Mojo Kemp, Reverend, Musician, Podcaster

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I looked in the mirror and I thought, what's that thing on my neck? Turned out that it was squamous cell carcinoma.

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Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Rob. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading, following the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that. Thanks to the folks that have bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com and also submitted the reviews on all of the podcasting platforms. I just found out this last week, apparently I'm on Pandora as well. So that was pretty cool. So thanks for the folks listening on Pandora. But wherever you're listening, I appreciate you.

00:45
and I appreciate my guests. I'm so excited to reconnect with this man. We actually kind of fell into the same podcasting mastermind group at the same time when I was struggling to actually get launched with this podcast. So it's really cool to be able to reconnect with him. Please welcome my friend all the way from Canada. Yeah, it's Mojo Kemp. Hey everybody. Hey, Big Robb, man. It's sure great to see your face again, bro. Yeah, man. So great. I know we used to have these calls

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every Thursday, you know, and it's been, gosh, it's been probably like six, eight months since we've had a call out of that group. But it was, I tell you, that was one of the best things for me, you know, props to Travis Brown and his genius in putting that together. It was just such a, for me, such a special group of people to get to meet. Lifelong friendships have been forged and

01:45
And you were definitely one of those folks that I really enjoyed your insight because you are already a successful podcaster, but we're doing a different type of podcast. So it was cool to see your background and what you've already accomplished and then trying to start something new and go forward with something new. And then of course, just the life stuff that we became familiar with. And so I can gush on you for a while, but I don't want to do that. I want to talk to you.

02:15
to only see what's going on with you but give the folks some background. You're you're calling in from Canada. We're in Canada. I'm in a city called Burnaby which is right next to Vancouver. So basically I'm in Vancouver, Canada. Okay okay so that would be west coastish compared to where I am. So you're a few hours behind me there but where you is that where you grew up? Is that the town

02:45
small town in Ontario called LaSalle and I was there for 23 years. My dad is a factory worker. He worked at Ford Motor Company and so did my uncle and so did my grandfather. And eventually I ended up at Ford Motor Company as well, which, you know, Rob, is as far as jobs go, it was a great job. It was a great job. And all those guys that I started working with and that was 1988.

03:15
those guys are getting ready to retire. Thing is, oh, you know, Rob, I, I just, at the time I, as much as I love my dad, I didn't want to be my dad. Right. I didn't want to live and die, be born, live, die in the same town. It just wasn't for me. And in high school, I discovered my inner thespianism

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of the closet as a thespian. And, you know, Robert, it was it was one of those things that it was something that I was pretty good at without trying very hard at it. Yeah. And it was one of the only things I mean, I did OK in gym class. I was OK athletically. But the whole acting bug hit me and it hit me really hard. And I left that factory job to come out to the west coast of Canada

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because lots of movies and TV shows are filmed up here in Vancouver. It's, you know, it's Hollywood North for a reason. Yeah. And so I ended up joining the Navy because I was a little scared to leave that job with its, you know, $500 take home every week. And again, that was the late 80s. So that was a decent chunk of change. Yeah.

04:45
to just give it all up. So one day me and my buddy were smoking hash and he was in between jobs and you know in between a toke he said I'm gonna join the Navy and I took a hit myself and I thought about it as I held it in and I said okay man I'll go with you. I've always just I've always loved the water and stuff and my dad was an army guy and I just said I'll go with you man and the next day

05:15
Okay. Okay. So how long were you, uh, in the Navy for? The basic enlistment in Canadian service is three years. Okay. So I had only, uh, went to join for three years, although I, you know, I did sign the paper to stay in, but two hours later, I thought, what the hell am I doing? And I went to the office and I said, um, you know, sir, I need that paper back. I need that paper back. Don't file that.

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So yeah, so I went out. Okay, okay. I got out, yeah. So what did you, I'm just curious because I was never in the military or anything like, what did you do in the Canadian Navy there? Did you get on the water? Were you on the ship? Yeah, I was on a destroyer, a Canadian destroyer. And you know, Rob, we have a little Navy comparatively to some of the larger Navies in the world, but we were specialists, right? We were sub hunters and that's what we specialized in. I was on a destroyer,

06:15
But I was on the training squadron. So what the training squadron did, it trained the officers. So basically where a regular squad, say, going from Vancouver to Hawaii, went straight there in training squad. We did circles all the way there because the officers were learning how to move the ships in formation and stuff like that.

06:45
turning circles. Gotcha. Well, so when you when you left the Navy, you're in Vancouver, you still have this dream of getting into acting and doing that type of thing? Yeah, that the whole reason I joined the Navy, the whole reason I came out here was to get into the acting, which I did. I did start to get into it. I

07:15
Uh, the best I did, I got into a 1999 Ford Mustang commercial. Oh, nice. Nice. Funny that you got in a Ford commercial having worked at the Ford factory, right? Chances are I worked on that engine that was in that car. Wow. Cause we made the 302 boss engines in the, in the factory where I was working. Oh, wow. Wow. That is too cool. But you know, I mean, eventually Rob, as I started to get a little bit

07:45
I started to get tired of taking the dead end job, you know, the gas station job, the security guard job, because back then if I needed to get to an audition, I would go and if I had to quit work to do it, I did. Because it was, you know, there's another gas station down the road. There's six or seven more security guard places to go to.

