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Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the MOB Website podcast. I

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Speaker 1: guess today is one and only Donnie Iris. Donnie, you've

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Speaker 1: been going through some health challenges. Tell us about that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I two years ago I developed uh bladder

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Speaker 2: cancer and uh and I had to I had to

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Speaker 2: have the surgery to have the bladder removed. And that

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Speaker 2: was like two years ago. But uh, everything's fine now.

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Speaker 2: I've I seem to have beat it. There's uh. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I obviously have some problems with no bladder, but everything

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Speaker 2: seems fine now. The doctor told me I'm in the clear.

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Speaker 2: I have to go back every three or four weeks

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Speaker 2: for maintenance, but other than that, everything's cool. Now.

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Speaker 1: How'd you discover you had it?

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Speaker 2: Well, I thought I was having a like a kidney

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Speaker 2: stone or something, and uh drove myself to the hospital

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Speaker 2: and uh, it wasn't. It wasn't a kidney stone at all.

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Speaker 2: It was my bladder. So I didn't. I didn't quite

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Speaker 2: like the hospital I was in, so I got transferred

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Speaker 2: to what's called Hillman Hillman Cancer Center in in Pittsburgh,

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Speaker 2: and uh and there there are uh they're very good

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Speaker 2: doctors and uh they they they took care of me real.

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Speaker 1: Well, so you have the surgery. Do you have like

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Speaker 1: radiation or chemo after that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I had what's called chemo therapy and immunotherapy. And

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Speaker 2: I remember the doctor calling me and telling me they

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Speaker 2: came out with this immunotherapy they had the fdd A

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Speaker 2: had just the FDA had just approved it, and he

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Speaker 2: was all excited about it and thought it would be

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Speaker 2: it would be a great thing to do. So we

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Speaker 2: did it, and sure enough it worked. It worked very well.

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Speaker 1: Okay. So how long ago did you discovery the problem?

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Speaker 2: Two years, I believe, okay.

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Speaker 1: And when's the last time you've had treatment.

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Speaker 2: I've had maintenance treatment within the last week or two.

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Speaker 1: Okay. And is this something that's been very hard you know,

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Speaker 1: where you felt shitty or it's like, hey, you just

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Speaker 1: go through the immunitherapy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. No, No, I didn't get sick at all. I

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Speaker 2: mean a lot of people have told me they've been

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Speaker 2: sick after chemo, but I never had any problems with sickness.

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Speaker 1: So after you went through this crisis house, it affected

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Speaker 1: your outlook on life?

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Speaker 2: Oh uh, I don't know. I just I just thought

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do the best I can.

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Speaker 2: I'll just push on. If I can still do shows,

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Speaker 2: I'll still do shows. And uh and sure enough. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we've been able to do shows and there hasn't been

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Speaker 2: any problems other than I have to take a couple

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Speaker 2: of pain pills before I go on stage. But other

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Speaker 2: than that, I'm fine.

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Speaker 1: Okay, prior to this medical incident, how many shows were

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Speaker 1: you doing a year?

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Speaker 2: Oh well, that's a good question. I don't even remember. Probably, uh,

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Speaker 2: prior to the incident, I'd say i'd say half a dozen.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So you're doing it for fun as opposed to money.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, We're definitely doing it for fun.

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Speaker 2: But that they're the crowds are there, the venues are

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Speaker 2: are generally sold out. So we're we're doing well with it,

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Speaker 2: I mean when we're loving it. And we got a

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Speaker 2: new lineup. Now we got uh Jovitally Junior and Jovitally

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Speaker 2: Senior playing drums with us. Now Jovially, let's yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Let's hold on for a second. Jovially drummer. Long history

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Speaker 1: with James Gang. Yeah, you're from Pittsburgh. Certainly James Gang

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Speaker 1: started in Cleveland. How do you know Jovitally.

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Speaker 2: Uh. Well, his son, Junior uh is playing with us now.

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Speaker 2: So I mean Kevin, our original drummer, is no longer

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Speaker 2: with us, but uh, Jovi Tally Junior was playing with us, and.

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Speaker 1: We I mean, how do you find Jovially Jr?

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Speaker 2: Well, he uh. For for some reason, he was the

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Speaker 2: guy that we were going to replace Kevin with our

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Speaker 2: original drummer, just by auditioning. So he comes, man, he

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Speaker 2: does a good job, and he's still doing a good job.

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Speaker 2: And then he told us about his dad, and of

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Speaker 2: course we were like, oh, yeah, yeah, let's let's get

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Speaker 2: to know him. And somehow he started playing with us.

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Speaker 2: So we're up there with two drummers and just having

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Speaker 2: a ball, man, just having a ball and listening to

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Speaker 2: Joe Vitelli's or Senior's stories in between the sets are amazing.

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Speaker 2: He tells stuff about Crosby, Stills and Nash and all

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Speaker 2: that crap.

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Speaker 1: And where do both of them, the Senior and Junior

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Speaker 1: live right now?

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Speaker 2: I think they're both in the Cleveland area.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you live exactly where.

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Speaker 2: I live in a place called Coreopolis, Pennsylvania, which is

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Speaker 2: a suburb of Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 1: So how far is that from Cleveland.

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Speaker 2: About an hour and a half.

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Speaker 1: So you were growing up, would it be a normal

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Speaker 1: thing to say, Oh, the band's playing in Cleveland, We're

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Speaker 1: going to go to Cleveland, or you just stay around Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 2: No, it it was. We played quite a few gigs

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Speaker 2: in Cleveland. Our original manager, Mike Belkan was our original manager,

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Speaker 2: and he also managed the Michael Stanley Band, and so

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Speaker 2: we did a lot of gigs together. We did, oh,

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Speaker 2: the Richfield Coliseum and a bunch of different places with

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Speaker 2: with Michael. It was kind of, you know, kind of

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Speaker 2: a two band situation for most of the Cleveland shows.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back to the present. So you know,

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Speaker 1: in the old days, you'd have an agent. An agent

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Speaker 1: would solicit offers. Now that you're doing a handful of gigs,

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Speaker 1: where do the gigs come from?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Man, I don't know. Our Our manager now is

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Speaker 2: Michael Michael Belkan, who is Mike Belkin's son, and he

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Speaker 2: he just gets all these great gigs for us. I

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Speaker 2: think he does a great job. And I don't I

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Speaker 2: don't know how he solicits these jobs, but he he

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Speaker 2: does a great job at it. We're playing, Uh, we

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Speaker 2: don't go any further than Columbus West or Johnstown to

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Speaker 2: the east. So yeah, he's keeping us busy with some

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Speaker 2: really nice shows.

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Speaker 1: Okay, any recordings in the future.

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Speaker 2: We haven't really thought about it that much. We're kind

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Speaker 2: of into this live gig thing and and uh and

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Speaker 2: not put putting too many too much pressure on ourselves

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Speaker 2: for trying to come up with something new. So uh no,

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Speaker 2: we're not really concentrating on it.

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Speaker 1: So what's it like being on stage eight decades later?

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know you started early, you know, is

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Speaker 1: it the same hit from the audience to get stage fright?

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Speaker 1: What's it like?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's it's a little bit. Uh, I

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Speaker 2: don't know. I don't get stage fright, but I go

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Speaker 2: up there, the audience is right into it. They're they're

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Speaker 2: ready to go right off the bat. So I feel

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Speaker 2: very comfortable up there. And uh and the shows are

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Speaker 2: usually just just a it's a love fest with all

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Speaker 2: these people. They just we're just enjoying each other's company.

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Speaker 1: Really, So, are you just a normally energetic guy or

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Speaker 1: do you feed off the feedback of the audience.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I am definitely a guy who feeds off the audience,

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Speaker 2: because usually during the day. I'm a pretty lazy guy.

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Speaker 2: I don't do a whole lot other other than sit

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Speaker 2: in my front porch and smoke cigars and and that's

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Speaker 2: my hobby. Right now, I was smoking cigars.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So let's go back to the beginning. You grow

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Speaker 1: up in the Pittsburgh area. How long had your family

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Speaker 1: been in that area?

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Speaker 2: Well, they were here all their lives. Really. I was

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Speaker 2: born in a town called Newcastle, Pennsylvania, which was right

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Speaker 2: outside of my hometown of Elwood City, Pennsylvania. And that's

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Speaker 2: where I grew up in Elwood In. I was born

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Speaker 2: in nineteen forty three, So I grew up there, you know,

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Speaker 2: as a kid through high school. And yeah, that's about it.

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Speaker 2: Then I want to have to call it.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So were your parents or your parents parents born

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Speaker 1: in the Old Country?

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Speaker 2: My parents' parents were born in the Old Country? Yes, yes, And.

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Speaker 1: How did they end up in Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 2: That's a good question. I have no idea. No, they

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Speaker 2: came over on the boat just like everybody else did,

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Speaker 2: and just settled in Elwood City. How they settled there,

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Speaker 2: I have no idea.

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Speaker 1: And what did everybody do for a living?

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Speaker 2: My dad was a steel worker, my grandfather, Well, when

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Speaker 2: I knew him, he was retired. Both my grandparents were retired.

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Speaker 2: Both sets of parents were grandparents were retired. So I

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Speaker 2: just I didn't know them all that well because they

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Speaker 2: passed on as I became like a young teenager.

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Speaker 1: So what did your father say about working in the

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Speaker 1: steel mills.

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Speaker 2: He didn't stay in the steel mill all that long.

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Speaker 2: He had quit after a while and started working for

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Speaker 2: a company called National Distillers who made whiskey and Old

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Speaker 2: Granddad and PM and all these whiskey brands. That's what

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Speaker 2: he decided to do. So he became an on the

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Speaker 2: road salesperson for these for this company, and that's what

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Speaker 2: he decided to do.

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Speaker 1: The kind who stays overnight in a different town or

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Speaker 1: did it always come home at night?

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Speaker 2: Oh you know what, I don't even remember. It could

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Speaker 2: have been a little bit of both. But I don't

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Speaker 2: really remember at that time. Let's see, I would have

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Speaker 2: been oh she, I don't know, by seventeen something like that.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, something like that. I don't remember. So

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Speaker 2: how many kids in the family, Me and my sister,

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Speaker 2: I have a sister, a younger sister, how much younger.

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Speaker 2: She's five years younger.

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Speaker 1: And what was her life about.

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Speaker 2: Oh, she was a caretaker. She was a good caretaker.

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Speaker 2: Her husband developed some problems and she mainly takes care

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Speaker 2: of him and to me to a certain extent.

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Speaker 1: So you're growing up in Pittsburgh. Your father's first work

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Speaker 1: in the steel mill, then he's liquor salesman. How about

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Speaker 1: your mother and your father and mother's relationship.

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Speaker 2: Well, my mother was actually the one who taught me

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Speaker 2: how to sing. I was very young, maybe five six seven,

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Speaker 2: I don't know, but she would, uh, she would encourage

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Speaker 2: me to sing. We had a piano in the basement

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Speaker 2: where she would take me downstairs and and uh and

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Speaker 2: and show me what to do and how to sing

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Speaker 2: and uh to get some vibrallo in my voice and

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Speaker 2: that kind of thing. But she was the one who actually,

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Speaker 2: uh encouraged me to sing.

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Speaker 1: Do you know why?

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Speaker 2: I think? Uh, I think that's just the way she was.

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Speaker 2: She was musically. She played church, she played the organ

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Speaker 2: or piano in church.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: So, I mean she was just drawn to that type

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Speaker 2: of thing.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 2: My dad, on the other hand, was more like a uh,

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Speaker 2: just a normal guy. You know. We wanted, I guess

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Speaker 2: wanted me to play baseball and so off, which I did.

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Speaker 2: And I wanted to play baseball rather than go practice singing.

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Speaker 2: I guarantee you that, and and so I had a

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Speaker 2: little bit of both.

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Speaker 1: So did you like singing? And did you sing outside

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Speaker 1: the house?

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Speaker 2: I did, but I think I was about nine or

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Speaker 2: ten when I did that. I started singing at weddings

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Speaker 2: and different events in Ellwood. I remember as a kid,

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Speaker 2: like a nine year old or ten year old kid

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Speaker 2: who did a had to travel to Philadelphia and perform

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Speaker 2: on what was the name of that show? I can't remember,

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Speaker 2: Paul Weitman or I forget who it was. I remember

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Speaker 2: going up there to do that, and I came in

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Speaker 2: second place, and I want to I won a Calvinator refrigerator.

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Speaker 1: I actually had a Calvenator refrigerator, did you Yes, it

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Speaker 1: was cheap. That's why we bought it one of my

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Speaker 1: first apartments. But let's go back. I mean, you're not

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Speaker 1: singing in the basement and all of a sudden you're

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Speaker 1: on TV. I mean, how does this happen that you

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Speaker 1: get on TV? Well, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I used to sing on the radio actually before that.

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Speaker 1: How do you get on the radio?

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Speaker 2: I don't know. My mother somehow arranged it for me

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Speaker 2: to get on the some radio show in beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 2: I sang there like every weekend or something for I

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Speaker 2: don't know how many weeks before heading to Philadelphia to

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Speaker 2: do that Paul Whiteman show. But I mean, I guess,

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Speaker 2: I guess I was pretty good or something. So I

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Speaker 2: kept calling me back. I kept going back to sing.

