WEBVTT - Chris Frantz 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:15.480 Okay, a couple of questions. One, how's your health? Well, uh, 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:20.720 funny you should ask, because uh, yeah, I know you're 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:26.040 a person who takes health issues very seriously. And I'm 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:31.480 I'm going to give you an exclusive okay, because because 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:35.199 Gary Ker first told me a long time ago that 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.240 I should pay attention to Bob Letts sets. And um, 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:41.080 I think that was even back when you were on 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:46.920 the velvet rope in those days. Okay, but uh, over 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.720 the Memorial Day weekend, I had a heart attack. I 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:55.680 was um, I had been feeling this. The impression I 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.720 had was that I had really bad heartburn for a lot, 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.240 and it was coming and going for a couple of days, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.040 like it started on a Wednesday night and then Thursday 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.679 it was coming and going. And so I said, this 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.399 is really uncomfortable. I'm going to call the doctor, and 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:17.760 I set up an appointment for Friday morning. Very good 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:22.520 doctor said, this has all the earmarks of um an ulcer, 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.200 but you don't seem like the ulcer type. So let 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.240 me real quick take a blood test, will rush it 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:33.920 and we'll see what's really going on. So two hours, 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.720 he said, you go home, lie down. I'll call you 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.400 two hours later he called me. He said, Chris, you 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.840 gotta call get yourself to the hospital. It seems like 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:50.520 you might be having a heart attack. I thought, oh wow, 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.760 because my father, I'm I'm sixty nine. My father died 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.280 of a heart attack at age sixty seven. So I thought, oh, 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:03.240 I beat it. But oh, anyway, I went to bridge 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:09.119 you know Fairfield. I went to bridge Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:14.320 They were the cardioc cardiology team was waiting. They tested 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.240 me for COVID nineteen and make sure I didn't have that, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:22.160 and then they wheeled me right into It's not a 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.400 surgery room. It was like one of these micro uh 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.080 surgical things where they go in through your wrist and 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.120 look at everything on video monitors. Oh yeah, yeah, that's 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.240 the way they do it now. Yeah yeah. And I 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.840 mean there's just a little tiny dot on my wrist 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:42.440 where they went in and so they they found blockage 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:48.640 in my lower coronary artery and um, they cleared it 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:56.160 out and they put in three stints, and uh, three 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.840 days later, I was home resting up. But I gotta 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.600 tell you, I feel good and I'm very grateful to 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:12.720 the good people at Bridgeport Hospital. So what's the rehab well, uh, 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.920 changing to a more plant based diet. For one thing, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.800 I was a guy who I'm a bone vivant, you know. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.919 I like to I love to eat. But I've lost 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:29.320 seventeen pounds since that happened, maybe eighteen. I didn't weigh 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:34.359 myself yet today, and uh, I mean I was too heavy, 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:41.000 It's true. And um, I I probably liked meat uh 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.080 more often than I should have done. So anyway, I'm 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:49.680 gonna change my diet. I'm gonna relax, you know, let's 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.400 face it, I've got it made. I don't I don't 0:03:54.400 --> 0:04:00.400 need to like sweat, like new records or new anything 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.800 like new tours. They're not happening anyway. So I'm going 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.160 to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labors and 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.440 my life. And I was sort of doing that already, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.720 but now I'm really gonna do it now. Since your 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.440 father was sixty seven and he died of a heart attack, 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:23.520 had you been tracking this closely? Probably not as closely 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.800 as I should have. I was getting warnings, you know, 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.960 from blood work and stuff, and I but I don't 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:34.080 really like that anti cholesterol medicine, although I'm taking it now. 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.760 Which one are you? Which one? Are you taking pressed 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.160 door right that one? Yeah? And uh, you know, the 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.599 statins have their pros and cons. But my cardiologist is 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.159 a really good guy, and I'm gonna just follow his 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.279 advice and keep taking it until the numbers are such 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:58.400 that I can consider easing off. Are you taking the 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.760 ubiquinol with it? I don't. I don't think so. No. 