Speaker 1: I am all in again. Oh, i's you. I Smell
Speaker 1: pop Culture with Eastern Allen and I Heart Radio podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Easton Allen. I Smell pop Culture one of
Speaker 1: eleven productions iHeart Radio, iHeart Media, I Heart Podcasts. This
Speaker 1: is I Am all In. I Smell pop Culture. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned before, my name is Easton Allen. It's nice
Speaker 1: to meet you. If you're just joining us. Here's what
Speaker 1: we do here on this show. We love the pop
Speaker 1: culture references and Gilmore girls. We eat them up, we
Speaker 1: can't get enough. And because of that, we are going
Speaker 1: to explore these pop culture references. We're going deeper. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk to the people behind them. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk to the people there about We're going to
Speaker 1: talk to the artists, the magic meekers, the dream casters
Speaker 1: that create these pop culture moments, and learn more about
Speaker 1: and what makes a pop culture figure. This week, we're
Speaker 1: doing something really, really special. I am personally so excited
Speaker 1: about the guests we have this week. Every guest on
Speaker 1: this show is a dream come true for me, but
Speaker 1: this one in particular is a longtime idol of mine.
Speaker 1: So listen, a few rock lobsters. We're headed to our
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Speaker 1: All right, hey everybody, thanks for listening to those commercials.
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Speaker 1: table and I need to pay my mortgage, So thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening to those commercials and spending
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Speaker 1: is Easton Allen. This is the Ice Mal pop Culture
Speaker 1: podcast on I Am all In. You're listening to the
Speaker 1: right place. If you love Gilmore Girls, you are in
Speaker 1: the right spot. Thank you to Scott Patterson, our our
Speaker 1: fearless leader, for letting me do this. We're talking to
Speaker 1: a very exciting person today. So this individual that we're
Speaker 1: talking to is part of a band that has been
Speaker 1: referenced many times in Gomer Girls. But specifically, we're going
Speaker 1: to go back to a scene we've already explored. This
Speaker 1: is like a peanut, butter and jelly moment. We are
Speaker 1: double dipping here. On the Pop Culture Season one episode
Speaker 1: for The Deer Hunter, we explored this. When we interviewed
Speaker 1: Mario Lopez a few weeks ago, Rory and Loralai are
Speaker 1: Lukes are talking about Rory's first D. She's very embarrassed.
Speaker 1: Lorelei affirms that this d is less humiliating than admitting
Speaker 1: that she watched Save by the Bell. We talked about
Speaker 1: that already, But what really strikes me about this scene
Speaker 1: in particular is when Laura Lai enters Luke's diner. She
Speaker 1: is wearing a B fifty two's shirt, a shirt of
Speaker 1: the first album It's Sick as Hell. It's so cool.
Speaker 1: It really made me personally connect with Laura I so
Speaker 1: much more. I am a huge Bee fifty twos fan,
Speaker 1: just like Laura Lei. And they've been mentioned many times
Speaker 1: throughout Gilmour Girls. They've played the music, they have just
Speaker 1: referenced the B fifty two's, and today we are going
Speaker 1: to talk to one of the founding members from the
Speaker 1: B fifty two's, Kate Pearson. She's been in the band
Speaker 1: since nineteen seventy six. She's been with them the whole time.
Speaker 1: She's written all your favorite songs rock Lobster, Rome, Love Shack,
Speaker 1: so many more, and she has a solo album out
Speaker 1: called Radios and Rainbows. We'll talk all about that. And
Speaker 1: you know, even if you're not a B fifty two's fan,
Speaker 1: I guarantee you know her voice, you know her red hair,
Speaker 1: her unforgettable looks. So many B fifty two songs are
Speaker 1: just deep in the fabric of pop culture and we're
Speaker 1: going to get into all of it now. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk Gilmore Girls with her. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: about the Flintstones. We're talking about at all. And Kate
Speaker 1: Pearson is here and Kate, hi, thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2: I love your T shirt.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be weird, I promise. I am
Speaker 1: a very big fan. We're very excited to do this.
Speaker 1: My name's Easton. It's so nice to meet you.
Speaker 2: Nice meeting you. But I harkened back to that T
Speaker 2: shirt when we first went the only time the B
Speaker 2: fifty two's played in Japan, and we were worried about
Speaker 2: the name. Obviously, I thought, oh my god, we better
Speaker 2: change our name. So we thought about all these different names,
Speaker 2: including like Fellini's Children, the Attack Elephants, all these different names,
Speaker 2: and we decided, well, we just couldn't, you know, we
Speaker 2: had to stick with the B fifty twos and when
Speaker 2: we went there, the regular company sort of launched this campaign,
Speaker 2: you know, wigs not bombers. They totally got it. The
Speaker 2: kids got it.
Speaker 1: Kate Pearson is with us from the B fifty two.
Speaker 1: She's talking about my If you can't see this, you
Speaker 1: probably can't, but this is my I'm wearing a B
Speaker 1: fifty two's T shirt and it has a B fifty
Speaker 1: two bomber saying not this this, and it's got a
Speaker 1: beehive haircut. It's it's an awesome shirt. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for doing this. We're going to dive right in.
