001well everybody welcome to another episode of clock toown Chronicles uh my name is Michael Herbert Town manager in the town of Ashland uh pleasure to uh have you listening to what is our fourth episode uh today and uh in clock toown Chronicles we spend some time talking about things going on in the town of Ashley and Massachusetts and get a little bit deeper into some of the issues that you might be talking about at your you know kids sports games or maybe at ericas or or Hanto but I'm really really really excited for today's show and today's episode because today we have our newest uh elected select board member Makita Keegan as our guest and Makita welcome I can't uh wait to kind of get into our conversation and uh talk and learn more a
002little bit more about you and have our listeners learn a little bit more about you but uh I've known Makita for quite a few years now we've done some work together closely over the last few and you know I can just say it's just been a real pleasure getting to know you and um you know getting to know about you and your passions and and everything and uh I was just really really excited when you said that you were going to announce that you were going to run for select board because I I I just knew that you would add such an important element and important voice but uh Makita welcome and uh yeah thanks for being on the show this is great oh thanks for having me Michael it's great to be here yeah
003yeah perfect so you know I'll just Dive Right In um you know being a select board member is is is a lot of work it's a it's a volunteer gig a lot of people I think think it's like a paid gig and it's not I I I want to I want to thank you for pointing that out Michael you know it you know I think we're laughing about it but one of the things that was kind of shocking to me when I was on the campaign Trail you know and you know trying to get to to know folks introduce myself to folks in the community you know I I got a lot of questions about that it's just like well why do you want to do it you just you just want to get paid
004I'm like no um this is an unpaid volunteer position that I actually have to run for office yeah so why do why did you want to do it you know why why did you want to subject yourself to you know late me late meetings uh every uh every other Wednesday night and and countless other hours of work why what what inspired you to run yeah before I make my first motion to uh go past 10 p.m. uh the infamous motion the infamous motion uh to do that uh yeah so so yeah I mean you know Michael first off I mean uh it's been great being in ashin I my hubby and I moved here back in 2003 um because quite frankly we wanted to start a family and he works uh town over and we're
005looking at other towns around and quite frankly nothing really had what Ashlin had to offer on so many different levels uh and and so I I've volunteered quite a bit and in the community and in a lot of different capacities and I think part of the reason why I decided to throw my hat in the ring for a select board is because you know I felt like it was time for me to to volunteer a little bit more um you know we've got a lot of we got a lot of lot of important issues coming up for this community um this community has been through a lot of change since I've been here yeah for sure yeah 20 years for sure absolutely yeah uh and you know I think we're on the precipice of of
006seeing some more changes to come yeah uh and the question is how do we as a community as neighbors uh you know approach these changes how can we make sure that we're doing what's in the best interest of all of us yeah uh and you know part of the reason why I ran is because I wanted to add my voice to that but also I wanted to make sure that uh folks who may feel that their voices haven't been heard get a voice and one of the things that I was very out of it about when I read and I'm still doing this is that you know I want to see more more Civic engagement I want to see more folks get involved in the town and let their voices be heard uh not even
007just like let their voices be heard but actually you know uh get in there and start volunteering and start creating the kind of community that they want to see right you know uh so that that was a big part of why I wanted to participate at this level to encourage folks to do that uh and and um you know just be be one of those voices yeah because I mean you know you look at the trajectory of of you know I would say most select board members not just in Ashland but in other towns that have that form of government this form of government and usually you know you have somebody who is a part of the finance committee or they go you know school committee first and and then you know make a transition
008to select board but um you know you you you wanted to run for select board you you've you've got some other board experience which you know we'll certainly uh get into to a little bit more but you know you mentioned the changes which I would agree you know even in the last 10 years since I've been here has been very very significant so I can imagine what it's been like in the last 20 but you know I I know this is a this is a difficult question but you know what do you think has been the single biggest change that that you have seen or the one the change that's probably been the most impactful or the one that's been the toughest to navigate those I I could give you three different answers on that
