This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:09] Elliott Mattox: Oh my god.

[0:10] Caleb Dicke: This is Hungover.

[0:12] Elliott Mattox: A new mini-series where we follow some of our favorite theater artists on their way back to the stage.

[0:17] Caleb Dicke: We're gonna be checking in with these artists before rehearsal, during rehearsal scene, the process, and then afterwards during performances.

[0:24] Elliott Mattox: So you'll get a unique perspective on their journeys to getting back to normal.

[0:29] Caleb Dicke: So grab your hair of the dog, because this is Hungover.

[0:35] Elliott Mattox: Cheers!

[0:38] Caleb Dicke: Welcome to this week's episode of Hungover, an Equity One mini series where we follow some of your favorite theater artists on their way back to the stage.

[0:44] Elliott Mattox: I'm Elliott.

[0:45] Caleb Dicke: And I'm Caleb.

[0:46] Elliott Mattox: And we are here today with our friend Chris Medlin.

[0:48] Chris Medlin: Hi, how's it going?

[0:50] Caleb Dicke: Welcome.

[0:51] Chris Medlin: Thank you.

[0:52] Elliott Mattox: We're so excited to sit and chat with you.

[0:55] Caleb Dicke: How have you been? What's going on?

[0:57] Chris Medlin: Um, good. You know, we are navigating the chaos.

[1:00] Elliott Mattox: Yes.

[1:01] Caleb Dicke: Yes, we are.

[1:02] Chris Medlin: 18 months later.

[1:04] Elliott Mattox: Is it 18 months or is it like 19 months?

[1:05] Chris Medlin: I think I think we should just say 19 at this point.

[1:07] Caleb Dicke: Exactly.

[1:08] Chris Medlin: I feel like it's been 18 months for a couple months.

[1:11] Elliott Mattox: Like, you know what I mean?

[1:12] Chris Medlin: Like a year and a half, year and a half.

[1:13] Caleb Dicke: I'm like, it's been a year and a half for three months, it feels like.

[1:17] Chris Medlin: For sure.

[1:17] Elliott Mattox: I think we're all just like don't want to say two years.

[1:19] Chris Medlin: Two years, because it's coming up faster than we think.

[1:21] Caleb Dicke: Oh god, so fast.

[1:23] Chris Medlin: November, December, January, February, March, January is when you sort of being aware of things.

[1:27] Elliott Mattox: I can feel it.

[1:28] Chris Medlin: Things are weird.

[1:29] Caleb Dicke: Something's happening.

[1:30] Chris Medlin: That's soon.

[1:31] Elliott Mattox: It's October, basically.

[1:32] Chris Medlin: Oh my god.

[1:34] Caleb Dicke: 2019 was just yesterday.

[1:35] Chris Medlin: Like really was.

[1:37] Elliott Mattox: Zip zip.

[1:38] Chris Medlin: Um today we are sipping on front row from Intermission Cellars.

[1:43] Caleb Dicke: What do we think?

[1:44] Chris Medlin: Spit on us in the front row.

[1:45] Elliott Mattox: That's what I like about it.

[1:46] Chris Medlin: What do we think about this?

[1:47] Caleb Dicke: It's good.

[1:47] Chris Medlin: Um, it's very crisp.

[1:49] Caleb Dicke: Light.

[1:50] Chris Medlin: What do you think?

[1:51] Caleb Dicke: Light.

[1:51] Chris Medlin: Oh, I like it.

[1:52] Caleb Dicke: It's got like a floral tint to it, it.

[1:54] Chris Medlin: It's very smooth.

[1:55] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[1:56] Chris Medlin: Well, here's uh Kristen and David to tell us a little bit more about it.

[1:59] Caleb Dicke: To some, the front row is the best seat in the house, reserved for the ones who want to be up close on the edge of their seat as the curtain rises.

[2:07] Elliott Mattox: The front row of a vineyard catches the opening light as the sun rises, filling the grapes with enthusiasm.

[2:13] Caleb Dicke: This white Rhone style blend showcases that exact sentiment.

[2:17] Elliott Mattox: It's dynamic, floral, complex, and refreshingly crisp.

[2:21] Caleb Dicke: The Roussan varietal acts as our lead character, building texture within the layers of pineapple, honey, and apricot notes.

[2:28] Elliott Mattox: Pair this wine pool side with a pre-show buttery dish or popcorn at Inner Mish.

[2:33] Caleb Dicke: This performance is dedicated to Chuck and Kathy.

[2:35] Elliott Mattox: The front row blend is made up of 68% Roussan, 10% Grenache Blanc, 8% Marsan, 8% Vionier, and 6% Pickpool Blanc.

[2:45] Caleb Dicke: To order front row or any of the other intermission sellers' wines, you can go to www.intermission sellers.com.

[2:52] Elliott Mattox: Sellers with a C.

[2:53] Caleb Dicke: And you can find us on Instagram at Intermission Sellers.

[2:57] Elliott Mattox: Thanks, y'all.

[3:00] Caleb Dicke: So Chris, we start off every show by asking our guests what first got them interested in the arts when they were younger.

[3:08] Chris Medlin: Oh.

[3:09] Caleb Dicke: Um it's it it sounds a little uh off the off the track, but Power Rangers is actually what did it for me.

[3:18] Elliott Mattox: Sure.

[3:19] Caleb Dicke: Which Power Ranger?

[3:20] Chris Medlin: All of them or the pink one?

[3:21] Chris Medlin: Oh no no.

[3:22] Chris Medlin: Uh because I love the pink power.

[3:24] Chris Medlin: All of like the the just the series, the concept of the show, um, is what got me into like like mimicking physical movement, that sort of world.

[3:33] Chris Medlin: Um and I just grew up singing, so when you kind of combine the two of mimicking physical movement and singing, and then acting folds in there somewhere, like yeah.

[3:41] Chris Medlin: So Power Rangers for me.

[3:43] Chris Medlin: Unless you count like the Barney theme song um sure was the jumping point.

[3:47] Caleb Dicke: Definitely counted.

[3:48] Chris Medlin: Um I did have a blue Power Ranger bodysuit uh that I wore for many years.

[3:54] Chris Medlin: I was too big for it at the end so that we had to cut the like the helmet off the top of it because it wouldn't fit anymore.

[3:59] Chris Medlin: So I just had a little like mock neck Power Ranger suit like running around the house jumping on everything.

[4:05] Caleb Dicke: We love that.

[4:05] Chris Medlin: I think I had a red Power Ranger.

