Brian Stokes Mitchell is Sharing 'Songs and Stories' on Backstage Live!

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge. My guest is one of the entertainment industry's most beloved performers

He is the veteran of 10 Broadway shows, including Ragtime, Maddo Lamancha, Kiss Me, Kate, and Shuffle Along, to name just a few

He has won two Tony Awards and was recently inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame

He is also the chairman of the board for the Entertainment Community Fund and is about to make his Diamond Series debut at Feinstein's 54 below

which has just received a special Tony Honor. He will be there from June 20th through the 25th

Please welcome, my friend, Brian Stokes Mitchell. Hey, Richard, how are you

You look sensational, my friend. Well, it's the color yellow. It does that for everybody

You put on some color yellow, it brightens the room. And by the way, I now have a new title, Doctor

I got a doctorate, an honorary doctorate from the Boston Conservatory at Berk

So now I'll be Dr. Stokes as well. Oh, I love this

So I'm going to say, please welcome my guest and my friend, Dr. Brian Stokes-Mitchell

Thank you. And I'll speak with a fake accent, the whole entire interview

How does that sound? Because it makes me sound more intellectual. Not only

Not only did he play one on TV, but now he is one

There you go. See, you've been waiting to use that line, haven't you? I might as well use it on you. That's great. First of all, how are you, my friend, and where are you

I am great. I'm here in New York City. This is my apartment here in New York City. Life is good

The whole family has been through this most recent iteration of COVID. So, you know, the one thing that's nice about that is it's very freeing, actually, because you know, at least for a while you have an immunity. So you don't have to worry. So you don't have to worry about should I wear a mask or should I be on the subway or should I go out and eat with friends or should I, you know

It's great. It's like it frees your mind. And actually, because as you know, I had COVID when it first happened in March of 2020. And I remember thinking the same thing. Oh, this is great. I'm so free. I don't have to wear a mask. I don't have to get back to normal life. Well, little did I know. And even though I didn't have to wear a mask at that point, you know, that everybody would be glaring at me on the streets of New York for not wearing a mask. So, but now it seems like we are finally coming back and Broadway is coming back. I just didn't

my first four orchestral, excuse me, orchestral concerts in two years. And I was really happy to be back

with those because when I go to an orchestral concert, what I'm looking at is jobs. You know

that's all of those people, literally hundreds of people that are out of jobs and have been out

of jobs for the last two years, are now working again, making music again. And there's nothing

like standing on the stage and kind of being the conduit between the audience and the orchestra

and hearing all this incredible music from this orchestra and feeling it passed through my body

and I get to add my voice to it and then it goes into the audience. It really, really has been

exciting. So life is good. So what was it like that first performance, huge orchestra on stage

a full house and they say, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Brian Stokes, Mitchell

What went through you when you walked out that first time and sort of all those people

Happiness, gratitude. Those are the two main things. Joy, the audience was so happy to be there

They were happy to be there because they also realized we've all been going through this together

You know, even though we feel like we're going through this or have been going through this terrible awful time, you know, by ourselves and going through these terrible awful problems that

seem to be unique in each individual's way, but also compounded by this particular thing

We are still all going through this together, and I think that's one of the things about when

we gather in a theater or a concert hall. We kind of realize, oh, everybody else is feeling

the same way that I am, and they're just as happy as I am to be there, be here, and to be out

again, and to feel free again, and probably a number of that audience. I know some of those

audience didn't have to be masked, you know, if they had COVID and could show the proof and

everything as well. So it was really, really joyous to be there and making music and knowing all

my friends are working once again. But I remember how much joy and comfort you brought to millions

of people because you sang the impossible dream outside of one of your beautiful windows at your

apartment and you used your voice and your art to help heal. And I know it seems like

ages ago, but I just want to tell you once again, thank you for what you gave to so many people

around the world who could watch you on Zoom or Streamyard or just on the internet, watching

you help heal them or to help them find comfort when we were all suffering so much

Oh, you are so welcome. And I was grateful because I got just as much back from everybody as I did singing out the window

It was actually inspired by, remember, in Italy, they were like one of the first countries to lock down

And I remember watching on the news, all these Italians locked in their houses

At night, they spontaneously just opened their windows and started singing out their windows

And then they would do duets with their neighbors and people because their homes are closer together there

