WEBVTT - Scott Shannon 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Cents Podcast. 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:17.279 My guest today is legendary DJ and program director, the 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.560 one and only Scott Shannon. Scott. Good to have you 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.960 on the podcast. Nick Fan, longtime reader and sometimes a listener. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:31.040 It's a pleasure. Okay, you recently left the CBS Morning Show. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.519 What went on there? I haven't left it yet. I 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.120 announced that I was going to leave it. The company 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:42.240 that I worked for is having some financial problems. Their 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:46.279 stock went from six bucks down to thirty cents in 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.600 the past year or two, and uh, it just was 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.440 time to move on, and so I retired from the 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.320 CBSFM Morning Show here in New York. I have other 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.760 projects that I work on with the same people. So 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:07.120 I have a syndicated radio show it's four hours every weekend, 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.440 and I have a that's a classic hit show. And 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.320 then I have a worldwide oldies network called the True 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:21.920 Oldies Channel, and it features music from the sixties and seventies. 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.720 I'm a I'm a big fan of oldies. I've collected 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.399 him for years, and uh, I'm pretty knowledgeable and the 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:34.160 stories of of days gone by, an artists gone by. Okay, well, 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.480 we ever see you in the morning again. That's a possibility. 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.840 It's a good possibility. I probably will do it again. 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.320 I've been doing it for forty eight years. I mean 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.920 it's pretty hard just to walk away. Um. Most baseball players, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.320 if they could, they would keep playing. Same with Tom Brady. 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.720 If he can play to a you know, a decent level, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.800 he'll keep playing. So you say, a big expert on 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.280 the sixties and seven DS, do you start with the 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:06.520 British Invasion de and with disco? What's really your area 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.600 of expertise. My my whale house is fifty nine through 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.600 sixty four. I know the Beatles and uh and, but 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:19.840 I really concentrate on the early inductees into the Rock 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.720 and Roll Hall of Fame. I'm talking about Buddy Holly, 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.280 who I'm a big fan of and uh. I think 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:31.480 one of the top ten Buddy Holly uh personalities in 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.400 the world. Maybe because I've got every record he ever recorded, 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.399 every book that was ever written. I found him very 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:43.320 fascinating because he was the first artist that actually could 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.320 play his own music, sing his own music, and write 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.040 his own music. That was not that was not something 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.400 that happened back then. You had all the songwriters that 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.880 wrote the songs for the stars. Elvis never really wrote 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:01.040 a song in his entire life. Okay, I'm just a 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.600 little younger than you are. I certainly remember the early sixties, 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.360 but it exploded with the British invasion. Terms of my 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.240 radio listening other than the baseball games, how did you 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.840 first hear Buddy Holly? Um? I was. I was a 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.200 young guy, and uh, I was more into athletics. I 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:25.359 was played football and at a mediocre level, and baseball 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.280 at at a slightly higher level. But there was just 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:33.400 something about rock and roll music that attracted me. Um 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.800 I remember, I remember the first time I saw the 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.680 Beatles on television like everybody else, and I certainly have 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.400 recordings of the first time Elvis was ever on television, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.560 and uh, I remember the day I found out that 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:52.360 Buddy Holly died. And I had a Schwin bicycle and 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.600 I worked as a I worked as a newspaper boy 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.280 and a caddy at a golf course, and I'd ride 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:03.040 my Schwinn bicycle down to the local electronics store that 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.119 had a record section, and every week I would buy 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.760 three or four forty fives and take them back. That's 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.760 how I started my collection and at that time, you 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.920 only had Hit Parader magazine and there was no you know, 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.839 an American bandstand, and I would watch that religiously, but 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.120 you really didn't know anything about the artist then. You 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.239 really didn't know anything about how the songs were done. 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:31.719 And as I got older, you know, I bought albums 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.800 and I would actually read the back of the album 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.919 while I listened to the music. You know, Fabian album, 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:43.040 Bobby Ryde Dell. I was also into R and B. 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.680 Hank Ballard in the midnighters, and I thought Chubby Checker 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.520 was very talented. I don't know why he's not in 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.799 the Hall of Fame. You know, he revolutionized the world 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:57.279 at dance, and he also had about fifteen songs that charted, 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.000 and he gives an amazing life performance. But do you 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.800 remember the first time you heard Buddy Holly? Um, I 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.120 guess it. I guess it was Peggy Sue. I mean, 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:14.640 I kind of went backwards with Buddy Holly the first time. 