Serving thousands of students throughout the region by activating the love of the arts, Dr. Dermell Brunson of Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center (LTYC) brings Nestor the music and gospel of community at Faidley’s Seafood in Lexington Market to kick off A Cup Of Soup Or Bowl Week.
Nestor Aparicio hosts Dr. Dermell Brunson, founder of Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center (LTYC), at Lexington Market. Dr. Brunson discusses LTYC’s mission to provide performing and creative arts for youth in Baltimore and surrounding areas. Established in 2003, LTYC offers programs in music, theater, dance, visual arts, creative writing, fashion, culinary arts, media arts, and martial arts. They serve over 1,000 students annually through partnerships with schools and community organizations. Dr. Brunson emphasizes the importance of arts education and community support, including their ongoing coat and hat drive. He also reflects on the impact of his Christian counseling background on his work.
- [ ] Provide a Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center (LTYC) hat to the host as promised (deliver hat in-person or arrange pickup)
- [ ] Continue and promote the annual LTYC love drive by collecting new hats, coats, and gloves (extend collection past the holidays and accept in-kind donations such as art supplies and winter items)
- [ ] Provide upcoming LTYC performance and event details to the host (Nestor) so the host can promote them on Baltimore Positive and on-air
- [ ] Plan and prepare second-semester and summer LTYC arts programming (develop program outline, dates and staffing needs for summer offerings)
Lexington Market and Community Engagement
- Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST AM 1570, Baltimore’s Positive, and mentions the snowy weather at Lexington Market.
- Nestor talks about the “Cup of Soup or Bowl” initiative, which focuses on charity and community involvement.
- Nestor introduces Dr. Dermell Brunson, highlighting his local presence and involvement in the community.
- Dr. Dermell Brunson discusses his organization, Art is Life, and its mission to provide performing and creative arts for young people.
Dr. Dermell Brunson’s Background and Inspiration
- Dr. Dermell Brunson shares his background, growing up in West Baltimore and attending the Baltimore School for the Arts.
- He discusses his early interest in music and basketball, and how his mother’s influence led him to pursue music.
- Dr. Brunson talks about his journey from being a drummer at his mother’s church to pursuing a career in the arts.
- He mentions his inspiration from figures like Quincy Jones and the impact of music on his life.
Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center (LT, YC)
- Dr. Brunson explains the mission and history of LT, YC, which provides performing and creative arts for young people.
- He shares that the organization was founded in 2003 and serves the Greater Baltimore area, DC Metro, and Hampton Roads, Virginia.
- Dr. Brunson emphasizes the importance of arts education and the impact it has on young people’s lives.
- He discusses the various art forms they offer, including music, theater, dance, visual arts, creative writing, fashion and cosmetology, culinary arts, media arts, and martial arts.
Community Impact and Programs
- Dr. Brunson highlights the community impact of LT, YC, including their work with schools, the Y, Boys and Girls Club, and other organizations.
- He mentions their ongoing love drive to collect new hats, coats, and gloves for young people in the community.
- Dr. Brunson discusses the importance of providing equitable access to the arts for all young people.
- He shares success stories of students who have been exposed to Broadway and other professional arts opportunities through their programs.
Challenges and Future Plans
- Dr. Brunson talks about the challenges of providing arts education in underserved communities and the importance of community support.
- He mentions their plans for summer programming and the need for continued support from donors and volunteers.
- Dr. Brunson discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their programs and the importance of adapting to new challenges.
- He emphasizes the need for continued community engagement and support to ensure the success of LT, YC.
Personal Reflections and Community Engagement
- Dr. Brunson reflects on his personal journey and the importance of giving back to the community.
- He discusses the role of faith and community in his work and the impact of his Christian counseling background.
- Dr. Brunson shares his thoughts on the future of Baltimore and the potential for the city to become a major hub for arts, entertainment, and media.
- He emphasizes the importance of community engagement and the need for continued support to ensure the success of LT, YC.
Community Support and Volunteer Opportunities
- Dr. Brunson encourages listeners to support LT, YC through donations, volunteering, and participating in their programs.
- He highlights the various ways people can get involved, including donating art supplies, coats, hats, and gloves.
- Dr. Brunson discusses the importance of community support in providing equitable access to the arts for all young people.
- He shares information about upcoming events and performances, and encourages listeners to stay connected through their website and social media platforms.
Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks
- Dr. Brunson thanks Nestor and the listeners for their support and encourages them to continue engaging with LT, YC.
