It’s Never Too Late to Pursue Your Dreams

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast. Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani.

Greetings to everyone joining us today for our podcast. You're listening to the Living to 100 Club, and I'm your host, Joe Casciani. You can find this conversation and all past conversations on our website, livetoinhundred.club. In addition to my podcasting, I'm a public speaker and I present to community organizations and senior groups on topics related to aging well and managing setbacks. And on my website, you'll see options to sign up for one-on-one resilience coaching for anyone wanting more personal time to talk. I also provide consulting and training on clinical topics like depression and dementia. Now to our podcast where we discuss successful aging, staying positive, and making more informed decisions. Our guest for this podcast is Louis Atlas. We'll be talking about It's Never Too Late to Pursue Your Dreams. Louis is an attorney and musician who has written what we might call parallel chapters over the course of his careers. We hear Louis's story about his dual careers in law and music. Louis now performs his music regularly in clubs in New York City and has a new release with 11 songs coming out in April of this year. First, a little background on Louis. He was born in Rochester, New York. Growing up, he played in rock bands and acted in some local productions. He studied at the Boston Conservatory and then went to New York to audition. His first job was as the character Teen Angel in the national tour of Grease. He pursued acting professionally for about 5 years and has always had a musical project in the works. Then he decided he needed more independence in his life and went to law school in order to be able to chart his own course. Louis continued practicing law and raising his family, but he never stopped writing songs And he's since released 4 records. One album received recognition from the Grammy nominating team in the categories of Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Best Reggae Album, and Best Engineering. Now at age 71, he's propelled on with new hope, optimism, and confidence in his musical pursuits while winding down his law practice. Louis, welcome to our podcast today.

Thank you, pleasure to be here.

Great, glad to have you with us. I always like to open by asking our guests to tell us a little bit about the journey that brought you to where you are today.

Sure, well, I think you did a very good job there of kind of describing my, my history, but to get a little bit more in detail, uh, with all of the above being true, um, you know One of the things that I did, I tried to accomplish by going to law school, was to have the independence that I wanted to not be reliant on, you know, auditioning all the time and other people's choices, which can sometimes get confusing. You know, they say the thing about being an actor well, I suppose it could be in any phase of entertainment, but an actor specifically, is that you have to be used to rejection.

Sure.

And then, and then you have to, you have to then train yourself to not be, uh, don't get negative from the rejection, and basically to disregard the rejection if you have faith in what you can do. And I did, you know, I did have a lot of faith. I was very fortunate when I got to New York City. I immediately had, um, success in terms of getting acting jobs and being in shows. And because I could sing and act, it was a plus. And therefore I was able to get work, professional work, union work, which I enjoyed very, very much. And then of course there came a dry period in every artist's life, where you have to do something else.

Sure.

And that's something else, you know, often, you know, can be anything— an office job, a waiter's job, a restaurant job, which I did. I didn't have a problem with. But then I said to myself, well, you know, maybe what I should do is go to law school so I have this to fall back on. And I did go to law school. And I did become a lawyer. And then I realized that if you fall back too, too far, you'll, you'll just, you'll hit the pavement and get knocked out.

Uh-huh. Yes.

There's, there's really the idea of falling back on something is really not valid as far as I'm concerned, because either you do it or you don't do it. Um, so at that point, I, I practiced law as I, as you said, right? Practice law. And I have it I raised my two daughters, and I have a wonderful— wouldn't have done it any other way, you know. Um, at the same time, I was acting, and I was, I was writing songs and recording and playing. I've always played in rock bands, but then I had an epiphany in reggae music, which is what I do now, which is kind of not a, a typical form of music that you would go into being an American guy from Rochester, New York. But it resounded so strongly in my soul. When I first heard the reggae music, I knew that I knew it. And I can't tell you why I knew I knew it. It just, it happened that I felt that this is something I could do and I had a dream to do it. And I guess one of the more gratifying things in my life is that I actually did do it. Found some success at it, uh, so I was— I'm very grateful, very grateful for that, and it's brought a lot of joy and, and, and excitement to my life, uh, and I still do it. And, uh, all along I was practicing law, uh, and writing songs, recording. So as you said, I, I recorded 4 records, and this is my 5th. The last one got that praise, a lot of praise, and I was very humbled by that. I didn't expect that at all, and when it happened, I could barely believe it, but I worked very hard at it. So here I am today at the young age of 71, and I am looking forward to continuing this as long as I can. I have a new record coming out. I'm very excited about it. I'm very encouraged by it. I think it's really good, some of the best songs I've written. I have a wonderful producer who's nearby, and I'm actually going tomorrow to do some vocals on the record. Uh, and at the same time, I, I have a sprinkling of legal work that I do as well.

