1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,680 Speaker 1: The Quest Loft Show is a production of iHeart Radio. 2 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the Quest Loft Show. What 3 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: can I Say? In nineteen seventy two, at the ripe 4 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: age of fifteen, our guest today took my dream job. 5 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: But being as though I was just a year old 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: and unable to read, or write or form sentences or thoughts, 7 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: I'm willing to forgive him this one time only thank you. 8 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: But I will say during this period he will have 9 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 1: conducted career defining both for him and the artist, career 10 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: defining interviews at Rolling Stone Magazine with the likes of 11 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Elton, John Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, 12 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: led Zapplin, The Eagles, Fleetwood, Mac, The Who, and. 13 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 2: So on and so on and so forth. 14 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: As a filmmaker, I mean, he's pretty much, I believe, 15 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: given us the definitive movies of our day, be it 16 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: A Fast Times of Richmond, High Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, 17 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: Vanilla Sky, and for Almost Famous, of which he is 18 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: an Academy Award recipient for Best Screenplay. I mean, the 19 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: list goes on and oning. He's currently right now working 20 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: on a film based on the life of Joni Mitchell. 21 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: Right now, he is promoting his memoir of his time 22 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:44,400 Speaker 1: as a music critic called The Uncool. Please please welcome 23 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: to the Quest Left Show QLs. Cameron Crow, how you 24 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: doing right now? 25 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm psyched to be talking with you again. 26 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 3: It's one of my favorite things. 27 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate this. So I 28 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: had a situation last week. I was hanging with John Mayer, 29 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: and I believe that there's the idea of questlove, and 30 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: then I also believe there's the actual quest love. So 31 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: one of the most disappointing true quirks about me, kind 32 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: of in a Larry David way, is that I normally 33 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: don't talk shop with my peers. Of course, on social 34 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: media and books and films everywhere. 35 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 2: My entire career is a. 36 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: Giant platform for me to spew out my unsolicited thoughts 37 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: about music. 38 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 2: But I noticed that I. 39 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: Tend to back off and talking about music. However, being 40 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: as though this is our second conversation with each other. 41 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: He gave me the honor of doing a live Q 42 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: and A with you some time ago, and when I 43 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: walked away, I was like, wow, Like okay, So maybe 44 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: I have to rewrite that narrative and say that I 45 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: enjoy talking shop with other musicians. 46 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 2: It's just that sometimes, for instance. 47 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: Like I was at a party like three weeks ago, 48 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,079 Speaker 1: and then someone just came up to me and said. 49 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 2: Coust love real quick. 50 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: The most important line that Curtis Mayfield's Ever, you know, yeah, Ever. 51 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 2: Said, and I'm like eating shrimp. 52 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: I'm like, and I know that's my fault because I've 53 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:32,239 Speaker 1: led people to believe that I'm open to all music discussion. 54 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 2: But in this particular case. 55 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: I would imagine had I been born a decade and 56 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: a half earlier, I would have probably wound up on 57 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: your path or at some sort of level to that. 58 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 3: So it's the crime of you knowing so many different 59 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 3: corners of culture. 60 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: You know. 61 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 3: It's like, yeah, they'll ask you about music. They probably 62 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 3: checked out what the gifts you were giving during COVID, 63 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 3: which was very music centric. But you're like a film 64 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 3: guy beyond many, if not most, So your knowledge of 65 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 3: film is so particular. And also why it's I don't know, 66 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 3: there are many avenues to take. 67 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: Well, I'll ask you because I'm using no format today, 68 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: no notes or whatever, so I'll just we're just having 69 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: a conversation. Yeah, yeah, How did you know that you 70 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: were a film guy? 71 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 3: Because I loved film always as a kid. They my 72 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 3: mom and sometimes my mom and dad would sneak me 73 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 3: into R rated movies just because Mike Nichols. I should 74 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 3: know about Mike Nichols. Stuff like that, you know, David 75 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 3: Lean and all kinds of stuff. It just seemed like 76 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 3: no man's land in terms of a dream, Like I 77 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 3: never went to film school obviously, maybe not obviously, but 78 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 3: I never thought that that was accessible to a guy 79 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 3: from San Diego who wasn't connected in it any way. 80 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 3: But for some reason I had no problem walking into 81 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 3: a dressing room and asking a band that I loved, 82 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 3: like the questions that I wanted answers to. Maybe it's 83 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 3: because rock was a little less huge then and film 84 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 3: was always huge and still is huge. But once I 85 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,919 Speaker 3: got a taste of it, you know, it's like it is. 86 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 3: It's a rush like no other. And particularly when you 87 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 3: show something that's been in your head for a long 88 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 3: time and you've written it, you've edited it, you know 89 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 3: this well when you finally put it in front of people, 90 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 3: and the shit that they pick up on it's sometimes 91 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 3: it's the smallest thing and they're all over it. That's 92 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 3: a thrill. It's a different kind of thrill than writing 93 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 3: rock writing particularly, But I don't know. It's like collect 94 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 3: as many experiences as you can was kind of my thing. 95 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: How long was it the lead up of you getting 96 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: the green light to do Fast Times? What was the 97 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 1: seed that was Plannet that said, you know what, after 98 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: this last article I turn in, Yeah, I'm going to 99 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: pursue film. Did you have any impostor syndrome or any 100 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: of those things? Like can I do this? 101 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 3: I started asking for film assignments from Rolling Stone towards 102 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 3: the end of like a big run that I had 103 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 3: from fifteen to twenty two. I started asking for film stories. 104 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 3: Richard Dreyfus was the first one that I did. And 105 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 3: Dreyfus fantastic and so different from the musicians, you know, 106 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 3: like just wondrously narcissistic and fun like he was at 107 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 3: the peak of his kind of like Close Encounters phase 108 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 3: and everything Jaws to Close Encounters, like Biggest Star going right, 109 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 3: And he he said, you know, if I do the 110 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 3: Rolling Stone interview, I'd like to do it differently, Like 111 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 3: what if you ask a lot of people who've worked 112 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 3: with me what they think of me, and then bring 113 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 3: that back to me. 114 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 2: He wanted an oral history. 115 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, but he was like, bring me the oral history 116 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 3: of what people have said about me, and I'll respond 117 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 3: to it, which was wild. And so I talked to 118 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 3: a whole bunch of people about Richard Dreyfuss and did 119 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 3: this interview where I basically threw stuff to him about 120 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 3: things people were about him, good or bad, and he 121 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 3: was fucking ferocious about it. It was amazing. And the 122 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 3: next assignment I got that was film centric was Sissy 123 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 3: Spasic and that lit a fire because for daughter, it 124 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 3: was it was before coal miner's daughter. She had done 125 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 3: Carrie and bad Lands and Three Women with Altman and 126 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 3: you'll love this. So they say, Annie Leebowitz is going 127 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 3: to come with you to Equipment Texas. You can see 128 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 3: Sissy Equipment Texas where she's visiting her hometown and her mother. 