WEBVTT - The Rascals' Felix Cavaliere Really Sings 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.680 I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:29.600 from my Heart Radio. It's the Beautiful. Just back in 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.600 the early days of rock and roll, men and women 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:37.479 wrote songs, played instruments and sang vocals, supported only by 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:42.400 recording technology that is primitive compared to today. In other words, 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.960 you actually had to have talent. My guest today is 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.000 one of those legendary earlier rock and rollers, Felix Cavalieri 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:56.680 of the Rascals. That's Felix singing and playing his Hammond 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:02.360 B three organ on this track. The Rascals Felix, Eddie Brigatti, 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:07.560 Dino Danelli and Gene Cornish formed in nine and produced 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:14.399 nine hit songs over the next three years, songs everybody knows, grooving, good, 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.240 loving people, got to be Free, and It's a Beautiful Morning. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:23.840 Felix Cavalieri's mother started him on piano at age six, 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.959 but his world was turned upside down in junior high 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.960 when he first heard the music of Fats Domino, Chuck 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.080 Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. It changed his world and 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:40.360 hours forever. Felix is originally from the New York City area, 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.399 but he's lived in Nashville for decades. What happened to 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.280 me basically is is I had these gentlemen approached me 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:49.800 that they were starting at management company. They invited me 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.760 down to Nashville to meet with them. I came down here. 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.680 All of a sudden, I started to see people I knew, like, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.800 for example, John k Steppenwolf, Bobby Glaudio was down here 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.360 for four seasons. We had two of springsteense guys. We 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.280 still have one. Gary Tallant is still down here. I said, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.120 what is this? He said, oh, man, this is the place. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.480 I said, you sure, is it? Yeah, this is the place. 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.200 You should come down here. And it was so interesting 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.399 because now it's very different because the word is out. 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.079 But it was so nice and quaint. You could actually 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.440 walk into a place and you didn't have to make 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.440 an appointment. And here's my best story. When I first 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:29.560 got here, they said, oh, there's a bank in town 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.960 that you know, it really helps out musicians songwriters. I said, 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.239 you're kidding. He said, yeah. They got a special department 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.040 for publishing and writing and song ring as. It's just 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.440 like New York. The department in New York was called 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.480 the Exit. They rocked him. You here, I said, and 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.639 it's true. How long you been down there? You said 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.760 twenty years? Now about thirty years, thirty years, thirty years. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.119 I've been here and I've watched it lose a lot 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.440 of that quaintness and a lot of that jeez, just 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.400 walking any time you want, what would you say? I 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:02.120 mean your voice, your songs, which you know seem from 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.079 such a different error because they're so pure. Your music 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:09.600 is so pure. It's pretty music sung with great passion, 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:14.520 beautiful songs, beautiful armrangements, beautiful singing, great writing. It's in 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:16.800 that category of music that just puts people in a 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.400 happy mood the minute they hear it. It relaxes them. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.000 And when I'm wondering, is there anything about the business 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.519 now that's better than it used to be? Or was 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.240 it all better back then? Now? Just the technology is better, 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.760 we can do this. For example, recently, before all this 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.600 pandemic started, I was doing an album and then all 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.040 of a sudden everything got locked down. I was able 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.000 to continue doing the album at home. See that, that's 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.760 the difference the technology. So it's good and it's bad. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.400 What's good about it is that, man, it's just so 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.680 much fun to make music in your house now. Of 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.160 course you really missed the guys in the studio and 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.480 all that. But we can do it online now. But 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.120 would you prefer when the COVID's over it to be 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.400 back face to face with people, because I'm shooting a 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.000 TV show right now, and I gotta say that a 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.120 little bit of the joy the camaraderie of working with 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.040 people that you admire, working with people you like, and 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.200 being able to relax not every day but some days 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:13.800 and just shoot the ship with them and have a 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.159 good conversation with some actor or actress or writer director 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.040 that you really perspect. The joy for me of acting 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.640 has been who I met. Of course, we've done only 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.240 five shows this year, but we did one in California 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.360 in October. There was an outdoor venue as a casino. Normally, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.640 the guys go on stage and they sound check. They 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.320 start about three o'clock and then the show is at eight. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:36.920 We couldn't get them off the stage to stop rehearsing. 