Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the MOB Website podcast. I
Speaker 1: guess today is one and only Donnie Iris. Donnie, you've
Speaker 1: been going through some health challenges. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I two years ago I developed uh bladder
Speaker 2: cancer and uh and I had to I had to
Speaker 2: have the surgery to have the bladder removed. And that
Speaker 2: was like two years ago. But uh, everything's fine now.
Speaker 2: I've I seem to have beat it. There's uh. I mean,
Speaker 2: I obviously have some problems with no bladder, but everything
Speaker 2: seems fine now. The doctor told me I'm in the clear.
Speaker 2: I have to go back every three or four weeks
Speaker 2: for maintenance, but other than that, everything's cool. Now.
Speaker 1: How'd you discover you had it?
Speaker 2: Well, I thought I was having a like a kidney
Speaker 2: stone or something, and uh drove myself to the hospital
Speaker 2: and uh, it wasn't. It wasn't a kidney stone at all.
Speaker 2: It was my bladder. So I didn't. I didn't quite
Speaker 2: like the hospital I was in, so I got transferred
Speaker 2: to what's called Hillman Hillman Cancer Center in in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: and uh and there there are uh they're very good
Speaker 2: doctors and uh they they they took care of me real.
Speaker 1: Well, so you have the surgery. Do you have like
Speaker 1: radiation or chemo after that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I had what's called chemo therapy and immunotherapy. And
Speaker 2: I remember the doctor calling me and telling me they
Speaker 2: came out with this immunotherapy they had the fdd A
Speaker 2: had just the FDA had just approved it, and he
Speaker 2: was all excited about it and thought it would be
Speaker 2: it would be a great thing to do. So we
Speaker 2: did it, and sure enough it worked. It worked very well.
Speaker 1: Okay. So how long ago did you discovery the problem?
Speaker 2: Two years, I believe, okay.
Speaker 1: And when's the last time you've had treatment.
Speaker 2: I've had maintenance treatment within the last week or two.
Speaker 1: Okay. And is this something that's been very hard you know,
Speaker 1: where you felt shitty or it's like, hey, you just
Speaker 1: go through the immunitherapy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, No, I didn't get sick at all. I
Speaker 2: mean a lot of people have told me they've been
Speaker 2: sick after chemo, but I never had any problems with sickness.
Speaker 1: So after you went through this crisis house, it affected
Speaker 1: your outlook on life?
Speaker 2: Oh uh, I don't know. I just I just thought
Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do the best I can.
Speaker 2: I'll just push on. If I can still do shows,
Speaker 2: I'll still do shows. And uh and sure enough. I mean,
Speaker 2: we've been able to do shows and there hasn't been
Speaker 2: any problems other than I have to take a couple
Speaker 2: of pain pills before I go on stage. But other
Speaker 2: than that, I'm fine.
Speaker 1: Okay, prior to this medical incident, how many shows were
Speaker 1: you doing a year?
Speaker 2: Oh well, that's a good question. I don't even remember. Probably, uh,
Speaker 2: prior to the incident, I'd say i'd say half a dozen.
Speaker 1: Okay, So you're doing it for fun as opposed to money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, We're definitely doing it for fun.
Speaker 2: But that they're the crowds are there, the venues are
Speaker 2: are generally sold out. So we're we're doing well with it,
Speaker 2: I mean when we're loving it. And we got a
Speaker 2: new lineup. Now we got uh Jovitally Junior and Jovitally
Speaker 2: Senior playing drums with us. Now Jovially, let's yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Let's hold on for a second. Jovially drummer. Long history
Speaker 1: with James Gang. Yeah, you're from Pittsburgh. Certainly James Gang
Speaker 1: started in Cleveland. How do you know Jovitally.
Speaker 2: Uh. Well, his son, Junior uh is playing with us now.
Speaker 2: So I mean Kevin, our original drummer, is no longer
Speaker 2: with us, but uh, Jovi Tally Junior was playing with us, and.
Speaker 1: We I mean, how do you find Jovially Jr?
Speaker 2: Well, he uh. For for some reason, he was the
Speaker 2: guy that we were going to replace Kevin with our
Speaker 2: original drummer, just by auditioning. So he comes, man, he
Speaker 2: does a good job, and he's still doing a good job.
Speaker 2: And then he told us about his dad, and of
Speaker 2: course we were like, oh, yeah, yeah, let's let's get
Speaker 2: to know him. And somehow he started playing with us.
Speaker 2: So we're up there with two drummers and just having
Speaker 2: a ball, man, just having a ball and listening to
Speaker 2: Joe Vitelli's or Senior's stories in between the sets are amazing.
Speaker 2: He tells stuff about Crosby, Stills and Nash and all
Speaker 2: that crap.
Speaker 1: And where do both of them, the Senior and Junior
Speaker 1: live right now?
Speaker 2: I think they're both in the Cleveland area.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you live exactly where.
Speaker 2: I live in a place called Coreopolis, Pennsylvania, which is
Speaker 2: a suburb of Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: So how far is that from Cleveland.
Speaker 2: About an hour and a half.
Speaker 1: So you were growing up, would it be a normal
Speaker 1: thing to say, Oh, the band's playing in Cleveland, We're
Speaker 1: going to go to Cleveland, or you just stay around Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: No, it it was. We played quite a few gigs
Speaker 2: in Cleveland. Our original manager, Mike Belkan was our original manager,
Speaker 2: and he also managed the Michael Stanley Band, and so
Speaker 2: we did a lot of gigs together. We did, oh,
Speaker 2: the Richfield Coliseum and a bunch of different places with
Speaker 2: with Michael. It was kind of, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: a two band situation for most of the Cleveland shows.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back to the present. So you know,
Speaker 1: in the old days, you'd have an agent. An agent
Speaker 1: would solicit offers. Now that you're doing a handful of gigs,
Speaker 1: where do the gigs come from?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, I don't know. Our Our manager now is
Speaker 2: Michael Michael Belkan, who is Mike Belkin's son, and he
Speaker 2: he just gets all these great gigs for us. I
Speaker 2: think he does a great job. And I don't I
Speaker 2: don't know how he solicits these jobs, but he he
Speaker 2: does a great job at it. We're playing, Uh, we
Speaker 2: don't go any further than Columbus West or Johnstown to
Speaker 2: the east. So yeah, he's keeping us busy with some
Speaker 2: really nice shows.
Speaker 1: Okay, any recordings in the future.
Speaker 2: We haven't really thought about it that much. We're kind
Speaker 2: of into this live gig thing and and uh and
Speaker 2: not put putting too many too much pressure on ourselves
Speaker 2: for trying to come up with something new. So uh no,
Speaker 2: we're not really concentrating on it.
Speaker 1: So what's it like being on stage eight decades later?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know you started early, you know, is
Speaker 1: it the same hit from the audience to get stage fright?
Speaker 1: What's it like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's it's a little bit. Uh, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't get stage fright, but I go
Speaker 2: up there, the audience is right into it. They're they're
Speaker 2: ready to go right off the bat. So I feel
Speaker 2: very comfortable up there. And uh and the shows are
Speaker 2: usually just just a it's a love fest with all
Speaker 2: these people. They just we're just enjoying each other's company.
Speaker 1: Really, So, are you just a normally energetic guy or
Speaker 1: do you feed off the feedback of the audience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am definitely a guy who feeds off the audience,
Speaker 2: because usually during the day. I'm a pretty lazy guy.
Speaker 2: I don't do a whole lot other other than sit
Speaker 2: in my front porch and smoke cigars and and that's
Speaker 2: my hobby. Right now, I was smoking cigars.
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's go back to the beginning. You grow
Speaker 1: up in the Pittsburgh area. How long had your family
Speaker 1: been in that area?
Speaker 2: Well, they were here all their lives. Really. I was
Speaker 2: born in a town called Newcastle, Pennsylvania, which was right
Speaker 2: outside of my hometown of Elwood City, Pennsylvania. And that's
Speaker 2: where I grew up in Elwood In. I was born
Speaker 2: in nineteen forty three, So I grew up there, you know,
Speaker 2: as a kid through high school. And yeah, that's about it.
Speaker 2: Then I want to have to call it.
Speaker 1: Okay, So were your parents or your parents parents born
Speaker 1: in the Old Country?
Speaker 2: My parents' parents were born in the Old Country? Yes, yes, And.
Speaker 1: How did they end up in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I have no idea. No, they
Speaker 2: came over on the boat just like everybody else did,
Speaker 2: and just settled in Elwood City. How they settled there,
Speaker 2: I have no idea.
Speaker 1: And what did everybody do for a living?
Speaker 2: My dad was a steel worker, my grandfather, Well, when
Speaker 2: I knew him, he was retired. Both my grandparents were retired.
Speaker 2: Both sets of parents were grandparents were retired. So I
Speaker 2: just I didn't know them all that well because they
Speaker 2: passed on as I became like a young teenager.
Speaker 1: So what did your father say about working in the
Speaker 1: steel mills.
Speaker 2: He didn't stay in the steel mill all that long.
Speaker 2: He had quit after a while and started working for
Speaker 2: a company called National Distillers who made whiskey and Old
Speaker 2: Granddad and PM and all these whiskey brands. That's what
Speaker 2: he decided to do. So he became an on the
Speaker 2: road salesperson for these for this company, and that's what
Speaker 2: he decided to do.
