Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what that is Clapton unplugged. Eric Clapton actually
Speaker 1: calling out musician Chuck Lavell. There, um something I know
Speaker 1: we have played many many times in my home. And
Speaker 1: a new documentary it's called The tree Man Chronicles. Chuck,
Speaker 1: who has spent half a century going around the world
Speaker 1: with some of the cons of rock as musical musical
Speaker 1: director for the Rolling Stones. He's told and played with
Speaker 1: the Almond Brothers, Eric Clapton so many more. He is
Speaker 1: on the phone and Buller, Georgia. He's also founder of
Speaker 1: mother Nature Network. It's a source for environmental news. Also
Speaker 1: with us and also acclaimed Alan Farrest, director, filmmaker and
Speaker 1: contour photographer. He has covered the world of action, sports, music,
Speaker 1: documentary films so much. Alan is the founder of Niche
Speaker 1: Productions and he's with us on the phone and date
Speaker 1: in Ohio. So, gentlemen, welcome, welcome to Boomberg Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: so delighted to have you here with us, and I
Speaker 1: want to start off with how this came together for
Speaker 1: for the two of you and Chuck. Let me start
Speaker 1: with you, well, First of all, Carol, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for inviting a song. I really appreciated it. At
Speaker 1: an earthly here um. Alan and I had known each
Speaker 1: other for a number of years because he had asked
Speaker 1: me to play on a guitar player UM session that
Speaker 1: he was managing and promoting, and so I went up
Speaker 1: to o'hao for the session. Everything went fine. Then there
Speaker 1: was this long gap where I didn't really talk to Alan,
Speaker 1: and we had this concept to do a documentary and
Speaker 1: we were in Las Vegas to do a show with
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones, which unfortunately got canceled because Met got laryngitis,
Speaker 1: and allan happened, just happened to be in in um,
Speaker 1: Las Vegas and out of the blue, call me up
Speaker 1: and we do the show. But let's get together and
Speaker 1: say hey, And we talked about this documentary concept and
Speaker 1: he said, man, you know, is there any chance you
Speaker 1: left me to consider me for the project. And I said, well, yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: So we talked about it. He convinced me that he
Speaker 1: really really wanted it. I'm so glad that we got
Speaker 1: together and did this and we shot over three and
Speaker 1: a half years, and he just did a masterful job,
Speaker 1: not only of shooting during all that time, but of
Speaker 1: weaving the stories together, so very very pleased. Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about that, Alan, because you know, right at the top,
Speaker 1: at the top, you know, there are the three storylines
Speaker 1: of Chuck's life, his musical life, his life as an environmentalist,
Speaker 1: and for our folks here watching on YouTube was just
Speaker 1: seeing some of the environmental work that Chuck does. But
Speaker 1: also you wove in his personal life and his love
Speaker 1: for his wife. How did you think about weaving those
Speaker 1: stories together? Because it's really cool. You go from kind
Speaker 1: of making bacon to talking about the Almond brothers. You
Speaker 1: go from talking rolling stones and seeing Mick, Keith and
Speaker 1: Ronnie and then talking about setting burns and horrists. It's
Speaker 1: really wonderful how it's all woven together. Alan. Oh, thank you,
Speaker 1: Carol Um, thanks for having us a one. You know,
Speaker 1: I think Chuck's story I knew from the outside just
Speaker 1: when he was wanting to do this, and I really
Speaker 1: wanted to do it, you know, I knew he had
Speaker 1: a great story, uh to tell, and it was just
Speaker 1: kind of it just needed to come out, you know,
Speaker 1: and Uh, this this opportunity I wanted to take and
Speaker 1: make this film as unique as as he is, you know,
Speaker 1: and he is as salt of the earth kind of guy. Uh.
Speaker 1: He never takes more than what he he needs, um,
Speaker 1: but he gives back way more uh than the common guy.
Speaker 1: You know, and not only musically, but also with his
Speaker 1: forest life. And also his marriage is kind of works
Speaker 1: the same way. I mean, it's it's a real testament
Speaker 1: to be in the rock and roll business and have
Speaker 1: a marriage of forty seven years, uh, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But and he also met in a very
Speaker 1: unique way at Capricorn Records, so um, you know, Rose
Speaker 1: Lane worked there right when you walked in the doors,
Speaker 1: and he met her at such a young age, and
Speaker 1: they they fall in love and they've been together ever since.