And they're singing together. And that was kind of the initial inspiration for doing it

Although I was never planning on doing it, it was a totally, totally spontaneous decision when I started singing out the window

But what I realized, the neighbor very, very emotionally reminded me, actually, that it started not feeling right to me to sing out the window because I was doing it as gratitude to the essential workers

And then more and more people, literally hundreds and hundreds, there may be a thousand or more people gathered on the street eventually because this is like this thing went viral, ironically

you know, with all the news stations, I was getting calls from Japan and Australia and people that had seen me on the news everywhere

And so it'd become a big gathering. But I started feeling like they were there to hear me and not to clap for the essential workers

And I thought, no, I don't think I want to do this anymore because I want people to be reminded why we started this in the first place

And the neighbor stalked me outside of the street and said, this is the one time, this is the thank you, thank you

He was really grateful. And he said, this is the one time in my day

feel joy. And they went, oh, I forgot about that. That's why people are gathering because it's that

connection. Like I was saying, like I feel when I sit in the audience with an orchestra, you know

or at the theater as well, the connection with other people that happens. And just to hear somebody

performing in that one time in space just for them and hearing something live and hearing something

that is joyous as well, you know what takes us out of our own worlds for sometimes just a

brief moment and sometimes that's that's all we need yeah well you brought so much joy like you said to

everybody around the world so i want to thank you for that now you're about to make your

diamond series debut at 54 below i know you before before but how excited are you you're a diamond

now i'm a diamond i'm a dog you called me dr diamond that would be my fine name um yeah it's really

great i love uh fine signs 54 below It's one of my favorite clubs in town, maybe my favorite to perform

Because first, it's beautiful. You know, they use theatrical people to design it

So when you go inside, it's just gorgeous to look at. The lighting is beautiful

The sound is terrific. And the food is really good. And a lot of times you go to these kind of clubs and it's like, ah, the food is okay

The food is, I would just go there for the food. And one of my delights when I go to see other friends there, it's like

oh, I get to eat now. Because a lot of times I don't get to eat when I'm performing because I don't like to eat a lot of food when I do

But I just love that club. It really going to be fantastic I love it because it intimate And I like to perform like I in my own living room anyway And that does feel almost like my living room It much bigger than this is

But it still feels very, very intimate and small. And it's one of the things I like about being an audience member there as well is, you know

is you literally feel like you're sitting at somebody's feet. It's this wonderful kind of connection that you have that you, it's harder to get in a

at a stadium or in a Hollywood Bowl or at a large venue like that, but really easy at a place

like this. And then it just, it's so happy. Here's the other thing, too, Richard, that I'm

I'm really been focused on. And you know, you know who made me think this? That neighbor that I was

talking to. Because one of the things that I realized is, you know, I'm, I've always been very

philosophical and I've always been fascinated by the nature of consciousness. and everything. And one of the things that I've been meditating on a lot, as probably many people

have, is like, you know, why are we here? What's this all about? You know, why am I here, particularly

Why am I here in this world at this particular time as well? Because you could think, this is a

terrible time to be in the planet. You know what? I tend to think we're each and every one of us

here because we have something to do. We have some gift to bring the world. Each of us has a

different gift as well. Everybody, I believe, has a great gift that they can bring the world

And it's no accident that you're here right now in this terrible time for politics

in world politics, in the health of the world, in the health of the planet, all of these

things. We all have something that we can contribute. And we, I don't feel we should

each one of us feel like a lot of doom and destruction crashing down on us because we can't save the

planet. No, we cannot individually save the planet, but we can as a group of people with all these

disparate talents and skills, save the planet. Well, we're not even going to save the planet

The planet's going to be fine without human beings. What we're trying to do is save human beings

really, and life on this planet. And so we each have different roles we play, just as Shakespeare said

And I think one of my roles, it appears to be, is to bring joy to people

people. So I'm especially conscious now when I do a concert. I did it at Damroche Park last year when