Speaker 1: The kind who stays overnight in a different town or
Speaker 1: did it always come home at night?
Speaker 2: Oh you know what, I don't even remember. It could
Speaker 2: have been a little bit of both. But I don't
Speaker 2: really remember at that time. Let's see, I would have
Speaker 2: been oh she, I don't know, by seventeen something like that.
Speaker 2: I don't know, something like that. I don't remember. So
Speaker 2: how many kids in the family, Me and my sister,
Speaker 2: I have a sister, a younger sister, how much younger.
Speaker 2: She's five years younger.
Speaker 1: And what was her life about.
Speaker 2: Oh, she was a caretaker. She was a good caretaker.
Speaker 2: Her husband developed some problems and she mainly takes care
Speaker 2: of him and to me to a certain extent.
Speaker 1: So you're growing up in Pittsburgh. Your father's first work
Speaker 1: in the steel mill, then he's liquor salesman. How about
Speaker 1: your mother and your father and mother's relationship.
Speaker 2: Well, my mother was actually the one who taught me
Speaker 2: how to sing. I was very young, maybe five six seven,
Speaker 2: I don't know, but she would, uh, she would encourage
Speaker 2: me to sing. We had a piano in the basement
Speaker 2: where she would take me downstairs and and uh and
Speaker 2: and show me what to do and how to sing
Speaker 2: and uh to get some vibrallo in my voice and
Speaker 2: that kind of thing. But she was the one who actually,
Speaker 2: uh encouraged me to sing.
Speaker 1: Do you know why?
Speaker 2: I think? Uh, I think that's just the way she was.
Speaker 2: She was musically. She played church, she played the organ
Speaker 2: or piano in church.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: So, I mean she was just drawn to that type
Speaker 2: of thing.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: My dad, on the other hand, was more like a uh,
Speaker 2: just a normal guy. You know. We wanted, I guess
Speaker 2: wanted me to play baseball and so off, which I did.
Speaker 2: And I wanted to play baseball rather than go practice singing.
Speaker 2: I guarantee you that, and and so I had a
Speaker 2: little bit of both.
Speaker 1: So did you like singing? And did you sing outside
Speaker 1: the house?
Speaker 2: I did, but I think I was about nine or
Speaker 2: ten when I did that. I started singing at weddings
Speaker 2: and different events in Ellwood. I remember as a kid,
Speaker 2: like a nine year old or ten year old kid
Speaker 2: who did a had to travel to Philadelphia and perform
Speaker 2: on what was the name of that show? I can't remember,
Speaker 2: Paul Weitman or I forget who it was. I remember
Speaker 2: going up there to do that, and I came in
Speaker 2: second place, and I want to I won a Calvinator refrigerator.
Speaker 1: I actually had a Calvenator refrigerator, did you Yes, it
Speaker 1: was cheap. That's why we bought it one of my
Speaker 1: first apartments. But let's go back. I mean, you're not
Speaker 1: singing in the basement and all of a sudden you're
Speaker 1: on TV. I mean, how does this happen that you
Speaker 1: get on TV? Well, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I used to sing on the radio actually before that.
Speaker 1: How do you get on the radio?
Speaker 2: I don't know. My mother somehow arranged it for me
Speaker 2: to get on the some radio show in beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: I sang there like every weekend or something for I
Speaker 2: don't know how many weeks before heading to Philadelphia to
Speaker 2: do that Paul Whiteman show. But I mean, I guess,
Speaker 2: I guess I was pretty good or something. So I
Speaker 2: kept calling me back. I kept going back to sing.
Speaker 1: And what were singing? Oh?
Speaker 2: Man, I have no idea. I can't remember what I
Speaker 2: was singing. Probably old I don't know, Bennett or Sinatra
Speaker 2: or some some tunes like that.
Speaker 1: Did you like doing it or would your mother, being
Speaker 1: a stage mother, making you do it?
Speaker 2: I suppose I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the attention, the uh,
Speaker 2: you know, the uh, the thrill of it. But uh,
Speaker 2: I was young. I mean I didn't know, you know
Speaker 2: what what what what was going to transpire after all this,
Speaker 2: But yeah, I just I just went along with it
Speaker 2: and uh and I had fun doing it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So did you go to regular public school or religious school?
Speaker 2: We went. I went to public school.
Speaker 1: So if I was in school with you, say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know that's the guy who sings. Were you famous
Speaker 1: as the guy who sang school.
Speaker 2: Let me see, I don't remember being famous in school,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean I was young. I don't remember
Speaker 2: if kids would come up to me or not. But
Speaker 2: the only thing I remember really after singing on the
Speaker 2: radio and stuff, was you know, going into going into
Speaker 2: high school and you know, just becoming whoever I was
Speaker 2: going to be at that time.
Speaker 1: So would you become?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I became a pretty darn good pool player because
Speaker 2: we used to play pool after school every day down
Speaker 2: at the place half a block from my high school.
Speaker 2: We'd go down there and just shoot pool after school,
Speaker 2: and just I became pretty good at it. Now I'm
Speaker 2: not quite as good, but I was pretty damn good
Speaker 2: back then.
Speaker 1: How often do you play now? Oh?
Speaker 2: I still play. There's a club around here in Cranberry
Speaker 2: that a Cranberry township that I go to, the where
Speaker 2: they have fool tables there and everything. So every once
Speaker 2: in a while we'll go up there and we'll sit
Speaker 2: around play pool.
Speaker 1: Okay, were you a good student? Were you a bad student?
Speaker 1: Were popular? Were you unpopular?
Speaker 2: I was. I was kind of a nerd. I didn't
Speaker 2: I don't think I was all that popular. I was
Speaker 2: kind of I got good grades, in high school, I
Speaker 2: got uh you know, Uh, I did graduate with honors,
Speaker 2: So I mean I just pretty much concentrated on school
Speaker 2: pretty much. Wasn't real Uh that was real popular.
Speaker 1: So if I talked to the high school, if I
Speaker 1: talk to you, what would you have said you wanted
Speaker 1: to be and do with your life?
Speaker 2: Oh man? When I was in high school, yeah, h
Speaker 2: see at that time, I really didn't know. I mean,
Speaker 2: the plan was for me to go to college and uh,
Speaker 2: and that's what happened. Uh. You know, I went to UH.
Speaker 2: I went to Slippery Rock University for about two years
Speaker 2: and then I got I got a call from a
Speaker 2: group called the Jaggers to uh to hook up with them.
Speaker 2: Because when I was in college, I had a band,
Speaker 2: a three piece band that we'd play in fraternity parties
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. But anyway, this band, the Jaggers,
Speaker 2: had heard of me and they, uh, they want me
Speaker 2: to go on an audition because the leader of their
Speaker 2: band was leaving uh for some reason. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but uh, so I took I went to auditioned for them,
Speaker 2: and we had a new band and call the Jaggers
Speaker 2: at that point. So that's when I started into professional music.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're born in nineteen forty three. Was there always
Speaker 1: a television in your house or do you remember getting television?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, there was always a TV in my house.
Speaker 2: Me and my dad used to Those were the days
Speaker 2: of the rabbit ears and stuff like that, where he
Speaker 2: just tried to put some aluminum foil on it and
Speaker 2: try to get it to work. But we had a
Speaker 2: lot of fun doing that. My dad and I we
Speaker 2: put up a big pole antenna in the backyard because
Speaker 2: there was a hospital behind us, way up high and
Speaker 2: we couldn't get the signal high enough to get you know,
Speaker 2: to get a good reception. But we figured it out.
Speaker 2: We did all right.
Speaker 1: Then what were you watching on TV?
Speaker 2: Oh man? Stuff like Howdy dooty, uh shit? What else?
Speaker 2: I can't even remember we did. That's the one that
Speaker 2: comes to my mind right off the bat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I certainly watched that too. Okay, you're singing, your
Speaker 1: mother plays the keyboard. At what point do you start
Speaker 1: listening to popular music and listening to the radio.
Speaker 2: Oh, I guess I started listening to the radio a
Speaker 2: lot when the Beatles.
Speaker 1: Okay, but by time the Beatles hit you're already in
Speaker 1: your twenties.
Speaker 2: Okay, well let's see, Yeah I was. I was.
Speaker 1: You're right, so you're conscious at the you know, they
Speaker 1: say it's a big debate what the first rock and
Speaker 1: roll record is is? You know, I turned Rocket eighty eight?
Speaker 1: Is it rock around the Clock? Were you paying attention
Speaker 1: to that stuff at that time?
Speaker 2: No? Not really, the only thing I've paid attention to.
Speaker 2: I mean, I grew up. I liked Buddy Hawley. I
Speaker 2: liked the stuff he was doing. I thought he was
Speaker 2: really good. Know I I was around when when when
Speaker 2: they they would have that plane crash when they uh,
Speaker 2: you know, when they died. But I remember listening to
Speaker 2: Richie Vallens and uh and the Big Bopper and all
Speaker 2: that stuff. So I have some influences there too.
Speaker 1: And what about Elvis Elvis?