[4:07] Caleb Dicke: I think I had a red one as well.

[4:08] Chris Medlin: Yeah classic.

[4:09] Caleb Dicke: I mean there has got to be a Power Rangers musical that happened, you know like a networks tour or something that remember a small goosebumps play the tour that I saw as a kid.

[4:20] Chris Medlin: Yeah.

[4:20] Caleb Dicke: So if there was a goosebumps there had to be like arena Power Rangers on Ice or something set to music.

[4:27] Chris Medlin: Oh my god.

[4:28] Chris Medlin: Remember stuff on Ice I watched.

[4:31] Caleb Dicke: Yeah everything on ice I just remember Toy Story on Ice.

[4:33] Chris Medlin: I don't really remember I went to Toy Story on Ice as a grown adult thank you so so much in college.

[4:38] Chris Medlin: Uh we went magical at the same time.

[4:42] Caleb Dicke: I just went actually it was amazing.

[4:44] Chris Medlin: Um no very good very fun trip there.

[4:48] Caleb Dicke: What is like Power Rangers now?

[4:51] Chris Medlin: Like 'cause there were dinosaurs, then they were like Oh there's been so many twenty different iterations I think there's been what was it about it that like piqued your interest so much.

[5:01] Chris Medlin: Uh I will say specifically the the um oh I can't remember what the like theme of the series was.

[5:07] Chris Medlin: There was a movie I know where they went onto a pirate ship.

[5:10] Caleb Dicke: Mm-hmm.

[5:11] Chris Medlin: Um and I do remember the Blue Ranger was a kid um which I think is what was the like connection for me out of the like you know young adult characters.

[5:20] Chris Medlin: There was one that was a child that was like twelve.

[5:22] Chris Medlin: Um and when they would turn into their Power Ranger characters, he would become a grown man.

[5:28] Chris Medlin: Um like his like suit made him bigger a full-fledged adult.

[5:33] Chris Medlin: Um and I think that that was the connection because I was like, oh, it's a kid that gets to like do cool stuff and like beat bad people up and like that kind of thing.

[5:41] Caleb Dicke: Um I think was the like mental connection for me.

[5:44] Chris Medlin: Yeah.

[5:45] Caleb Dicke: So that got yeah, that got you started dancing, but then like when did you like what was your first musical experience?

[5:51] Chris Medlin: Oh uh so I grew up in a town that I compare to the location that Footloose is set in.

[5:57] Chris Medlin: There's no dance studios, no creative outlets, no uh like performance venues, anything like that.

[6:04] Chris Medlin: There are professional shows in the area.

[6:06] Chris Medlin: Um so I'm from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, uh, same hometown as Dolly Parton.

[6:11] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[6:12] Chris Medlin: Um so there are shows there, there are professional shows that I did later end up in.

[6:17] Chris Medlin: Um, but at the time as a kid, there's no outlet whatsoever.

[6:21] Chris Medlin: Um and so um, yeah, I always sang I liked to make mimic movement and then first grade, I think it was first grade when we first moved to Tennessee.

[6:34] Chris Medlin: Um I in my very independent self ways had walked myself back to the school after school to audition for the school choir, which you had to have a parent with you, so she had to like send me home and like have my mom come back in the whole thing.

[6:49] Chris Medlin: Like she was like, I don't know how he's here, he has to have an adult with him.

[6:52] Caleb Dicke: How did he walk here?

[6:54] Chris Medlin: Like I just like disappeared and then showed back up.

[6:57] Chris Medlin: Um But we did um I stayed with her as a choir director in grade school and then sixth grade we did the music man.

[7:07] Chris Medlin: It was my first like stage show as a child.

[7:09] Chris Medlin: Uh-huh.

[7:10] Chris Medlin: And um I was in the quartet and I understudied Harold Hill as a sixth grader.

[7:14] Caleb Dicke: Understudies like oh my god, work.

[7:17] Chris Medlin: They were prepared.

[7:18] Caleb Dicke: Exactly.

[7:19] Chris Medlin: So yeah, that there was a little theater musical theater program through her little show choir at my middle school.

[7:25] Chris Medlin: So it was like sixth, seventh and eighth graders could participate.

[7:28] Chris Medlin: And you had to audition, you had to be cast, it was the full thing.

[7:31] Chris Medlin: Sometimes there was an A and B cast, which was always traumatic for some people.

[7:35] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[7:35] Chris Medlin: Um it's double cast you learn from your double, like.

[7:39] Caleb Dicke: Um yeah, so we did music man was my first, I guess, like fully fledged stage musical experience.

[7:45] Elliott Mattox: Yeah, so you've so that's how you kind of like started to marry it all together.

[7:49] Chris Medlin: Yeah, like yeah, seeing that you could do all of it in at the same time.

[7:53] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[7:54] Chris Medlin: Cause it is, it's always like, you know, you sing to the radio, you sing in your the show choir at school, you mimic music videos on TV, like TRL, that kind of thing.

[8:04] Chris Medlin: And how do you stitch that all together is either and I wanna do both of them, but is there is either like musical theater or you go like the pop star recording artist route.

[8:14] Chris Medlin: Um and for me what was accessible in its very small ways in Tennessee was musical theater.

[8:21] Caleb Dicke: You know, we're we're representing kind of like the the Yeah, we're all connected right now.

[8:25] Chris Medlin: Ohio, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, we're all like damn.

[8:29] Caleb Dicke: We would be like total tourist and always go to Gatlinburg for a vacation.

[8:33] Chris Medlin: I fucking love it.

[8:34] Chris Medlin: Flapjack houses, mountains, they're gorgeous.

[8:38] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, it's a it's a beautiful area.

[8:40] Chris Medlin: Traffic, lots of traffic, a lot of good hiking.

[8:43] Chris Medlin: Some of the some of my favorite hiking in the entire country is in my hometown, which is great.

[8:47] Caleb Dicke: Um, but yeah, Gatlinburg Tourist Trap, Pigeon Forge, more severe tourist trap.

[8:54] Chris Medlin: And then a little town that's next to it that's actually where Dollywood is within the city limits of is where my hometown was.

[9:01] Caleb Dicke: Did you get a chance to go home uh during the pandemic?

[9:05] Chris Medlin: Um I did, so I stayed in the city through everything um until January, and I drove down to Tennessee for two weeks to visit my grandma.

[9:16] Chris Medlin: Um that was the first time leaving the city, it was the first time like leaving my neighborhood at all.

[9:22] Chris Medlin: Like I like all of that.