- Nestor wraps up the segment by reiterating the importance of community support and the impact of LT, YC on young people.
- They discuss the upcoming events and programs, including the “Cup of Soup or Bowl” initiative and other community activities.
- Nestor thanks Dr. Brunson for his time and contributions, and encourages listeners to visit LT, YC’s website for more information.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center, performing arts, creative arts, Baltimore, community engagement, youth development, arts education, mentorship, cultural impact, community service, arts opportunities, school partnerships, creative writing, culinary arts, media arts.
8
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Dr. Dermell Brunson
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 tasks, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. If you are watching us, you know we’re here at the world famous Lexington market. We’re faintly seafood. On a winter’s day, the snow is really piling up outside, and I have the candy cane cash scratch offs. We’re giving these away here today, our friends at GBMC sending us out on the road. Farmer and Dermer Absolutely, making the call to my house for the HVAC on Wednesday to make sure my heat is going it is. We need heat. It’s a cup of soup or bowl. We are not at the Moscone Center. We are not in San Francisco. I’m not going to Santa Clara. I’m here at downtown Baltimore, and we’re gonna be welcoming in a whole bunch of people this week. If you’re unfamiliar, this our fourth year of doing a cup of soup or bowl, and we learn about charity and community and people doing good stuff in the community. And the best part about this doc is when I get an email from some young person saying, Can you feature our organization, or our leader, our president, our CEO. And I get these emails in August, September, October, November, I always send back. I say, look, it’s football season. I do this thing called a cup of Super Bowl, and this is a perfect time for me to welcome people like Dr Dell Brunson. He is local. He came in here. He’s like, I got my favorite Asian over there. I got my crab cake over here. Good to see you down here, Lexington market. So I’ve seen you do some stuff around town on Jay Z and other places. About your organization. Art is life. Life is art. Art is life. Art is life. And I’m a little artsy in my day, music wise and whatnot. I know
Dr. Dermell Brunson 01:40
you’re just pointing out that Anita Baker earlier that was playing, so I know you learn your music.
Nestor Aparicio 01:44
8LT, yc.net, let’s go tell tell me what we’re doing here.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 01:49
Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center. We provide performing and creative arts for young people. Thanks so much for having us here today. Where are you based? Where are you doing? Based out of Baltimore. Our office is right in Mount Vernon. We serve all the Greater Baltimore, but also DC Metro, Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Nestor Aparicio 02:04
So you walked here. There’s a lot of ice, yes, but Mount Vernon, we’re talking like six blocks.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 02:10
There we go. That’s, that’s it. And I live downtown as well, but the office is right on Charles Street. And so it’s a beautiful opportunity to be in the community with you today.
8Nestor Aparicio 02:18
Well, give me the lowdown. Like beginning seeding this. This is the Baltimore question, when I don’t, when I don’t know anything about where are you from? Where’d you go to high school? I’m from Dundalk, you know, I went on community college. I went to University of Baltimore. I worked at the sun. Yeah, I live downtown for 19 years, so I’m more east side than West Side, yes, but you know, I’ve come more west side. I’m 57 years old, so I’ve been everywhere, man, you know, I’m like, you know, I’ve been everywhere.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 02:42
I understand. And are you from? And I’m more west side than East Side, more West and downtown. Where’d you grow up? I grew up at West Baltimore, Edmonson village, Catonsville, Yale heights, Irvington, that whole area,
Nestor Aparicio 02:53
Almost paradise. Yes, Almost paradise, right over there.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 02:57
8And then I went to the Baltimore School for the Arts. That’s where I graduated from for high school, beautiful. And so went out west to a private Christian University for college. And so where’s West California? What part
Nestor Aparicio 03:07
of California? California’s big Merced, California, all right, yeah. Where was this Merced?
Dr. Dermell Brunson 03:11
In La as well. I did two programs in the Los Angeles and in Merced.
