WEBVTT - Aaron Neville 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.600 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.599 My guest today is the one and only Aaron Neville, 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:21.919 who's got a brand new autobiography. Tell it like it is, Aaron, 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.759 Why a book? Why now say liked? 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:30.360 And why not? Well, I mean, I don't know how 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.680 many more? Yes, I figured I just do it while 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.080 I'm still got on my mind. Some of my mind anyway, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.080 you know, was left of it. 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:41.640 So how did you actually write the book? 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:47.080 With a wonderful writer, her name is Beth Edelman, and 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.599 she told me the first things that I want this 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:51.960 book in your voice. And that's what he did. He 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:53.000 put it in my voice. 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.760 But absolutely seems that way. Okay, a couple of things. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.000 You mentioned a number of things in your book. You 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.720 say you're retired. Tell me about being retired. 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:09.240 Well, I'm retired. Uh. When the COVID pandemic came in 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:14.480 two thousand and maybe twenty, Uh, I was supposed to 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:16.840 go to California and Sarah to him and she don't 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.280 think I should be on the airplane six hours and 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.400 with you know, with this thing going around, because they 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.160 were taking people and taking the temperature and if they 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.440 had a fever or something. They put them in quarantine 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.080 and some of them wind up dying by theyself somewhere, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.840 and I just, you know, I'm glad she decided me 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.360 not to go. And through the years I've and I've 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.240 been doing a little singing, but I have asthma, and 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.280 I don't have the breadth to you know, hit the 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.880 notes like I used to, Just like Lynda Rond says, 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:48.600 say she didn't want to cheat the people. You know, 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.400 I wouldn't want to go out there and old though 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.960 he don't sound you know, you know I got records. 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.080 You know that's thinking to hear all they wanted me 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.240 on the record. I still call them records. 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:07.280 I do too. Okay, Uh do you miss it? 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.760 You know, in a little I don't miss none of 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:17.880 the traveling and hotels and buses and all that special airports. 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.080 I call that airport agony, especially what's going on right now. 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.160 But people are just getting stuck in airports for a week. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:31.560 And I've had that done that. You know, your your 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.120 flight has been canceled and we don't know where your 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:34.799 luggage is. 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.360 Okay, you grew up in New Orleans, but you're living 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.000 up in New York State on a farm. That's really different. 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:44.680 What's it like? 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:50.520 It's great, it's mondful. I mean this place they have 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.600 is so beautiful, and it's like I call it in 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.320 Shanton Forest because we have all kinds of animals, bad deer, 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.239 we have fox, we have rabbits, we have all kinds 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.320 of birds and and it's just peaceful, you know. So 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:08.280 like we kind of cut back on the farm. But 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:12.880 Sarah's still making the air and level. He looks her. 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:17.959 She mixed with a tumor of ginger, cayenne, honey and 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:23.359 lemon and what else the upple side of vinegar and 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:24.760 something I drink every day. 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.320 Wow, it's keeping in good health. So, but living in 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.160 the city and living in the country is different. Do 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.880 you have friends you see in the country. Are you 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.200 more of a loner or you a social kind of guy? 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:38.040 What kind of guy are you? 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:44.400 I have three cats, a dog, me and Sarah, you know, so, hey, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:49.760 I see the male man. I mean, you know, I 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.640 get out sometimes. It took a ride, Yester, gone for 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.920 like a few hours, get to see people. But that's 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:57.680 that's the enough for right now. With all the stuff 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:58.800 going on as well. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.200 And you talk in the book about staying in contact 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.840 with some people by the phone. So in phone or 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.440 in email, you staying in contact with people, how much 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:10.760 you're talking connecting. 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.520 I have a couple of few friends, like Morvin. He 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.920 and I grew up together. He's in the book. We've 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.600 done some stuff together. We talk about uh pity Pat 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.039 talk to him every day. He's got cancer and so 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:31.680 I try to, you know, help him field have a 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:36.320 feel good day, you know. And my keyboard player, Mike Goods, 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.920 we talk every day, and I talk to my kids. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:43.600 And how about email? Do you use the computer? 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.880 Nah? Not really. I mean I can send the email 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.400 on my phone, you know, the computer. I'm not computer 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:52.200 sad at all. 