[9:24] Caleb Dicke: Um so that was my first time out for two weeks, and then I got back, and I've been here since, save for leaving for a few months for work.

[9:34] Elliott Mattox: Do you want to talk about that?

[9:36] Chris Medlin: I mean, once so where were you? You were in Diana, and so take me to like March 13th or whatever when you're full-time.

[9:46] Chris Medlin: Yeah, where were you the day you've got um yeah?

[9:50] Chris Medlin: So we uh we were able to do nine previews of Diana, um, which is my second show in the city, and um our ninth preview happened.

[10:00] Chris Medlin: There was more of an inkling because that would have been Wednesday night.

[10:04] Chris Medlin: So Tuesday and Wednesday, there's more of a more of like an inkling and idea going around.

[10:08] Chris Medlin: You know, they had pulled, pulled stage order, they had pulled backstage guests, they had pulled all of those interactions with the front-facing public.

[10:16] Chris Medlin: Um, so something something more serious is like on its way to New York at that point for sure.

[10:21] Caleb Dicke: And then Thursday we were in rehearsals because we were still in previews, um, just watching our phones and not really getting a lot done because creative teams watching their phones, we're not focused because we're watching our phones, um, and me and one of the stage hands were kind of like the point people for that day that people kept checking in with us, um, on stage at least, and so we watched West Coast shows start going down.

[10:49] Chris Medlin: Um, Harry Potter, and then I think it was uh Hamilton, I think Hamilton out there.

[10:54] Chris Medlin: Um, for sure, Harry Potter went down.

[10:57] Chris Medlin: Some regional show in Texas went down, and we were like, Okay, it's coming, it's coming east.

[11:02] Chris Medlin: It's coming east, like really fast.

[11:04] Chris Medlin: Like, it's like you're watching a storm like across the country.

[11:07] Caleb Dicke: Um, and then uh Moulin Rouge went down because they had some confirmed cases in their cast, which was the first uh show in the city to shut down, and that was for one day, supposed to be for one day.

[11:19] Chris Medlin: Yeah, because they have like Thursday matinees, yeah.

[11:21] Caleb Dicke: So they were like they canceled their Thursday matinee.

[11:24] Chris Medlin: We were like, Okay, that's you have too many people out.

[11:26] Chris Medlin: It's like you know, like an illness day at a school.

[11:28] Chris Medlin: Like you're like, okay, cool, there's too many people out, and then frozen pulled.

[11:32] Chris Medlin: And I my exact words was Disney canceled their shows, we're all going.

[11:37] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, yeah, it was.

[11:38] Chris Medlin: Like if Disney makes the call to close their shows for the moment, this like the city.

[11:43] Caleb Dicke: Here we go.

[11:44] Chris Medlin: Where were you getting all the information from?

[11:46] Chris Medlin: Were you like on Twitter like checking, or were you like I was I was reloading like three different news sources?

[11:52] Chris Medlin: Like the whole the whole time we were in rehearsal, I was just doing my phone.

[11:55] Caleb Dicke: They're like, Chris, can you get on your block?

[11:56] Chris Medlin: And you're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[11:57] Chris Medlin: Oh, I maintained the blocking was like the blocking was consistent.

[12:01] Chris Medlin: Yeah, but I'm not sure.

[12:04] Chris Medlin: Yeah, just like mid mid vocal, just checking my phone.

[12:07] Chris Medlin: Um, but yeah, I was I was kind of the point person for the cast on stage.

[12:11] Chris Medlin: And once once Moulin Rouge and Disney pulled their shows, we were like, okay, this is yeah, here we go.

[12:18] Chris Medlin: So then entire rehearsal process like slows to a to a lull.

[12:23] Chris Medlin: Um, and about a half hour later, our director, Chris Ashley, got on the mic and said, Like, folks, take like a 10 minute break, then come gather out in the audience.

[12:32] Chris Medlin: And then we were given the news that we were gonna shut down for what at the time was two weeks.

[12:36] Chris Medlin: Um two weeks is what they were expecting.

[12:39] Chris Medlin: And um within a few days of that, we were informed that it was a full month, and then we all know that it extended and extended and extended, and here we still are um for a lot of shows.

[12:48] Caleb Dicke: And um, but yeah, so Thursday, not really knowing the gravity of the situation either.

[12:54] Chris Medlin: Our cast and several others, everyone like lightly packed up because you're like, it's two weeks two weeks.

[13:00] Chris Medlin: Like I that's yeah, you could leave some.

[13:01] Chris Medlin: That's good for my spirit.

[13:02] Chris Medlin: Like, that's okay.

[13:03] Caleb Dicke: Oh totally.

[13:04] Chris Medlin: I gotta I gotta haircut that next time.

[13:05] Chris Medlin: I was like, oh, I can have I can have a 2020 haircut.

[13:08] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, exactly.

[13:09] Chris Medlin: I can cut my fade back in the side.

[13:11] Chris Medlin: Um, but uh yeah, it was not realizing the the severity of it all.

[13:17] Chris Medlin: Um we all like headed to the bar and like had had a great night with friends, not realizing we may have inadvertently hosted a super spreader.

[13:26] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, like a lot of people on the cheek.

[13:29] Chris Medlin: You're like, you're like, we can not this.

[13:32] Chris Medlin: This happened last time, it's fine.

[13:36] Caleb Dicke: What bar did you guys go to?

[13:37] Chris Medlin: Just like go across the street, or you know, I can't place the name of it right now.

[13:43] Chris Medlin: I think Amazon had this hour?

[13:48] Chris Medlin: I think they can deliver till nine.

[13:50] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[13:51] Chris Medlin: Um I didn't even order anything.

[13:53] Chris Medlin: They just know.

[13:54] Chris Medlin: It just rings.

[13:55] Caleb Dicke: You gotta stop answering.

[13:57] Chris Medlin: They haven't ring again.

[13:59] Chris Medlin: They're like 18.

[14:00] Caleb Dicke: 18 will always let us then I go back to work.

[14:02] Chris Medlin: They are just gonna be lost.

[14:08] Caleb Dicke: Where were we?

[14:09] Chris Medlin: Um, this is funny because I'm gonna leave that in because this same thing happens.

[14:15] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[14:16] Chris Medlin: Like just so people know.

[14:17] Caleb Dicke: Just so people know what we go through.

[14:19] Chris Medlin: And also, like, it's not like I'm getting buzzed all day.

[14:22] Caleb Dicke: Like, this isn't it?

[14:25] Chris Medlin: It's literally only when we're recording.

