WEBVTT
1
00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:11.400
You are listening to the Figure eights podcast I host
2
00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.720
Nick Wheat to the band High on Stress out of Minneapolis, Minnesota,
3
00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:18.800
and today we have a right ship, Yes we do.
4
00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:22.359
His name is Peter Jesperson. He's an American music industry
5
00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:27.800
businessman known for his involvement in discovering the Replacements and
6
00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:32.840
also managing the Replacements. Co founded Twin Tone Records here
7
00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:38.600
in Minneapolis. What he went off and he was working
8
00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.679
at New West Records for a number of years as well.
9
00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.200
He has been around and known a lot of great people,
10
00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.439
has a lot of good stories and as one of
11
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.759
the best years in the music industry. So excited to
12
00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.479
talk to him, finally have him on him without further ado,
13
00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:00.439
I bring you great see.
14
00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:01.960
Too.
15
00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:07.159
How many cats you have?
16
00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:08.200
Three? Three?
17
00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.159
What you got to have some interesting names for those
18
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:11.840
cats I met.
19
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.560
I don't know about that. I mean, the oldest one
20
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:20.079
is Daisy, which was sort of a joke name. It
21
00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.319
was like naming your dog spot or something. I don't
22
00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.159
know how we landed on that. And then we got
23
00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.400
a couple of kiddies right right before the pandemic started
24
00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:35.599
fall of twenty nineteen, and they were siblings, a male
25
00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:37.599
and a female. We'd never had a male cat before.
26
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:40.640
I grew up with animals, horses and dogs and cats,
27
00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:43.519
and I always seemed like the males were the most trouble.
28
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.760
So I've always leaned towards the females. But anyway, I
29
00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:49.959
got a boy and a cat, a boy and a
30
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.599
girl cat, and they're just the coolest. And they're Mazie
31
00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:54.239
and Millie.
32
00:01:54.760 --> 00:02:01.400
Nice. Nice. Yeah, and my son named her Sheila Ela alway,
33
00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.280
isn't that funny. Yeah, So the vets, that was an
34
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.199
interesting trip because they're like Sheila E right, that's us.
35
00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:11.479
Yeah, and your vet probably doesn't get the connection.
36
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.439
Most of them get it. You get a little look
37
00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:13.639
at it.
38
00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.960
And so yeah, it's most local Minneapolis, right probably.
39
00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:17.319
Yeah.
40
00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:21.960
Yeah, Yeah, how you been I've been good. I've been good. Yeah.
41
00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:24.520
We're actually getting some warm weather. It's been cold here,
42
00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:28.840
dipping down into the forties at night, which you know,
43
00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.159
I know for Minnesota that doesn't mean anything, but uh,
44
00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:35.879
we're there. But I'm I'm avid bicycle rider. In the morning,
45
00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:38.240
I do an early morning bike ride, and when it's
46
00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:40.639
in the four when it gets below fifty, I don't
47
00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.319
go out because it's just a little bit too much.
48
00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:47.719
And so anyway, I missed my bike rides. But but
49
00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:49.039
Sey LEVI you know I do.
50
00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:54.360
Yeah. It's uh, it's funny because and you'll remember this,
51
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.000
but like you look out the window and it's like
52
00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.919
sunny and it looks beautiful, but it's thirty five. Yeah,
53
00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:03.520
it tricks you when you walk outside and you're like, oh,
54
00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:04.319
I guess it's cold.
55
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.360
Yeah. I was checking out some of your other podcasts.
56
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.199
You really do a good job, I got to say.
57
00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.639
And the Brian Paulson one was really interesting to listen to.
58
00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.240
And I actually hadn't talked to him in years and
59
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:20.759
I saw him. God, when was it. It would have
60
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:26.919
been I guess last last June doing some book stuff
61
00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.800
down in North Carolina and he came to the Chapel
62
00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.319
Hill thing that we did with which was it was
63
00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:35.199
a fun when Tommy Stinson was with me and John
64
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.919
John Worcester moderated. So you know Worcester is of course
65
00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:44.960
just such a you know, just bright light in music.
66
00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.319
You know, he's such a fan and such a great
67
00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.479
drummer and plays with all kinds of interesting people.
68
00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.240
Yeah. I enjoyed talking to him. He was a blast.
69
00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.240
Yeah, I've got I've got your podcast with him queued
70
00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:57.560
up too.
71
00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:00.840
Nice. Yeah, he's he's a riot and I liked Brian.
72
00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.400
I never met Brian before, so that was enjoyable to
73
00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.919
get to know him a little bit. But this has
74
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.639
been fun. I started doing it during COVID when there
75
00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:11.080
was literally nothing going on, which is probably the best
76
00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.360
time to do it because there was so much availability
77
00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.439
by people. So I was just one after another, you know,
78
00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.680
Jody Stevens, different people, and I'm like, Wow, this is
79
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:22.000
going well. I'm getting great guests and it's done pretty
80
00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.040
well for what it is, so that's great.
81
00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:28.000
You know, one other little thing that pops into my
82
00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:31.480
head sort of personal, but I think you'll relate or
83
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.680
understand the thing about cats. I got those those two
84
00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:41.120
siblings in September of twenty nineteen, and Terry Katzman was
85
00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:44.480
out visiting here in November and passed away here at
86
00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:44.879
our house.
87
00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:45.680
And that's right.
88
00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:49.079
And I believe that the cats were cuddled up with
89
00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:50.120
him when he passed away.
90
00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.079
That's nice.
91
00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:54.800
I had gone into our guest room to see how
92
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:56.839
he was doing. He hadn't been feeling well and just
93
00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:58.519
said he wanted to lay down for a bit and
94
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:02.920
and I went in to say, you know, how are
95
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:04.720
you feeling and he said, I'm fine. I said, oh,
96
00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:06.360
let me get those cats out here, and he said,
97
00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.279
oh no, I really like having them here. And they
98
00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:12.959
were just kids of course at the time. Yeah, And
99
00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:14.560
so I left him in there, and I mean, I
100
00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:18.079
don't know, you know, I don't know exactly what that means,
101
00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:20.000
but I just think it might, you know, there might
102
00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:23.879
have been something comforting if he was you know, scared
103
00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:28.839
there as you know, his body was doing whatever it
104
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.639
was doing, and so maybe if they comforted him, that
105
00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.839
just kind of you know, that's a touching story.
106
00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:41.639
And yeah, yeah, and it's you know, obviously traumatic, but
107
00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:44.160
kind of something kind of sweet too about you know,
108
00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.079
old friends being together at the end too. So yeah,
109
00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:50.800
I know a lot of people around here were pretty devastated.
110
00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:52.560
I think I only met him a couple of times.
111
00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:56.360
I think he was working at High Fi John Clifford
112
00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:57.920
for a while, so I would see him in there
113
00:05:58.199 --> 00:05:58.839
on occasion.
114
00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:02.560
But yeah, Hey, what's the big Star forty five you
115
00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:03.240
have behind you?
116
00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:08.839
Oh it's some weird bootleg Live nineteen seventy four, New York.
117
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.000
It does not sound great. The recording's pretty rough, but
118
00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:15.480
I stumbled on it and I'm like, well, that's kind
119
00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:17.160
of a cool thing that I've never seen anywhere.
120
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.560
Yeah, that's I have never I don't have that I have,
121
00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:23.000
you know, I'm such a magnet for all the big
122
00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:24.680
star stuff. But of course it was seventy four, it
123
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:29.279
wouldn't have had that lineup. That's great, right, but still yeah, yeah,
124
00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:34.639
I can't. It's at that Hempstead Long Island Recordings where.
125
00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:37.199
I think I got it in. I believe it was
126
00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:42.319
in Hopkins, like an antique store. I'm like, that's yeah, wow. Yeah,
127
00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.639
it just says live from New York. It doesn't live
128
00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:46.439
in New York. It doesn't say where it was.
129
00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.519
Yeah, I think does it have like Motel blues on it?
130
00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.720
September Girls Way Out West Mode laying Don't Lie to
131
00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:59.839
Me on My Soul Ballot of good O thirteen, I'm
132
00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:01.360
in love with a girl in the street. You get
133
00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.759
what you deserve Daisy glaze back of a car and
134
00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:04.360
she's a mover.
135
00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:05.319
Huh.
136
00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:07.480
I have pectured in Europe.
137
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.560
Huh. Interesting.
138
00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:12.600
Yeah, the recording quality isn't great, but I was like, well,
139
00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.519
that's it was worth the risk because it's kind of
140
00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.160
a cool thing that I've never seen around anywhere, so right, yeah,
141
00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.639
and before or after I still haven't seen it, so
142
00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:24.199
I don't know. It says made in Europe, so I
143
00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.560
wonder if somebody brought it to some because you figure
144
00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:28.720
you'd run into it somewhere.
145
00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:34.480
Well, you know, sometimes people put that put that you know,
146
00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.759
made in Europe just to try to fool the you know,
147
00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:39.839
authorities in America or whatever.
148
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.279
That's true, so they don't go after them very likely. Yeah,
149
00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.800
So your room there looks amazing. Oh you are those
150
00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.560
all music books or a little bit of everything.
151
00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.240
Well, I kind of read. I'm a reader, so there's
152
00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:58.560
other stuff in here, but the but the non music
153
00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:03.800
books I tend not to keep. I recycle or or
154
00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:06.839
there's a really great used bookstore down the street where
155
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.279
I can you know, trade them in and that sort
156
00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:11.759
of stuff. The music books I keep, so yeah, most
157
00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:13.879
of them, most of them that you see our music books.
158
00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:16.639
And I'm completely out of space. I've got records all
159
00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:18.480
over the floor now because I don't have room for
160
00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.360
to file my vinyl and we're about to right outside
161
00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:26.120
this behind me there there's a doorway that goes into
162
00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:29.000
a dining room. And there's some wall space right behind
163
00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.759
the door that I convinced my wife and I'm going
164
00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:33.399
to have a couple of record racks built to fit
165
00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:37.240
that space and hopefully relieve some of the some of
166
00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.720
the glut. But we like we you know, we we
167
00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:42.679
don't necessarily like, but we we we live in clutter,
168
00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:43.720
and we like it that way.
169
00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:46.480
I guess, yeah, Well, it's funny because I've got I
170
00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:48.759
do the same thing. I keep my music books and
171
00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:51.320
I have some down here and some upstairs, and the
172
00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:56.240
records too, I have some upstairs. So I've been given
173
00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.919
an amount of space upstairs where i can have that
174
00:08:59.000 --> 00:08:59.879
stuff in the rest.
175
00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:02.480
Right.
176
00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:03.159
Yeah.
177
00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.120
I remember moving in with a girl who I won't mention.
178
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:10.879
You may know her that I was dating so many
179
00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:15.039
years ago, And as we were moving in, I remember
180
00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:16.840
her saying I don't want my living room to look
181
00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:19.879
like a record store. And I thought, oh, this isn't.
182
00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:23.720
Going to go. Well, you know, sounds like you got
183
00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:25.279
a deadline on that relationship.
184
00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.039
That was very much so I should have I should
185
00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:29.559
have write then, I should have said, you know what,
186
00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:31.639
I'm going to just not move my stuff in. I'll
187
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:32.919
gout check with you later.
188
00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:36.879
That's hilarious, hilarious. So what have you been working on lately?
189
00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:38.360
You've You've got the book, and I want to go
190
00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:41.320
I want to go back for sure, coming to the beginning.
191
00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:44.679
But I you know, your book came out euphoric recall
192
00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.960
that a year or two now, I can't keep.
193
00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:50.840
It came out November of twenty twenty three, so a
194
00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:51.679
year and a half or so.
195
00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:55.080
Yeah, that was quick. Yeah, And how's up being going?
196
00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:57.480
Are you still doing events around or what? I know
197
00:09:57.559 --> 00:09:59.960
you have mentioned with Tommy and some other thing.
198
00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:05.120
Yeah, I am, I mean, you know, it's uh, it's
199
00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:08.840
it's uh. You know, I was with a small publisher,
200
00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.759
Minnesota Historical Society Press, and they were, you know, they
201
00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.639
were really nice people, but they weren't super music savvy,
202
00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.840
and so they didn't they weren't able to really do
203
00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:20.960
a whole lot to help me get book events or
204
00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.639
to promote the book events. And you know, I understood that,
205
00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.919
and I hired an outside publicist of my own. I
206
00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:28.919
actually had one at the beginning, and then another one
207
00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:31.120
after the contract for the first one ran out, and
208
00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.679
and I had two really great publicists, Jim Merlis from
209
00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:43.240
Big Hassle Media, and and then Josh Mills who has
210
00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.120
It's a live media here in LA and they did
211
00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:47.840
a really good job. But I set all that stuff
212
00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:50.519
up myself, and again with a small publisher. They didn't
213
00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:52.919
pay for my travel except to come to Minnesota to
214
00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.759
do you know, a couple of things that or that
215
00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.080
week of the book release, and so you know, I
216
00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.080
had to be cautious and spend my money carefully and
217
00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:06.000
try to What I tried to do is book you know,
218
00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:08.000
find an anchor date and then book a couple of
219
00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:12.000
other cities nearby so that I could only you know,
220
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.320
it would only be one plane ticket and rent a card,
221
00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:18.000
you know whatever. And so so yeah, I've done twenty
222
00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.919
of them so far, eighteen cities, two in LA and
223
00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.440
two in Minneapolis. And then but I have offers to
224
00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:29.039
do other things and it's just hard for me to
225
00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.200
line them up like I could do Grimys in Nashville.
226
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.639
They've been gracious in saying anytime you you know, can
227
00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:38.279
come down, we'd like to host you. And there's a
228
00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:40.519
couple other places like that. There's I still haven't done
229
00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.440
Boston proper, for instance, and that was a you know
230
00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:45.200
town I spent a lot of time in in early
231
00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:49.480
replacements days, and so we'll see where it goes now.
232
00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.960
But I'm actually in the process of I believe I'm
233
00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:57.039
going to do something in London next month, so that'll
234
00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:58.919
be really fun. At the I think they call it.
235
00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:01.000
Let me just look here real quick.
236
00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:03.639
It's the.
237
00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:12.279
Oh Far Sight Gallery and they are it's a music
238
00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:18.440
centric place. And Alan Jones, I'm really happy to say
239
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.000
Alan Jones, the old editor of Melody Maker and the
240
00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.000
guy who founded on Cut magazine, is going to moderate
241
00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.080
and he's helping me set it up. He liked my book,
242
00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.440
and I've read his books and so we've we've I've
243
00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:30.960
been in touch with him a little bit in the past,
244
00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.759
but mostly since my book came out and his most
245
00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.919
recent book came out. So that's really I'm excited about that,
246
00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.320
of course, And and then we'll see what else happens.
247
00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:46.159
I mean, I'm open. I'll go wherever somebody will have
248
00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:48.399
me if if it's affordable, you know, if I can
249
00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:49.639
make it work financially.
250
00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.080
No, no, I get that from me. You know. Being
251
00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:54.879
in a band standpoint, we kind of do the same
252
00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:57.480
thing where we're like, all right, we're gonna go here.
253
00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.000
That that show pays pretty well. Try to find something
254
00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.519
around it to make it worth our while and you know,
255
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:05.960
see what we can do with it.
256
00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.759
But uh, yeah, I have no I have no illusions.
257
00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.360
I mean, I'm I it's a it's a it's not
258
00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:11.919
a you know, never, it's not going to be a
259
00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.720
New York Times bestseller anytime soon. But I I'm proud
260
00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.639
of you know. Uh. Of course, there's a million things
261
00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.440
I wish I could change now or fix or add
262
00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:26.159
or me but but I'm pretty happy with how it
263
00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.200
turned out. And and so uh for me, it's all gravy.
264
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.000
It's a win win situation because I it was it
265
00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:36.559
was a you know, slightly torturous, but generally speaking, fun
266
00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:39.720
project to do. And and I got to really stretch
267
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.879
out and I said, I didn't want to try to
268
00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:44.679
write a book unless I could just clear my desk
269
00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.360
and not you know, I wanted to be a full
270
00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.159
time writer. And so that's what I did for a
271
00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.600
couple of years. And yeah, it was really fun. I
272
00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.039
mean just to wake up in the morning, I've opened
273
00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:54.639
my eyes and I couldn't wait to get back here
274
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.440
to sit down to start working. And sometimes it was
275
00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.799
you know, a couple hours of being able to form
276
00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:02.759
a decent sentence. In other days that it'd be, you know,
277
00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:06.120
twelve hours of just zooming and just throwing it out
278
00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:07.279
there and then editing later.
279
00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:13.440
Yeah, it sounds a lot like writing music. Faucets on
280
00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.120
and some days it's like, oof, this is not working.
281
00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:18.240
Do you know Ted nicely at all?
282
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.600
Well? I know him from Tommy Keane, I see, you
283
00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.879
got to tell you good there. I don't know him well,
284
00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:27.039
but my wife and Tommy were very close, and so
285
00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.279
she knew him. They both she and Tommy lived in
286
00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.519
the DC area for a while. They got to know
287
00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.600
each other there, and then Tommy moved to LA around
288
00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.480
the same time my wife did, and so they stayed
289
00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.440
friends throughout that whole time. And I got the benefit
290
00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:43.120
of their friendship and got to know Tommy pretty well too.
291
00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:44.720
And through Tommy Ted.
292
00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.840
Why do you ask, Oh, he's a riot, that guy,
293
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.320
so I first met him. I don't know if you
294
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.679
listened to that podcast, but I had kind of a
295
00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:56.879
Tommy Bandmates and Friends episode.
296
00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.240
I haven't And that's another one that I'd like to
297
00:14:59.600 --> 00:14:59.919
listen to.
298
00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:02.960
I think you'll enjoy it because there's some there's some
299
00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:05.039
laughs and some tears and all the whole the whole
300
00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:08.519
thing is there, and you know, people were talking about
301
00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:12.200
his competitive nature when it came to board games. Oh
302
00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:16.080
so it was really fun. But Ted was on there,
303
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:17.559
so I got to know Ted a little bit through that.
304
00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:19.799
And then I did a separate episode with just Ted
305
00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:22.919
talking about you know, Fougazi and all the stuff that
306
00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.799
he worked on over the years. And he actually asked
307
00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:28.080
me to help him write a book, which I might
308
00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:31.159
never That was something that never crossed my mind and
309
00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.399
that we'll see whatever happens if we ever get around
310
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.919
to it. But yeah, it's it sounds kind of daunting
311
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.120
but kind of fun at the same time.
312
00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:44.519
Yeah, I have a funny Tommy Keane a competitive game
313
00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.159
story with my my son. We joke about it. He
314
00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:52.600
grew up with two uncle Tommy's, you know, Tommy Stinton
315
00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:56.159
and Tommy Keane and and As and Tommy. Yeah, he
316
00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:58.200
would come over and we'd play board games all the time.
317
00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.879
He was a real be Probably in you in your
318
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:03.480
talk with the band guys, you probably know he was
319
00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:05.039
a huge fan of the game Clue.
320
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.240
And I don't know if they mentioned Clue, oh Clue.
321
00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:10.159
He was just that so that was his favorite game,
322
00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:11.679
and so we used to play that all the time.
323
00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.440
And my son, you know, was when he got old enough.
324
00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.039
He might have been maybe eleven, maybe twelve at the time,
325
00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.840
and he beat Tommy and it was really he won
326
00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.279
the game of all four of us playing, and I remember,
327
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.759
you know, Tommy was like he didn't know how to
328
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:30.039
react because he knew that it was childish to be
329
00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.799
mad at an eleven year old. But on the other hand,
330
00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:35.879
he was mad, you know, So it was it was
331
00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.120
it was quite funny.
332
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.240
Yeah, I think Maddie. Maddie was talking about some game
333
00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.080
they would play. He's like, which we started to call
334
00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:47.039
hurt feelings that money. I was got hurt feelings whenever
335
00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.840
we played it. That's funny. I think you'll enjoy it.
336
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.600
Tommy was such a great guy. We would we would
337
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.200
open for him when he would come to town, and
338
00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.759
it's it's just the thing that about him that kind
339
00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:00.480
of amazed me is obviously he'd been playing music for years,
340
00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:03.639
traveling all over the place, and you just could see it.
341
00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:06.240
He would walk into whatever venue he's playing in and
342
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.279
someone would walk up to him and he would be like, hey, Phil, Hey,
343
00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:11.559
you hey, Like he just knew everybody in the room,
344
00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:14.200
remember their names. I'm like, I can't remember who I
345
00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:16.359
met yesterday, and I'm just like, I was just blown
346
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.279
away by just how that stuck. And you know, it's
347
00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:24.079
a great thing to have, you know, network and build
348
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.160
and get to know people. But he, you know, anybody
349
00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:27.920
who'd come to his shows over the years, he knew
350
00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:31.039
their names when I walk up and they take pictures
351
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.839
and kind of just a neat guy and just one
352
00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:35.319
of the best damn guitar.
353
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.799
Players I've ever heard. Boy, I'll say, so.
354
00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:40.640
So, where where did you grow up?
355
00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:40.720
What?
356
00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:43.400
I've read your book? But for those who haven't read
357
00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.000
the book, and I was at the Feetus when I
358
00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:48.920
talked to you there and that you had a great
359
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:51.799
turnout for that, and I think I read that thing
360
00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.279
in the day or two. It is really fun. But
361
00:17:54.599 --> 00:17:56.119
you know, where where did you grow up? For those
362
00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:57.400
who haven't picked up the book.
363
00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:02.119
Yet, Minnetonka grew up in minute Well, I guess. I
364
00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.519
lived in Robinsdale until I was about four and a
365
00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:10.279
half and then we moved to Minnetonka, went to Hopkins
366
00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:14.200
Schools oddly enough, and yeah, so I grew up on
367
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.960
a sort of near where Ridgdale is now. In fact,
368
00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:20.680
when they built Ridgedale, they tore down half of my childhood.
369
00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:24.839
I used to ride horseback out there, and but we
370
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.200
had a nice five acre plot of land and we
371
00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:32.240
had horses. We had usually two or three ourselves, and
372
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:34.920
then we boarded some for people in the area. So
373
00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:38.440
it was a pretty happening place and house on a
374
00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:41.000
hill in the middle of the five acres and surrounded
375
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:44.440
by pasture and pretty idyllic childhood. I got to say,
376
00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.759
I mean a good our idyllic place to you know, geographically,
377
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.359
to grow up. It was. It was a lot of fun,
378
00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:52.480
horses and dogs and cats all the time.
379
00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:59.440
And that's amazing to think that there was pastures there. Yeah,
380
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.319
because for those who don't live here, there's you can
381
00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:08.079
go to Dave's Hot Chicken, right and you know there's
382
00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:10.160
I don't think the I think the Applebee's is gone,
383
00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:12.680
but I'm like, there are no horses in that area anymore.
384
00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:15.599
There are. Yeah, that was like that was a you know,
385
00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:19.279
a fun spot too. One of my best buddies, uh
386
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.599
you know, had his parents' house, had some property that
387
00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.000
went down a hill that really faces right on the
388
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.799
site where Bridgedale is and they had built a fort there,
389
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:31.000
and and so we used to sleep out there all
390
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.400
the time. And in fact, the first time I ever
391
00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.960
smoked pot was sleeping out in that fort. Uh And
392
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.119
and so you know, anyway, that whole area I've got
393
00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:41.279
very you know, I we would have like looked out
394
00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:43.960
the front door of the fort and seen you know,
395
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:46.759
the you know, the space that would be torn down
396
00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.400
for for for for the shopping wall.
397
00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:55.839
Wow. Wow. And obviously you've been a big music guy forever.
398
00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:57.839
Did you ever pick up an instrument or were you
399
00:19:57.880 --> 00:19:58.920
just more of an appreciator?
400
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.400
You know, that's a question that I've wondered myself for
401
00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.960
a long time. I never really did. And I did
402
00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.000
take drum lessons for a while when I was in
403
00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.400
sixth grade. I've always had a pretty good clock in
404
00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:16.960
my head. I work well in the studio with drummers,
405
00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:21.599
for instance, in a lot of cases, but or I
406
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:27.119
can if the drummer is open to you know, you know, discussion,
407
00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.759
the feedback. But I think, you know, and this may
408
00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:33.359
sound like a cop up, but I really did sort
409
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:38.079
of like music overwhelmed me so strongly at such a
410
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.119
young age. I kind of always felt like, I'll never
411
00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:44.119
be able to play like the people that I listened to,
412
00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.400
you know, on the radio or on you know, when
413
00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:51.960
I started to buy records. So I, yeah, I didn't
414
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.480
really pursue it, but I don't think I had the
415
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.079
talent for it. And it's interesting. My son is twenty
416
00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.319
three now and he's had the same experience. He you know,
417
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.559
we never pushed music at him, but we you know,
418
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.480
gave him piano lessons. We you know, bought him an
419
00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:09.039
electric guitar and acoustic guitar bass. He had a drum
420
00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.720
kid out in the back yard for a while and
421
00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.960
things like that in a playhouse. But you know, he
422
00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:20.640
and he was actually had proclivity with piano, but not
423
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:24.240
and drums too, but he never really kept at it.
424
00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:28.319
And so you know, you're whatever it is is his drive.
425
00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.400
His inner drive towards music didn't include being a musician.
426
00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:34.279
It's the same as same as it was for me.
427
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:37.839
That's interesting because I remember I was fifteen when I
428
00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:40.680
started to play guitar, and I feel like the minute
429
00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.720
I picked it up, I didn't put it down for years,
430
00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:46.599
Like if we went on a family vacation, I was like, oh,
431
00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.359
but I'm not going to be able to play this weekend,
432
00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.119
Like there was just something. And I can see to
433
00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:54.759
my kid for baseball, he is baseball, baseball, baseball. And
434
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.119
both my kids like music, they do music stuff, but
435
00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:01.160
baseball and gymnastics that's where all of their energy goes.
436
00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:03.599
So I think everybody, you may have an appreciation, you
437
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:05.960
may like doing it, but there's something, there's some sort
438
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.640
of a poll that happens when you find that thing
439
00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:11.839
that you really love. Yeah, So yeah, it's kind of
440
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:13.519
interesting how mine's work, I think.
441
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:16.519
But yeah, family vacations were an issue for me at
442
00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:18.519
a certain point because I'd be real grumpy about having
443
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.000
to leave my friends and my stereo. And so I
444
00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:23.799
actually at one point got a little stereo that kind
445
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.200
of the kind that the speakers folded up into a
446
00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.759
little suitcase almost kind of thing, and so I would
447
00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.880
always my records and my stereo on family vacations, and
448
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.240
my parents were really not happy about that, but it
449
00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:39.200
was a way to keep me from being grump the
450
00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:39.960
entire time.
451
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:44.880
So it's funny. My son's uh, sophomore in high school,
452
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:49.480
and he's at this age now where we'll be driving somewhere,
453
00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.000
he'll have his headphones on, so he's listening to his
454
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.039
music in the car and I and it's funny because
455
00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:57.359
when I was a kid, I did the same thing,
456
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.319
and you know, you early don't think of it the
457
00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:02.960
kid to the parent, right, And I'm just thinking sometimes
458
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.640
when he's sitting in the seat, I'm like, well, we
459
00:23:04.680 --> 00:23:06.759
could be talking doing all this stuff, and I'm like,
460
00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:08.279
I did the same Damn.
461
00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:11.680
Been there down that I know exactly what you're talking about.
462
00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:14.119
This is kind of how it works. It's like, well,
463
00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:16.319
this is time to go deep into the music that
464
00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:20.079
he loves. And it's fun because he's like, you never
465
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.559
know what your kids are gonna like both, you know,
466
00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:25.960
music or whatever their hobbies might be. But his taste
467
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.720
in music for a sophomore in high school, he'll listen
468
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:31.160
to this, like some new rap stuff. I've been to
469
00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:32.079
a couple of shows with him.
470
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:33.119
I like it.
471
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:36.119
Fine, It's not my wheelhouse generally, but there's stuff I like.
472
00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:39.839
But then he's walking into the room of the notice
473
00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.000
resting shirt on and he's actually wearing a Slim shirt today,
474
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.200
so that was kind of fun. So yeah, h Slim
475
00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:48.680
once told him, Henry, I'm the oldest man you will
476
00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:53.119
ever meet so so, yeah, he used to go over
477
00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:56.079
there and visit with me. So but uh yeah, no
478
00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.519
he no, I don't think there's many sophomores in twenty
479
00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:01.759
twenty five that I was just reading shirt. So I'm
480
00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:03.680
pretty proud of that one. And he's a big Marvin
481
00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:04.319
Gay guy.