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.280 Okay, most of the book is about you growing up 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.000 and all the bad activities and all the trouble you 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.800 got in. Was that conscious? You wanted to lay that 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.599 out that there's much more of that than your music career. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:14.000 The thing about it, I couldn't have, you know, done 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.919 the book. What I'm telling it all, you know, I'm telling 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.520 it like it is and like it was, and that's 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.200 how it was back in those days. I was stuck 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.800 and stupid a lot of times, you know. 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.840 So tell me what it was like, you know, New 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.000 Orleans has a different legal system a lot of people 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.039 in what way, since you've traveled the world, is New 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.560 Orleans different from the rest of the country and the 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:38.279 rest of the world. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:43.279 New Orleans is like my brother Sarah says, that an 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.080 island that's stuck onto the United States because it's a 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.520 mixture of all kinds of different cultures. You know. They 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:57.640 have a Caribbean, trans Italian, Kish, and Creole, you name it, 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.880 and it's you know, you your bond with music. All 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.479 through your life there's music, and you're gonna die with music. 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:05.440 With the second line, you. 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:13.000 Know, Okay, So, uh, tell me about your family growing up. 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.279 So when what did your parents do for a living. 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:21.680 Well, my dad when we were kids, him and my 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.920 uncle Jolly was my mother's brother, George Landry. They were 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.159 merchant marines. They would go out on the on the ships. 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.720 A couple of times they got shot at me. One 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.400 time they almost the ship almost got sunk. And then 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.200 when when he was home, he he was a cab driver. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.159 He worked in a furnished, a moving place. They worked 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.279 at a car place. They worked, he worked at the 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.680 boys home. He was he was a he was a trooper, 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:56.040 you know, and my mother. She took care of us 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:00.719 while they were gone, and she uh went to beauty 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.800 school while we went the project. Then she went to 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:08.600 nursing school so she could fix her hair and help 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.040 people in the hospital. 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.640 And how many kids in the family, Well, there. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.600 Was six of us. There was Aunt Charles, me, Myla, 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.560 my brother Cyril, and our younger sister cook It she 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:24.640 died in nineteen seventy one. 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:30.240 And you know, if your father's out on the boat 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.960 and your mother's there and there's all those kids, how 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.240 much supervision was there or could you do whatever you wanted? 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.520 No, it wasn't that. It is a respecting you know. 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.920 My mom was the greatest. Well we would as she 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.080 would have us. Well, first it was just met Charles, 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.360 and when I was three years old, my sister came 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.400 and Syly didn come till about seven years later. So, 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.119 but my mom used to be on the floor with us, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.720 playing games and telling reading stories and whatever my mom 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.600 should have done, she did it. You know. She always 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.920 had a smile on her face and uh always made 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:09.800 hers still good, you know. 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:16.080 And were you a good student? Bad student? 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.880 I was a good student, But think about it, I 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.040 always had a song in my head, you know. So 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.240 I don't know if the teachers thought, the nuns thought 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:29.040 I had had the deal whatever. A lot of times 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:33.200 I was like, yeah, got a song going in my head. 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.440 So tell me more about you know where this was 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.200 there music in the house and you started to sing along. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.160 How did you ultimately get interested in music admitting by 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:44.959 the music bug? 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.320 Well, my mother and father were big nactin cole Fans. 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.880 They had all his records and h Charles Brown and 0:08:54.240 --> 0:09:01.559 Louis Jordan, uh Dinah Washington and and before we were born, 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:06.800 my mother and her brother Jolly was song and dance team. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:09.840 I mean they were the best dancers in the Organs 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:11.160 and they had a chance to go out on the 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.959 road with Louis Prima. My grandmother wouldn't let him go 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.280 because of the Jim Crow laws. They say they wouldn't 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.200 have been treated to night right, you know. So my 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.720 mother said that she would never stop any of us 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.440 from our you know dream, So she let Charles go 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:29.200 out when he was fifteen. She signed for me to 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.280 play in the French quarters when I was fifteen with 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:36.400 a whole blind band, and they used to put on 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.480 the show sometimes and I host in the project. The 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.360 jolly would throw my mom over his back and between 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.440 his legs, and Lindy happened all that, you know, and 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:46.720 she taught us how to dance. 