WEBVTT - Chris Robinson 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.880 My guest today is Chris Robinson of the Black Ros, 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.440 who have a new album, Happiness Bastards. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.120 So, Chris, what's your favorite Grateful Dead album? 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:27.360 Live Dead has to be the best one. 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.680 I mean, wait, wait, wait, wait, we're talking about the 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:31.520 initial Life Dead sixty. 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:36.440 Five, Dead ninety. Yeah. I mean you can argue eure 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.120 up seventy two. My wife's going, e're rope seventy two. 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.920 I'm like, I get that. But there's something about Live 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:46.519 Dead because you know, in a way it's it is 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.800 It's like that's a that's an avant garde, acid driven 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:57.680 punk commune like anarchists sort of manifesto. I mean, I mean, 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.200 I think that's the record where they're really wild, you 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.440 know what I mean, Like the music is wild and 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.880 it's unruly, and I think that's kind of the thing 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:12.880 that interests me in rock and roll anyway, you know 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.720 what I mean. Like, I you know, it's funny because 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.759 I meet people and depending really on you know, where 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.959 you grew up, like everyone in Long Island, whether you 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.960 like them or not, new the Grateful Dead because they 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.480 played them on those radio stations, and they even outside 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.119 of their underground sort of significance to people or their 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:40.200 cult popularity. In Atlanta ninety six rock God bless them, 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.080 they're playing Radar Love and Sugar Loaf and shit, you 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.560 know what I mean, They're not I'm not hearing any 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:52.160 of that music in the same way that people in 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.040 southern California would have known the Grateful Dead, you know, 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.600 even by the by the time Don Henley is referencing 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.840 them in a song or something, you know. So, but 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.400 when I finally found my way to it, I I 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:09.080 I think that's the I mean, especially that Dark Star, 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:10.680 you know what I mean, that's the. 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.040 Yeah, the first side, like twenty five minutes or something. 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:15.800 But you know, it's funny. A couple of weeks ago, 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.760 we my wife and I went to the uh Los 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.919 Fieleas Theater. It's part of the Aero Theater whatever they 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.320 call that thing where they you know, it's art house cinema, 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:28.400 but they play old moves and we went to see 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:35.080 Antonioni Zabrinsky point. And I had seen the film, you know, 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:39.880 on DVD or you know, smaller scale, not on the 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.160 scale that it was meant to be seen. And when 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:46.400 they get to the love scene. Uh, you know, Jerry Garcia. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.359 They flew him down from San Francisco and he had 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.280 one he had his twin reverb and he had his 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.520 strat at the time, and they just played the love 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.880 scenes from the desert on a loop for him and 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:04.000 he just improvises those beautiful little short bursts of notes, 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.840 these little melodies and stuff. And anyway, that's also my favorite, 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.400 grateful to record, even though it's Jerry and on a 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:19.760 sound stage just improvising to this beautiful, you know, art film. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:23.000 Really, you know, I gotta stop you there for a 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.280 second because I have to tell the story. This is 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.799 the only time it's ever come up. When when I 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.880 was in school in junior high, there was a girl, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.720 Cynthia Fraschett, and we used to call her Behemoth, which 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.000 is terrible, but she was a real outcast. And she 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.360 told us my brother's gonna be in a movie. He's 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.960 gonna be in a movie star. We say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.680 And her brother was Mark Foschett, who's the star of 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.520 the really. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:58.000 And you you just thought it was completely like, oh, yeah, yeah, exactly. Person. Yeah, 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.880 I tell you, it's funny that the movie really is 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.920 much maligned film back when it came out, and I 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:09.480 still think there's an air of I don't know if 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.840 people can really grasp the scale of it, which, by 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.960 the way, to me makes it holy psychedelic. I mean, 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.880 who said they're supposed to be an answer in the mythtic? 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.280 You know what I mean? We suggest, because we live 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:23.360 in an era where you know, you have so much 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.279 information at the tip of your fingers in an instant, 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.920 that they're supposed to be answers. But I mean, personally, 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.120 I find very little interest in that. I find a 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.159 lot of arrogance and science and in like things like 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.480 archaeology and anthropology and things, even though the solid base 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:44.840 of it obviously is really important and significant to our 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.239 understanding of the world around us. But we have seemed 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:53.799 to drift away from being able to appreciate the great 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:55.400 mystery of things. 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.800 Just to stop. Are you a big movie fan or 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:00.760 are you a historian? Have you seen all this? 