The Rich Redmond Show

Unknown: I mean, that Nashville
airport is just nothing but dues

with guitar cases, yeah, symbol
cases coming and going, yeah. I

mean, I was catching a flight to
go to a show, and Keith Urban

did a three piece band show
there, over by, by the tootsies

area the southwest, there's a
little stage, yeah, there's a

little stage there in the
corner. And it's like, I hear

all this ruckus, and I'm like,
Wow, that sounds really good.

You know, he's made an
appearance at the airport.

Couldn't believe it. That's
incredible. Maybe they're doing

more things like that. I think
they are, because the modus

operandi there has been, the
union will get you that as

you're going exiting to go get
your bags. There's a tiny little

stage here by this coffee shop.
Yeah, yeah. I think it pays 40

bucks. Oh, really, yeah, it's a
union game.

This is the rich Redmond show.

What's up, folks? Yep, your
iPhone, your clock, your watch,

is correct. It's time for
another exciting episode of the

rich Redmond show. Usually we
talk about all things like

music, motivation, success,
wherever the evening takes us.

Jim McCarthy, how's Jim McCarthy
voiceovers.com? Jim McCarthy

voiceovers, dot j, m, V, O,
s.com, that's right, man, you

got so many businesses. It's
your show.co. We're here at your

amazing facility where you do
your garage door stuff. Tell us

about your side hustles, bud.
Oh, geez. Where do I start?

Yeah, so we got the voiceovers,
we got podcasting, we've got

garage doors and lighting, yeah,
all congruent. You're a

renaissance man. Well, I mean,
it's, it's a lot more people

just than me that make all these
things happen. That's great.

But, I mean, you're a part owner
of an amazing company, and maybe

in 10 years, you evaluate the
thing, you cash out, you go

somewhere, you got a palm tree,
maybe, is that the plan that's

that could be a plan that's the
American dream, it kind of is,

but I still want purpose. You
got to have purpose in this

life. You do have purpose. I
feel like everything you do

brings value to people's lives,
helps change their lives. Thank

you. Yeah, man. I mean, we're
going on almost 20 years of

knowing each other, so yeah, and
you know what? You're one of the

most solid

no BS, friends I've had in my
life, really? Oh, yeah. I mean,

I can laugh in front of you. I
can cry in front of you. We can

have an IPA together. We can
have a cigar together. That's

right, yeah, no. We asked me if
I'm wearing a new shirt, all the

stuff. It's very inside joke
there. But I turned the hat

around. Yeah, he was wearing a
news A newsy cap. Do you get

that from the Men's Warehouse?
Or what was it? I got it from

Boston, Boston. Scally, calm.

Check those guys out. You're
funny, buddy. Hey. The only

thing I was just gonna say is
that we've been talking to a lot

of a lot, a lot about Spring
Hill, because I'm a New Spring

Hill I'm a spring hillian, and
I'm enjoying it. Less than a

mile from my house is my gym, my
bank, the Publix, a cigar bar,

the Walgreens Mexican
restaurant, two miles to the

podcasting studio, two miles to
the highway. Mexican restaurants

here are about a mile apart.
Yeah, there's a lot of in

general, yeah, yeah. Hey, let's
get into it. People are looking

at us funny. We got an amazing
guest. We a lot of great stories

here today. Today's guest,
hailing from Rochester, New

York, calling Nashville home.
Since 2020

he has been the lead guitarist
and musical director for rocker

Lou Graham, an icon. Lou Graham,
one of the greatest rock singers

of all time. He's currently also
the guitarist for the Lou Graham

all stars. And he has been from
21 to 24 2021 to 2024 former

guitarist for Canadian Music
Hall of Fame recording artist,

the guest who he's played with a
lot of other luminaries. We're

talking the Paul Stanley's, the
Carmine and Vinny applicies, the

Nancy Wilson's, the Dennis
Elliott's, the Paul Rogers. Of

course, we're talking about our
friend Michael sterto. What's

up, bud, how are you that's
that's a mouthful, man, a lot of

accomplishments. That was kind
of cool. I enjoyed listening.

It's great when you get to hear,
you know, your body of work,

your your history and the music
business all in one, one fell

swoop. Yeah, you've been busy,
man, I've been busy working

hard, working hard, and we met
each other

in a bar next to the Saban
theater in Beverly Hills.

Beverly Hills, right? 2016 Yeah,
that was so cool. I know, super

small world, small world, very
small world. And here we are,

and here we are, and we
appreciate you making the hour

drive to Spring Hill. Great.
Yeah, you know, what else? What

else I got to do today and just
drive around. It's good, you

know, like scheduling this show.
I always appreciate everyone

coming on, because in person,
things are going by the wayside.

Everyone's like, Hey kid, let's
just do zoom. You know what I

mean? But you know, making the
trek to Spring Hill is a great,

great We appreciate it. Thanks
for having me on the show, man.

I really appreciate it. Almost a
spring hillian, almost, almost,

yeah, quite, yeah. Not quite,
almost, almost just missed.

He went way north. So I was
asking you when you moved to

Nashville, and you told me,
during the pandemic, yeah,

during the pandemic actually,
right? Like,

actually we came down

the day after New York.

Work opened up from the
lockdown, and then we found a

place to live and went back
home, sold everything, and we

were actually living here with
all our stuff at the end of

July, 2020, so, so technically,
we didn't move here during

pandemic, but we're still under
pandemic situation, you know,

yeah, but it was great. It was
great. It was great to get out

of New York. And I'm really glad
to be here. Yeah, really glad to

the upstate New York now,
Rochester. Man, there's

something in the water there,
because that's your. Steve GADS,

your who else? Chuck Mangione,
oh my god,

yeah. Chuck a Tello from Spira.
Gyra, Lou Tony Levin, I think

about Billy. She not too far
down. Yeah, we also here in

Nashville. Now, buffalo, yeah,
Buffalo is a buffalo guy. Um,

I'm probably some other people.
I'm forgetting. Shame on me for

forgetting. But wow, that's
pretty incredible. Now, every

time I get to, like, Syracuse or
Utica, you know, we got to have

the Utica greens and all that
stuff. Chicken riggies. Right?

Chicken riggies. What is right?
Does that creep creep into

Rochester? Or is Rochester have
a dish? Yeah, we have, like, a

garbage plate and, like, garbage
chicken French, and, you know,

stuff like that. What's the
chicken? French? Chicken French

is, like, like, like a chicken
cutlet made with like, an egg

batter. And, yeah, it's really,
it's really over capelini and

some greens. Oh, my God, it's
really good. Yeah, yeah, really.

And your wife's a piece of cook,
but she's, Yep, she's a chef,

and she's in the real deal.
Yeah, she is. She's a real

because I think about it's, it
could have been last year, but

something tells me it's two
years ago. There's you had a

Christmas party at your house.
It was my birthday party. I was

your birthday party, and it was
very, very

well fed. We were very well fed.
And you took leftovers, and I

still haven't got the Tupperware
back. Oh, my God. I don't think

that's happened. That's okay.

Oh, my back is Tupperware. Oh,
I'm just kidding. It was gift.

That's what happens when you
live so far apart and you've got

this crazy Note to self. I gotta
find that title. I don't need to

tell because it was probably
really good. No, it was, it was

we go through it a lot, because
my wife likes to cook a lot.

Yeah, being Italian, you know,
you don't leave hungry and you

leave with leftovers. So she's
100% Italian, yes, Sicilian.

Now, what is your mix? It's a
little bit of everything. So on

my mom's side, I have Italian,
Yugoslavian. My dad's side, I

have a little bit of German and
maybe, like, Ukrainian, Russian

type stuff. But, I mean,

my dad was born in the Ukraine,
but never lived there. He

immigrated during World War Two,
ended up in South America, like

in Sao Paulo, Brazil. So that's
where I get a lot of my rhythmic

stuff from growing up listening
to the, you know, the vast

amount of artists that he
exposed me to him and my uncle,

yeah, was it in Portuguese? He
spoke Portuguese? Yeah, it was a

beautiful language. Yeah, it's
incredible. I mean, he spoke a

lot of different languages. It's
pretty incredible. I mean, we

struggle just to get by with the
you know. I mean, it's so

impressive when someone speaks
more than one language. A lot of

times it's like, yeah, you know,
it's English and Spanish. I

mean, I would be happy with that
well. But then when people were

like, oh, yeah, German, French,
Italian, it's almost imperative

to speak Spanish. No, I mean,
it's almost Yeah, it'd be a

handicap not to that would be
the one to speak, exactly. But I

know a lot of Angelenos that are
like, Yeah, I've been in there

30 years, and I don't speak a
lick of it, right? You know?

Right? Well, I know that when my
grandparents integrated to this

country, they wanted to learn
the language. They were very

proud to become citizens and do
it, you know, the way they were

supposed to do things. And they
kind of left their native

language behind. They, you know,
vicariously learned from the

children of how to speak better
English. And we kind of taught

them, because obviously, they
were adults when they came,

there was no education for them,
as far as you know, available to

them like there was to us. So
they utilized our schooling to

help them speak better English.
And yeah, they were very proud,

very proud. That's great, yeah,
yeah. Amazing, man. Amazing. So

are you enjoying Nashville?
You're five years in love. It

was a good move. Oh, tremendous.
Yeah. My only regret is not

doing it way sooner. Yeah, yeah.
I don't. I really have a desire.

No offense, I love where I came
from. I love everything that

seasons of life, yeah? I just, I
just where I it's just, you

know, just something about
Nashville Music City. I mean,

somebody is writing a song right
now. Somebody's got to do the

demo, a band's got to get put
together. I mean, that Nashville

airport is just nothing but dues
with guitar cases, yeah, symbol

cases coming and going, yeah. I
mean, I was catching a flight to

go to a show, and Keith Urban
did a three piece band show

there, over by, by the tootsies
area the southwest, there's a

little stage, yeah, there's a
little stage there in the

corner. And it's like, I hear
all this ruckus, and I'm like,

Wow, that sounds really good,
you know? And I went over there,

made an appearance at the
airport. Couldn't believe it.