COVID ended. Remember that last spring? And my role then I thought was let me bring everybody out of

this slump that we've been in, this terrible time and give them some joy. And I feel that a lot of

my colleagues are in the same boat performing with the orchestras and other groups that I've been

with everybody's trying to lift everyone and music art has this incredibly uh wonderful

interesting unique way of doing that of lifting people's energy so what i want people to feel

when they leave feinstein's 54 below i want them to feel happier than they than they were when they

walked it i honestly i like to use the word levitate i want them to feel levitated when they're

walking out like they're floating on air and that they feel enabled that joyful and ready to go back

at the world again and that's what music has this wonderful incredible power and ability and art

has this incredible power and ability to do is to lift us and and change our moods it's it's

I'm also fascinated now is a very short question for a very long answer wasn't it but I'm also

fascinated um by uh um by the art's a bit our art's a bit of our arts about

to transform individuals, transform us in one epithinal moment. You can go into a theater and see a show and walk out of that theater an entirely different

person because of what you experience. Or you hear a beautiful piece of music, or you're in an art museum and you see an incredible

piece of art, the pieta or something else. It could be something abstract, whatever it is that touches you

But art has the ability to change people for the beautiful. better. And I don't know many things

to do that except for terrible things like war and famine. But art is one of

the few things that I can think of that has this ability to shift

people's consciousness in one moment for the better and make them more

open, more empathetic, more understanding, less alone. And that's the magic I think

of art and especially the theater when you're experiencing the same thing in front of you

a performer, a Broadway show, a concert with a group of people

You're experiencing this together, but still separate, you know, but to hear or watch something and have something touch you deeply that you thought

oh, that's the only thing I've ever felt in my whole life. And then you look over to your left and the person to the left of you is crying or laughing or whatever

having the same emotion you are. And that's what brings us together. And that's what I think is so powerful about the theater

why it's so important now. Art is especially important in times of struggle and crisis like

we're all going through right now to just kind of connect us and remind us, hey, don't forget

we're all human beings here. We're all going through this together. We're all here to learn

We're all just trying to all figure this out. So I think it's wonderful that I get to be kind

of a part of that, you know, that's somebody that allows that to happen by the songs that I sing

by the tone of voice that I use, by the musicians. that I choose and I have the fantastic Ted Firth, of course

Let's talk about Ted Firth. I mean, you have, that has been your right-hand man and your musical director and your collaborator

I mean, Ted is one of the best. I mean, what's like working with Ted Firth and your combo you're going to have with you for these nights

Yes, Ted, these are all friends of mine, except the base, I have a bass player that is somebody

that I've been wanting to work with because I have a female. bass player. What I've been wanting to do is also bringing female energy on the stage, too

because, you know, music industry is so male-oriented often, you know. And what I wanted to do is

really make my group diverse as well. So I have just fantastic players. Her name is Jordan Davis

It's on bass. And Bob Magnuson, who is a woodwind player that plays every woodwind but bassoon. But

fortunately, I don't have any bassoon in the show. So amazingly, he's just a great guy. And

Mark McLean on drums, an amazing drummer, and of course, Ted Firth

Not only are they great musicians, I really wanted to choose great human beings

people that I love working with that can share that same spirit

You know, it's really about kind of letting a certain spirit come through you

And I think that's what happens when you have that 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell talks about

you know, the whatever it is that people choose to do and get me back on Ted Firth

I'm just going off on a little tangent now. But I feel like the universe, you know, once you've had 10,000 hours at a certain point

it kind of dings you on the head with the magic wand and said, all right, she is worthy

He is worthy. They are worthy, you know, because they, the universe sees that you've been working and working

working at this. And there's a special spirit that wants to come through somebody on the planet

And it's looking for somebody like that person with those 10,000 hours that now has the experience to communicate the spirit through singing or dancing or acting or food or furniture or costume design or architecture or writing or accounting or, you know, teaching

I mean, it can be any kind of thing. So Ted Firth, when I first met him, I met him at Carnegie Hall

This was, I can't remember 15 years ago, maybe now. was my Carnegie Hall solo debut

And my normal pianist wasn't available. And I had to find a new pianist

And I was like, I can't believe I have to find a new pianist. My Carnegie Hall debut this is so important The pianist is your anchor basically And so a friend said well try this new guy Tedford And he was practically out of school at that point

And said, I don't want to try this new kid and everything. I said, just try him out, you know, give an audition with him

And I need a jazzer. I need somebody who plays jazz. Somebody who also plays theatrical music and understands it

It's helpful because I arrange an orchestrate, but it's also helpful when they can also arrange an orchestra

because first thing, it takes a lot of the load off me, but also I can communicate music in a different way to them

