1
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,319
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing.

2
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 1: She gets too hungry for dinner at She loves the theater,

3
00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: but she never comes late. Never people. That's why this

4
00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:34,240
Speaker 1: chick is a trump She does it like. That's Tony

5
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:39,240
Speaker 1: Bennett and the woman singing with him. Lady Gaga Duets Too,

6
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,520
Speaker 1: which featured Bennett singing with the likes of Lady Gaga,

7
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,720
Speaker 1: Carrie Underwood, and Amy Winehouse, debuted at number one on

8
00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,040
Speaker 1: the Billboard two chart. Tony Bennett was eighty five years old,

9
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,400
Speaker 1: the oldest living artist to debut at number one. Tony

10
00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:59,600
Speaker 1: Bennett is an exceptional talent with old school charm. But

11
00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 1: this order resurgence doesn't just happen. It was the result

12
00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,080
Speaker 1: of thirty years of hard work from his son and

13
00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:10,640
Speaker 1: manager my guest today, Danny Bennett. Danny says, I don't

14
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,440
Speaker 1: just handle a career, I manage a legacy out of

15
00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:18,240
Speaker 1: the tree of life. I just picked me a plum.

16
00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:30,240
Speaker 1: You came along and everything started to hung And it

17
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,920
Speaker 1: was Danny who helped bring his dad's music to a

18
00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,959
Speaker 1: younger generation. Danny got Tony on Saturday Night Live, The

19
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,600
Speaker 1: Simpsons at Late Night with Conan O'Brien. And it wasn't

20
00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,200
Speaker 1: just the music. He put his dad on a budget.

21
00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,160
Speaker 1: He stabilized his father's finances. Danny Bennett was a musician himself,

22
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,400
Speaker 1: but found he had a greater knack for business. Last

23
00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,160
Speaker 1: year he produced a film called The Zen of Bennett,

24
00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:59,640
Speaker 1: which followed his dad throughout the recording of the Duets album.

25
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 1: That cool. You know your father built this building. You

26
00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,000
Speaker 1: know that because every record but to number one and

27
00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,320
Speaker 1: actually made Capitol wick as possible. They do call it

28
00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:15,920
Speaker 1: the house that that bill. I think it's great. Danny

29
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,959
Speaker 1: was used to hanging around these performers. He grew up

30
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,080
Speaker 1: surrounded by musical giants. I was born in the Bronx,

31
00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,079
Speaker 1: raised in Englewood, New Jersey. And you grew up in

32
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:25,960
Speaker 1: the Bronx to you were how old? No, just like

33
00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:28,239
Speaker 1: you know, like two weeks quickly, and then you guys

34
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,280
Speaker 1: went to Anglewood, Englewood, New Jersey. Englewood was an amazing place.

35
00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,720
Speaker 1: It's it's literally fifteen minutes from midtown, right across the

36
00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,119
Speaker 1: George Washington Bridge. And I was born in nineteen nine now,

37
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,200
Speaker 1: and it was a very exciting time. You had um

38
00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,839
Speaker 1: a lot of artists from kind of the show biz thing.

39
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,519
Speaker 1: There was Tony, there was Dick Shawn, Joey Bishop, Um,

40
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,760
Speaker 1: Buddy Hackett. They were just right there because they would

41
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,440
Speaker 1: just Tony would come and do his sessions in the

42
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,799
Speaker 1: city at Columbia Studios, and then the jam session would

43
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,440
Speaker 1: continue in my house. Uh So they were just like, hey,

44
00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:05,919
Speaker 1: let's go back to the house. He had like a

45
00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,600
Speaker 1: little studio. And when I say the basement, it was

46
00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:10,919
Speaker 1: you know, above ground basement kind of thing. You know,

47
00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:12,840
Speaker 1: as a little kid, I wake up to the streams

48
00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,040
Speaker 1: of like you know, you know, count basing and just

49
00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:19,880
Speaker 1: amazing stuff. So when you were a kid, I suppose

50
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,000
Speaker 1: most people would assume all those your childhood memories of

51
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,960
Speaker 1: being a wash in music of that period. Well, you know,

52
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,400
Speaker 1: it's I often say now, like I feel like Forrest Gump.

53
00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,520
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know why I had an appreciation

54
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,760
Speaker 1: for the moment as a kid. I just did. It

55
00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,760
Speaker 1: wasn't just music. Besides being able to sit on the

56
00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,280
Speaker 1: piano stool with Duke Ellington. I mean, that's crazy. But

57
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,840
Speaker 1: I remember sitting on my dad's lap at a political

58
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,760
Speaker 1: rally with JFK running for president, you know, at the

59
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:54,839
Speaker 1: Teaneck Armory. He's sitting in back, there's Jack Kennedy giving

60
00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,280
Speaker 1: a speech, and I'm seeing all the placards, you know.

61
00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,840
Speaker 1: So it's like I'm always seeing the backside of things,

62
00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,400
Speaker 1: which is an interesting perspective because it's it's just that

63
00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 1: image burned in my brain. What was like nine years old, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

64
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,120
Speaker 1: And so it's those kind of things, or Lewis Armstrong

65
00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,200
Speaker 1: and Carol Channing at the White House. You know, it's like,

66
00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,320
Speaker 1: what's that? Or so people who sang standards and sang

67
00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,159
Speaker 1: whether they were Broadway tunes or there were standards by

68
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,960
Speaker 1: the Harold Arleans of the world and so forth. But

69
00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,040
Speaker 1: music for you, your personal music was dad going to

70
00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,760
Speaker 1: the studio with Count Basie and you had an electric guitar,

71
00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:36,360
Speaker 1: nam and you were singing Strawberry Fields. Oh yeah. I

72
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,360
Speaker 1: mean when I was ten years old, the Beatles hit

73
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 1: and that was it for me and my brother who

74
00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,560
Speaker 1: plays drums. Immediately, I found an old guitar in my

75
00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 1: dad's closet, and he's been trying to learn guitar for

76
00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,520
Speaker 1: a long time, so I grabbed He's gonna get event No,

77
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,800
Speaker 1: he's gonna get it eventually. I'm telling you anyway, it

78
00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,960
Speaker 1: was like a guy nylon string guitar and he had