That's unbelievable. Maybe
they're doing more things like

that. I think they are, because
the modus operandi there has

been the union will get you that
as you're going exiting to go

get your bags. There's a tiny
little stage here by this coffee

shop. Yeah, yeah. I think it
pays 40 bucks. Oh, really, yeah,

it's a union gig. Oh, I didn't
know that. I.

I think Keith probably showed up
and said, I'm gonna play there.

Just get off. He's kind of got
that cloud. It wasn't that

stage, though. It was. It was a
it was further in, yeah, okay,

yeah. So that I, whenever I'm
through there, you see somebody

at old red you see somebody at
tootsies. You know, is there

somebody playing? So what stage?
Wasn't the stage in Tootsie?

Yeah, it was, no, no. It was
past tootsies. And it was, like,

a little, it's by eighth and
roast. When you go past that,

there's a little, a little wing,
and I think old red is right

there. And there's this little,
it's this little setback, yes,

not very big, yeah. And, and I'm
like, hear this? Bang, bang,

bang. You know guitar. I'm like,
Wow, these guys are really good.

I turned a corner and like, Wow,
that's pretty Do you have since

you're at the airport so much,
do you have your

your go tos? Like, I know that I
love to go to in the southwest

wing. I think it's an eighth and
roast, or it's another one of

these hipster

barista parlor. Okay, I'll go to
the barista parlor. I'll get my

coffee. But they got these
Wolfgang Pucks and their little,

these little protein pucks. Oh,
really. Get it Wolfgang. I get

it again. So anyways, I'll, you
know, that's my go to for the

for the flight, is my and what's
the name of the place? Barista,

barista parlor. I haven't seen
that one. Yeah, maybe you're on

the other wing. I always go to
West guy. No, I do Delta more.

Okay, so you're in the other I
just kind of scoot into sky club

and just kind of hang. Oh, yeah.
Kind of hang, oh, it's so nice.

Yeah, it's very nice. Now, does
it? Do you get a lot of points,

and that allows you to do that.
You have to pay the year. Well,

you could pay or you do points.
I just used to do points, and

they got food in there. Oh, it's
great. Drinks. Yeah, you're not

a member of any sky club where
you nobody really clean

bathrooms. Nice. It's important.
Yeah, you should. You should

probably look into it. I like
that sky club thing. I will say

that. You know, recent years,
we've been flying private more

because Jason's kind of got the
mug, yeah, and it's great

because you just park your car,
you walk in, you get your

coffee, and they load the thing
up, you boom, and it's 10 times

as fast as a commercial flight.

Not bad. Don't you miss being
grow up by TSA though. You

know, the funny thing about TSA
is, you all that rigmarole,

right? And they say that they
catch maybe 2% of the things.

So, and then the other thing I
got to complain about is I'm,

I'm Global Entry, I'm clear,
pre, and I'm TSA Pre, right,

right? The lines end up being
the same because now they're

just given that stuff to anytime
clear the line, the line of

clear is usually longer. It's
easier to go through TSA Pre and

scoot through there. Yeah,
that's ridiculous. You know,

it's kind of like when, when,
uh, Instagram and Twitter were

selling the blue check. Yeah?
Like, yeah, you can buy it now.

Nobody's special, yeah, I know,
yeah, Elon, that's right.

Family, well, actually,
Instagram, I think, started that

too. And yeah, meta, now, have
you gotten your, your your

verification on tick tock,
because you have to show your

driver's license. I don't
necessarily feel good about

that. You already did. We got
that for you a long time ago.

Oh, you got to check for me.
Yeah? Or the rich Redmond show,

tick tock. Not rich. Redmond,
show for rich. Redmond, oh yeah,

yeah. So what's the hesitation
on showing your license? I don't

know because, because

the DMV doesn't already, the
government doesn't. Everybody's

got everything on you, right? I
know. So let's talk about the

government. Okay, let's get

where do we start?

Are we? Are we conspiratorial
minded here, or is the earth

flat around? I would say, I
would probably say that I'm

definitely conspiratorial minded
as am I. You know, Jim loves

these tangents. In the 90s, I
jumped on the whole X Files

thing, and that was my gateway
into the conspiracies.

I try to be very selective about
what conspiracies I talk to and

who I talk to them for, because
it seems like it can turn into a

very interesting dynamic. There
are some people that really take

it to extremes. There is people
who take it to an extreme, but I

will say that Alex Jones has
been vindicated, man, I'm glad

you brought him up. I listened
to him a long time ago, quite

intently, in the 90s, you know.
And he had the End Games and,

you know, the Obama deception
and all that stuff, all those

videos and, and they're very
compelling. He makes a

compelling argument. You know,
it's good to be open minded,

listen, yeah, because now the
big thing is Project Blue Beam.

Have you been hurt hearing about
all the drones? Oh, yeah, UAP

sightings over New Jersey and
Northeast and everything as

well. Yeah, so what? But which,
which ones are you passionate

about

that you don't mind? Because we
know the Earth is round, okay,

we know I don't understand. I'm
a tree though. Yes, I'm

intrigued by the full, Flat
Earther concept, like, it

doesn't make sense to me,
because when you fly, okay, you

can, I don't know if it's just
suggested that there's a

curvature to the earth, because
we've been told that. Or you

look out the window of a plane,
you're like, Yeah, I can kind of

see, you know that there's, I
don't know. I've never been to

space, yeah, so I can't really
tell you we see.

The Earth. I'd like to believe
that too. I like to believe that

too. We see, my thing has always
been, you see other planets in

their round, why would be the we
be the exception, and why would

we it's a planet. I mean, it's
flat. Why would we even bother

trying to perpetrate it? What's
the purpose behind it? Wow,

where this is going to be fun.

So Marty Ray was on my podcast.
Oh yeah, he's great. He actually

is, I think, a believer in
flatter. I'm like, Really, yeah,

I'm intrigued by that whole as a
lot of people that are having a

lot to say about that nowadays
and and to me, I just kind of, I

try to embrace it. I'm not
seeing it. But hey, man, what do

I know? I can't I'm just one
guy, you know, I can't prove

that it's true. I can't prove
it's not true. It's fun to talk

about, yeah, it's fun to talk
about, yeah. It's, you know,

it's like, when you got in
trouble, when you're a kid,

you're like, I'm not saying I
did it. I'm not saying I didn't

say I didn't, neither confirm
nor do. I'm not saying nothing.

So I'm just gonna leave it at
that. Yeah, be really careful

about that's good. What are some
other ones that are that I've

Oh, 911 Oh, that's a biggie. Did
we land on the moon? Oh, that

right? There's another one,
right? There's the movie, right?

Fly Me To The Moon with garlic.
Johansen, but, I mean, it's not,

it's not uncommon. That's true,
that truth is stranger than

fiction. You even had a movie
like wag the dog back in the

90s, where they fabricated, you
know, a false flag event that

spurred on and a distraction
from a presidential controversy

Allah Clinton. So it was, it's
not uncommon for these things to

happen, like even the the FBI,
not the FBI, but the United

Healthcare shooter.

It's almost I was part of a
conversation not too long ago,

and they were talking, you know,
he was a rich kid and blah,

blah, blah and all this other
stuff. And this happened, and he

went dark. And I'm like, I'm
like, But doesn't that scream

Patsy to you? I mean, a little
bit of Lee Harvey Oswald going

on here. I mean, this is that
guy was a trained assassin man.

Well, they say it's easier,
easier to fool someone, then

they convince them that they've
been fooled, right? So anyway, I

mean, but why did he go and get
caught on camera buying wet

protein bars or something
McDonald's? Oh, what the he's

trying to get a McRib or
something. You know, he took his

season for McRibs,

hard to kind of duplicate
somebody in a vicinity. I mean,

maybe, okay, he's wearing this.
He typically wears a hoodie,

yeah? You know. And then you,
you can actually get those. I've

seen these masks. They look
legit, dude. You can look like

Kanye West, it's scary, yeah,
yeah. Jim Carrey, right? Joe

Biden, are they wearing? Is they
selling these like an online

retailer? Yeah, they're just
like a little stocking mask

it's, they've been doing masks
forever. I mean, as far as,

like, you know, I mean, look at
face off, you know, the movie,

you know, right? Nick Cage. Pick
the end of, uh, Captain America,

Winter Soldier, where she takes
the whole basket off her face.

And it turns out to be Natalie,
yeah, Black Widow. But what do

we know, right? But that's the
thing, is that, are they telling

us something with these movies
that came like, all of a sudden

they came out with, they say,
like, they say, they deliver

their agenda through, right
through entertainment. But

again, you know, you had civil
war that came out just

suggesting that, or just
suggesting you've got homestead

coming out that's another movie
that's all about, you know,

like, what are they telling us?
What are you guys planning?

Yeah, what are you planning?

Jim, what is one of those secret
societies where you have to be

approached to be in it, and they
have a meeting, and they're,

it's not the it's the Mason.
Masons. You got the big one is,

uh, Illuminati. Illuminati. But
if you were approached to be a

Mason, would you do it? I don't
even know what really is, it's

like, is that like joining the
Oaks Lodge?

You have to be asked, right?
Well, every town has a Masonic

Temple, you know, with a whole
thing. And, yeah, there's, there

are people that proudly wear it
too, yeah, and there's people

that wear it. Don't even
understand what they're wearing.

They just, you know, it's part
of fashion, part of, you know,

because, I mean, the Masons were
some of the founders of the

country, right, you know, right?
George Washington. George

Washington, Mason, yeah. Then
you watch national treasure with

Nicolas Cage. Yeah, that a lot
to do with that, all the

symbolism on the dollar and,
yeah, things of that. Yeah,

that's true. Now, now back to
music.