08:15
jobs and as I started to get a little bit older I started really liking knowing where and when my next paycheck was coming. As you're aware in the acting field 95% of actors are out of work at any given time. Yeah for sure. So you'd started wanting to have something a little bit more steady on the income

08:45
I wanted that stability and. I wasn't getting as much work as I wanted to, but again, you know, Rob, back then, I'm not blaming anybody. If it's anybody's fault, of course, it's mine because I didn't go. I know I could have went more right. I could have gone more, but I didn't. And that's just that's just the way it is.

09:15
turned out. But you know, my first love was always music. Right? It was always music. And we were trying out for the high school play. It was, I don't want to date myself, but it was 1983. And we were doing Grease in our high school play. And that was the year I was in grade 11 that year. That was the year I discovered the drama class.

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And that's when everything started to blink and turn on for me. We were auditioning and I was auditioning for just all the guys were auditioning for all the parts and. The director had me sing the second verse of Grease Lightning, which nobody really knows. Everybody kind of knows the first verse, but nobody really knows the second one. And I was reading the words off the album jacket.

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album jackets where they would print all the lyrics. So I'm reading the lyrics after two lines, Rob. He waves his hand in my face and says, never mind. You can't sing. Wow. In front of everybody, all my new theater buddies, all my friends. Never mind. You can't sing.

10:45
15 years old at the time and I was devastated. Devastated. That's a rough blow and I mean a 15. I mean, that's such a formative year. And I mean, life's already hard in high school and all like that at that age. But to get something like that from someone you, you know, that was supposed to be a teacher, a mentor to you. Exactly, he was my drama teacher. He was the one that started to light it all up for me.

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And then just, meh, nevermind. So it was pretty devastating. I mean, obviously now, it was 40 years ago, Rob, now at 55, I would be able to handle that a little bit differently. But at 15, it really crushed me. I got a part in the show, and my character actually had a song, and they took it away and gave it to one of the other characters. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. So,

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stopped singing, right? I stopped singing. Me and my buddy would sing in the car, we're that type. And that was it. And you know, I thought maybe that, I was sure I was sounding okay. Right. And, um, but I just didn't know. I wasn't sure. And I was no confidence. And it's still, it still causes me problems. But while I was in basic training in the early days of basic course, there's no radio,

12:15
And while we were sitting there polishing our boots one night, I thought to myself, none of these guys know that I can't sing. Mm hmm. None of them were there. They don't know. And if I don't tell them, they don't know. So we were sitting there polishing our boots. And I just started singing, sitting on the dock of the bay. Great Otis Redding track. Oh, yeah. You know, just polish my boots.

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in the morning sun. And as I'm singing, I look over at the guy next to me who's also polishing his boots. He's bobbing his head along. And when I get done singing, he looks over at me, goes, Hey, man, I was right on. I was excellent. And that started to wheel turning. Maybe. Maybe Mr. Resbeck was wrong. Because I'm a non cigarette smoker.

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shower time, all the cigarette, all the smokers ran outside for a final smoke. All us non-smokers got the shower first. So I was in there with the same four or five guys all the time, because there was only a few of us that weren't smoking. Well, you get a bunch of guys in the shower and the next thing you know, there's a doo-wop band going and my basic training squadron, we, we formed a little doo-wop band.

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I get onto the ship and of course I'm back to not knowing anybody. I run into this guy, we hook up, turns into my main run in mate. He's a bass player.

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One thing leads to another. There's a bass player on board. There's a drummer on board. There's a couple of guitar players on board. Next thing, we have a band, a ship band where we would rent gear. And when we were on our way to Hawaii and places like that on a Sunday, on a Sunday in the Canadian Navy in the afternoon, you have what's called a banyan, which is just a big barbecue. And,

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duty. Nobody else has to work. We would set up all our gear and play out on the quarter deck. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so that was pretty cool. And sometimes we would play in the foreign ports and stuff like that. And so that was a lot of fun, man. That was great. Then I got out and I got into went back to the acting thing. And, you know, it was what it was. I got a couple of paydays, right? I got I made twenty five, twenty

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I blurred off that Ford Mustang commercial. I don't, you know, I still have the tattoo that I paid for from that money, right? That's all I got left of it. Yeah. And then so in that, when you're like, okay, the acting thing is, it's not that you don't love it. It's just, it's hard and it's hard to keep bills paid and jumping from job to job and all like that. So that found you back where for employment.

15:30
Eventually, I, you know, my buddy hooked me up. I started working with special needs guys. You know, first off, it was more like the juvenile lawbreaker kids, kids that were having trouble that way. And then it moved in more into the special needs folks, you know, the autism guys, the Down syndrome fellas. And I worked there. Probably I did about 13 years of that.

