American singer-songwriter
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You know Rob McNelley's work. He's written with country music legends like Dolly Parton, Bob Seeger and Lady A. Now, he's putting out his own music and, surprise surprise, it's really good. For more information, you can follow Rob on Instagram, @rmcnelley.Plus, Heidi sees Bob Dylan for the first time and has her life forever changed.
Candyman and Cultural Contradictions: Grateful Dead's Egypt AdventureIn this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, host Larry Mishkin highlights two key topics: a favorite Grateful Dead show and his recent experiences at Goose concerts. First, Larry talks about an iconic Grateful Dead concert that took place on September 16, 1978, at the Sun et Lumiere Theater in Giza, Egypt, near the pyramids and the Sphinx. This event is special not just for its unique location but also for featuring collaborations with Egyptian musician Hamza El Din, who joined the Dead for a jam session. The Egypt shows are remembered for their blend of American rock and ancient Egyptian culture, marking a historic moment in music history.Larry also reflects on the song "Candyman" by the Grateful Dead, exploring its themes of melancholy and contradiction within the counterculture of the 1960s. He discusses how the song portrays a sympathetic yet flawed character, and how it resonates with the complex dynamics of that era, blending elements of peace, revolution, and criminality.Switching gears, Larry shares his recent experiences attending two Goose concerts in Chicago. He highlights Goose's cover of Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights" and talks about the band's growing popularity. Larry attended the concerts with family and friends and praises the outdoor venue in Chicago, noting its impressive atmosphere and the city's skyline as a backdrop. He fondly recalls his connections to Bob Seger's music from his youth and marvels at how younger bands like Goose continue to bring classic rock into their performances. Grateful DeadSeptember 16, 1978 (46 years ago)Son Et Lumiere Theater (aka Sphinx Theatre)Giza, EgyptGrateful Dead Live at Sphinx Theatre on 1978-09-16 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive Giza (/ˈɡiːzə/; sometimes spelled Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza; Arabic: الجيزة, romanized: al-Jīzah, pronounced [ald͡ʒiːzah], Egyptian Arabic: الجيزةel-Gīza[elˈgiːzæ])[3] is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 4,872,448 in the 2017 census.[4] It is located on the west bank of the Nile opposite central Cairo, and is a part of the Greater Cairo metropolis. Giza lies less than 30 km (18.64 mi) north of Memphis (Men-nefer, today the village of Mit Rahina), which was the capital city of the unified Egyptian state during the reign of pharaoh Narmer, roughly 3100 BC. Giza is most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau, the site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, among which are the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids and temples. Giza has always been a focal point in Egypt's history due to its location close to Memphis, the ancient pharaonic capital of the Old Kingdom. Son et lumière (French pronunciation: [sɔ̃n e lymjɛʁ] (French, lit. "sound and light")), or a sound and light show, is a form of nighttime entertainment that is usually presented in an outdoor venue of historic significance.[1] Special lighting effects are projected onto the façade of a building or ruin and synchronized with recorded or live narration and music to dramatize the history of the place.[1] The invention of the concept is credited to Paul Robert-Houdin, who was the curator of the Château de Chambord in France, which hosted the world's first son et lumière in 1952.[1] Another was established in the early 1960s at the site of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and a star attraction in Egypt, the pyramids of Giza offer a completely different experience at night, when lasers, lights, and visual projections bring their history to life. Here's how to visit the pyramids after dark. The sound and light show at Giza takes place every night for 55 minutes by the Great Sphinx of king Kephren, it is a laser show with history narration of your own language. Kyle FitzgeraldThe National Standing under a total lunar eclipse at the foot of ancient power by the Great Pyramid, the Grateful Dead were concluding the final show of their three-night run at the Sound and Light Theatre in Giza in 1978.His hair in pigtails, guitarist Jerry Garcia wove the outro of the percussive Nubian composition Olin Arageed into an extended opening of Fire on the Mountain. “There were Bedouins out on the desert dancing … It was amazing, it really was amazing,” Garcia said in a 1979 radio interview. The September 14-16 shows in Giza were the ultimate experiment for the American band – the first to play at the pyramids – known for pushing music beyond the realms of imagination. And just as the Grateful Dead were playing in the centre of ancient Egypt, a landmark peace treaty was being brokered in the US that would reshape geopolitics in the Middle East. For as the Grateful Dead arrived in Egypt as cultural ambassadors, on the other side of the world US president Jimmy Carter had gathered his Egyptian counterpart Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin to broker the Camp David Accords that led to an Egyptian-Israeli peace settlement. “No show that they have ever done has the international significance of their three performances in Egypt,” said Richard Loren, the Grateful Dead's manager from 1974-1981. “When we left the stage on the last show, everybody was high on acid, and the first news that came on: They signed the Camp David agreement. Sadat, Begin and Carter signed the agreement in Camp David. This happened during those three days.” Loren, who produced the shows, credited his friendship with Jefferson Airplane vocalist Marty Balin, who had a keen interest in Egypt, for developing his own fascination with the country. “The lead singer for Jefferson Airplane is the seed that resulted in the Grateful Dead playing in Egypt,” he said. Loren recalled riding a camel around the pyramid site during a three-week visit in 1975. To his right were the pyramids. In front of him, the Sphinx. “And I look down and I see a stage, and a light bulb went off in my head immediately. The Grateful Dead ought to play in Egypt,” he said. Loren, associate Alan Trist and Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh formed a scouting committee that would be responsible for liaising with American and Egyptian officials, Secret Service members and Egyptian first lady Jehan Sadat to allow the Grateful Dead to play in front of the pyramids. After the mission to the proposed site, meetings in Washington and Egypt, discussions with government officials and a party for the consulate, the band still needed to convince officials the purpose of the show was to make music – not money. And so the Dead paid their own expenses and offered to donate all the proceeds.Half would be donated to the Faith and Hope Society – the Sadats' favourite charity – and the other to Egypt's Department of Antiquities. “It was a sales pitch by the three of us – Alan, Richard and Phil,” Loren said. A telegram was sent on March 21, 1978, confirming the Grateful Dead would perform two open-air shows at the Sound and Light in front of the Great Pyramid and Sphinx. They would go on to play three shows. Describing the planning, bassist Phil Lesh said, "It sort of became my project because I was one of the first people in the band who was on the trip of playing at places of power. You know, power that's been preserved from the ancient world. The pyramids are like the obvious number one choice because no matter what anyone thinks they might be, there is definitely some kind of mojo about the pyramids."[11]Rather than ship all of the required sound reinforcement equipment from the United States, the PA and a 24-track, mobile studio recording truck were borrowed from the Who, in the UK. The Dead crew set up their gear at the open-air theater on the east side of the Great Sphinx, for three nights of concerts. The final two, September 15 & 16, 1978, are excerpted for the album. The band referred to their stage set-up as "The Gizah Sound and Light Theater". The final night's performance coincided with a total lunar eclipse. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann played with a cast, having broken his wrist while horseback riding. The King's Chamber of the nearby Great Pyramid of Giza was rigged with a speaker and microphone in a failed attempt to live-mix acoustical echo.[12] Lesh recalled that through the shows he observed "an increasing number of shadowy figures gathering just at the edge of the illuminated area surrounding the stage and audience – not locals, as they all seem to be wearing the same garment, a dark, hooded robe. These, it turns out, are the Bedouin, the nomadic horsemen of the desert: drawn in by the music and lights... each night they have remained to dance and sway rhythmically for the duration of the show."[13] Kreutzmann recalls "Egypt instantly became the biggest, baddest, and most legendary field trip that we took during our entire thirty years as a band... It was priceless and perfect and, at half a million dollars, a bargain in the end. Albeit, a very expensive bargain."[14] The concerts weren't expected to be profitable (proceeds were donated to the Department of Antiquities and a charity chosen by Jehan Sadat). Costs were to be offset by the production of a triple-live album; however, performances did not turn out as proficient as planned, musically, and technical problems plagued the recordings.[10] The results were shelved as the band focused instead on a new studio album, Shakedown Street. INTRO: Candyman Track #3 2:54 – 4:50 From Songfacts: the American Beauty album is infused with sadness. Jerry Garcia's mother was still seriously injured and her still fate uncertain following an automotive accident, while Phil Lesh was still grieving his father's passing. The melancholic aura comes through in "Candyman" as much as any other song on the album.The effect of the melodic sadness on the song's context is interesting, to say the least. It makes everything about the candyman character in the song seem sympathetic, when the lyrics suggest that he is anything but. Dead lyricist Robert Hunter said he certainly didn't resonate with the character's penchant for violence (more on that below).The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang defines the term "candyman" primarily as a drug dealer and secondarily as a man who is lucky in general and lucky with women in particular. The latter version seems to fit better with the song, as the character announces his arrival to all the women in town and tells them they ought to open their windows (presumably to let him in). While there's no evidence to suggest that Hunter was getting at anything too deep with the song, "Candyman" does provide an interesting perspective on the contradictions of the 1960s counterculture. Mixed in with all the peaceniks and flowers were hard-drug pushers, violent revolutionaries, and common criminals. By 1970, this stew had long since become so mixed-up that its attendant parts could no longer be cleanly extracted from each other. The fact that American Beauty came out in the midst of the Manson Family "hippie cult killings" trial says just about all that needs to be said about the complicated reality that had arisen out of the 1960s counterculture.Beyond all that, though, the outlaw song that romanticizes criminality is a long-held and cherished tradition in American music. With American Beauty, Jerry Garcia wanted the Dead to do something like "California country western," where they focused more on the singing than on the instrumentation. So the sang Hunter's lyrics: Good mornin', Mr. BensonI see you're doin' wellIf I had me a shotgunI'd blow you straight to HellThis is an oddly violent line for a song by the Grateful Dead, who sought to embody the '60s peace-and-love ethos about as sincerely and stubbornly as any act to come out of the era. It always got a raucous applause from the audience, too, which seems equally incongruous with the Deadhead culture.Hunter was bothered by the cheers. In an interview published in Goin' Down the Road by Blair Jackson (p. 119), he brings this phenomenon up when asked if any of his songs has been widely misinterpreted. He mentions that he had first witnessed an audience's enthusiastic response to violence while watching the 1975 dystopian film Rollerball and "couldn't believe" the cheers.Hunter tells Jackson that he hopes fans know that the perspective in "Candyman" is from a character and not from himself. He stresses the same separation between himself and the womanizer in "Jack Straw." As far as the Mr. Benson in "Candyman," David Dodd in the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics makes a great case for that being Sheriff Benson from Leadbelly's "Midnight Special" (who may very well have been based on a real sheriff). If true, this might place "Candyman" in Houston, Texas (though Hunter might not have had anything so specific in mind). Almost always a first set song. Often featured in acoustic sets, back in the day. This version features this awesome Garcia solo that we were listing to. Maybe he was inspired by the pyramids or whatever magical spirits might have come out from within to see this American band the Grateful Dead. Hopefully, it made those spirits grateful themselves. Played: 273First: April 3, 1970 at Armory Fieldhouse, Cincinnati, OH, USALast: June 30, 1995 at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA, USA SHOW No. 1: Hamza El Din Track #10 7:30 – 9:00 Hamza El Din (Arabicحمزة علاء الدين) (July 10, 1929 – May 22, 2006) was an Egyptian Nubian composer, oudplayer, tar player, and vocalist. He was born in southern Egypt and was an internationally known musician of his native region Nubia, situated on both sides of the Egypt–Sudan border. After musical studies in Cairo, he lived and studied in Italy, Japan and the United States. El Din collaborated with a wide variety of musical performers, including Sandy Bull, the Kronos Quartet and the Grateful Dead. His performances attracted the attention of the Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan in the 1960s, which led to a recording contract and to his eventual emigration to the United States. In 1963, El Din shared an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area with folk musician Sandy Bull. Following his appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, he recorded two albums for Vanguard Records, released 1964–65. His 1971 recording Escalay: The Water Wheel, published by Nonesuch Records and produced by Mickey Hart, has been recognized as one of the first world music recordings to gain wide release in the West, and was claimed as an influence by some American minimalist composers, such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, as well as by Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart.[1] He also performed with the Grateful Dead, most famously during their Egypt concerts of 1978. During these three shows, Hamza El Din, performed as a guest and played his composition "Ollin Arageed" He was backed by the students of his Abu Simbel school and accompanied by the Grateful Dead. After Egypt, hamza el din played with the dead in the U.S. On October 21st, back in 1978, the Grateful Dead were in the midst of wrapping up a fiery five-night run at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom. This string of shows was particularly special for the band, as they marked the first shows played by the Dead following their now-legendary performances near the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt a month prior. n an effort to bring their experiences in Northern Africa home with them to share with their fans, the Dead's '78 Winterland run saw sit-ins by Egyptian percussionist, singer, and oud player Hamza El Din. On October 21st, El Din opened the show solo, offering his divine percussion before the Grateful Dead slowly emerged to join him for an ecstatic rendition of “Ollin Arageed”, a number based off a Nubian wedding tune, before embarking on a soaring half-acoustic, half-electric jam, that we will get to on the other side of Music News: MUSIC NEWS: Lead in music: Goose — "Hollywood Nights" (Bob Seger) — Fiddler's Green — 6/8/24 (youtube.com) 0:00 – 1:10 Goose covering Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band's Hollywood Nights, this version from earlier this year but Goose did play it Friday night in Chicago at the Salt Shed's Festival stage outside along the Chicago river with the Skyline in the background. Very impressive. "Hollywood Nights" is a song written and recorded by American rock artist Bob Seger. It was released in 1978 as the second single from his album, Stranger in Town. Seger said "The chorus just came into my head; I was driving around in the Hollywood Hills, and I started singing 'Hollywood nights/Hollywood hills/Above all the lights/Hollywood nights.' I went back to my rented house, and there was a Time with Cheryl Tiegs on the cover...I said 'Let's write a song about a guy from the Midwest who runs into someone like this and gets caught up in the whole bizarro thing.'" [1] Seger also said that "Hollywood Nights" was the closest he has had to a song coming to him in a dream, similar to how Keith Richards described the riff to "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" coming to him in a dream. Robert Clark Seger (/ˈsiːɡər/SEE-gər; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet (1976), recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums. A roots rock musician with a classic raspy, powerful voice, Seger is known for his songs concerning love, women, and blue-collar themes, and is one of the best-known artists of the heartland rock genre. He has recorded many hits, including "Night Moves", "Turn the Page", "Mainstreet", "Still the Same", "Hollywood Nights", "Against the Wind", "You'll Accomp'ny Me", "Shame on the Moon", "Roll Me Away", "Like a Rock", and "Shakedown", the last of which was written for the 1987 film Beverly Hills Cop II and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also co-wrote the Eagles' number-one hit "Heartache Tonight", and his recording of "Old Time Rock and Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001. Which leads us to: Goose plays three nights in Chicago: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night at the Salt Shed. I caught the Thursday and Friday show. Went with my wife on Thursday and hung out with good friends John and Marnie, her brothers Rick and Joel, Stephan and others. Friday with my son Daniel and good buddy Kevin who got us rock star parking and even more impressively killer seats dead center at the bottom of the grandstands in the back of the floor, a few feet off the floor and dead center so we could see everything, hear everything and have a place to sit and rest for a few minutes when needed. I have to say, I've now seen Goose five times and enjoy them more and more. Great musical jams, great light show, lots of good energy from the band and the fans. Rick Mitoratando is a first class guitartist and singer, Peter Anspach on keyboard and guitar and vocals, Jeff Arevalo, percussionist, Trevor Weekz on bass and newcomer, Cotter Ellis on drums, replacing original drummer, Ben Askind. Began playing in 2014 in Wilton Connecticut so this is their 10 year and they are just getting stronger. They really love what they do and its shows in their live performances. Great set lists in Chicago: Thursday night they were joined on stage by Julian Lage, a jazz composer and guitarist for the last two songs of the first set, A Western Sun and Turned Clouds. If you have not yet seen Goose you need to see Goose. Soon. Jane's Addiction Concert Ends Abruptly After Perry Farrell Punches Dave Navarro Onstage 3. Jane's Addiction Offer ‘Heartfelt Apology' for Fight, Cancel Sunday's Show Phish announce 3 night run in Albany Oct. 25 – 27 to benefit Divided Sky Foundation A residential program for people recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. The Divided Sky Foundation, a 46-bed nonprofit recovery center spearheaded by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, will be an abstinence-based, nonmedical residence, one of the first ofits kind in Vermont. The Divided Sky Foundation is a charitable nonprofit founded by Anastasio; it purchased the Ludlow location to create a substance-use disorder treatment center back in 2021. Anastasio, Phish's lead guitarist and vocalist, has dealt publicly with his own drug and alcohol use and later sobriety, a journey that brought him under the supervision of drug court in Washington County, New York, in the mid-2000s. There, he met Gulde, who worked in the court system at the time, and the two have stayed friends since. Together, Gulde and Anastasio used their personal experiences with treatment facilities to implement a vision for the Ludlow space, she said. Very cool organization, deserves everyone's support. Trey turned it around which is why he is now 5 years older than Jerry was when he died in 1995 and Trey and Phish are just getting stronger and stronger. SHOW No. 2: Ollin Arageed Track #11 13:10 – 14:42 Musical composition written by Hamza El-Din. He and members of the Abu Simbel School of Luxor choir opened the shows with his composition Olin Arageed on nights one and two, and opened set two of night three with the song as well. Joined on stage by the band. Fun, different and a shout out to the locals. The Dead played it a few more times with Hamza and then retired it for good. SHOW No. 3: Fire On The Mountain Track #12 13:00 – end INTO Iko Iko Track #13 0:00 – 1:37 This transition is one of my all time Dead favorites. Out of a stand alone Fire (no Scarlet lead in) into a sublime and spacey Iko Iko. Another perfect combination for the pyramids, sphinx and full lunar eclipse.A great reason to listen to this show and these two tunes. MJ NEWS: MJ Lead in Song Still Blazin by Wiz Khalifa: Still Blazin (feat. Alborosie) (youtube.com) 0:00 – 0:45 We talked all about Wiz Khalifa on last week's episode after I saw him headline the Miracle in Mundelein a week ago. But did not have a chance to feature any of his tunes last week. This one is a natural for our show. This song is from Kush & Orange Juice (stylized as Kush and OJ) is the eighth mixtape by American rapper Wiz Khalifa. It was released on April 14, 2010, by Taylor Gang Records and Rostrum Records. Kush & Orange Juice gained notoriety after its official release by making it the number-one trending topic on both Google and Twitter.[1] On the same day, a link to the mixtape was posted for download on Wiz's Twitter.[2] The hashtag#kushandorangejuice became the number-six trending topic on the microblogging service after its release and remained on the top trending items on Twitter for three days.[ 1. Nixon Admitted Marijuana Is ‘Not Particularly Dangerous' In Newly Discovered Recording2. Marijuana Use By Older Americans Has Nearly Doubled In The Last Three Years, AARP-Backed Study Shows3. Medical Marijuana Helps People With Arthritis And Other Rheumatic Conditions Reduce Use Of Opioids And Other Medications, Study Shows4. U.S. Marijuana Consumers Have Spent More Than $4.1 Billion On Pre-Rolled Joints In The Past Year And A Half, Industry Report Finds SHOW No. 4: Sunrise Track #162:08 – 3:37 Grateful dead song written, music and lyrics by Donna Jean Godchaux. Released on Terrapin Station album, July 27, 1977 There are two accounts of the origins of this song, both of which may be true. One is that it is about Rolling Thunder, the Indian Shaman, conducting a ceremony (which certainly fits with many of the lyrics). The other is that it was written by Donna in memory of Rex Jackson, one of the Grateful Dead's crew (after whom the Rex Foundation is named). The song is about a Native American medicine man named Rolling Thunder, who spent a lot of time with the Dead."'Sunrise' is about sunrise services we attended and what Rolling Thunder would do," Godchaux said on the Songfacts Podcast. "It's very literal actually. Rolling Thunder would conduct a sunrise service, so that's how that came about."Donna Jean Godchaux wrote this song on piano after Jerry Garcia asked her to write a song for the Terrapin Station album. She said it just flowed out of her - music and lyrics - and was one of the easiest songs she ever wrote.The drumming at the end of the song was played by a real medicine man. "We cut it in Los Angeles, and he came and brought the medicine drum, so what you hear on the end is the real deal," Godchaux told Songfacts. "It was like a sanctuary in that studio when he was playing that. It was very heavy." It was played regularly by the Grateful Dead in 1977 and 1978 (Donna left the band in early 1979).This version is the last time the band ever played it. Played: 30 timesFirst: May 1, 1977 at The Palladium, New York, NY, USALast: September 16, 1978 at the Pyramids, Giza Egypt OUTRO: Shakedown Street Track #17 3:07 – 4:35 Title track from Shakedown Street album November 8, 1978 One of Jerry's best numbers. A great tune that can open a show, open the second set, occasionally played as an encore, but not here. It is dropped into the middle of the second set as the lead in to Drums. This is only the second time the song is played by the band. Played: 164 timesFirst: August 31, 1978 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO, USALast: July 9, 1995 at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL – opened the second set, the final set of music ever performed by the band. Shout outs: Karen Shmerling's birthday This week my beautiful granddaughter, Ruby, is coming to town to visit. Can't wait to see her and her parents. .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast
How do you turn a lifelong passion for music, radio, and video games into a successful career in voice acting? Join me as I chat with Jim Fronk, a seasoned radio veteran who transitioned into voice acting, entertaining people with his dynamic performances and engaging characters. But that's not all, Jim's talents extend beyond the microphone. He's also a whizz in website development, skills he's utilized to build successful websites for fellow voice actors. He delves deep into the magic of website creation, including the critical elements of a voiceover website and how you can create a one-page website in record time. Get ready to be inspired, entertained, and better yet, educated by Jim's wealth of knowledge and experience in the voice acting industry. Don't miss out! About Jim Jim has always been creative and secretively a tech geek. While working at radio stations, he gravitated towards graphic arts and webmaster duties. Through the years he created websites, not only for some of his ventures but for other radio friends and their DJ/entertainment side hustles. When Jim entered the VO world, he was amazed at how much it cost to have a basic cookie-cutter website built for a voice actor. So Jim created his 3-Hour Learn-By-Doing Website Creation Class. For a fraction of the cost, he teaches you how to create, update, and expand your own VO website as your business expands. Check out www.WebsitesForVO.com for more details. 00:01 - Intro (Other) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a V-O boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. 00:20 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the V-O Boss podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am very excited to be here with a very special guest, our 20-plus year radio vet turned voice actor, Jim Fronk. Oh, thanks for having me. Oh, jim, jim, jim, let me just tell the listeners a little bit about you, oh by all means. 00:40 I'm glad that you were so excited. Thank you for being here, jim. Let me tell our listeners a little bit about you. You've been behind the microphone in your happy place since you were 10, the tender age of 10. And since then, jim has been acting and singing his way into our hearts, doing improv, stand-up comedy, live, announcing, djing on air, and now he's in his very own 5x8 padded closet capturing our hearts. So, jim, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here with us today. 01:10 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Well, thank you, I'm glad that I'm padded, because the funny thing is I got out of radio because it got so impersonal. I started voice tracking and I was on nine different stations, six different states, at the same time, and I was just in a 10x10 room recording and I'm sick of that, so I ended up in a 5x8 room. 01:28 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Now a 5x8. Yeah, somehow that's smaller, so okay, but it's padded, so that's better. 01:33 - Jim Fronk (Guest) And this is my happy place. I love being here, I love playing behind the microphone. So I started at 10 years old singing. My dad always said that I would either be a politician or a radio disc jockey. Because of my gift of gab and the way that I like to spin the truth now and then, what would you sing? 01:50 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That's my question. What genre would you sing? Jazz, you sing in classic rock. 01:54 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Classic rock for the most part. 01:56 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Classic rock yeah. 01:58 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Actually back in 2000,. I was Ed McMahon's nextbigstarcom winner of the rock category. What did you sing? I sang Better Roses by Bon Jovi. 02:07 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh, my God. Of course, at least she sang Bon Jovi. I was just going to say I'm thinking, bob Seeger, I don't know why. I've done some Bob. Yeah, I've done some Bob Seeger, I like the doors, yeah. 02:16 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I like the doors, my go-to when the bands are playing and they're like hey, come on up and sing. My go-to is Roadhouse Blues. 02:22 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh God, if we are lucky bosses, we might get to hear, I don't know, a bar or two. 02:27 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Maybe if you go to Uncle Roy's this year or maybe actually if you went to Uncle. Roy's next year. I'll talk to them. 02:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Next year. Oh yeah, hey, I personally have never heard you sing and I would absolutely love to hear you sing. 02:39 - Jim Fronk (Guest) You might be able to YouTube something Just saying there might be some poison out there. 02:44 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Before we talk a little bit more about your journey into voiceover, because you've had such a long history behind the mic, I need to ask you about the 7.36 pounds of shelled blue peanut M&Ms that you requested from me in my little inquiry into hey, you want to be a podcast guest? What do you require? And so you asked me for shelled blue peanut M&Ms, and I could only find the brown ones. 03:08 - Jim Fronk (Guest) And yet they're still not here. 03:10 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Somehow, oh, but they're virtually here. 03:11 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Oh, virtually Okay, great, I don't know. I was just trying to think of something weird to put on there that I need, because I really don't need anything. 03:20 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I'm actually kind of hungry for some M&Ms. But, Jim, it's already been a wonderful five minutes chatting with you. I can't wait to dive deeper into your journey. So share with our listeners how your journey kind of got to be 20 plus years behind the mic doing radio. How did you get there? As a small child you were singing, right. Were you singing classic rock at the age of 10? 03:43 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Well, I was singing what was considered just normal pop music, I guess, yeah, and then classic rock was just music, but I did that. But when I got into school I really got into mixing things and I was making mixtapes before mixtapes were a thing. 03:59 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I made mixtapes. I remember them. 04:01 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I was scratching records so things would skip at a certain point and you put a quarter on top, make a knot skip. No-transcript, Mr Jaws, Dr Demento. 04:11 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh God, yes, I might be dating myself here, but I listen to Dr Demento every Sunday evening. Love Dr. 04:16 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Demento oh my God my favorite show. But they always had Mr Jaws. It was kind of like Mr Jaws, so why are you here? Right now, and then it'd be a song, so I used to try to do those myself. 04:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And Delilah. I listened to Delilah too. Delilah yes, yeah, delilah's on the air forever. But then I got into radio. 04:33 - Jim Fronk (Guest) When I was in high school, I was at a party. 04:35 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Okay. 04:36 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I was a senior, it was a junior's party. He was trying to be class president and I was just there being me. I mean, I am your extrovert, you know I talk to everybody, I say hi to everybody. It gets me in trouble sometimes, but whatever. But I was just being me and this guy walked up and said hey, listen, I'm the lawyer of this small little cable radio station downtown Woburn, which is my hometown. He goes do you want to try out? Okay, so I went home the next day. I got my Peter Brady tape recorder. We have to hold down the record and you know what I'm talking about. 05:04 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I know exactly. I used one of those in college when I was recording textbooks on tape. Oh, there you go. I know the realistic. Or it was a Panasonic, I can't remember. 05:13 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I think it was realistic because I did have a radio shack within walking distance and my transistor was in there. Everybody did. 05:19 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wait, I'm sorry, but we're just going all over the place. So my brothers are very much into Heath Kits, heath Kits, heath Kits. Yeah, building electronics Like we did that from Radio Show. Oh my God, they would just build their own little like transistor radios and stuff. 05:29 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I never got into that but I mean, as I got into radio I did get my engineering junior engineering badge from the engineering people, but whatever. So I went home the next day I had my Peter Brady tape recorder and I had my Precorp eight track player, my stereo system at home, and yes, I'm name dropping here. With Precorp I put in Led Zeppelin and you know I talked out of a Led Zeppelin song and I had to wait because you couldn't rewind eight tracks so you only had one take. Well, you had to wait for the next song. It took me all afternoon to get like three intros and three outros and I ended up getting the gig, which was kind of cool. They made me change my name. They didn't want anybody to know that a high school kid was working at school, but yet they gave me like one of those shiny, flashy 80s type of radio jackets with my name on it and the call letters and I did J at all the high school functions and things. So everybody knew. 06:21 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Can I ask what name they gave you? I was Jumping. 06:23 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Jim Jacobs. 06:25 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) All right, Jumping Jim. This just came to me. Jumping Jim. 06:27 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Jacobs, 935-3378, wlhg. Wow, larry Habar Enterprises. I love it. Larry lives two towns away from me right now. We had lunch about a month ago. The owner of the station. 06:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Now explain to me. So you just were fascinated. Did you listen to the radio all the time? I loved radio. And then you were just mimicking all the DJs because the DJs got all the chicks. Apparently that's what it was back in the 80s anyways. 06:51 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, have you heard of Dale Dorman? He's a Boston guy from KISS, but Dale Dorman and one other guy I forget his name, but they invented top 40 radio. They were at a bar one night and they watched people put quarters in to hear the same 15, 20 songs all night long Sure. 07:05 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That makes sense, so they made that format. 07:07 - Jim Fronk (Guest) And Dale Dorman was also on the local TV station as hey, kiddies, that after school type of thing, and I just loved the guy and I just wanted to be him, I wanted to do what he did and I just set focus on it and I ended up doing it. I met Dale Dorman. The program director of the small station I worked for was the assistant PD of KISS 108 Boston and that's where Dale Dorman was, and she brought us in for a program meeting and God, my mind was just blown at that point and I said this is what I need to do. Got out of high school, I went to college for it, went to school for it, interned, did many, many years, and it was like here. 07:43 I am learning from these people that I think are phenomenal but, they're teaching because they can't make ends meet. So I got out of radio for about 10 years 15 years, and I did stand up comedy and I always talked about getting on the air again, because if I'm doing morning radio, I can't hear them not laughing when. I tell jokes, I just play a soundtrack. So I turned 35 and I said, you know, what Everybody laughs then yeah, exactly. 08:08 I turned 35 and said I have to do this, so I just put everything else aside and I did it. 08:14 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Now let me ask you, because you said most of the people couldn't afford working in radio, so they were teachers. Is that always been the case in radio? Is it always been? Maybe not the best paying gig, but the people in radio love radio. I mean, it's just. 08:27 - Jim Fronk (Guest) It's like being in an abusive relationship. It really is. 08:31 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It slaps you around and I'll tell you. It's like podcasting I'm gonna say because for me, I'm gonna tell you that podcasting is my radio show. In a way it really is. 08:41 - Jim Fronk (Guest) The only difference is I was waking up at 2.30 quarter of 3 every morning to get my butt whipped every day. 08:46 - Intro (Other) But yeah, it's definitely a passion. 08:48 - Jim Fronk (Guest) You hear that word passion with VO. It's the same thing with radio. It was just something that I needed to do. I needed to have that live interaction and as far as the money goes, it's kind of like VO. 08:58 - Intro (Other) It depends what market that you're being planned in. 09:01 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I was doing mornings in Nashua, new Hampshire, which is about 30 miles away from Boston, as the crow flies, about a 40 minute trip. My salary compared to somebody doing the exact same thing on the exact same type of station, they probably were about five or six times more than I was making Just the average guy. Now if you became a star then you're up in the quarter of a million dollars in Boston market but not in Nashua. But I loved it and you got the perks I mean I'd go to concerts, I'd be backstage, at concerts. 09:30 My favorite thing was going on stage and throwing t-shirts out at people and saying, hey, I'm frog from Frank 106 or from 104.9 the Hawk, and people scream and they know me and I just love that. I really love that. 09:43 Just being a part of the community. I was very fortunate that the morning show I did for 106, 3 Frank FM I was part of the community. I would announce football games. My daughter did cheerleading but I would announce the popcorn of football games and I would go and people would know who I was. But I was very active in the community and I'd love that. I love being known. 10:01 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) You were like a local celebrity. 10:03 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, but I was able to take that celebrityism and put it to good work as opposed to evil Like I did back in the 90s. Oh sorry. 10:12 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And that's another podcast. 10:14 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, I don't think the ever straining owners are up yet for that one, so we really can't talk about it. 10:18 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Well, now 20 years in radio, 20 years 20 plus, yeah Now did you say you were doing synonyms, that you were doing radio, and then you went into comedy, or how did that work? 10:28 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I was doing comedy. First I was a wedding DJ, function DJ, when karaoke was all the buzz. I got my own karaoke company. I had like 35 shows. 10:38 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Look at you being a boss entrepreneur at a young age. I mean bosses, and why you to listen to this? All of the people that come on the show, I mean they're entrepreneurs in so many ways, and that was so creative. I mean, jim, first of all, just being in high school right, and going after your dreams and having the bravery to go try out for the radio station and get the gig right At such a young age. And then you've got to be brave. Did you stand up comedy? That's for sure. 11:03 - Jim Fronk (Guest) You know stand up comedy. Five minutes can seem like 20 minutes. Yes, 20 minutes can seem like five minutes. It all depends on the energy of the crowd. But I tell you that first time I got up on stage, the very first time I was hosting a pretty big deal. It was at Berkeley, 5,000 seats. I was hosting it Not really hosting telling jokes, just kind of introducing people. 11:24 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But I had a couple of jokes. I'm seeing kind of, yeah, I had a couple of jokes. 11:26 - Jim Fronk (Guest) That first joke I told, and when they laughed, that wave that hit me, that became my drug. 11:33 - Intro (Other) That became what I craved. 11:35 - Jim Fronk (Guest) That became what I had to accomplish on a Monday night up in Vermont for a slice of pizza, or a Tuesday doing an open mic night at the KFC in Volrica Mass. I mean, it's just, you did what you had to do, but it was again a passion for it. 11:49 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Now okay. So, passion aside, I'm sure there were some jokes that probably didn't make it, and so did you experience like imposter syndrome. I mean I can only imagine Like I think stand up comedy's got to be one of the hardest skills. I mean it's like improv too. I feel like we all need it and it just really builds our character, because there's just so many things we have to be quick on our feet about. I'm sure that all of this is leading up to a really fabulous career in voiceover, because all of those skills have led up to who you are as an actor today. 12:21 - Jim Fronk (Guest) And as far as jokes bombing, I'm looking for a reaction. You can oh or boo or yeah. Hey, I got a reaction, and if something just didn't work, I really didn't care you laughed at it. 12:31 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh well, that didn't work. 12:32 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Pretty much, yeah, I mean sometimes I'd make a joke about it and take a paper out of my pocket and say our fake paper and say okay, scratch that one off the list. 12:40 Yeah, that didn't work, whatever, yeah, okay, that doesn't work in Poughkeepsie, all right, fine. But yes, everything I've done coming up to this has helped me in VO. You know, the radio, yeah, has contributed the live stuff, the comedy, the improv and all that. I got out of radio back in 2018 because it was just impersonal to me. I wasn't doing mornings, I wasn't doing a talk show. I craved that interaction. I didn't like just talking up 15 seconds of a song coming out, absolutely. I mean, I'm great at trivia, music trivia. You know, you give me 10 seconds of any song from 1960 to 1992 and I can probably tell you what it is, but it just wasn't fulfilling. It wasn't satisfying. I did get into flying drones for a bit believe it or not, a friend of mine, that's random, it really is, but it was a passion, I flew a drone. 13:28 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Radio VO drones. 13:29 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, well, I flew the drones and I loved it. I got a passion for it. I was making some great money doing cell tower inspections and infrared. At one point I had more money invested in drones than I did in Harley-Davidson's. 13:42 Or in your microphone maybe, or in my microphones. I'm even close. I'm completely. You know how many U87s Like. I sold one of my drones in two cameras and I bought my daughter a brand new Jeep. They were up there but it just wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to be behind the microphone. Okay, and a buddy of mine, AJ Duquette Actually I think you were on the show, a buddy of mine, aj Duquette, a radio guy. He's doing VO, and he told me about J Michael Collins and I was driving home year ago, april. I was driving home from New York City on Clubhouse and I think you were on it, j Michael, and I want to say Liz Atherton. 14:18 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh, we've done yeah, we've done a bunch of yeah. And I asked the question. 14:21 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I just got my demos back and I was like, well, how do I know if I have a good demo? Yeah, and J Michael we talked afterwards and he went over it and gave me the good, the bad and the ugly and that just got me on the path of okay. So I'm going to talk to these people. I'm not going to be afraid to approach anybody. I'm very approachable and I'm going to approach as many people in this business that are where I want to be and it's been great. And that's my advice to everybody Don't be afraid to approach anybody, because if somebody's not approachable to you or if somebody doesn't want you to approach them, you don't want them in your circle. Why would you want them in your circle? You know, I like going to Dallas and seeing Ann Ganguza from down the hall and going Ann, and she's like jam. I mean, that's what it's all about Making connections, having some fun. 15:09 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It's all about the relationships, really Absolutely about the relationships. So let's kind of continue on with the voice acting. So you got into voice acting around. You're saying around 2018?. 