We meet with Author and NYC/LA Nightclub legend Steve Adelman about his book Nocturnal Admissions. Fun interview!
And we're back. Welcome to the kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota. Nice. That it desperately needs. Uh, here once again with, uh, trustee companions, Kevin gorg. Hello, Kevin. Hello, Johnny. Uh, Steve brown. Good day. And we have a special guest here today. Once again, Scott Berg. Hello, Scott. Hello, John. And. In a moment, we're gonna be introducing you to our special guest of the day. But it's been a while since we've been together. We had our welcome back, uh, podcast, but, uh, before we get started, uh, Roe V. Wade, what do you guys think did it lot of fun, lot of fun right now. Let's not go down there. That road, man. Go down there. Come on, man. Roe V. Wade, what are your thoughts? Just keep calling in. Keep your reminds. Me of interview. Dark star did with his good friend, Trent Tucker, uh, before his passing and they were at WCC O radio and they sit down and there was some issues as there always has been in Minneapolis and he sat down and said, we're here with Tre Tucker on the, uh, the friendly neighbor w CCO. White people, your thoughts? you talk about an awkward silence. So yeah, no Roe V wait for us. So tonight we have, uh, a very special guest, a friend of mine, who, uh, decided to write book and, I'm about halfway done with the book. And as I read it, I can't believe he hasn't been writing his whole life. Uh, the name of the book is nocturnal admissions. I said that nocturnal admissions, not admissions. No. and the author is, uh, a friend of mine named Steve Adelman. And Steve. Welcome. Thank you. So I, I, um, John, I'm glad you, um, Reiterated that title because my, my mother keeps putting it on Facebook, but she doesn't get jug. So she does it wrong. So that's not good. you know, you go down a slippery, slow, she uses a different line. Doesn't understand what's happening. So no, one's gonna tell her Full disclosure, um, I, uh, had the privilege of officiating, Steve Edelman's wedding to our friend, Michelle Ry. Michelle, uh, happened to be the maid of honor in my wedding. Wow. And I was a blubbering idiot. I can't understand why I started weeping uncontrollably. It was really quite an embarrassing situation, but we're so happy to have Steve as part of the, uh, the mix. He certainly brings a, uh, a level of, uh, intrigue one might say to the, uh, to the friend group. But, uh, Steve, the book that you wrote. Is, uh, go ahead. Go ahead. I interrupted. Well, no, and I gotta make a comment about the wedding. Uhoh how bad I was sweating. emotional breakdown was so, you know, incredible that everyone said you, that doesn't really happen. It was so good. So it really made the wedding. So just, you know, just want you to know to this. People said to John, was that real? I said, yeah, it was real. It was, I couldn't understand it. I just, you know, I, he was the you're nervous. You want it to go well, right. Everybody's watching you. She get married to this great guy. Ital. Was it your first time officiating, John? I didn't know you did that. That's well, I I've done a few of them. Wow. You wrote the first one that I had a mental breakdown act, but, uh, well then, I mean, it obviously meant something. Yeah, and I, I, I see Scott Berg right now. Just thinking about maybe redoing and renewing his nuptials, his vows. Yeah. Maybe having you involved and I can see the wheels turning here. I'm your guy. Sure. I'll, I'll try not to blubber. Okay. Back to you, Steve. Um, the, uh, the, the book nocturnal admissions, it seems to be a Chronicle of your life, uh, in the nightclub business. Mm-hmm take us back to, uh, just tell us about this book, Steve. Well, you know, it, it's interesting. My side nightlife for when I was serious nightlife of the things you write, press releases and things like that over the years, and those are done, you know, for one reason, to bring people to your product and to sort of tell a story. So I sort of kept it, my writing going, and then probably in the early two thousands, when I was in LA, I started writing scripts and I had a, I had a, uh, agent and I first showed him and I couldn't understand why there wasn't books about nightlife, because what a world to, you know, get really intriguing stories. And my, my take on everything. You can't take yourself or the world too seriously. Right. And I learned a lot of that from nightlife in traveling around the world and seeing how other people live and how lucky we really are, you know, sort of developed that perspective. So when I showed my agent, the book I remember at the time said, this reads like curb. I showed him stories for the book. He said, this reads like curb your enthusiasm on it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. so I. So I said, okay, then I'm gonna write the book. And of course word takes over. So it wasn't like 15 years later. Now I'm able to get more years of stories. The pandemic, you know, offered me an opportunity to really sit down and focus. And, you know, the first thing was, was to get publishers and people like that. You know, to take me seriously as a writer. So that's how sort of the book came about. And, and the book itself, the book itself, John is about sort of the power of observation and being able to observe things. And that's sort of how I survived in the nightlife business for say, 30 years. I sort of sit back and observe, and I guess the book. It's about those observations and, and what's fascinating, Steve is, you started out in New York where you were, uh, Boston, Steve, then you went to Boston where you were Steve from New York and then, you know, the, the took you to Los Angeles and Singapore, and ultimately in Memphis where you're at right now and what yeah. What I was so fascinated by is, as I'm reading this story, it seems like you were surrounded by. Such a crazy diverse, almost like circus atmosphere with these characters that play a role in making these, clubs. And that really, that really goes to the, the