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TTP #7- Trumpet Player Eric Benny Bloom on the Importance of Gaining Knowledge and Taking Chances
12 Plays7 years ago
Eric Benny Bloom is the trumpet player extraordinaire from the bands Lettuce, Pretty Lights and his group Sonic Bloom. Eric is both hilarious and insightful when it comes to discussing health on the road.
In this conversation:
- What factors contributed to Eric making the transition to being vegan and how that affected his life overall and as a musician on the road
- What making the transition to a plant-based diet did for Eric’s trumpet playing
- Making the move to New Orleans and what continues to inspire him about being a part of the musicians community in NOLA
- Living as a vegan in New Orleans, a city traditionally characterized with a diet rich in animal products
- Show preparation, his diet on show days and eating before performances
- The importance of being truly educated about your endeavors and taking chances in life
Please take a moment to rate and review the podcast in iTunes and visit www.tourganic.com for more info on this episode and living healthy on the road
Tourganic Podcast Theme song 'The Path' written by David Bailis and this episode's musical interludes by Eric Benny Bloom
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Torganic Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, what's up? It's Bendy Boom. I'm talking about Torque Canikie.
Benefits of Plant-Based Diets
00:00:04
Speaker
Everything spoke to me. Vegetarian or vegan eating was a simple no-brainer to fix your health and also do good things for the world. Everything that goes along with being vegetarian or vegan is just appealing. You know, energy, clear mind, you know, less burden. You just become a lot more efficient in every way.
Host's Hiatus and Healthy Touring Musicians
00:00:23
Speaker
I am David Bayless, host of the Torgannic Podcast. I know it has been a while since the last episode. I just raced in my fourth triathlon in five weeks, and the combination of training for that, with all my music and touring, the podcast was put on hold for a few weeks. But we're back in action with an awesome episode with the one and only Eric Betty Bloom.
00:00:42
Speaker
In these conversations, I speak with touring musicians about how they live a healthy lifestyle on the road. While many of these episodes are about how and why my guests live a plant-based vegan diet on the road, the content of these conversations has a diverse and holistic approach to focus on health of mind, body, and spirit.
Introduction to Eric Benny Bloom
00:01:00
Speaker
My goal is that this podcast will give you a window into their life and offer you some insight that will inspire you. Please let me know what you think by commenting and rating the show on iTunes.
00:01:12
Speaker
My guest this week is Eric Benny Bloom, New Orleans based trumpet player from Lettuce, Pretty Lights Live Band, and his own group, Sonic Bloom. Eric is a true character and that shines through in this conversation.
Eric's Vegan Journey and Music Life
00:01:24
Speaker
Anyone who has seen him live knows that his charismatic vibe on stage is always present and his trumpet playing is a force to be reckoned with.
00:01:31
Speaker
On top of Eric's skills on the horn, he's a foodie and he has a love of the nuance of food. It's enlightening and entertaining to hear how that has become applied to his vegan diet. Now New Orleans based, Eric has stamped his footprint on the scene down there in a major way and is playing regularly with some of the great and legendary musicians from that area. In this episode we get into how and why Eric became a vegan, his show preparation, his life on tour, and what the experience of living in New Orleans has meant to him.
00:01:58
Speaker
Eric is an old friend of mine and it was great to sit down with him and have this conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I caught up with Eric when he was coming through Brooklyn on tour. How was the show last night? Aw man, come on bro. You know, you know how it is. It's a struggle. Nah, it was cool. Hey, you know, ain't nothing to but to do it. So what's good in New Orleans? Man, it's killing down there, man. The food, man. The culture, the history, man. The life, you know. It's all one.
00:02:29
Speaker
It's true. It's beautiful if anyone hasn't gone there. I highly recommend it. So you happy you made the move down there? Mm-hmm If I am drinking some nice wine here on the mic, I'm over 21. This is legal You're gonna nice
00:02:45
Speaker
Zinfandel from Lodi, California. They do a lot of great Zinfandel, so out of that region. And it's from some old vines, so you're gonna get a little black cherry, darker fruit notes. So yeah, New Orleans is great. I'm very happy. I made the move from Bastion. Via Brooklyn. Oh, yeah, Via Brooklyn. Yeah, you know, from Rhode Island, then did the New York kind of thing, and then went back to Boston, and then went to
00:03:11
Speaker
I guess, you know, Providence Road, all the stuff. And then I went to New Orleans. I'm like, I'm out of here, kid. And I went down to New Orleans. And it's great. It feels like the Caribbean in New Orleans. Well, it is. They say it's the northernmost point in the Caribbean. It's like how they refer to it. Think about like the slave trade and all the, you know, the
00:03:31
Speaker
shipping ports and everything. It was like the first American port, but it's really Caribbean. I mean, it's, even though it's hot down there, really hot always, when it's cold, it's still humid in the air. So it's really, it's like, it sticks. You can feel it's wet in the air and it's like, you know, when it's like 52 degrees, it gets real cold. There's like a health conscious movement and that's certainly in New Orleans. I've seen that growth happening. Well, cause New Orleans, you know, like Portland and Providence, both Portland's like hipster cities that are getting like, you know,
00:04:01
Speaker
If you're from Pittsburgh or a random town, like a lot of people go to college somewhere and then they go to a place, everyone's gentrification or whatever, but a lot of people don't want to go back to their small town. So you find a city, like, yeah, I'm part of that wave of New Orleans, but like, you know, Portland's and all the, and like, you know, Austin, all these cities are kind of getting real.