79
00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,320
Speaker 1: a book of chords, one of those like things, and

80
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 1: I just I was so obsessing me. We're introducing the

81
00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,000
Speaker 1: Beatles record, and I put the needle down and then

82
00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,040
Speaker 1: like like go through the book and just like match

83
00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 1: the chord with the sound of the record. Oh it's

84
00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:14,240
Speaker 1: a jeep chord, you know, It's like And that's how

85
00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,480
Speaker 1: I learned, you know, by year how to play what

86
00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,600
Speaker 1: was the name of your band, um Quacky Duck, right,

87
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,080
Speaker 1: And so you and your brother and you have Cracky

88
00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,760
Speaker 1: Duck and you're how old, um, well were like sixteen,

89
00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 1: you're teenagers like old garage manage or teenagers. And then

90
00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,880
Speaker 1: but at that same time, do you still have like

91
00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,080
Speaker 1: this kind of bicameral relationship with music. There's your dad

92
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:38,600
Speaker 1: and his music, and that's a presence in your life

93
00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:39,919
Speaker 1: and you have and you have a fondest for it

94
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 1: of course, and an appreciation for it. And then you're

95
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,040
Speaker 1: playing your Yeah, I mean some people don't know if

96
00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,120
Speaker 1: it's Gerald that can call um Lewis armstrong. I mean

97
00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,360
Speaker 1: these are huge royalty and huge influences on us. And

98
00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:55,159
Speaker 1: then obviously. You know, we all have our icons. You know,

99
00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,520
Speaker 1: Tony has got has his icons and and rightfully, so

100
00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:00,599
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to that. Yeah yeah, but but but

101
00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,760
Speaker 1: you're there, and what happens as you finished high school?

102
00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:09,719
Speaker 1: Is there a time that you put down musical Well,

103
00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,800
Speaker 1: I mean we were extremely serious about it, you know,

104
00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,000
Speaker 1: when it was like when you rehearsed on the week.

105
00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 1: You know, it's like in school. We did it. And

106
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,839
Speaker 1: then it's interesting because we were never kind of into sports,

107
00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,200
Speaker 1: and that's what we did at a very early age.

108
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,400
Speaker 1: You know, we were doing like high school dances and

109
00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,520
Speaker 1: and and really, I gotta be honest with you, I

110
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:29,920
Speaker 1: haven't learned much since then. You know, we learned how

111
00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:31,560
Speaker 1: to like, oh, in a minute, you know what we're

112
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,680
Speaker 1: selling tickets? You know. I remember going, you know, the

113
00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,120
Speaker 1: student union. You'd get paid two hundred bucks, which was

114
00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:39,680
Speaker 1: great in the sixties and there's a lot of money.

115
00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:41,479
Speaker 1: So we we we kind of made it on our own,

116
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,280
Speaker 1: and the student unions go um two and in Boxton,

117
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,039
Speaker 1: and I'm like, we're selling the tickets like to this show.

118
00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 1: So I would go to the student unions and go, hey, look,

119
00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:54,320
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what you know what, you guys are

120
00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:55,880
Speaker 1: always on the line. You don't know if you're gonna

121
00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,320
Speaker 1: make any money. No, no guarantee. We'll take a cut

122
00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,280
Speaker 1: of the door. We'll take a do you take twenty?

123
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,960
Speaker 1: And I was like where this is the high school?

124
00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,240
Speaker 1: High school? And so they're going like, oh, you know

125
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,520
Speaker 1: that's cool, great, Yeah, we don't have to worry when

126
00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:11,440
Speaker 1: you get her ask kicked at the end of the night,

127
00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,520
Speaker 1: I'm makings and they're going like, wain a minute, you know.

128
00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,640
Speaker 1: So then I just kind of like went from one

129
00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,160
Speaker 1: school to another, UM and finished high school and where'd

130
00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,000
Speaker 1: you go? Um? We had to deal with Warner Brothers Records,

131
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,640
Speaker 1: and we used to play Max's Kansas City and you

132
00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,760
Speaker 1: know with I mean Graham Parsons. I don't know if

133
00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:31,720
Speaker 1: you know Graham. He was a good friend of ours.

134
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:33,840
Speaker 1: We toured with him, and you know we were like

135
00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,360
Speaker 1: those who are our heroes UM at the time. And

136
00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,880
Speaker 1: that's where I met Bonnie and John Prine, and you know,

137
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,119
Speaker 1: I had this kind of really extraordinary wealth because also

138
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:45,720
Speaker 1: his original tour manager was a guy named d Anthony.

139
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:50,600
Speaker 1: He ended up being the penultimate like rock manager and

140
00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:55,760
Speaker 1: invented the triumph and of promoter Bill Graham, d Anthony

141
00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,360
Speaker 1: and the agent uh Frank Barcelona, and they brought all

142
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,320
Speaker 1: these artists in from England and we spent I was

143
00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,320
Speaker 1: raised at Fillmore. We were kind of an art band.

144
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,000
Speaker 1: We played at Max's with the Modern Lovers and the

145
00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,920
Speaker 1: New York Dolls and and and we just said, let's

146
00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,360
Speaker 1: come up with the most ridiculous name we can possibly

147
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,080
Speaker 1: come up with, because we thought the Beatles was kind

148
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,400
Speaker 1: of a ridiculous name, right, So we were kind of

149
00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,000
Speaker 1: making fun of that. So we were serious about that,

150
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,440
Speaker 1: working built studios and did that kind of thing, and

151
00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,840
Speaker 1: it just got to a point where you know, you

152
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:28,400
Speaker 1: know when you got it and you know when you don't.

153
00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,720
Speaker 1: I was always so enamored by especially the people I

154
00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,400
Speaker 1: worked with in other writers in my band. I'd go

155
00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,240
Speaker 1: like I was kind of really good at like saying wow,

156
00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,760
Speaker 1: that's a great song. And I found that like that

157
00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,280
Speaker 1: was my real talent. You know. Yeah. And then when

158
00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,440
Speaker 1: does one day someone say, Danny, it's you. You're going

159
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,160
Speaker 1: to start becoming involved in this big well, you know,

160
00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,040
Speaker 1: it's interesting and it's happening in a day, happen well

161
00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,200
Speaker 1: kind of and I can pinpoint when Tony kind of

162
00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:01,600
Speaker 1: got on like, wait a minute, he may know what's

163
00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 1: going on. The Beatles for me was you know, I

164
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,520
Speaker 1: was obsessed not only the art of it, but the

165
00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:09,840
Speaker 1: you know, the social aspect of it, the marketing of it.

