EP. #80 – I’M COMING OUT with Andy Skurow

**Dan Fisher** (0:02)
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Welcome to Let's Talk 10 I'm Dan Fisher.
Pride month is coming to its end, but I'm very happy to still be celebrating with Andy Skurow, a veteran music industry executive and events producer, whose previous appearance for our 2024 Motown episode remains one of the most popular Let's Talk Ten episodes ever. Right off the bat in that episode, Andy talked about meeting the legendary Diana Ross for the first time, and what a magical experience and inspiration that would be for him, when years later, he would finally come out to his friends, family and the world as a gay man. So of course, I wanted him back on the show and hoping he'd feel comfortable with it. That's what I wanted to talk about, what this was like for him during a time not that long ago, when that still carried an enormous amount of personal shame and societal stigma and how music helped him get through that journey.
I'm so grateful that Andy immediately agreed to share his story and the music with all of us. Because this is his story, not mine, you won't hear so much of my voice throughout this episode, which is how it should be. I'm very happy to have spent much of our time just listening, and I think you'll enjoy listening too.

**Andy Skurow** (2:26)
I had a very different life than most kids. I lived in Las Vegas, which is an adult Disneyland, and the people who work there are like employees of Disneyland in a lot of ways. So my family was either in the hotel industry, the casino industry, or the entertainment industry. My grandfather went to Las Vegas in the 40s. My mother was born and raised in Las Vegas, and so by the time I came along, Las Vegas was a mecca, an entertainment mecca. I can remember going to see shows and being in the front row to see Captain and Tenille at the MGM Grand when they were probably two of the biggest stars in the world at that moment. With my arms on the front of the stage, just sitting there looking up in awe at Tony Tenille while she sang in her amazing voice and dazzling sequins, and I thought this was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me, is that I got to be in the front row, that kind of thing.
But my stepfather was a stagehand at Caesar's Palace, and so if I was well behaved, I could go see all of the shows, and I went and saw everyone who came through Caesar's Palace at that time. And I fell in love with Diana Ross. I had no idea that Diana Ross would introduce me to the Supremes. The Supremes would introduce me to Motown, and Motown would introduce me to the world. It was such a great experience to find and discover music, which is something that we all do, right?
Leo Buscaglia, who was a writer and a lecturer in the 70s, he said, we all have to rediscover fire, because we do, right? Someone can tell you about fire, you don't know until you burn your finger or warmed by it or cook with it, right?

**Dan Fisher** (4:16)
It's very funny too when somebody will say like, hey, I just discovered this movie, it's Ghostbusters or something and you're like, well, yeah, we all knew about that, but you discovered it. I'm glad you like it.

**Andy Skurow** (4:27)
That's exactly how I feel about it. I'm very grateful for this experience being in Las Vegas because I was around so many great performers who came through there and I didn't have to go anywhere. I met people from all over the world who came to me. I met entertainers who came from all over the world to me.
While other kids were out collecting baseball cards, I was the kid who was inside playing my records and listening to my music.
So, I wanna say this very clearly. Please, I hope you include this. I wanna say, I don't speak for the LGBTQIA plus community. I only speak for myself.