1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,120
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori

3
00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,080
Speaker 1: with you. Let me introduce our special guest tonight, t J. Lubinski, Creator,

4
00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:15,240
Speaker 1: executive producer, director of the most successful PBS pled shows

5
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,960
Speaker 1: in history, DUOP fifty, many fifties and sixties DUOP shows,

6
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:23,200
Speaker 1: classic R and B, classic soul, folk music programs. DJ.

7
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 1: Welcome to the program, my friend, George. It's an absolute pleasure.

8
00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,360
Speaker 1: This particular show, being with you has been on my

9
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,280
Speaker 1: list for many years. It's just a thrill, thrill it

10
00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:37,239
Speaker 1: talk to you. I'm looking forward to this and you

11
00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,880
Speaker 1: have done some incredible work. I've counted nearly fifty maybe

12
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,560
Speaker 1: more PBS programs you've done, right, Yeah, it's closer to

13
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,200
Speaker 1: one hundred now, Oh my god, I've missed a few,

14
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,720
Speaker 1: but that's fantastic. Can I tell you a quick story though,

15
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,240
Speaker 1: about how how you influenced me one night one five? Sure,

16
00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,440
Speaker 1: let's say. Then driving now, I'm a New Jersey guy

17
00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,440
Speaker 1: and I live in Pittsburgh now, but I was driving

18
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,160
Speaker 1: through the desert for a conference at PBS Constance, and

19
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,680
Speaker 1: I'm driving in the car of course I always listened

20
00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:13,200
Speaker 1: to you, and around that time, maybe Art Bell came

21
00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,319
Speaker 1: back for a week or so, and you were on

22
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,480
Speaker 1: that night. And suddenly in the desert and under the stars,

23
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,240
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, I hear Nancy Sinatra singing

24
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:30,520
Speaker 1: summer Wine as part of your bumper music. So you go,

25
00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: I go absolutely crazy for this. Can't find it on CD,

26
00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,240
Speaker 1: can't find it on record, can't do anything. This was

27
00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,479
Speaker 1: a moment, this was connecting with the universe. I've got

28
00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,800
Speaker 1: to find this thing. So I ended up calling Nancy saying, listen,

29
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:44,560
Speaker 1: I know you don't want to come out and sing

30
00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,800
Speaker 1: right now and be on one of the shows, but

31
00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: would you reconsider just one more time? I'm asking you.

32
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:52,960
Speaker 1: She said no, but I'll send you the Lee Hazelwood

33
00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,279
Speaker 1: song I did with him, Summer Wine. I love. It

34
00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,680
Speaker 1: was great. It's like a James Bond kind of arrange

35
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,200
Speaker 1: and unbelievable. So, well, you talk about effect to your grandfather.

36
00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,720
Speaker 1: Herman had a great effect on you too, didn't he Yeah, Well,

37
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,720
Speaker 1: he had a record label in the forties, which is

38
00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,680
Speaker 1: primarily gospel in jazz. So it's all those greats you know,

39
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,399
Speaker 1: every big name you hear Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, all

40
00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,720
Speaker 1: of them. They were on his label in Nork. Now,

41
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,440
Speaker 1: he was not a music guy, my grandfather. He was

42
00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:26,520
Speaker 1: just a Jewish businessman and he was in a lot

43
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:28,679
Speaker 1: of businesses. If he could figure out a way to

44
00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 1: make a buck, he would try to do that. So

45
00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,240
Speaker 1: the music was around, but it wasn't a direct connection

46
00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,480
Speaker 1: for me. For some reason, I always gravitated to the

47
00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,200
Speaker 1: music of the fifties and sixties, and I grew up

48
00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,280
Speaker 1: in the seventies, so that was always around two and

49
00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,960
Speaker 1: so I can't explain it. I would hear songs and

50
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,640
Speaker 1: it would harken back to like a haunting feeling of

51
00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,920
Speaker 1: knowing a song that I never heard before, and then

52
00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,880
Speaker 1: I would have to follow that song. I'd have to

53
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,920
Speaker 1: either go out and run to a record stour or

54
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,359
Speaker 1: eventually do the same when it came to bringing these

55
00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,280
Speaker 1: artists on television. I have had a great opportunity in

56
00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,840
Speaker 1: my life a TJ to have met the late Whitney Houston.

57
00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,520
Speaker 1: I've met Stevie Wonder. We're friends with Pat Boone, Billy

58
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,480
Speaker 1: Gibbons from zz Top, John Fogerty, Barry McGuire who sang

59
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,680
Speaker 1: the great song, Eva Destruction, just wonderful musical artists. I

60
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,800
Speaker 1: grew up in Detroit, so I had this Motown influence

61
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,280
Speaker 1: on me, where so many incredible talent thanks to Berry

62
00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,640
Speaker 1: Gordian Company, just kept coming more and more and more.

