Feats Don't Fail Me Now - A Special Announcement!
[00:00:00] Blake Melnick: Well, welcome to this week's episode of the space in between I'm your host Blake Melnick with an exciting announcement. We are going to have Bill Payne co-founder and pianist, extraordinary of Little Feat on For What it's Worth and the Space [In between] Little Feat is my favorite band of all time, and I clearly recall first hearing little feet back in 1977
[00:00:56] My parents had sent me away to a boarding school in an effort to tame my [00:01:00] rebellious nature. And anyone that has been to a strict rule Laden institution knows that in order to maintain some semblance of sanity requires constantly finding new ways to break the rules.
[00:01:10] While our free time was somewhat limited. , much of what we did have was spent listening to music in our dorm rooms. I recall a new friend, Bob Scholes from Montreal came into my room and said, have you ever listened to Little Feat?
[00:01:24] The only little feet song I knew because others found it quite titillating to reference it during our extracurricular activities, was " Don't Bogart that Joint"
[00:01:33] but in his hand was a copy of Time Loves a Hero. So I put it on the stereo and the rest was history. The sound was unlike anything I had heard before. It was indefinable, a rich stew of rock country, traditional jazz, new Orleans jazz, blues, funk. It just didn't sound like anything else, and I was hooked. I went out and bought, waiting for Columbus upon its release in 1978, and [00:02:00] while I love Time Loves a Hero, this new record, which saw Little Feat backed by the Tower of Power horn section was a whole new level of sound and musicality. It quickly became my favorite album and I played it constantly. So enthused was I with Little Feat that I became somewhat evangelical, introducing The Feat to all my friends, buying them records for their birthdays, giving them tapes. I turned a whole lot of folks on the Little Feat, since that time.
[00:02:28] Growing up, my grandfather had many pearls of wisdom, which he imparted regularly to us. And one such Pearl was, ""Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained".
[00:02:38] Those of you that tuned into our last episode of the space in between where I brought back my old co-host from the space, Cameron brown, to discuss what we were listening to, what we were watching and what we were reading. know, we spent a good bit of time talking about Little Feat because I have tickets for the band's 45th anniversary tour of "Waiting for Columbus" in Seattle, [00:03:00] Washington on August 6th.
[00:03:02] I had an idea that had been percolating for some time about how to do a podcast episode about my journey to see The Feat. So after the episode, I decided to take a chance and reach out to Little Feat through their publicist Dennis McNally. And here's what I wrote.
[00:03:19] Dear Dennis, I'm reaching out because, well, firstly, I'm a huge Little Feat. Secondly, I'll be at the show in Seattle on August 6th. And thirdly, I am the host and executive producer of a podcast called For What it's Worth and The S pace in between one of our series on the show is called "Pass the Jam" and focuses on music and is primarily geared towards musicians. We discussed Little Feat and the tour in our last episode of The Space [in between], and received so much amazing feedback about the band, the tour, and the rerelease of "Waiting for Columbus" that I thought we should do a full episode and Chronicle putting on our sailing shoes and going to see The Feat in Seattle.
[00:03:58] I'll be taking the ferry from [00:04:00] Victoria, Canada to Seattle. And we'll talk to fans on board who are going to the show. And I'll do the same in Seattle leading up to the show. So here's my ask. I would love to record some clips from the show for the episode ,with permission, obviously.
[00:04:14] And secondly, I would love to do a brief interview with one of the band members or yourself either before or after the show. I know this is a big ask and likely beyond the realm, but as my wise, mama used to. "If you don't ask, you don't get". Regardless of your answer, I will send you a link to the episode. Really looking forward to the show.
[00:04:34] Regards Blake.
[00:04:36] Within 24 hours, Dennis got back to me:
[00:04:39] Dear Blake,
[00:04:40] the band is remaining hyper careful about traveling in a bubble. So I can't set up a face to face on the tour. Why not a zoom call after say August 9th about. How do you wanna record clips? If you're doing it from your seat? It's not a problem. Getting into the sound system is a little more work. Please advise [00:05:00]
[00:05:00] I was quite literally gobsmacked. But after a few emails back and forth with Dennis, he informed me the interview would be with Bill Payne, co-founder and pianist par excellence, and I was beyond thrilled. So I sent Dennis an overview of what I was proposing a multi-part episode, which would encompass the journey spot interviews with fans on the ferry, on the streets, at the concert and after the show.