[14:27] Caleb Dicke: Like when you need the audio clarity.

[14:30] Chris Medlin: It's like when you're in a tape, the audience loves it.

[14:32] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, it's always the audience loves me.

[14:35] Chris Medlin: Yes. Um, anyway. Great. Um, super spreader, yes.

[14:42] Caleb Dicke: Oh, we were talking about you being a super spreader.

[14:44] Chris Medlin: Okay. Me specifically being a super spreader.

[14:47] Caleb Dicke: You started the East Coast pandemic.

[14:49] Chris Medlin: So I mean, like we packed up to some degree and headed to the bar, not realizing what was actually gonna happen.

[14:57] Chris Medlin: I did for some reason, I don't know what in my spirit led me to do this. I packed my entire station up.

[15:01] Chris Medlin: I took everything with me on March 12th that I could have ever left with.

[15:09] Chris Medlin: That like I took every I left my score and my script. I that was fine. It can be dusty, yeah.

[15:14] Chris Medlin: But every I took like, you know, the dressing station, like the towel, the decorative plants, the extra lights, like I took all of it with me.

[15:20] Chris Medlin: And I don't know why. My brain was like, it's two weeks, maybe a month. Take everything.

[15:26] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[15:27] Chris Medlin: But then it worked out because I never had to go back to do the like yeah, come in and pick up your stuff, because now it's gonna be six months, or come in and pick up your, you know, like a lot of our other cast members, like they left full like makeup kits and things like they needed, but they couldn't get access to because it's all locked up, and for some reason I took every single item that I had brought into that theater out with me that day to the bar.

[15:48] Caleb Dicke: And then I never went back.

[15:50] Chris Medlin: Well, that's crazy.

[15:53] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[15:53] Chris Medlin: But immediately, like you said, I immediately cut my hair.

[15:56] Chris Medlin: Um, I think I was in the bathroom the next day cutting my hair.

[15:59] Chris Medlin: Um, I cut it myself.

[16:00] Chris Medlin: Um, yeah, so I cut my own hair, and I think the next day I was like, Well, we have two or three weeks, like a fade will grow back out by then.

[16:06] Chris Medlin: I want my haircut, I want to feel like me for this little vacation.

[16:10] Chris Medlin: If I'm gonna be out and about, you know, like kind of like my best.

[16:13] Caleb Dicke: Um, and so yeah, I did that, and at the time it was like a chill thing, super relaxed.

[16:19] Chris Medlin: Like, okay, like fatten on the hatches a little bit, get your groceries, and then um two I think Tuesday was when like delivery shut down in New York or something, like eat in everything shut down on Tuesday.

[16:30] Chris Medlin: That started happening, and you're like, Oh, this is like here we go.

[16:34] Caleb Dicke: Alright.

[16:34] Chris Medlin: Yeah. Should I leave the city? Should I stay?

[16:36] Chris Medlin: Um, and then I decided to stay because I do live alone, and so it was easier and safer for me to just stay put.

[16:44] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[16:45] Chris Medlin: And I don't have to like I know where I go, and I'm not worried about roommates, I'm not worried about you know, family members.

[16:51] Chris Medlin: It's uh it's just me.

[16:52] Chris Medlin: And so um I did decide to stay put.

[16:55] Chris Medlin: Um and tried to like make the most of it.

[16:58] Chris Medlin: Um, I feel like this is a little bit of a shared sentiment.

[17:01] Chris Medlin: I know probably the week prior, I think I had verbalized that I like wanted just a little bit of a break.

[17:08] Caleb Dicke: Like I wanted a little bit of a break.

[17:10] Chris Medlin: You started the pandemic.

[17:18] Caleb Dicke: I take blame too, because I was doing the same thing.

[17:20] Chris Medlin: I think I I think I it was early 2020, you know.

[17:24] Chris Medlin: I think I verbatim said like I just want to like take a break for a second and be able to like step away, and then I was forced to.

[17:32] Chris Medlin: Yeah, um, which was fine at the start of it.

[17:34] Chris Medlin: Um, but yeah, I just it just kept extending as we all know, and getting a little more wild and a little more wild every time.

[17:42] Chris Medlin: Now didn't in the midst of the pandemic, right here on 48th Street, I started seeing people I know around.

[17:54] Chris Medlin: And it was because you all were filming.

[17:58] Chris Medlin: Uh, that is right.

[18:00] Chris Medlin: Filming the show.

[18:01] Chris Medlin: Our Mrs. Frizzle's field trips down the sidewalk.

[18:04] Chris Medlin: All like basically holding hands down the sidewalk, masked up, face shields.

[18:09] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[18:10] Chris Medlin: So you all were really early on on that kind of filming process.

[18:15] Chris Medlin: I remember like that was when it was like unheard of.

[18:17] Chris Medlin: There was no work.

[18:18] Chris Medlin: Oh, it was a terrifying concept at the time.

[18:20] Chris Medlin: There's nothing going on.

[18:21] Chris Medlin: No one knew how to like operate in a group setting with the pandemic and mimics of it.

[18:27] Chris Medlin: Um, we did, however, uh June of 2020, we did a Zoom lab to keep the show fresh because they weren't sure how long the extension was gonna keep being.

[18:38] Chris Medlin: At the time it was supposed to be, I think Labor Day was one of the dates we got for the end of the extensions.

[18:44] Chris Medlin: Um, so we did a June lab.

[18:46] Chris Medlin: We did a four-week lab to like review material, um, just keep it fresh.

[18:50] Chris Medlin: Uh, the cast didn't realize at the time that the team in production had already set up this entire elaborate plan to be able to film the show, record the cast album, even though we still haven't officially opened yet.

[19:03] Chris Medlin: Um, and so that's what you were seeing was in s uh it started I think the late August, last weekend of August, through the month of September, um, that they brought us all together.

[19:14] Chris Medlin: We quarantined in a hotel that was just us, just the cast.

[19:18] Chris Medlin: This is before Vax.

[19:21] Caleb Dicke: Wow, like that's for the election.

[19:22] Chris Medlin: I mean, this was this was like.

[19:24] Chris Medlin: This is when comes Cold and Flu season, and we were going into the first group experience we've had since March.

[19:29] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[19:30] Chris Medlin: Um, we were greeted by company management in essentially like hazmat suits because no one knew how to do any of this.

[19:37] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, Jesus.

[19:38] Chris Medlin: Um, we had to quarantine within that hotel that was just for the cast, um, in our own rooms.

[19:44] Chris Medlin: We couldn't leave for anything for the first few days.

