WEBVTT - John Hall 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left That's podcast. 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:20.000 My guest today is John Hall, musician, politicians, ski instructor. John. 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.640 Good to have you on the podcast. Thanks about good 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.200 to be here. Okay, you have a long history and 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.280 political causes, no nukes, things on the local level, and 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:33.240 Socrates also a member of Congress for four years. Given 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:38.400 today's landscape, are you optimistic or pessimistic? In between? I 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.080 think there's reason for optimism. There's also a reason for pessimism. 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.520 But I fall on the optimistic side because I believe 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.160 when it comes down to it, people, when they understand 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:50.960 the stakes, will do the right thing. And especially I 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.360 believe that parents and grandparents will want to see their 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.920 kids and grandkids have a livable world to grow up 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.000 in and to maybe have kids themselves and grandkids themselves. 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.360 And so that's that's kind of what's to stake in 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.240 terms of the environment and climate change, which is uh, 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.000 maybe the most important thing in my opinion right now. Okay, 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:13.240 speaking of climate change, when while we're doing this, it 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.560 hasn't been that long ago that the U N released 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.440 their Climate Report. It said we can never get back 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.560 to where we once were, and we have to take action. 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.399 Needless to say, there are people who believe this, and 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.240 there are people who are dragging their feet. How will 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.800 we literally make progress? Because if we wait long enough 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:36.319 for everybody to wake up, might that be squandering too 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.480 many years? Well a lot of years have been squandered already. 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.200 But I think that people are getting their own ox score. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.280 That's usually what happens with with anything political or terms 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.920 of activists and community organizing whatever. I when I first 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.360 got into politics, it was at the local level. My 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.640 next do our neighbor started crushing a hundred junk cars 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.360 on his lawn one Sunday summer morning when I was 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.360 having coffee and the windows were open. This is before 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.200 you needed air conditioning in the Woodstock, New York area. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.640 Everybody just had their windows open and got screens and 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:12.960 cross ventilation and that was cool enough. But but anyway, 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:14.800 you know, when talked to my neighbor, and he was 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.480 kind of upset that I had an opinion about what 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.239 he was doing on his property, even though it was 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.640 in violation of the state Junkyard ordinance. And so I 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.360 organized a bunch of people to to stop it. And 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:29.640 you know, he had to comply with state law. And 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:31.440 that was the beginning of by figuring out that I 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:35.800 could exercise that that political muscle that starts out Really 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:41.040 it's just a just an individual citizenship muscle, but it's 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.840 kind of intoxica. And when you figure out you could 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.160 actually change things in your neighborhood or in your town, 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.280 and that, what's your appetite for trying to have more 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.079 effect on things you care about? So so I think 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:55.240 people who are being flooded, people are having their houses 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.639 burned and losing their life savings that was in their property. 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.640 People who are look and at you know, hurricanes, and 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.600 I mean the heat waves that are going on right now, 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.440 the deaths. UH. Heat is one of the most deadly 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.160 UH kinds of extreme weather. I think more people die 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.360 from extreme heat than any other women weather phenomena already 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.960 and right now from the northwest United States and British 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:23.880 Columbia to New England, across the entire top tier of 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.720 the States. It's a top tier of the states. It's 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.880 a heat wave. And you know, not only is UH 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:37.680 is Turkey and our Turkey and Greece burning. Siberia and 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:42.040 Russia has UH more acreage burning right now than all 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.040 the other fires in the world combined, including California and 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:50.080 Oregon in Washington, and it's just it's Odd's starting to 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:55.280 get obvious even to people who weren't thinking about it. Okay, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.840 what do you believe the steps and in what order 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.880 we should take to ameliorate this problem. Well, you know, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.840 we need to make a transition off of fossil fuels 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.360 to renewable energy and to storage, but even more so 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:13.640 to conservation. Any kill a lot that you save is 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:18.920 cheaper and has less environmental impact environmental impact than a 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.240 new one that you that you generate, whether you're generating 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.159 with with solar or wind, or or coal or oil, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:31.520 it's it's still it's faster and cheaper and less environmentally 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.400 impactful to not use that in the first place. So 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.120 I'm trying to really make an effort to, like, when 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.120 I leave home, have everything on a power strip and 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.800 turn it off so my electronics don't stay on when 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:43.960 