on DRUMS, with John Simeone
This is a local Long Island Podcast given by a veteran drummer on the Long Island music scene. We have a variety of local professional musicians as participants. We joke, give insights and share stories about our over 4 decades of experience in the music profession.
on DRUMS, with John Simeone
Rekindling Melodies: John Simeone and Al Quinn's Musical Reunion and Shared Journeys
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Reconnecting with an old friend can be a heartwarming and enlightening experience. Imagine being separated for 15 years and then finding yourselves together again, not just as friends but as musicians who once shared the stage. This episode brings you the remarkable story of how I, John Simeone, reunited with the talented Al Quinn, our keyboard player from the band Street Life. Listen as we laugh and reflect on our unexpected reunion at Wildwood State Park and Al’s early days, beginning his musical journey at just eight years old, inspired by the timeless tunes of the Beatles.
Ever wondered how different life paths converge and diverge? This episode takes a closer look at our distinct musical journeys. Hear about the excitement of discovering music later in life and the contrasting experience of growing up immersed in the sounds of Steely Dan and Santana. We share how transitioning from organ to piano and classical training shaped our musical identities, with fascinating insights into the influence of shared mentors and the unique experiences of practicing and performing on these instruments. You’ll also get a glimpse into our educational paths and the impact of passionate teachers on our careers.
Balancing music with an engineering career presents its own set of challenges and rewards. In this episode, we discuss the practical reasons behind seeking a stable day job while nurturing a passion for music, and reflect on the vibrant yet demanding music scene of the 1980s. From local gigs to international tours, discover personal anecdotes about performing with legendary bands like the Stanton Anderson Band and renowned artists like Joel Rosenblatt. We wrap up with a candid chat about our future collaborations and the joy of sharing our love for music. Don’t miss this engaging episode filled with heartfelt stories and a deep appreciation for the art of music.
Reconnecting Through Music
Speaker 1Okay , here we go , we're on . This is episode . I think this is episode 22 . I'm not even sure . This is On Drums . My name is John Simeone . Today I have my friend Al Quinn Hi .
Speaker 2John .
Speaker 1Hi Al , how you doing .
Speaker 2Good thanks , yeah , so Al and I have known each other a long time from the 80s Since the mid-80s I would say Mid-80s and Street Life was the band Street Life yeah , right , so Al's a keyboard player that I've known for all these years and we lost touch for how long it had to be 15 .
Speaker 1At least 15 years , right , At least 15 years until we ended up on a gig together . Right . So let me just start off with that story , because you and I played in Street Life . I mean , we played a lot of gigs , like we did other gigs too , I think in the 80s , early 90s , whatever .
Speaker 2Yeah , we did a club date or two too , Right , right . And then we lost touch .
Speaker 1And then I got fired from my club date band . And because you know you're in a club date band , you're like you know it's the mafia , right ? So , and because you're in a club day band , you're like it's the mafia , right . So everybody thinks you're busy . Nobody calls you for gigs anymore , right ? So I got a call .
Speaker 1The first call I got from being fired was this guy who said hey , I got your number from whoever , I don't even know . And he said can you do a gig on this date at this park ? And it's a really cool venue on the water . And before did , before I got all the details , I said , um , you told me what it paid and paid okay . I said , uh , all right , I'll do it . And then , as soon as I said that , I regretted it because he said okay , so you gotta get there an hour before .
Speaker 1When you get there , you'll see a little gate . You have to drive all the way down this very steep hill . People will be walking the other way . You have to drive all the way down , be careful not to hit . Then , when you get down there , you have to unload your shit . And then you got to drive back up there . I was like , oh my God , I do not want to do this . But I said yes and even on the way to the gig I was driving I'm going . Maybe I could just go home and tell them I had an accident and I get there , and then you're there .
Speaker 2That's right , and then we reconnected .
Speaker 1That's right , so it was the right thing to do that day , and the hill was even worse than described the hill was .
Speaker 2It was at wildwood state park . I felt we were at the down vietnam to me , playing right down on the water , right and uh , the funny thing happened at the end of the gig . I , uh , I went up to get my car and um climbed the hill and when I went to get my keys I was like , oh my God .
Speaker 1You left them .
Speaker 2I left them in my wire bag . So I was like , oh no , do I really have to do all of this again ?
Speaker 1That was a crazy hill and the park ranger .
Speaker 2I don't know , he was there . Somebody gave you a ride , right , he gave me a ride .
Speaker 1yeah , yeah yeah , all right , so that is the good thing about doing Possibles .
Speaker 2I never expected that that was a fun gig .
Speaker 1I expected it to be like the worst gig ever , just based on what I had in my mind .
Speaker 2It was a fun gig , except it had to be 90 degrees out . It was hot , and the way that happened was your friend worked with the bass player .
Speaker 1My friend . The guy that called you . He wasn't my friend . I didn't know the guy , the only person I knew was you .
Speaker 2Oh , I wonder how he knew you . I had no idea , I knew nobody but him , except you .
Speaker 1Okay , I don't know how he got my number and I don't know why I wasn't thinking . Because I was like why would I take a gig from a stranger ? Anyway , it says it doesn't matter , but that's how we connected . Yeah , yeah , yeah . So give me your thing , al , give me your whole . How'd you start with this piano shit ?
Speaker 2So that's not where I started . I actually started with organ .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2So I was eight years old . It was , uh , eight years old , it was 1966 . I got my first record in 1964 . It was meet the beatles , meet the beatles , and uh , everybody wanted to be a beetle . So you know , we had wigs and all kinds of stuff and we were . You know , the beatles lit us up , yeah , they really lit us up . So my parents got me organ they bought an organ in 1966 , and they got me organ lessons and it was so your parents were supportive .
Speaker 1Yes , yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2And it was basically . It was pop music , Right . And some of it I thought was pretty terrible when I look back on it , but I didn't know . And then actually some of the songs that I thought were terrible actually are still being played a lot today . Like , just driving over here today I'm listening to my Spotify stuff and Moon River comes on with Kenny Burrell , you know , and I'm like that was a song I thought , like you know . I didn't think that was a good song , but I that was a song .
Speaker 1I thought , like you know , I didn't think that was a good song , but I've heard so many covers of that in 2024 . Well , who did it ? I mean , who did it originally ? Was it Andy Williams or something ? Yeah , someone like that .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think maybe it was related to a movie , but I was playing stuff like that .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And then got into . I guess it was around 1970 . So I was 12 . And I had a paper route and one of my friends who I was delivering papers with said you got to check out this record and he put it on and it was the first Allman Brothers record and actually I remember it was the first song on the record . It was it's Not my Cross to Bear and the instrumental that came before it and I was just so blown away I was like this doesn't sound anything like the Beatles or any of the stuff Were they like country rock , the Only Brothers .
Speaker 1I never got into any of that .