[19:46] Chris Medlin: They had to bring us our meals, they had to bring like if you needed anything, we had to bring it.

[19:50] Chris Medlin: Um, like you need a bottle of water, you have to like call someone to bring it to you who's gonna drop it at your door, knock and run away.

[19:57] Caleb Dicke: That's insane.

[19:57] Chris Medlin: And you have to open it, scoop it, and shut the door.

[20:00] Chris Medlin: And like that was our life for the first few days, and we were getting tested every single day.

[20:04] Chris Medlin: Um until we they decided that we had like established a COVID bubble um that was safe for us to operate in.

[20:13] Chris Medlin: And then we did the first week of rehearsals, um well, two weeks two weeks in a ballroom in that hotel, restaging the show and reviewing the music again, but the first week of that was still in masks because we for the medical team's purposes had not fully established that bubble.

[20:32] Caleb Dicke: Right.

[20:32] Chris Medlin: So we could be together, but we all had to be in masks and be social distanced and um yeah, it was it was a wild process, and you know, you're trying to run a a two hour musical at you know, full tempo, full full performance level in a hotel ballroom with two medical masks on your face.

[20:52] Chris Medlin: Like dry heaving through like a sweaty mask, um, singing through that mask.

[20:57] Chris Medlin: Um, yeah, it was a wild, it was a wild process.

[21:00] Chris Medlin: But we did establish that bubble.

[21:02] Chris Medlin: We were able to remove the masks in the performance area during rehearsal times, which is still what the like rules are doing.

[21:09] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[21:10] Chris Medlin: Um, that if you stepped off of that floor to go get water, run to the restroom, anything, that mask had to go back on.

[21:16] Chris Medlin: And then what you were seeing, Elliot, was us walking down forty eighth street with double masks, plastic face shields that looked like welding costumes and our backpacks and like not able to touch any doors.

[21:30] Chris Medlin: The company the company management had to do it so that they were the only one handling like public objects.

[21:36] Chris Medlin: We were shuffled back and forth.

[21:38] Chris Medlin: We couldn't touch anything.

[21:39] Chris Medlin: Um, like don't talk to me like it was well and it you know you're pass you we pass like businesses and at that point people were starting to do things a little bit.

[21:48] Chris Medlin: And so you're passing your friends and you're having to like shake your hands like no no no no no no don't come over here.

[21:48] Chris Medlin: Don't come over here.

[21:53] Chris Medlin: Like I'm in I'm in a bubble even though I'm on the sidewalks of New York.

[21:56] Chris Medlin: Right.

[21:57] Chris Medlin: Like holding hands with everyone else and welding gear that can't touch anybody else either.

[22:02] Chris Medlin: Like it was a it was a wild thing.

[22:04] Chris Medlin: It was a little um like traumatic in its own because you're watching the world kind of exist without you.

[22:10] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[22:11] Chris Medlin: Oh sure.

[22:12] Chris Medlin: Mm-hmm.

[22:12] Chris Medlin: Which I think did um heighten the anxiety that I already had going into it.

[22:18] Chris Medlin: Um just because of living alone.

[22:20] Chris Medlin: I hadn't dealt with a lot of those interactions.

[22:23] Caleb Dicke: Right.

[22:23] Chris Medlin: So this was from from mid March one zoom lab on the internet by myself and then here we go at the end of August.

[22:33] Chris Medlin: That was my first time being around more than say like two people that you pass on the sidewalk while you're like out for a jog trying to get some fresh air um very overwhelming.

[22:43] Chris Medlin: Like you feel like a dog let off of a leash for a s like you're like, I am I've gone rogue.

[22:48] Chris Medlin: Like I'm I'm wild in this moment because I don't know how to act socially.

[22:51] Chris Medlin: Um, it was exhausting, but it was and it was you know it was a little it was a little scary.

[22:56] Chris Medlin: Um, you start like I know I'm bad about um psychosomatically making myself feel bad when I am aware of that testing process at the beginning of it.

[23:06] Chris Medlin: Like I'm tired, it's COVID.

[23:07] Chris Medlin: And like I I feel dehydrated, it's I'm I've got it, I'm sick, happy in your like they're gonna send me home, they're gonna send me home, and then you get too negative and it goes away in like a half hour.

[23:16] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[23:16] Chris Medlin: And it would happen every single day.

[23:18] Chris Medlin: And I have allergies, so like I'd wake up in the morning in like a new space, new dust, new air system, all of that, and be like, I can't breathe.

[23:25] Chris Medlin: I'm sick, I'm sick, I've gotta go.

[23:27] Chris Medlin: I burst the bubble, I burst the bubble.

[23:29] Caleb Dicke: You're like, but can I taste this?

[23:30] Chris Medlin: Okay, I can't fix this.

[23:33] Chris Medlin: Yeah, it was uh it was a wild, wild uh first few months for sure.

[23:37] Chris Medlin: I think the amazing thing about this recording is like we're gonna love it when it cause it's out, but um like 20 years from now, looking back at it, and you're like, this was filmed in the height of the pandemic before vaccinations.

[23:49] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, yeah.

[23:50] Chris Medlin: Like it's gonna be a time capsule of Broadway history.

[23:53] Chris Medlin: And like what it was to what it was like to achieve that product during this time.

[23:59] Chris Medlin: Yeah.

[23:59] Chris Medlin: Um, multiple COVID bubbles, like creative was in a separate bubble than the like camera crew.

[24:06] Chris Medlin: We were in a separate bubble, like all of it was super separate, so we couldn't.

[24:09] Chris Medlin: There were like there was like tape everywhere you couldn't cross this line, they can't cross this line.

[24:13] Chris Medlin: Um, yeah, it was um it was rough.

[24:16] Chris Medlin: They tried to have like our dressers were supposed to be in full hazmat suits because they were their own separate bubble.

[24:20] Chris Medlin: Hazmat suits with shields on their faces, uh, gloves on, all of that, and they were like, we can't do velcro and buttons and like put people's ties on and stuff with gloves on, and I've I'm wearing like a welding cap.

[24:34] Chris Medlin: Like I can't see anything.

[24:36] Chris Medlin: So we had to find all of those like work around the colour.

[24:38] Chris Medlin: But luckily they could be like, cut, we'll fix we'll we'll we'll make this work.

[24:43] Caleb Dicke: You would think you did a full run of the show?

[24:45] Chris Medlin: We we did several full runs of the show.

[24:49] Chris Medlin: Um, we You're like, why are we doing this?