Oh wow.

Trying to— I'm trying to, um, morph out of the legal work into the music full-time, and I work at both things regularly.

Yeah, so your true passion was as a musician, um, pursuing that your, your whole adult life. But as you said, for a fallback, you needed that reliability, and that's what the legal work, being a lawyer, offered you— that stable, predictable work, and you could pursue both.

Yeah, you know, it's true, you're right, it provided the money. Yeah, basically. And also On another note, I've come to realize this as I've gotten, you know, as I've gone along, that it provided a balance for me. So it actually helped my music, and my music helped my law. They supported each other in a very positive way, and I never expected that to happen, but that did happen.

How did the music help the legal work?

Well, the creative— the instinct that you must maintain and preserve while you're doing music, it's not a— it is a thought process, but it's not a typical thought process in that you don't decide, I'm going to sit down. Well, you can, I suppose. I'm going to write a song. But as many songwriters will tell you, it kind of comes to you. The song, you know, the song in a lot of ways writes itself, and the best songs write themselves. Now, I have, I have decided at times to write a song and have come up with some topic to write it on. Usually I either have the, the topic or the melody, and I've sat down and consciously have actually done that. But it, it's a very instinctual thing, and you have to feel it. You have to kind of open yourself maybe a bit cliché, but you do, you have to open yourself to the universe. Well, if the universe then feeds you with, with the, the music, and, and, you know, I— it's not— it's very difficult to explain, but it does happen. And those are some of the most wonderful moments you could possibly imagine. And I love those moments. It doesn't happen like every day. It happens occasionally, you know. It happens not as often as one would like, but it does happen. It does happen.

Yeah, yeah, I get that. That's the flow experience that we talk about and kind of getting out of the way. It's not just right brain, but it's letting all those accumulated experiences and thoughts collect and coalesce, and you're into that moment, and that's where the genius comes through.

Exactly. And, and to amplify that with respect to the law, there is a lot of— although it's very intellectual, you know, which I enjoy, but there's also an instinctive part of it as well. And I call on my instincts often in law to, to make decisions on, on what, how I, how I feel about someone's problem or a case or a matter. And oftentimes I will do it. I've done a bit of courtroom work, which is also an interesting story but probably would take us the rest of the time to tell you about it, because it's an interesting process of what I went through coming from the arts into law. But in any event, I am tuned into my instincts to such an extent that I know what's working and what isn't, not from what I'm saying but from what I'm feeling, which really was developed through the songwriting.

Interesting. Sure. So you apply that same tendency, that same openness to your legal work, and it allowed you to probably be a better attorney for it.

Yes, I believe so. And certainly more empathetic and sympathetic.

Yeah, I know we had a nice conversation before this actual podcast, and we were talking about aging, and you mentioned that for many years you didn't want to tell people your age. You just did on your opening today, but for years you you were not so thrilled about telling people how old you were. What— where did that come from?

Well, it came from being brought up in this country, because age is such a— you know, you see some— an article about someone, and, and the first thing they say, Louis Atlas, comma, 71, right? Or such a person, they immediately go to the age. And it's, it's very— we're very age-centric here. And it's not that way in Europe. I have many European friends who really don't care how old you are. You tell them how old you are, they don't— it's not as matter as much. But here it really does. It appears to be, at least. So I, especially being in show business, you know, if you show business, if you have a resume, you don't put down your age, you put down your age range.

Okay.