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.840 Okay, when did you realize you could sing? 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.960 Uh? My brother Ought said, when I was a kid 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:00.679 in the in the crib by just staying fell asleep. 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.560 So I guess I was trying then. But I used 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:07.800 to mimic nating cool and I used to sing. I 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.840 went to the movies. I was about eleven, something like that. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.360 I sang mona Lisa, pretend none of that songs. And 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:18.040 he let me in, give me candy and all. And 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.440 my brother Or had a do wop group. They would 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.600 sit out on the park bench in the evening and harmonized, 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.160 and they would go around and win the talent shows 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.120 and get the girls and all, you know. And I 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:33.720 used to run up to them and they'd run me away, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.200 get away to me my kids. You know. I just 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.520 I was persistent. I kept on. He was odd. A 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.960 guy named issacle Garden we called him easy cool. And 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:47.600 a dude named Turk. And finally Isaul said, hey, Kevin. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.839 He called me Kevin. I don't know why, but I 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.000 didn't care just love. He said, you hit this note, 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.599 and he showed me the note. Then before you know it, 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:58.920 they were showing me all the notes how to do 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.640 the harmonies, which I had later on with the Mickey 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.240 Mouse Morse. I'm doing all the background, but doctor John 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.959 is playing the keyboard, Rob Watson and starg Us, I'm 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:15.800 doing all the background. Uh, the thether Brothers, Uh, Bird 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.520 on the wire. I'm doing all the background and from 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:19.240 them teaching me. 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.680 Okay, And at what point did you say, I want 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:26.880 to make it this, I want this to be a career. 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:29.480 I didn't know about a career and all that, but 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:33.199 all I knew I wanted to sing. You know. I'd 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.880 go to the movies and I look at the the 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.599 Cowboys and I'd come out at the moving back in 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.480 the project and I'd be yodling, and you know, had 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:49.120 a mopstick named Pimo Sabi because my host and uh 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.080 it was just and my brother Ought worked at a 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.959 record shop and he used to bring along all of 0:11:55.000 --> 0:12:03.319 the records. But like the Clovers and Over the Sunny Tilon, 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:09.640 the Oreos, the Hawk Tom's and different groups. Climac Fatter 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.720 Clid mcfatter was one of my favorite inspirations. H besides 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.240 nakink cold because Clyde had that high tenor, you know, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.320 and my brother Aught had had a real high tenor, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.480 like a strong high tenor. But I don't think they 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:31.240 ever gave his voice the right you know. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.839 Okay, what was it like growing up in the projects? 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.559 Man? It was like paradise back then. You know. It 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.200 was like a village. You know, everybody knew everybody. And 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:49.839 we had a big oval playground but concrete that went around. 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.520 We could state on or ride a bicycle. We played football, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:58.000 We played at marbles and spinning tops and kites all 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:02.000 in that in that space, and it was like, you know, 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:05.679 it was just a great place. 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.800 And you talk about football, were you a sportsman. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.240 Back in the days? Then I got to be a 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.079 teenage I played sandlot football, you know, on the leveo, 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.320 on the medium, on the neutral ground. 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:28.600 Okay. You talk about hearing about heroin and wanting to 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.800 try it, you know, I was growing up they had 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.320 all these TV shows saying not to try it. So 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.840 what was it like? And tell me about that experience. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.320 I heard all that, but not to try it. But 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.520 I mean something inside of me was inquisitive, you know, 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:51.280 I was inquisitive. You I'm fella. As soon as I 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:53.280 got to be of age and I saw somebody else 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.120 doing it, I said, hey, man, hook me up, you know. 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.439 And it happened to be my brother with his gug Bob, 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:07.120 and uh so I was playing music on the weekends, 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.520 making you know, twenty dollars a night or whatever. That 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.440 was big money back then. So I come to him 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.000 and told him that I want to school, you know. 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:17.880 So he got it and he taught me out of 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.640 the first time. No, you you shouldn't do this, Okay, 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.960 I ain't gonna do it next time. Next day, I said, 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:25.920 didn't some more? I want to get some more and 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.080 I'm gonna do it. And I did it. And it 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:28.640 was on that. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.080 And so you did it? How did you do it? 