15:21 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Oh, no, no, no, I got into drones in 2018. Oh okay, excuse me, I actually celebrated two years in VO from when I started in September this past September. So it's been about two years, a month or two, but I got into it. I got some training. I did about five or six months with the training with a great coach, tim Powers, you've met. 15:38 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Tim, actually I know Tim absolutely. 15:40 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Tim has become a great mentor and even a better friend. But from there I got my demos and, like I said, how do I know they're good? And I just started doing the marketing thing. I've since redone my demos. I'm a different animal now, different everything. I kind of went feet first and I thank my wife so much for that. We talk about not making money in radio. 16:01 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) We all know the struggles that actors have, and we are actors Not making money in voiceover. 16:06 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, I mean just acting alone. 16:08 God bless my wife. She's very successful in the pharmaceutical business. So when the time came, we sat down and talked and she said, when we first met, I was making $5,000 a year less than you and you were in radio. And I'm like I know, but we have flipped the switch. She's gone so far. So she said do what you want to do. Invest what you need to invest. Get the right equipment. You know what you need. You've been in the business. You can build radio stations. Get what you need. So I did. And here I am two years later and I'm getting clients, I'm booking gigs, I'm doing animation, video games, e-learning. It's been great. 16:42 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) What would you say your favorite genre to work in is Because I'm always a big proponent of people bring their experience to behind the mic and I feel like maybe your stand-up comedy, your DJing, your networking I feel like that all works for you in specific genres Well, animation, I love. 17:01 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I love playing in animation. Right now I've got the allergies going on so my voice is kind of right now, but I love being able to just pop into a character and be like my mind is now melted, I'm with 3.0 and I will reveal the world. I mean, just have some fun. Word, of course I will. I am the evil. I am Ludo the evil one. I just love having fun with that. Video games I love the acting. 17:23 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I love the cinematography and the acting. 17:26 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I trained with Dave. 17:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Fornoy yes he's amazing. 17:29 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yes, and once again people say how'd you train with Dave Fornoy? Yeah, I asked, I asked, I went to his website and I booked some sessions. And there we are. Dave's a great friend now, I mean he's become such a great mentor. 17:43 So I love video games. You know what I really love doing and I hate to say it because I have spent, I'm gonna say, $10,000 in training, maybe over the past couple of years, maybe even more. I hate to look at the numbers, but to beat the DJ out of me Every time that I step back into that DJ voice, my coach would say and now up here's the dealbies, just to snap me back. But I love doing tier three automotive. 18:03 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Well, yeah, tier three, automotive, yeah, and tier of DJ, it's radio DJ delivery. 18:07 - Jim Fronk (Guest) It's what I do in my sleep, so I'm really loving doing that. Absolutely. I've been training with Chris Zellman. He's been great. 18:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, tier three, automotive. I do a little bit of that myself, and it's not as easy as we want it to be, because they're really trying to cram a lot of words. 18:22 - Jim Fronk (Guest) But I was also production director of a six station cluster for many years. I was given the commercials away, so you know, so I know, and most of those were that type of delivery, yeah absolutely that sales delivery that hype. You know, no money down and you can. You know it's. Which is so 80s DJ. It's just ingrained in me so I do love that. 18:43 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And so now we all have to be authentic, and maybe not for tier three auto still. However, talk to me about authenticity and how. Maybe your background having a radio show I feel like having a radio show, you know, maybe not by just announcing commercials or announcing what the next song is, but I think if you're doing like talk radio and you're really getting down in personal with your listeners, I feel like that helps you to be authentic and you can kind of call upon that experience to really help you be authentic in your commercial delivery or even narration delivery or e-learning delivery. 19:16 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Before I was doing morning radio it was just that hype. Morning radio was kind of hype but it was a lot more comedy. We did bits. It was always like Frank's place with Jim and so-and-so or you know the Jim and so-and-so morning show. So it was always my animal to drive my vehicle and just to have that interaction was very conversational. And I did talk radio for the last three or four years of my career with radio and that became very conversational. That's just raw me. So when I was able to unlock that again, because we all know talking conversational and just talking like we're talking now is natural. 19:54 You should be able to do that. It's easy. Yeah, it's easy. 19:57 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But it's not easy when there's a piece of paper. 19:59 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, when it's a piece of paper in front of you and it's somebody else's words. You have to learn how to do that Absolutely. One of the things that helped and hindered me was my ability for live read. I love being the first guy in workshops. I love reading stuff cold. I can't tell you how many times I'd be on the air and somebody would give me a piece of paper and say, read this. 20:18 And I have the ability to read about five or six seconds ahead of what I'm saying, which was good for that, but I was disconnected from my words. I was on autopilot. 20:28 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Any cold read is you're executing from left to right and you don't know what the story is. 20:33 - Jim Fronk (Guest) But even after I read it once or twice, I would still be reading ahead which hindered me to get that connectivity with the listener, with the client, with the audience. So when I learned to put that behind me and I'm gonna say live in the moment but read in the moment, be in the moment, my conversational game went up considerably and I think that I have a very conversational read when it is asked for that. 20:59 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) No sales, no announcers. That's right, no announcers. And that's getting the DJ and getting the radio beaten out of you. 21:05 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, but then I get to go back to tier three and have some fun with it. Yeah, and have your fun. Then, exactly, come on down. The price is really. 21:12 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And I have roles in telephony that I can be as. Thank you for calling your call's important to us. I can be that fun, smooth, promo-y sound. 21:22 - Jim Fronk (Guest) That's a lot of fun, sometimes absolutely. 21:24 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, for the most part, we're all about the authenticity. Speaking of authenticity, from a few of the things that you've already talked about, you were so into drones, you were into, like, video games I get this feeling, and from talking to you previously, that you are kind of a geek. You are a tech geek, and so that kind of leads you into yet another talent of yours, which is websites, and I wanna make sure that we have time to get into websites for voice actors and talk to us a little bit about your expertise number one and what got you into web development first of all. Then let's talk about what's important in a voice actor website. 22:02 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Well, for the most part with the radio stations. You wear many hats and I was brand manager and web guru and graphic artist. I know enough about Photoshop to get you and I in a lot of trouble, but not enough to really make any money at it. As far as-. 22:16 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Except nobody uses Photoshop anymore. It's all Canva, Both yes. But yeah, no, I get it Photoshop was definitely a skill, I mean for sure, and when I was deciding. 22:26 - Jim Fronk (Guest) When I was getting out of the drones, I was actually going back and forth between VO and maybe going to school for graphic arts. 22:33 I really enjoy that. But I was thinking to myself you know, it's a three-year program, $36,000. I'll be 58 when I graduate. Do I really want to enter that type of field where I'm so far behind technology wise than the kids are these days? I said, you know, my happy place is behind the microphone. So that's what I did. Gotcha, every business that I've had, I've designed my own websites. I've used Wix my whole life. So when I say I'm a website builder, I'm a Wix master, is what I go by. There's just so much that's come along with website development. It's actually very user-friendly, but people need to be taught how to use it. 23:10 - Intro (Other) So when you say I'm a website developer. 23:12 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I'm more of a website instructor. 23:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) What. 23:15 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I like to do is I have something. It's a three-hour website. Do it yourself, learn by doing creation class, where we'll sit down together, you'll watch me on the screen and you'll mimic what I'm doing. I'll show you where I'm getting things. I'll teach you how to do things. So by the end of the three hours you should have a one-page voiceover specific website ready to go, ready to be hosted, and I'll go in there afterwards, because I'm always like an admin and I'll go in and I'll tighten things up and I'll put a little couple extra spinny effects and different things to make them happy. But I found that so many people didn't have the crucial items for a website, for a VO website and other people are charging 15, 16, $1,700 to build a website. 24:01 We're in a business. We're not making any money, but you have to have your online you know. 24:05 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) so Sure, absolutely, that's who you're marketing to. 24:07 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Exactly so. I try to help people learn how to do that so that they don't come back to me and say, hey, can you upload my new demos? No, they're gonna know how to upload their own demos. If they have a problem, I'm always here. I will build a website for somebody. It's twice the money, and when I'm done, if you need help, there'll be an hourly stipend to be your web guy. 24:30 I'd rather give you something that's cheaper, that takes me more time, but to teach you something. So that's what I'm doing. You can find that at websitesforvocom. It's very easy. I've designed other sites and gotten really deep, like Dave Fanoy, for instance. Dave has become a great friend, but his website was terrible no downloadable demos granted, he's Dave Fanoy, but still links that went to things that were expired event page that the latest event was 2019, it just wasn't conducive for somebody that's in the business. So I kind of owed him a favor. Dave became a really good friend. He helped me out. We started off by coaching. He helped me out directing my demo. He's helped me out with a lot of coaching. That was unexpected. So instead of sending him a bottle, what's a friend of mine said? Just send him a bottle and say thank you. I decided to a deep dive into his website and I completely revamped it. On Wix all of his scheduling You're a Wix person, I am a Wix person. 25:26 - Intro (Other) I've seen your schedule. 25:28 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I see, don't you love how it's all in the back? 25:30 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) door there. I love my Wix website your scheduling your payments, your tickets your events everything. 25:35 - Jim Fronk (Guest) So, Dave being a techie guy, a web guy, when I went to book my first gig with Dave it took me about 20 minutes to figure out and it was like email me. 25:44 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) There are some coaches out there that like well, email me for pricing or email me to get set up, and that to me is like why would you do that? 25:51 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Go to Venmo and do this here, and then I'll send you my Calendly link. 25:54 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, exactly. 25:56 - Jim Fronk (Guest) So I went in, I took care of Dave's and I taught him how to do it. He's now putting on his own events and he's doing all the ticketing and all the ticket sales and all the marketing, all the social marketing, all in the back door of Wix. So I taught him that. I try to teach everybody that, because there are things you need of your website. 26:12 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, what are those things? Let's talk about those critical things. 26:16 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Number one downloadable demos Above the fold. Everything I'm talking about right now is above the fold. I've talked to a lot of agents, casting directors. They don't want to click, they don't want to scroll. 26:29 They don't want to look so right there, front and center, downloadable demos, ready to go. Your name, obviously, something that shows your personality. It's a logo, a picture, something that shows who you are and if we have some fun with it, have some fun with it. Your contact info should always be in the header so when they scroll, if they scroll, your contact info is always there. 26:52 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It stays there it stays there. 26:54 - Jim Fronk (Guest) One of the main things that a lot of people don't have is a call to action button. Okay, I'm on your website, I'm the customer. Look at your website as a customer. I'm a customer, I found your website. I like your demos. What do I do? Now? There's a button there that says request a free audition. What's that all about? I mean, you and I, we all know auditions are free, of course. Well, all audition. You know we're not paying to audition. We're not getting paid to audition, but they don't know that. 27:21 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Well, sometimes we do, sometimes we do, but they don't know that. 27:23 - Jim Fronk (Guest) But they're getting a complimentary free audition. Send me a 30-second snippet of your script and I'll send you back an audio sample of what it will sound like, performed by me, and I can't tell you six. I've gotten six jobs off of that, so far. 27:39 Contact me is not a call to action. Maybe you offer some other service. I think it was Mark Scott said something about. These are six ways to book me. You know, give them something, something that has some information, whether it's directly related to booking you or VO related, but have that call to action button. Those are the basic things. Everything else after that is fluff. You go to my website. I probably have 15, 16 pages. 28:05 - Intro (Other) I have some people actually write the SEO for me. 28:07 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It's all fluff. It really is. There's nothing there. Let's talk about SEO. 28:12 - Jim Fronk (Guest) It's for SEO. What about SEO lately? 28:14 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Is SEO worth anything at this point? Still, because of, let's say, generative AI, which is generating content in seconds. Now, all of a sudden, it used to mean something with our websites. Right, that we had identifying words and words that could be found, but I feel like that whole SEO pony might be changing a little bit as things start to evolve. 28:35 - Jim Fronk (Guest) It is changing, it's getting simpler for people. 28:38 - Intro (Other) And with a program like Wix. 28:39 - Jim Fronk (Guest) They actually have an SEO and, by the way, I don't get paid by Wix. I'm not endorsed by Wix, it's just what I know. I've tried Squarespace play buttons, a play button, rewinds, rewind, pictures, picture, but I just didn't like how the whole system worked together. Wix was very user friendly. If you can do Canva, you can create a website. 29:00 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Canva changed the game. 29:01 - Jim Fronk (Guest) They really did. They made it. 29:03 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wix is changing the game and some people might say well, what in VO is changing the game? I mean, we could talk about that if we wanted to. 29:11 - Jim Fronk (Guest) How about that? So much in VO has changed the game. 29:13 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Tell me about a VO actor. How can they change the game to make it successfully in voiceover and what can they do to change their game to make it and not be so afraid of all this technology that people are just, oh my God, the robots are gonna take our jobs away. Let's talk about-. 29:30 - Jim Fronk (Guest) No, they're not. The robots can't act, the robots can't change. What can we do there? 29:34 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) you go. We need to act right. They can't improv, they can't crack a good joke. Well, sometimes they crack dad jokes. 29:40 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Yeah, well. 29:41 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But yeah. 29:43 - Jim Fronk (Guest) All right, so I got a lot of my dad jokes from chat. No, I'm just kidding. 29:46 What you can do is be authentic. Be human, show your range, show your emotion when you show up for a gig. Be the person that they wanna work with. Don't be the person that they're waiting on. Be fun, be happy. Don't be a nuisance to anybody that is hiring you or that you're working with, because you never know who's going to say, hey, Jim was here two months ago, He'd be great for this spot. You know, it could be the engineer you never know. 30:11 You have to have your online inline, which I try to help people do, because your website may not generate any business for you right off the bat, but you have to have that presence. 30:20 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, you absolutely have. It has to be something that's not wixitecom. 30:24 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Backslash, jimfrong55, it has to be Jimfrongcom. Jimfrongvocom, your name vocom. Sure and keep it simple. Keep those domain names simple so you're easily found Exactly. 30:36 I was gonna be Frank the voice. I had all these domain names that I was going to do. Jimfrong was available for the first time in a long time, cause I looked for it back when I was doing standup comedy. Jimfrong was available and I said you know what that's it? That's it. So I'm Jim and Jimfrong, so it's so easy to remember. You're double branding your name Absolutely. And as far as changing the game, talk to people, make friends, go to conferences. A lot of people in this business are introverts, but a lot are extroverts. You know, you get your naked gents, your Anganguza's, you get your Jim Fronks. We're out there saying hi to people. You know, kissing babies, shaking hands, whatever the case is. Get out there and say hi to people and if you're not that type of person, find someone that is, find me, make friends with me. I'm very approachable. You hate me or love me, but hopefully you love me and I'll introduce you to people, I don't care. 31:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) There you go, it's absolutely fun. Words of wisdom. Jim, Thank you for that. And actually, Jim, you have offered the bosses a little deal for your website creation class that you have. 31:40 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Oh, I have. 31:40 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, you have. Remember you wrote it down. 31:43 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Well, I was kind of upset about the PNNM's not being made. 31:46 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But you're going to give our bosses 10% off the website creation class. 31:50 - Jim Fronk (Guest) I am absolutely without a doubt. What kind of coupon do you want to get? 31:53 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) We've got that promo called, called VEOBOSS10 at Chicago VEOBOSS10,. Okay, and we'll be putting that on our show notes pages, guys, so when you look up this episode, we will have that code available. Jim, thank you so much. It's been so exciting talking to you. I mean, you have such an amazing history. Yeah, I mean we're actually kind of 10 minutes over. See how time flies when you just have so much fun. 32:15 - Intro (Other) We're going to have to have you come back. 32:17 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) We're going to have to have you come back, jim. It's really been amazing and thank you for sharing your wisdom, your wonderful personality, your fun, amazing, just the fun. Amazing who you are. 32:28 - Intro (Other) Jim Fong with us. 32:30 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes bosses, I want you to take a moment and imagine a world full of passionate, empowered, diverse individuals that are giving collectively and intentionally to create the world that they want to see. You can make a difference. Visit 100voiceswhocareorg to learn more. And a big shout out to our sponsor, ipdtl. You too can network and connect like bosses like Jim and myself, just like Jim has been talking about all episode. Find out more at IPDTLcom. Jim, thanks again. You've been amazing Bosses, have an amazing week and we'll see you next week. 33:05 - Jim Fronk (Guest) Bye, guys, bye, thanks Ann. 33:07 - Intro (Other) Thank you so much Thank you Join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host, Ann Gangusa, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at vobosscom and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution with permission. Coast to Coast connectivity via IPDTL.