[00:05:25] So here's the skinny.
[00:05:27] Part one August 4/5 -Sailing Shoes, interviews with fans on the Black Ball ferry from Victoria to Seattle.
[00:05:34] Part two, August 5/6. Night on the Town, on the street with Little Feat spot interviews with fans going to the show.
[00:05:43] Part three August 6, Showtime, join the band live recordings from the Little Feat show.
[00:05:50] Part four August 6th, Hanging on to the Good Times. Street interviews with fans following the show
[00:05:57] Part five, August 9th, Straight from [00:06:00] the Heart. My interview with Mr. Bill Payne. So who is Bill Payne? Who has he played with? Perhaps a better question is who hasn't deep played with.
[00:06:10] Bill was born in 1949 in Waco, Texas, and grew up in Southern California. In 1969. Bill was looking for work and reached out to Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. As luck would have at Zappa's lead guitarist, Lowell George was looking to head in different musical directions and was introduced to Bill and the rest was history. Little Feat released their first record shortly thereafter, simply called "Little Feat" in 1971.
[00:06:37] Bill Payne is a musician's musician besides working with Little Feat for all these years, he also has continued his career as a session musician where his virtuosity as a singer songwriter and Pianist, was sought out by many of the greatest musicians and bands of all time, including the Dooby Brothers. He has been their full-time pianist on all their records since 2015.
[00:06:59] He [00:07:00] is recorded with the likes of Pink Floyd, Robert Palmer, JJ Cale, Jackson Brown, Emmy Lou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronsted, Rod Stewart, Greg Allman, Bob Seger, BB king, Brian Adams, Stevie Nicks, Carly Simon, Neil Diamond Simon and Garfunkel, Dolly Parton, Leo Sayer, Jimmy Buffet, and the list goes on and. So you may not have heard Little Feat before, but I guarantee you've heard Bill Payne.
[00:07:29] As a lead up to the journey in the show. I want to engage our listeners and Feat fans in the experience. If you have a question you would like me to ask during the interview, please post your question on our show Facebook page, For What it's Worth: The Podcast Series, or send us an email at the address in the show notes. in your post or email, you can include either a written comment or question, or you can record your comment or question and send it to us in MP3 format.
[00:07:56] In your post or email, please indicate your name [00:08:00] and where you're from, and indicate whether I have your permission to use your name and location on the show. I can't guarantee your question will make it into the interview, but I can guarantee it will be sent to Little Feat
[00:08:13] I spent the weekend listening to past interviews with Bill in an effort to find a different tact for the episode. One that doesn't focus on the loss of key band members over the years or Little Feat of the past, but focuses on newer material and is forward looking.
[00:08:30] Similar to what we've done on Pass the Jam, I want to do a deep dive with Bill into musicality, the arts and craft of songwriting and composing. The process the band follows to create such amazing music. One comment that Bill Payne made during an interview with the Little Feat radio station grabbed my attention.
[00:08:48] He said something to the effect that if Little Feat survived the loss of Lowell George, Richie Hayward, and Paul Barrere it will survive without Bill Payne. So this got me to the pivotal [00:09:00] question, who, and what is little feet?. So this will lie at the heart of my interview with Bill Payne. Another comment that came up time and again, in these early interviews was surrounding Little Feat's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They certainly deserve it, and I'd like to help with that if possible. So once I figured out what the process is, I'll post links on the show Facebook page. So you can cast your vote for little feats induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
[00:09:31] Also for those new to Little Feat, I'm going to post some recommendations of the records you should listen to and in what order, so that you can "mellow down easy" into the little feed experience. this concludes this week's episode of the space in between called feet. Don't fail me now.
[00:09:50] I'll be putting on my "Sailing Shoes". I've got a "Rocket in my Pocket" I'm taking the Red Streamliner to Seattle to do the Old Folks Boogie... for [00:10:00] what it's worth.