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.440 Did you snort? Did you pop? Do you inject? 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:44.120 Uh? Charles's girlfriend, Bob. She tied me up and caught 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.320 me with the you know, my band. She said, oh, 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.480 you got a million dollar bands. I hadn't never done 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.960 that until, you know, there was a million dollar bands then, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:57.400 and uh hey, I fell in love with it. And 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.400 it wasn't in love with me though, you know, And 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:01.800 it didn't kill me that until late on. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:07.080 So it lived up to your thoughts of what it 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:12.200 was going to be. Oh yeah, but many people say, 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.120 like with any drug, you know it's good at first, 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:18.880 and then you're always chasing that initial hide. It never 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:19.680 lives up to it. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.280 That's what it called chased, the chasing the dragon, because 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.320 you're looking for that first hit. You never get that 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:27.240 in i' montell yo, d. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:37.560 So, okay, you have this girlfriend Joelle, but her family 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.640 doesn't like you, so tell me about that. 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.360 Well, it's like this also when I was sixteen, I 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:52.880 got this tattoo in my face. On my sixteenth birthday, 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.360 I had been down in the night walk. My boy 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.360 Melvin had just moved on the night once, so I 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.840 went and the night wab was like, you know, a 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.960 rough area because the guy back down there used to say, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.120 I'm from the nine and I don't mind dying. All 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.120 kind of stupid ship like that. And uh so I 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:13.600 had Melvin's uncle's pistol, wasn't it And we took taking 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:19.120 goofballs and all the you know, abitious And I'm down 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:24.320 in the Sweet Sweet shop looking at the recast record 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:25.760 box and couldn't hold of sea and they have my 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.320 hands in my pocket and I felt some hands on 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.520 my shoulder turn me around. I thought it was Melvin, 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.760 go introduce me to somebody, and this big tall guy 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.960 turned me around and punched me out and knocked me 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.160 back up against the recast box and I run my 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:44.000 tongue across my teeth and he cracked my teeth, and 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.880 that was the most. I didn't care about getting punched, 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:49.880 but he cracked my teeth, and I come up and 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:55.520 I shot him, and uh Me and Melvin left out 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.880 the joint h and ran because I mean we were scared. 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.160 I didn't want hill him, you know, But then we 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:07.760 found out that he wasn't dead. And anyway said about 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:12.120 my my wife's people. I had a tattoo. I had 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.320 to get gold teeth in my mouth from that punch. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.480 You know, I had gold teeth. My hair was processed 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.679 be call of the counk. So I looking at him, 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:23.600 and I can I blame mister Rufe and I want 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.120 me to come around his daughter, you know. 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:30.040 So how did you convince them that you were okay? 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:32.720 Because she let him know that she wanted to be 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.560 with me, So you know, I'd go up there and 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:39.399 sit on the sofa sometime, and I play a piano 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.160 or whatever. When my dad would come home, he used 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.080 to wait for his sister watching her ballroom, so he 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:48.639 had to spoti five come on arm in the newspaper 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.920 on the other arm, and he come in and said, hey, 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:56.280 mister Route, and he said, all right, groll and he 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.439 spanks up from being with me. But she, you know, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.760 I don't know. I guess it was a bad boy 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:07.320 in me. Whatever she liked, you know, well, we loved 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:07.680 each other. 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.640 Okay, let's go back a step. Tell us more about 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.040 the dagger tattoo on your face. 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.119 Well, back in the projects at cross right here or 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.080 something or something here, one guy at a scull and cross. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.480 This is almost a scull and crossbond. I'm glad it wasn't, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.399 because my daddy would have commit murdered. So with this, 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.879 he made me scrubbed with drill opad and out the 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.600 consult and I look at him not and I have 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:38.879 no idea why i'd done that. 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.959 Okay, So you're telling me at the time to have 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.280 a face tattoo was not that uncommon where you were living. 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:49.359 No, it wasn't. 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.720 Okay, And then as you continue to live your life 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.320 to what the greeded people comment about that tattoo word 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.200 judge you on that tattoo. 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.280 Oh, they had all kinds of rumors out Bet. Later 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.919 on they said, oh, that tatoos stopped even going on 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.359 American Bandstand. I never was s gedully going on to 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.399 American bands dance that I was just a rumor and 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.679 when I go on showed they put makeup on him 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:17.760 to cover it up or whatever. You know. 