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.080 Yeah? I'm a huge you know. My My three the 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.960 three uh deep interests that branch out into many other 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:14.839 things have always been music, literature, cinema. That's the what 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.800 when I'm not making music. Those are the things that 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.080 I'm deeply interested in. But then that turns into history 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:27.520 and travel and food and UH and all sorts of 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.200 different esoteric interests. 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.080 Okay, your two favorite movies of all time? 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.840 Okay, well it's okay. My my favorite movie of all 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:45.400 time maybe is Marcel Carn's The Children of Paradise. I 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:52.680 think it's a movie that never fails to bring me 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.800 into a world that that doesn't exist, bring me into 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.520 a world of you know, the early days of the 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:05.560 stand age and UH in Paris on the Boulevard to 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:11.039 Crime with all these characters. You know, it's funny. A 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:12.800 lot of people maybe who don't know the film. You know, 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.960 when Bob Dylan is wearing the white makeup and the 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:20.200 hat with the flowers, he he that's Baptiste, one of 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.920 the main three characters in that film. He is the 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.719 soul of the art. He is the he is the 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.040 one that can reach anyone, you know, with his art 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.960 and his UH and his magic. You know. So, and 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:38.040 it's it's funny. There's a lot of UH that movie, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:42.599 in that era of Bob Dylan, and and it's fun 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.560 I also I have a poster made it. You know, 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.560 that film was made at the very end of the 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.719 Nazi occupation of Paris. So by the time it comes 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.680 out that there's some posters in the world that are 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.400 reprinted on like, you know, the poster for the film 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.440 is reprinted on another poster, you know, so if you 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:01.560 get in the light right you can see it. They 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:06.359 didn't have the materials. And the guy who sold me 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.080 that poster many years ago, he was like, oh, you know, 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.440 this poster is pretty rare, and I was like, yeah, 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.680 he goes, I've only ever sold one other them. I 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.000 was like, oho, he said, do you mind telling me? 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.120 Said I sold it to Bob Dylan, and I was like, 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.880 I was like, how cool. My second favorite movie of 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:28.360 all time is I would say the film called with 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.320 Nell and I. I don't know if you know that 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.760 movie about two Oh yeah, fantastic movie. Bruce Robinson directed 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.960 and wrote the script. But that's more obscure. Let's just 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.080 let's just call it what it is. My second favorite movie, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.240 a movie that is the funniest movie ever made. Bit 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.080 for bit, gag for gag, joke for joke, minute for 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.040 a minute is Young Frankenstein and. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:52.080 Interesting. 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.280 My wife and I read The Airport recently and I 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.240 was doing some stick from Young Frank Sotin and some 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:01.160 lady goes, oh, that, what is that. I'm like, I said, 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.440 Young Frank. Soon she goes, well, I'll have to write 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.200 that down. And I'm like, what what world are we? 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:09.280 How old is your wife? 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.320 My wife is forty four. It wasn't her. My wife 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.600 and I were together and someone else she knows. Of 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:17.680 course she knows what it is. I wouldn't have married 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.080 someone who doesn't know what Young Franke's done it. It 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.240 was a random person over here, I said, I said, 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:23.679 we were doing a bit from the movie. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:25.320 So what bit were you doing? 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.200 Oh? I don't know? My bit that My favorite bit 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.640 from the movie are always the small details. Of course, 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.560 the funniest thing to me in the whole movie is 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.719 when they wheel the guy out at the beginning of 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.479 the movie and they're like, mister. 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:42.360 Whatever here is you know gonna be as experiment and 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.480 he's like, if you just hop off the table, and 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.760 the guy like slides off the table and gene Wider's like, 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:54.000 nice hopping, and that really gets me. And when Peter 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.960 Boyle from the original movie is about to throw the 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.680 little girl into the pond and drown her or whatever, 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.160 but they cut to her parents because she the mother. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:06.080 The mother comes down the stairs and the father is 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:07.640 hammering boards. 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.000 Over the window, and she goes, what are you doing? 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.400 And he goes, when monsters are loose, boards must be tight. 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.880 That's okay. 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.480 Let's switch gears. Give me two of your favorite books. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:28.840 Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear. That's that's it, you 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.360 know that one starts to becomed. I guess I could 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:37.320 go more in like what and I can access what 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.240 I've read in the last you know, wild that is 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.600 stuck with me because I read so much. I love 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.480 this book called Naples forty four and it's about this 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:53.160 British he was in in the Military Police. He was 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:55.760 a high ranking officer in the Military Police and he 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:00.559 is assigned to Naples right after the Allied and invasion 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:07.560 repels the Germans and the fascists and they're retreating nor 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.080 you know, they're fighting the battle to go up the 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:16.920 Italian peninsula and he's stuck there. It is it's one 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.560 on one that it's a chilling horror story about the 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.200 you know, the horrors of war are happening with the 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.960 violence and the and the run. You know, what's going 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.880 on in those in those dramatic moments, but it's also 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:37.679 the aftermath of that that becomes the real you know, 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.800 where you see the you see the human condition at 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:45.880 its most tender and it's most poignant, but you also 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.880 see it at its most vile, destructive and evil. And 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.800 I think the juxtaposition of those things in terms of 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.720 just also being very interested in the subject, interested in 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:01.040 the time, very interested in Italian culture, and many good 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:07.840 friends from Naples, especially just an incredible, incredible book. And 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.160 I can't say enough about a guy passed away a 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.439 couple of years ago named Dale Pendle. I believe the Pharmacopoeia. 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:18.440 He has a three volume set that's basically an encyclopedia 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:26.640 on chemicals drugs, whether it be caffeine, amphetamines, LSD, DMT, heroin, cocaine, tobacco, anything, 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:31.880 any small thing. But he writes his text is very 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.320 much alive in the way Robert Graves. I don't know 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:40.160 Robert Graves. He's a poet. He intertwines his story with 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:46.360 a sort of history of human beings and their pursuit 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.600 for bliss. And you know, the book starts that he 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.880 retreats to some cabin way up in northern California to 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.200 have peace away from everything, to start to put this 0:11:56.200 --> 0:12:00.000 book together. And he puts a sign over the front door. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.960 Are all demons welcome. And I just always found that 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:10.040 to be amazing visual. They're very hard to find, and 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.800 they're they're kind of expensive. Now they're a trilogy, and 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:20.239 but they it's not they're in They're just beautiful and interesting. 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.200 And again I look for I really like things that 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:29.120 are alive, and I've had the unique opportunity and perspective 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:33.480 maybe because I, you know, am dyslexic, that I've been 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.200 able to read between the lines or put myself as 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:41.319 an outsider and see the fire and light within sometimes 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:43.240 that maybe other people wouldn't. I don't know. 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.520 What is going on in your house growing up that 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:48.960 you have these interests. 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:54.200 Uh Well, like I said, I I don't know. I mean, 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.040 I mean my parents had a lot of books. And 0:12:57.800 --> 0:12:59.600 I always laugh, you know what I mean, because when 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.360 you're when you're a kid and there's shelves and books, 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.080 my eye goes directly to helter skelter and I'm like 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.920 looking at all the crime photos and like the Vanson 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:14.400 murders and stuff. But I always had I think growing 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.760 up in Atlanta, and I think when you're a child, 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:23.680 obviously the filters aren't there. And growing up in a 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.360 city that I was very aware of for whatever reason, 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:32.199 that had been punished and had been burned to the ground. 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.360 The phoenix was something that I really understood as a 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:40.040 symbol early on, because that's the symbol of Atlanta. But also, 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.040 you know what I mean, and my dad, Rich and 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.679 I are third generation Atlantin's. We also my grandfather was 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.280 Schmada business, a Jewish guy, Ike Robinson, So I have 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:56.080 that side of the Atlanta experience. But being around in 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.280 the woods and stuff and seeing ghosts and feeling them 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.679 and no knowing that you know that people lost their 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.800 lives in these trenches and stuff. You know, I just 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:10.120 have always had a very active imagination we had. And 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:16.320 I think the other main trust me my parents, you know, 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.400 like I said, being dyslexic, like I couldn't tie my shoe, 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.600 But I really knew a lot about zulus in kindergarten, 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.440 you know what I mean. It was like, why is 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.560 your kid the only kid who can't tell time, but 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.200 he knows a shit ton about zuluz? You know, Like, 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.960 so who knows the way the mind works, well, I 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:40.160 guess scientists, but in my case, I know, but my 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.760 mom and dad also when they got together, had a 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:46.840 lot of records, you know what I mean. I read 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.840 an article not too long ago that the average family, 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.720 like in the fifties or late fifties to the mid 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.040 sixties maybe had eight or nine records, you know what 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:57.880 I mean. That would be your little record collection on 0:14:57.920 --> 0:14:58.920 those little. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:14:59.960 Of course ten things. 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.520 We probably have two hundred and fifty records, which isn't 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.440 a lot to me now, but at the time, and 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.680 it was like, you know, I was just had a 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.080 I wanted to explore. So it's like, you know, like 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.640 this is oh, Jimmy Reid and Mose Allison and Lester Flatten, 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:24.680 Earl Scrugs and the Luvin brothers and uh more. You know. 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.160 I still have my dad's copy of the first Buffalo 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.000 Springfield mono copy with this for what It's worth sticker 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:37.160 on crossby Stills, Nash and Young signed a family stone. 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.400 You know. So there was a lot of different Johnny Guitar, 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:42.760 Watson records. You know, all sorts of things come to 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.440 mind when I think of and then as we get 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.320 as I get older, I'm obsessed with music, and you know, 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.840 these were the things that I could understand, you know 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.920 what I mean, These were things that made me feel 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.200 and made me feel a part of the world and 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:03.080 whatever little whatever that means. Looking out from a place 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.680 like Atlanta at that time, you know, I remember having 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.360 a distinct feeling of being very far away from the 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.200 rest of whatever America must feel like or look like. 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.600 And then at that time, you know, I luckily find 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:22.000 Kerouac and Burroughs and Ginsburg and like thousands of others 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.960 of us, Bob Dylan mins my dad. My dad was 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.040 the kind of guy who didn't buy Blonde on Blonde 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:33.520 because it wasn't the same Bob Dylan, you know. So 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.800 I grew up with that person that felt that kind 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:41.240 of as if rock and roll wasn't pure enough. You know. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.240 Okay, so you're going to school, did you know you 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.000 were dyslectic? Then they had tests or you only know 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:50.480 in retrospect. 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.800 My mom knew something was different, and because of teachers saying, like, 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.240 you know, he really excels at this, but he's really 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.560 having trouble with some of these things. And you know, 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.600 this diagnosis takes place in the early seventies, you know, 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:09.439 and in the Deep South, I mean a I'm fifty seven. 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.680 We would be the first generation. I could be wrong, 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.760 but I know people a little bit older than me 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:22.440 who have subsequently been diagnosed as dyslexic and then being dyslexic. 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.439 There's a lot of It's not just one thing, of course, 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.880 but that I would be one of the first generations. 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:35.719 And my mom, in her tenacity and her wisdom, wanted 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.800 some answers, you know what I mean, and she found them. 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.680 And I was very lucky that there's a school in Atlanta. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:47.480 It's still there, Skank Schooled. Unfortunate name for doctor Skanks. 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.280 But I would go to school and then go there 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.720 after school three days a week to you know, to 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.359 try to turn around what I could, and it never 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.000 The biggest gift of that was reading, you know what 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.639 I mean. But then again, the like part of my 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.439 thing is like I'm an avid reader. I can retain 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.680 a lot of information I've been, but I cannot spell, 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.119 to say, I mean, you know, when I when I 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:17.920 met my wife, I was like, listen, I'm going to 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.359 ask you to spell things and cleats. Just try to 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.760 refrain from disgust to shame or laughing at me. You know, 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.320 it just goes. I've never been able to do it. 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.600 But my mom recognized that, and she, you know, she 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.000 was calling, you know, from Atlanta in nineteen seventy three. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.840 She's calling people at Harvard University to get answers, you 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.879 know what I mean. So I get the cerebral side 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:48.239 from my mom, and then I get something, you know, 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.320 I get something else from you know, talking about the 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.920 records and stuff. That my other earliest memories. My dad 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.199 was a folk singer. He was on ABC Paramount. He 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.800 had a group called the Appellations. They made two sides, 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.040 you know, and it was funny because he was immersed 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:08.679 in like traditional folk music, so his presentation would be 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:11.600 very unlike the kind of commercial folk records. You know. 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.400 He was kind of doing that serendipity sing sid rock 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.360 is you know, sid right down, bit let your yeah 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:21.679 girl in those big twelve stringth That kind of commercial 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:26.800 folks sound would be the couple of records he made. 