Speaker 2: I really I love the early on Elvis when he
Speaker 2: was just when he was just going for it with
Speaker 2: Don't Be Cruel and the hound Dog and all that stuff. Uh,
Speaker 2: that's the Elvis. I really liked the fact I went
Speaker 2: to see his place in Memphis, uh maybe six seven
Speaker 2: years back, took a trip down there and went and
Speaker 2: checked it out, and it was it was it was fun.
Speaker 1: No, I've been there too. I'm not the biggest Elvis fan,
Speaker 1: but it's just funny that it's not that big a place.
Speaker 1: Now he's got the three Sony trindotrons to watch the
Speaker 1: three networks in the jungle room. It's got an interesting feel.
Speaker 1: So yeah, after Elvis hits, how about Little Richard, Carl Perkins,
Speaker 1: all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Little Richard I admired. I admired him a lot.
Speaker 2: I thought he was great. Uh. Carl Perkins I didn't
Speaker 2: pay too much attention to. I don't know why, but
Speaker 2: I just didn't. But yeah, Little Richard was uh, I
Speaker 2: mean he was, he was great. I think Paul McCartney
Speaker 2: might have listened to him a little bit too. A
Speaker 2: lot of the things that he does in that that
Speaker 2: kind of raspy voice sounds a lot like Little.
Speaker 1: Richard, Long Tall, Sally, et cetera. Okay, yeah, then music
Speaker 1: starts to change to these two dimensional acts like Bobby
Speaker 1: Ride Dell and Fabian. How did you feel about the
Speaker 1: music then?
Speaker 2: Actually I knew Bobby right Dell. He My manager at
Speaker 2: the time was Joe Rock. Do you remember Joe Rock?
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: He was the guy that man is and wrote for
Speaker 2: the Skyliners. Very talented guy. He wrote since I Don't
Speaker 2: have you and this I Swear and all these great
Speaker 2: songs for the Skyliners. But I lost my train of thought.
Speaker 2: Where were we going with this?
Speaker 1: I can't Bobby ry Dell you were talking about?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. So anyway, Joe knew Bobby rid Dell
Speaker 2: and he brought him to my house one time. We
Speaker 2: got to meet Bobby rid Dell and we actually ended
Speaker 2: up producing a record or two for him and James
Speaker 2: Darren the same way we did. We did a couple
Speaker 2: of records for him as producers because at the time
Speaker 2: the Jaggers were hot. We had like a Rapper, which
Speaker 2: was a was a big hit back in the seventies.
Speaker 1: But we'll get back to the rapper point. Do you
Speaker 1: pick up a guitar or an instrument started playing?
Speaker 2: I think I was in eleventh grade when my dad
Speaker 2: bought me a guitar and I started playing it, but
Speaker 2: it didn't last very long. It went behind the college
Speaker 2: because it was hurting my fingers. So I didn't pick
Speaker 2: up a guitar really until I was maybe my second
Speaker 2: year of college. Started practicing. Okay, you know you had
Speaker 2: a piano in the basement. Do you ever play the piano. Uh,
Speaker 2: just a little bit, not anything to speak of.
Speaker 1: No, okay, your father boy guitar, acoustic guitar or electric guitar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was acoustic.
Speaker 1: So now you're a sophomore in college. What is the
Speaker 1: inspiration to pick up the guitar again?
Speaker 2: Uh? I think around my second year, I was getting
Speaker 2: a little bored with being in college. I started to
Speaker 2: get the inkling that I went to be Uh, I
Speaker 2: want to be into music. Uh, that's probably why I rather,
Speaker 2: I got the guitar and started practicing again and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, honing, honing my chops, so to speak. And
Speaker 2: like I said, playing with a couple of early on
Speaker 2: college bands.
Speaker 1: Okay, a lot happened. If you're playing on an acoustic guitar.
Speaker 1: It's a big step to get an electric guitar, get
Speaker 1: an amp, well, form a band. It doesn't happen instantly. No,
Speaker 1: I might have during that time.
Speaker 2: I might have. I might have gotten an electric guitar
Speaker 2: at the time. I probably did. I don't really remember,
Speaker 2: but I did have an electric and I had an amp,
Speaker 2: and we were we were ready to go. We were
Speaker 2: we were ready to get out and play.
Speaker 1: So you know that was an error where there were
Speaker 1: bands at every corner. If you get gigs, were there
Speaker 1: that many gigs? Were you just better than the other acts?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what it was, but we were.
Speaker 2: We had a nine times a week gig at a
Speaker 2: place called Geneva on the Lake, Ohio. We used to
Speaker 2: play seven nights a week and twice on Sunday for
Speaker 2: two jam sessions. So we were definitely owning our skills
Speaker 2: at that time. And we were vocalists too. We all sang,
Speaker 2: we all you know, we all did everything. So and
Speaker 2: it went on like that for maybe two or three
Speaker 2: summers something like that, and we just had a blast.
Speaker 1: Okay, wait a second. Not only were you playing at
Speaker 1: Geneva at the Lake, were you living there?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Yes, Oh there's got to be some stories there.
Speaker 2: What kind of stories you're looking for here?
Speaker 1: Well, mistiff, drugs and alcohol?
Speaker 2: Sex. Well, I'll be honest with you, at that time,
Speaker 2: there was no drugs or alcohol. Well, there was alcohol,
Speaker 2: but no drugs. I mean, we were we were pretty
Speaker 2: uh we were pretty virgin y virgins at that time.
Speaker 2: But but yeah, we drank, but mainly it was it
Speaker 2: was playing in uh and sex basically.
Speaker 1: Well, you must have been the big stars there because
Speaker 1: you were the band.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean it was Geneva on the lake.
Speaker 2: It was. There was a couple other places to play,
Speaker 2: but the places we played that called the Cove and
Speaker 2: the Sunken Bar, were the two main places up there,
Speaker 2: and that's that's where we that's where we were playing.
Speaker 2: We used to pit one against the other. We'd play
Speaker 2: one one joint one year and another joint the other year,
Speaker 2: and then playing against each other to try to get
Speaker 2: more money. How was the money, Oh, I don't even
Speaker 2: remember what it was, but at the time it seemed
Speaker 2: like plenty. We did. We did fine.
Speaker 1: And what music were you playing?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, we were doing we were doing what was
Speaker 2: popular were We were a good cover band. We did
Speaker 2: a bunch of covers from whatever was popular at the time.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're hit in the sixties and one hand
Speaker 1: you got Perry Como. On the other you have four
Speaker 1: Seasons in the Beach Boys. Was that music that appealed
Speaker 1: to you?
Speaker 2: Uh, not as much as other music. I like the
Speaker 2: Beach Boys. I lest certain songs they did. Who else
Speaker 2: did you mention four seasons? Four Seasons? I wasn't a real,
Speaker 2: real big fan of the couple. They had a couple
Speaker 2: of really nice songs though. And who's the other one.
Speaker 1: Well, the Harry Como. I don't expect you're a big fan.
Speaker 2: Perry Como, man, he was. Uh. I used to love
Speaker 2: his TV show man. Do you watch that.
Speaker 1: With those sweaters?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I love Terry Como didn't live didn't live that
Speaker 2: far from me either.
Speaker 1: So how did you first hear the Beatles?
Speaker 2: I remember driving, uh for a while there, I commuted
Speaker 2: back and forth to college, and I remember hearing them
Speaker 2: on the radio.
Speaker 1: What were your initial thoughts?
Speaker 2: I thought this was great, this is this is great.
Speaker 2: They sound great. I love it. I loved it.
Speaker 1: And how did that affect your career?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man? We uh we we did so many different
Speaker 2: Beatles songs throughout my throughout my history. We did a
Speaker 2: ton of them. Uh, it's just uh. And then the Stones,
Speaker 2: I listened to the Stones. We did a lot of
Speaker 2: the Stones tunes. But the British invasion was awesome, man,
Speaker 2: it was awesome.
Speaker 1: So what year, if you can remember, do you get
Speaker 1: asked to join the Jaggers.
Speaker 2: Oh, let's see, that would have been like sixty eight,
Speaker 2: sixty nine, maybe.
Speaker 1: Sixty eight you're twenty five or twenty six years old,
Speaker 1: you orderly went to college in that intervening time. Were
Speaker 1: you living as a musician or did you have a
Speaker 1: street job? What were you doing what time when subsequent
Speaker 1: to dropping out of college before joining the Jaggers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well then I went right out of college and
Speaker 2: joined the Jaggers. That's what. We hired a guy to
Speaker 2: book us. So we were playing clubs all throughout the Midwest,
Speaker 2: like six nights a week, staying in one hope, staying
Speaker 2: in one room for for I don't know how long.
Speaker 2: We played like that and learned how and basically learned
Speaker 2: how to play.
Speaker 1: Okay, what was the status of the Jaggers.
Speaker 2: When you joined, Well, they actually were called Gary and
Speaker 2: the Jewel Tones. And when I don't know, either they
Speaker 2: kicked him out of the band or he left the band.
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened. But we renamed the band
Speaker 2: the Jaggers. We you know, tried to come up with
Speaker 2: a name, and we came up with that name because
Speaker 2: here in western Pennsylvania, you walk into the woods and
Speaker 2: you get all these jagger bushes all over your pant legs,
Speaker 2: all these burs all over your pant legs. They stick
Speaker 2: and you get you have a hell of a time
Speaker 2: taking them off. But that's where we got our name.