00:04:17
Speaker
health context a lot of I totally agree I just New Orleans people go to New Orleans for the food for the food butter yes Asian cooking it's got a serious Creole history history completely not excess animal product agree yeah so
Transition and Benefits of Veganism
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, so, but New Orleans has like, is a great place that does a lot of Caribbean, is a Caribbean spot, but not a Caribbean, like, give me something to make in your, what's that part of, it's called Carmel. You know, Carmel. That's like my favorite. That was the place. One of my favorites in New Orleans. When I first became vegan and I went there, literally, I went, I think I went like, within two weeks, I went five times.
00:04:52
Speaker
I mean, we literally ate there twice in a day once. I was like, gotta go back. And there was only a couple places then. There was a pop-up in the back of the high-ho. There's a place called the Wandering Buddha. It was a Korean barbecue vegan spot. Is it gone? It's totally gone. And then there was another place right down the road at the St. Rock Market Bar. It was right there called St. Rock Bar, whatever.
00:05:12
Speaker
There was a place inside the bar. It was all vegan, but it was shwag vegan. Soy cheese, burgers, poutine fries with fake cheese. And I was never into that, the fake stuff. But it was still cool to like, okay, they got this place. They had a couple places, but those places kind of closed. And now there's a new place which I'm best friends with the owner called the Sneaky Pickle, which is literally, they do everything.
00:05:33
Speaker
They opened up pretty much kind of straight vegetarian vegan, but then they have like one meat option Then they'll have like one fish, but they they do everything Locally, of course, there's a huge local movement like Portland's, you know, everything is local because there's so much farm farmland
00:05:49
Speaker
And it's just, yeah, there's so many options there. You're going to have to take me to the sneaky pickle. I mean, sneaky pickle is so good, I would eat there. I take, when I was vegan, I'd eat most of my meals there. Just because it's, it's, he's just, everything is flavorful. The thing is, vegetarian and vegan cooking, you can get a lot of
00:06:04
Speaker
you have to add the flavor, you know, or cook, you don't want to cook all the nutrients out of the stuff, so you got less cooking time, but you got to get the flavor in, so marinades, and just, you know, and then you don't want to soy out, and he really does, he doesn't, he uses a lot of cashew, like the cashew mac and cheese, it's just like, you know, just everything is so flavorful, you just wonder.
00:07:03
Speaker
So let me ask you this, because you brought up Tom Garrington, and it's funny because I had Jordan Scannell on the podcast. He brought up Tom Garrington as like a major force. Which is an early influence. Yeah, a major force in Jordan's taking a turn for his health. What happened? You know how it is. Everyone's got friends around the country who someone gets educated and starts to be like, you know, maybe we shouldn't be eating so swaggy and just doing what everyone tells us to.
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, but like, Tom's talking to a lot of people, not every single person he talked to and vegan, so why you? Like, what made you kind of listen? Well, I'm short. I have a big hip problem, like, I have a hip replacement, I need one and I've got scolios, I can't really run, I can't go work out like a normal human.
00:07:43
Speaker
so i can't just eat blindly i have to like try to so i by health reasons i was like maybe i should try this vegan thing you know it's not just about less caloric or anything it's just eating a better way speeding up your metabolism jump starting your metabolism everything spoke to me it's like hey you can't i'm not normal i feel like that so i needed another way to look at my life and and
00:08:05
Speaker
vegetarian or vegan eating was a simple no-brainer to fix your health and also do good things for the world and just be on a different be on a different thing it's like your energy i mean everything that goes along with being vegetarian or vegan is just appealing you know energy and
00:08:21
Speaker
clear mind you know less burden you just become a lot more efficient in every way and if you can keep it at a night if you can balance that diet and just keep it right and sleep enough and all the good things that come with being healthy it's like it's just the epitome I felt I've never felt better you know clear felt really clear and Tom was the man that just was really into it and he was and I saw him and what it did for him him and Steve Memelow you know and uh...
00:08:48
Speaker
It was just like cool to see someone like that that was really into something like that and something so good. It's great cause and it's, and it also has so many benefits more than anything else I found in the world. That's like, here's like a truth, you know, and it gives you benefits, you know, and it helps the people around you. And then you influence people around you to eat healthier.
00:09:07
Speaker
and educate themselves. That's the whole point for me being vegan. Of course, we don't want to kill animals and pollute the world and take up natural resources to kill your animal. That's not my main reason, but I just feel that I needed to change, and Tom was the one that kind of just spoke to me, and he's a good friend of mine, so I really liked it, and he did it to a lot of people. He's changed, actually. And that's what the point is. Good music, good wine, good whatever good quality and knowledge you want to be, surround yourself with people like that.
00:09:38
Speaker
If you're the smartest person in the situation, it's time to roll. Right, right, right. And so you, Tommy's talking to you, some light bulbs are flashing, and that was it right then and there? No, the story is, I went out with Steve Mimalow, the great friend of mine, a wicked good singer. Dude, wicked good. And he was vegan, and he went out to LA, we were doing an album, he was like, hey, I'm gonna buy your food for the week, but you gotta eat vegan. I'm like, no, you're an idiot, I hate you.
00:10:07
Speaker
And then I have to go to Native Foods, which is kind of swag out, but still good. It's a little fast foodie, but it's on the right track. It's a little fast foodie, but whatever. I mean, like, that's great. It's got flavor. It's cool. A little swag. And I had the food, and I was like, oh, OK. It was actually cool. And then he slowly but surely, and then it took me, and then for that week, and then I dropped like five pounds within like a forward, whatever. I felt great.
00:10:32
Speaker
And that was just a cool thing because you're learning about what isn't vegan, what isn't. Like every chip, you go get salt and vinegar chips, they have milk product in it. You know, like the whole world is throwing dairy into everything because they want flavor. Yeah. And they don't want, they can't do it normally because everything is getting swaggy. Mass-produced. Yeah. Kettle chips are all swaggy. You know, everything is like...