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.599 They just missed each other so much. One of the 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.320 things that I realized when we're doing this, I I 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.200 just did this thing for Hello TV, which is a 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.400 new kind of idea that what they're doing is they're 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.919 filming a live show and then they're going to broadcast it. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:52.800 I'll tell you now, you do this all the time. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.080 You work in front of a camera, and you don't 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:57.240 necessarily have an audience. I'll tell you, man, there was 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.920 no audience that I was exhausted. I'm playing to the 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.960 camera and there's nobody out there going yeah, yo, you 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.800 know this. I was so tired at the end of 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.920 that the ace. You grew up in New York correct, 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:11.800 pretty close to the part of New York. Tell um, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.560 New York right out? And what did your dad do? 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.200 My family was all in medicine. I was the only 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.680 one that decided to jump out to this crazy world. Yeah, 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.679 they were all in medicine. My dad was a dentist, 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.520 my mom was a pharmacist. And basically they just saw 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.599 some talent in me. So they started when I was 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:32.520 about five classical music lessons playing my piano, paying piano. 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:34.680 And then one day I went to junior high and 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:36.200 this guy who was sitting in front of me was 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.680 to become one of my dearest friends, and he said 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.360 to me, said, do you like rock and roll? I 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.520 didn't know what he was talking about. Really, I've never 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.360 heard it classical music. They keep you pretty strict. How 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.520 old were you at the time. I was junior high. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:55.240 So it was no Elvis, no Bill Haley, none of 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.520 that fifties music. It's kind of like being Catholic. You 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:58.880 know what I'm saying, You're not allowed to go to 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.320 the other You know what I'm saying. Classical people, they 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.160 don't want you to go and listen to anything. So 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.000 I said yes, I said, yeah, I like it. But 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.120 I went home. And the good luck was that Alan 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.159 Freed was in New York. He brought it from Cleveland 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.479 to New York. Rock and roll. Sure, remember we did it, man. 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.800 So I heard all those things those guys from the beginning, 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.000 the piano players like Fats Domino, Jerry Lewis flipped me out. Man, 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.000 I said, man, this is so cool. It was the 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.280 only word I could say. And then that started me. 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:32.680 But when you're playing classical piano and you're sequestered in 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.760 this classical music bubble as a young boy, and you 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.520 start to appreciate and want to put your toe in 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.839 the water there in terms of popular music and rock music, 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.799 you're one of the most famous singers in the history 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.279 of music. When did the singing. Start just joy, man, 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.440 just joy. Wow, I'd love to try that, man, how 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.839 cool would that be. It's just when you start out 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.200 you start doing other people's songs. I get these phenomenal 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.720 singers to copy, like Benny King and and Margot Gay. 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:03.479 So you do their songs and all of a sudden 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.680 you say, man, I'm singing these songs man. And then 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.640 and then if you're lucky, you get a style if 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.600 you're lucky interesting, But it's just the joy of playing 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.080 and singing and that music. So Benny King and and 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.000 and Marvin Gay and any of those people that were 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.800 your earliest exposure. Radio was your gateway. I'm hearing I'm 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.320 on the radio, and I'm saying, like, wow, in those days, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.480 you didn't have like the computer to tune your voice, right, 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:32.680 you know what I'm saying. That's why we wanted you 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.200 on the show because you could actually sing. Those guys 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.800 that names I've mentioned, and there's so many more, they 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.120 were phenomenal. Are you kidding me? I mean that these 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.040 guys singing, you go like ho. And you know, I've 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.160 had the honor of meeting a lot of these guys, 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.440 you know, and I just love it so I did it, 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.680 tried it. Who was the first person that you regarded 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.080 that you respected their opinion? Who told you you could sing? 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.160 Who's the person that said to you keep going in 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.480 that direction? As of vocalists, well, you know, I started 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.320 off the cat Skills. I had took a band from 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.560 Syracuse University to the Catskical Mountains. So now you're in college. Yeah, 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.400 I'm in college. I took a summer off and I 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:12.920 literally never went back. And it's a great story because 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.280 Joey D's band came there and they saw me, and 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.480 they were in Europe and their organ player quit. So 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.240 they called me up to join them in Germany, and 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.320 so I flew and play the organ, play the organ. Yeah, 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.040 I went over there. And the way the story goes, 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.360 I'm changing the such a little bit. But they were 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.400 working with this group called the Beatles, and nobody, nobody 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.040 had heard of them yet. Now I'm a college kid 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.480 deciding whether I should stay in school or look at 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.080 all these girls screaming and hollering and what is this? 