LIVE FROM JACKSONVILLE! with Amadeus
99.9 Gator Country morning show host Amadeus shares stories that did not make it on the air, and he takes a deeper dive into those that did make the cut. Fans of Your Hometown Morning Show will enjoy a more behind the scenes look at what goes into the making of a country radio morning show. Listen daily for this PG-13 version of the top stories making pop culture headlines, artist interviews, and much , much more.
LIVE FROM JACKSONVILLE! with Amadeus
How a Saturday Morning Cartoon Changed My Life
The stars align this month as Jacksonville welcomes an extraordinary lineup of musical legends, and I've secured exclusive conversations with two icons who changed the sound of popular music.
First, I share a comprehensive guide to June's concert calendar—from Styx and Kevin Cronin (former lead singer of REO Speedwagon) to Luke Bryan and Avril Lavigne—offering a chronological roadmap to this month's must-see performances across Jacksonville's premier venues. Whether you're looking for country, rock, or nostalgic hits, this summer promises unforgettable live music experiences.
But the heart of this episode features my deeply personal conversation with Ron Dante—the voice behind The Archies' "Sugar Sugar," a song that literally changed my life, and set me on my path in music and radio. Ron shares incredible "behind-the-song" stories about recording this iconic hit (including how Andy Kim strummed with a matchbook when his pick broke!) and reveals that both Betty and Veronica's voices were actually sung by just one talented woman. Now touring as lead vocalist for The Turtles on the Happy Together Tour, Ron's musical journey comes full circle as he performs alongside other 60s legends like Little Anthony and Jay and the Americans.
I also speak with Tommy Heath (better known as Tommy Tutone), who discusses his upcoming album and offers refreshing wisdom about his "one-hit wonder" status. Tommy brings his signature hit and new material to the Florida Theater as part of the Totally 80s Tour with Big Country, Gene Loves Jezebel, and Bow Wow Wow.
Don't miss these legendary performers as they bring their timeless music to Jacksonville! Visit floridatheater.com for tickets and information, and join me next episode when we preview the Jax Beach Country Fest.
Welcome to another episode of Live from Jacksonville. I'm your host, amadeus. I'm here to run down some of the shows, concert comedians, things coming to Jacksonville in the next month or so. I have two amazing guests on this episode of the podcast, including Tommy Heath, also known as Tommy Two-Tone, and a guy named Ron Dante who you probably don't know but actually changed my life when I was about five years old. I'll explain more when we get there, but first let's run down what's coming to Jacksonville in the month of June, and it is a busy month.
Speaker 1:Instead of going venue by venue, I think I'm just going to do a chronological order, just so you kind of know what's coming up next. And that is Styx with Kevin Croninin, former lead singer of reo speedwagon, and don felder, formerly of the eagles. They'll be at daly's place on monday, june 2nd. Bare naked ladies will be at the amp st augustine on wednesday, june 4th. The happy together tour hits the florida theater on thursday, june 5th. This show features the turtles, jay and the americans, little Anthony, gary, puckett and the Union Gap, the Vogues and the Cow Sills. Old Dominion will be at Daily's Place on Friday, june 6th, with Ernest and Red Ferrin. This show's just about sold out. There are still a few seats left. Big Rich with Gretchen Wilson are playing at Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, georgia, on Saturday, june 7th. Vampire Weekend is at Daily's Place on Thursday June 12th.
Speaker 1:Luke Bryan's Country Song Came On Tour hits the Kia Center in Orlando on Friday June 13th. I know that's not really Jacksonville area, but I know a lot of people will go to Orlando to see Luke Bryan. There's a great free concert happening at the Jacksonville Beach Seawalk Pavilion on Saturday June 14th. Bryce Leatherwood, the winner of the Voice Season 22, along with John Morgan and Tiger Lily Gold, they're all scheduled to be at the Jacksonville Beach Country Fest. Again, that's Saturday June 14th and it's all free. You can get details on that at 999gatorcountrycom. This is our show along with the city of Jacksonville.
Speaker 1:Rising country music star Max McNown will play Jacksonville's newest music venue, five in Riverside on Sunday June 15th. Bailey Zimmerman has a two-night engagement at the Amp, st Augustine. He'll be there on Thursday and Friday June 19th and 20th. Ringo Starr and his all-star band are at the Amp on Sunday, june 22nd. Avril Lavigne's Greatest Hits Tour hits Daily's Place on Monday, june 23rd. Ann and Nancy Wilson, aka Heart, are playing at the Amp on Tuesday June 24th. This is a band if you've never seen. You should definitely try to check them out because they're not going to be touring forever.