Speaker 1: I love that story. And actually I read is it
Speaker 1: true that the name be fifty twos came to Ricky
Speaker 1: Wilson like in a dream? Is that right?
Speaker 2: Actually it was Keith Strickland.
Speaker 1: Keith Strickland, that's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It was sort of awaking, you know, he was
Speaker 2: half awake and he was thinking. He was envisioning this,
Speaker 2: all these women with big beehive hairdoos playing organs, and
Speaker 2: someone whispered in his ear, you know who's that? And
Speaker 2: he heard this. It just came to him, that's the
Speaker 2: B fifty two's, And he suggested that name to the band,
Speaker 2: and we had lists and lists and lists of names,
Speaker 2: but that just just seemed right.
Speaker 1: I love reading the story of how the band started because,
Speaker 1: and please correct me if I have this right, you're
Speaker 1: sharing a flaming volcano drink at a restaurant and then
Speaker 1: you start jamming. You go to a jam session after that,
Speaker 1: and you just start jamming and then playing at these
Speaker 1: like parties. It seems like such an organic and like
Speaker 1: just a natural way for a band to start, right totally.
Speaker 2: I'm just sort of amazed, and I think back on
Speaker 2: it that no one said, hey, let's start a band
Speaker 2: like keyboard and you can play drums. It just started
Speaker 2: that night when we had there must have been something
Speaker 2: magic in that flaming volcano. But we couldn't afford food,
Speaker 2: so we just got the flaming volcano and it had
Speaker 2: six straws because there were six of us there, including
Speaker 2: our friend Owen Scott, who became a clinical psychologist because
Speaker 2: he joined the jam session. But it was his house
Speaker 2: and he had all these instruments. He was also a
Speaker 2: musician is still, so he had all these instruments. We
Speaker 2: started jamming. He was working on a paper upstairs, and
Speaker 2: then we just came up with a song called Killer
Speaker 2: Bees and it had a chorus that was basically buzz
Speaker 2: buzz buzz, and it was about the killer bees coming
Speaker 2: up from South America and so I don't think they've arrived.
Speaker 1: Yet, They're still coming.
Speaker 2: It was the Killer Wasp, so we still have to
Speaker 2: look out. But that was that sort of set the
Speaker 2: template for the rest of our the way we wrote
Speaker 2: collectively and jammed, because most of our songs are written
Speaker 2: by jamming, and that's why we come up with such
Speaker 2: off the wall kind of crazy stuff.
Speaker 1: You can hear that energy in the music. I love
Speaker 1: hearing that, Like that's how you're writing, you're just jamming
Speaker 1: and playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I had a lot of cassette tapeset of our jams,
Speaker 2: and it's just, you know, we talk a lot and
Speaker 2: then there's crazy jams and all kinds of and we
Speaker 2: would just sort of pick parts out and kind of
Speaker 2: collage them together. So that's kind of how we composed
Speaker 2: our songs, which weren't always just full of sort of
Speaker 2: non sequiturs. I guess.
Speaker 1: I have so many questions about about crafting those iconic hits.
Speaker 1: But there was a time about a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago I went. I stayed up like all night, and
Speaker 1: I watched every interview I could find that you guys
Speaker 1: did in like the late eighties and early nineties, like
Speaker 1: every TV interview, and it was so fun and the
Speaker 1: thing that suck out to me, Like I was watching
Speaker 1: you guys like on Our Senile and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and you everyone in the band treats each other with
Speaker 1: such respect and such love, and you can see that
Speaker 1: like no one's like fighting for attention. Uh, there's such
Speaker 1: real friendship and love there, and I just you don't
Speaker 1: see it a lot often with bands, And I just
Speaker 1: wanted to know, like, has that always just that love,
Speaker 1: that friendship has not always been there? Is that something
Speaker 1: important to you guys?
Speaker 2: Well, if that's how we started, we were friends first,
Speaker 2: and so we were part of a larger group in Athens, Georgia,
Speaker 2: you know, and we were wild and went crashed parties
Speaker 2: and danced wildly and loved to dance and listen to music,
Speaker 2: and we were all kind of experimenting with music. I
Speaker 2: had a band in high school and I wrote songs,
Speaker 2: and Keith and Rickey wrote together, and Cindy played with them,
Speaker 2: and Fred did his poems and jam with Keith, so
Speaker 2: we all had some interplay, but nothing very formal at all.
Speaker 2: And so I think that friendship really know kept us going.
Speaker 2: That's what we know each other so well. And yes
Speaker 2: there have been times when yeah, it's like, uh, who's
Speaker 2: who's in the middle, you know, I'm always on the
Speaker 2: end or something. But it's always worked out. We never
Speaker 2: really plan like what are we gonna wear? It always
Speaker 2: just comes together. It's just sort of magically, Oh, we're
Speaker 2: all wearing gold and we're still I think we're better
Speaker 2: in a better place now than we ever have been,
Speaker 2: you know, doing our Vegas residencies and some festivals and
Speaker 2: special shows. You know, we really enjoy getting together and
Speaker 2: sense of humor is what's kept us kind of just laughing.