I'm out of the house or when I'm gone for 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.760 the weekend or on the road or whatever. You uh 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.080 driving the most efficient car that I can drive that 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.200 meets my needs, and I'm trying to you keep the 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.919 air conditioning a little warmer in the summer and the 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.440 heat a little bit cooler in the winter, so that 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.320 I use personally, I use less energy, and I'm leading 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.480 eating a lot less meat than I used to because 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.680 the rainforest in Brazil is being cut down for for 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.839 grazing cattle for meat for McDonald's and other fast food 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.440 restaurants and stores and so on, And so you can 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.600 vote with your dollars. And that's what way I think 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.040 about it for things that have less of a carbon 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.000 emission footprint. Okay, what kind of car do you drive. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:31.120 I'm driving a Honda plug in hybrid, a Clarity plug 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.520 in gets forty eight miles on all battery. So when 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.359 I'm driving around town, you know, I can go to 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.279 the bank, the post office, the supermarket, go to the 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.760 other side of town, visit, you know, visit friends, come back. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.160 You know. I basically don't use any gastling. I plug 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.320 it in overnight and it charges up, and when I 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.120 go out of town I use gastling on the highway 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:54.520 and even then it gets forty two miles per gallon. 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.440 As a hybrid, This car, you know, it was I 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.440 wouldn't recommend this for anybody in terms of financing. It 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.440 went up in forty. I think it forty three grant. 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.760 I mean, I'm not saying this that brag or whatever 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:07.960 about it's just that, what, it's not that much more 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:13.160 expensive that a lot of other vehicles nowadays, especially when 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.559 you consider how much less gasoline you have to buy. Okay, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.400 let's talk about finances just for seconds. Since you bring 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:25.560 that up. A who owns your publishing catalog? Most of 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.880 it is UM Well, Johannah, my first wife and co writer, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:35.200 and I own half of it. UM. The publishing that 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.960 what they split it in the business center, the writer's share, 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.680 which is on the publishing share, which is we've had 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.359 a co publishing deal with Sony was e M I 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:50.679 before they were bought by Sony. Every every corporation gets 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:55.640 conglomerated and you know, acquired by another one sooner or later. 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:01.640 Same thing in the music business. But but so you know, 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.440 Sony owns a big good chunk of it, and Johannah know, 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:07.160 and the rest of our of our best known songs, 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.320 and then there are some songs before that that I 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.640 owned by a different publisher. I want to mention that 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:19.440 I never see statements on or you know, uh not 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.080 not a penny from and then there's some newer songs 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.640 that I wrote that I still owned the writing and 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:29.120 the publishing on myself. So that's complicated answer. But yeah, 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.520 but since some of these songs are of a certain 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:36.160 age that the reversion rights, have you gotten the total 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.040 right back? I know trid run when he gets it 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.840 back and then sells it back. But have you hit 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.720 the reversion point and tried to get the full rights back? 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:48.520 I believe that we felt in between. We didn't. We 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.400 weren't aware of that and weren't hit to it soon 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.600 enough to do something about it, given the years that 0:07:54.640 --> 0:08:00.840 these songs were written and copyrighted. So uh no, we 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.360 haven't gotten it back. But I can't complain. You know, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.679 I've had a career of writing songs and playing music 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.680 and and that's really all I ever won, Okay? Is 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:12.440 I mean there are people who have only written one 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:15.000 hit song who can live off that money for the 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:19.120 rest of their lives. Still the one is ubiquitous, and 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.360 of course dance with me and some of these other 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.440 Orleans songs, some of which you wrote, some of which 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.000 you didn't. Is there enough money to earn a living 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:31.120 just from the songwriting? Yeah? I think so. Okay, yeah, 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.320 I mean Johanna. The first song we ever wrote was 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.240 called half Moon. We wrote it for Janis jopl She 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.080 asked us to write it for her. And that's a 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:41.920 long story which I don't know if you want to 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:43.480 hear it, but I definitely want to hear it. Tell 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.800 it well. Johanna was a journalist for the Village Voice 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.240 before we met and got married and started working together, 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:55.040 and she wrote a good review of Janice's Cosmic Blues album, 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.320 the first record after she left Big Brother in the 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.760 Holding Company. Most of the critics thought that she had 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.720 ended her brothers in the commune and she should go 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.720 back to San Francisco and be with Big Brothren. And 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.280 Johanna was one of a few writers who said, this 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:10.400 is a great album, and it's it's easy to see 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.560 