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Speaker 1: And what were singing? Oh?

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Speaker 2: Man, I have no idea. I can't remember what I

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Speaker 2: was singing. Probably old I don't know, Bennett or Sinatra

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Speaker 2: or some some tunes like that.

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Speaker 1: Did you like doing it or would your mother, being

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Speaker 1: a stage mother, making you do it?

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Speaker 2: I suppose I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the attention, the uh,

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Speaker 2: you know, the uh, the thrill of it. But uh,

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Speaker 2: I was young. I mean I didn't know, you know

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Speaker 2: what what what what was going to transpire after all this,

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I just I just went along with it

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Speaker 2: and uh and I had fun doing it. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So did you go to regular public school or religious school?

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Speaker 2: We went. I went to public school.

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Speaker 1: So if I was in school with you, say, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know that's the guy who sings. Were you famous

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Speaker 1: as the guy who sang school.

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Speaker 2: Let me see, I don't remember being famous in school,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean I was young. I don't remember

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Speaker 2: if kids would come up to me or not. But

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Speaker 2: the only thing I remember really after singing on the

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Speaker 2: radio and stuff, was you know, going into going into

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Speaker 2: high school and you know, just becoming whoever I was

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Speaker 2: going to be at that time.

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Speaker 1: So would you become?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I became a pretty darn good pool player because

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Speaker 2: we used to play pool after school every day down

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Speaker 2: at the place half a block from my high school.

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Speaker 2: We'd go down there and just shoot pool after school,

264
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Speaker 2: and just I became pretty good at it. Now I'm

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Speaker 2: not quite as good, but I was pretty damn good

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Speaker 2: back then.

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Speaker 1: How often do you play now? Oh?

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Speaker 2: I still play. There's a club around here in Cranberry

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Speaker 2: that a Cranberry township that I go to, the where

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Speaker 2: they have fool tables there and everything. So every once

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Speaker 2: in a while we'll go up there and we'll sit

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Speaker 2: around play pool.

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Speaker 1: Okay, were you a good student? Were you a bad student?

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Speaker 1: Were popular? Were you unpopular?

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Speaker 2: I was. I was kind of a nerd. I didn't

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Speaker 2: I don't think I was all that popular. I was

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Speaker 2: kind of I got good grades, in high school, I

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Speaker 2: got uh you know, Uh, I did graduate with honors,

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Speaker 2: So I mean I just pretty much concentrated on school

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Speaker 2: pretty much. Wasn't real Uh that was real popular.

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Speaker 1: So if I talked to the high school, if I

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Speaker 1: talk to you, what would you have said you wanted

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Speaker 1: to be and do with your life?

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Speaker 2: Oh man? When I was in high school, yeah, h

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Speaker 2: see at that time, I really didn't know. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the plan was for me to go to college and uh,

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Speaker 2: and that's what happened. Uh. You know, I went to UH.

288
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Speaker 2: I went to Slippery Rock University for about two years

289
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Speaker 2: and then I got I got a call from a

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Speaker 2: group called the Jaggers to uh to hook up with them.

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Speaker 2: Because when I was in college, I had a band,

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Speaker 2: a three piece band that we'd play in fraternity parties

293
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Speaker 2: and stuff like that. But anyway, this band, the Jaggers,

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Speaker 2: had heard of me and they, uh, they want me

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Speaker 2: to go on an audition because the leader of their

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Speaker 2: band was leaving uh for some reason. I don't know,

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Speaker 2: but uh, so I took I went to auditioned for them,

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Speaker 2: and we had a new band and call the Jaggers

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Speaker 2: at that point. So that's when I started into professional music.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you're born in nineteen forty three. Was there always

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Speaker 1: a television in your house or do you remember getting television?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, there was always a TV in my house.

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Speaker 2: Me and my dad used to Those were the days

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Speaker 2: of the rabbit ears and stuff like that, where he

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Speaker 2: just tried to put some aluminum foil on it and

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Speaker 2: try to get it to work. But we had a

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Speaker 2: lot of fun doing that. My dad and I we

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Speaker 2: put up a big pole antenna in the backyard because

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Speaker 2: there was a hospital behind us, way up high and

310
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Speaker 2: we couldn't get the signal high enough to get you know,

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Speaker 2: to get a good reception. But we figured it out.

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Speaker 2: We did all right.

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Speaker 1: Then what were you watching on TV?

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Speaker 2: Oh man? Stuff like Howdy dooty, uh shit? What else?

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Speaker 2: I can't even remember we did. That's the one that

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Speaker 2: comes to my mind right off the bat.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I certainly watched that too. Okay, you're singing, your

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Speaker 1: mother plays the keyboard. At what point do you start

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Speaker 1: listening to popular music and listening to the radio.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I guess I started listening to the radio a

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Speaker 2: lot when the Beatles.

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Speaker 1: Okay, but by time the Beatles hit you're already in

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Speaker 1: your twenties.

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Speaker 2: Okay, well let's see, Yeah I was. I was.

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Speaker 1: You're right, so you're conscious at the you know, they

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Speaker 1: say it's a big debate what the first rock and

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Speaker 1: roll record is is? You know, I turned Rocket eighty eight?

328
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Speaker 1: Is it rock around the Clock? Were you paying attention

329
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Speaker 1: to that stuff at that time?

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Speaker 2: No? Not really, the only thing I've paid attention to.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I grew up. I liked Buddy Hawley. I

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Speaker 2: liked the stuff he was doing. I thought he was

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Speaker 2: really good. Know I I was around when when when

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00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,719
Speaker 2: they they would have that plane crash when they uh,

335
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 2: you know, when they died. But I remember listening to

336
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,360
Speaker 2: Richie Vallens and uh and the Big Bopper and all

337
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,720
Speaker 2: that stuff. So I have some influences there too.

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Speaker 1: And what about Elvis Elvis?

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Speaker 2: I really I love the early on Elvis when he

340
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 2: was just when he was just going for it with

341
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Speaker 2: Don't Be Cruel and the hound Dog and all that stuff. Uh,

342
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:33,720
Speaker 2: that's the Elvis. I really liked the fact I went

343
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Speaker 2: to see his place in Memphis, uh maybe six seven

344
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,240
Speaker 2: years back, took a trip down there and went and

345
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Speaker 2: checked it out, and it was it was it was fun.

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Speaker 1: No, I've been there too. I'm not the biggest Elvis fan,

347
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:56,200
Speaker 1: but it's just funny that it's not that big a place.

348
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Speaker 1: Now he's got the three Sony trindotrons to watch the

349
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: three networks in the jungle room. It's got an interesting feel.

350
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: So yeah, after Elvis hits, how about Little Richard, Carl Perkins,

351
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:14,640
Speaker 1: all that stuff.

352
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Little Richard I admired. I admired him a lot.

353
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Speaker 2: I thought he was great. Uh. Carl Perkins I didn't

354
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Speaker 2: pay too much attention to. I don't know why, but

355
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:29,199
Speaker 2: I just didn't. But yeah, Little Richard was uh, I

356
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 2: mean he was, he was great. I think Paul McCartney

357
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 2: might have listened to him a little bit too. A

358
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 2: lot of the things that he does in that that

359
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,119
Speaker 2: kind of raspy voice sounds a lot like Little.

360
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Speaker 1: Richard, Long Tall, Sally, et cetera. Okay, yeah, then music

361
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,720
Speaker 1: starts to change to these two dimensional acts like Bobby

362
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: Ride Dell and Fabian. How did you feel about the

363
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: music then?

364
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 2: Actually I knew Bobby right Dell. He My manager at

365
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,359
Speaker 2: the time was Joe Rock. Do you remember Joe Rock?

366
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 1: I don't.

367
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 2: He was the guy that man is and wrote for

368
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:16,160
Speaker 2: the Skyliners. Very talented guy. He wrote since I Don't

369
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 2: have you and this I Swear and all these great

370
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:24,360
Speaker 2: songs for the Skyliners. But I lost my train of thought.

371
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Speaker 2: Where were we going with this?

372
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Speaker 1: I can't Bobby ry Dell you were talking about?

373
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. So anyway, Joe knew Bobby rid Dell

374
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Speaker 2: and he brought him to my house one time. We

375
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 2: got to meet Bobby rid Dell and we actually ended

376
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,680
Speaker 2: up producing a record or two for him and James

377
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,760
Speaker 2: Darren the same way we did. We did a couple

378
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,880
Speaker 2: of records for him as producers because at the time

379
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 2: the Jaggers were hot. We had like a Rapper, which

380
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,960
Speaker 2: was a was a big hit back in the seventies.

381
00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 1: But we'll get back to the rapper point. Do you

382
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 1: pick up a guitar or an instrument started playing?

383
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,760
Speaker 2: I think I was in eleventh grade when my dad

384
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,199
Speaker 2: bought me a guitar and I started playing it, but

385
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 2: it didn't last very long. It went behind the college

386
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 2: because it was hurting my fingers. So I didn't pick

387
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 2: up a guitar really until I was maybe my second

388
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:29,439
Speaker 2: year of college. Started practicing. Okay, you know you had

389
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:34,160
Speaker 2: a piano in the basement. Do you ever play the piano. Uh,

390
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,280
Speaker 2: just a little bit, not anything to speak of.

391
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:42,159
Speaker 1: No, okay, your father boy guitar, acoustic guitar or electric guitar.

392
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was acoustic.

393
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 1: So now you're a sophomore in college. What is the

394
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,160
Speaker 1: inspiration to pick up the guitar again?

395
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 2: Uh? I think around my second year, I was getting

396
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,680
Speaker 2: a little bored with being in college. I started to

397
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,919
Speaker 2: get the inkling that I went to be Uh, I

398
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 2: want to be into music. Uh, that's probably why I rather,

399
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 2: I got the guitar and started practicing again and uh,

400
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 2: you know, honing, honing my chops, so to speak. And

401
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,199
Speaker 2: like I said, playing with a couple of early on

402
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:23,520
Speaker 2: college bands.

403
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 1: Okay, a lot happened. If you're playing on an acoustic guitar.

404
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,640
Speaker 1: It's a big step to get an electric guitar, get

405
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,960
Speaker 1: an amp, well, form a band. It doesn't happen instantly. No,

406
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 1: I might have during that time.

407
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 2: I might have. I might have gotten an electric guitar

408
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 2: at the time. I probably did. I don't really remember,

409
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,879
Speaker 2: but I did have an electric and I had an amp,

410
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 2: and we were we were ready to go. We were

411
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 2: we were ready to get out and play.

412
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 1: So you know that was an error where there were

413
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,440
Speaker 1: bands at every corner. If you get gigs, were there

414
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 1: that many gigs? Were you just better than the other acts?

415
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what it was, but we were.

416
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 2: We had a nine times a week gig at a

417
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 2: place called Geneva on the Lake, Ohio. We used to

418
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 2: play seven nights a week and twice on Sunday for

419
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 2: two jam sessions. So we were definitely owning our skills

420
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 2: at that time. And we were vocalists too. We all sang,

421
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 2: we all you know, we all did everything. So and

422
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,200
Speaker 2: it went on like that for maybe two or three

423
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 2: summers something like that, and we just had a blast.

424
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,400
Speaker 1: Okay, wait a second. Not only were you playing at

425
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,920
Speaker 1: Geneva at the Lake, were you living there?

426
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 2: Yes?

427
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 1: Yes, Oh there's got to be some stories there.

428
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 2: What kind of stories you're looking for here?

429
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 1: Well, mistiff, drugs and alcohol?

430
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 2: Sex. Well, I'll be honest with you, at that time,

431
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 2: there was no drugs or alcohol. Well, there was alcohol,

432
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 2: but no drugs. I mean, we were we were pretty

433
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 2: uh we were pretty virgin y virgins at that time.

434
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 2: But but yeah, we drank, but mainly it was it

435
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,560
Speaker 2: was playing in uh and sex basically.

436
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: Well, you must have been the big stars there because

437
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:32,960
Speaker 1: you were the band.

438
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean it was Geneva on the lake.

439
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 2: It was. There was a couple other places to play,

440
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,600
Speaker 2: but the places we played that called the Cove and

441
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 2: the Sunken Bar, were the two main places up there,

442
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 2: and that's that's where we that's where we were playing.

443
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,120
Speaker 2: We used to pit one against the other. We'd play

444
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 2: one one joint one year and another joint the other year,

445
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 2: and then playing against each other to try to get

446
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 2: more money. How was the money, Oh, I don't even

447
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 2: remember what it was, but at the time it seemed

448
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 2: like plenty. We did. We did fine.

449
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,479
Speaker 1: And what music were you playing?

450
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, we were doing we were doing what was

451
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: popular were We were a good cover band. We did

452
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 2: a bunch of covers from whatever was popular at the time.

453
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,800
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're hit in the sixties and one hand

454
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 1: you got Perry Como. On the other you have four

455
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: Seasons in the Beach Boys. Was that music that appealed

456
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 1: to you?