Nestor Aparicio 03:15
So West Baltimore, you grew up. I don’t know how old you are. I don’t ever try to evaluate that. But what were arts opportunities like in West Baltimore? When you say Edmondson village, I took the bus everywhere in my life in the city, and that’s why, when I have my father never drove. So we took the 23 bus. My bus always said Edmondson Village. I would get it at East Point mall, yep. And at 23 would come in here, down Lombard Street, across through the city, Saratoga, yeah, and I don’t know where it went. When it left, I never went west of Lexington market. I never went west really, Howard Street on a 23 bus, I would go down to the civic center, yes, but I never went west of here. So anything west of there? I didn’t know till I was 2025 maybe Harlem Park, because I covered sports. But I didn’t know anything but Edmondson village with arts for you, what did that mean? So did you play ball? Or no,
8Dr. Dermell Brunson 04:04
I played ball. The two things that mattered most to me as a kid were music and basketball. Okay, and so, you know, I played ball. You know, young and, you know, BNB, L and middle and high, you know, elementary school, but high school, I went to the art school. So everything for me from there on, it was just music and theater and dancing, the whole experience of being at a conservatory model school. My mom put me in programs and, you know, after
Nestor Aparicio 04:29
school, what did you want to be? Do you want to go to Broadway? Was that your thing? No, initially, I started
Dr. Dermell Brunson 04:33
out as a drummer at my mom’s church for 10 years. Okay, so that was my first thing. Is, I was in the music. I was a music guy. I went there,
Nestor Aparicio 04:40
8so you’re gonna be ques love, right? Well, I’m just trying to
Dr. Dermell Brunson 04:45
find all of those, all of those people for me, works inspirational, more like Quincy Jones, that side of all right? And so those folks inspired me. And then being on stage, Jones guy, we got a lot to talk about, see what I mean. We got a lot to talk and it gave me the bug. And so I. Saw the arts that impacted young people’s lives. So I decided to, you know, take my life down.
Nestor Aparicio 05:04
Quincy Jones. Was that a Michael Jackson thing for somebody your age?
Dr. Dermell Brunson 05:08
Absolutely. But I was a kid who read the back of my mom’s albums, so when I would read as much as I love Michael, I was reading, who’s this Quincy Jones guy’s name that’s on so your mom’s
8Nestor Aparicio 05:18
probably closer to my age. I’m 57 my mom is in her 60s now. Okay, so your mom was very sort of Commodores, Earth, Wind and Fire. I grew up. I mean, all of those folks would know me as the Redneck Venezuelan from East Baltimore and dundale. I grew up in Archie bunkers, dundo. But the music in the 70s and 80s has formed my life, whether it’s Anita Baker a mystery, which we heard here a minute ago, or whether, just if I’m gonna do karaoke at Pappas on a Monday night, I’m doing James Ingram, Quincy Jones, just once. You know I’m doing fine, 100 ways, something like that. You know what I mean? You know to do. That’s what I’m talking about. Yeah, those are the those are the records. So you grew up beating the drums absolutely wanting to going on art school, but like, what was your track after? So music, beget theater, beget arts, be get
Dr. Dermell Brunson 06:08
in the track that that time, believe it or not, because I was in the Christian community. World was coming through the church world. So a lot of the jobs that I had opportunities were serving in church. Ran programs, religious based organization ran programs, faith based organizations, counseling, mentoring, music programs, doing the right thing, trying to well, whatever we believe that is this, believing that we can do more to help people. Sure, that’s always been something that I feel like God put inside of me, was to help people. That’s beautiful. So that’s just the journey here for
Nestor Aparicio 06:38
that, whether we, maybe some of us, don’t realize that that’s our purpose. It took me some time, you know. I mean, I’m not here in San Francisco talking to John Elway this week, talking to you see, and that gives that’s more value for me, because I’ve done that 27 times. That’s beautiful. So, so your organization, Mount Vernon, give everybody how we can help you and what you do. And I do want to go back to your whole story, because I think when small community organizations come together, there always is you and a mom and a and a group of people and something that inspired you, yes, to make this your life’s mission.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 07:12
8Yes, well, inspired was my family, teachers and educators from the community, from this church that I went to, the churches that I were a part of. No more. Your church is still there all West Baltimore, yeah, I grew up at whaling Baptist Church on Garrison Boulevard, okay? So that, that Forest Park community, okay? And so for me, that inspiration, but a golf course, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 07:33
RJ comes on a show,
Dr. Dermell Brunson 07:35
you know, hit it. And so that’s, that’s what inspired me. Man, was that, that kind of thing,
Nestor Aparicio 07:40
all right, so your group and your organization, let’s go through it again. Give everybody the initials, give everybody the give me the name again.