129 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 3: And so I get there with Annie, who was, you know, 130 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 3: a titan of photography. So that was a big deal 131 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 3: to be hanging with Annie in Texas and we show 132 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 3: up to see Sissy and Sissy goes. I got to 133 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 3: ask you to come with me. I got a little 134 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 3: adventure I have to go on. They're trying to get 135 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 3: me to play Loretta Lynn in this movie called Coal 136 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 3: Miner's Daughter, and I just I can't do it. You know, 137 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 3: I'm not gonna do it. It's just it doesn't feel 138 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 3: right to me. But can you come with me to 139 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 3: I think New Orleans maybe, And we're gonna go to 140 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 3: a Loretta Lynn concert. And it's gonna be a little 141 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 3: rough for me because I'm gonna have to, you know, 142 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 3: turn her down, but we'll go. We'll get one to 143 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 3: go with me. And so we all went to Loretta 144 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 3: show and Amir, I gotta tell you, Sissy boards the 145 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 3: bus where Loretta is with her husband du brings Annie 146 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 3: and me with her. I think Loretta Lynn closed Sissy's 147 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 3: basic in about twelve minutes. She was so classic and 148 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 3: big and a big character and so warm. And then 149 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 3: she goes on stage and starts doing this show and 150 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 3: Cissy is like already putting the performance together, and so 151 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,719 Speaker 3: she left committing to the part that. 152 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,319 Speaker 2: Night started back out of it and. 153 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 3: So excited and that rhythm of how it worked, and 154 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 3: it was so hands on with material and discussing characters 155 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,719 Speaker 3: and all that stuff. The fuse was lit. And then 156 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 3: I found somebody who I knew who was a rock manager, 157 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:19,839 Speaker 3: Art Linson. I don't know if you ever met him. 158 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 3: He managed Nils Lofgren and Nils's group Grin and the 159 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 3: label was called Spin Dizzy that Art ran, so I 160 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 3: knew Art and Art started to be a presence in 161 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 3: the movie business producing Jonathan Demi and they Universal like 162 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 3: kind of picked up an option on Fast Times the 163 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 3: book and gave it to like their resident rock ish guy. 164 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 3: Art and Art loved the book and said, you know what, 165 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 3: I'm going to teach you how to write a screenplay. 166 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 3: You're the cheapest person we could find to do this, 167 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 3: and if we make it cheaply, we might be able 168 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:57,239 Speaker 3: to sneak this movie through. And that was Fast Times. Wow, 169 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 3: I know. So it really was all because of rock 170 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 3: journalism in a way that Art said, I'm gonna teach you. 171 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: I will say that Coal Miner's daughters probably it made 172 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: an impression on me. 173 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,079 Speaker 2: Like I didn't hear of Loretta Lynne. 174 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: But since that moment that I became very familiar with 175 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: her and her music and all that stuff, and so 176 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: to hear that you were there at the impetus of 177 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: it then, I mean, you know, she was still at 178 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: the height of Kerry and all that stuff. But when 179 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 1: you saw the end result like to make an impression 180 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: on you as far as music films are concerned or 181 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: big time. 182 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 3: I loved it and I thought Sissy deserved the Academy Award. 183 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 3: She's amazing in it. She's not pushing, she's not trying, 184 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 3: she just is it. And I went back and checked 185 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 3: that movie out not too long ago, just kind of 186 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 3: wanting to look at the so called BIOPI biopic and 187 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 3: that was definitely top five and Buddy Holly story and stuff, 188 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 3: but check it out. Check out Coal Miner's Daughter Sometime. 189 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 3: It is the slowest, easiest wade into telling the story. 190 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 3: It just is character. It's time and place, which you 191 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 3: crush in the Sly Lives. Time and place is like 192 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 3: so important. And I saw it and I was just like, 193 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 3: you know, the whole drive to have, like, my Josh, 194 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 3: here's the person that you're gonna see the life of. 195 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 3: It's like, man, you don't need it with the right pace. 196 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 3: It's like an invisible gas that just pulls you in. 197 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:40,439 Speaker 3: And that's Coal Miner's. 198 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:41,719 Speaker 2: Daughter for you. 199 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 1: Though, with biopics and personally, I always thought there's a 200 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: danger and telling the soup to nuts story of a 201 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: life where it's hard to really cover it all. And 202 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,199 Speaker 1: I always thought that, man, why doesn't someone just talk 203 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: about a very very specific time period, Like when they 204 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: were first talking about the James Brown biopic, I said, man, 205 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: you could probably get the essence of who James Brown 206 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: is if you talk about April fourth, nineteen sixty eight, 207 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: which I would thinks this is on the fourth, It 208 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: might be the fifth of the day after, but this 209 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: is right after Martin Luther King has assassinated James Brown. 210 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: Fans know that there was a concert schedule in Boston, Massachusetts, 211 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,679 Speaker 1: and every city in America is in civil unrest and 212 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: there's riots everywhere, and the mayor of Boston's like, mister Brown, 213 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: if you give us permission to broadcast this on television, 214 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,719 Speaker 1: I think this will keep people in the house and watching. 215 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 2: You instead of destroying Boston. 216 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,959 Speaker 1: And sure enough, James Brown say Boston because there were 217 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: no riots that night, because everyone was in watching and 218 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: you know, he yeah, his concerns too, Like wait a minute, 219 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 1: so I got to give a twice as long performance. 220 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: You're broadcasting me, you're not paying me extra money, like 221 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: he's the business part of James Brown's at work, Like 222 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: I know, like what's in this for me? Like I'm 223 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: giving the the cow for free. But I always thought, man, 224 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: if you told the story, like very specific stories instead 225 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: of the entire biopick. 226 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 3: Right when it's a history lesson, you lose me. If 227 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 3: it's characters that are not cut out human type, people 228 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,199 Speaker 3: that say things, you know, that are completely dealing with 229 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,679 Speaker 3: the Wikipedia issues of the artists, it's like, you lose me. 230 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 3: I don't know. You can do soup to nuts if 231 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,319 Speaker 3: you have a reason to do soup to nuts. As 232 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 3: soon as they tell you soup to nuts can't be done, 233 00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 3: someone will pull it off. But yeah, most of the 234 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,840 Speaker 3: time you at that sweet spot because it's filled with 235 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,719 Speaker 3: story and you don't need to You're right, I mean, 236 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 3: James Brown in Boston, you get it all. You get 237 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 3: the music, you get time and place, you get it all. 238 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,960 Speaker 3: I guess it's case by case. Citizen Kane is Soup 239 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 3: to Nuts? Is it a biopic? Kind of? But it 240 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 3: tells us a greater story than sit down. I'm going 241 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 3: to tell you about a life with Cepia toned glimpses 242 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 3: of my childhood, you know. 243 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: But that's also like a first of its kind, so 244 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: I could imagine I wanted to know, like if that 245 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: were to come out in the mid Ausin, it would 246 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: have just been the office, you know. 247 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, I mean that's funny. 248 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: Are you telling the entire story of Joni Mitchell? Is 249 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: this a very specific part of her life that you're 250 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: focusing on. 251 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 3: It's chunks, it's not one slice, it's a couple, it's 252 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 3: some slices, and it's in a context that I think 253 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 3: it holds together for a bigger story. To be slightly vague, 254 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 3: but there's a way to tell her story, which is 255 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 3: why I called up her place and just said, like, 256 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 3: I have a take on this. You know, whenever you're 257 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 3: interested in anything like this, just come to me and 258 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 3: well I'll pitch it out and see what you think. 259 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 3: And they're like, now get over here. 260 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: How easy was it to convince her? Because right now, 261 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: the most frustrating, frustrating part of this whole process that 262 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 1: I'm in right now is conveying to my subjects or 263 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: my dream subjects. Yeah, the urgency of time running on 264 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: the clock right now. And for a lot of people 265 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: sharing their story, rappers especially, you know, this means that oh, 266 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: the second I start looking in the rear view mirror 267 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: that now, that means my career is over. This is 268 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: not just with film, like trying to get rappers to 269 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: do memoirs to keep a track a thing. It's almost 270 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: like there's this rule like if I look back, then 271 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: I'm dead already, which I don't believe in just what 272 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: I've learned and Slide and the Earth Wind and Fire 273 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: doc is memory fades, you know for a lot of these. 274 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 3: Things, yes, and turns into anecdotes with cute little punchlines. 275 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: Right and there's the whole kind of revisionist history thing, 276 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,800 Speaker 1: like your version of how it happened. And it's such 277 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 1: a dangerous spot. And I can't convey to people enough 278 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: the importance of pictures, writing things down, saving posters. 279 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 3: Yes, you can taste it when you have that stuff 280 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 3: from the day and it's souvenir from the day. It's important. 281 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:09,919 Speaker 1: So this wasn't a hard pitch to convince her, like 282 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 1: now's the time to tell your story. 