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.720 Is that a supplement? Yeah, is supplement. It's supposed to 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.240 speak to the side effects. It's c It's not c 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.479 O two but without going to the other room looking 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.919 up and it's something like that. And uh, are you 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.719 having any side effects from the Crest store? Not too bad? 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:25.560 Actually none so far. I mean, I know, I know 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.480 the side effects can be one. One is depression, another 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:34.120 is memory loss. I really don't want that. Well, the 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.120 number one, I you know, I haven't had any issues 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:37.919 with that, but with some of the statins I have 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:43.000 had the leg pains, you get the muscle tightness, Yes, yes, 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:47.040 I've I've heard about that. I haven't had that, thank goodness. 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.680 But I didn't want to, you know, talk about health 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.360 the whole time. But since you started off with that question, 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:57.240 I thought I better Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.760 Bob Left Sets podcast. We started, as I say, we 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.000 got an update on Chris's health and he says that's 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:06.039 fine for everybody to hear, so we're gonna leave that 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.760 in and any event, my guest today is drummer for 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.760 Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. He has a new book, 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.360 Remain in Love. It's going to be in stores both 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.599 of the UK and the US on July one. Please 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:26.680 welcome Chris France. Chris okay, it's a great pleasure to 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:33.640 be here, Bob Okay. Now, Chris, why the book? Why now? Well, Uh, 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.320 I've been meaning to write the book for many years, 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.719 like a dozen years or so, and then a couple 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.960 of years ago I finally buckled down and said, you 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.320 better do this, you know, because you're not getting any younger, 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.600 and um, nobody's writing any good books about talking Heads. 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:57.000 So so I did it. I started about two years ago, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:03.279 and um, you know, my I feel like my story 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.680 is a delightful one and I feel like I was 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:13.000 very fortunate, and I feel like, well, I feel like 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:19.000 it's a memorable tale to have been in Talking Heads, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.239 to have been in Tom Tom Clement, to be married 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:27.200 now for forty three years, to Tina Weymouth. Look, I'm 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.040 a lucky guy, you know. Okay, one thing anybody who 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.320 reads the book will be stunned about is not only 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.840 is it comprehensive in terms of the timeline, the detail 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.360 is really incredible. Did you have any notes or did 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.800 you just remember all that? You know? Most of it 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:50.080 I remembered. But fortunately, you know, I I've been kicking 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.760 myself for a long time for not keeping a journal. 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.040 I knew during that time that I should be keeping 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:01.000 a journal, and I just didn't. But Tina fortunately had 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.960 these not a journal, but date books like you know, 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.680 like the calendar book date books you buy at the 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.840 Metropolitan Museum that has King Tutt on the cover. She 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.040 had one of those, and she she would write down 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:21.680 last night we played the Roundhouse, sold out, three encres, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:29.440 got paid. It's She also made notes of the hotels 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:35.280 and things like that, like bed was terrible, or shower 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.440 was too small, at things like that. So so I 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.800 was able to Tina. Tina loaned me her date books 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:48.080 from those those years I guess it was like from 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:54.800 from nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty, and they came 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.400 in very helpful because a lot of the information you 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:02.240 get on the internet is a tissue you have lies. Well, 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.320 that begs a question. Once you wrote it, I'm sure 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.800 you ran it by Tina. Did she remember things the 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:14.040 same way you had in most instances? Yes, although once 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:15.840 in a while she would say, oh no, no, it 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.959 wasn't like that. And uh she she has a the memory. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:25.840 It's very keen, you know. Okay, let's go back to 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.480 risdy Rhode Island School of Design. That's where you and 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:34.120 Tina went to college. According to the book, David dropped out? 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.640 Why go to risdie? Why go to Risdee? To begin with, well, 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:43.400 I was planning on having uh a life as a painter, 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.600 and I had been in bands when I was young, 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:54.280 a teenager. Um, and I loved being in bands, you know. 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:59.200 I started off in elementary school and then the Beatles 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.080 came out and everybody had little rock and roll bands. 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.120 And okay, well let's leve on a little bit there. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:08.640 So you were playing in bands before the Beatles. Yes, 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.600 actually I was. I was playing in No, I was 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:15.959 playing in my elementary school band before the Beatles. Okay, 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.920 let's let's cover something. So you're originally from where, well, 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.040 I'm originally from Kentucky. But during my formative years we 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:29.960 moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is where my father was from. 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.199 And he was going into a law practice, so we 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.080 moved back to where he had some connections. And um 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:43.080 so so elementary school, junior high, and part of high school. 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.000 Most of high school I was in Pittsburgh. Okay, now 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:51.120 Pittsburgh is very hip. Again, What do I know about Pittsburgh. 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.679 You know, there's the book Michael Chaban The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.880 which I recommend the darkest movie I've ever seen in 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.880 the theater Mrs soulfil in Pittsburgh. But when you were 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.240 growing up in Pittsburgh, was it a ship hole or 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:09.640 was it an unknown hip city? Um well, I couldn't 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.280 wait to get out of there. To be honest, I 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.920 knew that Pittsburgh was not going to be where I 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.160 was going to make my mark because I wanted to 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.040 be an artist, and I thought, God, Andy Warhol wanted 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.920 to be an artist. He was from Pittsburgh, but he 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.920 had to move to New York, you know. And uh, 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.280 don't get me wrong, I have a lot of good 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.880 friends still in Pittsburgh and fond memories of the place, 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.400 but I just knew as an artist it wasn't happening 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.400 for me. Okay, but you have to get out of there. 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.720 But you said, uh, so you went to prep school 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.720 for part of your high school. Yeah, I went to 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:56.320 a Shady Side Academy, which is a fine school in 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.959 in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. And so you still live 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.680 did home at the same time, or do you live there? 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.280 I lived at home. I was a day student and 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.720 that's where I started painting. I had a great studio 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.920 art teacher named David Miller. He went on to teach 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:19.160 at skid More. But anyway, he um he turned me 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.800 onto contemporary art, which was something I didn't know anything 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.360 about at the time. Like he turned me onto Jasper 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:32.760 John's Rauenberg, I knew about Warhol Ah, people like Ed 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:40.319 Keene Holtz and uh Klaus Oldenburg and uh of course 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.800 Willem de Cooning. You know. He turned me onto all 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.680 these artists, and I thought, Wow, this is what I 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:53.400 want to do, and that's why I went to Risdy. Okay. Uh, 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.720 those are all generally speaking abstract painters. Prior to this teacher, 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.840 Mr Miller, did you have an int Aushton art. Were 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.400 you did you draw? Did you paint anything like that? 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.960 I did draw. Uh. You know. I was born in 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.640 Kentucky and my my whole mother's side of the family 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.000 in Kentucky, So I I used to draw horses and 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:18.079 stuff like that or my grandfather, you know. And I 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.680 would draw on those shirt cardboards that you used to 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:26.760 get when your shirts were laundry laundered. I never really 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.400 thought of myself as being an artist at all until 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.840 I took that class called studio art in high school, 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.400 and all of a sudden, I thought, this is what 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.680 I want to do. Okay. So you said you were 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:46.160 in the elementary school band. Is that where you learned 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.600 how to play or did your parents give you lessons? Yeah? 