So much simpler,

conspiracies and music, yeah,
let's talk about, I gotta say,

bunch of those. It's gotta be so
satisfying to play music with

Lou Graham. It's pretty amazing.
Yeah, one of the greatest rock

singers of all time, arguably,
arguably, probably the greatest

of a generation. I mean, of top
three, you know, you have, if

like, well, you think of the AR
era that he's from, sticks

journey, Warner, reo, the Big
Four, if you will, yeah, you

know, he's right up there with,
you know, I mean, in my top

three, Steve Perry, Paul Rogers
and Luke.

Am all Rogers, you know, now you
got a chance to play with them.

Yeah, we did. We did a bunch of
shows when I was when I was

playing with Lou last tenure.

We did several shows with that,
and that was incredible. I

remember he's a nice chap too.
He's not, he's incredible. He's

just a nice guy, regular guy. I
got to play with him last year

on a television show. He came in
with his yellow tambourine. He

said it proudly down on the drum
riser, basically pointed out.

And he was like, That's my
tambourine. That's my tamper.

Don't be very proud of that
tambourine. And he plays it

great, yeah, yeah, don't touch
it. He's incredible. Yeah, don't

even look at it, yeah, don't
look at it. My tambourine, my

tambourine.

We would constantly invite him
out to our encore because we

were direct support for bad
company. And we used to open up

the Encore with the instrument,
instrumental version of hot all

right now into hot blooded. So
we would,

every day, every you know, we
get into a city, we'd pop in

his, in his in his dress room,
and say, Hey Paul, you know, if

you want to come sit in with us.
That'd be great, you know, I'll

think about it. I'll think about
it now. Little backstory, so

Paul is Lou's idol singer, like
That's his favorite singer and

person who's emulated. So one
night, he decided to surprise

us, and we got done playing the
All right now instrumentation.

And every once in a while, Lou
would like do a verse of all

right now, and it would be all
predicated on his mood. And we'd

have to really be on our on our
game to make sure that, you

know, we didn't end it. And he,
if he wanted to sing it, we

would continue to play at least
the verse of the song and then

go into hot blooded, well, this
one particular night, Lou came

out from the left side of the
stage, and he started singing,

you know, yeah, she was, you
know, just a verse. And then

from the right side of the stage
Paul came, and it was like, I

had, like, goosebumps, things
like this, two other they were

kind of, like, not trying to
outdo each other singing, but,

you know, polite battle. Yeah,
there they were. They were, you

know, and it was really cool. It
was really cool. And it's

similar, because they got
similar feels and tempos. Yeah,

I think hot blooded might be a
little faster. Um, yeah, I can't

remember what, what, yeah,

yeah, very similar, yeah, yeah,
but that would be a good medley.

Did you guys just keep the same
same tempo? Yeah, we kept the

same tempo and went ready to it.
And the other thing too is that

I don't know if a lot of people
know this or not, but Lou

started out as a drummer. I know
that, yes, yeah. So yeah, band

Black Sheep that he was in
before foreigner, and then he

came out and they couldn't find
a singer. Well, he realized,

Hey, I'm a pretty damn good
singer. Yeah, maybe I should

stand in the front of the band.
I think that's what makes his

vocal style unique too. Is
probably because his his, how he

delivers the cadence of his
vocals. It's a very different

mindset. You probably could
speak to that. I mean, you, you,

I don't know if you do, you
sing. I sing in the shower.

Yeah, that's amazing.

Well, it's almost like Eminem
with his the way he would

pattern, the syncopation of his
lyrics and stuff like that, are

very drum Eminem man, he
squeezes so much and so much

density into like, Lin Manuel,
Miranda, yeah, you know the way

he writes his stuff, like,
there's like, 80% more

information in Hamilton than any
other Broadway show. Wow.

Because he had to stuff up in a
lot of information, historical

information in the show, yeah.
So he's playing with Lou. Is

incredible. He's amazing singer,
mate, you know, legend. And

seems to me like it'd be a nice
guy, great guy. Yeah, he's

really, really down to earth,
salt of the earth. Just like,

kind of gather, we'd like eat
with you, and catering, kind of,

oh yeah, oh yeah. I just had
some. We had breakfast last

weekend together sitting in the
hotels, yeah, talking about,

they passed the hot sauce, yeah,
past.

So you know what's so funny is
that foreigners celebrating

what, 50 years coming up on 50
years, yeah, and I think I saw

them on their

30th, okay, at the at the wild
horse saloon. Oh, wow. And one

of my childhood heroes, Denny
karmas, was playing. Oh, really.

And

after that, Lou got sick, I
think is in the 90s, I think,

like, yeah, yeah. Very
unfortunate situation. So it was

brain cancer. No, no. He had a
brain tumor. Brain tumor, yeah,

it was non cancerous. And he
found a doctor in Boston that

was able to to thankfully,
remove it without doing too much

damage and, and here he is still
persevering, you know, 74 years

old, still sounding great, yeah.
And God bless him. I mean, I

can't imagine what it would have
been like, not, you know, having

something happen. God forbid
that back then, you know, yeah,

he's a amazing human being, and
I'm very grateful. Yeah, and

does he live in upstate New
York? He splits his time between

Florida in upstate New York.
Yeah, we actually grew up in the

same town in Rochester, on the
west side, little town of gates,

went to the same high school
different times. Of course, he's

Yeah, so our families, our
families were friends. Has he

been honored by his high school
or, yeah, he's in a high school

hall of fame, and he's in the
Rochester Music Hall of Fame,

yeah? And he's.

Getting inducted in 2025 with
black sheep, the only person in

the roster Music Hall of Fame to
be inducted twice now. Yeah,

there's a new question, wow. I
want to start bringing forth.

Yeah, man, in this show that I
keep it, we did it in the last

one with Mr. John spittle being
that you're living in the same

town. Do you be like, Lou, come
on over. Let's hang Yeah, we've

done that before. Yeah, we've
been at should we have parties

dinner, you know, does he have
you to his house? Oh, yeah,

yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, it's
pretty cool. Yeah, he's, he's, I

mean,

he's a regular guy. I mean, it's
really, really, he puts on his

underwear one love at a time,
which is funny, because I put

mine on two legs at a time. You
just jump in. I'm like a hero.

It's, you just jump right in. Is
that? What that spider man, that

shield is, Jim is that would be
Captain America, sorry. My bad,

my bad. And Eddie Van Halen
behind that? Well, my wife

painted that. You can't see
this. I really got to get a

camera on that. Yeah, Courtney
painted that. That's awesome.

That's cute. I said it's called
frankenstrat. Yeah, that's

right. Frankenstrand, that's
right. Have you read their book?

This is another thing. Well, I
was gonna say

Edward has got to be a hero,
right? Totally.

We're similar. We're all similar
age. Jim is a youngster. Jim's

48 Sure.

Jim is 49 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I
commanded you not whipping out

your calculator on your phone. I
was doing my math. You're a

drummer. So you can figure that
out. So you should figure that

out quick. Yeah, have you read
their book? Alex's book? No, I

have it on audio I haven't
busted into yet. I'm trying to

finish Rick Rubin's book right
now. Oh, and

how's that? It's pretty cool.
Yeah, pretty cool. I can't sit

and listen to it at length. I
have to do it in chunks. But I

have, I have Alex's book. I also
was sent

Rosen's book, that tone chaser
book, that really thick book, he

did all the conversations when
he was working for the guitar

magazine, and he had all the
interviews, actually, for all

the interviews, really, that's
pretty cool, yeah, but it's,

there's a lot of information.
There's so many books. I haven't

read the GroEL book. I haven't
read the Alex Van Halen book.

Bernard Purdy's got a book,
yeah? Um, some other drummers

got it. And then Robin flans put
out a second Jeff per carro

book. Oh, really, remember we
interviewed, yes, Robin, yeah,

well, I mean, with Alex, because
he reads it, and, yeah, oh,

that's cool. And he's, it's so
it's kind of funny to listen to

him, because HE CHUCKLES at
himself. I just saw, I just saw

a interview he did with Anderson
Cooper. That was, yeah, that I

need to watch it. Yeah, that
was, I didn't watch the whole

thing. I just watched an excerpt
from it where he talked about,

you know, Eddie's last moments.
And that's pretty incredible. I

remember where I was when I
found out I was, I think I was,

it

was hanging out with Ryan, Ryan
cook and Philip s house. Who are

guys, national guys. We were
having lunch, I think, at Moby

Dickies up in Hendersonville
and, and it came across all our

phones, and it was just like, we
were having a really good time,

and, and, and then that news
came in, everybody was just kind

of like deflated. It was like,
Holy shit, yeah, he's like, a

world without Eddie Van Halen,
yeah, it's incredible. And we

found out neil peart passed
right on when we were recording

the show, yeah, like, I did a
lot of you know, at the time I

was doing a lot of research, and
I think we had

Cole Marcus, good try. Cole
Marcus was on, and I just again

right on there, Neil Peart dead
at 6465

and you see my visceral
reaction, yeah, as I find out,

yeah, I don't remember where I
was when I found out about

Eddie, but I was like, come on,
two in one year. For crying out

loud, I remember where I was
when Elvis died and I was a kid,

you know, but I remember that.
But I think Eddie impacted me

just as much being a big elves
fan. It was just like, you know?

And then Wolfie put out
distance. Well, also, yeah, he

put that out, but he also did a
behind the music. It's, it's, I

want to say it's on one of the
streaming platforms. Might be

Amazon, yeah, but there's a new
one behind the music on

Wolfgang, and it goes into a lot
like, you see the like, Eddie

with the steroid treatment. His
face is swollen, but he's still

smiling. Yeah, he's still got
that impish smile. But that

song, the distance, yeah, the
voicemail about his dadly. I

mean, you can just tell that
Eddie loved Wolfie so much. Oh

gosh, so touching. I mean, every
time I have a tough time

listening to it, I get really
emotional. You know, I ain't

heard of any wolfies music. Oh,
you haven't. I got I gotta check

out at his band. Yeah? He plays
everything. He does everything

himself. Plays all, yeah, yeah.
He was on drummeo Recently,

yeah. Do you see that? That was
great. He's such a gifted, of

course, gifted drummer. He would
look at the mentor he had, I

know, right, you know, and
mentors, yeah, his uncle and his

father, right? Because his uncle
never played with anybody else.