283 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,439 Speaker 3: No, because there are a lot of people that had 284 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 3: been coming before me with really bad ideas, and so 285 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 3: I had the benefit of their failures in probably not 286 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 3: knowing her well enough. So if a few of them, 287 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 3: I think came in not really knowing her history. It's 288 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,120 Speaker 3: like the Barry Gordy thing. You know, if you send 289 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 3: me a letter and it's b A R R y. 290 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 3: You didn't take the time to know how my name 291 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 3: was spelled, and I can't take the time to know 292 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 3: what you want from me. Goodbye? You know, I love that. 293 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,439 Speaker 3: This is what's interesting. Tell me if you've run across this. 294 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:50,160 Speaker 3: Success creates eight different viewpoints and people raising their hands 295 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 3: and say it was me, it was me, it was me, 296 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,239 Speaker 3: it was me, And the memory does morph into a 297 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 3: different thing, and it's everybody kind of disagrees because they're 298 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 3: trying to take credit for a success a failed project. 299 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 3: The memories are perfect because they're all about who to 300 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 3: blame for it. Memories are dead on you know, there's 301 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 3: not it's not Rashamon. It's like they pretty much figure 302 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 3: that it's one person and one decision, and they're really 303 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 3: clear about it. So success breeds all the conflicting accounts 304 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,440 Speaker 3: unless you have the stuff from the day, like. 305 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: Do you know when you're being talked to by someone 306 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: well trained media that says the right things and whatnot, 307 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 1: and like, how do you know. 308 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 2: You're getting the right story? 309 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: And was your young age a part of the dismantling 310 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,239 Speaker 1: or the putting my guard down and revealing to you 311 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: because you know you're getting major stories out of these 312 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: acts and you know who otherwise would probably be guarded 313 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: with anyone else. 314 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 3: I never had the feeling that, like, oh, oh, it's 315 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 3: a plus that I'm fifteen or sixteen. I was always 316 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 3: kind of like hoping I didn't get asked how old 317 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 3: I was, and hoping that I could seem adult like 318 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 3: but not in a precocious way. Nobody really busted me 319 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 3: on my age, no once, but to me, I had 320 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 3: no choice in it. I just had to do it. 321 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 3: I just couldn't not do it. I loved some of 322 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 3: the stories that I'd read. I loved Ben Fong Torres 323 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 3: doing these interviews with Marvin Gay, with David Crosby, and 324 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 3: Joan Winner's interview with John Lennon. It's like, Wow, this 325 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 3: is really revealing and confessional, and that made me want 326 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 3: to collect stories like that, Like I just wanted to 327 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 3: be the person who could say the right thing and 328 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:54,359 Speaker 3: get people to talk like Dick Cavin on TV was one. 329 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 2: Of my favorite. 330 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 3: So I didn't have a choice. I just did it. 331 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 3: And it wasn't until later that I kind of hit 332 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 3: a wall and took on so many assignments that I 333 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 3: just felt like I was starting to take a long 334 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 3: time to turn stories in. I started Chuck Young at 335 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 3: Rolling Stone started doing these stories that I would have 336 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 3: done really well in a first person way that was 337 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 3: kind of gregarious and amazing, and he wrote about the 338 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:26,959 Speaker 3: sex pistols, and I just felt like, I'm washed up, 339 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 3: you know, And that was when I went home and 340 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 3: decided to start writing this story that ended up being 341 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 3: Fast Times at Ridgemal hint. 342 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 1: At the age of twenty, you already felt that you 343 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,439 Speaker 1: were a veteran, A washed up veteran. 344 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 3: Yeah. When I first came to Rolling Stone, there were 345 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:47,919 Speaker 3: people that were at the end of their run, and 346 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,359 Speaker 3: I remember what it looked like, I remember what it 347 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,640 Speaker 3: sounded like. I remember there was one guy who had 348 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,400 Speaker 3: written epic stories, and the thing that they whispered about 349 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 3: him behind his back was he's so fucked up on 350 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 3: writer's block now he can't be in a room with 351 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 3: a typewriter. He starts melting down with anxiety. I'm like, 352 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 3: that'll never be me. And then I never became that guy. 353 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,560 Speaker 3: But I started to just freeze up about deadlines, which 354 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 3: was very scary, and so it was time to kind 355 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 3: of move on. I know, the exact moment had happened. 356 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,400 Speaker 3: There were two things that happened in one day. There 357 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 3: was a Neil Young cover story, and I'd gone on 358 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 3: the bus with Neil Young and Joel Bernstein my Palle, 359 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,199 Speaker 3: the photographer. We had toured with Neil and it was 360 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 3: great stuff. I mean, he canceled a three album set 361 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 3: that had already been printed up and pressed and stuff. 362 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,639 Speaker 3: And the Warner Brothers guys came out and said, you 363 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 3: can't cancel decade and He's like, I can't. I got 364 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 3: new music that I'm doing with Emmy Lou Harris and stuff, 365 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,719 Speaker 3: and it's just I've moved on. These guys are like 366 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 3: it's gonna cost us half a million dollars. He's like, 367 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 3: I can't help it, man. You know, it was like 368 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 3: it was the greatest story. And Elliott Roberts called up, 369 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 3: his manager called me up and said, you know what, 370 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,679 Speaker 3: Neil doesn't want the story to come out. He's not 371 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 3: gonna pose for the cover. And Neil, he just got 372 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,679 Speaker 3: into it. He does, He's moved on. It's like moved on. 373 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 3: It was ten days ago. You know. No, no, he's 374 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 3: a different guy. 375 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 2: Now wait, can you give it backstory? So this is 376 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 2: what year is this? 377 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 3: It's seventy seven. I know it's exactly seventy seven. For 378 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 3: a couple different reasons. He had fallen in love with 379 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 3: the Sweet Home Alabama, the Leonard skinnerd song that was 380 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 3: kind of a call out supposedly, so it was anyway, amir, 381 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 3: it was a great story. He liked it, he loved it. 382 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 3: He gave me a cassette to give to them because 383 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 3: I had written about them of three songs, Powderfinger, Captain Kennedy, 384 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 3: and I forget the third one, but he gave me 385 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 3: a cassette, which I gave to Leonard Skinnyard. 386 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 2: What was their response? 387 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 3: Fuck? Yeah was their response? They love to Neil, it 388 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 3: was it was like, I don't know, it's like one 389 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 3: of those kind of Jobiz feuds that was wasn't really true. 390 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 2: It was just it wasn't kids with Lamar. 391 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 3: I get it, Okay, it wasn't it wasn't like secretly 392 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 3: crushing out on each other. So I had that story 393 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 3: and it was kind of like I knew I was 394 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 3: gonna make that deadline and it would be good, and 395 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 3: though I'd been missing deadlines lately at Rolling Stone. So anyway, Elliott, 396 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 3: the manager calls me up and says, cancel the story. 397 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,879 Speaker 3: Neil wants it canceled, won't post with the cover, doesn't 398 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 3: approve anything. It's canceled. And I'm like, I'm gonna get fired. 399 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,120 Speaker 3: I'm gonna lose everything. I'm gonna lose everything in Elliott Roberts, 400 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 3: classic funny guy. He had a line that I will 401 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 3: never forget. He's like, yeah, I know, I got to 402 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,879 Speaker 3: get rid of that kid. And I'm like, you're fucking 403 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 3: making jokes, and I was. And he called back two 404 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 3: days later and said, I talked to Neil, go ahead 405 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 3: and go with the story. He doesn't want you to 406 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,919 Speaker 3: get in trouble, which was cool of him. But the 407 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 3: other thing that happened on that first day was John 408 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 3: Belushi called out of nowhere the Rolling Stone office and 409 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 3: asked to talk to me. And I had met him, 410 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 3: I think twice. Mitch Glazer took me to the blues bar, 411 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 3: and I had met him there. He told me an 412 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 3: amazing drummer joke. Who was It was like Buddy rib 413 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 3: about Buddy Rich And I don't know. He was very cool, right, 414 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,360 Speaker 3: but I hardly knew him. And he said, look, hey man, 415 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 3: I'm just calling you because like they're gonna put me 416 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,239 Speaker 3: on the cover of Rolling Stone. And I asked for 417 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 3: you to be the writer, and they said no, he 418 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:38,440 Speaker 3: takes too long, and so they gave it to Chuck Young. 419 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 3: But I just wanted you to know like I asked 420 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,199 Speaker 3: for you. I was like, I'm washed up. I'm washed up. 421 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 3: There they're telling artists that I'm not efficient with deadlines. 422 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:50,959 Speaker 3: This is bad. 423 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:59,719 Speaker 1: How common was accessibility to artists in the seventies, Like 424 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: how often would you get unsolicited phone calls? 