WEBVTT - Kenny Aronoff 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.600 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Bob Left Sets podcast, recorded 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:10.680 live here at the tune In Studios in Venice, California. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.440 My guest this week is America, probably the world's most 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.239 famous drummer, the man you recognize from Melancamp, Fogerty, so 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.439 many other acts. Melissa ether rids the Kennedy Senator honors 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.840 Kenny aroon Off doing Bob Okay, so it's hard to 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:30.320 find a date because you're so busy. So what do 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.159 you got going on right now? Well, Tomon flying to 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:37.279 Chicago to do a the Chicago Drum Show. It's it's 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.159 with a lot of drummers perform, and I don't do 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.240 as many of those anymore. But what I'm gonna do, 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.600 I'm one of the feature drummers, is I'm gonna use 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.519 my I'm gonna perform, but I'm also doing a kind 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.919 of a teamwork speech, because it really is what drummers are. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.400 We serve songs, we serve artists, we serve bands, and 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:58.680 so I have a whole multimedia thing I do. So 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.520 I perform, but I have the whole show. I have 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:02.600 a whole show. Okay, you put it together yourself. You 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.920 have a consultant. No I put together myself, but I've 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.360 been working with about four or five years ago. I 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:10.680 decided to start getting into the speaking thing, you know, 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.119 and like anything else, okay, with your motivation giving back 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.759 or money or both making money and giving and giving back. 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:23.640 Wisdom is that. Okay, I'm just getting all the story. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.840 So anyway, I because that's so important to me. I decided, 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:30.759 and I've been doing these drum clinics for like thirty 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.280 five years, but now it's more about inspiration. When I 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.959 wrote my autobiography, I came with all these things and 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.920 with the bottom lines, I'm gonna go do that and 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.280 fly back Sunday night. Monday. I pack and then I 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.679 go on the road for six weeks with Fogerty NonStop 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.280 and zz Top together. It's a great package, most of 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.000 the East Coast and a little bit in the Midwest. 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.240 Then I come home for two days and then I 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.520 go to Europe for three weeks with my own band 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.680 called Supersonic Blues Machine featuring Billy Gibbons, and the two 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.680 albums I made was Supersonic uh. You know, we feature 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.320 like guitar players like Billy Gibbons, Steve Lucasur, Eric Garrells, 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:12.280 Walter Trout, Robin Ford, Warren Haynes, I really to be 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.560 honest with you, and I don't really want to go 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:16.680 on the voad for nine weeks. I mean, you know, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.720 I have a wife at home and i'd like to. 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:20.720 This is the first time I ever said that, you know, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.120 I always like, well whatever, But so yeah, that's a 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.760 pretty crazy schedule. On top of which, you know, I'm 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:28.959 editing a book, another book, and I gotta keep his 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.080 speaking thing going, and I'm just dealing with lots of 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.919 business sessions and all this stuff while I'm on the road. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.600 Now do you like this level of chaos? Well, I 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.639 definitely have been addicted to it most of my life. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.119 I'm just starting at my right as we were talking 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.360 about how we're now seven, kind of getting into mm hmmm, 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:49.920 how do I want to manage my time? You know what? 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:51.680 You know, one of my one of the things that 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.480 mean the most to me, and I'm trying to filter 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:56.680 on my time and what I do in today towards 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.240 those things. Now, let's let's assume you were home for 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.600 a week, or let's say you went to a desert 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.760 island for a week. Would you freak out or would 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:05.679 you say, God, it's great to have a week off 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:08.480 for the first time. I would what I would do 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.840 and one day I can't take a whole day off, 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.839 but but I can knowing that I have some time 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:16.959 during the day to have off. Then I you know, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.240 I always have work with me. So it kind of 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.320 like I reward myself. I work a little bit. I 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:24.440 just won't work as much as I would in the past, 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.200 or I just work all day and then just look 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.200 out at the beach. Now I want to get on 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:30.800 the beach, you know, or hang out and go shopping 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.680 with my wife or whatever it is. It's just relaxes 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.120 the mind. And you know, I always have to be 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.440 when I get on a plane. There's two things I 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.760 do well, three things sleep, uh, my office, and I 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.320 like to watch movies, you know, so like watch the 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.280 bomby iPad, you're download, No, I do well more and 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.480 more becoming that you know you're on United and then 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.560 they say download appened. Then you get more more, but 0:03:55.600 --> 0:04:00.320 then fifty percent time it doesn't work right. It's like like, well, 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.120 the big thing now you know it's Netflix. You can 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.000 download to the iPad, so you don't have to worry 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:08.480 about a connection. So, uh, how far out are you booked? 