No, he wouldn't. He won't. Nope.
Wolfie on dremio note to sell.

Yeah, yeah. We need to try and
get him on. Yeah, man.

Why? Imagine we get both Wolfie
and Alex on either to try to do

that. Yeah, man, yeah, because
Alex is doing, he's not a hermit

anymore. He's doing interviews.
Get on it. Jim. Anyways,

so what was the we were talking
to, John spittle before this

about, you know, the catalyst
records. And it was, you know,

we're all similar age. So it
was, it was

1984 Van Halen and and
synchronicity from the police.

What was your big record? That
was like, I'm gonna do this with

my life. That basically broke
from your parents music to your

you. This is my music. Yeah,
yeah. Well, I remember in the in

the mid 70s, like I was
listening to the Saturday Night

Fever soundtrack, heck yeah. And
grease soundtrack. And then I

think the edgiest thing that
came out was Charlie Daniels the

Devil Went down to George I had
it on the Columbia Records and

tapes club, yeah. And then a
friend of mine laid Van Halen

one on me. And and you know that
running with the devil bomb. We

just talked It's unbelievable,
right? Like, that's the song,

because it was, it was life
changing, and but it wasn't

until eruption you listen to
that you're trying to figure

out. You hear the horned car
horn, you know? And you listen

to run with the devil and which
is incredible. And you're like,

holy shit, this is incredible.
Then then eruption comes on, and

it was like, What is this like?
What is this an instrument? Is

this a keyboard? Is this a
guitar? And it just blew my

mind. I didn't even really play
guitar yet at that time, I was

playing other instruments at the
time. Oh, were they? Well, I

started out as a drummer,
awesome for about six months to

a year, and then I left that,
and I started playing violin in

grammar grade school. And then I
went from from that to trumpet

until I got braces, right, as
you can imagine, with the

mouthpiece, then with the
saxophone. And then I kind of

lost interest. And then I as an
elective in eighth grade in

middle school, I took guitar. It
was guitar keyboards. I took

guitar. I figured, you know,
guitar might be cool, more

portable, yeah. Well, I just, I
was thinking about the whole,

you know, the whole chick, yeah,
exactly. I mean, the keyboard

guy. I mean, although, oh, you
could wear it like Chick Corea,

but it's still not cool. The
guitar, yeah, but, you know, I'm

kind of kicked myself for not
playing keyboards, but I'm glad

I play guitar, you know, see,
I'm glad I play guitar. I think

the guitar players attract a
certain kind of chick woman. And

Billy Joel told a story at UConn
once about he wasn't exactly

popular,

and he didn't have the look
right, but he didn't know how to

play classical piano, and he was
really good at it and everything

he says, I finally got invited
to a party, like a high school

party, and nobody talked to me.
I was by myself and just hanging

out. And I walked around the
house, and lo and behold, in one

of the rooms, it was a piano,
and I started playing. And you

know, I was just kind of
noodling around, and I look up

and there was a girl standing
there, so I got even more into

it. And he was playing, he's I
looked up and there were three

girls standing there, and he was
like, Okay, this is why

something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that, I
mean, hearing Eddie Van Halen

and trying to do that on the
guitar when I, you know, knew

nothing about the interest, no,
YouTube, no. I mean, did someone

did like guitar? Were there
magazines back and then where

they would do transcriptions,
tablature? No, tab, tab, tab.

Wasn't even really, wasn't even
a thing, yet, it was always

situation, yeah, you know. And
it was always wrong, you know,

that never really made sense,
you know, if you transpose the

instrument.

But Eddie Van Halen never took
credit for the tapping

technique. Well, just, he just
kind of developed it. But there

was people before him to do that
too. So he just, I said, he got

it from Jimmy Page. Oh, really,
yeah, there's a video of him.

It's called what it means to be
American, and it's about an hour

long. And he talks about, he
says, Look, I just saw Jimmy

Page, you know, kind of doing
this thing, but he did it on one

hand, and he's like, Oh, that's
what he's doing. And he says,

but if I add my other hand, look
what I can do. And that's how it

started. And that's interesting.
You say that too, because back

then you said there was no
videos, there's no tab, there's

no, you know. So you had them
live. You had to, you had to put

the record out, yeah, see it
live, yeah. There was no MTV,

right? There was no, you know,
YouTube. So you had to, like,

imagine, put the record needle
on the record or cassette tape,

and have to try to figure it out
yourself. What was your first

concert? First concert? Well, I
saw a bunch of concerts with my

folks. The first concert I went
to without my folks was rush.

Oh, my moving pictures. Big one.
Moving Pictures to her, wow.

That was incredible. Which ones
you go see with your folks? A

bunch of them. I mean, they took
me to see some local bands. I

saw a journey with my dad. He
took me to go see which journey

is my Neil Shawn is my favorite.
Oh, my, number one. He's your

number one guy. Number one guy.
Number one guy. Yeah, nice,

yeah. What do you think about
all the controversy with that?

That's good, that's happening. I
mean, you know, he's your guy,

but it's like, dude, just, What?
What? Just stop. Yeah, what's

controversy? It's like he and he
and Jonathan Cain are, like,

fighting all

there. You know, there's
ownership dispute.

And all that crap. And, well, I
think I could throw this out

there and safely say that in
music and in bands, it's not

really the music that breaks up
the bands. It's the business

that breaks up bands exactly
Publish. And, well, publishing

is one, one aspect of it, but
there's, you know, the longer

I'm in this business, the more I
realize that, you know, if to

really have a good business
acumen is really an advantage

for yourself, to have your T's
crossed and your eyes dotted.

And the more I learn about
different bands, and the deeper

I get into things I hear well,
you know, that's why this band

broke up, or that's why that
band, these guys hate each

other, and it's really
unfortunate situation, because I

think we all get into it for one
common, you know, theme, one

cause, because we love the play,
and like you said early on, you

know, it draws attention to you.
So if you're a kid, you're

having trouble finding friends,
or it's identity, yeah, it kind

of helps you. It helps you, you
know, break out of your social

awkwardness,

but it's really disheartening.
When you some of your heroes,

you see them go through what
they're going through in the

struggle. It's really
unfortunate, but you gotta get a

wonder if it's self inflicted,
though, I think a lot of itself,

yeah, they live to a certain,
uh, level, and then all of us,

they get used to it, and then
maybe the money gets tight, or

something changes, and, you
know, all of a sudden, they

gotta change up their lifestyle.
I'm not changing my lifestyle,

you're gonna change your
lifestyle, ego, greed, you know,

all that kind of stuff. You
know, you have handlers telling

you how great you are, and yes,
man, everywhere. Yeah, exactly,

exactly. So, Neil Shaw, Neil,
yeah. So you're the kind of guy

which you just like play all the
solos, note for note. I try to,

yeah, but I've, I've tried to
take, I've tried to take what

I've learned from those guys,
and try to morph it into style

my own, yeah? And try to take
from those Luke there and Neil

and Eddie and Randy Rhoads and
people like that, yeah, now when

you're playing with Lou, yeah,
and you got these iconic,

um, uh, guitar solos,

kind of gotta have to have to
have to, because even the soccer

mom out there is singing it.
Nobody cares what I think about

the soul they want to hear with
the way it was played, yeah, you

know. And I have to do the best
I can. But fortunately for me,

lose generous enough, and he's
done that, done this with, you

know, all the guitar players
after me is, you know, he'll

extend soul sections and and
he'll encourage you to take a

little bit of liberty and be
yourself a little bit, you know,

nice. So that's really the cool
aspect about him, is, is he's

just a real generous Yeah. Now,
who is that I am? It's a total

brain fart. I think it's a
privilege. And thing, who was

that drummer that you play with
all the time in Rochester? Oh,

Rob. Rob mount, Rob. Yeah, I
haven't seen Rob forever. Yeah,

I haven't seen him in I haven't
talked to him in a while. You

guys were great on that
together. He's really good.

Yeah. In fact, that that gig
that we met was his first show

with Lou, yeah, and you were
there. And I think the next

night, Steve Gadd was there, and
I think Kenny Aronoff was at one

of the shows in his first little
round of shows. It's so funny

Steve gadd's Son, yeah, Carlo
runs front of house. He did, he

did for a while. Yeah, wow,
yeah, yeah, amazing. Yeah, it's

incredible, because I was
sitting at the canyon club.

Yeah, you know, and I, I'm on a
date. This is after my second,

second divorce. Um, just call me
Ross. I'm the divorce guy. Um,

excuse me, there's Steve get and
Carol, like, sitting at the

table next, right behind me. I'm
like, I'm like, What are you

doing? My son's running front of
house. Like, yeah, incredible.

And then we got to do a bunch of
fun educational stuff together,

yeah, um, we got to be
counselors at the Rock and Roll

fantasy camp. I think this was
2017 something like that. Yeah?

And you have, I think, for
several years, me, you and Luis

Espaillat have been

players at the School of Rock
thing where we do once a year at

the Ryman, and it's great.
You're so great with the kids,

and you're so giving of your
time, and they love you. And you

like that. You like education?
Totally Yeah. Totally Yeah,

totally Yeah. I taught for a
long time when my kids were

little and I wasn't touring, you
know, I was teaching out of a

music store, and I had, you
know, like, about 5060, students

a week, you know, with a with a
healthy waiting list. I was very

fortunate, yeah. And, you know,
the cool aspect is, you can

attest to this is, is, is, you
know, teaching, helping kids

achieve their goals and
perpetuating what we do, and

seeing them go on. And then some
become successful, or some

decide to take a departure, but
they take principles that you've

taught them and to whatever they
do. And then you run into them

later on, and they'll say, like,
I still play guitar. Or, you

know, if it wasn't for you, I
wouldn't have, you know, I know

I had this one student that was
incredible. It was a young kid

named Matthew ran aletta back in
Rochester, and

anything I taught him, like, the
next week, he'd have down, like,

eruption is one of the things I
was working on with him. And he

came back and I.

