WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Leroy Burgess Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:09.480 West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio, Ladies and gentlemen. 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:10.920 This is West Love Supreme. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.080 I'm giving you, guys fear of warning now that if 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:18.000 you ever complained about my inside baseball. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:22.079 Method of interviewing Ben, You're not going to be any 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:27.520 happier with this physical episode. However, if you. 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:31.160 Are a music head and you know your music, and 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.120 you know your album credit, and you know your. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:40.120 Producers and your legends, love this episode. 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.120 First of all, we were just complaining that, you know, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:44.440 after doing those. 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:45.640 Four shows together and. 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:51.120 Back in prison again soon counch prison. 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:54.400 I'm saying. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:57.600 You trapped in the sixties. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:00:58.320 Yeah. 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.800 I was about to say, France, you're you're currently right now, 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.680 you're back in North Carolina. 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.240 No, I'm this is not prison for me. 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.840 I'm actually doing quite well. 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:10.440 Yeah. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.600 He actually made it quite clear that you know, this 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.920 is he's living the dream right now. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:17.039 Is. 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:19.720 Yeah. 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.440 Man, But you know, but but this was an episode 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.880 I really did wish we could have done in personal. 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:27.200 God, if we would have done this in person, this 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:28.880 episode will probably be seven hours. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:29.600 Right. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.759 You know what I'm saying, You're looking well and clear today, 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.240 like you you got to share your secret. I worked 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:44.040 out and took a shower. Okay, something like it's fresh. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:44.800 You know what I'm saying? 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:49.120 Like, Bill, our two friends in the corner, you know, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:50.400 am I looking well? 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:51.520 Yeah? 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.600 Man, you look you look awesome, Steve. 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.040 I put on some brown coconut oils for you for 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:57.480 the show. 0:01:57.800 --> 0:01:59.400 That's what's up, man, That's what's up? 0:01:59.560 --> 0:01:59.800 Bill? 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:02.440 How you doing? So? 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.640 You really missed an important episode with Angie Martinez. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:07.040 By the way, Oh my god? 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.160 Why we took it back to the old school. 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.120 I feel like we should only do the in persons, 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.760 and we should only do them in certain ways. 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.400 And I miss them already and it's been days. Hey man, 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.480 all right? Also, I just like hugging Fonte. I haven't 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.679 it was great? Man, my microdve supreme. That'll be the 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.720 I have to revitalize myself anyway. Continue. Yeah, so, ladies 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.160 and gentlemen, I will say that. 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.720 This I sound like a broken record. This episode has 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:41.760 been a long time coming. 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:42.799 This is I. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.119 Feel like the forty fifth president when he ever does 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.520 those like meaningless you know you're about to see the 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.240 likes of an episode that you've never seen before. This 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.640 this episode's for me. I'm being selfish here, I'm just 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:00.600 saying it's for me. We've always wanted to this gentleman, 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:05.680 this legendary gentleman on our show. As I said at 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.919 the top of the show, sometimes this is the joys 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:10.880 of reading. Now I'm credits of getting to know people, 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.639 and you know, I will say that this gentleman's work 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:21.080 is highly ubiquitous and in terms of really just being 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:26.880 an important architect in dance culture and in soul culture 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.560 and funk culture and disco culture, in bookie culture, in 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:35.640 post bookie culture, of a lot of the bands, a 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.560 lot of underground groups that we've danced to throughout the years, 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.560 throughout the decades, from Conversion to the Fantastic a Lemes 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:48.960 to Sympho State. Uh, there's log his own Black Ivory 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:50.560 Freak Dazzle. 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:53.520 Jesus christ, y'all, I can't. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.800 Believe that we have the one and only Leroy Burges 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:58.600 on Questlove Supreme. 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.960 Yes, sir, Yeah. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.400 Long time coming. How are you deceived me? Right now? 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:10.680 Today? Today's the day days, the day aboutely day. This 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.360 is the time for it and it's a pleasant and 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:19.280 a joy to be here with you guys. This seems 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:20.719 like it's going to be a lot of fun. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.280 I could already tell you, like, this is going to 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:28.200 be great because you are actually prepared with your microphone. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.240 It's clear sound. You know, it's not like. 