WEBVTT - Mark Farner 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob less Us Podcast. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.759 Yesterday is the one and only Mark farn Martin. Good 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:18.880 to have the other podcast. Good to be here with 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.279 your brother, Bob. So how's your health. I know you 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.640 have a pacemaker put in back in So how are 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.120 you today? I'm good. And as a matter of fact, Uh, 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.640 the pacemaker, you know, they're supposed to be good for 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:35.840 seven to ten years, and uh, my date is coming 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:40.440 up October twenty three for the for the ten year mark. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:44.640 And when I talked to the gal at the hospital, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.080 you know, you put this little thing over your heart 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.720 and it sends it through the cell phone and gives 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.160 them a reading for the month, you know, and she says, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:58.320 it's very extraordinary that you should have so much battery 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.920 life left in your pay pacemaker. But you're good for 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:07.800 a long time. Yeah. I love hearing stuff like that, Bob, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.280 don't we all? So tell us the story of why 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.760 you needed the pacemaker to begin with. Well, my wife 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:17.120 and I were down in Detroit doing some promotions, and 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:21.560 uh we stayed at the Renaissance Center there and she 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.839 had gotten up to do her thing in the morning, 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:26.720 you know, she was in the bathroom, washing her face 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.000 and everything. And she said when she came out of 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:34.840 the bathroom, my left arm had was shot up into 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.320 the air, and and I was I started kind of 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:42.480 flipping around. I don't remember any of this, buddy, uh, 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.039 but I guess I looked like a wounded tuna, you know, 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.680 flipping around. And she calls, you know, the front desk, 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.600 and has a paramedics come up. They put me on oxygen. 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.200 They put me in a ambulance, and I go over 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:02.040 to to Harper in Detroit and I'm in the emergency 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.200 room and I gurney and they got me hooked to 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:11.320 an external pacemaker. And these three doctors, well I think 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.919 they were doctors. They had white coats and they had 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:19.720 their backs to me, uh, and they were maybe six 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.400 ft away from me, but they were looking at the machine, 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.359 the external pacemaker, and it was in the corner. And 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.800 as I look over, I'm glancing down at myself and 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.519 I see these wires hooked to me, and all of 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.399 a sudden, I feel like they just plugged me right 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.120 straight into the wall. It was like bam. And I 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.000 hollered out to the top of my lungs. I was, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.160 what are you it was like and and my wife 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:49.720 heard me holler, and she came running in from the hallway, Honey, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.000 what's the matter. And I said, those guys are They 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.080 just plugged me straight into the wall over there. I said, 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.080 this is this is not you know. I think I'm 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.360 gonna die if they do that again. They plugged. They 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:07.200 did it again, and I died. Yeah, and uh so 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.840 on on that approach to come back in into the 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.760 bone suit. I didn't really want to make that trip, buddy. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.520 It was so good. On the other side, it was 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.720 just like being home. I mean it was you know, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.480 it was more secure than your mother's womb, if you 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.760 can imagine. Uh And and I knew all things in 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.920 that state of being and uh and but I could 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:40.160 hear my wife not now, you son of a bit. 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:45.120 She's beating up my chest. And this guy when I 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:49.280 when I re entered my bone suit, this the doctor 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.720 standing next to her with the paddles in his hands. 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.440 And uh it had they hit me again with this voltage? 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.680 I go again, and I'm in I'm in heaven, man, 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:06.480 I'm telling you, Uh, it's the most wonderful place. And anyways, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.720 make a long story short. I hear him telling her 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.040 we've got him back twice, there's no guarantee we get 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.880 him a third time. We gotta get him to oh 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.400 our stat. And when he said stat, it was like 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.440 mash four oh seven seven scrambling around people, running, diving, 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.560 you know, pushing me. I was doing fifty miles an 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.520 hour down the hollway and they put the pacemaker in. 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.839 But what happened was, uh, you know, they've got two 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.200 parts to your your heart, the plumbing, of course, which 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:42.039 is very important, but then you have the electrical. Well, 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.560 my electrical had a short in it, Bob. They called 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:50.880 it a bundle branch block, and my nerve branch did 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.960 not receive the signal to squeeze the blood back up 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.599 into the top part of the heart. So that's what 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:01.640 happened to me. And I you know, now I have 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:07.039 this pacemaker that samples ahead and it can see when 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.080 I'm gonna miss a beat, and it'll throw it in 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.760 there for me. When it throws it in, do you 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:17.800 feel something, Oh, yes, very much, so you go, oh, 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:22.520 thank you. And how often does that happen. It doesn't 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:27.839 happen very often. In fact, it happened more frequently ten 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.240 years ago when I first got it put in. I 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:34.880 mean it was happening quite frequently. I would notice every day. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.960 Now I go days without noticing. And is this hereditary 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.240 or from living or just some people get a bad number. 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:50.440 I believe it's hereditary, brother, because my grandfather, my dad's dad, 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.320 died in his sleep and they didn't know what it was. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.600 I mean, this was, you know, back years and years ago, 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.640 and I think I might have picked something up from him. Wow, 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.320 that's quite a story. So do you have to hold 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.480 back in any activity or can you just live fine? No? 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:12.000 In fact, Bob, he said, he told my wife, you 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.479 tell Mark, don't baby that thing. You push that thing, 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.919 you make it work, you, you know, take it to 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:22.720 the limit. So I do, and on stage I make 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.719 sure that you know I'm keeping it in good shape. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.800 And if I don't get to where I'm sweating and 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.960 to something is wrong. Now, frequently when people have these 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.000 near death or as you say in your case, actual 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.080 death experiences, when they come out of them kind of 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.960 changes their perspective in their life. Was your perspective changed 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.680 at all? Yes? I was telling my wife for a 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:52.000 few years prior to this adventure that I went on. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.240 I told her the thing that's wrong with mankind in 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:05.120 general is debt consciousness, um I said, because once you're 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:11.840 indebted to someone or beholden to someone or something, you 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:16.720 you're compromised. You can't really be free in your expression 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:21.080 and your relationship with that person or thing, whatever it is. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:25.440 That's that's you're in debt too. And on my re 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.800 entry into my bone suit that last time, Bob, I 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:37.080 had such a confirmation of that whole thing and what 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.240 the Bible is talking about when Jesus is saying, oh, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:47.480 no man anything except to love him. You know, that 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.920 was the state of mind that he was in. And 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:56.680 I'm sure that's why there was all the miracles, because 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:03.600 when you're indebted to anyone or any thing, uh, you're 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.760 you're cutting yourself short. And I found out on on 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.480 that reentry that you know, and on the other side, 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.520 I mean, you know all things immediately, you know, I 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.120 even had On that side of the fence, I had 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.840 the purpose. I knew what the purpose of these earth 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:27.520 years were. I mean, I knew what it was. And 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.680 on this side I couldn't tell you. I'm thinking maybe 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.600 it's like plugging a one ten fan into two twenty. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.400 It would just smoke you. I mean, your brain is 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:43.800 only built for so much information. But the debt consciousness 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.480 as not just money. Debt, that's certainly part of it. 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:55.560 But what if you don't fulfill the expectations of some somebody, 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.880 some people. What if it was somebody in your family 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.920 and they called one of the siblings or somebody else 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:08.320 and they tell them the story of how now you're 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.800 indebted to them, you know, and then they call you 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.520 and you're put on the ship list and you're in 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:21.320 debt because of this situation. And it's all a misconception 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.840 because people aren't people aren't coming from that point of view. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.160 They're not coming from the love that's in their heart 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.640 and trying to find the love. And everybody else they 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.640 are coming from a place of defense and coming from 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:40.800 a place of being offended. And uh, you know, it's 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:45.440 just it's a debt ladent world that we are living in. 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.120 We are moved from our place of comfort by this 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:54.200 silly four letter word d ebt. Holy crap, man, Let's 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.240 go down to the drug store and buy a box 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.320 and then and dump it on a table and look 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.040 at it. Or that are yet, let's get a tenure 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.240 dump truck full of it and have them dump it 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.560 in our front yards. A wee can weigh in this 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:11.360 stuff and really get familiar with it because even the 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:19.360 indebtedness of regret we can set ourselves free from. But 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:23.800 we are the only ones who can set ourselves free 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.920 from this. And people don't realize this, but that's what 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.640 I was that was revealed to me, and I was 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.400 that was confirmed in me on that last re entry. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.320 I call it the re entry into this bone suit. 