Speaker 2: And Fred's always cracking jokes and we have a band
Speaker 2: thread where he's always sending crazy stuff.
Speaker 1: Uh that makes me so happy to hear as a fan,
Speaker 1: like your your music is so like you said, it's
Speaker 1: out there you Uh it was made through these like
Speaker 1: jam sessions when you had to go into the studio
Speaker 1: to start recording. How how was that process, because like
Speaker 1: recording a record that has to be very you know,
Speaker 1: red mention what you have to have a plane out
Speaker 1: what you're going to do. How is that transition?
Speaker 2: Well, the first record we did, we flew, we were
Speaker 2: it's kind of whirlwind we got. We were going from
Speaker 2: Athens to New York City and playing these clubs CBGB's
Speaker 2: and Hurrahs and of course Maxis Kansas City, and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden we got a record deal and we
Speaker 2: were flying to the Bahamas and being you know, produced
Speaker 2: by Chris Blackwell at this beautiful studio in the Bahamas,
Speaker 2: Compass Point, and we were thinking, oh that he's really
Speaker 2: going to make us sound really fuller and better. And
Speaker 2: Chris Blackwell put his feet up on the console and
Speaker 2: smoked a joint and said, you know, just play. And
Speaker 2: when we heard the record, well, you know, the final
Speaker 2: result was exactly how we sounded, because he wanted us
Speaker 2: to play everything we played, you know, live, and he
Speaker 2: wanted us to sound live. And that was a genius,
Speaker 2: genius decision that he made, because we thought, oh my god,
Speaker 2: we were disappointed we don't sound better, but it really
Speaker 2: captured are that just sparse kind of weirdness that we
Speaker 2: have and kind of a unique quality that only the
Speaker 2: BB fifty twos have. I think there's no band that
Speaker 2: sounds like us. He really captured that on the first album,
Speaker 2: and also the cover was very sort of captured the vibe.
Speaker 1: What a great way to be introduced to the world
Speaker 1: at large with that record. I just love it. It's
Speaker 1: got such great energy. Something else I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you about, especially like early in your career. I love
Speaker 1: that when I watched those old interviews, you are also
Speaker 1: outspoken about these causes that are important to you, like LGBTQ,
Speaker 1: plus equality, the right to choose, Like you're go on
Speaker 1: these like pretty big talk shows and talking about this
Speaker 1: stuff at a point where not a lot of people were.
Speaker 1: And I really admired that, and it really it made
Speaker 1: me emotional watch that. And was that challenging for you
Speaker 1: guys to be like that at that point?
Speaker 2: Because when we started we made a decision. You know,
Speaker 2: we were all pretty we were all aligned politically, and
Speaker 2: we didn't really want to hit people over the heads
Speaker 2: with politics. We wanted people to dance and have fun
Speaker 2: and party. But we put our messages in there. And
Speaker 2: even in the early songs like Private Idaho has it
Speaker 2: references anyway, All our songs have little references to political
Speaker 2: things or current events. But after Ricky died of AIDS
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty five, for a while we didn't say
Speaker 2: much because we didn't want to really, just to respect
Speaker 2: for his dad and his family. But and Cindy and
Speaker 2: was so devastated, and we didn't really say much. But
Speaker 2: then we became real activist when we started working again
Speaker 2: and we really felt like it was really important to
Speaker 2: speak out. The AIDS crisis was so devastating, so many
Speaker 2: friends lost, and so little attention paid to it by
Speaker 2: the government. It was really a real tragedy. And so
Speaker 2: you know, after that, we became really involved with PETA,
Speaker 2: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and we did
Speaker 2: a lot of really fun stuff with PETA. And it
Speaker 2: was always really fun working with with them because they
Speaker 2: always had some crazy event like raiding the Vogue offices
Speaker 2: or you know, they launched the rather go Naked than
Speaker 2: Wear fur. We didn't do that, but the Go Gos
Speaker 2: and all these great people were involved with them, and
Speaker 2: so we just carried on. I'm now involved with we're
Speaker 2: all involved with Save the Chimps. There's an amazing ship
Speaker 2: sanctuary and you know, any cause we can do. Really,
Speaker 2: we're not aligned with one particular cause, but you know,
Speaker 2: we just try to be there for whatever we can do.
Speaker 1: And that's I mean, that's something we all love about
Speaker 1: the B fifty two is is like, you know, you
Speaker 1: make this music that is so fun, makes you want
Speaker 1: to dance, but it also you have a message that
Speaker 1: you get across it. So it has everything.
Speaker 2: And in my solo record, I definitely have some more
Speaker 2: over political stuff and both my solo records, so trying
Speaker 2: to get it out there.
Speaker 1: Radios and Rainbows, which is out now, and we'll be
Speaker 1: talking about that in a bit. I really quickly want
Speaker 1: to touch on cosmic thing. What an album in eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight and you recorded that after losing Ricky. So
Speaker 1: you said that that that making that album was that
Speaker 1: it was a healing process for you. How did making
Speaker 1: that album kind of help you process that grief?