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.680 You know? And I remember it vividly here in their music. 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.160 I'm saying, wow, they were singing group. They weren't that 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.360 good on the at least I didn't really get their 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.000 music yet. And then when they did arm music, being 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:57.280 American music, they were okay. Well, when they did their music, 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.839 it was like outstanding. So I said, I think I 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.520 do this. But it was in the Royal Hotel that 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.400 people started paying attention to me, you know, they said, hey, man, 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.400 you're pretty good. You're pretty good. You're pretty good. Half 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:09.720 of them trying to impress their dates. So when you 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:11.679 go to Europe to play the organ for these guys, 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.960 they asked you to start singing. No, they just asked 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.319 me to start playing. When when did the singing begin? 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.960 When do you become the front man? Has a good question. Well, 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.080 I got a little depressed being a side man, and 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.920 I met this young lady. Uh we came back to 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.600 the States, and she said, what's the matter. I said, man, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.439 you know, I've always been the front man. I've always 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.480 been the singer, and uh, you know, I'm sitting way 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:35.120 in the back of the group. And she said to me, 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.360 she said, feel it. You don't think this guy's gonna 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:43.160 let you sing, do you? And I said, oh, I 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.280 get it. So basically, it was just a matter of 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.440 time before I had to start a band, and there's 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.880 a long story behind that. We had this wonderful thing 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.760 called the draft. In those days, they said to me, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.920 if aliens attack, we'll call you. Other than that, go 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.240 back home, because they were a little select off in 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.520 the beginning. And that's when I started the band because 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.199 I could. The name of the first band was what Well, 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.040 I've a number of bands. I had Felix of the Escorts, 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:09.880 I had all this kind of thing. But you know, 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.240 when we got the guys together, that was my plan. 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:14.040 Let let me see if I can get the best 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.400 guys that I can find in the New York area. 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:20.079 And I found some really talented guys. Of course, Eddie Briggotti. 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:22.679 I was working with his brother, and here's this little 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.560 guy man sing his tail off, unbelievable dance and singing. 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:31.120 Cornish came from Rochester, Gene Cornish, and he was also 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.640 with Joey d for a while there. And then that 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:37.440 same young lady introduced me to Dino Danelli, the drummer, 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.760 and I saw him play one song at the Metropol 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.040 in New York. I saw him play one song, I 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.040 who Have Nothing, and he did it such a show. 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.679 I said, Man, I gotta ask this cat to join us, 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:51.040 and that's how we stuck. Who's the one that sang 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.319 that song? Tom Jones, who made a hit out of 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.560 I who have nothing? Jeez, I don't know I who 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:02.520 have no song? Great song? So which collection of musicians 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.640 that you put together? Do you get your first record 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.920 deal with? Your first record contract comes and who's a board? Well? 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.080 I got a record contract up to Syracuse, but it 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.280 was jive. It was just this guy trying to make 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:14.320 money off me. And then years later came out they 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.680 called up the Rascals. This business is something else, man, 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.600 but the Rascals really was the first major contract. Atlantic 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.040 Records came out to this place we were working on 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:27.080 the island called the Barge in the Hampton's. That was 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:28.800 the place we got to offer it to do this 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.640 job out there. There was this a major discotheque in 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:35.000 New York on Dean's and the gentleman who owned that 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.480 place invited us to do the Barge in the Hampton's 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.560 for the summer. And I knew growing up near Long 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.000 Island that the Hamptons was a place where a lot 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.960 of people who are really important people going to summer. 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.199 Bettie Davis used to summer out there. It was wild. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.480 So I knew that if we were going to get discovered, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.360 we were going to get discovered there. And we did. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.320 And that's the group that you mentioned in before, the 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.560 guys you put together, and this would be so now 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.880 you have the Rascals together, and the Rascals make their 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.760 first record deal win. Right. Then this gentleman saw us 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.240 and he knew Sid Bernstein, the promoter who brought the 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.520 Beatles to the US, and so Sid came out and 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.800 wanted to manage us. He really helped us. He introduced 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.080 us to all the right people, and Atlantic was the 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.920 only label that would allow us to produce ourselves. I 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.000 wanted to produce ourselves. I didn't I didn't want somebody 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.720 that I didn't know taking over. Why. Well, I had 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.080 an idea, you know, I had a musical idea, you know. 