63
00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:43,240
Speaker 1: Have you realized that influence too? Very much? So? And yeah,

64
00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:45,920
Speaker 1: I kind of started out as a Duop Street corner

65
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: guy because that was kind of the root. As my

66
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 1: friend Jerry Butler would say, it's the root of the

67
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,200
Speaker 1: fruit from which all came. And then Motown. Once I

68
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,280
Speaker 1: heard Motown, that was me. That was my soul, that

69
00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:02,200
Speaker 1: was my life, in particular the Miracles, Smokey Robinson, the Miracles,

70
00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:06,440
Speaker 1: I am a fanatic for it and I lived for them,

71
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,080
Speaker 1: and so that led me discovering their music, to get

72
00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,640
Speaker 1: into all these situations, which eventually led me to have

73
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:15,720
Speaker 1: them on the show of Smokey be on the show,

74
00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,479
Speaker 1: get to know these artists very well, and then eventually

75
00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,760
Speaker 1: to discover this thing we just did with this lost

76
00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,000
Speaker 1: concert from nineteen sixty five, very much a Motown review

77
00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,920
Speaker 1: type show. That's great. Pat Boone was telling me one day,

78
00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,359
Speaker 1: he said they offered him the song moon River, and

79
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,320
Speaker 1: he said, ah, I don't like it, give it to

80
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,039
Speaker 1: the Andy Williams right and you. But here's here's a

81
00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:41,040
Speaker 1: little PostScript to that story. Jerry Butler actually recorded at

82
00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,919
Speaker 1: first and they released it. Andy did his own version,

83
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,000
Speaker 1: not really knowing about Jerry, and they were released it

84
00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,560
Speaker 1: two days before Jerry's hit the Street and Andy ended

85
00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:54,760
Speaker 1: up having a big hit. But it was really Jerry

86
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,760
Speaker 1: Butler who did that first. That is amazing. Now, the

87
00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,080
Speaker 1: music gendre that you have really jumped into with the

88
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:08,360
Speaker 1: PBS comes after the Sinatra era. But how far after well,

89
00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,800
Speaker 1: I say it's difficult to be specific with that, because

90
00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,600
Speaker 1: I started, you know, maybe six or seven years after that.

91
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,520
Speaker 1: But then because of the success of all that, I

92
00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,000
Speaker 1: was able to go back to the forties and fifties

93
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,160
Speaker 1: with all the great pop artists, and that also included

94
00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,040
Speaker 1: Sinatra when he was in big bands. So we've done

95
00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,640
Speaker 1: big band shows, we've done fifties pop shows, and it

96
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,960
Speaker 1: all led to this kind of journey of discovery just

97
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,640
Speaker 1: by being open and aware. You got a new TV

98
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,799
Speaker 1: show that the debuts Saturday tomorrow, It's What's Happening Baby

99
00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:46,160
Speaker 1: on PBS. We'll talk about that a little bit later on.

100
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,640
Speaker 1: But how did you become so prolific with all this?

101
00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,880
Speaker 1: How did this start for you? Honestly, George, And you know,

102
00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,040
Speaker 1: I don't talk about this on public television because I'm

103
00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,520
Speaker 1: there for specific reason to raise money for all the

104
00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,240
Speaker 1: good that the stations do. But right I just am

105
00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,760
Speaker 1: open to my instincts. I let my gut take me

106
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,880
Speaker 1: and I find it. If you're aware, amazing things will happen.

107
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,640
Speaker 1: And so many examples of that, And to me it

108
00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:20,640
Speaker 1: was I was in the right place at the right

109
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,200
Speaker 1: time a song would come on the radio. Maybe that

110
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,600
Speaker 1: song should have been played because it wasn't in their rotation.

111
00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,680
Speaker 1: It led me to find the recording, which then led

112
00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,080
Speaker 1: me to find the artist, and so many other situations

113
00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,160
Speaker 1: like that that go much deeper and deeper over the

114
00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:40,440
Speaker 1: past twenty five years nationally, in thirty years before that

115
00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:44,839
Speaker 1: in local situations. So the music always came to me.

