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Karla: Andy Mineo has traveled from
New York to perform here at the
Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
He wrote a song titled "Hear My Heart"
as a tribute to his sister who is deaf.
His motivation for the song is the
regret he feels for never being able to
communicate with her because he never
learned sign language.
And now we get to chat with him.
Let's go!
Karla: Hi, Andy how are you?
I'm curious if you can tell me a little
bit about your relationship with
your sister and how that's been going?
Andy: I could hear her voice, and then
she would read my lips and that's how we would
communicate regularly.
Umm, but I never took the time to
really learn sign language.
And it just kind of took me 'til I got
older um, to realize like, I had missed out
on an opportunity of loving her, you know?
Karla: So you wrote a song you know, in
tribute to her a song called "Hear
My Heart." What made you think of
doing that?
Andy: I remember one time I was at
a graduation for my nephew, which
is her son.
And all of her friends from the
Deaf community were there, and they were
having conversations.
And she introduced me to them and they
all started signing and I didn't understand
anything that they were saying.
And so I was like, I felt kind of left
out, I was like but "What about me?"
Right?
And all of a sudden it just dawned on
me, like for the first time I was the
one left out of conversation.
And how often that must have been the
way that my sister felt growing up
being left out of conversation.
And it just was really an impactful
moment for me.
And I knew that I wanted to make a
song for her.
Um, and I was going to do the whole
music video in sign language.
And so I recently shot a music video,
and um we did the whole music video
with me doing it in sign language and I
designed the video um, so that every
sound has a 3D animation shape so
that she could see the sounds.
So I think it's going to be a really
cool piece of art for the deaf community.
And just a way of me giving back as an
apology to my sister and you know, just a
way to engage a people that have
often been neglected and not considered.
Karla: Wow. But you, do you think that
maybe one day you could sign yourself
like your own songs in your video or ya know
I know that would be very much
appreciated?
So what do you think about that, would
you consider it?
Andy: I'm learning, so I'm learning slowly
but surely.
I've downloaded some apps on my
phone so that I can, ya know start
learning the alphabet.
I started following some Facebook pages
that teach different phrases everyday,
um, and so.
Karla: Yeah, that's a very very good
beginning and that's going to
get you going so good for you!
Andy: Thank you.
Karla: Now, you did a video of yourself
doing a speechless announcement where
you signed and didn't use your
voice and that made your fans very
uncomfortable, right?
Was that your intent?
Andy: Absolutely.
Karla: Ya, know it was one of those things.
Okay, umm I know you've been
learning a little bit of signs and you
said that you know a little bit.
So how has your experience with that
been so far?
Andy: It's been good.
And I actually use sign language every
night from the front of the stage.
I actually built a moment into my show
where all of the music cuts out.
And me and my deejay and my drummer are
all interacting.
And it creates this really weird
uncomfortable moment on stage where the
audience doesn't really know what's
happening and as that's happening,
it's extended for about 30-45 seconds
of no sound and me performing.
And the fans start to question,
"What's going on?" and then when
the music stops and everything goes black.
The curtain comes on me and I sign, you know...
Have you ever imagined what it
was like if you didn't hear?
My sister was born deaf and all my life
I never learned sign language.
Karla: Wow, that was beautiful!!
Good job, you're a good signer!!
Andy: Thank you.
Karla: So do you have any last comments that
you want to say to your fans?
Andy: Learn sign language, make some
friends that aren't like you
and uhh, do the difficult and
uncomfortable things that help you grow
and be a better person.
Karla: Aw, that was beautiful.
Thank you so much for sitting down and
taking time to chat with me.
You have a wonderful performance!
Bye!