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.080 And I kept saying, too, director, look you like what 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.199 you heard. That's why you're signing us, give us a shot. Well, 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.640 here's where the fantastic luck comes in. So Atlantic signs 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.320 us up and they put us in the studio with 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:47.120 two geniuses, Arife Mardin and Tom Dowd. So it was 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.920 like thank you, as all you can say, because now 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:54.880 we had our George Martin. You respected them giants, just 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.280 absolute giants. And what do they do for a guy 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.200 like you who you yourself said that you wanted to 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.160 mention to Atlantic I want to do. I want you 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:04.720 to trust me and do my own thing. What do 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.160 those guys give you? A good producer does what for you? 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.440 A good producer should bring out what you want to 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.480 put on in those days tape. You know the words, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.720 You've got an idea for a song, right, well, let 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.040 me help you. Know this guy, Arief Martin, was a Turk. 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.160 He came over here because what happened was Quincy Jones 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.679 went to Turkey and on the way to the airport 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.760 the way I hear it, Aliff somehow got him a cassette. 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.760 Before Quincy landed back in the United States, he contacted 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.080 him and asked him to come and join and be 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.040 a professor at Berkeley. That's how good this guy was. 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.120 So he ended up producing like Bett Middler. He ended 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.760 up a Shaka Khan b G's. When you got somebody 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.760 like that on your team, it's like an encyclopedia of 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.680 music standing right over here. You know, I like to 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.400 do a French song. I like to do a song 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.599 sounds like how can I be sure? Oh, no problem, 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:59.640 and he could orchestrate it for your right on this. 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.280 I mean, it was just magic. That's what the Beatles 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.360 had with George Bournon. So the first album you release 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:09.160 with those guys is what year I was about? And 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.520 how did that album do? It? Did? Okay? Okay? So 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.560 right away there was some appetite for your recorded sound. 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:19.600 Is where the good luck came in. Because see, uh, 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.000 in those days when you worked in the club, everybody 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.080 was twenty one or over. So the proprietors that they 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.560 wanted you to do covers, they didn't. They were not 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.760 interested in the least in anything that you had to say. Originally, 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.560 I found these songs that people didn't know. I would 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.360 find them, like, for example, I found Bustanks Sally and 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.280 I heard this thing on the radio and then I 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.640 heard this song called good Love. It from the first 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.680 time we paid Good Loving. Everybody got up and danced, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.600 So the first album contained Good Loving. So what they 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.280 did Atlantic is they put that out as the second signal. 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.640 It was number one. So all of a sudden, this 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.800 little obscure bunch of guys coming into the studio guess 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.680 and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.520 We were stars, we were big, so the table turned 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.760 a little bit and now we got a chance to 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:17.000 do our things unproven, totally unproven, and we got lucky. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.120 This is how can I Be Sure? Sung by The 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:27.080 Rascal's other lead vocalist, Eddie Brigatti. Felix Cavalieri is not 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.720 the only guest on our show who mentions an individual 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:34.640 producer for the success of his recording career. Go to 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.160 our archives and listen to my conversation with Darryl Hall, 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.960 who credits the same producer for developing Hall and notes sound. 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.360 Is there a producer that comes into your life that 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.120 takes you to the next level, that helps you make 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.200 the sound that becomes your sound? Yeah, a Reef Morten, 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.480 the producer arranger behind Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin. His his 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.800 label was in Atlantic, So I was in that world 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.680 in that scene. I mean, I remember I'm saying to 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.360 me and John, he said, just make music, We'll figure 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.360 out how to sell it. Here the rest of my 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.200 conversation with Darryl Hall at Here's the Thing dot Org 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.239 after the break Felix Cavalieri talks about the Rascals appearances 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.680 on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the moment when Eddie 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:51.840 Brigotti decided to leave the band. I'm Alec Baldwin and 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.640 you're listening to Here's the Thing. In nineteen seventy, Rolling 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:01.040 Stone magazine dubbed The Rascals the Blackest white group. The 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.960 Rascals were considered a crossover rock and soul act, popular 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:10.120 on both black R and B and white stations. Felix 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:14.080 felt a strong connection to black musicians and civil rights, 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.800 eventually insisting the Rascals would only perform if black acts 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.879 were on the ticket, a choice that eliminated parts of 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:26.120 the country from the Rascals tour schedule. Felix and Eddie 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.440 Burgotti wrote most of the group's songs, and they were 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.879 eager to reflect the politics of the time through their music. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.200 The industry changed thanks to Bob Dylan and the Beatles 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.400 and the Stones, and all of a sudden people were writing. 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.080 Prior to that, we would go to publishers and they 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.679 would give you songs. Let's tell how Neil Diamond and 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.200 Carol King started off. But when those guys came out, 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.080 Now all of a sudden you could write. At least 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.119 that was the theory. So you have to have a 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:54.800 lot of good luck to be able to write and 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.159 get hit records with the bar up that high. Because 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.440 those Beatles they had some pretty good songs, you know 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.159 what I'm saying. So you want to survive. That's the 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.760 level of dude, that's where you gotta be. Now, we're 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.560 in the band as everybody, or are people in pairs 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.399 or whatever the dynamics are they co writing together or 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:15.480 you're all writing your own songs on your own. Did 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.560 you co write with anybody in the band or outside 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.760 the band? Yeah? I I co wrote with Eddie because 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.080 I thought of Lennon McCartney team would be really cool. 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:26.680 And I always felt that he was a little better 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.280 than I was with the lyrics because I was too serious. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.760 I put some serious words down there, you know, especially 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.040 when I got into my political life or whatever you 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:35.480 want to call it. I mean, I was a pretty 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.240 serious guy. Keyboard players have a tendency to be a 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.399 little less nuts than some of the other guys in 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.240 the band. Well, let's talk about the political aspect. When 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.040 when you say he became political, what are you referring to. 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:50.359 I started working for Robert Kennedy's campaign, the sixty eight campaign. Yeah, 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.040 I think a lot of us in those days were involved. 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.120 We gave a damn about our world. So I got involved. 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.159 And I was dating this woman at the time who 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.640 was there at these fascination and man, she was never 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.440 the same. She wigged out. That's how People Got to 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.480 Be Free came out. I said, Man, I gotta say something. 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.000 I don't know why people think that musicians and actors 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.440 and people are really not allowed to have an opinion. 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.480 And I say this in my show because you have 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.840 a right to say something. Now you don't get everybody mad. 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.680 Oh my god. Nowadays you got the Dixie Chicks that 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.040 come out and all of a sudden, everybody blackballs and 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.440 it's nonsense. So we wrote, I wrote People got to 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:31.440 Be Free. And they didn't want to put it at 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.120 the label. We had control, and you got it out there. 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:36.720 That was in our contract. And and so me and Jerry, 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:38.800 who actually went head to head. You know, it was 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.520 a great relationship, man, when I said, we gotta put 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:44.680 this out. Man, this is it's just it means something 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.480 that people know where we're coming from. But at the 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.000 same time. And you mentioned the Beatles because the Beatles 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.320 had this happen I think in Florida where they wouldn't 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.200 play because it was a whites only audience. We had 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.399 that What was the venue? Where where did all that 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.600 play out? What happened was Baltimore, I think, and there 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:03.920 was this group I think it's called a Young Whole Trio. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.280 It was a black group, but they were really black music. 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.560 They were crossover music. So we were crossed over when 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.560 we had a hit. We had the R and B 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.879 stations and the white stations. So these guys came up 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:20.040 to the backstage and said, Mr Cavalery Felix, we really 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.520 like to play for white what it says sometimes? And 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.679 I says, you know, man, I love to play for 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:29.280 black audiences sometimes because they rock. And it hit me, 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.639 why not let's have a black act opening up for us. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.439 I had no idea the trouble because little that I 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.120 know when we went down South where I'm living now, 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.280 it's so stupid, you know, I mean, really, you love 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.520 the music, but you can't come to the shows. I mean, 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.000 wait a second, did you have any were their protests 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.240 with them that I got to know stokely car Micha 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:57.159 and all those guys. Because they came out to some 0:20:57.240 --> 0:20:59.920 of the gigs, their promoters wouldn't let us play sometimes, 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.720 you know, they wouldn't they wouldn't have the shows I 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:04.399 went to school with. I don't know if you know 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:06.400 who Mickey Schwarner was. He was one of those guys 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:11.520 that went down to Mississippi got killed, Jeney Schwarner and Goodman. Yeah, 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:13.879 he was in my school. So I got really in 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:16.280 the beginning of my life for a number of reasons, 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:21.320 mostly because of our Italian heritage. I got pretty rebelized. 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.720 I didn't like the way people cheated. Were your parents 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:27.720 or grandparents victimized by prejudice as immigrants? Absolutely, So you 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.119