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.440 I started off on the trumpet and it wasn't really 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.240 happening for me. I was trying, I was practicing, but 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:01.040 I wasn't getting anywhere. And I and uh, I had 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.760 a very good teacher. His name was Gene Wilmouth. He 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:09.360 was a mallet instrument guy, you know, marimba, vibra, frying, 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:15.520 xylophone and also piano and also drums. And he said, yeah, 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.880 I can see it's not really working out for you, 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:20.200 but you have a good sense of rhythm. What do 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.600 you what do you say we switch you over to drums? 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.480 And I said, cool, let's do it. And he gave 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:31.680 me the little rubber pad and the elementary book of rudiments, 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.600 and he gave me a couple of lessons, a little 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:40.280 private lessons, and next thing I knew, I was first 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:45.320 chair and the drum department. Now in the school band, 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.680 you're just playing the marching drum whatever they call that, right, 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.480 You're not playing a whole kid. Yeah. In the yeah, 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.600 there was no drum kit in the In the fall 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.240 and the spring, you would do marching and so that 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.640 would be a marching drum. In the winter months we 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.360 would have orchestra and I would I would hit a 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:12.880 snare drum or a triangle or a tambourine. One time 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.600 I played just the symbol, just the ride cymbal. And 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.360 so what what what happens when the Beatles arrived? So 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:25.880 the Beatles came and just basically changed everything overnight after 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:31.680 their Ed Sullivan appearance. And uh, I remember the day 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.200 after that, the girls on the School of Us were 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.640 singing Beatles songs in Unison and they knew all the 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:43.480 words and everything already and I thought, wow, So a 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.800 bunch of my friends and I who were in the 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.800 school band, just took the stuff to our garage and 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:55.840 started started playing. We didn't just play Beatles, we played 0:15:56.040 --> 0:16:03.360 like the Ventures and Dave Clark five and uh what else. Well, 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:07.880 we in my first band, which is called the Lost Chords, 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.400 we actually had a trumpeter and a trombone in the 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.600 band too, so we could play her Balford and the 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:20.200 Tiawana brass songs. It was really fun. Uh. We we 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:25.320 never really accomplished much other than having fun, but you know, 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.840 fun is the best thing to have anyway. So yeah, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.960 so like the Beatles song. Um, so did you ever 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.080 have bands that had gigs in high school? We had 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.800 one gig with the Lost Chords and that was at 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:48.440 the Presbyterian Church Youth fellowship Hall. Can you imagine a 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.640 straighter gig than that? And uh, it was really fun. 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.320 The kids went nuts and we had a great time. 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.240 But mostly we just rehearsed and either my garage or 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:06.720 my friends basement or you know, a lot of rehearsing, 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:12.920 so you go to Risdy at all times. Maybe in history, 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.320 being a fine artist is a challenging career. Did that 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:22.480 occur to you? Yes, it did. One thing they tell 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.919 you when you you go to art school is you 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.640 know there's no guarantees. Some people say you can't even 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:34.320 teach art at uh. Well, the fact is that some 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.560 people can and some people can't. But um Risdi was 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:44.680 not RISTI didn't have any like program that you could 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.560 enroll to get a job after after graduation. It was 0:17:49.640 --> 0:18:01.320 you're on your own now, good luck. Okay. You played 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.639 in bands in high school. It seems based on the 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.119 book that very soon after your arrival at Risdy, you 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:13.160 were interesting interested in forming a band. Yes. My second year. 