Speaker 2You know , it was what I heard . It was like a blend of rock , country and it had like jazz elements , you know like the guitars were playing in harmony and it was . It was super cool . Then , at about the same time , I discovered Progressive Rock that was like yes came out with the Fragile album . I don't know if that was 71 , that was in the 70s , and then it was like , oh my god , this keyboard player is like unbelievable . That was Rick Wakeman so I would go .
Speaker 2I would go see , yes , every year through the 70s . They lost me after a while . They got kind of commercial , but I followed them up until Raleigh , which had Patrick Perez on it , and then I kind of lost them after that and I was also listening to like Led Zeppelin , jimi Hendrix so you started , you were rock .
Speaker 1You started with rock stuff Rock only yeah .
Speaker 2I never heard jazz as a kid . Growing up and I grew up in North Massapequa , went to Farmingdale High School . The only jazz I remember hearing as a kid was Vince Giraldi playing on the Charlie .
Speaker 1Brown Christmas . I still like that song and to this day .
Speaker 2I just love it . I feel so fortunate that I was exposed through Charlie Brown , to that great jazz .
Speaker 1Yeah , it was wonderful .
Speaker 2Yeah , so then you know I was into Emerson Lake and Palmer .
Speaker 1Boy you're talking about now . So you're in what ? Middle school , junior high ? Yeah , I'm in junior high school .
Speaker 2I'm in junior high school , yeah , and it wasn't until I was about 15 . Yeah , I'd say I was 15 , and two things happened that year . My father said check this guy out on TV . So it was on channel 13 . Back then we only had like whatever .
Speaker 1Yeah , five or six channels , 13 channels , you had two through 13 . Yeah , there was no three , there was no three . There was no three , there was no six .
Speaker 2Right . So he said , check this guy out on channel 13 . So it was Andre Previn interviewing Oscar Peterson . Oscar Peterson , so I , you know , I thought my rock heroes were like the greatest thing ever and I wasn't exposed to classical music so I didn't even know what that was about . And I saw oscar peterson playing . I was more drawn to to , to his ridiculous technique and and the blues that he played than anything .
Speaker 2but then that just that just kind of lit me up and I was like , oh my god , this is amazing . And then I think that same year , my cousin who was only a year older than me said , uh , there's this really cool band we got to go see . I think she just got her license , maybe I was 16 and she was 17 . And they're at the Hofstra Playhouse . I said , yeah , I'll go , and we saw Return to Forever .
Speaker 1Oh , wow , yeah , that's cool .
Speaker 2It was Chick Corea , lenny White , stanley Clark and Al DiMeola was new on the gig .
Speaker 1He was new on the gig . Yeah , he was reading . That's hilarious , he was reading .
Speaker 2I mean , I think it was one of his very first gigs with the group and , as it turns out , he's not much older than me . Right , he was . I think he was on the gig and he was like 19 or 20 . He was so young , so that changed everything .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2That . So that changed everything . Yeah , that's changed because they were playing it was . It was was fusion , but you know , it was kind of not terribly different than progressive rock . Um , they were just coming at it from a jazz angle rather than a classical angle , you know . And uh , and it was just so , so , super tight and so ridiculous . And of course , chicory with the , with the electric keyboards , was like right , like something you never couldn't even imagine . It was so ridiculous
Transitioning to Piano
Speaker 2.
Speaker 1And then , and then soon after , I saw a weather report and see what's funny you know about what you're saying is like every time , like you're like the 20th person I've had here who's giving me like the history , like progressively , like you know from , like you getting you know you're 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , you know high school , whatever , and I never had any of that . I never like what you're describing right now really I never had any of that .
Speaker 1Like I don't know what I listened to in high school I I listened to what was on the radio . I didn't have nothing turned me on I knew nothing about . When I was a senior in high school I knew nothing about . I didn't know who steve guide was , oh , and he was in the . He was in the mainstream . At that point I didn't know anything . It took me to go to college and that's when all these guys were like what you don't know and they were handing me records and stuff . And that's when it started for me . It really started when I was 18 years old . So you didn't collect records as a teenager .
Speaker 1No , I mean no , I didn't , I just didn't , I didn't it , I just didn't , I didn't . It's so weird , right , and I played in them , bands and the stuff , and I mean I was just not aware of it . My parents used to play , like Herb Alpert , in the Tijuana Brass in the house . That's the extent to which I heard anything but there was no drumming on it . I mean it was , but it wasn't like wow , I got to check this out and it wasn't until college that I got lit up .
Speaker 2That's interesting . Yeah , yeah , I was , I think at around 12 , I got the bug and what I left out in all of this was Steely Dan . They were important in introducing me to like a bridge . They kind of bridged the rock I knew to some more sophisticated harmonies which all sounded very right to me , right , I guess , because the context it was in was pretty familiar to what I was listening to , and so that was the music of my junior high years and yeah , I was hooked , but I was only playing organ .
Speaker 1Oh , still only organ .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm not playing piano yet , I'm just playing organ . So I was how do you Were you doing gigs ?
Speaker 1and stuff . Yeah , were you moving an organ around .
Speaker 2I had a portable organ , a portable organ .
Speaker 1It was horrible .
Speaker 2I had an amp . It was horrible . It was all . I mean , it made sound and I could play , but we were playing . The big influences as a teenager playing organ were Steve Winwood , oh yeah , and then Greg Raleigh in Santana killed me , of course . Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman in yes , those were some of the big ones that really inspired me to want to play more and more . And then I got to where I was . I guess I was 18 . Yeah , I think I was 18 . And a lot of the music I was loving included piano and any time .
Speaker 2I sat down at a piano . I couldn't play .
Speaker 1Because an organ is a different thing .
Speaker 2Yeah most people don't realize . Really , the only similarity between an organ and a piano is that they both have keys Black and white keys . They both have keys . They're totally different . The piano is touch sensitive , you know . What you hear varies depending on how hard you hit . The key Organ is just a bunch of on-off switches . It's like typing on a keyboard when you're sending a text message .
Speaker 1Oh , I didn't even realize that . So it's not touch sensitive like a licker , oh really .
Speaker 2No , there's a subtlety in it which is called percussion . It's kind of technical , but if you play staccato and you have percussion on , then you'll hear a little extra sound which is called percussion and it goes away if you play legato . That's a subtlety , but there's just a bunch of on-off switches , so you use the volume pedal to get some expression . So , anyway , I wanted to play piano around 18 , and I got a piano . It was an upright . And then I decided I'd like music to be a big part of my adult life .
Speaker 1I'd like to make money playing music and stuff like that . Oh , so you were gonna . All right , so keep going . I want to know what you did yeah , so I got the piano .
Speaker 2I uh , I got a , uh , a classical teacher . Um , I dabbled in some jazz lessons , classical I got a classical teacher , yeah , yeah , and I took classical lessons from 18 , 19 , 20 , those years . And the funny thing , my classical teacher was great but I met another student of hers that you know .
Speaker 1I met back then . Who was that ? Because ?
Speaker 2he was studying with her as well , Billy Heller .