00:10:50
Speaker
so I was just like wow everyone is really copping out on like correct flavor and and hard work they're just putting crap in everything so I'm like maybe I should I just kept going with it and I love chocolate and bacon and cheese like how am I gonna cut cheese I'm like and I just kept on like slowly but surely kept took out butter you know
00:11:13
Speaker
and just slowly kept going, whatever, I don't care what you do, but you know, I just, I started to really feel the difference, especially when the dairy officially came out. It was like a whole, it just really cleared things up, not just like I had like excess mucus or anything, just like headaches, all the skin, you know, and I didn't have any skin issues, but definitely cleared up my skin, for sure, and just sleeping better, and just feeling, you know, as a brass player, I breathe a lot, and it just really made me a little, it's more efficient,
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah, I wanted to take that one step further because I know you mentioned the clarity that came from it. And do you think that going vegan changed your playing and helped your playing? Totally. No, not to be cliche and an idiot, but it really like...
00:11:57
Speaker
You could sleep three hours and you just feel different. Like your body is working, literally it's working differently. It's like how it is. You take all that product out of your body for five years, it's gonna act differently. Yeah, your energy level. Your energy level is through the roof and I'm crazy anyway. So it was just like up and at them and you're just a little stronger. I felt literally charged generally throughout the day. Things move through you quicker and just like,
00:12:27
Speaker
and you're eating so packed full of nutrients and they just digest and the mineral absorption rates are all different and the food combining
00:12:40
Speaker
which is a whole other thing, you know, and I just felt good and as a brass player, and then I started to do it, and then of course, once you start feeling better about yourself, what do you
Healthy Lifestyle and Music
00:12:47
Speaker
do? You start running, or you, oh, I mean, I did a lot of bikram yoga, and I was swimming. So I was like, yeah, bikram yoga, or whatever that is, hot yoga, and then in swimming, swimming is the greatest thing for you, of course, you know, and to those. Especially with your hip issue, like the lower resistance. At that point, I started to read about a year in of really bikraming and swimming, and I have a, you know, a hip disease,
00:13:08
Speaker
one leg shorter than the other, and I started to bicker them out a lot, and I started to hurt myself a little bit, and I have a crack on my lower spine, spondylolistis, whatever. And that was from scoliosis and all my things just over the years.
00:13:24
Speaker
I just exacerbated it trying to go too hard because I'm not like Mr. Jacked. Yeah, and some people tell me because I like the hot yoga too. It's strenuous. My friends, like Nate Edgar, who are pretty deep in yoga, they were like, be careful there. Yeah, because it's like, whatever. Well, you have to find your own way about yoga and everything. But regardless, I kind of went a little hard. I'm not going to blame it on yoga.
00:13:47
Speaker
but I was still vegan for years, so I kept a lot of weight off and I still felt great. Do you do anything like breathing, exercises? I should, you know, I used to do like yoga and stuff, but I have, I'm not saying I have my breath down, but after literally, you know...
00:14:00
Speaker
25 years of playing trumpet. I know how to breathe. I have concepts of breath and I know how to take huge breaths. But yeah, I've watched a video. I watched a great video. I wanted this guy from Australia, one of the best brass players of all time. And who's that? Kind of James Morrison. And he just talks about like letting the breath out. Like if you blow your arrow all the way for then stop but hold it for like
00:14:22
Speaker
And then just let the air in. If you hold your breath, you're going to take a huge breath. You don't have to take the breath in. It's just the air is going to rush in. It's the natural way. So mimic that movement.
00:14:34
Speaker
and that breath. Just how to naturally breathe and stuff. You know, of course breathing exercises, yeah, if you're a brass player and you're listening to this yet, before your gig, you know, before you touch the trumpet, do a bunch of breathing exercises. My old teacher, one of my teachers, run up the stairs four times and down. Then go play trumpet. It's like opening the lungs.
00:15:25
Speaker
to be a vegan, especially on the road as a musician. It's a discipline. It's a super discipline. And do you see like a connection between that discipline and like playing? And yeah, like just the concept of the discipline of learning. Like obviously we spent years shedding, you know, as a youngster. It's the same thing. That is very true. Like looking at your art and how you cook. Yeah, it's like, dude, eating is the same thing. Music and food are like the same thing to me. If they're not, if anyone says they're different,
00:15:52
Speaker
They are wrong. It's a fact. Your opinion is wrong. You know, because food is the same thing. You've taken years and years of making dishes and ingredients and what they do to you. And especially as like on the road, like you're like, all right, I know this city. I know I got this spot. I know I have these spots. I want to get there early. I had to get my thing. Then I'm going to come back. I want to warm up. I want to feel good. It's like you kind of get yourself on a schedule because you can't. As vegans, you got to eat.
00:16:18
Speaker
It's like, I gotta eat right now, ready? And I'm not gonna let someone else dictate what I'm eating, and I'm not gonna let your schedule dictate. It's like, all right, you guys go eat, I'm gonna go do my thing. You know, it's kinda cool, you get to do your own thing. I like being alone, it's great. I see people all the time, they're great. Sounds great, look great. I'm just doing my thing, and it's go eat, and then come back, you're on your own schedule, I wanna warm up, and then soon I'm gonna be hungry again in a couple hours. You plan ahead a lot, planning meals.
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah. It's fun.
00:16:49
Speaker
I love it. You learn so much about food and I'm such a foodie and then I was just a vegan foodie. Same thing. Yeah, I see. Like it like kind of being a vegan, having that patterns, like have a sense of patterns throughout the day. That's the thing. That's the only thing in my life that I was good at. I was just a joke. The only thing I was successful at was being a vegan. Like, yeah, I mean, like everything else is just nice. All right. But like vegan, I was like, nope, know everything. Know every city, where to go. Know what's good for you, what you should do. Or just, I was really into that.
