Both born in the 90s as hip hop and alternative rock took off, and FRIENDS was the chart-topping show of the decade, two highschoolers interested in music launched their dream together. Eli Sones and Matthew Halper were originally interested in very different forms of music. Halper was focused on alternative rock, guitar, and music theory. Sones took more of a free-flowing approach as a hip hop DJ. Neither of them studied music in college or had much professional training (Halper earned a degree in design from Stanford while Sones graduated from Vanderbilt after studying organization). After graduating from two prestigious schools, Halper and Sones returned home to Los Angeles and pursued music full time.
Operating under a name based on their history together, “Two Friends” launched a new and entertaining style of music. In 2015, they produced hour-long mashups of hit songs, intermixed and altered with their own unique beats. The guys blended humor, nuanced style, and popular party anthems, releasing their “Big Bootie Mixes” on SoundCloud. Gaining millions of fans and becoming viral sensations, Big Bootie Mixes released volume after volume. These ingenious, lengthy productions brought in not only famous songs of all genres, but tongue-in-cheek cameo appearances of famous audio clips, from TV shows like The Office to presidential interviews.
Two Friends are verified and popular Spotify artists doing remixes for big names like Dua Lipa, Charlie Puth, Russel Dickerson, and others. They recently played at Coachella, have garnered a huge following online, and currently possess a net worth of roughly $10 million. You can listen to and learn more about these two highschool producers-turned-entrepreneurial-DJs here.
I would like you all to meet Noreen Davies, an 84 year old who decided to pick up learning the trombone at age 72. I don’t know about you, but I rarely hear about people learning new skills at age 72. In fact, I often hear that if I haven’t started a skill (whether it be an instrument, sport, or something else) at a young age, I have missed my chance to learn it. So, it was a pleasant surprise for me to learn about someone who decided not to listen to the narrative and pick up a new skill anyway. And not only did Davies pick up a new skill; she got good enough to pick up gigs at local shops with other musicians.