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And I still have a young man that lives with me. He's got Don syndrome. And we we've lived together for nearly 20 years. So, you know, I'm still in that game. But I never lost that love of performing. Right. I never lost that love of performance. And I never even though I technically air, quote, couldn't sing, I'd still love the sound of my voice. Right. Right.

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I still have never met a microphone that I didn't like. You know, I got friends of mine who see a microphone and they run the other way. And I will go right up to it. Is this thing on? Hello. Hello. Hello. Right. Yeah. So. I became I was always sort of a spiritual guy. We were Roman Catholic growing up, but that didn't continue for me, but I was still a spiritual guy and I hooked up. I'm I'm a Wiccan.

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Mm-hmm. Dope.

17:03
I took that love of performance and I'm able to use it in my spiritual path by putting on ceremonies, putting on rituals for people. As you know, Rob, I'm a minister here in BC, which means I can legally perform weddings and, and things like that. So I've taken that love of performance and just sort of swerved it into a different direction

17:33
it to bring meaningful ceremony and ritual to people and help them get through whatever challenges they have to or celebrate the things that they need to celebrate in their lives. You know, we don't, I think as a society, have enough ceremony and ritual in our lives anymore. You know, and it's nobody's fault. It's the way society went.

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things because his father didn't teach him those things because they were busy working in a factory somewhere. Right. Right. Right. When there was a time when a young man such as ourselves would go to work with our fathers. Yeah. And we would see what our father did all day long. Mm-hmm. And we would see what other men did all day long. Now when we're growing up and we're boys, dad leaves. Mm-hmm. We

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We don't see him interact with other men. We don't have those guide posts in How to turn from boy to man. Yeah. Yeah yeah, and I'm taking it on myself to Bring that back. That's awesome, right to provide that service to people. Yeah and in doing that I know

19:03
Well, again, when when I first you know, when we first were introduced, you know over a year or so ago You know you were you were doing that and you were wanting to do more of that doing more of the ceremony you want to do put yourself more out there as Doing you know weddings and things like that but you kind of You hit you felt like your hands were tied because you were when I met you back in a factory again

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Yeah, I had gone from that. I burnt out of the special needs job. My mom passed away and that hit me pretty hard. And I just got burnt out when it's a, you know, it's not a physical job usually working with with the guys, but it's mentally stressful. Yeah, right. When you have to kind of mentally keep track of where three or four people are all day

20:03
tiring. And I swerved into first a warehouse position. And then I ended up at this window factory. It was okay. You know, it was an okay job. If that was what you're looking for. But one day, Rob, as you know, it was late November 2017. I got out of the shower one day. And I looked in the

20:33
I had this lump on my neck and I did first off, I did the middle age guy thing, right? It'll go away. And after a week, it didn't go away. And long story short, it turned out that it was squamous cell carcinoma, which is a form of cancer. It's HPV cancer. So you get it from the HPV virus.

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So,

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I have been taking guitar lessons for 20 years. And I had had a band that broke up. And after it broke up, I really did. I kept taking the lessons and stuff, but I really wasn't doing anything wrong. Right. And I had some of these songs. I had songs that were 10 years old that were just kind of sitting there. And I was writing these songs.

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never, I was always gonna, yeah. I was always gonna do something, always gonna do something with them. Yeah. And I walk out of the shower with this lump on my neck and Mr. Kemp, you have cancer. Yeah. And it's on the back of your tongue, singer boy. Right, right. Right. Speaker, presenter,

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Yeah. So first call went to my sister, second call went to my guitar teacher. Yeah. And I said, bro, it's cancer, it's on the back of my tongue, 35 doses of radiation going in. I don't know whether I'm going to be able to talk again. I don't know whether I'm going to be able to sing again.

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20 years of guitar, all these songs sitting there. What am I going to do? Yeah. What am I going to do? So I said, bro, I don't know what to do. And Chris just said to me, he says, don't worry, I got you. I know what to do. He called a studio who was just not too far from us. And book some studio time. And so me and him went into the studio now.

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play the songs on guitar, but to be studio ready, you want to be pristine, perfect in all of it. I wasn't there. So Chris, who's had a hand in every song I've ever written, said, look, don't worry about it. Don't worry about the guitar. I'll play the guitar. You just go in there and sing.

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We recorded 13 songs. And I shut everything else off, you know, because treatments hadn't started yet. Nothing like that. All I knew is I had just had cancer in my in my face. And because of the support I got, of course, my wife supported me from first off. Right. Right.

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and Mike who ran the studio who actually bumped out another band to get me in who it turns out his sister was dying of cancer during the whole time. Wow. Because of the support I got from those guys and the support at home I was able to shut it all off Rob and just sing.

24:35
That's awesome. And we recorded the tracks. I went in for the treatment, uh, 35 doses to the back of my throat. So at the end of it, you know, I could, I could barely talk. I couldn't sing. I could just barely talk. Eventually it started to come back and I was okay talking, but I still couldn't sing.

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and...