Speaker 1: And how did it go from Jaggers with an ass
Speaker 1: to Jaggers with.
Speaker 2: A z oh? I don't know. It just seemed cooler
Speaker 2: at the time when we did I don't know when
Speaker 2: we did it, but it's just it seemed cooler.
Speaker 1: So when you joined the band, what was your role
Speaker 1: in the band?
Speaker 2: I was one of three singers. I mean all of
Speaker 2: us sang, so yeah, I did certain songs, the other
Speaker 2: guy did certain songs, so on and so forth.
Speaker 1: And at what point did you start playing original material
Speaker 1: and at what point did you start recording that material.
Speaker 2: We started doing originals like in sixty nine early sixty nine,
Speaker 2: and we wrote some songs. We went up to our
Speaker 2: manager Joe Rock hooked us up with Gamble and Huff
Speaker 2: to go up there to record some songs, which we did.
Speaker 2: And uh, I mean somehow he knew these guys and
Speaker 2: was able to get us in because Gamble and Huff
Speaker 2: was they were they were big time, big time dudes,
Speaker 2: right and uh and and we were like we were
Speaker 2: like a white eyed, a blue eyed soul band. At
Speaker 2: the time. Uh, except for the Rapper, the song of
Speaker 2: the Rapper. But that's what we did. We went up there.
Speaker 2: We did an album with Gamble and Huff came out
Speaker 2: pretty well. Now I'm no longer with the Jaggers, but
Speaker 2: they're still performing and they're still doing some of those songs.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're in the Jaggers. You go to Gamble and Huff.
Speaker 1: You must have thought, man, I made it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it felt great. I mean we were
Speaker 2: gonna go up and uh and we did. We we
Speaker 2: just we recorded and had a great time. And before
Speaker 2: I knew it, the Rapper had come out and I
Speaker 2: remember hearing it on the radio and I remember, you know,
Speaker 2: everything was like a whirlwind at that time because we
Speaker 2: went out and did the We did American Bandstand. We
Speaker 2: did these shows with like people I used to watch
Speaker 2: on TV, these dancers on American Bandstand. I was like, Wow,
Speaker 2: this is this is unbelievable. But yeah it was. I
Speaker 2: don't know how it happened, but it did.
Speaker 1: So how did you write the Rapper?
Speaker 2: Believe it or not. It was the middle of the night.
Speaker 2: I woke up with the with the song in my head.
Speaker 2: It was a rapper I had it all planned out.
Speaker 2: I brought it into the band and we put it
Speaker 2: together and that was it. That's how it happened.
Speaker 1: Okay. Prior to the Rapper, had you written a lot
Speaker 1: of songs?
Speaker 2: No? No, not a lot. No, I mean early on,
Speaker 2: I did some things that were just like I mean,
Speaker 2: way early when I was like sixteen or so. But
Speaker 2: but yeah, nothing serious.
Speaker 1: Okay, the rapper in the middle of the night. How
Speaker 1: similar was that to the record that came out?
Speaker 2: Uh? Similar in what way? What do you mean?
Speaker 1: Well, the melody, the sound did it sound?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it did it did? It came out pretty
Speaker 2: much the way I had it planned. When I brought
Speaker 2: it into the band, they understood and they just they
Speaker 2: just played it. They played the right parts. They did
Speaker 2: everything that was in my head.
Speaker 1: Okay at the time, forget what rap means today. That
Speaker 1: was a hip turn to rap. Let's sit down and wrap.
Speaker 1: So how did you come up with the term the
Speaker 1: rapper for the song?
Speaker 2: Well, the rapper it was a different kind of rapper.
Speaker 2: It was a rapper that went into a bar at
Speaker 2: night and started rapping the chicks as a pickup line.
Speaker 2: That's what I meant by the Rapper, which is totally
Speaker 2: totally different.
Speaker 1: Okay, you go to Philadelphia to record with Gamble and Huff,
Speaker 1: who records the Rapper? They record it?
Speaker 2: Uh no, no, I take that back. We were in
Speaker 2: we were at a place called Century Sound Studios in
Speaker 2: New York. That's where we did the Rapper And that
Speaker 2: would have been late sixty nine and the song came
Speaker 2: out in early seventy.
Speaker 1: And who produced the record.
Speaker 2: We did? We did with a friend of Joe Rock's
Speaker 2: what was his name? I can't remember his name anyway,
Speaker 2: we pretty much produced it ourselves.
Speaker 1: And when it was done, did you believe it was
Speaker 1: going to be a hit?
Speaker 2: I didn't know. I had no idea. But it was
Speaker 2: just one of those things. Just one of those things, Bob.
Speaker 2: It's one of those things.
Speaker 1: I mean, did you don't know? Did you play it
Speaker 1: for the record company and they say, wait a second,
Speaker 1: this is the one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did. We did. We got turned down by
Speaker 2: five or six of them, until Neil Bogart said, Okay,
Speaker 2: we'll take it, we'll give it a shot. So he
Speaker 2: gave it a shot and the next thing we know,
Speaker 2: we're going to American Bandstand and stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, Well, Neil Bogra legendary, you know, in the
Speaker 1: Bubblegum era, then Casablanca Records. He ultimately dot answer at
Speaker 1: a young age, what was your experience with Neil Bogart? Oh?
Speaker 2: He was he was cool man. Well, like I said,
Speaker 2: he was cool because he gave us a chance. I mean,
Speaker 2: you get turned down by all these people, you start
Speaker 2: getting like, what the hell? So I mean, yeah, I enjoyed.
Speaker 2: I enjoyed it. I enjoyed meeting them, and thank goodness,
Speaker 2: he gave us a break.
Speaker 3: So what was it? I mean, the Rapper went to
Speaker 3: number two? I mean, the Rappers one of those songs
Speaker 3: that you were lyve you could never forget it. What's
Speaker 3: it like having, you know what, a gigantic hit?
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, that just just happens. You just
Speaker 2: don't know. It's just it's something. There's just something there.
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is. It's just it just happens.
Speaker 2: I mean, and we you know, and we hope that
Speaker 2: that happens every time, but it doesn't. It's just just
Speaker 2: it's coincidental. It's lucky, it's it's everything. It's the stars
Speaker 2: and all that shit.
Speaker 3: Okay, now the record's a hit what's your life like
Speaker 3: once the record is a.
Speaker 2: Hit, Like I said, we're we're jet setting all over
Speaker 2: the place, you know, going here and there and everywhere.
Speaker 2: Uh to uh to back the song up, to get
Speaker 2: to get some exposure as people, as musicians whatever.
Speaker 1: Rapper is a gigantic kit. See any money.
Speaker 2: We did, we did. We saw money. In fact, we
Speaker 2: uh as a group, we all went down to this
Speaker 2: this auto dealership in beaver Falls and we all leased
Speaker 2: seven Lincoln Continentals, the big boats with the real long
Speaker 2: front end. They were. They were gorgeous, gorgeous cars. So,
Speaker 2: I mean the money was rolling in and we were
Speaker 2: able to spend it.
Speaker 1: Okay, you wrote the rapper who owned the publishing on
Speaker 1: the wrapper?
Speaker 2: I think we split publishing with the record company. I'm
Speaker 2: pretty sure that's how it worked. We had our share
Speaker 2: of the publishing, they had their share of the publishing.
Speaker 1: Who owns it today?
Speaker 2: Good question. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, let's put it a different way. Do you get
Speaker 1: paid on it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, on the wrapper?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah usually BMI they send me a check every like
Speaker 2: every quarter. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So's the money any good?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean it's it's not anything spectacular, but it's
Speaker 2: a nice little check, a little surprise, little mail money
Speaker 2: every once in a while, never hurt. So yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you have this gigantic kid. Then what happens
Speaker 1: for the.
Speaker 2: Well, basically what happened is we pretty much had our run.
Speaker 2: There was not any tension or anything, but just just
Speaker 2: uneasiness in the band. People wanted to do other things.
Speaker 2: One of the guys in the band got asked to
Speaker 2: join the Skyliners, so he went with them for a while.
Speaker 2: What I did was I left. I left and came
Speaker 2: into the studio, the studio that we're sitting at right now.
Speaker 2: I don't know what year that would have been, do
Speaker 2: you do you know that the year that we recorded here,
Speaker 2: late seventies. So yeah, right here at this studio, late seventies,
Speaker 2: we're recording and I was learning how to do the stuff,
Speaker 2: the stuff with it on this board and maybe becoming
Speaker 2: an engineer or something. But that's what I was doing
Speaker 2: at the time. And I was also singing some gigs
Speaker 2: with a guy by the name of b. E. Taylor.
Speaker 2: Did you know b E? No?
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: He was a Christian singer. We did, like I don't
Speaker 2: know how many duo shows he and I sang together
Speaker 2: for many years, just as like a side gig. We
Speaker 2: did this and that here and there. In fact, we
Speaker 2: did we did shows up my dad's tavern. After my
Speaker 2: dad no wait, no, wait a minute, after my dad
Speaker 2: quit selling whiskey, he and his partner, he and a
Speaker 2: guy friend of h is hooked up and started a
Speaker 2: place called Loose Tavern, so which he spent a lot
Speaker 2: of time. Man, And this is right around the time
Speaker 2: of the Rapper. So I used to go there all
Speaker 2: the time, and my dad was behind the bar. He
Speaker 2: would be making chili or soup or or meatballs or whatever.