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:38.640 I've been in zoom prison before, so you know, I'm 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.440 used to it. So it's good to be here. Thank 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.159 you for having me, and thank you for your interest 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.840 in me and my work. It's pretty cool your legend. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:52.640 All right, we're just going to start with the top. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.560 Always start with this question, levery purchase, what was your 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.839 first musical memory in life? 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:04.280 Okay, that's easy, that's really really easy. My first musical memory, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:09.119 when I was but an infant, was hearing my mother's voice. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:14.400 My mother classically trained contralto, and she used to love 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.680 to sing, and when I was born, she was singing 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.159 and given some of the things that was going on 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:27.359 in the household and during her life, she sang through 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:32.120 those things. You know, any amount of the regular amount 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.840 of turmoil that you have in a black family home 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:41.280 in America back in the fifties, right you know? Now, yeah, exactly, 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.440 And at that time it was five of us. I 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.080 was number four and the fifth was to come. But 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.479 I remember her voice, and I remember it being the 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:57.880 most amazing sound and thing for me to latch onto 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.880 even before I could speak. My mom let me know 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.520 that when I first started learning to speak, I was 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:09.920 singing more than I was speaking. So that's my first 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:11.919 musical memory. My mother's voice. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.000 Can we say that she's responsible for your your silky falsetto? 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:25.720 Well, my mother never really got that right. She didn't. 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.039 I mean, see, it was okay when Smokey and the 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.800 Moments and the dell Phonics would do it and Eddie Kendrickson, 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.200 but me, no, she never wanted that for me. Oh, 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:40.919 your natural voice are so beautiful. You should always singing 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:42.359 natural And. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.080 Wait a minute, but your falsetto is killer. 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.200 Well those were the days, as it was. But she 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.600 it took her a minute to get used to that. 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.840 And by the time she did, that's when I morphed 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.839 into more natural singing and I took the I was 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.599 making the transition, taking a hiatus from black ivy and 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.800 that old vibe and that old you know, slow jam 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:14.440 thing and moving into my dance period, my my my 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.280 disco period, and I made a conscious decision that I 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.080 wanted to sing in my natural voice because that's what 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.080 was happening. You know, the old James's happening, and Hal 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.680 Melvin and the Blue Notes was happening. You wasn't hearing 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:31.320 a lot of uptempo start smoky and moments, you know, 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:35.920 they were still in a slow jam drink. So I 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:40.320 needed to evolve and I felt I felt an energy 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:43.600 pulling me towards a new type of music or what 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.120 was happening at that time. So you know, I made 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.920 a conscious decision to begin singing in my natural voice, 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:56.600 and surprisingly it's the one that is more most internationally known. 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:02.720 The world embraced it. Lama embraces the full settled thing. 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:07.160 Could you describe the household like with your siblings and 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:12.120 your parents, Like a lot of our guests, especially kind 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.760 of the Northeast based guests, they kind of have the 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.080 same narrative where like they might have grown up in 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.280 a church household where like secular music's not allowed or 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.720 that sort of thing. Just like, what was the general 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.800 atmosphere of your family and their musical acceptance. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:37.240 Well, my family, like most African descendive families in New 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:42.200 York City and around the country, spiritually based. So yeah, 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.000 church was a part of what you had to do right, 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.360 what you had to learn you had to learn to 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:52.480 have a relationship with the Almighty and learn who he was. 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.400 So that's what they drummed into your head. But what 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.800 I liked about it was the music that you heard 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.600 in church and Aquia and so forth and so on, 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:06.080 so that locked me into that vibration. Initially, in the 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.359 early part of my life, we were five kids, two parents. However, 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:16.480 my biological father, Leroy Jackson Sr. Passed away when I 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.760 was six years old, and my mother remarried to Morgan 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:25.640 Burgess shortly after that. So that is why I described 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.839 myself as Leroy Burgess as opposed my full name is 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.360 Leroy O'Neil Jackson Jr. But I described myself as Leroy 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:41.440 Jackson Burgess because I'm the some result of both fathersts right, 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:47.199 one actually conceived me and the other raised me, so 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.640 I'm equal parts of their energy. We had a good health. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:56.120 We lived in Hollanwriver Projects and I went to PS 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.400 ninety about four blocks away. Back in the day, when 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.440 you had to walk through four or five feet of snow, 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.600 it was unheard of to close the schools on you know. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:13.080 We a snow day was if it was fifteen feet 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.240 that would be a snow day, all right, anything below 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:20.120 fifteen feet, you know you're going to get you behind 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:24.600 the school, get to We had a loving family. My 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:30.160 grandparents were famous for they built small churches up and 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.400 down the East coast and they were they were the 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.480 family that, oh, no, you can't come in here with 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:37.800 you got to come in here with Jesus that if 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.200 you tell them, it's like. But my mom was a 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.280 little bit less strict. I mean she took us through church, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:49.679 Saint Matthew's Baptist Church in our early time. So the spirit, 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:53.160 you know, and being connected to spirituality was always a 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.240 part of you know, I connected it directly with music. 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.800 They were intertwined to me, so you know. But as 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.160 you know, growing up, it was a great time to 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.920 grow up. That was back when you know, urban families, 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.240 black families, African descended families. We were very tight back 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.480 in the sixties and fifties and stuff. I mean, it 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:18.640 was just like a village. We were united in a 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.719 lot of ways and we had the support of each 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:26.040 other much more than say today, and that was one 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.680 of the things. Being raised in that type of environment 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:30.600 was just extremely cool. 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:31.559 All right. 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:37.760 So you mentioned Harlem, so I gotta ask about just 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.480 your musical memories of Harlem. Do you have any memories 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:46.040 of like Bobby Robinson's Record Store or any early Apollo 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:47.600 shows that you got to witness. 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.600 I didn't make it to the Apollo until I performed 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:53.880 there when Don't Turn Around came out in nineteen seventy one. 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.040 I knew there. I was scared of amateur Night because 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.240 I've seen them boo people. If that happened to me, 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:07.360 it would crush me forever. And so the very first 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.680 time I performed at the Apollo, it was professionally Don't 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:15.360 Turn Around had come out with Black Ivory. But I 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.920 felt like I just missed the music period, you know, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.440 the Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington and Count Basie, when 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.520 they was all there. Louis Armstrong, I just missed it. 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.120 I can't. I was born in nineteen fifty three, so 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.920 by the time I was about four or five or 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:36.360 something like that and could interact with my environment, day 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:42.960 was gone. So but their energy, their energy was still there, 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.720 and the type of clubs and the people that they 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.640 gravitated to they were still around. And so there was 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.840 a music that if you listen closely enough, you could 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.880 hear it just butting in the streets in Harlem. You walk, 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.800 you know, just walking safe from my hunts fifty first 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.120 Street where I lived, to one Hump forty fifth Street 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.839 and back. You'd hear all kinds of music coming from 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.800 all kinds of places, and some of the coolest stuff, 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:14.880 some jazzy stuff, some of course African influence stuff. Uh. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.240 And it was just I would I would keep those 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:22.880 things in my head and be bopping around like like 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.839 I was. You know, everybody thought I was a little 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.040 bit crazy, to say nothing of singing in the streets. 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:33.760 I had no problem just bursting in the song, walking along, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.760 I had no problem. So they started to know that 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.079 I was the I was. They called me the singer. Oh, 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:41.960 they go to singer. 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.720 So you telling me that at no point as a 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.880 five six seven year old, are you ever visiting the 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.439 Apollo Theater just to watch the show or to see fall. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:57.679 Until I was seventeen, yikes, seventeen. I didn't get to 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:59.679 the Apollo Theater until I was seventeen. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.240 Can you tell me the first record that you owned 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:02.960 or purchased? 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.000 Yeah, yeah, I can tell you the first. Well, I 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.800 didn't the one that I the first one I purchased, 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.480 or the first one I got that made a difference. 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.560 All right, So the first record that had an impact 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.040 on you, okay, and then the one that you purchased 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:19.720 with your own money. 