[24:51] Chris Medlin: Like it's never gonna be like, can we can we please stop for two like let me like put a towel on my face for a second or like grab a sip of water?

[24:58] Chris Medlin: No, we did full runs of the show so that we could maintain the um the like energy of a live musical where you feel yeah, the like burst of people leaving as quickly as they needed to for a quick change that doesn't actually have to happen because we're filming it, but we're still gonna do it unnecessarily, I guess.

[25:16] Chris Medlin: Um, but I do hope that that that uh hustle translates in the film.

[25:21] Chris Medlin: Um, we filmed it with I think nine nine cameras going simultaneously.

[25:27] Chris Medlin: And we did I think four runs like that, um all different levels throughout the house because we didn't have an audience at the time, uh, because it was scary still for the pandemic.

[25:38] Chris Medlin: Um, so nine cameras filming at the same time, and then we did a few uh like pickup shots with like a crane and an upstage camera and you know, like uh trying to navigate how to get the shots they wanted and like what's gonna look the best.

[25:55] Chris Medlin: Um, because like when they film it for stage, they bring in another director sometimes who's like the film director.

[26:01] Chris Medlin: Yes, you'll you'll bring in a DP just like you would for a TV or film project that's not a musical, and they have to agree on like what what showcases are teams' work, but what also showcases what the director is hoping that the audience sees because you do have a very special opportunity to like zoom in on the moments that they're supposed to be watching instead of the full stage where they get distracted because there's you know someone moving a table and they're missing the scene.

[26:29] Chris Medlin: Um, you get to zoom in and miss the fact that someone came and scooped that table and you get to watch just the dialogue.

[26:34] Chris Medlin: Um, so you do have a really special moment to kind of trim and like you know, neaten up the storytelling through film.

[26:43] Chris Medlin: Um, and I did see some of the shots as they would like you know, check check the footage um on one of the monitors, and it's like I I think it's gonna be very special.

[26:51] Caleb Dicke: The trailer looks great, it's gorgeous, yeah.

[26:53] Chris Medlin: It's grand, it's great.

[26:55] Chris Medlin: It's like on Broadway, fresh from New York, and you're like, we haven't seen anything yet.

[27:00] Chris Medlin: Show us the musical, like and you're like, oh, there she is.

[27:03] Caleb Dicke: It's so funny.

[27:05] Chris Medlin: Yeah, no, well, by the time this comes out, it'll be out.

[27:07] Caleb Dicke: So people have seen it.

[27:09] Chris Medlin: But I'm gonna really really excited to see it.

[27:13] Chris Medlin: It's gonna be.

[27:17] Chris Medlin: I have no idea.

[27:17] Chris Medlin: You know, I um I'm trying to figure out because our our cast album comes out on September 24th.

[27:23] Chris Medlin: That'll be out by now.

[27:25] Caleb Dicke: 24th?

[27:26] Chris Medlin: Yeah, 24th.

[27:27] Chris Medlin: Um, the film is out October 1st, and so right now I'm trying to decide when to squeeze in one last trip back to Tennessee before we start rehearsals October 11th.

[27:37] Chris Medlin: And so I may be in Tennessee with family, or I may be in New York with like closest friends or the people that I filmed it with.

[27:43] Chris Medlin: Like it's like I don't I don't know what that journey is for me yet.

[27:46] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[27:46] Chris Medlin: Um, I could also be completely by myself because it's intimate and you're like scaring to like process this.

[27:52] Chris Medlin: It feels very pandemic of it all to like have to watch it by yourself to um yeah.

[27:57] Caleb Dicke: Um, nothing wrong with the party one.

[27:59] Chris Medlin: No.

[27:59] Chris Medlin: Yeah.

[28:00] Chris Medlin: Well, it I mean, my like my um the Netflix scripted TV show that I'm on um came out in May of 2020.

[28:09] Chris Medlin: So that like was a pandemic thing where I was like, Oh, oh I can't gather all of my friends together or go to my family to watch like what is my first full speaking role on a television show and it's eight episodes out of a ten episode season and I'm not able to be with my family or my closest friends.

[29:34] Chris Medlin: Um, it was a very strange thing to just kind of like, I mean, like it's, you know, I know myself, I get a little awkward with receiving compliments and stuff, but to just watch people watching it from afar but not be able to watch it with any of them.

[29:34] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, it's strange.

[29:34] Chris Medlin: It's weird. I'm sure, and that was at the time when like streaming was like at everyone's kind of tips.

[29:34] Caleb Dicke: That was game.

[29:34] Chris Medlin: But you guys were like the top of Netflix. It was like trending, like yeah, we were the number one show for I think like twenty-three days or something. And that's like, that was very like that moment. We were all kind of like, what are we watching? We're watching like, so that must have been like cool but also really strange.

[29:34] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, I think it, I mean, I think it did for one help because it's gonna drive more people to watch the show because that's what we were all doing at the time. Um, but at the same time it did feel like an era of there were a few weeks where like so much TV and film was coming out at the same time. Um, because that was like Tiger King, that was The Circle, like all that stuff was coming out at the same time.

[29:34] Chris Medlin: And um, it was a little overwhelming as far as the material that there was to watch. But then I also think that people were needing more to watch because that's all anybody was able to do.

[29:45] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[29:45] Chris Medlin: Um, and so I think it helped our show. I mean, Sweet Magnolias landed in the top ten Forbes list of scripted shows on streaming. I think all, I think it's all streaming services. Um, but we're the top, I think it's family drama, romance drama, something like that. Um, it's very like family friendly with enough edge and drama to like keep you interested. Super southern, super sweet, but we landed in the number one spot for that category on the Forbes list. And I was like, what is this?

[30:19] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[30:19] Chris Medlin: But also like there's people in there that have a draw. Like it's like we've got Heather Headley, we've got Jamie Lynn Spears, we've got like Joanna Garcia Swisher, we've got like Jamie Lynn.

[30:21] Caleb Dicke: Jamie Lynn.

[30:28] Chris Medlin: Um, controversial.

[30:29] Caleb Dicke: No, no.

[30:31] Chris Medlin: No, free Brittany.

[30:34] Caleb Dicke: Good people, like professional work setting.

[30:37] Chris Medlin: Yes, yes, yes. That was, that was of course, no, of course. So like season comes out, we've got to be a few. And you film season two during the pandemic, like it happened.

[30:44] Chris Medlin: Yes. Uh, so, uh, some of the timing things were, you know, at the beginning of the pandemic, where we were all, my, well, I can only speak for myself. We were like, I would love like a just like a step back, slow down just a little, and then it slowed down a lot.