482
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:07.200
Too, So yeah, two of my favorites.
483
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:10.519
Yeah. So, so when you were a kid, what was
484
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.640
what was that first album or song that sparked you,
485
00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:15.839
got you excited, you said you kind of have an
486
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.400
emotional response to it from even early on. What was that?
487
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:20.960
What was that first thing that you can think of?
488
00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:25.559
I mean, I have a real specific memory, and it
489
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.359
was The Everly Brothers. All I have to do is
490
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.359
dream and I was as I mentioned, we moved to
491
00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:31.960
Minnetaka when I was about four and a half, and
492
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.319
I remember it was soon after that because I can
493
00:24:34.440 --> 00:24:39.400
picture where I was playing, you know, in a ditch,
494
00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:41.440
you know, with a little stream running through it with
495
00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.359
a friend and there must have been a transistor radio
496
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.079
somewhere with an earshot. I don't know if it was
497
00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:47.960
coming from somebody's house or you know, we had one
498
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:49.759
with us, or you know, it was one of his
499
00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:53.079
older siblings or whatever. But anyway, I remember, you know,
500
00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:56.519
and music had always appealed to me, I think, you know,
501
00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.319
I don't have a lot of memories from before that,
502
00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:04.519
but I do remember when I heard that something really
503
00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:08.680
kind of physical happened to me. It was it wasn't
504
00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.119
like any other thing that I'd heard. I was. I
505
00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:16.480
was sort of transfixed, and and and it happened with
506
00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:22.319
other songs, you know, soon after. Probably I'm guessing it
507
00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:24.279
would have been nineteen fifty eight because I was born
508
00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:27.160
in fifty four, so the Everlys All I Have to
509
00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.519
Do Is Dream came out that year. I think. Also,
510
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:34.960
the Kingston Trio had a big, big, big top forty
511
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:38.039
hit with Tom Dooley. You know, I was like a
512
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:40.599
murder ballad, but anyway, done kind of you know, pop
513
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:45.119
folk style of the Kingston Trio, and I was. I
514
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:47.599
was really taken with that, and it was I'm sure
515
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.720
the very first song I ever learned all the words for.
516
00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:51.720
And I used to sing it all the time for
517
00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:53.559
a friend of my dad's who would give me a
518
00:25:54.119 --> 00:25:56.559
nickel to sing Tom Dooley for him. You know. So
519
00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:59.440
that was a you know, and that's kind of interesting too,
520
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.119
because you know, all I Have to Do is Dream
521
00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:06.079
is obviously a beautifully written song, but it's a pop song,
522
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:10.880
the very simple, you know, teenage kind of thing. But
523
00:26:11.079 --> 00:26:14.000
Tom Dooley was, you know, like I said, a murder ballot,
524
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.839
and it was there was a real story there, and
525
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.079
I think that's kind of interesting because I, you know,
526
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:21.000
I've always been intrigued by the folk music and the
527
00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:25.599
country music and the story aspect of that kind of writing.
528
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:28.079
So but anyway, yeah, that was the first thing that
529
00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:32.240
really just clicked with me. And so and I knew something.
530
00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:35.079
I knew that it did something unusual, and I would
531
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.839
look around and I'd say, I don't see other people
532
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.279
reacting this way. So it kind of made me, you know,
533
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.240
feel funny and in weird way, maybe scared me a
534
00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:42.640
little bit.
535
00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:47.359
Yeah, mine was. So. I was born in seventy nine,
536
00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:50.359
and it's funny when you're little, Like you said, you
537
00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:53.920
don't always remember details of things when you're very young.
538
00:26:54.440 --> 00:26:57.279
But I remember being in a specific room in my house,
539
00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.240
in my basement in North Dakota, and Little Red Corvette
540
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.640
was on the radio, like it just I can remember that.
541
00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:09.839
And Prince is still my guy had got the But yeah,
542
00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.960
so like I it's amazing how that sticks because it's
543
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:15.359
like I couldn't tell you anything else from that period
544
00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:17.480
of time. I was probably three or four years old,
545
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.000
but I remember being in that room and I remember
546
00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:20.759
that song being on.
547
00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:24.319
I can totally relate to you. Nick. That's that's you know,
548
00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:25.839
we both got it at an early.
549
00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:28.799
Age, right, Yeah, that's that's the bug right there. So
550
00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:32.319
you got into, uh, what was your first kind of
551
00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:35.640
music gig? It was DJing, right, No, the first gig
552
00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:35.960
I had.
553
00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:38.920
It was a real accidental thing. My dad was working
554
00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:42.440
for a publisher in Toronto. He was he did he
555
00:27:42.599 --> 00:27:46.079
was in the magazine publishing business in the five state area,
556
00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:50.160
and and had worked for a couple of different companies
557
00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:54.160
and and and ended up getting a job with this
558
00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:57.839
company in Toronto. And they at one meeting he was
559
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.279
present for up there they had talked. This would have
560
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:04.599
been in nineteen seventy two, early seventy two, probably February
561
00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:09.599
or March. And he came back from his trip saying,
562
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:18.200
my bosses are talking about bringing in a British music
563
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:24.559
magazine to distribute in North America to compete with Melody Maker,
564
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:29.200
which was the you know, the more common better known,
565
00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:31.680
at least to us at that time. In Minneapolis, and
566
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:35.000
I used to have a They had a little index
567
00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:38.720
card filebox at Shinders downtown and I had a card
568
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:40.880
there where they would save a Melody Maker for me
569
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:46.200
every week. And by the time I got it, you know,
570
00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:47.960
it would say they would come over by boat, and
571
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:50.799
so the magazine, you know, the papers would be tattered
572
00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:53.359
a little bit, and you know, four or five weeks old.
573
00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:55.559
But I was still eager to you know, see what
574
00:28:55.799 --> 00:29:00.480
was going on in the UK and so way, when
575
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.720
my dad came home and said, they're talking about bringing
576
00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:06.839
in this other competitor of the Melody Maker called New
577
00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:11.240
Musical Express and talking about distributing it in you know,
578
00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:14.960
major markets in America, you know, New York, La, Chicago, whatever.
579
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.160
And he said, they asked me what I thought of it.
580
00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:20.319
I said, I don't know that much about this music,
581
00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:22.279
but I have a music crazy son. Why don't I
582
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:24.240
bring some home for him and I'll get his opinion.
583
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:28.319
And I saw my first issue of NMMY and I
584
00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:31.440
just went, holy shit, this is I mean it was.
585
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:33.839
It was a Melody Maker. It was a little stuffier.
586
00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.599
At that point they had a big folk section which
587
00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:38.759
I liked, but I'm you know, there was this is
588
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:42.839
the you know time of t Rex and Matehopel and
589
00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:45.440
David Bowie and all that stuff. I thought, well, you know,
590
00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:48.599
an emmy just spoke to me. More So, I raved
591
00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:51.519
my dad about it, reported back to his bosses, and
592
00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:55.240
they said, well, would your son like to distribute it
593
00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.680
in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area. And I was like, oh, yeah,
594
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:00.319
I was still I was a senior in high school,
595
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.839
and I said absolutely. So they air freighted a thousand
596
00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.599
issues to me every week. A truck could pull up
597
00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.519
from the airport and drop them off in front of
598
00:30:09.559 --> 00:30:11.960
my parents' garage and I'd load up the car on Mondays.
599
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.119
And by that time I was on an independent study
600
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.480
program at school and so I had some flexibility and
601
00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:22.799
I could take after the morning classes on a Monday,
602
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:25.039
I could, you know, go out and do my distribution
603
00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:27.640
of the magazine. And it started actually at the end
604
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:29.960
of April and went through the summer, so the school
605
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.000
only impeded on it there for a short time. But yeah,
606
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:36.759
it was really exciting. And when I look back on
607
00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:39.519
it now, a couple of things. There's a they sent
608
00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:42.359
me a big promotional poster to put up in whatever
609
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.440
stores would display it. Picture of Mark Bowl and with
610
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:49.480
a flying V between his legs aiming it at the cabin.
611
00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:52.720
Very phallic, you know this Mary Jane's shoes on. And
612
00:30:52.839 --> 00:30:55.200
at the top it said say it Loud, and at
613
00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:58.000
the bottom it said the new musical Express. It's a cool,
614
00:30:58.519 --> 00:31:01.799
bright orange still I have it here framed in another room.
615
00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:05.640
It's a great poster, one of my advice possessions. But anyway,
616
00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.559
they gave me those to give away. And the first
617
00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:10.440
issue I distributed came with a flexi disc on the
618
00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:15.480
cover that featured selections from the not as yet unreleased
619
00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:19.599
new Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street. So that
620
00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:23.119
was and so that was. That first issue sold very well.
621
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:25.559
The rest of them did not sell well, lasted about
622
00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.799
I guess. I did it through from from end of
623
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.240
April to mid to late September of seventy two, and
624
00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.119
then they pulled the plug because they just weren't selling.
625
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.319
But I made a nickel an issue just for distributing,
626
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:39.680
so that meant a thousand issues. I made fifty bucks
627
00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:41.680
a week if I didn't sell a single one, and
628
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:43.599
then I made on top of that a diamond issue
629
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:46.599
for whatever sold. So it was pretty decent little income
630
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:49.279
for a high school kid living with his parents. And
631
00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:51.480
I got to get an end, you know with all
632
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:54.680
the record stores and bookstores, and you know, I really
633
00:31:54.759 --> 00:31:56.839
knocked on every door I could find to see who
634
00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.279
would carry him. And it was a you know, it
635
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.119
was it was a failed experiment, but I learned a
636
00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:05.480
lot from it, and I benefited from it. I think
637
00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:08.839
it really. Yeah, it was a great experience, kind.
638
00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:10.000
Of a foot in the door. So some of those
639
00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:13.559
relationships you built based on those did that carry forward?
640
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:14.559
Well?
641
00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:16.079
Peg out?
642
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:19.680
Yeah, my favorite store was North Country Music. Of all that,
643
00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:21.839
you know, I went to you know, you know, probably
644
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:25.400
ten or twelve really good record stores that carried the
645
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:29.319
paper back then and and uh, the North Country was
646
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:32.000
my favorite. And uh and then of course that became
647
00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:35.319
an or Folk and I spent a decade working there. Yeah,
648
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.559
that was a relationship that, yeah, had opened a door
649
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:39.480
for me in a big way.
650
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:42.039
I don't know how often you come around here these days,
651
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:46.160
but have you been to Lucky Cat which was fun?
652
00:32:46.759 --> 00:32:49.160
I have been in it, but not since it was opened.
653
00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:55.200
Mark Treus, who owns the building, of course, Uh, you know,
654
00:32:56.839 --> 00:32:59.960
showed me the inside after they'd fixed it up and whatnot,
655
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:03.000
so and I, yeah, I'm excited to go. I wanted
656
00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:05.359
to go. Was it last summer when they opened and
657
00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.200
Tommy was all Flowers played and all that stuff? That
658
00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:10.920
was I wish I could have been there for that.
659
00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:13.240
Yeah, I was. That's the only time I've been in
660
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.359
there so far. And it was that day because I
661
00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:17.359
stopped in to check it out because we were playing
662
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:24.079
at Mortimer's off of Lindale, So I'm quickly go check
663
00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:26.759
it out, and then I'm like, oh, Tommy's playing here tonight.
664
00:33:27.079 --> 00:33:28.759
And then later I saw all the videos of the
665
00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:31.200
Wallflowers and they're doing all those clash covers and I'm like, well,
666
00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:31.599
damn it.
667
00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:32.400
Yeah.
668
00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:35.480
So yeah, but I'm in.
669
00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:38.279
Tex with Michelle, the owner, and you know, we communicate
670
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:42.240
a little bit, and she was very you know, sweet
671
00:33:42.279 --> 00:33:44.799
about reaching out to me and asking my thoughts, like
672
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:47.000
what what do you think about me? I'm reopening a
673
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:49.599
record store there and that kind of stuff. So I'm
674
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.519
anxious to see it for myself.
675
00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:52.319
Yeah.
676
00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:54.119
I think I think she's done a really good job
677
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:57.359
with it, and it's it's got the charms, like you know,
678
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:02.079
it's very Minnesota set, and I, you know, I it's
679
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:05.359
not the same store, but there's a lot of the
680
00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:08.039
life of it is still in there. So it was
681
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.599
really fun just walking in and going, Okay, it's back,
682
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:14.519
you know, a little different, but it's back. So yeah,
683
00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:16.840
because it was sad just driving past it all the
684
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:18.840
time and seen that empty building, I'm like, come on,
685
00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:20.880
I got get something in there, and I'm glad it's
686
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:24.239
a record store. So yeah, So what happened after that?
687
00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:29.000
So the magazine ran its course? And is that when
688
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:31.320
you got the job at the record store or was
689
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:32.360
that how soon?
690
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:36.920
Oh, let's see seven. So September seventy two. I graduated
691
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:40.599
in the spring, and I guess I thought that my
692
00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:44.559
my direction was going to be radio. I was, you know,
693
00:34:44.679 --> 00:34:46.559
such a fan of music. I love to play music
694
00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:49.519
for people. I thought, well, logically I should be a DJ.
695
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:53.239
So I went to radio school and studied radio electronics
696
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:55.039
and broadcasting at Brown Institute.
697
00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:57.960
Okay, so that I believe.
698
00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:01.599
I began in December. It was a real crash course,
699
00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:09.639
a six month course, and the broadcasting was really interesting
700
00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:12.599
to me and fun, and the radio electronics I'm not
701
00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:16.719
really I don't have that kind of brain. I really
702
00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:20.039
had to, you know, focus to do it. I could
703
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:22.679
do it once I got the clutter out of my
704
00:35:22.760 --> 00:35:25.519
head and put some focus into it. But anyway, so
705
00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:29.079
I did. I figured I was going in the radio direction.
706
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:33.880
And then when I graduated, I started they had a
707
00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:37.239
placement director who was trying to help me look for
708
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:39.440
jobs in various areas, and I went on a couple
709
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:42.519
of job interviews to little towns like I remember going
710
00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:46.559
to Freeport, Illinois, and actually was offered the job after
711
00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:48.719
I'd done the interview and spent a day there, and
712
00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:51.480
I thought, I don't know that I could live in
713
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:54.360
such a small town. I thought people were very nice,
714
00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:57.239
but it just didn't seem like it would work for me.
715
00:35:57.320 --> 00:35:59.119
And then right in the midst of that, I got
716
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:04.320
an offer to to work at or Folk the I
717
00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:07.000
guess it would have been the spring of seventy three
718
00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:11.320
or maybe March of seventy three when I remember shopping
719
00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:14.679
at the store and being I remember exactly where I was,
720
00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:17.760
like looking around the a's and the b's of the
721
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:22.039
used record section and seeing somebody walking towards me out
722
00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:24.079
of my peripheral vision to my right, and it was
723
00:36:24.199 --> 00:36:28.079
the new owner. It had been North Country Music. Verne
724
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:31.639
sand And bought it in January of seventy three, changed
725
00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:33.440
the name to or Folk Jocopus. And he was a
726
00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:39.880
very man a few words and it didn't have a
727
00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:42.599
very outgoing personality, and I got the impression he didn't
728
00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:46.840
like me. I was a very excitable, you know, you know,
729
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:51.719
teenage music nut, and I just thought he didn't care
730
00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:53.960
for my demeanor or whatever. And so when I saw
731
00:36:54.039 --> 00:36:56.239
him walking up to me, I really thought he's going
732
00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:57.639
to kick me out of the store or something. I
733
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:00.719
don't know, and instead he went, you want a job,
734
00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:05.000
And I was like, in this store, are you kidding? Hell? Yeah,
735
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:10.159
So that's yeah. So I started there and end of again,
736
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:11.719
end of April seventy three.
737
00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:14.920
That's funny. When I was when I was in high
738
00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:18.400
school and grew up in North Dakota near may Not,
739
00:37:18.519 --> 00:37:20.480
there's a record stom miy Not. It's still there, and
740
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:22.280
that was my dream. I want to work at that
741
00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:25.159
record store. And I befriended the manager and I actually
742
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:26.840
played with the band in in the nineties, and he
743
00:37:26.920 --> 00:37:28.880
would not hire me. I don't hire friends. I'm like,
744
00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:32.519
my dream is crushed. I moved. When I moved here
745
00:37:32.599 --> 00:37:36.480
in ninety nine Minneapolis, originally I was thinking of going
746
00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:38.320
to Brown because I also want to do radio. So
747
00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:42.280
I guess this is my cosplaying radio these days, right right.
748
00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:44.320
That's kind of funny.
749
00:37:44.760 --> 00:37:47.280
So hey, I gotta say I grew I spent a
750
00:37:47.320 --> 00:37:48.840
lot of time in mine not growing up. I had
751
00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:50.960
a my mom had an aunt that lived there, so
752
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:54.400
I really I have great memories of mine.
753
00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:57.480
Not nice what years when you were kids.
754
00:37:58.360 --> 00:38:00.159
I would have been going up there from the time
755
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:02.119
I was born, I'm sure when I was very little
756
00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:08.679
until so, you know, fifty five, fifty six through you know,
757
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:14.360
the sixty seven sixty eight, I suppose. And the house
758
00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:16.199
that we used to stay at is actually if there's
759
00:38:16.199 --> 00:38:19.000
a mine not North Dakota postcard, they often shoot it.
760
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:21.320
So you see this house in the distance. It was
761
00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:24.880
a very spectacular house owned by a guy who had
762
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:28.960
kind of done well financially, and my mother's aunt married him,
763
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.039
and so they have this, you know house that was
764
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:36.159
you know, kind of fancy but really old and cool,
765
00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:37.440
and lots of.
766
00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:41.079
Many fancy houses out there. So yeah, I remember where
767
00:38:41.119 --> 00:38:41.320
it was.
768
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:44.400
I don't remember it was. I know that, like I said,
769
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:47.119
if you, if you there would be a picture on postcards.
770
00:38:47.159 --> 00:38:49.039
I still have one somewhere in a box, I'm sure
771
00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:52.519
where you're looking at the skyline of mine not And
772
00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:54.599
in the background you can see actually see the house
773
00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:57.400
on a hill, you know, just slightly outside of downtown.
774
00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:02.280
Nice. That's cool. Left there in ninety nine and came
775
00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:05.599
here to grow up in Mine not Surrey, so like
776
00:39:05.760 --> 00:39:06.639
five minutes away.
777
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:08.360
Wow, how interesting?
778
00:39:08.760 --> 00:39:11.719
Yeah, about a thousand people in my town and then
779
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.960
mine not was we went to town.
780
00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:17.880
What an interesting connection?
781
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:18.119
Now?
782
00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:19.840
Who else know about mine not?
783
00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:22.880
You know, not not many. I talked to Mike Mullinan,
784
00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:25.119
who used to be in the Goo Goo Dolls, and
785
00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:26.760
I brought up Mine not to him because I knew
786
00:39:26.760 --> 00:39:31.039
they'd played I saw them in ninety five or ninety
787
00:39:31.079 --> 00:39:35.760
six there, and he he had fond memories because he
788
00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:38.519
ended up playing with Tanya Tucker later, so he's played
789
00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:41.440
there twice. But he's like, I had a good jogging path.
790
00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:43.920
I did that, and like he actually enjoyed his time
791
00:39:43.960 --> 00:39:45.079
too when they were in town.
792
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:48.039
And Mine not. Yeah, the Goo Goo Dolls played Mine.
793
00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:50.440
Not boy named Goo Tour, so I think that was
794
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:52.519
you know, I remember the story about how they had
795
00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:56.079
that metal blade deal that kind of hampered them for
796
00:39:56.119 --> 00:39:59.400
a while. So they were playing that was right when
797
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:03.239
Name hit and they were playing the state fairs, and
798
00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:04.800
I remember, if you look back on it, they were
799
00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:06.199
playing a lot of state fairs. I think they were
800
00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:09.280
just trying to get ahead financially at that point because
801
00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:13.119
of their record deal wasn't so good. But yeah, it
802
00:40:13.239 --> 00:40:16.480
was right then, right. You know, maybe now you would
803
00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:18.079
see it and go, Okay, well they haven't had a
804
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:19.440
hit in a while. But I'm like, this was like
805
00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:22.400
right when Name was all over the radio. It's so strange.
806
00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:24.960
Ah yeah yeah.
807
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:28.519
So so you got a job at or Folk And
808
00:40:28.639 --> 00:40:29.679
how long did you work there?
809
00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:36.559
From the like April thirtieth, seventy three to June of
810
00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:38.559
eighty three, a little over the.
811
00:40:38.599 --> 00:40:39.639
Years ten years? Yeah?
812
00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:40.320
Wow?
813
00:40:40.920 --> 00:40:42.880
Wow? And how did the record label come about?
814
00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:45.039
Because the record label?
815
00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:48.199
Yeah, twins, Yeah, that's I mean, these are.
816
00:40:48.599 --> 00:40:51.679
I just feel like this is a story. It's been
817
00:40:51.760 --> 00:41:00.400
told so often, but you know, I what happened was basically,
818
00:41:01.880 --> 00:41:04.079
there was a guy named Charlie Hallman who worked for
819
00:41:04.119 --> 00:41:07.639
the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, was a sports writer. Oddly enough,
820
00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:11.320
but he moonlighted writing record reviews and concert reviews. And
821
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:14.239
his editor there challenged him one time and said, hey,
822
00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:16.119
you're writing about all this music, why don't you write
823
00:41:16.119 --> 00:41:18.840
about local music. And Charlie said, well, there's really nothing
824
00:41:18.880 --> 00:41:22.360
here that I've heard that gets my attention or whatever.
825
00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:24.719
And his editor challenged him, said you should go out
826
00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:28.199
and find I challenge you to find something in Minneapolis
827
00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:31.000
and Saint Paul, you know, in the Twin cities. And
828
00:41:31.079 --> 00:41:33.400
so Charlie went out and saw a bunch of bands
829
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:36.800
and at one point encountered the Suicide Commandos and had
830
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:39.519
that I've seen the future of rock and roll moment.
831
00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:46.880
And Charlie was a very charming and funny man, and
832
00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:50.119
he just approached the Commandos and told them that he
833
00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:53.079
loved them and would like to help and you know,
834
00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:55.039
in any way, and he said, you guys should make
835
00:41:55.079 --> 00:41:57.400
a record, and of course they said, we would love to,
836
00:41:57.559 --> 00:42:02.719
and they've made a couple forty fives, and so he said, well,
837
00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:04.920
I might be able to invest, you know, a little
838
00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:07.199
money to help you make a record. And they said, well,
839
00:42:07.280 --> 00:42:09.400
let's talk to the guy who recorded the two forty
840
00:42:09.440 --> 00:42:11.400
five's that we did. And that was a guy named
841
00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:17.599
Paul Stark, and Paul had a he had owned a
842
00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:22.280
house in dinky Town six oh six thirteenth Avenue southeast
843
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:25.480
kind of heart behind Marshall High, I think it was.
844
00:42:26.800 --> 00:42:31.480
And so he converted it into a recording studio, had
845
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:37.400
you know, bedrooms upstairs and recording studio and reverb, a
846
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:41.760
reverb played, a huge reverb played in the basement, and
847
00:42:42.119 --> 00:42:47.800
so that put Charlie and Paul together and they then
848
00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:50.719
they thought, well, wait, instead of just trying to do
849
00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:53.760
a Suicide Commandos album. It was, you know, this was
850
00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:56.480
nineteen seventy seven. There were lots of indie labels popping
851
00:42:56.559 --> 00:42:59.000
up all over the you know, country and all over
852
00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:01.239
the world, and he said maybe we should put together
853
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:03.960
a record label. And they asked Chris Osgood if he
854
00:43:04.039 --> 00:43:07.039
would like to participate, and he said yeah, And so
855
00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:10.400
the three of them formed a little partnership and we're
856
00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:14.800
starting to move forward when suddenly the Commando's got a
857
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:19.840
record deal with PolyGram on a PolyGram imprint called Blank Records.
858
00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:23.760
And so suddenly Chris had to call Paul and Charlie
859
00:43:23.760 --> 00:43:25.519
and say, look, I'm going to be a full time Commando.
860
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:27.239
I don't have time to do the record label. I'm
861
00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:30.639
really sorry, but maybe you should get in touch with
862
00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:33.599
this guy who runs a record store. He might be
863
00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:36.960
a good candidate to fill my shoes. And so I
864
00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:38.800
get a call out of the blue from Paul Stark.
865
00:43:38.840 --> 00:43:41.519
I think by that time I probably had seen him
866
00:43:41.559 --> 00:43:44.800
around a little bit, you know, because he was involved
867
00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:48.199
with music and recording and things like that, but I
868
00:43:48.280 --> 00:43:50.400
didn't really know him. And he called and said, hey,
869
00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:53.840
we're Chris recommended that we talk. Would you like to meet?
870
00:43:53.880 --> 00:43:56.559
And I said sure. So Paul, Charlie, Chris Osgood and
871
00:43:56.599 --> 00:43:59.800
I met at Williams Pub in the Uptown area and
872
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:02.840
the four of us talked, and I just thought, these
873
00:44:02.920 --> 00:44:07.760
guys are onto something here and I'd like to be involved,
874
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:10.880
and I said I'm in. And that's how it all began.
875
00:44:11.039 --> 00:44:13.039
So we've formed a partnership right away. That would have
876
00:44:13.039 --> 00:44:17.159
been October November of seventy seven, and then we incorporated
877
00:44:17.239 --> 00:44:21.280
in January of sixty seventy eight, Yes, yeah, seventy eight,
878
00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:24.599
and we had an audition at the recording studio, which
879
00:44:24.719 --> 00:44:27.679
was at that time called p David Studios for Paul
880
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:32.679
David Stark, and we just invited really you know, A
881
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:34.960
and R for Twin Tone. At the very beginning was
882
00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:38.920
really just which Longhorn bands do we want to sign?
883
00:44:39.320 --> 00:44:41.840
Because that was the only game in town. You know,
884
00:44:41.880 --> 00:44:45.400
there was nobody, there was really no place else allowing
885
00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:50.119
bands to play their own material, you know, and especially
886
00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:54.000
this new you know, I mean the Commandos really were
887
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:56.800
a punk rock band before I ever heard the name
888
00:44:56.880 --> 00:45:00.920
punk rock, so so, you know, it was a music
889
00:45:00.960 --> 00:45:05.480
that obviously didn't appeal to lots of people, and uh
890
00:45:05.840 --> 00:45:08.119
and but we were totally we were all in on it.
891
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:10.000
And and and of course that was sort of part
892
00:45:10.039 --> 00:45:12.920
of what became called new wave and and we just
893
00:45:13.079 --> 00:45:15.840
liked that left of center stuff. So that was we
894
00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.599
just basically picked the what we thought were the best
895
00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:19.960
bands from the Longhorn.
896
00:45:20.119 --> 00:45:24.159
Which one so initially when you first got involved, who
897
00:45:24.199 --> 00:45:25.599
are some of the first ones where you're like, we
898
00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:27.800
have to get them, Let's get a meeting with them.
899
00:45:28.519 --> 00:45:30.599
The first meeting, this first meeting I had with him
900
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:33.400
at Williams Pub, I remember saying, I said, I'm sure
901
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:35.599
we're going to have to, you know, talk about what
902
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:38.119
kind of bands we want to sign, and specifically what
903
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:40.840
bands you guys like, And I like and all that stuff.
904
00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:43.000
But I said, there's one there's one that we you know,
905
00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:45.280
that absolutely has to be somebody that we work with.
906
00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:47.719
And it's a guy named Kurt Olmsted. And he had
907
00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:49.960
a band called Thumbs Up. And I said, you know,
908
00:45:50.079 --> 00:45:53.719
he he we must make records with Kurt Olmstead.
909
00:45:54.280 --> 00:45:54.679
And uh.
910
00:45:54.880 --> 00:45:56.360
And at that time, it was, you know, it was
911
00:45:56.440 --> 00:46:00.320
really Kurt and Bob Dunlap and and uh they were like, uh,
912
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:03.039
I mean, it's funny when I look back on it,
913
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:05.639
they were almost like a two headed, you know person.