I don't know what to teach this
kid. Well, he was falling on his

grades, and his dad showed up
and said, you know, we're gonna

pull him out of the lessons
because, you know, he wanted to

get his education in order.
We're gonna use it as a tool to

straighten him out. And once he
gets his grades up, he'll come

back. He came back. Parents were
very grateful. I was very, you

know, trying to help them as
well.

I did a corporate event, and I
can't remember where the

corporate event was, with Lou,
and it was acoustic, and we got

done doing sound check, and this
guy comes out of the kitchen

with a chef. Get up on right?
He's like a head chef, and he

says, Are you Michael sarato? I
said, he goes, You remember me?

And I said, Where do I know you
from? He goes, it's me. Matthew

reynaletta, oh, my God. I'm
like, wow. What like? What do

you do with your life? It was on
the head chef at this country

club, blah, blah, blah. And I
just want to thank you for all

the discipline that you helped
me with in my guitar playing. I

was able to apply it to my life,
and I was able to achieve it

almost like kind of blown away.
I mean, I away. I mean, I don't

live in that headspace, but it's
the stories like that that

become really gratifying. So to
answer your question, yes, I

enjoy, I totally enjoy working
with school of rock and and, and

I'm amazed by, like, this area,
School of Rock, and how good the

kids, right? The Prague candy
and Kelly, oh man, they do such

a great job and and I enjoy
doing their their functions all

the time. And I'm amazed at how
good the kids are. They're so

good. And it's really redeeming,
because as we get older and we

are our generations age out,
we're losing, you know, these

players. There's least some
replenishment, because you start

to think of like, who's going to
replace? Yeah, you know, we're

losing them faster than we're,
you know, because kids are

basically learning to DJ. Now,
let's you know what I mean. It's

like making music on computers
and everything. Yeah, they're

just like DJ, yeah. And they can
learn a lot easier, like we were

talking about earlier, not
having MTV or YouTube or or, you

know, different things to help
us learn quicker. They can just

draw, like my kids, they won't
even my both my kids play guitar

and sing. They won't let me show
them a damn thing. Like they

won't. I can't give my kids,
like, tips or lessons or

whatever, everything's Come to
dad. Yeah, and they're

incredible, like, when they play
and sing, it just brings a tear

to my eye. And, yeah, it's
emotional. That's got to be

very, very seriously. That's the
most frustrating thing about a

parent. Man, yeah, being a
parent, that's for sure. Well,

Ian, my son, you met Ian? Yeah,
he's part of the Young Life

organization at Belmont, and
he's playing his guitar and

performing with it, with the
youth group. And, you know, it's

incredible. What did he decide
to major in

biochemistry, biochemical,
biochemical engineering, or

genetics, or whatever. What do
you do with that? I don't know.

Make money.

I don't know. Oh, my God, he's
doing great. Yeah, that's

incredible. We'll give him my
best. Yeah, I will. That's

incredible. Yeah, you know, it's
everyone always asked me, Hey,

are you going to do your
drummers weekends? Yeah, because

I did that for four years and
it's so much work to organize

those things. But I do

just love the fact that we did
those for four years, because

some of the kids that are that
go through that program more

than just the the impact that
you could potentially have on

them, yeah, they all keep in
touch with each other, yeah, and

they lift each other up, and
it's like, they're all going to

these major music schools or
graduating, or getting touring

jobs or getting session work, or
I'm like, Wow, there's just a

small part in that is really
cool, you know, especially like

with rock and roll fantasy camp,
some of those business people

that you know you're dealing
with, alpha males, yeah, you

know, CEOs, they go every year.
Some of them go every year. Oh,

and they go in multiple camps.
But you know, the wrangle those

people into, you know,
organizing them to be cohesive,

and then, you know, it can get
well, you remember, you I think

your room was very across from
my room right next year, some of

those people were like, you
know, they were, I thought,

like, I thought my group was
gonna, like, throw punches at

one point, yeah, but by the end
of the night, you know, by end

of the weekend, I'm sorry at the
Whiskey a Go, go in Hollywood,

everyone's embracing each other,
you know, I'm still keeping in

touch with everybody you know.
And you make lifelong friends. I

mean, you know, and, and, you
know, unassuming as you know,

our lead singer, Laura, is in
charge of the blonde lady,

right? Blond lady? Yes. She
comes every year. She's in

charge of the Hollywood
Christmas parade. Yes, with Eric

Estrada, yes. And she co hosted,
yes. It's like, her thing? Yeah,

it's like crazy. Yeah. I
actually Teddy zigzag, who

played in the last version of
The Guess Who with me,

participated in that, and he
actually called me and asked me

if I was available to go out and
participate in that Christmas

parade. And I thought that was
the coolest thing in the whole

world. That's amazing. I didn't
get a chance to do it because I

was already committed to
something else. But I mean, wow.

You know, I mean Teddy zigzag,
wow. I mean, he was the keyboard

player in Guns and Roses, and
then he was the keyboard player

with Billy Bob Thornton's band,
the Walter trout. Billy Bob

Thornton, yeah, he's his total
character, Billy. He's still, I

mean, Teddy, Teddy's incredible.
Just, just if he's a character,

I love him. I mean, he could be
a stand up comedian. He was at

camp with us too. Oh, he is
funny. He's.

Hilarious, so funny, yeah, yeah,
man, great guy. Incredible,

incredible, yeah, I'm saying
that a lot today. Sorry, guys,

that's gonna have to add that to
the potential phrases that we

could put on our merch.
Incredible, incredible,

incredible, well, that was fun.
Well, that was fun. Nice.

Where's the bathroom? Yeah, I'm
heading to the bathroom again,

right? It's the aging you
believe that a lot too? It's the

aging bladder. It really, really
is so aging bladder. You have a

theory about drinking water
before a show, I cut off liquids

90 minutes before a show, I put
myself into dehydration that

will allow me to have an empty
bladder when I get on stage, and

then I can hydrate a little bit
on stage, and our show is only

90 minutes right now. You guys
were talking little before we

got on camera, uh, about Taylor
Swift's three and a half hour

show, yeah? MATT Billingsley, I
sure hope there's a pee break in

there, where there's a track
maybe, and the dancers go out

and maybe the set change. I

can't go three and a half hours
without pee. Hopefully has a

little area pipe and drapery
with a bucket, yeah, drums where

you can just something slip in
there real quick. Or maybe it's

just, like connected, like an
astronaut.

Yeah, he could just have a bag.
He's got a catheter, right? You

can have a catheter. That's
horrible. I don't think you want

to be that active with a
catheter. No,

just the thought of that. One of
those infomercials that just

roll

tell us about this new project
with our friend Troy laketa from

Tesla Riz and the believers.
Yeah, incredible. It's happy

music, it's happy music, it's
world music. It's upbeat, it's

reggae, it's world it's pop,
it's a little bit of country. So

Riz

is a young artist, dynamic
artist, from Reno, Nevada. Okay,

Troy's son, Troy Jr, was
producing him. Asked Troy to

play drums on a couple tracks
while he was out visiting in

Sacramento. And this was all
kind of in motion two years ago

at that point. Yeah, exactly,
exactly. And, and he jumped on

board to the to the Riz train,
and just realize how dynamic and

the potential that Riz has, and
and it's just a matter of time

until the whole world is
understanding what we all see

right now. But so Riz, I'm
sorry. Troy brought Riz to

Nashville and started working on
the all the recordings we've

been doing, yeah, for the last
couple years. And Troy invited

me to come out play on one
track, and it was this, the

first single. Don't stop. Don't
stop trying. I gotta we talked

about journey. I got journey to
brain. Don't totally and it

expanded into the entire first
EP, plus there's a second EP.

We've done two videos. We were
just in Ocean Way studios over

the summer recording seven or
eight new songs for another

release, and we did a bunch of
showcase here in town. We played

city binary. We opened up for
the Wailers at the third Lindsay

nice, which is really cool. And
that was an incredible

experience, by the way, the
whalers meeting the whalers.

Yeah, what is the current lineup
of the whalers? I'm not sure,

but it's like it was intense,
man, those guys were, they were

the, you know, they were great.
I think the bass player may have

been somebody. I don't know
enough about them, other than

when I saw them. It was, it was
great. Yeah, I've never

experienced anything like that
before. But Riz is, you know,

he's got,

he's got this really cool
website with his community. He's

trying to build his own, you
know, social network, yeah,

social network. And he's doing a
great job at all of it. So,

risen to believers. I think the
EP, the one that's out right

now, everyday people, it's got
like, five or six tracks on it,

yeah, really, really good. So
it's you. It's Michael Devon,

the player from White Snake.

And I love Peter keys. Peter
keys, he's also done the School

of Rock with us. Yep. Leonard
skater, easy, yeah, badass.

John saloway, who's another
local guy here, singer

songwriter, Troy myself. Who am
I forgetting? Troy Jr, squidly

Cole from Steven Marley's band.
Oh, wow,

yeah. It's a, it's a really
cool, it's, and it's completely

out of my comfort zone, as far
as, you know, playing reggae. I,

you know, it's definitely,
definitely, yeah, I'm a chink

guy. Yeah, you're the chink guy.
Without being, you know, without

being derogatory, yeah, I'm the
chink guy, yeah, one and three,

buddy, dude. I told him. I told
I told I mean, you know, I love

Troy. He goes so far back,
credible drummer. I said, Hey,

if you ever want me to, you
know, play percussion, I will

come running. That's why I kept
one of my

percussion tables. Oh, in case,
in case, Troy says, come

running. I can hang all my jam
blocks and tambourines and wind

chimes. Let me ask it. Is Troy
doing this in between roofing

jobs?