457
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 2: Uh, not as much as other music. I like the

458
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 2: Beach Boys. I lest certain songs they did. Who else

459
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 2: did you mention four seasons? Four Seasons? I wasn't a real,

460
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 2: real big fan of the couple. They had a couple

461
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:59,040
Speaker 2: of really nice songs though. And who's the other one.

462
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 1: Well, the Harry Como. I don't expect you're a big fan.

463
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 2: Perry Como, man, he was. Uh. I used to love

464
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 2: his TV show man. Do you watch that.

465
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: With those sweaters?

466
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 2: Yeah? I love Terry Como didn't live didn't live that

467
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 2: far from me either.

468
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 1: So how did you first hear the Beatles?

469
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 2: I remember driving, uh for a while there, I commuted

470
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 2: back and forth to college, and I remember hearing them

471
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 2: on the radio.

472
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: What were your initial thoughts?

473
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 2: I thought this was great, this is this is great.

474
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,479
Speaker 2: They sound great. I love it. I loved it.

475
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: And how did that affect your career?

476
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 2: Oh? Man? We uh we we did so many different

477
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 2: Beatles songs throughout my throughout my history. We did a

478
00:30:55,160 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 2: ton of them. Uh, it's just uh. And then the Stones,

479
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 2: I listened to the Stones. We did a lot of

480
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 2: the Stones tunes. But the British invasion was awesome, man,

481
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 2: it was awesome.

482
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 1: So what year, if you can remember, do you get

483
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 1: asked to join the Jaggers.

484
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 2: Oh, let's see, that would have been like sixty eight,

485
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 2: sixty nine, maybe.

486
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: Sixty eight you're twenty five or twenty six years old,

487
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 1: you orderly went to college in that intervening time. Were

488
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 1: you living as a musician or did you have a

489
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: street job? What were you doing what time when subsequent

490
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:50,720
Speaker 1: to dropping out of college before joining the Jaggers.

491
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, well then I went right out of college and

492
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:58,240
Speaker 2: joined the Jaggers. That's what. We hired a guy to

493
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 2: book us. So we were playing clubs all throughout the Midwest,

494
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 2: like six nights a week, staying in one hope, staying

495
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 2: in one room for for I don't know how long.

496
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 2: We played like that and learned how and basically learned

497
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 2: how to play.

498
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,360
Speaker 1: Okay, what was the status of the Jaggers.

499
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 2: When you joined, Well, they actually were called Gary and

500
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 2: the Jewel Tones. And when I don't know, either they

501
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 2: kicked him out of the band or he left the band.

502
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:39,160
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened. But we renamed the band

503
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 2: the Jaggers. We you know, tried to come up with

504
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 2: a name, and we came up with that name because

505
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 2: here in western Pennsylvania, you walk into the woods and

506
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 2: you get all these jagger bushes all over your pant legs,

507
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 2: all these burs all over your pant legs. They stick

508
00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 2: and you get you have a hell of a time

509
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 2: taking them off. But that's where we got our name.

510
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,680
Speaker 1: And how did it go from Jaggers with an ass

511
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 1: to Jaggers with.

512
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:12,200
Speaker 2: A z oh? I don't know. It just seemed cooler

513
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:13,960
Speaker 2: at the time when we did I don't know when

514
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 2: we did it, but it's just it seemed cooler.

515
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 1: So when you joined the band, what was your role

516
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: in the band?

517
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 2: I was one of three singers. I mean all of

518
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 2: us sang, so yeah, I did certain songs, the other

519
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 2: guy did certain songs, so on and so forth.

520
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,120
Speaker 1: And at what point did you start playing original material

521
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:40,680
Speaker 1: and at what point did you start recording that material.

522
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 2: We started doing originals like in sixty nine early sixty nine,

523
00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:02,120
Speaker 2: and we wrote some songs. We went up to our

524
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 2: manager Joe Rock hooked us up with Gamble and Huff

525
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:12,359
Speaker 2: to go up there to record some songs, which we did.

526
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 2: And uh, I mean somehow he knew these guys and

527
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 2: was able to get us in because Gamble and Huff

528
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,360
Speaker 2: was they were they were big time, big time dudes,

529
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 2: right and uh and and we were like we were

530
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 2: like a white eyed, a blue eyed soul band. At

531
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 2: the time. Uh, except for the Rapper, the song of

532
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 2: the Rapper. But that's what we did. We went up there.

533
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 2: We did an album with Gamble and Huff came out

534
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 2: pretty well. Now I'm no longer with the Jaggers, but

535
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,720
Speaker 2: they're still performing and they're still doing some of those songs.

536
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,320
Speaker 1: Okay, you're in the Jaggers. You go to Gamble and Huff.

537
00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:01,840
Speaker 1: You must have thought, man, I made it.

538
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:04,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it felt great. I mean we were

539
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 2: gonna go up and uh and we did. We we

540
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:13,080
Speaker 2: just we recorded and had a great time. And before

541
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 2: I knew it, the Rapper had come out and I

542
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:24,279
Speaker 2: remember hearing it on the radio and I remember, you know,

543
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 2: everything was like a whirlwind at that time because we

544
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 2: went out and did the We did American Bandstand. We

545
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 2: did these shows with like people I used to watch

546
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 2: on TV, these dancers on American Bandstand. I was like, Wow,

547
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 2: this is this is unbelievable. But yeah it was. I

548
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 2: don't know how it happened, but it did.

549
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 1: So how did you write the Rapper?

550
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 2: Believe it or not. It was the middle of the night.

551
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,239
Speaker 2: I woke up with the with the song in my head.

552
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 2: It was a rapper I had it all planned out.

553
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 2: I brought it into the band and we put it

554
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,720
Speaker 2: together and that was it. That's how it happened.

555
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,839
Speaker 1: Okay. Prior to the Rapper, had you written a lot

556
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: of songs?

557
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 2: No? No, not a lot. No, I mean early on,

558
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 2: I did some things that were just like I mean,

559
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 2: way early when I was like sixteen or so. But

560
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:22,880
Speaker 2: but yeah, nothing serious.

561
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 1: Okay, the rapper in the middle of the night. How

562
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 1: similar was that to the record that came out?

563
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 2: Uh? Similar in what way? What do you mean?

564
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:36,440
Speaker 1: Well, the melody, the sound did it sound?

565
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it did it did? It came out pretty

566
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 2: much the way I had it planned. When I brought

567
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 2: it into the band, they understood and they just they

568
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,919
Speaker 2: just played it. They played the right parts. They did

569
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:53,280
Speaker 2: everything that was in my head.

570
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:58,759
Speaker 1: Okay at the time, forget what rap means today. That

571
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,360
Speaker 1: was a hip turn to rap. Let's sit down and wrap.

572
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,880
Speaker 1: So how did you come up with the term the

573
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:04,960
Speaker 1: rapper for the song?

574
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,759
Speaker 2: Well, the rapper it was a different kind of rapper.

575
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,439
Speaker 2: It was a rapper that went into a bar at

576
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:16,440
Speaker 2: night and started rapping the chicks as a pickup line.

577
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,440
Speaker 2: That's what I meant by the Rapper, which is totally

578
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 2: totally different.

579
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,800
Speaker 1: Okay, you go to Philadelphia to record with Gamble and Huff,

580
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,799
Speaker 1: who records the Rapper? They record it?

581
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:37,239
Speaker 2: Uh no, no, I take that back. We were in

582
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 2: we were at a place called Century Sound Studios in

583
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,319
Speaker 2: New York. That's where we did the Rapper And that

584
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:49,839
Speaker 2: would have been late sixty nine and the song came

585
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:52,360
Speaker 2: out in early seventy.

586
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,120
Speaker 1: And who produced the record.

587
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,880
Speaker 2: We did? We did with a friend of Joe Rock's

588
00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:05,920
Speaker 2: what was his name? I can't remember his name anyway,

589
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 2: we pretty much produced it ourselves.

590
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 1: And when it was done, did you believe it was

591
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 1: going to be a hit?

592
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,359
Speaker 2: I didn't know. I had no idea. But it was

593
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,680
Speaker 2: just one of those things. Just one of those things, Bob.

594
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 2: It's one of those things.

595
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 1: I mean, did you don't know? Did you play it

596
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,240
Speaker 1: for the record company and they say, wait a second,

597
00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:28,400
Speaker 1: this is the one.

598
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did. We did. We got turned down by

599
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 2: five or six of them, until Neil Bogart said, Okay,

600
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 2: we'll take it, we'll give it a shot. So he

601
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 2: gave it a shot and the next thing we know,

602
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 2: we're going to American Bandstand and stuff.

603
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 1: You know, Well, Neil Bogra legendary, you know, in the

604
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 1: Bubblegum era, then Casablanca Records. He ultimately dot answer at

605
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:54,879
Speaker 1: a young age, what was your experience with Neil Bogart? Oh?

606
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,560
Speaker 2: He was he was cool man. Well, like I said,

607
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 2: he was cool because he gave us a chance. I mean,

608
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 2: you get turned down by all these people, you start

609
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:07,320
Speaker 2: getting like, what the hell? So I mean, yeah, I enjoyed.

610
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 2: I enjoyed it. I enjoyed meeting them, and thank goodness,

611
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 2: he gave us a break.

612
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,120
Speaker 3: So what was it? I mean, the Rapper went to

613
00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 3: number two? I mean, the Rappers one of those songs

614
00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:19,919
Speaker 3: that you were lyve you could never forget it. What's

615
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 3: it like having, you know what, a gigantic hit?

616
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,000
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, that just just happens. You just

617
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,719
Speaker 2: don't know. It's just it's something. There's just something there.

618
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is. It's just it just happens.

619
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:41,319
Speaker 2: I mean, and we you know, and we hope that

620
00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:44,359
Speaker 2: that happens every time, but it doesn't. It's just just

621
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 2: it's coincidental. It's lucky, it's it's everything. It's the stars

622
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:50,719
Speaker 2: and all that shit.

623
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 3: Okay, now the record's a hit what's your life like

624
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:57,759
Speaker 3: once the record is a.

625
00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:02,799
Speaker 2: Hit, Like I said, we're we're jet setting all over

626
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 2: the place, you know, going here and there and everywhere.

627
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 2: Uh to uh to back the song up, to get

628
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 2: to get some exposure as people, as musicians whatever.

629
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,480
Speaker 1: Rapper is a gigantic kit. See any money.

630
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:26,799
Speaker 2: We did, we did. We saw money. In fact, we

631
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,120
Speaker 2: uh as a group, we all went down to this

632
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 2: this auto dealership in beaver Falls and we all leased

633
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 2: seven Lincoln Continentals, the big boats with the real long

634
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:49,239
Speaker 2: front end. They were. They were gorgeous, gorgeous cars. So,

635
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 2: I mean the money was rolling in and we were

636
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 2: able to spend it.

637
00:40:55,560 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 1: Okay, you wrote the rapper who owned the publishing on

638
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:01,840
Speaker 1: the wrapper?

639
00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 2: I think we split publishing with the record company. I'm

640
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:14,759
Speaker 2: pretty sure that's how it worked. We had our share

641
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,000
Speaker 2: of the publishing, they had their share of the publishing.

642
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:19,560
Speaker 1: Who owns it today?

643
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:21,719
Speaker 2: Good question. I don't know.

644
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:24,359
Speaker 1: Well, let's put it a different way. Do you get

645
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:25,080
Speaker 1: paid on it?

646
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, on the wrapper?

647
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:28,799
Speaker 1: Yeah?

648
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 2: Yeah usually BMI they send me a check every like

649
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,760
Speaker 2: every quarter. Yeah.

650
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:40,919
Speaker 1: So's the money any good?

651
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,920
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean it's it's not anything spectacular, but it's

652
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 2: a nice little check, a little surprise, little mail money

653
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,160
Speaker 2: every once in a while, never hurt. So yeah, it's nice.

654
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:59,720
Speaker 1: Okay, so you have this gigantic kid. Then what happens

655
00:41:59,719 --> 00:41:59,920
Speaker 1: for the.

656
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:08,920
Speaker 2: Well, basically what happened is we pretty much had our run.

657
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 2: There was not any tension or anything, but just just

658
00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 2: uneasiness in the band. People wanted to do other things.

659
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 2: One of the guys in the band got asked to

660
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 2: join the Skyliners, so he went with them for a while.

661
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 2: What I did was I left. I left and came

662
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 2: into the studio, the studio that we're sitting at right now.

663
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 2: I don't know what year that would have been, do

664
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:45,319
Speaker 2: you do you know that the year that we recorded here,

665
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:51,160
Speaker 2: late seventies. So yeah, right here at this studio, late seventies,

666
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:57,760
Speaker 2: we're recording and I was learning how to do the stuff,

667
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:02,040
Speaker 2: the stuff with it on this board and maybe becoming

668
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:08,319
Speaker 2: an engineer or something. But that's what I was doing

669
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,440
Speaker 2: at the time. And I was also singing some gigs

670
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,320
Speaker 2: with a guy by the name of b. E. Taylor.

671
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 2: Did you know b E? No?

672
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:15,240
Speaker 1: I didn't.