really core of the book. If you read sort of between the lines is, you know, you guys are offering sort of, you know, you call it Minnesota kind. You know, I would, in my trails, I found it to me, more of a Midwestern kindness. So honestly, I was brought up and I, and I, uh, you know, I, uh, talk about this in the book, by my father and my grandmother who never saw anybody for, except for what they were. So as these crazy people were wandering around me, I just thought it was inter I didn't see anything other than, oh, that person's so interesting. And oh, that person's so funny. So the craziness, I never got caught. In in that, because the crazy, you know, everybody's crazy through certain degrees. Right? So to me, I, I sort of fit in very well. I thought, because I was just look at people and go, oh my God, look at that guy. How many guys, how many guys do you see coming into a club with a, you know, a 12 foot feather ball, you know, three inch heels and, you know, uh, uh, uh, a queen Elizabeth crown. I mean, gotta love the guy, right. So you grew up in Michigan, right? Yeah. And you know, he's taking Midwest kindness, you know, let's, he's trying to, co-op our Minnesota kindness situation. We can back to the Midwest. Let's take it here. We might edit that out. But anyways, no, we're not. Um, Steve, I want you, John, you're expanding, you're expanding your demographic. You're expanding our demographics. See, I don't understand that side of the business. I know I'm giving you, I'm giving. I'm giving you nightlife terms, we're going along. So we're expanding to the whole Midwest. I'm I'm killing, right? I'm killing a bunch of birds with Windstone. Go ahead. Um, go back to, uh, when you were in New York and, um, I'm fascinated by the club kids. Now, I was familiar with the name Michael AIG, because of that movie party monster. yeah. Remember the movie with, uh, Macaulay Calkin and Seth green. Yeah. And, uh, Michael was, yeah, I lived it. He was like the head of this group called the club kids. Right. And they, right. They were kind of the, the, the underground leaders of the nightlife, like a rat pack for younger people, but almost kind like, remember Andy Warhol's group, this group kind of replaced them. Is that an accurate description? That's great. That's a, you know what, John, I've never heard somebody say that and that's a perfect. Way you describe it. John's amazing. Yeah. Never. All right. Nice. Give you Steve. We'll talk to you later. Gotta leave on a that's. That's it. Try to keep up with him. Steve Mike drop outta here's. That's a great way to describe. And the book is my office was right across from them, so I saw them during the day. And so these people sort of coming out at. You know, it looks like kind like a carnival freak show. But during the day, these people were really smart. Like they had a whole plan, they would do their own, they would do their own club nights and everybody had a role. And a lot of them were sort of from small towns like me from Michigan, so could relate to them. Michael all, you know, got me one of my big jobs. He convinced the owner at line, like to hire me. And we became pretty good friends and Michael, very good friends. I, I, the, where, where I was first exposed to Michael and I don't even know I got sucked down a, uh, a YouTube. I don't know how I ended up here, but I was watching, there was a Geraldo Geraldo, a couple of Geraldo episodes that had these, oh, I remember club kids, club kids. That was a whole. Yeah. the trans community, like the very first one that they did, Rupa was one of the guests. And it was before Ru Paul was a big international star, but New York RuPaul was a star. She was well known or very well known. He was well known. So you were at limelight in New York city, and then you ended up in Boston, um, during your time. Got very interesting Ru Paul gotten first job in New York. What? That's how I started. That's how I came to New York. No way I, I wait, I was running a club in Boston. And somehow, how would I even do this nowadays? I booked Rupa at the club. Now, thinking about that, how would I even do that? Did I fax her and say, Hey, what's happening? He had no cell phone. Wow know, technically how I pulled that off. Then she went back to the rocking in New York and told this guy, Hey. At the rocks. He said, Hey, I, I promised guy in Boston, you should talk to him. And, and the guy who had the Roxy nightclub was reopening this enormous ex roller ex roller skating with it's about 5,000 square foot. Jesus. And he loved me because how many nightclub guys have a have a masters in economics? I thought that was. Yeah, little day, you know, I might have had a master's in economics, but I had zero experience. I been working at the other club for like two months, so he hired me. So that's how I started in New York before I got to limelight. Well, let me, I didn't know a thing. I have, I have a question for you, Steve. This is Steve. Um, okay. So just for myself, cause I haven't read your book yet. I'm really excited to read it, but I want to help our listeners get a basis of it too. What would you consider? Are you considered a producer, a booking agent? Are you like some kind of like, is this a club, the same club every night or did you, did you help promote clubs? Did you go around as a promoter helping each club? Like explain that a little bit. So we get it. Yeah. Right. The structure right when I came to New York. I became the it's called a director and a director in big new night runs the whole club, but doesn't run the operations. Right. Okay. I don't count the money. I don't hire the bartenders, but I do everything else. Book set up nights, brand the club, you know, everything except run. I'm not, I'm not an operations manager. Okay. So that's the job I held at the Roxy. And then Michael a got me a job, uh, about a year or two later, uh, as the director of the lime. Same job as that group bought four of new York's largest nightclubs. So at a certain point in time, I was the director of, of venues that did me