009but I'll just you can choose one yeah um all good though uh I think that one thing that's that's very obvious I think to to a lot of folks is that the town has gotten larger like there are more people in town there are more people in town uh and I think that you know folks like oh goodness gracious the traffic yes I will actually add though that I when I am driving out of town in the morning I see a lot of hollison and hopkington stickers so we can we can't say that the Trap is is exclusively a actal thing so I think those towns have been growing too in addition to just population size I think we're seeing a lot more diversity here in town um I think that um and I and
010I yeah this is where you get in trouble you know you start quoting statistics or you know making up statistics um and maybe you can fact check me on this uh folks in podcast land but we got John King yeah yeah cing in oh right right on right on um so from what I understand just in the schools like you know folks uh different backgrounds looking at the students from different backgrounds like uh just that the the amount uh of diversity in our student population has jumped up significantly even in the past like five or six years uh now I'm gonna get a call from Jim Adams telling me didn't get that right but um that's okay Jimmy call me call me um but it it's true uh and I think that's that's a net
011positive for the town I think as well well I I think that um you know we've benefited as a community uh having uh different folks from different backgrounds here uh economically uh socially culturally uh and then uh also just you know in addition to that you know it's been exciting to to see folks who have been here for a number number of years and families who have been here for a number of years sharing some of the the Traditions sharing some of the history of the Town making sure that we never forget uh you know some of ashlin's humble beginnings uh and incred as we can take some of uh those values and some of the those Lessons Learned and some of those uh incredible Traditions into the future with us as well and so
012it's an exciting time to be in Ashland and um you know I think I think a lot of people are feeling that yeah I would agree and and I would I would actually agree with you in terms of like the the most significant change and I think also it's one of the ones that's the toughest to navigate because I think you know what I have seen is this tension between you know new people coming in and kind of those new ideas and and in cultures and everything and then you know you have the more you know Traditions you know Ashley and traditions if you will and you know we do you know unfortunately we do have people that see kind of the differences in in in those and sometimes really kind of highlight those and
013use those as leverage points but there are a lot of people out there that see it like you and I do as an opportunity to grow not like in terms of size but grow culturally and expand kind of our our our our our minds and and our our values if you will absolutely I I I think it's it's it's more than an opportunity I think it's a strength I think you know we've got Traditions old and new folks old and new you know we're combining those I mean goodness gracious I mean you know you hear so much great stuff about folks from outside of town about how awesome hashan is and I think it's because because we've got that great mix and uh because you know uh we're we're taking those differences head on and
014we're having Community conversations and we're you know and and that's that's the other thing Michael you know I think that um you know I think there there there are different ways to sort of approach those sort of differences uh and and I have to say that yeah I don't want to make it I don't want to sound too polanish and say that like oh we all get along and everything's fine but I have to give credit where credit is due to a lot of folks in the community uh folks who are relatively new to the community folks who have been in the community for for their families have been here from from the get-go making the effort to listen and communicate with each other right that is exceptional yeah and and and I I I
015you love to see it uh and and more importantly you want to encourage it and you want to you want to support it that's part of the other reason why I'm really excited to be in public life here in so and and so you know public service is not foreign to you even though this is you know your first term on the select board um you know you you've certainly served served in different capacities in Ashland and and in other ways um you know we've worked on the Dei task force together you've been on the cable board uh your family is deep uh deep roots in public service but you know why don't you uh tell us a little bit more about your background and and your public service work yeah well I mean you
016kind of covered it there well I tried to I tried to do it like cely and not like like give everything up there you know well I mean I I I think those are those are some of the highlights I think in in my mind uh you know uh but a little bit maybe like on more of a personal um personal level I I think the the reason why public service is important to me is because I I honestly believe that you want to help create the kind of community you want to see and the kind of community that I'd like to see is a is a exciting group of folks who are committed to not just communicating and talking with each other but rolling up their sleeves and working side by side uh to