673
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:22,399
Speaker 2: He was a Christian singer. We did, like I don't

674
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,640
Speaker 2: know how many duo shows he and I sang together

675
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 2: for many years, just as like a side gig. We

676
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 2: did this and that here and there. In fact, we

677
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:41,360
Speaker 2: did we did shows up my dad's tavern. After my

678
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,439
Speaker 2: dad no wait, no, wait a minute, after my dad

679
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:50,360
Speaker 2: quit selling whiskey, he and his partner, he and a

680
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:53,160
Speaker 2: guy friend of h is hooked up and started a

681
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:57,719
Speaker 2: place called Loose Tavern, so which he spent a lot

682
00:43:57,760 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 2: of time. Man, And this is right around the time

683
00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:04,920
Speaker 2: of the Rapper. So I used to go there all

684
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 2: the time, and my dad was behind the bar. He

685
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:12,120
Speaker 2: would be making chili or soup or or meatballs or whatever.

686
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 2: They go in and hang out with him. And in

687
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:20,239
Speaker 2: meantime the Rapper was was on the charts. It was

688
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,799
Speaker 2: on his way up. And he used to have a

689
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:28,880
Speaker 2: thermometer thing behind the bar and he would draw on

690
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:32,000
Speaker 2: it every day as it went up and up and up.

691
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:36,840
Speaker 2: So and he was like he had his old chest

692
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,960
Speaker 2: out ship. He was like he was all into it.

693
00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 1: So how hard was it to quit the Daggers?

694
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:52,839
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, we pretty much we pretty much

695
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,239
Speaker 2: had had it. I mean we you know, when it's over,

696
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:59,879
Speaker 2: it's over. And when I came into the studio here

697
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:05,000
Speaker 2: The funny thing was a group called Wild Cherry came

698
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:11,560
Speaker 2: in and they were going to record here. So the Leafs.

699
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 2: The keyboard player in the band, Mark avsek, He and

700
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:21,600
Speaker 2: I kind of hit it off. We were like, okay,

701
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 2: you know, whenever this is over, let's maybe get together

702
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:30,560
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe write some songs or do this

703
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:34,680
Speaker 2: or that. I said, okay, Well, first of all, we

704
00:45:34,719 --> 00:45:36,600
Speaker 2: went out on the road with Wild Cherry.

705
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:40,239
Speaker 1: Okay, wait, you're in the studio, you see yourself as

706
00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:42,120
Speaker 1: a behind the scenes guy. How do you end up

707
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:43,720
Speaker 1: going on the road with Wild Cherry.

708
00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:47,320
Speaker 2: Well, well, here's what he did. One of the guys

709
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:51,360
Speaker 2: in the band was leaving, so Bobby Parsi, who was

710
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:53,360
Speaker 2: the leader of the band at the time, asked me

711
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:55,360
Speaker 2: to join him and go on the road with him.

712
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:59,200
Speaker 2: So I said, yeah, oh yeah, let's go. So yeah,

713
00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:03,680
Speaker 2: I spent I don't know, a year, year and a half,

714
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 2: maybe two years with Wild Cherry. This was after they

715
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:11,600
Speaker 2: had this play that fucking music quite so yeah. I

716
00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:15,400
Speaker 2: toured with them for a while and that was like heaven.

717
00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 2: We were flying everywhere. We'd go stay at a hotel

718
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:23,880
Speaker 2: for a week and get all tanned and stuff, looking

719
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:29,879
Speaker 2: wanting to look good, and we would say all week

720
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:31,719
Speaker 2: and at the end of the at the end of

721
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,400
Speaker 2: the week, we'd have a show to do. We played

722
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:39,280
Speaker 2: like in Albuquerque, I think it was exactly that scenario.

723
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 2: We didn't play till the end of the week. We

724
00:46:41,160 --> 00:46:42,399
Speaker 2: just sat there and had fun.

725
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: Okay, at what point in this scenario do you get married? Oh?

726
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 2: I was married in I think sixty eight. I think

727
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:03,680
Speaker 2: I got married in sixty eight, yeah, or sixty nine.

728
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:05,520
Speaker 1: How many times you been married?

729
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:08,520
Speaker 2: Once? Just once?

730
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 1: And did you get to where's you're still with your wife?

731
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 2: No, we're still we're we're still separated.

732
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,919
Speaker 1: How long have you been separated?

733
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:27,640
Speaker 2: Separated? Probably thirty years or so something like that.

734
00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 1: Let's stay there for a second. I lived that life,

735
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:36,560
Speaker 1: did you? Yes? Unfortunately, How did you ultimately decide to

736
00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:39,240
Speaker 1: get separated?

737
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:44,000
Speaker 2: Oh? That that that was just that was just going

738
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:48,200
Speaker 2: to happen. I mean we were separated physically, so you know,

739
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:54,680
Speaker 2: so that becomes that becomes the thing. You're physically separated

740
00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:58,919
Speaker 2: for so long you're separated, So that's that's what we were.

741
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:02,680
Speaker 1: So who was this woman you married?

742
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:05,399
Speaker 2: Her name was Linda.

743
00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:09,520
Speaker 1: And Rod you meet her? Yeah?

744
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:13,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh man, I met her at a club that

745
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:18,440
Speaker 2: we played in uh in beaver Falls, would called the

746
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:23,040
Speaker 2: Club Natural, And we played there like six nights a week,

747
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:28,319
Speaker 2: every night, and she would come in there and I

748
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,520
Speaker 2: noticed her, and that's how it happened.

749
00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:34,400
Speaker 1: But who wanted to get married? Who are you?

750
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:41,160
Speaker 2: Oh man? I guess we both did. We uh yeah,

751
00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:43,879
Speaker 2: we decided to get married, and we did and had

752
00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:49,080
Speaker 2: two wonderful daughters. And now I have five great grandkids,

753
00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:57,239
Speaker 2: not great ganches, but grandkids, and I'm loving it.

754
00:48:57,719 --> 00:49:02,960
Speaker 1: Okay, But you're a musician and you're the breadwinner. What

755
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,480
Speaker 1: does she say about your career moves? Leaving the Jaggers,

756
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:08,640
Speaker 1: going to work in the studio, going on the road

757
00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 1: with Wild Cherry? Was she cool with it? Did she

758
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,640
Speaker 1: want you to quit? Get a regular job? What'd you say? Oh?

759
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:17,040
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, she was cool with it. She

760
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:23,400
Speaker 2: uh you know, everything every move I made, she was,

761
00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 2: she was there, she was, she was into it. You know,

762
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 2: you need to do what you gotta do. I mean,

763
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,960
Speaker 2: you don't hear very much of that, but it's true.

764
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:35,320
Speaker 1: And then, of course the obvious question is why have

765
00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:39,880
Speaker 1: you never gotten divorced? Oh?

766
00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:46,759
Speaker 2: I don't know, never found it, never found any use

767
00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:50,319
Speaker 2: in it, really, I mean, why.

768
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,120
Speaker 1: Well, has she found someone new? If you found someone.

769
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:57,760
Speaker 2: New, Yeah, she's she's she found somebody. I found someone

770
00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 2: and everybody. Everybody's happy. We still get along great. Yeah.

771
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:07,759
Speaker 1: And is she off the payroll or you still supporting her?

772
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:11,080
Speaker 2: Well? I do what I can for her. Put it

773
00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 2: that way.

774
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, So you go on the road with Wild Cherry.

775
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: How does that end?

776
00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:30,759
Speaker 2: M Well, that is at the point where Mark av

777
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:37,800
Speaker 2: second and I start this new songwriting team and start

778
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 2: Donnie Iris and the cruisers.

779
00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 1: Stop for one second when you stop being Dominic Arachi

780
00:50:45,719 --> 00:50:47,759
Speaker 1: and become Donnie Iris.

781
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 2: Oh that was long before. That was way before nobody

782
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:56,200
Speaker 2: could ever pronounce my last name, and it was just

783
00:50:56,239 --> 00:50:59,480
Speaker 2: the right thing to do. I just change because basically,

784
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:05,040
Speaker 2: although my name wasn't Dominic, my mother always called me

785
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:09,160
Speaker 2: down neat Donnie. She didn't like Donny, she liked Donnie.

786
00:51:09,239 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 2: So my first name was Donnie. My last name is Jiachi.

787
00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:17,160
Speaker 2: So I had to change that because nobody was ever

788
00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 2: going to get that right. I changed it to the

789
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:24,839
Speaker 2: way it looks irase Iris. That's why I changed it. Now,

790
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:27,800
Speaker 2: everything's cool, nobody makes mistakes.

791
00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 1: So you got this songwriting partnership with Mark Abset. Yeah,

792
00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:35,560
Speaker 1: and take us forward from there.

793
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:42,880
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we decided to get together and write

794
00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:45,360
Speaker 2: some songs. So we get down in my basement and

795
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:50,360
Speaker 2: beaver Falls at my house in beaver Falls, and and

796
00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 2: we start there was I had a piano in my

797
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:59,840
Speaker 2: basement and and we start clinking around, start writing tunes,

798
00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:05,040
Speaker 2: and before you know it, we had I don't know,

799
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:09,919
Speaker 2: six or seven songs ready to go for whatever, and

800
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 2: uh went into the studio and uh and we recorded

801
00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:22,840
Speaker 2: back on the streets. The first album was had Leah, Agnes,

802
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:32,520
Speaker 2: uh and and the others whatever. But uh, we ended

803
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:35,320
Speaker 2: up on a label called Midwest Labels.

804
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:39,480
Speaker 1: Wait, wait, let's go back. You're recording the record at

805
00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 1: the time. Agnes is a date. There was somebody on

806
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:47,080
Speaker 1: some sitcom, some woman that was always blowing the whistle

807
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:49,840
Speaker 1: called Agnes. How do you come up with the name Agnes?

808
00:52:52,520 --> 00:53:04,439
Speaker 2: Funny thing? Agnes rhymes with everything, right, it rhymes with everything, gladness, sadness.

809
00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:08,880
Speaker 2: You know. There's that's why we that's why we use

810
00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:12,399
Speaker 2: that name. That's exactly why we use the name.

811
00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:17,520
Speaker 1: Okay, tell me about the creation of Aliah.

812
00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:27,400
Speaker 2: All right, this is a story. So, Leah was a

813
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:32,360
Speaker 2: woman I knew who was dating the drummer in our band,

814
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:39,520
Speaker 2: and uh, I just thought she was beautiful. It's just gorgeous.

815
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:42,600
Speaker 2: So but I didn't know her. I just knew her

816
00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:48,799
Speaker 2: from a distance. And later on in life, I have

817
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:51,680
Speaker 2: to go forward here because tell you the end of

818
00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:56,839
Speaker 2: the story. I go, I get into somehow, I get

819
00:53:56,880 --> 00:54:04,160
Speaker 2: into mortgage banking, all right, bear with me here. I

820
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:08,160
Speaker 2: get into mortgage banking and I start doing business with

821
00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 2: this girl. Anyway. The girl was Leah's daughter, and I

822
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:23,839
Speaker 2: didn't find this out too and like, I was doing

823
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:27,880
Speaker 2: business with her for a period of time, and I

824
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:33,080
Speaker 2: asked her, I said, you know, is your mom Leah?

825
00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:36,359
Speaker 2: She said, yeah, yeah, she has a flower shop right

826
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:41,040
Speaker 2: up the road here. I said, we gotta go see her.

827
00:54:41,960 --> 00:54:44,920
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean when I went up, I saw

828
00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:48,839
Speaker 2: her again. It's just as beautiful as ever, and it was.

829
00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:51,080
Speaker 2: It was a great time. We hung out together, me

830
00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:54,359
Speaker 2: and Leah and her daughter been hung out. We just

831
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 2: go places and have a good time. Man.

832
00:54:57,680 --> 00:54:58,959
Speaker 1: So how did you write the song?

833
00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:04,439
Speaker 2: Uh? The song went through several phases. Really, it went

834
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:11,719
Speaker 2: through a an anti war idea. Uh, it went through

835
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:16,239
Speaker 2: a I forget. There might have been one more, one

836
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:20,400
Speaker 2: more thing, but it ended up as the we we

837
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,680
Speaker 2: had that. We had the vocal course in the background

838
00:55:23,719 --> 00:55:28,280
Speaker 2: in our heads, the ah Leah. It was like a chant.

839
00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:34,120
Speaker 2: It was like a Gregorian chant. And and we looked

840
00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:36,320
Speaker 2: at it other and we said, Hey, that's that happens

841
00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:40,160
Speaker 2: to be a name. It happens to be the name Leah.

842
00:55:40,280 --> 00:55:42,759
Speaker 2: So let's let's go with a girl. Let's go with that.

843
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:46,959
Speaker 2: This is all crazy shit, but it's the truth. It's

844
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:51,399
Speaker 2: just that's the way it happens. That's the way it happens. Man.

845
00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:55,840
Speaker 1: How did you stock the vocals? I mean that record

846
00:55:55,880 --> 00:55:56,880
Speaker 1: has a unique sound.