Speaker 1:The Totally 80s Tour with Big Country Bow Wow Wow, gene Loves, jezebel and Tommy Two-Tone, who I'll be speaking with here in just a few minutes on the podcast. That show hits the Florida Theater on June 24th. At the Amp you can see Billy Currington and Kip Moore on Friday June 27th and finally, molly Hatchett will be at the Florida Theater on Saturday June 28th. Now, as I mentioned earlier, we have a couple of guests on this episode, both coming to the Florida Theater this month.
Speaker 1:The Happy Together Tour is Tuesday June 6th and features a singer named Ron Dante on lead vocals for the Turtles. Right now you may not know that name, but he sang lead on a song you will definitely know and that song literally changed my life. The song is Sugar Sugar by the Saturday morning cartoon band the Archies, and Ron Dante provided the voice of Archie Andrews, the lead singer of the Archies. This is probably the coolest interview I've ever done in my entire radio career, because I've always credited Sugar Sugar as the song that made me fall in love with music and pretty much set my destiny. Here's my conversation with music icon Ron Dante. I think I was about five years old when I heard Sugar Sugar for the first time. That song changed my life, changed the trajectory of my life, because I knew at that point that I wanted to be around music for my entire life. And getting the chance to speak with the man who sang that song is like a lifelong dream.
Speaker 2:Thank you. A lot of kids. The first pop music, rock and roll they heard was Sugar, Sugar and I'm so happy that it changed your life. Look where it took you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right. I mean, it made me fall in love with the music and then I ended up working in a record store, then got into radio. Here I am, 35 years later, talking to the man that started my career. It was meant to be. It was meant to be. You have made an impact on a lot of people's lives and thank you for that.
Speaker 2:It was my pleasure.
Speaker 1:And you had a really interesting career along the way, including working with Barry Manilow right.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Sugar. Sugar kicked off so many things in my career. It was just a blessing to sing that song and be part of the group, the elite singer of the Archies. It started everything. It was what a turning point it was for me, just like you.
Speaker 1:And now here you are, all these years later, on this amazing Happy Together tour that's coming to the Florida Theater on Thursday June 5th. We are super excited to see all these amazing acts.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a fun night because it's all hits all night. Every act does their big hit, so you get a lot of it. It's two and a half hours of fun.
Speaker 1:And you are currently the vocalist for the Turtles right.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was assigned a lead singer. About seven years ago, the lead singer, howard Kalin, decided to retire and both he and Mark Movoman asked me to replace him, and what an honor that was to take over the lead of one of my favorite groups as I was growing up.
Speaker 1:That's got to be kind of a full circle moment for you then.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. When I used to dream of making records, I used to think I'm going to use the turtle sound the way they use ba-ba-ba's and the backgrounds on their records, and I continued to do that all through my production career.
Speaker 1:That is really amazing to think about how the generations influenced each other and then continue to do so all these years later.
Speaker 2:It is full circle On the Happy Together tour. We have two buses for all the acts and we drive all over the country. We hit about 60 cities all summer and I remember my first tour was Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars, and who was on it with me? But Little Anthony. And here we are back on the bus touring America again, little Anthony and I, and of course you know, jane Americans, cal Sills, vogue, gary Puckett. It's so much fun.
Speaker 1:That is a great lineup. What do you love most about touring with these guys?
Speaker 2:Well, it's the excitement of seeing them live and letting them recreate their hits, and the band does it really really well. They do the same arrangements, exactly the same keys and all the vocalists sound great. It's just very exciting. All the acts cheer on the other acts backstage. They're always in the wings watching whoever is on. If Little Anthony's on, all the acts are watching him. And it's great for me because I get to meet all these fans that have heard my music all these years and I get to say hello to them and sing Sugar, sugar and Tracy and some of my hits and, of course, the Turtles hits. Live for them.
Speaker 1:So you will be singing Sugar, sugar on the tour.
Speaker 2:Absolutely right in the middle of the Turtles set, mark Bowman introduces me, me, and there we go.
Speaker 1:Wow, that just gave me a huge thrill. I'm so excited about seeing that live.
Speaker 2:You know, most of the audience sings it with me. If a song gets played today, it got played yesterday, it'll get a play tomorrow. It's one of those songs that just refuses TikTok. There must be a hundred dancing videos to Sugar, sugar on TikTok.