see the number was like over 16,000 people, uh, for on the weekend every Friday and Saturday for 16,000 on Friday, 16,000 on Saturday. So there were huge operations, but I didn't stay there at the end of the night security didn't report to. Right. Like, for example, the doorman would report to me the actual doorman or the promoters for that night would report to me or the DJs, but not the, um, not the operation staff. And it wasn't until 1997, when I went to Boston and nightlife got shut down that I became an owner of the venue. Mm. So as the owner of a venue, I would hire a director. Okay. Now having been a director that long, I. Became a, as the owner, I sort of functioned as a high level director and hired sort of mins around me. So that's sort of how I made my way through the, the business. But of course, as an owner, you become heavily involved at that point in operations. Yeah. And then you get into, and you get into licensing and liability into whole bunch of new things, but, you know, I picked. As a venue owner. So as a, as a director are, do you take on a bit of a creative role in being keyed into what people are into? So, you know, the cool DJ you have to kind of that's right. You create these nights. Okay, cool. So it is very creative artistic, huh? That's great. Great question. Great point. That's what alled me to nightclubs was it was a creative outlet and it's really great. Cause you can. You know, you can see the results, you have an idea, let's do this. And then three weeks later you see it either works or it doesn't. And, and so it's, it was, it's a great creative outlet. And really to this day, 30 years later sort of kept me going in the business. Wow. That's the main thing is a creative outlet. Very cool. Now this is a, kind of a, a book who lives longer, who lives longer than anybody. A. Yeah, creative thing. Now I don't wanna be a hundred. I don't wanna be a hundred, five year old club owner, but the point is that the idea is the same and, and the book takes us quote, unquote, behind the velvet ropes. Now that the book is, is out there. Have, has there been any backlash, Steve with people that maybe didn't want these stories out there? Because I can't wait to read the book too, and I'm very intrigued. Great question. Great question. A few different stories, right? Some of them are really funny. I'll give you. I did a call from one of the club kids, guy, the name of James. Oh yeah. Heavily. Right. He calls me and I, he heard that there's no of in the, and he's working with a group called world of wonder in LA who was through Paul's production team. And he personally reached out to my publicist to say, So I sent him a letter and I said, James, if the book chronicled, you know, uh, who was, who in those days and took photographs of that somehow 30 years later, yes. That would make. But really he's pissed or didn't make the book right. His photo. It'd be very odd. It'd be very odd for me to write a story about my grandma and have you make a very odd impromptu? Oh, and James St. James in the corner doesn't work out that way. Well, and, and how do you, how just curious as, as I was reading through this, did you take. Like, you know, you, you referenced the fact that you started carrying a tape recorder around you with you sort of like Larry David did, but no pad, no pad. Yeah. So like you, tech took notes almost like a diary throughout your career. Is that where these stories came from? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you go back and you look at your notes and some of them make no sense. They're pretty hilarious. Like I went back and I was writing. I think I put this in the book. I read back, I looked at my notes and one said high maintenance Lama. And like, what was I? So I tracked on what high maintenance Lama meant. And it meant when I was in LA, went to this like sort of teachings of Lama. And I think he was sitting there and he had a Rolex watch and played a sushi. Oh, like a Dolly. Like a Dolly Lama. Oh my God. Zoo. I thought it was AMA that from the zoo. And I, down to the time I said, wait a minute, that was the high maintenance lab. I said, that's one high maintenance guy. So I, I just want to go back real quick to, uh, a better understanding of your role as a director. You know, the famous studio, 54, there were two characters that ran that, that Ian Schrager. And, uh, what was it, Steve? Steve rebel rebel. Did, did you know those guys? No. Now, before me, they owned. When I, when I opened up Avalon in Boston, they were the original owners of that building. Most people dunno that before they came to New York, they started in Boston. Okay. Wow. Now studio 54 was, you know, known for bringing out, you know, all of the, the, the glitterati, the famous people, um, in your encounters in New York and Boston, I would imagine in New York, it was more, uh, rep more prevalent, but you know, who are some of the people that you encountered, uh, in your, your days of, uh, Of nightlife. Oh, gosh, director. I think, I think between New York, between New York and LA, I mean, you can just manage just about everybody went those from, you know, I have a, you know, some of the stories I didn't make the book like Forbes showing up at a, what he thought was bike up. He used to ride a Harley, Malcolm Forbes wrote a Harley. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. He pull up to the rock scene and Harley with four. Not knowing yet it was a leather gay chaps night for a gay crowd. Oh. And, and so. So he came in there and probably had the best time of his life. He, he was fantastic. He did he leave with a date only in York, only in New York. He was very formal. You know, he had his leather coat on his leather, uh, you know, biking jacket on thought it was like a leather. It was called leather that, oh my God, he didn't quite get what that meant. So he shows up and the club was very high at the time. This was the Rox. So that was, that's a pretty funny, that's a, that was a pretty funny story. There was also story. Were, did you share, or did you live in the same apartment complex with Chris? Farley? Did I read that? And yeah. And David Lee Roth and did Chris Farley and David, what I, what a, I spoke wide range. I spoke to Chris Farley every night because somehow he would come back from stabbing night live. Right. And they would've the event on Saturday and then, and not every night, every weekend. And this was on Saturday. He'd be from the cash party and then he'd come back and I'd be kinda getting outta work, but see him, he'd be always talking down there. He was all kinda hyped up and he had this giant bulldog. Yeah. He had this giant bulldog that would be running around the lobby and like a giant bowling. He had to watch Minnesota Lineback, like he's linebacker trying to knock you down. What kinda guy was he? Was he as nice as people? The nice, oh, the nicest person in the. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So, um, before we, uh, we started taping, we talked a little bit about the, uh, the role that kindness, uh, played in your, uh, in your business. And, you mentioned your, uh, your father and your grandmother. There's a great story about it's. I think the chapter's called disco, granny, and it, and it talks about literally your grandmother coming to one of your clubs and dancing the night away. The fact that she was accepted by, this group of, misfit toys in many respects and that she returned the kindness to them. You know, you, you, you look at that picture and you think, you know, these people probably got kind of a bad rap and really they were. On the cutting edge of being accepting of, of people of different, uh, different colors. Exactly. Right. Of different, you know, the LGBTQ community. And so, so on and so forth, you know, transgenderism was something that was very, uh, underground, um, right. Unless you were at one of your clubs and then it was on full display. Right. But they were the stars of the show. Who would take my grandma and Michael AEC would hit it off as best friends. I mean, how do you figure that out? like she disco granny comes from the name. Everyone had, you know, there was sushi and genitalia and everyone had a name already named it before she left the club. I like, no, no, you're not hiring her. She's not coming back one time. Draw the line. Disagree. And my, my grandma just didn't see anything just, oh my God, these people are so stylish. Cause my grandma was four, two and had put her hat with her hat on. She was probably five, she hat all the time. And when she was just made to be a club kid, what can I say? And what was really, there's a, there's an anecdote in the book about. You being at one of these clubs and all of a sudden there's this uproar and based on the response of the people that were there, you were thinking that disco granny, all of a sudden showed back up and it was Danny DeVito. did I read that right? Yeah, sort of. I was at, and somebody USA and. Mistook. Well, I, I, in mistook, my, oh, what the right Danny DeVito is, he's literally four foot. I mean, he's really small, right? Like four foot, probably four eight, something like that. But the similarity was the funny thing. The similarity was as both of them walk through the club, many security guards were around them, protecting them, like something the I've never seen an entrance like that. Except when your, that the couldn't really see who was the, that, that person, you know, had they thought it was my grandma. It was someone special. That's all they knew. Someone special. That's all they knew. Going back to Kevin's question. You mentioned that, uh, James St. James was, uh, was upset that their picture wasn't or his picture wasn't in the book. Um, what was the other, uh, the other feedback that you got that, uh, I'm in LA and I know a lot of things about a lot of people and they were all scared as hell. And they were talking about big celebrities, like who come on, give us a name. some dirt. Come on. You. I'll just say that they, they were they're in the book. Okay. Oh, that's how we're gonna, you gotta read that the book, that's a good salesman right there. He knows what he's doing. So the point is the point is when they read the book, um, my ex partner, who was, I was partnering with for 15 years was also. Kind of worried. And he said, oh my God, I love the book. Cause he saw the spirit of the book. It wasn't in a celebrity, you know, outing. It was a, uh, you know, humorous life lessons sort stories, right. Life lessons. Right. So he loved the book, which I'm shocked. And he's like, oh my God, this is the great book my wife and Kim can read it. Like he was like in a way somebody. Somebody took a giant, you know, barbell, like he was doing, doing squash or something. He took it off your shoulder as he was saying that to me, it's it? It is actually, it's brilliant because you sense as you're reading the book, that there could be some dirt dished in a big way. And as you're reading the book, you kind of come to realize that this really is just sort of a, a book on how to manage yourself and how to treat others and how to, uh, you know, tell us about the source of the lams. That's kind of an interesting. Uh, part of the book throughout the book, you've got these Laxs. Oh right. Things that I learned book wanted a celebrity tell and started pitching a celebrity tell I didn't realize what she was pitching. I'm like what? I'm not writing that. Then he tried to pitch me on, well, you gotta write a business book. Cause I said, I'm not writing that book here. The about, I said I'll have some very interesting things about business, somewhat, not these things called LA, which I think things that I learned from nightlife and maybe you can only learn in nightlife. Uh, and that's from standing around, as they say, talking to drunk narcissistic, narcissistic, uh, high. In any sort of state you can think of, of people for 30 years, you pick up some things and, and, and, and you, and it helps guide your life. There's certain rules. I think you can't learn in a nine to five job. Yeah. And, and some of them, some