Speaker 2: Well, I think after a year of just grieving and
Speaker 2: not knowing what to do, and it really seemed like
Speaker 2: that would be the end of the band, it could be,
Speaker 2: it could have been. Yeah, Well, I lived Keith Strickland
Speaker 2: moved to Woodstock and I came with him to look
Speaker 2: for houses. I went up buying a little cabin so
Speaker 2: I lived across the pond from him, and I canoed
Speaker 2: over there one day and he said, I've written some
Speaker 2: music and I think, you know, I just feel like
Speaker 2: maybe this is good. Be fifty two's music. I listened
Speaker 2: to and it was like wow. And then he played
Speaker 2: it for the rest of the band and we were
Speaker 2: all got excited about getting back together. And it was
Speaker 2: very tentative at first, and we did a lot of talking,
Speaker 2: and we did it in New York City at a
Speaker 2: studio and it was just very healing. I just feel
Speaker 2: like a lot of the songs conjured Ricky's presence, and
Speaker 2: it was a lot about times, the innocent times in
Speaker 2: Athens before we started the band, when we used to
Speaker 2: go skinny dip in at you know, just take mushrooms
Speaker 2: and crash parties and stuff. And denbat Club is kind
Speaker 2: of full of really true stories and that just sort
Speaker 2: of came out in this jam and just so easy.
Speaker 2: All the lyrics kind of formed. So Yeah, a lot
Speaker 2: of it was just really feeling like, Wow, Ricky's almost
Speaker 2: here with us, guiding us in some way. Yeah, intig
Speaker 2: it's healing.
Speaker 1: It's so beautiful to hear stuff like that. Really, it
Speaker 1: really is I mean, I got to ask you about love.
Speaker 1: Love Shack is like one of the greatest songs of
Speaker 1: all time. How so the love Shack's a real place, right, No, well.
Speaker 2: Not technically, it's more of an ideal place. There was
Speaker 2: a place called the Hawaiian Holly in Athens, and the
Speaker 2: person that opened it was he attempted to make it
Speaker 2: an integrated club, and it was for a while, and
Speaker 2: it was a dance club. I think it was probably
Speaker 2: really cool, but that I don't think that lasted too long.
Speaker 2: But it's more of a like a I lived in.
Speaker 2: The house I lived in Athens was really to me
Speaker 2: like a love shack too. It was that kind of place.
Speaker 2: It was a tin roof which was rusted, a goat shed,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of out in the country, in the
Speaker 2: middle of a field. So it was like a juke
Speaker 2: joint sort of like in the color purple, kind of
Speaker 2: one of those places that's out in the country. And
Speaker 2: that was kind of the Hawaiian I guess was the inspiration.
Speaker 2: And that is a real place, but it's it's a
Speaker 2: little more idealized than that.
Speaker 1: I love it. Kate Pearson from the B fifty twos
Speaker 1: is with us. We have so much more to get into.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a very quick break here and we'll
Speaker 1: be right back. Stay with us. Kate Pearson from the
Speaker 1: B fifty twos with us on I smell pop culture.
Speaker 1: This is so much fun. I'm just I'm trying not
Speaker 1: to feign girls too hard here. Something I just I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you about. One of my favorite B
Speaker 1: fifty two moments in history. Is you when you were
Speaker 1: in the Flintstones movie as the BC fifty two's Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought that was so fun. I love the bedrock
Speaker 1: twists that you guys play in the movie. How did
Speaker 1: that happen? How did you get involved with the Flintstones?
Speaker 2: I think it was through well, we were working with
Speaker 2: Nile Rogers and Don was I'm not really even sure
Speaker 2: how that happened, but they asked us to be, you know,
Speaker 2: to do the theme and the bedrock twist and beat
Speaker 2: in the movie, and it was a blast. It was
Speaker 2: just crazy. It was. I guess I'm not remembering the
Speaker 2: year we did it because Cindy wasn't Cindy had left
Speaker 2: the band at that point after Cosmic Thing, so we
Speaker 2: were it was just Fred and Keith and me and
Speaker 2: it was so crazy. It was in this like a quarry.
Speaker 2: It was like a quarry in La and it was
Speaker 2: Rack Quarry and they had transformed it totally into Glenstonesville.
Speaker 2: You know, it's just amazing the detail. You don't even
Speaker 2: see it all in the movie, the signage and everything.
Speaker 2: And Fred and I got to go and with this
Speaker 2: little car so we moved with your feet. It was
Speaker 2: just it was really and the outfits and everything was
Speaker 2: just totally really fun.
Speaker 1: It all looks so good in the in the fur
Speaker 1: and everything in the you know, the pelts, the fake
Speaker 1: pelts of course fake fur. Yes, yes, yes, it looks
Speaker 1: so good. And also I just want to shout out
Speaker 1: you guys did the Rocos Modern Life theme song. That
Speaker 1: is so wild to me.