8Dr. Dermell Brunson 07:47
LT, YC, okay. LT, YC, leaders of tomorrow Youth Center. Give me a hat says. LT, wise, yes, I should have brought you one. I’ll get you one. When was it founded? And give me the founded. It basically right out of high school. Okay, so 2003 Wow. We started, wow. We’re 23 years in. Yeah, man. Started planting seeds, and I was still working and doing other things. I maybe went full time in like, 2012 2013 year but, you know, we wanted to see young people have arts opportunities. I felt a little bit of a survivor’s remorse type of a thing. By being able to go to Baltimore School for the Arts, I was so thankful for that experience, but I knew that there were other kids in my community, family, church, other schools, that didn’t have that opportunity. And when I was counseling and going to my visits at schools in Baltimore City, I just noticed there weren’t enough arts in these schools in the inner city. And so we started a journey to find ways to put the arts in schools. So we go into schools
Nestor Aparicio 08:39
when you say the arts, that’s such an all encompassing thing, you know I mean when I think of the really special people in my life. And you don’t know this about me, but my middle school, and you can look all this up on Baltimore positive, but my middle school music teacher greatly impacted me and still impacts me to this day. Matter of fact, he was the last guest I had on with this equipment on that headset. Mr. Calvin stadium, wow, was when the stadium singers part of the Claire award back. Yes. Mr. Statham lives in Sparrows Point. He’s a young 8586 years old, and he still does Christmas Carol. And dad at his church in Edgemere. And we went down there Christmas time, and I had him out when I think of that kind of background, and you grew up Turner’s East Baltimore, African American, yes, but learned to play the piano through his family, because everybody in his family was into music. Now I’m going back into the 50s here, right, 60s, and those opportunities came to me, and I think I had an African American music teacher who was brutally murdered in 1980s and I just found his brother who’s alive out in California, of all places, and I’m gonna have him on but I was taught by these at that point, young African American men of faith, a faith, because they learned how to play the piano, probably not dissimilar to your music background, and they taught me. Yeah, I was taught by young African American men in my middle school. My elementary school, only music teachers I ever had were pianists who were young African American men from both from Baltimore. Wow. And that’s we’re going back 50 years now, you know, and I don’t know where those opportunities would have come for a man of your age in the middle of that sandwich period. So you talk about the turn of the century, where you would find a piano to play, find a French horn, like I did in third grade, to play, or to have. But kids in your era were probably much more because you’re my son’s age, much more computer literate, much more being able to make music by using a computer, right? You know, where you had to have a piano in 1948 or 1955 or even my
Dr. Dermell Brunson 10:46
era when I grew up, you know, we the music, because I was around church musicians and then classically trained musicians from Baltimore, School for the Arts. I’m around the real thing, the French horns. But not everybody had a chance to be around that. Though, yeah, no, and that’s why we do what we do, because we’re trying to introduce young people to what they may not have an experience to be around. Because you’re correct.
Nestor Aparicio 11:07
8You know what I had, man, one of those damn little recorders, little plastic and we had xylophones when I was a kid. Yeah, I’m thinking about when I was a kid, kid, third, fourth grade. You know, things we pounded on. I mean, of course, I wanted a drum kit like Peter Chris from Kiss Pearl, but like, and I wanted a Gibson guitar, and I wanted a Fender bass, and, yes, but, and
Dr. Dermell Brunson 11:30
my dad bought me my first drum set from right here on Center Street at Ted’s, at the Ted’s jazz set. So he bought me my first set for Christmas. I was 10 years pads and stuff. Yeah, the whole set right at 10 years old. So that was a blessing. My dad and mom saw that gifting in me. So they see me at church, and now they buy me a set for Christmas. And so that’s an approach closer to the church, much closer to music, of course, of course, all the things in community and opportunity and the whole thing. And so we just want to make sure young people get connected to art. So your question was, how encompassing we provide music, theater, dance, visual arts, creative writing, fashion and Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Media Arts, martial arts. So all of the performing and creative
Nestor Aparicio 12:13
channel, think about some of that as being arts, right? Absolutely, the last couple you just gave me, I would not have thought that’s what you did.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 12:19
Those are art forms and so those would be considered creative arts. So they performing arts, and then you have your creative arts. We see something in all of those seats for young people, for their education, for leadership development, for social interpersonal skill development, all of those things come through being artistically connected. And so we just want to keep that journey going and make sure that that we push the vision forward.
8Nestor Aparicio 12:42
How many people are you affecting at this point and come through your center in any given week, month here?