of them are, um, you know, certainly are transferable to like, and it's horrible to, like, for, for example, one of the things I said is like, find that hidden. And this goes towards when I went to Hollywood and I opened up a VIP nightclub, you know, a celebrity club in Hollywood. Everyone's like, I'm thinking to myself, why can't this be? Why wasn't this year before? Like, this is the most, can you think of a more obvious place? And then relaxing? It's like the guy who, what invented post-it or invented Reese's peanut butter cups sort of invented something for people that they didn't know that they needed, that they needed. Yes. Found. Found out the hit and knee and the quote I always go back is when and Henry Ford said, if I'd asked people what they wanted, they would've said faster horses. Yeah. It's clever. it is clever. So, so it's kind of, uh, your observations. From the glory days, the, an era of clubs, like it's like, this is your, this is this generation of the studio, 54 kind of thing. Would you, would you say that is, well, it go, no, it goes longer 30 years, so, oh yeah. Unfortunately I was in, I was in the glory days of a New York club in the nineties and I actually started the glory case. Of which I, now, when I was in New York, I didn't know anything. Cause I was a part of those glory dates, but I started the, in Hollywood, I was the first there in, so I started that. And then when I went to Singapore, same thing, there was the first one there. So. I was part of one and sort of jumpstarted to others. So, and it goes what those different cultures and what nightlife is to those cultures across different cultures. Yeah. That might be quite a challenge to, to tap into a, a different a Singapore, you know, a culture in, in Malaysia, like to figure out what they, what they're into. And that's gotta be interesting. It's really hard. And the fun, the irony about. It's I've gone everywhere, you know, New York, Boston, and then the one place where I had the biggest culture shock was of all places, the town never, ever, you know, thought that's sort the book, there's a, uh, the book is the, chapter's actually called culture shock, When I'm going around the country and talking about the book, you can go online, you know, everybody is just obsessed with the nineties in new and that's normal because the people jump on stuff. But yeah. So I've answered a lot of question about that era. And to be honest, John, I wasn't even gonna start the book until the. I'm like who the hell wants to go back 30 years. It's purely a lot of people. Well, and it is fascinating, you know, I kind of, uh, you know, think of it as I was reading the book, it kind of felt like the nineties were akin to how things are right now coming out of COVID like the eighties, you know, really good point. There was such a fear throughout the world with this aids situation that, the party lifestyle that was so prevalent in the, what was the magic press conference. Cause that kind of was the tipping point. Right? Well, that was, you know, that's late eighties. Yep. That was late eighties, 89, I think. Okay. Yeah. But when, when rock Hudson, when rock, Hudson announced that he had aids, it's like everything shut down. It was like, party's over. And then it seems like all of a sudden, the nineties, people wanted to get back out there and be wild. And you were there to, uh, capitalize on that, Steve Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, I go back to not going back that far because, you know, but then when I started writing the book, I realized this, you know, this was a very interesting time. And John, you read that part of the book saying you enjoy it so that, that, you know, that's good. You know, that's a, that's a positive thing. but you know, like anything. Like a great, you know, Minnesota twins team or, you know, Minnesota wild team it's there were a lot of talented people in that life at that point in time. Right. So it was this, oh, the nineties or so wild. OK. Yeah, there were, you know, people are kinda wild in New York all the time. I dunno. But there were a lot of talented Nyla people in New York. So, you know, like the great, a great team. Oh, the Yankees of 1947 Yankee. That 1947 was a hell of a year. No, it was really more about the, the sort of, you know, group of people that got together to create that. So sure. That's a big, big, that's a really big part of it. And, and I don't claim that I'm one of those people, cause I was learning the business. So I, I have to ask, through your, your time in New York and Boston and LA and into Memphis, who would you put on your Mount Rushmore of the kindest celebrities that you've encountered? Great question. And, and the answer is there's two and for different reasons, and it's pretty shocking. The, actually the nicest one, I can believe this is. Madonna really my favorite. Yeah. Super nice. Super nice. Coming to the club after the studio hanging out, you know, I remember she went to John Norris's birthday party. Very cool. John Norris, the guy from MTV M right, right. He was just really cool, but he was just really cool. And, you know, she had a, she had a pretty bad reputation for being not nice. In fact, I'm. Madonna's from my hometown. Oh, there you go. There you go. Mm-hmm based in Michigan, right? But we, you, everyone says, oh, Madonna's from around. You see all these and stuff. Then she went a Jane poll interview and called it a smelly little town and they excommunication, oh, oops. We go, you go to there's all this stuff over. Okay. So we got Madonna on there. Who else you got? And, and I think only because he never, he only said one word, you said, wait, you said, uh, three words to me in the 10 times that I ever met him was prince. Well, you got more than the rest of us combined. exactly. Where did you meet prince in New York? He started coming to limelight. He had security guards around he'd sit alone and not talk to anybody. And I was like, this is kinda, and then, so, you know, this happened a lot in York. And when I went