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:45.319 And I've been sharing that experience with people who are 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:54.120 profoundly jolted by this notion of being debt free and 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.200 that we are the ones who control what we will 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:03.239 accept as debt and uh and how not to accept 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.520 any debt. I think once you get that going and 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:12.160 realize who you are in this this simplistic form, this 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:18.560 human form, that then we can see love. Then we 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:24.160 can experience love, because you know that's where love lives. Buddy, 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.360 Can you give me an example or two of how 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.400 you changed your life relative to this debt insight. Yes, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:35.800 I look at other people that prior to the revelation 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:41.840 that I've had brother, I may have held them responsible 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:47.360 for actions that that they took that had a bad 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.640 reflection on me, or had a bad influence on me, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:56.320 or you know, left might have left me um angry. 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.679 And I just can't go there anymore. I can't go 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:09.559 there because people are so precious and we don't let ourselves. 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:17.800 We don't allow that tenderness to come through or to too. Uh. 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.280 I think that it could be in another person to 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:28.800 consider that and someone who's you know, maybe what if 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.520 alcohol was involved and one of your relatives said something 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.480 to you that was just off the wall. You know, 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:42.640 it's has happened with me, And since the revelation that 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:48.520 I've had, I can't hold that person in debt for that, 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.280 you know, for the words, for that experience that I 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.800 went through with him. I just have to let it go. 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:01.160 And it's like a lot of people have asked me about, 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.840 you know, the relationship that I had with the other 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:11.720 two members of the band, and uh, you know, doesn't 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:13.880 that piss you off? I want to know it doesn't 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.520 piss me off. It makes me feel sorry for somebody 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:27.200 who can't be truthful with the audience with our fans. Uh. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.440 But I I refuse to let it piss me off, 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.960 because you know, that would keep me that would put 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:41.320 me in some kind of uh frame, a reference to 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.959 debt consciousness, and I don't want any more debt consciousness. 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.960 In fact, every day, brother Bob, before my feet swing 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.240 out and get put put on the floor, I lay 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.960 in the bed and I pray to the Creator and 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:04.560 ask to be shown where there's any more anchors in 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.240 my soul here, so that I can take these bolt 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:11.520 cutters that I have and cut that chain to that 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.920 anchor and get set free. Because I want to be 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:21.960 completely free before I leave this earth. And I think 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.240 even in that state of mind, if we can all 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.320 head that way, we'll be able to see some miracles 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.760 before we go. What is the truth that your two 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.920 other original band members are holding back from the public. 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:42.600 They advertise themselves as Grand funk It. They have a 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:48.840 legal right to do that because Uh the drummer came 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:50.880 to me one night after a gig we did up 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:56.120 in California telling me, and this is after a party, 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.560 you know, you know it, had a few beers or 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.040 have some drinks or something. Go back to the hotel room. 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.440 He comes to my hotel room says, hey, Mark, we 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.480 all we all need to sign the individual ownership of 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:14.240 the trademark into the corporation where it'll have this protective umbrella. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.840 And he had gone to law school and I didn't 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.840 finish high school. And I thought, well, he's looking out 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:25.200 for the best interests of the band. And I said, well, 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.160 you know, I thought to myself, Yeah, okay, I'll do that. 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.480 He says, good, I'll go to my room and get 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.880 the papers. And I'm thinking as he left, I'm thinking, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.520 why the hell didn't he just bring the papers with him. 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.600 But it didn't dawn on me that I was being 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.560 set up. Uh, And so when he came back, I 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.080 signed the papers, and so my ownership, my one third 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:52.880 ownership of the trademark, which is the name Grandfunk Railroad, 0:15:54.080 --> 0:16:00.000 got put into the corporation where I found out, uh, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:05.280 they had fired me as an officer. I was like 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:11.040 the vice president. Um, and I'm no longer an office. 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.480 I no longer have any say so in a corporation 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.480 with three people, when you got two of them against you, 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:23.240 it's just even even though I wrote of the music 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:28.160 and saying, you know, and did all the stuff, they 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.640 can go out with my music and make a living 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:35.840 and claim that they are Grandfunk Railroad. Legally because of 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:43.160 that mistake that I made. But I can't hold them responsible, 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.720 even though that's a shitty thing to do. I'm telling you, Uh, 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.680 I can't hold them responsible for that because I have 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:56.160 to view that in my current state of mind as 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:01.480 just them being off their path. But if they were 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:06.919 honest with people, they would have said Grand Funk revisited 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:12.040 or something to this degree, just like Credence Clearwater, you know, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.760 authorities not with him. Uh, And they had a spat. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:18.640 I don't even know what it was about. I didn't 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.520 read on it. I just knew that there was something 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.000 going on between them and the legally, that there was 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:28.320 something that you know, at least they said Credence Clearwater revisited, 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:32.960 which gave the fans heads up. Uh. I think the 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.520 other two guys in the band, if they would have 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:41.640 said grand Funk revisited, that would have given them, uh 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.960 a point of you know, some validity with the fans. 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.520 And you know, uh, they could have looked them online 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.800 and say, well, what's this about. But no, they just 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:56.080 go out and they don't tell the audience. There's no 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.920 way that they can say to the audience or advertised 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.760 that the guy who wrote and sang of the music 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.760 is no longer in the band. What was the impetus? 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.520 Obviously they had this all planned out. They wanted to 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.639 sign the document. They wanted to get rid of you 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.720 as an officer. What was going on that they wanted 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.240 to do that at that time? I don't really. I 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.520 can only say that it has to be a personal 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:30.640 grudge of some sort, some kind of vendetta. Uh. Mel 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:35.600 Shocker the bass player, and I have been friends. I 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.840 mean we went to school together. We we jammed together, 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:43.679 we we rode dirt bikes together, and uh, and we 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:48.000 smoked pot together as kids. I mean, you know. Uh. 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:54.800 And I just could never understand how Mel uh could 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:59.920 have gone along with Don on that and and come 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:05.120 it in himself to it. But then just this year, 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.760 I was, after we started, you know, doing a few 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.960 more gigs, I was in the Delta Club in Detroit, 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.560 and Mel the bass player was in there. And I 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.040 didn't know he was in there. I was just I 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.639 had my headphones on and I'm over there listening to 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:28.040 some music I've been working on with Mark Slaughter and Uh. 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.760 And I see Malcolm walking around the corner and he 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.800 looks at me, and he puts his arms out, you know. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:36.320 So I stand up, I give him a hug, and 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:40.040 he just says to me, you know, Mark, he says, 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.240 I really love what you do. I really love who 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:48.240 you are. You're the greatest, he says, And brother, I 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:50.919 just had to do what I had to do. And 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.240 at that moment, I looked at him and I just 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.160 felt so sorry for this kid. That he was an 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:02.879 only child and his mom and had died, and he 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.560 went through some stuff. His his wife died. He's been 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:13.720 through a lot, and I can't hold him responsible, um, 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:18.439 you know, for the two of them going out and 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.320 claiming to be the band and you know, grandfather and 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.399 not warning or not at least telling somebody. So I 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.520 looked him in the eyes and I told him, I said, 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:32.879 you know, I thought in my heart that that was 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.600 probably you know, what was going on, that it's something 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.360 that you had to do, because you know, with everything 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.199 that you have been through and and the things, uh, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.840 you know that that all your bills don't go away 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.919 when things like this happened, and you become very aware. 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:57.080 And I said, I understand, Melvin, and I just I said, 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:01.439 I forgive you for that, and he give me a 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:06.240 big hug and that was it was like, man, that 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:11.280 was so good, dude. Uh, just to know that that's 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:17.639 how he felt. I can't, I can't say that. You know, 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:21.720 because of that, the band is going to get back together. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.240 I think I had been trying to put the band 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:31.120 back together for twenty three years because I realized when 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.639 the Beatles were together and I was, you know, I 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.119 wanted them to go back on the road so I 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.639 could see him live. Man, I'm a Beatle fan, and 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.040 I'm thinking, man, those all four of them guys are 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.920 still sucking air. Why can't they just bury the hatchet 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.479 and do it for us, do it for the fans 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:53.720 that bought all those records, you know, and so putting 0:21:53.760 --> 0:22:01.639 myself in those shoes. Um, I kept petitioning those guys 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:04.640 to do it for the fans, to do it for 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:09.160 the sake of our fans, and I kept hearing people 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:14.240 say yeah, Don said uh, never say never. They asked 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:16.600 him in an interview if he'd ever get back together 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.760 with with you and if the original band would ever 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:25.200 go out, and he says, never say never. But that's 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.439 just easy to say. But when you when you feel 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:36.040 the you know, the virility the and when you feel 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:42.680 that hatred. Uh, Like when I when I went out 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:46.600 as Mark Farner's American band, I got a trademark. I 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:53.960 did it legally through lawyers. Uh. They sued me and 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:58.160 it cost us a lot of money. Not only did 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:02.760 it cost me to pay my attorn knees, one from California, 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:07.960 one from Michigan because it was a Michigan corporation. Uh, 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:13.680 I had to pay one third of their attorneys. Yeah, yeah, brother, 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:18.439 But I gotta let all that go. You know, I 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:24.119 cannot allow that to eat my lunch. That's my power, brother, Bob, 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:28.119 and I will use it in the manner which I choose. 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:30.800 Do you have any idea what Don's beef with you? Is? 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:38.400 Have not a clue? I really don't have a clue. 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.560 Let's go side. How do you know Mark Slaughter? Mark Slaughter, 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.520 we did a rock and roll fantasy camp years ago 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:57.120 and h and Marcus is Uh he's part Cherokee. I'm 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:02.639 part Cherokee. So on, just on that basis alone, we 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.320 have something in common that not a lot of people do, 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:09.679 and that we're musicians in the rock and roll field. 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:15.879 That just gave us a head start on our friendship. 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:21.160 And our brotherhood. Uh. And we did the Howard Sterns 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:26.200 Show while we were in New York City and it's recorded. 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:31.040 It's on YouTube now. But we had Kip Winger on base, 0:24:32.080 --> 0:24:40.960 Sandy Gennaro on drums, Teddy's Zigzag on the keyboards, um 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:47.800 Mark Slaughter on guitar, and Bruce Culick who now plays 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:51.840 guitar with Don and Mel. He was on the acoustic guitar. 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:55.720 But we were all doing rock and roll fantasy camp 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:59.280 for David fish Off and uh, and we did a 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:03.679 we did I'm Your Captain, and I was so impressed 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:11.000 by those guys. They made it sound believable because all 0:25:11.040 --> 0:25:15.400 those guys told me how much they loved me and 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:20.359 how much they appreciated that song in particular because it 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:26.320 influenced them as young musicians. And I'm I'm standing there 0:25:26.320 --> 0:25:31.320 at the microphone singing the the in the chorus, and 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:33.760 then and then when we go to the bridge, am 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:37.720 I in my cabin breathe me? And I'm listening over 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:41.159 and there's Mark singing the high part and he is 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:46.640 hitting it dead nuts, buddy, I mean seriously, it gave 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:51.000 me the chills and I thought, Wow, we're doing this. 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:54.600 I mean, this is really coming off good for for 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:56.560 just setting up a couple of amps in a in 0:25:56.600 --> 0:26:02.280 a studio up at Stearn's place. And so after that, 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:06.480 Mark and I kept in touch with each other, and 0:26:06.520 --> 0:26:09.080 Mark sent me a copy of some of the music 0:26:09.160 --> 0:26:12.880 that he had been working on, and I said, man, 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:18.199 uh that some of that stuff is really speaking to me. 0:26:18.240 --> 0:26:22.119 I said, the mix you have on that stuff, You've 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:24.960 really got the separation where you can hear all the 0:26:25.080 --> 0:26:30.240 instruments and the vocals. He's got a song halfway there. 0:26:30.400 --> 0:26:36.680 Oh my god, it's beautiful. And uh, I said, man, uh, 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:40.439 I encourage you and I want to, you know, sending 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:43.920 you kudos on on the sound that you got. He says, well, 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:46.480 I want to do something with you. He says, I've 0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:50.800 got this stuff. I can make your music sound just 0:26:50.880 --> 0:26:54.680 as good as this, if not better, he says, because 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:58.120 I'm always learning. And so I said, you know something, 0:26:58.160 --> 0:27:00.280 I'm going to take you up on that because I've 0:27:00.359 --> 0:27:06.000 got a song that my son Jesse told me before 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:10.440 he died. He said, Dad, that song. He says, there's 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:13.480 two songs that really stick out to me. He says 0:27:14.640 --> 0:27:17.760 that one that you and he starts humming it to 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.399 me and I and I go, oh, yeah, you really 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:25.600 like that song? He says yeah, he says, uh, and 0:27:26.040 --> 0:27:28.960 it's a hit. He says, I believe that's a hit song. 0:27:29.119 --> 0:27:35.920 I just feel it in my heart. And so the 0:27:36.240 --> 0:27:45.520 one song titled Anymore Slaughter helped me finished because we 0:27:45.680 --> 0:27:49.200 co wrote it. I had the initial idea, the chorus, 0:27:49.320 --> 0:27:55.160 the first verse, the second first though, he really came through, 0:27:56.000 --> 0:28:02.480 and it came through with a shining of forgiveness. And 0:28:02.560 --> 0:28:06.600 it is forgiveness for the other guys for doing what 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:11.439 they did and what they do. Uh, and it and 0:28:11.520 --> 0:28:14.880 it has a message. It carries that that love message 0:28:14.920 --> 0:28:17.720 through it. And I think that's what Jesse was hearing 0:28:19.040 --> 0:28:21.879 because he was definitely into the love, especially in his 0:28:21.960 --> 0:28:24.560 latter years. I'm proud to be working with. Why don't 0:28:24.600 --> 0:28:26.560 you tell us a story of Jesse who had a 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:30.199 tragic accident and then tragically passed. Can you tell us 0:28:30.200 --> 0:28:33.320 a little bit more about that because not everybody knows. Yeah, 0:28:33.600 --> 0:28:39.320 Jesse back in two thousand and ten was on camping 0:28:39.800 --> 0:28:43.760 trip with his buddies and there was a bunch of 0:28:44.880 --> 0:28:49.360