Speaker 1: As the movie says, you know, yeah, it actually you know,
Speaker 1: sets goals for all of us in a relationship. It's
Speaker 1: really it's really lovely, Chuck. I mean, what did you
Speaker 1: think about I mean three three and a half years,
Speaker 1: as you said, the process of it, what what was
Speaker 1: it that you hoped ultimately was shown as you worked
Speaker 1: with Alan on this. You know, my main motivation, Carol,
Speaker 1: was to wind up with a document for my family,
Speaker 1: for grandchildren, for future grandchildren, great grandchildren, up the road,
Speaker 1: and not only of my life or you know, myself
Speaker 1: and my wife rose Lane, but also for the times,
Speaker 1: you know, to to have a document of what the
Speaker 1: touring was like with the Stones at this particular point
Speaker 1: in time. Uh, talk about some of the things we
Speaker 1: did in the past with the Almond Brothers band and
Speaker 1: you know, some of the other musicians and artists that
Speaker 1: I've just been so privileged to work with. If you
Speaker 1: had Eric there, and you know Eric oh Man, I
Speaker 1: had a great couple of years with him and David,
Speaker 1: David Gilmore and others. So really that was my motivation
Speaker 1: was to have this document that would kind of show
Speaker 1: a picture of the times and something for the family. Alan.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got about a minute and then we're
Speaker 1: gonna take a little bit of a break and then
Speaker 1: we'll come back and talk some more. But I imagine
Speaker 1: that there had to be some serious logistical issues during filming.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you travel the world recorded interviews
Speaker 1: with I think some eight people during a lockdown. Well
Speaker 1: it's it was we we kind of finished right before
Speaker 1: lockdown happened. But but you know, for for those three years, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, we went you know, Europe like seven eight
Speaker 1: times and back and forth, and you know, one day
Speaker 1: you're with Clapton, the next day you're with Gilmore. I
Speaker 1: mean it was like living Chuck's life on warp speed going, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, back with all the people he had played with,
Speaker 1: which which you were trying to bring that into the story,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's it's always a challenge when you're
Speaker 1: when you're traveling with three thousand pounds of gear on
Speaker 1: a smaller crew to try to save money because you know,
Speaker 1: we knew we were going to interview well, we could
Speaker 1: have potentially interviewed eighty people, um, and we really got
Speaker 1: them all, you know, So it just we had to
Speaker 1: kind of stretch the budget out to make it happen.
Speaker 1: But that was that's kind of how we did it.
Speaker 1: To check. I gotta ask you because, as we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier, woven through the film is your love of
Speaker 1: the environment. Uh And you talk about it a lot.
Speaker 1: Where did that all come from it? And I know
Speaker 1: you talk about in the film when your wife inherited
Speaker 1: a farm. Um, but just talk to us a little
Speaker 1: bit about this and what you're hoping the message you're
Speaker 1: hoping to get out to people. Yes, Well, it is
Speaker 1: definitely all my wife's fault because you guys always blame us,
Speaker 1: that's always what happens. But you know the fact is
Speaker 1: that Rose Lanes family has been connected to the land
Speaker 1: literally for generations as farmers tending cattle and livestock, attending
Speaker 1: forest land and road cropping. And you know, when we
Speaker 1: first got together, and as we pointed out earlier, it's
Speaker 1: been forty seven years now, uh, I began to get
Speaker 1: a field for the passion to love, the dedication of
Speaker 1: the land that this family had. And in nine she
Speaker 1: inherited some land from her grandmother, and it became our
Speaker 1: responsibility to carry on what I saw is a heritage
Speaker 1: of stewardship. And so I went on a little, you know, journey,
Speaker 1: educational journey, going to library, checking out books on land
Speaker 1: use and so forth. And the short of it is
Speaker 1: that I had kind of an AHA moment when I realized, well,
Speaker 1: where does that thing that has given me so much
Speaker 1: joy in such a great career come from. The piano,
Speaker 1: of course, had comes largely from the resource of wood,
Speaker 1: and as does most other musical instruments, so I have
Speaker 1: personal connection and I really wanted to study forestry and
Speaker 1: learn more about you know, long term sustainable forestry and
Speaker 1: incredible gives us. Yeah, and it's certain certainly I think
Speaker 1: we're losing your phone a little bit, so hopefully it
Speaker 1: comes back. Um. It's certainly something very near and dear
Speaker 1: tall of us. And I think this year of dealing
Speaker 1: with the pandemic, dealing with inequities, but also you know,
