett 0:01

You are listening to Queer Voices, a radio show on KPFT, which is also a podcast. Now, KPFT is a listener-funded station, so please consider making a donation at KPFT.org. We are all volunteers and your donations go 100% to the station. I am Brett Cullum, and this week we have Tim Stokes talking about digital payment applications such as Zell and Venmo. We also have Cartres Tucker, who is in the Tex production of Back to the Future, which is now running through April 5th at the Hobby Center. But first up, I am excited because I get to talk with Sapphira Kristall from RuPaul's Drag Race season 18. Now, just so you know, I am a huge drag race fan, and I've been watching UK versus the world, and there is a British queen called Jahaira. So before the interview, I was telling myself, don't call Sapphira Sapphira. And you can see how well that turned out for me. So Queer Voices starts now. Hi, this is Brett Cullum, and today I am with Sapphira Kristall. She is widely known for being a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race season 16, where the performer finished in the top two and won Miss Congeniality. Nymphia Wynn took that title, but we all know it's not who wins the race, it's what you do with the exposure after it. Now, Sapphira was born in Bryan, Texas, is a classically trained opera singer and composer. What where did that come from? But today we're going to be talking to Sapphira about their comedy tour coming to Punchline Houston on April 17th. So welcome, Safira. Oh, wow. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Thank you. You called me Safira Sapphira. I did. We weren't doing this all day.

Brett 1:52

It was Sapphira Cristal. Where did that name come from? I mean, what how did you call it with Sophira Cristal?

SPEAKER_02 1:58

It's Portuguese for Sapphire, which is my my birthstone.

Brett 2:02

Oh. Well, it's that's so easy. Yeah. What the heck? I was always thinking about this long down the rabbit hole answer, but there you go. Yeah. The next thing I'm gonna ask you is how do you identify and what are your pronouns?

SPEAKER_02 2:12

I identify as a person in this world and my pronouns are I have bigger problems in this life than pronouns. So I have the privilege of having bigger problems in this life than pronouns. You know, I don't have I don't I don't really care. Like if I'm dressed in drag and you call me he, go off. You look like a fool. But like if that's how you feel, that's how you feel. As long as you're not disrespecting me, I'm fine. I don't think anybody would disrespect Safira, but there you are. Most people call me she. Like, just you know, because in the game, everyone's she.

Brett 2:48

This is true. Absolutely. Well, one of the things I wanted to ask you first is how many times did you audition for Drag Race before getting on it?

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Eleven uh times. Eleven times? Yes.

Brett 2:59

So what made you like keep coming back? Like and submitting tapes again and again.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Well, I would see my friends get on, and then I'd be like, oh, okay, well, you know. And then some of them are like, it's a freaking lottery. Like, in many ways it is. But also the lottery is like kind of one of those things that like you get it when you're ready. Some people don't get it when they're ready. But like you get it when you're ready for drag race. I feel like when you're ready, when I was ready, I didn't ask to be on drag race. I said, I want to be ready to be on drag race. And so when I got on drag race, I was ready. You know what I mean? So I I I don't feel anything about it. Every time I didn't get it, I I realized, okay, girl, you're not ready. And that's okay. Because I would hate to have to get an opportunity like that and not be prepared.

Brett 3:45

No, not at all. But um, how has it changed your life and your career?

SPEAKER_02 3:48

I get to travel the world. I've been all over, and people know me everywhere I go. I, you know, I'm recognized by the most random people sometimes. There's this guy who was putting siding up on a on a building, and me and my best friend were walking by and he just looks over and goes, Slowfoot, oh my god, can I get a picture with you? And like he's this guy who you would think was was like, Oh, this guy definitely watches the Eagles, definitely watches football, but watches drag queens, huh? What is this? And he was like, I need a picture with you. My wife would kill me if I didn't get a picture with you. And it just was this insane interaction. And it's not the first time something like that has happened either. Like just having these insane interactions with these people who you would think I'd expect this person to vote against my interests before I would expect them to support me and want to be photographed with me.

Houston Roots And Opera Beginnings

Brett 4:44

No, it's crazy. I mean, I just can't imagine the level, and especially now that it's moved over to MTV and really running it. The demographics for it are just crazy. And I'm always surprised by the people that tell me, Oh, I watch Drag Race. I mean, like at work, I'm like, they just come up and you're like, What? You watch Drag Race? What is that? Well, I noticed that you have a lot of Texas connections, and I wanted to hear a little bit about growing up in Bryan, Texas. And what was that like?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Do you grew up in Houston? Yeah, I'm from I was raised, I was born in Bryan, and that's where it ended.

Brett 5:18

Okay. You got out of there quick.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah. I think I was raised in Bryan for like maybe a couple months, and then my mom sent me to while she was finishing her degree, she sent me to like live with my grandmother for, you know, so that she can actually I mean I lived with her for a while, but you know, when you're in school trying to raise a child and be in school can be very difficult. So like I went to Dallas for a little bit and then my mom got a job in Houston when I was around three years old and we moved to Houston. So I lived in Houston since I was three. And I have loved I loved growing up in Houston. I lived in third ward. Or I lived in Riverside Terrace, but no one knows what that is. So I lived in third ward. It's an easier way to say where I live. I went to Peck Elementary, then I went to Bastion Elementary, and then I went to eventually ended up going to Wonderland, and it which now is BMI, Beatrice Mays Institute. I just loved it there. I loved going to school. I I that's a lie. I did not love it there. Uh but I'm happy I went there because I learned a lot. And I had a lot of great friends there, and there are some things that stick with me to this day from that experience. And then I went to HSPVA for high school.

SPEAKER_06 6:27

No way.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yes, I went to HSPVA, Beatrice May. I mean, I with uh Pat Bonner and the whole crew, and I loved it there. Loved, loved, loved it there. Now they have a new building, and all of us old heads are like, oh, we were told that was gonna be our new building. I'm gone now. I'm like, oh, this is a beautiful place.

Brett 6:50

Yeah. Well, it's funny because I live right down the street. I could literally walk to the old campus from where I am right now. So there you are. Small, small, small world. Is that a school still? It is still a school, but it is now an Arabic immersion school. So interesting.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Nice.