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.960 But and you know, in the fifties, he he had 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:31.920 a hit record with a song called Booma. Dip Dip 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.800 was the top forty hit and it was more like 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.359 a I would consider like a Bobby Darren kind of 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:42.520 rock and roll song, you know, a little edge of 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.720 what was left of do wop and cool. It's a 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.480 really cool song. And he cut some other singles that 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.240 didn't do as well. But when he ended up back 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.840 in the South after the rock and roll phase, he 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:02.280 was in folk music and you know, when he was 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.720 home on a Saturday morning, whatever, he would pull out 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.520 the you know, his Martin is nineteen fifty three Martin, 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.640 which my brother you know, wrote she Talks Angels and 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.280 played on All Our still played on this newest record, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.400 and he would sing and it would just open up 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.399 all of this because he would also my dad was 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.320 he would explain, like, okay, so this song comes from 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.280 originally is like what someone in Wales was singing like 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.080 a couple hundred years ago, and then by the time 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:32.520 it gets on a boat and comes here and it 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:36.600 ends up in Appalachia, it turns into this and that 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.760 kind of connection I always found not just interesting, but 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.400 very comforting in some weird way, you know. And I 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.399 think I had a a nate understanding that the song, 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:50.840 if you're a singer and a musician, that the music 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.080 we played in the song we sing is just this 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:57.080 one big song that's been going on for ever, you know, 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:02.199 since there's been people. And I loved murder ballads, and 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:06.040 I loved like the really dark side and stuff, you know, 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:11.639 I loved all those kind of songs and so and 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:13.720 then he would play records a lot too, and that 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.480 would be that would be you know, I learned so 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:18.719 much from that. I don't even know I'm learning at 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.760 the time, but I'm being able to put together and 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:24.240 you know, the Alan Lomack song of the South Box 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:29.280 that is still like a holy relic or something to me, 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.159 you know. And I still have my dad's copies of 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:36.640 those records. 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:42.240 So what kind of kid are you? Do you have friends, 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.480 do you play sports? Or you alone in your room? 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:51.800 What do you like? I played sports. I was the skinniest, scrowniest, 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.560 weirdest kid out there, but I had a lot of guts. 0:21:56.119 --> 0:21:58.280 I played sports because it was fun. But I also 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.360 played sports for my dad, because you know, he was 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:04.919 scared to death that he would come home and I 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:09.160 would look like a you know, sixteenth century French duke 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:14.080 under a tree eating strawberries and lace things, reading poetry 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.680 or something. He had really been upset. But I love sports. 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:25.080 I had friends when we were little always, but you know, yes, 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:27.400 you know, the world was different in the last century 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:29.240 and a lot of your friend group were just whatever 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:31.119 kids you didn't want to beat up in the neighborhood 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:33.240 or didn't want to beat you up, and you know, 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:37.600 so I think it's different now, but I always managed 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:42.359 to find the kids that were you know, I'm sure 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:44.919 the kids that I was friends with were always a 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:48.760 little bit on the outside like me and being but 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:53.399 being able to laugh and being able to see to 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.360 be you know, that was another big thing. My dad 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:59.520 loved Jonathan Winners and Don Rickles and George Carlin and 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:02.560 you know Richard Pryor records. Growing up, I mean, I 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:05.919 had access to some very saucy language, but mom and 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:09.480 dad knew in some way that I had a more 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:14.920 adult relationship with the language, and I found it very funny, 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:19.960 very humanizing that he could take his pain and turn 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.560 it into something like that. You know, but you know, 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.200 you know, I guess we were weirdos. You know, we 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:29.600 looked normal on the outside, but we were pretty weird. 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:33.000 Have you always been this verbal? 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:36.560 Yes, of course. I just told you I can't spell anything. 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:40.600 Okay, some people could come to it later in life. 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:45.440 So you're obviously very intelligent. But being this verbal has 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:48.199 it always worked for you or sometimes it works against you. 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:51.439 It still works against me. I have to learn, and 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:56.480 you know, it's hard because in one way, I've always 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.760 felt that being a verbal creature like I am has 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:03.320 been in my sonar in a way, like a bat 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:05.880 trying to get through a dark you know, get out 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:08.560 of the cave, mouth about hitting U stalag tight or something. 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:14.160 You know, it's how I of course, as I've gotten older, 0:24:14.359 --> 0:24:18.480 I have a little more control over it if I choose, 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:22.639 But you know, my again, it gets down to the 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.280 simple things. I find the love of my life seven 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:29.840 years ago, and like Camille is so wise and she 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.480