That was the one thing we had
him on. He was a roofer. He

still doesn't. He runs roofing
jobs. Well, I don't think he's

doing it currently, but he did,
you know, when Tesla was down,

he started a roofing company. I
just learned that myself. He's.

Crazy, such a man of many
talents, and he's built like 20

different recording studios over
the years. Yeah, you know, it's

cool. I got a chance to play
with him in the Guess who,

because Gary Peterson ended up
having to have some surgery,

that's right. And Gary's the
original, original runner,

original drummer of The Guess
Who, yep, the original drummer.

And, and, just so our listeners
know guess who the big hits

were? American woman, magic
carpet ride. Nope, these eyes,

these eyes.

No time left for you.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Great
songs. Yeah, Troy. On two days

notice, Gary gets hurt, we call
Troy. Troy. Can you come out and

help us out do a bunch of shows?
And he like a champ. I mean,

learned a set and nailed it.
Yeah? Amazing drummer. I love

that. Amazing guy, yeah, yeah.
We love Troy. Yeah. That's

great. Troy. Laqueta reminds me
of Aaron off learning the Sammy

Hagar van hill right in 24
hours. That's pretty incredible.

The funny story that Troy shared
on our podcast and in very few

other interviews, is that he
told us that he also auditioned

for Mellencamp back in the day.
Yeah. Wow. That cool. Yeah,

super cool. Where would Aronoff
be if that didn't happen? Um,

well, you know, Kenny got asked
to play in the Jerusalem play

timpani in the Jerusalem
symphony. He turned that down,

and there was some sort of like,
Adult Contemporary Lou Rawls.

Wow. He was asked to audition
for Lou Rawls, but then he found

out about a young guy named
Johnny Cougar Seymour, Indiana.

Yeah, right. There's these
moments in our lives, man that

like change us forever. I'm so
glad that I met

a young guitar player named Kurt
Allison, who introduced me to a

young bass player named totally
Kennedy, who introduced me to a

young singer named Jason Lt. And
this is all human relationships,

no resumes, no monster.com
right? No auditions, just people

shaking hands and getting a
feeling about each other. Yeah,

yeah. I think it's indeed these
days, indeed.com Yes. Sorry, is

he? Yeah, I'm showing my age,
but it's true, though. Yeah, did

you said monster.com monster
docs, that's a throwback. I

don't even know if they exist
anymore.

It makes me think of that scene
from the office

where it's a cold open and all
you hear are monster sound

effects coming from Michael's
office, and Jim goes monster.com

singular.

That's great.

Hey, Jim, I'm going to do the
Fast Five, but maybe you should

ask Michael your favorite
question, my favorite question,

yes, okay,

you have to, at one point, quit
everything you're doing,

and for the rest of your life,
you have to pick a band that's a

tribute band,

and hey with the play every day
with this band, what tribute is

it gonna be? Wow,

was

he gonna be one of two? I have
to know it down to one and he

gives two. Again, probably I
would

love to do a journey tribute
band,

because of Neil and probably
kiss. I mean, that'd be cool.

Oh, my God, we haven't talked
about kiss. I know, ace, ace.

Yeah. I mean, have you
entertained the notion of

playing in a journey tribute
band at all? I actually played

in a journey way back in the
day, yeah, when I was, you know,

probably late 80s, early 90s,
had something going on, but it's

a really popular one here in
town. Yeah? That our friend Jim

Handley played right, played
drums in That's right, wasn't

he? Dean's tech at one point.
Yeah, and he's got one of his

old kits. I think he actually
jumped on stage with Jordan,

right, right when Dean fell in
the shower or something like

that, got hurt. Yeah, that's
incredible. What's up? Jim

Handley? He's, uh, what was the
name of the band,

resurrection. Is it
resurrection? They're another

one of those bands that, when
they play third and Linsley, it

is a line out the door. Yeah.
They've run out of chicken

fingers, yeah. But, I mean, they
they play that. We saw them play

somewhere in the park in
Franklin, or something,

Pinkerton, maybe, yeah, or maybe
not. But they were very good.

They were one of the, I think,
one of the country's premier

journey. My brother's in a
journey tribute band in Detroit,

really, yeah, but he's my
brother's issue is that he's the

best guy in the band. What does
he do? Keys? Oh, he's been

playing since he's four or five,
six years old. When you say it's

his issue, he's the best guy in
the band. He doesn't surround

himself with people that are
better than well, we want him to

move to Nashville? Yeah, we're
trying to get him to move down

here. And Dan McCarthy, Dan,
he's, why are you not moving to

Nashville? Dan, come on, Dan,
you getting any younger, buddy?

Well, what make it happen? We'll
convince him. I think the last

trip down here he was it. I I
felt badly because we didn't go

downtown.

Like we should have. But we went
right before they had to leave

and go back, he and his
girlfriend and I gave him a

little taste to lower Broadway
during the day on a Monday, like

one in the afternoon, sure,
sure, sure. He was like a dog

out the window, like they were
playing

Jack and Diane. I mean, there's
like 80 bands down, but the

thing is that you're tall, world
class musician, yes, yeah, that

are just amazing. How long ago
was this? Though, this is, uh,

beginning of October. Okay, so
is this? Because when you go

down to lower, broad, now it's
different, like, the music is

different, repertoire is
different, way different. You

know, like, you see, you see,
like, Flying V guitars. You see

campers. You know guitar, you
know, you hear some kiss, yeah,

you hear some kiss. You hear
Metallica, yeah. You hear

zombies, yep. So what's the
thing with Kiss? Were you

totally enraptured with the
double platinum record? And it

was a visual, yeah, it was a
visual when I was a kid, it was,

you know, the first kiss alive
was just incredible, you know,

just to see Gene Simmons and Ace
and Paul, just that, that whole

thing that they had going, I
was, was so captivated as a kid.

It was like a, like a cartoon,
you know, yeah, entertaining. So

to me, I just latched on to ace,
you know, early on, because, you

know, he was just so damn cool.
Yeah, you know, he lived up in

our area,

in the Northeast. He's still,
he's still in New Jersey area,

New Jersey, yeah, I think it was
reading, yeah, he's a jersey

guy, yeah, yeah. So he used to
play tuxedo junction all the

time. Fraleys Comet yeah for
these comments, yeah. Anton Fig

on the drums, there on that
classic tracks I know. And our

friend Matt Starr has been doing
yeah for many years. Yeah. Did

that thing? Yep, exactly. Matt's
a, Matt's a rock fantasy guy

absolutely cross pass with him,
and spend a lot of time with him

at the i at the whiskey on those
nights, those Monday night jams,

lot of, lot of biker jackets.

I mean, I mean, I think a black
leather jacket is required to

enter. It's a uniform. It's a
uniform. Yeah, it's like a rite

of passage, the Viper in LA,
yeah. I hope the Viper still

stays, but no Matt would have a
jam night every Monday night at

the whiskey, at Go, go. And I
feel like, well, we had Slim Jim

phantom on the show, and I think
slim owns, knows the owner of

the whiskey, and he's like, it's
such a hallowed, iconic landmark

of Los Angeles, I don't think
it's going away. I hope not.

Yeah, that'd be sad about the
Viper. They might not like knock

down that whole strip. They
usually do a for development and

stuff like that. Somebody comes
in with a good chunk of change

and they go see you later. Yeah,
Money Talks, man, you could look

at Nashville, right? And Omni is
not there anymore. I know Omni

went away. I mean, it's changed
so much since I've been here.

It's incredible. I can imagine
people that have been here

longer than me, what you know,
and I hear about their their

impression about it all the
time. Yeah, I would have loved

to been here 20 years ago. You
know, that's when I got here,

just for the real estate value.
Oh, yeah, totally, I've had the

same house. We bought it in 20,
22,005,

it's gone up a little bit that
was good. Yeah, hey, would you

play down there ever in
Broadway? Yeah,

I don't know. I always say if I
was a little bit more in charge

of it, like to curate the band,
curate the list, yeah, maybe

curate the knight,

you know, yeah, Riley plays down
there a lot. He does, but he

curates like he surrounds
himself with the players that he

wants, really the repertoire
that he wants, which would be

the way to do it. But I do think
about trying to get a little bit

more connected sometimes to the
scene at Roberts, because I love

Roberts, because I got Pearl
snap shirts. And it would be, it

would be really fun, because you
got to play a little quiet as an

upright bass player. And it's
just a whole different thing.

And occasionally I'll go down
there and I'll sit in with John

England. And John England and
the Western swingers. What's up,

John, they are the best western
swing band, yeah, in Nashville,

yeah. I like, I really enjoy
going down there and see more

traditional country. I wanted
the traditional Yeah. And, like,

since I've lived here, I've been
enamored with the pedal steel.

Like, I just love the sound of
it. It's a difficult instrument.

It's like a spaceship, yeah,
it's like flying a plane. Like,

you know, when you get on the
plane and you look in the

cockpit and there's, like,
these, all these switches and

everything, the guys are, like,
that's what I imagine. I mean, I

got to play with, with cowboy
Eddie, yeah, and, and I was

sitting next to him, and he sits
down and sets up his pedal

steel. And it's got, like,
things with his feet, things

with his knees he's doing, you
know, he's got the steel on top

with the, you know, the landing
strip of 65 strings. It's the

same. And he's like, chops for
days. And, yeah, playing, where

was that? It was with the CMAS,
with Caitlin Curtis, okay, he

did that channel four today in
Nashville. Show, yeah? WSM,

yeah, yeah. Today in Nashville.
It was great. It was great. I

got to co host at that show one
time. Did you really? Yeah? They

had, they have guest co hosts.
Kelly Sutton. Kelly Sutton,

what's up, Kelly, we love you.
So is this an up and coming gal?

That's you kind of continuing to
work with a.

Little bit I haven't since then,
you

know, that came through Brent
Fitz, you know, Brent. I love

Brent for who's he play with? He
plays a slash, slash and a bunch

of other things. He was her
music director, and they were

getting ready to do. And he was
actually another guy was filling

in on a guess who gig, you know,
Winnipeg guy.

