Speaker 1: Off the Record is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to another bonus episode of Off the Record.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jordan Runtug. Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1: Over the course of these interviews, I've been lucky enough
Speaker 1: to speak with those who grew up with David Bowie,
Speaker 1: performed with David Bowie, recorded with David Bowie, as some
Speaker 1: who were even romantically involved with David. Now, finally, at
Speaker 1: long last, we're getting a fans perspective, but not just
Speaker 1: any fan. Now, I should say I don't believe in
Speaker 1: quantifying people's passion for their favorite musicians. I think we
Speaker 1: all love artists differently, and no one way is better
Speaker 1: than another. But if I did believe in the title
Speaker 1: of Bowie's number one fan, Patty Brett would pretty much
Speaker 1: be at the top of the list of contenders. I
Speaker 1: want you to take a mental journey with me for
Speaker 1: a moment. Imagine you're in high school and your all
Speaker 1: time favorite artist comes to your town and invites you
Speaker 1: into the studio to get your thoughts on their latest
Speaker 1: batch of songs. It seems like a fantasy, right, some
Speaker 1: sort of fan fiction, But that's exactly what happened to
Speaker 1: Patty back in August of four, she was part of
Speaker 1: a group of devoted teens who kept vigil outside of
Speaker 1: Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios for nearly two weeks. Bowie worked
Speaker 1: through the night at the Philly Soul Song Factory, exploring
Speaker 1: the bounds of funking R and B with a titanic
Speaker 1: team of musicians, including the incomparable Carlos Alamar, Robin Clark,
Speaker 1: and a young Luther Androws Rain or Shine. These kids
Speaker 1: waited on the hard cement in an alley just off
Speaker 1: a skid row holding court until Bowie left at dawn.
Speaker 1: Why well, just to be there. If you're a certain
Speaker 1: kind of fan, you get it. If not, there's nothing
Speaker 1: I can say that can explain it. Just trust me.
Speaker 1: David became friendly with these die hards who were there
Speaker 1: to welcome him each day and send them off. Each
Speaker 1: night he'd stopped the chat and hang out. Then one
Speaker 1: night he had a special thank you for their dedication,
Speaker 1: a private listening session for his album in Progress, which
Speaker 1: would become Young Americans. Had he was one of David's
Speaker 1: chosen few, the group he would come to dub the
Speaker 1: Sigma Kids. In the decades since her love for David
Speaker 1: has only grown since. Patty has shared her passion through
Speaker 1: the Philly Loves Bowie Week extravaganza, which she spearheads every
Speaker 1: January in her hometown. She's also the proprietor of Doobie's Bar,
Speaker 1: a Philly institution that's home to perhaps the greatest jukebox
Speaker 1: in the city of Brotherly Love. I have to say,
Speaker 1: after working on this season of Off the Record for
Speaker 1: the better part of a year, there are times when
Speaker 1: I get a little tired of all things star Man.
Speaker 1: But Patty's enthusiasm is absolutely contagious and completely reinvigorated me.
Speaker 1: Her story appeals to the daydreaming fan and all of us,
Speaker 1: because hey, this time the fantasy actually came true. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful of Patty for sharing her story. I hope
Speaker 1: you get as much joy from it as I did.
Speaker 1: The way that that you feel about about Bowie, I
Speaker 1: assume is how I feel about the Beatles. I have
Speaker 1: a piece of John Lennon's are a bit framed above
Speaker 1: my desk right now as we Yeah. I mean, it
Speaker 1: wasn't something I sought out, but once it was given
Speaker 1: to me, I thought, well, I have to, you know,
Speaker 1: treat this well, uh, so, I you know, even if
Speaker 1: it's it's not for Bowie specifically, I understand that level
Speaker 1: of passion and devotion. And I mean the Beatles are
Speaker 1: responsible for every creative impulse I've ever had, They're responsible
Speaker 1: for my entire career. They just mean, you know, so
Speaker 1: I I get that. So I I I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to talk to you about that somebody who feels that
Speaker 1: strongly about someone else too, And that That's really why
Speaker 1: I'm most thrilled to talk to you, is just I
Speaker 1: want that passion and I love that it makes it
Speaker 1: just makes me feel good. It makes me feel good
Speaker 1: to talk to people who are that passionate about something
Speaker 1: so beautiful. You know. It's it's so funny because so
Speaker 1: many people don't understand it. My girlfriend just she says,
Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone be as passionate about a singer
Speaker 1: as you are about him. You know, I discovered him
Speaker 1: when I was seventeen and I'm sixty five, so he's
Speaker 1: he's been my whole life. He's been there. How did
Speaker 1: this begin for you? What was your first experience with
Speaker 1: his music? What got your hook? It's such a funny story. Um,
Speaker 1: so I had heard space oddity I had heard changes.
Speaker 1: It didn't ring a bow for me. I knew of
Speaker 1: the songs connect them with David Bowie, That's just it.