166
00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,240
Speaker 1: Marketing was fun. It wasn't a bad word. The balance

167
00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,200
Speaker 1: between art and commerce. It was very much about what

168
00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,840
Speaker 1: this an event it is about. It's always been interesting

169
00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,439
Speaker 1: to me. The Beatles always thought the two minutes and

170
00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,760
Speaker 1: forty seconds that they had that was their canvas and

171
00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,240
Speaker 1: how best to make that work. I love that concept.

172
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,760
Speaker 1: I love the constraints. Well, Tony always says there's free form.

173
00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,080
Speaker 1: You gotta learn form before you can be free and

174
00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,480
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot to that. You know, they couldn't

175
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,400
Speaker 1: have done Hey Jude without doing all those great songs

176
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,840
Speaker 1: that boom there they are, don't for us get to

177
00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,760
Speaker 1: the chorus, but but still maintain the art. So moving

178
00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,240
Speaker 1: into a time when Tony was um again, we grew

179
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,520
Speaker 1: up around the you know, it was just immersed so

180
00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,560
Speaker 1: you know, the dinner table, the conversations were about what

181
00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,920
Speaker 1: was happening at Columbia Records. Oh my god. Clive Davis,

182
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,880
Speaker 1: he was you know, became President of Colombia, the first attorney.

183
00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,679
Speaker 1: It was a freaky thing. It was very tuned into that.

184
00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,040
Speaker 1: You know. Um, Sinatra didn't make either any of his

185
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,920
Speaker 1: daughters or his son his right hand man. Well, that

186
00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:18,160
Speaker 1: would have never happened. We don't wanta have to go there.

187
00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:21,560
Speaker 1: But your dad did. Yeah. Well he was at a

188
00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,600
Speaker 1: point where the thing at Columbia they tried to you know,

189
00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 1: this happened to everyone, Sirnatra, Barbara stra you know, it

190
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,559
Speaker 1: was like, oh you gotta w beads and singing, Barbara Strice,

191
00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,520
Speaker 1: and they tried to get Barbara to sing Bob Dylan tunes.

192
00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,280
Speaker 1: I mean in nineteen sixty nine. I mean she's listening

193
00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,280
Speaker 1: to Dylan going like, what's this? You know, while in

194
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:48,240
Speaker 1: the winds. The answer is belowing in the wind you know,

195
00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,920
Speaker 1: brilliant idea. That's a great one. Let's go again, Barbara.

196
00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,720
Speaker 1: So anyway, so Tony actually, you know, worked with Climbing

197
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,559
Speaker 1: and he did an album that was kind of like

198
00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,679
Speaker 1: that thing, and it got physically sick. He said, he

199
00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,320
Speaker 1: was like regurgitating between takes. And so well, that's a

200
00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,920
Speaker 1: great story that he tells about Clive Davis. Right, um,

201
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,920
Speaker 1: where Duke Yellington went in and said, you know, he

202
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:11,839
Speaker 1: thought he was going in to get a raise, and

203
00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,800
Speaker 1: Clive Davis said, well, I have some bad news for you.

204
00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:19,120
Speaker 1: And he goes, uh, what is it? And Clive said, well,

205
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,839
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to drop you from the label. Ellington goes, well, why,

206
00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:27,000
Speaker 1: says well, you're not selling enough records, and Ellington goes, oh,

207
00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:29,440
Speaker 1: I guess I hadn't. I was mistaken. I thought I

208
00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,240
Speaker 1: was supposed to make the records and you were supposed

209
00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,200
Speaker 1: to sell them. It's a great that's my edict. Like,

210
00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:38,360
Speaker 1: and I've heard that story, but that's every artist, you know.

211
00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:41,000
Speaker 1: That was my said to me, why do I hate

212
00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,440
Speaker 1: making movies? And I said, and I said, do you

213
00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:45,559
Speaker 1: really hate making movies? I said, well, maybe hates a

214
00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:47,880
Speaker 1: strong word, but I said, I'm very uncomfortable. They say why,

215
00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,040
Speaker 1: I say, because you just feel the hand of commerce

216
00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,720
Speaker 1: at your throat every day. Every day. It's never free.

217
00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 1: It's really fun, it can be challenging, but you just

218
00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:01,560
Speaker 1: feel like every dimes. Yeah, so they wanted your dad

219
00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:06,199
Speaker 1: to do what he couldn't do and he rebels against

220
00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:07,920
Speaker 1: that and he just kind of like they gave him

221
00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:09,400
Speaker 1: a big contract and he was like, no, I don't

222
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,880
Speaker 1: want to do this. I want to start my own label. Now.

223
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:14,000
Speaker 1: This is at a time when people weren't doing that.

224
00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:15,960
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I mean, you know, Sinatra did

225
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,560
Speaker 1: it with more Austin, but it was done more on

226
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:22,360
Speaker 1: a you know, Warner Brothers thing um. And he found

227
00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,920
Speaker 1: Jack rawlins Um what the Allen's manager, and you know

228
00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,360
Speaker 1: a number of other people, great people to work with

229
00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,000
Speaker 1: him on on a label called Improv. This is where

230
00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,840
Speaker 1: he made the Bell Evans records, you know, voice and piano.

231
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,080
Speaker 1: Those records weren't being made at the time. And so

232
00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:40,040
Speaker 1: he came to me and talked to me about the

233
00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,000
Speaker 1: label and I said, well that's a great idea. I said,

234
00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,040
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's risky. And he said, well, what's

235
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,400
Speaker 1: risky about it? And I said, well, it doesn't seem

236
00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:51,800
Speaker 1: like they have major distribution in this day and age.