Dr. Dermell Brunson 12:46
Oh my goodness, any year, because we have contracts with school systems and the Y and Boys and Girls Club. Hear the Y John Ho, you’ll love that. All that kind of stuff we’re taught. I know John hoe knows us, and so he’s been really good to us. He’s the best. He’s been very good to LT,
Nestor Aparicio 13:02
these are the people lifting the city. That’s absolutely insane. I’m so thrilled that I’ve started the whole party with you. I Like You already come down and hang out with you,
Dr. Dermell Brunson 13:12
8man, man, this is great. I mean, that’s it so, and that’s what we’re doing. I knew from Anita Baker, I knew we were on. I knew from you, from Anita, when you heard the Anita Baker, come on, man, he’s too young to know Anita Baker. You know that Anita Baker record mystery doctor.
Nestor Aparicio 13:29
Jamel Brunson is my guest here. He’s helping young people with the arts. So asking my people in our audience if you live in timoni, you live in Glen, Burnie, you live in Bel Air. You’re outside. What can people do? You have a Super Bowl? Do you have events? Do you have fun? Give me some calendar things that come up, that people can participate. Maybe volunteer. Come down, help out. So we’re better.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 13:54
So right now, we’ve elongated our love drive that we do every year. It’s our 13th year doing it, where we collect new hats and coats and gloves. And of course, we we know we need them now. What’s the weather? Right? Yeah, and so we elongated it this year past the holiday season, we’re still collecting warm hats and new hats and coats and gloves. That’s something that we do. In addition to the arts. We always want to make sure we’re being charitable to our community. So any person that wants to give in kind, whether it’s art supplies, so that we can have art supplies in our programs, whether it’s for culinary arts, fashion and Cosmetology visit, visual arts, but also goodies like coats and hats and scarves. For kids, we make sure that young people in the community get those right. Now, we’re getting ready for second semester programs and gearing up, believe it or not, thinking about the summer and what summer programming looks
Nestor Aparicio 14:41
like, sending me to summer school.
8Dr. Dermell Brunson 14:44
Well, we want to make sure that everybody, every young person, has equitable access to the arts when
Nestor Aparicio 14:50
you get in trouble. So I mean this city, right? I mean literally, like, that’s what I mean. So success stories over 23 years. I mean, I’m sure you run into people every day, but. But have you put some people in the bands, on the tours, on the busses in the Broadway? I mean, we’ve
Dr. Dermell Brunson 15:05
exposed young people to all of those things to Broadway. We’ve taken trips from young people to Booker T New York is so Broadway. So yes, we are blessed to be near in New York. Yes. And we all, we have our own hippodrome right here as well. And right here. Yeah, right here. No hipper. This is this way, this way. Hold on, Hippodrome. Yeah, you’re right at fayley’s, yeah. So right here. So Hippodrome, and then, you know, DC, we’ve taken kids Kennedy Center, and I hope they
Nestor Aparicio 15:29
8all turned around, man, I noticed city pretty well. Mark, you impressed me.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 15:33
You impressed me when you were talking about the 23 because that’s, I was a 23 guy, the 20, the 23 and the two, those are the busses,
Nestor Aparicio 15:40
busses we took sometimes the 15. We took the 23 if the four was a weird one, but we always took the 10, okay? And the 20, I was on the 20. Many, many times 20
Dr. Dermell Brunson 15:49
ran on Baltimore Street, yes, yes, it did.
8Nestor Aparicio 15:52
Yes, it did. The doctor said, How did you become a doctor? Give me the doctorate. So.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 15:55
So, working in the Christian world, in the community of religion, and doing programming for kids in counseling. I took a Christian counseling background, and so my doctorate is in Christian clinical counseling
Nestor Aparicio 16:08
and how to tell me how that practically works on the streets today for believers, non believers, wherever you
Dr. Dermell Brunson 16:15
8are, because that program that I was fortunate to go through was both theologically based and traditional clinically based. We’re able to merge the understanding of us all being human souls walking the earth. Doesn’t matter what religious background you have. We all have a reason and need to be heard, to be loved, to experience love, to give and receive love. We all want to be okay, and so that’s really, really what that drives me every day. That experience I had in that program allowed me to just communicate with people every day, because it’s tough all the different personalities and conversations you’re smiling because you know, you know,
Nestor Aparicio 16:51