Speaker 1Oh , billy Heller was on the show . He came here .
Speaker 2Yeah , we had the same classical teacher .
Speaker 1At the same time , at the same time .
Speaker 2So I know , billy from back then and I went to , so I got serious and then from that point on I really stopped practicing organ and so I've just been practicing piano mainly since then .
Musical Language and Education
Speaker 2And a really interesting thing is that I'm realizing now , after all these years , that it's kind of like organ's my first language and piano's my second language , because in my head I can hear organ . When I'm playing organ , I can hear clear as anything what I want to say , what I want to play Piano . It's getting pretty good after all these years , but I think you learn differently when you're young . Say what I want to play Piano . It's getting pretty good after all these years , but it was just . I think you learn differently when you're young .
Speaker 2Or maybe it's the first language , second language thing , but anyway piano .
Speaker 1That's interesting what you said , though , that you're almost , like you're , more expressive on organ , like you can .
Speaker 2I'm more connected .
Speaker 1Really .
Speaker 2I hear more clearly in my mind stuff that I mind .
Speaker 1Oh , that's interesting .
Speaker 2Stuff that I like . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , it's just very clear .
Speaker 1I don't know if it's , and that blows me away , because your piano playing's great .
Speaker 2Thanks thanks .
Speaker 1I mean your organ playing's great too . But I See now , I never even knew there was that much of a difference between the two instruments . I there's that much of a difference between the two instruments . I just figured they were similar enough that you just jump from one to the other . I had no idea .
Speaker 2Now that you know , when you listen to people , you can often tell is it a piano player playing an organ or an organ player , or is that an organ player playing piano ?
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah , you can often tell .
Speaker 2There are some guys who you can tell .
Speaker 1I can't tell with you that's good , yeah , no , I mean , I'm glad to hear that .
Speaker 2I mean a guy like Larry Goldings . I can't tell , I never looked into what his history is , but he plays organ and he plays piano , amazingly .
Speaker 1Well , because we did a session at your house you , me and the guitar player . What was his name ? Bobby Sexton . Bobby Sexton , right player . What was his ?
Speaker 2name ? Uh , bobby sexton , bobby sexton , right , yeah , you were playing organ .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , yeah , that was the first where we started , yeah , and then then kind of the next thing at your house was you playing piano . Yeah , right , yeah , yeah , yeah , that's right . So I I mean , I definitely um didn't go . Oh , al , I think al's an organ player .
Speaker 2I worked hard on piano . What's going on ?
Speaker 1I worked hard at it , no in fact I think it may have been thought the opposite . Like organ , you were piano player first , and then you just picked up organ , uh-huh .
Speaker 2That's probably because I neglected the organ from about age 18 . I just wrote it , I could play it and I just kept playing it .
Speaker 1I played on gigs , but I wouldn't practice it All .
Speaker 2My practice would be on piano and just in recent years , like the past maybe three , um uh , I'm starting to practice some organ too uh-huh , yeah , wow , that's cool .
Speaker 1So where you practicing , working in the condo ?
Speaker 2yeah well , I , I , when we , when we moved in february from a house to a condo , I I sold my hammond a100 .
Speaker 1I sold my Leslie , but I still have my portable gear and nowadays , there are amazing software instruments and you had a Leslie at your house , right ? Yeah , I sold that . Did you know , harry Underdunk ?
Speaker 1No , no I did a we used to do . This is a million years . I used to do duos with Harry Underdunk . He brought a giant Leslie and an organ , yeah , and he played left hand bass , yeah , and he sang , yeah , and he had a on his voice . He had a , I guess , a , I don't know what it was . This is , this is 1970 , something , yeah , but he was a one man band but me playing drums ?
Speaker 2Yeah , and he was great , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1And he was like the guy he was doing all these gigs because he could get two people and he was really not . I just was doing nothing . He was doing most of it . But it was a strange thing . I saw this . Leslie's got the spinning thing right .
Speaker 2Oh , yeah , yeah , that was right in my head on the gig . I'm like what is going on here ? Well , the guy who did that really effectively was Lee Michaels , and the drama was Frosty , so check out Lee Michaels playing Stormy Monday , for example . I mean , it's just nuts . It's just two guys .
Speaker 1Like I said , I'm not versed at all . I'm not one anyway .
Speaker 2But Steve Woodward's amazing at that . I saw him at Westbury . There was no bass player , he was just playing Hammond organ . He was playing the pedals . He was singing . He was just playing Hammond organ .
Speaker 1He was playing the pedals .
Speaker 2He was singing . The band was really good . He was a guitar and there was drums and , I think , a percussionist and a sax . But Steve Winwood , wow , he's got that stuff down .
Speaker 1Yeah , let me ask you this . So now , did you go to school for music ? I ?
Speaker 2did you went to college for music ? I did . Yeah , yep , I did , I went to college for music . I did .
Speaker 1Yeah , yep , I did . I went to college for music Music . What Music education ? Oh , music ed . You went for music ed , yeah .
Speaker 2I went to Queens College .
Speaker 1Oh , my wife went to Queens College yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah , I have good memories . I mean it was , yeah , she got an education degree there . It was a good I got an education degree from . The experience was great . The people I met were great . The instructors were amazing . They had a classical , uh instructor there that was just so ridiculously good . Her name was , uh , I don't know if she's still there . Her name was , uh , maury ritt just absolutely outstanding classical piano player . So just being in her presence , I mean I had her for like class , you know , like I know maybe it was sight singing or something you know , but she was just . I was never around somebody that played that well . And then there were some other students that were really amazing .
Speaker 2So , it was all very inspirational , it was all very humbling . I didn't even realize Queens had a music program . Yeah , it's called the . Well , when I started it was what year is this ? This is 1980 ? 1980 to 84 . When I started it it was called , uh , you know , queen's college music , uh , but somewhere in the middle , uh , it became the aaron copeland school of music , okay , and that's what it's called today . And uh , actually they had a um , a ceremony when it became the aaron copeland school of music and I met aaron copeland , oh , and I talked to him oh yeah , it's like you know how often do you get to talk to like a legendary classical composer ?
Speaker 2and since I had his ear , you know , I said I gotta ask you . I said you know , um , how do you feel like like emerson lincoln palmer did fanfare for the common man ? That's your , yeah , that's your composition , and and you know , they did it like a rock rock version I was like what do you think of that ?
Speaker 2he goes . Well . First of all , I'm I am so flattered that a group as popular as that would choose to play my music , but , to be honest , it wasn't really what I had in mind . Well , that's an honest answer , right ?
Speaker 1I mean good for him , at least he's not . He acknowledged that . You know , it was cool that somebody of that stature did it .
Speaker 2You know he was very pleased that they did it , yeah , and that his music got out to the masses , like that , yeah , yeah , yeah , so , uh . So I did that and then I , and then I taught for a year and I didn't like it you , so you graduated with an ed degree ?
Speaker 1yes , I have and you .