to, um, the opening night of someone calls and is manager at that point in time, we didn't have a name. I called it the inde glitch. Remember that phrase? Yes. So you're having a conversation. He is like, he's coming and, and there's no name I'm is bullshit. Doesn't didn't associated with. I said, this is what I call the Hollywood hustle. Right. where people call and say, I'm coming in with prince. Yeah. And they show up for the opening. Oh, sorry, prince couldn't make it. But I, my eight friends. So the night goes on the night goes on, we're rolling out the carpet. My, I lose my shoes because the glue. The glue, um, you know, they put down the carpet glue and my, my Chuck Taylors get stuck on it. One of them does, right. So there's no time you roll the carpet over that. I have, I'm running around with one shoe, right? It's like, it's like, right outta enthusi off my shoes. I'm running around at the, of the night. I get a text, it's the guy. Right. And I'm like, you know what? This has been a long night. I, so I sort of run out. Shoes on. I'm like, I'm gonna yell this guy, like email me. John's a lot for me to get mad. I just, I, you know, it was my first time dealing with celebrity the whole night I get out there and I'm running and I almost, and the guy moves the, and almost pancake him on the ground. I was like, oh, Hey, so, so the only word, the only word he ever said to me is you OK man? And I said, Jess, OK. That's pretty nice. That's nice. I, Steve, I thought just walk. I thought you were gonna, I thought you were gonna say when he came in, you didn't know if it was prince or Danny DeVito or your grandma it was one of those three people say height. No, it was prince. No grandma. And were. So Eric's walking in, he looks down and he sees him running outta the shoe. you came in, it gives me a thumbs up and that was it. So I got a thumbs up. And are you came in? So that was pretty nice. We're uh, we're gonna allow Scott Berg to ask one question. Yeah, just one. Uh, so Steve, the first two, uh, are both from the Midwest. I think that's bit very interesting. Very interesting to see what, like, I'm very curious to see, to see who the third one's going. that's a great, he ties it all together. Look at that. I kinda off Francis, just, I mean, drop the mic. You're saying a third, a third, a third celebrity. That was very nice. Yes. Gosh, I think I so many that aren't so many that aren't yeah, we're going nice. We're not going naughty. Yeah. That's a different show. I'm very nice. I'll tell you a surprising one. That was very nice. Was, um, you know, Iggy pop. Oh yeah, yeah. He's from Michigan. I, is he really from Michigan? Yeah. He's from Detroit. I, I, it's a long story in the book I pop wast throughout the he's cool dude. Yeah. That was the one where you had two events in one night, right? That's right. That we had like a, some, some theme, some theme. Um, earlier, which we actually, we had the porn star, James hosting. I've never heard of this. Played sand, just knocked over. It was his, it was playing on stage playing on. And, you know, in his, in his show at the end of the night women come on stage, right? Oh, dance. Right. Well, lobsters on stage, they thought it was like a beach scene. So they all, you know, To their clothes up and all dancing on in underwear. And he's like, going crazy. This is the greatest moment. It life. This is it's a total disaster. And the beach, the beach theme was really for the Jenna Jameson thing afterwards. Right. But, but the stuff that we hid and the rafter. Yes. And it was so, and the that we pushed out to the side, people pushed it, you know, they, there were so many people, he's a punk rocker. Yeah. He wants chaos. He, he loved that. He's a giant bag. Yeah, I, you know, but the story is, his manager was losing his mind during the whole thing. I call him the real Ian faith. Remember Ian faith and spinal. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I swear to God, this guy had a cricket bat. oh my God. So classic character, I would just like to tip my hat to Scott Berg for putting this all together. The three people that you named Midwest Madonna from Michigan. Uh, Iggy pop from Muskegon, Michigan. Yeah. And prince from Minneapolis. Yeah, it, the, maybe this is Midwest. Nice. See, we're expanding our horizons. Our Chronicles just got bigger, more than 3000 lists. Yes. John, John M Minnesota does not have a monopoly. Come on. We think we do though. You know, that we like to pretend we do. You can. You can lead the path and there can be other leaders, you know, right by your side. So it's all good. Okay. Before we shut it down, uh, we have a, a tradition here on the kindness Chronicles. My favorite part of the show, our friend, Steve brown here does what we call the, uh, what do we call that? The, uh, rapid fire clueless quiz, clueless quiz. So J uh, uh, Steve was the, uh, the lead singer of a band called Johnny clueless. And he, he has some fun stories, you know, uh, touring around with the likes of the Gogo dolls. Cheap trick. And so he's kind of a big deal really? Oh yeah. He peaked in the, he peaked in the nineties. I can appreciate some is a portion of the craziness that you've, you've seen Steve love, but he used to wear red pants on stage. And like the leather was the leather ones at the lover pants, not leather. Come on. What am I? I'm not that crazy. Anyway. So Steve, we have some rapid fire questions. This helps us get kind of an understanding of what Steve Adelman is really like. Yeah. Are you ready? Ready? I, I, I, no, the question is, are you ready? Oh yeah, well done. Well, I gotta read the book and then I'll totally know. Um, okay, go ahead. My, just, I'm gonna ask you a quick question. I'll just fire through these, but one question I thought of listening to you. Talk, what is, uh, your favorite nineties quality cocktail that you would, uh, that you would've put in your club, but what's the nineties cocktail? Like what, what encapsulates I in cosmopolitan? Cosmopolitan sense. That's the nineties drink sense, right? Sense