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.080 I was so into him. At that time, I was 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:23.360 working in Los Angeles at Casablanca Records, and uh, you know, 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.720 I love Buddy Holly. And I got a call from 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.839 Wolfman Jack, who I knew because he worked over for 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.000 Bob Wilson Radio and Records. He shared an office there 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.440 and the dope would walk through the ceilings all over 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.560 the rest of the Radio and Records. I fit there, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:44.520 but he called me, hey, chatting, I'm going to Clear Lake, Ioway, 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.200 don't you like Buddy Holly, don't you I'm MCing the 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:52.320 Buddy Holly Reunion Joe and uh, I, oh, I'm going 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.920 with you. Let's go. And he gave me his flight 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.520 information and I went with him. And that was the 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:02.760 very first Buddy Holly reunion celebration. People came from all 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.800 over Europe. I mean, there were so many Europeans in 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:09.080 there because he was so big then. And we had uh, 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:13.000 I think Freddie Cannon was there, Jimmy Clant was there, 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.160 some of these older artists and the crickets were there. 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.680 And there was a guy named John gold Rosen and 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.280 John was the first person to write a book about 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.080 Buddy Holly. And I sat with him in the front 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.360 row and and that was, you know, just just one 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.000 of the greatest nights of my life. And it was 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:37.680 in the in the ballroom there, the clear Le Guowa Ballroom, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:42.159 and it was so funny because it's so many of 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.320 these people that I talked to were there the night 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.279 that Buddy Holly played his last show. I actually drove 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:54.400 from the clearly the Surf ballroom right. I took the 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.320 same route that Buddy Holly took at midnight. There was 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.160 about four ft of snow on the ground, and we 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.120 went right past the airport where he got into that 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.039 plane and flew off in the plane crash and that 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.040 was it. And of course I've been to that crash 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:15.120 site several times. Now. It sounds like I'm, you know, 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:19.320 like a music geek, but that just you know, I 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.640 was just such a big Buddy Holly fan on the 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.240 and uh and moved on. I mean, but I think 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:30.600 he was such a trend setter and such a star 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:32.960 in the world of rock and roll. He would have 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:37.600 still been probably active at least recording if he if 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:42.960 he hadn't have died. What's your favorite, Buddy Holly saul Um, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.400 I like, oh boy, all of my love and all 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.040 of my kissing. You don't know what you've been missing, 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.840 old boy. But he had. He had so many great songs, 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:57.560 and I think a great example of his ability is 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:03.200 if you listen to his music today, it's still brings authentic, 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.440 It's still it's still there, It's still got something. I mean, 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.680 it's an amazing thing that there's so many people around 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:15.160 the world that's still have discovered Buddy Ali in two 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.840 and you go back and you you study his library 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.360 and you just it's amazing what he could do. The songs, 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.720 well all writes beautiful song. Um he had, he did 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.400 rock and roll, he did country, he did beautiful ballots. 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.600 It is an amazing, amazing person. And if you've seen 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.880 the whole of Graham Show, I have not. I that 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.360 I don't. I'm not fond of that whole. I don't 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.680 think it's gonna last. You don't see it. You don't 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.440 see it sticking. Did you go to one? Yeah? I 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.319 did see it. But tell me why you thought it 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:55.560 wouldn't stick. Um, I just see, Well they've they've done 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.280 other artists, and you don't. You don't see that. They're 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.720 not hanging a down there still not out there? Are they? 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.080 I don't know. I mean it was a double feature 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:10.240 header with Roy Orbison and Buddy and uh Orbison doesn't 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.640 move much, so there's nothing there. They have Buddy bouncing around. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.640 It's good for about a song after that, it's like 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.880 you have a live band. You're listening to it, you know. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.760 I remember the first time I went to a rock 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.319 and roll concert. I grew up in the Midwest and 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.760 my father was in the service. But in my embryo, 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.760 my rock and roll embryo years, I was living in 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:39.319 Indianapolis and they have like a downtown circle and one 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:41.679 of those big you know those old theaters with the 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.520 with the pillars when you go in and you walk 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.320 up the red carpet stairs. They only got one freaking screen. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.839 And uh, and I have my mom dropped me off 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.120 and it was a Dick Clark Caravan of stars and 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.440 it was a made buddy was not on the bill, 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.640 but a net foond Cello was. And I'll tell you what, 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.480 she looked pretty good to this nine or ten or 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.400 eleven year old guy. However old I was with, I 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.760 don't however old I was, I don't even remember at 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.840 the time. And Frankie Avalon was on the show, and uh, 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.520 and a guy from England by the name of Cliff 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.959 Richard who went on to fame and fortune, but at 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.280 that time he only had one song out called Living Doll, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.679 which the flip side is a great song called apron Strings. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.760 It's a rockabilly song. I'm in the I love the 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.200 field of rockabilly. But it was so cool because he 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:39.160 had on a white suit and bob when he pulled 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.640 out the handkerchief on the jacket and he laid it 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.200 on the on the floor of the stage and he 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.719 knelt down so he didn't get his his knee uh 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.559 dirty and the white pants of that suit got myself 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:56.480 a cry and talk and sleeping or living out. He 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.040 only sang one song and then he took off and 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.520 our came Lloyd Price that Lloyd Price's orchestra would back 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.640 them all up. And that was man. I went home 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.360 that night and that's all I thought about, was watching 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:13.120 that rock and roll show. And remember back then they 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:18.960 used the sound system in the theater. And then fast 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.959 forward a few years, I went to the Indianapolis fair 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:28.960 Grounds by myself to see the Beatles and that was 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:33.800 so cool, man. And I mean it was weird because 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:38.160 people don't know that back then they didn't have those 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.839 big show cod sound systems. They didn't have the light show, 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:48.319 they didn't have they didn't have anything. Their guitars into 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.800 their amplifiers. You couldn't hear a damn thing. And plus 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.800 I'm standing on a middle chair was outside that they 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.280 did an indoor show at the Colosseum there. Then they 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.000 did the out or show and the girls are all 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.200 screaming and I'm trying to hear the Beatles sing. And 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.160 they had the Righteous Brothers open up. And I've always 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.400 been a big Righteous Brothers fan. This was long before 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.560 Phil Spector got ahold of them. And they were doing 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.720 Little Latin Loopie Lou and Coco Joe and all those 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.080 great songs that were on the the original label. I 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.800 can still see it going around on my record player. Man, 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.360 and uh it was. It was just a great night 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.960 once again. Went home at trouble going to sleep because 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:37.280 I saw the Beatles. And later later on I went 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.040 to see here. I went to see Paul McCartney at 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.600 Madison Square Garden and I'm thinking, man, it's been a 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.480 long time, buddy, but welcome back. Okay, let's go back 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.560 to the fifties. In the seventies, the oldiet station played 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.560 the fifties, but as time has gone on, the oldie 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.880 stations have played subsequent decades the sixties, the seventies and 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:04.120 the eighties. Are the fifties gonna survive or the pre 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.400 Beatles stuff? Is that going to survive? Like people say 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:13.160 that Elvis's merch sales are going down because his audience 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.600 is dying off, So you gotta take on all that. Yeah, 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.080 well the audience, I mean, that's just saying that. The 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:23.560 better example is Doo Wop. I mean it's very I 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.800 don't go to a Doop concert because it makes me 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.720 feel so terrible looking around to see the people in 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.000 the wheelchairs and the oxygen tanks and all that. I mean, 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.520 God bless him. But and that's some music. A lot 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.719 of New Yorkers and people from New Jersey and that 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.839 surrounding up and down the East coast. That's what they 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.200 grew up with. You can do one of those shows 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.160 down in Florida right now and you get you get, 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.640 you know, a pretty good crowd, and you know, you 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:53.920 you see in the still of the night and a 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.280 lot of a lot of these performers are just not 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.200 around anymore. They're not with us. But that's that's that's 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.839 a that's a demarcation line, you know that that's a 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.960 borderline there. And then you get into the American Bandstand, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.040 people like Fabian and Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell and 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.400 all those people that all of a sudden came to 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:18.680 a screeching all the minute Ed Sullivan. But the Beatles on, 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.560 I mean, that was that was it. I can't tell 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.080 you how many people, how many stars that I've interviewed 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.280 over the years on the radio, Bob, and I said, well, 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.040 what was your inspiration? And I tell you what, there's 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.120 only two lines. One when I saw Elvis Presley on 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.760 the Ed Sullivan Show, and I put my damn violin down, 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.400 or I got rid of my piano teacher and I 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.880 got a guitar. Or the rest of them came when 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.480 it started when they saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan. 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.880 So Ed Sullivan started so many people into the music 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.920 because they got them going. So did you ever pick 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.040 up an instrument? Never have I tried to learn a guitar, 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.920 But I don't have to pay. I'm a d d uh. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.520 I'm gonna loved him. Been a you know, a performer. 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.520 Unfortunately I can't sing and I can't play, so I 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.760 decided to be a DJ instead, you know. Okay, So 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.320 the fifties acts what are two other acts from the 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:21.440 fifties that need to be pushed into the public eye 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:27.720 other than Buddy Holly. Um she um, it's not. It's 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.240 the early sixties, but I was the early sixties. Fine, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:36.240 pre Beatles, Yeah, pre Beetles. I don't. I don't. Elm 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.440 is stuck with me, but in a different way. You know. 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.480 You look at Buddy Holly, and Buddy Hollywood was inspired 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.280 by Elvis. There's a great picture of Buddy in the 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.680 dressing room where Elvis had been performing in his little 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:56.760 town there in Texas. And there's there's not any other 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.160 artists that I really feel. I mean, I gotta with 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.960 Chuck Berry. Uh, Jerry Lee Lewis, but he didn't really 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.880 move me as much as Chuck Berry. I've also got 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:12.080 just about everything that he recorded, and uh, I thought 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.840 he was phenomenal, and I studied that. You know, you 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.760 look at Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoler. Those two guys 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:24.560 were also very influential in in that period of time. Okay, 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.960 there are many people The Beatles came along and they 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:32.080 said no, so you obviously with a Beatles fan, but 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.120 how about all your friends and when the music change 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:36.960 and the British invasion came in and you said all 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.120 those left all those acts were left behind. Was that 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.600 fine with you? Or were you angry? I wasn't angry 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.960 at all because the Beatles, you know, I actually had 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.320 I remember I had had to buy two copies of 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:53.600 the Meet the Beatles album because I actually wore the 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.280 first one out. I'm almost like, I hate to say it, 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:02.480 but like I felt the threatened my masculinity that I 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.400 was like a female. And then love with the Beatles. 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.879 I just thought they were so great. Un listen, I 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.399 loved every every song on the Meat the Beatles album. 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:13.960 I went out and got that early stuff because they 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.600 did a couple of albums and they had singles out too. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:20.439 Before the folks at Capitol Records, the president there screwed 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:22.719 the whole thing up and didn't want to sign him. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.480 His wife didn't like him. Right, introducing the Beatles on 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:32.399 VJ the great album I Love Absolutely Right and the 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:35.960 Uh Love Me Do p s I Love You single 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:43.440 but Holly Records absolutely at the Yellow label. Remember exactly, man, 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.920 when you and then you grow up around Hartford, and 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.840 I grew up in fear Field, which is in between 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.000 Bridgeport and Westport. So it's New York radio. But you listen. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.560 You didn't listen to pop ever. Yeah, I did listen 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.200 to pop ever, but listen to my what are they 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.560 call them salad years. I was more of a w 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:08.879 ABC guy. The Hipper people were ten ten wins, w 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.760 m C A in and out. Not that you didn't 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.320 rotate the doll on your transistor a little bit, but 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.800 you know, cousin Brucey. You know, listen. I could go 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:20.840 on and but how about the rest of the British 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:25.040 Invasion acts? Everybody from Jerry and the pacemakers to the Herman. 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.680 Herman said, were you in or was it just the Beatles? 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.480 And that was a Stones guy too. I remember when 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:36.000 I first got the first Rolling Stones album and I 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.800 found out was I have. I was also an R 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.240 and B fan. I loved rockabilly and R and B. 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:46.159 I think those two are they're kind of intertwined. I 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.439 don't know, because of the beat. I loved the beat, 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.879 the rockabilly beat, and the songs like high Heels Sneakers 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:59.360 by Tommy Tucker. I'm really hard. There's some stuff in there. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.720 They're just watched me. I would like. I said, I 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.200 was a big, a big fan of you know, I 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.880 mess excuse me, I left Little Richard out of my 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:14.159 favorite from the fifties. That guy was a monster, what 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:19.760 a star. You know, his band, the Upsetters, never gets 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.840 enough credit. But he was just a nut about having 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:28.800 the right artist, the right instrumental players in there. And 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.879 some of those guys were like Fats Domino. He paid 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.200 a lot of attention to his band. When he went 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.120 on the road, he had like eight or nine scorn players. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.000 Nobody took that many horn players on the road. Those 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:46.200 are great, Little Richard, that guy was a monster. Now 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:48.879 did you spend time with Richard and the rest of 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.600 the people from that era, anybody who was alive that 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.440 you didn't meet? I never met Little Richard. Now I'm 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.840 thinking about it. No, I don't think I did. I met. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.239 I m c a couple uh oldie shows with UH 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:06.600 with Chuck Berry. One was very funny because he hadn't 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.840 been paid yet. He was playing in the Metal Lands 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.480 arena there and UH then he hadn't been paid yet, 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.119 so he sat down on a metal chair with his 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.840 guitar in front, over to the right part of the stage, 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:24.920 and the promoter asked me to go on and introduce it. 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.120 So I'm up there and I'm going, ladies and gentlemen, 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:30.439 this all the thing, Happy birthday that happened to be 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.440 his birthday to Chuck Berry. And I said in after 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.439 we did that, he's smiling at me, watching me, and 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.240 so I go and now, ladies and gentlemen, get ready 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.280 with the man that gave us such great songs as 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.960 Johnny Be Good and the Promised Land and Back in 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:49.479 the USA in deep feeling rock and roll music. And 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.880 I'm reeling all these off and he's going like, come on, man, 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.240 give me more, give me more. And I go on 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.960 back and any boy, and I start doing the B 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.000 sides of the singles, and he's happened to his knee, 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:06.159 and I think I went through the thirty titles, and 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.000 the crowd was laughing him because they knew I'm trying 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:11.919 to get him up on the stage. And finally he 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.320 got up and he brought up a guitar and he 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:16.879 kind of gave me and he shoved me off the 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:21.480 stage and he started playing. But what he was famous 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:26.640 for it was all these kids that he never took 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.560 a band with it. He never brought his own musicians. 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.960 He uh, he would just did the kids and meat. 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.840 They get there about three o'clock in the afternoon, all 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.320 waiting for Juck Barry, and there was no Chuck Mary. 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:43.840 So they would go back in the dress room and 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.800 wait till he got there, and they only gonna rehearse Chunk. Now, 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.800 you stand behind me and follow what I'd do, and 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.680 he would get up there and he'd start playing, and 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.480 they had they but luckily all these kids played that, 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:04.280 you know, these garage bands played his music in their gigs. 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.000 So when he got up there, they tried to follow him, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:11.400 but nothing. There's a famous scene in that movie about 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:15.719 him where he's uh the playing and it's kind of 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:20.360 like some B B footage and Eric Clapton's up there 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:23.240 and they're doing a song like rock and roll music 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:26.439 or one of his blue song Deep Feeling maybe, and 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:34.800 Chuck stops Eric he's playing that song right, and he says, Chuck, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.600 I'm playing it just like you recorded it. He said, 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:44.040 I don't do it that way no more. Very just 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:49.760 Eric throws his hands and says okay, because he hardly 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:53.760 ever does one of his songs. He hardly ever did 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.520 one of his songs like he recorded it. He would 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:01.200 just push the envelope and do it different, play it long. 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:05.199 Sometimes he leaved the great songs out, but he could write. 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:09.159 That guy was so intelligent and it was just he 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:13.440 was another monster. Definitely one of that, I would say, 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:16.000 one of the most important people in rock and roll. 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:18.480 What do you think of the Stones version and not 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:22.879 fade Away? All right? It was okay, I like some 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:25.160 of I like some of you know when they did 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:28.320 time Is on My Side, which was an old blue 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:32.240 song that they picked up. That early stuff was really good. 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:35.919 There was a fellow, It was a fellow that I 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.240 was nuts about, a guy by the name of Arthur Alexander. 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:42.080 You ever heard of him, of course, and he made 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:46.879 put out some records on Apple. He uh. He was 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.720 the only guy that ever had his music covered by 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:56.440 the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, and yet 0:23:56.520 --> 0:24:01.840 he died broke. He was working as a bellhop in 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:04.360 a hotel I think it was up in Cleveland, Ohio, 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.320 and he wrote that song Anna you know that by 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.720 the course I introducing the Beatles album yep. And he 0:24:11.840 --> 0:24:14.720 also wrote you Better Move On, which is a just 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:18.199 a wonderful piece of music. You tell me I'm not 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:23.000 the man you're worthy of. You better move on. And 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.639 uh as a great song. That was the Stones that 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:28.600 Jagger does that He's never done it for years, but 0:24:28.960 --> 0:24:31.240 it was on one of his albums. Just a great song. 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:40.760 So you're living in Indianapolis, what's it like when you're 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:44.880 growing up? As my father was in the service. So 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:49.280 I went to I don't know, sixteen to eighteen different 0:24:49.359 --> 0:24:52.800 high schools. I'm not high schools, but schools period. Because 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:56.399 we moved around. I lived in Tacoma, Washington, lived in 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:59.600 San Diego, lived in East Saint Louis, Illinois. That was 0:24:59.680 --> 0:25:04.840 a thrilled there here many East St. Louis once just 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:09.000