Brett 7:06

And it seems to be doing pretty well, but there you are. But you discovered opera pretty early, didn't you? I mean, how old were you when you discovered opera? Four years old. Yeah. Four. Yeah. How does a four-year-old discover opera? My parents took me to go see the opera.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Yeah. Wow. Yeah, my mom. My mom really. My dad went, but my it was my mom's choice to go see the opera. I think it was the Ebony Opera Guild was doing La Bohem at the Millennium Outdoor Theater. And you know how kids are just running around up and down the hill, and I was sat. I was in my seat and I was mouth-gape, just taking it all in. It was washing over me as a little four-year-old who just did not understand what this was, but knew I loved it.

Brett 7:49

Wow. Yeah. And and you trained. I mean, I obviously, because I mean, during drag race, you famously did the you won the talent show doing opera, which was wild.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

The only time it's I I had planned on being my talent no matter what. I knew I was gonna sing opera. I I knew at some point I was gonna get on drag race and I was going to sing. I knew that at some point I was gonna get on drag race and I was going to sing opera. And I and then Monet did it first. Ah. Yes, like and I was like, uh But what it did was it made it a little easier because when I wanted to do it, it it was a little hard to find like the right stuff and way to get the right stuff. So I like called Monet and was like, hey, how did this work? And she helped me. And so that was really fun too. I really enjoyed doing it because it's also like, yeah, Monet did it, but she didn't do it like I did it. So it was another like if you're gonna do something that someone else did, you have to elevate it in some way.

Brett 8:48

Yeah, well you did.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah. So that was my that was my goal. It's like, okay, it's already been done. Now how can we do it and make people go, well, because if you don't elevate it in some way, then people start to compare you to the other one.

Finding Drag And Building A Brand

Brett 9:02

No, absolutely. And I think that's a big thing with drag race contestants, is there's so many of you all that it's hard not to. Because there's always somebody you can do that to. But how did you find drag? How did how did that happen? I watched Chuang Fu, you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

I love opera. Opera's drag. It really is. But yeah, I feel like maybe Chu Wang Fu, maybe RuPaul was on something, you know, other than that. But I remember RuPaul from Tu Wong Fu, and when she came down as racial tension, I remember being like, oh wow, that's beautiful. And then the other girls came around too, and I was like, oh, this is really interesting. I'm not really sure what I'm seeing. And then I watched the rest of the movie, and you're like, oh, these are some powerful people. I'd like to do that. Then I forgot about it. Because I used to watch it all the time. I would actually have my parents rent it again and again and again. They didn't know that I was gonna be a drag queen, which is crazy. Or they didn't know I was gay, which was crazy. Well, queer because I do identify as pansexual. So I was exposed to drag through Tu Wang Fu because I can't remember another time. Oh, well, there's also Shenane Nang, there's also Wanda from Living Color and Living Color. And like those the there's all of the Eddie Murphy drag roles, Mrs. Dalfire. Like you have so many drag roles that people don't really consider drag, but it's totally drag. And it inspires you to be a funny drag queen too, not only just like I'm a beautiful queen. And I wanted to kind of blend those two. Like I wanted to be a beautiful woman, but also be hilarious.

SPEAKER_05 10:35

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Well, and you did a lot of pageants too, right? I did. I did do a lot of pageants, and I won about 16 of them.

Brett 10:43

Oh my gosh. And then you end up on RuPaul's Drag Race and all that. And then I think the last time that you were here in Houston, you were at House of Blues, and I can't remember the name of the tour. It was like the Oh, and my Crystal Ball tour. Crystal Ball, yes. Yeah. Because I was thinking Prince album, Crystal Ball.

Why Stand-Up And What To Expect

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Oh, yeah. Crystal Ball. Yeah, it's the Crystal Ball, which was my debut tour. Right off the heels of me being on Drag Race, I did a tour. Yes. Singing, singing, dancing, my new album, and stand-up, actually.

Brett 11:15

Which is why you're here today, because we were talking about the Punchline Houston on April 17th. Exactly. And you are doing stand-up. Right down.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Downstairs for where I was two years ago. Two years ago, I was upstairs at the House of Blues, and now I'm going to be downstairs at the punchline. Why stand-up? Why stand-up? Well, like I said, it had my my original show had dancing, singing, comedy. It had my album, but it also had stand-up comedy. And I that part of my show was kind of the thing that made me just go, oh, I really love this. I love stand-up. I've always loved stand-up since growing up, but it was never a thing. It wasn't a romanticized kind of art form, if you know what I mean. Like it's always like, if you ever see a a show about stand-up comedians or you hear an interview, they're all like, no one wants to do this. You don't want to do this. Like, it's it this is hard. Or not even just it's hard, but it's like, this is a shit life. We we hate this. Even some of the most successful comedians have this sort of is the word nihilistic approach to life when it comes to their chosen art form. And it also didn't seem like a moneymaker. And one thing about Spirit Crystal, she's gonna make money. One thing about me as O'Neill Haynes is I'm gonna make money. And so like I choose the art forms that you know people are are are bringing and uh breaking in the dough. Then during my tour, I realized, oh, it makes you money if you make it make money. Like this is something you can do. And people laughed a lot at my show, and people came, they stayed. My show was really long, actually. Uh, I will never do a two and a half hour long show again. So love show. Like it was me and two dancers, but mostly it was just me. And I was telling stories. I was doing this. I'm just it was a lot. This is not that. This is an hour long of stand-up, and y'all can get on out, like have a good old time. That's still longer than a lot of people's shows.

Brett 13:10

If you're doing an hour, you're doing a full hour of stand-up. A full hour stand-up, yeah. Wow. Oh my god. That's a lot of material.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

It is, but it doesn't feel like it. You know what I mean? It just kind of like it's one of those things that if you get on when once you get on the roller coaster, you just ride it, and then you're at the end and you're like, oh, it's over? Oh, I could do more of that. You know what I mean? And I like to leave them, leave them wanting more.