25:08
I wasn't pushing myself. I didn't know, you know, I wasn't feeling sorry for myself or anything like that. Cause actually I felt pretty good. You know, I consider 2018 the greatest year of my life. Right. Because of what I overcame. Yeah, for sure. And, um,

25:27
I booked a gig. I booked a gig. I was going to open up for a young lady who was coming to town, a 30 minute opening set. I didn't know if I could do it, but I took the gig because that's, I need that gig to shoot for, right? So I can focus on practicing. I need to have something to practice. So I started practicing my songs. First song in, my voice would crack. Done.

25:57
Wouldn't go, wouldn't come back. Next day, I might get a song and a half.

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gone. You know, for two weeks, just I couldn't get through the set. So finally, one day it cracks and threw my guitar down. I didn't throw the guitar down. Yeah, yeah. Too expensive to throw the guitar down. But I put the guitar down and I ran upstairs and I put my my head in my wife's lap and

26:35
keep putting myself through this. And what I do, Rob, I lifted my head, I wiped my tears away, I called Chris. Yeah. Chris, I got this gig coming up. I haven't been able to sing the songs. You keep telling me about this new voice teacher that we have at the school. You have to hook me up with her. Not soon.

27:05
with a young lady, her name is Rocky Ryobo, and I took 20 months of lessons with Rocky, and she got me from not being able to sing to hitting a G above middle C.

27:20
And when I hit that note, Rob, she lost her mind. She lost her mind. It was such a big change from that teacher that told me I couldn't sing. Yeah. To my teacher losing her shit because I hit that note. That's awesome. One of the biggest things I ever took from Rocky, besides learning how to sing, the lesson I took from her was always celebrate your student's success.

27:50
Like it was your own. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I was able to do that gig and I've been able to continue singing and I'm actually now I hit a high C the other day. Wow. I know. That's awesome. I know. First, I first, the first time I just kind of touched the bottom of it. Yeah. And then two weeks later I was able to grab onto it and, and hit it. But you know, Rob?

28:20
come easy either. Yeah, because in April, I got a little snipple. It wasn't it wasn't COVID. Touchwood, you know, still I'm still got my COVID cherry. But something changed in my throat. And I couldn't sing again. I was getting a lot of vocal fry. I was getting a lot of hoarseness. And it had happened once

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went away. This time it was months and months and months and was still going. And I had an oncologist appointment. She put the camera down my throat and I was telling her what was going on. And she goes, well, you know, I do see some swelling. Um, but you know, that's all I see. And by the way, I don't see any cancer if you care about that. Right. And I went, well, I said, doc, of course I care about it, but I know that's gone. Yeah.

29:20
You told me yourself that was gone and I believe you, I know that's gone. I need to know what's going on right now with my singing. And she sent me up with a specialist, a voice specialist who, her specialty is the larynx and vocal cords. And I thought, excellent. I'm going to get some answers.

29:51
She's got a better camera. She can take a better look.

29:58
Sticks the camera down my nose, down my throat, takes a look and says, uh, yup, radiation damage. I said, yeah, I know, I know that. I know that's there. You, you saw, I came from Dr. Hamilton, so you know, I had radiation in my throat, but that wasn't an issue up until April when I got this little sniffle doc. So something changed. She was,

30:28
looks again, pulls it out and says, yeah, she says, look, it's radiation damage and it's just going to get worse. And I went, whoa, whoa, whoa. I said, wait a minute. No, I said, doc, I'm a singer. I'm a minister. I'm a podcaster. I use my voice at work all the time on the phone. There's got to be something I can do.

30:59
You know what she replied to me?

31:03
I would change my life expectations. Oh wow.

31:09
Wow.

31:14
Can you believe it? I would change my life expectations. Um, the only, she said, you know, I can set you up with a vocal speech pathologist. I have one here or you could go, you know, you're still a cancer patient, uh, for another year. So you can go to the one at the cancer agency. You won't have to pay for her or I could set you up here and it's like, fuck up. I'm going to get set up here. Right. Right. Time for a second. I'm not, you know, exactly.

31:44
So she sets me up with an appointment and I leave and I'm pissed. It's not 15 year old mode. She told that to now it's it's 55 year old mode. She knows a little better and I'm pissed off because I know that even though it's still happening it's getting better. It's been getting better because I started working with this new vocal teacher and it's been getting better.

32:14
Two weeks after I saw her, it was gone. It was gone. I'm back to being able to sing. Like I said, I hit that high C. I connect with this vocal speech pathologist and I said, well, you know, it's weird, but I think it's gone. And I explained to her what I was doing in voice lessons and the exercises I was doing. And she said, you know, she goes, your teacher's spot on. He is spot on.

32:44
you were doing everything that I would tell you to do. She said the only thing I would add was maybe, you know, hum a couple times a day and do some lip trills just to keep things warm and loose. Other than that, keep doing what you're doing. And she said, and I'm I see your pictures and I'm looking at your chart because we were meeting on Zoom like you and I are. And she said, I don't

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doing what you're doing, I don't think it's going to get any worse. That's great. That's great. And I, you know, and I went off on that doctor and it turns out the pathologist also worked with and for that doctor. And I was like, Oh, I wish you would have told me that first. Right. Kinda. But you know, I was pissed off, man. So folks, you know, if, if somebody in authority tells you something, a teacher or a doctor, and you go, yeah, I don't know.