425 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,560 Speaker 3: You'd get a phone call or too before the article 426 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:10,239 Speaker 3: was published, Like they would be up late staring at 427 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 3: the ceiling and going why did I say this and that? 428 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,120 Speaker 3: So you'd get calls to clarify, like I just want 429 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 3: to can I redo my talk about Leonard Skinner? You know, 430 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 3: like you'd get that call, but then no calls after 431 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 3: the story came out. I mean, I think Sissy spacet 432 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:29,479 Speaker 3: called and said I liked this story you wrote. But 433 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 3: that was the only time that happened. Sometimes you might 434 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 3: run into them later and get a comment, but mostly 435 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:40,400 Speaker 3: that would happen only to like social calls from somebody 436 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 3: who's in the sphere, the actual entertainment sphere. I think 437 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 3: Jan Wenner would get those calls because I remember sitting 438 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 3: at the Rolling Stone office as a little guy, and 439 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 3: it'd be like fucking John Lennon on one Jan and 440 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,159 Speaker 3: I'm like what And then you hear him going like John, 441 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 3: how you doing? Like what? Oh? 442 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:01,679 Speaker 2: So you go okay. 443 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: Would you often wonder what they thought about it, or 444 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: even parts that you might have to keep in that 445 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 1: could be seen as a problem in the future or 446 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:13,920 Speaker 1: anything like that. 447 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 3: It's a really good question. Sometimes you have to fight 448 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 3: for the thing that they made off the record, and 449 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 3: if you're on the road for a couple days at 450 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 3: least you know you're in these situations where you're not 451 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 3: always just a guy in a hotel room with a 452 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 3: pointing a microphone at them. You're or sometimes in the 453 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 3: back of a car or backstage and they're like, you 454 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 3: know that guy that just came in, let me tell 455 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 3: you about that guy, you know, and it's like an 456 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 3: amazing story. It's like, right, that's off the record. Of course, 457 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 3: you're like, of course, but then you could come back 458 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,359 Speaker 3: later and say, you know what that story you told 459 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 3: me backstage. Here's why I think it works because it's 460 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 3: blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, and like eight 461 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 3: times out of ten they'd say, Okay, you gotta use it. 462 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 3: But that collaboration doesn't happen so much anymore because you 463 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 3: don't have the time with the person you do because 464 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 3: you have a creative experience with I would imagine quite 465 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 3: a few of your heroes. That's a different thing. This 466 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 3: is a negotiation sometimes. 467 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: My obsession with Rolling Stone really stemmed from well one 468 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: we had a subscription to the house. 469 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 2: I lived in a Billboard cash box. 470 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: Rolling Stone cream subscription household, like any music magazine, always 471 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: came to my parents' crib. 472 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:50,719 Speaker 2: You know. 473 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:55,439 Speaker 1: For the most part, I would be fascinated with the 474 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: lead review because I love the idea of like a 475 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:03,760 Speaker 1: illustration and then seeing the star rating and stuff. And 476 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 1: so I started adorning the walls in my house with 477 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,160 Speaker 1: those leeve reviews. And you know, by the time I'm fifteen. Yeah, 478 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: I mean that's pretty much like how I know, you know, 479 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: when you talk about past the original generation of Rolling Stone, 480 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: like I'll say that his name. 481 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 2: Is kN Tucker, Yeah, kN Tucker. 482 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: So I knew besides Stevie Wonder's songs in the Key 483 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 1: of Life, it was very rare to see a black 484 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: live review and it was the police issue of Rolling Stone. 485 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: I believe that this is when Zennata Mindata came out 486 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: and they had the cover. kN Tucker gave Prince's Dirty 487 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 1: Mind the Lee review in Rolling Stone, and at that time, 488 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: Prince was just one of the artists that would adorn 489 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: my older sister's walls. So I kind of had Prince 490 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: in the right on Team Beat thing. Not that I 491 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: knew the difference between like critical writing of music and fanzines, 492 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 1: but even I knew that Team Beat and Ride On 493 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: were like frothy articles and you weren't going to get 494 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: anything deep as opposed to Rolling Stone. And I remember, like, 495 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: wait a minute, they're tweeting this guy like he's a 496 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: real serious person. 497 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 2: You know. 498 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: At the time, I only knew like the singles, and 499 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: it was because of the pun. The pun was someday 500 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: our prints will come Wow, which you know, even at nine, 501 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, that's that's a hell of a reference. 502 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: And I had never even heard Dirty Mine or anything 503 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: about it, but it made an impression on me, and 504 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 1: suddenly I started getting obsessed with leave reviews only Wow, 505 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: could you, at least during that time period, could you 506 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: tell me what the modus operandi was in terms of 507 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,960 Speaker 1: how records were assigned to writers to review them, how 508 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 1: long they had to sit with it, who assigns the stars, 509 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: those things. 510 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 3: That I did not know a lot about. There was 511 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 3: some mystery to it. I know that there were people 512 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 3: that had DIBs on upcoming records, there were regular reviewers 513 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 3: that would have DIBs on it, and features too, like 514 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 3: Bob Dylan. But when I first started, John Landau was 515 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 3: still the music editor, and John Landau would make a 516 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 3: lot of these decisions, and John Landau was a huge 517 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 3: force at Rolling Stone. When I was doing that on 518 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 3: my brother's story, they said, you need to talk to 519 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 3: the king because the King knows Phil Walden and Capricorn Records, 520 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,920 Speaker 3: and the King will just help you a little bit, 521 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 3: knowing how the ropes go. And I was like, who's 522 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 3: the king? They're like, John Landau, that's the king. The 523 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 3: Duke is Dave Marsh. And I'm like, okay, a right, okay, 524 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 3: so the King is Landel, the Duke is Dave Marsh. 525 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 3: So the king is just like, here's the call the king, 526 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 3: here's his phone number. 527 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 1: So you weren't a you weren't a staff writer. You 528 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 1: were still freelancing. 529 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 3: I was freelancing, and I was coming into the feature division. 530 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 3: But John Landau even had you know, like even even 531 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 3: had to say in some of the features and everything. 532 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 3: So it was almost like it was somewhere between a 533 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 3: hazing and an education. Because I called Landau and he 534 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 3: was like, this is the king, Like okay, what do 535 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 3: you what do you? How does this work? And he 536 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,240 Speaker 3: was like, well, you know, you got to dig deep 537 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 3: and you gotta do this, and you got to do that. 538 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 3: You got to know that, like southern music is born 539 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:50,959 Speaker 3: and like this and otis Redding, and so that's what 540 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 3: you're waiting into. And Dwayne Almond, you know Dwayne, Dwayne 541 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 3: worked with Blah blah blah, and so he was he 542 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 3: was amazing and uh, you know this is pre Bruce 543 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 3: and stuff. So he was the King. So he's still 544 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 3: the King. I think Bruce probably calls him John, but 545 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 3: you know, maybe he calls him the king. I just 546 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,720 Speaker 3: think Klubby. And to answer your question is like John 547 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 3: Landau protected the club that was the music reviews got it. 548 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: So I'm leaving this up to the old guards. Disdain 549 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: for led Zeppelin. Yeah, clearly you were a fan of 550 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: these guys, definitely, And of course I guess their hesitancy 551 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: was like, well, you know, they're still in the blues 552 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: from black artists and reserving it and washing it down and. 553 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 2: There's no integrity behind that. 554 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: Let me ask you, do you believe in the theory 555 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: that fifty million Elvis fans can't be wrong? 556 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 3: No? 557 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 2: I think I mean, does take still matter? 558 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 3: Of course they can be wrong. You know, it's like 559 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 3: it's such a fluid thing. Everything changes. Like as you 560 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,840 Speaker 3: were talking about led Zeppelin, I wish it ran as 561 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 3: deep as you know, misappropriation and all that stuff that 562 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 3: all came later. The big thing that they were against 563 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 3: led Zeppelin for, I think was that they came out 564 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 3: of a fad which was supergroups. Blind Faith was a supergroup. 