why she wanted to move on and have horns in 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:18.320 the band and have a different level of musicianship and 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.880 and production and so on. So so Janice asked for 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.520 an interview with Johanna, and the publicists set it up 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.760 and and she left. Johannah left to go take a 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.720 bus across town from our place on the Lower East 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.960 Side to a uh to a Greek restaurant on the 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:40.280 west side of Manhattan, and and I was sitting home 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.160 playing the guitar. And an hour or two later, the 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.800 door opened and came Johannah with Janis Joplin behind her, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.120 and she was already a big star. I the first 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:52.680 thing I thought was, I wish I had changed the 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.319 cat box. But uh, but you know, I I played 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.640 her some songs. We sat around. It was before Christmas. 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.680 We and blues versions of a Little Town of Bethlehem 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.400 and other Christmas carols and and we're just having fun. 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.679 And I played a couple of songs that I had written. 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.640 The music and the lyrics were and she said, I 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.560 like the music, but the lyrics sound like a young 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:17.160 man wrote him. And I said, well, that's me. I 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:22.400 was twenty two at the time, I think. And she 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.319 said to Johanna, you're a woman, you're a writer. Why 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.200 don't you to write me a song? And so we 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.280 wrote this song, half Moon. Johanna gave me the lyric 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.040 on the back of an envelope, which is something she's 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:38.360 prone to doing. Happened was still the one too, but 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:42.000 but anyway, it's, uh, you know, it's a good poetic, 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.520 image laden lyric. And I had a guitar leak that 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.120 came off of a song I wrote for an off 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.520 Broadway show that ran in Philadelphia for previews and never 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.120 made it to New York. And and so I lifted 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.640 the guitar leak from that and built the song around it, 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.000 and half Moon was you know, Janice loved it, rehearsed 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.319 it with their band, did it on the Pearl album. 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.319 It was the B side of me and Bobby McGee, 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:06.960 and then it was recorded by the Fifth Dimension at 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.920 Chaka Khan and James Brown did an organistrumental version of 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.199 it and so on. And that song maybe, you know, 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:16.319 could have supported us. I mean it did for years 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.840 because that was the first hit we had. So it's 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.000 a you know, We've been fortunate to have hits by 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:27.240 Millie Jackson and The Times and and you know, various 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.960 other artists as well as as by Rolans. So you know, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.439 writing has really been my job for a long time. Okay, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:39.120 prior to Janna's Joblin's uh saying that Johanna should write, 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.720 did she write? Did you write songs together? It was 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:43.800 that the advent of that. That was the first one. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.839 Johanna says. It's like bowling a strike your first time out, 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:48.839 and then you have to roll gutter balls while you 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.160 figure out how to get the ball back up on 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.840 the on the alley and in the strike zone. And 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.200 we wrote some lousy songs after that, because you know, 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.040 it was luck of the draw. But we've gotten a 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.360 lot better at it. Now. We basically don't finish the 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.080 song if it's not that good, So you still write 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:08.520 songs together. We just wrote a song together for this record. Actually, now, 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.200 more than ever, I'm reclaiming my time. This is the 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.160 first song that Joanne I've written together in a couple 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:18.040 of decades. Uh, after we divorced. It was a little difficult. 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.720 It's just a very intimate thing writing songs with somebody, 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.360 especially if you do it a lot. It's uh there's 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.720 a lot of talk and a lot of soul bearing 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.880 that goes into getting to a place where you can 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:34.000 write a soul bearing song. And that's what I'm interested in. 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.960 I was a fan of Jackson Browns and and uh 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.040 Tony Mitchell's and you know, as well as the Beatles 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.880 and all the Motown people and Beach Boys and so 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.760 on and so forth. But the songs that really moved 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.280 me are the ones where somebody talks about what's what 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:52.560 they're really feeling. So that's kind of something that you know, 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.600 when you work with another writer, you you bear your 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.240 soul a little bit. So how do you get yourself 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.079 into that place? I guess trying to be self aware 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.800 and trying to write with people that make you comfortable 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:09.719 enough that you don't have to say this is embarrassing, 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.760 but what do you think of this? Or this is 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.679 really stupid. But here's a direction. I mean, a lot 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.920 of times one has to start with something pretty common 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:23.800 to write a song and then substitute. It's kind of 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:28.520 like chord substitutions and music musicians, jazz musicians especially like 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:32.320 to play a blues and then substitute for each chord, 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.199 they'll substitute a whole bunch of other chords that resolved 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.719 at that chord. Uh. Chord substitutions is a big thing. 