managing people with different opinions is always you know, it’s the challenge all of us. You know, it’s our life experience of how we negotiate, get along, find a taunt, and, you know, like, I don’t be too but we don’t kill each other. How we stay alive, we help each other, as opposed to fight with each other, right? Like, literally, Yeah, gotta find common ground. And I think in this city where murder has been a problem, violence has been a problem, all of that. And I haven’t had the mayor on, but I ran into the mayor over. I was over cop, and cop has been our partner for 15 years. Okay? I was over copping for the when dawn, Staley brought the gamecock, the lady gamecock’s up to try to clean the clocks of my Lady Eagles over there. But I was with the mayor and the murder numbers going down when that is a scoreboard that they keep outside of this city and certainly in the country saying, Baltimore, bang, bang. Bad things are happening there. I’m Baltimore positive. I’ve been doing this for a decade where, and I’ve lived down here for two decades, and I’ve been a part of this community for six decades. Yeah, the reputation of what we are and what we really are, but seeing that we’re not hurting each other as much as we used to in the city exactly, and that there, we’ve moved beyond Freddie Gray. We’re a decade beyond that, where some of those kids are 1012, years old now they’re in their 20s. You’ve met a lot of these young people coming through your program. This city had some real challenges a decade ago. Still does, yes, but I say every single day, even as I’m here today, when it’s a little deserted and it’s 20 degrees out and there’s snow up the year, the city’s getting better. This city’s coming back. I don’t there’s no question
Dr. Dermell Brunson 18:26
about no question about it. I’m feeling when I drive through it. You and me, both brother, me and me both coming back with a thunder when the vigilance Baltimore is the nation’s next Entertainment and Media Hub, music, entertainment and media is bubbling under so beautifully in the season has come upon us now for Baltimore to shine in a way, through the arts and entertainment and media in a major way. And so you’re saying the right thing. You understand this city has a heartbeat. There’s still charm in Charm City. And people have to remember that there’s still charm in Charm City.
Nestor Aparicio 18:55
Dude, I’m down here giving away lottery tickets right now for the Maryland lottery. Our friends at GBMC have sent us down here. It’s a cup of soup or bowl. We’re doing it with L t, y c, you can find them at L t, y c.net, tell everybody how they can help your organization. And with all these artistic people, I’m thinking, you’re putting on things that I can come and watch people do things and participate in things. Give me a little calendar of maybe into the spring. I’m gonna be here before opening day as well. We get the Orioles going down here in the springtime. Tell me what you got.
8Dr. Dermell Brunson 19:26
I’m believing that we will have some performances. We thought we were going to have some programs that was going to start to have normally, we would have Black History Month performances this year. We’re not having any, but we’ll have some performances happening towards the end of the year. Now make sure you get the immediate
Nestor Aparicio 19:41
make sure you guys get back on so we can promote that. Okay, great. Well, that’s what it’s about. That’s a beautiful how can we help you? Just website, yep.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 19:47
Website, ltyc. Ltyc Arts on all social media platforms for donations, for charitable for programming in your community. Right now, coats and hats for kids, right? Absolutely. Koco’s hats for kids, and if your your kids school needs and. Art program. You can reach out to us through ltyc.net, if you’re whether that’s public, private, Montessori, charter Catholic, if you believe your schools here don’t have arts at all. There are some schools that have limited arts, or very minimum, when they say limited, what would be
Nestor Aparicio 20:13
8the first or second or third thing a school would have? Because, mean, I had an art class, a music class, a gym class, and then I got into middle school, and then I had the Home Ec and
Dr. Dermell Brunson 20:23
it so there’s some, there are some schools that are going to have either a music or visual art in some cases, okay, especially when you have a smaller enrollment, or if, even if you’re not a public school, think again. If you’re a private school, Christian school, Catholic Montessori, there might be a need as well to add maybe an after school program that sort of even don’t, yeah. So even during the school day, you might say during the school day, we only have visual art. We want to add music,
Nestor Aparicio 20:47
and we’ll go do that 11 to 12 on Wednesday, and it’s going to be a class, and we’re going to come in and and teach it for an hour, and then go to the next school teach it at
Dr. Dermell Brunson 20:55
one o’clock. There we go. Yep, that’s what our our instructors, organization for ltyc, we would go into that community and that school and provide whatever they need. It could be every day. They could want dance every day, from 10 to 12, and we would come in and provide that every day.