565 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 3: You know, it had Clapton and Stevie Winwood and stuff 566 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 3: that had some integrity, but I think there was some cheesy, 567 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 3: superficial supergroups, so called supergroups, that were around, and then 568 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 3: here comes led Zeppelin, which is the guy from the 569 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 3: Yardbirds and the other guys weren't that well known, but 570 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 3: it was perceived as a supergroup and not taking that seriously. 571 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 3: I think it was the fans that said, no, this 572 00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 3: is a real group. This is a real, real group. 573 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 3: By the time led Zeppelin two came out, it was 574 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 3: you didn't hear that anymore. It's a strange thing that 575 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,240 Speaker 3: I remember at the time. And then it became about 576 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,840 Speaker 3: you know, the Lemon song and all that stuff, and 577 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 3: like stealing a little bit and that they came after it, 578 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 3: but mostly they just didn't take them seriously. At the beginning, 579 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 3: it was felt like a commercial venture by somebody who 580 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 3: had done you know, more legit work elsewhere, like with 581 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:30,720 Speaker 3: the Yardbirds. So you know, it's that caddy really and. 582 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 2: So we're supergroup seen as cheating if you will. 583 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 3: Or yeah, yeah, totally totally, like too easy. It's like 584 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 3: this is not born, you know, out of out of passion, 585 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 3: heart and soul. This is born out of a Petri 586 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 3: dish for success. 587 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: Man, Come on, well, If that's the case, then did 588 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,320 Speaker 1: they take Band of Gypsies seriously? 589 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:52,840 Speaker 2: Kind of not? 590 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,640 Speaker 1: Is that why the Band of Gypsy's album really isn't 591 00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,839 Speaker 1: considered in the Hendrix canon of. 592 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 3: Kind of is now but at the time less than 593 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,000 Speaker 3: now for sure. For sure, it's like, oh, well, you 594 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:10,279 Speaker 3: missed the white hot cannonball. That's over now. It's like 595 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 3: he's gonna go play jazz with Buddy Miles and this 596 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 3: is not going to go anywhere. Great. It was kind 597 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 3: of live of it. Wow, I know, but it's like 598 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 3: all of that stuff changes, people reinvent and all that stuff, 599 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 3: and it's just fun to watch it all happen. But 600 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,680 Speaker 3: when there were that many people focused on one of 601 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 3: the few music outlets out there, you know, there's a 602 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 3: lot of serious you're in, you're out of the club 603 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,240 Speaker 3: stuff going on. They don't have a lot of power. 604 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:42,920 Speaker 3: Cream even had a lot of power. I love that 605 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:47,320 Speaker 3: you had a subscription to Cream. Cream was fun. Cream 606 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,759 Speaker 3: took fun into the sphere of music journalism much more 607 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 3: than Rolling Stone. Doesn't get enough credit. Lisa Robinson was 608 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:58,680 Speaker 3: talking about, you know, el Agonza and making fun and 609 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 3: you know, she was all, He's running around with these 610 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,319 Speaker 3: pink little notebooks that she got from the Beverly Hills Hotel. 611 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 3: She would only take notes on this pink Beverly Hills 612 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,120 Speaker 3: Hotel notebook. And she was friends with all of these guys. 613 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,799 Speaker 3: I remember she would, you know, George Harrison would show 614 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 3: up at a led Zeppelin show and she'd be like, honey, 615 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 3: can you believe Look? Can we just dish? And she 616 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 3: was amazing. She kind of brought fun into it, but 617 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 3: it was all kind of getting a candy store for 618 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,280 Speaker 3: me because the byelines were coming to life all around 619 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,080 Speaker 3: me and it was the coolest, Like you, I mean, 620 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:36,799 Speaker 3: I was studying the byelines. I love those byelines? 621 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 2: Okay. 622 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: Was Lester Bangs the epicenter of critical writing for music? 623 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:47,959 Speaker 1: Because I also believe there's writers that write for each 624 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,880 Speaker 1: other as well. Yeah, you know there's certain Pitchfork writers 625 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:57,399 Speaker 1: now that when they're going to roast an album, it's 626 00:36:57,440 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: almost like, hey, I'll check what I'm about to do 627 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,880 Speaker 1: and they'll just and I could tell it's just almost 628 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: like their version of the Aristocrats for community. 629 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, totally totally, but it is is. He was a 630 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:16,840 Speaker 3: court jester, Okay. He was kind of the guy. Lester 631 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 3: was a little bit more of a heckler. Then he 632 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,000 Speaker 3: became more he became more of an oracle, but he 633 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 3: was kind of the heckler he'd gotten fired from Rolling Stone. 634 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 3: He was a big character. And then the offshoot of 635 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:35,160 Speaker 3: Lester was Richard Meltzer, who was not as talented and 636 00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:39,360 Speaker 3: kind of more of a legitimate pretender to the crown. 637 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,200 Speaker 1: Did he truly love music or did he love the 638 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 1: art of the takedown, the art of the snark. 639 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 3: Lester legitimately cared about the music. And I know this 640 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:55,960 Speaker 3: because I read the unpublished stuff that he wrote on 641 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,920 Speaker 3: the back of record company bios and sent to my 642 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:02,879 Speaker 3: little underground newsp The Door, and much more. Never had 643 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,360 Speaker 3: any assignments. He just had written for The Door a 644 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,880 Speaker 3: little bit and wrote so much that he would just 645 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 3: send them reviews and they didn't know what to do 646 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 3: with it. They just put it in this green file cabinet. 647 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:15,319 Speaker 3: And when I first had a meeting at The Door, 648 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,000 Speaker 3: I was like Lester Banks. I love Lester Banks. He 649 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:20,600 Speaker 3: wrote for you guys, because the cartoonist guy who has 650 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,240 Speaker 3: looked like an R. Crumb comic, I remember, oh my god, 651 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 3: he won't stop writing for us. He keeps sending all 652 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 3: this stuff and it's like, we can't it's long, we 653 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,120 Speaker 3: can't publish it. It's over in that green file cabinet. 654 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,160 Speaker 2: And I was like, so you own his original writings. 655 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,240 Speaker 3: I didn't take them foolishly. I bet they got thrown 656 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,399 Speaker 3: away because I don't think they were even fully read. 657 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:46,400 Speaker 3: But Amir, you would get like, I don't know, I 658 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,640 Speaker 3: don't have a bioish thing around here, but like it 659 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 3: was coffee stained and beer stained, and it was single 660 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,040 Speaker 3: draft like xxx. He would just do like backspace on 661 00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 3: the typewriter and it say XXXXX. You could see what 662 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:04,719 Speaker 3: he didn't want us to publish. Yeah, it was beautiful writing, 663 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:08,319 Speaker 3: and I don't know what happened to it, but it 664 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 3: was this idea that like there's a guy in Birmingham, Michigan, 665 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 3: kind of expelled from California and the rolling Stone culture, 666 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,280 Speaker 3: but he's like a vesuvious out there like writing about music, 667 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,320 Speaker 3: because he couldn't not write about music. 668 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 2: What was his outlet? 669 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 1: If there's not substack, cream, the cream would just take everything. 670 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,239 Speaker 3: I think he wrote for the Village Voice too. He 671 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,080 Speaker 3: wrote the thing about Elvis at the Village Voice dying. 672 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,800 Speaker 3: That was amazing, so there he had outlets were starting 673 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,360 Speaker 3: to come up, maybe trouser press and stuff, but Lester's 674 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,640 Speaker 3: main thing was cream and a lot of his great 675 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 3: stuff was in cream. But a lot of his great 676 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:52,799 Speaker 3: stuff is nowhere now sadly. And that was a real 677 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,080 Speaker 3: lesson to me. That's like, you don't have to write 678 00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,640 Speaker 3: to be published. You can actually write to write, which 679 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:06,719 Speaker 3: I tried to emulate doing this book The un cool 680 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,640 Speaker 3: that was like that was for me. That was my 681 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:14,200 Speaker 3: version of beer stained writing on the back of a bio. 682 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 3: It was just stuff for me, just because I loved 683 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 3: writing and I was I felt kind of after the 684 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:24,000 Speaker 3: almost famous musical, I was like, God, I wasn't directing, 685 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 3: I wasn't writing in my first language. Like I got 686 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,560 Speaker 3: to go back to that thing that I love, which 687 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:34,200 Speaker 3: was you know, this stuff, yellow legal tablet stuff, and 688 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:38,359 Speaker 3: that was the lesser vibe to me. Super Analog. Then 689 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 3: they invented the display writer, and they also did the 690 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:46,440 Speaker 3: IBM Selectric, which you could automatically backspace on, which is 691 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,600 Speaker 3: really good. But then the display writer, John Hughes, got 692 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 3: a display writer and he was working in the building 693 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,799 Speaker 3: where I was working, and so I saw like what 694 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,320 Speaker 3: he wrote on right, which was like, you know, the 695 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:04,320 Speaker 3: the NASA. To me, that looked like the NASA stage 696 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:09,239 Speaker 3: at you know, right Houston. He fucking doesn't write. He 697 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,359 Speaker 3: like beams in a script from somewhere. I don't know, 698 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 3: as they're all beat up typewriter work. Though you could tell. 699 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:31,480 Speaker 2: What was your first musical memory. 