914
00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:07.480
I had never really thought of them separately. It was
915
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:10.000
always Kurt and Bob, Kurt and Bob. And you know,
916
00:46:10.079 --> 00:46:13.360
Bob was the kind of, oh, I don't know, a
917
00:46:13.400 --> 00:46:19.880
little more practical musician who was the music director. And
918
00:46:19.920 --> 00:46:23.119
then Kurt was, of course, you know, completely out of
919
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:26.320
his mind as he as he could, still still is
920
00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:28.920
to this day, and in the most wonderful way. And
921
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:33.920
and so Bob kind of you know, tethered him to uh,
922
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:38.480
you know, Terra Firma in some ways, and and well,
923
00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:40.960
you know, Kurt could have all these crazy ideas and
924
00:46:41.119 --> 00:46:42.960
and do all those you know, it was that interesting
925
00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:46.960
mix of I'd never heard anything like it until I
926
00:46:47.079 --> 00:46:50.280
heard Thumbs Up playing at the c C Club across
927
00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:52.920
the street from or Folk. I I hadn't really paid
928
00:46:52.920 --> 00:46:56.199
a lot of attention to Minnesota music, apart from my
929
00:46:56.280 --> 00:47:01.800
brother who had a bluegrass band, and so I was
930
00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:04.039
and and and of course Colonel Ray and Glover were
931
00:47:04.039 --> 00:47:07.440
also one that I I had a lot of admiration for.
932
00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:11.880
But anyway, Uh, when I saw Thumbs Up play at
933
00:47:11.920 --> 00:47:14.960
the at the c c CC tap it was called
934
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:17.320
back then, that was the first time I'd heard a
935
00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:19.880
local band that knocked me out as much as the
936
00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:25.239
records I was buying. So so they were they were pivotal,
937
00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:30.760
uh experience in in in my uh you know, my
938
00:47:31.119 --> 00:47:36.480
early days, and and uh, they they were. Yeah, they
939
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:39.360
had that kind of weird blend of of you know,
940
00:47:39.519 --> 00:47:42.239
Kurt obviously loved that old rhythm and blues music, but
941
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:44.440
he also loved the British Invasion, and so there was
942
00:47:44.519 --> 00:47:47.679
an interesting mix. So it's I think the British Invasion
943
00:47:47.719 --> 00:47:50.519
stuff brought the melody, maybe a little more melody than
944
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:51.800
there wasn't a lot of the R and B of
945
00:47:51.840 --> 00:47:54.599
the day. And of course he had that voice, you know,
946
00:47:54.719 --> 00:47:58.880
that could rattle windows you know, and uh so, yeah,
947
00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:01.679
I was just blown ay and both uh you know,
948
00:48:01.800 --> 00:48:06.159
I think, you know, both Paul and Charlie were aware
949
00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:08.360
of Kurt, but I don't think they necessarily would have
950
00:48:08.400 --> 00:48:10.599
thought of him as the first thing to sign for
951
00:48:10.679 --> 00:48:13.599
the new label we were putting together. But my enthusiasm,
952
00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:16.079
I think just they just said, Peter's so sure about this,
953
00:48:16.199 --> 00:48:19.519
we're just gonna trust him on it. And then and
954
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:23.199
then Fingerprints also was the other band of the day
955
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:26.400
that we really thought had great potential. They were very
956
00:48:26.480 --> 00:48:30.079
different from the other Longhorn bands a little you know
957
00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:34.000
more they're real musicians and uh and they had a
958
00:48:34.159 --> 00:48:37.159
very flamboyant lead singer, Mark Throne, who was a little
959
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:41.360
jagger agg esque, played a little saxophone, but mostly was
960
00:48:41.440 --> 00:48:44.239
just a lead singer. So they were also kind of
961
00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:46.320
a shoe in. And those guys were all three of
962
00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:47.920
them were guys I went to high school with. They
963
00:48:47.960 --> 00:48:51.840
went to Minute or to Hopkins School, so there was
964
00:48:52.199 --> 00:48:54.800
a closeness there for that. And then and then there
965
00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:58.639
was this other, this other young band who had really
966
00:48:58.679 --> 00:49:01.760
barely played out that we got that I got really
967
00:49:01.800 --> 00:49:04.360
excited about. And this took some arm twisting with both
968
00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:06.760
Paul and Charlie. But I said, We've got to try
969
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:09.599
these guys. This is exactly what a new label like
970
00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:14.079
ours should be doing, is rolling the dice on something
971
00:49:14.239 --> 00:49:17.079
crazy and brand new. And they were called the Suburbs.
972
00:49:17.719 --> 00:49:21.480
So yeah, yeah, so that was our first thing. It was,
973
00:49:21.679 --> 00:49:26.000
it was thumbs up fingerprints Suburbs. Of course, we recorded
974
00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:29.079
star recording those bands for those first three EPs, and
975
00:49:29.239 --> 00:49:32.639
and by the time we were done recording Kurt stuff,
976
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:35.440
he changed the name, as he is wont to do,
977
00:49:36.079 --> 00:49:38.519
and so by that time they were called Spooks.
978
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:44.519
Yeah, Curtis Curtis As he's quite the guy. It's amazing
979
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:48.280
how far his legend goes beyond the Twin Cities. I've
980
00:49:48.320 --> 00:49:52.000
had Sam Powers, he was in the band Super Greg
981
00:49:52.760 --> 00:49:55.920
texted me one day and he's like, you ever have
982
00:49:56.079 --> 00:49:59.159
curse A on the show? I had Curtsey on the show.
983
00:49:59.239 --> 00:50:01.800
He's like, you should. He's like, buddy of mine said,
984
00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:03.920
he some in New York and whatever year was the
985
00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:06.000
best rock and roll show he's ever seen in his life.
986
00:50:06.199 --> 00:50:08.960
Like, wow, Kurt, I'm what's getting Kurt on your show
987
00:50:09.039 --> 00:50:12.039
is you'll never get him off. Kt him off and
988
00:50:12.119 --> 00:50:14.039
you'll still be recording a days later.
989
00:50:14.960 --> 00:50:18.519
I think I said something similar to say, it's gonna
990
00:50:18.519 --> 00:50:20.840
be Aliens, It's it's gonna be all over the place, right,
991
00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:25.320
And then, Uh, Jason Faulkner, Who's you know Jason Faulkner.
992
00:50:25.400 --> 00:50:28.519
I'm sure you know he is. He he loves Curtise a.
993
00:50:30.119 --> 00:50:32.000
So I told Genie Dodds that, I said, Hey, he
994
00:50:32.159 --> 00:50:35.159
was talking about how much he liked Curtise stuff, and like, really,
995
00:50:35.199 --> 00:50:38.880
I'll tell I'll tell Kurt. But yeah, he he likes
996
00:50:38.920 --> 00:50:43.000
the big hits of Mid America stuff. And I messaged
997
00:50:43.079 --> 00:50:45.360
him once that reissue came out and said, hey, that's
998
00:50:45.400 --> 00:50:47.039
out now, because he said he was. I was looking
999
00:50:47.119 --> 00:50:50.039
for it. But he he's a big Curtise a guy.
1000
00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:52.000
And I'm like, I don't think I've ever seen a
1001
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:58.039
more talented dude than Jason Faulkner do everything. So it's
1002
00:50:58.159 --> 00:51:03.320
kind of a big compliment, uh for sure. So obviously
1003
00:51:03.400 --> 00:51:05.679
the story has been told a billion times, but that
1004
00:51:05.880 --> 00:51:08.480
that Westerberg character came in one day with the tape
1005
00:51:08.639 --> 00:51:10.719
trying to sounds like he was just trying to get
1006
00:51:10.760 --> 00:51:13.400
a show, and got a little bit more toney bargain
1007
00:51:13.480 --> 00:51:16.199
for Yeah, yeah.
1008
00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:19.880
That's another one and probably told told the story so
1009
00:51:20.039 --> 00:51:23.920
often I've gone like autopilot a little bit, but try
1010
00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:26.280
not to. But it was it was, yeah, just I
1011
00:51:26.360 --> 00:51:27.760
was getting a lot of tapes at the time, and
1012
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:31.440
and I hadn't I've i've Paul had been in the
1013
00:51:31.480 --> 00:51:34.920
store before. I don't know that I remembered him, but anyway,
1014
00:51:34.920 --> 00:51:37.119
he came up to the counter at one point and said,
1015
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:39.440
I've got a band. Would you listen to a tape?
1016
00:51:39.480 --> 00:51:41.199
And I said yeah, and he gave me a little
1017
00:51:41.320 --> 00:51:43.480
piece of actually I think I gave him a little
1018
00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:45.400
scrap of paper and he wrote his name and phone
1019
00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:47.880
number on it. And it was a cassette, no case
1020
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:51.719
or anything. And you could see that he, you know,
1021
00:51:51.880 --> 00:51:54.480
the whatever had been on it originally had been scratched off,
1022
00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:57.159
and in the margins you could see the replacement's name
1023
00:51:57.239 --> 00:51:59.719
written and the song titles, you know, in the little
1024
00:52:00.039 --> 00:52:03.760
space that was left over. Kind of funny. And also
1025
00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:05.719
the other funny thing is when I flipped the cassette
1026
00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:10.960
over on the other side, in very girlish script handwriting,
1027
00:52:11.079 --> 00:52:15.079
it said Santana Moonflower. So it was like something he
1028
00:52:15.159 --> 00:52:17.599
probably swiped from his one of his big sisters and
1029
00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:21.599
record and recorded over it. So I remember kind of
1030
00:52:21.679 --> 00:52:23.679
chuckling about that, and I but I had I was
1031
00:52:23.679 --> 00:52:25.800
getting a lot of tapes at the time, for both
1032
00:52:27.199 --> 00:52:30.079
for both Twin Tone and for because I dj' did
1033
00:52:30.079 --> 00:52:31.400
at the Longhorn, and I had a little bit of
1034
00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:34.280
sway with management there in terms of booking, so if
1035
00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:36.039
I'd like something, I would bring it to their attention
1036
00:52:36.119 --> 00:52:40.400
and sometimes they'd actually, you know, book it. And so
1037
00:52:41.519 --> 00:52:43.880
I had a shoe box that we kept under the
1038
00:52:43.960 --> 00:52:46.239
counter that I kept under the counter door folk and
1039
00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:48.920
I would put tapes in there, and then when it
1040
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.519
kind of a little stacked a masked, I would take
1041
00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:55.960
them in the back room at the office and listen
1042
00:52:56.039 --> 00:52:57.800
to them while I was doing paperwork for the store,
1043
00:52:58.320 --> 00:52:59.960
or sometimes they'd take them home listen to them now.
1044
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:02.000
But anyway, I was in the in the in the
1045
00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:05.519
record store when I popped in the replacements tape, and
1046
00:53:05.599 --> 00:53:07.800
it really was just one of those things that I mean,
1047
00:53:07.880 --> 00:53:11.880
it's it almost sounds like, you know, like I'm making
1048
00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:13.800
it up, but I mean it was really, Uh it
1049
00:53:13.920 --> 00:53:17.280
hit me right between the eyes instantly, and uh, for
1050
00:53:17.440 --> 00:53:21.079
whatever reason, I just thought there was just it was
1051
00:53:22.559 --> 00:53:24.519
I think it was just the force of it. I mean,
1052
00:53:24.599 --> 00:53:28.000
I felt, I felt it just they just roared out
1053
00:53:28.039 --> 00:53:30.280
of the speakers the little boombox that I was listening to.
1054
00:53:30.440 --> 00:53:32.679
And then and then I caught a lyric that was
1055
00:53:32.840 --> 00:53:36.960
a little off color. And I won't repeat it necessarily
1056
00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:39.360
because it's not a very PC way of saying it.
1057
00:53:39.400 --> 00:53:41.440
And he changed the lyric by the time we recorded
1058
00:53:41.480 --> 00:53:44.679
the song, but it was. It was a song called
1059
00:53:44.760 --> 00:53:47.079
Raised in the City, was the first track, and and
1060
00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:49.679
I was just blown away. And I got so, I'm
1061
00:53:49.719 --> 00:53:51.679
listening to a bunch of tapes. I put the replacements
1062
00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:53.840
in on catches my ear, I put my pen down.
1063
00:53:54.119 --> 00:53:56.000
I say, wait a second, I start the tape over,
1064
00:53:56.880 --> 00:53:58.599
and I say, I've got to just listen to this
1065
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:02.480
because this is this sounds extraordinary. And and then I
1066
00:54:02.559 --> 00:54:04.280
listened to the other three songs, and I was just
1067
00:54:04.599 --> 00:54:08.039
I mean, you know, and it really, honestly, if I've
1068
00:54:08.079 --> 00:54:10.119
ever had a magic moment in my life, it was
1069
00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:13.480
right then. It was. It was just I had some
1070
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:17.519
kind of a revelation, you know, epiphany, I guess you
1071
00:54:17.599 --> 00:54:20.840
could call it. And and so I called Paul back
1072
00:54:20.880 --> 00:54:22.719
a couple of In fact, I thought I wanted to
1073
00:54:22.760 --> 00:54:24.039
pick up the phone and call him right away. And
1074
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:27.599
I thought, I am, I'm too over the top about this.
1075
00:54:27.719 --> 00:54:29.639
I need to call him down before I call this guy,
1076
00:54:29.960 --> 00:54:32.159
and make sure listen to it, you know, sleep on
1077
00:54:32.280 --> 00:54:35.039
it whatever. And the next day I listened to the
1078
00:54:35.079 --> 00:54:38.199
tape again and I thought, even I liked it even more,
1079
00:54:38.280 --> 00:54:41.280
and and so I called him up, and I remember
1080
00:54:41.440 --> 00:54:45.000
very specifically a female voice answering the phone, which I'm
1081
00:54:45.039 --> 00:54:48.639
guessing was his mother. Could have been a sister, he
1082
00:54:48.679 --> 00:54:52.480
had three, but anyway, I said, is Paul there? And
1083
00:54:52.800 --> 00:54:55.920
she passed the phone to him, and I basically said,
1084
00:54:57.159 --> 00:54:59.360
you know, Peter from the record store, and I love
1085
00:54:59.440 --> 00:55:02.320
the tape and and were you thinking about making a
1086
00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:06.360
single or do you think you have enough material for
1087
00:55:06.440 --> 00:55:09.719
a full album? And it was this really long, pregnant pause,
1088
00:55:10.400 --> 00:55:14.679
and you know, he said, quote unquote, you mean you
1089
00:55:14.760 --> 00:55:18.719
think this shit is worth recording? And I said, I do,
1090
00:55:19.119 --> 00:55:21.000
I said, And then it occurred to me, Oh, you
1091
00:55:21.159 --> 00:55:22.840
gave me the tape because you wanted to get a
1092
00:55:22.920 --> 00:55:25.079
gig at the Longhorn you were And I guess I
1093
00:55:25.199 --> 00:55:27.159
found out later that he didn't even really know about
1094
00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:30.280
the label SOW or that I was involved with the
1095
00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:33.679
label and so yeah, so that's how it began.
1096
00:55:34.719 --> 00:55:37.320
Some things are meant to be. Did you get any
1097
00:55:37.360 --> 00:55:41.840
of those those reunion shows that they did, Oh yeah, yeah.
1098
00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:44.559
We went when they did the first three the riot
1099
00:55:44.599 --> 00:55:48.719
Fest shows, Toronto, Chicago, Denver. Were living in La Denver
1100
00:55:48.880 --> 00:55:50.559
was the closest, so we went there. My wife and
1101
00:55:50.639 --> 00:55:54.880
son and I all went, and you know, phenomenal.
1102
00:55:55.559 --> 00:55:58.960
Yeah. I was at the Chicago one in the park
1103
00:55:59.239 --> 00:56:02.840
ride Fest and probably about eight deep from Tommy and
1104
00:56:02.960 --> 00:56:04.760
they kicked in to take it a ride, and I
1105
00:56:04.800 --> 00:56:07.320
felt like I was gonna blow backwards exactly.
1106
00:56:07.840 --> 00:56:08.119
Wow.
1107
00:56:08.559 --> 00:56:10.719
I'm like, I could not believe, you know, you're going
1108
00:56:10.760 --> 00:56:12.960
into these things and you're really you know, there's some
1109
00:56:14.239 --> 00:56:17.119
replacement members and whatever, you're you know, Freeze is one
1110
00:56:17.159 --> 00:56:19.840
of the greatest drummers out there. But I just could
1111
00:56:19.880 --> 00:56:23.280
not believe the power coming out that stage. And in
1112
00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:25.480
true fashion, there were moments where it's like, oh, this
1113
00:56:25.639 --> 00:56:28.000
might just fall apart. Oh they got it back the
1114
00:56:28.079 --> 00:56:31.199
whole They went through the whole spectrum of who they
1115
00:56:31.280 --> 00:56:31.840
were known for.
1116
00:56:32.079 --> 00:56:36.719
You know, I was standing there. I remember standing side stage,
1117
00:56:36.840 --> 00:56:39.039
and they were very kind to let us be up
1118
00:56:39.079 --> 00:56:44.000
close there on the side and looking out at the audience,
1119
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.119
looking out at seven thousand people shouting the words back
1120
00:56:47.159 --> 00:56:49.440
to Westerburg. I mean that was like a big moment
1121
00:56:49.599 --> 00:56:52.079
for me because you know, they were not they were
1122
00:56:52.159 --> 00:56:55.960
not unanimously liked when they first arrived on the scene,
1123
00:56:56.039 --> 00:56:58.360
you know, so yeah, cool that they got that. It
1124
00:56:58.440 --> 00:57:00.719
was very uh yeah, yeah.
1125
00:57:00.960 --> 00:57:02.639
I was at the Midway show as well here in
1126
00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:06.119
Saint Paul, which I came for that too. Yeah, very cool.
1127
00:57:06.760 --> 00:57:09.960
So all of those years, you know, we could talk
1128
00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:11.400
all day and I'm gonna keep you all day either,
1129
00:57:11.480 --> 00:57:14.440
But in all those years with the replacements, do you
1130
00:57:14.480 --> 00:57:15.679
have kind of a favorite moment?
1131
00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:20.800
No, I mean I have many favorite moments. It was
1132
00:57:21.760 --> 00:57:24.519
you know, it was a whirlwind, and you know some
1133
00:57:24.679 --> 00:57:27.480
of it was you know, hard, and some of it
1134
00:57:27.639 --> 00:57:35.599
was you know, downright unpleasant, but yeah, or worse. So
1135
00:57:35.760 --> 00:57:40.880
I don't have one moment, but I mean I guess,
1136
00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.719
like I think about something like, excuse me, when we
1137
00:57:44.840 --> 00:57:49.079
were in New York in December of eighty four, and
1138
00:57:49.920 --> 00:57:52.199
Let it Be was just out for a couple of months,
1139
00:57:52.400 --> 00:57:58.159
and we had done a show at CBGB under a
1140
00:57:58.199 --> 00:58:00.360
fake name because we had a booking at a larger
1141
00:58:00.679 --> 00:58:04.920
room a week or so later, and the CBGB gig
1142
00:58:05.079 --> 00:58:06.519
was just a dubicole.
1143
00:58:06.599 --> 00:58:06.800
It was.
1144
00:58:06.880 --> 00:58:09.000
They were just terrible. They got drunk, didn't play any
1145
00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:11.679
of their own songs. The place was packed. They'd been
1146
00:58:11.719 --> 00:58:14.480
on the cover of The Village Voice, so every A
1147
00:58:14.599 --> 00:58:16.480
and R guy in New York was going, you know,
1148
00:58:16.840 --> 00:58:18.639
picking up the paper, going, who is this band I've
1149
00:58:18.679 --> 00:58:21.119
never heard of on the fucking cover? And they all
1150
00:58:21.199 --> 00:58:23.280
showed up, and the replacements just kind of, you know,
1151
00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:29.360
slipped them a mickey and and actually not specifically because
1152
00:58:29.400 --> 00:58:31.760
the critic or the and our people were there, but
1153
00:58:31.880 --> 00:58:34.360
because Alex Chilton opened up and we were such fans.
1154
00:58:34.719 --> 00:58:36.320
I think they might have gotten a little carried away
1155
00:58:36.320 --> 00:58:39.000
and had an extra cocktail or two. And anyway, it
1156
00:58:39.079 --> 00:58:41.440
was a mess. And so a few days later they
1157
00:58:41.480 --> 00:58:44.320
were playing. We had our first headlining show at Irvin Plaza,
1158
00:58:45.559 --> 00:58:48.960
which was probably I think that was probably eleven hundred
1159
00:58:49.039 --> 00:58:56.280
capacity if I remember correctly. And and you know, you
1160
00:58:56.320 --> 00:58:59.360
would think logically, if the band had a complete failure
1161
00:58:59.639 --> 00:59:03.880
at one show, that they would come out, you know,
1162
00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:06.480
to fix it the next time, but the replacements didn't
1163
00:59:06.519 --> 00:59:08.639
work that way. They could do ten shitty shows in
1164
00:59:08.679 --> 00:59:11.719
a row and you just never knew when to expect
1165
00:59:11.760 --> 00:59:13.559
them to come out of it. But anyway, they walked
1166
00:59:13.599 --> 00:59:15.159
on stage that night. I remember being up in the
1167
00:59:15.239 --> 00:59:18.360
VIP section. I'd been racing around trying to get things ready,
1168
00:59:18.400 --> 00:59:20.880
and we got the band on, you know, going on stage,
1169
00:59:20.880 --> 00:59:22.679
and I had to run up to make sure some
1170
00:59:23.159 --> 00:59:28.280
VIP had gotten in or something. And so they walked
1171
00:59:28.320 --> 00:59:30.719
on stage, and I believe they opened with rock and
1172
00:59:30.840 --> 00:59:35.079
Roll All night by Kiss, and it was like before
1173
00:59:35.400 --> 00:59:37.599
anybody would have thought it was cool to do a
1174
00:59:37.679 --> 00:59:39.719
kiss song. I mean, I remember everybody kind of scratching
1175
00:59:39.719 --> 00:59:41.639
their heads. Of course, I didn't even know what it was.
1176
00:59:42.800 --> 00:59:44.840
I knew it because they had done it prior to
1177
00:59:45.920 --> 00:59:47.840
the New York show. They'd done it. I remember them
1178
00:59:47.880 --> 00:59:49.360
doing it at the Cabooz the first time I heard it.
1179
00:59:49.400 --> 00:59:50.719
But when they first did it, I didn't know the
1180
00:59:50.800 --> 00:59:53.320
song because I didn't no Kiss, and I imagine a
1181
00:59:53.360 --> 00:59:54.960
lot of other people in the room that were there
1182
00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:57.119
to see the replacements didn't know Kiss either, but some
1183
00:59:57.239 --> 01:00:00.239
people did recognize it. And I remember seeing you know,
1184
01:00:01.079 --> 01:00:04.320
the you know, rock critics and whoever else was in
1185
01:00:04.360 --> 01:00:07.119
the VIP section kind of going, WHOA what is this
1186
01:00:07.719 --> 01:00:09.960
and they just killed it. They just killed it. So
1187
01:00:10.079 --> 01:00:11.880
that was that was a moment where I think, I
1188
01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:17.199
really I treasure forever just watching them blow away a
1189
01:00:17.239 --> 01:00:19.360
New York audience. And of course that was the night
1190
01:00:19.400 --> 01:00:21.400
that seymour Stein happened to come and see them and
1191
01:00:21.480 --> 01:00:25.480
say he told our lawyer that right that night he said,
1192
01:00:25.519 --> 01:00:27.079
I'm going to have these guys signed before they even
1193
01:00:27.119 --> 01:00:27.960
get home from this tour.
1194
01:00:28.559 --> 01:00:30.559
Wow, that's an exciting.
1195
01:00:30.599 --> 01:00:31.519
Oh that was a big moment.
1196
01:00:31.880 --> 01:00:36.559
Yeah, no kidding well, and then later being cognizant a
1197
01:00:36.639 --> 01:00:39.800
time here too. So later on you went over to
1198
01:00:39.880 --> 01:00:41.599
New West Records. So what brought you there?
1199
01:00:42.480 --> 01:00:44.639
Well, we licensed a bunch of the Twin Tone Masters
1200
01:00:44.679 --> 01:00:47.199
to an LA based company in nineteen ninety two, company
1201
01:00:47.239 --> 01:00:51.360
called Restless Records, and I ended up moving out here
1202
01:00:51.400 --> 01:00:55.280
in ninety five and working out of their office. At
1203
01:00:55.320 --> 01:00:57.719
that time, I'd started an imprint for Twin Tone called
1204
01:00:57.840 --> 01:01:02.000
Medium Cool, and so it felt like if and they
1205
01:01:02.039 --> 01:01:04.920
were really interested in helping me plug the Medium Cool bands.
1206
01:01:05.320 --> 01:01:07.320
Of course, I had Tommy Stintson and they were so
1207
01:01:07.559 --> 01:01:10.480
they were excited to have an ex replacement, and then
1208
01:01:10.599 --> 01:01:12.880
and then later had Slim as well. Of course, and
1209
01:01:13.559 --> 01:01:15.639
so they wanted to they wanted to support Medium Cool,
1210
01:01:15.679 --> 01:01:18.159
and it became very I would come out to Los Angeles,
1211
01:01:19.639 --> 01:01:22.159
and you know, we'd been out here with the replacements before,
1212
01:01:22.800 --> 01:01:27.280
and I didn't really like LA in the early days,
1213
01:01:27.440 --> 01:01:29.679
and uh so, but anyway, I had to come out
1214
01:01:29.679 --> 01:01:32.239
here for you know, to interface with the Restless people,
1215
01:01:32.320 --> 01:01:34.360
and and uh the more I was out here, the
1216
01:01:34.440 --> 01:01:35.599
more I got to like it, and the more I
1217
01:01:35.639 --> 01:01:37.599
thought that it's better for me to be in the
1218
01:01:37.679 --> 01:01:41.480
faces of these people who were supporting us financially, to
1219
01:01:41.559 --> 01:01:45.679
be honest, better for me to be there and show
1220
01:01:45.760 --> 01:01:48.280
my enthusiasm for the groups rather than trying to do
1221
01:01:48.400 --> 01:01:51.199
it long distance on the phone. So I ended up
1222
01:01:51.239 --> 01:01:54.920
moving here in July of ninety five, and and uh
1223
01:01:55.760 --> 01:02:00.760
and then that didn't go well because I just the
1224
01:02:00.840 --> 01:02:04.079
people at Restless were not my kind of people, and
1225
01:02:05.760 --> 01:02:08.519
I didn't realize that until the ink was dry on
1226
01:02:09.239 --> 01:02:13.920
the agreement. So it was the beginning was nice, but
1227
01:02:14.079 --> 01:02:17.920
then the screws kept getting tightened and tightened and tightened,
1228
01:02:17.920 --> 01:02:20.840
and I didn't really like the way things were working.
1229
01:02:20.920 --> 01:02:24.960
So I left. And that was in nineteen ninety eight.
1230
01:02:27.920 --> 01:02:30.119
But I've made thirteen records for Medium Cool, and I'm
1231
01:02:30.119 --> 01:02:31.800
really proud of them, and I'm really glad I did.
1232
01:02:35.320 --> 01:02:39.800
But then when I quit, I really didn't know what
1233
01:02:39.960 --> 01:02:42.119
was going to happen. And there was a period where
1234
01:02:42.119 --> 01:02:44.599
I really thought, you know, I've done music now for
1235
01:02:45.159 --> 01:02:49.719
twenty years, and I don't want to overstay my welcome.
1236
01:02:49.760 --> 01:02:52.559
Maybe it's time for me to go look at something else,
1237
01:02:52.760 --> 01:02:56.840
you know, Like I said earlier, I love books and literature.
1238
01:02:56.880 --> 01:03:01.039
I thought maybe something in that field, you know, something
1239
01:03:01.159 --> 01:03:03.239
kept kind of drawing me back towards music. And then
1240
01:03:03.239 --> 01:03:06.199
all of a sudden, ten eleven months later, I get
1241
01:03:06.239 --> 01:03:09.079
a call from a guy named Cameron Strang who said,
1242
01:03:09.119 --> 01:03:12.280
I have a one man record label I'm looking to expand.
1243
01:03:12.440 --> 01:03:15.320
I like the work you've done with Twin Tone. Would
1244
01:03:15.360 --> 01:03:18.039
you like to, you know, make some records with me?
1245
01:03:18.239 --> 01:03:21.400
And his name and his label name was New West Records.