Brett 13:36

Well, this is where the opera's coming in, because your opera is hours and hours and hours long, right? Yeah. And you seem to like your cristal ball obviously was two and a half hours long. That's a little operatic. Your your standup is gonna be an hour. That's a pretty long set. So I think you you've got some length to you all the time. I have stamina. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

So I am a stamina fool person, and like I also come from the world of giving people what they paid for. Like, I don't, I'm not paying all this money to come and see you talk for 30 minutes. That doesn't make sense to me. Because of that, I've always my fans love me because I make sure that they're taken care of. I'm sure, like, for me, when I go into a comedy room or if I go into a theater, these people have given me so much responsibility. And I have to make sure that I return that spots responsibility with care and laughter and fun, and that after they leave me, they go, Oh, I gotta come back because this was so much fun. And so that's I don't remember what happens in 30 minutes sometimes. You know what I mean? I like, I like a good hour long television show. Like a 30 minutes, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna watch this before I go to bed, but I'm not gonna remember what happened at all. A good hour long, I'm like, okay, what's happening next? I can't wait till the next time I come and see it. And that's what I'm that's that's that's the vibe we're giving.

Brett 14:57

Okay. And any songs at all in it, or is it just stand-up?

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Stand-up comedy. I will say this. For my good audiences, there will, there might be an encore. And it will be a song.

Brett 15:13

Okay. All right, I'm gonna hold you too, because you know, I already have tickets for this thing. Yes. I'm already I'm in the front section. I paid for the the upgrade, the VIP, I'm having bottles.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

I want bottles, maybe somebody where's the chicken wings? I heard there was three chicken wings with this.

Brett 15:33

Do you have a meet and greet for this thing? I didn't meet and greet.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

No.

Brett 15:37

How do people get involved? Get into the meet and greet.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

That I do not know, actually. I think I thought it was on the chicken site. I'm pretty sure there's a meet and greet. Let me just but yeah, there's a meet and greet on for all my shows. I'm a dragon. Do people want to meet and greet me? Of course.

Brett 15:50

It's usually what happens. I mean, obviously. Yeah. I've been doing enough of these things.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Yeah, there's a meet and greet. There's VIP, meet and greet. And then, yeah, as I said, at the end, if if if we have a good time and there's time left, I'll do a little uh something, something. Uh I I will be doing a little encore song for the people.

Brett 16:13

So what do you see as your like next evolution? Is this it? I mean, are you gonna go for stand-up? I mean, obviously you're a performer, you're opera. Is says you're a composer too. I mean, you actually compose as well?

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Yeah, I write I write a lot of my own music. So if you've heard the Crystal Ball, I wrote a lot, a lot of that. Wow. I went to the Eastman School of Music for composition and so and the Lingerie School of Music for musical composition. And so I've never not been able to do that. That's the one of the reasons why I got into actually I got in in into composition after getting into classical music and vocal music and singing opera, and I was like, oh, I want to write this stuff because I was hearing stuff that I could not personally do. As a young kid, I couldn't do it, but I wanted to sing something I could do. So I wrote something I could do. And then I just kept doing that. And then and then we had in high school, in my English class, instead of a final test, we had a final project, and we got to use our art forms to create something that ex that like showed that we had read the book, basically, that we understood the material. I would write songs or I would write opera scenes or I would write all sorts of things in school to do that. And I really was I'm very grateful that I went to HSPBA because I went to a school that really cultivated and cared for its artists and made us know, yes, you will need to learn this stuff, but also I'm gonna make sure you learned it by knowing, meeting you where you are. You're an artist. I know that you know this if you can make art out of it.

Brett 17:44

That's amazing. Well, I have this bad feeling that you can make art out of anything. Because I mean so many telephones. That should be a great feeling. No, it is a great feeling, I guess. I just feel like so like, oh my gosh, this person can sing, this person can write music, this person can do stand-up, this person is one of the fiercest drag queens in the world. I'm also a great actor. A great actor. Here we go. I don't think there's anything that you cannot do, which I think is awesome. But obviously, if we want to see it. I cannot fail. I cannot fail. Okay, that's a good one. We can see you at the punchline April 17th in H Town. I guess your hometown, sort of.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Well, it's the place I was raised. And like, what is a hometown? Many people have multiple hometowns, and I do have multiple hometowns. My, you know, I call Philadelphia my home. Philadelphia has embraced me as the hometown gal. I am now officially, like, according it's written in paper. It was given to me by by the Philadelphia government, that I am officially the crown jewel of Philadelphia. Which was a wonderful and beautiful honor to receive. But I'm a Houston gal. I went to HSP VA. I went to St. John's United Methodist Church. I, you know, I went to school, I went to church with Beyonce and Kelly. I went to school, the same school as Beyonce and Ashley and LaToya. You know, it's it is I'm about as Houston as kids. I'm from third ward. I love French chicken.

Brett 19:15

Oh, I do too. So uh yes. And I take some into the show because it's baby.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

If you bring me some frenchish chicken, I'll maybe you might get a little extra something, something after that.

Brett 19:27

Well, thank you so much, Safira Cristal. We are excited to see you. Thank you for taking some time with me. I appreciate it. I'm just mind-blown by everything that you can do, and I'll be there to cheer you on.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Thank you. You will truly enjoy the show. Yes, I can tell everybody.com. That's S-E-E-S-A-P-P-H-I-R-A.com.

Lee 20:02

Welcome everyone. My name is R. Lee Ingalls, and I am joined today by Tim Stokes, someone that we've had on the show before. He's a managing director at a consulting firm and has been in the financial service industry for over 25 years. He has a wealth of experience. Uh, we are so lucky to be able to tap him and get information about what's happening in the financial world. Uh today we thought we would talk about changes in our payment methods. When you want to pay someone, we're all typical of having the protections of the banking system or the credit card system. But there are other payment options available to us today that are different, such as Zell and Venmo. So I've asked uh Tim to come on and talk about those services. Welcome, Tim.

Zelle Risks And Missing Protections

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Hey, Lee, thanks so much for having me again. This is a really timely topic because Zell, Venmo, any of the peer-to-peer, person-to-person payments, we'd call them P2P for short. Um, you know, they are being used a lot in the frog world right now, currently. So this is a timely topic because not only do we want to understand how these payment methods work, but we also need to let all the listeners know things that they can do to try to protect themselves or at least things to avoid when dealing with people in these P2P payment platforms. I thought I'd just start at kind of a high level and talk about what it is and what makes it different. So at its core, any of the P2P payment systems are a network that lets you send money directly between bank accounts or directly between people. I think most everybody has used this at dinner, for example, one night when someone picked up the tab and you know, you owed them$20. You pulled out your phone and maybe you sent a Zell or a Venmo or something. And so what makes it different from other payment forms is really there's three things speed, finality, and a lack of an intermediary holding the funds. So what that means is that simply put, when those funds are gone, they're gone. Unlike credit cards or digital wallets, once it's sent, it's usually gone. And the reality is with P2P payments, there is no built-in mechanism to reverse it. So if you compare that to something like a credit card, you've got strong consumer protections and the ability to dispute charges and even your ACA transfer things that you set up on autopay that have some built-in delay and return mechanisms. But with P2P systems, it's it's almost like pulling cash out of your wallet, handing it to somebody. There's no, uh there's really no way to get it back. And one thing to keep in mind is that this is an intentional design. So these products are operating as intended, and they are operating the way that consumers want to use them because it's meant to be fast and frictionless. That is, that's that's in a nutshell, you know, what P2P is, what it means, and how it differs from other forms of payment.