33:44
and go get a second opinion if you need get a third opinion maybe it's different in the States of course I think your medicine is different than ours is but you know what don't you don't have to settle for someone else's opinion of your reality that's true that's 100% true and there's a lot that we have to affect that you know like you're saying you know if you don't have to accept

34:14
To change your reality. I mean you went got a second opinion You were again when we met you were stuck in this the the window factory job And you know it was very clear a few months in gathering together that you just were not happy Doing that and it was it was it was a doldrum It was draining and you set a a commitment to yourself that you set a date And it was you were like a year from now. I'm gonna be gone from this factory

34:44
I don't know what I would be doing, but I'm gonna figure out what I need to do to be gone for this factory and you were able to Follow that dream and you met your goal and left the factory and what are you doing now? man So here's the it was a year ago. I just came home one day and I was so fed up with it. I Said to my wife. I said I have to leave I can't stay there You know at one point Rob when I was sitting up on the couch

35:14
And it was three o'clock in the morning and I was scared to go to bed because I had so much phlegm and, and radiation crap going on in my throat that I was scared to lay down because I was thought I was going to choke to death. Right. And sitting on that couch, all I wanted to do was get back to that job. That's all I just want to go back to work. And then when you get back to work, after surviving something like that,

35:44
work and you realize this isn't enough. Yeah. I'm meant to do more. Yeah. I am not serving enough people because by this time, Rob, I've, I've changed. My life has changed and I've, I've discovered philosophy and I realized that I'm not here for me. I'm here for we. Yeah. Right.

36:14
do that at the factory. And that's why I started that podcast, the moment with Moj, which is where we met on that, the podcast group. So I said to my wife, I can't do it. I'm picking a date a year and a day. And that day was July 11th, 22.

36:35
And so, as I mentioned to you, I'm a Wic and so what I believe in magic, Rob, and I believe that we have we can focus our intent and focus our willpower will change our reality. And so every week, my wife and I would get together for date night. And we would focus on that date.

37:05
on raising energy so that when that day came the opportunities were there yeah and it wasn't gonna be a problem it was gonna be okay yeah so every week we worked on that and I had a chance to become a prison minister they were looking specifically for a Wiccan minister and that's me

37:32
But there's no central authority for Weka. So I don't have a card that says Wiccan priest or Wiccan minister or anything like that. Right. And that's a problem for Corrections Canada who needs some sort of, you know, authority to say that I'm a minister. So they didn't like my credentials. I thought I was gonna get that job

38:02
Hello.

38:06
And the day I was going to record moment with Moj 100. Was the day they called me up and said, no, sorry, no go for you. And I was super bummed out and super bummed out. And I thought, I can't record. I can't record the show tonight. But that was going to be 100, man. 100 days, 100 shows in a row without missing one. Yeah. And I thought about it and I said, I'm not letting

38:36
Canada take that away from me. So I went and I recorded the show.

38:43
My guitar teacher listens to the show. So he was listening to it. He was all excited because it was show 100. As you guys have already heard, he's super supportive. He heard the big let down. Wah, wah, wah. He calls me up the next day and says, look, I got an extra ticket for this show. This friend of mine is playing in town. Why don't you let's go have an evening together

39:13
And he says, oh, by the way, I got this idea that I want to pass by you.

39:22
Okay, sure. Awesome. I mean, I always love spending time with them. And I'd love to hear some live music. So yeah, great.

39:31
We meet at the school and I see a friend of mine and Chris is finishing up a lesson and we're looking around the school and I was telling the guy, his name's Cameron, who's actually a doctor. And I was looking at this empty room and I said, Cam, you know, that should be my room. I said, I was Chris's student for 20 years. Never once did I say to him, Hey Chris, why don't you teach me how to be a guitar teacher? I said,

40:01
right there.

40:04
We laugh about it. Chris and I leave. Rob, not one hour after I made that comment, Chris says to me, says, you know, he says, you've been a student for so long. You've had so many lessons. You know, what a good lesson is. You know, what a bad lesson is. You're a great player. You should become a guitar teacher. I'm going to train you to become a guitar teacher.

40:29
And I was stunned. Yeah. And I don't know why I was stunned. I don't know why, because I know magic works. Right. And.

40:42
But I was stunned and I was like, Oh, wow. Well, of course. Yes. Yes. Yeah, for sure. Now we didn't get started on that right away. Right. A couple of months go by and I'm still pounding away in the factory. And, uh, he says, okay, Chris, Chris and I started a music podcast called everybody speaks music available on all your podcast catchers. And he says, you know,

41:12
you're so personable and you do such a great interview and stuff. He goes, you could do some of these new student consults for me. So when someone contacts the school, we contact them back and get a little info from them. You know, what type of music you like to play, what's your style, blah, blah, blah. And that way I can go, okay, I got these two teachers I want to tell you about. There's no point in me setting up a classical guitar student with a heavy metal guitar player. Right, right. Right.