00:17:18
Speaker
the most regimented I was ever been. But it's gotta be the same thing as when you were like, you know, coming up on chocolate. I was never regimented. I was very fly by the seat of my pants, that's why I think I'm very individual. I was like, well, I like to do what I need to do and what you have to do, technique and the building blocks, but then, oh, you know, oh yeah, here's Bob Marley. All right, I'm checking him out forever. All right, let me leave that, and then I'm, oh, Frank Sinatra, here, check him out. Oh, Wu-Tang, they're cool.
00:17:45
Speaker
You know, it's like you're a trumpet player just because you're, you know, don't listen to Cliff Brown and Miles Davis, you know, don't just eat, you know, spinach and kale. What about microgreens? What about arugula? You know, like, or what about collards? You know, it's like, just, I love to learn and veganism really helps that. Especially on the road, man. When you're on the road, you just gotta know every city. You know, dude, Philly?
00:18:09
Speaker
It might be the best vegan spot. Asheville is obviously fun and everything is good. Yeah, Asheville is. But I kind of didn't find the greatest quality vegan stuff there. I don't know. Oh, in Asheville? Yeah, there were some good things. There's one spot I have a host about. Yes, the good bird, the good something.
Vegan Dining on Tour
00:18:27
Speaker
I think so, yeah, it's like on a little alley. Yeah, it's a restaurant, sit down there, wait, it's a good spot. Yeah, it's cool, it's good, kind of sloppy. You know, like here's our temp, I don't know, it's nothing but Philly. They have a vegan pizzeria, unbelievable. But like, you know, Vinny, dude, Vinny's down the street. They got, you know, but you don't eat so much. I don't do that. Yeah, but I think, I don't think it was a, is there a non-soy based pizza? Is that possible? Cashew cheese pizza?
00:18:54
Speaker
They're, you know, there has to be, there has to be. Yeah, yeah, there is. But I remember them next gluten guy. Oh, seriously, you're dialing it in. You're killing it. You're not eating no schwag. That's why you look like that. Nice folks. You see this guy. But yeah, you know, but Philly had, they had all these different
00:19:12
Speaker
vegan restaurants like high-end top chef. I'm talking about downtown. I'm talking about like six. I was like, you got Charlie was a sinner was one of them. It's like, you know, all dark in there. I think I got a roommate. I think I got a Caesar.
00:19:27
Speaker
but it was like, you know, not, it wasn't like soy, it wasn't, but it was like, they took all these romaine, the long leaves, and they charred them, and they had like the croutons, it was like a deconstructed. And it was like, get outta here, man. It was just, everything was on point, and that's what I like about like good vegetarian and vegan eating. It's like, I wanna eat quality, I wanna eat well, I want it to look great, I just don't wanna go get a swaggy quinoa bowl. Come on.
00:19:54
Speaker
It's like, I can't just keep doing that. It's like, here's some carbs, stuff on, later.
00:20:42
Speaker
anything you do, you gotta be the most knowledgeable. If you're not, you might wanna consider doing something else. Well, yeah, I mean, especially on the road, I mean, you're busy where time is like. Time is so constricted and valuable. That's why I'm on, you're jumping and you're doing all the internet research, one of the spots in town, because I don't wanna spend all day on food.
00:21:04
Speaker
So, and I gotta practice, and I gotta warm up, and I gotta get my thing together, and then I don't like to, you don't wanna eat late, of course, but musicians, and we're always up weird hours, we like to eat, it's a comfort thing, kinda after my gig, wanna have a little something, and talk about late night eating for vegetarian and vegan, which is obviously the worst in history, so it's like. I mean, even beyond vegetarian and vegan, pretty much late night eating,
00:21:26
Speaker
You're probably going down a road of not eating what's optimal for your body. Well, yeah. You shouldn't be eating nothing, of course. So my friend was like, if you're going to eat fruit, that's a good point. At least it's going to be quick on a metabolism. I know it's sugar, but it's not going to be like you're not going to be gaining a bunch of weight if you're eating three oranges. I can't see that. But a salad to me is not appetizing.
00:21:49
Speaker
But a burrito sounds nice after a gig. But then it's like you're eating a huge thing. But like, you know, a couple tacos, small tacos. What's that? Just a little corn tortilla? What's that? 15 carbs? Something like that. And then you get just some nice
00:22:02
Speaker
some beans, just like a very simple thing. It's like, you need a lot. But yeah, it's hard to find those things. Like when I come on the tour bus and they have like, back in the day, they'd be like, pizzas, or like, you know, like chicken wings, or like a shwaggy falafel sandwich, and the draggest falafel ever, and it's like, thanks, but no thanks. It's like, you know. But like, if you're on the bus and you can have your own thing, like having grapefruit, having, you know, just,
00:22:28
Speaker
Just, you know, or, you know, like beans. I love, I love fava beans. And I'm Portuguese and like, guys, I love beans. Obviously I love all beans all day long. I don't know if you do. I think definitely beans, bean like, yeah. And then, you know, like, I know you probably don't want, but, but fava beans, the big thing of course, they fry them. It's big. They lightly fried or, or roasted, like roasted chestnut. A lot of Asians love, so I go to the Asian markets. I get roasted chestnuts. Nice.