And so I got in a room with Ted, and he started playing the piano

and it was love at first note. I just felt whatever it was coming through his music

and we played, I can't even remember what song it was, but we immediately vibe, and I called him my second brain now

I played piano since I was six, but I haven't continued to practice. I like to think that he's the pianist that I would be

if I had continued to practice, but I think he's much better than that even

And he is the best accompanist I have ever worked with in my life. And that's why he's so popular now

And accompanying somebody is a different skill than just playing the piano, you know

or just playing a jazz solo. It's a very different kind of thing where you're listening to the person

you know, where to put the space in the music and the notes. And, you know, it's a give and take

And so it's always, it's always different. and he's an incredible jazzer. He's just a great human being

So I just love Ted Firth. I could talk about Ted for eons

So I was going to say besides, like you just said, besides being one of the most talented people

he's also one of the nicest gentlemen in the world. Okay, so what are some of the songs your fans can expect

or shows you may be singing from? Well, here's what I think I'm doing

Now, see, here's the ugly truth of these kinds of situations that I'll let everybody watching today on

in on. This is at least for me. I know it's true for a lot of other people. I still haven't really

planned to show out. I've been doing this. I've been thinking on it for the last probably month or

month and a half, but you don't really start bringing the whole thing together. It doesn't coalesce

It seems always until the very last minute. So over the last few days, I've been working on things

I'm working on some arrangements of my own of a particular song, but I don't want to say what it is

because I want it to be a surprise. If I do it, and if I don't do it, nobody will know that I know he didn't

do it. So give me an out. But, but I'm trying to, because I want the show to be, to be new

but also to be familiar, because people come to hear me sing certain songs. And so I'm thinking

what I very well might do, I'm calling it kind of a wild card show. I have some of the

songs planned out, but then I think I'm going to say, what do you want to hear me sing? And just

ask the audience and let people shout out songs that they want to hear me sing and then write them

down and then throughout the show, I'll give them the songs that they want to hear, whether it's

you know, impossible dream or wheels of a dream or stars or, you know, something else, anything that

they've heard me sing. I think I can sing just about everything. Hopefully their lyrics are not lodged

in there too deeply. But that's what I'm thinking of. I don't know how much time they'll be for that

because I still have, you know, four, five, six of the songs that I want to do. And there's only really

room for like 12, 12 songs. The original title that I chose was songs and stories for this

because there's also so many things I want to talk about. I got so many interesting stories

I've had actually, when I think on it, quite an unusual, incredible life and very unusual stories

to tell. And so I thought I wanted to do some of that as well. So who knows? So it's going to be

it's going to be kind of fun because I think every show is going to be different, depending on what

people shout out. So it'll be kind of custom design for that particular audience

So that's the concept, at least in my head now, and how much of that I'll be able to do

I don't know, but we'll find out. And that's the fun of these kinds of shows as well

I'm doing it from Monday to Saturday, from the 20th to the 25th

So it's also going to have an evolution and a kind of life of its own

And it won't be kind of the same show exactly in the beginning that it is in the

in. You know, it'll, it'll keep refining, changing, evolving, and every show is going to be a fun

different. See, I love that because you were, like you said, 54 below is like performing in your

living room. You're going to have all your friends and fans there and people who might, maybe experiencing you live for the first time because they've seen you do something else

But what I love about the Diamond series is, I mean, people are getting a specially put together

four-course dinner. They get a complimentary welcome drink. I mean, the cost of the meal is included in the ticket price and taxing gratuity

I mean, it's a whole evening. They can choose their own reservation time. It's not as crowded as it normally is

It's more like going to a living room, like, oh, my God. We're going to have this glorious evening with this beautiful

The short ribs are back on the menu again at 54 below, just so you know. I've been back three times already, and I've had the short ribs every time I've gotten

I'm not sure if they're on the menu for this, but I'm sure it is. But the Diamond Series is just so different

It's like you're actually going to like your. dining room and then you're going to perform for these people. I just love the

elegance, the extra elegance that they add to this diamond series there at 54 below. It's going

be really special. That's beautifully put. Thank you. Yeah. And that's, yeah, that's the way I feel

about it. Like I said, sitting there as an audience. It really, it really is a special, a special place