And you put down your age range because your age range could be not even your age. You could put, well, I'm— my age range is 55 to 65. You could be 75, but if you think you can play those roles, you can come across as a somewhere in that age range, you put it in because people will make a judgment about you as a result of your age. And they'll assume certain things. So I didn't do— I was hesitant because I was lucky enough to look young anyway, so why not, you know, be young, a little bit of the youth rub off on you, as the character that played by Maurice Chevalier said in Gigi. And you then somehow— I didn't focus it, I never really lied about it at all, never lied at all, except on dating apps occasionally.

It reminds me of a funny story. I read about this person in Holland a couple of years ago, and he worked in television, and, you know, a very nice gentleman, and he wanted to change his age. He said he was 69, and he went to the court to say, I want to change my age to 49. I, at 69, I can't get dates, I can't get bank loans, I can't get different jobs. 'Today people can change their name, they can even change their gender, I should be allowed to change my age.' It was a great story. Well, anyway, the Dutch court disagreed. His name was Emile Rottelbond, and I love to talk about Emile when I give presentations, but the Dutch court said to Emile, 'Unfortunately, we cannot change your age because that would eliminate 20 years of our court records and all other records in our system, and we can't do that. You're You're entitled to feel as young as you want, but you can't change your chronological age. So, yeah, age is only a number. You're right. And people do get caught up on it and kind of get distracted when we look at a person's age, right? That's what you're saying.

Well, I think people do. You are what you are, what you are, what you are, what you are. If you're 71, you can't change it, and that may actually leak into other things that people want to change. But, you know, that's a different topic for a different time. But, um, yeah, so, you know, you can't change your age. You have to accept it. I told someone— because I, quite frankly, Joe, I, I just started, um, admitting my age. I mean, I think that— and it's only been— it's only been a few months. It's kind of funny.

No drastic reactions yet. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I, I, I, I love the reactions because I told a gentleman who I, I, I often go to places to sing jazz because I love jazz as well, and I do standards and things like that. There's another singer there, and he, he, now a week or so ago, he, he said, how old are you? And I told him, and he just It's great to see them faint, but at the same time, how do you do it? How do you do it? Well, I said, you know, this is some of the things I'll talk about today, but, you know, you get that response as well. So that's— I guess that's reaffirming in some sense, but you're right, age is simply a number.

That's correct. Yeah, yeah. So while you were working actively as an attorney and musician, there are a lot of challenges with these, uh, dual careers, and sometimes it was hard to be both. Um, I can imagine. So indeed, tell us what some of those challenges were when you were bridging the two worlds.

Right. Well, especially when I had my family, and they— my kids have grown up now, they're finished with college and they're out on their own. But certainly, um, one of the challenges was I, I had to support my family and make a living, and I wanted to Not that I had to, I actually wanted to, and I kind of enjoyed it, and I was gratified by that. So when I was doing that, especially the way I was doing law, I was— I never worked for anybody. I was doing it all independently. So consequently, there would be large swaths of time where I really didn't have time to do music or acting, although I would— I'd always play my guitar. I mean, I always had time to play my guitar, but it would be for you know, a short period of time, more hobby-like. And, um, and I play in bands and I do all this thing, and I did some, some acting as well, but I couldn't spend the time. And the challenge was to— how do I balance it out? And I find that— oh, I found over the years that— I find now that if I don't do both, part of me is missing in terms of who I am. And if I do do both, they both Um, they both are— they both benefit from the fact that I'm, I'm doing both law and music. And, uh, the intellectual part of the law helps the music in a lot of ways, certainly helps the writing because I do a lot of writing. So, uh, the challenge was to try to fit it into my life. Um, but it was easier, of course, after my children were grown and I And after the divorce was over, that was easier too. Uh, and then, um, I was able to do it also along the way because I could— can compartmentalize everything. So when I'm— and in fact, in my— now in my room right now where I— where I write and I do law, I have two computers, one for law and one for music. And, uh, I, I try to dedicate myself to that, uh, that regimen of only doing law at my law computer and only doing music at my music computer, because I want to, I want to make sure there's a definite line. And, and so, uh, and I'm good at that. I can— when I'm doing music, I forget about the law. When I'm doing law, I forget about the music. So although sometimes I have music playing in the background, I'm saying all the time I have music playing in the background when I'm doing law, but it's classical, you know, it's lighter. So, um, that— those were the challenges. But I was fortunate enough to be disciplined enough and only working on these two things and really not— I mean, I don't do anything else. I mean, I mean, I mean, yeah, that's not true. I mean, I do yoga, I walk, and all this other stuff, and I go out a lot at night, you know, to clubs and things like that. But I don't, you know, play golf or I don't play tennis, and I mean, I'm very dedicated to this, and I really enjoy my life here in New York City, um, and it's perfect. New York City is perfect for this because everybody's doing something here and everybody's working hard, so it fits right in. And I have the resources both for music and law here, some of the best in the world, I think. I'm very fortunate to be here.