Speaker 2: They go in and hang out with him. And in
Speaker 2: meantime the Rapper was was on the charts. It was
Speaker 2: on his way up. And he used to have a
Speaker 2: thermometer thing behind the bar and he would draw on
Speaker 2: it every day as it went up and up and up.
Speaker 2: So and he was like he had his old chest
Speaker 2: out ship. He was like he was all into it.
Speaker 1: So how hard was it to quit the Daggers?
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, we pretty much we pretty much
Speaker 2: had had it. I mean we you know, when it's over,
Speaker 2: it's over. And when I came into the studio here
Speaker 2: The funny thing was a group called Wild Cherry came
Speaker 2: in and they were going to record here. So the Leafs.
Speaker 2: The keyboard player in the band, Mark avsek, He and
Speaker 2: I kind of hit it off. We were like, okay,
Speaker 2: you know, whenever this is over, let's maybe get together
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe write some songs or do this
Speaker 2: or that. I said, okay, Well, first of all, we
Speaker 2: went out on the road with Wild Cherry.
Speaker 1: Okay, wait, you're in the studio, you see yourself as
Speaker 1: a behind the scenes guy. How do you end up
Speaker 1: going on the road with Wild Cherry.
Speaker 2: Well, well, here's what he did. One of the guys
Speaker 2: in the band was leaving, so Bobby Parsi, who was
Speaker 2: the leader of the band at the time, asked me
Speaker 2: to join him and go on the road with him.
Speaker 2: So I said, yeah, oh yeah, let's go. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I spent I don't know, a year, year and a half,
Speaker 2: maybe two years with Wild Cherry. This was after they
Speaker 2: had this play that fucking music quite so yeah. I
Speaker 2: toured with them for a while and that was like heaven.
Speaker 2: We were flying everywhere. We'd go stay at a hotel
Speaker 2: for a week and get all tanned and stuff, looking
Speaker 2: wanting to look good, and we would say all week
Speaker 2: and at the end of the at the end of
Speaker 2: the week, we'd have a show to do. We played
Speaker 2: like in Albuquerque, I think it was exactly that scenario.
Speaker 2: We didn't play till the end of the week. We
Speaker 2: just sat there and had fun.
Speaker 1: Okay, at what point in this scenario do you get married? Oh?
Speaker 2: I was married in I think sixty eight. I think
Speaker 2: I got married in sixty eight, yeah, or sixty nine.
Speaker 1: How many times you been married?
Speaker 2: Once? Just once?
Speaker 1: And did you get to where's you're still with your wife?
Speaker 2: No, we're still we're we're still separated.
Speaker 1: How long have you been separated?
Speaker 2: Separated? Probably thirty years or so something like that.
Speaker 1: Let's stay there for a second. I lived that life,
Speaker 1: did you? Yes? Unfortunately, How did you ultimately decide to
Speaker 1: get separated?
Speaker 2: Oh? That that that was just that was just going
Speaker 2: to happen. I mean we were separated physically, so you know,
Speaker 2: so that becomes that becomes the thing. You're physically separated
Speaker 2: for so long you're separated, So that's that's what we were.
Speaker 1: So who was this woman you married?
Speaker 2: Her name was Linda.
Speaker 1: And Rod you meet her? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh man, I met her at a club that
Speaker 2: we played in uh in beaver Falls, would called the
Speaker 2: Club Natural, And we played there like six nights a week,
Speaker 2: every night, and she would come in there and I
Speaker 2: noticed her, and that's how it happened.
Speaker 1: But who wanted to get married? Who are you?
Speaker 2: Oh man? I guess we both did. We uh yeah,
Speaker 2: we decided to get married, and we did and had
Speaker 2: two wonderful daughters. And now I have five great grandkids,
Speaker 2: not great ganches, but grandkids, and I'm loving it.
Speaker 1: Okay, But you're a musician and you're the breadwinner. What
Speaker 1: does she say about your career moves? Leaving the Jaggers,
Speaker 1: going to work in the studio, going on the road
Speaker 1: with Wild Cherry? Was she cool with it? Did she
Speaker 1: want you to quit? Get a regular job? What'd you say? Oh?
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, she was cool with it. She
Speaker 2: uh you know, everything every move I made, she was,
Speaker 2: she was there, she was, she was into it. You know,
Speaker 2: you need to do what you gotta do. I mean,
Speaker 2: you don't hear very much of that, but it's true.
Speaker 1: And then, of course the obvious question is why have
Speaker 1: you never gotten divorced? Oh?
Speaker 2: I don't know, never found it, never found any use
Speaker 2: in it, really, I mean, why.
Speaker 1: Well, has she found someone new? If you found someone.
Speaker 2: New, Yeah, she's she's she found somebody. I found someone
Speaker 2: and everybody. Everybody's happy. We still get along great. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And is she off the payroll or you still supporting her?
Speaker 2: Well? I do what I can for her. Put it
Speaker 2: that way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, So you go on the road with Wild Cherry.
Speaker 1: How does that end?
Speaker 2: M Well, that is at the point where Mark av
Speaker 2: second and I start this new songwriting team and start
Speaker 2: Donnie Iris and the cruisers.
Speaker 1: Stop for one second when you stop being Dominic Arachi
Speaker 1: and become Donnie Iris.
Speaker 2: Oh that was long before. That was way before nobody
Speaker 2: could ever pronounce my last name, and it was just
Speaker 2: the right thing to do. I just change because basically,
Speaker 2: although my name wasn't Dominic, my mother always called me
Speaker 2: down neat Donnie. She didn't like Donny, she liked Donnie.
Speaker 2: So my first name was Donnie. My last name is Jiachi.
Speaker 2: So I had to change that because nobody was ever
Speaker 2: going to get that right. I changed it to the
Speaker 2: way it looks irase Iris. That's why I changed it. Now,
Speaker 2: everything's cool, nobody makes mistakes.
Speaker 1: So you got this songwriting partnership with Mark Abset. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and take us forward from there.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we decided to get together and write
Speaker 2: some songs. So we get down in my basement and
Speaker 2: beaver Falls at my house in beaver Falls, and and
Speaker 2: we start there was I had a piano in my
Speaker 2: basement and and we start clinking around, start writing tunes,
Speaker 2: and before you know it, we had I don't know,
Speaker 2: six or seven songs ready to go for whatever, and
Speaker 2: uh went into the studio and uh and we recorded
Speaker 2: back on the streets. The first album was had Leah, Agnes,
Speaker 2: uh and and the others whatever. But uh, we ended
Speaker 2: up on a label called Midwest Labels.
Speaker 1: Wait, wait, let's go back. You're recording the record at
Speaker 1: the time. Agnes is a date. There was somebody on
Speaker 1: some sitcom, some woman that was always blowing the whistle
Speaker 1: called Agnes. How do you come up with the name Agnes?
Speaker 2: Funny thing? Agnes rhymes with everything, right, it rhymes with everything, gladness, sadness.
Speaker 2: You know. There's that's why we that's why we use
Speaker 2: that name. That's exactly why we use the name.
Speaker 1: Okay, tell me about the creation of Aliah.
Speaker 2: All right, this is a story. So, Leah was a
Speaker 2: woman I knew who was dating the drummer in our band,
Speaker 2: and uh, I just thought she was beautiful. It's just gorgeous.
Speaker 2: So but I didn't know her. I just knew her
Speaker 2: from a distance. And later on in life, I have
Speaker 2: to go forward here because tell you the end of
Speaker 2: the story. I go, I get into somehow, I get
Speaker 2: into mortgage banking, all right, bear with me here. I
Speaker 2: get into mortgage banking and I start doing business with
Speaker 2: this girl. Anyway. The girl was Leah's daughter, and I
Speaker 2: didn't find this out too and like, I was doing
Speaker 2: business with her for a period of time, and I
Speaker 2: asked her, I said, you know, is your mom Leah?
Speaker 2: She said, yeah, yeah, she has a flower shop right
Speaker 2: up the road here. I said, we gotta go see her.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean when I went up, I saw
Speaker 2: her again. It's just as beautiful as ever, and it was.
Speaker 2: It was a great time. We hung out together, me
Speaker 2: and Leah and her daughter been hung out. We just
Speaker 2: go places and have a good time. Man.
Speaker 1: So how did you write the song?
Speaker 2: Uh? The song went through several phases. Really, it went
Speaker 2: through a an anti war idea. Uh, it went through
Speaker 2: a I forget. There might have been one more, one
Speaker 2: more thing, but it ended up as the we we
Speaker 2: had that. We had the vocal course in the background
Speaker 2: in our heads, the ah Leah. It was like a chant.
Speaker 2: It was like a Gregorian chant. And and we looked
Speaker 2: at it other and we said, Hey, that's that happens
Speaker 2: to be a name. It happens to be the name Leah.
Speaker 2: So let's let's go with a girl. Let's go with that.
Speaker 2: This is all crazy shit, but it's the truth. It's
Speaker 2: just that's the way it happens. That's the way it happens. Man.