Speaker 1: I didn't connect it with David Bowie. And unfortunately I
Speaker 1: can't really tell you who it was at the time
Speaker 1: that I did connect with, because quite honestly, prior to him,
Speaker 1: I just don't remember musically. I mean, I remember things
Speaker 1: that I liked growing up. I saw the Beatles on
Speaker 1: Ed Sullivan, you know, and I loved the Beatles um
Speaker 1: and I was lucky. My mom was nineteen when she
Speaker 1: had me, so we weren't that far apart each eyes,
Speaker 1: and she loved music. She gave me my love of music.
Speaker 1: When I was a little girl, we just listened to
Speaker 1: all kinds of things, show tunes, country music, R and
Speaker 1: B pop. So what happened was um, my senior year
Speaker 1: in high school, which was seventy two. I graduated in
Speaker 1: a class of a thousand, so parking on campus was
Speaker 1: at a premium. So they held a lottery every year
Speaker 1: and they would pick a hundred seniors that would get
Speaker 1: a parking space on the school property. And I want
Speaker 1: to spot, so of course everyone wanted to ride to
Speaker 1: and from school with me. Um I had so it
Speaker 1: was two. I had a sixty three Cadillact cityan Deville
Speaker 1: no no fuzzy dice. A lot of people in the
Speaker 1: trunk of the car when we would go to drive in.
Speaker 1: But oh my god, that car was I could fit
Speaker 1: ten ten of my friends in there and in the car. Yes. Um.
Speaker 1: So one day we were coming home from school and
Speaker 1: a song came on the radio and one of the
Speaker 1: people in the car screamed, put the windows up, don't
Speaker 1: let any of the sound out. And I said, what
Speaker 1: they said, it's David Bowie. It's like okay, So we
Speaker 1: put the windows up and it was Memory of a
Speaker 1: Free Festival. And by the end of the song. Uh,
Speaker 1: he had charmed me enough to look into him further. Um.
Speaker 1: And then I discovered Ziggy because it had just come out,
Speaker 1: so um that kind of did it. Ziki came out. Um.
Speaker 1: He came to the Tower for the Sinky tour in
Speaker 1: December seventy two. Uh. I saw that show and yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that was it for me. Wherever he was
Speaker 1: going when I was going. It's funny, I've been I've
Speaker 1: been watching a lot of the Wonder years lately, So
Speaker 1: my mind's been back in sort of seventies high schools.
Speaker 1: What did it mean to be a David Bowie fan
Speaker 1: at your school? Was? No, it was incredibly difficult. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was. So the majority of the kids that went
Speaker 1: to my school, we're all into the dead and it
Speaker 1: was you know, they had that flannel shirt, jeans and
Speaker 1: army jack at uniform. And I started wearing my grandmother's
Speaker 1: dresses from the forties and platforms and I handed my hair.
Speaker 1: So everybody at school called me a freak, which I
Speaker 1: were that title proudly. Was gonna say, yeah, yep, we're
Speaker 1: proudly because it was I was a Bowie freak and
Speaker 1: that meant something to me. So um. Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: got tortured in high school about it. There were a
Speaker 1: few other people in my school that liked Bowie. We
Speaker 1: sought each other out, especially after the show after he
Speaker 1: played at the Tower. We found each other very quickly.
Speaker 1: You know, he was so different from anything that I
Speaker 1: had encountered and that most people had encountered at that
Speaker 1: point that I loved not being in a group with
Speaker 1: everyone else. I loved being an outsider. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: what I was gonna ask you what he activated within you?
Speaker 1: Like what what? What? He what? What he brought to
Speaker 1: you and made you see within yourself. Well, I think
Speaker 1: you know, at at that age, it's still difficult being
Speaker 1: in high school. It's still you know, there's there are
Speaker 1: all those people that like to bully, and I think
Speaker 1: for me, because he was so willing to be so
Speaker 1: different that I said, I can do that too. I
Speaker 1: don't have to listen to everybody else. I don't have
Speaker 1: to be like everybody else. I can be my own person,
Speaker 1: and you know, I can like what I like. I
Speaker 1: don't have to like what everyone else likes. And that's
Speaker 1: when I discovered things like t Rex and the whole
Speaker 1: glam movement. Uh. Yeah, Well, it sounds like you had
Speaker 1: a really great community of of friends who who were
Speaker 1: into the same music that you were into, like like bo,
Speaker 1: I mean, how did you first find out that he
Speaker 1: was going to be recording in in in philiate Sigma.
Speaker 1: So he played seven shows at the Well. He was
Speaker 1: scheduled for seven shows at the Tower uh in July
Speaker 1: of seventy four for the Diamond Dogs tour. He wound
Speaker 1: up canceling the Saturday mattin A show because that's when
Speaker 1: the band found out that they were recording for David
Speaker 1: or I guess they found out the day before and
Speaker 1: we're arguing about the rate they were being paid on Saturday,
Speaker 1: so they had canceled the matinee show. But what happened
Speaker 1: is we would after the show was over. We knew
Speaker 1: where he was staying, because back then you could call
Speaker 1: hotels and say he is David Bowie there and they'd say, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, no not back then. Good publicity for that,
Speaker 1: yeah wow, yes, So we knew where he was staying.
