WEBVTT - Tom Johnston 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:08.280 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Bob Left Sets podcast. Those 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.440 people who follow me in my writing know that I'm 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:14.560 a huge Doobie Brothers fan. I was not initially, I 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.200 certainly like listen to the music, and then they were everywhere, 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:19.639 so that any band that's everywhere, it has that many hits, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.520 maybe doesn't deserve my attention. But I spent the best 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.480 month of my life in nine and a condo and 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.520 Mammoth Mountain, which is a big ski area that you 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.159 can usually skip to July four in California, and the 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.360 guy brought his eight tracks, and he brought this eight 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.199 track was a combination of what were once vices and 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.960 the Captain and me, and it just totally closed me. 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:44.120 I mean, this morning, I played isaas Silver on my 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.720 Amazon Echo show. So it's a great thrill and an honor. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.680 And this is not b sing because I'm a huge 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.600 fan to have from the Doobie Brothers, the legendary voice 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.319 Tom Johnston. Thank you glad to be here. Okay, So 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.120 we always started at the beginning. We're you know, like 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.360 that old Cheech and Chong number. Where was your born? Uh? 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.679 Just north of l a At, well not just north, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.840 but in the Central Valley and by Celia, by Celia 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.040 for those people were not California savvy. Tell them how 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.640 far from Los Angeles? That is probably about two hours 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.920 north of l A. Okay, that's the old day. I 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.199 don't know about now, but that's what he used to be. Okay. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:23.800 But when you grow up in Vasilia, what does your 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.240 father do for a living? He had an aircraft shop, untilarry, 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.960 an aircraft shop, well, he worked given an aircraft repair shop, 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.759 made a shop for crop desting and private aircraft. That's 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.160 where I worked my own childhood. That's what. Okay. So 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.640 if he's repairing those things, one would think that was 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:43.880 he was a pilot too. He was a pilot. And 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.320 are you a pilot? No? Yeah, I never did it. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:48.600 I don't know why I thought about it, but I 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.680 didn't give it. I wanted to motorcycle wars. You wanted 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.080 to stay on the ground and have danger on the ground. 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.600 I got flying nuts, so that wasn't a problem. Right. 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.400 But okay, so your father is an airplane mc pchanic 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:05.040 and your mother worked outside the home. She was a homemaker, 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.280 but she had a degree in teaching and stuff. They 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.720 both came from Little bitty towns in Missouri, and they 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.639 came out in nineteen thirty three and um, him to 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:19.480 get his degree in aeronautical engineering and her to be 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.880 his wife. I guess I mean. But they met back 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.760 in Missouri. Oh yeah, Soliman and Bourbon to eighty bitty 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.680 little towns right on what used to be Highway sixty six. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.320 Well you've certainly been there. Oh yeah, Okay, the relatives 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.840 are still there, the ones that are still hanging in Yeah, okay. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:36.560 So they come to word, does he get his degree 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.200 in California? You know, I'm a little unclear as to 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.680 where he got it. I was not born yet, and 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.839 this was quite a while ago. Um, I'm not really 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.120 sure where he guys. And they came for opportunity to California, 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.920 well him specifically a good yeah, to get the gig 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.000 with get his degree, and then he went up to work. 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.239 Nobody's gonna know what I'm talking about here, but he 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.519 went up to work. Eventually invited sell at an airport 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.799 called that was run by Tex rank And who was 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:05.239 a World War two guy. And this was in World 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:12.000 War two and he was a mechanic for so Okay, 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.399 if you're growing up in Vizilia, and your mother did 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.520 teach or she stayed at home. She didn't teach at 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:23.040 any time after I was taking air as it were. Okay, 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.440 she sometimes went over and did the books at the 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:28.760 shop from my dad. Okay, So how many kids in 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.800 your family? Three and you're we're in the hierarchy at 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.280 the bottom. You're the baby of the family. Yeah, I 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.000 think it's more. I think it's more like a mistake 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.200 that wasn't supposed to have any how much older. Your 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.640 other siblings brothers nine years older than me and my 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:43.880 sister seven years older than me. It does sound like 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.200 you're a mistake. And what are your brother and sister 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:47.800 if they're still with us, what are they up to? 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.160 My brother took over the shop, and my sister ends 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.080 up in Oregon. She lives over there, close to the coast. 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.960 And Okay, I grew up in Connecticut, fifty miles from 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.560 New York City, so we got New York TV, New 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.760 York radio. But you're living in Vesalea. What were you 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.200 getting your radio from? And your TV? God, Fresno and 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.560 it's I sell you right between Bakersfield and Fresno. So, 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:15.840 as I recall, it wasn't on radio coming out of Bakersfield, 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.080 but Fresno had a big station and a TV station, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.920 and so you were listening to that. But there was 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.720 also a period of time when I was in my teens. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.640 There's a little bit town called Fowler, California, but I 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.920 don't know, he probably wouldn't. Um that had this great 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:34.800 blue station. That's all he played all day. And the 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.279 guy's name was Happy hair Eld's House of Blues, and 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.600 so I would listen to that a lot. Okay, so 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.760 you're the youngest. Traditionally, the baby gets their way. The parents, 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.240 you know, they're tired for the other two children, they 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:49.559 give you a little slacked if the other kids didn't 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.839 get is that true. I don't know, because I didn't 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.400 have that. They were so far ahead of no comparison. Yeah, 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.880 and you know I followed my brother around when I 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.080 was young and kind of got away and stuff. But um, 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.159 I have to thank him for turning me on A 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.080 Little Richard. That's how I got now was like nine 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:07.840 years old, and that that was the first time I 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:09.680 ever got to hear a Little Richard. And he brought 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.560 the album home and he played it a couple of times. 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.960 I played it every day. So it's kind of like 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.680 the Beatles. The Beatles started with Little Richard. Prior to 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.440 that was their music in the home, there was uh, 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.920 dixie Land, primarily my dad with Dixie Land buff. Okay, 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.760 so until the Little Richard Richard came along, you were 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.760 not a big music radio listener. You were not. I 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:36.760 listened to whatever was on, but nothing really grabbed me 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.640 until a Little Richard and Bo Diddley and and even 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.400 Elvis press leaders really stuff. Okay, so that is all 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.240 pre Beatles stuff. What at what point do you then 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.400 pick up an instrument? Well, I was playing clarinet and 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.200 stuff all against my will. I did not want to 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.560 do this. This is from age eight. Tell freshman in 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.320 high school, I played that, and I played sax and 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:04.240 then uh, at age twelve, I started playing guitar. And 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.599 I didn't take lessons on purpose, and I just said, 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.719 I'm gonna do this myself. Okay, let's go back. You 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:14.160 took saxophone and clarinet in school, so you learned how 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.360 to read music for a while. Yeah, I've asked my questions. 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.160 Could you read music now? Now? Okay, so you pick 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.000 up a guitar your parents bought you of the guitar. No, 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.080 I bought it. You bought it? Where'd you get the money? 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.800 It was only twelve bucks. It wasn't too bad. I 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.120 bought it from a bass player friend of mine, uh 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.920 in high school. I mean we weren't in high school, yeah, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:36.600 but I ended up being high school and then we 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:41.280 were in bands together, and um, twelve bucks for a 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.680 crack in the top old arch back harmony. And the 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.320 dream was what it really wasn't so much of a dream. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.680 It was just kind of think of a rebellion thing. 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.280 Maybe I just didn't want to be associated with those 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.760 other instruments. Actually I didn't mind the sex so much, 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.520 but I really didn't like the clarinet. So the guitar 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.920 is my thing. Nobody was telling me to do this, 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.640 and this is totally exploration for me. So that's what 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:07.640 it became. And how did you learn? You said you 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.760 wanted to teach yourself. I listened. I listened. I figured 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:12.840 it out on and I listened to like Jimmy Reed. 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.360 I started with Jimmy Reid's It's pretty basic and sit 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.960 down and figure it out on the guitar, which really 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.640 wasn't that tough. And then I'd start building on that 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.720 as the years went by, and pretty soon by the 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.680 time he had high school, you're in high school bands 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.440 and you're playing okay, but British Invasion and went ahead. Okay. 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.160 But I just remember because certainly after the Beatles, we 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.240 all got guitars and we all formed bands. And I've 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.240 told this story before. I was in the bedroom of 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.040 a friend of mine and we're playing guitars. He goes, now, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.760 we're gonna change key and I said, WHOA, I'm out. 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.480 I don't have that patrol ability. So some people have 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.320 natural ability. Would you consider yourself to have that? I 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:57.200 never really thought about it. I guess out to a point. Um, 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.120 I could hear this stuff. It's nobody explained it to 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:01.520 me so much. The only thing I ever learned from 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.600 anybody about playing guitar, at least especially in those days, 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:06.600 with how to make a bar accord, and then after 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.280 everything else, I just kind of figured out, Okay, so 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.040 you had this twelve dollar guitar and you're practicing in 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.200 your room. At what point do you graduate to another 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:20.280 guitar and start a band. Um, as soon as I 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.880 could afford another guitar, which basically was a single pick 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.000 up electric k and a crumming little lamp from the 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:27.920 music store in town. Do you remember the brand of 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.160 the app? You know, I don't because whatever it was 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:35.720 really off brand. It wasn't mainstream. Remember was a Marshal 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:40.520 right exactly? And oh yeah, you were saying, Um, I 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.880 didn't really started playing with people till I was probably 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.440 a freshman in high school. So freshman in high school? 