And your child that was born, son or daughter?$$Son. My son was born, and I was really into my music. So when I realized he was born on September 23, 1972, and when I realized--for some reason I want to say that was either Friday or Saturday, but I kind of get the days mixed up. We had never really--we'd talked about it, Tina [Mauldin's first wife, Cecilia Mosley] and I, about the name, but we never really talked about it much. And I guess just, you know, the guy in me or whatever, my influence in music, I named Jermaine [Jermaine Dupri]. And, you know, I was into music. And quite honestly--you know, my name was Michael [HistoryMaker Michael Mauldin], and I did what I did. So, I named him Jermaine. One of my favorite groups at the time was obviously The Jackson Five. I'm like--even though for whatever reason, it just was--and Jermaine Jackson was a great, or I thought was a really good bass player. I'll say great bass player, but a really good bass player. And he could sing, and so that's kind of what it was. It was just like, you know, it was a kid--in a way, it was a kid thing. But then one of the greatest artists of all time that I really loved was Donny Hathaway. And I listened, I used to listen to his records all the time. And the guy that played bass for him--well, Willie Weeks played bass. But there was a guy that played guitar named Cornell Dupree on Donny Hathaway 'Live,' Cornell Dupree. And I'm just--so one day I'm riding in the car listening to the song called "Ghetto" ["The Ghetto"] with Donny Hathaway, and he had Cornell Dupree on guitar. And I'm like, "Wow, Jermaine Dupri, that would be a great name." And the only difference is that I spell it different. And because I was into cars, there used to be a car out called the Capri. And the Capri was spelled P-R-I, like, you know, instead of P-R-E, or like Grand Prix, P-R-I-X. But it was -pri. So I said, okay, you know--again, that's kind of the black thing in me I guess. I just had to make it a little different (laughter). So it's like, okay, it's going to be D-U-P-R-I, Jermaine Dupri, not like Cornell Dupree, which is P-R-E-E. I went and, you know, I told Tina, and she agreed. And I don't remember us ever really talking about it a lot, which is probably not good. I don't mean to be chauvinistic or anything, but I just told her that's what I wanted to name my son. And she went along with it, next thing I know that was on his birth certificate. So, it was Jermaine Dupri Mauldin.$So what happens next with, with Brick? How do you continue the relationship?$$Really, coincidentally--obviously they knew me. I had, again, the ghetto super van. And my--they were playing shows. They started getting more and more popular. They had a song called 'Music Matic' in '75 [1975] that really took off in south Georgia and in Florida; it really started working in Florida. And they asked me to--one night one of their cars broke down, because they were carrying all their equipment in different cars and stuff like that. And I think Reggie [Reginald J. Hargis] or one of the guys--anyway they called me up to see if I would help them get their equipment. I believe it was in Athens, from Athens, Georgia back to Atlanta [Georgia], because they went and did a gig. So I said, yeah, you know. So that Saturday morning, you know, they bought me some gas, ten dollars or five dollars or something like that, and I went up and loaded it. So when I got there, they were all, they were there with the cars that they had. And we started just loading up my van, and lo and behold, we were able to put all their equipment in my van. So, I was able to drive the van, and drove the stuff to Atlanta. When I got to Atlanta, we didn't even unload it. When I got to Atlanta, they said, "Man, Mike [HistoryMaker Michael Mauldin], we got a gig down in Savannah, Georgia tomorrow. Would you, you want to carry our stuff down to Savannah? We'll give you fifteen dollars, or twenty dollars. You can just be there." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, no problem, cool." And that's what started it. I ended up going--and when I went with them to Savannah, that was a big show. A group called Hot Chocolate--I say a big show. It was in the auditorium, and Brick was just one of the bills. And a group called Hot Chocolate and some other--and I remember Hot Chocolate. There were probably a lot of other more well known names, but I remember that group for some reason. And at that point, I was just carrying their equipment. But now, I'm on a big stage. So I helped them put the equipment on the stage, and I started helping them set stuff up. And it just kind of became a natural thing to me. And I really just worked myself into a position with them without even saying that's what I was doing, or without them even knowing that's what I was doing. And so then when they got off stage and got through performing, obviously they were sweaty and everything. They get off stage, so they have to go back. And they had one guy, but they would go back and try to get their equipment together. I just started getting the stuff off stage for them, and helping them. And the next thing you know, they felt like they had a road crew between me and the guy that was helping them. And that's kind of the way it kicked off. So, I became a roadie at that point.$$Okay. And this is, now how long do you work with Brick?$$For a long time. I say a long time, because this was 1975. And Brick started really, really hitting, and they were doing, they did something called the Kool Jazz Festival, which was in '75 [1975]. And then that really gave me the bug, because the Kool Jazz Festival was at the, it was a stadium event. It was at the old Atlanta Stadium [Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia], and I was able to take the ghetto super van. Now that van, oh, god, I don't have it today, it's a shame. But that van meant a lot to me. I was able to take that van and really drive on the Atlanta Braves field. And you know, they had the plywood and you had to follow it so that you didn't--but because I had the equipment in there, I drove--and I never will forget. I felt like I was--I'm driving out on the field with my van. And it was like such a, I'm like man, I'm on this, I'm on the Atlanta Braves baseball field. Mama [Grace Bowman Mauldin], you should see me now (laughter). You know, but I was doing it to unload the equipment, and obviously there was a lot of groups, you know, from Earth, Wind and Fire--. I mean there were just groups, prominent bands. And I'm like, okay, I've made it, this is kind of it. And again, that was '75 [1975], and things started really taking off. So from there, I became the stage manager for Brick. And things took off so good for them. They ended up doing a song, recording a song called 'Dazz,' and really that rolled us--by that time we were going into more like '76 [1976], I think. And 'Dazz' really came out in '76 [1976]. But it took off like huge for them. And then the management company bought a bigger truck, and said, "Oh, Michael do you want to drive the truck?" So now, I'm driving a bigger truck, a big red and yellow truck. And you know, I became, like I said, the stage manager extraordinaire. We started putting crews together, and it just happened really fast. The next thing I know, I'm flying all over the place. So, I worked with them--to answer your question, I worked with them up consistently probably through 1978, in and out. But in '77 [1977], I was able to start my own business [MTM Roadworks, Inc.], just from the idea of that.