So there were some, uh, because pressures, uh, with time constraints and being able to find enough time to do both, both careers. But at the same time, it sounds like one really complemented the other in a lot of ways, and it allowed you to be, as we already said, allowed you to be better as an attorney and a musician by kind of complementing and taking the best of both worlds and allowing that to kind of, kind of inform you and how you're gonna—

I think that's, that's exactly right. And I think the most important thing is that you are who you are And you make sure that one, that you, that I made sure that I pursued who I was as opposed to leaving something that I was longing to do behind and then waiting for a time when I had the time. I don't think that waiting is a good thing. I don't think the idea of retirement is a good thing. The concept of it, not the actual, not having to work anymore. I think that's fine. But the concept of it that I'm saving everything for the last moment when I can do it, I think is— for me, that never worked. Whether it was seeing my children when I was working so hard, going away with them in the summers, which I made a point of doing. So I didn't say, I'm going to wait until they grow up. Every summer, we went away for a long period of time so I could spend it with my children. And I think that what— one for me, what worked is that, um, I never— I don't have to look back and say, gee, I wish I did this, I wish I did that, because when I wanted to do it, I did it.

You did it.

I think that's very important.

Good, good. Yeah, um, one more question about the, um, the legal work. Um, sure. Are you, are you ready to make the leap and give up that altogether? I know you're very active as a musician performing, but are you ready to kind of keep that computer shut off and, uh, stay—

that's a great question. And I'm wondering, is anybody ever really ready for these types of things? But I think the, the— am I ready to do it? Well, you know what's lingering now, honestly? What's lingering now is the money. Because I may— although I make a little bit of money as a musician, I don't— I live more like I, I think I've made money as a lawyer, although I don't live I'm not a rich man. I don't live high off the hog, but I'm certainly not worried about it either. I'm comfortable enough to— and I don't desire a lot of things. I mean, I like what I'm doing. If you just put me here and I could do this and feed me and clothe me and house me, I'd be fine. I don't care where it is really, although as long as it's in New York City, which of course is a challenge in and of itself. I've noticed lately, actually, interesting question, that it's hard, it's very hard to do, to give it up completely. And also, along with what we were talking about earlier, I'm not so sure it's the greatest idea to do that considering that's who I am. But for instance, today, giving today as an example, I got up at 7:00 this morning, and I've basically been working on music until this conversation. And with a little sprinkling of some legal emails and some filings and things, which I did going along. But basically, I've been working on music, lots of different aspects, the business of it, the performing, the rehearsing, the practicing. And I mean, you really have to— if you want to be something, you have to commit the time to it. And that I'm committed to do.

So—

but it's hard to let go. It's hard to let go, and I'm trying to— and if I get to the point where, which I think I will, where I'm going to say, okay, that's— that's— that's— I'm not going to say that's it. I'm saying if it, if it just kind of peters out by itself, I'm fine. I'm fine. And I think that I'm— that monetarily I'm going to be just fine. And I also realize that if I'm going to make the transition monetarily, I have to put more time into music, and that's what I'm trying to do.

Right, right. But there's no rules, and there's no reason to shut doors when they don't need to be shut, right? I mean, you can always—

Exactly, well put.

Sure. Well, let me ask you about your music. I know you, you performed in a number of different areas, but somehow the, the world of reggae kind of grabbed you, and as you said, it's— it talked to you, and if you connected with it, can you describe what it is that that kind of gives you juice.