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.439 What year is that? You mean? What year is like? Okay, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:56.360 so probably this is pre Beatles. So you had to 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:58.440 know how to play Hideaway by Freddie King by that 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.959 That was my question. So you play that? What else? 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.040 I played a lot of blue stuff as best I 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.400 could At that point. I wasn't way a dance but 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.840 um I had also by that time as a freshman 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.640 in high school, I had a kind of a life 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.959 altering experience that buddy of mine I used to hang 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.520 with all the time, who was a senior when I 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.400 was a freshman, was way off into James Brown. And 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.360 so James Brown comes to town on his first Apollo 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.800 Theater album, to ur town being Fresno, and he says, 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.040 we gotta go see him. I said, all right, because 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.480 I already heard the album by then it was pretty amazing. 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.040 So we went up and signed and I never seen 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.120 anything like that in my life. It was amazing. I mean, 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:48.960 the guy never stopped moving, just constant power, constant um God. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.000 Besides screaming and the amount of talent he had in 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.079 those days, he was even singing more than he did 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:55.880 later on when he got into the heavy funk stuff. 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.960 But a huge show. He had like two drummers, bass player, 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.320 two guitar players, chick singers and they would come out 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.520 in layers that like before he even did his show. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.600 That was like forty five minutes of I think they 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.680 were called the Black Perris came out and sang and 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.400 his band played, and then he came out and played 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:20.079 organ which was a little questionable. But when he hit 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.679 the stage, it was just like a tornado hit the stage. 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.280 It was insane, and there was people standing on top 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.240 the Civic Center. Then there they were up on top 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:34.080 of these old wood, wooden, armed ironed like seats just 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.600 and they weren't all you know, it was like black white, 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.719 every everybody going nuts, going absolutely insane. Let's go a 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.280 little bit slower. I've driven through Brazili. I don't really know, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.360 is it an integrated town. Is it all white? Now? 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.000 Vice Alia was not at that point in time. I 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:51.719 don't know what it's like. No, I hardly ever go there. 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:56.240 PACTA basically don't. Um. Hillary had a lot of black center. 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.720 So to get to Fresno and Fresno, how did you 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.760 get to Fresno for that gig? Drive up the highway? 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.720 But somebody had somebody had a license at that point, 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.280 Oh Bobby did. Yeah, Okay, he was a senior. I 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.040 was a freshman. I didn't have a license. That's why 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:12.480 I figured. That's how I asked you was taking a 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.800 freshman and you're at the Civic Center in Fresno. Exactly 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:22.280 how integrated is the audience? It was probably three quarters 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.800 to a quarter o. The west side of Fresno is 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:30.840 basically African American and um, but I there wasn't a 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.440 lady next to me. She must have at that time. 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:35.560 She seemed old to me looking back on it and said, 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.400 let's define old. But she was probably in her fourties 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.200 and she was standing on her seat just like doing. 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.760 I don't believe that it was amazing, it really was. 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.480 She was into it, man. Okay, So any fear coming 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.760 from Vezilia being in an integrated audience. Never thought about it. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.040 I never thought about it. The racism was not an issue. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.160 No one you know what talked to you. Okay, So 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.520 you come home from the big and you say to yourself, 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:08.320 what that's more of what I was trying to, Um, 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.920 take away from what I just went through. That was amazing. 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.480 I mean, I can't be It was a live faltering event. 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:16.880 You know if people don't realize the men they talk 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.320 about it. But we used to go see bands. There 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.760 were no video, no internet whatever, and the experience would 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.080 hang with us. We talked to people they wouldn't really 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:26.800 know I was talking about. It's like you could even 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.160 play the record and get the same experience. Well, they 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.920 were the people that I hung away in school, had 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.360 no idea what I was talking about. They didn't even 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.360 know who James Brown was. So it was I mean, 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.400 other than Bobby, who also went to same high school 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.840 I did. But um, it was kind of a small 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.280 cult if you will, that knew what that was about. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.280 And as time went on. In high school bands I 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:56.120 would play little blues, mostly rock and roll, anything from 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.520 Chuck Berry to the Birds to Box Tops two, a 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.240 little bles too, and then we do the other half 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.920 of the gig would be James Brown muth. Really, I'm 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:07.840 the one that handled that end of it. You could 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.400 give us a little demonstration, now, I don't think so. Okay, 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.880 at what point in your okay, so what kind of 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.200 gigs you playing? Like high school dances and stuff? But 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.480 in your community were you known as like the musician 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.080 the star? Was there any stature or just another guy 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.800 playing music with a lot of musicians playing. I mean 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.880 for that side of community. I mean I was down 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.200 the ladder from other guys that I knew. They were 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:39.120 the older and had established names in right exactly. But 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:40.640 it's also an era where you could be a king 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.120 of your own town. And since your mother was a teacher, 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.520 are you doing well in school? I was doing, Okay, 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.400 you've done okay, I was done a big fantasychool. Okay, 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.520 you're not a big fan. But uh, it's not like 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.120 you got into music and then all of a sudden 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.880 you stopped paying attention to school. No, No, I didn't. 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:02.000 My ear and his best I gave it a good shot. Okay, 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.040 So then, uh, what point do you think it doesn't 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.520 even happen? At that point you say, whoa this could 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:13.199 be a career. I didn't think that way in those days. Um, 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.599 Although we did cut a record when I was a sophomore, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.520 but that was just kind of a fluke thing. And 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:21.840 I cut another one when I was eighteen, and I 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:23.320 did go down and try and stop it here in 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:24.720 l A. As a matter of fact, with a friend 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.040 of mine. Nothing came of either one of my Well 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:28.840 what did you do? Just looked up record companies and 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:34.520 knocked on the door, well and got total rejection. Absolutely yeah, 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.400 And that didn't discourage you. Not really. I didn't expect 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:44.360 much to happen. Um. I had nobody representing me whatsoever, 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.080 and I was on my own, and I was with 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.600 this guy that had played drums and bassed on the 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:52.320 song when I was eighteen. And did you write the song? Yeah? Okay, 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:57.200 when did you start writing songs? Probably when I was fifteen, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.520 I guess. And did you take it seriously? Right? One 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.000 after an other? Are just now and again. I would 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.040 write stuff for the band that I was in, you know, 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.320 and we, in essence we kind of all wrote it, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.080 but I would write the lyrics such as they were, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.440 and it was kind of an offshoot of a Chuck 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.200 Berry kind of thing, and the other side was kind 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:20.520 of a quote unquote half soul half rock and roll thing. 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.720 And uh it sounded very amateur, okay, because usually the 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:26.720 initial songs you think are great, but really they suck. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.280 Now they were pretty bad, okay. And at what point 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.960 in this history to the Beatles hip sixty two, as 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.440 I recall, Oh, I mean for you at sixty two 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.160 was loved me do. But in the UK the Sullivan 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.560 at sixty four. So in sixty four you're still in 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.920 high school, yeah, I was. So it was this a revelation. 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:45.400 Did you watch them, mom, ed Sullivan? I did, And 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.160 we had all these kids in school that were following 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.680 the Beatles ardently, um, wearing the paraphernalia that you know, 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.520 the hats, the beetle boots, the frank. I thought it 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.440 was a little hicky, but whatever, I thought they were. Okay. 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:02.960 I thought they were you know something. You were not 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.160 a big Beatles fan, No, I was more of a 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.080 blues And how about the Stones Stones I liked, okay, 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.440 so they were blues. Yeah, that's why I mentioned back. 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:12.560 I mean they used to have the Battle of the 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.160 Beans on Saturday night on the radio, Stones versus the Beatles. Well, 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:20.560 the Beatles developed and I became a serious fan. Oh really, 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.360 when did you become a Beatles fan? Probably by the 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:27.040 time I was hitting freshman in high school. I mean, 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.120 it's given me a freshman in college, and that would 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.000 be which Beatles songs? Which Beatle albums? If you remember, 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.560 I didn't own any I just listened to him, but 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.840 I wasn't a die hard be What songs did you say? Hey, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:44.080 this is pretty good? Uh let me think hard days night? 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:50.400 Uh eler Rigby Okay, relatively early, but not the initial stuff. Okay. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.800 And you go to college and you go to college where, 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.880 first of all junior college and vice he had a place, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.440 c Os College is quas okay, and you stay there 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.800 for how long? Two years? And so you're living at 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.800 home and what's going You're playing music? And are you 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.479 riding motorcycles? Yet? I did buy one finally, after all 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.639 the years of working. My dad shot much, but I 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.399 did buy one. Okay. If that's something that's stuck with 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.280 you forever to this day, write anymore? When did you stop? 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.560 I quit in two thousand and three, and it's a 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.479 it's not because of you know you're gonna break your 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.040 neck or any of that kind of stuff. We had 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.040 to move out of the house for a year to 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:30.760 have it worked on, and we got back in and 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.280 I looked down and I said, I'm done. Be you're done, 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.760 because you figure you'd beat the odds, And maybe it 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:38.760 really wasn't. It's like somebody just turned the switch off. 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.680 The interest wasn't there anymore. How much did you ride 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.280 before you? Uh? Did the switch did go off? I 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.239 would call it weekend warrior kind of writing. I mean 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.160 I had various friends guys in the band I would 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:51.600 ride with, as well as a lot of guys that 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:56.439 I knew around town and stuff. It's all in northern California, um, 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:58.119 and we go right up and down the coast and 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.160 stuff like that. But I never took trips across out 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:01.399 the country or any of that kind of Did you 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.479 ever have an accident? I had a couple. And does 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:08.399 your body still suffer the consequences? Not that I'm aware of. 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:16.119 Let we'll take a quick break and come back with 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.280 more of my conversation with Tom Johnston to the Doobie Brothers. 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:28.240 I love getting people's stories, whether they're a famous performer, manager, 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.439 record label exec or tech star. I want to know 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.520 what makes them tick and how they became successful. This week, 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.520 Tom Johnson tells us about going to college, informing the 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.840 Doobie Brothers, and a fifty year career that came thereafter. 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.119 You can dial up by other conversations with artists like 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:50.480 Paul Rodgers, Cascade, and Shirley Manson by subscribing to the 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.760 podcast on tune in, Apple or your podcast player of choice. 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:59.119 While you're there, be sure to rate and review the podcast. Okay, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.000 let's get back to more of my conversation with Tom Johnston. 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.159 So you're in junior college, you're playing in bands. You 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:09.800 finished two years of junior college, and then one um, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.399 I went to San Jose. And why Santa Jose of 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.399 all the other places, well as one of two places 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:15.840 that got accepted that I had a lot to do 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.240 that they were Sant JOSEVI. What was the other choice? Oregon? 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.200 And Okay, I went up there and and I said, 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:23.439 I don't think so, because by that time I had 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.560 already met my sister lived in Santose, and I had 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.480 already met this bunch of people up there who lived 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:34.680 up in Santa Cruz Mountains. And I didn't not skip 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.040 yet but I would not long after that, and um, 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:42.440 that's Skip Speps the originally for the movie Grape. Yeah. 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:46.199 I there was this whole community that she knew and 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.520 hung with, which I became involved with before I ever 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:50.960 moved up to I used to go up there while 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:52.480 I was in high school. And how far is that 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.399 from Brazilia? That's about what three and a half for 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.720 It's relatively far. Yeah, And we would drive up there 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:00.760 on on the weekends and he'd let us crash in 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.480 her place and then we go hang out and say hey, 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.320 and go to the film War and watch whoever was playing, 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:10.399 watch all this stuff in the streets, take it all in, 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:12.840 go back and be vice for the rest of the week. 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:16.359 It's a big difference. Yeah, people have no idea what 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.760 you're talking about. So you go to San Jose primarily 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:21.200 because you get in there and you have a whole 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.560 social scene started. Yeah. And I was a graphic design 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:27.080 major and they had a good department for all that. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.800 But then the first question, did you finish the Jose State? 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:34.080 I finished it time wise. I was a semester short 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.320 of the degree, simply because I got some bad advice 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.159 and I took an industrial design class that did me 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.320 no good at all finishing. I did all the rest 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.280 of the requirements. Okay, bad advice me, And you thought 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.879 this would help you graduating It didn't, meaning I had 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.680 no idea what what I needed to do and what 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.679 was required. This guy says, oh, you should take this, 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.840 my counselor at the point at that time, take this 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.520 industrial design class and you know this is something you're 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:01.879 gonna need. Well, that turns out it kept me from 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:04.560