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.520 But this is a little crazy. The first record that 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.920 had an impact on me was a record called Tubby 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:30.920 the Tuba. Right. It was a great musical piece that 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:38.680 definitively described the interaction of the orchestra, right, something that 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:40.720 I used to hear all the time on the Nacing 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.240 Cold records and the Johnny Matthis records and so forth, 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.360 and so many great orchestras doing this great stuff. And 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.840 I was like, oh, what part of that? And so forth. 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.120 So this record, Tubby the Tuba, it's a children's story, 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.440 but within the story they explained what the string section does, 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.680 or they demonstrate what the horn section does and what 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.800 the percussion session does and so forth. I was like, oh, wow, 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:05.480 I get it. Now, I get it. So I can 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:10.280 now listen to records and distinguished pull apart the strings, 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.280 pull apart the horns, so forth and so on. So 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.920 the very first record that influenced me profoundly was Tubby 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:18.400 the Tube. 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.440 So you're getting entertained, You're getting entertained and you're getting 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.200 educated right at the same time of how things work. 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.320 That's weird because when songs in the Key of Life 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:34.120 came out, uh, when people purchased the album back in 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:38.080 seventy six, Stevie Wonder included like a twenty four page 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.400 booklet that had all these album credits in it. You know, 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:46.080 for most black records, you know, liner notes of that 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.400 caliber really weren't. They weren't accessible, you know, So my 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.320 mom would read those that to me like it was a. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.840 I read every single word. I was a line of note. 0:15:55.880 --> 0:16:00.920 Fool all right. I'll see back in the days with 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.760 the Johnny Mathews albums and so forth, and song Mama 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.520 would put on the album or they would put on 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:07.280 the album. I was like, give me the give me 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.560 the couple, let me read it, let me see who 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.560 on the pad? Oh this, who's this person? Who's this person? 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.960 And I'm you know, I kept interrupting my mother and 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.520 father from listening to the music that they very much 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:22.800 wanted to hear. But I'm like, who is this? But 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.040 I loved reading line of notes because it told me 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.400 the story of the album. And and you know, it 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.800 gave insight the creative process, and I was like, Oh, 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:37.520 what's in arranger? Yeah, what's in a ranger? What did 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:41.760 that guy do? You know? And having the understanding of 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:46.880 what the different orchestral pieces did. I got my appreciation 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.960 for what the rhythm pieces did from listening to jazz, right, 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.320 and then hearing that base and oh that's an electric 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.320 piano or matter an acoustic piano. How cool is that? 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.480 This is the this type of style on guitar and 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.600 so forth. So I got now I'm making the distinction 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.960 between how or Castel works with rhythm and how all 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.000 Castle works with jazz, and how the two of them 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.800 mess together. So I'm putting on these this is a 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.919 little seven year old, six year old brain trying to 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.720 put on me stay together right, and when it comes. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.640 I got a lot of information from reading a line 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.080 of notes who the songwriter was. These things became important 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.600 to me who the songwriter was. That's a great song. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:34.159 I heard a lot of songs and a lot of 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.280 songs though, but this one song, Oh that's great. Who 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:36.639 wrote that? 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:37.360 Right? 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:42.040 So playing that kind of attention to it gave me 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:47.520 great insight and great appreciation to the process, you know, 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.040 because I needed to understand how to do it. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.400 The album that you purchased, what was that her? 0:17:54.680 --> 0:18:00.919 Just this is a funny one question. Yeah. Yeah. The 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.399 first record you acquired, we acquired, you know what I mean, 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.359 the better Wood and uh, I kind of snuck it. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:16.200 And the first album that I acquired was Abby Road 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:22.400 by the Beatles. Wow, I was a Beatles fan, right, 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:24.960 And my mother sent me to Gimbals. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:26.640 What do you know about Gimbals? 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.160 Yeah, yeah, Gimbals, not Macy's Gimbals. 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:30.960 Gimbals. 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:31.399 Wow. 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.399 Okay, you talk my language. Okay. 