700 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,280 Speaker 3: It was my mom taken us to see Bob Dylan 701 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:38,680 Speaker 3: in nineteen sixty four, my sister and me in a 702 00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:43,479 Speaker 3: gymnasium in Riverside, California. And there was a long time 703 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 3: before we were ever going to concerts, or that I 704 00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 3: was ever allowed to go to a concert. But that 705 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 3: was a protest movement thing for her. It was like, 706 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,359 Speaker 3: there's a protest singer. I'm going to take you to 707 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 3: him because Republic they're going to burn down everything, and 708 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,160 Speaker 3: we liked the protest singers. That was her thing. The 709 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:04,879 Speaker 3: other thing was Elvis. I wont tickets two things I'm 710 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 3: going to over answer your question. I figured I would 711 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:13,440 Speaker 3: win concert tickets and the thrill of victory would cause 712 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 3: my parents to let me go to the shows. So 713 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:20,160 Speaker 3: I won. I had a trick way of winning be 714 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 3: the third caller type contests on the radio, so I 715 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 3: won those, Yeah, they were real, But I had two phones. 716 00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:29,320 Speaker 3: I would work it. I'd be on the phone already 717 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 3: dialing them, and then i'd have another phone all but one, 718 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:35,920 Speaker 3: you know, visit pressed. It would be like they got 719 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 3: would be like you're the first caller, and I'd be like, 720 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,279 Speaker 3: you're the second caller, You're the third callar, and I'm 721 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,600 Speaker 3: like hey, And I'd win these tickets, and I want 722 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:48,320 Speaker 3: tickets to go see the Buffalo Springfield and Iron Butterfly 723 00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:53,839 Speaker 3: at the Coachella at what is now the Coachella Festival Fairgrounds. 724 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,160 Speaker 3: It was actually the Indio Date Festival Fairgrounds, where nothing 725 00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,200 Speaker 3: ever happened except once a year there was a you know, 726 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:04,239 Speaker 3: like a fair But anyway, I want tickets. I went 727 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:07,480 Speaker 3: to see the Iron Butterfly they were headlining and Buffalo 728 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,840 Speaker 3: Springfield that was opening up. And Buffalo Springfield were terrible 729 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:16,120 Speaker 3: because they'd already broken up. Neil Young and Steven Still's 730 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,680 Speaker 3: were not the band. It was the drummer and four 731 00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:21,640 Speaker 3: other guys that hadn't even rehearsed. It was terrible, but 732 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,720 Speaker 3: Iron Butterfly were coming on next and I was standing 733 00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:27,720 Speaker 3: by the soundboard. The guy at the soundboard who playing 734 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,880 Speaker 3: like the walk in or pre pre performance music puts 735 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:34,319 Speaker 3: on in a Gotta Davida before Iron Butterfly comes on, 736 00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:37,520 Speaker 3: And this is my first taste of like a rock manager. 737 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:41,080 Speaker 3: Some guy comes screaming down the aisle and comes to 738 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:44,000 Speaker 3: the guys like, take that fucking thing off. You think 739 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:46,280 Speaker 3: they're gonna come on and they're gonna they're gonna duplicate 740 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,320 Speaker 3: that on stage. That's never gonna happen. Take that fucking 741 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:49,840 Speaker 3: thing off, you. 742 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:53,759 Speaker 2: Idiot, and it'd be like, didn't even know, just. 743 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:59,080 Speaker 3: Got fucking tripped off. And then they came on and 744 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 3: they were really great. I thought they were great Iron Butterfly. 745 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:06,480 Speaker 1: Sonically speaking, did you really get a satisfaction when you're 746 00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:09,960 Speaker 1: going to these concerts? 747 00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:13,920 Speaker 2: Like when you're seeing Zeppelin in seventy three? Does it 748 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:15,520 Speaker 2: sound like a. 749 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:20,480 Speaker 1: Sports stadium sound where it's like the worst speakers ever? 750 00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:24,120 Speaker 1: And like James Brown when when I watched these nineteen 751 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,800 Speaker 1: sixty seven shows or whatever, it sounds like he's singing 752 00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:33,920 Speaker 1: from a megaphone, almost like Yeah, have you ever witnessed 753 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:36,440 Speaker 1: a concert in the sixties and the seventies from the nosebleed? 754 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:38,360 Speaker 1: Did the sound reach up there? 755 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:39,320 Speaker 3: Yeah? 756 00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:39,799 Speaker 2: Not? 757 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:44,160 Speaker 3: Well, a lot of it was born in like gymnasiums 758 00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:46,680 Speaker 3: with no sound systems and a few amps and stuff, 759 00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:50,680 Speaker 3: so like concerts, they were really tinny and didn't actually 760 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 3: feel They felt like souvenirs more than performances like you 761 00:44:54,960 --> 00:45:00,000 Speaker 3: get to breathe the air of Bobby Sherman or even 762 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 3: the Jackson Five at the Forum. I mean that record 763 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:05,520 Speaker 3: sounds much better than they founded live. 764 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:09,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, So I was gonna say, like even when watching 765 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:13,080 Speaker 1: the Jackson's before him in the seventies and I'm like, 766 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 1: wait with Ronnie and Johnny as their band and Tito 767 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:21,120 Speaker 1: and Jermaine, it sounds when I listen to live records 768 00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,719 Speaker 1: like it sounds so sonically fool like. Another example is 769 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,160 Speaker 1: James Brown live at the Apollo one, two and three 770 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:32,360 Speaker 1: on record, It's like wow, but somehow get the feeling 771 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:36,800 Speaker 1: that in concert they're not using like maybe the first 772 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:38,440 Speaker 1: twelve rods can really feel it. 773 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:42,440 Speaker 3: And then I saw James Brown in the middle seventies 774 00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:46,400 Speaker 3: and it was not that as the Apollo records. 775 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:46,799 Speaker 2: It was not. 776 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:52,920 Speaker 3: It was basically a tiny fan, you know, like a 777 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:53,960 Speaker 3: half gift. 778 00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:58,239 Speaker 1: So sound is coming from like the actual guitar amp, yes, yes, 779 00:45:58,280 --> 00:45:59,760 Speaker 1: and not from the house speakers. 780 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:01,720 Speaker 3: No, not that I remember. 781 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:05,680 Speaker 1: Drums are coming live from the stage and not from absolutely. 782 00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:09,200 Speaker 3: Yes, yes, it's the answer to that. And you know what, 783 00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:14,319 Speaker 3: because there weren't a million concerts in San Diego, you're 784 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,960 Speaker 3: good with that. You're breathing the same air. It's like 785 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,800 Speaker 3: you're in the room with James Brown or BB King 786 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:24,799 Speaker 3: or Fleetwood Mac, you know, like the one of the 787 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:29,080 Speaker 3: early Fleetwood Macs, and it just incrementally got better. So 788 00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:32,040 Speaker 3: you mentioned Zeppelin. Yeah, Zeppelin improved the sound. 789 00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,319 Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, what was the what was 790 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:40,600 Speaker 1: the first paradigm shift of concerts in which like it's like, whoa, 791 00:46:40,719 --> 00:46:41,640 Speaker 1: it's loud in here. 792 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,000 Speaker 2: And I think I've seen an article or two about 793 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:44,719 Speaker 2: them being so. 794 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:47,720 Speaker 1: Loud that it caused a riot or something. 795 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:49,440 Speaker 2: I barely remember it, but. 796 00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, that was one of my first concerts too, The Who, 797 00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 3: and I got nosebleed seats and like wandered down close 798 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:03,120 Speaker 3: to the floor from the bleachers, and then the lights 799 00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:05,200 Speaker 3: came down when the Who were coming on, and I 800 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 3: raced onto the floor and got sucked into like what 801 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:16,279 Speaker 3: would be twelve row type distance from the band. But yes, 802 00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:19,439 Speaker 3: the volume was immediately so loud, and they had those 803 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:23,880 Speaker 3: marshal stacks and stuff that everybody, you're right, that sound 804 00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:28,680 Speaker 3: was a call to like recklessness and abandon and I 805 00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:35,359 Speaker 3: got sucked into being almost pressed against the barrier when 806 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:39,720 Speaker 3: the Who came on, and I thought I was gonna 807 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:43,360 Speaker 3: get stampeded. I couldn't breathe, and it was there like 808 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,640 Speaker 3: six feet away looking up and it was amazing. And 809 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:49,759 Speaker 3: then I got pulled down and like spit out to 810 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,520 Speaker 3: the side. But for like I can't explain, they were 811 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:55,920 Speaker 3: right in front of me and Keith Moon and just 812 00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,000 Speaker 3: like I'll never forget it. It was Townsend in a silver 813 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,279 Speaker 3: jumpsuit and he had a crown on his head and 814 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,600 Speaker 3: he said, what a pleasure it is to be here 815 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:09,600 Speaker 3: playing in your trash can, because the San Diego Sports 816 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:11,520 Speaker 3: Arena is like a trash can, you know, so like 817 00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:15,600 Speaker 3: so he knows where he is right ripping on our arena, 818 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:20,720 Speaker 3: and they're fucking amazing. And that was when I felt like, Okay, 819 00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:24,160 Speaker 3: this is beyond sitting in a gymnasium and listening to 820 00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:26,200 Speaker 3: like a tinny stereo. 821 00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:32,839 Speaker 1: Great question, do you miss the danger element of rock 822 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:36,280 Speaker 1: and roll or what it's supposed to represent? 