An Interview with Dr. Darryl Tonemah

TC:  You said that yesterday, and it was a very powerful statement when you made it – we meet people all that time that it might be our one chance to get to know.

DT:  Right! So how do we affect that person? What is our role in their life? A vast majority of these students I won't see again. So I want to make sure that I say something that is relevant, that is a good way, that is positive. So they leave thinking that wasn't a time where I was bored. And that's real important to me.

TC:  They weren't bored yesterday! Tell me about your music. You talk about the travel you do because people ask you to come and I'm assuming that you are working for IHS.

DT:  Well, I work with a group called ACKCO out of Phoenix, they have a contract with IHS, so I work with them in this capacity with the NIH Health studies. I work a quarter time. So the rest of the time I travel, pretty much.

TC:  So when you come here, and speak here, it's on your own time.

DT:  Yes.

TC:  So now you have these two other passions in your life?

DT:  Well, you know what? Acting wasn't so much a passion as it was a dare to be in a couple of movies. I always think that I don't want to be 70 years old sitting in my living room thinking "I wish I would have done this." I never want to say that about anything in my life. If it's a positive thing, if it's a well thing, if it's a healthy thing, and I'm not hurting anyone, myself or my family, then I'll give it a shot. So I always thought, well I'll try acting. But I'm no good at it! I acknowledge that I'm not a good actor. So I'm probably done acting. But music, I'm probably not good at that either, but I enjoy it so much that I just keep doing it. It's the same thing as the speaking, I think. We were talking yesterday about - sometimes your path finds you. I didn't plan on playing music as a grown-up. But I wrote songs about a break-up with a girl, like 13 years ago, and played them into my tape recorder. My friend heard it and took it to his studio and they asked if I'd like to record there. They footed the bill for me to record. I was all right with that, and I thought it would be cool, they'd be coasters or a way to tile my floor or I'd just have boxes in my attic for the rest of my life. Then people would ask me to come play at their school or their festivals. And I thought "What the heck?" And then I got more offers to play at more festivals and they asked if I had more CDs so I thought, "Well, maybe I'll record another one. So I wrote more songs. And it's been just that since then. I have no delusions of being a big rock star or anything like that. I just like playing music. And if people want to keep coming and listening, and if people want to keep having me come to their place and sing, I'll just keep doing that until nobody wants to come hear me anymore.