237
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,120
Speaker 1: Independent distribution is great, you can do it internet. But

238
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,840
Speaker 1: then it was a real challenge. I said, Columbia's offering

239
00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,640
Speaker 1: you did do a distribution deal, which is a great

240
00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,320
Speaker 1: you know, which is great that it's kind of like,

241
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:04,840
Speaker 1: you know, they leave you alone. You can do what

242
00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,920
Speaker 1: you want to do. He had me go talk to

243
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,200
Speaker 1: the guy who's running the company in Buffalo. He said,

244
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:11,600
Speaker 1: we'll go talk to him. Now, you know, I got

245
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:13,920
Speaker 1: the long hair in a fringe jacket and I and

246
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,200
Speaker 1: I go to this you know, this got this hotel

247
00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:18,440
Speaker 1: owner in Buffalo. And I'm sitting there and he's like,

248
00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 1: what is this about? And I started talking about the distribution.

249
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,079
Speaker 1: It's great, da da boom. And there's some other things

250
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:26,920
Speaker 1: about the contract that I didn't like that I told

251
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:28,760
Speaker 1: him about, you know, in terms of him kind of

252
00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,320
Speaker 1: getting roped into it. And this guy just rejected that

253
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:33,960
Speaker 1: whole notion. So I went back to Tony and I

254
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,520
Speaker 1: just said, look, I wouldn't do this. I think there's

255
00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,079
Speaker 1: you know, no improv records. Well no, he did it.

256
00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,640
Speaker 1: And how long did that last? It lasted like three

257
00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,160
Speaker 1: years and they failed because of the distribution. So he

258
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,240
Speaker 1: does improv records and then because he can't get the

259
00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,199
Speaker 1: records distributed exactly. And so that's what I told him.

260
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,719
Speaker 1: He remembered that, and then the label folded and then

261
00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,480
Speaker 1: he was without a contract for how long? Um, let's see, Alex,

262
00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:08,480
Speaker 1: I would say three years. Was that like four years? Um? Well,

263
00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,000
Speaker 1: it's tough because remember at the time. This is like

264
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:18,679
Speaker 1: around seventy eight. Okay, Sinatra retired number one and streisand's

265
00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,600
Speaker 1: doing duets with the bigs. You know what I'm saying. Yeah,

266
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,480
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So like there's that he

267
00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:25,560
Speaker 1: didn't want to do it, and then he was in

268
00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:27,920
Speaker 1: Vegas and then those days you were doing Vegas, like

269
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,280
Speaker 1: you know, the thirty two week thing and all that

270
00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:32,440
Speaker 1: time stuff. You know. He just called me up one

271
00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:34,320
Speaker 1: day and it was just like, I don't you know,

272
00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:36,800
Speaker 1: I need some help here. I don't know what to do.

273
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,280
Speaker 1: I don't know where to go. He didn't have a manager. Um.

274
00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:43,720
Speaker 1: He wanted to be able to do his art on

275
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,640
Speaker 1: his terms. Um, And it was Vegas Like for him,

276
00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:49,880
Speaker 1: what what? What? What is that like for someone? Because

277
00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,840
Speaker 1: I mean, you always figure. I remember reading Nick Tash's

278
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,040
Speaker 1: book Dino about Dean Martin, one of the one of

279
00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:00,840
Speaker 1: the best biographies I've ever and they talked about how Martin,

280
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,400
Speaker 1: at one point in the sixties I believe was the

281
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,960
Speaker 1: highest paid entertainer in the world because he had the

282
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,600
Speaker 1: he touched every base, he touched all four bases, he

283
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,240
Speaker 1: had a television show, he had a recording contract, he

284
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,600
Speaker 1: started in films, and he appeared live in Vegas in

285
00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,080
Speaker 1: another concerts, and he was making millions and millions of

286
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,240
Speaker 1: dollars back then. And I was wondering for someone like

287
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:23,560
Speaker 1: your dad where I'm not going to say that I

288
00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,320
Speaker 1: actually I don't know what Vegas exemplified back then, like

289
00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:29,920
Speaker 1: for an actor. Was that like being on a game

290
00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,680
Speaker 1: show or no, no, no no, But I mean the

291
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:38,520
Speaker 1: idea that you know, this is where they cut their teeth,

292
00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,240
Speaker 1: the lounges, you know, Louis Prima in the lounge he

293
00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,000
Speaker 1: had a Freda stare, and Carrie Grant going to see

294
00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,520
Speaker 1: Sinatra and then going to the lounge, you know, and

295
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,680
Speaker 1: this is where the audience was like, you know, and

296
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:53,120
Speaker 1: Tony makes a good point. These people. We didn't have

297
00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,240
Speaker 1: access to these people except the big screen, and all

298
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,920
Speaker 1: of a sudden, there they are sitting there watching Louis Prima,

299
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:04,520
Speaker 1: rubbing shoulders with with Sinatra and Jerry Grant and whatever.

300
00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,480
Speaker 1: This was magic and for for again, for Tony. You

301
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,680
Speaker 1: gotta remember, Tony's ten years younger than all these guys.

302
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,880
Speaker 1: These are his idols, you know, Sinatra calling him the kid,

303
00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,040
Speaker 1: you know, um, And there he is with them all

304
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,400
Speaker 1: spread a stair. I mean, like it was a salon

305
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,720
Speaker 1: so so, and nobody messed around for the very you know,

306
00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,240
Speaker 1: for the obvious reasons. And then you got into the

307
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,160
Speaker 1: kind of this this evolution where you know, the Suma

308
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,760
Speaker 1: Corporation and Howard Hughes took over, and like I had

309
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,240
Speaker 1: to negotiate with like Howard Hughes and these cowboys. It

310
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,040
Speaker 1: was really interesting. It was amazing, you know. I mean,

311
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,320
Speaker 1: like and this is where like Tony when I first

312
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,960
Speaker 1: started working, and like, you know, Howard uses on the

313
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,000
Speaker 1: top of the desert end. I mean, I know he's

314
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,440
Speaker 1: up there. And so there was like, you know this

315
00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,160
Speaker 1: guy named Lenny, you know that he'd go in with

316
00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:57,080
Speaker 1: me to negotiate the contract. And Lenny get on his

317
00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:02,000
Speaker 1: hands and knees, going seriously and I'm going, what are

318
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,680
Speaker 1: you doing, and like get off your knees. I'm not

319
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:06,639
Speaker 1: gonna get on my knees and big for a contract.