nineties drink. Okay. Um, embarrassing, but yeah, I'll admit it. Okay. Kevin drank ZMA you can't me lower than XMA. Kevin drank ZMA so you're okay. Right. You're right. That is the good. I feel good with my intern now. Thank you. um, okay. This fits in your world too. Live Ben or DJ. What? What's your favorite? What's what are you interested? I would say my, oh gosh, live. There we go, DJ. Um, I, well, I'll go DJ first there, there, uh, when music started, there were guys Chicago. My, um, those are my favorite, uh, DJs, the greatest concert I ever saw was the stone temple pilot at Avalon. Wow. Um, I've never seen a band was the original with Scott wi and those. I, I thought the building was gonna fall apart. I've never seen energy like that in abandon my life. And, and it was a small venue. They were doing an MTV recording there. So the venue only hold like 2,400. Yeah. I thought, I thought, I thought the whole building was gonna collapse. It's amazing what pounds and pounds of cocaine will do for the energy of a, uh, of a band. I know, whatever I was, you know, I was like, I was just mesmerized. I couldn't believe that a band could be that. Yeah, it's a, it was a great band. The two brothers on guitar base. Yeah. Didn't you hire like D punk early in his career and SCR X and some of those DJs, all of them that's. So they came the first person who book them in the United States. Avalon Boston started that and then we took it to Avalon H. So cool. So yeah, I know them. I know them all very well. I can't read the bud. Can't wait to read this book all right. Back to the, back to the clueless quiz. Um, so you already told us greatest concert of all the time. Would you say stone pilots would be one of your favorites if you ever you've ever witnessed it's kind of what you were saying. Yeah. Yeah. That was great. And thought you can't mouse saw YouTube at Madison square garden. That was really incredible. I thought they were just, you know, I mean, how can you, how can you beat that? You know, the rolling stone at, um, In LA at, uh, oh my gosh. What's the famous at the Hollywood bowl sitting with the KCO brothers. This guy's seen it all really. I'm spending next with him in Michigan. I can't wait to, to peel the onion. We need to have a part too with you first, first time, first time I ever went, you know, and, and, and I remember one of the cl brothers had a, that girlfriend, uh, oh gosh, haz, panic hairs. And she was like five foot tall, but I mean, those guys are big oh, the Al brothers, the, the, the, uh, Ukrainian guys. Yeah. Isn't one of'em the mayor of Keve. I don't know. Yeah. He's they're fighting now. Um, okay. So. You've been around the world. You've been to Singapore, you live in New York, live in Boston. You've been all around, you know, done this kind of stuff everywhere. Um, if you could live anywhere now, where would you wanna live? Money's no object. You could just live anywhere. I, I, I, I like LA you know, just an easy life and I like the weather and it's not that dealing with a reality scenario. It's expensive, but it's not New York city expensive. You. I love Chicago. I spent a lot of time there, John, since I've been going to the houses, talk to Michigan, but it's just too cold. So I'm getting to be an old man. LA. All right, let's get some Kevin, Kevin likes some of these questions to there's a couple, there's a couple food questions. A couple. We go. Um, are you, uh, are you, uh, okay. George or Kramer? I would say CRA. All right. Putting her jello, putting her jello banya Panya love it. Pudding, pudding, taco. Sure. Chocolate pudding, taco pudding, taco Tuesday or fish Friday. Oh, taco Tuesday crush chef. Nice. Ooh, there you go. Um, Mac and cheese or mashed potatoes. Oh gosh. Favorite food in the world. Mashed potatoes. There you go. Um, my wife can't believe I eat mash potatoes anywhere. Anytime she thinks I'm I like the oddest thing ever. She's just like Steve. How many times? Freaking mash potatoes in one month. I said, oh, well, all right. Here's here's one that kind of came back in the nineties. Would you say, what would you choose a Polaroid or digital camera? There's nothing like a Polaroid for just pure and nostalgia. I'm more of a polar my brand Polaroid. Everyone about their brand. Yeah. That's brand. I'm a Polaroid guy. Yeah. My brand 4th of July or labor day. Oh, hanging out with thewas. There you go. I was hoping you go big smile on his face. It's it's my favorite day of the year, except for the, and the mosquitoes. And I was thinking of bringing mosquito. I wave it off some, what do you call that off? Whatever the cutter stops. Cutter. Cutter. Yeah. Cutter. Yeah. Greatest saving the year. Steve, your friends would give you an award, uh, your book aside, like just knowing you, this is insight into you, what, what would they give you an award for? I would say hopefully they give you an award for being helpful or trying to be. I would give you the award for being easygoing. You never seem to get upset about kind. I wish I had that mechanism. Yeah. I think he said some practice. He's seen a. Everybody tells me that. Okay. I'll take that. Okay. That's a nice, that's a very nice word at this time. I'll take any award I can get. So John, you bring it, the, it I'll start whittling later today. I bet you will. With John, John with the trophy, I still have that's right. Domination from the wedding tournament. Right? Right. I got, I just got two more questions on a scale of one to 10, how would you rate your handshake? Oh, gosh, I would have to give it a four because I'm, I, I go in confusing. I go, do I go with the sum up or sum down? You know, I'm a bad, I don't, I don't commit you. Don't A's noncommittal puts me below average. That's that's my analysis of my handshake. All right. All right. Um, and then last question. This is, uh, I know, I know we're on, uh, we're on a podcast, so you can't see anything, but, you know, John. I don't think you've met Kevin before. Oh yeah. We've met. You have met mm-hmm we've met. Okay. Got it. Good it. Okay. So now you