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.839 I'm booked you already. Someone tried to book me. They're 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:13.720 trying to book me to be the musical director for 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.600 this event in two thousand nineteen, and I'm trying to 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.560 hire Sammy Hagar to do it with me, because then 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:23.120 I've been getting into this musical director type thing where 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.480 you know, a huge, you know, wealthy you guy wants 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.880 to put on this huge event and I end up 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.919 being a musical director, and which is It's tedious and 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.280 a lot of work, everything from monitors to you know, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.960 the schematics of of the each band and how many 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.560 mikes and how high the stage is and or how 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.719 hi the risers. I mean, it's just everything. So what 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:46.600 did your wife say about being on the road all 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.840 the time. Well, we haven't been on the road six 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.800 weeks or nine weeks since we met, which was thirteen 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.479 years ago, so we're not looking forward to that at all. 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.000 But um, she is fin you up a three year 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.360 nursing school. This nursing program is like med school. It's 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.920 I've never seen anything like It's it's kind of caite 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.520 my first marriage. I was with somebody who was in 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.479 law school, and I thought that was insane. Now I'm 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.640 I'm in my my marriage with my wife and I'm 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:17.479 watching to go through this. I just would like to 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.000 be here with her, but it is what it is. Well, 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.080 we'll get We'll be fine. And did your first marriage 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.600 break up because you were on the road? Oh yeah, 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:30.360 Oh my god, dude, I was. I was the model 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.120 rock and roll guy. Just debauchery. I mean, look at 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.839 my My book is called Sex Drums Rocking Roll, but 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.520 probably back then it might have had a little bit 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:40.840 of sex, drugs rocking roll. I mean we were I 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.920 was with Mellencamp and we went in eight years from 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.920 playing in clubs to arenas uh and sold out three 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:52.159 and sixty uh you know seats, you know, no opening act, 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:56.000 three hours show. So we were young. Audience was young. 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.000 Girls were throwing their bars underwear at us. I mean, 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:00.720 you do the math. You're on the road for right, 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:02.200 we should come home for a week, you go go back 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.560 out for eight weeks and you eat this NonStop. I 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.440 mean maybe other people the difference today is they say, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.800 is today their cell phone cameras? So I don't think 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:13.760 you can probably get away with a lot of that behole, 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.599 no way, no, never mind, the me too movement. Oh 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:18.680 tell me about it. I mean I should be in 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.479 jail because for just you know, I mean when when 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.760 what's his name? And I'll frank, you know, put his 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.880 hand on something. Girls, how many times I did that? 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.080 But we were laughing. Everybody was laughing about it, you know, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.840 the girls. I talked to the girls women, because they're 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.760 not young spintin. They'll go like this, I take pictures 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:37.720 with my hands up in the air now, and I 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.679 don't sue me. Don't sue me. They go like, I'll 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:45.160 sue you if you don't touch me. That's the other side. Okay, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.880 I'm not clutching that because I'm being caught in the across. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.400 I'm I'm But the thing is what you're talking about too. 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:55.440 It's like, man, you could be a picture and this 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.760 happened before, where I just you know, you've had a 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.160 couple of glass wine and you just or take can 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.040 a picture, but your hand goes around the way so 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:04.160 you're pulling in a little close and you could look 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.680 at the picture and go like wow. But when you 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:08.799 were doing it was just like ah, yeah, come here, 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.040 you know, like letting up in the moment kind of moment, 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.840 but with no motivation or any any agenda. But the 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.280 picture tells the story, as Rod Stewart once sang, So 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.440 you're from western Massachusetts. What was it like growing up 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.360 in the fifties and sixties and western mass You know 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.160 stock Bridge? Right? I do? But my audience doesn't, all right, 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:31.080 Well that I just want to let them know that. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.800 You know, so the stock Bridge, as you know, is 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.640 a was a very unique place to grow up. Um 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.120 in Western Masster were all these little towns three miles apart, 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.240 and I grew up in the hippest, coolest of them all, Stockbridge. 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:49.000 Uh you know, we had a summer stock theater right 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.120 down the half a mile down the hill from me. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.120 So we I mean I was hanging out with Anne 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.720 Bancroft and h you know, Franklin Jell And when he 0:07:55.800 --> 0:08:00.120 was just making it they're doing summer stock. How do 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.600 you end up hanging out with them? Well? Oh kay, 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.480 that's a good question. The real reason why I met 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:10.400 is because in that area they had summer stock. Bill Gibson, 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.640 who wrote The Miracle Worker, lived in stock Which and 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.600 I went to school with his son, and uh, He 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:17.880 was friends with Arthur Penn, who was a director who 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.200 had done I think he directed Bill Gibson's play Golden 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.520 Boys on Broadway. He convinced our dependent build a house 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.720 on the same street in stock which is is a building. 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:29.640 I know, I'm jumping, I have it. Didn't Arthur Penn 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:34.680 direct Alice's restaurant, just you know, right, okay, But going 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.920 back to um So, Arthur Penn builds a house on 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.280 your street, on the street. And and ironically, my brother 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:44.040 lives on that street. Identical twindentical twin who's a doctor. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.880 And this is like a dirt road. I mean when 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.560 I say street, there might be like eight houses on it, 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.040 you know. And it's in woods and everything in pond 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.199 and you know, and your parents do what for a living? 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.280 And my mom was a school teacher. My dad worked 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.760 for Peter J. Swite suits to the division of Kimberley 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.600 claud There were these paper mills that ran My dad 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.280 was studied chemistry and his specialty was in paper. And 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.280 there are these mills that would run there was a 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.480 river that would run down Vermont, New Hampshire into Massachusetts 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.480 and Connecticut. They had these mills and and in the 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.120 town over three miles away, which is radically different than 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.800 my town as far as uh it was more like 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.080 we called it them. It was like one of the Greaser's, 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:26.400 the tough guys. But they had the mill there, and 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.480 so my dad would commute three miles a day down down. 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.760 That's why he moved to western Massachusetts job. It was 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.760 either that or they we're gonna go to um Minnesota. 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:39.040 My mom went from she's from New York and went, well, no, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.880 at least Stockbridge is two and a half hours from 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:47.480 New York Minnesota. So but anyway, so I'm I'm at 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.280 my my friend Tommy's house on the street, the Gibsons, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.400 and I remember it was my turn. He had a 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:56.480 house a little they had a little cottage, and we 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.200 would jam and play rock and roll out there, you know, 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.480 probably smoke a little pot was thirteen, and we had 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.440 the black lights, and it was my turn to go 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.400 down to the house and sneak some beers out of 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:08.680 the fridge. I go down there, I'm a little buzz, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:10.880 grabbed two or three beers, and all of a sudden, 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.839 Mrs Gibson, his mom, who's the therapist, says, Kenny, is 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.559 that You're like, oh shit, I'm busted, and I screamed, 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.880 put the beers baxtures, come out of here and say 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.400 hi to everybody. They're having a dinner on a porch 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.360 at night, the candles and the wines going, and there 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:31.040 is a Bancroft, Mel Gibson and Franklin No not Mel 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.679 gives it wait Mel Brooks so and they would come 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.520 up and do Summer stock just to get out of 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.000 the city. That's how it all tied. And then I 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.640 eventually was in a musical there. And you know, my 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:45.800 mom loved the theater because she grew up New York, 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.160 so she was always getting his tickets. And then she'd 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.679 get she knew Arthur pen and then we'd be backstage 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.480 meeting Richard Dreyfus or whoever, Goldie Han, whoever was there 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.640 acting and and and then you mentioned this Alice's Restaurant. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.520 There was this little diner in stock Bridge, and I 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:04.880 was in fifth grade. I was a little kid trying 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.199 to hang out with these kind of cool guy people, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.280 and there was this lady called Alice's. Yeah, this little diner, 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.319 and then she uh eventually hooked up with all these 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.280 people would come in there like Arlo Guthrie and all 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.800 the hippies, and and the famous story about Alice's restling 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.760 for the audience is that they eventually got this church 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:28.120 in Housatonic, another little town three miles away on the river, 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.360 and they got this church and they lived in it 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.600 like hippies, like you know, Woodstock was only two hours away. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:38.800 So they all had they had this famous Thanksgiving and 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.120 they had all this garbage and they didn't know what 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.479 to do with it. So they put it in uh 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.679 the v W bus, a hippie v W bus, right 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:48.680 and loaded up. They go to the dump, but the 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.120 dump is is closed, so they know what to do that. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.000 They're all stone and high and they just dump it 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.840 on the side of the road down an embankment. Now, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:01.320 my best friend's dad was the chief of police, officer Obie, 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:07.240 you remember that was my This this big menacine cop. 