Speaker 2I have a music ed degree and you taught as a music teacher for a year . I talked , I taught at the uh school for the gifted in huntington on Wolf Head Road . I think it was part of Adelphi University . Yeah , and I taught for a year . So was that public school ? No , private school ? Private , yeah , no , I think it was private .
Speaker 1Yeah , it was for gifted children . Sounds like it , yeah .
Speaker 2And I didn't like it . The thing I liked least about it was I would get in my car after work and I wouldn't listen to music driving home and I was like well this isn't what I had in mind and the reason I didn't listen to music driving home . Well , you know , you were a music teacher . Maybe you had the same experience . I felt like my ears were assaulted .
Speaker 1You know what ? The thing that I came away with , especially when you're teaching lower grades , even middle school , because I taught middle school , elementary and high school . Yeah , like I remember that my first year I was doing a million gigs and I was teaching elementary school . Yeah , and after I learned that after a while , wrong , out of tune , shit starts to sound right , yeah , wow , it's that , it's , that's the thing . Did you ever see that movie , mr Holland's Opus ? Yes , I did so . At the end of the thing , he's conducting , his . He's conducting like all these alumni , right , and they're playing . And it's not them playing , obviously , it's a professional orchestra , a band , whatever playing and he's conducting . And I'm saying to myself this is ridiculous , this guy , there's no way they sound like this . And then I'm thinking it's almost brilliant , because the people who made that movie are saying this is what he's hearing . He's hearing , right , everything , unbelievably great right , that's what happens ?
Speaker 1right , that's what happens you're like wow , because there's times when I've I've heard recordings when my I know my concert was great parents I was unbelievable , then was unbelievable . Then I hear recordings and I'm like , oh my God , what is that you start to hear ? It's like if you play with a bad band Guy plays out of tune all the time . After a while it sounds right or wrong . Change after a while it sounds right , right and that's scary , that is very .
Speaker 2That was one of the things I did not like .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , and I started to lose touch with like real music for a while because of that I think yeah . And then I kind of got back into it when I met Billy Heller and those guys , the Mudmen , and I started doing gigs with those guys . Yeah , but that's an interesting point you said you know it , almost like it beats the shit out of you .
Speaker 2Your musical sense gets tossed
Navigating Music and Engineering Careers
Speaker 2Right . Yeah , and the crazy thing about it is it was really a plan B , plan B , I wanted to perform , right . So I just really wanted a good day job , because I'm not this you want a dental .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2I'm not the starving artist type , so I wanted a good day job so that I could pursue what I really wanted to do , which was perform music .
Speaker 1Well , that's perform music . Yeah , well , that's why I did it . I well , I needed health insurance , basically , and I was like I'll do this for a couple of years and then whatever . And then once you do it five years , it's like stepping in gum . You're just stuck there , man , you're going to the end at that point , because you get used to the salary and summer's off and you know whatever . Yeah , I saw that .
Speaker 2I kind of saw the writing on the wall alright , so you dumped teaching . And then what happened ? Well , it was at about that same time that I met my wife , so I was what's her name ?
Speaker 1again ? I'm kidding Karen . I know it's Karen .
Speaker 2You know , Karen pretty well , so it was 40 years ago , 40 years ago that I asked her on a date .
Speaker 1She stayed around 40 years , huh .
Speaker 2I asked her out on a date 40 years ago . Yep , yep , yep , yep on a date four years ago Yep , yep , yep , yep , and I decided teaching wasn't for me . Yep , so I've always been a nerd , always interested in science and math . So I went to school for electrical engineering .
Speaker 1And went back to school . I went back to school , but at this point , I was able to make a lot of money playing music . So you quit your teaching job and you were just being a full-time musician . Yeah , okay , yeah , wait . Where was that ? Because that was back at the heyday , I think . Right , because there was a lot of gigs . No , by the time , yeah yeah , so it was 84 .
Speaker 284 , right , there were a ton of gigs .
Speaker 1Well , 84 , right .
Speaker 2There were a ton of Well 84 , I was finishing up at Queens College , so I was 85 . You know , I was just you know , just doing . You know , I was looking , I was drawn toward the money which was club dates , and it was .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , there were a lot of club dates .
Speaker 2Djs weren't really the thing in 80 . I mean , I started club dates around 1980 because I was playing in rock bands before that . I played in rock bands as a teenager did gigs played in bar bands . At that time people could smoke in the bar , so it was really good . Yeah , and the bar bands were good and the bar bands were good and the gigs were fun , but they paid about what they pay today .
Speaker 1Yeah , they pay less . Today the bar gigs were , they pay less's like yeah , it's unbelievable . It is how that makes sense , that the you know well , because 45 years ago we'll get into that . I have a whole theory on now they pay about the same now um so you want to hear something ?
Speaker 1just just hold that , thought it's a crazy cool . I gotta call do a gig . Last week from somebody um , I hope you're not listening , but anyway he says , hey , you want to do a gig at Hauser's in Fire Island . I'm like Fire Island , yeah , okay , so give me the details . It pays 200 bucks , you got to take a six o'clock ferry , it's a nine to one gig , yeah , and the water taxi will take you home at 1.30 in the morning . Yeah , and I'm like why would I do that ? Like why , who ? Who ? I was like no , I said no I'm like , you know .
Speaker 2I mean even if it's a well .
Speaker 1No , if it was a killer band like you know eric gale's playing guitar and you know jaco's playing bass , you I'd be like okay yeah , right , right , right . But otherwise you're saying push my drums onto the ferry at six for a nine and play to one for 200 ?
Speaker 1I mean how ? I mean in my mind I'm going you never get somebody to fill this , but then he probably did . I got some guy who's ? There's a bunch of guys undercutting real musicians right now . They're just like I'll play for $10 or nothing , I'll pay for free , I'll pay for exposure or whatever the fuck they . Right now they're just like hey , I'll play for $10 . Or nothing , I'll pay for free . You know , I'll pay for exposure or whatever the fuck they say . Now it's so stupid , I'll pay for exposure .
Speaker 2Well , you know something ? There's a lot of people who have good day jobs and they're not doing it for the money .
Speaker 1Yeah , but the problem is taking work away from people who actually play or need the work .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's a problem . I understand , but it's a problem .
Speaker 1There's no . I say this in every podcast . There's no other profession like that . You can't like , you can't say you know what ? I'm an engineer on the weekends I just part-time engineer , you know , at parties .
Speaker 2Or I part-time lay bricks . You can't say that .
Speaker 1Either you but music . Oh yeah , no , I have a guitar and I play a little . I play this , this coffee shop , what , where else ? What other thing profession does that allows that ?
Speaker 2Right , right , right , right , it's , it's you know , part of it has to do with the arts , which are open to all of us regardless of what you choose to do . Anybody can be an artist of any type . You can be a poet , you can be a painter , you can be a musician .
Speaker 1And there are no rules or guardrails that say you know , right , I understand what you're saying . Here's the difference . And I went to school with Dave Weckl .