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.160 The first year I didn't play any drums at all, 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:20.840 any music except you know, on my record player. But 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:26.199 um I was really missing it, and um so I 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.639 asked my dad if he would drive me up to 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.959 Rhode Island from Pittsburgh with my drum kit and he 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:38.640 said yes sure, So we brought the drum kid up 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.840 and and the first band I joined was in fact 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.960 a soul band, I mean a real soul band, and 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:52.680 UH called the Brotherhood. They were all from Boston, from Roxbury, Boston, 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.439 but one of them went to Risdy. The trumpet player, 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.480 and so he asked me what I what I play 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:04.080 with them? And and uh, we ended up again rehearsing 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.240 a lot. And I must admit I was the weak 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.760 link in that band because the rest of the guys 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:15.280 were Berkeley School of Music guys, you know. But eventually 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:20.080 I got it and um, I loved soul music. The 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.960 challenge for me was the slower tempos. You know. The 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:29.160 slow tempos are for me more difficult than any any 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.520 fast tempo. So it took me a while to get 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.000 to get it together with the brotherhood. We we we 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:40.479 did one show, which was the Ristey Spring Dance in 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.760 the what they called the Refectory, and it was very 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:51.160 great celebration, very celebratory, and the band sounded good and 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.760 uh and that was it. That was the last gig 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.679 with them. So you have your drum, kid, you're in 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.439 pro evidence. What's the next step. Well, the next step 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.119 I was just playing by myself a lot with records, 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:14.760 and uh, Tina, Tina Weymouth was kind enough to uh 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.320 let me keep my my drums, or to invite me 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.159 to keep my drums at her place, which was she 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:27.960 was living in a little carriage house near Brown University. 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.360 And it was right by the tennis courts, so nobody 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:37.400 complained about the noise, and um I practiced. I would 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.919 play along with the latest Marvin Gay record, or the 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.399 latest Brian Ferry record, or the latest you know, goats 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.440 Head Soup by the Rolling Stones or whatever. And I 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:54.399 would try to keep in shape doing that. But eventually, 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.720 one day a guy came to me, a friend said Chris, 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.320 I'm making this film. He was a film student. I'm 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.240 making a film about my girlfriend getting run over by 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:09.040 a car, and I need some really cacophonous music. Do 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:10.720 you think you could help me with that? And I 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:17.080 said sure, I'd be happy to and uh uh, I said, 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.359 bring your bring your nagare tape recorder over to Tina's 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.800 carriage house and we'll do it. And he said, okay, 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.159 I'm gonna bring another guy to who plays guitar, a 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.280 friend of mine who plays guitar. I said, great. So 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.040 he brings this guy over with his tape recorder and 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:41.120 he says, Chris, this is David Byrne. And um, so, 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:44.960 David and I sat down together and Mark's instructions where 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:50.239 I want this rising cacophony, you know, crescendo crescendo and 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:56.240 then diminuendo. So we said, okay, we can do that, 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.080 and I think we got it in the first take. 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.760 And I had been I had this dream about starting 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:07.440 another band at Risdey since the Brotherhood had kind of 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:12.119 gone to put and I had imagined, you know, David 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:16.400 Bowie had just come out and uh lou Reid who 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:19.840 had this hit with Walk on the wild Side, and 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.879 there was a lot of rejuvenated interest in the Velvet 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:28.679 underground by by art students I knew. I thought, hm, 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:32.800 we should start a sort of velvet underground ish band. 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:37.040 And I asked, Uh, I had this dream that we 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:42.680 could have a band that would entertain our friends. You know, no, no, uh, 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:47.800 higher aspirations than that. Really, we weren't thinking about records 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:52.840 or anything. And uh, I said to David, I'm thinking 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:55.360 about starting a band. Would you like to be part 0:22:55.400 --> 0:23:01.680 of that? And he said, yeah, I think so. And 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:07.200 uh so we started a band called the Artistics, and 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:13.000 uh we had loads of fun. And did you have 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:21.720 any gigs we did? Our biggest gig was the Rhode 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:26.320 Island School of Design Valentine's Day Ball and we played 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:33.119 that and uh that was very exciting for us. We 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:38.639 we played um that they had lowered the drinking age 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:41.520 to eighteen. So we had a bar at rizzi called 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:45.400 the tap Room and we played in the tap room. 