1246
01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:28.599
So I met with him and I really liked him instantly,
1247
01:03:28.800 --> 01:03:31.559
I really I liked him. I believed he was a
1248
01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:35.400
real music guy. But he also had something I didn't,
1249
01:03:35.440 --> 01:03:40.840
which was a good business sense. And so he's one
1250
01:03:40.840 --> 01:03:42.800
of the few people I've ever met that could straddle
1251
01:03:42.880 --> 01:03:46.280
the fence between the creative and the business in that
1252
01:03:46.519 --> 01:03:48.559
kind of way, at least in a convincing way to me.
1253
01:03:48.920 --> 01:03:50.719
I'm sure there are plenty of them that I don't know.
1254
01:03:50.880 --> 01:03:53.440
But anyway, so I signed on right away and we
1255
01:03:53.559 --> 01:03:57.280
were a two man operation for a while. He'd put
1256
01:03:57.280 --> 01:03:59.440
out about ten records when I joined up with him.
1257
01:04:00.199 --> 01:04:01.880
First record he and I really got to work on
1258
01:04:01.960 --> 01:04:05.239
together was Tim Easton, a guy from a folks singer
1259
01:04:05.320 --> 01:04:08.599
from Columbus, Ohio, and that was a really, really a
1260
01:04:08.679 --> 01:04:10.679
great project. We had a lot of fun with it.
1261
01:04:10.840 --> 01:04:13.360
We got Joe Chicicarelli to come in to produce. We
1262
01:04:13.519 --> 01:04:16.760
used part of the Wilco band to back him. I
1263
01:04:16.880 --> 01:04:19.960
went to King Size in Chicago to record the basic tracks,
1264
01:04:20.760 --> 01:04:23.440
mixed it out here in La Anyway, that's where that
1265
01:04:23.559 --> 01:04:27.000
whole thing started, and Cam and I really got along
1266
01:04:27.199 --> 01:04:29.440
very well. And then as the bottom dropped out of
1267
01:04:30.280 --> 01:04:33.400
physical record sales there and I started with him in
1268
01:04:33.480 --> 01:04:38.280
ninety nine. By you know, two thousand and two thousand
1269
01:04:38.280 --> 01:04:40.480
and one, you know, there was the whole Napster debacle
1270
01:04:40.559 --> 01:04:43.000
and people didn't want to pay for music, and it
1271
01:04:43.039 --> 01:04:47.840
got really difficult and Cameron, you know, had a business
1272
01:04:47.920 --> 01:04:50.920
to run and much as he loved the creative side too,
1273
01:04:51.039 --> 01:04:53.400
he had to, you know, sort of deal with the
1274
01:04:53.440 --> 01:04:57.000
bottom line a bit more so, so that became a
1275
01:04:57.079 --> 01:04:59.360
little harder. I realized I wasn't going to be able
1276
01:04:59.400 --> 01:05:01.960
to sell him on my A and R ideas very much.
1277
01:05:02.039 --> 01:05:07.960
But since he was overseeing the you know, the big picture,
1278
01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:10.639
I ended up doing the day to day A and
1279
01:05:10.760 --> 01:05:13.280
R and all the projects he brought in, And I
1280
01:05:14.440 --> 01:05:16.760
was unhappy that I couldn't sell him on my projects.
1281
01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:18.400
But at the same time, I'm not going to complain
1282
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:21.719
about working with Delbert McClinton or John Hyatt or Steve
1283
01:05:21.760 --> 01:05:24.599
Earl or Dwight Yoakum or Chris Christofferson. I mean, it
1284
01:05:24.719 --> 01:05:26.880
was like, oh my god, what am I? What am
1285
01:05:26.920 --> 01:05:29.239
I doing working with people at this caliber? But it
1286
01:05:29.360 --> 01:05:32.199
was great and it was fun and we had They
1287
01:05:32.239 --> 01:05:35.760
were They were nice to me, They were respectful. They
1288
01:05:35.840 --> 01:05:38.400
knew I was a you know, I wasn't in this
1289
01:05:38.519 --> 01:05:40.719
from the same major label world they'd been in, but
1290
01:05:41.079 --> 01:05:43.559
but they knew I was a music guy, so they
1291
01:05:44.280 --> 01:05:45.320
you know, they treated me well.
1292
01:05:45.679 --> 01:05:48.559
Yeah, he had a pedigree there. So do you have
1293
01:05:48.599 --> 01:05:51.719
a favorite record from the news days that you were
1294
01:05:51.800 --> 01:05:52.079
part of?
1295
01:05:52.880 --> 01:05:56.239
Absolutely I mean the I I I mentioned it in
1296
01:05:56.280 --> 01:05:58.360
the book The record. The best record I think New
1297
01:05:58.400 --> 01:06:01.400
West ever put out as an album called by Daniel Romano.
1298
01:06:02.639 --> 01:06:04.519
And I say that with great respect for all the
1299
01:06:04.599 --> 01:06:07.239
other artists and records. You know, many of the they
1300
01:06:07.280 --> 01:06:09.920
were very The thing about New West was we rarely
1301
01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:12.639
put out a record that I didn't think was absolutely great.
1302
01:06:12.719 --> 01:06:15.199
I mean, I really thought we were on a roll.
1303
01:06:15.360 --> 01:06:18.719
And and you know, even in some cases we made
1304
01:06:18.760 --> 01:06:21.639
a you know, maybe we made records with one of
1305
01:06:21.679 --> 01:06:24.079
the veterans that wasn't as good as their heyday, but
1306
01:06:24.519 --> 01:06:27.440
at the same time they were still you know, there
1307
01:06:27.559 --> 01:06:31.840
was still uh, you know, valid artistic merit, you know,
1308
01:06:31.960 --> 01:06:36.079
involved and and so. But but the Romano record is
1309
01:06:36.119 --> 01:06:38.880
the one that, to me, really I think it's one
1310
01:06:38.880 --> 01:06:42.400
of the greatest records ever made. Period. And and uh,
1311
01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:47.239
I had I had been slow to warm up to
1312
01:06:47.320 --> 01:06:48.840
him because when he first came in he was in
1313
01:06:48.880 --> 01:06:53.480
a complete country phase. Yeah, it's all about almost cornball
1314
01:06:53.559 --> 01:06:56.280
country in a way, some of the early songs and
1315
01:06:57.119 --> 01:06:59.239
and and then plus the I remember seeing the artwork
1316
01:06:59.280 --> 01:07:01.719
for the first album, did for him come cry with me.
1317
01:07:02.119 --> 01:07:04.039
He's wearing a cowboy hat, he's got like a Nudi
1318
01:07:04.119 --> 01:07:06.880
suit on. I was like, did he spend more time
1319
01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:08.599
on his outfit than he did on the songs? I
1320
01:07:08.679 --> 01:07:12.840
don't know, you know, But then those songs started to
1321
01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:16.400
I started to realize, well, they are a little novelty
1322
01:07:16.760 --> 01:07:18.760
based in some cases. But then there were ones that
1323
01:07:18.880 --> 01:07:21.079
weren't on the record that I hadn't paid attention to.
1324
01:07:21.559 --> 01:07:23.960
And then I started hearing the demos for the record
1325
01:07:24.000 --> 01:07:27.320
that came after, which is called if I've Only One
1326
01:07:27.440 --> 01:07:31.000
Time Asking, And that was when I just I had
1327
01:07:31.880 --> 01:07:34.920
again maybe a bit of an epiphany for Romano. And
1328
01:07:35.239 --> 01:07:37.440
I remember seeing him right as I was getting the
1329
01:07:37.519 --> 01:07:41.119
bug at south By Southwest. He played a number of
1330
01:07:41.199 --> 01:07:45.199
times at New West events down there in Oh god,
1331
01:07:45.239 --> 01:07:48.360
what year would that have been, twenty twelve maybe or thirteen,
1332
01:07:48.880 --> 01:07:52.599
And I mean I was just blown away. One particular song,
1333
01:07:53.960 --> 01:07:56.800
Valerie leon Is the record is the song that opens
1334
01:07:57.159 --> 01:07:59.519
Mosey and I remember seeing him do that at a
1335
01:08:00.079 --> 01:08:02.239
thread Gills where there was an outdoor stage at thread
1336
01:08:02.239 --> 01:08:04.760
Gills where we had a New wes Day party, and uh,
1337
01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:07.239
and I remember him doing it and it's those are
1338
01:08:07.880 --> 01:08:11.000
crazy rapid fire words, and I was just I was
1339
01:08:11.119 --> 01:08:13.760
mesmerized by that, and and that was when you know,
1340
01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:17.319
the just blew my mind and and uh so I
1341
01:08:17.439 --> 01:08:19.399
I love him to this day. I think he's one
1342
01:08:19.439 --> 01:08:21.319
of the one of the best artists in the business.
1343
01:08:22.279 --> 01:08:25.840
Well, yeah, I know you you've you've posted about him
1344
01:08:25.880 --> 01:08:28.560
on social media, and I know because you you mentioned
1345
01:08:28.600 --> 01:08:30.760
some show with him a couple of years ago that
1346
01:08:30.840 --> 01:08:32.319
you went to and how great it was. And I
1347
01:08:32.359 --> 01:08:35.039
know there are people here talking about you talking about
1348
01:08:35.119 --> 01:08:38.439
how great that was. So he was playing at the
1349
01:08:38.560 --> 01:08:40.399
Entry and they're all sorts of people who were kind
1350
01:08:40.439 --> 01:08:42.960
of curious based on what you had been saying. Yeah,
1351
01:08:43.600 --> 01:08:47.039
just yeah, he took he tore the roof off that night.
1352
01:08:47.119 --> 01:08:48.960
I was like, okay, I know, I know a couple
1353
01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:51.359
of people who say it's the best show they've ever seen.
1354
01:08:52.720 --> 01:08:55.079
Amazing, just that great live artists.
1355
01:08:55.640 --> 01:08:57.199
And I saw him do I saw him do ten
1356
01:08:57.239 --> 01:08:58.760
of those where I was just standing there. I was
1357
01:08:58.800 --> 01:09:01.039
almost like that feeling of the Replacements, where you go,
1358
01:09:01.239 --> 01:09:03.239
at this moment, there cannot be a better rock and
1359
01:09:03.359 --> 01:09:04.319
roll band on the planet.
1360
01:09:04.760 --> 01:09:07.760
Yeah, pretty impressive stuff. Yeah, pretty cool. Who are you
1361
01:09:07.800 --> 01:09:09.840
listening to today? What's what's in the stereo?
1362
01:09:10.399 --> 01:09:12.840
Actually I was just playing Jake Xerxes Fussle.
1363
01:09:13.000 --> 01:09:14.640
You know him, No, what's this?
1364
01:09:15.159 --> 01:09:18.640
He's a he's a kind of folk blues guitar player
1365
01:09:18.720 --> 01:09:24.199
singer from I think he's from Georgia. Anyway, I'm going
1366
01:09:24.239 --> 01:09:27.319
to see him tomorrow, and so I was just refreshing
1367
01:09:27.359 --> 01:09:30.399
my memory on his stuff. He's he's got five albums
1368
01:09:30.399 --> 01:09:33.880
out I think you know. It's a rootsy kind of thing,
1369
01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:38.840
but exceptional guitar player and a real student of song.
1370
01:09:39.920 --> 01:09:42.279
He's got liner notes that are very specific about where
1371
01:09:42.359 --> 01:09:45.439
all the songs came from, Like he does Duke Ellington
1372
01:09:45.600 --> 01:09:48.439
song Jump for Joy opens the album. He does these
1373
01:09:48.520 --> 01:09:53.159
things there. He actually lists the source on the back,
1374
01:09:53.319 --> 01:09:55.600
like where did I first hear of this song? And
1375
01:09:55.680 --> 01:09:57.880
nobody knows when it was really written? Kind of thing.
1376
01:09:58.720 --> 01:10:01.560
So that's what I'm listening to just as of this morning.
1377
01:10:02.800 --> 01:10:06.920
Last night, I had a nice evening just my wife
1378
01:10:07.039 --> 01:10:08.720
was out doing something else, and so I had a
1379
01:10:08.880 --> 01:10:11.920
nice evening of just listening to whatever I felt like.
1380
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:16.840
And and I was listening to a Woody Guthrie double
1381
01:10:16.920 --> 01:10:21.319
album from that those tributes right after he died, they
1382
01:10:21.359 --> 01:10:24.319
did the one in sixty eight in New York that Dylan,
1383
01:10:24.680 --> 01:10:29.239
and I was just actually i'd forgotten looking at the
1384
01:10:29.279 --> 01:10:31.800
credits of the record. I pulled it out, and I'd forgotten.
1385
01:10:31.800 --> 01:10:34.279
They don't even list the band because they weren't the
1386
01:10:34.359 --> 01:10:38.560
band yet, oh so or or or they they weren't
1387
01:10:38.640 --> 01:10:41.039
known yet. I guess maybe maybe they were the band.
1388
01:10:41.079 --> 01:10:43.399
But anyway, so it's just as Bob Dylan, but it
1389
01:10:43.439 --> 01:10:47.000
happens to be with Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel whatever.
1390
01:10:47.159 --> 01:10:51.000
So so they do three songs and they're spectacular, but
1391
01:10:51.000 --> 01:10:53.079
it's also got you know, Judy Collins and Odetta and
1392
01:10:53.560 --> 01:10:55.119
all that. So that was something I was listening to
1393
01:10:55.279 --> 01:10:57.399
last night, and really I hadn't listened to it for
1394
01:10:57.640 --> 01:10:59.720
you know, a while, and and and that was fun.
1395
01:11:01.640 --> 01:11:04.399
Also I'm really big on My son is working in
1396
01:11:04.560 --> 01:11:08.840
music now and he's he's building a stable of artists.
1397
01:11:08.880 --> 01:11:11.960
He's working for a record label and also has a
1398
01:11:12.319 --> 01:11:16.600
separate management company just of his own, kind of not
1399
01:11:16.680 --> 01:11:18.319
really hard to call it a company, I mean, it's
1400
01:11:18.840 --> 01:11:20.800
not super formal, but anyway, he's got a couple of
1401
01:11:20.840 --> 01:11:22.520
artists there that I just love. So I was listening
1402
01:11:22.560 --> 01:11:25.199
to a bunch of their stuff last night. Guy in particular,
1403
01:11:25.239 --> 01:11:27.960
I would highly recommend you check out. And I know
1404
01:11:28.039 --> 01:11:31.319
this will sound like nepotism, but I would not say
1405
01:11:31.359 --> 01:11:35.039
this if I didn't genuinely believe that Truman Sinclair is
1406
01:11:35.119 --> 01:11:37.000
the guy's name, and I think he's going to be
1407
01:11:38.119 --> 01:11:41.479
someone to be reckoned with. A lot of labels are
1408
01:11:41.560 --> 01:11:44.399
looking at him right now. His you know, metrics, as
1409
01:11:44.479 --> 01:11:49.319
they say, are exploding. And they put out an indie
1410
01:11:49.359 --> 01:11:54.000
record in February that's fantastic called American recordings like Johnny Cash,
1411
01:11:54.079 --> 01:11:59.119
but they're inspired by Johnny but all original songs. And
1412
01:11:59.199 --> 01:12:03.399
Truman is really really something. He's a fantastic live and
1413
01:12:03.840 --> 01:12:06.439
you know, my son's age twenty three and and just
1414
01:12:06.600 --> 01:12:10.319
really one of those guys who, like you said, when
1415
01:12:10.359 --> 01:12:12.239
you picked up a guitar, you couldn't put it down.
1416
01:12:12.279 --> 01:12:13.720
He's like that guy. He walks around the house with
1417
01:12:13.800 --> 01:12:15.680
the guitar hanging around his neck all the time. And
1418
01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:20.199
and so I think the guy he is, he is
1419
01:12:20.239 --> 01:12:21.960
an l a guy. I think I grew up in
1420
01:12:22.039 --> 01:12:24.960
Chicago and then moved out here with his family when
1421
01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:27.399
he was the ten or eleven, I think, And but
1422
01:12:27.479 --> 01:12:29.279
he's been playing in bands since he was eight, and
1423
01:12:29.399 --> 01:12:40.319
he's just really really good in Fontaine's DC gold Star,
1424
01:12:41.199 --> 01:12:42.760
one of the one of one of the best things
1425
01:12:42.800 --> 01:12:47.199
I've heard in recent years. L also LA based somewhere
1426
01:12:47.199 --> 01:12:51.119
in between. I guess this is a thumbnail sketch, but uh,
1427
01:12:51.800 --> 01:12:55.079
somewhere between the dark underbelly of the Only Ones meets
1428
01:12:55.439 --> 01:12:58.479
the kind of anthemic songs of Tom Petty and the
1429
01:12:58.520 --> 01:13:02.560
Heartbreakers really really great.
1430
01:13:03.159 --> 01:13:06.319
That's a good mix. I'll check those out. How often
1431
01:13:06.319 --> 01:13:08.079
are you going out to see shows these days? It
1432
01:13:08.119 --> 01:13:10.279
seems like you go quite a bit all the time.
1433
01:13:10.479 --> 01:13:11.520
I go, you know, we have.
1434
01:13:11.680 --> 01:13:13.640
That's one of the lucky things about living in LA
1435
01:13:13.840 --> 01:13:16.760
and also kind of hard to deal with because there's
1436
01:13:16.760 --> 01:13:18.439
a show, you know, there's you know, a couple of
1437
01:13:18.479 --> 01:13:20.000
shows I want to see every night, and you know,
1438
01:13:20.079 --> 01:13:24.399
you just can't do that. But but yeah, I yeah,
1439
01:13:24.439 --> 01:13:27.960
I mean, I'm don't. It's you know, they sometimes come
1440
01:13:28.039 --> 01:13:31.560
in spurts, but I probably see eight or ten shows
1441
01:13:31.560 --> 01:13:32.159
a month.
1442
01:13:33.119 --> 01:13:36.359
Quite a bit, quite a bit. That's you know, we
1443
01:13:36.479 --> 01:13:39.560
appreciate you come out. We appreciate you coming out to
1444
01:13:39.600 --> 01:13:40.439
see us when we're there.
1445
01:13:40.479 --> 01:13:42.199
That was fun to have you there, and it was
1446
01:13:42.279 --> 01:13:44.880
that Redwood Bar is a fun place where both Autry
1447
01:13:44.880 --> 01:13:47.640
and I, my son, Audrey and I really enjoyed the set.
1448
01:13:47.720 --> 01:13:50.439
You guys were great and it was I think I
1449
01:13:50.600 --> 01:13:51.800
like the atmosphere of that place.
1450
01:13:52.239 --> 01:13:54.479
Yeah, that's a cool place. Hopefully we can get back
1451
01:13:54.560 --> 01:13:56.720
out there. We got another invite, but I'm not sure
1452
01:13:56.720 --> 01:13:58.159
we're gonna be able to pull it off this year.
1453
01:13:58.199 --> 01:14:02.479
But same rem Yeah, yeah, we're uh, we're playing in
1454
01:14:02.560 --> 01:14:04.920
Chicago in a few weeks at the Montrose there for
1455
01:14:05.039 --> 01:14:09.119
this thing. That's with these we usually build some shows
1456
01:14:09.159 --> 01:14:11.000
around it as well, kind of like what you were saying.
1457
01:14:11.119 --> 01:14:14.279
So yeah, but yeah, it's a lot of fun. Those
1458
01:14:14.319 --> 01:14:17.079
are There's always a great turnout and we usually we
1459
01:14:17.199 --> 01:14:20.880
do nothing can change you the Tommy Keane cover when
1460
01:14:20.920 --> 01:14:24.680
we play at these I pos. So it's fun because
1461
01:14:24.720 --> 01:14:28.960
you can with that crowd. They know it and immediately
1462
01:14:29.039 --> 01:14:32.199
you kind of see everybody kind of oh yeah they're
1463
01:14:32.279 --> 01:14:35.239
doing t K. So yeah, it's it's always a good time.
1464
01:14:35.520 --> 01:14:37.600
Appreciate you jumping on here. I'll let you know when
1465
01:14:37.680 --> 01:14:40.479
I when I get it edited and ready to go.
1466
01:14:41.159 --> 01:14:43.520
It's going to be a busy week. My son's got
1467
01:14:43.560 --> 01:14:46.840
his driver's tests this week, so it's knee deep and
1468
01:14:46.920 --> 01:14:49.239
all of that we're trying to get this new high
1469
01:14:49.239 --> 01:14:55.279
on Stress record done too, which is taken way too long. Yeah,
1470
01:14:55.399 --> 01:14:57.560
we've got that going. And then I'm also kind of
1471
01:14:57.600 --> 01:15:01.960
doing a side it's kind of a solo collaboration record
1472
01:15:02.079 --> 01:15:05.439
with Kevin Salem's worked on. He did a song with
1473
01:15:05.520 --> 01:15:08.000
me on it, which is super cool. I know, you
1474
01:15:08.119 --> 01:15:11.119
know him, and it's great. He sent me this guitar
1475
01:15:11.239 --> 01:15:16.000
track and I'm like, this sounds like Keaven, just this
1476
01:15:16.319 --> 01:15:19.479
kind of rhythmic guitar thing he did. It was very
1477
01:15:19.560 --> 01:15:21.680
much like his first record, so I was pretty pumped
1478
01:15:21.680 --> 01:15:22.000
about that.
1479
01:15:22.640 --> 01:15:24.760
That's great. I love him. I actually just saw him
1480
01:15:24.800 --> 01:15:28.279
for the first time and got twenty plus years I'm sure.
1481
01:15:28.399 --> 01:15:30.680
I got to do a book thing in Woodstock and
1482
01:15:30.760 --> 01:15:34.680
he lives there, as you know probably, and it was
1483
01:15:34.760 --> 01:15:36.720
so much fun to talk to him. And now he's
1484
01:15:36.760 --> 01:15:40.079
working on some new recordings of his own YEP for
1485
01:15:40.199 --> 01:15:42.199
the first time in a while, he says, and he
1486
01:15:42.319 --> 01:15:45.000
sent me a bunch of them and asked for, you know, feedback,
1487
01:15:45.039 --> 01:15:47.560
and I was, I mean, I was just knocked out.
1488
01:15:47.600 --> 01:15:49.800
I mean it's really really great stuff.
1489
01:15:49.920 --> 01:15:52.920
So yeah, it's cool he sent you the sampleat with
1490
01:15:53.000 --> 01:15:56.159
all the songs on it. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the
1491
01:15:56.199 --> 01:15:58.520
one I got too. It's really cool stuff. So yeah,
1492
01:15:59.079 --> 01:16:01.319
about time to put on any record of his stay.
1493
01:16:01.399 --> 01:16:03.600
And I was working on something but never anything of
1494
01:16:03.680 --> 01:16:04.039
his own.
1495
01:16:04.159 --> 01:16:07.239
So yeah, and his wife is brought me into a
1496
01:16:07.359 --> 01:16:09.840
project I'm consulting on too that I'm very grateful for.
1497
01:16:10.079 --> 01:16:12.159
So nice, said Kate. Hyman. Was an A and R
1498
01:16:12.239 --> 01:16:17.319
woman made the major label circuit back in the day,
1499
01:16:17.439 --> 01:16:20.079
and so it was nice to be in touch with
1500
01:16:20.159 --> 01:16:21.920
her again, both her and Kevin. I got to spend
1501
01:16:21.960 --> 01:16:23.520
some time with in Woodstock. That was great.
1502
01:16:23.920 --> 01:16:26.239
Yeah, he's a great guy. He bought like five high
1503
01:16:26.279 --> 01:16:32.279
on stress stocking caps for the local baristas. Oh He's like,
1504
01:16:32.359 --> 01:16:34.359
they liked my hat, so I'm buying them all one
1505
01:16:35.039 --> 01:16:37.680
thanks Kevin. Yeah, no, he's he's a good guy. And
1506
01:16:37.720 --> 01:16:40.000
then I've got I'm going to work with Dan Murphy
1507
01:16:40.039 --> 01:16:42.039
on some stuff too. He's coming over here tomorrow to
1508
01:16:42.720 --> 01:16:44.399
do some stuff. So I don't know, I don't know
1509
01:16:44.479 --> 01:16:45.720
what it's gonna end up. I've got a couple of
1510
01:16:45.760 --> 01:16:47.960
things he's played on a mine that will probably come
1511
01:16:48.039 --> 01:16:50.720
out at some point. And then he's working on stuff
1512
01:16:50.720 --> 01:16:53.640
of his own, so I'm I'm co writing a couple
1513
01:16:53.640 --> 01:16:55.479
of things, so we'll see what happens with those tracks.
1514
01:16:55.520 --> 01:16:58.399
But I love that guy, give him my best will.
1515
01:16:58.479 --> 01:17:00.840
He's just a sweet guy midway us, through and through.
1516
01:17:01.479 --> 01:17:01.960
That's right.
1517
01:17:02.520 --> 01:17:04.840
Good to catch up with you, and I appreciate oping
1518
01:17:04.920 --> 01:17:05.760
on here to chat with me.
1519
01:17:06.199 --> 01:17:09.039
Fun conversation. I appreciate you asking, yeah.
1520
01:17:08.960 --> 01:17:11.720
You bet, Thank care of yourself, you too, Bye bye.
1521
01:17:19.319 --> 01:17:23.079
How about that, Peter Jasperson. That was a fun conversation.
1522
01:17:24.000 --> 01:17:27.960
Thank you for tuning in, meaning to get around asking
1523
01:17:28.079 --> 01:17:30.920
him to be on and finally finally made it happen,
1524
01:17:31.119 --> 01:17:34.359
and it was. It was fun. One of my favorite
1525
01:17:34.359 --> 01:17:38.000
episodes for sure. Forgot to mention at the top of
1526
01:17:38.079 --> 01:17:42.159
the show. Hian Stress has some shows coming up. Debuke
1527
01:17:42.439 --> 01:17:48.600
Iowa at the Lift on May first, and on May second,
1528
01:17:48.800 --> 01:17:54.840
we're playing the International Pop Overthrow Festival at Montrose Saloon
1529
01:17:54.960 --> 01:17:58.479
in Chicago, Illinois, which is going to be awesome. And
1530
01:17:58.640 --> 01:18:03.079
then May the third, we're playing at one of my
1531
01:18:03.199 --> 01:18:08.680
favorite places, the law office is called Office Pub Yorkville, Illinois,
1532
01:18:08.720 --> 01:18:11.920
with our friend Matt Dirda, and it's gonna be a
1533
01:18:11.960 --> 01:18:15.039
good time. So thank you for tuning in. Hope to
1534
01:18:15.079 --> 01:18:18.199
see you out there for some shows. Oh, we're also
1535
01:18:18.239 --> 01:18:21.560
playing May thirty first at Palmer's as part as front
1536
01:18:21.840 --> 01:18:25.119
Row Paul Festival as well. There's like six over sixty
1537
01:18:25.159 --> 01:18:30.079
bands playing in support and memory of front Row Paul,
1538
01:18:30.680 --> 01:18:35.199
local legend music lover here in Minneapolis. So we have
1539
01:18:35.399 --> 01:18:39.640
a lot of stuff going on and apprecid you listen
1540
01:18:39.680 --> 01:18:42.439
and we'll see you next time from Studio twenty four
1541
01:18:42.520 --> 01:18:45.560
in Minneapolis. Figure It's podcast.
1542
01:19:00.039 --> 01:19:01.680
And you see you there.
1543
01:19:02.399 --> 01:19:21.239
She was in the crowd, whirrelling alone.
1544
01:19:23.039 --> 01:19:30.079
When everybody wants you right now, she's never home, didn't.
1545
01:19:29.840 --> 01:19:32.199
Met them at the take full side.
1546
01:19:32.840 --> 01:19:36.359
But everything has changed, so we all know that you're
1547
01:19:36.399 --> 01:19:39.920
waking U to die inside now.
1548
01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:46.720
There's nowhere enough to go now, nothing can change you.
1549
01:19:48.199 --> 01:19:51.199
Would you be before to love?
1550
01:19:51.880 --> 01:19:56.680
Your world is stranger? Can you tell me things that
1551
01:19:56.880 --> 01:19:57.439
you loved?
1552
01:19:58.359 --> 01:19:58.560
Now?
1553
01:19:58.800 --> 01:19:59.920
Nothing could change.
1554
01:20:01.680 --> 01:20:08.520
We feel fool of your world, estrange man, And you
1555
01:20:08.720 --> 01:20:11.359
tell these things the child dreams of them.