823 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:41,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, the sound was a call to violence. The sound 824 00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:45,520 Speaker 3: was a cault that said, you're with us, it's us, 825 00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:50,480 Speaker 3: it's us now, it's just us now. And that was like, fuck, yeah, 826 00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:54,480 Speaker 3: that that feeling. I haven't felt felt it in Seattle 827 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:57,960 Speaker 3: when everything was firing with Pearl Jam and I didn't 828 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:02,120 Speaker 3: see Nirvana ever live, but like Alison Chains and some 829 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,919 Speaker 3: of those bands like that had that feeling which had 830 00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:08,399 Speaker 3: disappeared in La. So being in Seattle, I was really 831 00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:10,919 Speaker 3: excited about it, but that I haven't seen it a well, 832 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,080 Speaker 3: like I saw the Stones on the last tour. It 833 00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:17,160 Speaker 3: was super loud and it sounded really great, but it 834 00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:21,000 Speaker 3: wasn't a call to It was a call to luxury 835 00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:24,400 Speaker 3: really because it was the you know, the big stadium 836 00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:27,040 Speaker 3: and the sound was great, and you know, it was 837 00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:30,040 Speaker 3: a lifestyle experience and so but it was way different. 838 00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,799 Speaker 1: So I have a general theory, especially with music, that 839 00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:38,880 Speaker 1: often when something arrives in hindsight, it's really the end 840 00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:41,759 Speaker 1: of the sentence. I would imagine that for those that 841 00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:48,680 Speaker 1: had the Woodstock experience, that that was an arrival of 842 00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:52,080 Speaker 1: our generation, our voices, and it turned out to be 843 00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:56,240 Speaker 1: the end of it. Some could say the mass success 844 00:49:56,280 --> 00:50:01,040 Speaker 1: of Saturday Night Fever was all right, this is the 845 00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:05,520 Speaker 1: truth flag planning, arrival of Disco, and it wound up 846 00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:09,279 Speaker 1: being the end of it. Right now, I probably am 847 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:14,400 Speaker 1: the only human being on earth that might have Thriller regrets. 848 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:18,239 Speaker 1: You know, at the time, it seemed like, oh my god, 849 00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:20,520 Speaker 1: this is the rival of Michael Jackson. All the exciting 850 00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:23,360 Speaker 1: things that my eleven year old self got to witness 851 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:27,040 Speaker 1: during that time period. But now I could probably name 852 00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:31,480 Speaker 1: forty things that Thriller has caused, including the end of 853 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,080 Speaker 1: Michael Jackson, that would make me if asked, did Thriller 854 00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:37,240 Speaker 1: do more harm than good? 855 00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:39,040 Speaker 2: I might have some notes for you. 856 00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:41,840 Speaker 3: That's Elton John's theory the Thriller. 857 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:44,759 Speaker 1: Ki At the end of the day, if there's one 858 00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:47,600 Speaker 1: thing I can say about Thriller when we talked about 859 00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:51,319 Speaker 1: Off the Wall, it was quality. Yes, how great this 860 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:55,719 Speaker 1: record sounds. Now there's a new Q word, quantity. How 861 00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:57,759 Speaker 1: many words did it do? How much money he made, 862 00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,640 Speaker 1: how many records he broke? That's right, And when you 863 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:04,759 Speaker 1: start chasing that dragon, there's no place to go but leave, 864 00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:05,640 Speaker 1: you know. 865 00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:11,480 Speaker 3: Because a lot of times the person who establishes who 866 00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:14,160 Speaker 3: finds that kind of success that they sought for a 867 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:17,920 Speaker 3: long time, freezes at that moment. And that's why the 868 00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:21,399 Speaker 3: album after, which usually is huge because of the album 869 00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:24,600 Speaker 3: that came before, and it's not the album for so 870 00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:26,560 Speaker 3: they get a claim on the album that is not 871 00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:30,680 Speaker 3: as good. Michael was able to fucking really top off 872 00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:34,920 Speaker 3: the wall. Yeah. Many artists would just do like a fucking. 873 00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:38,360 Speaker 2: A record of a record or what do you call it, 874 00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:39,400 Speaker 2: departure album? 875 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:42,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then and it would be huge, 876 00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,560 Speaker 3: but it wouldn't be their best. So that was an 877 00:51:45,560 --> 00:51:48,160 Speaker 3: interesting thing that happened. And yes it did. It brought 878 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:52,719 Speaker 3: a lot of rain. This is the best thing, I mean, 879 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,800 Speaker 3: to have a conversation like, this is the best. That's 880 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,759 Speaker 3: the fan experience that you care enough to do it 881 00:51:58,840 --> 00:51:59,319 Speaker 3: to have it. 882 00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:03,400 Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you, at the time when Runge 883 00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:06,400 Speaker 1: is really planning its flag and making itself known and 884 00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,560 Speaker 1: you know, all the groups, like everything that's happening in Seattle, 885 00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:16,680 Speaker 1: did you at the time feel like, okay, like integrities, 886 00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:18,719 Speaker 1: integrities back in rock and. 887 00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:25,920 Speaker 2: Roll and now we're here only to realize that. 888 00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:30,680 Speaker 1: Oh not only it wound up being the end of 889 00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:31,399 Speaker 1: rock and roll. 890 00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:33,640 Speaker 2: In my opinion, that's. 891 00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:36,880 Speaker 3: A really valid theory when it gets to a certain size 892 00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:42,279 Speaker 3: thriller size, or Vogue calls because they're going to do 893 00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:45,719 Speaker 3: a grunge cover and stuff. That's you know, that's the end. 894 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:50,040 Speaker 3: You know that the end, And I think very few 895 00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:54,120 Speaker 3: people are able to step back seeing that coming. I 896 00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:57,760 Speaker 3: really admire Harry Styles because Harry Styles reached a certain 897 00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:00,680 Speaker 3: point and then pulled back. You know, you don't hear 898 00:53:00,719 --> 00:53:06,480 Speaker 3: about him so much, right mart He didn't over do 899 00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:09,640 Speaker 3: the brew. You know, it was like he was like, Okay, 900 00:53:09,680 --> 00:53:12,920 Speaker 3: I'm gonna step back and try and keep it contained 901 00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:16,480 Speaker 3: to a certain degree. I think. So I admire that, 902 00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:20,880 Speaker 3: but that doesn't happen very often. And yeah, it floats 903 00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:24,720 Speaker 3: up into this like high end of the mainstream where 904 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:28,440 Speaker 3: everybody is a carnivore kind of for that thing, and 905 00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:33,520 Speaker 3: then it's it's terrible. Worse than terrible, it's over. It's 906 00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:36,600 Speaker 3: exactly what you're saying. But it felt like an integrity 907 00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:41,240 Speaker 3: flag had been planted for sure in Seattle at that time. 908 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:45,720 Speaker 1: So what were your real time thoughts of the eighties, 909 00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:49,280 Speaker 1: You know, what was it like to hear Neil Young's 910 00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:52,600 Speaker 1: trans record. Were you breathing a sigh of relief when 911 00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:57,280 Speaker 1: Infidels came out after the Christian period, did you feel 912 00:53:57,320 --> 00:54:00,000 Speaker 1: like a a stranger in a lost lane? 913 00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:05,920 Speaker 3: And I was excited. I remember when when Don Kirshner's 914 00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:09,160 Speaker 3: Rock Concert came out and a lot of bands were 915 00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:12,319 Speaker 3: on that you could see bands playing. That was the 916 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:15,960 Speaker 3: beginning of MTV. Was really exciting because that's like one 917 00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:19,239 Speaker 3: or eighty two, something like that, maybe eighty three, So 918 00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:23,719 Speaker 3: that defines the eighties and it was really all of 919 00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:26,680 Speaker 3: a sudden you couldn't just be Tom Petty making those 920 00:54:26,719 --> 00:54:31,080 Speaker 3: great records. You had to have like that incredible don't 921 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:34,200 Speaker 3: come around here, no more video, So you needed to 922 00:54:34,239 --> 00:54:38,920 Speaker 3: add another superpower. And that was interesting to see who 923 00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:41,200 Speaker 3: failed and who made it, And I mean it's a 924 00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:44,840 Speaker 3: point to be debated, like who was able to survive 925 00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:49,040 Speaker 3: and who wasn't and how Craven was the MTV thing. 926 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,040 Speaker 3: But for a long time I loved having that kind 927 00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:55,920 Speaker 3: of access. Then of course the hair bands kind of 928 00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:58,799 Speaker 3: started to take over, and that seemed really cheesy in 929 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:03,080 Speaker 3: La To and that kind of spun me up to Seattle, 930 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:08,399 Speaker 3: where I loved hearing like the radio station up there 931 00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:11,960 Speaker 3: that would combine like all kinds of genres and everything 932 00:55:12,239 --> 00:55:18,279 Speaker 3: and yes, I did love Infidels. That Pivot was really 933 00:55:18,320 --> 00:55:22,240 Speaker 3: sweet and a great album cover. But I didn't hate 934 00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:25,640 Speaker 3: the eighties until the eighties started to hate itself, and 935 00:55:25,719 --> 00:55:29,439 Speaker 3: then I was kind of ready to move on. I mean, 936 00:55:29,719 --> 00:55:33,080 Speaker 3: I liked Peter Gabriel, and I thought he used the 937 00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:37,040 Speaker 3: Forum really well. He was a great visual artist too, 938 00:55:37,360 --> 00:55:39,160 Speaker 3: you could say David Byrne maybe too. 939 00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:43,000 Speaker 1: Speaking of Gabriel, of course, you know, it's impossible to 940 00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:46,560 Speaker 1: you know, hear the Sow record or In Your Eyes 941 00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:51,080 Speaker 1: without thinking of say anything. But is it true that 942 00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:55,319 Speaker 1: initially you guys were using a Fishbone song in place of. 943 00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:59,799 Speaker 3: The Yeah, I think it was in the boneyard, was 944 00:55:59,840 --> 00:56:04,520 Speaker 3: like what he was playing when we yeah, yeah, yeah, 945 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,279 Speaker 3: he's wearing the shirt he's wearing a Fishbone shirt in 946 00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:10,960 Speaker 3: the movie. Yeah and yeah. But when you look at 947 00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:13,239 Speaker 3: that in the editing room, it truly does look like 948 00:56:13,320 --> 00:56:16,920 Speaker 3: he's you know, stalking and heckling her with you know, 949 00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:19,960 Speaker 3: and she doesn't look too entranced by it all either. 950 00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:23,560 Speaker 3: With the wrong music, it looks like she's just annoyed. 