Lee 22:49

And I think that's an important point and one that's certain, certainly um, we could uh possibly clarify a little bit more. So I'm gonna use Zell and Venmo because those are the two that that I have used um and am most comfortable with. When you want to pay someone, my understanding is that Zell was an application that was developed by the banking companies. So banks and credit unions, et cetera, developed that application so that to make it easier for people to pay individuals or businesses. But again, to your point, it does not have the same protections as say a credit card company does or a check or something like that. Those are protections that have been put in place over a number of years. So with Zell in particular, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is it's a direct connection between whoever you're paying and your banking account. There is no anything in the middle that would act as um a safeguard. Now, in our discussions, you mentioned that they have done a lot to protect people that are going to try and pay someone using Zell, but that's just at their own discretion. That really, there is no body that's telling them that they have to do that. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Right. Yes. So the first to answer your first question, right? There is no intermediary. So it's it is that the the biggest or the best analogy that I can give you is it it is like handing someone cash, but you're just doing it virtually. So there's no intermediary between you and that person. So there's no bank or anything to put a pause there. You are literally giving them that money, they're getting access to it immediately, and then it's gone. So that is why there's really not the same level of protections that we see in these other financial service products. And I'm sorry, reminding me the second part of your question again.

Lee 24:33

Yeah. So um it so we'll just use the example. So I'm paying you and I'm using Zell as the application, those funds are taken directly out of one of my banking accounts. I don't have the option of using a credit card, do I, on Zell?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

So typically no. Now I have seen some platforms that would allow Venmo because Venmo has its own credit card. So Venmo will allow you to connect your credit card and make payments through your credit. That said Go ahead.

Lee 25:02

I wanted to make that a separate topic specifically because I want to make sure there is a distinct difference between the two.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Okay, yeah.

Lee 25:09

So we'll talk about Zell until we're done with that and then we'll come back.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Okay, yeah. So yeah, so my understanding of Zell is that it is connected directly to your bank account. So it is not uh there's no credit card, there's no, there's nothing else.

Lee 25:23

So there are no protections outside of what the bank is willing to do on that platform itself. So we all know that there are people out there that are going to try and use whatever they can to find cracks in products like this so that they can then scam unsuspecting people. And in this case, they're taking the funds right out of your available cash, whether it's your checking account or your savings account or whatever. Uh, is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 25:47

That's correct. So if you're sending money from your Zell account to someone else's Zell account, while that receiver doesn't have direct access, they can't say ping your account or, you know, go in without your authorization and pull money, but that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing people get scammed. So people are willingly giving the money and the point to continue to drive home today is that once the money is gone, it's gone. And there's very recourse. You know, for example, if you go with Regulation E, the protection's there, the banks have to do an investigation, they have to give you provisional credit, they have to do a lot of things there on these P2P platforms, they don't have to do that. So it's unfortunate that fraudsters have found a way to exploit this payment method because it really is a convenient payment method. But like anything, um, with convenience and speed comes a little bit of risk. And in this case, the risk is the fraudsters able to exploit the system and and do people out of money.

Venmo Credit Cards And Disputes

Lee 26:42

Right, right. And, you know, from my own personal perspective, I have anytime somebody asks me that they insist on make me making a payment via Zell, that automatically throws up a red flag. And not that there's anything wrong with the Zell platform, it works just fine, except there are people that will take the payment then and and not deliver whatever product they are. And that in that case, it's it's scam and you're uh subjected to whatever happens after that. Right. The bank is not going to be responsible for lost funds. Contrasting that then, we also have Zell, which is a Venmo, which is a different platform. It does use credit cards. And I can tell from my own personal experience with that, they have, you know, I can either use a debit card with no fee, or I can use a credit card that somebody pays a fee. Either me, the person paying, or me, the person uh receiving the funds, is gonna pay a fee. But then using that platform, you do reinsert those protections then that you would get with a credit card.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yes? Right. Yeah. So you do because you can dispute charges on credit cards. So if it's a charge to your card uh that's initiated through Venmo and say it is a fraudulent charge, you are able to dispute those charges. And then the issuing, the card issuer is required to conduct an investigation and determine what happened. And depending on the results of those investigations, they either have to give you your money back or they may not are seeing it's it's a really it is a squishy area because financial institutions are saying, well, if you willingly gave somebody your account information or you willingly like gave your username or password, aren't uh the money wasn't taken without your knowledge, right? Like you were scammed, you were duped, but you did give your credentials or you gave your information to somebody. And so we're seeing, I'm I'm seeing personally and and professionally and in my job, I'm seeing financial institutions handle that different ways. Some are saying, well, sorry, you know, buyer beware, you shouldn't have given your credentials away, you shouldn't have done that. And you know, sorry, you blew past all of the warnings and the, you know, the safeguards in the app that say don't send money to someone you don't know. And then others are taking a more consumer-friendly approach and you know, reimbursing consumers and and doing things to kind of tighten up and prevent those fraud losses.

Lee 28:56

Yeah, yeah. So interesting. So, what do you see with that type of uh payment method then? What do you see coming or moving forward through time? Do you see they're gonna increase? There'll be more people, the city cars will be put in place. What do you what do you foresee?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Uh it's everywhere now, right? One of my favorite words is ubiquitous, right? P2P. You know, it's we all use it. We use it, we use it every day. Most people use it. Um, it's become just such a convenient way to send money. I there are starting to see, we're starting to see overlays with other apps. For example, I've seen gaming apps or gambling apps, right? Try to integrate this uh P2P platform or this P2P payment system within their apps. And they're doing that because consumers are saying, hey, I want my money right away. You know, I want my money faster. So as long as consumers are saying, I want my money right away and I want it faster, these companies are going to continue to innovate and try to make that happen. But as I mentioned earlier, with speed comes risk, right? With enough time and uh, you know, if I put enough time within a transaction, I could stop 100% of fraud, right? But that is going to significantly delay time to get money from one person to another, you know, if we have to stop it and verify the transaction and make phone calls or do whatever. You know, you know, it we need to strike a balance about it for our listeners today. The biggest thing is know the risks, understand what's happening when you send this money and the fact that it's gone forever, and do what you can to protect yourself because you can't necessarily rely on the financial institutions to do that for you outside of what they're already doing through the safeguards, through the user experience.