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.680 And lyrics you can substitute too. I think the most 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.199 famous one that that I heard of anyways, Paul McCarty said, 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:51.240 when he was writing yesterday, the dummy lyric was scrambled 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.920 eggs today for breakfast, I had scramble then, you know, 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.760 and he had the verse and the melody written out 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.600 with that as a placehole there, and then he substituted 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.240 lyrics until he got the song yesterday. And uh, and 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.520 so you know, you have to be able to do that. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.600 And sometimes when you're writing with someone else, you have 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.480 people say this isn't it? But how about this for 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.800 a starting point? You know? And uh, you know, it's 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.120 a it's an interesting process. I do write. A couple 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.480 of songs on my new record are written just by me, 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:25.520 and a lot of them basically all the rest of 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:30.480 them our collaborations with various people. So which do you prefer? 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.760 What do you think gives you a better result? It 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:38.480 depends on the song. Um, I like writing with other people. 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.720 But I wrote the song Saved the Monarch on this 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.880 record myself, by myself. And I also wrote the song 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:51.400 Welcome Home to a veteran Vietnam veteran friend of mine. Um, 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.240 that's the last song on the record, and I wrote 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.880 that by myself. But everything else I collaborated with my 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.320 best my best friend John Paul Daniel uh with a 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:03.960 songwriter written with from what Sagritys area in New York. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.720 Ted Richards is not just an artist or a sculptor, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.360 you know, a poet, but he's a really good lyricist 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.680 and uh and teach his creative writing at Barrard College. 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:20.160 And and I wrote the first track I think of 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:25.560 you was Sharon Vaughan's a Hall of Fame songwriter. You know, 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.840 I don't know sixty probably sixty I think number one 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.760 country hits and a bunch of hoppits as well. You know, 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:37.920 She's just somebody that I met, you know, asked faster 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.520 should go out. Let's break it down. If you're gonna 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:44.600 do collaboration, one, do you do it in the same 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.160 room or you do it via email or other technical 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.520 for doing in the same room. And most writers do. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.320 But with Johannah we wrote now more than ever on 0:15:55.360 --> 0:16:00.240 this new record. We started out sitting at it Able 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.360 together and writing, and we had both been really careful. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:08.000 Was right at the beginning of the lockdown from the pandemic, 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.960 and or maybe it was like a week before we 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.840 got to start on it. She had the idea of 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.040 now more than ever, we've got to we've got to 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:25.600 get together, and and then it just took on a 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.000 whole thing about like we have to stand together during 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.960 this pandemic. We have to uh, we have to be 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:39.480 able to unite enough uh and and communicate well enough 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.720 to be and it's it's speaking as a couple to 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.720 the song could be read as somebody talking to their 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:52.160 significant other, you know, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, um. 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.640 But it also could be read as h as people 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.720 in society and a community, as different political parties talking 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.280 to each other, as different countries talking together. That's that's 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.199 really what's going on now with the climate is you know, 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:07.800 countries are gonna have to be able to talk to 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:11.760 each other and and listen as well as talk. And Okay, 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.199 let's go back to the process. If you're writing in 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.119 the same room, you need to make an appointment to 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:23.000 do that writing alone. So that's two part question. When 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.320 you write alone, are you waiting for inspiration or you 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:27.400 say no, I'm sitting down at noon today and I'm 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.240 not gonna get up until sixth I have something, or 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.320 sit down at six and get up at ten or notever. 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.639 But I don't know what your hours are. I do both. 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.399 I do both. I I have made and you know, 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:46.080 frequently do make an appointment to right appointment, meaning like hey, 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.600 John Paul let's uh, let's go for a walk this 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:50.840 morning and then go sit with our guitars and see 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:55.480 what happens. Uh. Sometimes it's a publisher making a day. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.199 You know. I've had dates that my publisher made with 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.359 you know, with another writer from another publishing company or 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.520 from their same publishing company. So but most of all, 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.640 it's it's people I know who I ask, uh. And 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.720 in between, I'm always thinking about ideas and and and 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:22.200 writing them down or recording, never speaking into a phone 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.359 or some kind of digital device. I a chordal idea 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.320 melodic idea, or a lyrical idea, so that the next 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:32.720 time I do have an appointment with somebody, I can 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.040 come in with a start on something. It's much more 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.399 fun writing with somebody who has that. So when I 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.560 work with Sharon vonn Er, you know, or usually with 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.879 John Paul or or you know, most of the writers 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.320 that Steve Warner and I wrote. You know, we wrote 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:52.040 a couple of songs together number one you Can Dream 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.600 of Me back in the eighties, and a number of 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:59.879 songs since then. And we wrote this song another Sunset together, 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.919 and it's on this new record, Reclaiming My Time. And 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:11.040 you know, I I had the idea for that chorus, 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.359 and I had a date to write with. See, we 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:14.840 had made plans for me to come down to this 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.680 house and and I showed up and I had that 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.280 melodic idea and just the concept of it, and and 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:28.159 then he was totally involved in um in a partner 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.880 and the rest of the song. And okay, let's talk 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:36.399 about the new album. What at this late date motivate 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:41.000 you to make new music because generally speaking, there's not 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:46.320 that much money in it. Well, I didn't start playing 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:48.560 music to make money. When I was twelve years old, 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.240 I strapped down a guitar and said, in my room, 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.359 you know, playing a lot. It was an electric guitar, 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:55.920 stood up and looked in the mirror while I was 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.920 playing it. And imagine that that weekend at the high 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.919 school dance. That maybe you attract some some young ladies. 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:08.000 But I'd love the creative process. And uh, and I 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.680 love music. I started, you know, playing piano and a 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.760 score and it was entertainment to me. I just entertained 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:17.960 myself by playing the Marines syn with both hands, and 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.800 my parents sent me for piano lessons, and you know, 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.119 I studied piano and French horn and taught myself guitar 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:30.760 and bass and drums and and it's a you know, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:32.720 so today I write for the same reasons I right, 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:34.960 because I love writing and because I love I love 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.399 music and seeing an idea take shape and become a 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.240 thing that is external for me that I can play 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.840 for people or record and sent to somebody. It's a 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:49.080 or now it's post online. So that's the thrill in itself. 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:57.880 If it makes money, great, Okay. There's a record company involved, 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.200 Sunset Boulevard Records, which is not a major record company. 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.160 How did it come to be that with them? Were 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:06.720 you making something you placed it or they looked out? 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.679 And who paid for the recording of the record? I 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:12.359 paid for the recording of the record. Sunset bobar As 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.400 the record that was founded by Glenfica, who's the manager 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:20.120 of the band or Leans. And in fact, the last 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.240 Orleans album, doubled CD called No More Than You Can 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:27.840 Handle is on his label, and you know, I've gotten 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.960 to know him and trust him, and he spilt this label. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:33.239 Episode has a lot of the people we work with 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:38.280 that we through concerts with, like Firefall Up, Peer, Prairie Ley, Um, 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.200 Atlanta Rhythm Section, the babies. You know, these are all 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:45.639 seventies early eighties and bands. They're kind of in his 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:51.240 stable of of management artists and but he's also putting 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.679 their records out in US. Is licensing Masters by Fast 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.840 Domino and by Elmore James, and by Willie Nelson. He 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.080 just put on Willie Nelson and worked directly with William 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.240 I mean it's it's it's becoming a label that is 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:10.600 not just a vanity label and or a tiny Indian. 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:15.600 It's becoming a pretty visible, respected Indian. I think he's 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:19.400 doing a real good job. It's you know, I put 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:23.159 out and Orleans has put out self released records. I 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.520 had a little record LI called Siren Songs Records that 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:32.240 released a couple albums of mine, uh Love Doesn't Ask 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.600 and Recovered, which was an acoustic album of me doing 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:40.040 songs that other artists had had covered and I recovered them, 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.680 uh and Uh. I also put out a couple of 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.520 Joan l Mostar records on Siren Songs Records, And you know, 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.960 they they sold a little bit, and they helped I 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:54.840 think helped her and and her fans and my fans. 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:58.400 Bottom Uh. They never got really the exposure they would 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:00.680 have had if they'd been with a label likes, said Boulevard. 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.000 I've also been with you know, with Colombia and with 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:07.399 Asylum Records is now part of the Warner Brothers Warner 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:11.879 Music family. Uh. I've been with MGM Records, have been 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:16.840 ABC Records. Uh. You know that all those companies had, 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:20.040 especially at the time, they had a lot more money 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:23.919 to throw behind and personnel throw behind promoting a record 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.840 than what we have now. But the world is different, 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:32.080 and the business is different, and and also the listening 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:35.600