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:50.359 We played a couple of private parties and uh, just 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:55.560 before we graduated, we played outside across from the Ristey 0:23:55.720 --> 0:24:00.320 Museum on Benefit Street in this little park on a 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:04.800 nice afternoon in May, and that was our final show. 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:09.560 And who was in the band at that point It 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:14.720 was David myself, a friend of mine from Kentucky named 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:19.680 David Anderson on guitar he's a painter now, and Hank 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:25.960 Staylor on base. Hank was running PS one in New 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:30.040 York um a while back, which is an art museum. 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:33.280 I'm not sure what he's doing now, but uh, and 0:24:33.320 --> 0:24:38.440 we and we would have guest appearances by one. One 0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:41.879 one of our friends named Tim Beal was a sacks player. 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:45.720 He would sit and sit in from time to time. 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:50.440 And we also had our friends Mark and Naomi who 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:53.879 there um they were a couple. In their song was 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.879 my Baby Must be a Magician, So so we would 0:24:57.960 --> 0:25:00.960 we would uh play my Baby Must be a Magician 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:05.240 and Mark and Naomi would sing it duet style. We 0:25:05.440 --> 0:25:08.880 we had a we had a ball and how often 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:14.359 would you rehearse? Oh, a couple three times a week, 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:17.560 so you were taking it seriously. Let's stay at wristy 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:22.000 for a second. How did you meet Tina? I met Tina. 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:26.159 She came. Well, she came riding down the street. I 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:29.000 was sitting on the grass in this little park and 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:33.560 I saw this beautiful girl coming my way on a bicycle, 0:25:34.119 --> 0:25:39.439 a yellow bicycle. Uh you know, old three speed style, 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:45.840 and uh she she rode past. She didn't look at 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:49.119 me or anything, didn't notice me. But I was sitting 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:54.280 with a male model at the school, like an artist 0:25:54.359 --> 0:25:58.280 model named Charlie. And Charlie said, I said, whoa Charlie. 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:02.600 Did you see her? Wow? And Charlie said, that's my 0:26:02.760 --> 0:26:08.440 friend Martina. Charlie called everybody his friend, you know, and 0:26:08.640 --> 0:26:14.000 uh so, uh, I thought I gotta meet her, and um. 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:18.720 The next day I had a figure painting class. It 0:26:18.880 --> 0:26:21.840 was it was the beginning of the school year. Had 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:25.680 a figure painting class taught by a guy named Richard Murkin, 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:30.119 whom you may know his work from The New Yorker 0:26:31.080 --> 0:26:35.440 or or other places. He was actually on the cover 0:26:35.680 --> 0:26:38.920 one of the heads on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts club 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:43.479 band fash and a hat because he was friends with 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:47.480 Peter Blake, good friends with Peter Blake. So anyway, he 0:26:47.760 --> 0:26:52.720 um Richard Merkin was teaching and uh, it was the 0:26:53.119 --> 0:26:55.480 first class of the year, and I looked over and 0:26:55.560 --> 0:26:59.280 there in the corner was Tina Weymouth setting up her 0:26:59.320 --> 0:27:04.280 easel and so that's where I met her. Now, how 0:27:04.320 --> 0:27:07.280 how deep into your career at Risdy, this is what year? 0:27:07.680 --> 0:27:12.399 This is my second year? She she transferred in from Barnard, 0:27:13.240 --> 0:27:16.400 so she was a new kid. Okay. Now, one thing 0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:20.080 that comes up in the book frequently is other men 0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:25.359 hitting on Tina. Okay, hey, how did that make you feel? 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:29.480 And be uh, why do you think or what's your 0:27:29.520 --> 0:27:31.720 insight into Tina that she stayed with you? I mean, 0:27:31.760 --> 0:27:34.760 obviously there are a lot of stories the opposite, if 0:27:34.800 --> 0:27:42.200 nothing else, Michelle Phillips and the Mamas and Papa's poor Michelle. Um. 0:27:42.320 --> 0:27:46.600 You know, Uh, I was always okay with these guys 0:27:46.680 --> 0:27:49.159 who who I could tell they were coming on to 0:27:49.280 --> 0:27:54.880 Tina because somehow I felt secure in my relationship with her, 0:27:55.560 --> 0:27:58.359 secure enough that I had I didn't have to be jealous. 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:03.040 I think they're I'd have been one or two times 0:28:03.160 --> 0:28:07.160 before we got married where I felt a little jealous 0:28:07.359 --> 0:28:11.080 of some guy or another. But once we were married, 0:28:11.160 --> 0:28:16.440 which was in ninety seven, I, uh, I felt confident 0:28:16.560 --> 0:28:22.800 that I didn't have to worry about such things. Okay, 0:28:22.960 --> 0:28:29.760 you graduate from Risdy what years at seventy three four? 0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:35.119 Then what's the plan? Then the plan is I went home. 0:28:35.280 --> 0:28:38.760 I I painted a mural. The plan was to move 0:28:38.840 --> 0:28:41.440 to New York. But I knew I had to have 0:28:41.480 --> 0:28:44.320 a little money in my pocket to move to New York. 0:28:45.040 --> 0:28:49.480