847
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, we we did. The we did had a lot

848
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:05,600
Speaker 2: of stacking at the place, just just for the effect. Really,

849
00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:08,960
Speaker 2: the we layered one on top of the other for

850
00:56:09,960 --> 00:56:13,560
Speaker 2: I don't know how many how many tracks there were. Jerry,

851
00:56:13,600 --> 00:56:19,520
Speaker 2: the original engineer here, would remember, and Mark Mark probably remembers,

852
00:56:20,120 --> 00:56:22,200
Speaker 2: but I don't have any idea how many times I

853
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:25,800
Speaker 2: did that. But uh, but it had a certain sound

854
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 2: to it. It had a chewiness to it. It had

855
00:56:29,880 --> 00:56:32,839
Speaker 2: it had this jump out of the radio at you

856
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,520
Speaker 2: when it comes on. It had that kind of feel

857
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:39,840
Speaker 2: to it, which was something we hadn't planned.

858
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,279
Speaker 1: So what happens? First, do you finish the album and

859
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:48,120
Speaker 1: look for a record deal or you cut Aliyah look

860
00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:48,879
Speaker 1: for a record deal.

861
00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:52,920
Speaker 2: We have the album finished, so we give it to

862
00:56:54,400 --> 00:57:01,799
Speaker 2: uh Belkan Maduri in Cleveland and to uh and their

863
00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:05,759
Speaker 2: their uh their staff, the people they work with to

864
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:09,440
Speaker 2: get records promoted and so on and so forth, and

865
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:15,400
Speaker 2: uh uh they get it on the radio. Uh and

866
00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:21,360
Speaker 2: these radio stations are adding it like uh w b

867
00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:26,200
Speaker 2: z Z, I think it's bezz in Boston, Saint Louis, Dallas,

868
00:57:26,320 --> 00:57:30,480
Speaker 2: all these all these radio stations are adding the record.

869
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:36,280
Speaker 2: They're adding it, and we're thinking, I mean we're not like,

870
00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:40,760
Speaker 2: we're not like twisting arms to get them to play

871
00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:46,880
Speaker 2: the song. They're playing it, and uh, before we know it,

872
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:49,400
Speaker 2: it was. It was spreading all over the country and

873
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:51,680
Speaker 2: it was a It was a hit. It was a

874
00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:58,160
Speaker 2: hit album oriented rock song, not necessarily a pop tune,

875
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:00,880
Speaker 2: but it did make it way up to I think

876
00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:04,160
Speaker 2: twenty nine or something on the Billboard charts.

877
00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:08,320
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back. You cut the record, you give

878
00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:11,680
Speaker 1: it to your managers. What do they do about getting

879
00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:12,439
Speaker 1: a record deal?

880
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:20,080
Speaker 2: Well, they after they had done what they did, they figured, okay,

881
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:25,720
Speaker 2: it's time to make a deal. They knew people in

882
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:34,400
Speaker 2: at MCA, so they sell the record to MCA, and

883
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:39,240
Speaker 2: so now we have a large company behind it that

884
00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:44,959
Speaker 2: can do to do more for the band. So yeah,

885
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:48,360
Speaker 2: they they sold the masters to them.

886
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:53,120
Speaker 1: Okay, but the record said Carousel Records. What was up

887
00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:53,360
Speaker 1: with that?

888
00:58:54,160 --> 00:59:00,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was an offshoot of MCA. It was managed

889
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:04,240
Speaker 2: by a guy of the name of Rick. Oh what

890
00:59:04,360 --> 00:59:10,400
Speaker 2: was his last name, Rick? I can't remember, Rick Frio,

891
00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:15,880
Speaker 2: Rick Frio, Yeah it was. It was his his deal

892
00:59:16,040 --> 00:59:16,720
Speaker 2: with mc A.

893
00:59:18,760 --> 00:59:22,440
Speaker 1: Okay, could you believe you had another hit?

894
00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:30,640
Speaker 2: No? No, it's like ten years later is another one coming?

895
00:59:30,800 --> 00:59:34,240
Speaker 2: So no, I you know, that's what you hope for,

896
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:36,920
Speaker 2: but you don't really expect it. It's just like I

897
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:41,120
Speaker 2: say that, that stuff just happens. It's just he hit

898
00:59:41,160 --> 00:59:43,960
Speaker 2: the radio and before I knew it, it was happening

899
00:59:44,000 --> 00:59:44,720
Speaker 2: all over again.

900
00:59:46,120 --> 00:59:48,360
Speaker 1: Okay, and do you immediately go on the road.

901
00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:53,800
Speaker 2: No, we don't. We Uh. What we do is we

902
00:59:53,920 --> 00:59:57,360
Speaker 2: start hearing. We start hearing a bunch of clamoring to

903
00:59:57,480 --> 01:00:03,840
Speaker 2: put the band together. So so first of all, I

904
01:00:03,880 --> 01:00:06,760
Speaker 2: put I put me, and Mark put the band together.

905
01:00:07,360 --> 01:00:10,880
Speaker 2: We just I remember going to a local place here

906
01:00:10,920 --> 01:00:16,120
Speaker 2: in New Brighton and hearing some some dude play from Erie, Pennsylvania.

907
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:20,680
Speaker 2: Who well, I said, yeah, this this guy could do it.

908
01:00:20,760 --> 01:00:24,960
Speaker 2: So his name is Marty Lee. He's my guitar player

909
01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:30,360
Speaker 2: to this day. He came and joined the band. And

910
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:34,080
Speaker 2: that was one guy. Mark Avsek knew this drummer by

911
01:00:34,120 --> 01:00:38,080
Speaker 2: the name of Kevin Valentine, so he had Kevin on board.

912
01:00:39,360 --> 01:00:41,440
Speaker 2: And I knew this bass player by the name of

913
01:00:41,480 --> 01:00:47,600
Speaker 2: al Britton McClain who also decided to come into the

914
01:00:47,680 --> 01:00:51,360
Speaker 2: studio and play on it. He was on board. And

915
01:00:51,400 --> 01:00:55,440
Speaker 2: then of course me and Mark and then we we

916
01:00:55,600 --> 01:00:57,520
Speaker 2: put it all together. And then, like I say, there

917
01:00:57,560 --> 01:01:00,480
Speaker 2: was a clamoring to put the band together. So we

918
01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:04,520
Speaker 2: reheart We rehearsed for I don't know two three, four weeks,

919
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:08,800
Speaker 2: and we put the band together, and before you know it,

920
01:01:08,840 --> 01:01:18,680
Speaker 2: we're opening for Nazareth, seeger H, Teddy, Nugent, all these people.

921
01:01:18,720 --> 01:01:23,200
Speaker 2: We're opening up for these great people.

922
01:01:31,000 --> 01:01:33,360
Speaker 1: Some people have been in the business for a long

923
01:01:33,440 --> 01:01:37,840
Speaker 1: time and they're friends with all these people. Are you

924
01:01:37,960 --> 01:01:40,800
Speaker 1: the type of person you know who's friends with these people?

925
01:01:40,880 --> 01:01:43,680
Speaker 1: You say, no, I'm a guy from outside Pittsburgh. I've

926
01:01:43,680 --> 01:01:45,640
Speaker 1: met these people. I'm in my own world.

927
01:01:46,960 --> 01:01:51,880
Speaker 2: Well I met you know. I think one of the

928
01:01:51,880 --> 01:01:55,200
Speaker 2: best tours we did was was with Loverboy, because I

929
01:01:55,240 --> 01:01:57,800
Speaker 2: got to meet these guys and we kind of had

930
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:00,560
Speaker 2: fun together. I mean, Mike, Mike know and I have

931
01:02:00,680 --> 01:02:04,000
Speaker 2: become friends. Every once in a while run into them

932
01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:09,080
Speaker 2: because we're doing a recent show somewhere. But yeah, we

933
01:02:09,080 --> 01:02:12,680
Speaker 2: we did a tour through the Midwest. The lasted for

934
01:02:12,840 --> 01:02:16,120
Speaker 2: maybe I don't know, three or four weeks or something

935
01:02:16,200 --> 01:02:23,280
Speaker 2: like that, and they were they were just great Midwest entertainment,

936
01:02:23,440 --> 01:02:27,640
Speaker 2: starved people and here comes lover Boy and Donnie Iris

937
01:02:27,640 --> 01:02:32,400
Speaker 2: and we're rocking him to death. Big crowds, great, great crowds,

938
01:02:33,080 --> 01:02:35,840
Speaker 2: and it was it was just that was the best

939
01:02:35,880 --> 01:02:38,080
Speaker 2: tour I ever did, best tour I ever had.

940
01:02:38,240 --> 01:02:41,280
Speaker 1: Okay, when you're an opening act for some of these stars,

941
01:02:42,200 --> 01:02:47,400
Speaker 1: is the audience paying attention? Are you playing through people talking?

942
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:48,040
Speaker 1: What's it like?

943
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:56,200
Speaker 2: Yeah? It varies. The Loverboy tour was just great. They

944
01:02:56,000 --> 01:02:59,560
Speaker 2: they they were into it no matter what. But when

945
01:02:59,560 --> 01:03:04,600
Speaker 2: we first went out, we opened for Nazareth in Saint Louis,

946
01:03:05,560 --> 01:03:09,880
Speaker 2: and you know, Nazareth. I looked out into the audience

947
01:03:09,920 --> 01:03:15,080
Speaker 2: and I saw a sea of I don't know, camouflage,

948
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:18,600
Speaker 2: I don't know what. It was, just like, oh, this

949
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:21,800
Speaker 2: might be a problem. I get out there. I got

950
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:24,560
Speaker 2: my yellow suit on and my bow tie and all this,

951
01:03:24,960 --> 01:03:28,320
Speaker 2: and I know they're going to hate me, and for

952
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:33,000
Speaker 2: sure they just they started booing from the first moment

953
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:39,120
Speaker 2: we laid from the first note, and we got through it.

954
01:03:39,200 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 2: I think our set was like a half an hour.

955
01:03:42,360 --> 01:03:44,480
Speaker 2: So we get through it, and we come to Leah

956
01:03:45,720 --> 01:03:49,800
Speaker 2: and we start that and I can remember seeing the

957
01:03:49,880 --> 01:03:52,640
Speaker 2: audience and all kind of turning around, looking at each

958
01:03:52,640 --> 01:03:55,640
Speaker 2: other and saying, I know this song. I know this song.

959
01:03:56,120 --> 01:03:58,320
Speaker 2: And at the end of it, by the end of it,

960
01:03:58,400 --> 01:04:02,720
Speaker 2: they were clapping, and it was it was worth. It

961
01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:06,480
Speaker 2: was worth all that craziness just just to hear that.

962
01:04:09,480 --> 01:04:13,000
Speaker 1: Okay, So how much were you working. It sounds like

963
01:04:13,040 --> 01:04:14,280
Speaker 1: you're working a lot.

964
01:04:15,120 --> 01:04:19,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we were. We did. It's been it was

965
01:04:19,880 --> 01:04:22,720
Speaker 2: such a whirlwind. I think we were going from one

966
01:04:22,760 --> 01:04:26,040
Speaker 2: gig to another. I think we had a tour bus

967
01:04:26,080 --> 01:04:28,520
Speaker 2: and all that stuff we were going. I don't know

968
01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:34,040
Speaker 2: where we went after that, but I mean we were

969
01:04:34,040 --> 01:04:36,000
Speaker 2: working we were definitely working.

970
01:04:36,800 --> 01:04:43,720
Speaker 1: And now it's the MTV era and there's a video. Yeah, yeah,

971
01:04:43,760 --> 01:04:47,840
Speaker 1: will tell us about that, all right, which one do

972
01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:48,240
Speaker 1: you want?

973
01:04:48,400 --> 01:04:48,760
Speaker 2: Which one?

974
01:04:48,800 --> 01:04:51,080
Speaker 1: Were talking about it from the very beginning.

975
01:04:52,080 --> 01:05:00,560
Speaker 2: Aliah oh okay u Aliah somehow gets on MTV and

976
01:05:00,760 --> 01:05:07,240
Speaker 2: Agnes somehow gets on MTV uh as recordings and we're like,

977
01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:13,080
Speaker 2: you know, we're on MTV, man, we're on MTV and

978
01:05:13,360 --> 01:05:19,440
Speaker 2: uh but then they added they added uh uh Leah

979
01:05:19,720 --> 01:05:24,480
Speaker 2: the live version from uh from where we were playing

980
01:05:24,480 --> 01:05:29,080
Speaker 2: in Cleveland. But yeah, I mean it was great stuff,

981
01:05:29,200 --> 01:05:29,920
Speaker 2: great stuff.

982
01:05:31,040 --> 01:05:36,040
Speaker 1: Okay, are you now recognized because you're on MTV?

983
01:05:37,560 --> 01:05:41,120
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, yeah, now now and then now and then

984
01:05:41,200 --> 01:05:42,920
Speaker 2: I am.

985
01:05:42,800 --> 01:05:44,920
Speaker 1: What about in the height in the eighties.

986
01:05:46,800 --> 01:05:50,080
Speaker 2: Yes, I remember going to a place called Kennywood Park

987
01:05:50,120 --> 01:05:55,120
Speaker 2: here in here in Pittsburgh. It's a big amusement park.