Yeah, this is one of my favorite stories, actually, and I've told the story on a number of interviews that I've been interviewed, you know, at Voice of America and various publications, and, you know, that's online, you know. Um, I, uh, I was a, a rock rock guy, you know. I mean, I had a guitar, you know, I had very long hair, and I play all sorts of rock music, you know, and I played in bands. I also love Motown, rhythm and blues, soul music. I love jazz, I love jazz as well. I also love musical theater. I was kind of raised on musical theater. But, um, I went to Jamaica, and, and I, I came back, and I had heard some— this was in the late '70s— and I heard some, uh, reggae music there, and I thought— and it sort of seeped into my subconscious. I'll try to make this as short as possible. Uh, I got back to New York and I had rented a place, a place in the summer out on Fire Island, which is a beautiful island here, summer, summer place. And anyway, one day I, I was walking out to the beach and I put on that was in the Walkman days. We remember Walkman. A lot of the— my, my kids don't, but, you know, Walkman is, you know, and it was a tape, a cassette tape in there. I still have all these tapes too. I don't know what I'm gonna do with them. There's no longer any cassette players. But in any event, I walked out there and I put on a Bob Marley record, and all of a sudden, literally, it stopped me in my tracks. And I felt something that was like I was, to put it in the vernacular, I was blown away by it. I just, I felt something inside me that I said, oh my God, this is unbelievable. Well, then being already knowing how to play the guitar, and I started playing it for myself basically. And then I started branching out and I started listening to every single reggae outlet I could, whether it's on the radio or going to shows. I kept going and going. And then I, um, and then I ventured out, you know, and I, I tried to play it with some— I did play it with some bands, and I, I ended up forming my own band, which, which ended up to be a, a reggae version. It sounded like the Grateful Dead doing reggae. These were rock musicians, but they loved— and at that time I had begun writing reggae songs. So we— and we played, it was actually pretty good. We played a bunch of places, but it was a sound that— I still have some of the recordings— was a sound that doesn't— didn't really— now that I know what reggae really should be sounding like, wasn't really authentically reggae, but it was good, you know, it was good. And then I, um, I, I progressed, and that band, of course, like every good band, split up, um And, uh, then I, um, I, I found this producer who produces all my records, and he's been, been my producer since then, since I found him, which was in the late '90s really. And, um, he kind of took me to another level. He believed in my music, and as a result, I started playing with these really top reggae artists in New York. And I, you know, I didn't, I felt very positive about it, but I was, you know, I was scared, you know, I was a little scared. I mean, quite frankly, you know, I would go to places, I would go to places and I'd go anywhere, everywhere, no fear, no doubt, but actually performing this music anyway, make a long story short, I had a big show in, I'm looking at the poster, 2006. And I was put on a bill with 1, 2, 5 other bands from Jamaica. And I went out and I— there was a sound check. It was a huge place with TV screens. And I was lucky enough to get this gig because, you know, obviously somebody thought it was good. And anyway, I heard this one band. As I was waiting backstage to do my soundcheck, and I was petrified. I said, "I can't, these guys are from Kingston. I can't go out there and do this stuff." Well, I did.

You did.

I went out and I did it. And when I first hit the stage, the stage crew said, "Who the hell is this guy?" Basically were disdainful of me, total disdain. When I finished the soundcheck, everybody crowded around me, wanted to know who I was, where I've been playing. I went out, I gave, sold all these CDs that I had in my car. And at that point I said, well, you know, I should think that I'm probably pretty legitimate. And thereafter I've played, you know, Jamaican venues, uh, world music clubs, and I've gotten great response. And, you know, I feel very confident now, and I play with the best— really some of the best musicians you could possibly want. It's a dream come true.

Yeah, that's great. So 15 years ago is when you really kind of arrived with, uh, with your—

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 15, 16 now.