Speaker 2: That was with our friend pet Or when he used
Speaker 2: to play with the band for a long time, sort
Speaker 2: of keyboard player and guitar for the band.
Speaker 1: Awesome. I just learned that recently. That was, I mean
Speaker 1: like a couple of months ago. I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, it's the be fifty twos. Like that.
Speaker 2: He launched out after the band after he was with
Speaker 2: the B fifty twos. He has his own band and
Speaker 2: he also does a lot of work in television.
Speaker 1: I mean so much talent. I saw you guys on
Speaker 1: the tour with the Casey and the Sunshine Band, and
Speaker 1: that was so much fun. I had the best time.
Speaker 1: You had a lobster come out on stage. It's just
Speaker 1: such a blast that now you're doing a residency at
Speaker 1: the Venetian and there's there are more shows in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, April eleventh to the nineteen at the Venetian
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. How has the Vegas residency been? Are
Speaker 1: you having fun doing that?
Speaker 2: That's been really fun. I'm not wild to go to Vegas,
Speaker 2: and we played Vegas so many times. I think we've
Speaker 2: played at every hotel. I don't know. We've stayed at
Speaker 2: so many different hotels and played at so many different
Speaker 2: events in Vegas. None of us are gamblers, really, Yeah,
Speaker 2: spread plays the penny slots. But yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 2: The Venetian Theater is beautiful, it's a perfect size. The
Speaker 2: hotel's great, it's got great restaurants, and you just get
Speaker 2: a little rhythm going. We're not there for too long.
Speaker 2: It's just really a weak residency. We're there maybe twelve days,
Speaker 2: and you know, you try to get out out of
Speaker 2: the Strip area and go see a canyon or two.
Speaker 2: And we've made a couple of canyons, and yeah, it's
Speaker 2: been a really nice experience. And to stay in one
Speaker 2: place and do shows, it's just you can't beat it.
Speaker 2: It's something we've wanted to do for a long time
Speaker 2: and finally, you know, we have. We've done I think
Speaker 2: four or five and we're gonna do another one in April.
Speaker 2: So it's been really fun. And the fans, you know,
Speaker 2: there's friends that come and fans can come to us,
Speaker 2: and it's wonderful.
Speaker 1: It's so great. If you have a chance, let everyone listening,
Speaker 1: you got to go see the BA fifty two is
Speaker 1: there's just like a muss. That show is so much
Speaker 1: fun and that you are out on its solo tour yourself,
Speaker 1: and as people hear this, you're in the middle of
Speaker 1: your tour. You have a couple of dates left in
Speaker 1: Florida February twenty sixth and Clearwater the twenty seventh, in
Speaker 1: Orlando on the twentieth and fort Launderdale and your new
Speaker 1: album Radios and Rainbows so good. I love taking Me
Speaker 1: Back to the Party. I love that song so much.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah, that's that's fun. One.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Tell us about the about your solo album, this
Speaker 1: new album you released a few months ago.
Speaker 2: Well, I had the different songs from different periods of
Speaker 2: time that I recorded. One every day is Halloween. I
Speaker 2: recorded with Sea and Sam Dixon back when we did
Speaker 2: my first solo record. That was the first we worked on.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I didn't put it on guitars
Speaker 2: and microphones, but it wound up on radios and rainbows
Speaker 2: and I had to kind of pull all these songs
Speaker 2: from different co writers and it was a little bit
Speaker 2: of a process getting everything together. But the bfifty twos,
Speaker 2: then I was ready to get it all together and
Speaker 2: I had it together. But we did our solo I
Speaker 2: mean our final the farewell so called farewell tour I
Speaker 2: like to call it, but we did stop touring. But
Speaker 2: so we did our farewell tour. And then was the
Speaker 2: pandemic pandemic happened, and or was it the pandemic first?
Speaker 2: I can't even remember, because the pandemic is when I
Speaker 2: started watching Gilmore Girls. But anyway, it was a lot
Speaker 2: of work that with the Beefy two's, I didn't want
Speaker 2: to release it during the pandemic. So it's a lot
Speaker 2: of time passed, but I'm already working on another record.
Speaker 2: I have songs and I'm writing, and so I'm hoping
Speaker 2: to put out another one much sooner than the lapse
Speaker 2: between the other two records.
Speaker 1: So I love it. I absolutely love it. How would
Speaker 1: you describe if you had to sum up the music
Speaker 1: of Radios and Rimas, how would you summarize that project?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's like alt pop. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: definitely got a pop feel, but it's definitely has a
Speaker 2: twist to it, and I have some songs that are political,
Speaker 2: and because I worked with different co writers, there's a
Speaker 2: there is a lot of variation in the kind of
Speaker 2: mood and there's like a dance track and you know,
Speaker 2: sort of an anthem kind of songs and then funky
Speaker 2: songs and a dub sort of song. So there's a
Speaker 2: lot of variation, which I love and I've always admired,
Speaker 2: you know, just being able to put any artists who
Speaker 2: can put together like really different tracks. It's not samey
Speaker 2: at all, and so I describe it as eclectic.