Speaker 1:I do have two different copies of various Archie's greatest hits and when I listen to that song now at my age, knowing what I know about music, the production and the backing vocals where there were two different females, a Betty and a Veronica, it just thrills me at how amazing that was.
Speaker 2:You know it was just a magical session and, to tell you the truth, both those voices were done by one woman. No, tony Wine was the two girls, because we multi-tracked our voices so she could sing high, she could sing low. We did backgrounds together on the first two Archie albums. Wonderful singer. You know she wrote Groovy Kind of Love, so she has a great career as a songwriter.
Speaker 1:You just blew my mind. You really did. I honestly always my entire life thought that was two different people.
Speaker 2:In the middle section when he goes I'm going to make your life so sweet. High and low. People always said to me oh, you had two singers. That was just Tony Wine.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, and I know Andy Kim was involved in Sugar Sugar as well, right, as songwriter, and he also played guitar on it.
Speaker 2:Gosh they were having a little problem getting the right pocket for the rhythm. When they were doing the track for the song and Andy came out and started to play his guitar, he said no, no, guys, this is the tempo and this is the sound. The funny thing was that he broke his pick. He didn't have a pick, so he strummed his guitar with a matchbook.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that's so cool, ron. I definitely want to get back on the Happy Together tour, but while we're on this track, I'm just so curious and I don't know if I'll ever have this opportunity again, did you?
Speaker 2:sing Bang Shanga Lang. Yes, that was my first recording of the Archie side. That was my audition song. I came into Mr Don Kirshner, who was the producer, along with Jeff Barry, and they said well, sing this song. I feel like they changed my life, Wow.
Speaker 1:I was one of those kids that went to the grocery store to buy the Super Sugar Crisp to get the Archie's records off the back of the box.
Speaker 2:You know there were 10 million of those. It was such a popular thing to have the records and of course other acts followed suit Osmonds, jacksons, david Cassidy, different people, partridge Family. But we were the first to do cereal boxes.
Speaker 2:Did you happen to watch the Riverdale show on the CW and if so, what were your thoughts? I did watch some of it. I liked the idea that it was based on the Archie's character, but it was a little dark for me. Being an Archie fan and knowing the history of the Archies and their comics from the beginning to the 60s till today, it was a little too dark for me. But I was very happy that a whole new generation got to be interested in the Archies and Betty Veronica and all that stuff. They also played a few of my songs on Jingle Jangle. They played on it and a couple of others they played on the original recordings on the show. I was happy about that.
Speaker 1:Ron Dante, I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is for me to talk to you. It really. I mean, if you had any, I was literally almost in tears yesterday when I got off the phone with you and I had to call my mom. I'm like I just talked to Archie Andrews. It was so cool. The Happy Together Tour is coming to the Florida Theater on Thursday June 5th Again. The Happy Together Tour is coming to the Florida Theater on Thursday June 5th Again. The Turtles, jay and the Americans, little Anthony, gary, puckett and the Union Gap the Vogues. I feel like I'm missing at least one the Cow Sales. Yeah, the Cow Sales. It's going to be an amazing show. Tickets are available at floridatheatercom. And I know, ron, you've played this theater before. You know how magical it is.
Speaker 2:It's great and the fans there are rabid. They just love the songs. They sing along on everything. It's a great, great fan base there.
Speaker 1:Well, we look forward to seeing you again. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your time and what a thrill it is for me to chat with you.
Speaker 2:It's been my pleasure.
Speaker 1:Can you tell how excited I was to be talking with Ron Dante. That's about the coolest thing ever. The Happy Together Tour hits the Florida Theater Thursday, june 5th. Also coming to the Florida Theater the Totally 80s Tour. That shows Tuesday June 24th, featuring Big Country Tommy Two-Tone, gene Loves, jezebel and Bow Wow Wow. A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to chat with Tommy Heath, better known as Tommy Two-Tone. We started off talking about their new album.
Speaker 3:It's called New Wave Americana. It's a sample of all the kinds of music I like. There's rock and roll, country, western rockabilly, soul songs. The album's not out until June 20th I think, but we have two singles out with videos. One's called how Good Is A Good Thing, a soul song One's called. It's a funny little thing called Mountain Do's and Don'ts. It's kind of a roots thing. That shows my weird sense of humor. And they're doing pretty well on all the digital things. And I finally came to terms with social media. I'm doing two-tone Tuesdays on Facebook and TikTok and we're putting together some great new merchandise concepts. But anyway, the band I got this year is really great. They can really jam and I think I'm singing pretty good. So I like the songs. We love our 80s songs, but we're always making new ones, so there'll be a mixture of old and new.