8Nestor Aparicio 21:12
I mean, I dance like disco. I get ultra to come down Ultra. She’s trying to get me out dancing all the time. So, yeah, but singing, dancing, music, I love music, man. Music’s my thing. I can tell No, man, I got my Kansas belt buckle on here. Look at that. If I would have known about, you know, fire, I would have won with Stevie. Wonder something was more in your lane.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 21:36
You already blessed me, because by you saying those names when you were going down the roster earlier of what you listened to growing up. That makes sense. You had me at Anita Baker. I’m telling you once you once you knew that was Anita Baker off the top boom in the song, we we’re loving it. We’re locked in. She’s one of the best. She played a couple years ago down here Artscape, right? Yes, she’s a legend. She’s one of the best. It was about 150 degrees,
Nestor Aparicio 21:58
and my wife and I live on the 23rd floor at the time, and we opened the window on the 23rd floor toward Camden yard. You can always hear the home runs, the noise she played in the parking lot. And we literally, we have a we had a tub. We opened the window and did like the bottle of wine thing, and we listened to Anita Baker’s concert on a 23rd floor through the window. Wow. That’s amazing memories. Baltimore, such great place. Dr Jamel Bronson is here. He is helping young people through the arts. Life is art. Art is life. I’m gonna send everybody. I want to keep messing up that L and the T and the y and the C, L, T, Y, c.net, I gotta get, I gotta, I gotta get the the initials together. Yeah, we’re down here families. It’s all brought to you my friends, at the Maryland lottery, by the way, I’m getting you. We got to take a break at a crab cake here, but I got to give you a lottery ticket because you’re of the legal age and so for kids being involved in your program, city or county, too, I got to ask that,
Dr. Dermell Brunson 22:54
8because I yes. Oh yes, yeah, Baltimore city and county, Anne, Arundel, Howard Halford, were approved in DC. Schools, Prince George’s County Schools, montgomery county schools, the whole area, all
Nestor Aparicio 23:06
right, well, I got to know more about your organization, because I like you. Dr, took me six months to get him out. I will not be stranger out here. We’re down here at fayley’s. We’re going to be on Tuesday. We’re going to be at El Guapo in Catonsville, pozol. I’m gonna have some delicious soup, tortilla soup, which I need. Wednesday, we’re gonna be over Koco’s. I’ll be having the cream of crab soup over there. Thursday. Word, well, I’m a pizza John’s Thursday, so that means french fries and gravy, maybe a cheesesteak. And then on Friday, we’re gonna close things down at Costas in Timonium. We’ll make sure we get everybody up there for some crab Imperial on Friday as well. Also brought to you by friends at GBMC, Farmer and Dermer our newest sponsor, HVAC and and heating and air conditioning as well as plumbing. So we’re appreciative of that, and Luke’s gonna join me on Friday as well. You were asking me before we started, just because I want to make sure that guy like a real Baltimore guy here, hey, man, what you think of the Ravens coach? Man, yeah, with all that, you were Brian Flores guy. I wanted Brian Flores. I was a Jim Schwartz guy because Jimmy’s a Baltimore guy, okay, if not. I was an Anthony Weaver guy because he’s been my friend for 20 years. I’m not anti Jesse Minter, and I’m not even anti hardball way. But I do think that they found a comfortable selection with a guy who comes from the hardball family where, which I didn’t like that. They sort of broke eggs, but they didn’t make a new womb for me. I mean, I love how
Dr. Dermell Brunson 24:25
you said that I wanted us to be more adventurous and forward thinking.
Nestor Aparicio 24:30
29 year old offensive coordinator. That’s adventurous.
8Dr. Dermell Brunson 24:33
It is. We need. We have a young team. You know, we have a young team, and we need the coach to be relatable to that young team and able to get the most out of that young team in a creative, sexy way, the team that we have, if we had an Andy Reid or Sean Payton at the plays that we could run with these guys would be amazing when you talk about you Shanahan. If we had Shanahan, are you kidding me? You talking about your defense.
Nestor Aparicio 25:00
The coordinator, so they’re not thinking that way. Obviously, Eric and Steve aren’t thinking that way, and whether it works or not remains to be seen. In totality, the hardball thing couldn’t have gone much better. They won a lot of games. They won a championship. He made it through two quarterbacks the second quarterbacks won two MVPs, and they haven’t been good in January, and it cost him his job, right?
Dr. Dermell Brunson 25:22
Literally, I have, I have a different thought about that. I feel that he came into a wonderful situation because he had veterans on his team, and Ray Lewis was the leader of that team, Ed Reed and those boys were the leaders of that team, Ogden and those boys, he didn’t have to lead as much as he didn’t left the minute he showed up. Ogden did morning. Part of it, those boys had already created a culture, is what I’m saying, of defense, of defense, but also accountability and leadership on both sides of the ball. And so har ball was able to continue the momentum from those days. I feel like we need, as you just mentioned, if we had a chance, you’re
Nestor Aparicio 25:57
8here to disparage John Harbaugh, sign up on that. I’ll take in the thing about it, it’s not I’m the original John Harbaugh disparager. He took my press credential after 27 years, lied about it. So I’m not a big fan, and
Dr. Dermell Brunson 26:09
I don’t know anything about that. What I know is this, I’m looking at the x’s and o’s and the wins of the game. He seems like he’s a hell of a football coach.