988
01:05:56,520 --> 01:05:59,919
Speaker 2: And I was there and people were coming over to me, man,

989
01:06:00,240 --> 01:06:02,800
Speaker 2: like I was there with my daughters, my wife and

990
01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:06,200
Speaker 2: my daughters getting trying to get them on rides and stuff.

991
01:06:06,320 --> 01:06:08,720
Speaker 2: People are coming over and get my autograph and all

992
01:06:08,760 --> 01:06:14,000
Speaker 2: this stuff. I'm thinking, Wow, what's going on? Man? They

993
01:06:14,040 --> 01:06:15,080
Speaker 2: had recognized me?

994
01:06:15,240 --> 01:06:21,600
Speaker 1: Yep, Okay, why was it called the Cruisers.

995
01:06:23,360 --> 01:06:29,480
Speaker 2: Well, uh, originally I wanted to call ourselves the Turnpike

996
01:06:29,720 --> 01:06:33,640
Speaker 2: Cruisers because it seemed like I was always going back

997
01:06:33,680 --> 01:06:38,200
Speaker 2: and forth on the Turnpike, you know, to to Mark's house,

998
01:06:38,240 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 2: to the studio here or there whatever. But after we

999
01:06:42,920 --> 01:06:44,960
Speaker 2: thought about, we thought, oh, let's just change it to

1000
01:06:45,000 --> 01:06:47,440
Speaker 2: the cruisers. Cruisers would be better.

1001
01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:50,240
Speaker 1: And was it always going to be Donnie Iris and

1002
01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:53,480
Speaker 1: the Cruisers or was it the Cruisers and stuff? Was

1003
01:06:53,560 --> 01:06:55,720
Speaker 1: always going to be Donnie Iris and the Cruisers?

1004
01:06:55,880 --> 01:06:58,320
Speaker 2: It was, Yeah, it was always going to be Donnie Iris.

1005
01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:00,680
Speaker 2: I mean I was doing all the h not all

1006
01:07:00,720 --> 01:07:03,480
Speaker 2: of I mean, Mark did so many vocals with me,

1007
01:07:04,080 --> 01:07:07,920
Speaker 2: but usually uh, you know, the vocals were going to

1008
01:07:07,960 --> 01:07:13,120
Speaker 2: be basic my concern, and we just that's that's what

1009
01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:13,560
Speaker 2: we did.

1010
01:07:14,640 --> 01:07:18,000
Speaker 1: Okay, at some point you have to make another record.

1011
01:07:18,440 --> 01:07:19,360
Speaker 1: How does that happen?

1012
01:07:22,560 --> 01:07:27,280
Speaker 2: We decide to. We decided to come back here to

1013
01:07:27,400 --> 01:07:32,200
Speaker 2: this studio and we write some songs again. Some of

1014
01:07:32,240 --> 01:07:34,959
Speaker 2: them were some of them were written ahead of time,

1015
01:07:35,760 --> 01:07:40,080
Speaker 2: some of them were done in the studio as as

1016
01:07:40,200 --> 01:07:46,880
Speaker 2: jam sessions, and but we won this time. We wanted to,

1017
01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:51,600
Speaker 2: We wanted to have see. We mixed the first album

1018
01:07:51,720 --> 01:07:56,720
Speaker 2: Everything Right Here and the follow up album, King Cool Album.

1019
01:07:56,760 --> 01:08:03,600
Speaker 2: We wanted to have it mixed where the heck you are?

1020
01:08:03,800 --> 01:08:06,760
Speaker 2: Where we where? I can't remember where it was mixed,

1021
01:08:06,800 --> 01:08:10,959
Speaker 2: but we wanted a different place to mix it, and

1022
01:08:11,000 --> 01:08:16,160
Speaker 2: so we did. We got a different mastering people involved

1023
01:08:17,840 --> 01:08:22,519
Speaker 2: because we wanted to have more fidelity out of the songs.

1024
01:08:23,760 --> 01:08:27,519
Speaker 2: Because what we found out here was the most of

1025
01:08:27,560 --> 01:08:30,559
Speaker 2: the songs we did were kind of mid range ye

1026
01:08:31,439 --> 01:08:36,360
Speaker 2: in in in the spectrum of in highs and lows.

1027
01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:38,720
Speaker 2: It was more of a mid range thing, which might

1028
01:08:38,720 --> 01:08:42,479
Speaker 2: have been a good thing for the for the Aliah record.

1029
01:08:42,800 --> 01:08:46,400
Speaker 2: I don't know who knows, but we decided to do

1030
01:08:46,479 --> 01:08:48,920
Speaker 2: a different on the second album, and it's the second

1031
01:08:48,920 --> 01:08:50,599
Speaker 2: album sounded really good, I think.

1032
01:08:51,720 --> 01:08:54,120
Speaker 1: So. Tell me about the writing of Sweet Merrill Lee

1033
01:08:54,160 --> 01:08:57,000
Speaker 1: and was there in the back of your mind how

1034
01:08:57,040 --> 01:08:58,280
Speaker 1: do we follow up Alia?

1035
01:09:01,240 --> 01:09:05,479
Speaker 2: Well, uh, I got to give most of the credit

1036
01:09:05,560 --> 01:09:08,200
Speaker 2: for something like this to Mark. I mean Mark comes

1037
01:09:08,280 --> 01:09:11,639
Speaker 2: up with lyrics like he's waking up in the morning,

1038
01:09:11,680 --> 01:09:16,920
Speaker 2: you know, he's just like uh so he he put

1039
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:20,680
Speaker 2: all the lyrics together, went into the studio said here

1040
01:09:20,720 --> 01:09:25,880
Speaker 2: you go. I went in started singing basically that's it.

1041
01:09:26,800 --> 01:09:30,720
Speaker 1: So what was the experience after the second record as

1042
01:09:30,720 --> 01:09:32,200
Speaker 1: opposed to the first?

1043
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:36,760
Speaker 2: This experience after thee in.

1044
01:09:36,800 --> 01:09:40,439
Speaker 1: Terms of how did it feel, Alia was the biggest

1045
01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:43,800
Speaker 1: solo hit you ever had. So now you're following it

1046
01:09:43,880 --> 01:09:47,680
Speaker 1: up with King Cool. You're having success, But do you

1047
01:09:47,840 --> 01:09:52,960
Speaker 1: feel like you're losing momentum, maintaining momentum, gaining momentum? Oh?

1048
01:09:53,040 --> 01:09:56,240
Speaker 2: Oh, I thought we were pretty much maintaining what we

1049
01:09:56,320 --> 01:09:58,960
Speaker 2: had with King Kol because Love Is Like a Rock

1050
01:09:59,160 --> 01:10:03,840
Speaker 2: was fairly pop. There was a couple of other tunes

1051
01:10:03,880 --> 01:10:08,240
Speaker 2: on there that that we still do live that that

1052
01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:11,280
Speaker 2: people remember. I mean they were played enough to where

1053
01:10:11,880 --> 01:10:18,559
Speaker 2: they were recognizable, like a song called Tough World. Uh,

1054
01:10:19,600 --> 01:10:22,960
Speaker 2: you know, just little pickets, little things here and there.

1055
01:10:23,320 --> 01:10:26,519
Speaker 2: They're still recognized when we play them on stage other

1056
01:10:26,600 --> 01:10:27,559
Speaker 2: than the big hits.

1057
01:10:28,080 --> 01:10:30,160
Speaker 1: So tell me about coming up with Love Is Like

1058
01:10:30,160 --> 01:10:30,559
Speaker 1: a Rock.

1059
01:10:32,439 --> 01:10:35,280
Speaker 2: That was an in studio jam. We what we did

1060
01:10:35,479 --> 01:10:39,479
Speaker 2: was we had a tight tape machine and we made

1061
01:10:39,520 --> 01:10:43,599
Speaker 2: a loop out of it, a physical loop out of it,

1062
01:10:44,800 --> 01:10:49,640
Speaker 2: and you know, within a certain tempo. I mean, we

1063
01:10:49,680 --> 01:10:52,120
Speaker 2: had that we had the loops set up from one

1064
01:10:52,160 --> 01:10:55,439
Speaker 2: side of the studio to the other to make this

1065
01:10:55,520 --> 01:10:58,479
Speaker 2: big tape loop. Anyway, that's how we came up with

1066
01:10:58,520 --> 01:11:03,200
Speaker 2: the with the beat, and pretty soon Marty put in

1067
01:11:03,280 --> 01:11:07,639
Speaker 2: the uh, the riff, the guitar riff and the bass

1068
01:11:07,720 --> 01:11:11,599
Speaker 2: riff and this and that. It all came together and

1069
01:11:11,640 --> 01:11:16,400
Speaker 2: then the very end uh we wrote we wrote the

1070
01:11:16,479 --> 01:11:18,800
Speaker 2: lyric our Love is Like a Rock.

1071
01:11:20,439 --> 01:11:23,240
Speaker 1: So you worked that record, Tell me about recording the

1072
01:11:23,280 --> 01:11:24,519
Speaker 1: next record, The High End.

1073
01:11:24,439 --> 01:11:28,559
Speaker 2: Mighty, The High and Mighty. We had all kinds of

1074
01:11:28,600 --> 01:11:34,200
Speaker 2: problems with in the studio that some of the that

1075
01:11:34,400 --> 01:11:38,880
Speaker 2: was a that was a gut wrenching experience because the

1076
01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:46,320
Speaker 2: studio tape at the time wash was coming apart. They

1077
01:11:46,360 --> 01:11:51,760
Speaker 2: were the the not the shiny side, but the other

1078
01:11:51,880 --> 01:11:56,120
Speaker 2: side where the where the music's at it was. It

1079
01:11:56,160 --> 01:12:00,320
Speaker 2: was deteriorating for some reason. We had no reason, no

1080
01:12:00,439 --> 01:12:07,680
Speaker 2: idea why, but for that reason we had to We

1081
01:12:07,720 --> 01:12:11,960
Speaker 2: had to just like go with what we had. And

1082
01:12:12,000 --> 01:12:14,479
Speaker 2: it still didn't sound that bad. It came out okay,

1083
01:12:14,600 --> 01:12:18,360
Speaker 2: but just the vibe in the studio wasn't there that

1084
01:12:18,520 --> 01:12:23,679
Speaker 2: it should have been, and that's what I think, that's

1085
01:12:23,760 --> 01:12:27,120
Speaker 2: really why that album was not successful.

1086
01:12:27,400 --> 01:12:30,599
Speaker 1: So what's your attitude going into recording the next album?

1087
01:12:30,680 --> 01:12:31,599
Speaker 1: Fortune for ten.

1088
01:12:33,920 --> 01:12:39,920
Speaker 2: Ooh, we felt a little better, then felt a little better.

1089
01:12:41,800 --> 01:12:44,439
Speaker 2: I honestly don't remember what we've done this, Like, I

1090
01:12:44,479 --> 01:12:47,759
Speaker 2: don't ten to twelve albums, and I don't remember exactly

1091
01:12:47,840 --> 01:12:48,920
Speaker 2: what songs are on there.

1092
01:12:49,200 --> 01:12:51,760
Speaker 1: Well, let me talk about some of my favorite songs. Well,

1093
01:12:51,760 --> 01:12:54,439
Speaker 1: can you tell me about Stage Door, Johnny?

1094
01:12:55,000 --> 01:12:57,760
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I like that tune. I thought that was

1095
01:12:57,800 --> 01:13:03,519
Speaker 2: a good tune. Yeah, we don't do it anymore, but

1096
01:13:04,280 --> 01:13:08,040
Speaker 2: because not that people, not that many people remember it.

1097
01:13:10,080 --> 01:13:13,200
Speaker 2: But yeah, I thought that was a good song. It's

1098
01:13:13,479 --> 01:13:17,040
Speaker 2: one that we could have continued on, continued on with.

1099
01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:22,600
Speaker 2: But I think that whole record, that whole the whole

1100
01:13:22,960 --> 01:13:27,519
Speaker 2: story behind it, just give us a bad taste of

1101
01:13:28,320 --> 01:13:31,439
Speaker 2: what can happen when things are right in the studio.

1102
01:13:32,200 --> 01:13:35,360
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just, you know, we stayed away from

1103
01:13:35,439 --> 01:13:37,040
Speaker 2: that record as much as possible.

1104
01:13:37,520 --> 01:13:39,920
Speaker 1: Well, what was such a bad experience in the studio.

1105
01:13:41,160 --> 01:13:45,800
Speaker 2: Well, the problems that we were having with tape, with

1106
01:13:45,920 --> 01:13:49,400
Speaker 2: the problems with the studio, everything was the things just

1107
01:13:49,439 --> 01:13:49,960
Speaker 2: weren't right.

1108
01:13:50,560 --> 01:13:53,160
Speaker 1: Actually, I'm talking about the next album, Fortune for ten.

1109
01:13:53,320 --> 01:13:54,920
Speaker 1: What was your experience recording that?