Sometimes I do actually do living room concerts for people occasionally. I'll do like private

concerts for people and they have me sing in their living room. And it is very, it's very, it's very

much the same kind of experience that that would be you know and like i say talking about singing in your living

it really is like you say it's just small and intimate and the food is good and it's just a feel good place

so if you need some happy good vibes you know and want to feel some joy and have some good food it just just feel

good i i hope people come to come to this this this night or one of the nights and share this time with me

oh they go to you all just for people for tickets just go to 54 below dot com i mean you can get your tickets for

any of the performances from June 20th through the 25th. But I want to talk to you

you have been the chairman of the board for the entertainment community fund for years. Only months now for the entertainment community

All right. You know what I'm going with that. Well, I want to say

it was formally known as the Actors Fund. I love the new title

Let's talk about how the title came about. Yes. This was a long, long process, actually

And actually started probably in my third year as chairman. and I've been there now 18 years as chairman, I think

And one of the challenges that all of us have always had with the actors fund

it has this incredible pedigree, this incredible history and this name that has gone along with it

And it's always served anybody working in entertainment, everybody who's working in entertainment

to performing arts. But every time I talk about the Actors Fund

I have to say, but it's not just for actors. And everybody has to always say

but it's not just for actors. And there's this kind of implied exclusion in the name

is the bad part of the name, the Actors Fund, with all the good parts of it

and there's many good parts. So about 15 years ago, it was first proposed to the board

And there were too many people that didn't want to give up that name and all that was invested in that name

But especially because of COVID and what we've all been through in the last two years

everybody from the entertainment and performing arts world came out of the woodwork to help us out

because we really did a lot of extraordinary work. Thanks to Joe Benincasa, the incredible staff there and their preparedness

for this. We have an emergency assistance fund, normally in a year. This goes for the most

critical things people need to help keep their heat on, to help buy food, to help pay for

their insurance to help get medical care the most critical things that they need Generally in a year we give out a distribute about million from that fund to about 1 people Since COVID started I think we up to about million to almost 18 people now

And that's going to continue because our industry is unlike others. We were one of the first ones to get hit and closed down, shut down completely

And, you know, again, when people go to see a show, you're not seeing one or three or five or ten actors

you're seeing a crew backstage, you're seeing a whole support system of publicists, company managers, stage managers, musicians, if it's a musical that are there

There are, again, hundreds and hundreds of people that when a show goes down are also unemployed

And Netflix came out, TikTok came out, the unions came out, everybody came forward to help us out so that we could help all of their people that were working with their organizations as well

And so for me, I think of the name change, especially. And we looked at hundreds of names

We went through a very, very long period of discussion. And with companies, Carolyn Carter, who was on our board

led us through this whole branding process. That's what she does professionally. She was just brilliant

And we settled finally on this name that felt the most inclusive

And even though it's a little longer than I think a lot of us would prefer, it's still the best name of all the names that we had

And the response from the industry has been really overwhelmingly positive and great

And probably like before, everybody's going to call it the fund anyway for short, which is fine

But I'm really, really, really happy with it. And it's just been very exciting rolling out this new name

And I feel it's kind of a part of my legacy too. And now we can go forward with this new name into the next 140 plus years

Well, no, because I love it, because you umbrella everything about the entertainment community with this fund

So it's perfect. And, you know, I want to tell people who are watching who work in the entertainment industry, even if you don't and you want to donate, just go to their incredible site

I mean, it's entertainment community.org. I mean, not only is it just assistance, there are workshops, support groups, online resources

There are so many things that this entertainment community fund offers for so much

many people. The website is beautiful. So I want to tell you, I went there just the other day. It's so

easy to use. It's so helpful. And like you said, you've helped so many people. So anybody who's

looking to donate or to or need some kind of assistance, go to the website. It's absolutely

phenomenal. I mean, you've done such beautiful work. What incredible board you have on this also

It's amazing. We just had our gala, the 140th gala, actually. And one of the things, because I always, you know

talk at these gala. And one of the things that I wanted to talk about, I ended up not talking about it

because it was kind of implied throughout the entire gala. But one of the things is I was kind of

reflecting on what should I talk about? It's a board of really good people. Unlike of many board

meetings that people have to attend, you know, you go, I got to go to a board meeting tonight, you know