Scam Red Flags And Safe Habits

Lee 30:33

True. No, and I think that's a good point. None of this conversation would be needed were it not for people trying to take your money without delivering whatever problems they have. So in the world of scamming, then, how do you see these applications being used? Or what should our listeners look out for when they're considering this type of a transaction?

SPEAKER_00 30:55

The reason this is so appealing to scammers is because they can take that money into that Zell account to that Venmo account and they can move it immediately to some other account, right? Chances are the Zell account or Venmo account they opened up, they opened it up fraudulently. Banks and uh Venmo, these companies, they have incredible safeguards in place. They they really do, but people find a way, you know, always. I I will say, you know, you asked what I see coming in the future. I do see it getting harder in the future in some respects, but I also see it getting easier in some respects because of the introduction in AI. And that could be a whole nother conversation, Lee. AI can be a shield and a sword. And I would love to talk about that at some point in time too. But um, I mean, it's those are the things that I see coming. Just the listeners need to just be aware. And I can say this with almost 99 to 100% certainty. If someone asks you to send them money and you don't know them and you've never met them, you're probably being scammed. So just don't do it, right? Just do not send money to people you don't know. Also, if you ever do feel like you've been the victim of fraud, it's very important to contact your bank and let them know so that they can stop it from occurring again, right? So you don't want to continue to send money to fraudsters if they have gotten access to your account in some way, whether it's through Zell or whether it's through credentials or whatever. It's very important to contact your bank and let them know so that they can stop the bleeding and you don't lose any more money than that. But those are those are the things that the listeners really just need to understand. And also, I will say we're all guilty of, I mean, I the iOS, you know, update comes to mind when Apple drops in that incredibly long disclosure and we just sit there and we just scroll, scroll, scroll as fast as we can until we can get to the I agree button. And that is, we've been desensitized through the user experience to do those kind of things. But when it comes to sending your money or doing anything with your finances, I would say take a moment and read what is there because it's there usually there to protect you and to um to make you stop and think, you know, am I sending money to someone that I shouldn't be sending money to?

Lee 32:54

Yeah, good point. Good point. As far as it relates to the changes and how we're making payments, what else is out there that you're seeing that's either causing problems or it's a good thing?

SPEAKER_00 33:06

There's there's the crypto, right? Crypto angle is out there and the way people are using crypto to uh send money. I recently I was curious about it myself, so I opened a Coinbase account and I put just enough money in it to if I lost it, I would be annoyed, but not broke, right? So, and I was trying to figure out how to use it. I've been in this industry for a long time, and it was a little confusing to me. As these other sort of payments like crypto and and blockchain, we were hearing about that. As these things are coming up and you do get into them, go in eyes wide open. Do your research, understand what it is that you're doing, understand what's happening with that money. I lost half of my crypto money. Um, I pulled it out and uh, but half of it's gone. But there's a learning experience. I did it so that I could learn about the product. So as these new payment methodologies come along, there's risk associated with all of them, but just understand what you're getting into. You know, I mean, you know, we've always we're all careful with our money, right? We keep our money in our wallets and our purses and we keep our money safe. I think that we get a little desensitized when we're looking at it from a digital perspective. This is still money, right? This is still money being moved through digital channels. So it's very important to uh keep that same mindset that you want to keep this safe.

LGBTQ Dating App Scams Sextortion

Lee 34:16

Yeah, yeah. No, good point, good point. And you brought up a couple of topics that uh would be interesting uh future segments, the crypto world, because I can tell you uh both that world and how the AI uh impacts the financial industry are both really muddy muddy waters for me. So I'm just saying that would be better, but that uh would probably be best as a as a separate topic. So we've talked about things really in general. So for a general audience, but do you see anything um that makes our communities specifically more at risk or less at risk? Or are we targeted differently than other communities?

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Yeah, so the way that that our community is targeted more so is through like the targeted apps that we use, the dating apps, the LGBTQ dating apps. I don't even know how many there are now, but there's a lot. And I think, you know, any anyone who's used them has probably received messages from someone 6,000 miles away, or, you know, um messages from just complete strangers that start out uh the conversation starts out interesting, but then it quickly turns to something along the lines of I need help with something or I could use some money or something like that. We're also seeing, in addition to just scamming people out of their money just by asking for it, we're also seeing things like people asking for your phone number, and then they go and they do all this social engineering and they get as they're able to get information about you and and try to find damaging information about you, and and it becomes extortion. And so in in our community, is say, for example, if you're not out, but you use the apps for whatever reason and someone realizes that you're not out and they're able to get information from you, they will use it against you and say, Hey, I'm gonna, I have pictures or I have our chat log and I'm gonna send it to everyone that you know, or I'm gonna publish it, unless you send me money. And oh, by the way, you're gonna send me money through Zell or crypto or something along those lines. So that's that's the targeting that I see within our community. It's primarily through those apps. And it's it's either through scamming somebody out through a romance scam or you know, the extortion of somebody actually has a name, it's called sex stortion. I would encourage listeners to go look that up because it's a very real thing. And it is a very frightening thing for people, and a lot of people do lose money through those types of scams. So those are the primary ways that I see our community being more vulnerable in this. Other populations that are more vulnerable in this are um, you know, elderly people, they, you know, frosters like to target elderly people who may be home alone all day, you know, they don't work, they're not married, they don't have kids or something like that. So that's why it's also very important to be careful of the information you give out about yourself. So, because sometimes that can make you a target as well.

Lee 36:55

So, any any other thoughts around this subject that um are important for our listeners to know?