Speaker 1: seeing the environment, Um, you know what happens when the
Speaker 1: economy shuts down and the skies are blue again and
Speaker 1: you can see mountain ranges, but also watching those terrible
Speaker 1: fires in California. I mean, Alan, I feel like in
Speaker 1: so many ways this film is just spot on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, four years ago and we started it. We
Speaker 1: we didn't really know that the California fires were gonna
Speaker 1: take off and be so much in the news in
Speaker 1: the last year. And I think some of those practices
Speaker 1: that Chuck talks about with fire breaks and some of
Speaker 1: that stuff, um, you know, I think, you know, you're
Speaker 1: hoping that environmentalists can take a uh, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: step back and look at some of those practices and
Speaker 1: you know, you might have to give a little to
Speaker 1: keep a lot, you know sometimes, And I think that's
Speaker 1: kind of the message of of the film. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think if your listeners want to check it out,
Speaker 1: you know, they can. They can find it on v
Speaker 1: O D now, which would put them into like iTunes,
Speaker 1: Apple iTunes or Amazon and they can just search the
Speaker 1: tree Man. But I think Ce and Chuck's story, um,
Speaker 1: and watching what he brings to the table with the environment. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just a big piece of the movie, uh that
Speaker 1: you don't really see coming, you know. You you know,
Speaker 1: he has this uh, just giant body of work that
Speaker 1: he's done, not only on um, you know, hits and
Speaker 1: helping other bands, but then these other, you know, humongous bands.
Speaker 1: He's been touring with them, playing with from the Almond
Speaker 1: Brothers to the Stones. It's just incredible because if you
Speaker 1: had just one of those in your career, it would
Speaker 1: have been a monumental career. But he's done his time
Speaker 1: and time again. Yeah, and to hire all of them.
Speaker 1: Just talk about how great you are talking. It's really
Speaker 1: you know, just a real person and really humble and
Speaker 1: uh and just so appreciative of kind of what the
Speaker 1: world has has brought your way. I want to do
Speaker 1: because we're running out of time and hopefully we can
Speaker 1: get you guys back again in the future. I want
Speaker 1: to do a quick kind of word association with you, Chuck,
Speaker 1: if I can just briefly, if I say rolling Stones,
Speaker 1: what comes to mind? Fun? I bet there are stories? Well,
Speaker 1: can I tell you A colleague said to me that
Speaker 1: they once heard that Ronnie would start his day with
Speaker 1: four Guinnesses. Is that true? Oh no, listen, Ronnie has
Speaker 1: been clean and sober for a long time now, and
Speaker 1: he's got a wonderful wife, Sally, and they have to
Speaker 1: two beautiful twin daughters that are just adorable. And Ronnie
Speaker 1: has got it together. I mean, it's amazing. And don't
Speaker 1: forget he's probably the most popular contemporary visual artist in
Speaker 1: the in the world today. Yeah, that's actually, that's actually
Speaker 1: a really good point as well. Um, Allman Brothers, what
Speaker 1: comes to mind? Oh? And Southern rock, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: paving the way for a new kind of music. Clapton,
Speaker 1: Oh wow, impeccable, Uh, gentleman, Um, generous and awesome. Southern
Speaker 1: Yellow Pine. Southern Yellow Pine is everything to me. It's
Speaker 1: where I am, That's who I am, It's where I live.
Speaker 1: And Rose Lane, love, love and more love. Well, I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you it's a great film, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, in a time when we're all feeling first
Speaker 1: of all, we all want content, but just needs something
Speaker 1: to maybe bring a smile to our face. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: just a great thing to watch, and and the music
Speaker 1: and it is just incredible. Chuck, thank you so much, Allen,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Stay safe, be well, and uh
Speaker 1: you're welcome back any time. And I wish you good
Speaker 1: luck with the with the documentary and the film. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Chuck Lavel, singer, songwriter, musician, on the
Speaker 1: phone from Bullard Georgia Ellen Forrest, director, filmmaker and photographer.
Speaker 1: Check out their documentary. It is called The tree Man,
Speaker 1: and it really is weaving together so many aspects of
Speaker 1: Chuck's life, including of course his great musical career, but
Speaker 1: also his love of his family, his wife, and then
Speaker 1: what he's been doing really when it comes to sustainability
Speaker 1: and sustainable forming in particular. Again, it's called The tree Man.
Speaker 1: And we're going to go out with a song certainly
Speaker 1: familiar to Chuck and I bet to all of our
Speaker 1: listeners something he played on Jessica with the Almond Brothers.