Speaker 1: And actually he had stayed at the Bellevue when he
Speaker 1: was here in February seventy three, So he stayed at
Speaker 1: the Bellevue and we would leave the show Prive Street
Speaker 1: to the hotel and he would sit out on the
Speaker 1: steps and chat with us at night. So one of
Speaker 1: the nights that he was out there, he told us
Speaker 1: I'm going to be recording a new album here in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia in about a month at Sigma Sound Studio. Come
Speaker 1: look for me. Oh my gosh. So that explains everything.
Speaker 1: Is I was gonna ask you, like, why what made
Speaker 1: you want to like sit there? And then it's oh,
Speaker 1: of course, if if David Bowie says, come look for me.
Speaker 1: I would follow him wherever he was exactly. Yep, what
Speaker 1: did you the next month? For you? Like what how
Speaker 1: did you how did you function on the next month?
Speaker 1: Like like I'm serious, Like that's incredible. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: who who actually knows if he's really going to do this.
Speaker 1: But we started, you know, we're talking about August of
Speaker 1: seventy four. There are no cell phones, there's no internet. Um,
Speaker 1: there are us in our cars and our telephones at home.
Speaker 1: And we just started staking at the studio. And one
Speaker 1: night a friend of mine called me at home and
Speaker 1: said his car's outside, because we knew his car from
Speaker 1: seeing it at the Bellfield. Um. And so we went
Speaker 1: down that night and we didn't see him that night,
Speaker 1: and uh, we went back the next day, and I
Speaker 1: don't remember, unfortunately, it's just too many years ago. I
Speaker 1: don't remember if we caught him going into the studio
Speaker 1: or we caught him coming out. But um, the car
Speaker 1: was outside again. And if I was there and missed
Speaker 1: him going in, I can guarantee you I was not
Speaker 1: leaving until he came out. So and what what happened
Speaker 1: was when he was at Sigma the first night that
Speaker 1: we saw him, we followed him back to his hotel.
Speaker 1: We followed the car back to the hotel, and he
Speaker 1: was staying at the Berkeley Hotel this time. And Um,
Speaker 1: he would have this routine where he would come out
Speaker 1: of the hotel, usually ran four o'clock in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: chat with people that were waiting up because there were
Speaker 1: always people waiting for him. Uh, sign autographs, take photographs.
Speaker 1: He'd get in his car and he'd head to the studio.
Speaker 1: So the hotel was on Rittenhouse Square, just off of
Speaker 1: Walnut Street, and the studio was at twelve Street between
Speaker 1: Vine and Race, so it was I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: ten twelve blocks away. And uh, we would jump in
Speaker 1: our cars, run every red light to the studio, pull
Speaker 1: up outside. He'd pull up, we'd all be and there
Speaker 1: would be people waiting at the studio as well. We
Speaker 1: jump out of our cars, same routine, chat with everybody,
Speaker 1: sign autographs, UM, take photos, go into his studio. Then
Speaker 1: he would be in the studio for hours. He would
Speaker 1: usually come out, uh four in the morning, late three
Speaker 1: four five in the morning, and we would get in
Speaker 1: our cars, race back to the hotel and do the
Speaker 1: same thing. So that just happened every day. UM. And
Speaker 1: because that was happening, we were seeing the band go
Speaker 1: in and out, and we got to be friendly with
Speaker 1: Carlos and Robin and Luther UM and they by the
Speaker 1: end of then recording at Stigma, Carlos was taking Leslie's
Speaker 1: camera into the studio pictures of David while while he
Speaker 1: was recording. Carlos and Robin wouldn't invite us. They would
Speaker 1: have everything on cassette that they had laid down that night,
Speaker 1: and Carlos would always have a tape of it and say,
Speaker 1: come up to the room, we'll play you what we recorded.
Speaker 1: Oh my god at the Barclays. Yeah, So we'd go
Speaker 1: up to Carlos and Robin's room and sit around and
Speaker 1: listen to it, UM, and you know everything. None of
Speaker 1: it really made sense to us, because a lot of
Speaker 1: what he had UM, as far as I can recall,
Speaker 1: was him, you know, his his isolated guitar work, or
Speaker 1: Robin you know, or the backing vocals for the for
Speaker 1: the singers, UM, and you know, there'd be there would
Speaker 1: be other things in there, but I don't remember any
Speaker 1: of it specifically. And and so I think Carlos was
Speaker 1: the one that convinced David that he should let us
Speaker 1: up into the studio to listen to it. And Uh,
Speaker 1: the night that he told us about it, he went
Speaker 1: into the studio and he said, if you guys are
Speaker 1: out here when I come out, I have a surprise.
Speaker 1: I wasn't going anywhere. They sit here all night in
Speaker 1: the middle of a skid rowd no problem, right on
Speaker 1: the sidewalk. And when he came out, he said, we
Speaker 1: really appreciate everything that you've done. Because we were driving
Speaker 1: them places. We took his stewart, his bodyguard, We took
Speaker 1: him record shopping. Uh, we were running errands for them. So, UM,
Speaker 1: David said, you know, I really appreciate everything that you've done. Um,
Speaker 1: You've you've all been so supportive that I would like
Speaker 1: for you to come up into the studio and listen
Speaker 1: to what we've done because I'd like to get some feedback.