Speaker 2I know , that's amazing .
Speaker 1A friend of mine said oh , you got to check out this . There was an interview with Dave . Dom Farrillow interviewed Dave 10 years ago , whatever , and I watched it .
Speaker 1It was good . I never watched those interviews . I just happened to watch that one and Dave said it . He said I did not choose drums . Drums chose me , wow , and I was choose drums , drums chose me , wow , and that's . I was like that is so dead on me . It's like these , these , if you really are what we are , yeah it you . It came to you . You didn't go look for it . You go let me try drums . You know it . It you . It came to you and it's inside you . I agree , there's not a lot of professions like that . You know , acting , maybe , or acting is a good example .
Speaker 1The arts , acting is probably a worse way to go . Not worse way to go , but harder than being a musician , I think . But it's inside you , right , and that's what gets me , because I think some of these guys , they just want to play guitar and then people go yeah , you sound great , oh I think so , and I've been to parties where I had to go because it was a friend of the family .
Speaker 1You had a party and there was a band there , and if I go someplace and there's a band and people are drinking , everybody looks up to me and goes oh hey , you're a musician . What do you think of these guys ? Aren't they great ? And what are you supposed to say ? They're almost always not great . You know , I mean you got to . Oh yeah , they're great . You know you don't want to kill yourself , anyway . So I didn't mean to get off on a tangent there on that , but that's , you know . That's kind of why I'm doing this podcast . It's like I have these gripes Yep , yep , yep . Now you're music full-time and you're going to school for Electrical engineering .
Speaker 2Electrical engineering . There you go .
Speaker 1I do that on the weekends , I do it for fun .
Speaker 2So I went to Stony Brook for four years . I was able to do that . I mean , I was only able to do that because I was able to make good money Money Playing club dates . And I was doing a lot of them , so I don't know that I'm proud . Well , I was .
Speaker 1I was driving back and forth between college in the 80s . Yeah , Doing club dates every weekend driving back to Bridgeport . Oh , you were in Bridgeport , yeah , yeah . Every weekend I was home doing three , four gigs , which are cocktail hours ceremonies stuff like that , none of which is musically rewarding .
Speaker 2It's not .
Speaker 1No , basically on club dates .
Speaker 2You're ignored . It's not I mean ceremonies . It's like nobody talks to you and they expect you to just read everybody's mind and know what to play when .
Speaker 1You guys have it the worst , I think , as far as club dates go Between the gear , and you're the band you have to do all that .
Speaker 2you're the band , you have to do all you know you have to go , but the half hour ceremony played paid more than the bar gig that's right than the four hour .
Speaker 1That's why you did it . That's why you did it wasn't a musical experience , it was for money only .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah yeah , and then you know it wasn't all bad . Um , I , I met and with and played with some really amazing musicians .
Speaker 1I mean mean myself too . I did , yeah , a lot Incredible musicians , A lot of guys Really great .
Speaker 2Who have had great careers , you know , and so we were all doing it , just to make ends meet , right , right .
Speaker 1I was doing it because I liked the money that period . End of story . That was it .
Speaker 2That's what it was about you know it's kind of crazy when I look back on it . You know it's kind of crazy when I look back on it but it was a money thing .
Speaker 1It's still a money thing for a lot of people . Yeah , unfortunately I was able to
Balancing Music and Engineering Careers
Speaker 1stop .
Speaker 2So I graduated from Stony Brook , I got a job as an electrical engineer at a startup company on Long Island , and so now my day job didn't include music , and now my ears were free of what I felt was sort of the assault of you know eight-year-olds blowing into a recorder you know , or , even worse , ten of them blowing into a recorder .
Speaker 1You know , it was just like oh my .
Speaker 2God . It's like being in a club , Dave I mean I have the greatest respect for music teachers and , thank God , people yeah , people do that and they here's the other thing about .
Speaker 1Just hold that thought again yeah so I worked with music teachers for ever 32 years I did music , yeah and there were some guys . I didn't know what their instrument was . Wow , think about that yeah , yeah , yeah you're conducting a band and I don't know what your instrument is and they never told me what it is you know like what yeah I , I just I . There were guys like that that's interesting .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , you think , you think it would be obvious , you right ?
Speaker 1right . Why so you ? There's a person who didn't have that , that you know . Desire , that musical desire .
Speaker 2I guess I don't know . I've heard . I've heard of music teachers who don't necessarily love music . Actually , from people I know who are music teachers who love music yeah , because I have a lot of friends who teach in the public schools and are great musicians , right .
Speaker 1Well , there's two different types . There's types right . There's people who want to do music we don't know why , yeah . And then there are the players right who teach , and they actually I think kids get a lot more out of those people , but unfortunately those guys sometimes lack the . It's weird with kids . You know you have to have all this energy and like they'd be animated and you know it's like if you're a hardened musician , sometimes it's like you're like a criminal . You know up there , you know , yeah , my first , when I first started subbing , I stepped for a guy who was like 100 years old . He wouldn't , he wouldn't quit . I think he died in office , whatever , and I was at his desk and it was a mess and I pulled at the bottom drawer and it was filled to the top with ashes . Oh , so he was smoking in the classroom and flicking ashes for like 30 years into this bottom drawer that's that , that was my first exposure to music education .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah you know ?
Speaker 2I've heard people say you know those who can play , play and those who can't teach . That's ridiculous that's . I don't agree that's that's ridiculous , because that's that's not true at all . No , that's .
Speaker 1And and I had a lot of great kids man that still . I do gigs with some of them now and and they still keep in touch . You , when I retired , I put up a thing and they all . I put up a picture of me conducting the band and they all tagged themselves and had comments and it was nice and that's a nice thing about it .
Speaker 2And look at guys like a guy like , say , barry Harris , who's one of the greatest bebop jazz pianists that ever lived and he devoted much of his time to teaching and influenced an enormous amount of people created a whole system of I don't know if he created it or he summarized it , but methods of how to play jazz piano and people talk about it all the time he has since passed . But just because you can play great doesn't mean you can't also teach ?
Speaker 1weckl um , always had kind of a thing for teaching . He's still doing it . He's doing there's all kinds of instruction he's . He's interested in getting getting it out there . So he's got books out and stuff . You know he does , but he's always been teaching , even in bridgeport yeah , he taught lessons on the side and now he sends out these publications with music minus one .
Speaker 2I think it's great . I took a web class with Chick Corea , I took one with Herbie Hancock , I took one with Joey DeFrancesco . I mean these guys don't have to teach . Yeah right , I mean I could tell from the things Chick Corea was saying . He just thinks the world is a better place with music and he just wants us all to keep the fires burning . And he wants to help the younger I don't even know if you can say younger . He wants to help the less advanced people find their way .
Speaker 2And Joey DeFrancesco was the same , Herbie's the same . They just all love music and they just want music to flourish .
