An Inspired Chat with Fritz Schaper of Montgomery Village

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Fritz Schaper. Check out our conversation below.

Fritz, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I think people today are struggling with the lack of truth in our society – the most fundamental question we are failing to ask is are we really free if there is no truth? How can we make informed decisions about things when have no confidence in what we are being told? It has somehow become acceptable to lie to the public – with no sense of shame or decency and I think people are having a difficult time dealing with that.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am an artist and a poet and I realized that people don’t really read or respond to poetry – so I decided to see what would happen if I used AI to turn original poems into songs. Would music make these ideas more accessible for people? The virtual band Hutz McClure is the result of the experiment (Hutz McClure is a virtual band – all of the song lyrics are either from previously published poetry that I have written, or published or from the new book Hutz McClure Presents – which also includes a QR code in the book which links to the playlist of songs from the book – an interactive poetry book – I produce the songs by putting the songs into the AI engine along with the parameters for song style, instruments, pacing, feel, rhythm and style and then generating each track.

I also created a soundtrack for a play I wrote called Woke! The Musical – the plot of which is a friend of mine drinks himself into a coma on New Years Eve in 1999 – and awakens in the summer of 2024 – and I decide the best way to inform him of all the changes we have experienced in the last 25 years is to sing him songs about what has happened to our society over that timeframe – a sort of recap of the experience of Generation X – and his reaction to waking up in a future that is not at all what he expected based on what we were promised.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
A lack of communication – we see that right now in our society where we are constantly being expected to choose sides in a society that is devoid of truth and seemingly allergic to context or empathy. And that is why there is this constant drumbeat to pick a team – to distract us from having real conversations that would lead us to some area of understanding and agreement. It is much easier to keep people distracted, angry and silent when you discourage them from actually talking to each other.

The restoration will come when we finally reach the breaking point and have no other choice but to realize how we are being manipulated and determine to use the tools of that manipulation to come together to organize and push back against this lack of truth and denial of freedom.

This is why it is so important for people to be creative and explore different ways to express their thoughts and opinions about things that are happening and what they are experiencing – art is an expression or representation of the human experience and the more people are able to share that the wider perspective we are able to gain and the easier it becomes for us to communicate and start to rebuild the things that have been broken in our culture.

When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
Public Television and the Muppets. Kermit the Frog, Mr. Rogers, LeVar Burton – Weird Al Yankovic and Dee Snider, Mr. T – these are the heroes to all Gen X kids – they taught us about the value of being kind, the value of friendship and caring, of respect and that it was cool to be smart, and unique, the importance of using our imagination to create art and a better world, how to respect ourselves and stand up for ourselves and be ourselves and never apologize for having that kind of freedom

Our parents may not have been there to encourage us or to tell us that we mattered and that we could have a better life and a better world – even if just in our imagination at that moment in time as a frightened child – but Mr. Rogers and Kermit and LeVar Burton were there to tell us those things and help us believe in ourselves – they helped a lot of kids get through hard times – Weird Al kept us all laughing and is still keeping us all laughing and entertained – Dee Snider went to congress on his terms wearing a cut off jean jacket and showed us what courage really looked like – and Mr. T showed us we have to respect ourselves to really respect others – like most other Gen X kids that’s what helped me the most

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That talent is required for success and that success is a result of talent

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If immortality were real, what would you build?
A death machine so people could escape the horror and boredom of immortality – a life without end is a life without meaning

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hutzmcclure/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fritz.schaper.50
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hutzmcclure
• Other: Spotify
  https://open.spotify.com/artist/2HKZO1Gzf3wDImEXS76yy7?si=d_G-vBIrRziWDD8bOaiTsw