Speaker 1: You can't tell anybody, it's just the people that are
Speaker 1: right here right now, because you were keep it under
Speaker 1: your hat. No, there were I mean, there were there
Speaker 1: were loads of people that were there all the time.
Speaker 1: It's just you know, there were people that shifted in
Speaker 1: and out because they had jobs or you know, we
Speaker 1: were all really young. A lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: the people that were there had curfews, you know. So yes,
Speaker 1: So while I can't really say that any of the
Speaker 1: ones of us that got into the studio were any
Speaker 1: more dedicated or devoted than some of the ones that
Speaker 1: didn't get into the studio, but we just happened to
Speaker 1: be in the right place at the right time. So um,
Speaker 1: he let us know the day before, said it's going
Speaker 1: to be tomorrow. Um. And we so always coming and
Speaker 1: going at the studio, all these people, we're all dressed
Speaker 1: up this night and everybody's saying, why are you guys
Speaker 1: so dressed? I'm not lying. This was skid row, soup kitchens, wine,
Speaker 1: nos uh derrelics, sleeping on the street. It was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not a place you would want your seventeen eighteen year
Speaker 1: old child hanging out at three o'clock. More m I uh,
Speaker 1: I have to send you a picture. I'm actually surprised
Speaker 1: you haven't ever seen it. It's such a great photograph.
Speaker 1: So he hired a photographer to document it. Um. Her
Speaker 1: name is Dagmar and she is the one who did
Speaker 1: the cover for David Live. Yeah, so she was at
Speaker 1: the studio she took photographs outside before we got in. Um.
Speaker 1: But the thing was, there were all these people there
Speaker 1: that night, um, because that's how it always went, and
Speaker 1: we had to get rid of them because he said
Speaker 1: it was just us. So you know, we just hope. Ah,
Speaker 1: we just felt like getting dressed up tonight. You know.
Speaker 1: You know he's not coming out until probably five o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning. There's no point in you sitting here
Speaker 1: and waiting. You should all go home. We got them
Speaker 1: all to leave. There were there might have been one
Speaker 1: or two that got in that that just happened to
Speaker 1: not leave and got in. Um exactly. But um, yep.
Speaker 1: So uh. It started to ring a little bit, and
Speaker 1: he had Coco let us into the lobby of the
Speaker 1: studio so we wouldn't get wet, because he always would
Speaker 1: make sure we had food, we had a way home.
Speaker 1: You know, does anybody need money to get home? He
Speaker 1: was yes, Um. So he had Coco led us into
Speaker 1: the lobby and at some point, and I don't recall
Speaker 1: what time it was, somebody came downstairs and got us
Speaker 1: and took us upstairs and he was behind the glass
Speaker 1: and we went into the studio. When he spoke to
Speaker 1: us from behind the glass and said, everything's really raw.
Speaker 1: We just finished it. It It needs to be mixed, it
Speaker 1: needs this, it needs this, it needs this. But into
Speaker 1: it and let me know what you think. And with
Speaker 1: that he came out and sat down all the way
Speaker 1: in the back of the studio. I'll send you the
Speaker 1: pictures that I have. Um sat all the way in
Speaker 1: the back of the studio, chewing on his nails and
Speaker 1: rocking back and forth, and you know, watching everyone's reactions.
Speaker 1: And after it played the first time, one of the
Speaker 1: girls that was in the studio and he jumped up
Speaker 1: and screen play it again and he said really and
Speaker 1: everyone screens yes, and they played it again, and he
Speaker 1: got up and danced with everyone and chatted and we
Speaker 1: took pictures. And that's pretty much the story of Sigma.
Speaker 1: I'm getting genuinely emotional and choked up hearing this because
Speaker 1: I I putting this in my own context for the
Speaker 1: Beatles or something like. I I just I can't imagine
Speaker 1: what that, what that must have felt like, what that
Speaker 1: must have been like, what that must have done for
Speaker 1: you at any especially at that age and such a
Speaker 1: formative age. Mean, what how did you how did you
Speaker 1: leave that day, Like what was what did you do
Speaker 1: immediately after that? Like I can't even think of like
Speaker 1: like you must have been too excited to go to sleep.
Speaker 1: Have then he've been up all night? Uh? Probably, And honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't recall. Um. I had a job at the
Speaker 1: time I was UM. I was working at the courthouse
Speaker 1: and media the county seat in the county I lived
Speaker 1: in Um as a bookkeeper, So I don't I honestly
Speaker 1: don't recall if I went to work that day or not.
Speaker 1: But I know that we went back down to the
Speaker 1: hotel because they were leaving. We went back down to
Speaker 1: the hotel that afternoon to say goodbye to everybody. And
Speaker 1: you got to say goodbye to David too, Yeah, yep.