Yeah, yeah, good, good. And I, I listened to some of your music, and I hope our listeners can tune in as well, and we'll give them the links toward the end of our conversation here. But, you know, I'm always interested in encouraging people to open new doors and go down some corridors that we don't know what's what's to the right or left as we go down these corridors. So you're, you know, you're, you spoke a lot about kind of getting out of the predictable journey, predictable paths, and kind of breaking some of those patterns. And it's, it's anxiety, it's anxiety-producing, right? It creates a little bit of that discomfort. Am I okay to take this leap? Should I stick to the tried and true, or should I maybe go down this, this path and see what, um, what do you, what do you recommend to others who may be in the same place?

Well, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll give you— it reminds me of something I, I say that Frank Sinatra, who I just love, I love Frank Sinatra as well. Well, I just— he's, he's great. Uh, they asked him, and, and this is what real— every time I feel anxious, I think about Frank Sinatra. They asked him, they asked him Frank, you know, Frank Sinatra thinks nothing could bother Frank Sinatra, right? We think, oh, he's— yeah, they said, hey Frank, are you ever anxious at all about, you know, singing or your life? He goes, what are you kidding me, anxious? I'm anxious at least 10 times a day. I said, wow, Frank is anxious 10 times a day. That's actually more than I'm anxious. Oh gosh, I must be doing something right. But, you know, Joe, I think that the essence of— I was talking to my daughter the other day who was anxious about something. I think that we're all anxious. You know, I think that life is— we don't know what's going to happen, you know, the next second, the next minute, the next day. And the being unsure, you know, makes you anxious. And I How do you overcome it? Well, one thing is that you know you're in the community of humanity. In the community of humanity, if you look at the guy or the woman next to you who's doing something, you have to— you just have to understand how, as sure as they may be, they're probably as anxious as you are. So that's one thing that can create comfort in that, you know, this— the community of human beings because we're all so similar, I think, that, you know, we can say that, you know, it's just part of life. So the question is— so then the next question is, how do you overcome it? You know, um, I think you just gotta— I don't know what the solution is to overcome it except— except that you're anxious. Don't let it stop you from ever doing anything. And don't worry about taking a chance because people are very forgiving when it comes to that. You don't have to worry about being perfect. You don't have to worry about, you know, I'm always worried about making, making sure I don't sing a note that's off, off pitch, you know. But even if I do, you know, people are— well, first of all, oftentimes they don't notice it. I notice it because I'm so critical, and we're also critical of ourselves too.

Sure.

I think that overcoming anxiety is, uh, in anything that you're doing, is just listen, saying to yourself, okay, I feel this, this is true for me, therefore I'm going to do it. And whatever anybody else thinks about it, just disregard it. When I started writing songs, I would say, well, what are they going to think about it, you know? And you send songs out. I just contacted a music publisher, and this particular music publisher is, is, it's kind of a big house, and they, they take in music, and then they say they'll send you back criticism of. Well, I don't really care about the criticism anymore. It doesn't bother me when I— if I feel that it's good. Well, I've gotten to the point now where I, I'm, I'm confident enough to know whether it's good or not. And if there's plenty of songs that are over there in the waste, wastebasket because I just don't think they're good enough for me. Yeah. So I think that you have to, you have to meet your own standards and don't worry about what everybody else is saying.

Yeah, yeah, we can be a pretty good judge of our own performance. And I had a guest on a couple of weeks ago who talked about this very topic and she, after she retired, she took on a number of really big steps for her. She trained for a 5K marathon, she wrote a book, she started some other—

I heard that one, I heard that.

Yeah, yeah, Jill Phillips. And she said she started after she— when she was most successful is when she stopped listening to other people kind of disapprove or predict problems or why you're doing that, Jill. And that, that was great. And I like what you said about the being anxious because we do accept it, but we don't want to let it stop us from taking those steps because we don't know what opportunities are out there. There could be a lot of excitement and great opportunities out there, and we, you know, we're inclined to stay in our comfort zone, right? That's safe and predictable and, um, we step out of that comfort zone and there's a lot of unknown, but that's where the, that's where the real enjoyment, that's where the real opportunity comes. Joe Dispenza, he's written some great books, and one of my favorites is called Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. And he talks about this very subject, that it's okay to let go of who you were and really be open to new things that are ahead of us.

And don't, don't shout Yeah, but you, but you never should let go of who you are. The idea, the idea of, of life, as far as I'm concerned, is the process. Life is about learning who you are.