320
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,639
Speaker 1: I'm just not gonna do it, you know. And the

321
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,720
Speaker 1: guy it's just saying down you get down on your knees.

322
00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:16,400
Speaker 1: How it works. Mr Hughes. Yeah, yeah. And he's got

323
00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:18,280
Speaker 1: the big the guys behind the desk with a big

324
00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,080
Speaker 1: cowboy hat, and I'm like, oh my goah. So I

325
00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:23,240
Speaker 1: go to Tony and and here's a very interesting thing.

326
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,320
Speaker 1: I'm sitting outside the desert and just like you know,

327
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,000
Speaker 1: I'm in a bench, some dude comes and sits next

328
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,520
Speaker 1: to me, an older guy, and he's grumbling. And I

329
00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,480
Speaker 1: turned around and he's like, I'm never coming back to

330
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:39,720
Speaker 1: Vegas again. Right, he's doing that kind of thing. I'm like,

331
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,159
Speaker 1: what's up. I don't know. You know, they used to

332
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,240
Speaker 1: fly me out here. And he's a bad he's a

333
00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,000
Speaker 1: drop fifty grand of pop. But but man, did they

334
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:49,680
Speaker 1: make me feel good about losing my money? The shows?

335
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,080
Speaker 1: The girls like that he's doing this. He goes, they

336
00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,000
Speaker 1: take it all away. Now they don't want to know me.

337
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:56,520
Speaker 1: He say says, I'm never coming back again. And I

338
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,520
Speaker 1: had an epiphany. I was like, we gotta get out

339
00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 1: of this town. It's going down. So I went to

340
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:05,320
Speaker 1: Tony and I said to him, here's the gig. You

341
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,719
Speaker 1: gotta get out of this town. I know this is like,

342
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 1: this is what you go where? And I said, you

343
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:16,680
Speaker 1: go to the people. We're gonna go to colleges. This

344
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:18,640
Speaker 1: is the point in which you kind of climb into

345
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,960
Speaker 1: the cockpit with this guy who's this legend, and you're

346
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,240
Speaker 1: twenty five years old. I know what you're teaching me.

347
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,680
Speaker 1: And the conversation is that from the beginning you were

348
00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 1: just saturated and inundated and interested naturally, not just in

349
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,000
Speaker 1: on a creative level, but on a business level as well,

350
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: and on a technical level. Growing up, as you know,

351
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,720
Speaker 1: in that environment where kids were befriending me because the

352
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,880
Speaker 1: parents knew that if they befriended me, maybe they could

353
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,680
Speaker 1: have dinner with Tony at the thing, I developed an

354
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,359
Speaker 1: early sense of like cutting through the crap. You know.

355
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,360
Speaker 1: It's like I knew who my friends were and who

356
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:55,760
Speaker 1: they weren't. I could tell right away. So I had

357
00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,399
Speaker 1: this epiphany and I said, you know what, I'm going

358
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,480
Speaker 1: to run him for president. I'm gonna treat his campaign.

359
00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,960
Speaker 1: And I love history too, so I do love and

360
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,080
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna run. I'm gonna do this like

361
00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 1: I'm running for president. And I went to him and

362
00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,120
Speaker 1: I said, you know, presidents would not go to Iowa

363
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:14,440
Speaker 1: if they didn't have to go to Iowa, and and

364
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,600
Speaker 1: and you know, shake the hands, I go instead of

365
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,560
Speaker 1: having people come to you in Vegas. I said, your

366
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:25,840
Speaker 1: music transcends, right, and you can't do this with everybody.

367
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:28,520
Speaker 1: And I and I have an appreciation. You know, I

368
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,520
Speaker 1: watched Tony when you know how many times have seen

369
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,040
Speaker 1: this show. He's reinventing himself. He's really kicking ass. I

370
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,200
Speaker 1: mean in terms of like taking chances. That's really rock

371
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:40,600
Speaker 1: and roll. He's taking chances. You know, the Rolling Stones

372
00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,800
Speaker 1: are getting older, not really taking chances anyway. And here's

373
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,480
Speaker 1: Tony what he calls moving the furniture around, and unlike,

374
00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,639
Speaker 1: you know, people just got to see this. There's a

375
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,879
Speaker 1: transcendent quality and great art that that, like he says,

376
00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,639
Speaker 1: defies demographics. So I got into that. So it's like

377
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,719
Speaker 1: Letterman was that doing the late so you know, like

378
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,120
Speaker 1: we're you know, we're filing these now. And nobody went

379
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,320
Speaker 1: on that show. But after a few calls on Danny's part,

380
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:14,200
Speaker 1: Tony did Tony been at Tony? And there were other shows,

381
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:20,040
Speaker 1: many many others. Look, it's Tony, Hey, good to see you.

382
00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 1: It's good. Charts. When did you first start charting in

383
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,879
Speaker 1: the fifties, Yes, the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties. You've been

384
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,560
Speaker 1: on the charts every decade, right, is there anybody else

385
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,800
Speaker 1: in history other than like, wait open, is there any

386
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,240
Speaker 1: hey kermen, have you ever sung firefly before? Well? I

387
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 1: can't say that I have, Tony, but you know I've

388
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 1: certainly eaten a few. There are a good light snack.

389
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,560
Speaker 1: Oh boy, hey, come on, let's do this. You started off.

390
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:57,720
Speaker 1: I call her fire fly so much she radiates in

391
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,399
Speaker 1: a minute. Danny Bennett talks about the chat leunge of

392
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: keeping up with his eighty seven year old father. The

393
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 1: guy doesn't like to take elevators. He takes. He doesn't

394
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,080
Speaker 1: like to take escalators. We go to airports. He's up

395
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,119
Speaker 1: the stairs. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's

396
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:20,320
Speaker 1: the thing. This is Alec Baldwin, my guest. Danny Bennett

397
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,960
Speaker 1: is president of RPM Records and has managed the career

398
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,920
Speaker 1: of RPM's biggest star, his father, Tony Bennett, for over

399
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,640
Speaker 1: thirty years. His dad's career has had its ups and downs.