951 00:56:24,480 --> 00:56:26,440 Speaker 3: But In Your Eyes was the only song where you 952 00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:28,600 Speaker 3: got like all the texture. And then it was a 953 00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:32,000 Speaker 3: quest to get you know that song, which was not easy. 954 00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:34,440 Speaker 2: So you had him play it live from that boombox. 955 00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:38,080 Speaker 3: He's playing Bonen in the boneyard when we film. 956 00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:40,360 Speaker 1: Oh, I thought you would have just done it and 957 00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:42,839 Speaker 1: post and added the song later, but. 958 00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:45,760 Speaker 3: We we did add the song later, but he's actually 959 00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:49,920 Speaker 3: we used music for music live and I always have 960 00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:53,480 Speaker 3: music playing in the takes and stuff that I don't know. 961 00:56:53,560 --> 00:56:57,359 Speaker 3: I mean, Cusack really loved Fishbone and I believed that 962 00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,160 Speaker 3: maybe that worked. That's who he was, that's wh who 963 00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:05,279 Speaker 3: he is, but it really didn't. But Gabriel did. And 964 00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:08,160 Speaker 3: the problem was he didn't want to give anybody that song, 965 00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:11,920 Speaker 3: so they were really oh man, there was a whole 966 00:57:12,840 --> 00:57:14,840 Speaker 3: thing about He didn't even want to take the phone 967 00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:17,840 Speaker 3: call and so he got talked to having a phone 968 00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:21,040 Speaker 3: call with me by David Geffen. And then when I 969 00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:23,320 Speaker 3: talked to him, they said, you're going to get a 970 00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:26,040 Speaker 3: phone call, like you're going to call him in Germany 971 00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:28,400 Speaker 3: at such and such an hour early in the morning, 972 00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:30,760 Speaker 3: and he's going to talk to you. And so I 973 00:57:30,840 --> 00:57:34,160 Speaker 3: talked to him and he in this really small voice, 974 00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:37,400 Speaker 3: he told me the song was too personal, couldn't let 975 00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:39,800 Speaker 3: us have it? And we'd send him a video, you know, 976 00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:43,680 Speaker 3: VHS to the movie, and I asked Tevi ray Vaughan 977 00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:46,320 Speaker 3: to score say anything too. I was really on a 978 00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:50,200 Speaker 3: quest to get really good music in there. But Gabriel 979 00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:51,360 Speaker 3: said no. 980 00:57:52,080 --> 00:57:53,080 Speaker 2: How did you bend him? 981 00:57:53,560 --> 00:57:56,480 Speaker 3: Well, I was putting the phone down, and I was 982 00:57:56,520 --> 00:58:00,960 Speaker 3: so heartbroken that I went fully junior high and I 983 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,040 Speaker 3: pulled the phone back up, not even knowing if he'd 984 00:58:03,080 --> 00:58:05,000 Speaker 3: be on the phone still. And I just said, but 985 00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:10,840 Speaker 3: why and and he said, well, you know, I just 986 00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:14,360 Speaker 3: didn't think it worked when he took the overdose. And 987 00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:17,200 Speaker 3: I'm like, took the overdose. He goes, this isn't the 988 00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:21,080 Speaker 3: John Belushi movie. And I go, oh, my god, no no, 989 00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:23,480 Speaker 3: and he goes, oh, this is the teenage movie. And 990 00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:25,800 Speaker 3: I go yeah, and he goes, I haven't watched that yet. 991 00:58:26,040 --> 00:58:29,360 Speaker 3: You're envisioning the John Belushi movie within your eyes playing 992 00:58:29,360 --> 00:58:34,320 Speaker 3: when he od's he too? For like thirty years, I've 993 00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:35,200 Speaker 3: been haven't have. 994 00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:39,960 Speaker 1: Been weird, But okay, I'm dealing with a So I 995 00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:44,280 Speaker 1: got my first major rejection like a week ago, and 996 00:58:44,600 --> 00:58:47,960 Speaker 1: I don't know how to take it. Like I'm taking 997 00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:51,720 Speaker 1: it so personal, man, because this is a denial from 998 00:58:52,720 --> 00:58:54,840 Speaker 1: a hero and. 999 00:58:55,000 --> 00:58:59,760 Speaker 3: It hurts, It hurts, It hurts, may not. 1000 00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:03,400 Speaker 1: Be a dude on the real You and I are 1001 00:59:03,440 --> 00:59:07,200 Speaker 1: really a podcast, but maybe we should discuss that in 1002 00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:11,560 Speaker 1: the future, like do our conversations like Frost and Nixon 1003 00:59:11,680 --> 00:59:12,080 Speaker 1: or whatever. 1004 00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:15,520 Speaker 3: We both have to be Frost right right, we Frost. 1005 00:59:15,240 --> 00:59:18,480 Speaker 1: And Frost right in closing, And I know this is 1006 00:59:19,320 --> 00:59:27,440 Speaker 1: a tired question, but I'll ask your five non box set, 1007 00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:34,160 Speaker 1: non greatest hits, non live, five albums that you stand 1008 00:59:34,240 --> 00:59:39,959 Speaker 1: by as just definitive master works. I'm not even giving 1009 00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:42,040 Speaker 1: you the Desert Island disc or this is all you 1010 00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:44,560 Speaker 1: can listen to the rest of your life for house 1011 00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:46,919 Speaker 1: is on Fire and this is all you can save. 1012 00:59:48,080 --> 00:59:48,840 Speaker 2: Five records? 1013 00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:51,920 Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna give you four, and then the fifth 1014 00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:57,640 Speaker 3: one is fluid. I would say, what's going on? Marvin, Joni, Mitchell, Hejira, 1015 00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:03,520 Speaker 3: Beach Boys, Pet Sounds, who Live It Leads and no 1016 01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:08,200 Speaker 3: Live but oyeah, okay, no live, no life, Okay, fuck, Okay. 1017 01:00:09,240 --> 01:00:11,360 Speaker 2: I'll let that go. It's a it's a great album. 1018 01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:16,000 Speaker 3: Okay, thanks for that. This week. Like I told you 1019 01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:18,720 Speaker 3: when I saw you, I'm on such a tom Bell 1020 01:00:18,840 --> 01:00:21,919 Speaker 3: Spinners thing. I would say, the first Spinner's album right now, 1021 01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:27,320 Speaker 3: really yeah, I just love that record with only Don't 1022 01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:30,160 Speaker 3: let the Green Grass Fool You is not a perfect 1023 01:00:30,200 --> 01:00:33,320 Speaker 3: song on that album, so it's not totally perfect, but 1024 01:00:33,760 --> 01:00:35,200 Speaker 3: it's really speaking to me now. 1025 01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:38,640 Speaker 2: And that's the one you choose as the redheaded stepchild. 1026 01:00:39,040 --> 01:00:41,920 Speaker 3: Red headed Stepchild, which always leaves you know that that 1027 01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:44,000 Speaker 3: chair gets occupied by many. 1028 01:00:44,520 --> 01:00:46,920 Speaker 2: It gets played so much though like I wouldn't, I. 1029 01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:49,640 Speaker 3: Would all hangs together. 1030 01:00:49,960 --> 01:00:52,320 Speaker 2: I love it, I got it, okay. 1031 01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:53,920 Speaker 3: I can't get you out of my mind. I'm like, 1032 01:00:54,120 --> 01:00:57,440 Speaker 3: I'm owned. It's I have it. It's like I don't know, 1033 01:00:57,440 --> 01:00:58,640 Speaker 3: it's the happy sad thing. 1034 01:00:58,760 --> 01:00:59,640 Speaker 2: For what's going on. 1035 01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:04,240 Speaker 1: Do you see that as a total, a complete work 1036 01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:07,120 Speaker 1: from start to finish. Like for me, though, Side one 1037 01:01:07,600 --> 01:01:11,800 Speaker 1: is song one, absolutely holy holy side song too, and 1038 01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,600 Speaker 1: I consider that a four song record. I'm with you, 1039 01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:18,920 Speaker 1: and so for me there's side one the same with 1040 01:01:19,320 --> 01:01:23,120 Speaker 1: slies Fresh. I consider that all of side one just 1041 01:01:23,200 --> 01:01:29,080 Speaker 1: one song. And so but really, Hijeira more than hissing 1042 01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:29,880 Speaker 1: of the summer lawns. 1043 01:01:30,120 --> 01:01:34,280 Speaker 3: Oh yeah. His era is a journey. His era takes 1044 01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:37,360 Speaker 3: you on the ride. That was Prince's favorite. Jony album too. 1045 01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:39,520 Speaker 2: He put me on a hissing of the summer. 1046 01:01:40,400 --> 01:01:41,080 Speaker 3: The summer LUNs. 1047 01:01:41,200 --> 01:01:44,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, But for you, like, what is 1048 01:01:44,080 --> 01:01:46,720 Speaker 1: it about Hijira that speaks to you? 1049 01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:50,080 Speaker 3: I like the story behind it. I like how the 1050 01:01:50,120 --> 01:01:54,360 Speaker 3: package suits the music. I like that it was she 1051 01:01:54,480 --> 01:01:57,720 Speaker 3: blew off a tour, took a journey on her own, 1052 01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:02,360 Speaker 3: and wrote those songs mostly those songs on that journey, 1053 01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:05,760 Speaker 3: and I just I love the whole adventure of it, 1054 01:02:05,960 --> 01:02:08,200 Speaker 3: and it's and it's present in the music. 1055 01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:12,960 Speaker 1: So the backstory really does mean something like without the 1056 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:14,880 Speaker 1: backstory of Nebraska, would you feel the. 1057 01:02:14,800 --> 01:02:15,520 Speaker 2: Same way about it? 1058 01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:20,280 Speaker 1: Or even a vonni Ver's album of him nursing a 1059 01:02:20,280 --> 01:02:24,000 Speaker 1: broken Heart with chicken Soup in Northern Exposure box setting. 1060 01:02:24,680 --> 01:02:27,400 Speaker 3: Come on, I love that. I love the whole story. 1061 01:02:28,920 --> 01:02:32,240 Speaker 3: That's why kind of went out and did all these interviews, 1062 01:02:32,280 --> 01:02:34,560 Speaker 3: I think is to like, what's the story behind the story? 1063 01:02:34,680 --> 01:02:36,040 Speaker 2: I love it, got it. 1064 01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:41,440 Speaker 3: That's why you, you know, put those reviews on your wall. 1065 01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:43,720 Speaker 2: It's like got it, liked. 1066 01:02:43,640 --> 01:02:47,440 Speaker 3: Having it there. The process of taking it and putting 1067 01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:49,200 Speaker 3: it on your wall, it's like all part of the 1068 01:02:49,240 --> 01:02:49,800 Speaker 3: same thing. 1069 01:02:50,360 --> 01:02:52,720 Speaker 1: I will wait till the Joni pick comes out to 1070 01:02:52,880 --> 01:02:57,480 Speaker 1: nerd out on you some more humble that someone that 1071 01:02:57,520 --> 01:03:01,560 Speaker 1: I admire and respects so much much, from your writing 1072 01:03:01,640 --> 01:03:03,520 Speaker 1: as a journalist to your film. 1073 01:03:03,360 --> 01:03:05,000 Speaker 2: Work and just your love of music. 1074 01:03:05,080 --> 01:03:07,800 Speaker 1: Like you are one of my north stars in terms 1075 01:03:07,840 --> 01:03:11,040 Speaker 1: of having it both, like I love creating music, but 1076 01:03:11,120 --> 01:03:15,760 Speaker 1: I love absorbing it more and telling about it. And 1077 01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:18,280 Speaker 1: I really owe that to you, And I thank you 1078 01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:19,080 Speaker 1: for everything, and. 1079 01:03:19,200 --> 01:03:21,640 Speaker 3: I can say so much of that right back to you, 1080 01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:24,560 Speaker 3: and I will thank you so much, Thank you soon. 1081 01:03:30,800 --> 01:03:34,240 Speaker 1: Quest Love Show is hosted by me Amir Quest Love Thompson. 1082 01:03:35,160 --> 01:03:39,000 Speaker 1: The executive producers are Sean g Brian Calhoun and Me. 1083 01:03:40,640 --> 01:03:45,920 Speaker 1: Produced by Britney Benjamin and Jake Payne. Produced for iHeart 1084 01:03:46,360 --> 01:03:51,880 Speaker 1: by Noel Brown, Edited by Alex Conroyd. iHeart Video support 1085 01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:57,360 Speaker 1: by Mark Canton, Logos Graphics and animation by Nick Aloe. 1086 01:03:59,160 --> 01:04:03,920 Speaker 1: Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy Brown, 1087 01:04:05,400 --> 01:04:10,200 Speaker 1: Special thanks to Sugar Steve Manzel. Please subscribe, rate, review, 1088 01:04:10,320 --> 01:04:13,920 Speaker 1: and share The Quest Love Show. Wherever you stream your podcast, 1089 01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:19,360 Speaker 1: make sure you follow us on socials That's at QLs. 1090 01:04:20,800 --> 01:04:24,000 Speaker 1: Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLs episodes, including The 1091 01:04:24,080 --> 01:04:29,760 Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme shows and our podcast archives. Quest Love 1092 01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:31,880 Speaker 1: Show is a production of iHeartRadio.