Nestor Aparicio 26:18
He’s got $100 million go run the Giants. Now, whether he’s that guy who’s going to come in and change a building, to your point, yeah, he didn’t change the building here, yeah, and he certainly didn’t necessarily change it for the better. I don’t think in a lot
Dr. Dermell Brunson 26:29
of ways, he doesn’t have it. He doesn’t have that even as much as his brother does, as much as Jim does. Jim can come in and change the climate of an energy of a program. He did it at 49 Michigan.
8Nestor Aparicio 26:40
Why with the best of his brother, possibly, but he’s also possibly get a 10 years to speak. Can’t go back and coach college football. You get the death penalty. Man. He didn’t cheat a little. He cheated a lot, and he lied about it. So he did. I mean, that’s not that’s documented. It’s documented. It’s why I wouldn’t vote for Bella checking the hall. I don’t like cheaters and liars. I’m not, yeah, yeah.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 26:59
But it doesn’t take away from a lot of the the wins.
Nestor Aparicio 27:04
Oh, success. Yeah, look, belichick’s got the rings, the cheating somehow is not supposed to even be remembered, right? Yeah, culturally, I have a real problem with the guy leading the country right now, because you can’t dismiss, yeah, integrity, you know, not. We need integrity. Is the first thing you and I need between each other to have a relationship. We need trust. And integrity is what it’s about you break that. That’s when all hell breaks loose for everybody, for your for every 100% correct, 100% correct. And I think that John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh have had a long track record of not being able to keep trust with people in the way that other people have. Yeah, I’m not going to make Jesse Minter. Jesse Minter has a clean slate. He does right, completely sleep and but all that being said, this, it’s a tough job.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 27:49
8It is, and he can, he could come in and have some great ideas and motivate. I don’t. I don’t. Our team needs leadership. That’s the issue. We have. The talent for Lamar. Lamar is not the leader. He’s the best player, right? He’s the best player. And so that’s our issue. So games that could be problematic. Again, our two championships, we had a leader. His name was Ray Lewis.
Nestor Aparicio 28:11
He was the leader, one of the all time great leaders.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 28:14
So we don’t have a leader anymore on the team. We have a great player. We have an MVP player.
Nestor Aparicio 28:20
See, I think they brought roquan and tried to import leadership.
8Dr. Dermell Brunson 28:23
Kyle Hamilton is on his way. He’s developing. Kyle Hamilton’s
Nestor Aparicio 28:27
lead by example, you know, yes, he’s Hall of Fame.
Dr. Dermell Brunson 28:30
Yes, level that the defensive players, Humphries, all those guys.
Nestor Aparicio 28:34
8So when Jesse Minter wins, you’re gonna say, look at all the talent he had, right?
Dr. Dermell Brunson 28:38
And that’s what he was able to but now he was able to rally that talent and then get them.
Nestor Aparicio 28:43
That’s a credit to the cost of two though, yes, that you know you have to have the talent to win. Nobody wins without the talent. No, but we’re seeing Seattle, in the in the Patriots really maximize what they’ve done. Yes, because nobody looked at those two teams in August that they’re the most talented at all. They thought the Ravens were the most
Dr. Dermell Brunson 28:58
talented team. And they Yes, and they jinxed us too. They kept saying we were the best roster
Nestor Aparicio 29:03
we were gonna win Mike Tomlin. They’re gonna miss him in Pittsburgh. I think so as well. I mean, they the last 10 years is like every time he got into a fight with John Harbaugh. John Harbaugh had better players. Yep, and Tomlin won more games. Yeah, that makes no sense over a decade and a half. So that’s really, you know, that that’s what it can you take less and do more. There we go. And Jesse Minter might be the guy he might be. All right, from your lips to God’s ears, all right. Dr, Jamel Bronson is here. He I want to get L t, y, C, yes. Those are tough letters. Man, yeah, it confuses people. LT, YC, all right.net. We’re back for more from Fayette lease, I gotta go get a crab cake. We are Baltimore positive. W N, S, T AM, 1570 task of Baltimore. Stay with us. We got more great Baltimore people make more great stories ahead. You.