400
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 1: The seventies weren't kind to vocalists who weren't interested in

401
00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 1: recording contemporary material. In V nine, Tony Bennett had no contract,

402
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: no manager, a drug problem, and the I R S

403
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:46,840
Speaker 1: was at the door. Look all artists go through this

404
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,520
Speaker 1: when the Beatles hit Sinatra and I mean everyone's Elvis,

405
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:55,439
Speaker 1: he retired, he went away. You know they what they

406
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 1: were depressed. They were like, oh my god, the world's changing.

407
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,239
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah that there was a big part that.

408
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,200
Speaker 1: And you know he moved to the West Coast, he did. Yeah,

409
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,160
Speaker 1: you know, and Tony it was hard. He's a New

410
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,479
Speaker 1: York boy. You know, it's from a story of Queens.

411
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,200
Speaker 1: He loves going. You know, he defin the Beatles thing

412
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,960
Speaker 1: that that that match when Lennard was down, he moved

413
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,159
Speaker 1: to l A Yeah exactly. It was depressed and what

414
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 1: happened alright, so it was it didn't do so well. Well,

415
00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:22,879
Speaker 1: the same thing kind of happened. You know. It's just

416
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:24,800
Speaker 1: like you know, got involved with the whole click thing.

417
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,680
Speaker 1: Tony doesn't have a click. He doesn't he doesn't relate

418
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,600
Speaker 1: to it, doesn't like entourages. He likes to keep it simple.

419
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,879
Speaker 1: You know, his apartment every year, like something else disappears.

420
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,359
Speaker 1: It's becoming more zen, you know. And he loves his

421
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:38,879
Speaker 1: view over Central Park and he's got his paintings. That's

422
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 1: what he does. So the only thing the party is

423
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: and that it was hard having to remind ourselves every

424
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,600
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes who we are, and then you know, you

425
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 1: get into that thing where it's like I'm missing out.

426
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 1: You know, I should be at that party, and if

427
00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:54,280
Speaker 1: I'm not, I'm gonna loser. You know, it's like, you know,

428
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,480
Speaker 1: the whole thing. So he's not that certain people are

429
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 1: like four years you know he came back when roughly

430
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,080
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, So you say you book him

431
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 1: and he was like, you know, you know, drug thing,

432
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 1: financial things, every right, So so there was all that happening.

433
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: So I helped on. You know, it's funny because he

434
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,360
Speaker 1: wanted me his finances. I'm not an accountant, but I'm

435
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,320
Speaker 1: a good common sense person. So we go to the

436
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 1: accountant firm here and you know, they don't stuff out

437
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,640
Speaker 1: on the table like in they're life. You know, let

438
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: the kid figure this out, knock yourself done. They're gonna

439
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 1: have a coffee because we're we couldn't do we couldn't

440
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,640
Speaker 1: do anything. What do you think? You know? It's like that.

441
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: So I'm like, tell us when you got it all

442
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: worked out, Danny? So anyway we did, and did I

443
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: know there I I ars problems I went in negotiated

444
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,399
Speaker 1: with but you this is what's interesting about your family.

445
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 1: A lot of people, some of the last people they

446
00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:00,199
Speaker 1: trust their own families, some of the last, if I

447
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,000
Speaker 1: don't blame him, well, And a lot of these guys

448
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 1: and women and people who make it big, and no

449
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,560
Speaker 1: one's made it bigger than your father. And they think

450
00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 1: everybody wants to just stick their stroll on their drinking,

451
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: so they want money. They're rolling it for the wrong reason.

452
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 1: You and he have. Was it unique all along? Was

453
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,080
Speaker 1: sitting on your I don't want to get too sappy

454
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,480
Speaker 1: and sentimental, but sitting on your dad's knee and it's

455
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,400
Speaker 1: JFK on stage and all that stuff. Were you always

456
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,640
Speaker 1: close to him or were you a son like any son?

457
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 1: And you got closer and closer, and he began to

458
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: see more and more. You know, No, it's interesting because

459
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,159
Speaker 1: we never related that way, so he kind of always

460
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,879
Speaker 1: related to me as an adult, Danny, I want to

461
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,199
Speaker 1: talk to you, son. I don't want you to be

462
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 1: my son anymore. I want you to be my account.

463
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:52,760
Speaker 1: He treated you like it was kind of like that

464
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: you were a business and so he would produce a partner.

465
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 1: At the age of twelve. He would come to me

466
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: and go like I don't know. I got this thing

467
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 1: about the dog. What do you think he didn't delineate?

468
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: And you know what I mean. You know, it's like

469
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,360
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, at the turn of the century,

470
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 1: kids at twelve and thirteen, we're working in the fields,

471
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And like they were doing operating. Yeah,

472
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: and and I think a lot of that. This was

473
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:17,359
Speaker 1: working in the fields for you. This is working in

474
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: the fields. You know. It wasn't like go throw a

475
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,199
Speaker 1: baseball in Madrina and you know, celebrity. We couldn't go

476
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: to the zoo. But it was impossible. I mean, he

477
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:27,639
Speaker 1: took me to one movie, Plane of the Apes. I

478
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 1: remember one movie, and that's okay. Danny would never go

479
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,600
Speaker 1: to the movies together again. I'm sorry. I love his son,

480
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna build a theater out there in Englewood, exactly.

481
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 1: I would have watched the movies with Count Basie every

482
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 1: Friday night. And then that's that's that, you know. But

483
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 1: I always dug the fact that, like I got to

484
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: go to the Cope of Cabana. You know. So the

485
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,359
Speaker 1: eighties go by and you're in this phase where you're

486
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:53,639
Speaker 1: gonna build our PM, You're gonna build his your company.

487
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,679
Speaker 1: You're gonna do what you want to do your way.

488
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:59,359
Speaker 1: But when did you know it was gonna work? We

489
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:01,400
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't mean to be corny and cinematic

490
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,679
Speaker 1: about it, but are you standing there one night in

491
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,119
Speaker 1: the wings and he's out there and you go, it's working. No,

492
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what it was. Bob Guccioni, Jr. I

493
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,400
Speaker 1: was the editor of Spin Magazine and I was reading it.