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:12.440 And he finds out that this is gardenge. Ok, we're 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.079 getting the real story story for the song is they 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.839 just dumped on a day you couldn't dump. Did they 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:19.440 put it in the dump or they put it on 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.040 the side of the road, not in the dump, Not 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.319 in the dump because they couldn't get in and This 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.720 was like an embankment, like the road and then there's 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.720 the guard rail and then it goes drops down on 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.760 a grassy hill. They saw it there, but they don't 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.600 you know, they're their names were on letters they had picked. 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.840 I mean it was the evidence was there in the movie. 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:38.040 And I don't know if this is too. In the 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.280 movie they say they have to submit the evidence of 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.160 the judge and he's blind. That had to be a joke, 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.600 I would think, so I can that. Yeah, So anyway, 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.840 and so they didn't. They just were told to clean 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:51.920 up your mess. And they ended up bringing it all 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:53.920 the way down to the barge in New York City 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.440 for whatever reason they before they dumped it and so 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.760 Arlo Guthie wrote a song called Alice's Restaurant, which we 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.439 can it was a funny story with great lyrics. Arlot 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.400 lives in that area. Arthur Penn thought it was time 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.640 to make a movie out of this whole scene. And 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.440 then I was I could have been in it, but 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.480 I was like, no, that's not cool. Okay, before the 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.040 song comes out, because I'm growing up, like you know, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.520 hour and twenty away whatever, I know about it from 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.559 the song, But did you know about it when it happened. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.640 Oh yeah, it was a big deal. Oh yeah, it 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.520 was a big deal. They were my I kind of 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.840 looked up to all those guys. They were all older 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:30.320 than me and and I thought they were the coolest, 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.040 and you know, I was. I wanted to be part 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.559 of their gang. But I couldn't drive. Alan was a bicycle, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.720 and you know, so I was kind of I always 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.120 go to the restaurant because it was like just a 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:41.800 mile from my house and just get on my bike 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.400 or walked down. It was a food any good killer. 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.880 It was like it was like a real diner, a 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.680 cool diner. In Alice was a great cook, and she 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.600 eventually created Alice Is at Avalok, which was right above 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.760 tang Wood in Lennox on the Hill. She took over 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.880 the whole place became the Coose Restaurant hun And you know, Okay, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.040 so you're growing up. Your mother is into theater. Did 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.000 she make you take piano lessons? Yeah? What they age? 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:11.000 Did you start piano lessons? Well, it started when I 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.640 can't remember. She put each one of us on her 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.520 lap and she teach us a song. And each each 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.560 kid who was I had my brother, twin brother, and 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.080 my sister was four years younger. We learned these songs 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:24.320 and then you know, she was of the back down everybody. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.160 You know, if you're gonna be musical or be a 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.240 well rounded kid, you studied piano. But one day I'm 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.200 it's like nineteen sixty four and I'm outside playing with 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.520 my brother and my mom screams at us to come 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.600 in the house. I thought I was in trouble, but 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.480 I wasn't. On our black and white r c A 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.600 TV set with the rabbit ears and the tinfoil, you know, 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.080 was he had Salivan show guess Who. And I'm sitting 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.640 there looking at these four guys with long hair. I 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.000 could not I was. I was bouncing off the walls. 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:53.840 I was. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was, 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:55.920 I said, man who? These guys said, well, those are 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.440 the Beatles. And I was enamored by ringo stars, do 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.920 rum kids, it and the whole thing. And I literally 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:04.880 naively asked my mom to call him up and get 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.800 me in the band. I had no other I did. 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:13.560 I didn't know any other way to do it. Well, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:17.080 pause briefly and get right back to Kenny Aaronoff, recorded 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.760 live in the tune In Studios in Venice, California. This 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.840 podcast is brought to you by tune In, which brings 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:31.119 together all the live, sports, music, news and podcasts you love, original, 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:35.440 live and on demanded audio, all in one place. Go 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.320 to tune in dot com slash left sense to download 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:45.000 and listen. Now more with legendary drummer Kenny Aaronoff. Were 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:46.920 you a big fan of music? Were you listening on 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:51.240 the transistor? The big thing was my parents always had 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.840 jazz and classical music on the turntable, you know, and 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.120 they and show tunes because from New York, you know, 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.640 it was like you just show tunes, you know, and 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:04.320 musicals and you know, West Side Story and this story 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:06.320 and that story, you name it. It was there and 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.320 they would take us. I don't know if you knew this, 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.360 but in Lennox they had obviously the bost pontif New Orchestra, 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.520 but they had this thing called Music in and in 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:20.000 sixties had a huge jazz uh program up there, and 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.400 I would go up there. Uh. It was somebody thought of, 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.160 you know, let's let's create a program out of the city. 