00:22:54
Speaker
and just peel and just have that and then like or and just have like or some soup I don't know just like some it's easier on the tour bus because you have stuff sitting there for you what you're in your fridge but my cats don't have tour buses and I'm not like because you guys sometimes roll on the bus and so we do no no we now we don't always always on a bus but if it's like a three-day run
00:23:12
Speaker
You know, we're not really doing, like, sprinter fans. They'll fly us. Like, when it's summer festivals, you'll fly. Because you got a lot of cats in that band. It's like, yeah, it's a seven, eight. Seven, seven, eight. You know, depending on if this crowd is around. And if Neil and Nigel are on keys, it's a new thing. They're both playing keyboards, which is awesome. You haven't seen it. Pan is on fire. Tonight? No, tonight's break side of the live band. You coming? Oh, right, right. Yeah, I'm coming. It's going to be fun. I'm coming, yeah.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's a lot. I mean, like the band is on fire. But like, yeah, it's hard to travel all those people. But like, you know, having a band that's really into eating healthy in general, like we're always trying to eat, you know, always doing the whole food stop or like our writer, writer is together like we love Puerh tea, one of the greatest teas.
00:23:55
Speaker
for lowering cholesterol. It's Chinese tea to black tea. I like it. Drew's brother Garrett was on the podcast. You know Garrett Sayers. Yeah. Garrett was like, there's fast food bands and there's whole foods bands. And he was like, 99% of bands are fast food bands. Yeah. And slowly the people are changing because you know, on the road, you're like, man, I can't keep feeling.
00:24:15
Speaker
like crap, I'm already tired, and then the food is making you more tired, and slowing everything down.
Daily Routines and Health Habits
00:24:21
Speaker
You know, I think some people, it's hard to even be aware, like they're not necessarily aware. Everyone has a breakthrough in their life, where at some point, you're like, I'm just too fat, or I'm just sick of just eating dead animal, or I'm tired all the time, I'm having all these extra at my skin, I have psoriasis, or whatever, it's like, it's gotta be probably sick, cause I'm ingesting. What do you do when you wake up? You wake up, and you ingest stuff, and then you go to bed.
00:24:45
Speaker
It's all humans do. You get up, you do a bunch of stuff, you eat stuff, and you go to bed. So anything, anything sickness is probably because of something you're ingesting. Right. So you probably might want to look at that. Here, you want to check it out?
00:25:27
Speaker
So, when you're rolling on the tour bus, what do you do in the morning? I love fruit, so I try to drink water as soon as I wake up. You know, the warm water, lemon, Japanese vibe. Get the metabolism moving. Then, I really love Puerh tea, so we'll brew a big thermos. I'm not even hip to this. How do you spell Puerh? Puerh-e-h-r. It's one of the, they age the tea, it's fermented.
00:25:57
Speaker
So they age it, they cook it slightly, and then they put it in caves for like 10 years, five years, 15 years, and you're dealing with Puerh trees and families that are tea farmers for like 100 years, 200 years the same. So how deep are those roots going? What trace minerals are gonna be in that tea? What's green tea is great. I love green tea, I love all quality, but it's kinda high caffeine-y,
00:26:26
Speaker
you know it's like you know but I love tea but like Puerh tea is one of the things that's the whole band all the hip a lot of hippies and like Cali you really got us on it it's just one of the greatest things it's just one of the one of the best things for you it like kills your appetite it lowers lowers cholesterol and it's just it just
00:26:44
Speaker
It's like, it's a mellow coffee. It just never, it dials you in. So I was, dude, I'll be drinking on the first set. I drink nothing but Puerh tea. Second set, I'll have like a little bit of like white wine. It's like, you know, I'm dialing in like my Puerh tea all day long. And now I'm on coffee again, like drinking some quality coffee, like a pour over. But yeah, you wake up, water, have a cup. I used to really love my smoothies and I love the, you know, all the add-ins by Health Force.
00:27:12
Speaker
You know, that company, Health Force, that's the company, so I got the Vitaminal Greens, the Maca, the True CEO, all the good stuff. But then, you know, when you're vegan, you gotta get all that stuff in, but it turns great, and you're just like, hi! You take that thing, you're like, raging. But then, you know, I was like,
00:27:31
Speaker
There are, you know, sometimes I make too much of it and then you're just like sitting there on this huge thing and it's a lot of calories sometimes, you know, you got the acai packet, you know, all the good sambas on it, like all the right things, you know, but I do not a lot of fruit, just like blueberries, the highest antioxidants, no banana, banana is full of sugar.
00:27:50
Speaker
It adds potassium, but it's full of sugar, maybe a little banana, but mostly, I love celery in mine. Celery is great, alkalis, cilantro or parsley in there. Obviously, turmeric root, ginger.
00:28:06
Speaker
Just like a lot of vegetable things. Yeah, my smoothie today was carrot, celery. Carrot's cool. Cucumber, no skin. Blueberry. Blueberry. Vitamineral green.
00:28:22
Speaker
I do banana in my smoothies. Yeah, it helps to tie together. Yeah, it's good for me. Yeah, I mean, you're a metaboler, like you run, like you can use a little sugar. You're okay. I ran like eight miles this morning. Yeah, you can eat a banana. It's cool. Yeah, bananas are...
00:28:38
Speaker
They're good for me. So yeah, I mean, dialing in your smoothie is fun. You know, like a lot of people, smoothie is a great way to start. And that's, I recommend that for everyone. I think everyone knows, you know, not just here's like apple celery kale and things like, you know, the Addons.
00:28:54
Speaker
Namaka and flax seeds. Oh yeah, I do flax, hemp, and chia. Dude, so you got omega-3, 6, 9, 12. You got extra fats. Like you're getting a lot of fat. I want a fat smooth, you know, a lot of fats, you know.
00:29:12
Speaker
because vegans don't, you're not getting a lot of fat on your diet or certain fats. So yeah, I really like the smoothie. And you know, I love, I make one of my favorite salads, Zoidus, me and Dale. You gotta have a herb salad. You must have like either mint, herb salad. Gotta have either mint, cilantro, flat Italian parsley. Just those are three easy. Oh, and then I'm not really into dill too much, but then- I like dill. Fennel.