Speaker 1: And he took that he had Coco takedown all of
Speaker 1: us that were in the studio. He had her takedown
Speaker 1: everyone's name and address, and he said the next time
Speaker 1: he was in town, he would make sure that we
Speaker 1: got tickets for the show. And we, of course, you know,
Speaker 1: when tickets went on sale, we camped out because we
Speaker 1: had to be in the front. This would have been
Speaker 1: this would have been seventy four. Now he came back
Speaker 1: in November. It was the latter part of the Diamond
Speaker 1: Dogs tour that they called it the Philly Soul Tour,
Speaker 1: you know, or Philly Dogs. Yes, the theatrics were all gone. Um,
Speaker 1: he had Carlos in the band and Robin and Ava
Speaker 1: and Jeff McCormick were doing backup along with Diane Summler
Speaker 1: and oh god, Anthony Hinton and Luther and so what
Speaker 1: happened was loser the backup singers, pardon me, and the
Speaker 1: band opened the show on that portion of the tour
Speaker 1: and then David came out and then they just stayed
Speaker 1: on stage. But um, we camped out for the tickets.
Speaker 1: We got seats in the front. At that point, he
Speaker 1: had moved from the Tower Theater, which is about a
Speaker 1: thirty three venue, to the Spectrum, which was comparable to
Speaker 1: Medicine Square Garden. And I worked at the Tower. So
Speaker 1: when I worked at the Tower, I had just gotten
Speaker 1: that job. That was my dream job, working concerts. I
Speaker 1: was an usher in the theater and they called me up.
Speaker 1: We had camped out for the Diamond Dogs tickets and uh,
Speaker 1: they called me up and said, what Bowie shows can
Speaker 1: you work? I said, you can't work any Bowie shows
Speaker 1: that front row in the pit, and Peter, my boss, said,
Speaker 1: either work or you don't have a job here anymore.
Speaker 1: Everybody has to work these shows because they're sold out.
Speaker 1: And I got upset because I didn't want to lose
Speaker 1: that job, but I wasn't keeping on my front room. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and um, he said, you know, I'll call you a
Speaker 1: week before the show. Let me know what you want
Speaker 1: to do. And uh, I had my mom had a
Speaker 1: friend that was a nurse and she brought home stuff
Speaker 1: to put a cast on my leg. Oh my god. Yep.
Speaker 1: So I got out of work in the shows, but
Speaker 1: I had to go with that's amazing. Yeah, we do
Speaker 1: some silly things more dedicated to I was gonna say
Speaker 1: love makes you do foolish things as the song goes,
Speaker 1: uh huh yeah, yep, So I got to keep my
Speaker 1: job and I got my front rib pit seats. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I was gonna ask, I mean, back when
Speaker 1: when you were first hearing the music in Sigma and
Speaker 1: then also at the concert, what did you think of this?
Speaker 1: This change in direction, this sort of Philly soul influenced Bowie,
Speaker 1: A huge change from from Ziggy and a Laddin Saint
Speaker 1: and Diamond Dogs. What did you think of it? Um,
Speaker 1: We thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think there was anybody
Speaker 1: there that didn't love what we were hearing. And I
Speaker 1: think a big part of it is because because we
Speaker 1: were hearing it prior to being in the studio, you know,
Speaker 1: Carlos playing us tapes and we would There was an
Speaker 1: engineer on that album named Carl and there was a
Speaker 1: window up on the second floor in the behind the glass, um,
Speaker 1: and we used to convince carl to open the window
Speaker 1: up for us, so we'd stand outside and we'd we'd
Speaker 1: be able to hear it and it was Yeah. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think a big part of it too
Speaker 1: is growing up in Philly and and having the Philly
Speaker 1: sound be a part of our of who we all
Speaker 1: were as kids. Yours, Yeah, yep. And I know that
Speaker 1: a lot of the musicians from Stigma, that the session
Speaker 1: musicians and studio musicians didn't appreciate his wanting to come here.
Speaker 1: They felt like he was stealing their sound. And that's
Speaker 1: why there's only one person from MFS day UM that
Speaker 1: wound up playing on Young Americans. That was Larry Washington,
Speaker 1: and that's why he had to hire the band that
Speaker 1: he hired, and thank goodness for Carlos, because Carlos put
Speaker 1: everything to gather for him. Carlos was so instrumental in
Speaker 1: making young Americans happen. I know that David had an
Speaker 1: idea of what he wanted to do, but I really
Speaker 1: truly believe that if it weren't for car his association
Speaker 1: with Carlos, and him meeting Carlos, and then Carlos having
Speaker 1: Robin and Luther come down to Philly because they weren't
Speaker 1: supposed to be singing back up. Initially it was Carlos
Speaker 1: was coming to play guitar, and Robin came down because
Speaker 1: Robin's Carlos's wife and Luther's their best friends. They came
Speaker 1: down to sit in on the sessions, and you know,
Speaker 1: they're just in the studio the first day or two,
Speaker 1: singing things on their own, just sort of going with
Speaker 1: the music. David heard them, and the rest is pretty
Speaker 1: much history. You know. He he had Luther arranged so
Speaker 1: much of that, and if it weren't for Carlos, that
Speaker 1: wouldn't happen. I don't know what that album would be
Speaker 1: had it not been for Carlos. Oh, it's hard to
Speaker 1: imagine me without his guitar and without those backing vocals.