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:24.680 You also make the point about the spot above your 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.119 eye that your mother said that the doctor said that 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.879 he could have it removed, but you said, it's like 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.240 one of the greatest She said no, and you said, 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.320 that's one of the best things that's ever you know, 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:37.040 been about you. 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.679 Yeah, I'm glad she didn't get it taken off. You know. 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.760 It's like it's me And like when the guys used 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:45.760 to call me in Melvin moble Face, and Melvin he 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.760 thought I didn't they were dissing me. I said, oh yeah, 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.840 mobile Face. You know after that, I used to say 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:54.280 when I got to be friends. But some of the 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:59.320 wrestlers bet Bet, the hit Man, Heart, Cactus Jack, h 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:02.359 a bunch of them. I used to stay if I 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.520 was gonna be in the wrestler that my Monica would 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:06.400 be mole faith. 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.960 But little kids or you know, can be really mean. 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.480 When you were a little kid, did people bother you 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:15.600 about the mool. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.680 No, not really No. I think it was something God 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.119 put there for a reason. You know. It was like 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.520 a beacon, you know, is the respect. 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.440 Okay, So you're growing up, you're growing in the projects. 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.840 Did you feel what was the vibe in the world 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.399 you were living in that you could break out and 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.920 become rich and famous? Or it was about everyday life 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:49.640 and just be happy where you are. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.040 Every day life, be happy like you. Oh, I know 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:55.119 nothing about no riches than anything like that. Then they 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.040 didn't cross my mind back in the project. Oh I 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.119 was rich if I had a fact full of marbles, 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:04.399 you know, and some candidate. I'm cool because like one 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.520 of my first jobs at Saint Monica's Catholic School was 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:12.960 cleaning the boys in the girl's bathroom and not keeping 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:15.399 it with enough money to buy marbles and candid. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.359 Ultimately, Joe Well gets pregnant, you get married, you drop 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.080 out of school. Tell me about that. 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:29.240 Yeah, Well, we had went to the this movie. She 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:36.680 told her mama was going to the movie, and uh, 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.920 and people always bragging about how many girls didn't had 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.040 and all that. Joy was the first girl I ever went, 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:47.720 you know. But she told her mama was going to 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:52.960 see a movie called Vera Cruz. And she got pregnant 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.520 then and we went back in the Mama said, well, 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.520 what the movie was about? He said, oh, very was cruising. 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.320 Mom looked at a relations crazy but uh. And then 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:06.879 nine months later, I haven't came up, but they turned it. 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:08.520 He was there and then they turned him. 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:14.040 And I, okay, what are her parents say when it 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.000 turns out that Joel is pregnant. 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:19.119 I don't know, but this it didn't say nothing to me. 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.960 They probably said they wanted to rather beat her. I 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.000 don't know her dad was, you know, because he's a 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:25.719 rough character. 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:31.640 But okay, so to what degree are you freaked out? 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:32.840 You're student teeth. 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:35.680 I'm not a freaking I love Joe and I wanted 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:37.200 to marry. I tell my mom I wanted to marry 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:43.840 because he got married on January the tenth, and the 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:46.159 ship my mom assigned for me, I didn't make eighteen 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.320 till January twenty fourth. I couldn't wait that long. I 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.480 wanted to, you know, and Joe's parents didn't come to 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:58.280 the wedding, and my friend Marvin Melvin was in penitentia, 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:03.120 so Marvin was my best man, and uh, I think 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.320 her friend and the army was up, made a made 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:08.880 a minor whatever, and my parents were. 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:12.959 At And that's when you dropped out of high school. 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:16.960 And so how did you provide for the family. 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:22.399 Well, I was working night it jobs like uh at 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:27.280 one time, helping to build pre prefabricated houses. Uh. Me 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:31.360 and my friend Varne and we started painting together, and 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:34.399 uh later on I started working on the riverfront. But 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:40.200 that was about later on, unloading cargo ships on the ducks. 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:47.520 Okay, so Aaron is born, you get arrested, and the 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:51.800 family changes his name to Ivan, right, tell us about 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:52.720 getting arrested. 0:23:55.400 --> 0:24:01.879 Well, me and Marvin stagged league little Red and and 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.720 Charles and a guy named Robert who was planning on 0:24:06.800 --> 0:24:09.119