00:29:39
Speaker
I know, yeah. Taking the green stuff off there and you know, like put it in at the end. It just, it makes your salad so much flavor right there. If you did just those four, like Chinese, go to Zion Family Foods, they have a cilantro salad. That's it. And just to go back to the day to take it back one step. This will be generally, I like this in, um, okay, this is, you know, I generally like that for like a, it depends if it's a show day, you know, like,
00:30:05
Speaker
You can eat your big meal at lunch. Get that out of the way. And then kind of tail it off with a snack. And then you have a huge salad. And then maybe a thing of beans that you also dress up with thyme, lemon, like a side cold dish. If you want to be killing it. And then have that at six or seven or eight.
00:30:24
Speaker
and then go on at like 10 or 11. Right, try to have that a couple hours before you play. My thing is, especially as tremor players, no, I don't do it at least an hour or two before you play. And you'll really be killing it. If you don't eat too, if you have a two hour rule, you should feel pretty on top of it. But if you eat like, you know, like dice, you roll out of bed, you like to sleep before his gig, and then eat a sandwich right before he's going on. Like trumpet doesn't work like that, because you need room in your stomach.
00:30:54
Speaker
It doesn't feel a little weird taking huge breaths. It doesn't feel right. Yeah, sometimes like eating a huge meal. So I like to just give it time.
00:31:37
Speaker
Tommy Garrington had this positive effect on you and you love to talk, right? You're a talker. A lot of people probably like to listen to you and just sometimes. And you're doing the vegan thing and I wonder how you found like walking the line of not being like preaching vegan. Well it was for six months I think, everyone does.
Positive Influence of Veganism
00:31:59
Speaker
You're like, dude, put that burger down! Which is douchey, you know. But yeah, I kind of went through it, but then I just realized, like, you can't... Once people get used to it, you're close people, and they're like, alright, you're a vegan now, we get it. You know, because you just do, you know. But then you just kind of, hey man, check this out, look at this study, why don't you try, hey, I mean, someone's sick, and you're like, you know,
00:32:25
Speaker
you might want to not eat dairy for like five days, try it. See if you can minimize it. And what I would say is don't cut things out of your diet, add things into your diet, add more salad, add more fruit. All of a sudden you're going to be fuller and you're like, you know what? I guess I don't need that cheeseburger. Oh, are we going to feel better? And you're like, you know what? And you start looking at cheeseburgers like it's not going to make me feel the best right now. Even though it's like a comfort thing for my mind. So you just start to,
00:32:52
Speaker
You have an effect on people, but like, hey, you know, maybe try this. You know, I don't, and then I don't want you to be vegan. I don't want to be vegetarian. Don't like, don't sell them on anything. Your friends add something into your diet. Try this, you know, and just, that's it. You just have to take them along because you want to help your people and you want them to be educated.
00:33:11
Speaker
but you can't be the worst thing to do if you want to drive them away, is be like on your high horse and talking all day. Totally, because you mentioned that you're like one of the great aspects about living that lifestyle was kind of spreading that positive influence on other people, but then like that can so quickly turn dark. So you have to just, you know, you have to show them by example. That's what I did when I became vegan, I dropped all the weight, I was feeling good, I was going to the gym, my whole life changed, literally.
00:33:38
Speaker
joined lettuce, became vegan, got divorced. It was a good couple of years, folks. But so, you know, and it was like just the gift that kept on giving. Nothing else in my life was as true and showed results in my mental and emotional and physical and, you know, being. So I just like it. I like it, but you don't want to be a jerk. And you got to find your own way to influence people around you without being annoying.
00:34:07
Speaker
Although you probably have a unique talent of being a jerk, but somehow winning people over at doing it simultaneously. Yeah, it's the Northeast in me. I can bust your balls at the same time, but like, I'm just kidding. I'm not kidding at all. I love you. But actually... Actually, I don't love you. You look really ugly. I'm just kidding when I mean ugly.
00:34:24
Speaker
You really got me. You saw the China study when you were in my crib. You walked by and you said cancer. And what else? Is there other books? What Thrive is a bodybuilding book for the vegan bodybuilder who was jacked and just had all this workout and his food regimen. But it's a little older. That book is a little older. So the food
00:34:47
Speaker
is kind of like not like I think he's kind of into schwag-soy right this dude who's even those you know but books yeah of course the omnivore's dilemma and food for thought right food for thought I don't know it's it's it's just it's Michael Pollan's both books oh okay yeah I definitely and then and then the food
00:35:05
Speaker
I think it's food for thought. There's like, in defense of food. There it is, sorry. In defense of food. And that was like, that just reiterated everything Tom and all my friends were saying. He just gave it to you right there. You know, it's like, what is your grandmother eating? What was she eating? Yeah. You know?
00:35:20
Speaker
And all these things, people were eating better back in the day, and there's all this swag around you. It's just about educating yourself and not following the crappy Western diet. All of a sudden in like 50, 60 years, everyone's eating this crap. So those are my favorite books. And China Studies, it's a good read. It is. But just about cancer, rates, that's a major part of it, and parts of the world, where you're from.
00:35:47
Speaker
Yeah I mean I find China study just because we're talking about like not being preachy but like China study is a good one for people like our parents or someone like you know someone that's like inherently maybe skeptical of what you're saying and like you know just check this out these are these are facts right here you know you don't have to this is not my opinion yeah
00:36:06
Speaker
Because yeah, we're always trying to sell the field, but people think like vegans are trying to sell them something all the time, you know? You have to let them get there on their own. That's just... It's not a sad part, but it's kind of true. I could have been vegan when I was like 20 or something, but it took me till I was 30 and Tom Garrington and things in my life to change and be like, you know what, maybe you should think about just taking care of yourself for a little bit.
Maintaining Wellness on Tour
00:36:30
Speaker
That'd be cool.