You know he we were, he was
coming into Nashville, and he

was like, Hey, do you want to do
this? And I'm like, sure it was,

you know, it was, and she's a
powerhouse. I don't know if you

did a little digging on her,
I'll have to. She's incredible.

What a singer. Check it out.
Caitlyn Curtis, well, you got to

keep working with her, because
you never know. I would love to,

you know, would love to. I
haven't been asked, but I will.

Of all the

um, recording artists that are
out now, topping the charts. Do

you have some ones that are kind
of like digging on, like, I, I

like Megan monroney's new
director, cool. I like,

there's, I like, a lot of, I
mean, a lot Americana stuff,

yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I like
some of the lot of the females,

like Carrie Underwood, is
amazing. I could see like that

looks like it'd be a fun gig.
Oh, yeah, you know, because

she's, she's like, a rocker,
yeah? You know, I think she went

out and opened up for Guns and
Roses last year, and she was

doing, like, Motorhead and and
heavy stuff we had Seth, on the

show, she was on Howard Stern.
She did a, like, something you

wouldn't expect her to, mama,
mama, that's right, coming home,

that's right, yeah, that's
incredible. Yeah, she's, she's a

powerhouse. Yeah? I think about,
you know, a lot of the

contemporary country artists and
and my kids turned me on to a

lot of this. They're really
dialed into all the new My son

loves. Morgan Wallen, that seems
like a cool gig. I mean, that

stuff. Bailey Zimmerman's got a
cool band, you know, he's,

they're all rockers, the young
rockers. Yeah, that's kind of

cool, cool thing, yep. So yeah,
yeah, heck yeah, man, what's

the, what's the coming up for
the holidays? For you? Big, big

family gathering. Big family
gathering. What's your place?

Yeah, you coming? What day, what
day you want to come? I can

bring the Tupperware back.

Bring a dish in the tupperware.
Yeah, what's the what's 2025

looking like? What are you
looking forward to? Any like,

personal goals? And, yeah, you
know, I'm, I'm really looking

forward to, you know what 2025
brings? I don't know what it's

gonna be. I don't know that's
terribly exciting. Yeah, it's

really exciting. Actually, it's
like living on the edge. You

know?

I may do some shows with Lou if,
you know, if he, if he decides

to have a schedule next year, I
don't really know what that

looks like. And I'm pretty open
to, you know, options. Yeah, you

guys heard it here. That's
right. Michael is available.

He's open for options. That's
right. Here's the thing, maybe

another question, theming, every
time we have a guest on, yeah,

is, you know, the music business
has been going in through a

pretty big earth shattering
shift over the last 20 some odd

years with digitization of
music. Yeah. What's the fix on

that? Because you have
songwriters that aren't being

compensated the way they used to
be, and all these different

things, you know, streams, you
know, I got a million streams,

but I got, you know, $5 in the
mail. That guy, how, what's the

fix on that? You know, what?
What, like, what, you know,

think tanking these a solution,
touring and merchandise. Yeah,

touring and merchandise, where
most money is, but, you know, I

think, I think that's just, you
know, labels their way of

getting back around and getting
over on, you know, everybody

laughed at Lars when he was
bitching about Napster. He was

really foreshadowing things, so
he was kind of being proven

right. He was like, Guys, this
is gonna ruin us. Yeah, yeah, I

don't. I don't have an answer
for that. I mean, that's like

the million dollar $64 million
question is, you know, you got

to stream a song, what, like
10,000 times making make a penny

or whatever, point 00, whatever
it is. It's ridiculous. Why is

it so dastardly low? I mean,
because if you compare it to

radio spins, I mean, what's the
what's the ratio between 10,000

radio spins? I can't remember
what the maximum number a week

was. Back when I was in we
actually were reporting radio

stations because the creator of
Spotify set up that algorithm,

yeah, but I mean, it benefits
heavily the but it's based on a

subscription, subscription. So
that's I was gonna say. So how

much is a subscription to
Spotify? 10 bucks a month. I

think that's 1299, now, okay, so
it used to be able to buy a

record and 20 bucks, and then
you owned it forever. Even even

before that, it was 889, because
didn't Peter Frampton go against

the record companies at one
point to keep the price at 899,

or something, or whatever.

Anyways, then you own the music
forever. Now you own, you're

subscribing to it, right? But
you potentially own all the

music. You own everything. It's
really not, not. How do I put

it? Hey, you are. You own

nothing. The entire you don't
own anything. You're, right?

You're leasing it. You're as
long as you're paying the bills

to the world of music, right?
And nobody's listening to every.

Complete, you know, like, like,
an album. Everyone listens to

singles. They, you know, they
have their playlist, you know,

skipping through. And I don't
know if you watch, like, I watch

my kids, and there's like, bam,
bam, bam, bam, bam. Yeah,

everything thumbing through
everything. You know, a song

comes on and it gets played for
like, a nanosecond, they skip

over it. Not in the mood for
that, not in the mood for that,

yeah, not in the mood for that.
So I don't know the answer to

that, but I hope somebody comes
up with something to to

counteract that, because the the
revenue is, is pitiful. Yeah,

it's pitiful because, I mean,
it's, it's, you're only, it's

the walmartization of
songwriting that means it's like

the quality of everything's
going to go down, which, you

know, there's balances that come
into check

and come into play in those
scenarios. Because if you're

gonna really strong songwriter,
you know, and you go about it

with a good business plan, I'm
not streaming my stuff. If you

want quality music, you got to
come to my website, yeah, and

download it. So, I mean, that's
it. Maybe that's a play. Well,

then be your own label, your own
distributor, and everything like

that, which is possible, it's
possible, but the game is kind

of rigged, because they have
access to all the platforms, and

they're the ones putting
everything out, pushing

everything out to everybody.
What if you don't, what if you

don't need a platform? You know,
if all of a sudden, because if

everybody's starting to make it
on Spotify, not Spotify, but

tick tock and things of that
nature, right? Yeah, that's

true. You know, you're
discovering, I mean,

Dragon Force got discovered
through Guitar Hero, sure, you

know, and you got all these
different types of new ways

because radios going away. Yeah,
you know that's, that's going

downhill. You really feel like
it's, I mean, yeah, happens,

because the talent brain drain
of radio is being it's being

cannibalized. How, how many
reporting radio stations are

left? I don't, I don't know what
those stick 100 something, but

what happens when you know you
run out of the talent you know?

Is it just a jukebox at that
point? And are people going to

stick around to listen to
commercials, to hear the next

hot song, when I can just
download it, when I can just go

to tick tock? It was interesting
because you and Jim used to work

at Jack FM. I'm excited tonight.
I really enjoyed Jack FM's

model. Although it was a limited
playlist, you would hear a lot

of repeating. It was very highly
researched playlist. Yeah. So in

Jack FM, for at least Nashville,
we did a lot of local research,

and at that time, what seemed to
check the boxes were people in

my demo, and a little bit older
at the time, in oh, five where,

hey, salt and pepper could go
into Van Halen, could go into

sure Run DMC into, you know,
Faith Hill. That made sense. And

that's where the playing, what
we want genre started to come

into play. But we weren't, you
know, playing what we want. It

was a, at least in our radio
station, a very well locally

focused research what is every
Jack? FM?

No, because they were, it was
owned. Most of the jacks were

owned by CBS, and it came from
New York. So another

homogenization, exactly, of the
music distribution, and we're

all in this room, probably old
enough to remember that used to

have regional radio stations
that you looked forward to

driving through that

because they had, they played
first cool thing can AC in LA

where, you know, they played
Queens right before anybody was

playing queens, right? And they,
you know, Kos and you know, the

whole la scene. They were
instrumental in that. Now it's

become like, you can go to any
town, it's homogenized, and the

commercials are the same, the
playlist is the same. You know,

they just have a different
personality dictating the same

dialog, and he's probably in
another city Exactly. That's,

it's, that's the it's the
cannibal, like I've been putting

out. I mean, podcasts are
definitely an option for anybody

who's left over in radio. And I
encourage people I still know, a

lot of them, a lot of them stick
around because they're romantic

about it, but I tell them, Look,
you know when the date is going

to come when radio doesn't
consider you're valuable

anymore, right? Right? It
doesn't mean you're not

valuable. Podcasting needs you,
because, you know, 98% of

podcasters don't know. 98% of
what you know, right? You know

what I mean, right? They're just
people who have executed. Yeah,

the best podcasts out there are
actually kind of badly produced,

even even like your Sirius XM is
kind of starting to dwindle too,

because it's, it's just, they're
not pivoting, they're not

adapting.

You know, I don't know what's
gonna happen. Podcasts are not

going away. No, no. So I'm so
happy that we've been doing ours

for five years, right? You know,
and it's just an endless I mean,

how many musicians and creatives
that do we know, right?

Everyone's like, you should get
such and such on the show. Oh, I

will. They're on the list, yeah.
But I will. There's only 24

hours in the day, sure, right?
But, um, so to get to know you a

little bit better, we're gonna
do the Fast Five. And it's never

fast. What's your favorite food?

Pizza, yeah. How could you not
love New York? Yeah, I had, I

had bowling alley pizza
yesterday. It was at a roller

skating.

Ring my friend Michael Knox at
his annual skate party. And I

was starving, and I had it was,
it wasn't great, but it was

still pretty good, yeah, yeah.
It was like, Chuck E Cheese

pizza, yeah, yeah. Like
cardboard with cheese on top of

it, and frozen amazing. That's
right. I mean, frozen pizza,

dude, you can't go wrong with
pizza. I mean, it's just such a,

such a good Oh, you can,

yeah, if you live in Vegas, you
can, right, right?

You know, being from New York,
you know that, you know good. I

mean, even up in your neck of
the woods in Northern New York,

yeah, you got good pizza. Oh,
absolutely. Oh, my God. And when

you fold it, it's not supposed
to droop, right? No, you're

supposed to take the paper towel
and get the grease out of it.