Yeah.

And, and, and that, that, that's another thing. That process should never stop. Once you stop figuring out who you are, then you've stopped living, really. Yeah, it's, it's a process of, gee, you know, oh, I do this, I'm like this, you know, and being true to yourself. Um, and doing these things. And but, but you brought up a very good point, which I always think about— patterns. Patterns are very difficult to break. It's— that's a big thing, is that you get up in the morning, you do something. First of all, it's, it's, it's more comfortable. And why be uncomfortable? You— if you, if you walk a certain way every day, a certain path every day, normally you'll, you'll do it every single day and you won't change it. If a child goes into— I've noticed this with my children when they were very young child goes into a classroom and sits in the seats, they all sit in seats the first day. 99% of the time, the next day they go back to sit in the same seat, and they sit in the same seat, they keep going on. We are products of patterns, and the hardest thing to do is to break those patterns because you're going outside your comfort zone. And you know, there's something to be said about being comfortable, I must say.

Yeah, so yeah, yeah. No, I, I, the point I was making about letting go of who you are is that, that's like, uh, we're always redefining ourselves. And don't, don't get stuck into how we defined ourselves yesterday or a year ago, because that's always open to new self-definitions. And for sure, I think this is, um, this is important. I love what you're saying here, Louis, about trying new things and being open to New opportunities, knocking on new doors. Yeah. So, um, where are you performing these days?

Well, I've been— I, I have these clubs in New York City, in Manhattan, that I perform at quite a bit. They're world music clubs, and of course during the pandemic they were, they were closed, but they've just recently opened up. So the last performance I had was in December. I'm working on the album right now, and once I get the record done, I'm going to start promoting it by playing live. That's the hardest thing, is to get the gigs, especially in this area. But I, I do have some places that regularly book me, uh, and, um, it's— they're wonderful. They love— they give me the prime slots, and they've been very supportive of my, of my music. Um, so, uh, I, I play at these places often.

Sure, sure.

Um, You know, and I have musicians who I play with, so they're— hopefully they're available. Sometimes they're not, but I have other— I have substitutes as well. I have a whole roster of people, substitutes for the— if somebody's not available. So I'm— I've developed that. So I'm playing— I play— I love to perform. I've been a performer all my life, whether it's on the stage in, uh, in, in drama or music, uh, or, uh on the stage in music, it's— I'm very extremely comfortable there. So I love to do it, and the more I could do it, the better I like it. And it helps me write, and it's good for promotion and everything else.

Yeah, yeah, it makes for a richer experience.

Yes.

Yeah. So, um, what would you like our listeners to take away from our conversation today? What—

well, you're never too old to do anything, first of all. And you should disregard your age and don't even think about it if you can. And, and, and, you know, I've just come to the realization that I can tell everybody how old I am, uh, and, um, you know, yeah, you know, if I was to quote Bob Marley, don't worry about a thing because every little thing's gonna be all right. And you know what, it just happens that that usually is the case.

Yeah.

And we, we because we, you know, tomorrow is something that we worry about, but it's no good because it hasn't happened yet. In the past, you can't do anything about. So live moment to moment. Be in the moment. Do what you want to do for that moment. Don't let anything stop you. Don't let it be your age. And keep your dreams alive. Never stop dreaming of something else, because that really will, will, will, will make you go forward as opposed to thinking, well, now I'm gonna— I'm just gonna spend my time hanging out or traveling, which is fine. I mean, I, I don't, I don't condemn that at all. I'm just saying that, you know, I've seen too many instances when people retire and then they don't know what else to do, or they get bored, or they, they kind of— they change, not— and, and what I consider to be not in a positive way. Not that it's bad to retire, believe me. It's just not my thing, and that's okay, you know, that's okay. I make no judgment one way or the other about that.

Sure, sure. Yeah, that's great, that's great information. I'm sure our audience, uh, really appreciates that. I appreciate you sharing it with us.