00:36:59
Speaker
How's it going right now for like working out and stuff for me? I need to swim so I just started swimming again now It's Dominican Republic for a gig and I had all these great pools and I was swimming like oh my bat I'm now doing physical therapy for my spine my lower spine. Yeah, so now I can kind of swim again It's like oh, you know and that's the best thing for me and once you start feeling better and doing that You know, but I always I just love the You know yoga in energy green room
00:37:24
Speaker
Okay, so you don't do the classes you just know, yeah, and then I do a bunch of trying to do a bunch of push ups. And then you do a bunch of different kind of sit ups and stuff like that. And like kind of planks and all these different like strengthening core things. Cool, you know, like I don't need to like, I'm not trying to be super jacked, you know, over here. But like, but I feel like yoga and is swimming is my favorite thing. But
00:37:45
Speaker
but I can't get to a pool on tour. I'm not gonna go find a pool and get a cab and go to a pool, swim for an hour, and then try to go shower at the hotel, and then it's gonna take three hours right there. Literally. Gotta wake up early. And I'm not trying to do that.
00:38:01
Speaker
Freaking played my butt off the night before I was in bed at like three I'm not getting up at seven or eight and I'm not even in the next city until 11 So you get in the next city. It's 11 o'clock. Yeah, I can go three hours I just I just I just not I'd rather like I like to chill and like gain and regain my vibe and like, you know read Practice a little bit maybe write some music. That's cool. You know kind of just check out. I
00:38:25
Speaker
look at some TV like some specials that I'm watching on Netflix just to like undo it because then you're right back in party mode and freaking like playing high intensity music and I'm like geez I need to be quiet you know and it is working out for people you know but I can't just go run but most most of the guys like they'll do the running thing but I really think the yoga in the room
00:38:46
Speaker
and the push-up sit-ups and your little whatever that regimen is, get a couple weights, put them on the bus. All you need is like some 15s and 20s. Yeah, I think the cool thing to take away from that is that for me, my morning workout is essential for my recharge, but yeah, you have a different process for recharging. But I'm also not on the workout train right now, but if I was, you know how it is, once you start it again, it's like that's it, then you're in. It just getting started again.
00:39:14
Speaker
but you know how to feed itself. Everybody needs to find their kind of balance of how to roll on tour that's gonna keep them sane and healthy. For me, it's checking out for you and most of the people, it's just kind of getting a good start to the day with the breakfast. Like we have our tea because we're on the bus, the tea and the fruit and getting your, we have smoothies and we have everything for the smoothie on all the health force stuff in the bus. So you make, yeah, I'm kidding. Our rider is like together.
00:39:41
Speaker
or we got great, great food on our rider and all the Samba's on, everything is just ready. You make your smoothie and then wait a little bit and then go on your run. You guys have that stuff, even like that stuff on the rider? Oh yeah, we have everything. Because that's what me and Zort is like, we'll buy it and at the end of tour, if you don't finish it, it goes in like our old footer equipment.
00:39:59
Speaker
And it goes back, I mean, how cheap is a Nutribullet? We could have wanted to get a Vitamix if it was big. So just do that, and then I have a big salad bowl that I wash every time myself, and I make a big salad right before the show for people, generally. Right there, dude, a huge, fully alkaline kind of salad thing is gonna charge you really hard before a show. With all of those things, I would,
00:40:26
Speaker
You know, I'll be hard pressed if it didn't.
Music and Lifestyle in New Orleans
00:40:28
Speaker
What about like playing wise? Do you have goals moving forward? I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm always warming up. I don't practice too much because Lettuce in particular is a pretty strenuous gig on For Trumpet. For all of the members. What about your solo? Like you have your solo kind of your thing. I'm not a big practicing. You know, I'm starting again, but I just you play so much that is practicing. I like to listen with my listening music. Yeah, which I love. I'm big on listening warm ups.
00:40:52
Speaker
If you're about to play a funk gig, go listen to a bunch of Macio and go listen to some Ohio players. You get on the gig, you're gonna be in the right zone. You know, go listen to jazz before the gig. I hear that.
00:41:01
Speaker
A lot of times I want to reset, I'll do some classical, but I'm huge in latin music again, listen to all Celia Cruz and Ismael Rivera, Fanny All-Stars, all the stuff, and then I'm also really into like, you know, Hindi, Bismillah Khan, Ali Akbar, Usted, all like, you know, then I'll do those, and then I'll do, I'm in New Orleans now, I'm listening to all the right old-school traditional jazz,
00:41:25
Speaker
have a, you know, I'm really into that now, not like this Louis, but, and then there's like. Are you doing that down in New Orleans? Yeah, I play a press hall and all the different outfits and when I'm in town. Cause I, you know, I think like, obviously we've got a killing jazz scene here in New York. It's a unique. Yeah, it's a great, it's the modern scene of the world.
00:41:43
Speaker
But New Orleans has a special thing when it comes to jazz. It started there, so no one can talk crap about it. There's a reason why Wynton and all the modern people like Donald Harrison Jr., all these great people left Christian Scott because there's not a lot of...
00:41:58
Speaker
modern jazz in the cities. A lot of trad jazz. They're so modern jazz, but they ain't the baddest. But there obviously are crushers down there. And, you know, like, Ellis Marshallis, his father, was one of the big pioneers of modern jazz in New Orleans. Like, he's not playing Louis tunes all day, you know, but even he is.
00:42:16
Speaker
So he's like, you know, they have a whole songbook of these modern jazz tunes that they wrote in the 50s and late early 60s. So there's a lot of modern jazz down there, but you gotta go down there to see it. But you gotta dig when you go to New Orleans. But like, I love to go hear some really killing funk or the brass bands, which is really funk.