You could do that, but, but, I
mean, if you fold it like it

shouldn't come, yeah? I mean,
around here Spring Hill, we got

some pretty decent pizza places.
I spent a lot of money at

salvos, but we if you fold it,
it will droop, because it's not

I added salvos today for lunch.
It's true, yes, at a Sicilian,

yeah, I really wanted to have
lunch with you today too. I'm

sorry, favorite

drink,

iced tea. Yeah, I mean alcohol
drink, sure you want. It could

be anything. Well, do you like
that southern sweet tea? No, no,

just tea and yeah, like a peach
tea or a raspberry tea, flavored

tea, alcohol would be probably
like a good glass of Pinot or or

a dark beer, Guinness, I have to
buy, like, any Porter, you know,

dark beer. Like, you know, I'm a
coffee guy, yeah? Coffee, you

know, all day long. All day
long, I could drink coffee. I

could drink a pot of coffee and
go to bed. Yeah, yeah. It

doesn't affect my gal either.
She's like, I'm like, It's

midnight. It's gonna speed in
your body for six hours. Nope.

Nice espresso. Just that, the
aroma, the taste, the ritual of

it. Favorite color, color
purple, yeah, yeah. Purple's my

dream, but I don't see you in
purple a lot. There's got to be

a specific purple, yeah, yeah. I
don't know why you got, do you

have purple guitar? I don't, I
don't. What's your thing? Are

you? Are you associated with a
brand, like a PRs or something?

Gibson, Gibson, yeah, les Paul's
Custom Shop stuff, yeah. Do they

have, uh, is that purple? You
got to look at it. Well, we,

well, we've been talking. We've
been talking. Yeah, I got

something that worked with them.
See 2025, this is really hard,

and Jim, Jim doesn't like the
last two questions because

they're so hard. But no, I'll
qualify that. Okay, I think it's

ridiculously hard. Of the moment
should be, what's your favorite

song of the moment? Song of the
moment, okay, kind of wearing

you asked me that I've been on a
I've been on a deep dive of DEF,

leppard era, high and dry, Steve
Clark, Pete Willis, the guitar

tones, I don't know why again,
streaming. This comes through,

came through. I got a playlist.
And you know, you can jump over

and play the record I hit high
and dry, and I just like, last

two or three days. What a great
record. Well, everyone just does

pyromania over and over. Mania
was a great record. Hysteria was

a great record. No hysteria
especially, yeah, history is a

great record, but high, high and
dry, just reminds me of my youth

earlier. Yeah, the guitar tones
were great. What's the song that

is like a go to at any given
time, at any given time? Yeah,

that you can it's like, it
doesn't get old. From anybody,

anybody?

Wow, that's a good one journey,
huh? A journey? Uh, wow.

You stumped me. I can't think of
anything, right? Yeah, it's,

that's, that's a tough question.
Tough one a go to at any time.

Like, it's like, this is always
either going to make you happy

or make you go to a special
place, okay, city of the angels.

Journey. It was back to back in
the evolution record, right

after love and touch of
squeezing, because that love and

touch of squeezing was my
gateway to journey, even though

I didn't know when I was growing
up listening to Santana records

with my dad and my uncle, I was
listening to an early nail

shine. You were, I was, I had no
idea. And he was a Santana,

right? I mean, that kid goes
back, yeah, yeah. You know, so

city of the angels, because it
came off love and touch of

squeeze, and that was a hit,
probably 7677

Yeah, yeah, I'm old dude. My
dude, no, that's, I'm trying to

some of the best music. 6080, 82
I love it in there, vocal

harmonies. I'm a

There you go. Yeah, I don't know
where it's coming out of what's

coming out of my things. I think
it's just coming out of your

phone. Yeah,

that's it, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nailed. Rock Whalen, yeah.

Smith, so good.

What is your favorite movie of
the moment, or favorite movie of

all? Ty you're gonna laugh

the Jim Carrey version of the
Grinch. Yeah. I just love it's

just, it just makes me did. The
funny thing is, is that Jim

Carrey was making all those
faces and mosses and had that

kind of energy when he was just,
yeah, you know, he just was

easy, yeah. He just grew to he
never aged now. He's aged now,

but he's not doing anything
right now. Is he? Is he out of

the business? Isn't he? He's
kind of, he's kind of been jaded

by the business he's speaking.

Against it, yeah. Like, speaking
of Illuminati, he's kind of

calling it out. Well, he just,
he just did a sequel to a

gigantic animated franchise,
Hollywood franchise, a Sonic the

Hedgehog. And they asked him,
like, why did you decide to do

it? He's like, um, I've been
spending a lot recently. I

needed the money. You got to

love it when you could just do
that. I need 20 million What do

you got?

Amazing, amazing, crazy. Yeah,
this was so fun, man. It was

great. Anything that is on your
mind or you would like to be

recorded in public record for
all time.

I really grateful you guys had
me out. It's great to finally

meet you. Yeah, good to meet
you. I list I've listened to

your show for a long time, and,
oh, it's so I mean, we're

flattered. I mean you're rich in
the other guy.

I mean you're just a great
musician and just a great guy,

and we're so glad that you're
part of the national music

community. And I hope we get to
do something in 2025 that'd be

great. Speaking of the School of
Rock and their yearly event at

the Ryman, Angie and Kelly were
telling me that they decided to

do the rhyme in every other
year, which means that

potentially in July of next
year, we'll do the Ryman, and

Kelly plays a little bit of
drums. So two weeks ago,

for his birthday present, Angie
had me go and teach him

adrenaline nice. And it was so
cool. So we were doing the money

beats and trying to get him to
use his left foot a little bit.

But, you know, he's got the
feel, he's got the groove.

Absolutely need me to come over
there and show him a thing or

two. Heck yeah, Jim, you're,
you're a great Jim is a great

rock trimmer. Thank you. That's
awesome. That's all shake it off

the rust right now, man, I'm
literally looking forward, you

know, I'm really looking forward
to getting more involved. More

involved in the Nashville music
scene. Yes, I think, you know,

since I, when I moved here, I
jumped into a touring band, so I

really wasn't involved in a lot
other than, like, what we did.

So I really, I really didn't
take advantage of a lot of

networking or meeting, you know,
people that are involved. So I

kind of felt like, not like
Nashville guitarist, but a

guitarist living in Nashville,
yeah? Because all my shows were

traveling all over the country,
so I really didn't get a lot of

chance to, you know, run with
some friends, you know, other

than running into people at the
airport, yeah, or in airports

period. I mean, I feel like your
next thing is, is, you know,

doing the Nashville thing and CO
writing, you know, yeah, 10

o'clock on a Monday. Yeah, I
definitely want to do sessions.

I definitely, you know, I kind
of got bit with the bug, you

know, through Troy, of of, you
know, it's probably going to be

more Riz stuff next year,

you know, I'd like to expand
that, you know, do a little

more, you know. I'd like to lend
my talent in, in the cape, in

the capacity that, you know,
it's what I do. Yeah, I don't, I

don't see myself as one of
those, you know, chameleons. You

know, I like to be hired to do,
if somebody's familiar with with

my style and I can contribute in
a positive manner, like to, like

to work in that capacity. Do you
do the the number charts? Yeah,

yeah. A lot of guys are just
like, yeah. I just, I really

haven't figured that out. I'm
like, oh, it's got, it's pretty

easy. Yeah, it makes sense to
not have to rewrite the chart,

yeah, just transpose Exactly,
exactly, you know. And I, you

know, prior to coming here, I
had my own way of charting

things, which is, which was very
similar. So it helped me, you

know, adapt to the number system
pretty quickly. So the only time

it's really difficult to do the
number system is on Christmas

songs, because there's so many
extensions and advanced harmony.

It's almost like maybe we should
do the other guys, right, right,

right. But it's, man, it's, it's
a really good system, and it

totally makes sense. That's
great. What's the best way for

people to get in touch with you
if they want to hire you? They

got questions for you? Yeah. So
social media, Instagram,

official. Michael sterto At,
official. Michael Serta

michaelster Calm.
Michael@michaelserto.com

is my email, and, you know, get
a hold of you guys, I'm sure.

And it's S T A, e r t o, s t a,
e r t o, that's good, yeah. It's

like Michael A, E for A, E L, S
T, A, E R and I had to, I always

had to be phonetic with my
friend Dan woje house key. He

was a great drummer. Played with
Peter Frampton coming up in

Dallas. He was like he was five
years ahead of me, and it was

Whoa, Joe, W, O, j, c, I, E, C,
H, O, W, s, k, lot of

consonants, lot of consonants.
Wojo, one of the guys in my

band's Connecticut white bread
as a matter of fact, yeah,

Bill Kaczynski with a K in the

beginning, yeah, wow. Billy's
Great. That's a great time, man,

really, really great time.
Thanks for joining us. Thanks

for having me. Man, I just I
really appreciate you including

me. And this is, you know, long
time listener, first time

caller. I love

enjoy the holidays. Holiday
season. This will probably come

out in the new year, probably.
So, yeah, yeah, I think we're

gonna roll these out. We're
gonna roll out some repeats.

It'll be a new season. Yeah?
You'll say, we say Merry

Christmas, right? Yeah, Merry
Christmas, not happy holidays,

right? I'll do I just try to
cover my bases. Yeah, Merry

Christmas. Merry Christmas. You
and.

And your family, a Merry
Christmas. You know, the Brits.

I'm watching the Brits say Happy
Christmas. Happy Christmas.

Yeah, Merry New Year. Happy
Christmas. Happy Christmas. Hey

to all the listeners out there.
We sure appreciate it, guys and

gals, be sure to subscribe,
share, rate and review. And

there's a lot of you you're not
taking my advice. Leave us the

rating. Leave us the review. It
helps people find the show. We

sure appreciate it. Jim,
appreciate your time and talent.

All right. Merry Christmas.
Happy holidays. See you next

time this has been the rich
Redmond show, subscribe, rate

and follow along at rich
redmond.com forward, slash

podcasts. You