Speaker 1That's something I used to tell my kids . To all the kids I taught and my kids , my biological kids , I tell them to think about it . What other thing ? Do you ever go by a day where you don't hear music In your life ? In your life , is there ever a day that goes by where you don't hear music ? There is a day where you don't do math or you don't do spackle or something , whatever it is , I don't know .
Speaker 2Yeah you know what I mean yeah , that's , that's how important it is . It's like eating and sleeping .
Speaker 1Yeah , it really is you watch movies that you love this movie , but you don't realize you love the movie because of what the music's doing . The music's pushing the movie around . You know , I mean it's , it's that's the brilliance of music .
Speaker 2I love the composers that do movie music oh God yeah , guys like John Williams .
Speaker 1It just kills me . We're off the topic now . They're amazing . You know who ? Oh God , I can't believe I can't remember the names . I hate being old man . I really just forget everything . Hans Zimmer .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , yeah , yeah , okay , so you know Ken Tauvey . Um Hans Zimmer . Oh yeah , okay , so you know Ken Tauvey . Uh , no , but I know Hans Zimmer , ken's .
Speaker 1I do gigs with Ken . He's like a great guitar player . He's gonna do the podcast . His daughter works for Hans Zimmer , uh huh , and she does the Simpsons and she does . She does this real . She just did um , um , the music for a Peacock special called the Tattoo , a peacock special called the tattooist of Auschwitz , about Auschwitz and and the mute . I mean it is unbelievable . The music is great and you watch the thing and it's . It's , of course , it's about the Holocaust and it's moving , but you , you really don't , you don't realize the thing that's really making it more emotional is the music behind it .
Speaker 1You know , yeah , yeah so it's important .
Speaker 2It makes me wonder what would guys like Beethoven and Mozart be doing if they lived today . Right , would they be doing movie music , because ? You know , I mean , they did what they had to do to make a living . You know they had benefactors and people who aristocrats , who supported what they did , but they found a way to sustain their lives through music and how would they do that today ?
Speaker 1That's a great question , I wonder .
Speaker 2And are guys like John Williams and Hans Zimmer like modern-day Batevins ?
Speaker 1Possibly right , because the stuff I hear in movies is like , wow , I mean , it really does , mean it's , it really is , does what it's supposed to do and you know it's it . I try to think of this thing .
Speaker 2If it didn't have music , the movie would be a totally different well , some of them it's not background either people , people know , yeah , people know the theme to star wars .
Speaker 1It's very right . It's very thematic , right yeah ?
Speaker 2it is , yeah , and , and they know the uh music , the intro to the Simpsons . That's right , people know this music .
Speaker 1Barbara Streisand sings the theme in the series that Cara did . She sings Cara's tune at the end of the movie , does she really ? Anyway , I don't want to go . I'm definitely diverging here , so now I want to just place where you are . Now you are doing club dates .
Speaker 2Yeah , and you're working as an engineer . Yeah , right , yeah , okay , yeah , so that was pretty much what you did . And now , you know well , I'm married , we have a house , kids .
Speaker 1Three kids , yeah , three kids , you know um , what's her name ?
Speaker 2again ? I'm kidding karen , I'm kidding , I'm just kidding karen , yeah , um , so then it was like , uh , it was like when's , when's the day job gonna pay enough so I can stop doing club dates . Because , right , you know , uh , it's , it's like a crazy thing that you're doing with club dates , you just seven days a week .
Speaker 2You're just playing , you know uh , you know you want me to play the chicken dance . You know , just like coin operated right , you're basically playing . You know you want me to play the chicken dance . Chicken dance , like coin-operated right , you're basically coin-operated . You know , playing good music , but also playing crazy stuff .
Speaker 1My favorite thing is like I used to like think I had a master's plus 75 credits . I'm teaching middle school . I'm pushing my drums through grease at the Huntington Townhouse . I'm like , how did I get here , man ?
Speaker 2Like you know I practiced for this , you know , yeah , yeah , yeah . I don't want to tell you how many jobs I did at the hunting , sony , it was night anyway . It was uh .
Speaker 2It was uh 1995 , and and I , the day job , was paying enough that I no longer had to do so you quit , did you quit and I stopped but the last five years of doing club dates , like in the 80s I was I I learned that I can make more money freelancing , so all I really had to do was um , um , learn the repertoire , because people play mostly the same stuff . Yeah , have , uh , have good gear . You know sound good and uh not be a jerk , you know , show up on time be , reliable , be easy to work with , be pleasant and that's you , you're , that's your personality , you knew if you did that , yeah , you , you could uh get a lot of work .
Speaker 2And if you were freelance , um , you , you could call your price so you can make , you can make more money and and there weren't that many keyboard players that uh were able to fit that bill right . So , uh , you know , I was doing that , that and I was doing well . But then when I got the day job , I decided I'm going to go just full time with one band , which was Steppin' Out . So I played with the band called Steppin' Out from like 90 to 95 . Steppin' Out huh , do I know that band ? I don't know if you know the people in it . Camille Phillippe was the . Oh , camille , oh , you know the people in it . Camille Phillippe was the .
Speaker 1Oh , camille . Oh , you know , camille .
Speaker 2Sure yeah , she was the lead singer . People loved her , joe Badalamente was the lead vocalist , joe was killer .
Speaker 1I know of Joe , I don't know Joe .
Speaker 2Barry Heller on bass oh .
Speaker 1Barry . Oh , I know the drummer was Gene Gerard Barberine on drums and um bobby heller on guitar bobby , and then keith , keith peretti on sax .
Speaker 2I know keith too , really great musician , and but keith also played um uh keyboards really well so now it was like uh , now I was just , I was really only playing piano and organ because keith would play all of the the , the string parts and the brass parts , and he played them beautifully . And now , keith , you know , I could get away with maybe cutting back a little . So Keith wanted to do the ceremonies and the cocktail hours and I was like , go for it , and the continuous . You also had to do the continuous , so Keith would do that .
Speaker 1So did you do Bobby's Wedding ? I was at Bobby Heller's Wedding .
Speaker 2I did not do Bobby Heller's Wedding . I was at Bobby Heller's Wedding I did not do Bobby Heller's Wedding .
Speaker 1No , I thought that band did it . Those guys were there . That guy Gerard , and Well , in 95 I stopped . I don't know what year he got married . He got married I'll tell you exactly when . It was before 95 . It was like 90 or 89 . That was just before I joined . They had someone else , yeah .
Speaker 2I just joined around that time yeah , so I did that , which was nice , because it was nice just being part of like a band and you know the same people and all of that .
Speaker 2And we did really well , we sounded , we sounded really good . You know , I was proud of what we were doing and since I was only doing the gigs , it was like a load off not doing the ceremonies and the cocktail hours and the continuances . So then , once it got to where I didn't need to do them , I stopped and then I got back to just picking up some gigs and playing the music I like , and I've been doing that since 95 . And then the day job .