[30:59] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[30:59] Chris Medlin: But it actually worked out in my favor. Great, like I'm very grateful for it. Um, because season one filmed in 2019 from July to October. And so we got our, we got our green light for season two, and they were looking at July to October, and then, um, everything shut down, so then all those schedules kind of like fly off the table, none of that's real anymore.

[31:23] Caleb Dicke: Right.

[31:27] Chris Medlin: Because like right now, I don't have to, it's not gonna overlap Diana because there is no Diana.

[31:27] Caleb Dicke: Right.

[31:27] Chris Medlin: It's not gonna overlap. I can do this. Is it gonna happen? Okay, Georgia's like a shit show right now.

[31:39] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[31:39] Chris Medlin: As far as it's, it's like red, red, red, red, red. It's super dangerous to be there as far as the pandemic goes. And so there wasn't anything being green lit for the state of Georgia for filming. Um, so we were postponed. And I was like, okay, well, now, you know, Diana's not happening, but also season two can't happen yet.

[31:55] Caleb Dicke: Right.

[31:56] Chris Medlin: Um, season one has already come out, like, I, we need to like keep going. Like, I want this to like, you know, keep the ball rolling. Um, and then while we were doing the, um, post, post uh zoom lab for Diana, we found out that Sweet Magnolias will be filming minimum the following year.

[32:17] Caleb Dicke: So I'm like, okay, well, now the issue is, is Diana gonna come? And then I'm gonna be met, like it's gonna screw up the schedules for me again. Um, and then while we were waiting, and I was like, okay, I guess Sweet Magnolias season two is delayed. We found out about the Diana filming bubble and the cast album bubble, which was all inclusive.

[32:36] Chris Medlin: Um, and it happened in September when I would have been gone to film season two.

[32:42] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[32:42] Chris Medlin: So then I was able to do that without any conflicts. We finished that. We got filming dates for season two. This could be tricky. Theater's supposed to start coming back, and then within a few days, we got the official like it's not gonna be till September. And it was like, and I just found out we were filming April to July. This, this were like, I, I didn't miss the Diana cast album and Netflix film. Season two was able to happen, Broadway pushed back a little further, and so, you know, like season two we finished filming in July, and then I had like a two-month gap before we start rehearsals.

[33:16] Caleb Dicke: Like, I was like, like, this somehow, and I'm so thankful for it, but somehow this like schedule like spaced itself out to where it wasn't chaotic, nothing was like overwhelming, but none of it overlapped.

[33:30] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[33:30] Chris Medlin: It's because you started the pandemic and it was on your schedule. So like when are you ending it? Like when are you gonna end it?

[33:34] Chris Medlin: Because I packed up my entire sink.

[33:38] Caleb Dicke: Exactly.

[33:38] Chris Medlin: Yeah, that's the reason. Because I took my towel home from my dressing.

[33:42] Caleb Dicke: Exactly.

[33:42] Chris Medlin: I took the fake plants home. It's my fault. Please make it end. And um, so now we're gonna move to um some quick cues. These are easy questions.

[33:50] Caleb Dicke: Oh no.

[33:51] Chris Medlin: We're going to back to like school days.

[33:55] Caleb Dicke: Okay.

[33:56] Chris Medlin: Middle school, which school, like what school? Somehow getting to the choir edition.

[34:01] Caleb Dicke: Exactly, yeah.

[34:02] Chris Medlin: So like back to school questions. Bring us uh childhood self there.

[34:05] Caleb Dicke: Oh no, okay. What item of clothing did you treat yourself to for your first day back?

[34:11] Chris Medlin: Uh, it was usually a pair of jeans.

[34:13] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[34:14] Chris Medlin: Um, being a Southern kid, I always ruined my jeans over the summer. Like they'd always, you know, grass stains, ripped knees, that kind of thing. So it was always a, it was a new pair of jeans. These like Levi's, like American Eagle, Air Postal. American Eagle was the go-to for the longest amount of time.

[34:28] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[34:28] Chris Medlin: Um, they made great jeans.

[34:29] Caleb Dicke: They make a great jean.

[34:31] Chris Medlin: I think I still have a pair. They used to last longer. I will say that. Before they started adding the flex stuff to it, they used to last longer because it was like the best denim you could find at a like a normal person's price.

[34:43] Caleb Dicke: Um, and now this flex stuff like wears out very quickly, I think.

[34:47] Chris Medlin: I'm a big fan of their um activewear though. They have activewear and great sweats. They're super sweats. I haven't been into an American Eagle in years. Shout out.

[34:56] Caleb Dicke: Um and use code equity one.

[34:59] Chris Medlin: Similar, what you may like is uh Uniqlo. They have, I love Uniqlo. Their activewear is great. Anything with the stretch, yes, I know it's just thankful for the thing.

[35:06] Caleb Dicke: Give me an elastic waist.

[35:07] Chris Medlin: Give me an elastic waist. Um, what's the most important school supply?

[35:11] Chris Medlin: You have the pen with the four different inks that you pop down.

[35:14] Caleb Dicke: Okay.

[35:15] Chris Medlin: Journals or highlighters.

[35:17] Caleb Dicke: Journals.

[35:18] Chris Medlin: Journals. I'm a big, uh, I'm a big notebook purchaser that never writes in them because they were like aesthetically pleasing and I just want them on my shelf.

[35:25] Caleb Dicke: Uh-huh.

[35:26] Chris Medlin: Um, so there's like bookshelves and desks like full of journals that I've never actually written in that were given as gifts, even that I like I'm not gonna touch it. I don't want to write in it. They're so pretty. The um notebooks, did you hate it when they you pulled the paper out and it had left all the paper strings?

[35:40] Caleb Dicke: Or did you get the one that was like serrated like just like created one?

[35:43] Chris Medlin: Yes.

[35:44] Chris Medlin: Uh, like perforated, yeah.

[35:46] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, the perforated ones.

[35:47] Chris Medlin: I usually got those, but my like little bit of like rough nature didn't care if it ripped out of the thing. But if it was like I would like pull the little slivers of paper like out of the rings and like eventually I would clean it up. I was a big, it was five, it was the five subject notebook for me.

[36:08] Caleb Dicke: What was the brand that like that's really big?

[36:12] Chris Medlin: Five Star had a grip on society.

[36:16] Caleb Dicke: So good, five star notebooks. Those were sexy notebooks too.