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.600 I was actually I was going to Gimbals and I 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.280 was going to the S and H Green Stamp Redemption 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.320 Center to get something from the green stamp that the 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.960 screen stamps. Yeah. So she my mother had books and 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:50.400 books and books. She had the catalog where she got 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.960 every time. So the places up from Rochester. I live 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.080 in Harlem, so there's a couple of trains I have 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.080 to take and so forth and so on. So I 0:18:58.119 --> 0:18:59.960 went up there to get her thing for him. From there, 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.000 pick up something from Gimbals, and I had to stop 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:12.600 in the record department, right, And I acquired the Abbey 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:16.320 Road album and I bought it back and I started 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:21.840 playing it incessantly. I played everything incessantly, really, but I 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:26.520 started playing it incessantly, and nobody really asked me where 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:30.080 did that come on? Where did you get that? But 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.800 you know, that was the first album I acquired, Now, 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.000 the first album I started getting into the way before 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.719 that because my mother was a member of check this 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:46.800 out the Columbia record that the sixties. 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.680 Yeah, yeah, eleven, Like what was it back in the day? 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.880 Weel records for a penny, Well for a penny as 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:01.439 long as you you know, buy Mom used to she 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.480 knew I loved music, and see, like I said, she's 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.399 a singer. So she was like, you know, when I 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:10.600 was good, you know, and I've been you know, not misbehaving, 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.280 she would say, okay, well you can buy them. You 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:15.480 can pick out one record of the twelve, or you 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:17.359 can pick out two records of the twelve. So I 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:23.240 used to get Temptations, Stevie Wanda, Uh, the Supremes, Uh, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.800 you know, Jerry Butler with one of my favorite albums 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.239 of the Iceman Coming And I used to listen to 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.719 those joints. So those were the first things that I 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:37.600 started listening to, uh, in order to discover who my 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:39.520 musical being was Wow. 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:46.840 Now you mentioned something earlier, and I was gonna let 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.680 it slide, but I gotta know because the thing is 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:54.760 is that when you mentioned the S and H green stamps, 0:20:56.160 --> 0:21:00.000 probably the only memory that I have of my mother 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.920 is my grandmother on my mother's side, is her sitting 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:05.400 at our. 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:11.520 Table with like thousands and thousands and thousands. 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.280 Of those green what were those green like next to 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:19.159 those green stamps and those like Swedish cookies, you know, 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:23.439 the the butter cookies designs that eventually become their storing 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:28.000 spot for sewing, the Datish cookies that after you finished date, 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.520 they become like the sewing kit. 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:31.159 Sewing kit. 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:37.919 Yeah, that's that's the woman's crown Royal bag. What were 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:39.800 those what were those S n H stamps for? 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.280 Here's what's up. Basically, you go to the supermarket like 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:48.280 anybody else, right, you buy X amount of grocerites, right 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:51.639 for the money that you spent for those groceries, you 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.919 would get X amount of green stamps and they and 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:57.720 they would give you books that you collected stamps on 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.080 stick on the page. So for a song. When you 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:05.639 get your books filled up, right, and you know you 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:09.119 had X amount of books. Well, this vacuum cleaner costs 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:17.360 five books and this rewards and just had to get 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:20.879 up there to the S and H Redemption Center and 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:23.360 pick up with some My mom got all of these 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:25.960 nights little because we went. Every time she went food 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:29.320 shopping for the kids, she'd have like one hundred, you know, 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.720 and so she you know, I was the designating in 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:37.760 the family to go up there and pick up the 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:40.520 sn H green stamp merchandise. 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:42.040 I was the counter. 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:44.600 I would have to count with my she I learned 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:48.960 how to counts. I never knew what they were for. 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:51.400 I was like, I mean, that's that's probably. 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:54.639 Like they were free stuff, stuff and stuff when it 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:58.000 was good stuff, when it was really really free, right, 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:02.879 They didn't the company needs that supported or that donated 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:06.360 their products to the SNATE factory, you know, for them 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:10.720 to give away. They were advertising for them and promotional 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:15.520 for them. So but you know, I'm coping and you 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:16.880 know stuff that gang. 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:21.080 Yeah, I realized that half the items of my house 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:26.399 must have came from SNH. So, you know, I told 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.119 like some of my friends in luminaries and music heads 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.240 that you were coming on the show. I have to say, 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.200 you're probably the most connected human being. 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:38.080 I know because the. 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:41.080 First response that every music head tells me when I'm like, yo, 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:43.800 we're about to get him on the show, they tell 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:46.160 me like, Yo, you know he's related to Tom Bell? 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:46.440 Right? 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:47.000 Yo? 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:49.520 You know he's related to Archie Belle. Right, Yo, you 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:52.080 know he's related to how. 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:53.040