Speaker 1: I love it. Was that writing with so many with
Speaker 1: different co writers, was that difficult or to like get
Speaker 1: into a groove with each different person or was it exciting?
Speaker 1: How would you describe that?
Speaker 2: Well, at first that when I did guitars and microphones
Speaker 2: and I worked with Sea, and at first we would
Speaker 2: drive to different most people she had worked with before,
Speaker 2: Chris Braid and just some different people I didn't know,
Speaker 2: and we would drive there and it was like, oh
Speaker 2: my god, this is terrifying. And then she started really
Speaker 2: blowing up her career and I started going by myself
Speaker 2: to these different co writers and it was magical. It
Speaker 2: worked every time. It was so much fun, and it
Speaker 2: just sort of happened like they would always do the instrumentation.
Speaker 2: The few exceptions of a Bloo McCaulay who wrote Evil Love,
Speaker 2: he had suggestions of melody and a couple of things,
Speaker 2: but it was just working with him was great. And
Speaker 2: it's so surprising when you work with someone new. You
Speaker 2: don't know where they're coming from, and it just the
Speaker 2: way the songwriting kind of it's a surprise and that's
Speaker 2: really fun and you really have to put yourself out there.
Speaker 2: It's a little scary, but it always worked. Knock one would,
Speaker 2: so you know, if it didn't work, that's okay. But
Speaker 2: it did always work, and I always clicked with you know,
Speaker 2: I just love working with other musicians and collaborating is
Speaker 2: really my thing, and I love doing the melody and harmonies,
Speaker 2: and so it was a really fun process. And now
Speaker 2: I'm writing some songs that are just just me writing
Speaker 2: on guitar and piano. So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: Well, I can't wait to hear that. I cannot wait.
Speaker 1: The harmonies of Kate Pearson are just like gifts from Keaven.
Speaker 1: You know, I love it so much. So we're going
Speaker 1: to talk Gilmore Girls here in a second. And that's why,
Speaker 1: that's why one's here. We all love Gilmore Girls. You
Speaker 1: kind of ran your you ran your own Dragonfly into
Speaker 1: a certain extent. I mean, you had a bunch of motels.
Speaker 1: That's something that I loved learning about you. Kate's Lazy Cottage,
Speaker 1: Kate's Lazy Cape. Can you tell us about your experience
Speaker 1: as a motel mogul a mogul hotel?
Speaker 2: Yes, no, well I don't really. It's another unplanned thing.
Speaker 2: I was just driving down the road here in Catskills
Speaker 2: and I saw this airstream for sale, and then I
Speaker 2: saw this for sale sign on this property that was
Speaker 2: on this beautiful Ahsopus Creek, and I walked just drove
Speaker 2: in and walked around, and I saw these goldfinches flying
Speaker 2: around by the river, and I was just captivated by
Speaker 2: the land. And I thought, wouldn't it be fun to,
Speaker 2: you know, decorate all these rooms and have a theme,
Speaker 2: and it wouldn't it be great? And my wife Monica
Speaker 2: wound up in a knee deep and well up to
Speaker 2: her neck and getting helping me get it all started.
Speaker 2: And everything in the rooms I bought either on the
Speaker 2: road or locally. It was all filled with like high low,
Speaker 2: mid century modern. And this lazy meadow was built in
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty two, so we themed it mid century. And
Speaker 2: Monica really ran it. She just ran the whole thing.
Speaker 2: And I would go there and sort of primp up
Speaker 2: the deck de core stuff. But she was really the
Speaker 2: force that made it happen. But after years and years
Speaker 2: of we've had it since what two thousand, I mean
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety, I can't remember when we opened it, but
Speaker 2: a long time, and she was really just tired of
Speaker 2: doing that wasn't her dream. She really does pottery and jewelry.
Speaker 2: She makes jewelry beautiful, jewelry and pottery. So we did
Speaker 2: sell that recently, and we sold Lazy Desert, which so
Speaker 2: we had airstreams. We had six air streams by the
Speaker 2: creek and we had a flood and we moved those
Speaker 2: out to calif Foornian had Lazy Desert and we had
Speaker 2: Lazy Cabin and Lazy Shack and Lazy Lodge. But now
Speaker 2: all we have is a place on Cape Cod, which
Speaker 2: we're thrilled to have.
Speaker 1: So well, if you ever find yourself and keep Cod
Speaker 1: dear listeners, check in to Kate's place and have yourself
Speaker 1: a good times.
Speaker 2: Just one house.
Speaker 1: It's okay, okay, uh well, I gotta go check it out.
Speaker 2: So fun while it lasted, it was really fun having
Speaker 2: Lazy Meadow and people were so thrilled to stay there,
Speaker 2: and I would go there and meet fans that were
Speaker 2: staying there. We had all kinds of famous people there.
Speaker 2: Didavantie stayed there and oh it was amazing. But that
Speaker 2: era is over.