met these two guys, uh, for our listeners. Um, this is a interesting one for who's more handsome. Nope. No, we're not going down that road. It's a landslide who you, who would win in a fair and square wrestling match between oh John or, or kg here? Is there oil or mud involved? This is just straight up wrestling. Well, I fight dirty you know, What's your, what's your assessment, Steve? Well, my assessment would be that awkward. It would no, no, it's not awkward. I, I can see it in my mind, right. Oh, it would start off even it would start off even. And then John would say, oh gosh, I pulled a groin. Yes. Kinda. Hold on, hold on, hold on. And then he would go to the kitchen and come back with a chair and break it over. Kevin's. That is, that's what I, Steve, that is that's right. A hundred percent accurate fish hook, grind stuff, and very low threshold for pain. Right. That's awesome. So I see that being, that's an easy call. I can picture that in my mind. Like it was, you know, yeah. That's the last, that's the last, what am I gonna eat tomorrow for breakfast? That's the last time we're gonna ask that question. Yeah, that one's okay. I, one last thing one last thing before we let you go. Um, and before I forget nocturnal admissions, uh, as I understand was number one, uh, on Amazon, uh, in whatever category this book is, is found in, but it really is a. Let me, let me put that in perspective, it was number one in all of its categories. One of them categories being EDM, dance music slash adult coloring books. So who knew that exist? That would, you know what? I've never seen an adulting book award is the award good timing, but I am not a reader. I am more of a TV guy and I have really gotten into this book. It's a very entertaining. And especially for guys of a certain age, you know, those of us that are in our fifties early, are we in our fifties, fifties? Oh my God. And by the way, the picture pictures are spectacular. The pictures in the book are fantastic. Saw Brittany Spears. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Um, those are hard to get. Yeah, but no kidding. The, the book is, is fascinating as hell. And, uh, I just encourage everybody to pick it up. Because, uh, the more books you buy, the more likely Steve will be picking up, uh, dinner on the 4th of July. Steve might be one of our, uh, most impressive guests so far. We got just a, you know, I agree pretty good. He's pretty, pretty high on the list right now. This is amazing. But as I was telling his, put this way, right. Look it, I would consider myself if I was promoting myself with your guest, I would say I was your number one guest by, in season three. And I'll take that. I'll take that number one season season. Number one, before I go, there is one little story that you tease, um, early in the book, and it's related to a curb, your enthusiasm script that you wrote. I know we have to read the book to, to, to, to get the ultimate story, but tell us, just, uh, tell the readers a little bit about that, because that to me is, uh, is pretty fascinating. It's my first, when I got Hollywood, not only, I started watching enthusiasm relate to that and the show when it started, wasn't very successful. so, as I took observations regarding nightlife, I started writing these kinda fake script. You know, I don't know. I didn't even know how to write a script. And it just so happens that, uh, my partner's brother was best friends with Larry David. So he said, let get the script, Larry, Larry got the script. We fair and didn't know at the liability and all these things. I said fast forward in the book, you know, all of a sudden they get a call saying, oh my God, your script got made. What? Talking about. So the episode got made. Now, what they did was they took two or three things from that episode and include them in another episode. So everybody was jumping around and, and they were telling, oh my David fast I'm and someone starts talking about their friends who wrote that script. Wait a second. Hold. Somehow, somehow they got their hands on the script and took credit for it. Oh. And so that was my first, um, sort of foray into Hollywood writing and the, the sort of, um, lesson learned on that was okay. You know, just don't give up. And here you go. Now I have a book sons of bitches, John, the book, the book is getting a lot of interest. It's written like a TV show. It's got 16 chapter. And not, not coincidentally a season right now is eight is eight episode. So I have there's yeah. I've already cast your book. so of course, you know, Matthew McConaughy will be playing, uh, Steve Adelman. Um, right. That seems about right. Doesn't it. Well, I had, I had, I had different thoughts, but I, I understand, yeah, that could. I, I always, you know, I had George Clooney playing me. Of course. That's I can see that fair, you know, thing here, book a, I, me thinking I'm being recognized else recognizes being somebody else. John Malkovich. Ooh, good one. John Melich, Steve jobs in Asia, but, but, and, and John, when you read the book and finish it, the real. Real book, it's this it's very simple. It's that, you know, be careful what you chase because all the running that'll be worth it. So all the years you spent chasing parties and this and that, you know, the happiest party or moment I ever had in my life is marrying Michelle. There's the kind. Comes live. Right. And by the way, by the way, Michelle's standing next to me. So I had to say that that that's a guy that man, well, that's a guy that catch it. Right? And then you should look at her. Say, now get back in the kitchen. Hey. Oh no. I told her, I said, do you hear me? I said, are my mash potatoes getting called? Well, our pizza just came so on. You're note, Steve. Oh my gosh. We, uh, we, we thank you for your time. And. This has has been fascinating. It's been fun. And, uh, yeah. Thank you. Imagine we'd like to have you back on again. Yeah. We have to be a part too, but uh, good luck with the book and, uh, and the potatoes. And I'll see you in a few days and off we go.