Eric Darken takes Ryan and Patrick on a journey through his illustrious career working with the Coral Reefer Band, Taylor Swift, Bob Seeger and more. Enjoy!
Myron Elkins joins The Fabricator Podcast to talk about his journey of being a factory welder from small-town Otsego, Mich., to becoming an touring Americana recording artist backed by Nashville producer Dave Cobb and Elektra Records. From ages 17 to 21, Elkins made his way through a vocational welding program at Allegan Area ESA Tech Center in rural Western Michigan and worked as a welder for Landscape Forms, fabricating high-end outdoor furniture. Also during that time, Elkins also developed his love and understanding of music. He found himself listening to a mix of classic rock, including Motown, southern rock, blues, country, and alt-country while working in the fab shop. That led him to writing more songs and overcoming his performance anxiety by playing small venues between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. Then Elkins got the Music City bug. He played a few small gigs in Nashville, signed a manager, and cut a five-song EP called "Just Another Asshole With a Guitar." It caught the attention of Cobb, who has worked with the likes of Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, and the late John Prine. Cobb signed Elkins to a five-album deal on his Low Country Sounds label, an imprint of Elektra, and produced Elkins' first full-length album, "Factories, Farms & Amphetamines." At the top, the guys talk about other musicians from Michigan, some of their favorite Bob Seeger songs, Jack White's Nashville connection, and whether or not Kid Rock is still mad at Bud Light. Email us at podcast@thefabricator.com with any comments, questions, or suggestions.
We are thrilled to have Rich Terfry join us for this episode. Rich has been the host of CBC Radio 2's "Drive" since 2008. Besides his work for CBC Music, Rich is a published author who is also known as Buck 65 - a Juno-winning alternative hip hop artist. Today we examine Rod Stewart's glorious cover of Tom Waits' "Downtown Train." Links: Our Mixtape Tom Waits Original Rod Stewart Version Patty Smythe Version Bob Seeger Version Boy Meets Girl Version Buck 65 Bandcamp Page You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Masadon, and our website. You can email us at BandFGuiltFree@gmail.com, too. Here is our Spotify playlist featuring every song we've featured. Our theme music is by the incredibly talented Ian McGlynn. Transcript (best read on our website) Intro Music Frank: [0:22] So today on Bill and Frank's Guilt-Free Pleasures, we have a Chicken or the Egg song. Was it Downtown Train that inspired Rod Stewart's love of model trains? Or was it his love of model trains that inspired him to cover this song? That's what we're kind of looking at a little bit. Well, not at all, but that's a it's a philosophical question that that I believe needs to be asked. And also today we're really excited to have a guest with us today, Rich Terfry who some of you may know from CBC Radio 1. Rich Terfry: [0:59] Radio 2, CBC Music as we refer to it now. Frank: [1:07] Radio 2. Yes, sorry. Yeah. So Rich Terfry has been good enough to join us today and talk about this song. And I know that you're on the radio and everything, but I can tell you're a little bit intimidated with our $25 mic stands and our towels for soundproofing, but we encourage you just to be yourself here today. Rich Terfry: [1:23] Sorry, yeah. [1:23] I'll do my best. This is much nicer than my setup at work here, so. Frank: [1:27] I'm not saying a whole lot for CBC are we? So yeah today we're looking at Downtown Train by Rod Stewart but before we talk about Downtown Train by Rod Stewart, we need to talk about Downtown Train by Tom Waits, because he was the guy that wrote the song and originally recorded it back in 1985. Bill: [1:49] Right, and that was on his Rain Dogs album, which is his most popular album, at least until... It's hard to tell... Frank: [1:57] And at least until Scarlett Johansson did her cover album, right? Bill: [2:00] Right, right, right. Rich Terfry: [2:01] Certainly a classic. Yeah. And often when people talk, Tom Waits, one of if not the first album that tends to come up in conversation. Frank: [2:12] I think it's probably maybe the most accessible. Maybe so. Yeah. Rich Terfry: [2:15] Maybe so. Bill: [2:16] Our friend Eric Stewart, no relation to Rod, sent, I asked him, I sent him a text far too Bill: [2:24] late last night asking why he's a big Tom Waits fan and asked him to tell me why Downtown Train works so well on Rain Dogs and he said I think because in the first three quarters of the album he makes the listener work so hard to find the melody that when you finally get to something that's even close to a radio song it comes as a relief. Consonance is only pleasing in the presence of dissonance. Frank: [2:49] I understood 70% of those words. Rich Terfry: [2:52] Yeah, I think the simple way to put it is that Rain Dogs is kind of a weird record. And then in a strange way, Downtown Train is a sore thumb. Because all of a sudden, here's like a pretty straight up standard, you know, good old structured pop song in the midst of all this weirdness. Bill: [3:39] There's talk that this was sort of like rock star bait, that there's rumors that Tom Waits had finally got his publishing to himself, and that they said that this song was put out there to sort of um... Lure. Yes. Rich Terfry: [3:51] Lure a bigger artist to, you know, specifically for the purpose of covering it. Bill: [3:59] Yeah. And allowing him to take some time off. Apparently the cover, one version I read was that allowed Tom Waits to take a couple years off to raise his kids. Yeah. Rod Stewart's version is it put in a pool. That's about to be quite a pool if it's 1989 royalties, I would think. Frank: [4:10] Yeah, I just thought it was, yeah. Rich Terfry: [4:38] So I've read a few Tom Waits biographies, none of which he kind of participated in the writing of, because I don't think that's really what he does. But some people very close to him believe that, that he was really doing that, that he was specifically trying to create cover bait, basically, with this song, and maybe a few others that he's written. Just, you know, throw in the potential hits out there, just waiting for someone to take the bait and make them some money. Bill: [5:10] If Rod Stewart wants to cover one of our podcasts... Frank: [5:12] Hey, put on American songbook like 47 or whatever he's on right now. Rich Terfry: [5:19] But don't forget, you know, Tom Waits, so the first chapter, if you will, of his career was very different from where he ended up in the 80s with this trilogy of records. Really, right? People talk about rain dogs, Swordfish Trombones and Frank's Wild Years is sort of a trilogy where he really started to experiment, started to become the guy that ultimately he became and sort of is now. But before that in the 70s, although it was still a little different from you know kind of what might have been on the pop charts, he was more of a songsmith less the experimenter back then. So he had this in He knew how to write a song. Always did, I would say. Bill: [6:05] And so you have Bob Seeger hearing this and saying, this is my ticket. Frank: [6:11] Before that, Patty Smythe did a cover of it too. She covered and recorded and released it in 87. Bill: [6:14] Oh yeah, yeah you're right. Frank: [6:19] It made it on the charts, I think it charted at 93. Of all the covers that I've heard, I'm gonna say that hers is my favorite. Bill: [6:28] That's tough for you, because I know Rod Stewart means so much. Frank: [6:33] He has a big spot in my heart. [6:59] Then that brings up the whole Bob Seeger controversy, right? So the story that I read anyways was that Bob Seeger recorded the song and he was gonna record an entire album surrounding the song and that was his idea and he played it for Rod Stewart and then like a month after that Rod Stewart just recorded Downtown Train just as a one off to add on to a greatest hits compilation. Rich Terfry: [7:30] And managed to release it before Bob Seeger was able to. Frank: [7:34] Yeah, so Bob's like laboring on this entire album, which is built around Downtown Train. And Rod's just like, Here's a one off and I'm going to release it on my on my greatest hits here. So I don't know, like, so it caused a rift between the two them because they were friends and now they're foes. Rich Terfry: [7:54] Yeah, they say Bob Seeger was genuinely ticked, and kind of felt like Rod Stewart's move kind of ruined it for him. Frank: [8:02] Yeah, yeah. Bill: [8:03] And it was the end of Seeger's had this big run until around 87, 88, I think. He actually scored a number one, the song called Shakedown on the Beverly Hills Cop 2 soundtrack. Frank: [8:14] Oh, yeah, that's right. Bill: [8:15] And it looked like, how is that number one? I remember hearing, I thought it was one of those awful throw offs they put on movie soundtracks. Or like, okay, there's one song like Shakedown, who's that? You know, as a kid, but I guess it went to number one. I should probably re-listen to it. But he was seeing Downtown Train, I think, either as a transition or like as, a big move for him as an artist. The story I heard is he told Rod Stewart about the song but hadn't played it for him and get this he told to him on a train. Rich Terfry: [8:44] The plot thickens. Thanks for watching! Bill: [8:47] And then yeah now Rod Stewart's version and I I kind of believe him he's like oh I don't remember. Frank: [8:47] Layers upon layers. Bill: [8:53] That and it's believable to me that Bob Seeger might have been pouring out his heart and Rod Stewart at this stage of his life might not have been paying close attention, but he's got a lot of women coming in and out of different rooms and his autobiography sound like he was quite a wild man even at his age then. Frank: [9:12] Well, yeah. Bill: [9:13] Here's the tough part. Rod Stewart was 44 years old when he recorded this. Frank: [9:20] Okay. Bill: [9:20] We are 45. Frank: [9:23] I've missed my downtown train year. Bill: [9:26] You did, and Rod Stewart, by the time he was doing Downton Train, had a whole entire career. Frank: [9:31] Yeah, I've had a career. I've had a number of careers. and just keep losing them because of gross incompetence. Bill: [9:32] Are we familiar with the story of how Rod Stewart claims that he heard the song for the first time? Rich Terfry: [9:38] I don't know if I am either. Bill: [9:49] Well, I got it from his autobiography and some mean-spirited writer online said "his autobiography" or "whoever wrote his autobiography." He was just saying he didn't write his autobiography. Frank: [10:04] Well Rod Stewart doesn't write his own songs either so why would he write his autobiography? Bill: [10:09] Well, he did. He can write a song. Frank: [10:10] He can write his own songs. No, he can. Bill: [10:11] This is the great. I guess this this sort of marked a moment where he changed directions a bit. At least they talk about this. I'll just retell it. I was gonna read it, then I realized it's too long. So his manager came in, I think it was his manager, came in with a tape player. So this is 1989. Plays Tom Waits, Downtown Train for him. And he says to Rod Stewart, holds his hand up and says, don't speak. Plays it. Rod Stewart is listening. Plays the whole entire Downtown Train. Tom Waits stops it. And then he says, don't speak. And he plays it again. Third time. Don't speak. plays it again now Rod Stewart is singing along with it he's like I want this the song has become mine or I want to sing this song and I want to put it on the album but he's saying that's the first time he heard of the song so of, course Bob Seeger's like we talked about this on the train but Rod Stewart. Frank: [11:01] The train. That all makes sense now. Models, model trains, trains. There's a Venn diagram for Rod Stewart's life. Bill: [11:03] Might have been thinking model trains or models in general and so was yeah yeah. [11:11] Well this is the perfect song for him. Rod Stewart said his eight-year-old son Rich Terfry: [11:15] Yeah. Bill: [11:17] came into the room and says, what was that awful sound? Who is that guy singing? And Rod Stewart would say, well, Tom Wait's voice, although he loves Tom Wait's voice, this is an acquired taste. Frank: [11:28] Yeah. It's kind of, it's a pop voice. Bill: [11:28] Whereas Rod Stewart's is like a mild coffee. Rich Terfry: [11:35] Both got a bit of whether you'd call it gravel or gruff or scratchiness though, there is a quality to a degree, you know, Tom Waits is kind of cranked up to 11 but. Frank: [11:49] Yeah, yeah. Tom Waits is like a coal fire. Rich Terfry: [11:51] You're right. And you could argue that at least, you know, at times in his catalog that Bob Seeger dabbled in a little bit of that as well. and so I've wondered if I don't know the question popped into my to my head when you know Tom Waits is lay in this trap was he thinking specifically like you know I'll set this one out there for the gravelly voiced bros wait till they hear. Frank: [12:20] Yeah, because because at that, because at the time, like that would be 85. Right? So like Bruce Springsteen is a huge popularity. And then just follow the road down there was. Rich Terfry: [12:22] This. Frank: [12:31] Springsteen, Brian Adams, Rod Stewart, like they all have that, sort of gruffness in their voice. Rich Terfry: [12:38] They hear Tom Waits and think I can shine this up just enough. Frank: [12:41] Yeah, Tom Waits, the godfather of gravel. Rich Terfry: [12:44] Yeah. Yeah. Bill: [12:45] And the Destroyer of Friendships, I guess too. Because if he hadn't put that out, maybe Bob Seeger would still be buddies with Rod. Frank: [12:48] Oh, yeah. [12:52] They recorded an album Rod and Bob. Rich Terfry: [12:54] That was good. Yeah. Bill: [12:58] All right, so we got this. This is released on his Storytellers album, The Greatest Hits. So I thought I kept looking for it on an album. They released a demo of it, or an early version of this on his Vagabond album from 91, the Deluxe edition. It's actually surprisingly different in a way that it sounded a little closer to Tom, Waits. Yeah, Rodster's, yeah, his voice was like, he had a bit more rasp, but it was like phlegmy. Rich Terfry: [13:22] There's no way I can do that. Bill: [13:29] Rasp which really disgusted me. As I listened to it, I realized I do have issues. Clear that comes up. Yeah, yeah, I turn the taps on if someone's using a bathroom too close to me. So it's a. [14:12] So his early version actually sounded closer to Waits or at least it seemed like something that he would been used to the Tom Waits version And then maybe was still in that zone, but then I don't not sure how much Trevor Horn had to I mean, he's the producer, But he takes it and brings it into full rod or at least full late 80s rod. Yeah. Frank: [14:32] Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah, what's a Oh, that's right. Yeah, he was on we talked about what the do they know it's Christmas. Bill: [14:34] We've talked Trevor Horn before He's the guy in the bugles with the thick glasses? Frank: [14:44] Right? Yeah. So, and researching the song. Yeah, you're looking you're looking Rod Stewart does his version and the, guy playing the slide guitar is Jeff Beck on this version and I diving like back deeper as far as Wikipedia was gonna take me I didn't know that Rod Stewart played with Jeff Beck like post yard birds no is before faces let me find it here oh yeah Stewart he he joined the Jeff. Bill: [15:07] Was it in Faces? Were they in Faces? No. Frank: [15:17] Beck group which is a super original name as a vocalist and sometimes songwriter So yeah, I guess he did write songs. Bill: [15:25] ... You heard Every Picture Tells a Story? [15:27] It's off on the side here, but Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart is phenomenal. Like, as an album. Frank: [15:34] Okay, when was that album? That was... 71. Okay. Bill: [15:35] Like 1971. It's so good that it makes it tough to listen to his later stuff just, because of Rod Stewart's capability as a singer and what direction he could have gone in that he he picked a path that was easy money and an easy easy living, but he had he had a lot of grit and. Rich Terfry: [15:57] Chutzpah. Bill: [16:00] Yes, he had a lot of chutzpah. Rich Terfry: [16:02] You know, I don't know if this is the right moment to interject this, but I find that in the story of both of the versions of this song that we're looking at today, the guest, guitarist really comes up as a big part of the story on both. Because famously, Keith Richards contributed to the Rain Dogs album, but it was GE Smith, who was the Saturday Night Live band leader who played the guitar on Tom, Waits' Downtown Train, who as far as you know guitar slingers mid-80s you know kind of would have been one of the the top top guns out there and so I you know you got to think Rod Stewart's probably thinking we're gonna have to bring in a real hot guitar player on this one who you know when you're talking legendary, guitarists you don't you don't get too far down the list before before Jeff Beck's name pops up. Frank: [16:57] Okay, cool. I did not know that GE Smith because GE Smith I was always introduced like my only knowledge of him was honestly from the Saturday Night Live band And that was it. And I was just like, who's this long haired skeleton? Like, why is he in charge of the band? Rich Terfry: [17:10] Yeah yeah he was you know kind of a studio guy I think you know I'm sure he probably made some records as well but he was a kind of a studio guitarist played on a lot of records I wouldn't be able to rhyme off you know kind of the, discography here and now but I know he played on some records but yeah interesting that you know they both brought in some you know some big guns to play the solos on these songs. Bill: [17:37] When I think about those two songs, like the Downtown Train, Tom Waits version, I think about that guitar. Because that guitar really, it's kind of crying and it makes you feel that sort of longing. [17:59] And when I think of Rod Stewart's Downtown Train, I don't think anything about the guitar. I'd have to re-listen to think about that guitar again. I can just think of Rod Stewart, saying oh baby and and making sounds and I'd never think about the guitar but interesting, I wonder how Jeff Beck felt about it. Frank: [18:16] Oh, they're buds. I think he enjoyed it. Bill: [18:18] Yeah, that's true. Okay. Frank: [18:37] I know that growing up that I had heard Rod Stewart because my dad probably had an eight