41:42
it doesn't work that way. So I said, great. And he was going to pay me to do them. So I started doing them. And then eventually he just said to me, he says, you know what, you're doing so good on these. Why don't you just do them all? And I said, okay, I'll just do them all. And I started doing them all. And then he said, you know, you're getting really good at doing them all. Why don't you do the whole process?

42:12
Why don't you get the initial email, set it up in the school, set up your own interview schedule, set up your own stuff, do your own thing.

42:26
I said, okay, awesome.

42:30
all with the teaching still on the table, right? So we've come to the point now where I have a salaried position at the school, plus I do the consult. So that's an extra thing. And then work slowed down in the factory. And my manager says, well, look, you know, he says, he came to me one day and he said, what's the matter, man? Like, you're angry all the time.

43:00
I think this is a good job and you're a good guy, but I fucking hate it. Yeah. I hate it. Um, you know, I have to sit out in the car every day, uh, puff a little bit of that to pump myself up with some heavy metal music so I can go in and just sit there and simmer all day. And it turned me into somebody that I didn't like Rob. I didn't like the moge that was in that factory. And I told him that. And I said,

43:30
opportunity with guitar and he was a guitar player too and I said I'm taking it and I'm following my dream man and I can't I can't I'm not coming back so the magic worked yeah and if you want something bad enough to work for it all the time you can get it right but you've got to put in the work that's why

44:00
work. You can want something all you want, but if you're not prepared to even put a little bit of work into it...

44:09
You're always going to be wanting it. So Moj, what is bringing you joy right now? That not getting up at five o'clock in the morning. I'll tell you that Rob, not spending an hour and a half in traffic, going back and forth to work. That's great. Oh, you know what? Um, I mean, there is that, right? I'm home every day. I'm with my, my cat and my dog and my wife. I'm not stressed out anymore. Right.

44:39
Now, people who are looking...

44:45
to enjoy music, to have a relationship with music, maybe somebody that was told by their high school teacher that they can't sing.

44:57
is now calling me up and saying, hey, I'm thinking about guitar lessons or I'm thinking about voice lessons. I don't know how to sing though. So I thought I would have a consult. Now I get to talk to that person and say, you know what happened to me? My teacher said this and this happened and you can overcome this. And here's why. I'll sing that person that said you can't sing.

45:27
is that they don't know how to help you sing better. That's all that means.

45:37
This is the second segment of the show. We dive a little bit deeper into mental health, you know I am a firm believer in Everybody goes through those dark days everybody goes through those days of whether it be self-doubt It could be you know actually diagnosed depression It could be just the day you just feel like you just can't get out of bed You don't know why and and we're not alone in that so the more we can talk about it the more we can strip away that stigma of mental health The easier it is for us to to seek help

46:07
and to talk about it and to get that type of help. But for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay?

46:16
I'm sounding like a broken record here, right? But really, for me, I sing my way out of the darkness. And it's always been that way. I've been I remember being on watch one time in the Navy. There was two of us and got to got to the watch. And I think it was like the four in the morning watch. So, you know, you wake up kind of grumpy. I sang a few songs and I got in a better mood. And the guy that I was with said, how do you do that?

46:46
Well, what do you mean, man? He goes, you were a bitch when you walked in. You sang a few songs and now you're feeling better. And so that's what I do for the little bits, the little pieces of darkness. Right.

47:04
For the larger pieces of darkness, I mean, I didn't, I've been on antidepressants a couple of times when mom died, I went on for a couple of weeks. After the cancer treatments were done, I went on for a couple of weeks. But what I do now is in that process, I discovered philosophy. I didn't discover philosophy, it was always there, but I found my way there.

47:34
I found my way to stoicism. And I really use.

47:42
the philosophy that I've taken on as my own, and it has really, really helped. And now I do my best to not worry about the things that I can't control.

48:00
And one of the practices in stoicism is, you know, the view from above the 50,000 foot view. So one day, Rob, I was sitting in the chemo chair, feeling pretty bad, feeling pretty bad for myself. Poor Moj, poor Moj getting chemo. And then it dawned on me, you know, I had my cancer has a survival rate of over 90 percent.

48:30
And I sat and I thought.

48:35
Everybody in this building that's a patient wishes they were sitting right here where I am.

48:47
Hmm.

48:50
and it dawned on me that it could be so much worse.

48:59
Yeah. And that's how I'm trying to look at it now. It can always be so much worse. And we don't have to let these negative things be baggage. If we can switch our perspective on them and look at these incidents in our lives, and instead of focusing on how much this incident hurt me,

49:29
teach me. Mm hmm. And what's the best thing? What's the gift that this situation gave me?

49:40
Right? So, I got cancer.

49:45
But it showed me that I could survive it, that I was tough, that I was strong, but not only me, it showed that my wife was tough and strong and that she would be there for me. And it really separates the people. You find out pretty quick. Who's got your back. Right. And those are the people that you have to hold on to and hold in your life.

