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Speaker 1: This is a podcast from dou Wor.

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Speaker 2: Here again is Larry Minty with the WOR Saturday Morning Show.

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Speaker 2: It is one of the best shows on TV and

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Speaker 2: it happens once a year, the induction into the Rock

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Speaker 2: and Roll Hall of Fame. What can we expect tonight?

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Speaker 2: Here's John Sykes, chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall

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Speaker 2: of Fame.

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Speaker 1: John. Nice to meet you.

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Speaker 3: Oh, nice to meet you. Thanks for having me on

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Speaker 3: the show after a very busy week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be a busy week. I'm sure for

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Speaker 2: you as well. I mean, I guess all the logistics

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Speaker 2: are finished, but talk about what it takes to put

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Speaker 2: something like this together.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting because if you look at tomorrow, we're

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Speaker 3: twenty four hours away from from our fortieth induction ceremony.

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Speaker 3: We began working on probably seven or eight months ago,

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Speaker 3: so it's been a long time coming. But when you're

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Speaker 3: bringing these kinds of artists into be inducted, and dozens

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Speaker 3: of artists they're there to duck them, to support them,

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Speaker 3: to collaborate with them, it's a bit of a Rubik's

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Speaker 3: cube that comes together, and it's very messy at the beginning,

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Speaker 3: but at the end it seems to all come together

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Speaker 3: because these are great artists, and once you hand the

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Speaker 3: show over to great artists, they make it. They make

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Speaker 3: it smooth, right.

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Speaker 2: And it's fascinating too because it's a TV show, and

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Speaker 2: everythinks of a TV show as being taped, but this

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Speaker 2: is live streaming on Disney Plus. So it is a

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Speaker 2: performance that is live and has to go perfectly. That

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Speaker 2: presents a challenge in and of itself, but I guess

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Speaker 2: the Hall is used to that by.

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Speaker 3: Now, Yes, exactly, And that's rock and roll. Rock and

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Speaker 3: Roll has never been perfect. It's never been clean. It's

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Speaker 3: always a little messy and you never know what's going

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Speaker 3: to happen. But what's really unique about the Rock and

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Speaker 3: Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is different than

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Speaker 3: the traditional award shows, is that you have in many

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Speaker 3: cases young artists paying tribute to their heroes. So you know,

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Speaker 3: a few years ago, Harry Styles came up to pay

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Speaker 3: tribute and sang with Stevie Nicks. Obviously, there's the famous

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Speaker 3: moment where Prince got up to play while my guitar

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Speaker 3: gently weeps in honor of George Harrison. Will go down

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Speaker 3: as one of the probably the most famous performances of

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Speaker 3: all time. And this is what's going to happen again

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Speaker 3: this year because in some cases, for example, Joe Cocker

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Speaker 3: has passed, but his young incredible artist named Teddy Swims

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Speaker 3: is going to sing Joe song. You're going to have

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Speaker 3: young artists that are going to get up there and

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Speaker 3: play along with Bad Company and with Soundgarden, and you're

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Speaker 3: going to see an incredible rock band, the Killers, play

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Speaker 3: tribute to Warren Zevon and David Letterman is going to

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Speaker 3: induct Warren Yvonne. So it's this incredible collection of movie stars,

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Speaker 3: personalities and rock stars together for one night. And you'll

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Speaker 3: never see these performances in these collaborations again.

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Speaker 2: No, And that's the best part of the show every

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Speaker 2: single year, to see the other artists collaborating with those

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Speaker 2: that are being honored or representing them on the stage.

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Speaker 2: That's what makes the ceremony special. But this year you've

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Speaker 2: got some challenges as well. Right, you have some performers

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Speaker 2: that are refusing to perform for various reasons, like Chubby

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Speaker 2: Checker and Paul Rodgers from Bad Company. How do you

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Speaker 2: deal with those challenges?

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Speaker 3: Well, we always say that's rock and roll and rock

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Speaker 3: and roll is never You can never predict anything because

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Speaker 3: these are artists and some of the greatest geniuses of

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Speaker 3: all time. In some cases, in the case of Paul Rodgers,

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Speaker 3: it's health. Paul has not been doing well the last

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Speaker 3: year and so he wanted to come, but the last

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Speaker 3: minute he just as doctor said, he couldn't get on

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Speaker 3: a plane. He's had a few strokes in the last

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Speaker 3: few years. And although he can sing well, the bout

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Speaker 3: doctor just didn't want him to fly. So his friend

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Speaker 3: Brian Adams is going to come and sing in his place.