track back in the day or or like you know 81 in the back seat of the Oldsmobile or whatever and we're he's playing something by Rod Stewart but I remember my sister got Gasoline Alley which was, his second album she got the tape for Christmas and it was like 1990 1991 so it would have been in around the same time that Downtown Train comes out and I'm wondering if that kind of inspired her, to like look back at his catalog and start picking up some of his music and stuff like that. But, I remember her specifically getting the tape for Christmas and like my dad and my aunt is just like Rod Stewart's like who's listening to him still because he's been around since the mid-60s. Like he's been around for a good chunk of time. Rich Terfry: [19:31] Yeah, and I would think a little bit before my time, I suppose, but the peak of his solo pop stardom, I mean, I think, you know, the average person might think, you know, kind of "do you think I'm sexy" is maybe peak, you know, Rod Stewart, which at that point would have been the better part of 10 years in the rear view mirror sort of thing. Frank: [19:45] Yeah, that Maggie Mae and all that. Yeah. Rich Terfry: [19:53] Yeah. Yeah. All that, yeah. Bill: [19:54] Now you have right before it, so 89 for me, because I'm grade six then, and I grew up listening to a lot of Elvis and Amy Grant. That was kind of, those were our two big ones. So I wasn't, yeah it was. Frank: [20:08] Oh, I'm just, I'm just picturing the duet in my mind right now. Bill: [20:11] I know if only Elvis had lived long enough he'd be, he'd definitely be doing Christian rock. So. Rich Terfry: [20:17] Alright. Bill: [20:18] I know Rod Stewart through music videos and so Forever Young came out before this. Yes. And then this little heart of mine was like released before this and this was on the greatest hits. Frank: [20:23] Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Bill: [20:28] And it was the second time he did this little heart of mine. I loved it. Frank: [20:32] Yeah. Yeah. Bill: [20:33] Yeah, and then this came out and it was like wow, this is amazing So I mean Canada loved it because it went to number one. I'm pretty sure in Canada. Frank: [20:40] Yeah, downtown train went to number one in Canada and three in the states. Bill: [20:44] And it also like I started looking at his previous songs and so in Canada They often went to number one up to downtown trains. So This Old Heart of Mine went to number one I think Forever Young did really well too. So we loved Rod Stewart even in the 80s periods. Rich Terfry: [20:59] I wish I could recall this specifically, but sometime around this time, as I recall, my mom went to see him live. Okay. Yeah, so she really, and I don't have memories of her being a big time, Rod Stewart fan earlier on. Funny enough, she was actually a big Elvis fan. And I can kind of, of remember some other stuff that she would have been into late 70s, early 80s. But I think, funny enough, this 80s era Rod is where it really grabbed her. She went to see him live. I remember her, coming home from the concert that night and telling the stories of him kicking soccer balls into the, into the crowd and, you know, loving that. So that would have been in Halifax. I wish I could remember specifically what year that would have been, but I'm thinking it was right around this time. Frank: [21:52] Yeah, because I think Out of Order and then The Vagabond Heart. I think there is a bit of a maybe a bit of a resurgence. Like maybe there's a little dip and then a little bounce back at the end of the 80s, right? Bill: [22:04] In his autobiography, he talked as though he had to prove himself with Downtown Train, but I don't get it at all because he already had Forever Young and a couple other songs in the, tank. So if it's proving yourself a year after a hit, it seems weird now in our era of 2023 where, I don't know, you could go years without doing something, you're still kind of an it. But yeah, he claimed it sort of gave new life to his career. In a lot of ways, this period pads his, his live performance career. As he goes through this, now he's becoming this touring thing that can make tons of money, I think. Frank: [22:42] What's crazy to me right now is like from the beginning of his career to like when he released this album, Storytellers, that's a smaller period of time than it is from the release of that album to now and he's still releasing music. Because it's been 30 years, well 33 years now. Bill: [23:01] Holy cow. Frank: [23:02] Since that album came out, since that first greatest hits package. Bill: [23:05] Right. And he was younger than us then, than we are now. You got that math right? I'm working through this, I got issues, it's okay. Frank: [23:12] Yes. I think so. You're the math teacher. Yeah. So listening to like Rod's version versus Tom's version and I'm gonna speak about them using just their first names. Bill: [23:17] And he changed it. Frank: [23:27] Because I feel like they're familiar to me right now and and even the the covers that like Patti Smythe did and then because eventually Bob Seeger did release a cover version I think in 2011. Bill: [23:40] He didn't like his version. So all the complaining, he's listened to it and said, I don't like it and then changed it and did a new vocal and put in backup singers. Frank: [24:18] So I found the Patty Smythe and the Bob Seeger version a little more faithful to the original in terms of the music that starts off with the guitar, warble, whale, whatever it is you want to call that. But Rod Stewart comes in, it's a little softer, a little more orchestral. And in, my mind, what he's trying to do is he he started it slow. And he's just he's going for that build because he knows how to write a pop song he knows how to do well maybe this is Trevor Horn right. Bill: [24:47] Right, but this is what his voice needs to climb that mountain. Frank: [24:52] But uh yeah yeah so it's it starts off slow and it's really soft and everything and then by the end it like he's full rod. Rich Terfry: [25:00] But yeah, the arrangement on Rod Stewart's version is the most, for lack of a better term, radio-friendly. Cut down on the intro, kind of get to it, get into it a little quicker, kind of sand off some of the edges a little bit. Although strangely, the long sort of coda at the end, which is unusual for a hit song. I'm guessing maybe when it was played on the radio, there might have been some fading going on, for that whole thing. Frank: [25:30] The DJ is talking over the end of the song. Yeah, it's almost uncomfortable. Rich Terfry: [25:32] Yeah, because that is a little unusual, I must say. That's the part of the song that surprises me. That's where this version gets almost a little bit experimental, because it goes on so long. We were listening earlier, it's like, this is almost weird how long this is going on for. Bill: [25:47] It was an awkward moment for all three of us. Rich Terfry: [25:50] But otherwise, it is a very, you know, polished and cleaned up arrangement of this song, as we discussed earlier. The spotlight is somewhat taken off the guitar. And Rod Stewart's very much the star of the show on this version of it. And it really does build in a way that Tom Waits version doesn't quite have that steady upward trajectory. Frank: [26:19] It doesn't have it doesn't seem like it has a peak. It just sort of it's that it's a slow burn. Yeah Rod Stewart's version like when you hit that musical bridge and I'm assuming it's a bridge right like you're a musician you can explain do you do you know what a bridge is can you explain what a bridge is to us. Rich Terfry: [26:24] Right. [26:32] Let's call it a bridge. [26:36] I usually just simply think of it as like, sort of an instrumental passage in a song that is kind of in the middle of the song rather than at the beginning or the end. And so it's usually bridging between, say, a verse and a chorus or a chorus and a next verse or something to that effect. But yeah, usually just like an instrumental passage in the middle of the song. Frank: [26:59] OK, so I think we were right. And every every time we were asking what a bridge was. we have an answer. Yeah, yeah. Or we just end the podcast. I think that was the whole idea. The podcast was determined what a bridge was. Bill: [27:04] We finally have a succinct answer that we will now be just hitting when you ask this question next time. We'll just hit play. Rich Terfry: [27:16] . . Frank: [27:20] Well, thank you, Rich, for being on the last episode of Bill of Frank's guilt free pleasures. But but that bridge because it's climbing, climbing, climbing the entire song. But that bridge. Rich Terfry: [27:24] . Frank: [27:31] Like it takes it up like a steep ramp at that point. And then it comes to that end where he goes full Stewart. Bill: [27:53] I've written down here about my misheard lyrics. I was reading the lyrics. I'm like, that's not what I heard when I would listen to the Rod Stewart version. And I think the reason is, the Tom Waits version, there's this loneliness, longing. I don't think it's creepy, but it's certainly about someone watching somebody else and waiting to see someone he's in love with, but is never going to talk to on a train. And he's a loner who sits on a train waiting for the same person to come on that train and he's there kind of following her and whatever life she leads. At, least that's what I had in my head and all the other people, the Brooklyn girls who are there, going off to go out to clubs or whatever was going on then. That's what I hear when I hear the Tom Waits version. Now the Rod Stewart version, I have no sense that this guy's a loner, or that there's any chance that she's not going to get together with him. So when I read the lyrics, I just hear it differently like there's a line so the beginning was outside another yellow moon, Has punched a hole in the nighttime mist I climbed through the window and down to the street. I'm shining like a new dime, That's Tom Waits, but when I was a kid, I don't know if you thought this but I'm like, oh Rod Stewart, He's shining like a new diamond because yeah, because Rod Stewart's a diamond. Frank: [29:11] That's what I heard too, yeah. Bill: [29:13] I keep listening back and I only hear diamond because it's Rod Stewart and he's worth a ton of money, But the dime is super depressing. So this is the Tom Waits who makes rings out of spoons, right, for somebody to get married, whereas Rod Stewart has big diamonds. Rich Terfry: [30:05] You know, and interestingly, although you could say that in the context of the Rain Dogs album that Tom Waits sort of, you know, cleans things up a little bit on Downtown Train, we talked about it being a bit of a sore thumb. And it's true, you see it in the lyrics as well as, you know, the instrumentation that's happening, the arrangement and everything else. But there, you know, just a few little, Tom Wait-isms in there, even the mere mention of a carnival in the lyrics and you know maybe this comes from you know knowing too much about these these two individuals. I can imagine Tom Waits hanging out at a carnival. I don't picture Rod Stewart kind. [30:47] Of roaming around a fairgrounds you know just soaking up the vibes and then although Tom Waits is a California guy he spent some years in New York you know recording these albums and exploring some new musical ideas. And so knowing that he was living in New York at the time, him mentioning the Brooklyn Girls and so on, like yeah, checks out. Somehow, I don't know, Rod Stewart in Brooklyn, kind of scrappy Rod Stewart, the performances is great and he delivers and so it's believable in that sense. But when you really kind of get in there and you take a close look at the lyrics, I don't I don't know if I'm buying. First of all, Rod Stewart, I'm always imagining a subway train rather than a commuter interstate train or whatever. Rod Stewart riding the F train or whatever in New York. I don't see it, let alone in Brooklyn. Frank: [31:51] Unless he like rent it out for himself and that's about it, right? Rich Terfry: [31:54] Yeah, right. Maybe. And then like I said, hanging out at the carnival grounds. Frank: [32:01] Yeah, right. Maybe. Rich Terfry: [32:01] You know, not so sure. But it is interesting. And to me, that's the one real Tom Waits tell in the lyrics, you know, because he had a thing for all things carnival. Frank: [32:09] Yeah. [32:13] Yeah. Well, and it comes through on that rain dogs album, too, because there's a lot of like carnival sounds on it right? Rich Terfry: [32:16] Yeah. [32:16] Oh, sure does. Yeah, absolutely. Bill: [32:19] And it's like the dark corners of a carnival, even though I imagine everything's circular in a carnival, but there's always darkness somewhere in a corner and there's Tom. Rich Terfry: [32:26] Oh, the sideshow is where that's where Tom's hanging out. Frank: [32:30] Yeah yeah yeah that's where the freak shows are yeah yeah yeah yeah. [32:40] The opening line is something that I really love. Outside of another yellow moon has punched a hole than a nighttime mist. And I like that. It's very similar to me to Bruce Coburn's Lovers in a Dangerous Time, where he says you got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight. Like, it's very visceral, the lyric, and you can imagine it, you can see it happening, you can see an action actually happening, you can like see the moon punching through the miss or it's almost a violent act but there's beauty in that violence. Rich Terfry: [33:12] It's a beautiful line. I mean, there's real poetry in these lyrics, and I would say more so than your average pop song, even by 80s standards. And so I must say, for me, for as much as I admire Tom Waits as a pop song, to see a few times in his career, his songs being covered and being turned into hits, surprises me in a real pleasant way because you know often you don't get this level of poetry in a number one hit pop song. Maybe from a Bruce Coburn the odd person who's that kind of writer but and so maybe this really says something about you know Rod Stewart's talent that he's able to make something that you know might otherwise be utterly inaccessible for most people in Tom Wade's hands turns into as big a hit as it could possibly be in Rod Stewart's hands where everyone loves it. Yeah. Basically. Bill: [34:08] This is why I have no animosity to this song. Like I might make fun of Rod Stewart once in a while, but I will listen to this song the whole way through. And even those last 40 seconds. But there is something about him bringing Tom Waits to the masses. So for me as a kid, I didn't know Tom Waits. He was terrifying. There's a video with him on a tricycle and he had devil horns. Rich Terfry: [34:28] "I Don't Want To Grow Up." Bill: [34:30] It was on Much. Yeah, I did. I couldn't, I just turned the station. I couldn't watch that, but this I could. And then years later, when I grew up, sometime in my mid 30s, I finally was ready to listen to Rain Dogs. Like, oh wow, this is fantastic. But it really, if it wasn't for this, I wouldn't have got there. Rich Terfry: [34:48] Yeah. Maybe it's worth mentioning, I don't know about you, Frank, but I only, like you, I only became a Tom Waits fan later. I heard the Rod Stewart version first. I became familiar anyway with the Rod Stewart version before I did the Tom Waits version. Is that the same for you? Frank: [35:03] Oh, same here. Yeah, yeah. 100% I kind of knew who Tom weights was a little bit but really didn't get into understanding him. I don't still don't think I understand him. But but like, yeah, gaining an appreciation until our friend, Eric Stewart. Like, because he's such a big fan and like he plays stuff and he's just like, Oh, geez, this is good. And you listen to his like, Oh, geez, this is really good. So you start digging into it a little bit more. You were talking about that misheard lyric and there's another one. Rich Terfry: [35:17] But gaining some appreciation. Frank: [35:37] That in the Rod Stewart version, I always heard it as when I see you tonight on a downtown train. And that was a certainty. It's like when I see you because you're going to be there and I'm going to be there. But the line will I see you tonight? It just. Bill: [35:43] Yes. Frank: [35:52] Odd. It turns it right around on its head, right? And it just makes it even more sad I guess it's it's but it's so beautiful. Rich Terfry: [35:58] Right, more longing and... Bill: [36:10] Christmas night while I was listening to this song. I'm like, oh I kept hearing it seeing Will I'm like, no, it's gotta be when like you said I wrote down Rod Stewart's going to win the girl So when he sees her he's going to see her and they and they're going to be together if they're not already. Frank: [36:25] Yeah, it's a certainty. Rich Terfry: [36:26] Whereas with the Tom Waits version I absolutely assume he won't. Frank: [36:29] Yeah, well exactly. Bill: [36:31] Oh yeah, he's never talked to her. Rich Terfry: [36:32] Yeah, this is, there's much more distance. Bill: [36:45] So second verse, maybe second verse is short. The downtown trains are full, full of all them Brooklyn girls, trying so hard to break out of their little worlds. And then this line here kind of confuses me. You wave your hand and they scatter like crows. They have nothing that'll ever capture your heart. They're just thorns without the rose. Be careful of them in the dark. [37:39] Rod Stewart's pronunciation of dark really throws me off whenever I'm saying like he I kind of wish Trevor Horn's like no Could you say dark again? It's kind of a weird our thing going on, So who's scouring my crows? Are they the Brooklyn girls? Frank: [37:53] Yeah, I think so. Because they don't have anything to offer. That this is my take on it. Like, sorry, not that they don't have anything to offer. But there's nothing of interest to, him at that point, because he's, you know, looking for that girl that he's looking for on that downtown train. That's my take. I don't know, you guys? Rich Terfry: [38:15] I've always just loved the image and like you were saying with the first line of the song it just really conjures a strong image in my mind I've never really been able to get past that to even think about it too much I just love that image. Bill: [38:28] Rod Stewart said that Tom Waits can do imagery so well as a songwriter and then Rod Stewart's like, I have to work on that, which is classic Rod Stewart sort of like, I gotta work on that. Frank: [38:40] It's like I try. Bill: [38:40] And then he said, I just write from the heart. That's what I do. I'm like, you're such a... Frank: [38:44] This is why I love Rod Stewart so much