017make the community a place where we can all be proud of um you know you mentioned that my family uh has been uh deep in public service for many years and I I think growing up growing up the way I did with my parents who are both part of civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s and 70s um you know those are lived values yeah uh and I don't really think I'd have a choice any other way to not live my values um and and my values Center along uh again you know um being an active positive member of whatever Community uh I identify with or happen to be in uh I I'm proud to say that uh you know in Ashland I've I've been able to Ser on the cable board here uh
018help to to to work get get the Dei task force going here in town with uh Rabbi Eric Jervis and kg arama I think we were like the three original folks who rolled up our sleeves and um uh wanted to uh get started on that but now we've got a lot of other folks uh trying to figure out what the next best steps are for that um but just even just volunteering in the community you know whether you're doing like green up Ashland whe I'm doing like anything like just being a part of of of this town and and you know it's funny before we started recording we had an interesting conversation about you know um know no one on their deathbed uh you know has any regrets about you know wish worked more work
019my job more and you know I I I don't know about that like I kind of feel like for in this this kind of work in this service work like I wonder if I am going to be on my death then thinking like oh gosh I I I could have done more I could have done more for the community how could more so I don't know I think that's just sort of um it's it's sort of it's so deeply ingrained I think in in me I I don't yeah I just um it means a lot because I I do want um I I want to be a like I said a positive a net net positive positive for community and I I know exactly what you're talking about in terms of you know that Fe
020I call it the warm and fuzzies like you know it when like you see it and experience it and you the Fe you know when you're together with the group and everybody's kind of feeling the same Vibes just like you know we were talking a little bit about music and playing in a band or being in a you know it when it clicks but you know the cable board I mean you you were serving on that for for many years what like what made you get into that because I know you've got like some some technology background stuff did that was that kind of the Segway into actually yeah um so so getting involved with uh with Community uh access was something I kind of fell into mostly because of academic work so uh so
021academic and professional work so my day job uh has to do more with technology and I started in it many years ago uh as a sort of like a full front-end web person you know back in in in the stone ages of the web kids uh you know there was there was a time ncape naviga oh oh yeah ala Vista ala vista baby for for those of you who are there if you talk about the Wayback machine on the web like for sure you know you know um you know so you you'd end up building a server you'd build the server you're like a little red head you know you you you you you'd grow the wheat You' Harvest it you you You' Mill it you'd bake the bread same thing you build the server
022you know you'd uh code the website you do the graphics for it you know you'd uh build the online forms and you'd write the content and so that it was a great time to come up because like for me uh you know being kind of like a generalist in that regard like you got a chance to learn a little bit about everything but one of the big issues when the internet was new uh had to do with you know who who had the right to use the different pipe like who had the right to have certain kinds of internet traffic okay uh you know and and that kind of evolved into that net neutrality piece okay you know so the whole argument back in the day and there was a big concern about this because
023this actually did occur um you know people were worried as some of the cable providers some of the isps some of the internet providers you know what if you let's say I have cable company X and I have my own web server but like you want to Google you want to use Google I don't want Google because that's going to compete with my ad revenue and that's going to so like I'm gonna I'm gonna just kind of slow down or maybe block it all together maybe interes and then I'm gonna put like my web you know makita's web server which you all should be using um you know so and that's a very simplified example so like a Comcast I'm not naming names you know keep Co totally coincidental coincidental you know so the the
024worry was that you know different isps whether it was Charter or um Comcast or Verizon or whomever um you know could do that with the internet and that's what the Whole Net Neutrality argument is like I said very simplified was about and so this was a brand new public policy area that no one had really kind of discussed um you know but I mean on the other hand it was really sort of a continuation of you know how do we manage networks yeah you know all kinds of networks you know in this country whether they're railroads whether they are broadcast channels you know so when we think of networks there are different kinds of networks and there's a long history of us you know legislating around those doing uh different administrative policies around those Federal