SPEAKER_00 37:02

The future of P2P, it's it's not slowing down. Um, it's getting smarter and it's getting it's real time. Companies are going to continue to design experiences that consumers want. It's going to become more appealing. So just again, be cautious. It's the traditional or the old school buyer beware, right? Be cautious with your money, be cautious with your information. Understand that fraudsters are very, very good at what they do. I mean, it's literally their career. You know, they their career is defrauding people. And with money being able to be moved as quickly as it can right now, it can be very detrimental. So just be very cautious, I would say. Um, you know, don't send money to people you don't know. If you're not comfortable with the products, don't use them until you are comfortable with the products. And uh, you know, and just be safe and be vigilant.

Lee 37:50

Yeah, no, and I agree. So these applications or this type of a process is not gonna go away. It's only gonna get more and more present in our everyday life. Uh, and I think it's gonna change over time. And we've talked a lot about Zell and Venmo, but there are other ones out there as well. We're not gonna, we're not here to disparage either one of them. Uh, they're both very successful, lots of transactions are taking place, and the number or percent of scams over them, I'm sure, is small by comparison. So yeah, no, it's here to stay. I appreciate you explaining a little bit about what the cautions are, how that differs from the other payment methods that are available. Yeah. So I appreciate you joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Thanks for having me on. I uh very much enjoyed it. Thanks again. Take care. All right, bye-bye.

Brett 38:45

Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and Back to the Future, the musical, hits the Houston's Hobby Center on March 31st and plays just a week basically through April 5th. So coming along with this adaptation of the 1985 hit film that everybody grew up with is Cartres Tucker. He is a native of Georgia and playing two roles, Goldie Wilson and Marvin Berry. So thank you for joining me today. Hi, friend. How are you doing? I am good. I know that you are on this long journey to Houston. And how long have you been with this tour?

SPEAKER_04 39:20

It's I have been with this tour since the beginning. So since 2024, so two years.

Brett 39:27

That is amazing. How okay, so back to the future. How did you end up in this show? I don't know, honey, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 39:36

I just woke up one day. I just woke up and then say, give this black man a job. I know I auditioned for it. I auditioned for it. I had a friend who saw the show in London and he came back and he was like, Oh, I just saw Back to the Future in London. I loved it. There's a part for you. And my reply was, they're black people in Back to the Future. And he was like, Yes, there's the mayor, and he sings just like you. So once he told me it was a great part for me, it was like sort of like I sort of had to have it. I was like, Let me just see. And then I saw that they were going on tour, and I got an audition for the tour, had six callbacks, and here we are. Six callbacks? Yeah, honey. They had like over and over and over and over, which is crazy because you just do the same thing over and over again. But you just do but the the the the audience, like the people behind the table, become more like you know, it it progressively gets more and more people. So you're just doing it the same thing for different people over and over.

Brett 40:30

Oh wow, that's amazing. But two years on tour is a long time. So what is it like being in Back to the Future? It's gotta be a different experience than maybe your traditional classical musical, if you will. I mean, this is a movie out of Facebook.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Like, honestly, it's so silly. It's really fun, I will say. It's a really fun show to be in and do every day. It is deceptively difficult. Okay. But it is a lot of fun. Before this, I toured with the color purple, and that's when I was at the Hobby Center Labs with the color purple right before the pandemic.

Brett 41:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

And talk about it drastically is honey. Night and day. Yeah.

Brett 41:06

Night and day. But weirdly enough, both big movies from the 80s.

SPEAKER_04 41:10

Yeah, this is also true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brett 41:12

You are specializing in this.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Weren't they both produced by Spielberg?

Brett 41:18

Spielberg.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

Yeah. Yes. And direct no, he didn't directly. Directed by Robert Zemekis.

Brett 41:23

Right.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Yeah. Yeah.

Brett 41:25

But produce both of them for sure. Yeah. So you had like Spielberg going through you. You're gonna be like in the close encounters of the musical or Jaws the musical. Something like that.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Yeah, I'm gonna play, I'm gonna play E.T. next. Yes. That'd be great.

Brett 41:38

E.T. next and ET the musical for sure. All right, coming to Tutson 2028. What have audience reactions been like for Back to the Future?

SPEAKER_04 41:50

It's crazy. I mean, like we it's such a cultural piece. So people have such visceral and like very nostalgic feelings about the movie. So we get like the super fans who come dressed up. We get generational families, like fathers bringing their kids because they you know the dad loved the movie and they're trying to like tell the kid, like, oh, you you have to, you know, you have to you have to get to know this piece of cinema. So it's crazy. So you get a variety of people, then you get mu people who just love musicals, right? So it's just like it is it's a very weird dichotomy because you'll get people who know nothing about musicals who love the movie, and then you have people who love musicals, and somehow they meet in the middle, and we have back to the future of the musical.

Brett 42:40

One of the things that I've noticed with these movie musicals, though, is that they don't follow the movie exactly. Is the story a little bit adapted for the musical?

SPEAKER_04 42:48

I mean, do you feel like there's some changes? It is 99.9% the same. No, for no word for word. There are minor differences because like there's just certain we do a lot on the stage, but there's just certain things like you just can't do, like a like a shootout, we don't have that. What else do we not do? There's other things, but like everything's the same. But yeah, I mean a shootout with terrorists, we don't do. Okay.

How Cartres Found Theater Life

Brett 43:14

Yeah, yeah. But you know, it's like I went and saw Tootsie at the musical, and it's like they changed the whole thing. It's not even that one. That one's completely different. Yes. That one's yes, another movie from the 80s, which maybe you should audition for next because you're specializing in this genre. But tell me, how did you get started in theater? Like, where did this all come in?

SPEAKER_04 43:34

Well, I it was sort of a fluke. I was I just I started I started very late, my junior year of high school. I I wanted to go to med school and I needed an elective. So I was like, oh well, I'll just do theater. Like they I feel like they don't do nothing there. You know, it seems like fun, you know, an easy A. And I was with a friend at the time who were sitting in my 19th century. And I was just singing along with the radio, and she was like, You can sing, and I said, Can't everyone? And she was like, No. So then she like sort of coerced me into like auditioning for the musical. And yeah, the musical was it? So I think at the time they were doing uh was it little shop? No, no, it was the musical version of which one? Scrooged? It was one of the Christmas ones. Like a Christmas carol, probably. Yeah, it was a Christmas carol one. And I did not get anyone in that, but they were like, Where have you been this whole time? And I was like, bitch, I've just been chilling trying to go to med school.