Speaker 2I ended that I was able to retire in 2015 , which was great . It ended up being a lucrative adventure Demanding and stressful , but lucrative and yeah . I retired at 55 .
Speaker 1And so you're doing Stanton Anderson now right .
Speaker 2Yep . Joined Stanton Anderson a year ago .
Speaker 1That's cool .
Speaker 2Yep , it's very cool . We got the guys are great . There's cool . Yep , it's very cool , we
Musical Diversity and Collaboration
Speaker 2got the guys are great . There's two original members , Mark Fowler and Larry Lubbe , and that's the lead singer , harmonica player and the bass player who also sings backup vocals . It's a five-piece band . Sometimes there's a horn section , but most of the games are .
Speaker 1So Stanton Anderson is kind of like a Long Island staple , right . I mean they're , they are , they've been around 52 years , yeah , yeah , and they've had 52 ?
Speaker 252 years . Yeah , they've had an amazing run . They've done amazing gigs . I mean they opened up for Marshall Tucker at the Nassau Coliseum .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's cool .
Speaker 2They really did some great .
Speaker 1And I .
Speaker 2I saw them when .
Speaker 1I was .
Speaker 2You saw Stanton Anderson I saw Stanton Anderson when I was 17 at Speaks and Island Park .
Speaker 1I might have been 18 . I might have been 18 . Drinking Age was 18 . Drinking Age was 18 in 1976 . I know .
Speaker 2So it was probably 1976 . I saw them at Speaks and Island Park and it really influenced me to want to do this my whole life , because they were so good and the keyboard player was ridiculous . This guy , this organ player , was just amazing .
Speaker 1Do you play an organ with them ?
Speaker 2I play organ and piano and there's a little bit of synthesizer in some of the songs , but it's mostly organ and piano and I love it . We're playing the Bolton Center on . October 12th . October 12th , I hope you come .
Speaker 1I'm going to come Playing my Father's Place on Halloween . Wait , what day of the week is October 12th Saturday ? Yeah , I'm not sure .
Speaker 2I'm not sure I've come to that , yeah , and then we're playing my Father's Place on Halloween On Halloween , yeah , yeah . So those are two awesome gigs .
Speaker 1I mean , those are venues .
Speaker 2I've been to . I've seen some of my heroes at those venues . You know that's very exciting . Then we've got Katie's in Smithtown the night before Halloween , I'm sorry , the night before Thanksgiving .
Speaker 1Oh , that's cool . So it's just enough gigs to play . It's just enough gigs .
Speaker 2And they're cool guys . They're serious , they're creative . We try to rehearse once a week .
Speaker 1We probably get maybe maybe we end up doing it three times a month for various reasons . That's perfect , yeah it's perfect .
Speaker 2So it's tight , it's original music , there's some covers too , and it's a five piece and what's .
Speaker 1I'm sorry to interrupt you , but what's the genre ?
Speaker 2What is it like blues ? Well , you know it's so . You'll hear songs that are rock . You'll hear songs that are blues . Some songs are like R&B , R&B okay .
Speaker 1I was going to say there's an R&B thing in there .
Speaker 2Some of them are jazzy . I mean , I don't know if I'd call them jazz , but on some of the songs I can play my jazz stuff and it fits right in , it sounds appropriate , you know . So it's really . Some of it's got a little bit of like a Southern rock country sort of feel to it .
Speaker 1It's really an eclectic collection of music and it kind of fulfills you . You like it right .
Speaker 2It brings me right back to my roots . I love it , John . I love it . I love it . It brings me back to why I do this in the first place . It's kind of like a full circle kind of thing . I would say . Only in the 80s did I sort of become like a jazz snob , so I missed a lot of what people loved in the 80s , and plus I was doing weddings , so I was playing a lot of the music in the 80s .
Speaker 1And I really wasn't .
Speaker 2I wasn't really loving it , although now when I hear it like I hear a band like Journey , I get it , they're great . I hear Van Halen , I get it . That's amazing , right . But back then , I mean , the only music I heard in the 80s that really kind of resonated with me was , like Stevie Ray Vaughan , which was sort of rooted in the classic rock and the blues . So you know , when I look back I say I got a little snobby . I went through like some sort of jazz phase jazz guys sometimes get a little snobby but I lost that .
Speaker 2You know , I lost that . I didn't have that . I haven't had that for 20 years . I mean , I've gone back to the music I love . So I listen to a lot of different kinds of music jazz , classical rock , r&b I like it all .
Speaker 1I would love . Sometimes I hear some . Now I just listen , as like I don't listen to artists , I listen to certain songs that I like . Yeah , and I would kill for a gig that does some of that stuff like R&B , whatever . I think it's R&B , that's my thing , and I would play for free . I mean , if there was like really a bass player who's playing like that and a guitar player who's playing like that .
Speaker 2I would you just tell me where to go a lot of different styles of music on like a gig .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2You know we cover a lot of ground Right .
Speaker 1And it's very cool . What's an average gig last Like ? What is it ? How long is it ? Is it one set ?
Speaker 2Well , you know like we played the Jamesport Brewery .
Speaker 1It was a four-hour gig . A four-hour gig , which is a little unusual .
Speaker 2Yeah , that is unusual , I would say three-hour gigs are more normal , but when you do a show like the Bolton Center . That's Well this will be my first time , so I don't know .
Speaker 1Isn't it more like a concert ? It's a concert , right , it is a concert .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , it is a concert , so I can't tell you if there's going to be an intermission .
Speaker 1So you might do two sets .
Speaker 2I know that there'll be horns on some of the songs but uh I don't . I don't know what the mix is going to be . Um , the gig we did at katie's last year , uh , there were horns on some of the tunes . I think we did two sets , probably an hour and 15 or an hour and a half each .
Speaker 1Okay , yeah still not bad . Yeah , yeah , it's great , I love it yeah I love it and you know .
Speaker 2Nice thing is you know when you play keyboards and you're playing like in the kind of genres that I'm talking about . Some bands are more enthusiastic about guitar , but these guys are just enthusiastic about everything .
Speaker 1Oh , that's cool .
Speaker 2Guitar , keys , vocals , the songs , the drums , everything . They're just very , very balanced . They just like everything the drums everything .
Speaker 2They're just very balanced , they just like everything . So for me that's a great opportunity because I'm very visible . But I also play accompaniment when others are visible and that's actually the kind of music I like , where you listen to music and you know , okay , it's a guitar solo , there's a harmonica solo , there's a keyboard solo , there's some drums , there's some bass . You know , that's a harmonica solo , there's a keyboard solo , there's some drums , there's some bass . That's the kind of music I like listening to where it's varied , and that's what they do .
Speaker 1See , that's also part of my gripe these days . It's like I subbed with a band I don't know when . It was two years ago .
Speaker 2And I'm a sub .