494
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,640
Speaker 1: They were interviewing him in his own magazine and asked

495
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:18,880
Speaker 1: him what he thought was the most influential thing about

496
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,680
Speaker 1: rock and roll. People in rock and roll. He said

497
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 1: two people, James Brown and Tony Bennett. And I was like,

498
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 1: that's wow, man, James Brown and Tony Bennett. And this

499
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,680
Speaker 1: is Spin magazine, you know, it's like the pick season

500
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 1: of it. And then I went on to read the

501
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 1: guys like, well, why, oh you understand James Brown? Why

502
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: Tony Bennett? He said, because he's always taking chances. It's

503
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,040
Speaker 1: like what I said, And this is what I was

504
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: thinking about Tony. I'm picking up He's picking up this

505
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: vibe and Tony you know, it's like you know, I

506
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,120
Speaker 1: I say, Tony never sings the same thing once he's

507
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: he doesn't he calls it moving to furniture around. He

508
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,800
Speaker 1: doesn't know. There's no such thing as complacency. And now

509
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,440
Speaker 1: we're watching are you know the Big Idols kind of

510
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 1: good corporate, you know, with the stones and doing that thing,

511
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,080
Speaker 1: and they're they're like cookies cutter and and uh Bob

512
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,200
Speaker 1: Guccioni's talking about this, being like, you know, the guy's

513
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: an innovator. So I called him up. It led to

514
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 1: kind of the you know, they would do these these

515
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,920
Speaker 1: fashion spreads, and I said, why don't we do something

516
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:16,919
Speaker 1: with the Chili Peppers and Tony and we could have

517
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,919
Speaker 1: fun with it. So we did a show at the

518
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 1: hard Rock Cafe in l A with the Red Hot

519
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,159
Speaker 1: Chili Peppers and Tony. The Chili Peppers were punk at

520
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: that time, right before Rick Ruming go um, and I

521
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: said that in a compliment observational musicological but they went.

522
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: They did a good job. Um. From there, it was

523
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 1: just kind of like, wait a minute. You know it

524
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:42,640
Speaker 1: was a snob because your father is a snob, as

525
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:52,199
Speaker 1: you're a father a snob, that was but um, you know,

526
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:55,640
Speaker 1: so then I'm like, well, you know what, Um, I

527
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 1: was managing some other bands at that time in Boston

528
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:00,800
Speaker 1: and then so like a kind of got into this

529
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 1: notion like they were the alternative rock stations and they

530
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:09,159
Speaker 1: did these college rock radio shows like RFK stadiums with

531
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: Nine Inch Nails and Da Dada. So I was like, gee,

532
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 1: I wonder if, like I pitched them, you know, about

533
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,159
Speaker 1: Tony being on the bill, if this would be novel

534
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,080
Speaker 1: enough for them, and I pitched it. Or down at

535
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:25,480
Speaker 1: Washington d C RFK Stadium and there's Tony where RFK

536
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 1: st kids, it's p J Harvey. He's going on between

537
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 1: p J Harvey and Nine Inch Nails Trent Res and

538
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,280
Speaker 1: what happened? Well, Tony stare looking and he goes, can

539
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 1: I see something? And he goes, would Frank do this?

540
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 1: And I said nope, and that's why you're doing it.

541
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: And he goes, okay, I get it, and he goes

542
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: out kills kills, I mean, and we were all you

543
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 1: gotta take chances, you know, like, don't take chances anymore,

544
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 1: and he kills They're gonna dig it and they wouldn't

545
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,320
Speaker 1: let him off the stage. Just this trio. Look, I

546
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: consider myself a dragon slayer for Tony. He calls me,

547
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: up once a month. I swear to God says you

548
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 1: know what, I just want to thank you once again

549
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,520
Speaker 1: that I never have to talk to another record executive

550
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: in my entire life. I helped him unblocked the artistic channel.

551
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 1: So I consider myself a you know, a dragon slayer

552
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: as far as that's concerned. And and I think that

553
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: that that's my that's what I'm proudest of, as far

554
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 1: as that's concerned. You know. So you go through this

555
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 1: period the eighties and the nineties, and then we did them,

556
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: but then like out of because those concerts I said

557
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: I'm doing, I'm doing L A. K. Rock, I'm doing

558
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: so I did like five of these things. Then he

559
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: comes into me and he goes, you know, and I'll

560
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,719
Speaker 1: do Tony. You know. I was watching um MTV. I

561
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 1: think I can do really well on TV. And then

562
00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 1: just walks out of my office and I'm like, okay,

563
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: well you know another one TV. You know, but that's

564
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 1: Tony Man, And I'm like, why not? I got it?

565
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 1: Well Tony spelled backwards is what? Why not? That's what

566
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: I say? Anyway, So then it was kind of like, well,

567
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 1: how am I gonna do this? You know? Jon Stewart

568
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 1: had a new show. They didn't really have artists. I said,

569
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: I put Tony on the John Stewart Show, and I

570
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,239
Speaker 1: kind of sold that idea and Doug Her talk now

571
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 1: as a comedy central um at the time, and it

572
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,520
Speaker 1: was like, you know, that could be interesting, and this

573
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: is around eighty eight now they dug it. So they

574
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: put them on then, and then it was like, then,

575
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,680
Speaker 1: I'm kind of how did he feel? He's cool? Here,

576
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: here's your father who, like any artist with a career

577
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: that last decades, technological advance and change becomes another mountain

578
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: for him to climb. Now he's on a television music channel.

579
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:58,120
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, it's the audience. His audiences were getting older,

580
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: and when we were in front of that young audience,

581
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 1: let's up here. And then he became twenty years old.

582
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,960
Speaker 1: I watched him. You know, he just rises to the

583
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 1: occasion from that audience and we doesn't like to do

584
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,720
Speaker 1: arenas and things that he feeds off of that. And

585
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: here's the deal. So it was like they came and

586
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, we got unplugged. Um, I'd

587
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 1: be interesting to do unhugged. So I was like, yeah, fantastic.

588
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: So seriously. Man, got all the MTV people, all the

589
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 1: record people, and they started going, great, you know, we

590
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: got this is gonna be fantastic. Tony's gonna sing Within

591
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: and Without You Abano song and like Runaway Train and

592
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,720
Speaker 1: and I was like whoa. I said, you know what, guys,

593
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 1: I really appreciate this, but this is this is a

594
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: train wreck. Never gonna happen. And I walked out and

595
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 1: then they said, well, come back, and what are you

596
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 1: talking about. I said, listen, you guys are on TV.