00:42:34
Speaker
Yeah. In terms of the brass bands, New Orleans has an appreciation for the horn. Yeah, it is a trumpet and drum town. If you walk around, if you're a trumpet player in that town and you're good, you're going to be, you know.
00:42:47
Speaker
You're all, it can be all set. If you're a drummer and you're killing, you'll be good. There's actually a million drummers. So drummers, I wouldn't recommend moving there. But like, you know, they're really just like 20 Nicky's kind of situation. This is my question for you. Cause you said that about trad jazz and modern jazz. And I have an image and I might be wrong, but like in New York there's so much creative music. There's not that much, there's just a lot of creative. Yeah, it's super creative cause it's cheap down there, cheaper. So that is happening there.
00:43:15
Speaker
It's like old school New York, you can do whatever you want kind of, or it's changing really quickly, year to year. But yeah, it's like that, there is this, it's a small city. But there's some good Latin stuff, there's a lot of different things. But generally, it is a funky and jazz town. So if you want to go play pop music, you're not going there, you should go to LA. If you want to do country and certain things, you go to Nashville.
00:43:39
Speaker
But that's why I love that city. I love playing like R&B. I love playing jazz, different types of jazz, whatever that music is to you. And I love to play like kind of funky stuff. And that city, people like that music. You go to the city on vacation to eat and to watch music. If there's a place that has music and a place next to it that doesn't have music, people will be in the place of music. In New York, they'll be in the place without music so they can talk.
00:44:01
Speaker
There's truth in that. Which is cool, but that is really true, man. Music is background stuff to most people. There, it's first. It's so true. There's music in the airport. There are bands in the airport. Yeah. Right there. I'm like, if there's a band here, I'm good. This is good. They take care of the musicians. I've never been to a place like that. That's why I'm glad I gave all myself to that city and I'm trying to and learning about the city. I was just nominated for best trumpet player.
00:44:28
Speaker
Offbeat Awards. And is that something people can vote? Yeah, actually. If you want to like the Offbeat website, you can vote for, they have like best vibraphone, best rock record, best vocalist. So me and five of the trumpet, four of the trumpet players are on up for it. All great trumpet player, all like, you know, the rebirth trumpet player, Leroy Jones, the modern jazz king, Iceland Parker, my best friend.
00:44:50
Speaker
You know, it's obviously, it's like a popularity thing. It's obviously rigged and whatever. But it's a fun thing. If you want to vote, go to vote for Eric Benneville. But yeah, so to be in a city like that where they herald you just for being who you are.
00:45:05
Speaker
And you can be in places like New York or Boston and work in your body forever and don't even care. It's a different thing. You're not going to try to compare the cities. But New Orleans is the gift that keeps on giving. The more you learn about the city, the more you're like, all right, cool. Welcome home. They're cool with that. They like that. The more you know about it, it's just a really beautiful situation.
Advice for Young Musicians
00:45:25
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of love down there. It's just musically, food. All the things that I love, they love first.
00:45:51
Speaker
If you could not necessarily go back and say to yourself, but if there's some younger guys out there that are young trumpet players, young musicians that are coming up, they're trying to do it, you got any words, words of wisdom? Just, you know, educate yourself. You know, look at everyone else around you that's like dying from cancer.
00:46:10
Speaker
You want your people around you to live the longest, so how do you do that?
00:46:24
Speaker
you wanna play as best as a musician or whatever your job is, you wanna be the best you can, how do you optimize yourself to be the best you can? So once again, it's like food, food and drink, whatever you're ingesting. So learn about what you're doing. It's like you're playing jazz music for a living or whatever. You're gonna learn about all those jazz musicians. You're gonna learn about every style and you're gonna do it as best you can. So why would you not do that with food and like, you know, just,
00:46:51
Speaker
sustenance like learn about what you're eating and then also it's simple it's like everyone's all GMO nowadays people trying to get bang for their buck I want ten onions instead of one so I'm gonna make this thing you know just very simple so even if it's just for yourself quietly learn about stuff research and then try it on yourself like
00:47:12
Speaker
Take a step. Take a chance. Try to cut something out for a little bit. Add more salads. Add more good quality whole food in your life. Just take a chance and educate yourself. I like that. That's all you can do, bro.
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah, man. You know what I'm saying?
Conclusion and Engagement
00:47:30
Speaker
Dave Bayless, the man. Eric Benny Bloom. Health and life. Health and life. That's what's up. Thanks for having me. Man, thanks for being here. Eric, and just give a shout out. Where can people find you? I know you're all up in the social media or your website. Where's a good place for people to find you? EricBennyBloom.com. That's one. EricBennyBloom.com. Yep.
00:47:51
Speaker
I'm in band Lettuce, so you can, any Lettuce gig, you'll see me there. Break Science live band. My band's Sonic Bloom, the funk band in New Orleans, not the festival in Colorado. Anytime you're in New Orleans, find me there. Pretty Lights, you still do that? Not much anymore, he doesn't do the horns anymore, because he ain't got the budget for big time bidding, you know what I'm saying? But you can find me in New Orleans all the time, or with Lettuce. And what about Instagram? Yeah, Eric Benny Bloom. Big on Facebook.
00:48:19
Speaker
Love food on Instagram, a lot of food pictures. And yeah, just try not, you can find me all over the internet, but I'm in New Orleans, come find me. I'll take you out to lunch, let's do it. Thanks man. Thanks Eric, peace man.
00:48:35
Speaker
It's a wrap. Big thanks to Eric Benny Bloom for taking the time to come hang out and shed some light on the Torganic podcast. Be sure to check him out. And thanks to you guys, my listeners. Please subscribe and comment on the show on iTunes and come visit me at the Torganic blog and my Instagram page, where I give regular updates of how I live healthy on the road and at home. Till next time, peace.