1556
01:20:11.720 --> 01:20:11.760
No
1
00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:11.400
You are listening to the Figure eights podcast I host
2
00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.720
Nick Wheat to the band High on Stress out of Minneapolis, Minnesota,
3
00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:18.800
and today we have a right ship, Yes we do.
4
00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:22.359
His name is Peter Jesperson. He's an American music industry
5
00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:27.800
businessman known for his involvement in discovering the Replacements and
6
00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:32.840
also managing the Replacements. Co founded Twin Tone Records here
7
00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:38.600
in Minneapolis. What he went off and he was working
8
00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.679
at New West Records for a number of years as well.
9
00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.200
He has been around and known a lot of great people,
10
00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.439
has a lot of good stories and as one of
11
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.759
the best years in the music industry. So excited to
12
00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.479
talk to him, finally have him on him without further ado,
13
00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:00.439
I bring you great see.
14
00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:01.960
Too.
15
00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:07.159
How many cats you have?
16
00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:08.200
Three? Three?
17
00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.159
What you got to have some interesting names for those
18
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:11.840
cats I met.
19
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.560
I don't know about that. I mean, the oldest one
20
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:20.079
is Daisy, which was sort of a joke name. It
21
00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.319
was like naming your dog spot or something. I don't
22
00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.159
know how we landed on that. And then we got
23
00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.400
a couple of kiddies right right before the pandemic started
24
00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:35.599
fall of twenty nineteen, and they were siblings, a male
25
00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:37.599
and a female. We'd never had a male cat before.
26
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:40.640
I grew up with animals, horses and dogs and cats,
27
00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:43.519
and I always seemed like the males were the most trouble.
28
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.760
So I've always leaned towards the females. But anyway, I
29
00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:49.959
got a boy and a cat, a boy and a
30
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.599
girl cat, and they're just the coolest. And they're Mazie
31
00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:54.239
and Millie.
32
00:01:54.760 --> 00:02:01.400
Nice. Nice. Yeah, and my son named her Sheila Ela alway,
33
00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.280
isn't that funny. Yeah, So the vets, that was an
34
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.199
interesting trip because they're like Sheila E right, that's us.
35
00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:11.479
Yeah, and your vet probably doesn't get the connection.
36
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.439
Most of them get it. You get a little look
37
00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:13.639
at it.
38
00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.960
And so yeah, it's most local Minneapolis, right probably.
39
00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:17.319
Yeah.
40
00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:21.960
Yeah, Yeah, how you been I've been good. I've been good. Yeah.
41
00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:24.520
We're actually getting some warm weather. It's been cold here,
42
00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:28.840
dipping down into the forties at night, which you know,
43
00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.159
I know for Minnesota that doesn't mean anything, but uh,
44
00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:35.879
we're there. But I'm I'm avid bicycle rider. In the morning,
45
00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:38.240
I do an early morning bike ride, and when it's
46
00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:40.639
in the four when it gets below fifty, I don't
47
00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.319
go out because it's just a little bit too much.
48
00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:47.719
And so anyway, I missed my bike rides. But but
49
00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:49.039
Sey LEVI you know I do.
50
00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:54.360
Yeah. It's uh, it's funny because and you'll remember this,
51
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.000
but like you look out the window and it's like
52
00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.919
sunny and it looks beautiful, but it's thirty five. Yeah,
53
00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:03.520
it tricks you when you walk outside and you're like, oh,
54
00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:04.319
I guess it's cold.
55
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.360
Yeah. I was checking out some of your other podcasts.
56
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.199
You really do a good job, I got to say.
57
00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.639
And the Brian Paulson one was really interesting to listen to.
58
00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.240
And I actually hadn't talked to him in years and
59
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:20.759
I saw him. God, when was it. It would have
60
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:26.919
been I guess last last June doing some book stuff
61
00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.800
down in North Carolina and he came to the Chapel
62
00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.319
Hill thing that we did with which was it was
63
00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:35.199
a fun when Tommy Stinson was with me and John
64
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.919
John Worcester moderated. So you know Worcester is of course
65
00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:44.960
just such a you know, just bright light in music.
66
00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.319
You know, he's such a fan and such a great
67
00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.479
drummer and plays with all kinds of interesting people.
68
00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.240
Yeah. I enjoyed talking to him. He was a blast.
69
00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.240
Yeah, I've got I've got your podcast with him queued
70
00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:57.560
up too.
71
00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:00.840
Nice. Yeah, he's he's a riot and I liked Brian.
72
00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.400
I never met Brian before, so that was enjoyable to
73
00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.919
get to know him a little bit. But this has
74
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.639
been fun. I started doing it during COVID when there
75
00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:11.080
was literally nothing going on, which is probably the best
76
00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.360
time to do it because there was so much availability
77
00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.439
by people. So I was just one after another, you know,
78
00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.680
Jody Stevens, different people, and I'm like, Wow, this is
79
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:22.000
going well. I'm getting great guests and it's done pretty
80
00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.040
well for what it is, so that's great.
81
00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:28.000
You know, one other little thing that pops into my
82
00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:31.480
head sort of personal, but I think you'll relate or
83
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.680
understand the thing about cats. I got those those two
84
00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:41.120
siblings in September of twenty nineteen, and Terry Katzman was
85
00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:44.480
out visiting here in November and passed away here at
86
00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:44.879
our house.
87
00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:45.680
And that's right.
88
00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:49.079
And I believe that the cats were cuddled up with
89
00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:50.120
him when he passed away.
90
00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.079
That's nice.
91
00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:54.800
I had gone into our guest room to see how
92
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:56.839
he was doing. He hadn't been feeling well and just
93
00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:58.519
said he wanted to lay down for a bit and
94
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:02.920
and I went in to say, you know, how are
95
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:04.720
you feeling and he said, I'm fine. I said, oh,
96
00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:06.360
let me get those cats out here, and he said,
97
00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.279
oh no, I really like having them here. And they
98
00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:12.959
were just kids of course at the time. Yeah, And
99
00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:14.560
so I left him in there, and I mean, I
100
00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:18.079
don't know, you know, I don't know exactly what that means,
101
00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:20.000
but I just think it might, you know, there might
102
00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:23.879
have been something comforting if he was you know, scared
103
00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:28.839
there as you know, his body was doing whatever it
104
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.639
was doing, and so maybe if they comforted him, that
105
00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.839
just kind of you know, that's a touching story.
106
00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:41.639
And yeah, yeah, and it's you know, obviously traumatic, but
107
00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:44.160
kind of something kind of sweet too about you know,
108
00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.079
old friends being together at the end too. So yeah,
109
00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:50.800
I know a lot of people around here were pretty devastated.
110
00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:52.560
I think I only met him a couple of times.
111
00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:56.360
I think he was working at High Fi John Clifford
112
00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:57.920
for a while, so I would see him in there
113
00:05:58.199 --> 00:05:58.839
on occasion.
114
00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:02.560
But yeah, Hey, what's the big Star forty five you
115
00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:03.240
have behind you?
116
00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:08.839
Oh it's some weird bootleg Live nineteen seventy four, New York.
117
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.000
It does not sound great. The recording's pretty rough, but
118
00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:15.480
I stumbled on it and I'm like, well, that's kind
119
00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:17.160
of a cool thing that I've never seen anywhere.
120
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.560
Yeah, that's I have never I don't have that I have,
121
00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:23.000
you know, I'm such a magnet for all the big
122
00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:24.680
star stuff. But of course it was seventy four, it
123
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:29.279
wouldn't have had that lineup. That's great, right, but still yeah, yeah,
124
00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:34.639
I can't. It's at that Hempstead Long Island Recordings where.
125
00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:37.199
I think I got it in. I believe it was
126
00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:42.319
in Hopkins, like an antique store. I'm like, that's yeah, wow. Yeah,
127
00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.639
it just says live from New York. It doesn't live
128
00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:46.439
in New York. It doesn't say where it was.
129
00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.519
Yeah, I think does it have like Motel blues on it?
130
00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.720
September Girls Way Out West Mode laying Don't Lie to
131
00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:59.839
Me on My Soul Ballot of good O thirteen, I'm
132
00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:01.360
in love with a girl in the street. You get
133
00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.759
what you deserve Daisy glaze back of a car and
134
00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:04.360
she's a mover.
135
00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:05.319
Huh.
136
00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:07.480
I have pectured in Europe.
137
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.560
Huh. Interesting.
138
00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:12.600
Yeah, the recording quality isn't great, but I was like, well,
139
00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.519
that's it was worth the risk because it's kind of
140
00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.160
a cool thing that I've never seen around anywhere, so right, yeah,
141
00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.639
and before or after I still haven't seen it, so
142
00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:24.199
I don't know. It says made in Europe, so I
143
00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.560
wonder if somebody brought it to some because you figure
144
00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:28.720
you'd run into it somewhere.
145
00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:34.480
Well, you know, sometimes people put that put that you know,
146
00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.759
made in Europe just to try to fool the you know,
147
00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:39.839
authorities in America or whatever.
148
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.279
That's true, so they don't go after them very likely. Yeah,
149
00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.800
So your room there looks amazing. Oh you are those
150
00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.560
all music books or a little bit of everything.
151
00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.240
Well, I kind of read. I'm a reader, so there's
152
00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:58.560
other stuff in here, but the but the non music
153
00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:03.800
books I tend not to keep. I recycle or or
154
00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:06.839
there's a really great used bookstore down the street where
155
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.279
I can you know, trade them in and that sort
156
00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:11.759
of stuff. The music books I keep, so yeah, most
157
00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:13.879
of them, most of them that you see our music books.
158
00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:16.639
And I'm completely out of space. I've got records all
159
00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:18.480
over the floor now because I don't have room for
160
00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.360
to file my vinyl and we're about to right outside
161
00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:26.120
this behind me there there's a doorway that goes into
162
00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:29.000
a dining room. And there's some wall space right behind
163
00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.759
the door that I convinced my wife and I'm going
164
00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:33.399
to have a couple of record racks built to fit
165
00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:37.240
that space and hopefully relieve some of the some of
166
00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.720
the glut. But we like we you know, we we
167
00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:42.679
don't necessarily like, but we we we live in clutter,
168
00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:43.720
and we like it that way.
169
00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:46.480
I guess, yeah, Well, it's funny because I've got I
170
00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:48.759
do the same thing. I keep my music books and
171
00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:51.320
I have some down here and some upstairs, and the
172
00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:56.240
records too, I have some upstairs. So I've been given
173
00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.919
an amount of space upstairs where i can have that
174
00:08:59.000 --> 00:08:59.879
stuff in the rest.
175
00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:02.480
Right.
176
00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:03.159
Yeah.
177
00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.120
I remember moving in with a girl who I won't mention.
178
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:10.879
You may know her that I was dating so many
179
00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:15.039
years ago, And as we were moving in, I remember
180
00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:16.840
her saying I don't want my living room to look
181
00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:19.879
like a record store. And I thought, oh, this isn't.
182
00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:23.720
Going to go. Well, you know, sounds like you got
183
00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:25.279
a deadline on that relationship.
184
00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.039
That was very much so I should have I should
185
00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:29.559
have write then, I should have said, you know what,
186
00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:31.639
I'm going to just not move my stuff in. I'll
187
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:32.919
gout check with you later.
188
00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:36.879
That's hilarious, hilarious. So what have you been working on lately?
189
00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:38.360
You've You've got the book, and I want to go
190
00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:41.320
I want to go back for sure, coming to the beginning.
191
00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:44.679
But I you know, your book came out euphoric recall
192
00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.960
that a year or two now, I can't keep.
193
00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:50.840
It came out November of twenty twenty three, so a
194
00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:51.679
year and a half or so.
195
00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:55.080
Yeah, that was quick. Yeah, And how's up being going?
196
00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:57.480
Are you still doing events around or what? I know
197
00:09:57.559 --> 00:09:59.960
you have mentioned with Tommy and some other thing.
198
00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:05.120
Yeah, I am, I mean, you know, it's uh, it's
199
00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:08.840
it's uh. You know, I was with a small publisher,
200
00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.759
Minnesota Historical Society Press, and they were, you know, they
201
00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.639
were really nice people, but they weren't super music savvy,
202
00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.840
and so they didn't they weren't able to really do
203
00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:20.960
a whole lot to help me get book events or
204
00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.639
to promote the book events. And you know, I understood that,
205
00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.919
and I hired an outside publicist of my own. I
206
00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:28.919
actually had one at the beginning, and then another one
207
00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:31.120
after the contract for the first one ran out, and
208
00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.679
and I had two really great publicists, Jim Merlis from
209
00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:43.240
Big Hassle Media, and and then Josh Mills who has
210
00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.120
It's a live media here in LA and they did
211
00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:47.840
a really good job. But I set all that stuff
212
00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:50.519
up myself, and again with a small publisher. They didn't
213
00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:52.919
pay for my travel except to come to Minnesota to
214
00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.759
do you know, a couple of things that or that
215
00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.080
week of the book release, and so you know, I
216
00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.080
had to be cautious and spend my money carefully and
217
00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:06.000
try to What I tried to do is book you know,
218
00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:08.000
find an anchor date and then book a couple of
219
00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:12.000
other cities nearby so that I could only you know,
220
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.320
it would only be one plane ticket and rent a card,
221
00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:18.000
you know whatever. And so so yeah, I've done twenty
222
00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.919
of them so far, eighteen cities, two in LA and
223
00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.440
two in Minneapolis. And then but I have offers to
224
00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:29.039
do other things and it's just hard for me to
225
00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.200
line them up like I could do Grimys in Nashville.
226
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.639
They've been gracious in saying anytime you you know, can
227
00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:38.279
come down, we'd like to host you. And there's a
228
00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:40.519
couple other places like that. There's I still haven't done
229
00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.440
Boston proper, for instance, and that was a you know
230
00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:45.200
town I spent a lot of time in in early
231
00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:49.480
replacements days, and so we'll see where it goes now.
232
00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.960
But I'm actually in the process of I believe I'm
233
00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:57.039
going to do something in London next month, so that'll
234
00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:58.919
be really fun. At the I think they call it.
235
00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:01.000
Let me just look here real quick.
236
00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:03.639
It's the.
237
00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:12.279
Oh Far Sight Gallery and they are it's a music
238
00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:18.440
centric place. And Alan Jones, I'm really happy to say
239
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.000
Alan Jones, the old editor of Melody Maker and the
240
00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.000
guy who founded on Cut magazine, is going to moderate
241
00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.080
and he's helping me set it up. He liked my book,
242
00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.440
and I've read his books and so we've we've I've
243
00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:30.960
been in touch with him a little bit in the past,
244
00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.759
but mostly since my book came out and his most
245
00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.919
recent book came out. So that's really I'm excited about that,
246
00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.320
of course, And and then we'll see what else happens.
247
00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:46.159
I mean, I'm open. I'll go wherever somebody will have
248
00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:48.399
me if if it's affordable, you know, if I can
249
00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:49.639
make it work financially.
250
00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.080
No, no, I get that from me. You know. Being
251
00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:54.879
in a band standpoint, we kind of do the same
252
00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:57.480
thing where we're like, all right, we're gonna go here.
253
00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.000
That that show pays pretty well. Try to find something
254
00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.519
around it to make it worth our while and you know,
255
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:05.960
see what we can do with it.
256
00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.759
But uh, yeah, I have no I have no illusions.
257
00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.360
I mean, I'm I it's a it's a it's not
258
00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:11.919
a you know, never, it's not going to be a
259
00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.720
New York Times bestseller anytime soon. But I I'm proud
260
00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.639
of you know. Uh. Of course, there's a million things
261
00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.440
I wish I could change now or fix or add
262
00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:26.159
or me but but I'm pretty happy with how it
263
00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.200
turned out. And and so uh for me, it's all gravy.
264
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.000
It's a win win situation because I it was it
265
00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:36.559
was a you know, slightly torturous, but generally speaking, fun
266
00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:39.720
project to do. And and I got to really stretch
267
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.879
out and I said, I didn't want to try to
268
00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:44.679
write a book unless I could just clear my desk
269
00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.360
and not you know, I wanted to be a full
270
00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.159
time writer. And so that's what I did for a
271
00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.600
couple of years. And yeah, it was really fun. I
272
00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.039
mean just to wake up in the morning, I've opened
273
00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:54.639
my eyes and I couldn't wait to get back here
274
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.440
to sit down to start working. And sometimes it was
275
00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.799
you know, a couple hours of being able to form
276
00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:02.759
a decent sentence. In other days that it'd be, you know,
277
00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:06.120
twelve hours of just zooming and just throwing it out
278
00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:07.279
there and then editing later.
279
00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:13.440
Yeah, it sounds a lot like writing music. Faucets on
280
00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.120
and some days it's like, oof, this is not working.
281
00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:18.240
Do you know Ted nicely at all?
282
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.600
Well? I know him from Tommy Keane, I see, you
283
00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.879
got to tell you good there. I don't know him well,
284
00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:27.039
but my wife and Tommy were very close, and so
285
00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.279
she knew him. They both she and Tommy lived in
286
00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.519
the DC area for a while. They got to know
287
00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.600
each other there, and then Tommy moved to LA around
288
00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.480
the same time my wife did, and so they stayed
289
00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.440
friends throughout that whole time. And I got the benefit
290
00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:43.120
of their friendship and got to know Tommy pretty well too.
291
00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:44.720
And through Tommy Ted.
292
00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.840
Why do you ask, Oh, he's a riot, that guy,
293
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.320
so I first met him. I don't know if you
294
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.679
listened to that podcast, but I had kind of a
295
00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:56.879
Tommy Bandmates and Friends episode.
296
00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.240
I haven't And that's another one that I'd like to
297
00:14:59.600 --> 00:14:59.919
listen to.
298
00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:02.960
I think you'll enjoy it because there's some there's some
299
00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:05.039
laughs and some tears and all the whole the whole
300
00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:08.519
thing is there, and you know, people were talking about
301
00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:12.200
his competitive nature when it came to board games. Oh
302
00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:16.080
so it was really fun. But Ted was on there,
303
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:17.559
so I got to know Ted a little bit through that.
304
00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:19.799
And then I did a separate episode with just Ted
305
00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:22.919
talking about you know, Fougazi and all the stuff that
306
00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.799
he worked on over the years. And he actually asked
307
00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:28.080
me to help him write a book, which I might
308
00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:31.159
never That was something that never crossed my mind and
309
00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.399
that we'll see whatever happens if we ever get around
310
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.919
to it. But yeah, it's it sounds kind of daunting
311
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.120
but kind of fun at the same time.
312
00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:44.519
Yeah, I have a funny Tommy Keane a competitive game
313
00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.159
story with my my son. We joke about it. He
314
00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:52.600
grew up with two uncle Tommy's, you know, Tommy Stinton
315
00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:56.159
and Tommy Keane and and As and Tommy. Yeah, he
316
00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:58.200
would come over and we'd play board games all the time.
317
00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.879
He was a real be Probably in you in your
318
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:03.480
talk with the band guys, you probably know he was
319
00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:05.039
a huge fan of the game Clue.
320
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.240
And I don't know if they mentioned Clue, oh Clue.
321
00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:10.159
He was just that so that was his favorite game,
322
00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:11.679
and so we used to play that all the time.
323
00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.440
And my son, you know, was when he got old enough.
324
00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.039
He might have been maybe eleven, maybe twelve at the time,
325
00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.840
and he beat Tommy and it was really he won
326
00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.279
the game of all four of us playing, and I remember,
327
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.759
you know, Tommy was like he didn't know how to
328
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:30.039
react because he knew that it was childish to be
329
00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.799
mad at an eleven year old. But on the other hand,
330
00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:35.879
he was mad, you know, So it was it was
331
00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.120
it was quite funny.
332
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.240
Yeah, I think Maddie. Maddie was talking about some game
333
00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.080
they would play. He's like, which we started to call
334
00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:47.039
hurt feelings that money. I was got hurt feelings whenever
335
00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.840
we played it. That's funny. I think you'll enjoy it.
336
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.600
Tommy was such a great guy. We would we would
337
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.200
open for him when he would come to town, and
338
00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.759
it's it's just the thing that about him that kind
339
00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:00.480
of amazed me is obviously he'd been playing music for years,
340
00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:03.639
traveling all over the place, and you just could see it.
341
00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:06.240
He would walk into whatever venue he's playing in and
342
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.279
someone would walk up to him and he would be like, hey, Phil, Hey,
343
00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:11.559
you hey, Like he just knew everybody in the room,
344
00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:14.200
remember their names. I'm like, I can't remember who I
345
00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:16.359
met yesterday, and I'm just like, I was just blown
346
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.279
away by just how that stuck. And you know, it's
347
00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:24.079
a great thing to have, you know, network and build
348
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.160
and get to know people. But he, you know, anybody
349
00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:27.920
who'd come to his shows over the years, he knew
350
00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:31.039
their names when I walk up and they take pictures
351
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.839
and kind of just a neat guy and just one
352
00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:35.319
of the best damn guitar.
353
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.799
Players I've ever heard. Boy, I'll say, so.
354
00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:40.640
So, where where did you grow up?
355
00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:40.720
What?
356
00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:43.400
I've read your book? But for those who haven't read
357
00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.000
the book, and I was at the Feetus when I
358
00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:48.920
talked to you there and that you had a great
359
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:51.799
turnout for that, and I think I read that thing
360
00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.279
in the day or two. It is really fun. But
361
00:17:54.599 --> 00:17:56.119
you know, where where did you grow up? For those
362
00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:57.400
who haven't picked up the book.
363
00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:02.119
Yet, Minnetonka grew up in minute Well, I guess. I
364
00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.519
lived in Robinsdale until I was about four and a
365
00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:10.279
half and then we moved to Minnetonka, went to Hopkins
366
00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:14.200
Schools oddly enough, and yeah, so I grew up on
367
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.960
a sort of near where Ridgdale is now. In fact,
368
00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:20.680
when they built Ridgedale, they tore down half of my childhood.
369
00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:24.839
I used to ride horseback out there, and but we
370
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.200
had a nice five acre plot of land and we
371
00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:32.240
had horses. We had usually two or three ourselves, and
372
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:34.920
then we boarded some for people in the area. So
373
00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:38.440
it was a pretty happening place and house on a
374
00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:41.000
hill in the middle of the five acres and surrounded
375
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:44.440
by pasture and pretty idyllic childhood. I got to say,
376
00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.759
I mean a good our idyllic place to you know, geographically,
377
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.359
to grow up. It was. It was a lot of fun,
378
00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:52.480
horses and dogs and cats all the time.
379
00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:59.440
And that's amazing to think that there was pastures there. Yeah,
380
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.319
because for those who don't live here, there's you can
381
00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:08.079
go to Dave's Hot Chicken, right and you know there's
382
00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:10.160
I don't think the I think the Applebee's is gone,
383
00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:12.680
but I'm like, there are no horses in that area anymore.
384
00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:15.599
There are. Yeah, that was like that was a you know,
385
00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:19.279
a fun spot too. One of my best buddies, uh
386
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.599
you know, had his parents' house, had some property that
387
00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.000
went down a hill that really faces right on the
388
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.799
site where Bridgedale is and they had built a fort there,
389
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:31.000
and and so we used to sleep out there all
390
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.400
the time. And in fact, the first time I ever
391
00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.960
smoked pot was sleeping out in that fort. Uh And
392
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.119
and so you know, anyway, that whole area I've got
393
00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:41.279
very you know, I we would have like looked out
394
00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:43.960
the front door of the fort and seen you know,
395
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:46.759
the you know, the space that would be torn down
396
00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.400
for for for for the shopping wall.
397
00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:55.839
Wow. Wow. And obviously you've been a big music guy forever.
398
00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:57.839
Did you ever pick up an instrument or were you
399
00:19:57.880 --> 00:19:58.920
just more of an appreciator?
400
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.400
You know, that's a question that I've wondered myself for
401
00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.960
a long time. I never really did. And I did
402
00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.000
take drum lessons for a while when I was in
403
00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.400
sixth grade. I've always had a pretty good clock in
404
00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:16.960
my head. I work well in the studio with drummers,
405
00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:21.599
for instance, in a lot of cases, but or I
406
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:27.119
can if the drummer is open to you know, you know, discussion,
407
00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.759
the feedback. But I think, you know, and this may
408
00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:33.359
sound like a cop up, but I really did sort
409
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:38.079
of like music overwhelmed me so strongly at such a
410
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.119
young age. I kind of always felt like, I'll never
411
00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:44.119
be able to play like the people that I listened to,
412
00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.400
you know, on the radio or on you know, when
413
00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:51.960
I started to buy records. So I, yeah, I didn't
414
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.480
really pursue it, but I don't think I had the
415
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.079
talent for it. And it's interesting. My son is twenty
416
00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.319
three now and he's had the same experience. He you know,
417
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.559
we never pushed music at him, but we you know,
418
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.480
gave him piano lessons. We you know, bought him an
419
00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:09.039
electric guitar and acoustic guitar bass. He had a drum
420
00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.720
kid out in the back yard for a while and
421
00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.960
things like that in a playhouse. But you know, he
422
00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:20.640
and he was actually had proclivity with piano, but not
423
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:24.240
and drums too, but he never really kept at it.
424
00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:28.319
And so you know, you're whatever it is is his drive.
425
00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.400
His inner drive towards music didn't include being a musician.
426
00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:34.279
It's the same as same as it was for me.
427
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:37.839
That's interesting because I remember I was fifteen when I
428
00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:40.680
started to play guitar, and I feel like the minute
429
00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.720
I picked it up, I didn't put it down for years,
430
00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:46.599
Like if we went on a family vacation, I was like, oh,
431
00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.359
but I'm not going to be able to play this weekend,
432
00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.119
Like there was just something. And I can see to
433
00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:54.759
my kid for baseball, he is baseball, baseball, baseball. And
434
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.119
both my kids like music, they do music stuff, but
435
00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:01.160
baseball and gymnastics that's where all of their energy goes.
436
00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:03.599
So I think everybody, you may have an appreciation, you
437
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:05.960
may like doing it, but there's something, there's some sort
438
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.640
of a poll that happens when you find that thing
439
00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:11.839
that you really love. Yeah, So yeah, it's kind of
440
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:13.519
interesting how mine's work, I think.
441
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:16.519
But yeah, family vacations were an issue for me at
442
00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:18.519
a certain point because I'd be real grumpy about having
443
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.000
to leave my friends and my stereo. And so I
444
00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:23.799
actually at one point got a little stereo that kind
445
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.200
of the kind that the speakers folded up into a
446
00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.759
little suitcase almost kind of thing, and so I would
447
00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.880
always my records and my stereo on family vacations, and
448
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.240
my parents were really not happy about that, but it
449
00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:39.200
was a way to keep me from being grump the
450
00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:39.960
entire time.
451
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:44.880
So it's funny. My son's uh, sophomore in high school,
452
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:49.480
and he's at this age now where we'll be driving somewhere,
453
00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.000
he'll have his headphones on, so he's listening to his
454
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.039
music in the car and I and it's funny because
455
00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:57.359
when I was a kid, I did the same thing,
456
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.319
and you know, you early don't think of it the
457
00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:02.960
kid to the parent, right, And I'm just thinking sometimes
458
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.640
when he's sitting in the seat, I'm like, well, we
459
00:23:04.680 --> 00:23:06.759
could be talking doing all this stuff, and I'm like,
460
00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:08.279
I did the same Damn.
461
00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:11.680
Been there down that I know exactly what you're talking about.
462
00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:14.119
This is kind of how it works. It's like, well,
463
00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:16.319
this is time to go deep into the music that
464
00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:20.079
he loves. And it's fun because he's like, you never
465
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.559
know what your kids are gonna like both, you know,
466
00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:25.960
music or whatever their hobbies might be. But his taste
467
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.720
in music for a sophomore in high school, he'll listen
468
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:31.160
to this, like some new rap stuff. I've been to
469
00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:32.079
a couple of shows with him.
470
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:33.119
I like it.
471
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:36.119
Fine, It's not my wheelhouse generally, but there's stuff I like.
472
00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:39.839
But then he's walking into the room of the notice
473
00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.000
resting shirt on and he's actually wearing a Slim shirt today,
474
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.200
so that was kind of fun. So yeah, h Slim
475
00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:48.680
once told him, Henry, I'm the oldest man you will
476
00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:53.119
ever meet so so, yeah, he used to go over
477
00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:56.079
there and visit with me. So but uh yeah, no
478
00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.519
he no, I don't think there's many sophomores in twenty
479
00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:01.759
twenty five that I was just reading shirt. So I'm
480
00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:03.680
pretty proud of that one. And he's a big Marvin
481
00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:04.319
Gay guy.