597
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 1: This was in the day of MTV. I said, you

598
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 1: guys got balls. That's that. There's no balls. What's gonna

599
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: take balls is to do Tony's music and have them

600
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 1: sing Tony's music. And I said, that's balls, that's MTV.

601
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: And they were like, yeah, we got We're gonna do that.

602
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,520
Speaker 1: Don't we marry balls? Don't you marry? Yes, I do,

603
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 1: I've got huge. Yeah. Whose idea was the Duets album?

604
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: I mean, you know it's not It wasn't an original

605
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 1: idea what I'm saying, but I thought that those are

606
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: very complicated things to do. The point that pain in

607
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: the as Yeah, you know, you you had Sinatra and

608
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,120
Speaker 1: then you had um, Ray Charles. I mean, he's so

609
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 1: fifteen million records, Um, pretty good idea, you know. So

610
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, how do I go and reinvent Tony?

611
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:45,560
Speaker 1: You know? And then we went on with MTV to

612
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 1: win Album of the Year with the Grammy's got a

613
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,480
Speaker 1: lot of people upset, and I was like, what's going

614
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,360
Speaker 1: on with that? But when you look at it, you know, Alec,

615
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 1: it's like he heralded in the iPod generation. You can

616
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 1: listen to Tony and Billie Holliday and also listen to

617
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: Pearl Jam and you know, it didn't matter. So kids

618
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: started opening up to that. He's you know, I give

619
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 1: him a lot of credit for that. Now, your father

620
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 1: has you in his corner obviously for many many years now.

621
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 1: His own son is flesh and blood. He has a wife,

622
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: your stepmother, who's obviously is omnipresent and around all the

623
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 1: time with him. He's got two people who are taking

624
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 1: good care of him, and he's getting on in years.

625
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: And then my and my brother has been producing his records,

626
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 1: and I'm assuming that a lot of it is you've

627
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 1: got to take as much stress of him as possible

628
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 1: because because because he's working a full schedule. Yeah. Well,

629
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 1: and he's eighty what years old, he's gonna be eighty seven,

630
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 1: he's still going well. I mean a lot of people

631
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 1: don't look at me and go like, what are you doing?

632
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 1: You leave him? Leave him be? And then they do

633
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 1: oh yeah, and I'm like, it's not me. I mean seriously,

634
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: I'm very you know, conscientious of his a. The guy

635
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 1: doesn't like to take elevators. He takes he doesn't like

636
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 1: to take escalators. We go to airports, he's up the stairs,

637
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: he's the first one. Keeping up with him is a challenge.

638
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 1: There's something about people who they make the most of

639
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: what they have. I mean, there are people who they

640
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 1: have something. Paccino once had a great line to me.

641
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 1: I said to Paccino, you ever get uptight when you

642
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: make films with people who you worry about they might

643
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 1: not be able to cut it, like you don't want

644
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,840
Speaker 1: to exert too many controls and authorities and approvals, and

645
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: that this guy and the cast drops out, and this

646
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 1: girl shows that, this guy shows up. You're doing scenes

647
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,439
Speaker 1: with people and you're al Pacino and these other people

648
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 1: maybe aren't as good as you. What do you do?

649
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: And I'll never forget Paccino says, uh, I like, I

650
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 1: says that what I realized is everybody's talented in this business.

651
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 1: Everybody who makes it to the level where at making

652
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,959
Speaker 1: films and everything. He said, they're all talented. He said,

653
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 1: some are just more talented than others. But everybody I've

654
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 1: seen myself. Everybody's talented. And I go, he said like that,

655
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,320
Speaker 1: someone would say he had a talent for telling jokes,

656
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 1: or he had a talent for dealing cards. Everyone's talented.

657
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: It's something. So the thing to me is that there's

658
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 1: people in this business who they go far and they

659
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 1: make the most of what they have, and what they

660
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 1: have is like blah blah blah. But your father was

661
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:14,160
Speaker 1: somebody who had the most. Yeah, he had the most talent.

662
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 1: Your father, I'll sit down, the most talent. I think

663
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: it's he's tuned into his talent the most. Well, well

664
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: that that's your opinion. You know, he owes you a lot,

665
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 1: he owes you a lot. No, no, no, But what

666
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:31,720
Speaker 1: I'm saying, you've helped him to keep that fire burning

667
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:33,960
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of people who what happens is

668
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 1: they have the talent, what they lose as the will

669
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,759
Speaker 1: they're like, I just don't want to do this. They

670
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 1: lower the bar because they don't want to be disappointed.

671
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 1: I mean that's the key. Tony never lowers that bar.

672
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 1: It's always up, and that is what is it in him? Look,

673
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: I was watching once again, I hadn't seen a long

674
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 1: time the Missles Brothers um film on Horowitz, you know

675
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,799
Speaker 1: that one. No, I never said, oh my god, going well,

676
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,480
Speaker 1: they're just filming him playing piano and just living room

677
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,800
Speaker 1: and you watch this guy playing, You're going like, where's

678
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,280
Speaker 1: that coming from? Right, He's he's somewhere else. An Tony

679
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:11,759
Speaker 1: is like the same way. That's why I had Lost

680
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:13,319
Speaker 1: in the Stars at the end of the movies. That

681
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 1: is that a Bennett Um Lost in the starts. You know,

682
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,400
Speaker 1: he's out, It's out there in the cosmos, and I

683
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: don't want to you know, it's it's the essence of zen.

684
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:25,919
Speaker 1: It's about being in the moment. It's about for me,

685
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,360
Speaker 1: it's about the you know, art is like you know

686
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 1: James Joyce says about it's an arresting moment and the

687
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: world disappears and you're in the moment. But when you

688
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 1: do that, it puts us in the moment and where

689
00:36:44,840 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 1: out he and the find out more about Danny Bennett's

690
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 1: film The Zen of Bennett on our website Here's the

691
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 1: Thing dot org. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening

692
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:12,359
Speaker 1: to Here's the Thing