025level and such but nothing really and this is you know nothing really initially for the internet so the net neutrality issue was was of concern uh and at that time that the the internet was I think seen as more a little bit more open um you know but we didn't for some of our younger listeners um you know the iPhone was not a thing apps were not a thing you know you had your computer you had your web browsers it was really kind of the Wild Wild West and some way so there's a lot of interest and well I want to make sure I want to get the information we get so how can we ensure that so that was a policy area that really fascinated me and and so T by extension telecommunications policy
026okay something I took an interest in and so I I ended up writing my dissertation um uh about uh uh the some of the policy Dynamics around Net Neutrality in Congress yeah uh around that time but uh I had also uh been involved on the state level doing some um doing some work around uh telecommunications policy uh having to do with cable as well as Internet and so uh being involved in Community Access was kind very nice nicely Dove some of the research that I had been doing around internet yeah um you know so yeah I mean we could probably bore your listeners around some of the policy Dynamics around uh broadcast and one of those things that you never never think about and like what you you kind of call like the wow wow
027West at the time and then you know how that interfaces with you know an institution like wacka which has such a a deep and meaningful and important Public Service role it does like you know it's just one of those things people don't think about until you think about it right it's true and I think that Community Access and wacka TV uh provide a very needed resource especially now nowadays because as you know local news uh you know whether you're talking about newspapers especially newspapers I think um you know you're just not getting the kind of coverage that you used to uh stations like resources like uh waca uh you know Community Access fills that void yeah uh and the amazing thing about it Michael is that I mean we've got uh you know obviously some
028some great professional folks that work for the station but a lot of this a lot of the content at the station and a lot of what's that's again no one's getting no one's getting paid for that you know's getting a salary for that you know these are people who want to make sure that our community stays well informed and you know so you've got that that Public Access piece and you also have the fact that they they televise our government meetings so any citizen can see exactly what those terrible people on slug up to at any given time they can say for themselves they don't have to depend on Facebook or people's interpretations that's right Facebook but to the source they well they do broadcast live on Facebook a good point and and and YouTube
029as well so they also then but that's an excellent point they so it's not just on you know coming off your cable box they also make it accessible for the internet that is such a valuable Public Service not to mention all the things that they do for high school sports and bringing the and all this community based programming that we did that they do um you know I I think there's a real danger and a lot of that going away uh and for various reasons uh but I I it's nice to see that an ash people appreciate that community resource I think very much so um you know you can watch it but you have to understand you need the context you know uh as well so I think that goes hand in hand I
030think again it's a it's a it's a little bit of civics it's a little bit of media literacy so you can understand when you see some of those uh interpretations on social media you know what are some of the questions you can ask to ensure that whatever resource you're looking at is a reputable one um I mean newspapers and TV whether you're on the right or the left or the middle they all have their their their bias and their slant but you know more reputable news organizations no matter what their ideological slant will always have someone at least fat factchecking exactly EXA um you know I I think um and even growing up pre- internet you know I was always taught to read a wide range of newspapers and I still do I mean I
031have a lot of friends on the right and the left like oh my gosh why do you read the New York Times all the time why do you read The Wall Street Journal why do you read because it's important to get all those viewpoints different on and and and then you can sort of you know kind of make up your own mind about you know where you stand right so right and that's a good segue I think you know talking about Civics and the importance of that and the promotion of that um I think it's a good segue into talking about maybe some of the things that you want to do as you know as a select board member like you know what what are some of the policy objectives that you have and some
032of the initiatives that that you'd like to to move forward or or things that you'd want to accomplish well Michael yeah so so this is the part of the podcast that I get in trouble because I'm going to list off a whole bunch of things that I'm saying I'm going to do and then you know a few years from now when you know I may or may not get all of that done uh someone's going to play this tape back and say oh kid see see you didn't you didn't do it so um I'm not going to remain delightfully uncommitted but uh what I'll say uh though in all seriousness is that there there are a couple of broad uh broad areas I'd like to to to work on while I'm I'm I'm at that