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:28.640 Get out of New York in the summer and go 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.160 to the Booshers, and they created a whole thing. And 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.320 I'd see Dave blue Back every summer, Ray Charles, I'd 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:39.160 see Charles mingus h. I wish I had seen Coltrane 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.120 and el Fitzgerald, all these great jazz us, And so 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.600 I was right there. Man, Okay, so you see the Beatles. 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.240 How do you get a drum? Kid? I couldn't. I 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.120 couldn't afford it. So my mom goes down to New 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:58.520 York Manny's of course, gets a snare drum. How don't 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:03.280 she know to go to Manny's. Somebody told her somebody 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:05.879 because they were in that whole circle of music and 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:07.880 and they knew a lot of New Yorkers. This guy, 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.600 Dick Cats, was a jazz pianist who actually lived in 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.480 a house in summer and he was studying at the 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.520 music in he was doing taking workshops and giving workshops. 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:19.959 Who says Manny's is the place to go because there 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.760 was not really a drum shop there. Definitely wanted maybe 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.680 there was a music store in our area, but not 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.159 not not in stock but that's for sure. It was 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.520 like three times over. So we're down there. My mom 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:34.359 goes listen to my kid wants to she says, Mrs Aaronoff, 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.200 here's a snare um. You buy this snare at um. 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.639 If he doesn't like it in three months or six months, 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:41.960 you bring it back and we'll give you your money back. 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.000 Who does that? I don't remember. I just remember going 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.280 to me and he's you know, other than seeing the 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:51.120 young Gene Cornish there and then all other famous musicians 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.720 as a young kid, they would buy and sell stuff 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.520 so fast you would save your money for a guitar 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.119 and they go, what do you want feder strata caster? Okay, 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.639 bring it down? How about this? How much money you 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.800 got in your wallet? Touch? As they said today, how 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.760 much money you got in your wall? I'm like what 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.040 they would They would push you in and out right exactly, dude. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.440 It was like ruthless. It's like I was nervous when 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.960 I get in there, absolutely like they do the right thing, 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.280 you know, I know. Okay, So you got the snare 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.520 drum and then I got a symbol and I stood 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:25.119 up and played. Okay, did you take lessons? Well you 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.159 know that in no, not high school in uh junior 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.960 huh even less than that, like up to grade six times. 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.400 That music teacher that taught everybody ever or there used 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:38.160 to be. That's what instructor exactly, That's what I called him, 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.320 right right, So band instructor, and he kind of taught 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.800 me how the hold the sticks, and he needed he 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.520 saw that I was in the drums and it was boring. Man. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.480 I had to plan a pad and learned to read, 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:51.840 and it was like not fun, was not the Beatles. 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.120 As far from the Beatles as you give me, so 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.160 I would. But but that was the beginning of me, 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.159 you know, trying to read. Trying to to me was 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.359 like and and and and move forward. In the high 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.480 school and junior I had nothing to do with the 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.200 marching band and nothing that wasn't cool. I was playing 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.119 at clubs, playing Hendricks and the Stones and Beatles and 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:12.879 stuff like that. Why would I want to listen to 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.720 a squeaky clarinet? Okay, so you have your snare, drum 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.400 and a symbol. At what point do you form a band? Well, 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.959 right away it was called the Alley Cats, and uh 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.600 actually have a picture not on me, but and I 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:28.399 stand up and play. And then for Christmas or Hanuka 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.240 or whatever. Basically you had the band. Did the band 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.200 play any gigs? The first gig. There was a thing 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.800 called the Grange meeting. And what the Grange meeting was 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.159 all the elderly's of stock Bridge would meet once a 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.679 month at the town hall and they discussed how to 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:48.080 keep the the the looks and the vibe of Stockbridge, 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:52.880 you know, preserved, you know, to say, you know, they 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.800 go over things and the month, and the mother of 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.359 the piano player, she wasn't too elderly, but she was 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.000 part of the Grange meeting, said wow, would you like 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.000 to have my boy and he and his band come 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:06.960