Speaker 1:That's cool, because that album comes out June 20th and you're here June 24th, so I guess we're going to hear some new stuff too, as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, as much as they'll let me get away with. To me it's new wave music, whether it's in the 80s or now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, growing up in Philly, who were some of your heroes.
Speaker 3:Well, I listened to a lot of Memphis Staxville that kind of stuff In the 50s. I had teenage brothers and sisters. I was only five. I had to dance with my big sister in their latest Elvis EP.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 3:My brother was in Beatle bands, played bass. I never thought I'd be I'm pretty shy actually but I was totally into that for a while and Bob Dylan and everything. And then my dad was in the Air Force while I was in Japan. On Far East Network there was a thing called the Honshu Hoedown. It was Darnit Buck Owens and Merrill Haggard era and it had a big effect on me. So I just like all kinds of music. I didn't play in any real rock bands in the 70s. We just played in reggae and country and swing, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:Are there any artists right now maybe I would call newer artists that really turn you on?
Speaker 3:I live in Portland, oregon. There's a great venue a half block away from me and all the big bands play there, even though it's not a big place. Bands have big concerts in Seattle and Portland, but they're playing at this place down the street from me on Tuesday night and I'll tell you, there's so many young cool bands that I never heard of but I walk by and I go. That's great, I go in. There's just lots of good stuff out there. I don't know what format you're in, but I spent a lot of time on radio and eight years ago I gave a CD to a kid and he said what's this?
Speaker 1:Well, vinyl's making a huge comeback and I still love my CDs. I think all formats will stick around pretty much forever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're putting out some CDs too. I decided to pull the button today. My partner says nobody wants them anymore and we're going to have some LPs too, so we'll have it all with us. I guess it won't go away. I thought it was going away. I had a friend that was just in Japan. He said kids are into Walkmans over there. Oh my gosh. So you've got to pay attention to social media to see some of these young bands. Some of them are pretty damn good.
Speaker 1:It's inspiring to see young kids still making great music.
Speaker 3:I don't even like it. I like it even when it's great If it's different, they're trying stuff. You know. Yeah, I just support young bands. You know they always try to let me in free and I go. No, I'm paying if you're giving it to the band. I support young musicians. I was, you know, playing in bars all during the seventies and we appreciate it. I'm looking forward to being in Jacksonville.
Speaker 1:Well, it's going to be nice and warm when you're here on June 24th. The Totally 80s tour with Big Country Gene Loves, jezebel, bow Wow, wow and of course, tommy Two-Tone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we'll be there, folks, Come on out.
Speaker 1:Tickets are available now at floridatheatercom. Before I let you go, tommy, I read a quote that I love.
Speaker 3:You said I'm proud to be a one-hit wonder. I'd rather be a three-hit wonder, but it's better than being a no-hit wonder and I love that quote. Yeah, I'm happy with where I'm at. I've decided that I'm just famous enough.
Speaker 3:I walk around my hometown without people bothering me and I can put on my shades and get on a plane and go somewhere, I'm perfectly happy. As long as I get to keep singing, as long as I can have a real band and get to play for people, I'm happy. And on the one-hit wonder, they didn't write any books about two-hit wonders. Come on out. What night of the week are we playing there?
Speaker 1:It's a Tuesday night. It's a Tommy Two-Tone Tuesday.
Speaker 3:Oh great, Well, heck, maybe I'll have to do Two-Tone Tuesday for my dressing room.
Speaker 1:There you go. Well, we'll see you on Tuesday, june 24th, at the Florida Theater.
Speaker 3:All right, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:So you can see there's some great shows coming to the Florida Theater. Make sure you check out floridatheatercom for information and tickets on all these shows. Man, I had no idea when I started this podcast a few months ago that I would be talking to legends like well, rick Springfield a couple of episodes back and gosh Ron Dante, the Archie's lead singer, and Tommy Two-Tone. This is so much fun for me. I hope you had fun too. My next episode is going to be all about the Jax Beach Country Fest, where we're speaking with Allison from the city of Jacksonville Beach about all the fun to be had and all the rules to observe too, for right now that's what's happening. Live in Jacksonville.