033desk and uh one of them like I said earlier was uh uh more Civic engagement specifically with everyone but specifically with youth uh this is something that uh I'd like to see you know getting back to the Civics piece it's really difficult I think as adults sometimes for us to understand how government works but it's going to be a lot harder if that's not something that you're exposed to from a young age you know understanding that it's your government one thing that that that kind of drives me a little baddy sometimes is that you know people speak of the government like it's not them or it's not theirs right like it's this external Force exactly and especially at the local level you know we can get in conversations about the state and federal uh but
034I think at the local level like folks need to understand like this is you know you you probably have more control at the local level uh at at different different policy mhm then you'll ever have at the federal level right ever so if there are things that you care about if you care about open space if you care about affordable housing if you care about know education if you care about all these things you know and you want to see you know I think sometimes folks also say like well you know they get involved because they are angry about something um I I'd like to see more people be more proactive and see like oh you know there are a lot of really positive things that we could do or there are some things that
035we can make better right how can we work together to do that right that's the kind of uh action Community Action I'd like to see yeah uh and I think there's a lot of folks here in town who are already doing this and I want to I want to actually acknowledge them and thank them for making making those efforts because thanks to their efforts Ashland is the kind of community that we're enjoying right now but I think that there are uh so many other folks who who may feel a little disenfranchise just generally who don't feel like they can make a positive difference and I want to make sure that folks know that they can do that and I want to make sure that I can provide uh the information uh or Pathways for folks
036to get more involved to to make those sort of positive changes or improve upon some of the great things that we already have going on town uh economic development is a big issue for me as well uh I think the town town has been making incredible strides there uh but um you know I think we need to uh support all of our businesses I'm I'm a big fan of small business for a lot of reasons um local small businesses uh can really you know drive a town Drive The Fortunes of a town um you know I think we we're like I said town has been doing a a lot of great things around that I would love to see more yeah small businesses I mean they're the ones that support you know your local sports
037teams the ones that you know I I I I hate to single out of business because you know to single out one it means you're leaving out some of the others that have done some great work but you know I think of one of our newer businesses you know Subzero ice cream and you I just seen them out um you know in the community you know doing different things helping the kids you know showing you know there special way of making making ice cream pretty cool uh no pun intended oh nice that's what you did there um but yeah and and we have a lot of longstanding businesses as well that have just really helped build this town exactly I mean you know you can shout some of those out too and then we've got
038some some of these startups that have launched at or around a corner spot and Farmers Market you know totally I'm thinking like Cy's kitchen I'm thinking about like whole bunch of other really great local businesses that you know folks are getting their start here Ashland business owners or people who are conducting business in Ashland you know again I think that the town's been doing a great job uh I would love to see more uh because uh I just I I I want to make sure that folks understand that Ashlin is open for business you know and and it's important people need people need to support those businesses absolutely um and I see a lot of talk and I hear a lot of talk about oh we need to bring more businesses and bring more businesses
039in well and the town certainly plays a role and can play a role in that but you know it at the end of the day it a business for it to stay open for it first of all to move here and make that investment here they have to feel like they're going to be able to to to make money and and make a living and you know they need to be supported by customers and um so yeah it it it I'd love to see some more robust uh support just you know townwide uh for some of our businesses that do longstanding ones and new ones that decide to take a chance and and uh put in some of their own personal Capital Absolut ways to to make this happen absolutely yeah um you know there
040are uh a lot of other issues that I I care very deeply about I I think one of the things that uh folks moved to Ashland for or appreciate about Ashland uh and I I just took advantage of some of this this weekend with the my kiddo uh you know it's it's some of our great open space and some go my goodness gracious like we got a Town Forest you know yes we have our state parks as well we got the Hopkin and astion state parks we got Town Forest we got we got orwoods we've got so many great beautiful natural places here and you don't have to jump in your car and drive for an hour yeah to experience it you know you're you're just it's just right there it's right right in your