116
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,240
Speaker 1: You have tapped into that force that we have talked

117
00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,520
Speaker 1: about in this program so often deep within yourself, whether

118
00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,320
Speaker 1: some people want to call it spiritual, but you have

119
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,320
Speaker 1: found it and you have followed it in Your instincts

120
00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,360
Speaker 1: are incredible and it's working for you. Well. I think

121
00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,640
Speaker 1: it starts with setting the intention and keep in mind, Yeah,

122
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,480
Speaker 1: I'm a nice Jewish boy who grew up in Bradley Beach,

123
00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:12,640
Speaker 1: but I'm also a half Methodist, and you know, to me,

124
00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,520
Speaker 1: God is God. Whatever way you get there, you get there.

125
00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,680
Speaker 1: So spirituality is really the right word. And of course

126
00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,000
Speaker 1: I take a look from the Boost philosophy as well.

127
00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,800
Speaker 1: And what would happen to me. I'll just give you

128
00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:31,600
Speaker 1: an example. Sure, I would be in my radio studio,

129
00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:33,720
Speaker 1: always did radio shows at the same time as TV,

130
00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,720
Speaker 1: and suddenly a CD would fall off the shelf. Okay,

131
00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:39,440
Speaker 1: so it's just a loose shelf in the CD fellow

132
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:41,800
Speaker 1: before you say to yourself, But it would happen two

133
00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,600
Speaker 1: more times. So I'm like, all right, I'm getting some

134
00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,720
Speaker 1: kind of message here. I bet I had better, you know,

135
00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,520
Speaker 1: put this into CD player and see what happens. Put

136
00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,880
Speaker 1: it in the player. It's Betty Everett with Jerry Butler

137
00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,800
Speaker 1: singing an old Everlely Brothers song called let It Be

138
00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,400
Speaker 1: Me Great Song, and it was such a beautiful arrangement,

139
00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:02,800
Speaker 1: and you know, I started crying, I mean really crying.

140
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:08,560
Speaker 1: It was a very emotional experience. So then I'm figuring

141
00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,360
Speaker 1: I'm getting some kind of message here I got to do,

142
00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,040
Speaker 1: so I have to follow up on this. So I

143
00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,040
Speaker 1: do a Google search at three in the morning and

144
00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,360
Speaker 1: happened to spell Everett the wrong way, and that led

145
00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,680
Speaker 1: me to a guy who was her next door neighbor

146
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:27,200
Speaker 1: in a trailer park in Chicago, and she hadn't performed

147
00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,880
Speaker 1: for forty years. Everybody said she was dead, the record

148
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,640
Speaker 1: company said she was dead. There was no one excepting

149
00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:37,640
Speaker 1: royalties for her. And so this became a real immediate

150
00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,440
Speaker 1: mission that I had to find this person. And so

151
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:43,480
Speaker 1: I talked to Jerry Butler about it. I said, you know,

152
00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,800
Speaker 1: would you would you go back with Eddy for this?

153
00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,120
Speaker 1: He's like, if you could find her because no one's

154
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,560
Speaker 1: seen her. And here she was living next door to

155
00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,800
Speaker 1: this neighbor who I just happened to reach. It like, Hey,

156
00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,360
Speaker 1: you don't know me, but that's fantastic, and we've found her.

157
00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,600
Speaker 1: She came on the show the first night she had

158
00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,200
Speaker 1: She had some demons because she hadn't been on the

159
00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,199
Speaker 1: show performing at all for four years. She hadn't sang

160
00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,040
Speaker 1: in four years, and she was very nervous and very scary.

161
00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,920
Speaker 1: She went to the hospital and she almost flatlined twice.

162
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,040
Speaker 1: The next day. Basically, we just had someone be there

163
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:23,960
Speaker 1: with her the whole time and watch her and try

164
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,520
Speaker 1: to comfort her. She takes Jerry's hand on stage, they

165
00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,360
Speaker 1: sing this beautiful song together, let It Be Me, and

166
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,480
Speaker 1: two weeks later she's dead. Oh my god. So you

167
00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,760
Speaker 1: know that's how it's always worked for me. It's just

168
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:44,240
Speaker 1: by listening and following and doing. And you feel that

169
00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,240
Speaker 1: in your gut, don't you. That's exactly where I feel it,

170
00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,680
Speaker 1: or when I had no one. It's really right in

171
00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,400
Speaker 1: the back of my neck. Is just a feeling that

172
00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 1: comes in. I can't describe it. It's euphoric, but it

173
00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,640
Speaker 1: tells me I'm on the right path and that I'm

174
00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 1: not letting my ego drive situation. Listen to more Coast

175
00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:05,440
Speaker 1: to Coast AM every weeknight at one a m. Eastern

176
00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,120
Speaker 1: and go to Coast to Coast am dot com for

177
00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:08,440
Speaker 1: more