Speaker 1: How did you stock the vocals? I mean that record
Speaker 1: has a unique sound.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we we did. The we did had a lot
Speaker 2: of stacking at the place, just just for the effect. Really,
Speaker 2: the we layered one on top of the other for
Speaker 2: I don't know how many how many tracks there were. Jerry,
Speaker 2: the original engineer here, would remember, and Mark Mark probably remembers,
Speaker 2: but I don't have any idea how many times I
Speaker 2: did that. But uh, but it had a certain sound
Speaker 2: to it. It had a chewiness to it. It had
Speaker 2: it had this jump out of the radio at you
Speaker 2: when it comes on. It had that kind of feel
Speaker 2: to it, which was something we hadn't planned.
Speaker 1: So what happens? First, do you finish the album and
Speaker 1: look for a record deal or you cut Aliyah look
Speaker 1: for a record deal.
Speaker 2: We have the album finished, so we give it to
Speaker 2: uh Belkan Maduri in Cleveland and to uh and their
Speaker 2: their uh their staff, the people they work with to
Speaker 2: get records promoted and so on and so forth, and
Speaker 2: uh uh they get it on the radio. Uh and
Speaker 2: these radio stations are adding it like uh w b
Speaker 2: z Z, I think it's bezz in Boston, Saint Louis, Dallas,
Speaker 2: all these all these radio stations are adding the record.
Speaker 2: They're adding it, and we're thinking, I mean we're not like,
Speaker 2: we're not like twisting arms to get them to play
Speaker 2: the song. They're playing it, and uh, before we know it,
Speaker 2: it was. It was spreading all over the country and
Speaker 2: it was a It was a hit. It was a
Speaker 2: hit album oriented rock song, not necessarily a pop tune,
Speaker 2: but it did make it way up to I think
Speaker 2: twenty nine or something on the Billboard charts.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back. You cut the record, you give
Speaker 1: it to your managers. What do they do about getting
Speaker 1: a record deal?
Speaker 2: Well, they after they had done what they did, they figured, okay,
Speaker 2: it's time to make a deal. They knew people in
Speaker 2: at MCA, so they sell the record to MCA, and
Speaker 2: so now we have a large company behind it that
Speaker 2: can do to do more for the band. So yeah,
Speaker 2: they they sold the masters to them.
Speaker 1: Okay, but the record said Carousel Records. What was up
Speaker 1: with that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was an offshoot of MCA. It was managed
Speaker 2: by a guy of the name of Rick. Oh what
Speaker 2: was his last name, Rick? I can't remember, Rick Frio,
Speaker 2: Rick Frio, Yeah it was. It was his his deal
Speaker 2: with mc A.
Speaker 1: Okay, could you believe you had another hit?
Speaker 2: No? No, it's like ten years later is another one coming?
Speaker 2: So no, I you know, that's what you hope for,
Speaker 2: but you don't really expect it. It's just like I
Speaker 2: say that, that stuff just happens. It's just he hit
Speaker 2: the radio and before I knew it, it was happening
Speaker 2: all over again.
Speaker 1: Okay, and do you immediately go on the road.
Speaker 2: No, we don't. We Uh. What we do is we
Speaker 2: start hearing. We start hearing a bunch of clamoring to
Speaker 2: put the band together. So so first of all, I
Speaker 2: put I put me, and Mark put the band together.
Speaker 2: We just I remember going to a local place here
Speaker 2: in New Brighton and hearing some some dude play from Erie, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: Who well, I said, yeah, this this guy could do it.
Speaker 2: So his name is Marty Lee. He's my guitar player
Speaker 2: to this day. He came and joined the band. And
Speaker 2: that was one guy. Mark Avsek knew this drummer by
Speaker 2: the name of Kevin Valentine, so he had Kevin on board.
Speaker 2: And I knew this bass player by the name of
Speaker 2: al Britton McClain who also decided to come into the
Speaker 2: studio and play on it. He was on board. And
Speaker 2: then of course me and Mark and then we we
Speaker 2: put it all together. And then, like I say, there
Speaker 2: was a clamoring to put the band together. So we
Speaker 2: reheart We rehearsed for I don't know two three, four weeks,
Speaker 2: and we put the band together, and before you know it,
Speaker 2: we're opening for Nazareth, seeger H, Teddy, Nugent, all these people.
Speaker 2: We're opening up for these great people.
Speaker 1: Some people have been in the business for a long
Speaker 1: time and they're friends with all these people. Are you
Speaker 1: the type of person you know who's friends with these people?
Speaker 1: You say, no, I'm a guy from outside Pittsburgh. I've
Speaker 1: met these people. I'm in my own world.
Speaker 2: Well I met you know. I think one of the
Speaker 2: best tours we did was was with Loverboy, because I
Speaker 2: got to meet these guys and we kind of had
Speaker 2: fun together. I mean, Mike, Mike know and I have
Speaker 2: become friends. Every once in a while run into them
Speaker 2: because we're doing a recent show somewhere. But yeah, we
Speaker 2: we did a tour through the Midwest. The lasted for
Speaker 2: maybe I don't know, three or four weeks or something
Speaker 2: like that, and they were they were just great Midwest entertainment,
Speaker 2: starved people and here comes lover Boy and Donnie Iris
Speaker 2: and we're rocking him to death. Big crowds, great, great crowds,
Speaker 2: and it was it was just that was the best
Speaker 2: tour I ever did, best tour I ever had.
Speaker 1: Okay, when you're an opening act for some of these stars,
Speaker 1: is the audience paying attention? Are you playing through people talking?
Speaker 1: What's it like?
Speaker 2: Yeah? It varies. The Loverboy tour was just great. They
Speaker 2: they they were into it no matter what. But when
Speaker 2: we first went out, we opened for Nazareth in Saint Louis,
Speaker 2: and you know, Nazareth. I looked out into the audience
Speaker 2: and I saw a sea of I don't know, camouflage,
Speaker 2: I don't know what. It was, just like, oh, this
Speaker 2: might be a problem. I get out there. I got
Speaker 2: my yellow suit on and my bow tie and all this,
Speaker 2: and I know they're going to hate me, and for
Speaker 2: sure they just they started booing from the first moment
Speaker 2: we laid from the first note, and we got through it.
Speaker 2: I think our set was like a half an hour.
Speaker 2: So we get through it, and we come to Leah
Speaker 2: and we start that and I can remember seeing the
Speaker 2: audience and all kind of turning around, looking at each
Speaker 2: other and saying, I know this song. I know this song.
Speaker 2: And at the end of it, by the end of it,
Speaker 2: they were clapping, and it was it was worth. It
Speaker 2: was worth all that craziness just just to hear that.
Speaker 1: Okay, So how much were you working. It sounds like
Speaker 1: you're working a lot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we were. We did. It's been it was
Speaker 2: such a whirlwind. I think we were going from one
Speaker 2: gig to another. I think we had a tour bus
Speaker 2: and all that stuff we were going. I don't know
Speaker 2: where we went after that, but I mean we were
Speaker 2: working we were definitely working.
Speaker 1: And now it's the MTV era and there's a video. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: will tell us about that, all right, which one do
Speaker 1: you want?
Speaker 2: Which one?
Speaker 1: Were talking about it from the very beginning.
Speaker 2: Aliah oh okay u Aliah somehow gets on MTV and
Speaker 2: Agnes somehow gets on MTV uh as recordings and we're like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're on MTV, man, we're on MTV and
Speaker 2: uh but then they added they added uh uh Leah
Speaker 2: the live version from uh from where we were playing
Speaker 2: in Cleveland. But yeah, I mean it was great stuff,
Speaker 2: great stuff.
Speaker 1: Okay, are you now recognized because you're on MTV?
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, yeah, now now and then now and then
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 1: What about in the height in the eighties.
Speaker 2: Yes, I remember going to a place called Kennywood Park
Speaker 2: here in here in Pittsburgh. It's a big amusement park.
Speaker 2: And I was there and people were coming over to me, man,
Speaker 2: like I was there with my daughters, my wife and
Speaker 2: my daughters getting trying to get them on rides and stuff.
Speaker 2: People are coming over and get my autograph and all
Speaker 2: this stuff. I'm thinking, Wow, what's going on? Man? They
Speaker 2: had recognized me?
Speaker 1: Yep, Okay, why was it called the Cruisers.
Speaker 2: Well, uh, originally I wanted to call ourselves the Turnpike
Speaker 2: Cruisers because it seemed like I was always going back
Speaker 2: and forth on the Turnpike, you know, to to Mark's house,
Speaker 2: to the studio here or there whatever. But after we
Speaker 2: thought about, we thought, oh, let's just change it to
Speaker 2: the cruisers. Cruisers would be better.
Speaker 1: And was it always going to be Donnie Iris and
Speaker 1: the Cruisers or was it the Cruisers and stuff? Was
Speaker 1: always going to be Donnie Iris and the Cruisers?
Speaker 2: It was, Yeah, it was always going to be Donnie Iris.
Speaker 2: I mean I was doing all the h not all
Speaker 2: of I mean, Mark did so many vocals with me,
Speaker 2: but usually uh, you know, the vocals were going to
Speaker 2: be basic my concern, and we just that's that's what
Speaker 2: we did.
Speaker 1: Okay, at some point you have to make another record.