So I would say the other thing is that the other thing was, as you get older, it's harder to do all that. Just, just by biology makes it harder. So for instance, as an example, Sometimes I don't want to get out of bed and do anything. Sometimes I don't want to get out of this chair and do anything. Sometimes I just want to do something else. But when I get to that point, if I just force myself to do it for 1 minute, it all goes away and I'm on my way. So it's getting over that barrier, and I think that's biological.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right. There is a certain slowing and certain strength and a lot of that— I won't say energy, but there are some age-related changes, and it's okay to push ourselves a little bit, right? Sure.

I think, I think you have to. I think you have to.

Yeah.

And the rewards are great once you do it.

Yeah, yeah. It's, uh, it's much easier once we get past that first block, uh, that we have that small step, another step, and another step, and that motivation kind of builds up and That's where our confidence comes from too, I think, where we take those small steps and it builds up that momentum. And we feel— Absolutely.

More effective. Absolutely.

Yeah, for sure. Great.

Indeed.

Indeed. Yeah. Good. Well, great conversation. Looks like we're out of time, uh, okay, for today, Louis. Um, before we wrap up, um, I just want to remind our listeners about a co-sponsor for this program, A Mighty Good Time. Are you looking for ways to engage and stay active? Check out amightygoodtime.com. It's a one-stop shop for events and activities for those 50 and over. It's free to search and it's free to post. A Mighty Good Time dot com. Be sure to visit the Living to 100 Club website to sign up for our weekly podcast announcements and monthly newsletters. And while you're there, be sure to download a free copy of my 9 Tips for Living Longer. Lastly, pick up a copy of my book, Living Longer Is the New Normal. All about maintaining a positive mindset in all we do. We've been talking today with Louis Atlas. Louis, um, tell us about how we can learn a little bit more about your work and maybe listen to some of your music and how to contact you.

Right, thank you. Yeah, well, I have a website which is, uh, louisatlas.com. Um, I have a Facebook page, Louis Atlas Music. I have an Instagram account, Louis Atlas. Um, I am on Spotify and all the music services. My 4 records are there to listen to. I encourage people to check it out and let me know how it is, how you like it. You can reach me either through my website or directly at louisatlas@gmail.com. So either of those, I'd love to hear from anybody who's listening to the music or has any thoughts about this wonderful, uh, podcast and you and your great work. And I really applaud what you're doing, and I think it's great. It's, it's a great thing, and I, I encourage everybody to, to read your book and listen to your podcast because, you know, you are— you're giving us, uh, encouragement and you're giving us help. And I think that everybody at every age needs that, and I think the doubts that, that come into the mind at this age are a lot. So thank you very much, and I invite anybody to please contact me and listen to my music.

Thanks very much for that, Louis. Uh, you know, as a fellow Rochesterian, um, I appreciate what you're doing, and, uh, we're both having fun, and that's the good thing. So that is a good thing. Yeah, yeah. All right, um, so louisatlas.com, and your email is louisatlas@gmail.com, and you've got Facebook, Louis Atlas Music. Instagram, Louis Atlas, and your music is available. If people go to your website, you can tune in or listen to some of your—

Sure, sure, you can do that on the website. You could do that. All the records are there to be listened to. They'll— they stream through— I think they stream through YouTube. You can go right on Spotify, but Louis Atlas in, and you'll see all my records there. You can hear any— all of them there, plus a few extra singles that I did, which are couple are not reggae, but I did a couple of projects that they, they put it up on Spotify as well. Great. Or Apple Music, or whatever your favorite service, all the different platforms.

So next time I'm in New York, I'll be sure to track you down and listen to some of your, your live music.

Well, that was great. I hope I could get you out to a performance. That would be even better.

Yeah, terrific.

That would be great.

Well, thanks so much for being a guest on our program, and thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in today. Hope to see you next time.

It's time to rethink, renew, and reimagine retirement. Hey everybody, Jared Sylvester here, host of Retire Repurposed. Now this podcast is about the non-financial parts of retirement, which many times can can be even more challenging than the financial. We believe retirement is not the end, rather the beginning of what could be the most impactful, purposeful, and fulfilling season of a person's life. So don't retire, become repurposed. To listen now, search Retire Repurpose on your favorite podcast platform, Senior Resource, or Life Audio.