041backyard right literally in some people's backyards but I mean what what an incredible resource uh that is I think as a town we we definitely want to make sure that we're preserving those resources and improving on upon those resources you know all the work on the trails and upper Charles Trail and Charles Trail and you know I mean we you know it it Michael I gotta say like you know I I I've been very fortunate to be able to travel uh to many different places in the United States uh just you know professionally and otherwise and I mean Ashley's pretty awesome pretty special place pretty special place you know um for a lot of the reasons we talked about but but especially with some of that nature uh you know yeah and it's you know
042I I'm you know obviously just in my role you know I I I make sure that you know our staff is supported and and um you know we have a wonderful staff that does some great things but you some of these open space resources you're talking about like the Town Forest um you know really really driven kind of by by volunteers I mean DPW provides some support to the town Forest committee but it's really the Town Forest committee that's doing a ton of work same thing with like Warren Woods you know really at Carl hackinson Greg WS you know you know and others as well I don't want to dismiss them but you know they they basically keep that place maintained and people I don't think understand how much hard work that is that's a
043ton of work like labor yeah no like it's backbreaking work like anyone who's ever been a member of or has participated in the AMC or like you know Long Trail sort of like it's that that's what it is it's it's it's and getting back we we make almost like a full circle back to volunteerism like this town is powered by volunteers um and we're very fortunate to have so many folks who are so active and I'd like to see more yeah yeah for sure yeah so Makita you talked about like traveling and everything a little bit and um you know just we're kind of running up on the end of time but you know and I know one of the reasons you travel is to see music and we were talking you know we're both
044music heads yeah and um you know I I think um you know it's been great to connect with you on that level just you know explain to me a little bit the way or explain to our listeners I guess a little bit you know the way you explain to me just the importance of music to you I know this is kind of like off topic but I can see no no I can definitely see some parallels with local government oh absolutely absolutely and um well first off like definitely uh music music is such a key part of my existence I'm just going to put it out there I wish I could say that I I wish I could say I was a molt multi-instrumentalist and that I sing and and I do not do any
045of those things although I am teaching myself a little bit of this that and the other thing and taking some lessons and maybe in a couple years when we come back I'll be able to say more about we'll J we'll do we'll do like a live at Daryl's House type of show here playing the bass yeah well you know it's funny you talk about jamming because you know I think there are a lot of parallels between you know uh music especially like being in a band learning one of the things that I'm learning to do right now is learning how to listen uh in an ensemble situation in a band situation you know um I think of any kind of band any kind of any kind of Orchestra like it's it's it's teamwork Michael you
046know it's learning how not just to listen but to pick up and run and innovate with whatever piece you know you're doing I'm thinking specifically of a genre I'm thinking of jazz specifically you know when you you've got folks who you know you know someone's playing their interpretation and then like somebody else comes in picks that up you know so there's a handoff there's some there's some Innovation there's continuity yeah you know and I and I feel like uh any kind of really any kind of team situation is like that learning how to listen but also pulling your weight rolling up your sleeves and getting stuff done and doing it harmoniously not being afraid to uh get new folks in get new ideas in you know but you know keeping that song uh something that
047everyone can can access and appreciate yeah um I think there are a lot of similarities between that it's it's I think it's it's ultimately teamwork yeah you know um I can say the same thing about sports you know um which is why I think you know the more kids who are involved in music and sports the better as far as I'm concerned uh you know whether you're talking about public life or going out in the company and being a part of the team that way Lear learn a lot of lessons that way you really do um but getting back to the the non-serious part of that um yeah music is awesome and I try to listen to a lot of it so if folks are listening to the podcast you listening to now who am
048I listening to now go you know people sometimes realize well who's your favorite artist and I'm like it really depends like because I go through different phases and I know you do too but who are you listening to now yeah me too I do go through my phases so let's see I am listening to well I'm listening to some older stuff I I listening to the late great Wayne shorter uh who passed away last year uh just one of my favorite musicians of all time and and it's funny because I didn't really appreciate him until maybe about a few years ago not in the way that I feel like I appreciate him now uh I should probably talk about some more contemporary stuff uh as well oh I really enjoyed uh the boy Genius Phoebe
