Today we’d like to introduce you to Tad Tobey.
Hi Tad, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am the youngest of 8 children so you can imagine how difficult it might be to cut my own path through the woods of life. I have always been drawn to language and acting- perhaps in an effort to make myself be seen and heard.amidst the mania that was my family.
In high school I really began to pursue the arts. I had some great mentors on both the theatrical side and writing side: Kris Owens, Alan Shepard, and Lou Debruicker. With their guidance I was able to perform in Edinburgh, Scotland at the fringe festival and take part in model UN symposiums at Tufts University in Boston.
I went on to attend Indiana university in Bloomington, Indiana and continued studying theatre and creative writing. While I was there I immersed myself in the theatre scene as much as possible and performed as often as I could.
Throughout my years student years I worked at a restaurant called Brugge Brasserie in Broad Ripple. They arrived at the beginning of the craft beer boom and were one of the first to do so. Here I cultivated a passion for food, beverage and hospitality. The owners, Ted Miller and Shannon Stone, are still like a second set of parents to me all these years later. I also made some of my dearest friends there. One in particular, Jared Guy, would introduce me to the world of mixology. We would spend several nights experimenting with random bottles and flavors in his expansive basement home bar. This would play a huge role in my Los Angeles life later.
I moved to LA on my own steam in the fall of 2013. My car jammed full of all my possessions and big dreams. I wanted to pursue acting and writing, but LA hit me with a tidal wave of challenges in the first couple years. I burned through the wad of cash I had saved up in six months and it was exceptionally difficult finding a job that would pay the bills. At one point I had three part time jobs and was working 19 hours out of a 24 hour day to make ends meet. I was splitting my 1 bedroom apartment with two other friends from College. What was supposed to be a very brief, temporary living situation turned out to be a two year long affair. I was so focused on finding my footing that my artistic endeavors had to be put on hold.
Eventually, I did find my footing. I landed a job at the now gone Village Idiot on Melrose and worked there for 6 years. During that time I really began to set down roots and found my LA family. My friend and coworker, Alex, introduced me to the wonderful world of table top roleplaying, aka Dungeon world, which ticked both the acting and writing boxes for me. Furthermore, I was able to dip my toes back in to my arts in more focused ways. I wrote poetry more frequently and was lucky enough to be published in the Angel City review . I took a wonderful two year Meisner program at the Elizabeth Mestnik Acting Studio. Things were rolling at a comfortable pace and then COVID happened.
To be honest, COVID was a mixed bag for me. I was let go from the Village Idiot and my romantic relationship did not survive the strictures of cohabiting so closely for so long. But I did reinvest in some friendships that had faded and developed a weekly online Dungeon world session. Those games became a great way to instill a deeper connection to a community while also served as a way to disconnect for the harsh realities of the world outside. I still run games with those friends.
Coming out of covid, I found myself having to pay rent alone for a place outside of my budget so I once again took up two part time bartending jobs. I landed at Highland Park Bowl and Otoño just down the street on Figueroa. I had expressed an interest in getting cocktails on the menu at Otoño and luckily they were receptive to that. With great encouragement and feedback from the Chef/ owner, Teresa Montaño, I was able to step into the role of beverage director there. I developed seasonal cocktails menus there for 3 years. My cocktails were in conversation with Teresa’s food and we received great feedback from the community. I was lucky to have my beverage program featured in Eater LA twice, alongside features in Imbibe Magazine and Wine& Spirits. It was a great opportunity for me until its eventual closure in June 2024.
One other thing I should mention is that while I was growing up for every human in the house there were probably 2-3 pets. My mother, formerly a cat breeder, became a dog rescuer in my adolescent years. This instilled a great love and familiarity with animals. A couple years ago, sensing it was as time to adopt my own pet I began investigating local animal rescues and shelters. I quickly became aware of how dire the circumstances were for animal welfare. There were and are still EXTREMELY high euthanasia rates throughout LA county. So in September of 2023, in true keeping with my upbringing, I went to the Bakersfield animal shelter and adopted two dogs, Kiwi and Baloo. Perhaps against better judgement, I continued to follow local shelters’ social media accounts and would see countless dogs desperately needing rescue. One dog, Tango, pulled my heartstrings too hard and came home to join Kiwi and Baloo in December 2023.
It was not easy bringing a third dog home, Kiwi and Tango did not get a long for a year. They required constant supervision and even more compassion. I was doing this all myself, mind you, and still am. 1 human to three dogs equals lots of walks. But I enjoy it and am really heartbroken by the animal welfare crisis. I feel obligated to do my part. I currently volunteer with Ace of Hearts Dog Rescue and pledge funds to help dogs get rescued when I can.
In more recent times, I can be found bartending at Verse in Toluca Lake and consulting on the odd cocktail program throughout town. I have decided to step back from a managerial role in order to find what my next step is: perhaps in a more professional capacity with an animal rescue or somehow cultivating a career and community out of Dungeon world. I am always on the lookout for more animals to save and more heroes to explore dungeons with. I have also given myself the space to reconnect with writing and acting once more. I think now more than ever we need to band together and seek connection.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely been a rocky road. I put myself through College (loans still are a thorn in my side) only to find in LA that my degrees didn’t make a difference in the careers I wanted to pursue.
The hospitality market in LA is incredibly volatile and high stakes. In my 12 years here I have worked at 3 restaurants that closed while I was an employee. It has been difficult to get comfortable and stable enough to put energy and funding into things that actually fulfill me. I have become what I am out of a necessity to adapt to tricky situations.
On a more immediate and personal level, from December 2023-June 2024 I was involved in three no fault car accidents. One of which gave me 5 herniated disks in my back and another totaled my car. I also had a freak accident with a dog crate that nearly blinded me in February 2024.
Two weeks after replacing my totaled car in June 2024, Otoño closed and my job as a beverage director was no more. Later that year my best friend would be diagnosed with blood cancer and on Memorial Day of this year my sister passed away unexpectedly. Nevermind the economic and political struggles we are all facing at this time.
It has been an incredibly unlucky time in my life. My Therapist says Job from the Bible and I could swap war stories.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In the spirit of being adaptable to ever changing social and economic climates I am constantly maintaining my creative drives and outputs in different ways. From cocktail chef to poet to dungeon master, I seek to make and inspire.
I think what sets me apart from others is that the art I make, whatever that may be, is largely for myself. The drinks I make are ones that I would enjoy. The stories I tell are ones that I would want to hear unravel. The poetry and acting I do is in service to the parts of the human experience that I want to explore. I have been fortunate to practice and study my creative processes enough to allow them to resonate with other people.
I am proud that I can make drinks with challenging ingredients like black garlic, or ube or oysters and people will find them exciting and delicious. I am proud of the fact that as a dungeon master I can capture the attention of my players for 50-100 hours over the course of a sprawling campaign. I am proud that my writing and acting encourages my audiences to look inward and connect with what might be a dormant part of themselves.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I think we live in a time and in particular a city where we are encouraged to crystallize ourselves into one or two things to become more easily identified and consumed. To me, this is minimizing and at opposition with the human experience. Each person is more. More than what can be codified by a social media presence, an agent, a brand.
Answering these questions has brought to mind the phrase, “Jack of all trades, master of none” and I wonder. Sure, perhaps the Jack has not become the best at his one craft, his product, but hasn’t he lived and experienced more by diving in to other trades? Jack contains multitudes.
The other learned lesson that gets me through some rougher days is that everything in life is cyclical. Like the seasons, you will have good luck and you will have bad luck. Fortune and famine. Upswings and downswings. I think we are living through a downswing right now on a national and probably even a global level. We will come through this together. I promise.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @tadtobey