482
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:07.200
Too, So yeah, two of my favorites.
483
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:10.519
Yeah. So, so when you were a kid, what was
484
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.640
what was that first album or song that sparked you,
485
00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:15.839
got you excited, you said you kind of have an
486
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.400
emotional response to it from even early on. What was that?
487
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:20.960
What was that first thing that you can think of?
488
00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:25.559
I mean, I have a real specific memory, and it
489
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.359
was The Everly Brothers. All I have to do is
490
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.359
dream and I was as I mentioned, we moved to
491
00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:31.960
Minnetaka when I was about four and a half, and
492
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.319
I remember it was soon after that because I can
493
00:24:34.440 --> 00:24:39.400
picture where I was playing, you know, in a ditch,
494
00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:41.440
you know, with a little stream running through it with
495
00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.359
a friend and there must have been a transistor radio
496
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.079
somewhere with an earshot. I don't know if it was
497
00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:47.960
coming from somebody's house or you know, we had one
498
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:49.759
with us, or you know, it was one of his
499
00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:53.079
older siblings or whatever. But anyway, I remember, you know,
500
00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:56.519
and music had always appealed to me, I think, you know,
501
00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.319
I don't have a lot of memories from before that,
502
00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:04.519
but I do remember when I heard that something really
503
00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:08.680
kind of physical happened to me. It was it wasn't
504
00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.119
like any other thing that I'd heard. I was. I
505
00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:16.480
was sort of transfixed, and and and it happened with
506
00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:22.319
other songs, you know, soon after. Probably I'm guessing it
507
00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:24.279
would have been nineteen fifty eight because I was born
508
00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:27.160
in fifty four, so the Everlys All I Have to
509
00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.519
Do Is Dream came out that year. I think. Also,
510
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:34.960
the Kingston Trio had a big, big, big top forty
511
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:38.039
hit with Tom Dooley. You know, I was like a
512
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:40.599
murder ballad, but anyway, done kind of you know, pop
513
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:45.119
folk style of the Kingston Trio, and I was. I
514
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:47.599
was really taken with that, and it was I'm sure
515
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.720
the very first song I ever learned all the words for.
516
00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:51.720
And I used to sing it all the time for
517
00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:53.559
a friend of my dad's who would give me a
518
00:25:54.119 --> 00:25:56.559
nickel to sing Tom Dooley for him. You know. So
519
00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:59.440
that was a you know, and that's kind of interesting too,
520
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.119
because you know, all I Have to Do is Dream
521
00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:06.079
is obviously a beautifully written song, but it's a pop song,
522
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:10.880
the very simple, you know, teenage kind of thing. But
523
00:26:11.079 --> 00:26:14.000
Tom Dooley was, you know, like I said, a murder ballot,
524
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.839
and it was there was a real story there, and
525
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.079
I think that's kind of interesting because I, you know,
526
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:21.000
I've always been intrigued by the folk music and the
527
00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:25.599
country music and the story aspect of that kind of writing.
528
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:28.079
So but anyway, yeah, that was the first thing that
529
00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:32.240
really just clicked with me. And so and I knew something.
530
00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:35.079
I knew that it did something unusual, and I would
531
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.839
look around and I'd say, I don't see other people
532
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.279
reacting this way. So it kind of made me, you know,
533
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.240
feel funny and in weird way, maybe scared me a
534
00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:42.640
little bit.
535
00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:47.359
Yeah, mine was. So. I was born in seventy nine,
536
00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:50.359
and it's funny when you're little, Like you said, you
537
00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:53.920
don't always remember details of things when you're very young.
538
00:26:54.440 --> 00:26:57.279
But I remember being in a specific room in my house,
539
00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.240
in my basement in North Dakota, and Little Red Corvette
540
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.640
was on the radio, like it just I can remember that.
541
00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:09.839
And Prince is still my guy had got the But yeah,
542
00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.960
so like I it's amazing how that sticks because it's
543
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:15.359
like I couldn't tell you anything else from that period
544
00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:17.480
of time. I was probably three or four years old,
545
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.000
but I remember being in that room and I remember
546
00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:20.759
that song being on.
547
00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:24.319
I can totally relate to you. Nick. That's that's you know,
548
00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:25.839
we both got it at an early.
549
00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:28.799
Age, right, Yeah, that's that's the bug right there. So
550
00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:32.319
you got into, uh, what was your first kind of
551
00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:35.640
music gig? It was DJing, right, No, the first gig
552
00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:35.960
I had.
553
00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:38.920
It was a real accidental thing. My dad was working
554
00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:42.440
for a publisher in Toronto. He was he did he
555
00:27:42.599 --> 00:27:46.079
was in the magazine publishing business in the five state area,
556
00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:50.160
and and had worked for a couple of different companies
557
00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:54.160
and and and ended up getting a job with this
558
00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:57.839
company in Toronto. And they at one meeting he was
559
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.279
present for up there they had talked. This would have
560
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:04.599
been in nineteen seventy two, early seventy two, probably February
561
00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:09.599
or March. And he came back from his trip saying,
562
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:18.200
my bosses are talking about bringing in a British music
563
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:24.559
magazine to distribute in North America to compete with Melody Maker,
564
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:29.200
which was the you know, the more common better known,
565
00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:31.680
at least to us at that time. In Minneapolis, and
566
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:35.000
I used to have a They had a little index
567
00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:38.720
card filebox at Shinders downtown and I had a card
568
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:40.880
there where they would save a Melody Maker for me
569
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:46.200
every week. And by the time I got it, you know,
570
00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:47.960
it would say they would come over by boat, and
571
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:50.799
so the magazine, you know, the papers would be tattered
572
00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:53.359
a little bit, and you know, four or five weeks old.
573
00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:55.559
But I was still eager to you know, see what
574
00:28:55.799 --> 00:29:00.480
was going on in the UK and so way, when
575
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.720
my dad came home and said, they're talking about bringing
576
00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:06.839
in this other competitor of the Melody Maker called New
577
00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:11.240
Musical Express and talking about distributing it in you know,
578
00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:14.960
major markets in America, you know, New York, La, Chicago, whatever.
579
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.160
And he said, they asked me what I thought of it.
580
00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:20.319
I said, I don't know that much about this music,
581
00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:22.279
but I have a music crazy son. Why don't I
582
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:24.240
bring some home for him and I'll get his opinion.
583
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:28.319
And I saw my first issue of NMMY and I
584
00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:31.440
just went, holy shit, this is I mean it was.
585
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:33.839
It was a Melody Maker. It was a little stuffier.
586
00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.599
At that point they had a big folk section which
587
00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:38.759
I liked, but I'm you know, there was this is
588
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:42.839
the you know time of t Rex and Matehopel and
589
00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:45.440
David Bowie and all that stuff. I thought, well, you know,
590
00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:48.599
an emmy just spoke to me. More So, I raved
591
00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:51.519
my dad about it, reported back to his bosses, and
592
00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:55.240
they said, well, would your son like to distribute it
593
00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.680
in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area. And I was like, oh, yeah,
594
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:00.319
I was still I was a senior in high school,
595
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.839
and I said absolutely. So they air freighted a thousand
596
00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.599
issues to me every week. A truck could pull up
597
00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.519
from the airport and drop them off in front of
598
00:30:09.559 --> 00:30:11.960
my parents' garage and I'd load up the car on Mondays.
599
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.119
And by that time I was on an independent study
600
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.480
program at school and so I had some flexibility and
601
00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:22.799
I could take after the morning classes on a Monday,
602
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:25.039
I could, you know, go out and do my distribution
603
00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:27.640
of the magazine. And it started actually at the end
604
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:29.960
of April and went through the summer, so the school
605
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.000
only impeded on it there for a short time. But yeah,
606
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:36.759
it was really exciting. And when I look back on
607
00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:39.519
it now, a couple of things. There's a they sent
608
00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:42.359
me a big promotional poster to put up in whatever
609
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.440
stores would display it. Picture of Mark Bowl and with
610
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:49.480
a flying V between his legs aiming it at the cabin.
611
00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:52.720
Very phallic, you know this Mary Jane's shoes on. And
612
00:30:52.839 --> 00:30:55.200
at the top it said say it Loud, and at
613
00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:58.000
the bottom it said the new musical Express. It's a cool,
614
00:30:58.519 --> 00:31:01.799
bright orange still I have it here framed in another room.
615
00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:05.640
It's a great poster, one of my advice possessions. But anyway,
616
00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.559
they gave me those to give away. And the first
617
00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:10.440
issue I distributed came with a flexi disc on the
618
00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:15.480
cover that featured selections from the not as yet unreleased
619
00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:19.599
new Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street. So that
620
00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:23.119
was and so that was. That first issue sold very well.
621
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:25.559
The rest of them did not sell well, lasted about
622
00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.799
I guess. I did it through from from end of
623
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.240
April to mid to late September of seventy two, and
624
00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.119
then they pulled the plug because they just weren't selling.
625
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.319
But I made a nickel an issue just for distributing,
626
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:39.680
so that meant a thousand issues. I made fifty bucks
627
00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:41.680
a week if I didn't sell a single one, and
628
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:43.599
then I made on top of that a diamond issue
629
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:46.599
for whatever sold. So it was pretty decent little income
630
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:49.279
for a high school kid living with his parents. And
631
00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:51.480
I got to get an end, you know with all
632
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:54.680
the record stores and bookstores, and you know, I really
633
00:31:54.759 --> 00:31:56.839
knocked on every door I could find to see who
634
00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.279
would carry him. And it was a you know, it
635
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.119
was it was a failed experiment, but I learned a
636
00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:05.480
lot from it, and I benefited from it. I think
637
00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:08.839
it really. Yeah, it was a great experience, kind.
638
00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:10.000
Of a foot in the door. So some of those
639
00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:13.559
relationships you built based on those did that carry forward?
640
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:14.559
Well?
641
00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:16.079
Peg out?
642
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:19.680
Yeah, my favorite store was North Country Music. Of all that,
643
00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:21.839
you know, I went to you know, you know, probably
644
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:25.400
ten or twelve really good record stores that carried the
645
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:29.319
paper back then and and uh, the North Country was
646
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:32.000
my favorite. And uh and then of course that became
647
00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:35.319
an or Folk and I spent a decade working there. Yeah,
648
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.559
that was a relationship that, yeah, had opened a door
649
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:39.480
for me in a big way.
650
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:42.039
I don't know how often you come around here these days,
651
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:46.160
but have you been to Lucky Cat which was fun?
652
00:32:46.759 --> 00:32:49.160
I have been in it, but not since it was opened.
653
00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:55.200
Mark Treus, who owns the building, of course, Uh, you know,
654
00:32:56.839 --> 00:32:59.960
showed me the inside after they'd fixed it up and whatnot,
655
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:03.000
so and I, yeah, I'm excited to go. I wanted
656
00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:05.359
to go. Was it last summer when they opened and
657
00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.200
Tommy was all Flowers played and all that stuff? That
658
00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:10.920
was I wish I could have been there for that.
659
00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:13.240
Yeah, I was. That's the only time I've been in
660
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.359
there so far. And it was that day because I
661
00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:17.359
stopped in to check it out because we were playing
662
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:24.079
at Mortimer's off of Lindale, So I'm quickly go check
663
00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:26.759
it out, and then I'm like, oh, Tommy's playing here tonight.
664
00:33:27.079 --> 00:33:28.759
And then later I saw all the videos of the
665
00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:31.200
Wallflowers and they're doing all those clash covers and I'm like, well,
666
00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:31.599
damn it.
667
00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:32.400
Yeah.
668
00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:35.480
So yeah, but I'm in.
669
00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:38.279
Tex with Michelle, the owner, and you know, we communicate
670
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:42.240
a little bit, and she was very you know, sweet
671
00:33:42.279 --> 00:33:44.799
about reaching out to me and asking my thoughts, like
672
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:47.000
what what do you think about me? I'm reopening a
673
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:49.599
record store there and that kind of stuff. So I'm
674
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.519
anxious to see it for myself.
675
00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:52.319
Yeah.
676
00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:54.119
I think I think she's done a really good job
677
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:57.359
with it, and it's it's got the charms, like you know,
678
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:02.079
it's very Minnesota set, and I, you know, I it's
679
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:05.359
not the same store, but there's a lot of the
680
00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:08.039
life of it is still in there. So it was
681
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.599
really fun just walking in and going, Okay, it's back,
682
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:14.519
you know, a little different, but it's back. So yeah,
683
00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:16.840
because it was sad just driving past it all the
684
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:18.840
time and seen that empty building, I'm like, come on,
685
00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:20.880
I got get something in there, and I'm glad it's
686
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:24.239
a record store. So yeah, So what happened after that?
687
00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:29.000
So the magazine ran its course? And is that when
688
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:31.320
you got the job at the record store or was
689
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:32.360
that how soon?
690
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:36.920
Oh, let's see seven. So September seventy two. I graduated
691
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:40.599
in the spring, and I guess I thought that my
692
00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:44.559
my direction was going to be radio. I was, you know,
693
00:34:44.679 --> 00:34:46.559
such a fan of music. I love to play music
694
00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:49.519
for people. I thought, well, logically I should be a DJ.
695
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:53.239
So I went to radio school and studied radio electronics
696
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:55.039
and broadcasting at Brown Institute.
697
00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:57.960
Okay, so that I believe.
698
00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:01.599
I began in December. It was a real crash course,
699
00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:09.639
a six month course, and the broadcasting was really interesting
700
00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:12.599
to me and fun, and the radio electronics I'm not
701
00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:16.719
really I don't have that kind of brain. I really
702
00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:20.039
had to, you know, focus to do it. I could
703
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:22.679
do it once I got the clutter out of my
704
00:35:22.760 --> 00:35:25.519
head and put some focus into it. But anyway, so
705
00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:29.079
I did. I figured I was going in the radio direction.
706
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:33.880
And then when I graduated, I started they had a
707
00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:37.239
placement director who was trying to help me look for
708
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:39.440
jobs in various areas, and I went on a couple
709
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:42.519
of job interviews to little towns like I remember going
710
00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:46.559
to Freeport, Illinois, and actually was offered the job after
711
00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:48.719
I'd done the interview and spent a day there, and
712
00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:51.480
I thought, I don't know that I could live in
713
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:54.360
such a small town. I thought people were very nice,
714
00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:57.239
but it just didn't seem like it would work for me.
715
00:35:57.320 --> 00:35:59.119
And then right in the midst of that, I got
716
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:04.320
an offer to to work at or Folk the I
717
00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:07.000
guess it would have been the spring of seventy three
718
00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:11.320
or maybe March of seventy three when I remember shopping
719
00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:14.679
at the store and being I remember exactly where I was,
720
00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:17.760
like looking around the a's and the b's of the
721
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:22.039
used record section and seeing somebody walking towards me out
722
00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:24.079
of my peripheral vision to my right, and it was
723
00:36:24.199 --> 00:36:28.079
the new owner. It had been North Country Music. Verne
724
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:31.639
sand And bought it in January of seventy three, changed
725
00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:33.440
the name to or Folk Jocopus. And he was a
726
00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:39.880
very man a few words and it didn't have a
727
00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:42.599
very outgoing personality, and I got the impression he didn't
728
00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:46.840
like me. I was a very excitable, you know, you know,
729
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:51.719
teenage music nut, and I just thought he didn't care
730
00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:53.960
for my demeanor or whatever. And so when I saw
731
00:36:54.039 --> 00:36:56.239
him walking up to me, I really thought he's going
732
00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:57.639
to kick me out of the store or something. I
733
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:00.719
don't know, and instead he went, you want a job,
734
00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:05.000
And I was like, in this store, are you kidding? Hell? Yeah,
735
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:10.159
So that's yeah. So I started there and end of again,
736
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:11.719
end of April seventy three.
737
00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:14.920
That's funny. When I was when I was in high
738
00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:18.400
school and grew up in North Dakota near may Not,
739
00:37:18.519 --> 00:37:20.480
there's a record stom miy Not. It's still there, and
740
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:22.280
that was my dream. I want to work at that
741
00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:25.159
record store. And I befriended the manager and I actually
742
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:26.840
played with the band in in the nineties, and he
743
00:37:26.920 --> 00:37:28.880
would not hire me. I don't hire friends. I'm like,
744
00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:32.519
my dream is crushed. I moved. When I moved here
745
00:37:32.599 --> 00:37:36.480
in ninety nine Minneapolis, originally I was thinking of going
746
00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:38.320
to Brown because I also want to do radio. So
747
00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:42.280
I guess this is my cosplaying radio these days, right right.
748
00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:44.320
That's kind of funny.
749
00:37:44.760 --> 00:37:47.280
So hey, I gotta say I grew I spent a
750
00:37:47.320 --> 00:37:48.840
lot of time in mine not growing up. I had
751
00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:50.960
a my mom had an aunt that lived there, so
752
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:54.400
I really I have great memories of mine.
753
00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:57.480
Not nice what years when you were kids.
754
00:37:58.360 --> 00:38:00.159
I would have been going up there from the time
755
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:02.119
I was born, I'm sure when I was very little
756
00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:08.679
until so, you know, fifty five, fifty six through you know,
757
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:14.360
the sixty seven sixty eight, I suppose. And the house
758
00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:16.199
that we used to stay at is actually if there's
759
00:38:16.199 --> 00:38:19.000
a mine not North Dakota postcard, they often shoot it.
760
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:21.320
So you see this house in the distance. It was
761
00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:24.880
a very spectacular house owned by a guy who had
762
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:28.960
kind of done well financially, and my mother's aunt married him,
763
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.039
and so they have this, you know house that was
764
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:36.159
you know, kind of fancy but really old and cool,
765
00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:37.440
and lots of.
766
00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:41.079
Many fancy houses out there. So yeah, I remember where
767
00:38:41.119 --> 00:38:41.320
it was.
768
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:44.400
I don't remember it was. I know that, like I said,
769
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:47.119
if you, if you there would be a picture on postcards.
770
00:38:47.159 --> 00:38:49.039
I still have one somewhere in a box, I'm sure
771
00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:52.519
where you're looking at the skyline of mine not And
772
00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:54.599
in the background you can see actually see the house
773
00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:57.400
on a hill, you know, just slightly outside of downtown.
774
00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:02.280
Nice. That's cool. Left there in ninety nine and came
775
00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:05.599
here to grow up in Mine not Surrey, so like
776
00:39:05.760 --> 00:39:06.639
five minutes away.
777
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:08.360
Wow, how interesting?
778
00:39:08.760 --> 00:39:11.719
Yeah, about a thousand people in my town and then
779
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.960
mine not was we went to town.
780
00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:17.880
What an interesting connection?
781
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:18.119
Now?
782
00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:19.840
Who else know about mine not?
783
00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:22.880
You know, not not many. I talked to Mike Mullinan,
784
00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:25.119
who used to be in the Goo Goo Dolls, and
785
00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:26.760
I brought up Mine not to him because I knew
786
00:39:26.760 --> 00:39:31.039
they'd played I saw them in ninety five or ninety
787
00:39:31.079 --> 00:39:35.760
six there, and he he had fond memories because he
788
00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:38.519
ended up playing with Tanya Tucker later, so he's played
789
00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:41.440
there twice. But he's like, I had a good jogging path.
790
00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:43.920
I did that, and like he actually enjoyed his time
791
00:39:43.960 --> 00:39:45.079
too when they were in town.
792
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:48.039
And Mine not. Yeah, the Goo Goo Dolls played Mine.
793
00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:50.440
Not boy named Goo Tour, so I think that was
794
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:52.519
you know, I remember the story about how they had
795
00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:56.079
that metal blade deal that kind of hampered them for
796
00:39:56.119 --> 00:39:59.400
a while. So they were playing that was right when
797
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:03.239
Name hit and they were playing the state fairs, and
798
00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:04.800
I remember, if you look back on it, they were
799
00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:06.199
playing a lot of state fairs. I think they were
800
00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:09.280
just trying to get ahead financially at that point because
801
00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:13.119
of their record deal wasn't so good. But yeah, it
802
00:40:13.239 --> 00:40:16.480
was right then, right. You know, maybe now you would
803
00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:18.079
see it and go, Okay, well they haven't had a
804
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:19.440
hit in a while. But I'm like, this was like
805
00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:22.400
right when Name was all over the radio. It's so strange.
806
00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:24.960
Ah yeah yeah.
807
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:28.519
So so you got a job at or Folk And
808
00:40:28.639 --> 00:40:29.679
how long did you work there?
809
00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:36.559
From the like April thirtieth, seventy three to June of
810
00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:38.559
eighty three, a little over the.
811
00:40:38.599 --> 00:40:39.639
Years ten years? Yeah?
812
00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:40.320
Wow?
813
00:40:40.920 --> 00:40:42.880
Wow? And how did the record label come about?
814
00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:45.039
Because the record label?
815
00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:48.199
Yeah, twins, Yeah, that's I mean, these are.
816
00:40:48.599 --> 00:40:51.679
I just feel like this is a story. It's been
817
00:40:51.760 --> 00:41:00.400
told so often, but you know, I what happened was basically,
818
00:41:01.880 --> 00:41:04.079
there was a guy named Charlie Hallman who worked for
819
00:41:04.119 --> 00:41:07.639
the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, was a sports writer. Oddly enough,
820
00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:11.320
but he moonlighted writing record reviews and concert reviews. And
821
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:14.239
his editor there challenged him one time and said, hey,
822
00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:16.119
you're writing about all this music, why don't you write
823
00:41:16.119 --> 00:41:18.840
about local music. And Charlie said, well, there's really nothing
824
00:41:18.880 --> 00:41:22.360
here that I've heard that gets my attention or whatever.
825
00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:24.719
And his editor challenged him, said you should go out
826
00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:28.199
and find I challenge you to find something in Minneapolis
827
00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:31.000
and Saint Paul, you know, in the Twin cities. And
828
00:41:31.079 --> 00:41:33.400
so Charlie went out and saw a bunch of bands
829
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:36.800
and at one point encountered the Suicide Commandos and had
830
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:39.519
that I've seen the future of rock and roll moment.
831
00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:46.880
And Charlie was a very charming and funny man, and
832
00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:50.119
he just approached the Commandos and told them that he
833
00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:53.079
loved them and would like to help and you know,
834
00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:55.039
in any way, and he said, you guys should make
835
00:41:55.079 --> 00:41:57.400
a record, and of course they said, we would love to,
836
00:41:57.559 --> 00:42:02.719
and they've made a couple forty fives, and so he said, well,
837
00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:04.920
I might be able to invest, you know, a little
838
00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:07.199
money to help you make a record. And they said, well,
839
00:42:07.280 --> 00:42:09.400
let's talk to the guy who recorded the two forty
840
00:42:09.440 --> 00:42:11.400
five's that we did. And that was a guy named
841
00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:17.599
Paul Stark, and Paul had a he had owned a
842
00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:22.280
house in dinky Town six oh six thirteenth Avenue southeast
843
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:25.480
kind of heart behind Marshall High, I think it was.
844
00:42:26.800 --> 00:42:31.480
And so he converted it into a recording studio, had
845
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:37.400
you know, bedrooms upstairs and recording studio and reverb, a
846
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:41.760
reverb played, a huge reverb played in the basement, and
847
00:42:42.119 --> 00:42:47.800
so that put Charlie and Paul together and they then
848
00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:50.719
they thought, well, wait, instead of just trying to do
849
00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:53.760
a Suicide Commandos album. It was, you know, this was
850
00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:56.480
nineteen seventy seven. There were lots of indie labels popping
851
00:42:56.559 --> 00:42:59.000
up all over the you know, country and all over
852
00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:01.239
the world, and he said maybe we should put together
853
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:03.960
a record label. And they asked Chris Osgood if he
854
00:43:04.039 --> 00:43:07.039
would like to participate, and he said yeah, And so
855
00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:10.400
the three of them formed a little partnership and we're
856
00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:14.800
starting to move forward when suddenly the Commando's got a
857
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:19.840
record deal with PolyGram on a PolyGram imprint called Blank Records.
858
00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:23.760
And so suddenly Chris had to call Paul and Charlie
859
00:43:23.760 --> 00:43:25.519
and say, look, I'm going to be a full time Commando.
860
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:27.239
I don't have time to do the record label. I'm
861
00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:30.639
really sorry, but maybe you should get in touch with
862
00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:33.599
this guy who runs a record store. He might be
863
00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:36.960
a good candidate to fill my shoes. And so I
864
00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:38.800
get a call out of the blue from Paul Stark.
865
00:43:38.840 --> 00:43:41.519
I think by that time I probably had seen him
866
00:43:41.559 --> 00:43:44.800
around a little bit, you know, because he was involved
867
00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:48.199
with music and recording and things like that, but I
868
00:43:48.280 --> 00:43:50.400
didn't really know him. And he called and said, hey,
869
00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:53.840
we're Chris recommended that we talk. Would you like to meet?
870
00:43:53.880 --> 00:43:56.559
And I said sure. So Paul, Charlie, Chris Osgood and
871
00:43:56.599 --> 00:43:59.800
I met at Williams Pub in the Uptown area and
872
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:02.840
the four of us talked, and I just thought, these
873
00:44:02.920 --> 00:44:07.760
guys are onto something here and I'd like to be involved,
874
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:10.880
and I said I'm in. And that's how it all began.
875
00:44:11.039 --> 00:44:13.039
So we've formed a partnership right away. That would have
876
00:44:13.039 --> 00:44:17.159
been October November of seventy seven, and then we incorporated
877
00:44:17.239 --> 00:44:21.280
in January of sixty seventy eight, Yes, yeah, seventy eight,
878
00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:24.599
and we had an audition at the recording studio, which
879
00:44:24.719 --> 00:44:27.679
was at that time called p David Studios for Paul
880
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:32.679
David Stark, and we just invited really you know, A
881
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:34.960
and R for Twin Tone. At the very beginning was
882
00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:38.920
really just which Longhorn bands do we want to sign?
883
00:44:39.320 --> 00:44:41.840
Because that was the only game in town. You know,
884
00:44:41.880 --> 00:44:45.400
there was nobody, there was really no place else allowing
885
00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:50.119
bands to play their own material, you know, and especially
886
00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:54.000
this new you know, I mean the Commandos really were
887
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:56.800
a punk rock band before I ever heard the name
888
00:44:56.880 --> 00:45:00.920
punk rock, so so, you know, it was a music
889
00:45:00.960 --> 00:45:05.480
that obviously didn't appeal to lots of people, and uh
890
00:45:05.840 --> 00:45:08.119
and but we were totally we were all in on it.
891
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:10.000
And and and of course that was sort of part
892
00:45:10.039 --> 00:45:12.920
of what became called new wave and and we just
893
00:45:13.079 --> 00:45:15.840
liked that left of center stuff. So that was we
894
00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.599
just basically picked the what we thought were the best
895
00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:19.960
bands from the Longhorn.
896
00:45:20.119 --> 00:45:24.159
Which one so initially when you first got involved, who
897
00:45:24.199 --> 00:45:25.599
are some of the first ones where you're like, we
898
00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:27.800
have to get them, Let's get a meeting with them.
899
00:45:28.519 --> 00:45:30.599
The first meeting, this first meeting I had with him
900
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:33.400
at Williams Pub, I remember saying, I said, I'm sure
901
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:35.599
we're going to have to, you know, talk about what
902
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:38.119
kind of bands we want to sign, and specifically what
903
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:40.840
bands you guys like, And I like and all that stuff.
904
00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:43.000
But I said, there's one there's one that we you know,
905
00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:45.280
that absolutely has to be somebody that we work with.
906
00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:47.719
And it's a guy named Kurt Olmsted. And he had
907
00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:49.960
a band called Thumbs Up. And I said, you know,
908
00:45:50.079 --> 00:45:53.719
he he we must make records with Kurt Olmstead.
909
00:45:54.280 --> 00:45:54.679
And uh.
910
00:45:54.880 --> 00:45:56.360
And at that time, it was, you know, it was
911
00:45:56.440 --> 00:46:00.320
really Kurt and Bob Dunlap and and uh they were like, uh,
912
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:03.039
I mean, it's funny when I look back on it,
913
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:05.639
they were almost like a two headed, you know person.