049briers uh and that super group okay I got a chance to see them last year uh at at alternative music thing here in Boston it was great um you know I'm also listening to some of my older 80s records totally fine that's cool I mean so uh you know what's really cool is when you're kid you know in mine just turned 15 and I know you've got a younger kid too is when they know the 80s music well and you're like how do you know this and you're like you realize oh it's Timeless we listening we grew up in a Timeless period Mita absolutely although I will say that like I I I really enjoy 90s music quite a bit I I have to say if you you know pick a decade you know during
050your formative years and I say like there's so much great stuff exploding on the scene in the 90s I still listen to a lot of that stuff too I was actually just listening to some Mary J blig on the way over here actually yeah so um but yeah and oh goodness gracious that and I've speaking of older stuff I was also listening to a little sound garden too the other day yeah yeah oh my goodness that they were just such a great band but oh gosh yeah and uh U Chris Cornell just what an incredible rest his soul my goodness what an incredible vo one of the best in my opinion like top five male vocalists Rock vocalist of all time I would agree like those pipes man like I I would agree incredible um
051but yeah I mean goodness gracious I've SE I'm trying to think like what who else have I seen but yes but just a lot of uh I hey I like the pop stuff I know that watch me lose some votes here I I like you might gain some too I don't know but like you know listening to like you know Justin Bieber and you know and all those guys like the the the the kids on the radio the Kiss 108 stuff I Bieber's a little little old but um nowadays but like Jun cook book from uh you know and all the K-pop stuff is amazing it's just makes you feel so good it's this really great musicianship really great vocal Talent entertainment uh those kids are great um I'm kind of digging through like what
052what is my kid listening to right now so because we we listen to it together and that's a great thing right so I I bore my kiddo with some of my older stuff and then you know turn around and they're listening they you know sharing things with that you know I I I'm actually happy to hear because oh no no Kahan of course uh another great new artist that I'm really into right now um siza uh sza yes that's a yeah yeah she's great um there I think we're and I know we got to wrap up but I do think that we're sort of in another really great period music period I feel like there's just a lot of great talent and there's a lot of opportunity to hear that Talent Live cuz everybody's on
053tour cuz that's the only way you can make money as an artist now it's changed so much need talk about that like yeah but but you can the the upside of that as a consumer is that you can see your favorite artists a little bit easier than it was before because they're you know that's the only way they can really make money right now they're going to go out on tour so but and on the flip side it's so much easier to like get your music out there now with like YouTube and stuff I mean when I was you know a kid and and something I wanted to do professionally I mean your Hope was you know you got like a a record record label that would you know be interested in you and sign
054you and you'd cut a record and you know go out on tour and support it and nowadays I mean you can mix it at home and and put it out on YouTube and you got a great it's just like you said the opportunity exposures is CRA I don't know maybe I'll uh I'll practice my instrument who knows maybe we'll be talking about my sound my SoundCloud uh know you never know you never know folks you never know well Makita this has been a great conversation um we always have great conversations I feel like we've had a couple more in-depth ones since you've been on the board and I've enjoyed every minute of it and I will count that count this as one of those as well so thank you so much for being with us
055well thank you Michael and I just want to thank the folks of Ashland and I'm really looking forward to serving as your newest select board member um you know Reach Out Reach Out say hi uh I'll be reaching out as well but if you've got some ideas about how we can we can do what we do a little bit better if you just got something you want to share you don't be shy come say hi yeah and uh so your email address is M Keegan Ashlin mass.com if anybody wants to reach out to you absolutely yeah Makita thank you so much um yeah this this is uh again our our fourth episode of clock toown Chronicles we we'll wrap it up and uh I don't know Melissa Melissa Hayes in in the background here she's
056uh she now she's nodding she's like I can't believe you're acknowledging me here did you um did we get any any emails recently on on our email address ask any questions yeah if you have any questions or if you have uh any uh suggestions for topics you want to have covered on clocktown Chronicles just email us at clocktown Chronicles asle and mass.com and we'll be sure to uh to read that and pick that up and respond and um and again look forward to talking uh with people and talking about issues that are really relevant to Ashley Massachusetts today so want to thank all of uh all of our listeners today and um actually not today but you know whoever anytime you're listening to this um thank you for listening and thank you for supporting the
057town and supporting us and Makita thank you again it's been a pleasure thanks Michael all right so again Michael Herbert Town manager uh look forward to seeing you around at different events and we'll catch you on the next episode thank you