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Speaker 3: And you have members of Pearl Jym that will also

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Speaker 3: play along with Bad Company. So this mutual admiration comes

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Speaker 3: together and as a result, and an artist isn't there,

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Speaker 3: someone will pay tribute to them. In the case of

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Speaker 3: in case of Warren's Evon Office, he's passed, so the

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Speaker 3: Killers are going to be there for him. With Cindy Lauper,

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Speaker 3: she'll be there because she's andill. She'll perform, Salt and

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Speaker 3: Pepper will perform. Jack White and Meg White where in

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Speaker 3: the White Stripes they don't you know, Meg did not

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Speaker 3: feel comfortable attending. Jack will be there and some guests

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Speaker 3: will be there, you know, to support Jack, and so

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Speaker 3: it really is a lot of artists in their twenties

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Speaker 3: performing for artists are being abducted who are in their

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Speaker 3: seventies and eighties. So it's incredible mix of sounds. But

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Speaker 3: you'll see some of the greatest moments of these young

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Speaker 3: artists going toe to toe with their heroes.

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Speaker 2: Now you have been with the Rock and Roll Hall

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Speaker 2: of Fame, you've been the past performances, You've probably seen some.

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Speaker 1: Of the rehearsals for this. Do you still get a

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Speaker 1: thrill out of it?

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Speaker 3: I still do. I'm still a fan, and I think

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Speaker 3: for all of us, you know, you're job at w R,

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Speaker 3: my job at iHeart, in Hall of Fame. These are

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Speaker 3: things I've loved to do my whole life. I've loved music.

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Speaker 3: I'm a fan guy all the way for artists. And

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Speaker 3: the idea that I get paid to do this, well,

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Speaker 3: not the Hall of Fame, but I get paid to

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Speaker 3: do so at iHeart is an honor for me, and

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Speaker 3: so yeah, I never I've never been jaded when I

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Speaker 3: see an artist that's really great. I'm still fascinated by

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Speaker 3: their talents because I was in a band in high

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Speaker 3: school and I did not have that talent. So I

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Speaker 3: look at these guys and I go, wow, these are

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Speaker 3: They're like NFL players, are NBA superstars music. They are

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Speaker 3: just best in class and it's an honor to be

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Speaker 3: able to work with easy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's well said. What was the name of your band?

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Speaker 3: Are you ready?

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Speaker 1: The Liquid Giraffe? Say one more time? My many stepped

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Speaker 1: on you on that?

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Speaker 3: It was I was in seventh grade. It was a

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Speaker 3: Liquid Draft. Then I think it was called then there

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Speaker 3: was was it the Electric Circus. I don't know if

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Speaker 3: I was officially part of that band and then there was,

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Speaker 3: but I remember the Liquid Draft. We were we were,

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Speaker 3: we were, I was, however old you are in seventh grade,

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Speaker 3: twelve thirteen and uh we had business cards made up

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Speaker 3: want to and and that was when they were doing

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Speaker 3: all the all the psychedelia was happening. So we had

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Speaker 3: a giraffe whose head was shaking wild on the business

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Speaker 3: card because he was liquid anyway. That was our That

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Speaker 3: was our attempt to be to compete with the with

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Speaker 3: the Who and the Rolling Stones and and uh psychedelic

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Speaker 3: and uh all the psychedelia.

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Speaker 1: But that was that was our band.

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Speaker 3: We broke up soon after I said, I think I'm

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Speaker 3: going to pursue a career behind the microphone, behind the scenes,

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Speaker 3: not on the stage.

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Speaker 1: Well, you were ahead of your time with some of

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Speaker 1: that stuff.

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Speaker 2: Uh, and that's unfortunate that you're not going to be

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Speaker 2: for performing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Speaker 2: with your bandmates. But thank god you're there to run

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Speaker 2: things and to make sure it goes smoothly. John Sykes,

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Speaker 2: chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation

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Speaker 2: and President of Entertainment Enterprises for iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: John, thanks so much for your time.

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Speaker 3: Thanks guys, thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: This has been a podcast from wor