Speaker 1: How does that happen?
Speaker 2: We decide to. We decided to come back here to
Speaker 2: this studio and we write some songs again. Some of
Speaker 2: them were some of them were written ahead of time,
Speaker 2: some of them were done in the studio as as
Speaker 2: jam sessions, and but we won this time. We wanted to,
Speaker 2: We wanted to have see. We mixed the first album
Speaker 2: Everything Right Here and the follow up album, King Cool Album.
Speaker 2: We wanted to have it mixed where the heck you are?
Speaker 2: Where we where? I can't remember where it was mixed,
Speaker 2: but we wanted a different place to mix it, and
Speaker 2: so we did. We got a different mastering people involved
Speaker 2: because we wanted to have more fidelity out of the songs.
Speaker 2: Because what we found out here was the most of
Speaker 2: the songs we did were kind of mid range ye
Speaker 2: in in in the spectrum of in highs and lows.
Speaker 2: It was more of a mid range thing, which might
Speaker 2: have been a good thing for the for the Aliah record.
Speaker 2: I don't know who knows, but we decided to do
Speaker 2: a different on the second album, and it's the second
Speaker 2: album sounded really good, I think.
Speaker 1: So. Tell me about the writing of Sweet Merrill Lee
Speaker 1: and was there in the back of your mind how
Speaker 1: do we follow up Alia?
Speaker 2: Well, uh, I got to give most of the credit
Speaker 2: for something like this to Mark. I mean Mark comes
Speaker 2: up with lyrics like he's waking up in the morning,
Speaker 2: you know, he's just like uh so he he put
Speaker 2: all the lyrics together, went into the studio said here
Speaker 2: you go. I went in started singing basically that's it.
Speaker 1: So what was the experience after the second record as
Speaker 1: opposed to the first?
Speaker 2: This experience after thee in.
Speaker 1: Terms of how did it feel, Alia was the biggest
Speaker 1: solo hit you ever had. So now you're following it
Speaker 1: up with King Cool. You're having success, But do you
Speaker 1: feel like you're losing momentum, maintaining momentum, gaining momentum? Oh?
Speaker 2: Oh, I thought we were pretty much maintaining what we
Speaker 2: had with King Kol because Love Is Like a Rock
Speaker 2: was fairly pop. There was a couple of other tunes
Speaker 2: on there that that we still do live that that
Speaker 2: people remember. I mean they were played enough to where
Speaker 2: they were recognizable, like a song called Tough World. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know, just little pickets, little things here and there.
Speaker 2: They're still recognized when we play them on stage other
Speaker 2: than the big hits.
Speaker 1: So tell me about coming up with Love Is Like
Speaker 1: a Rock.
Speaker 2: That was an in studio jam. We what we did
Speaker 2: was we had a tight tape machine and we made
Speaker 2: a loop out of it, a physical loop out of it,
Speaker 2: and you know, within a certain tempo. I mean, we
Speaker 2: had that we had the loops set up from one
Speaker 2: side of the studio to the other to make this
Speaker 2: big tape loop. Anyway, that's how we came up with
Speaker 2: the with the beat, and pretty soon Marty put in
Speaker 2: the uh, the riff, the guitar riff and the bass
Speaker 2: riff and this and that. It all came together and
Speaker 2: then the very end uh we wrote we wrote the
Speaker 2: lyric our Love is Like a Rock.
Speaker 1: So you worked that record, Tell me about recording the
Speaker 1: next record, The High End.
Speaker 2: Mighty, The High and Mighty. We had all kinds of
Speaker 2: problems with in the studio that some of the that
Speaker 2: was a that was a gut wrenching experience because the
Speaker 2: studio tape at the time wash was coming apart. They
Speaker 2: were the the not the shiny side, but the other
Speaker 2: side where the where the music's at it was. It
Speaker 2: was deteriorating for some reason. We had no reason, no
Speaker 2: idea why, but for that reason we had to We
Speaker 2: had to just like go with what we had. And
Speaker 2: it still didn't sound that bad. It came out okay,
Speaker 2: but just the vibe in the studio wasn't there that
Speaker 2: it should have been, and that's what I think, that's
Speaker 2: really why that album was not successful.
Speaker 1: So what's your attitude going into recording the next album?
Speaker 1: Fortune for ten.
Speaker 2: Ooh, we felt a little better, then felt a little better.
Speaker 2: I honestly don't remember what we've done this, Like, I
Speaker 2: don't ten to twelve albums, and I don't remember exactly
Speaker 2: what songs are on there.
Speaker 1: Well, let me talk about some of my favorite songs. Well,
Speaker 1: can you tell me about Stage Door, Johnny?
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I like that tune. I thought that was
Speaker 2: a good tune. Yeah, we don't do it anymore, but
Speaker 2: because not that people, not that many people remember it.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I thought that was a good song. It's
Speaker 2: one that we could have continued on, continued on with.
Speaker 2: But I think that whole record, that whole the whole
Speaker 2: story behind it, just give us a bad taste of
Speaker 2: what can happen when things are right in the studio.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just, you know, we stayed away from
Speaker 2: that record as much as possible.
Speaker 1: Well, what was such a bad experience in the studio.
Speaker 2: Well, the problems that we were having with tape, with
Speaker 2: the problems with the studio, everything was the things just
Speaker 2: weren't right.
Speaker 1: Actually, I'm talking about the next album, Fortune for ten.
Speaker 1: What was your experience recording that?
Speaker 2: Oh? Uh, Fortune for ten was it was a pretty
Speaker 2: good time. I remember. I remember doing the songs and
Speaker 2: taking them into uh take him to Cleveland, try to
Speaker 2: get some uh uh some airplay on it. I went
Speaker 2: to see kid Leo. Uh do you remember him Choreo
Speaker 2: of course mms, yeah, yeah, we I remember going in
Speaker 2: and he said, well, what the heck is Fortune for Ten?
Speaker 2: I said, I said, you know what, it's my glasses,
Speaker 2: the glasses I used to wear. That's what the name
Speaker 2: of the glasses were, Fortune for ten. That I told
Speaker 2: him that's what it is.
Speaker 1: How did you decide to name the album Fortune for ten?
Speaker 2: Well, I'll be like I said, it's just, uh, let's
Speaker 2: give it a name. So I named it after my glasses.
Speaker 1: And then and my other favorite song on that album
Speaker 1: is Never Did. Can you tell me anything about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That Never Did us a good song. That was
Speaker 2: written by Albritton McClain or bass player who's a massive,
Speaker 2: massive talent in his own right. He sings, he plays,
Speaker 2: he he was he was a gifted player. This guy.
Speaker 2: I mean, he brought a lot to the table if
Speaker 2: if musicians listened to the bass and some of the
Speaker 2: stuff he does he does on My Girl and uh
Speaker 2: and some of the other things that he does little
Speaker 2: nuances that he does. He's he's he's just he's just
Speaker 2: a cut above. He's got natural ability.
Speaker 1: On that album, there's a song do you Compute? This
Speaker 1: was before everybody had a computer on their desk at home.
Speaker 1: Where did that even come from?
Speaker 2: It came from Mark. He bought the guitar. The atari
Speaker 2: thing is. Yeah, Uh, he bought that, and uh he said, Man,
Speaker 2: we got to get into this uh this computer thing,
Speaker 2: I said, And if we would have had the money,
Speaker 2: we would have spent some money on uh, you know,
Speaker 2: on Microsoft and all that ship. We just we just
Speaker 2: didn't have the money. But anyway, yeah, we we got
Speaker 2: the computer. Mark was very much into computers. He still is.
Speaker 2: He's just like, well he's he's a genius. What can
Speaker 2: I say? But yeah, we just had fun with the
Speaker 2: video and that thought it was a pretty cool video.
Speaker 1: So then it ends with mc A. How does it
Speaker 1: end with m c A.
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's kind of a long story, but basically
Speaker 2: what happened is we weren't happy with what Rick Freo
Speaker 2: was doing on his end, uh, and Mike Belkan and
Speaker 2: I just, uh we just decided we wanted to get
Speaker 2: away from them and uh and move on. So we did.
Speaker 2: We did. There was a whole court thing involved in
Speaker 2: uh and uh. You know it ended up where they
Speaker 2: did let us go. So we were on our own time.
Speaker 2: We were fine.
Speaker 1: Okay, at what point do you realize, Wait a second,
Speaker 1: this isn't working. I'm gonna working at a mortgage shop.
Speaker 2: Oh let's see, No, when was this? This was? Okay? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Like right after that, right after that, me and a
Speaker 2: buddy of mine, we were kind of local celebrities around here.
Speaker 2: He he was a local celebrity because of football he played.
Speaker 2: He played for the Steelers. He played for Kansas State
Speaker 2: and he played for the Steelers, and he and I
Speaker 2: were kind of kind of a big deal around here.
Speaker 2: So this guy who owns a mortgage company says, I
Speaker 2: want you to come and work for me. We think
Speaker 2: we can use your names to do business. Okay, I'll
Speaker 2: give it a shot. So I had nothing else to do.