1110
01:13:56,360 --> 01:14:02,679
Speaker 2: Oh? Uh, Fortune for ten was it was a pretty

1111
01:14:02,720 --> 01:14:07,400
Speaker 2: good time. I remember. I remember doing the songs and

1112
01:14:07,439 --> 01:14:10,680
Speaker 2: taking them into uh take him to Cleveland, try to

1113
01:14:10,680 --> 01:14:14,240
Speaker 2: get some uh uh some airplay on it. I went

1114
01:14:14,280 --> 01:14:18,559
Speaker 2: to see kid Leo. Uh do you remember him Choreo

1115
01:14:18,880 --> 01:14:23,439
Speaker 2: of course mms, yeah, yeah, we I remember going in

1116
01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:25,639
Speaker 2: and he said, well, what the heck is Fortune for Ten?

1117
01:14:27,200 --> 01:14:30,760
Speaker 2: I said, I said, you know what, it's my glasses,

1118
01:14:30,840 --> 01:14:35,519
Speaker 2: the glasses I used to wear. That's what the name

1119
01:14:35,640 --> 01:14:40,720
Speaker 2: of the glasses were, Fortune for ten. That I told

1120
01:14:40,800 --> 01:14:41,720
Speaker 2: him that's what it is.

1121
01:14:44,600 --> 01:14:47,720
Speaker 1: How did you decide to name the album Fortune for ten?

1122
01:14:48,920 --> 01:14:52,320
Speaker 2: Well, I'll be like I said, it's just, uh, let's

1123
01:14:52,360 --> 01:14:54,920
Speaker 2: give it a name. So I named it after my glasses.

1124
01:14:56,680 --> 01:14:59,280
Speaker 1: And then and my other favorite song on that album

1125
01:14:59,400 --> 01:15:01,680
Speaker 1: is Never Did. Can you tell me anything about that?

1126
01:15:02,960 --> 01:15:05,320
Speaker 2: Yeah? That Never Did us a good song. That was

1127
01:15:05,360 --> 01:15:10,799
Speaker 2: written by Albritton McClain or bass player who's a massive,

1128
01:15:11,240 --> 01:15:15,599
Speaker 2: massive talent in his own right. He sings, he plays,

1129
01:15:17,479 --> 01:15:21,400
Speaker 2: he he was he was a gifted player. This guy.

1130
01:15:22,800 --> 01:15:26,160
Speaker 2: I mean, he brought a lot to the table if

1131
01:15:27,479 --> 01:15:32,200
Speaker 2: if musicians listened to the bass and some of the

1132
01:15:32,240 --> 01:15:35,439
Speaker 2: stuff he does he does on My Girl and uh

1133
01:15:35,960 --> 01:15:38,439
Speaker 2: and some of the other things that he does little

1134
01:15:38,520 --> 01:15:43,000
Speaker 2: nuances that he does. He's he's he's just he's just

1135
01:15:43,040 --> 01:15:47,240
Speaker 2: a cut above. He's got natural ability.

1136
01:15:48,160 --> 01:15:50,800
Speaker 1: On that album, there's a song do you Compute? This

1137
01:15:51,040 --> 01:15:54,559
Speaker 1: was before everybody had a computer on their desk at home.

1138
01:15:55,200 --> 01:15:56,519
Speaker 1: Where did that even come from?

1139
01:15:57,320 --> 01:16:02,200
Speaker 2: It came from Mark. He bought the guitar. The atari

1140
01:16:02,479 --> 01:16:08,760
Speaker 2: thing is. Yeah, Uh, he bought that, and uh he said, Man,

1141
01:16:08,800 --> 01:16:11,960
Speaker 2: we got to get into this uh this computer thing,

1142
01:16:12,080 --> 01:16:15,240
Speaker 2: I said, And if we would have had the money,

1143
01:16:15,280 --> 01:16:18,360
Speaker 2: we would have spent some money on uh, you know,

1144
01:16:18,600 --> 01:16:22,080
Speaker 2: on Microsoft and all that ship. We just we just

1145
01:16:22,120 --> 01:16:27,240
Speaker 2: didn't have the money. But anyway, yeah, we we got

1146
01:16:27,240 --> 01:16:30,840
Speaker 2: the computer. Mark was very much into computers. He still is.

1147
01:16:30,960 --> 01:16:33,720
Speaker 2: He's just like, well he's he's a genius. What can

1148
01:16:33,760 --> 01:16:37,840
Speaker 2: I say? But yeah, we just had fun with the

1149
01:16:37,920 --> 01:16:40,759
Speaker 2: video and that thought it was a pretty cool video.

1150
01:16:48,640 --> 01:16:51,680
Speaker 1: So then it ends with mc A. How does it

1151
01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:53,640
Speaker 1: end with m c A.

1152
01:16:54,640 --> 01:17:00,599
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's kind of a long story, but basically

1153
01:17:00,640 --> 01:17:03,920
Speaker 2: what happened is we weren't happy with what Rick Freo

1154
01:17:04,160 --> 01:17:08,800
Speaker 2: was doing on his end, uh, and Mike Belkan and

1155
01:17:08,840 --> 01:17:11,960
Speaker 2: I just, uh we just decided we wanted to get

1156
01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:17,679
Speaker 2: away from them and uh and move on. So we did.

1157
01:17:17,760 --> 01:17:20,320
Speaker 2: We did. There was a whole court thing involved in

1158
01:17:20,520 --> 01:17:24,640
Speaker 2: uh and uh. You know it ended up where they

1159
01:17:24,680 --> 01:17:27,960
Speaker 2: did let us go. So we were on our own time.

1160
01:17:28,000 --> 01:17:28,639
Speaker 2: We were fine.

1161
01:17:29,600 --> 01:17:34,040
Speaker 1: Okay, at what point do you realize, Wait a second,

1162
01:17:34,160 --> 01:17:38,479
Speaker 1: this isn't working. I'm gonna working at a mortgage shop.

1163
01:17:41,680 --> 01:17:47,120
Speaker 2: Oh let's see, No, when was this? This was? Okay? Yeah?

1164
01:17:47,160 --> 01:17:53,040
Speaker 2: Like right after that, right after that, me and a

1165
01:17:53,080 --> 01:17:57,280
Speaker 2: buddy of mine, we were kind of local celebrities around here.

1166
01:17:57,920 --> 01:18:02,040
Speaker 2: He he was a local celebrity because of football he played.

1167
01:18:02,360 --> 01:18:04,920
Speaker 2: He played for the Steelers. He played for Kansas State

1168
01:18:05,280 --> 01:18:08,760
Speaker 2: and he played for the Steelers, and he and I

1169
01:18:08,800 --> 01:18:11,439
Speaker 2: were kind of kind of a big deal around here.

1170
01:18:11,560 --> 01:18:17,840
Speaker 2: So this guy who owns a mortgage company says, I

1171
01:18:17,920 --> 01:18:19,840
Speaker 2: want you to come and work for me. We think

1172
01:18:19,880 --> 01:18:25,120
Speaker 2: we can use your names to do business. Okay, I'll

1173
01:18:25,120 --> 01:18:28,600
Speaker 2: give it a shot. So I had nothing else to do.

1174
01:18:28,680 --> 01:18:30,880
Speaker 2: We were involved in lawsuits and all kinds of shit.

1175
01:18:30,920 --> 01:18:35,559
Speaker 2: I didn't want to be bothered with. So so I

1176
01:18:35,680 --> 01:18:40,720
Speaker 2: become a mortgage broker and I did that for like,

1177
01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:46,080
Speaker 2: I don't know, six six seven years something like that

1178
01:18:46,600 --> 01:18:50,479
Speaker 2: started our own business, being two partners started owned business

1179
01:18:50,479 --> 01:18:55,120
Speaker 2: and mortgage business, made made money doing that and uh

1180
01:18:57,280 --> 01:19:00,439
Speaker 2: and eventually, of course, you know that isn't going to

1181
01:19:00,520 --> 01:19:03,240
Speaker 2: work out for me. I figured, Okay, we brought this

1182
01:19:03,360 --> 01:19:05,880
Speaker 2: business up into something, we'll sell it now. So we

1183
01:19:06,000 --> 01:19:09,000
Speaker 2: sold it, made some money on it. I went off

1184
01:19:09,120 --> 01:19:13,559
Speaker 2: my own and just I just kind of waited it

1185
01:19:13,600 --> 01:19:16,720
Speaker 2: out really to see what we were going to do.

1186
01:19:17,960 --> 01:19:21,559
Speaker 2: And Mark at the meantime was going to law school.

1187
01:19:23,479 --> 01:19:26,640
Speaker 2: He went to case Western University and graduated in like

1188
01:19:26,680 --> 01:19:31,800
Speaker 2: two and a half years. And because of all these

1189
01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:35,960
Speaker 2: lawsuits and stuff that we were getting involved in, I

1190
01:19:36,000 --> 01:19:43,360
Speaker 2: guess he wanted to be a music infringement attorney. You know,

1191
01:19:43,439 --> 01:19:47,880
Speaker 2: he figured he he was always calling there and so

1192
01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:50,519
Speaker 2: that's what he's doing now. And he's doing great at it.

1193
01:19:50,640 --> 01:19:56,680
Speaker 2: He's like he's making just you know, lawyers, they make

1194
01:19:56,960 --> 01:19:59,840
Speaker 2: tons of money, and God bless him, he's doing great.

1195
01:20:00,200 --> 01:20:00,360
Speaker 1: Now.

1196
01:20:00,360 --> 01:20:03,000
Speaker 2: We're still going out and having a good time doing shows,

1197
01:20:04,000 --> 01:20:10,240
Speaker 2: just handpicking these great shows we're going to. We are

1198
01:20:10,240 --> 01:20:16,080
Speaker 2: going to the Bahamas the February or March or next

1199
01:20:16,160 --> 01:20:21,920
Speaker 2: year at We're gonna do some show with Billy Ocean

1200
01:20:22,200 --> 01:20:27,040
Speaker 2: or I think Billy Billy Ocean. Uh, Yeah, I think

1201
01:20:27,080 --> 01:20:30,120
Speaker 2: it's him and like two or three other like big

1202
01:20:30,200 --> 01:20:32,880
Speaker 2: name bands, and I'm like, I'm into it. Yeah, let's

1203
01:20:32,880 --> 01:20:36,080
Speaker 2: go because it's on a stage where the stage looks

1204
01:20:36,120 --> 01:20:40,040
Speaker 2: like a big clam. It's a big clam that we're

1205
01:20:40,040 --> 01:20:42,960
Speaker 2: going to sing on, and it's like, I can't wait. Man.

1206
01:20:44,280 --> 01:20:48,919
Speaker 1: Okay, would you make more money at being a mortgage

1207
01:20:48,920 --> 01:20:50,800
Speaker 1: broker or being a musician.

1208
01:20:51,280 --> 01:20:53,479
Speaker 2: Being a musician, No, no doubt about it.

1209
01:20:54,000 --> 01:20:57,040
Speaker 1: Okay, So from beginning to end, how long were you

1210
01:20:57,080 --> 01:20:58,040
Speaker 1: a mortgage broker?

1211
01:20:59,680 --> 01:21:03,000
Speaker 2: Oh? Maybe five, six, seven years something like that.

1212
01:21:03,560 --> 01:21:07,559
Speaker 1: And what's the key to being a mortgage broker? The

1213
01:21:07,640 --> 01:21:10,960
Speaker 1: key to be successful? Oh?

1214
01:21:11,040 --> 01:21:16,880
Speaker 2: Oh, just it's like anything else, just like uh, getting

1215
01:21:16,920 --> 01:21:20,639
Speaker 2: to know people, getting to the getting to the getting

1216
01:21:20,640 --> 01:21:23,720
Speaker 2: to the point where you trust each other. You're doing

1217
01:21:23,840 --> 01:21:25,840
Speaker 2: trying to do them a good job. They're trying to

1218
01:21:25,840 --> 01:21:29,920
Speaker 2: do a good job too, and that's how you build

1219
01:21:29,960 --> 01:21:33,000
Speaker 2: up these uh these contacts. Yeah.

1220
01:21:33,720 --> 01:21:35,759
Speaker 1: Was it depressing to have a street job.

1221
01:21:38,840 --> 01:21:43,800
Speaker 2: No, not really. I mean I guess I guess it was.

1222
01:21:43,920 --> 01:21:46,400
Speaker 2: But I never got to a point where I let

1223
01:21:46,439 --> 01:21:51,040
Speaker 2: it really affect me. You know, I just went with

1224
01:21:51,120 --> 01:21:55,960
Speaker 2: the flow, and you know, everything was cool. It was successful.

1225
01:21:56,080 --> 01:21:58,479
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was fine.

1226
01:21:58,920 --> 01:22:01,120
Speaker 1: Okay, tell me about the lawsuits.

1227
01:22:03,439 --> 01:22:07,160
Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you about the first one. The

1228
01:22:07,200 --> 01:22:12,479
Speaker 2: first one was over Leah. There was a guy from

1229
01:22:12,760 --> 01:22:18,280
Speaker 2: the from Detroit who claims that who used to who

1230
01:22:18,360 --> 01:22:21,920
Speaker 2: used to go into the studio. He used to make

1231
01:22:22,320 --> 01:22:28,479
Speaker 2: tapes like the little cassette tapes, and he would send

1232
01:22:28,479 --> 01:22:33,000
Speaker 2: them out to all the record companies, and he felt

1233
01:22:33,040 --> 01:22:39,840
Speaker 2: that we had to have heard his tape before we

1234
01:22:39,840 --> 01:22:43,599
Speaker 2: were able to do Leah, which of course was bullshit.