914
00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:07.480
I had never really thought of them separately. It was
915
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:10.000
always Kurt and Bob, Kurt and Bob. And you know,
916
00:46:10.079 --> 00:46:13.360
Bob was the kind of, oh, I don't know, a
917
00:46:13.400 --> 00:46:19.880
little more practical musician who was the music director. And
918
00:46:19.920 --> 00:46:23.119
then Kurt was, of course, you know, completely out of
919
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:26.320
his mind as he as he could, still still is
920
00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:28.920
to this day, and in the most wonderful way. And
921
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:33.920
and so Bob kind of you know, tethered him to uh,
922
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:38.480
you know, Terra Firma in some ways, and and well,
923
00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:40.960
you know, Kurt could have all these crazy ideas and
924
00:46:41.119 --> 00:46:42.960
and do all those you know, it was that interesting
925
00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:46.960
mix of I'd never heard anything like it until I
926
00:46:47.079 --> 00:46:50.280
heard Thumbs Up playing at the c C Club across
927
00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:52.920
the street from or Folk. I I hadn't really paid
928
00:46:52.920 --> 00:46:56.199
a lot of attention to Minnesota music, apart from my
929
00:46:56.280 --> 00:47:01.800
brother who had a bluegrass band, and so I was
930
00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:04.039
and and and of course Colonel Ray and Glover were
931
00:47:04.039 --> 00:47:07.440
also one that I I had a lot of admiration for.
932
00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:11.880
But anyway, Uh, when I saw Thumbs Up play at
933
00:47:11.920 --> 00:47:14.960
the at the c c CC tap it was called
934
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:17.320
back then, that was the first time I'd heard a
935
00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:19.880
local band that knocked me out as much as the
936
00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:25.239
records I was buying. So so they were they were pivotal,
937
00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:30.760
uh experience in in in my uh you know, my
938
00:47:31.119 --> 00:47:36.480
early days, and and uh, they they were. Yeah, they
939
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:39.360
had that kind of weird blend of of you know,
940
00:47:39.519 --> 00:47:42.239
Kurt obviously loved that old rhythm and blues music, but
941
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:44.440
he also loved the British Invasion, and so there was
942
00:47:44.519 --> 00:47:47.679
an interesting mix. So it's I think the British Invasion
943
00:47:47.719 --> 00:47:50.519
stuff brought the melody, maybe a little more melody than
944
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:51.800
there wasn't a lot of the R and B of
945
00:47:51.840 --> 00:47:54.599
the day. And of course he had that voice, you know,
946
00:47:54.719 --> 00:47:58.880
that could rattle windows you know, and uh so, yeah,
947
00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:01.679
I was just blown ay and both uh you know,
948
00:48:01.800 --> 00:48:06.159
I think, you know, both Paul and Charlie were aware
949
00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:08.360
of Kurt, but I don't think they necessarily would have
950
00:48:08.400 --> 00:48:10.599
thought of him as the first thing to sign for
951
00:48:10.679 --> 00:48:13.599
the new label we were putting together. But my enthusiasm,
952
00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:16.079
I think just they just said, Peter's so sure about this,
953
00:48:16.199 --> 00:48:19.519
we're just gonna trust him on it. And then and
954
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:23.199
then Fingerprints also was the other band of the day
955
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:26.400
that we really thought had great potential. They were very
956
00:48:26.480 --> 00:48:30.079
different from the other Longhorn bands a little you know
957
00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:34.000
more they're real musicians and uh and they had a
958
00:48:34.159 --> 00:48:37.159
very flamboyant lead singer, Mark Throne, who was a little
959
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:41.360
jagger agg esque, played a little saxophone, but mostly was
960
00:48:41.440 --> 00:48:44.239
just a lead singer. So they were also kind of
961
00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:46.320
a shoe in. And those guys were all three of
962
00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:47.920
them were guys I went to high school with. They
963
00:48:47.960 --> 00:48:51.840
went to Minute or to Hopkins School, so there was
964
00:48:52.199 --> 00:48:54.800
a closeness there for that. And then and then there
965
00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:58.639
was this other, this other young band who had really
966
00:48:58.679 --> 00:49:01.760
barely played out that we got that I got really
967
00:49:01.800 --> 00:49:04.360
excited about. And this took some arm twisting with both
968
00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:06.760
Paul and Charlie. But I said, We've got to try
969
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:09.599
these guys. This is exactly what a new label like
970
00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:14.079
ours should be doing, is rolling the dice on something
971
00:49:14.239 --> 00:49:17.079
crazy and brand new. And they were called the Suburbs.
972
00:49:17.719 --> 00:49:21.480
So yeah, yeah, so that was our first thing. It was,
973
00:49:21.679 --> 00:49:26.000
it was thumbs up fingerprints Suburbs. Of course, we recorded
974
00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:29.079
star recording those bands for those first three EPs, and
975
00:49:29.239 --> 00:49:32.639
and by the time we were done recording Kurt stuff,
976
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:35.440
he changed the name, as he is wont to do,
977
00:49:36.079 --> 00:49:38.519
and so by that time they were called Spooks.
978
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:44.519
Yeah, Curtis Curtis As he's quite the guy. It's amazing
979
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:48.280
how far his legend goes beyond the Twin Cities. I've
980
00:49:48.320 --> 00:49:52.000
had Sam Powers, he was in the band Super Greg
981
00:49:52.760 --> 00:49:55.920
texted me one day and he's like, you ever have
982
00:49:56.079 --> 00:49:59.159
curse A on the show? I had Curtsey on the show.
983
00:49:59.239 --> 00:50:01.800
He's like, you should. He's like, buddy of mine said,
984
00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:03.920
he some in New York and whatever year was the
985
00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:06.000
best rock and roll show he's ever seen in his life.
986
00:50:06.199 --> 00:50:08.960
Like, wow, Kurt, I'm what's getting Kurt on your show
987
00:50:09.039 --> 00:50:12.039
is you'll never get him off. Kt him off and
988
00:50:12.119 --> 00:50:14.039
you'll still be recording a days later.
989
00:50:14.960 --> 00:50:18.519
I think I said something similar to say, it's gonna
990
00:50:18.519 --> 00:50:20.840
be Aliens, It's it's gonna be all over the place, right,
991
00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:25.320
And then, Uh, Jason Faulkner, Who's you know Jason Faulkner.
992
00:50:25.400 --> 00:50:28.519
I'm sure you know he is. He he loves Curtise a.
993
00:50:30.119 --> 00:50:32.000
So I told Genie Dodds that, I said, Hey, he
994
00:50:32.159 --> 00:50:35.159
was talking about how much he liked Curtise stuff, and like, really,
995
00:50:35.199 --> 00:50:38.880
I'll tell I'll tell Kurt. But yeah, he he likes
996
00:50:38.920 --> 00:50:43.000
the big hits of Mid America stuff. And I messaged
997
00:50:43.079 --> 00:50:45.360
him once that reissue came out and said, hey, that's
998
00:50:45.400 --> 00:50:47.039
out now, because he said he was. I was looking
999
00:50:47.119 --> 00:50:50.039
for it. But he he's a big Curtise a guy.
1000
00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:52.000
And I'm like, I don't think I've ever seen a
1001
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:58.039
more talented dude than Jason Faulkner do everything. So it's
1002
00:50:58.159 --> 00:51:03.320
kind of a big compliment, uh for sure. So obviously
1003
00:51:03.400 --> 00:51:05.679
the story has been told a billion times, but that
1004
00:51:05.880 --> 00:51:08.480
that Westerberg character came in one day with the tape
1005
00:51:08.639 --> 00:51:10.719
trying to sounds like he was just trying to get
1006
00:51:10.760 --> 00:51:13.400
a show, and got a little bit more toney bargain
1007
00:51:13.480 --> 00:51:16.199
for Yeah, yeah.
1008
00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:19.880
That's another one and probably told told the story so
1009
00:51:20.039 --> 00:51:23.920
often I've gone like autopilot a little bit, but try
1010
00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:26.280
not to. But it was it was, yeah, just I
1011
00:51:26.360 --> 00:51:27.760
was getting a lot of tapes at the time, and
1012
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:31.440
and I hadn't I've i've Paul had been in the
1013
00:51:31.480 --> 00:51:34.920
store before. I don't know that I remembered him, but anyway,
1014
00:51:34.920 --> 00:51:37.119
he came up to the counter at one point and said,
1015
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:39.440
I've got a band. Would you listen to a tape?
1016
00:51:39.480 --> 00:51:41.199
And I said yeah, and he gave me a little
1017
00:51:41.320 --> 00:51:43.480
piece of actually I think I gave him a little
1018
00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:45.400
scrap of paper and he wrote his name and phone
1019
00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:47.880
number on it. And it was a cassette, no case
1020
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:51.719
or anything. And you could see that he, you know,
1021
00:51:51.880 --> 00:51:54.480
the whatever had been on it originally had been scratched off,
1022
00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:57.159
and in the margins you could see the replacement's name
1023
00:51:57.239 --> 00:51:59.719
written and the song titles, you know, in the little
1024
00:52:00.039 --> 00:52:03.760
space that was left over. Kind of funny. And also
1025
00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:05.719
the other funny thing is when I flipped the cassette
1026
00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:10.960
over on the other side, in very girlish script handwriting,
1027
00:52:11.079 --> 00:52:15.079
it said Santana Moonflower. So it was like something he
1028
00:52:15.159 --> 00:52:17.599
probably swiped from his one of his big sisters and
1029
00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:21.599
record and recorded over it. So I remember kind of
1030
00:52:21.679 --> 00:52:23.679
chuckling about that, and I but I had I was
1031
00:52:23.679 --> 00:52:25.800
getting a lot of tapes at the time, for both
1032
00:52:27.199 --> 00:52:30.079
for both Twin Tone and for because I dj' did
1033
00:52:30.079 --> 00:52:31.400
at the Longhorn, and I had a little bit of
1034
00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:34.280
sway with management there in terms of booking, so if
1035
00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:36.039
I'd like something, I would bring it to their attention
1036
00:52:36.119 --> 00:52:40.400
and sometimes they'd actually, you know, book it. And so
1037
00:52:41.519 --> 00:52:43.880
I had a shoe box that we kept under the
1038
00:52:43.960 --> 00:52:46.239
counter that I kept under the counter door folk and
1039
00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:48.920
I would put tapes in there, and then when it
1040
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.519
kind of a little stacked a masked, I would take
1041
00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:55.960
them in the back room at the office and listen
1042
00:52:56.039 --> 00:52:57.800
to them while I was doing paperwork for the store,
1043
00:52:58.320 --> 00:52:59.960
or sometimes they'd take them home listen to them now.
1044
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:02.000
But anyway, I was in the in the in the
1045
00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:05.519
record store when I popped in the replacements tape, and
1046
00:53:05.599 --> 00:53:07.800
it really was just one of those things that I mean,
1047
00:53:07.880 --> 00:53:11.880
it's it almost sounds like, you know, like I'm making
1048
00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:13.800
it up, but I mean it was really, Uh it
1049
00:53:13.920 --> 00:53:17.280
hit me right between the eyes instantly, and uh, for
1050
00:53:17.440 --> 00:53:21.079
whatever reason, I just thought there was just it was
1051
00:53:22.559 --> 00:53:24.519
I think it was just the force of it. I mean,
1052
00:53:24.599 --> 00:53:28.000
I felt, I felt it just they just roared out
1053
00:53:28.039 --> 00:53:30.280
of the speakers the little boombox that I was listening to.
1054
00:53:30.440 --> 00:53:32.679
And then and then I caught a lyric that was
1055
00:53:32.840 --> 00:53:36.960
a little off color. And I won't repeat it necessarily
1056
00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:39.360
because it's not a very PC way of saying it.
1057
00:53:39.400 --> 00:53:41.440
And he changed the lyric by the time we recorded
1058
00:53:41.480 --> 00:53:44.679
the song, but it was. It was a song called
1059
00:53:44.760 --> 00:53:47.079
Raised in the City, was the first track, and and
1060
00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:49.679
I was just blown away. And I got so, I'm
1061
00:53:49.719 --> 00:53:51.679
listening to a bunch of tapes. I put the replacements
1062
00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:53.840
in on catches my ear, I put my pen down.
1063
00:53:54.119 --> 00:53:56.000
I say, wait a second, I start the tape over,
1064
00:53:56.880 --> 00:53:58.599
and I say, I've got to just listen to this
1065
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:02.480
because this is this sounds extraordinary. And and then I
1066
00:54:02.559 --> 00:54:04.280
listened to the other three songs, and I was just
1067
00:54:04.599 --> 00:54:08.039
I mean, you know, and it really, honestly, if I've
1068
00:54:08.079 --> 00:54:10.119
ever had a magic moment in my life, it was
1069
00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:13.480
right then. It was. It was just I had some
1070
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:17.519
kind of a revelation, you know, epiphany, I guess you
1071
00:54:17.599 --> 00:54:20.840
could call it. And and so I called Paul back
1072
00:54:20.880 --> 00:54:22.719
a couple of In fact, I thought I wanted to
1073
00:54:22.760 --> 00:54:24.039
pick up the phone and call him right away. And
1074
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:27.599
I thought, I am, I'm too over the top about this.
1075
00:54:27.719 --> 00:54:29.639
I need to call him down before I call this guy,
1076
00:54:29.960 --> 00:54:32.159
and make sure listen to it, you know, sleep on
1077
00:54:32.280 --> 00:54:35.039
it whatever. And the next day I listened to the
1078
00:54:35.079 --> 00:54:38.199
tape again and I thought, even I liked it even more,
1079
00:54:38.280 --> 00:54:41.280
and and so I called him up, and I remember
1080
00:54:41.440 --> 00:54:45.000
very specifically a female voice answering the phone, which I'm
1081
00:54:45.039 --> 00:54:48.639
guessing was his mother. Could have been a sister, he
1082
00:54:48.679 --> 00:54:52.480
had three, but anyway, I said, is Paul there? And
1083
00:54:52.800 --> 00:54:55.920
she passed the phone to him, and I basically said,
1084
00:54:57.159 --> 00:54:59.360
you know, Peter from the record store, and I love
1085
00:54:59.440 --> 00:55:02.320
the tape and and were you thinking about making a
1086
00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:06.360
single or do you think you have enough material for
1087
00:55:06.440 --> 00:55:09.719
a full album? And it was this really long, pregnant pause,
1088
00:55:10.400 --> 00:55:14.679
and you know, he said, quote unquote, you mean you
1089
00:55:14.760 --> 00:55:18.719
think this shit is worth recording? And I said, I do,
1090
00:55:19.119 --> 00:55:21.000
I said, And then it occurred to me, Oh, you
1091
00:55:21.159 --> 00:55:22.840
gave me the tape because you wanted to get a
1092
00:55:22.920 --> 00:55:25.079
gig at the Longhorn you were And I guess I
1093
00:55:25.199 --> 00:55:27.159
found out later that he didn't even really know about
1094
00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:30.280
the label SOW or that I was involved with the
1095
00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:33.679
label and so yeah, so that's how it began.
1096
00:55:34.719 --> 00:55:37.320
Some things are meant to be. Did you get any
1097
00:55:37.360 --> 00:55:41.840
of those those reunion shows that they did, Oh yeah, yeah.
1098
00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:44.559
We went when they did the first three the riot
1099
00:55:44.599 --> 00:55:48.719
Fest shows, Toronto, Chicago, Denver. Were living in La Denver
1100
00:55:48.880 --> 00:55:50.559
was the closest, so we went there. My wife and
1101
00:55:50.639 --> 00:55:54.880
son and I all went, and you know, phenomenal.
1102
00:55:55.559 --> 00:55:58.960
Yeah. I was at the Chicago one in the park
1103
00:55:59.239 --> 00:56:02.840
ride Fest and probably about eight deep from Tommy and
1104
00:56:02.960 --> 00:56:04.760
they kicked in to take it a ride, and I
1105
00:56:04.800 --> 00:56:07.320
felt like I was gonna blow backwards exactly.
1106
00:56:07.840 --> 00:56:08.119
Wow.
1107
00:56:08.559 --> 00:56:10.719
I'm like, I could not believe, you know, you're going
1108
00:56:10.760 --> 00:56:12.960
into these things and you're really you know, there's some
1109
00:56:14.239 --> 00:56:17.119
replacement members and whatever, you're you know, Freeze is one
1110
00:56:17.159 --> 00:56:19.840
of the greatest drummers out there. But I just could
1111
00:56:19.880 --> 00:56:23.280
not believe the power coming out that stage. And in
1112
00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:25.480
true fashion, there were moments where it's like, oh, this
1113
00:56:25.639 --> 00:56:28.000
might just fall apart. Oh they got it back the
1114
00:56:28.079 --> 00:56:31.199
whole They went through the whole spectrum of who they
1115
00:56:31.280 --> 00:56:31.840
were known for.
1116
00:56:32.079 --> 00:56:36.719
You know, I was standing there. I remember standing side stage,
1117
00:56:36.840 --> 00:56:39.039
and they were very kind to let us be up
1118
00:56:39.079 --> 00:56:44.000
close there on the side and looking out at the audience,
1119
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.119
looking out at seven thousand people shouting the words back
1120
00:56:47.159 --> 00:56:49.440
to Westerburg. I mean that was like a big moment
1121
00:56:49.599 --> 00:56:52.079
for me because you know, they were not they were
1122
00:56:52.159 --> 00:56:55.960
not unanimously liked when they first arrived on the scene,
1123
00:56:56.039 --> 00:56:58.360
you know, so yeah, cool that they got that. It
1124
00:56:58.440 --> 00:57:00.719
was very uh yeah, yeah.
1125
00:57:00.960 --> 00:57:02.639
I was at the Midway show as well here in
1126
00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:06.119
Saint Paul, which I came for that too. Yeah, very cool.
1127
00:57:06.760 --> 00:57:09.960
So all of those years, you know, we could talk
1128
00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:11.400
all day and I'm gonna keep you all day either,
1129
00:57:11.480 --> 00:57:14.440
But in all those years with the replacements, do you
1130
00:57:14.480 --> 00:57:15.679
have kind of a favorite moment?
1131
00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:20.800
No, I mean I have many favorite moments. It was
1132
00:57:21.760 --> 00:57:24.519
you know, it was a whirlwind, and you know some
1133
00:57:24.679 --> 00:57:27.480
of it was you know, hard, and some of it
1134
00:57:27.639 --> 00:57:35.599
was you know, downright unpleasant, but yeah, or worse. So
1135
00:57:35.760 --> 00:57:40.880
I don't have one moment, but I mean I guess,
1136
00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.719
like I think about something like, excuse me, when we
1137
00:57:44.840 --> 00:57:49.079
were in New York in December of eighty four, and
1138
00:57:49.920 --> 00:57:52.199
Let it Be was just out for a couple of months,
1139
00:57:52.400 --> 00:57:58.159
and we had done a show at CBGB under a
1140
00:57:58.199 --> 00:58:00.360
fake name because we had a booking at a larger
1141
00:58:00.679 --> 00:58:04.920
room a week or so later, and the CBGB gig
1142
00:58:05.079 --> 00:58:06.519
was just a dubicole.
1143
00:58:06.599 --> 00:58:06.800
It was.
1144
00:58:06.880 --> 00:58:09.000
They were just terrible. They got drunk, didn't play any
1145
00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:11.679
of their own songs. The place was packed. They'd been
1146
00:58:11.719 --> 00:58:14.480
on the cover of The Village Voice, so every A
1147
00:58:14.599 --> 00:58:16.480
and R guy in New York was going, you know,
1148
00:58:16.840 --> 00:58:18.639
picking up the paper, going, who is this band I've
1149
00:58:18.679 --> 00:58:21.119
never heard of on the fucking cover? And they all
1150
00:58:21.199 --> 00:58:23.280
showed up, and the replacements just kind of, you know,
1151
00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:29.360
slipped them a mickey and and actually not specifically because
1152
00:58:29.400 --> 00:58:31.760
the critic or the and our people were there, but
1153
00:58:31.880 --> 00:58:34.360
because Alex Chilton opened up and we were such fans.
1154
00:58:34.719 --> 00:58:36.320
I think they might have gotten a little carried away
1155
00:58:36.320 --> 00:58:39.000
and had an extra cocktail or two. And anyway, it
1156
00:58:39.079 --> 00:58:41.440
was a mess. And so a few days later they
1157
00:58:41.480 --> 00:58:44.320
were playing. We had our first headlining show at Irvin Plaza,
1158
00:58:45.559 --> 00:58:48.960
which was probably I think that was probably eleven hundred
1159
00:58:49.039 --> 00:58:56.280
capacity if I remember correctly. And and you know, you
1160
00:58:56.320 --> 00:58:59.360
would think logically, if the band had a complete failure
1161
00:58:59.639 --> 00:59:03.880
at one show, that they would come out, you know,
1162
00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:06.480
to fix it the next time, but the replacements didn't
1163
00:59:06.519 --> 00:59:08.639
work that way. They could do ten shitty shows in
1164
00:59:08.679 --> 00:59:11.719
a row and you just never knew when to expect
1165
00:59:11.760 --> 00:59:13.559
them to come out of it. But anyway, they walked
1166
00:59:13.599 --> 00:59:15.159
on stage that night. I remember being up in the
1167
00:59:15.239 --> 00:59:18.360
VIP section. I'd been racing around trying to get things ready,
1168
00:59:18.400 --> 00:59:20.880
and we got the band on, you know, going on stage,
1169
00:59:20.880 --> 00:59:22.679
and I had to run up to make sure some
1170
00:59:23.159 --> 00:59:28.280
VIP had gotten in or something. And so they walked
1171
00:59:28.320 --> 00:59:30.719
on stage, and I believe they opened with rock and
1172
00:59:30.840 --> 00:59:35.079
Roll All night by Kiss, and it was like before
1173
00:59:35.400 --> 00:59:37.599
anybody would have thought it was cool to do a
1174
00:59:37.679 --> 00:59:39.719
kiss song. I mean, I remember everybody kind of scratching
1175
00:59:39.719 --> 00:59:41.639
their heads. Of course, I didn't even know what it was.
1176
00:59:42.800 --> 00:59:44.840
I knew it because they had done it prior to
1177
00:59:45.920 --> 00:59:47.840
the New York show. They'd done it. I remember them
1178
00:59:47.880 --> 00:59:49.360
doing it at the Cabooz the first time I heard it.
1179
00:59:49.400 --> 00:59:50.719
But when they first did it, I didn't know the
1180
00:59:50.800 --> 00:59:53.320
song because I didn't no Kiss, and I imagine a
1181
00:59:53.360 --> 00:59:54.960
lot of other people in the room that were there
1182
00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:57.119
to see the replacements didn't know Kiss either, but some
1183
00:59:57.239 --> 01:00:00.239
people did recognize it. And I remember seeing you know,
1184
01:00:01.079 --> 01:00:04.320
the you know, rock critics and whoever else was in
1185
01:00:04.360 --> 01:00:07.119
the VIP section kind of going, WHOA what is this
1186
01:00:07.719 --> 01:00:09.960
and they just killed it. They just killed it. So
1187
01:00:10.079 --> 01:00:11.880
that was that was a moment where I think, I
1188
01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:17.199
really I treasure forever just watching them blow away a
1189
01:00:17.239 --> 01:00:19.360
New York audience. And of course that was the night
1190
01:00:19.400 --> 01:00:21.400
that seymour Stein happened to come and see them and
1191
01:00:21.480 --> 01:00:25.480
say he told our lawyer that right that night he said,
1192
01:00:25.519 --> 01:00:27.079
I'm going to have these guys signed before they even
1193
01:00:27.119 --> 01:00:27.960
get home from this tour.
1194
01:00:28.559 --> 01:00:30.559
Wow, that's an exciting.
1195
01:00:30.599 --> 01:00:31.519
Oh that was a big moment.
1196
01:00:31.880 --> 01:00:36.559
Yeah, no kidding well, and then later being cognizant a
1197
01:00:36.639 --> 01:00:39.800
time here too. So later on you went over to
1198
01:00:39.880 --> 01:00:41.599
New West Records. So what brought you there?
1199
01:00:42.480 --> 01:00:44.639
Well, we licensed a bunch of the Twin Tone Masters
1200
01:00:44.679 --> 01:00:47.199
to an LA based company in nineteen ninety two, company
1201
01:00:47.239 --> 01:00:51.360
called Restless Records, and I ended up moving out here
1202
01:00:51.400 --> 01:00:55.280
in ninety five and working out of their office. At
1203
01:00:55.320 --> 01:00:57.719
that time, I'd started an imprint for Twin Tone called
1204
01:00:57.840 --> 01:01:02.000
Medium Cool, and so it felt like if and they
1205
01:01:02.039 --> 01:01:04.920
were really interested in helping me plug the Medium Cool bands.
1206
01:01:05.320 --> 01:01:07.320
Of course, I had Tommy Stintson and they were so
1207
01:01:07.559 --> 01:01:10.480
they were excited to have an ex replacement, and then
1208
01:01:10.599 --> 01:01:12.880
and then later had Slim as well. Of course, and
1209
01:01:13.559 --> 01:01:15.639
so they wanted to they wanted to support Medium Cool,
1210
01:01:15.679 --> 01:01:18.159
and it became very I would come out to Los Angeles,
1211
01:01:19.639 --> 01:01:22.159
and you know, we'd been out here with the replacements before,
1212
01:01:22.800 --> 01:01:27.280
and I didn't really like LA in the early days,
1213
01:01:27.440 --> 01:01:29.679
and uh so, but anyway, I had to come out
1214
01:01:29.679 --> 01:01:32.239
here for you know, to interface with the Restless people,
1215
01:01:32.320 --> 01:01:34.360
and and uh the more I was out here, the
1216
01:01:34.440 --> 01:01:35.599
more I got to like it, and the more I
1217
01:01:35.639 --> 01:01:37.599
thought that it's better for me to be in the
1218
01:01:37.679 --> 01:01:41.480
faces of these people who were supporting us financially, to
1219
01:01:41.559 --> 01:01:45.679
be honest, better for me to be there and show
1220
01:01:45.760 --> 01:01:48.280
my enthusiasm for the groups rather than trying to do
1221
01:01:48.400 --> 01:01:51.199
it long distance on the phone. So I ended up
1222
01:01:51.239 --> 01:01:54.920
moving here in July of ninety five, and and uh
1223
01:01:55.760 --> 01:02:00.760
and then that didn't go well because I just the
1224
01:02:00.840 --> 01:02:04.079
people at Restless were not my kind of people, and
1225
01:02:05.760 --> 01:02:08.519
I didn't realize that until the ink was dry on
1226
01:02:09.239 --> 01:02:13.920
the agreement. So it was the beginning was nice, but
1227
01:02:14.079 --> 01:02:17.920
then the screws kept getting tightened and tightened and tightened,
1228
01:02:17.920 --> 01:02:20.840
and I didn't really like the way things were working.
1229
01:02:20.920 --> 01:02:24.960
So I left. And that was in nineteen ninety eight.
1230
01:02:27.920 --> 01:02:30.119
But I've made thirteen records for Medium Cool, and I'm
1231
01:02:30.119 --> 01:02:31.800
really proud of them, and I'm really glad I did.
1232
01:02:35.320 --> 01:02:39.800
But then when I quit, I really didn't know what
1233
01:02:39.960 --> 01:02:42.119
was going to happen. And there was a period where
1234
01:02:42.119 --> 01:02:44.599
I really thought, you know, I've done music now for
1235
01:02:45.159 --> 01:02:49.719
twenty years, and I don't want to overstay my welcome.
1236
01:02:49.760 --> 01:02:52.559
Maybe it's time for me to go look at something else,
1237
01:02:52.760 --> 01:02:56.840
you know, Like I said earlier, I love books and literature.
1238
01:02:56.880 --> 01:03:01.039
I thought maybe something in that field, you know, something
1239
01:03:01.159 --> 01:03:03.239
kept kind of drawing me back towards music. And then
1240
01:03:03.239 --> 01:03:06.199
all of a sudden, ten eleven months later, I get
1241
01:03:06.239 --> 01:03:09.079
a call from a guy named Cameron Strang who said,
1242
01:03:09.119 --> 01:03:12.280
I have a one man record label I'm looking to expand.
1243
01:03:12.440 --> 01:03:15.320
I like the work you've done with Twin Tone. Would
1244
01:03:15.360 --> 01:03:18.039
you like to, you know, make some records with me?
1245
01:03:18.239 --> 01:03:21.400
And his name and his label name was New West Records.