because he's all feeling. That's all I am. Bill: [38:48] He's all feeling. But the thorns without the rose, it's such a great image. And I like what you say, that Rich is like, just the image being there is enough. Like I can't really pierce through it. There's a little bit of thorn imagery there, but I don't totally know, but that what he paints there, is something that's true. Frank: [39:09] Yeah. [39:09] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Bill: [39:11] If that makes sense. And there's a little line before, if I was the one you chose to be your only one. [39:19] Oh baby, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Frank: [39:22] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill: [39:23] So with Ron Rod Stewart saying, Oh baby, it's not like Tom White saying, Oh baby, where it's just, let's sort of the walk away from it, but his old baby is like, okay so you're getting you're getting you're getting with it. Frank: [39:34] You're getting the girl. [39:48] Well then then you jump into the the the course, which is, you, know, will I see you tonight on a downtown train? Every night every night is just the same on a downtown train. I like I like it. It's it's a good little course. It does its job and everything and that question of will will I see you tonight? I really like that reading through the lyrics as opposed to listening to the lyrics and understanding what the actual lyric was it like you said it just adds that longing. Rich Terfry: [40:38] It's, in my experience, rare touching on what you just mentioned, Frank, where reading the lyrics of a pop song gives you a whole other rewarding experience often. Otherwise, with a lot of pop songs, it really does nothing to heighten your experience of it. If anything, it might even drag it down. It's like, oh, these lyrics are terrible. Frank: [41:00] Yeah. Rich Terfry: [41:00] It's all just, a lot of songs are just carried by the melody. And the melody of this song is very, very strong as well. and I think that's what makes, I think you could argue anyhow, the chorus of this song memorable is the melody of it is so great. But it's true that there's a lot of people out there don't even really pay a lot of attention to lyrics, but if you're one such person and you do decide one day to look them up and, you read them, you're going to be floored. Whereas a lot of pop songs, they're not really going to give you a lot to sink your teeth but there's a lot going on here. Frank: [41:31] Well, I mean, you would have been similar to us like today, like with everything streaming and all of that. You just listen to songs. But when I was really getting into music in the 90s, you had CDs and you had CD cases. And that was my favorite thing to do was open up, check out the artwork and follow along with the lyrics, with the songs and then try and experience them that way. And you're absolutely right. you gain a better appreciation of the song. Rich Terfry: [41:58] And I think that, you know, I lament that a little bit for, you know, sort of younger generations today. Although it's easy enough, you know, everything's on online, it's easy enough to Google lyrics, but it's not always necessarily a part of the experience when you're streaming. It's not right there like it is if you're, you know, kind of, you know, playing a CD and you have the case in your hands or for that matter, you know, on an LP or something like that. There's that function if you're using Apple Music where if you, you know, tap a couple things and you can bring up the lyrics, but it's sort of a little bit of effort to do. But I sometimes wonder if young people are really, you know, spending time with lyrics of songs the way we used to automatically because the experience you described I think was a fairly universal one. I think everyone loved doing that. Frank: [42:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there was always the because there are different types of CD cases to like there's the there's the book, then there's the ones that would just fold out lengthwise. Rich Terfry: [42:55] Fold. [42:55] Poster, sure. Never get it right. Frank: [42:56] And then there was the ones that folded out almost into a poster and then trying to fold those back where it was just terrible. Bill: [43:02] "Fully Completely." I remember looking like what? Oh, come on. That's not how you put lyrics on a sheet Don't be crazy and then REM would come out with like a booklet and then you just realize they're Michael Stipe pictures and that. Frank: [43:08] Yeah. Bill: [43:14] Made me so angry. We're like you could have put the lyrics on I still don't know what you're saying. Rich Terfry: [43:19] I don't think he wanted you to know what he was saying, But that's a whole other discussion right there. Bill: [43:22] Yeah, yeah. Frank: [43:24] Well, I bet the there's the third verse we can we can go we talked about it a little bit but it's like the I know your window and I know it's late. Bill: [43:26] Alright Frank, we hitting every single lyric on this song? Frank: [43:38] I know your stairs and your doorway, which I think could be taken as creepy. But again, there's, there's from Tom Waits, like from his perspective, it's like, I don't find it creepy. find it sad. [44:23] Yeah, he's because he's going there and he's. Bill: [44:25] It makes me think a little bit of Taxi Driver, a little bit, which is a little more creepy. But when Rod Stewart says it, I'm like, well, of course, because he's going there. to date her, yeah. Rich Terfry: [45:07] Now, in my mind, I see those lines, that verse. And it adds a little intrigue to the song, because I start to wonder, oh, is there actually a bit of an established relationship here? He's been to her house. Maybe there's more going on in this relationship than first meets the eye. Maybe. It's just, in my mind, raised as a question. Could go either way. Maybe there's more familiarity there there than we've been led to believe to this point or yeah there it is a little creepier than we first thought where he's you know the creepin' is going beyond the train and it's you know. Frank: [45:49] So we kind of talked about this a little bit before when we were listening to the song, but but what's your favorite part in the song? the Rod Stewart version. Rich Terfry: [46:00] Well I'll say something controversial okay and let me give you a little context before I say this, I'm dropping a bomb here. I know you know this, but I'm a Tom Waits fan. And I like a lot of his recent work. Although I would probably say my three favorite, Tom Waits albums is this trilogy that is sort of before us here today, Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones, and Frank's Wild Years. Frank: [46:32] Which I don't think he really captured all of my wild years in that album, but you know. Rich Terfry: [46:37] Who could? No, really. In one album. But I'm the type of guy, the weirder Tom Waits gets, the more I like him. And if I was listening to, I hate to say this, but if I'm listening to Rain Dogs in the car, there might be days where a downtown train comes on. I might skip it. Bill: [47:01] This is shocking. Rich Terfry: [47:03] So, where I'm going with this, my point is, me being the kind of music listener that I am, for as strange as it is, the unusual coda at the end of Rod Stewart's version is where it starts to get interesting for me. It's like, oh, what's going on here? He's got a little trick up his sleeve here. He's not the one trick pony that maybe you might, paint him as. It's like, oh, now wait a minute. And was he inspired by Tom Waits to, you know, kind of explore some more interesting terrain at the end of the song. And maybe it's safer to kind of put it at the end. But I get excited when something makes me raise an eyebrow a little bit. I like when someone's willing to go there a little bit or experiment a bit. So although I can appreciate what, he did with the song, where he took it, that he turned it into a hit, it's interesting to compare in contrast his voice, his vocal chops to Tom Waits. But I'm actually intrigued. If Rod Stewart walked in the door right now, and I could ask him one question about the song, I'd be like, what's the deal with the outro on the song? To me, that's super interesting. Frank: [48:11] Yeah, okay, cool. Bill: [48:39] Most controversial moment in our podcast history. I think there no one has ever picked the the final coda Yeah, my favorite part of the rod stewart song is the party's not singing. Rich Terfry: [48:50] Well, how do you like them apples? Bill: [48:51] Let's do that. Yeah. Frank: [48:53] Well, that's my favorite part, too, except it's that musical bridge. Bill: [48:56] Oh, wow. [48:56] Okay, oh, is it after the carnival and heart attacks? is that rhythm? Okay. Frank: [49:01] Yeah, yeah, yeah, because there's a like a 30 second bridge there and the guitars coming in and it's a little orchestral and cinematic. And like it was always climbing, climbing, climbing. but that's when it gets steep. Rich Terfry: [49:09] Yeah, sure, absolutely. [49:14] And I should also mention, I'm a big time Jeff Beck Yardbirds fan. In terms of pure riffage, I'd probably pick him over a lot of guys, if not everybody. And so his inclusion on the song, that's pretty cool to me as well. Yeah. Frank: [49:58] Bill, favorite part? Bill: [49:59] I gotta say, when he says, oh baby, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? I think that really is it. I just assumed he said it over and over throughout the song. He must have. Yeah, I like the Rod Stewart-isms. Yeah. Frank: [50:12] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it makes it his own. Rich Terfry: [50:13] And that's exactly what I was about to say. Yeah, that's that right there is where he... It's interesting the story you were telling when he was first listening to it and there a moment came where he felt that he was taking ownership of the the song and right there is where he sort of delivered on that promise. Frank: [50:33] So we usually jump into categories towards the towards the last third of the podcast. So I've prepared rich. Should we do our mixtapes? You have a mixtape? I'm gonna let you guys go first and then I'll finish things off I have about 12 songs that I potentially. Bill: [50:42] Oh, good. Yeah. [50:50] Oh, wow. Okay, I got a low list, but I like a guest going first. And we didn't mention this at the beginning, but Richard Fry's, AKA Buck65 for listeners, especially our Canadian listeners who will know. And so when I hear the word mixtape, I know, you know, not like I'm intimidated in a good way. Rich Terfry: [51:10] Well, and although I had a little known fact, I too covered a Tom Waits song once. I should say maybe more than once, but in 99 I released an album called Man Overboard and the original, it might be most fair to say demo version of that album, included a, cover of Singapore by Tom Waits, which didn't make the final cut of the album. And then live, I used to do a very deep cut Tom Wait song, called Tabletop Joe. But anyhow, yes, this is my whole thing, putting these mixed tapes together. And so I gave it some thought. Should we jump into it here? I find it, I bet you guys have found the same thing, is that this song, Rod Stewart's version of this song, routinely pops up on these lists, a bunch of them, on the internet of songs you didn't know were covers. Now to me, that's an interesting enough category. God knows I've talked about that sort of thing on my radio show plenty. But with this particular case, there's more to it than just that. I think it fits into an even smaller category. And I wish there was more of this, where you have here. [52:32] Big-time bonafide mainstream pop star bringing into you know the spotlight and the mainstream consciousness what at best we might call sort of a cult figure. [52:50] Right? Tom Waits I mean you know he's not nobody but in in particular when we're looking at an album like Rain Dogs you know you ask the next person that walks down the street hey ever heard Rain Dogs? I'll put 50 bucks on them saying no. So know he's he's not I don't know if you could call Tom Waits a household name. I think of him in, particular the parts of his catalog that I love the most. To me I almost think of him as an underground type character, certainly a cult figure, and if not in the strictest definition of it, if you look at his body of work and maybe what inspired him and what he was interested in he's He's certainly coming from the deeps, you know what I mean? So maybe at best you could argue that he was an experimenter and whatever else who had more success with it than a lot of others. But nevertheless, I think that here we have a case where sort of, I'm trying to think of the most fair word I can use, but maybe a slightly more fringy musician is being brought into the mainstream. because a lot of the other songs that you would find on those lists of songs you didn't know were covers aren't necessarily that. I'm trying to think of a good example, but if you look at. [54:12] I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett, the Arrows, who wrote and recorded the original version, were a fairly successful band in their own right. And you see a lot of that on those sorts of lists. So this situation got me thinking of other cases where this was the case. case and I really wish that there were more examples of it because to me it's super interesting and exciting and more often you see it the other way around where and hopefully this isn't too, flippant a way to put it but where like an indie band will do kind of an ironic cover of some big, pop it that happens all the time sometimes it makes me roll my eyes but this is much more interesting and and the stakes are a little higher where a big time pop star will take a more obscure fringy, culty, whatever, however you want to describe it, person and cover them. So I came up with a couple examples and I don't know if they're quite as strong as today's example but I'll throw out there and this one is very similar parallel I would say Eric Clapton's version of Cocaine by JJ Kale. [55:23] JJ Cale, if you're going to compare anyone to Tom Waits, you know, if you're going to put anyone else in a category, maybe it's a guy like JJ Cale and Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton. I mean, not that, far off, right? So it's a very, very close, you know, kind of thing. Now, I don't know if you, know that The Tide is High by Blondie is a cover, but the original version of that song was by a, relatively small, certainly on an international level. [55:58] It was a Jamaican band called the Paragons, and I don't think they really had any success outside of Jamaica at all. Bill: [56:03] Wow, okay, I didn't know this either. Rich Terfry: [56:05] Really super interesting to me that the guys in Blondie even knew this song. Someone would really have to know their stuff, to know the Paragons and maybe this song in particular. To my knowledge, and I could be wrong about this, have to look it up but I don't even know I have the out the Paragon's album I don't know if their version was even ever released as a single so to me it extra super interesting maybe a real classic and one that does turn up on these lists fairly often the birds version of turn turn turn or whatever by, Pete Seeger right so you're taking something from a you know I guess a slightly more fringy genre, you know, kind of deep folk music and turning it into a big pop hit. I got a couple other good ones. This one is another fairly well-known case, but Roberta Flax, Killing Me Softly, is a cover of an extremely little-known song. What's her name? Lori Lieberman, I think, who originally, you know, singer, LA singer-songwriter, kind of played at the Troubadour, it never really became famous. The story goes that Roberta Flack just heard it, kind of on a total fluke and loved it. And then of course there's the whole other wave, the Fugees, Yeah. covering it again decades later and making it a hit all over again. Frank: [57:29] Because I remember we did, I forget which song it was, but it was a cover song. And then I said, you know, famous cover songs, where the the cover is more popular than the original. And I said, Fuji is covering Roberta Flack. And then afterwards, finding out that it was Laura Lieberman or just, I was wrong on the podcast. And that never happens. I've never said anything that was infactual on the podcast. Rich Terfry: [57:53] Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Bill: [57:55] Yeah, we can insert it. Don't worry. No one will know. Rich Terfry: [57:59] I'll throw out one more for you and then I'll and then I'll pass the mic as you. [58:05] Will. No, no, no. But and this one is a little more obscure, but a great example of what I'm talking about, I suppose. But What a Man by Salt and Pepper is, basically a cover. You might argue that it's like an interpretation, but it's, pretty darn close to a cover of a sort of a soul song by a woman named Linda Lindell. Let me double check that. I did write it down because I want to be sure, but I'm pretty sure it's Linda Lindell. Yes, Linda Lindell. It was just released as a 45, just sort of a one-off single. I don't even know if Linda Lindell ever recorded a full-length album. So not well-known, pretty obscure figure, of course. and Salt and Pepper had a bunch of hits. That might have been their biggest one. That was a big old hit. So, and you know, certainly another case where songs you didn't know were covers. And super interesting that, you know, this one sort of turns the tables a little bit in that, you know, we're talking about what was like, you know, kind of a soul song. Fairly sort of, you know, mainstream in its presentation, but then here's a hip hop group doing it. That in itself is a bit of a rarity, a hip hop group kind of taking on a cover. [59:26] But nevertheless, at this point in their career, Sal and Pepper, they were big pop stars, very well established, and like I said, they turned that into a big hit. So that was the first thing that popped into mind for me was, again, I don't know if it's the exact right word, but fringier artists being brought into the mainstream with a cover, because that doesn't happen a lot. In fact, those were really the only examples of that that I could find. I'm sure there are more, and if anyone can think of more, I'd love to hear them, because this is the sort of thing that really excites me. Frank: [1:00:01] Right into the right please someone write us please someone tell us something yeah but it's really cool because there's all sorts of like musical gems out there that no one knows about. Rich Terfry: [1:00:04] Yes. Drop us a line. Frank: [1:00:16] Like or sorry I shouldn't say no one but there it's not as well known and then these pop stars are are bringing them out to the forefront. And sometimes these artists can gain a second life because of it. Rich Terfry: [1:00:29] Now in the early days of rock and roll, this happened all the time, of course, right? So you think like Elvis doing, well practically every song Elvis did the early days of his career was a cover of a song recorded by some lesser known, usually a blues artist or R&B artist or something like that. But I digress. Bill: [1:00:49] I gotta say this is a big moment for me just as a radio listener because Rich Terfry does the (is it called the drive?) from about (is it three to seven?) okay so three to seven on CBC Radio Two. Rich Terfry: [1:00:57] Yeah. Bill: [1:01:03] And i would listen to it around i think is it around six o'clock that you would do the deep dive like on a friday or is it okay last hour of the show and there'd be this deep dive and. Rich Terfry: [1:01:09] Yeah, right. last hour of the show. Bill: [1:01:14] And it was my favorite part. And so- Well, the stories. Oh, it is great. Frank: [1:01:15] Oh yeah. Well the stories. Bill: [1:01:18] And so even if it was having a bad day at work and I knew I had to be leaving at six to go home, but I knew I could get this. And that was like my favorite part of the show. So I always wanted to find these deep dives. Like, so the one day you did a deep dive, on a tragically hip album, because you did every album. That's right. And so it was on Phantom Power and I was, didn't want to come out of the car, because I knew I wouldn't be able to find it because I'm like, there's gotta be, so I go online, rich to fry deep dives, like they're not available, I want like, you know, maybe a box set, it would be great for me personally or for the world, but we just got our own personal deep dive. Frank: [1:01:54] Yeah, which is fantastic. Rich Terfry: [1:01:55] Yeah, man. Bill: [1:01:56] Yeah, so that leads to my couple songs. I may be jumping on Frank's toes here, maybe, but because we think similarly, and this was the easiest way to do this, was originally I was thinking of train songs, But then I thought of songs that were like the vibe in Tom Waits, but then were covered so that they were kind of cheesier, but I couldn't, it wasn't coming up for me. So I ended up thinking of a couple train songs that were so similar. Because we were 12, I only have like three. So the most obvious one for me is Downbound Train by Bruce Springsteen, because it sounds so similar, downbound and downtown. And there's that longing and depression within the song that is kind of in the Tom Waits song. Well, there's something more joyous, even in the Tom Waits version, compared to the Bruce Springsteen. [1:02:55] But thinking of Rod Stewart's cover as very Rod Stewart, this is almost like Bruce Springsteen going, more Bruce Springsteen than usual to me in the song. Like sometimes he mutters his lines in a way that Ben Stiller would imitate Bruce Springsteen. So I liked the song. And so that was one. There was another one called Downbound Train by Chuck Berry, which was about the devil taking a guy to hell. Okay. And then there was another one called Night Train. There's a Bruce Cockburn one, which I love, but I went with the James Brown version because it was a bit more upbeat. Frank: [1:03:28] So I went straight planes trains and automobiles. That's the theme of my of my uh, well, it's modes of transportation. Bicycle Race by Queen. This has nothing to do with any sort of feel. It's just this is the theme. Modes of transportation. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. Oh, I know right. Rich Terfry: [1:03:47] Modes of transport. Bill: [1:03:48] So, I'm going to go ahead and do a little bit of a, That's okay. Frank: [1:03:54] Midnight train to Georgia, Gladys Knight in the Pips, Pink Cadillac, Bruce Springsteen. Bill: [1:04:00] Very good. Frank: [1:04:02] Runaway Train, Soul Asylum, Aeroplane by Bjork, Get Out of My Dreams Get Into My Car by Billy Ocean, and then we are going to finish it off with Hands by Jewel. Bill: [1:04:16] Oh, no, no. You don't, that's not funny. And no, you don't walk in your hands somewhere. No, not funny. No. Frank: [1:04:17] Okay, okay, we won't put jewel on we'll put Train In Vain by The Clash. Rich Terfry: [1:04:26] You. Bill: [1:04:33] That's a good call. We haven't talked about another iconic performer we bring up most episodes. Frank: [1:04:40] The patron saint of Bill and Frank's Guilt-Free Pleasures. Yeah. Rich, your opinion. Could Michael Bolton sing this song? Rich Terfry: [1:04:48] Hmm oh downtown train yes I think so. Frank: [1:04:53] I think so, too. Rich Terfry: [1:04:54] I feel like I didn't even need to think about it long I can hear it in his voice almost immediately. Frank: [1:04:59] Especially at the end, like after that bridge that when when he's just repeating the chorus at the end, and he just sort of brings it up. That's when Michael Bolton destroys the world though, though, where he goes full Bolton and just ends the world. Bill: [1:05:11] Oh, yeah, and that Michael Bolton in 1989 is is a then is that when we got? Frank: [1:05:17] Oh, this is right in the that's right in the meat of the Michael Bolton sandwich. So I have in front of me here the the Grammys, for best male pop vocal performance, because Downtown Train was nominated in 1991. Lost to Roy Orbison's Pretty, woman. But Michael Bolton was on that list, Georgia on my mind. The year before Michael Bolton won for How Am I Supposed to Live Without You. The subsequent year, Michael Bolton wins 1992 for, When a Man Loves a Woman. But I'm looking at the list of the. Rich Terfry: [1:05:52] Right. How could he not? Frank: [1:05:56] Songs that were nominated in 91. Oh my goodness, how do you pick? So Roy Orbison wins for Pretty Woman. Another Day in Paradise, Phil Collins, Georgia on my mind, Michael Bolton. I Don't Have the heart James Ingram who's critically under appreciated in my mind Stormfront by Billy Joel and then Downtown Train by Rod Stewart 1991 I think was I think. Bill: [1:06:18] 1991? I thought this song came out in 89. Frank: [1:06:22] Was released in 90. Bill: [1:06:24] Oh right, because they would release it for so long. I got this all wrong. Rich Terfry: [1:06:27] Grammys are often, you know, a little behind. Bill: [1:06:29] Oh yeah, yeah sure. Yeah, that's right. So this comes out in 1990. Oh wow, I gotta to re- rethink about how I heard the song for the first time. I'm 14 then. That's a whole other world. Frank: [1:06:38] Yeah, that's a that's a different world. [1:06:40] Anyways, yeah, 100%. This could have been a Michael Bolton song. Could this be a Hallmark movie? Could easily become a creepy Hallmark movie. Bill: [1:06:51] Hallmark after dark. Rich Terfry: [1:06:52] Does Hallmark do creepy movies? Frank: [1:06:56] Yeah, I don't like them. Rich Terfry: [1:06:59] I mean, you know, there's some sort of romance, obviously, at the heart of this thing. So from that standpoint, like I said, if you went with the interpretation I've had where the third verse comes along, you think, oh, wait a minute, maybe these people, maybe these two know each other. Maybe it's the early days of a relationship or something, you know, in which case, maybe. But I'm with you in that, you know, it's more Scorsese, even, but Taxi Driver vibes, that hallmark. And if a hallmark movie set in New York, you know, it's like. Bill: [1:07:28] Yeah, I don't think that downtown train is taking them out to the country to like find themselves. Frank: [1:07:33] No, exactly. Rich Terfry: [1:07:38] Upper West Side, not Brooklyn. Frank: [1:07:40] Yeah, yeah. What other categories do we have? Bill: [1:07:44] You know. [1:07:44] I just thought out the top of my head when I was listening to the ending that you could do a pretty good floor routine To this song with that final moments. Yeah. Oh no with the with the thing with the. Rich Terfry: [1:07:54] Rhythmic gymnastics. [1:07:55] Yeah. Bill: [1:07:55] With the yeah yeah rhythmic gymnastics would work especially at the final moments where everyone's watching them the final sway. Rich Terfry: [1:08:01] And you're thinking just based on the gestures I'm seeing here, the ribbon. Bill: [1:08:04] Yeah it's all ribbon yeah yeah maybe some leaping it could be yeah I don't. Rich Terfry: [1:08:06] Yeah. It's all ribbon. Okay. [1:08:10] Maybe something like that. Thank you. Bill: [1:08:12] Know why I do this on a podcast but I'm I sometimes will talk with my hands yeah. Frank: [1:08:15] Can see if you can see Bill right now he's he's rhythmically flailing his arms about. Bill: [1:08:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Frank: [1:08:38] So we're bringing the the episode to a close and rich we just yeah thanks so much for bringing yourself and your knowledge and the insight not just to the song but musically in general and most especially telling us what a bridge is so that ended, over a year long debate in our minds. Rich Terfry: [1:08:58] I almost hate to ruin it for you, but this is fun. Have me by again sometime. I'd love to. Frank: [1:09:04] This would be fantastic. Yeah. And we want to thank the listeners for sticking it out right to the end. And, you know, we know you have it on your phones and on your computers and all that other sort of stuff. And you listen to it to the podcast wherever you are. And just wondering, will we see you tonight on a downtown train? Bill: [1:09:29] Thank you for listening to Bill and Frank's Guilt-Free Pleasures.
Hello once again everyone I'm your host Ray Shasho and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends. The Pousette-Dart Band, led by Jon Pousette-Dart carved a place in the landscape of American music in the 1970's. They were a mainstay of album radio, a favorite on the college circuit, and became one of the busiest touring groups in the US– playing arenas and stadiums from Coast to Coast. Jon Pousette-Dart is best known as an American Classic and Folk Rock songwriter, musician, and performing artist. Growing up in Suffern, NY with a household of artists, including his father, grandfather, and sister, he separated himself by picking up a guitar at the age of 10 and mapping out a life in music before he ever attended a little league game. Since then, it's been a long and well-traveled road in the world of music. His latest single is called “Say Nothing.” Please welcome American Classic and Folk Rock singer songwriter, musician, best known for being the founding member of the Pousette Dart-Band …Jon Pousette-Dart to Interviewing the Legends … PURCHASE THE MOST RECENT SOLO RELEASE BY JON POUSETTE-DART ‘T A L K' Available at amazon.com Folk-rock pioneer Jon Pousette-Dart's tenth album. "The heart and soul of the players from Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Nashville that make up this record made it a very special moment in time for me." says Pousette-Dart. The collection was produced and recorded in Nashville by Bil VornDick (Alison Krauss & New Grass Revival) and highlights musicians Reggie Young (Elvis, Eric Clapton), Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor), Clayton Ivey (James Brown, Bobby Womack), Glenn Worf (Mark Knopfler, Bob Seeger). Jonnell Mosser, Bekka Bramlett and bluegrass queen Rhonda Vincent have duets on the record, and features songs Jon wrote with John Oates, Gary Nicholson, Fred Knobloch, Angela Kaset, Sally Barris and Kostas. also PURCHASE THE BEST OF THE POUSETTE-DART BAND At amazon.com This greatest hits album is compiled of 22 favorite tracks from one of the most beloved folk rock bands from the '70s and '80s: the Pousette-Dart Band! Includes classics like "Amnesia", "County Line" and "Dancer"! FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT POUSETTE DART-BAND VISIT www.pousette-dart.com Official site www.facebook.com/pousettedartband Facebook https://twitter.com/jpd52?lang=en Twitter POUSETTE DART-BAND DISCOGRAPHY Albums 1976 - Pousette Dart Band 1977 - Amnesia, US Billboard # 143[4] 1978 - Pousette-Dart Band 3, US Billboard # 161 1979 - Never Enough, US Billboard # 203 1993 - Best of Pousette Dart Band Singles 1976 - What Can I Say 1977 - Fall on Me 1977 - Amnesia 1978 - Stand by Me 1979 - For Love 1979 - Hallelujah I'm a Bum Support us!
In Shakespear's Sister she was known as Marcella Detroit, but for most of her career, she has gone under the name Marcy Levy. It may surprise you to hear that Marcella, who sang lead vocals on their biggest hit 'Stay', was already a successful songwriter before teaming up with Siobhan Fahey. She co-wrote the Eric Clapton classic ‘Lay Down Sally' with George Terry in 1977, and sang backing vocals on ‘Wonderful Tonight' amongst other tracks. Her early work includes touring with Bob Seeger in the band Julia, singing backup vocals on his ‘Back in '72' album, and even playing support with her band Julia at a David Bowie gig. She has worked with numerous artists over the years, and after the success of Shakespear's Sister, who eventually, and not on the best of terms, split, she continued with a solo career.In 2019, Shakespear's sister reformed, and Marcella and Siobhan were able to make peace again.The interview is wide-ranging and provides a fascinating insight into a prolific songwriter and artist, who continues to make great music today.Connect with me on Instagram; steve.blame Thanks to POP; The History Makers insanely wonderful talent booker: #ArchieCMichaelSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/pop-the-history-makers-with-steve-blame/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 215: Since moving to Nashville at age 21 in 1978, Kenny Greenberg has built a reputation as a guitarist who could bring rock and roll punch and jangle to commercial country records as well as a standout behind the glass. Besides his seminal work with Allison Moorer, Kenny has produced albums by the Mavericks, Josh Turner, Joan Baez, Toby Keith and just recently Hayes Carll. And his studio resume is extensive and diverse, including work with Etta James, Chris Knight, Lee Ann Womack, Amy Grant, Jon Randall, Bob Seeger, and his wife of many years, Ashley Cleveland. Now he's released the first solo album in his career. Also in the hour, the Bros. Landreth from Canada about their new record and the song they wrote that Bonnie Raitt just released, with Kenny Greenberg playing guitar.
Spring Pledge Drive brings the usual rider/listener targeted guilt trip from Hank and Dan, plus a salute to the late Revered Dan, legendary KMSU DJ from We Want the Air Waves, lost recently to cancer. John Prine, Jewels and the Polar Bears, Home Spun, Ian Hunter, Bob Seeger, and Sun Valley Gun Club all included. PLEASE MAKE A PLEDGE!
Hva er "for dyrt" for en sykkel. Svaret leveres i denne episoden.
On today's episode of The Grail my guest is Bobby Seeger owner of the great Indian Larry Motorcycle shop in Brooklyn. These bikes are considered the Holy Grail of Choppers. Bobby and I talk about the history of The Indian Larry Motorcycle shop and how he got involved. Bobby also explains how the bikes are built and how you can get your hands on one of these Amazing Machines. I recommend every go visit the shop when you are visiting NYC. Thanks for all of your support and remember to keep the candles lit.
We’re back for a deep dive into the filmography of one of America’s finest working filmmakers, KELLY REICHARDT. We get things rolling with chats about her delightful latest feature FIRST COW and her classic wagon-trail western MEEK’S CUTOFF (2010), before discussing her debut feature RIVER OF GRASS (1994), ODE (1999), OLD JOY (2006), WENDY AND LUCY (2008), NIGHT MOVES (2013) and CERTAIN WOMEN (2016). We touch on her collaborative relationship with writer Jonathan Raymond, the treatment of nature and history in her films, and much much more! Featuring covers of 'Cookie's Theme' by William Tyler, 'Cant Stop Wont Stop' by Meekz, 'I Was Drunk At The Pulpit' by Palace Brothers, 'Evergladed' by Sammy & 'Night Moves' by Bob Seeger & The Silver Bullet Band. Subscribe to Film Graze on your podcast app of choice. twitter.com/FilmGraze letterboxd.com/Film_Graze/ instagram.com/film.graze/ Co-produced by Emmett Cruddas and Sam Storey
In this episode Truth talks with Bob Seeger, Jr of Indian Larry Motorcycles. The two discuss Bobby’s history, old New York, motorcycles, Indian Larry, getting out and seeing the world / enjoying life / having fun, covid, motorcycle business and industry stuff, the block party, his son Aidan and Adrenoleuokodystrophy awareness / advocacy, Aidan’s Ride, ethics, and more! For more info on Bob: IG: @indianlarrymotorcycles / @bobseegerjr_ftw / @outtolunchwithbobbyseeger / @aidanjackseegerfoundation http://www.indianlarry.com http://www.aldalliance.com http://www.aidanslaw.com As always, please hit the subscribe button if you like and support what we do! You'll get early access to new episodes! Also please leave a review! Follow us on IG: @bigtruth For feedback, questions, sponsorship info contact: bigtruthpodcast@gmail.com For more info: http://www.bigtruthpodcast.com The Big Truth Podcast is proudly sponsored by: - Manscaped (IG: @manscaped / www.mandscaped.com) – use code: BIGTRUTH at checkout for 20% off your order and free shipping!! - Law Tigers (IG: @lawtigers / www.lawtigers.com) - Choppahead Kustom Cycles (IG: @choppahead / www.choppahead.com) - Chopcult (IG: @chopcult / www.chopcult.com) - Omerta (IG: @omertamia / www.omertamia.com) - use code: BIGTRUTH at checkout for 20% off your order! - Pitchfork (IG: @pitchforkny / www.pitchforkny.com) - Full Speed Ahead (IG: @fullspeedaheadshow / www.fullspeedaheadshow.com)
Drummer Hayden Menzies of Toronto CA’s nose rock trio METZ talks about the bizarre timing of releasing their new record Alas Vending, the process of recording it at machines with Magnets with Seth Manchester, Trying to stay positive amidst the worlds woes and continue creating, working with Steve Albini on Strange Peace, strange Jesus Lizard experiences & David Yow’s dick n’ balls tricks, modern bands as well as classic bands that he’s been digging, the strange experience of listening to the caretaker, drummers from his formative years as well s modern drummers that he digs, Bob Seeger, US/Canada border drama, & more! https://www.metzztem.com/
Enjoy an hour of blues and related music with Jethro Tull, David Bowie, Bob Seeger, Ted Nugent, Vince Benedelle with Diana Krall, Ike & Tina Turner, Black Oak Arkansas, Noah Guthrie, Ed Sheeran, Shemekia Copeland, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Carl Perkins, Baby Bonnie, and Jimmy Soul.