Speaker 1: It's just I love the footage from I think it
Speaker 1: was a cracked actor when when you could see them
Speaker 1: working out arrange it. I mean, it's just so injured
Speaker 1: Kate and so gorgeous. And then there are those tapes
Speaker 1: that UM. When Sigma closed down, they took all the
Speaker 1: tapes that they had in their possession, things that had
Speaker 1: been left find um and donated them to Drexling University,
Speaker 1: and uh, the guy that's in charge of those tapes,
Speaker 1: Toby say, see sorry, Toby c allows people. So one
Speaker 1: of the reals is Bowie at for Young Americans and uh,
Speaker 1: he allows people to go into Drexel and plays it
Speaker 1: for them. And not only does he have that one,
Speaker 1: he's got another tape that's actually really long. I want
Speaker 1: to say. It's over an hour of the backup singers
Speaker 1: working stuff out, with just them working things out and
Speaker 1: you can hear David giving them direction and then changing
Speaker 1: things and it's it's fascinating. Um. I was fortunate enough,
Speaker 1: I want to say, about two years ago to finally
Speaker 1: get in there because I've worked with Toby, because I
Speaker 1: started Philly Loves Bowie Week UM in two thousand and
Speaker 1: seventeen was our first run UM and uh we had
Speaker 1: Toby come out and play thing for people at some
Speaker 1: of our events. So and I kept saying, I'll get
Speaker 1: in there, I'll get in there, I'll get in there.
Speaker 1: And finally I got in there and it was it
Speaker 1: was well worth the way. It was very emotional. I mean,
Speaker 1: there were there were you know what happened with young
Speaker 1: Americans was he wound up with what he had. He
Speaker 1: came back in November for those shows at the Spectrum
Speaker 1: and he played two separate shows. When was the eighteen
Speaker 1: and one was I believe. So he was in town
Speaker 1: that time recording again at Sigma and that's when he
Speaker 1: recorded UM. The Bruce Springsteen songs. Sat in the city
Speaker 1: and growing up and Bruce came down from New York
Speaker 1: to the studio to meet with David and I was
Speaker 1: was the only person that knew who he was at
Speaker 1: the time. I loved Bruce Brant. I saw him for
Speaker 1: my eighteenth birthday Wow at this at this place that
Speaker 1: I told about the main point, this little coffee house
Speaker 1: about Yep, Wild Innocent in the East Street Shuffle had
Speaker 1: just come out. Yeah, so Bruce came down and um,
Speaker 1: it was in the studio while David was recording, and um,
Speaker 1: and then we all know what happened. Then David went
Speaker 1: and did whatever you know. Finished the tour, went up
Speaker 1: to New York, met up with John Lennon, recorded Fame
Speaker 1: Across the Universe, knocked off, Who Can I Be Now?
Speaker 1: And Um, It's Gonna be Me and uh And I've
Speaker 1: hated Fame ever since because I wanted those other songs
Speaker 1: to be. Yeah, it's it's kind of like how I
Speaker 1: feel about with pet Sounds with Sloop John b on
Speaker 1: there it was like edged on is it doesn't really
Speaker 1: fit with the rest of the album. It's the single,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't really Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've never and
Speaker 1: I liked the music in it, and I know Carlos
Speaker 1: was a big part of that, but boy, I do
Speaker 1: not like that song. Don't like it. I used to
Speaker 1: when he would perform it, I would turn my back
Speaker 1: to him to show m to show my disapproval. Not
Speaker 1: just remember we were at um Snug Harbor on Staten
Speaker 1: Island on the Marathon tour in I guess two thousand two,
Speaker 1: and my friend how he started doing Fame and I
Speaker 1: turned my back, and my friend Helen hit me and
Speaker 1: he said he's watching you. I said, good, yeah, Well
Speaker 1: this begs the question, how many times have you seen Bowie?
Speaker 1: I stopped counting once I got to a hundred shows,
Speaker 1: which was rose Land in September. UM, and then I
Speaker 1: saw him probably about fifty more times, so seemed roughly
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty. I know, I mean compared to
Speaker 1: United Stigma. It must be hard for anything else to compare.
Speaker 1: But is there one that shines through as your definitive
Speaker 1: Bowie live moment? Oh yeah, the first time I saw him.
Speaker 1: It always, always, always always will be that ziggy show,
Speaker 1: always my favorite show. Oh my god. Yeah. I just
Speaker 1: I sat and I unfortunately had horrible seats. I was
Speaker 1: in the upper balcony and uh, I just he had UM.
