Rogerick Davis
Givens Swims
Rogerick Davis is the Founder and President of Hands Full of Cash Car Club (HFC), a tight-knit community group in East Austin that throws car show fundraisers and hosts park clean-ups and other events for members of the Givens Park community. In 2019, Rogerick and fellow HFC members were featured in Givens Swims, the final performance in My Park, My Pool, My City, Forklift Danceworks’ trilogy of dances for Austin city pools and their people. As part of that project, HFC was also highlighted in Ernesto Hernandez’s mural Perspectives on Givens.
“[Givens Swims showed] it’s okay to work with your people. You know, it’s okay to work with different races. Like it’s okay to be in an area that you’re not comfortable with and go talk to somebody that you ain’t never talked with and build a rapport with. You know, it just showed you it was okay. And when it all came together at the end, it really shows it can work.”
Rogerick recently caught up with Arturo Hernandez, Forklift’s current Administrative Coordinator who also worked with Rogerick and HFC as an Artistic Intern on Givens Swims back in 2019. Arturo is an East Austin native and recently graduated with his BFA in Musical Theater.
Listen to Rogerick and Arturo’s conversation or read the transcript below.
Rogerick Davis: My name is Rogerick Davis. I’m the Founder and President of Hands Full of Cash Car Club. We was part of the Givens Park swimming pool scene, and it was pretty cool!
Arturo Hernandez: I’m going to say a little bit about myself. My name’s Arturo Hernandez. I work with Forklift and my intro to Givens Swims was being an Assistant Choreographer. I helped choreograph the Car Club and the kids. So how long has the car club been around?
RD: The Car Club has been around for about 12 years. We started at Givens Park, basically it was me and another guy who was into cars and had the same thing, the same passion as I had. But before it was Hands Full of Cash Car Club, it was ATX Explorers, nothing but Explorers — Ford Explorers — driving around. But as we get older, we ended up changing the name and calling it the Hands Full of Cash Car Club and letting, you know, everyone come in.
AH: During Given Swims, I started finding out that y’all do tons of stuff for the community, holding a bunch of events. So how do you see the Car Club on the job working for the community?
RD: As long as the car club is going, it’s going to always be working for the community. Cause we all, it’s always somebody community that needs help or we going to always put on an event to help out the community and to make sure the community knows we’re still here. So, you know, you need somebody to talk to, or you need something that we can help with, hey, reach out to us. You know, we done thrown car shows for families to raise money for funerals. You know, we do Easter egg hunts for the kids every year to just give them something to do at Givens Park. Our community help stretches further then Givens, you know, we do a lot of different things for anybody that reaches out to us that need something. I mean, we can’t help everybody, but the ones that we can, we try to help out.
AH: So what do you want people to know about Hands Full of Cash Car Club?
RD: From our club, Hands Full of Cash Car Club, we ain’t got nothing against anybody else and we don’t want people against any car clubs in the community. Kind of like, you know, learn from a car club. A lot of car clubs are out tryin’ to teach people. And they want people to come in to their club and, you know, learn respect and loyalty and be good to people. So for the people on the outside of car clubs, don’t be scared of them. You know, we regular people just like, y’all. Just walk up to them and talk to them.
AH: Look ’em up! And so I kind of want to dive deeper into this Given Swims experience. So what was the first impression for you of Givens Swims?
RD: The first impression was — I know we got connected with Forklift through a friend of mine. He reached out to me. I think they had did the same thing with Forklift — with y’all — at Dove Springs. And they reached out to us and we ended up meeting at Givens Park and you know, these two ladies came up to us and they were talking about this event they were trying to put on at the park and they want to bring community together and we’re going to be dancing to music in the pool. And it was like, in the beginning it was kind of like, “What?! Are we really going to do this?” But the more they kept talking to us about it, you know, Allison and Krissie and saying we got to come out… They kind of made us feel good about being a part of this and wanting to check it out. And then seeing it all put together… It was an amazing thing. And seeing everybody come together…you know, like people haven’t seen around Austin for a lot of years, but now we’re all together in this pool putting on for the city and our community. And especially at the end, it was so beautiful with the lights. It just was something in awe and it was something we were very happy to be a part of. And we didn’t know that the turn out would be that big and bring that many people in, even with the audience that came in and watched us.
AH: Absolutely. Yeah, it was, it was amazing to see the process the whole thing. For me, at least, it was really surprising to see how much we got the community involved. Because I grew up in East Austin, too. I was born right down the street from Givens. So this was my community. This is my backyard pretty much. And seeing…I never like…you know, you don’t just knock on your neighbor’s door and say, “Hey, let’s put a show on together!” That was the first time I did that. And it was nice. It was exhilarating. It was fun to see how tight of a community we actually are when you come together and you find a cause to do something.
RD: Yeah. It was all positive with the Given Swims because it put all the races together and it taught us how to work together… You know, work with an older person, work with a younger kid, work with a middle aged kid, you know, work with a different race. It just taught you a lot. And it just made you sit back and be like, “Man, this is — like life is good.” Like it’s okay to work with your people. You know, it’s okay to work with different races. Like it’s okay to be in an area that you’re not comfortable with and go talk to somebody that you ain’t never talked with and build a rapport with. You know, it just showed you it was okay. And when it all came together at the end, it really shows it can work. You know, you just got to build it for whatever you’re putting together.
AH: Yeah. It’s connecting and reaching past what you’re used to and discovering that there’s people alike, just like you, that you actually bond with and have a strong connection to. It’s awesome to meet those people. Do you have any advice for the rest of us out here looking to get involved in our community?
RD: Just get out there and do it! You got to get outside of the house, start talking to your neighbors. You know, you can’t judge a book by its cover. That’s number one. Because a lot of people don’t mess with other people just because of how they look or how their house looks or car or whatever it is. Whatever it is, don’t judge them by that. See what type of person they really are. On the inside.
AH: Yeah. That’s beautiful. All right, Rogerick. Well, those are all the questions I have for you. It was nice talking to you.
RD: Alright, man, it was good talking to you, too. Any other time, if you need anything, just reach out to us.
AH: All right. Well have a good one.
RD: Alright, you have a good one, too.
On the Job: 20 Portraits from 20 Years highlights the work of twenty people who have collaborated and performed with Forklift Danceworks. Featuring new interviews between Forklift choreographers and our collaborators, the series shares the voices and experiences of people whose work sustains our communities.
New portraits will be released each month, so follow us on Facebook and Instagram to meet more Forklift performers throughout the year!
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