Episode 11 - The Emporium brings you the music of The Cult, Foreigner, Deacon Blue, Imani Coppola, Thomas Rhett, Marcia Ball, Brad Paisley, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seeger & The Silver Bullet Band, Thunder and Kate Bush.
What if a battle of wits was a cage match? In this episode Dave tries to stump our panel with 80's artists who were nominated for an academy award. Can Rich start a winning streak?
As one of the very first people of color to review popular music for a major daily newspaper, Jim McFarlin spent an enormous amount of time with the world’s best-known musicians. However, getting cover stories from Bob Seeger and Ted Nugent and Kid Rock seemed easy compared to fighting for his identity as a small boy…and fighting for his life as an adult. Jim has not only battled racism over the years but, about a decade ago, he began battling kidney failure. The stories (and lessons) associated with each are incredibly powerful, and the stories in-between—the ones with Nugent and Seeger and Kid Rock and Aretha—are nearly unbelievable. Jim McFarlin is best known for the 16 years he spent working at the Detroit News as a pop music critic and media columnist, interviewing many of the world’s biggest superstars. Currently, he is a freelance writer for publications including Drive, CS, Hour Detroit, Men’s Book Chicago, and many others. Jim has also written 8 books, and is now working on his 9th—a novel about his experiences growing up as “a small black kid in a small white town.”
In 2016, her first single “Show You Around” charted at #75 on the MusicRow Charts and she did her first radio tour to MI, OH, KY, VA, WI, IA, TN and AL. Her new project, an EP with Nashville producer/songwriter Dan Mitchell, is in progress. She's opened for Eddy Money, Darryl Worley, Diamond Rio, Crystal Bowersox, Bucky Covington and others and at a young age KayLyn is already a seasoned veteran.Music runs through the family blood; her Grandmother went to school with Bob Seeger, her Grandfather plays guitar, mandolin and fiddle, her great uncle is an Elvis tribute artist and her brother is a Hip/Hop Artist/writer. Quite the mix for a country girl!KayLyn Pace is the ‘Girl Next Door' and she's about to become the next Superstar of Country Music!
Tulsa's Quartet of Superstar Drummers are Chuck Blackwell, Jim Keltner, David Teegarden and Jamie Oldaker. These four incredible Drummers have played on some of the worlds most iconic recordings and backed some of the best performers of all time.
There are many types of successful people out there; those who fell into their position, those for whom luck comes easy and often, and even those that lie, cheat, and steal their way into opportunities until they find themselves in a position of power, leaving a trail of heartbreak and deceit along the way. Yet there’s another group, who climb the ladder of success in a most understated way. Day in and day out, they quietly do their jobs, learning, getting better, being forthright with their peers and employers, their innocence and naïveté coupled with a pure love and passion for their career, eventually leading them to the highest ranks within their chosen field. Guitar Tech Steven “Charley” Cohen is a member of this aforementioned group. His approach is simple, his love of his job is pure and palpable, and his sense of self and his ability is straightforward and clear. If he weren’t those qualities that I just mentioned, I doubt he would have the kind of resume he does, which includes Don Henley/The Eagles, Sammy Hagar, Rush, Collective Soul, Taylor Dane, Bob Seeger, and Billy Corrigan of the Smashing Pumpkins. Oh, and did I mention that he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met? Sometimes, even that’s all it takes to be the best.
http://evansvillepodcast.com/2nd-annual-burdette-blues-festival/ Paul Mattingly of the River Basin Blues Society discusses the 2nd Annual Burdette Blues Festival Saturday, June 3 at 1 PM ($5) at Burdette Park to benefit the River Basin Blues Society and the Vanderburgh County Special Olympics. We also talk about the local blues scene in Evansville and some of Paul's favorite local bands. evansvilleblues.com Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/539987309530102/ The 2nd Annual Burdette Blues Festival is co-sponsored by the River Basin Blues Society and the Vanderburgh County Special Olympics. The event is a fundraiser for both organizations. The gates will open at 1 pm with opening ceremonies at 1:30 pm. The music will begin at 2 pm. General admission for the event will be $5.00. There will be BBQ, food trucks, and fun for the whole family. The full beverage provider will be Lamasco Bar & Grill. The stage production will be provided by Tri-State Sound & Light. The music will kick off at 2 pm with Ryan Rigdon and the Primal Roots. At 4 pm Paul Blake and the Pallbearers will play cuts from their new release, Hungover and Heartbroken. The Gough/Martin Blues Band takes the stage at 6 pm. This group is out of South Union, KY, and features Michael Gough (vocals, bass), John Martin (guitar), Patrick Preston (keys), and Gerry Smoot (drums). At 8 pm, Shaun Murphy brings her talent to the tristate! Shaun Murphy started her career with Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band. She has toured with Eric Clapton and was the lead singer with Little Feat for many years. Shaun is on tour promoting her new release It Won’t Stop Raining. Local guitarist Tommy Stillwell is on tour with Shaun for the summer festival season. The 2nd Annual Burdette Blues Festival supports the efforts of two worthwhile organizations and continues the great tradition of blues music in the tristate.
Whether it’s finishing work on his long-awaited third solo album or finding the perfect spot for a new recording studio, Brian Olive is a man of infinite patience. That explains why the sessions for his upcoming effort, Living on Top, took close to three years, as the retro sound-loving former member of beloved Cincinnati garage rock icons The Greenhornes and Detroit’s hard-charging Soledad Brothers toiled to make sure it sounded just right. Based on a preview of four songs Olive played on the latest edition of WCPO’s Lounge Acts podcast, the results are well worth the wait. Asked when he started working on Top, Olive was pretty sure it was 2015. But then he was reminded by a band member that it was actually the year before, explaining that “a few things” were getting in the way. “It was worth taking the time to do because I like the way this one worked out,” he said. Taking over the Digital Lounge with an all-star band that included Yusef Quotah (Halvsies, You, You’re Awesome) on keyboards, Tim Seiwert (Whiskey Shambles, Casey Campbell) on drums, bassist Andy Jody (Barrence Whitfield & the Savages) and back-up singers Beth Harris (The Hiders, the Perfect Children) and Kristen Kreft (The Perfect Children), Olive rocked the room with a heavy dose of his patented Motown-influenced soul. The album’s title track is a propulsive choogle that mixes the blue-eyed soul of Steve Winwood’s Traffic with such Motor City legends as Mitch Ryder and Bob Seeger, with Olive handling both the chicken scratch lead guitars, yearning vocals and playing a wicked, frenetic saxophone solo. For more from Brian Olive: http://www.brianolivemusic.com For more from Lounge Acts: http://wcpo.com/loungeacts
While planning his early retirement, Fritz Gilbert decided to start blogging about his thought process and the planning mechanics. As he wrote about the financial aspects, he found he was spending as much time writing about retirement life purpose and focus. Don’t visit his blog though. You will get caught up in interesting stories and lose time, just as I did, while writing these show notes the morning of. Approximate Show Times How much do you need to retire. (4:00) What is a safe withdrawal rate? (4:50) The key is to get a good estimate of what you will spend. (5:20) Flexible spending is the word. (6:50) The first objective is to try to have the lifestyle you really want to have. (7:50) Rental property not on his list. (10:40) The dismal baby boomer financial stats. (12:50) The preacher and his wife were broker at 50 and retired at 62. How they did it. (17:00) Questions from his blog readers. (19:21) What already retired folks say about planning and the money. (19:50) Having a purpose. (25:25) All my friends are dead. I’ve out lived them. (27:00) Top baby boomer retirement fears. (28:50) ***Love letter to wife each year with an addendum. (30:14) Just try something. (33:15) If not retired yet. (34:40) www.WadePfau.com The blogs and podcasts Fritz follows. (39:40) Thoughts on minimalism. (42:58) Fritz’s Music: Boston, Bob Seeger. And a little bit of Ted Nugent. On Death and Dying. Life Looking Back From 95. The Big Take Away Every year, Fritz’s writes an addendum to his love letter to his wife. In it he has: What and where all the passwords are to his accounts. Who to call first. What specific steps to take 1-10+. It is detailed, and will be a real gift to his wife and daughter. Resources www.TheRetirementManifesto.com Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: Wade Pfau. Fritz's Favorite Music Boston – Don’t Look Back. Bob Seegar – Against the wind. Thanks for sharing with your baby boomer pals. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher. Like our Facebook Page. Have you written an awesome iTunes review yet? Planet BoomerVille is for Baby Boomers and is about being Stellar and Living Life Lively. That means Baby Boomer brain and physical health. Baby Boomer family relationships, love, sex, and romance. Making new friends. Appreciating old friends. Lot's of music, new and old. It is about new life beginning and adventures. Planet BoomerVille is about embracing the future and making your now as big as your past. Maybe bigger and even better. Why not? Why not you?
Daniel takes on mental health, Sam is badass phlebotomist, Nixie gives us a Bob Seeger serenade and Grace declares her hatred for Ma’chello. All on this week’s There’s No Place Like Terra! Join the conversation! twitter @terrapodcast facebook.com/theresnoplaceliketerra email: theresnoplaceliketerra@gmail.com but remember include 'SPOILERS' in the subject line if you talk about future episodes so we can keep Grace spoiler free.
The debate rages over how to bring our factories back in the United States and in 2016, it crossed parties to the Republican side as well as the Democratic party side. We look at the issues behind this debate.
Welp, I kept hearing about this up-start band called the Rolling Stones and I figured since we over here at Somebody Likes It Central Command are nothing if not full of lots of emotions of pity for the “little guy”, I thought I would throw them a bone and pick one of their albums. Exile on Mainstreet ain’t no George Thorogood, that’s for sure, but I feel confident if these guys keep it up, they might just “break on through to the other side” (The Doors) one of these days… NEXT TIME: Punk Rock Comedian JT Habersaat joins us as we listen to Bob Seeger’s Nightmoves…can’t tell you how to feel about that album, but I can say if you don’t think the album cover is the best ever created, well, you are wrong.
Justin Myers was born on Oct.16th in Thomasville, GA to parents Larry and Georgia. Justin is the youngest of four kids and the only boy in the bunch. When Justin's parents met, Georgia already had three daughters, but the term “step” was never used. They were a family. This strong family bond is the foundation for Justin's morals and beliefs. At the age of six, Georgia's career brought the family to Nashville. This is where Justin's journey began. “I was very fortunate. I grew up in a house where “can't” was never a word that was used when it came to dreams.”A dreamer is exactly what Justin remains to this day. Since a young age Justin seemed destined for his life to involve a crowd. But, music wasn't always the road. Ice hockey became a fast obsession is Justin's life and from the day he laced on skates it was his goal to play in the NHL. From travel leagues, all-star teams, and hockey schools in Canada, Justin lived and breathed the game. “I was lucky, and my parents supported and pushed me every single step of the way.” Through this, Justin learned life lessons that he carries to this day:1. Never forget the children2. Be grateful for the people that love and support you3. Always return the love you have been given.Even though Hockey was his passion, Justin always had a taste and love of music. Being the last of a large family it was no surprise that a wide variety of music was played in the house. Larry, Justin's father was a rocker. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, ACDC, Allman Brothers, and The Eagles were all routinely played. Georgia was polar opposite, often described by Justin as a southern belle. She brought in the older softer tunes like the temptations, Elvis, Dolly Parton, and Frank Sinatra. Justin's sisters Tammy, Kelly and Sheri… completely messed his mind up musically. They threw everything else you could throw at a younger brother like Rod Stewart, Guns n Roses, Run D.M.C., Journey, and Bob Seeger. Through all this, Justin learned to open himself up and become a fan of multiple genres. Growing up a daddy's son and doing everything like his father, it became known that his mom introduced him to what would become his true love… Country music. “My mother came to me and said Justin, listen to this, it reminds me of you”. The song was “The Dance”, by Garth Brooks. It wasn't known then, but that song would one day tie Justin's love of music to him forever.“I became obsessed with everything Garth. I knew every song, every interview, and I even began to listen to music he said he loved.” Garth opened Justin's eyes to a world of music he didn't know much about and pretty soon he was singing George Strait, Chris Ledoux, Merle Haggard, and George Jones. If the song had a fiddle… He had to hear it. Slowly, this passion began to consume his spare time. If Justin wasn't on the ice he was immersed in country music. In school he was known as the class clown, and always quick with a joke. At the same time, Justin was overweight, and kids were cruel, but this only fueled Justin's dreams. His imagination would soar, writing songs and immersing himself in what he loved – hockey and music.It wasn't until Middle School that Justin met a young man, Ryan Sutton (Justin's Producer). Ryan, a new kid in school, had just moved from California and quickly became Justin's closest friend. “I remember Ryan had a guitar and I thought that was the coolest thing on earth.” Ryan's taste in country music was right in line with Justin and most afternoons the two spent hours playing their favorite records and pretending it was their own. It wasn't long before Ryan and Justin were writing their songs together, all the while only known to Justin's Mother. Justin's life still revolved around hockey— every day at the rink, and weekends in a new town for games. This is most likely where Justin gained his road dog spirit, but at the age of 16 Justin's life would change dramatically.His father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and the world seemed to stop. This emotional time in Justin's life changed his whole attitude and soon music would become a beacon in Justin's life. Larry had not only been his father, but he had been his coach and friend. He attended every game and practice that Justin ever played. The biggest solace Justin had was music. Georgia had known about Justin's music and loved to hear her son singing along to the radio and encouraged it. Georgia felt it was time her son allowed his father in on this secret. A week before his dad's death, Justin sang to his father for the first time in his life. After the song, Justin's dad said words that to this day remain in Justin's heart. “Is that my son? He is amazing…” A week later, Justin's father passed. It would be the last words ever said to him from his father.The funeral for his father was anything but a sad time. His father was brash, light-hearted and outspoken, and always quick with a joke. The family and friends all took to celebrating instead of mourning. Once again, Justin's mother decided it was time for Justin to share his voice. At the request of his mother, Justin and his cousin Shaun would sing for the guests at the visitation. Terrified, Justin stood in front of his closest friends and family to sing. The song he chose was “The Dance” By Garth Brooks. “I just remember Shaun and I singing together… My eyes closed as tight as they could be. Then Shaun backed off and just sang backup. My brain raced, thinking we were failing… I finally opened my eyes, and the room was in tears”. This moment would change his life forever. Justin and Georgia grew strength in each other after his father's death and support through Justin's music. There is not a day that goes by that Justin will not refer to his mother as his hero.After High School, he began playing local venues and continued writing music. After a few near opportunities that didn't follow through, Justin decided his life needed a new direction. Following in the footsteps of several family members, Justin joined the United States Air Force. During his time in the Air Force, Justin refocused his life and renewed his passion for writing and playing music. “The Air Force re-energized me. I found a passion and confidence I had lost.” It became clear Justin needed to make a choice to continue the military career he loved or pursue the calling in his heart. “I think I spent about four months of sleepless nights deciding what to do.” After many conversations with family, friends and his commanders, Justin decided it was the right time to return to Nashville. Justin did not fully leave the military. He moved from active duty to guard so that he could still honor his military commitment while pursuing music. Nashville proved to be challenging and he knew there was a new level he needed to bring himself up to.
Hour 2 of this weeks show Nate fills us in on the interesting fellow he met the night before at a Bob Seeger concert.
Doug joins Adam & Adam from a coffee shop/train depot to discuss things like Boggies music video makeover, whether Chamber maid is a contemporary term (its not), and if its acceptable to use water with cereal instead of milk (its not). Recorded on January 23, 2014.