Speaker 2: We were involved in lawsuits and all kinds of shit.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to be bothered with. So so I
Speaker 2: become a mortgage broker and I did that for like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, six six seven years something like that
Speaker 2: started our own business, being two partners started owned business
Speaker 2: and mortgage business, made made money doing that and uh
Speaker 2: and eventually, of course, you know that isn't going to
Speaker 2: work out for me. I figured, Okay, we brought this
Speaker 2: business up into something, we'll sell it now. So we
Speaker 2: sold it, made some money on it. I went off
Speaker 2: my own and just I just kind of waited it
Speaker 2: out really to see what we were going to do.
Speaker 2: And Mark at the meantime was going to law school.
Speaker 2: He went to case Western University and graduated in like
Speaker 2: two and a half years. And because of all these
Speaker 2: lawsuits and stuff that we were getting involved in, I
Speaker 2: guess he wanted to be a music infringement attorney. You know,
Speaker 2: he figured he he was always calling there and so
Speaker 2: that's what he's doing now. And he's doing great at it.
Speaker 2: He's like he's making just you know, lawyers, they make
Speaker 2: tons of money, and God bless him, he's doing great.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: We're still going out and having a good time doing shows,
Speaker 2: just handpicking these great shows we're going to. We are
Speaker 2: going to the Bahamas the February or March or next
Speaker 2: year at We're gonna do some show with Billy Ocean
Speaker 2: or I think Billy Billy Ocean. Uh, Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: it's him and like two or three other like big
Speaker 2: name bands, and I'm like, I'm into it. Yeah, let's
Speaker 2: go because it's on a stage where the stage looks
Speaker 2: like a big clam. It's a big clam that we're
Speaker 2: going to sing on, and it's like, I can't wait. Man.
Speaker 1: Okay, would you make more money at being a mortgage
Speaker 1: broker or being a musician.
Speaker 2: Being a musician, No, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: Okay, So from beginning to end, how long were you
Speaker 1: a mortgage broker?
Speaker 2: Oh? Maybe five, six, seven years something like that.
Speaker 1: And what's the key to being a mortgage broker? The
Speaker 1: key to be successful? Oh?
Speaker 2: Oh, just it's like anything else, just like uh, getting
Speaker 2: to know people, getting to the getting to the getting
Speaker 2: to the point where you trust each other. You're doing
Speaker 2: trying to do them a good job. They're trying to
Speaker 2: do a good job too, and that's how you build
Speaker 2: up these uh these contacts. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Was it depressing to have a street job.
Speaker 2: No, not really. I mean I guess I guess it was.
Speaker 2: But I never got to a point where I let
Speaker 2: it really affect me. You know, I just went with
Speaker 2: the flow, and you know, everything was cool. It was successful.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was fine.
Speaker 1: Okay, tell me about the lawsuits.
Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you about the first one. The
Speaker 2: first one was over Leah. There was a guy from
Speaker 2: the from Detroit who claims that who used to who
Speaker 2: used to go into the studio. He used to make
Speaker 2: tapes like the little cassette tapes, and he would send
Speaker 2: them out to all the record companies, and he felt
Speaker 2: that we had to have heard his tape before we
Speaker 2: were able to do Leah, which of course was bullshit.
Speaker 2: I mean, we wrote that song down in my basement,
Speaker 2: you know. So anyway, we go to court for all this.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, we're spending all our money on lawyers
Speaker 2: and music experts, all this crap, spending all this money
Speaker 2: that should have been ours with the record and he
Speaker 2: So anyway, what it comes down to is we won
Speaker 2: the lawsuit. He didn't get anything, but we lost everything.
Speaker 2: We lost all the money from the fucking record. It
Speaker 2: was just like, oh, well, let's move on, you know,
Speaker 2: painful experience.
Speaker 1: And you're seeing another lawsuit.
Speaker 2: Oh, let me go back to this one. First. The
Speaker 2: lawyer for this guy from Detroit was Bob Sear's attorney.
Speaker 2: He was Bogs I mean, come on, man, I mean
Speaker 2: never mind. Anyway, the other lawsuit was the one with
Speaker 2: MCA we and the one we wanted to get away
Speaker 2: from them and move on, and in the end we did,
Speaker 2: but you know, they it was just it was just
Speaker 2: something that I guess had to go to court in
Speaker 2: order to have some sort of ending to it, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Was that expensive too?
Speaker 2: Yes? It was, Yes, it was. I mean, here's basically
Speaker 2: what happened was. I said Mike, my manager, I said, look,
Speaker 2: I ain't got the kind of money now to go
Speaker 2: do another lawsuit. He said, don't worry about it. We'll
Speaker 2: take care of it. So at least cost wise, I
Speaker 2: was okay.
Speaker 1: So, you least the leaking Continental at the height of
Speaker 1: the Rapper when it was Donnie iris and the Cruisers,
Speaker 1: was that ever financially successful.
Speaker 2: For you, Donnie Irison the Cruisers?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1: And at this late date, is there any income from
Speaker 1: those songs on those records?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 2: we're doing great gigs for the most part, sold out
Speaker 2: gigs to venues about you know, twenty twenty five hundred people.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean they're just they're great shows. Now
Speaker 2: I'm off for a while, but our next show will
Speaker 2: be in Pittsburgh with With Sticks and Reo Speedwagon, so
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to that. That's in August. But in
Speaker 2: the meantime, I'm just gonna relax, smoke cigars and have
Speaker 2: a good time.
Speaker 1: Okay, where did this cigar thing come from?
Speaker 2: You know? I used to smoke cigarettes like they were
Speaker 2: going out of style. I mean, I was smoking three
Speaker 2: packs a day. As soon as I woke up, I
Speaker 2: smoked a cigarette, as soon as I got on the phone,
Speaker 2: I smoked a cigarette. I mean. It was awful until
Speaker 2: one night we were doing the show somewhere. I don't
Speaker 2: remember where it was or anything, but I came close
Speaker 2: to passing out on the stage. It was so bad.
Speaker 2: So I got the nicotine gum, I got the patch,
Speaker 2: I got all that stuff to try to quit smoking.
Speaker 2: But eventually I came back around. Only this time I
Speaker 2: came back around to cigars because you don't have to
Speaker 2: inhale them. You can enjoy them for the pleasure of
Speaker 2: just blowing smoke. And I've had no problems since, no
Speaker 2: problems with my voice, no problems with energy, nothing.
Speaker 1: It works, just going back to the money for one second.
Speaker 1: What are you living on now? What's paying the bills? Now?
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's uh, it's gigs, royalties, social Security. Ah.
Speaker 2: But like every every every every quarter, I get a
Speaker 2: check for you know, all my songs and uh. And
Speaker 2: now I'm with Mark Avssek put me with Warner Chapel,
Speaker 2: who really gathers up great, great stuff, so I get
Speaker 2: some money from them. Uh, and I'm doing fine.
Speaker 1: So if you never did another gig, is there enough
Speaker 1: money from royalties to live on?
Speaker 2: Mmm? Yeah, I think so with the with the Roorty
Speaker 2: money and the Social Security, I could I could get by.
Speaker 2: But I don't plan on quitting anytime too. I mean
Speaker 2: something would something bad would have to happen, and I'm
Speaker 2: hoping that doesn't happen because I'm want to keep going.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back a step. You leave mc A.
Speaker 1: When you leave mc A, are you feeling like that's
Speaker 1: such a bad situation. I just got to get out
Speaker 1: of here or is it more of if we're with
Speaker 1: somebody else, we're going to have more success.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we weren't sure. We just wanted we
Speaker 2: just wanted to get away from them, and we knew
Speaker 2: our people, you know, Mike Belch and the CARMANDERI and
Speaker 2: those guys. They knew enough people that maybe we get
Speaker 2: a shot to somebody else. But basically we wanted away
Speaker 2: from m c A. They were at that time, they
Speaker 2: were really not not that good a record company as
Speaker 2: far as we were concerned. So, you know, whatever whatever
Speaker 2: happens after that, we thought, you know, we gave m
Speaker 2: c A a shot. It didn't happen. We'll just take
Speaker 2: our chances from here on out.
Speaker 1: Okay, you take your chances. You never have major success
Speaker 1: after that? What did it feel like? And at what
Speaker 1: point did you give up the dream?
Speaker 2: Oh? Hm uh, you know, I don't know. Something something inside,
Speaker 2: I guess keeps you going. And the fact that Mark
Speaker 2: Avsek and I were, you know, just such good friends
Speaker 2: and we've been through so much that you know, we figured,
Speaker 2: you know, just let's just keep going. And then there's
Speaker 2: and then this cancer thing happens, and and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden be I think, because at least partial partially
Speaker 2: because of it, we're getting all these great gigs again,
Speaker 2: and we're playing in front of a lot of people,
Speaker 2: and uh, and we're just basically hardly even believe in it.
Speaker 2: But here it is again, and we're just we keep
Speaker 2: looking forward to more shows because there's so much fun
Speaker 2: anymore that I mean, I'm just enjoying it. I'm enjoying
Speaker 2: it like it's the first time I've ever played. It's
Speaker 2: been great.
Speaker 1: Well, I've enjoyed talking to you, Donnie. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for talking to my audience. I wish you good health.
Speaker 1: May you die on stage in your nineties.
Speaker 2: That's what I plan on doing, brother, And thank you
Speaker 2: for everything. Bob, It's been a pleasure, man.
Speaker 1: You bet till next time. This is Bob left set