Speaker 1: Incredible, but like it just it was one of those
Speaker 1: things like, oh, of course Cape Hers from the B
Speaker 1: fifty twos is running this kitchy cool motel. Of course
Speaker 1: that is happening, you know, So fun, so awesome. All right,
Speaker 1: Gilmore Girls, you're a fan? Yes, you said you started
Speaker 1: watching it during the pandemic. Was that the first time
Speaker 1: you'd seen the show?
Speaker 2: Yes, I saw it was all rerun so we could
Speaker 2: majorly binge. Yeah, and I got it mixed up with
Speaker 2: the Gibson I thought it was Gibson Girls, and I
Speaker 2: thought it was about you know, those girls with the hair,
Speaker 2: and it was Victorian or whatever, and I thought, why
Speaker 2: would I want to watch that. I thought it was
Speaker 2: just something totally different, and enough people recommended it that
Speaker 2: we started watching it. We got so into it. I mean,
Speaker 2: we just wanted to live in stars Hollow during the pandemic.
Speaker 2: It was such a comforting thing. And you know, sometimes
Speaker 2: you watch a show and you feel like they're my friends. Yes,
Speaker 2: Rory and Laura I and I love the banter and
Speaker 2: Amy Sherman Palladino, the the creator, just an amazing reportee.
Speaker 2: They had, you know, just that bad of four fast
Speaker 2: and I'm a big fan of the marvelous missus maisl Yes,
Speaker 2: So during the pandemic, we totally binge watched Gilmore Girls,
Speaker 2: and we loved it, and we were just blown away
Speaker 2: when they were wearing the beeft two's T shirts and
Speaker 2: then they started making references and then they played our music.
Speaker 2: They played Rome and I can't remember what other songs
Speaker 2: they played, but they even had some dialogue like do
Speaker 2: you know the Bee fifty two's and so it was
Speaker 2: Blew Me Away, one of my favorite shows, and then
Speaker 2: they're mentioning us.
Speaker 1: It was just like, yeah, I mean, clearly a'm Sherm
Speaker 1: Paladine is a big fan. But I was going to ask,
Speaker 1: had you before seeing it, like on seeing the shirt
Speaker 1: on screen or hearing it, had you heard that you
Speaker 1: were mentioned in Gilmore Girls.
Speaker 2: No, we were just watching it and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: and I know they mentioned the Go Gos and you know,
Speaker 2: they had to really hip kind of playlist on that show,
Speaker 2: so I guess it was inevitable. But they really did
Speaker 2: mention the be fifty twos a lot. And when they
Speaker 2: wore the T shirts, I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: I saw there was a post on a on the
Speaker 1: Internet of a fan is trying to recreate the exact
Speaker 1: shirt that Laurai's wearing, because I don't know if that
Speaker 1: was like a limited shirt or something, but like it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's like Yellow and has a.
Speaker 2: I think it was from the first album. I think
Speaker 2: the first album cover on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but sail on our website. Heybefitchy tes dot
Speaker 1: com check it out. So, so who's your favorite? Do
Speaker 1: you have a favorite? Gilmorgl's character.
Speaker 2: I liked well, I like all of them. I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess you know, you gotta love Lorli. I mean,
Speaker 2: I just loved all of them. Luke was great. I
Speaker 2: loved Emily Gilmore. That was always great when they went
Speaker 2: to the Posh House behave her Self. I love that
Speaker 2: dynamic with her mother and Sookie. Was it, Yes, that
Speaker 2: was Melissa McCarthy. Yeah, that was pretty amazing. Yeah, I think,
Speaker 2: you know, I just loved Rory and Laura l I.
Speaker 2: I mean, they were the mainstay of the show, and
Speaker 2: I love that the sort of sameness of it where
Speaker 2: they always went to hung out at Luke's diner. It
Speaker 2: was just something very comforting and they were always hanging out.
Speaker 2: There was kind of like friends, I guess, where they
Speaker 2: were always hanging together and the quick kind of dialogue
Speaker 2: was really captivating and fun, and it just was a
Speaker 2: very I don't know. We just stuck with it through
Speaker 2: every we couldn't believe there were so many seasons that
Speaker 2: we could bid. We're just like so happy about it.
Speaker 1: What's your reaction when you like hear the V fifty
Speaker 1: two is mentioned? I mean, this must happen all the time,
Speaker 1: Like if you're watching a movie or TV share something
Speaker 1: and you see someone either wearing a shirt or hear
Speaker 1: the ment or hear the song, Like, how does that feel?
Speaker 2: It's kind of like when we first you know, started
Speaker 2: and you first hear your song on the radio, and
Speaker 2: it's like we were in a car and we heard
Speaker 2: rock Lobster being played on the radio and we screamed.
Speaker 2: We're like, oh my god. It's kind of like that.