[36:19] Chris Medlin: They were expensive. That's all I wanted. I wanted like the hypergoline five star notebook.

[36:23] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[36:23] Chris Medlin: So bring it back to school.

[36:27] Caleb Dicke: Um, what's the best crayon color name?

[36:29] Chris Medlin: I like ones that sound like food. Like when you get like an espresso brown or like uh lasagna red. Maybe like a, uh, like a Tommy Tomato red. How about that too?

[36:42] Caleb Dicke: Okay.

[36:43] Chris Medlin: Did you pack your lunch or did you buy the hot lunch?

[36:46] Chris Medlin: Um, I was, I was a subsidized lunch child, so I got lunch at school. Um, with, as I was saying, seven-year-olds having to memorize their social security numbers to be able to buy their lunch, but it was, it was so that I could put the code in and then my lunch was free um because of, did you get like, we were talking about this with uh Brittany, it's like you had like french fries with everything like what was like the hot lunch?

[36:52] Chris Medlin: Um, so my, if it, if it's anything I think it's to do with the South, my lunch options were always, it was two different options. There was a cold bar and a hot bar. Cold bar was typically like a sandwich or a salad or something kind of general. Hot bar every single day was uh Papa John's pizza.

[37:22] Caleb Dicke: Wow.

[37:22] Chris Medlin: Our school had like a partnership with Papa John's pizza or something and so CC's though. And it was like at a certain age it stopped being the little like freezer pizzas that they usually provide and it started being Papa John's and then that was like game over. But you could pay fifty cents for a side of ranch was like the thing that's expensive for ranch.

[37:51] Caleb Dicke: And like children too, fifty cents for ranch.

[37:51] Chris Medlin: Um, and that was the thing that like everyone got ranch with everything that they bought because again, it's Tennessee.

[38:00] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[38:00] Chris Medlin: Um, but yeah, the ranch was probably the, actually the ranch was the hot ticket item. Yeah, and then I usually, I usually used it in like a like a food fight moment as well but yeah, a little bit you could make these, I called them ranch bombs.

[38:15] Caleb Dicke: Um, so not that you perked up you're like wait what?

[38:19] Chris Medlin: So I call them ranch bombs. Uh, they had these like very, these like great soft dinner rolls that they would always have with the lunch options but one of those like half dunked into some ranch dressing launched across a cafeteria in any general direction. Explosion and then back to what you were doing.

[38:38] Caleb Dicke: Um, was maybe like a weekly pastime of mine.

[38:42] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god. Were you in? Were you like sent to the office a lot?

[38:46] Chris Medlin: A little bit, but I like, I feel bad.

[38:49] Caleb Dicke: I know I know that but see it was I was also like a straight A kid and a lot of extracurriculars and what but then it was like I had face piercings in high school. I threw ranch bombs in the cafeteria.

[39:01] Chris Medlin: I like would be late all the time. I'd show up with food from like an outdoor restaurant that I shouldn't have brought to the school, like that kind of thing. Um, pushed the boundaries in ways that weren't really able to be punished, I guess.

[39:18] Caleb Dicke: Sure, yeah, okay.

[39:19] Chris Medlin: They're like, okay, like the ones that could have been punished I was never caught for. So there you go.

[39:24] Caleb Dicke: There it is.

[39:25] Chris Medlin: Anyway, ranch. Ranch is the hot chicken item at the school cafeteria.

[39:30] Caleb Dicke: Um, your favorite class period?

[39:32] Chris Medlin: Science.

[39:33] Caleb Dicke: Science.

[39:34] Chris Medlin: Science. Like biology, chemistry.

[39:37] Chris Medlin: So I ended up, I was a bio major in school, um, briefly for a year. Um, yeah, science is it for me.

[39:44] Caleb Dicke: Okay.

[39:45] Chris Medlin: And uh, yeah, I mean, I was, I was in choir, we had a like a classical competition choir, but it was an actual class during the school day instead of keeping us after.

[39:56] Caleb Dicke: So you had to audition, you had to make it in, whatever.

[39:58] Chris Medlin: That was my only consistent class that I had every single semester, all four years, but science was always for sure my favorite.

[40:05] Caleb Dicke: Cool.

[40:05] Chris Medlin: Yeah. I was on like the fast track where I was like, you know, two science classes ahead of where I should have been, and like so you could have solved the coronavirus by the scientists.

[40:16] Caleb Dicke: But instead, I went to the bar and I started it.

[40:20] Chris Medlin: Hilarious.

[40:21] Caleb Dicke: Okay. Uh, what's advice that you would give your younger self when they're going into their first day of school?

[40:28] Chris Medlin: I feel like this is a little telling of like what teenage years were like for me, but just like not to take the year to come to heart. Um, my like just my experience through school and through high school. Um, as a person of color in the South that likes the arts and was a singer and all of that was like not ideal.

[40:53] Chris Medlin: Um, and as I got older the years got easier because I started just kind of uh sticking to my guns, I guess, in a way. Um, and like not conceding to what was acceptable or trendy or whatever, and just kind of doing my own thing.

[41:13] Chris Medlin: Um, and I think that that, yeah, just to like not take what's to come to heart um would be my advice for myself.

[41:21] Caleb Dicke: Well, Chris, thank you so much for checking in with us. We're excited to talk with you a couple more times to like see what the process is like. Where can people uh follow you on social media and um listen to your music?

[41:34] Chris Medlin: Uh, so on all social media and Instagram, Twitter, all of it. I am at Mr. Medlin, M R M E D L I N. Um, and I also have music on streaming, uh, all platforms under Chris Medlin.

[41:47] Caleb Dicke: So listen folks and obviously watch Diana out now on Netflix.

[41:53] Chris Medlin: Oh my gosh.

[41:55] Chris Medlin: And season two of Sweet Magnolias is next year at some point.

[41:57] Caleb Dicke: Coming soon.

[41:58] Chris Medlin: So coming soon. You can follow the show at Equity One Podcast on Instagram and TikTok, and at Equity One underscore on Twitter. Send us an email at Equity One Podcast at gmail.com and head over right now to your Apple Podcast app and give us a five-star rating review.

[42:14] Caleb Dicke: It really helps other listeners find us and helps us out.

[42:18] Chris Medlin: Yeah.

[42:18] Caleb Dicke: Elliot, where can we find you?

[42:20] Chris Medlin: You can find me at Elliott Mattox on everything.

[42:22] Caleb Dicke: Caleb Dicke on everything.

[42:24] Chris Medlin: And until next time.

[42:26] Caleb Dicke: Cheers.