Brett 44:43

You know, Scrooged was a 1988 movie, too. I'm sensing a theme in your life.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

A deepest Christmas Carol. So yeah, so that sort of got the ball rolling. They said, You can sing, that's odd. Yeah, and they sort of like had me doing everything from then on. Like every concert I was the lead. We did guys and dolls, and I was Sky. They just had me doing everything. And I was just like, oh, this is fun. Like, this is absolutely insane. And then I realized that people got paid. I said, You can get paid to do this? Did you know they pay me? That's crazy. People get paid. So I went to theater school and went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. I moved from Georgia to New York City at 19 to go to theater school. And yeah, I did the whole program. And then four months after graduating, I booked my first national tour, which was Hair. Oh.

Brett 45:33

Hair. That's great musical. That's a nice thing. I know.

SPEAKER_04 45:36

I had the best time.

Brett 45:37

We got naked all across America. Yes, of course. And you know, like people like Donna Summer, Meatloaf, Diane Keaton, all these people started off in hair.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

Everyone got their start in hair.

Brett 45:47

Yeah. So you're you're among great company when you have that. Yeah, I used to I ate that right on up. I loved hair. Yeah, no, it's a great musical. I mean, just amazing. So have there any like favorite roles that you've done so far? I mean, we've touched on so many.

SPEAKER_04 46:03

Thus far, favorite roles? Nah. I mean, they all have like a nah. They're all like there. They all have a place in my heart. But like, I was telling someone that I really want something new. Like, I've I've been really hounding my friends who are like writers and composers to like write something for me. You know, I'm like, I'm trying to be on my Ben Platt like Evan Hansen moment. So I'm like, please just write something for me. But if there was one show that I want to do before I retire as a tenor, is Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Oh. Yeah, yeah.

Brett 46:33

So that's one of my good friends just did that on tour. So what the heck? Really? Who's your friend?

SPEAKER_04 46:38

Oh gosh. Tyscreen? Oh, yes, yes. He was Annis. Yes. Yes. Yes. So I was that's that's my my dream role before I decided to become a bass baritone and gave up the tenor life. Wait, how do you do this, Cartres? Do you just uh decide I'm gonna be a bass baritone?

Brett 46:55

Yes, honey, I just sing lower. Okay, now look, I started as a tenor and then became a bass, but it wasn't because I chose to. It was because like my voice changed.

SPEAKER_04 47:07

No, my voice has not changed in in years. Gosh. Well, I have a rather high I have a rather high singing voice, but my thing is like if I just sing lower, I just sing lower. Like I just don't sing higher. I just choose not.

Brett 47:22

I wish it were that easy. Oh my gosh. Like, you know what? I'm not gonna sing high anymore. You are living a charmed life, let me tell you, my friend. 80s movies, natural voice. You can choose where you want to be. I'm like, yeah, I would just pick a lower octave now.

SPEAKER_06 47:39

I'm okay.

Brett 47:40

All right. Well, I mean, I mentioned that you're playing two roles in this, and they're kind of different, right? One is the mayor, and then what is this other? I guess Goldie's the mayor.

SPEAKER_04 47:48

So I play mayor Goldie Wilson. He starts off as like a diner worker at Lou'Diner. And in the beginning of the movie, he's running for mayor, right? And then in the 80s, you find out that Marty gives him the idea to run for mayor. And he's like, wait, what? And then he sort of like tries to embolden George to believe in himself, right? He's like, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you know, you have to get it together. And and then in the second act, I come back and I play Marvin Berry, which we know is Chuck Berry's cousin. Okay. He's Chuck Berry's cousin. And he's like the he's the leader of the Starlighters. He's their band leader, and he sings at The Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, and I get to sing Earth Angel. Oh yeah, and they're both very different. Like Goldie's like more grounded and like straightforward and like super positive. And then and then Marvin, I fashion him after Little Richard. So he's like very zany, like super obnoxious, like very big, and very gay. Very gay. Okay. I've made him very gay. As one does, you know. I mean, you're into musical, you might as well. Just go there. And the creators thought it was funny, so I was like, period, we're keeping it.

Brett 49:04

Awesome. Well, speaking of gay, do you identify with the LGBTQIA plus community? Are you fine with that? Yeah, I've never been gay a day in my life. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:13

I don't know what gay is. Could you straight dude boxing? You know what a I don't know what gay is. I've never been gay in my life. No, no, you know, I of course I do. I do musicals. Yes. That's not a given.

Brett 49:25

I mean, we we can't go out there. We have to condone the other lifestyle. I mean, they are there are some straight people.

SPEAKER_04 49:31

They do exist. No, yeah, I'm queer. I'm a queer person. I've been queer for as long as I can remember. So wow. Well, do you have a significant other? Yeah, I do, of course. You do? And you've been touring for two years? I've been touring for two years, and he's been with me for three out of the four tours that I've done. Wow. He's sort of used to it. Okay. So what does he do? He's a web developer. He's a web developer. He's Australian. And yet. Good on you, mate. Literally. Literally. So he like uprooted his entire life basically to be with me, which is very odd.

Brett 50:06

Oh no, it's not odd. It's very odd. I have a feeling, Cartes, that people would uproo their life to be with you. Stop. I mean, come on. You're a star of 80s films. You can change your voice. You start an office.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

It's crazy. Yes. I'm very humble. So endless. He uh he upload he uprooted his entire life from Australia and was like, yeah, let's I'm gonna move to America. And then here we are, eight, eight, nine years later. So what is this where's his home base, or does he travel with you? No, he lives in New York City. He moved to New York City.

Brett 50:37

Okay. So he's living in New York City. Yeah. And holding the fork down.

SPEAKER_04 50:40

Yeah, with our dog. Yeah, yeah. He's there. He's he's I'm he's I'm his husband away at war, and he's like sitting at the window pane, like waiting for longingly to come home. Yeah, yes.

Brett 50:51

What kind of dog is it?

SPEAKER_04 50:52

I have an Aussie Doodle. His name is Buckley. He's named after Betty Buckley. Of course. Of course. From Texas, she's from Fort Worth. She is. And I love Betty Buckley. She's my favorite Browey D.Va. And I was like, what's a and we need to name a dog. And I was like, mmm. So we want I love Earth a Kit. So I was like, maybe Kit. And then we came across Buckley. And I was like, Buckley, like, sounds like a dog's name. Like, that's a great dog's name.