1246
01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:28.599
So I met with him and I really liked him instantly,
1247
01:03:28.800 --> 01:03:31.559
I really I liked him. I believed he was a
1248
01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:35.400
real music guy. But he also had something I didn't,
1249
01:03:35.440 --> 01:03:40.840
which was a good business sense. And so he's one
1250
01:03:40.840 --> 01:03:42.800
of the few people I've ever met that could straddle
1251
01:03:42.880 --> 01:03:46.280
the fence between the creative and the business in that
1252
01:03:46.519 --> 01:03:48.559
kind of way, at least in a convincing way to me.
1253
01:03:48.920 --> 01:03:50.719
I'm sure there are plenty of them that I don't know.
1254
01:03:50.880 --> 01:03:53.440
But anyway, so I signed on right away and we
1255
01:03:53.559 --> 01:03:57.280
were a two man operation for a while. He'd put
1256
01:03:57.280 --> 01:03:59.440
out about ten records when I joined up with him.
1257
01:04:00.199 --> 01:04:01.880
First record he and I really got to work on
1258
01:04:01.960 --> 01:04:05.239
together was Tim Easton, a guy from a folks singer
1259
01:04:05.320 --> 01:04:08.599
from Columbus, Ohio, and that was a really, really a
1260
01:04:08.679 --> 01:04:10.679
great project. We had a lot of fun with it.
1261
01:04:10.840 --> 01:04:13.360
We got Joe Chicicarelli to come in to produce. We
1262
01:04:13.519 --> 01:04:16.760
used part of the Wilco band to back him. I
1263
01:04:16.880 --> 01:04:19.960
went to King Size in Chicago to record the basic tracks,
1264
01:04:20.760 --> 01:04:23.440
mixed it out here in La Anyway, that's where that
1265
01:04:23.559 --> 01:04:27.000
whole thing started, and Cam and I really got along
1266
01:04:27.199 --> 01:04:29.440
very well. And then as the bottom dropped out of
1267
01:04:30.280 --> 01:04:33.400
physical record sales there and I started with him in
1268
01:04:33.480 --> 01:04:38.280
ninety nine. By you know, two thousand and two thousand
1269
01:04:38.280 --> 01:04:40.480
and one, you know, there was the whole Napster debacle
1270
01:04:40.559 --> 01:04:43.000
and people didn't want to pay for music, and it
1271
01:04:43.039 --> 01:04:47.840
got really difficult and Cameron, you know, had a business
1272
01:04:47.920 --> 01:04:50.920
to run and much as he loved the creative side too,
1273
01:04:51.039 --> 01:04:53.400
he had to, you know, sort of deal with the
1274
01:04:53.440 --> 01:04:57.000
bottom line a bit more so, so that became a
1275
01:04:57.079 --> 01:04:59.360
little harder. I realized I wasn't going to be able
1276
01:04:59.400 --> 01:05:01.960
to sell him on my A and R ideas very much.
1277
01:05:02.039 --> 01:05:07.960
But since he was overseeing the you know, the big picture,
1278
01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:10.639
I ended up doing the day to day A and
1279
01:05:10.760 --> 01:05:13.280
R and all the projects he brought in, And I
1280
01:05:14.440 --> 01:05:16.760
was unhappy that I couldn't sell him on my projects.
1281
01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:18.400
But at the same time, I'm not going to complain
1282
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:21.719
about working with Delbert McClinton or John Hyatt or Steve
1283
01:05:21.760 --> 01:05:24.599
Earl or Dwight Yoakum or Chris Christofferson. I mean, it
1284
01:05:24.719 --> 01:05:26.880
was like, oh my god, what am I? What am
1285
01:05:26.920 --> 01:05:29.239
I doing working with people at this caliber? But it
1286
01:05:29.360 --> 01:05:32.199
was great and it was fun and we had They
1287
01:05:32.239 --> 01:05:35.760
were They were nice to me, They were respectful. They
1288
01:05:35.840 --> 01:05:38.400
knew I was a you know, I wasn't in this
1289
01:05:38.519 --> 01:05:40.719
from the same major label world they'd been in, but
1290
01:05:41.079 --> 01:05:43.559
but they knew I was a music guy, so they
1291
01:05:44.280 --> 01:05:45.320
you know, they treated me well.
1292
01:05:45.679 --> 01:05:48.559
Yeah, he had a pedigree there. So do you have
1293
01:05:48.599 --> 01:05:51.719
a favorite record from the news days that you were
1294
01:05:51.800 --> 01:05:52.079
part of?
1295
01:05:52.880 --> 01:05:56.239
Absolutely I mean the I I I mentioned it in
1296
01:05:56.280 --> 01:05:58.360
the book The record. The best record I think New
1297
01:05:58.400 --> 01:06:01.400
West ever put out as an album called by Daniel Romano.
1298
01:06:02.639 --> 01:06:04.519
And I say that with great respect for all the
1299
01:06:04.599 --> 01:06:07.239
other artists and records. You know, many of the they
1300
01:06:07.280 --> 01:06:09.920
were very The thing about New West was we rarely
1301
01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:12.639
put out a record that I didn't think was absolutely great.
1302
01:06:12.719 --> 01:06:15.199
I mean, I really thought we were on a roll.
1303
01:06:15.360 --> 01:06:18.719
And and you know, even in some cases we made
1304
01:06:18.760 --> 01:06:21.639
a you know, maybe we made records with one of
1305
01:06:21.679 --> 01:06:24.079
the veterans that wasn't as good as their heyday, but
1306
01:06:24.519 --> 01:06:27.440
at the same time they were still you know, there
1307
01:06:27.559 --> 01:06:31.840
was still uh, you know, valid artistic merit, you know,
1308
01:06:31.960 --> 01:06:36.079
involved and and so. But but the Romano record is
1309
01:06:36.119 --> 01:06:38.880
the one that, to me, really I think it's one
1310
01:06:38.880 --> 01:06:42.400
of the greatest records ever made. Period. And and uh,
1311
01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:47.239
I had I had been slow to warm up to
1312
01:06:47.320 --> 01:06:48.840
him because when he first came in he was in
1313
01:06:48.880 --> 01:06:53.480
a complete country phase. Yeah, it's all about almost cornball
1314
01:06:53.559 --> 01:06:56.280
country in a way, some of the early songs and
1315
01:06:57.119 --> 01:06:59.239
and and then plus the I remember seeing the artwork
1316
01:06:59.280 --> 01:07:01.719
for the first album, did for him come cry with me.
1317
01:07:02.119 --> 01:07:04.039
He's wearing a cowboy hat, he's got like a Nudi
1318
01:07:04.119 --> 01:07:06.880
suit on. I was like, did he spend more time
1319
01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:08.599
on his outfit than he did on the songs? I
1320
01:07:08.679 --> 01:07:12.840
don't know, you know, But then those songs started to
1321
01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:16.400
I started to realize, well, they are a little novelty
1322
01:07:16.760 --> 01:07:18.760
based in some cases. But then there were ones that
1323
01:07:18.880 --> 01:07:21.079
weren't on the record that I hadn't paid attention to.
1324
01:07:21.559 --> 01:07:23.960
And then I started hearing the demos for the record
1325
01:07:24.000 --> 01:07:27.320
that came after, which is called if I've Only One
1326
01:07:27.440 --> 01:07:31.000
Time Asking, And that was when I just I had
1327
01:07:31.880 --> 01:07:34.920
again maybe a bit of an epiphany for Romano. And
1328
01:07:35.239 --> 01:07:37.440
I remember seeing him right as I was getting the
1329
01:07:37.519 --> 01:07:41.119
bug at south By Southwest. He played a number of
1330
01:07:41.199 --> 01:07:45.199
times at New West events down there in Oh god,
1331
01:07:45.239 --> 01:07:48.360
what year would that have been, twenty twelve maybe or thirteen,
1332
01:07:48.880 --> 01:07:52.599
And I mean I was just blown away. One particular song,
1333
01:07:53.960 --> 01:07:56.800
Valerie leon Is the record is the song that opens
1334
01:07:57.159 --> 01:07:59.519
Mosey and I remember seeing him do that at a
1335
01:08:00.079 --> 01:08:02.239
thread Gills where there was an outdoor stage at thread
1336
01:08:02.239 --> 01:08:04.760
Gills where we had a New wes Day party, and uh,
1337
01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:07.239
and I remember him doing it and it's those are
1338
01:08:07.880 --> 01:08:11.000
crazy rapid fire words, and I was just I was
1339
01:08:11.119 --> 01:08:13.760
mesmerized by that, and and that was when you know,
1340
01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:17.319
the just blew my mind and and uh so I
1341
01:08:17.439 --> 01:08:19.399
I love him to this day. I think he's one
1342
01:08:19.439 --> 01:08:21.319
of the one of the best artists in the business.
1343
01:08:22.279 --> 01:08:25.840
Well, yeah, I know you you've you've posted about him
1344
01:08:25.880 --> 01:08:28.560
on social media, and I know because you you mentioned
1345
01:08:28.600 --> 01:08:30.760
some show with him a couple of years ago that
1346
01:08:30.840 --> 01:08:32.319
you went to and how great it was. And I
1347
01:08:32.359 --> 01:08:35.039
know there are people here talking about you talking about
1348
01:08:35.119 --> 01:08:38.439
how great that was. So he was playing at the
1349
01:08:38.560 --> 01:08:40.399
Entry and they're all sorts of people who were kind
1350
01:08:40.439 --> 01:08:42.960
of curious based on what you had been saying. Yeah,
1351
01:08:43.600 --> 01:08:47.039
just yeah, he took he tore the roof off that night.
1352
01:08:47.119 --> 01:08:48.960
I was like, okay, I know, I know a couple
1353
01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:51.359
of people who say it's the best show they've ever seen.
1354
01:08:52.720 --> 01:08:55.079
Amazing, just that great live artists.
1355
01:08:55.640 --> 01:08:57.199
And I saw him do I saw him do ten
1356
01:08:57.239 --> 01:08:58.760
of those where I was just standing there. I was
1357
01:08:58.800 --> 01:09:01.039
almost like that feeling of the Replacements, where you go,
1358
01:09:01.239 --> 01:09:03.239
at this moment, there cannot be a better rock and
1359
01:09:03.359 --> 01:09:04.319
roll band on the planet.
1360
01:09:04.760 --> 01:09:07.760
Yeah, pretty impressive stuff. Yeah, pretty cool. Who are you
1361
01:09:07.800 --> 01:09:09.840
listening to today? What's what's in the stereo?
1362
01:09:10.399 --> 01:09:12.840
Actually I was just playing Jake Xerxes Fussle.
1363
01:09:13.000 --> 01:09:14.640
You know him, No, what's this?
1364
01:09:15.159 --> 01:09:18.640
He's a he's a kind of folk blues guitar player
1365
01:09:18.720 --> 01:09:24.199
singer from I think he's from Georgia. Anyway, I'm going
1366
01:09:24.239 --> 01:09:27.319
to see him tomorrow, and so I was just refreshing
1367
01:09:27.359 --> 01:09:30.399
my memory on his stuff. He's he's got five albums
1368
01:09:30.399 --> 01:09:33.880
out I think you know. It's a rootsy kind of thing,
1369
01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:38.840
but exceptional guitar player and a real student of song.
1370
01:09:39.920 --> 01:09:42.279
He's got liner notes that are very specific about where
1371
01:09:42.359 --> 01:09:45.439
all the songs came from, Like he does Duke Ellington
1372
01:09:45.600 --> 01:09:48.439
song Jump for Joy opens the album. He does these
1373
01:09:48.520 --> 01:09:53.159
things there. He actually lists the source on the back,
1374
01:09:53.319 --> 01:09:55.600
like where did I first hear of this song? And
1375
01:09:55.680 --> 01:09:57.880
nobody knows when it was really written? Kind of thing.
1376
01:09:58.720 --> 01:10:01.560
So that's what I'm listening to just as of this morning.
1377
01:10:02.800 --> 01:10:06.920
Last night, I had a nice evening just my wife
1378
01:10:07.039 --> 01:10:08.720
was out doing something else, and so I had a
1379
01:10:08.880 --> 01:10:11.920
nice evening of just listening to whatever I felt like.
1380
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:16.840
And and I was listening to a Woody Guthrie double
1381
01:10:16.920 --> 01:10:21.319
album from that those tributes right after he died, they
1382
01:10:21.359 --> 01:10:24.319
did the one in sixty eight in New York that Dylan,
1383
01:10:24.680 --> 01:10:29.239
and I was just actually i'd forgotten looking at the
1384
01:10:29.279 --> 01:10:31.800
credits of the record. I pulled it out, and I'd forgotten.
1385
01:10:31.800 --> 01:10:34.279
They don't even list the band because they weren't the
1386
01:10:34.359 --> 01:10:38.560
band yet, oh so or or or they they weren't
1387
01:10:38.640 --> 01:10:41.039
known yet. I guess maybe maybe they were the band.
1388
01:10:41.079 --> 01:10:43.399
But anyway, so it's just as Bob Dylan, but it
1389
01:10:43.439 --> 01:10:47.000
happens to be with Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel whatever.
1390
01:10:47.159 --> 01:10:51.000
So so they do three songs and they're spectacular, but
1391
01:10:51.000 --> 01:10:53.079
it's also got you know, Judy Collins and Odetta and
1392
01:10:53.560 --> 01:10:55.119
all that. So that was something I was listening to
1393
01:10:55.279 --> 01:10:57.399
last night, and really I hadn't listened to it for
1394
01:10:57.640 --> 01:10:59.720
you know, a while, and and and that was fun.
1395
01:11:01.640 --> 01:11:04.399
Also I'm really big on My son is working in
1396
01:11:04.560 --> 01:11:08.840
music now and he's he's building a stable of artists.
1397
01:11:08.880 --> 01:11:11.960
He's working for a record label and also has a
1398
01:11:12.319 --> 01:11:16.600
separate management company just of his own, kind of not
1399
01:11:16.680 --> 01:11:18.319
really hard to call it a company, I mean, it's
1400
01:11:18.840 --> 01:11:20.800
not super formal, but anyway, he's got a couple of
1401
01:11:20.840 --> 01:11:22.520
artists there that I just love. So I was listening
1402
01:11:22.560 --> 01:11:25.199
to a bunch of their stuff last night. Guy in particular,
1403
01:11:25.239 --> 01:11:27.960
I would highly recommend you check out. And I know
1404
01:11:28.039 --> 01:11:31.319
this will sound like nepotism, but I would not say
1405
01:11:31.359 --> 01:11:35.039
this if I didn't genuinely believe that Truman Sinclair is
1406
01:11:35.119 --> 01:11:37.000
the guy's name, and I think he's going to be
1407
01:11:38.119 --> 01:11:41.479
someone to be reckoned with. A lot of labels are
1408
01:11:41.560 --> 01:11:44.399
looking at him right now. His you know, metrics, as
1409
01:11:44.479 --> 01:11:49.319
they say, are exploding. And they put out an indie
1410
01:11:49.359 --> 01:11:54.000
record in February that's fantastic called American recordings like Johnny Cash,
1411
01:11:54.079 --> 01:11:59.119
but they're inspired by Johnny but all original songs. And
1412
01:11:59.199 --> 01:12:03.399
Truman is really really something. He's a fantastic live and
1413
01:12:03.840 --> 01:12:06.439
you know, my son's age twenty three and and just
1414
01:12:06.600 --> 01:12:10.319
really one of those guys who, like you said, when
1415
01:12:10.359 --> 01:12:12.239
you picked up a guitar, you couldn't put it down.
1416
01:12:12.279 --> 01:12:13.720
He's like that guy. He walks around the house with
1417
01:12:13.800 --> 01:12:15.680
the guitar hanging around his neck all the time. And
1418
01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:20.199
and so I think the guy he is, he is
1419
01:12:20.239 --> 01:12:21.960
an l a guy. I think I grew up in
1420
01:12:22.039 --> 01:12:24.960
Chicago and then moved out here with his family when
1421
01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:27.399
he was the ten or eleven, I think, And but
1422
01:12:27.479 --> 01:12:29.279
he's been playing in bands since he was eight, and
1423
01:12:29.399 --> 01:12:40.319
he's just really really good in Fontaine's DC gold Star,
1424
01:12:41.199 --> 01:12:42.760
one of the one of one of the best things
1425
01:12:42.800 --> 01:12:47.199
I've heard in recent years. L also LA based somewhere
1426
01:12:47.199 --> 01:12:51.119
in between. I guess this is a thumbnail sketch, but uh,
1427
01:12:51.800 --> 01:12:55.079
somewhere between the dark underbelly of the Only Ones meets
1428
01:12:55.439 --> 01:12:58.479
the kind of anthemic songs of Tom Petty and the
1429
01:12:58.520 --> 01:13:02.560
Heartbreakers really really great.
1430
01:13:03.159 --> 01:13:06.319
That's a good mix. I'll check those out. How often
1431
01:13:06.319 --> 01:13:08.079
are you going out to see shows these days? It
1432
01:13:08.119 --> 01:13:10.279
seems like you go quite a bit all the time.
1433
01:13:10.479 --> 01:13:11.520
I go, you know, we have.
1434
01:13:11.680 --> 01:13:13.640
That's one of the lucky things about living in LA
1435
01:13:13.840 --> 01:13:16.760
and also kind of hard to deal with because there's
1436
01:13:16.760 --> 01:13:18.439
a show, you know, there's you know, a couple of
1437
01:13:18.479 --> 01:13:20.000
shows I want to see every night, and you know,
1438
01:13:20.079 --> 01:13:24.399
you just can't do that. But but yeah, I yeah,
1439
01:13:24.439 --> 01:13:27.960
I mean, I'm don't. It's you know, they sometimes come
1440
01:13:28.039 --> 01:13:31.560
in spurts, but I probably see eight or ten shows
1441
01:13:31.560 --> 01:13:32.159
a month.
1442
01:13:33.119 --> 01:13:36.359
Quite a bit, quite a bit. That's you know, we
1443
01:13:36.479 --> 01:13:39.560
appreciate you come out. We appreciate you coming out to
1444
01:13:39.600 --> 01:13:40.439
see us when we're there.
1445
01:13:40.479 --> 01:13:42.199
That was fun to have you there, and it was
1446
01:13:42.279 --> 01:13:44.880
that Redwood Bar is a fun place where both Autry
1447
01:13:44.880 --> 01:13:47.640
and I, my son, Audrey and I really enjoyed the set.
1448
01:13:47.720 --> 01:13:50.439
You guys were great and it was I think I
1449
01:13:50.600 --> 01:13:51.800
like the atmosphere of that place.
1450
01:13:52.239 --> 01:13:54.479
Yeah, that's a cool place. Hopefully we can get back
1451
01:13:54.560 --> 01:13:56.720
out there. We got another invite, but I'm not sure
1452
01:13:56.720 --> 01:13:58.159
we're gonna be able to pull it off this year.
1453
01:13:58.199 --> 01:14:02.479
But same rem Yeah, yeah, we're uh, we're playing in
1454
01:14:02.560 --> 01:14:04.920
Chicago in a few weeks at the Montrose there for
1455
01:14:05.039 --> 01:14:09.119
this thing. That's with these we usually build some shows
1456
01:14:09.159 --> 01:14:11.000
around it as well, kind of like what you were saying.
1457
01:14:11.119 --> 01:14:14.279
So yeah, but yeah, it's a lot of fun. Those
1458
01:14:14.319 --> 01:14:17.079
are There's always a great turnout and we usually we
1459
01:14:17.199 --> 01:14:20.880
do nothing can change you the Tommy Keane cover when
1460
01:14:20.920 --> 01:14:24.680
we play at these I pos. So it's fun because
1461
01:14:24.720 --> 01:14:28.960
you can with that crowd. They know it and immediately
1462
01:14:29.039 --> 01:14:32.199
you kind of see everybody kind of oh yeah they're
1463
01:14:32.279 --> 01:14:35.239
doing t K. So yeah, it's it's always a good time.
1464
01:14:35.520 --> 01:14:37.600
Appreciate you jumping on here. I'll let you know when
1465
01:14:37.680 --> 01:14:40.479
I when I get it edited and ready to go.
1466
01:14:41.159 --> 01:14:43.520
It's going to be a busy week. My son's got
1467
01:14:43.560 --> 01:14:46.840
his driver's tests this week, so it's knee deep and
1468
01:14:46.920 --> 01:14:49.239
all of that we're trying to get this new high
1469
01:14:49.239 --> 01:14:55.279
on Stress record done too, which is taken way too long. Yeah,
1470
01:14:55.399 --> 01:14:57.560
we've got that going. And then I'm also kind of
1471
01:14:57.600 --> 01:15:01.960
doing a side it's kind of a solo collaboration record
1472
01:15:02.079 --> 01:15:05.439
with Kevin Salem's worked on. He did a song with
1473
01:15:05.520 --> 01:15:08.000
me on it, which is super cool. I know, you
1474
01:15:08.119 --> 01:15:11.119
know him, and it's great. He sent me this guitar
1475
01:15:11.239 --> 01:15:16.000
track and I'm like, this sounds like Keaven, just this
1476
01:15:16.319 --> 01:15:19.479
kind of rhythmic guitar thing he did. It was very
1477
01:15:19.560 --> 01:15:21.680
much like his first record, so I was pretty pumped
1478
01:15:21.680 --> 01:15:22.000
about that.
1479
01:15:22.640 --> 01:15:24.760
That's great. I love him. I actually just saw him
1480
01:15:24.800 --> 01:15:28.279
for the first time and got twenty plus years I'm sure.
1481
01:15:28.399 --> 01:15:30.680
I got to do a book thing in Woodstock and
1482
01:15:30.760 --> 01:15:34.680
he lives there, as you know probably, and it was
1483
01:15:34.760 --> 01:15:36.720
so much fun to talk to him. And now he's
1484
01:15:36.760 --> 01:15:40.079
working on some new recordings of his own YEP for
1485
01:15:40.199 --> 01:15:42.199
the first time in a while, he says, and he
1486
01:15:42.319 --> 01:15:45.000
sent me a bunch of them and asked for, you know, feedback,
1487
01:15:45.039 --> 01:15:47.560
and I was, I mean, I was just knocked out.
1488
01:15:47.600 --> 01:15:49.800
I mean it's really really great stuff.
1489
01:15:49.920 --> 01:15:52.920
So yeah, it's cool he sent you the sampleat with
1490
01:15:53.000 --> 01:15:56.159
all the songs on it. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the
1491
01:15:56.199 --> 01:15:58.520
one I got too. It's really cool stuff. So yeah,
1492
01:15:59.079 --> 01:16:01.319
about time to put on any record of his stay.
1493
01:16:01.399 --> 01:16:03.600
And I was working on something but never anything of
1494
01:16:03.680 --> 01:16:04.039
his own.
1495
01:16:04.159 --> 01:16:07.239
So yeah, and his wife is brought me into a
1496
01:16:07.359 --> 01:16:09.840
project I'm consulting on too that I'm very grateful for.
1497
01:16:10.079 --> 01:16:12.159
So nice, said Kate. Hyman. Was an A and R
1498
01:16:12.239 --> 01:16:17.319
woman made the major label circuit back in the day,
1499
01:16:17.439 --> 01:16:20.079
and so it was nice to be in touch with
1500
01:16:20.159 --> 01:16:21.920
her again, both her and Kevin. I got to spend
1501
01:16:21.960 --> 01:16:23.520
some time with in Woodstock. That was great.
1502
01:16:23.920 --> 01:16:26.239
Yeah, he's a great guy. He bought like five high
1503
01:16:26.279 --> 01:16:32.279
on stress stocking caps for the local baristas. Oh He's like,
1504
01:16:32.359 --> 01:16:34.359
they liked my hat, so I'm buying them all one
1505
01:16:35.039 --> 01:16:37.680
thanks Kevin. Yeah, no, he's he's a good guy. And
1506
01:16:37.720 --> 01:16:40.000
then I've got I'm going to work with Dan Murphy
1507
01:16:40.039 --> 01:16:42.039
on some stuff too. He's coming over here tomorrow to
1508
01:16:42.720 --> 01:16:44.399
do some stuff. So I don't know, I don't know
1509
01:16:44.479 --> 01:16:45.720
what it's gonna end up. I've got a couple of
1510
01:16:45.760 --> 01:16:47.960
things he's played on a mine that will probably come
1511
01:16:48.039 --> 01:16:50.720
out at some point. And then he's working on stuff
1512
01:16:50.720 --> 01:16:53.640
of his own, so I'm I'm co writing a couple
1513
01:16:53.640 --> 01:16:55.479
of things, so we'll see what happens with those tracks.
1514
01:16:55.520 --> 01:16:58.399
But I love that guy, give him my best will.
1515
01:16:58.479 --> 01:17:00.840
He's just a sweet guy midway us, through and through.
1516
01:17:01.479 --> 01:17:01.960
That's right.
1517
01:17:02.520 --> 01:17:04.840
Good to catch up with you, and I appreciate oping
1518
01:17:04.920 --> 01:17:05.760
on here to chat with me.
1519
01:17:06.199 --> 01:17:09.039
Fun conversation. I appreciate you asking, yeah.
1520
01:17:08.960 --> 01:17:11.720
You bet, Thank care of yourself, you too, Bye bye.
1521
01:17:19.319 --> 01:17:23.079
How about that, Peter Jasperson. That was a fun conversation.
1522
01:17:24.000 --> 01:17:27.960
Thank you for tuning in, meaning to get around asking
1523
01:17:28.079 --> 01:17:30.920
him to be on and finally finally made it happen,
1524
01:17:31.119 --> 01:17:34.359
and it was. It was fun. One of my favorite
1525
01:17:34.359 --> 01:17:38.000
episodes for sure. Forgot to mention at the top of
1526
01:17:38.079 --> 01:17:42.159
the show. Hian Stress has some shows coming up. Debuke
1527
01:17:42.439 --> 01:17:48.600
Iowa at the Lift on May first, and on May second,
1528
01:17:48.800 --> 01:17:54.840
we're playing the International Pop Overthrow Festival at Montrose Saloon
1529
01:17:54.960 --> 01:17:58.479
in Chicago, Illinois, which is going to be awesome. And
1530
01:17:58.640 --> 01:18:03.079
then May the third, we're playing at one of my
1531
01:18:03.199 --> 01:18:08.680
favorite places, the law office is called Office Pub Yorkville, Illinois,
1532
01:18:08.720 --> 01:18:11.920
with our friend Matt Dirda, and it's gonna be a
1533
01:18:11.960 --> 01:18:15.039
good time. So thank you for tuning in. Hope to
1534
01:18:15.079 --> 01:18:18.199
see you out there for some shows. Oh, we're also
1535
01:18:18.239 --> 01:18:21.560
playing May thirty first at Palmer's as part as front
1536
01:18:21.840 --> 01:18:25.119
Row Paul Festival as well. There's like six over sixty
1537
01:18:25.159 --> 01:18:30.079
bands playing in support and memory of front Row Paul,
1538
01:18:30.680 --> 01:18:35.199
local legend music lover here in Minneapolis. So we have
1539
01:18:35.399 --> 01:18:39.640
a lot of stuff going on and apprecid you listen
1540
01:18:39.680 --> 01:18:42.439
and we'll see you next time from Studio twenty four
1541
01:18:42.520 --> 01:18:45.560
in Minneapolis. Figure It's podcast.
1542
01:19:00.039 --> 01:19:01.680
And you see you there.
1543
01:19:02.399 --> 01:19:21.239
She was in the crowd, whirrelling alone.
1544
01:19:23.039 --> 01:19:30.079
When everybody wants you right now, she's never home, didn't.
1545
01:19:29.840 --> 01:19:32.199
Met them at the take full side.
1546
01:19:32.840 --> 01:19:36.359
But everything has changed, so we all know that you're
1547
01:19:36.399 --> 01:19:39.920
waking U to die inside now.
1548
01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:46.720
There's nowhere enough to go now, nothing can change you.
1549
01:19:48.199 --> 01:19:51.199
Would you be before to love?
1550
01:19:51.880 --> 01:19:56.680
Your world is stranger? Can you tell me things that
1551
01:19:56.880 --> 01:19:57.439
you loved?
1552
01:19:58.359 --> 01:19:58.560
Now?
1553
01:19:58.800 --> 01:19:59.920
Nothing could change.
1554
01:20:01.680 --> 01:20:08.520
We feel fool of your world, estrange man, And you
1555
01:20:08.720 --> 01:20:11.359
tell these things the child dreams of them.
1556
01:20:11.720 --> 01:20:11.760
No