Speaker 1: He played three nights. I had tickets for the middle show,
Speaker 1: so they played Friday, Saturday, Sunday. UM. The night before
Speaker 1: he started his run there, Matta Hoopel played at the
Speaker 1: Tower and he took a taxi from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia
Speaker 1: to introduce them because it was David Bowie Presents Motha
Speaker 1: Hoople and UM. He came out on stage and I
Speaker 1: was at the show, he came out on stage and
Speaker 1: introduced them, and then he came out and sang um
Speaker 1: all the young dudes and a stone song uh on
Speaker 1: Key Talk Woman maybe with them for the encore And
Speaker 1: so that was actually the real first time I ever
Speaker 1: saw but he was singing back up, so but yeah,
Speaker 1: he So I didn't have tickets. The show sold out immediately.
Speaker 1: I didn't have tickets the first night I went. The
Speaker 1: second night I tried to because I only lived three
Speaker 1: blocks away. Um. For the third show, I went down
Speaker 1: there and tried to get a ticket outside and couldn't,
Speaker 1: so I just stood outside the theater and listened. But
Speaker 1: you know, sitting in the upper balcony, he walked out
Speaker 1: on that stage. My jaw dropped, and I just sat
Speaker 1: in awe the whole rest of the show and probably
Speaker 1: cried a lot. I used to cry a lot when
Speaker 1: I saw him in the beginning name, I get it,
Speaker 1: I get it. Did you ever get to meet David
Speaker 1: again after those days at Sigma? Oh? Yeah, I saw
Speaker 1: him saw him through the years. Not anything private, but um,
Speaker 1: you know, we uh followed the station to station tour
Speaker 1: for twelve shows up along on the northeast cart but
Speaker 1: saw it Boston Garden. Um. Um, we went to in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: He actually we stayed at all the same hotels because
Speaker 1: Carlos would give us the r and Carlos, Carlos and
Speaker 1: Robin are such an amazing couple. But um, yeah, Carlos
Speaker 1: would give us the itinerary and we stayed at all
Speaker 1: the same hotels. So when we were in Buffalo, he
Speaker 1: actually came down to the hotel bar and sat with
Speaker 1: us for the night. Yeah. And you know, we'd see
Speaker 1: him places. Uh when he would play in Philadelphia, we
Speaker 1: would catch up with him at the bar. And then
Speaker 1: on the outside tour, Carlos was playing with Bowie again
Speaker 1: and we had gone up to her she which was
Speaker 1: I don't remember, several days ahead of Philadelphia, and we
Speaker 1: ran into Carlos after the show. Oh he he said,
Speaker 1: we're coming to Philadelphia day early. Get everyone together at
Speaker 1: your bar. We're gonna hang out. So yeah, so, um,
Speaker 1: Carlos came to do VS the night before the show,
Speaker 1: and everybody started complaining, David never talks to us anymore.
Speaker 1: We never see David blah bla because you know, things
Speaker 1: changed from the seventies. Once. Um, once John Lennon was murdered. Uh,
Speaker 1: his security got really tight. And you know it wasn't
Speaker 1: fans and devotees, Uh, following their I don't want to
Speaker 1: say idle, but following their their passion. Yes, um, but
Speaker 1: you know at that point it became stalking. And while
Speaker 1: I can guarantee if anybody ever tried to hurt him,
Speaker 1: we would have killed them. We would have killed them.
Speaker 1: That there ever was right, It's like no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: that's not happening. But yeah, he Uh, things got very different,
Speaker 1: and you know, he his career was took off and
Speaker 1: he was huge, and so in at my bar that night,
Speaker 1: Carlos said, all right, I'll tell you what. We have
Speaker 1: to go to Pittsburgh after the show tomorrow night, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to get you guys backstage passes and we'll
Speaker 1: have a little um reunion. And we got to the show,
Speaker 1: he said, you know who you know who deserves passes,
Speaker 1: So just make sure that everybody that deserves one can
Speaker 1: swe I went to the show the next night and
Speaker 1: Carlos Carlos had given us twenty backstage passes, and after
Speaker 1: the show was over, we went and waited at the
Speaker 1: backstage door and they said, you know, he wants to
Speaker 1: get changed, and it'll be a little while. You're just
Speaker 1: gonna have to wait here, Okay, fine, And uh, I
Speaker 1: don't know how long. It was forty five minutes. The
Speaker 1: door opens up and there's David standing at the backstage.
Speaker 1: Were greeting every greeting everybody and uh, shaking hands, kissing, hogging,
Speaker 1: and uh, we go, this is so funny. We got
Speaker 1: backstage and we're talking and he looked at everybody and
Speaker 1: there are people there with their kids, and he said,
Speaker 1: oh gosh, it's so great to see everybody. But you
Speaker 1: guys look old. And he runs his hands through his
Speaker 1: hair and he says, I look fabulous. He had this
Speaker 1: little tiny goatee, little tiny chin hair, not even a
Speaker 1: real goatee, and I rubbed it nice and I don't know,
Speaker 1: you're looking a little great at me. That. Uh. Well,
Speaker 1: we had a we did have a good laugh. And
Speaker 1: um we were back there his you know, his handler
Speaker 1: kept saying, come on, we have to go, come on,
Speaker 1: we have to go, and he kept saying, no, I'm
Speaker 1: not ready yet, No, no, no, And finally, um, finally
Speaker 1: he said, we really we have to get on the
Speaker 1: bus now. And David said okay, but not without pictures,
Speaker 1: and so we took a bunch of photos of all
Speaker 1: of us together and then off he went. So he
Speaker 1: went to Pittsburgh. I don't remember what was after that.