50:15
go away, right? If, if the people in your crowd aren't lifting you up, you need to get a new crowd.

50:28
Right. So I've been able to just use that philosophy and control situations, only the things that I can control, not worry about the things that I don't have to worry about. I used to get really angry when people would cut me off on the highway. And now I think, you know, sure, I still get, right. And I think, wait a sec. Maybe he needs to get to the hospital.

50:58
wife called, maybe his dog got hit by a car. Could be a thousand reasons why that guy or gal needs to cut me off. Let's just go with it. Let's just give them the benefit of the doubt. And

51:15
There's no reason to let five seconds of your day wreck the other 68,000 seconds of the day. Right. Hmm. And, and

51:32
And I mean, that seems like, I mean, obviously you were uniquely put in that turning point to realize that. Like you said, that you were in a place where the other people that were around you wished they had been and had an outlook that was even half as good as what you had.

51:58
Mm hmm. Yeah, it was a very powerful moment, you know, and it was like, wow, the old Bob Merle quote, you don't know how strong you are until you know, you don't know how much strength you have until all you have left is strength, something like that. I butchered it. Sorry, Bob. But it's true. Yeah, it's true. And you know, folks, you have to watch your thoughts and you have to watch

52:28
say, Rob, I used to be a big guy. I was, uh, 282 pounds at one point. And I had this little joke. I used to say to whenever somebody would come over and I had this little joke. And I used to say, you know, if it comes with some weight loss, I wouldn't mind getting a little sick. Oh, wow. Ha ha ha ha ha. Right. Right. But I'd say it all the time, right. Every weekend when friend would go, ha ha ha ha. I couldn't ask for anything.

52:58
But no, I ask, hey, if it comes with weight loss, I don't mind getting a little sick. Well, that day, the universe was listening. And it said, really? This is what you want? This is what you're asking for? You could ask for a hit song. You could ask for a catchy chorus. But you're asking to get a little sick so you could lose some weight. Okay. Bam.

53:28
enjoy the weight loss. And it worked. I lost 70 pounds, but it's not a diet program I would suggest. So be careful friends, guard your thoughts and because that shit's real. When you focus on negative things and you focus on how bad things are, that's what you're going to see. That's what

53:58
you right. So if you say to yourself, why am I so stupid? Your brain's gonna go, here's why. Because it wants you to be right. So it's gonna prove to you that you're right. It's gonna prove to you the reasons why you're so stupid. So don't say stuff like that, friends. Right? Put it in a positive light. If you wake up today going, ugh, what's gonna happen today? Something's gonna happen. If you wake up

54:28
up going, how great is today going to be? Today is going to be an awesome day. The universe is going to show you reasons why it's going to be awesome. Maybe it's a flower outside your door. Maybe it's the sunrise. Could be anything. Just need to start the ball rolling.

54:50
That's basically it, man. That's what I try to do. I mean, I'm not perfect at it. Right. And one of the best ways to keep the darkness at bay is to help keep other people's darkness at bay. Because if you can shine your light, your light is eventually going to reach somebody else's dark corner. And you may not think of yourself as somebody that can reach out and lift somebody.

55:20
But you don't have to be a doctor, you don't have to be a nurse, you don't have to be a minister, you don't have to be anything. All you have to do is care.

55:34
and you can lift somebody up. And the best way to lift yourself is to lift those around you.

55:45
Mojo this is the third segment of the show now it's time now for the fast five the fast five it's time now for the fast five. I've been waiting a long time to be part of the fast five. Maybe you should have come up with a more metal version of it. Fast five. Fast five.

56:15
created by our friend Travis Brown. It's great for podcasters, give you interview questions, fun ice breakers as well. But it's great if you ever do have to just speak in front of a group or something like that. There's app available in all of your app stores. And if you go to chewingthefatbr.com slash pod decks and use the promo code chew, you get 10% off of your physical deck. But I am gonna use the app here. Mojo, you know Travis, you know how these things go. No wrong answers.

56:45
It's whatever the first answer is off top of your head. You ready? I'm ready. All right here we go question number one

56:54
Sweet or salty?

56:58
Okay, okay. See I'm more of a salty as far as the snack. I mean I got them both. I can do them both. I can do them both. Let me tell you there's a, there's this, I don't know if you guys have like a Costco up there where you are. But there's this something CG Cretors popcorn and it's a caramel mix. Yes, caramel and cheese cheddar popcorn.

57:28
I love that stuff. That's so good. So good, that stuff. So, so good. All right, question number two.

57:39
If you could bring one person back from the dead, one famous person back from the dead, who would you pick? Well, my mom wasn't famous, so I guess I'll go with my namesake, Jim Morrison. Nice. And Jim Morrison was a good looking guy too. It's funny, there were a lot of ugly singers, like pre-MTV. I think they probably would not have as good of a track record nowadays if they were trying to fresh come on the scene.