Speaker 2: You see something in a movie where they have a
Speaker 2: beef just poster, or they play Rome in the beginning
Speaker 2: of what was the Denzil Washington movie that they just
Speaker 2: played Rome in the beginning of it. It's oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: is there there's a movie knocked up? Right?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, they played rock Lobster like during the sex scene
Speaker 2: for just the longest time, and that was really awesome scene,
Speaker 2: you know, with the bffty two is playing with rock
Speaker 2: Lobster playing so so appropriate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's so cool, something that like blew my
Speaker 1: mind that I read. And speaking of like your influence
Speaker 1: on popular culture, I mean John Lennon, big fan of
Speaker 1: yours and rock Lobster, is specifically influencing his album Double Fantasy.
Speaker 1: That must you influenced a Beatle. That's incredible.
Speaker 2: I mean the Beatles were my absolute idols growing up,
Speaker 2: and I had a big button that said I Love John.
Speaker 2: It was a lenticular, it had his face, and then
Speaker 2: it was I Love John. And my friends that we
Speaker 2: had a band together called the Sun Donuts, and we
Speaker 2: were all huge Beatle fans, and I first heard them
Speaker 2: on the radio before they even came over here, and
Speaker 2: I told my friends, oh my god, this band is coming.
Speaker 2: I love them. It's going to be great. So to
Speaker 2: hear John Lennon actually just the fact that he just
Speaker 2: knew of us, but the fact that we influenced him
Speaker 2: and Yoko because we were big Yogo fans. Yeah, twos
Speaker 2: were really into Yoko so as an artist, as an
Speaker 2: amazing artist that she is, and also as a musician.
Speaker 2: So we were like, oh my god, this is just
Speaker 2: the most amazing thing. It was thrilling, unbelievable. Really, I
Speaker 2: still can't believe it.
Speaker 1: It's just yeah, that's it's it's like, I don't I
Speaker 1: can't think of like a higher accolade than that, you know,
Speaker 1: like it's incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like I said, it's just hard to even realize.
Speaker 2: I really wish I had met John Lennon, and I
Speaker 2: had met Yoko of course, and I've I met Paul
Speaker 2: McCartney and I met Ringo once too.
Speaker 1: So wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But Paul McCartney is bearing fall with Peter. So we
Speaker 2: got to sort of open for Paul McCartney one time
Speaker 2: and he we got to talk to him, and he
Speaker 2: was so nice and so easy going. And I looked
Speaker 2: behind me and realized there was this barrier and all
Speaker 2: these people were like this and we were just sitting there.
Speaker 1: Chat so surreal. That's wild, that's so cool. Uh. Do
Speaker 1: you have this is this is a hard question, I
Speaker 1: I know, but do you have like is there one
Speaker 1: memory from your experience in the B fifty two's that
Speaker 1: stands out to you, like like like something that like
Speaker 1: when you look back on the time of the band,
Speaker 1: something that always comes to the forefront of your mind.
Speaker 2: Oh, all, it's all rushing back at me. I think
Speaker 2: some of the well, I guess the very early, you know,
Speaker 2: first show of course that we did at Maxis Kansas City,
Speaker 2: that was just unforgettable because there were only a few
Speaker 2: people in the audience. We got people dancing and that
Speaker 2: wasn't really the thing. It was black clad, you know,
Speaker 2: people in the leather jackets leaning against the walls and
Speaker 2: being kind of like very critical, and people started dancing
Speaker 2: because we brought a crew up from Athens. Of course,
Speaker 2: that started the party going. And that's super memorable. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just a punk scene. And we brought our friends
Speaker 2: up and one of our friends like had a fight
Speaker 2: with Lydia lunch because they said she stole their purse.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was just it was a just fun
Speaker 2: scene and meeting all these other bands, meeting Patty Smith
Speaker 2: and Blondie and Talking Heads, and it was just an
Speaker 2: amazing scene. And I just that's so memorable when you
Speaker 2: first start out and you're just you know, new to something.
Speaker 2: And then I think all the festivals that we did,
Speaker 2: the US Festival and Rock and Rio, those were really memorable.
Speaker 1: Rock and real huge, I mean, and yeah, and you
Speaker 1: guys up on the big stage. It's just incredible. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. You've been so generous with your time,
Speaker 1: Kate Pearson, I am so grateful for you to come
Speaker 1: on with us and talk Gilmore Girls and talk about
Speaker 1: your your incredible career. I'm just I'm such a big fan.
Speaker 1: I also I brought my Bee fifty two's hat. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to be like super weird, but I do
Speaker 1: have a roll UPSTRA had to. I just personally as
Speaker 1: a fan. I just want to thank you so much
Speaker 1: for sharing music with the world and putting all that
Speaker 1: great energy out there and these great messages, and we
Speaker 1: just are so grateful worldwide for you and what you've made.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It was great talking to you,
Speaker 2: really fun. I love talking gil More Girls.
Speaker 1: Well, Bill, come back anytime again. Kate Peterson from the
Speaker 1: B fifty two is Her new album, Radios and Rainbows
Speaker 1: is out now and you can see her on tour
Speaker 1: in Florida in February. Thanks again so much. Follow us, Yes,
Speaker 1: I'll see it starts Hello, Hey everybody, and don't forget
Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at I Am All In podcast
Speaker 1: and email us at Gilmore at iHeart radio dot com.