Speaker 1: I think they had a day off and then maybe
Speaker 1: another show somewhere, and then he was in Manassas at
Speaker 1: the Nissan Pavilion and we went to that show and
Speaker 1: Carlos gave us passes and we went bixt stage and
Speaker 1: he had died. He died that a little it's like, okay, fine,
Speaker 1: But I personally was very thankful that while we didn't
Speaker 1: have a close like, we didn't have any kind of
Speaker 1: a close relationship, he would recognize me places he I
Speaker 1: can guarantee you if he saw me, he would not say, oh,
Speaker 1: there's Patty um. But he always recognized us UM. And
Speaker 1: I'm very happy that it got to the point where
Speaker 1: I felt comfortable enough joking with him, you know. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that always. When I got to that point where where
Speaker 1: I just wasn't standing there awestruck, which is the first
Speaker 1: time I ever met him, I just I didn't even
Speaker 1: have to get words out of my mouth and seventy three,
Speaker 1: Uh you were great. Yeah, yeah, after the Aladdin scene shows.
Speaker 1: He you know, he dubbed us. He's the one that
Speaker 1: dubbed us the Sigma Kids, and uh you know he
Speaker 1: chose and he would look at in the audience and say,
Speaker 1: where are my Sigma kids. He's you know, oh there
Speaker 1: you are any point wave and ask us questions and yeah,
Speaker 1: but do you keep in touch with your your fellow
Speaker 1: Sigma kids. Um? I still talked to Marla and Leslie
Speaker 1: and Linda and Barbara, and that probably it. I see
Speaker 1: Lenny on very rare occasions to have passed away. Um,
Speaker 1: and there are a couple I have no idea where
Speaker 1: they are. Um, there were ten of us. No, but
Speaker 1: who I'm happy that we all keep in touch with
Speaker 1: is we still are in touch with Carlos and Robin.
Speaker 1: I think they just celebrated there. Yeah, they're fiftieth anniversary.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I'm around them, still they're in there.
Speaker 1: So they were married for whatever it was three years
Speaker 1: for maybe four when we met them, and they were
Speaker 1: so in love then and they're that much in love
Speaker 1: and more now. They just uh there there. It's such
Speaker 1: an inspiration to me to see them interact with one
Speaker 1: another because they they just they're amazing together, they really are.
Speaker 1: I'd love to see him play live. I've never had
Speaker 1: the pleasure his guitar playing always blew me away. I
Speaker 1: just I don't understand how one person can have that
Speaker 1: much of a groove. Yeah, he's very talented, he just
Speaker 1: and I think it's because the way he lives his life.
Speaker 1: He's just such a humble, wonderful, open accepting human being.
Speaker 1: Um And I think because of how he's lived his life,
Speaker 1: he's able to I don't even know words to use
Speaker 1: to describe him. He just he's an amazing human being.
Speaker 1: I'm so incredibly proud to call him my friend. There's
Speaker 1: a there's as somebody who just knows him through his
Speaker 1: his work and his inner use, there's a there's a
Speaker 1: gentleness and a stillness and a zenness to him that
Speaker 1: that really exactly like that just comes off of him
Speaker 1: and you feel that. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, he's He's a
Speaker 1: pretty special They both are. They're very very special people.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say the same about you. Oh my God,
Speaker 1: thank you for being this open and not only taking
Speaker 1: the time but just trusting me. And you know, I
Speaker 1: I because I know what that takes. I know how
Speaker 1: personal and special these figures are to us, which is
Speaker 1: part of the reason why I wanted to do this
Speaker 1: project in the first place. And I thank you for
Speaker 1: for trusting me and talking to me, and U was
Speaker 1: just being so generous in every way human can be generous.
Speaker 1: It's it's been such a joy. I was getting emotional
Speaker 1: at many many points while I was because it's just
Speaker 1: it makes me so happy that you had that experience
Speaker 1: and that and you appreciated it, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of it was like, yeah, cool,
Speaker 1: I met a rock star. Oh I met one of
Speaker 1: my favorite It's like it's no, no, no, no. It
Speaker 1: had such a profound effect on me. Just seeing him
Speaker 1: the first time had such a profound effect on me. Um, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just I mean, he he truly was my mentor.
Speaker 1: He and my mom were the two most important people
Speaker 1: in my life. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that he was always as gracious as
Speaker 1: he was because he didn't have to be, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of um people in his
Speaker 1: position aren't. And he was just never anything but wonderful
Speaker 1: to us. Off the record, is a production of I
Speaker 1: heart Radio. If you liked what you heard, please subscribe
Speaker 1: and leave us a review. For more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple pod, asked,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H