58:09
Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean you look at some guys like you know, Bob Dylan. Mm-hmm He wouldn't make it today. Right Neil Young, right? He makes it today because he made it then Yeah, exactly. But like I said, if he was fresh out the shoot, they'd be like, uh, you don't you don't It'd be like your music teacher. You just you can't sing and your face isn't good for television. So, mm-hmm He'd have a podcast Alright question number three

58:40
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Wherever my wife is. Oh, those are some brownie points that are stacking up for you, sir. Oh my gosh. There is no better answer than what you just said. I can't even, that's amazing. That's amazing. All right, question number four.

59:05
Is there a place that you would like to visit before you die?

59:11
Yeah, I guess you know what? I'm always, I've always been a follower of Dionysus. So eventually I'd like to get to the theater of Dionysus. I'd like to do some ancient Greece stuff. That would be pretty awesome. Otherwise, you know, I'm pretty happy here at home. But yeah, that is a dream spot for me. I would love to go to ancient Greece to see the ruins. I was about to say, if you figure out how to go to ancient Greece, we need to talk because that's a whole other venture

59:41
hustle time time sheen side hustle but no that'd be great I'd love to go to Greece too it's so it's when you talk about I mean of course like you know America and we're like oh we're 200 years old but they even go and you know my son lives in England it's like well no they're there for a long time but you go to Greece it's like that's that's the ancient ancient that's the stuff that's been here for more than anything else yeah yeah yeah yeah same here up

01:00:11
We're a little bit younger as a country, so to speak, than you guys, but yeah, to see something that old. Yeah. Man, I mean, I saw some ruins when I was in Belize and Mexico and Guatemala. Saw some of the Incan ruins and stuff like that. And that was pretty cool. That's cool. All right, and this is question number five.

01:00:38
What do you love to do for others?

01:00:45
I love to...

01:00:49
help other people believe in themselves so that they can achieve whatever dream that they have. That's awesome. That's awesome. And I totally believe that. And I totally agree with that. It's something I know that fires me up being able to just talk with people and they're like, oh, I want to do this. It's like, okay, well, why haven't you? Let's take some barriers down. Let's figure out why. Is it because you don't know a certain person in a place or

01:01:19
scared to ask, you want me to make the call? But how can I help you do what you want to do? Yeah. You know, cause most people are so blocked by fear that they just won't take action. So imagine if we doubted our fears instead of doubting ourselves. Yeah. That's some deep stuff right there, sir. That's good. Yes, sir. I've been, you know what Rob,

01:01:49
on every day. I wake up and I listen to this kind of stuff. Right. I listen to Jim Rohn or Ed Mylad or I have my my stoic books here. My Stephen Pressfield. If you've never been never read Stephen Pressfield, I highly suggest it. The War of Art. Yeah. You know, just believe in yourself,

01:02:19
You are given these dreams for a reason. Because the universe wants you to do them. Nobody's gonna write your book. Nobody's gonna sing your song. Nobody's gonna do your podcast, but you. And it doesn't matter what it is. It could be anything. You could be a genius apple pie baker. Will take it and go with it.

01:02:49
Well, that's our fifth question. That's the Fast Five and that is the show. Thank you so much for spending some time with me, my friend. Oh, Rob, I've been waiting, waiting to do the show. I'm so glad that we were able to hook up. You have been such an inspiration and such a positive light in my life. I just wanted to thank you for that. And friends, if you could do anything for me, please get out and give Rob's show a five star rating, share it with everybody

01:03:19
uplifting show and shout out to baby J who came to my show after being on your show Robb. So I just wanted a moment with Moj, he's been hiatus for a couple of months. You know I got to 200 and I was so burnt out Rob, so burnt out. I knew at 150 I was in trouble but I made it and I'm planning to bring it back. Good. Just not yet.

01:03:49
too many balls in the air right now, but thank you so much for having me on your show, man. I can't wait to listen to the edited version and let the wife hear that special answer. That's right. And it, yeah, and a shout out to Travis too, really, because you know, I'm still in touch with a lot of those guys. I'm still in touch with you, I'm in touch with Enero, I'm still working with Craig. Yeah,

01:04:19
Moj, if people want to keep up with you and what you have going on, what's the best way they can find you? Obviously, you've got the podcast and stuff like that, which I'll put the links to, but if they're on social media or just want to keep up and find out more about Moj. I'm at Mojo, M-O, first name Jo, last name on Facebook. I'm at Wigglian Mojo, W-I-G-G-L-I-A-N Mojo on Twitter.

01:04:49
And yeah, you can find me at the various podcasts, the Wigley and Way, A Moment with Mojo, Everybody Speaks Music. And if you want to hear my music, you can go to www.bandcamp.com slash Mojo Kemp. Awesome. And again, I will put those links in the show notes, so folks can have easy access to be able to find you and all the amazing stuff that you have going on again.

01:05:19
much for being here my friend. Thank you Robb and thank you for everything you've done for me bro. I love you immensely. I love you too my friend. I love you too. If you would like to support this podcast please consider buying me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com but until next time I look forward to when we have a moment to sit a spell and chew the fat.

01:05:46