1235
01:22:43,760 --> 01:22:46,200
Speaker 2: I mean, we wrote that song down in my basement,

1236
01:22:47,320 --> 01:22:51,120
Speaker 2: you know. So anyway, we go to court for all this.

1237
01:22:53,560 --> 01:22:57,560
Speaker 2: In the meantime, we're spending all our money on lawyers

1238
01:22:57,680 --> 01:23:03,080
Speaker 2: and music experts, all this crap, spending all this money

1239
01:23:03,080 --> 01:23:08,720
Speaker 2: that should have been ours with the record and he

1240
01:23:10,240 --> 01:23:14,639
Speaker 2: So anyway, what it comes down to is we won

1241
01:23:14,720 --> 01:23:18,959
Speaker 2: the lawsuit. He didn't get anything, but we lost everything.

1242
01:23:19,040 --> 01:23:21,840
Speaker 2: We lost all the money from the fucking record. It

1243
01:23:21,880 --> 01:23:26,360
Speaker 2: was just like, oh, well, let's move on, you know,

1244
01:23:28,560 --> 01:23:30,280
Speaker 2: painful experience.

1245
01:23:30,400 --> 01:23:32,360
Speaker 1: And you're seeing another lawsuit.

1246
01:23:34,680 --> 01:23:37,040
Speaker 2: Oh, let me go back to this one. First. The

1247
01:23:37,720 --> 01:23:44,120
Speaker 2: lawyer for this guy from Detroit was Bob Sear's attorney.

1248
01:23:45,960 --> 01:23:50,000
Speaker 2: He was Bogs I mean, come on, man, I mean

1249
01:23:51,280 --> 01:23:57,880
Speaker 2: never mind. Anyway, the other lawsuit was the one with

1250
01:23:58,040 --> 01:24:02,920
Speaker 2: MCA we and the one we wanted to get away

1251
01:24:02,960 --> 01:24:07,280
Speaker 2: from them and move on, and in the end we did,

1252
01:24:08,040 --> 01:24:15,479
Speaker 2: but you know, they it was just it was just

1253
01:24:15,560 --> 01:24:18,200
Speaker 2: something that I guess had to go to court in

1254
01:24:18,320 --> 01:24:21,920
Speaker 2: order to have some sort of ending to it, you

1255
01:24:21,960 --> 01:24:22,439
Speaker 2: know what I mean.

1256
01:24:23,000 --> 01:24:24,200
Speaker 1: Was that expensive too?

1257
01:24:25,320 --> 01:24:31,080
Speaker 2: Yes? It was, Yes, it was. I mean, here's basically

1258
01:24:31,120 --> 01:24:34,280
Speaker 2: what happened was. I said Mike, my manager, I said, look,

1259
01:24:34,760 --> 01:24:37,080
Speaker 2: I ain't got the kind of money now to go

1260
01:24:37,640 --> 01:24:40,720
Speaker 2: do another lawsuit. He said, don't worry about it. We'll

1261
01:24:40,760 --> 01:24:44,599
Speaker 2: take care of it. So at least cost wise, I

1262
01:24:44,720 --> 01:24:45,240
Speaker 2: was okay.

1263
01:24:46,439 --> 01:24:49,640
Speaker 1: So, you least the leaking Continental at the height of

1264
01:24:49,680 --> 01:24:53,320
Speaker 1: the Rapper when it was Donnie iris and the Cruisers,

1265
01:24:53,960 --> 01:24:56,400
Speaker 1: was that ever financially successful.

1266
01:24:55,840 --> 01:24:59,719
Speaker 2: For you, Donnie Irison the Cruisers?

1267
01:25:00,120 --> 01:25:00,280
Speaker 1: Right?

1268
01:25:01,360 --> 01:25:04,200
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely.

1269
01:25:06,040 --> 01:25:08,800
Speaker 1: And at this late date, is there any income from

1270
01:25:08,800 --> 01:25:10,680
Speaker 1: those songs on those records?

1271
01:25:11,120 --> 01:25:13,639
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, like I said,

1272
01:25:13,640 --> 01:25:17,880
Speaker 2: we're doing great gigs for the most part, sold out

1273
01:25:17,920 --> 01:25:24,280
Speaker 2: gigs to venues about you know, twenty twenty five hundred people.

1274
01:25:26,680 --> 01:25:30,880
Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean they're just they're great shows. Now

1275
01:25:30,880 --> 01:25:34,920
Speaker 2: I'm off for a while, but our next show will

1276
01:25:34,960 --> 01:25:42,600
Speaker 2: be in Pittsburgh with With Sticks and Reo Speedwagon, so

1277
01:25:42,640 --> 01:25:45,519
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to that. That's in August. But in

1278
01:25:45,560 --> 01:25:48,360
Speaker 2: the meantime, I'm just gonna relax, smoke cigars and have

1279
01:25:48,400 --> 01:25:48,960
Speaker 2: a good time.

1280
01:25:49,880 --> 01:25:52,360
Speaker 1: Okay, where did this cigar thing come from?

1281
01:25:54,240 --> 01:25:57,439
Speaker 2: You know? I used to smoke cigarettes like they were

1282
01:25:57,479 --> 01:26:00,280
Speaker 2: going out of style. I mean, I was smoking three

1283
01:26:00,320 --> 01:26:02,400
Speaker 2: packs a day. As soon as I woke up, I

1284
01:26:02,439 --> 01:26:05,599
Speaker 2: smoked a cigarette, as soon as I got on the phone,

1285
01:26:05,600 --> 01:26:08,719
Speaker 2: I smoked a cigarette. I mean. It was awful until

1286
01:26:08,720 --> 01:26:11,080
Speaker 2: one night we were doing the show somewhere. I don't

1287
01:26:11,080 --> 01:26:16,479
Speaker 2: remember where it was or anything, but I came close

1288
01:26:16,520 --> 01:26:18,759
Speaker 2: to passing out on the stage. It was so bad.

1289
01:26:20,600 --> 01:26:23,719
Speaker 2: So I got the nicotine gum, I got the patch,

1290
01:26:23,800 --> 01:26:25,960
Speaker 2: I got all that stuff to try to quit smoking.

1291
01:26:27,439 --> 01:26:30,960
Speaker 2: But eventually I came back around. Only this time I

1292
01:26:31,080 --> 01:26:34,200
Speaker 2: came back around to cigars because you don't have to

1293
01:26:34,240 --> 01:26:37,800
Speaker 2: inhale them. You can enjoy them for the pleasure of

1294
01:26:37,960 --> 01:26:43,559
Speaker 2: just blowing smoke. And I've had no problems since, no

1295
01:26:43,640 --> 01:26:48,559
Speaker 2: problems with my voice, no problems with energy, nothing.

1296
01:26:49,000 --> 01:26:53,559
Speaker 1: It works, just going back to the money for one second.

1297
01:26:53,760 --> 01:26:58,080
Speaker 1: What are you living on now? What's paying the bills? Now?

1298
01:26:59,520 --> 01:27:08,920
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's uh, it's gigs, royalties, social Security. Ah.

1299
01:27:09,479 --> 01:27:15,680
Speaker 2: But like every every every every quarter, I get a

1300
01:27:15,800 --> 01:27:20,080
Speaker 2: check for you know, all my songs and uh. And

1301
01:27:20,160 --> 01:27:23,879
Speaker 2: now I'm with Mark Avssek put me with Warner Chapel,

1302
01:27:24,800 --> 01:27:28,120
Speaker 2: who really gathers up great, great stuff, so I get

1303
01:27:28,120 --> 01:27:32,920
Speaker 2: some money from them. Uh, and I'm doing fine.

1304
01:27:33,520 --> 01:27:38,120
Speaker 1: So if you never did another gig, is there enough

1305
01:27:38,200 --> 01:27:39,840
Speaker 1: money from royalties to live on?

1306
01:27:41,960 --> 01:27:46,519
Speaker 2: Mmm? Yeah, I think so with the with the Roorty

1307
01:27:46,560 --> 01:27:49,599
Speaker 2: money and the Social Security, I could I could get by.

1308
01:27:50,040 --> 01:27:52,360
Speaker 2: But I don't plan on quitting anytime too. I mean

1309
01:27:52,400 --> 01:27:56,320
Speaker 2: something would something bad would have to happen, and I'm

1310
01:27:56,400 --> 01:27:59,800
Speaker 2: hoping that doesn't happen because I'm want to keep going.

1311
01:28:00,960 --> 01:28:04,760
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back a step. You leave mc A.

1312
01:28:05,360 --> 01:28:10,840
Speaker 1: When you leave mc A, are you feeling like that's

1313
01:28:10,880 --> 01:28:13,400
Speaker 1: such a bad situation. I just got to get out

1314
01:28:13,400 --> 01:28:16,000
Speaker 1: of here or is it more of if we're with

1315
01:28:16,160 --> 01:28:19,080
Speaker 1: somebody else, we're going to have more success.

1316
01:28:19,479 --> 01:28:22,080
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we weren't sure. We just wanted we

1317
01:28:22,200 --> 01:28:24,759
Speaker 2: just wanted to get away from them, and we knew

1318
01:28:24,760 --> 01:28:28,080
Speaker 2: our people, you know, Mike Belch and the CARMANDERI and

1319
01:28:28,120 --> 01:28:31,320
Speaker 2: those guys. They knew enough people that maybe we get

1320
01:28:31,320 --> 01:28:36,120
Speaker 2: a shot to somebody else. But basically we wanted away

1321
01:28:36,120 --> 01:28:39,400
Speaker 2: from m c A. They were at that time, they

1322
01:28:39,840 --> 01:28:43,479
Speaker 2: were really not not that good a record company as

1323
01:28:43,479 --> 01:28:48,920
Speaker 2: far as we were concerned. So, you know, whatever whatever

1324
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:53,280
Speaker 2: happens after that, we thought, you know, we gave m

1325
01:28:53,360 --> 01:28:55,920
Speaker 2: c A a shot. It didn't happen. We'll just take

1326
01:28:55,960 --> 01:28:57,719
Speaker 2: our chances from here on out.

1327
01:28:58,040 --> 01:29:03,040
Speaker 1: Okay, you take your chances. You never have major success

1328
01:29:03,200 --> 01:29:05,760
Speaker 1: after that? What did it feel like? And at what

1329
01:29:05,880 --> 01:29:09,479
Speaker 1: point did you give up the dream?

1330
01:29:09,760 --> 01:29:21,000
Speaker 2: Oh? Hm uh, you know, I don't know. Something something inside,

1331
01:29:21,080 --> 01:29:25,200
Speaker 2: I guess keeps you going. And the fact that Mark

1332
01:29:25,280 --> 01:29:28,320
Speaker 2: Avsek and I were, you know, just such good friends

1333
01:29:29,200 --> 01:29:35,160
Speaker 2: and we've been through so much that you know, we figured,

1334
01:29:35,200 --> 01:29:37,519
Speaker 2: you know, just let's just keep going. And then there's

1335
01:29:37,760 --> 01:29:44,080
Speaker 2: and then this cancer thing happens, and and all of

1336
01:29:44,120 --> 01:29:51,120
Speaker 2: a sudden be I think, because at least partial partially

1337
01:29:51,200 --> 01:29:54,559
Speaker 2: because of it, we're getting all these great gigs again,

1338
01:29:55,600 --> 01:29:58,040
Speaker 2: and we're playing in front of a lot of people,

1339
01:29:59,240 --> 01:30:04,599
Speaker 2: and uh, and we're just basically hardly even believe in it.

1340
01:30:06,000 --> 01:30:10,760
Speaker 2: But here it is again, and we're just we keep

1341
01:30:10,800 --> 01:30:14,920
Speaker 2: looking forward to more shows because there's so much fun

1342
01:30:14,960 --> 01:30:20,519
Speaker 2: anymore that I mean, I'm just enjoying it. I'm enjoying

1343
01:30:20,560 --> 01:30:24,240
Speaker 2: it like it's the first time I've ever played. It's

1344
01:30:24,280 --> 01:30:24,840
Speaker 2: been great.

1345
01:30:26,400 --> 01:30:31,000
Speaker 1: Well, I've enjoyed talking to you, Donnie. Thanks so much

1346
01:30:31,040 --> 01:30:34,200
Speaker 1: for talking to my audience. I wish you good health.

1347
01:30:34,479 --> 01:30:37,080
Speaker 1: May you die on stage in your nineties.

1348
01:30:39,600 --> 01:30:43,640
Speaker 2: That's what I plan on doing, brother, And thank you

1349
01:30:43,720 --> 01:30:45,840
Speaker 2: for everything. Bob, It's been a pleasure, man.

1350
01:30:46,280 --> 01:31:12,400
Speaker 1: You bet till next time. This is Bob left set