Brett 51:16

So we let it You need a cat for Kit, I think.

SPEAKER_04 51:20

See, I don't think we I just think that. Well, it was either that or we get a dog named Truffles. And I had kids. But Kit, it was either Kit or or Buckley, and we landed on Buckley.

Brett 51:31

Betty Buckley was w is absolutely one of my favorite divas, too. And I spent my whole life like trying to see her in concert and everything. I bought tickets finally. She came to Houston. I got front row and everything. To what? To see Hello Dolly. Oh no, no, no. It was her review. It was just her solo. Just her singing songs. And I got front row seats, right? I bring my husband with me. She comes out and sings half of the first number holding his hand. I am the lifelong fan, right? She just bypasses me straight to my husband. Start singing to him. I'm like, ugh. This is my life.

SPEAKER_04 52:08

So that would spark that would spark an argument, I think.

Brett 52:12

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

You know how I feel about her. Like, how dare you do me like that?

Brett 52:17

Well, Betty did it to me. He didn't do it to me.

SPEAKER_04 52:19

No, it would be him because he should have just said pass it over.

Brett 52:27

Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm feeling for it. But I mean, and then I bought him tickets to Diana Ross. So there you go. Whatever.

SPEAKER_04 52:34

Okay. There you go. And then Diana Ross sang to you.

Life On Tour And Next Steps

Brett 52:37

No, she didn't. Thank you only you. I will believe that forever. All right. Well, thank you so much, Carter. Of course, back to the future. March 31st, plays for just a week. This is fast, you guys. This is April 5th.

SPEAKER_04 52:53

Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious.

Brett 52:54

Yeah, and you're not even here that long. You literally load in on Monday, start the show on Tuesday, and then you we leave on the next Monday. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

We love that. So you don't get to do anything, do you? Not really. It's not really. Unless we're there for at least two weeks, you don't really get time to explore. Some people do actually they try to make time, but it's so exhausting. Yeah. And I and I have to sing so much in the show that I have to like sort of prioritize like physical health, vocal health before I do anything else.

Brett 53:27

Well, if you get in on Monday night and you're free, there is a gay Broadway night at Michael's Outpost where all the local kids, all the local Broadway kids come and they sing and do drag numbers and all that. It's very nice.

SPEAKER_04 53:42

So is it like karaoke or is it just like is it like drag performers?

Brett 53:45

It is not karaoke and it is not exclusively drag. It is people that can sing. It's people that are cast in shows. Some of them have been in Tuts Productions and they will go and they will perform. I mean, they like plan this whole evening of like exactly what it is. And like sometimes they'll do like a specific composer, you know, they might do Sondheim or they might do all the things.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

I would love to see whatever honey, I'm tired of working. I would love to see other people work.

Brett 54:08

Yes, just grab a drink, sit in the back, and watch them do it.

SPEAKER_04 54:11

Honey, I'll sing these high notes because I need an eye off. All I do is sing high notes the entire show. Every time I'm on stage, these are like, oh, he's coming singing a high note. Oh, there he is. No, so this is this is why you want to become the baritone. Honey, when I tell you that my entire career thus far has been me singing like above the staff. So I'm tired.

Brett 54:33

Yeah. Okay. I gotcha. I feel you.

SPEAKER_04 54:35

It's above the staff.

Brett 54:37

But until then, you're you're in back to the future as you have been for the last two years. This is true. This is true. That's crazy. That's a long time.

SPEAKER_04 54:44

How long do you think you're gonna do this? Well, the tour is coming to an end this summer. So it's a wrap for me after that. Yeah. Do you know of anything that you're gonna be doing? Not at the moment. What I I'm looking forward to is a vacation. I've been thinking every single day, eight times a week for two years straight, and like I need I need a respite. So I would like to not sing for at least six weeks.

Brett 55:10

Yeah, and then you just launch right into ET the musical. It'll be great.

SPEAKER_04 55:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we'll make him a baritone. Silence of the Lambs, the the opera. You know, so we'll see.

Brett 55:21

Hey, they already have Silence of the Lambs, the musical. It's called Silence. The Paris. Yeah, yeah. Yes, it's good. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_04 55:29

We'll plug that.

Brett 55:30

It's coming to touch 2028. Um I'm sure it's gonna be incredible, but we'll see you here first, March 31st through April 5th. Houston's Hobby Center. At the Hobby Center. I thought, yes. We've been doing that, but it is the hobby center. They get very angry when you when you suggest that they sell crafts.

SPEAKER_04 55:57

The hobby center. The hobby center. I love the hobby center. Like I said, I was there before, and it was a great place. Yes. What did you play in color purple, real quick? Just what was it? Okay, so I was in the ensemble and I played Buster, who was Sophia's new lover. And I understood Oh yeah. I understudy Harpo. But I was what I'm telling you, I was in the ensemble singing like the tenor line, and I was like the I was like the sole tenor singing above the staff. So there, whenever there was like a random man who needed like to sing a high note, Cartres, you're singing the C. There's like a random at layup that needed like a cartres, you're singing a G above. So it was like that's what I've done my entire career is like sing above the staff.

Brett 56:35

I have not been able to do that since I was like 16. So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 56:40

My entire adult life. Like when I did Motown the Musical, I played Stevie Wonder above the staff. In the ensemble of Motown the Musical, they had me singing Alto.

Brett 56:50

Yeah, yeah. I'm amazed with your cartoons. I can't wait to see you on Tuesday night. So I'm I'm there, front and center.

SPEAKER_04 56:56

I can't wait. I can't wait.

Brett 56:57

I'm gonna hang out back behind the Please do the stage and be like petitioning for E.T. the musical. You are stuck on this E.T. We're doing it. I'm telling you. I'm gonna write a bass line for you and we're gonna do it. Honestly, it will make a great parody musical. It would. But I say we do it serious. Okay. So, you know, let's let's go high. Let's let's aim. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_04 57:22

High brow E.T. the musical.

Brett 57:24

Yes. Very, very technique, very dramatic, very equal to be.

SPEAKER_04 57:27

By Adam Gettle. Well, it'll be very, yes, very high brow, very high intellectual, you know. You heard it here first. All right, thank you. There it is.

SPEAKER_08 57:47

This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage queervoices.org for more information.

Ghost of Glenn 58:02

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