I love being at our board meetings. First thing is there's almost no consideration

intention at all, no arguing. Because we're a human services organization, we're helping people

Everybody knows that's what we're here for. And Barbara Davis, our chief operating officer

And she's in charge of human services there. She gives a spectacular report our annual

meeting is about to come up every year talking about this is what we did over the last year

Because when you're in a boardroom a lot of times, it's a very abstract thing because you're talking

about numbers and you're looking at budgets and you're trying to make plans for the future and

to figure things out and solve problems. And you can be a little bit distanced from the reason

that the organization exists. So I love Barbara Davis and her talking about what we did

what we accomplished, because it's a place I can see everybody going, this look of delight on

everyone's face, that there's so much that needs to be done. And it's again, one of those reasons

you know, I think people feel like they're on the point. planet is to do this and to be on this board and help other people through through the entertainment

community fund it's just a great place and again great human beings joe ben and cossi is an unusual

human being um that everybody loves i don't i've never met anybody that doesn't love him and he's also

brilliant and knows um and loves this organization and knows what to do to move it forward and

and keep it helping people um and we're rated four stars and charity navigator and our or our actors fund home

home, which is retaining the name Actors Fund, by the way. We're keeping that name for certain things

It's got a huge rating also from U.S. News and World Report and the state of New Jersey

I mean, it's among the highest rated in the nation. And if you've ever been out there, never been out there, it's really beautiful. I've already picked out in my room in the Actors Fund home

And it's run by Jordan Stroll out there. It's just, it's amazing. The whole organization works

beautifully. And I'm so, so happy to be a part of all of these really good people doing really good

things. I love it. We're just about out of time. So my final question is, what are you looking forward to

the most with your new run here at 54 Below for the Diamond Series with your show from June 20th

through the 25th? I'm looking forward to lighten people up. I'm looking forward to making people happy

Because, you know, when you perform, there's an energy loop that happens. It's a synergistic thing that

happens. It's not just one way. I'm getting energy from them. They're getting energy from me

The same thing has happened. It's going all over through the ban. It goes through the wait

staff. It goes to the people serving the drinks. There's this energetic thing that happens in the

room. And that's the thing that I said levitates people, I think, you know, when you're in a show

with, or you experience a show where everybody has that same end in mind. It's what I love most

about show business. It's a group of people working together for a conversation

It's what's great about the entertainment community fund. It's the same kind of thing

It's this collaborative effort of a bunch of people working toward a common good, a common goal, a common something

And I think it's a great example. I wish our government and a few other organizations would take a look at this and understand

you know, that that's really what people need and how beautifully that works when we actually

commit ourselves to that. And I think that's one of those things that levitates people is you realize the possibility

of human beings and the possibility that is in human nature. And that's what I look forward to

I'm going to be levitated walking out of the theater as well. You know, I will be, too, just so you know, when I leave your show too, like I said

what I took away from today was, you know, I think the same way. My glasses always half full

It's always been that way. And I've always said to myself, I'm here for a certain reason to celebrate and try to bring joy

to people and let people know what the entertainment business does. And you do that

And I'm grateful to you for doing. doing that and you probably don't get to hear that enough from performers and other people that

experience what you do. Thank you also for what you're doing, Richard. Like I said, this is a

big collaboration. The world is a big collaboration, you know, and in our individual little

corners of the world, like entertainment is a big collaboration. And we're all a part of it. And you have

for years, been a huge integral part of that as well. It's keeping everybody joyful and happy

and informed and, you know, and your own particular joy comes through everything that you do. And it, it helps

people to understand, oh, I got to see that show. Oh, I want to be there. Oh, I want to be with this guy

I want to experience what he experiences. And so you've been a great supporter of Broadway as well in the entertainment world

So thank you so much for that. Well, thank you for that. But you all make magic. I just like to celebrate the magic that you all bring

So once again, Brian Stokes Mitchell is making his Diamond Series debut at Feinstein's

54 Below, which has just received a special Tony Honor. He'll be there from June 20th through the 25th for tickets

Visit 54Below.com. Stokes, I kind of wait to see you. my friend. Me too, you, Richard. Thank you so much for having me. I wish health and blessings and

joy to everybody watching here and your families. And let's move on now to the next step and get

this all behind us. Everybody, we'll see you soon. Sounds good. See ya