Speaker 1They have a repertoire , they have a set list , the whole deal , you know , yeah , and I looked it over and I went over this stuff too , but the gig started and we started playing and nobody would look at me . I was like what's going on ? Like everybody was burying headphones and and really nobody , nobody . I'm like what you know ? Okay , I know the tune , but could somebody cue something like why and why is nobody looking at each other just to see what the other guy's doing ? That's odd .
Speaker 1Reacting to each other was none of that . That's odd . For me it was bizarre . I didn't know what was going on . I'm so not used to that . I used to sub a lot . All I did was look around and say what's happening here To try to figure out stuff . But there was none of that . It should be very easy to make eye contact .
Speaker 1Yeah , you would think , you would think , and that's I mean , I kind of learned that I only played with them one time , so I maybe , maybe that was they were all mad at each other . I don't know what .
Speaker 2You know , bands are like a dysfunctional family you know one of the lessons I learned when I took the , the , the , the um , trickery is uh workshop uh one of the lessons I I learned from him , which I guess I maybe sort of knew subconsciously , but he explicitly stated it . He said you know , we practice to get our skills to a level where you know our body's just like playing like automatically . And when you get on the bandstand , he said at least half of your attention needs to be on the other players .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , that's what's cool about what we did . What was that a month ago , three weeks ago , at Dave's ? Yeah , yeah , that's what's cool about what we did . What was that a month ago ?
Speaker 2three weeks ago at Dave's house .
Speaker 1Oh , yeah , yeah yeah , it's like you really do have to . You have to listen with the trio . You have to like listen to each other and look at each other . You have to Right you have to .
Speaker 2Yeah , if you're not playing off each other . Yeah , yeah , yeah , so yeah actually I still get calls to sub Like I'm subbing .
Speaker 1Subbing what Well .
Speaker 2I'm subbing on this Saturday Cedar Beach Blues Festival with the Pam Betty Band . Oh , and you know they sent me some songs to learn .
Speaker 1And they're very good .
Speaker 2You know it's all interactive and everybody's paying attention and they're great people and you know they're really devoted to the music , so I'm looking forward to that . I've subbed with them before . Yeah , their regular keyboard player is fantastic , but he's probably got another gig . That's what happens when you're fantastic Right , you're pulled into other stuff , right ? Yeah , he's a young guy .
Speaker 1Oh , he's a young guy , his name's Matt Godfrey .
Speaker 2Great , great .
Speaker 1I don't know any of these guys . Great player , I share this on every podcast . I don't know if you've listened to these already . You know Terry DeGarelli .
Speaker 2No , I don't think so , terry's a trombone player .
Speaker 1We played in Uppercut together .
Speaker 2I know Uppercut , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1So he did this podcast and he said and I repeat this every podcast he said there's four stages of a musician's life . So I'm going to use my name in these four stages . So the first stage is who the fuck is John Simeone . The second stage is who the fuck is John Simeone . The second stage is we gotta get John Simeone . The third stage is we need a young John Simeone . And the fourth stage , which is the one I'm in , is who the fuck is John Simeone ?
Speaker 1I was like oh that is so true man , yeah , that's the progression it really is . It really is . And Jason Chapman put a thing on Facebook a picture of him and Terry Negrelli on a gig and I wrote that . I said who the fuck is Terry Negrelli ? I did the whole thing .
Speaker 2You know I can relate to what you're saying because I kind of was going through that phase and up until you know in the past , like say until you know , in the past , like say , three or four years , I was kind of getting like played out , like I was trying to play jazz . But living in Suffolk County presents some challenges .
Speaker 1Yeah , it does .
Speaker 2So it's like , okay , I can do jazz gigs , but they're like in a restaurant and it's background music and no one's listening . So I don't want to do that . I think I'd rather have my friends come over and play . That way I can play my piano , right , you know , and since no one's listening anyway , we can , you know , play on a nice piano and we can hang and we can have fun .
From Local Gigs to International Fame
Speaker 1I gotta tell you , that was the thing that shocked me when I first started playing with Uppercut .
Speaker 2I was shocked by the amount of people who listened .
Speaker 1I came from where you get ignored . And all of a sudden there's some guy standing three feet staring at you while you're playing and people listening and applauded . I mean , it was bizarre .
Speaker 2I'll tell you my first gig with Stanton Anderson , which was about a year ago . We were just playing at a bar in Patchogue , at Barbecue's , and I had that same experience .
Speaker 1Oh , barbecue's . I know that place . I had the same experience I start playing the gig .
Speaker 2I look at the audience and , first of all , all the tables are reserved .
Speaker 1Yeah , which is unusual , unusual , right , you know .
Speaker 2And then we start playing and I look at the audience and they're all looking at the band and watching the band .
Speaker 1You know , it's this weird feeling , I mean they're not talking to anyone .
Speaker 2They're really not . Most of them aren't eating or drinking , you know , they're just totally into the band . Then we get on a break and those people come up .
Speaker 1And they want to talk to you . They've been following the band for 40 , 50 years you know that happened to me on those gigs with them where I would get off the bandstand and some person with a Zildjian shirt would be following me . You know , like going to talk about like what's happening here . You just get so used to like being on a club date and being ignored you know , that they don't even know . You're there .
Speaker 2So the most extreme opposite experience I had to that was I did a tour in Japan with a jazz quartet .
Speaker 2Really In the mid-90s , yeah , and in japan with a jazz quartet , really in the mid 90s , yeah and um , oh my god , they , they , you know it was . It was really the only time in my life I was a celebrity . I mean it , it was unbelievable . You , you think I was herbie hancock or something like that ? Yeah , these , these people , they just loved the music so much , they were so respectful , um , they , they formed the line to get my autograph really wow we played .
Speaker 2We played the blue note in tokyo . There's a blue note in tokyo who knew that there's a ? Blue note in tokyo and when you go . Well , you know , I have recordings from the blue note in tokyo . I have michelle pucci patrucciani , uh , live from blue note to Note Tokyo with Steve Gadd on drums . Yeah , I mean , it's a famous place and we did the gig . It was the last gig of the tour . We were there for 14 or 15 days and I think we did 10 gigs and the last gig was Blue Note Tokyo .
Speaker 1It was sold out .
Speaker 2You know the people were so respectful , so appreciative .
Speaker 1And .
Speaker 2I was just like I felt like a celebrity , and I was just like I felt like like a celebrity . Well , I mean , and then a week later I'm I'm doing a cut galow at the Westbury Manor and you ignore it again .
Speaker 1Yeah , Right .
Speaker 2So I just it's crazy it really is , but I couldn't do it .
Speaker 1I couldn't do , I could get my , you know I don't really like travel , so I don't know if I was ever cut out to be a touring musician , right , right , you know , but Well all my friends are , I mean that went to college , like my friend Joel and Dave . They're , all you know , a little older than me and they're still getting on planes .
Speaker 2I've seen Joel when I saw Joel Rosenbaum . Joel Rosenblatt , yeah .
Speaker 1Blatt Joel .
Speaker 2Rosenbaum . I saw him play with Spiro Jerry years ago at the INAC .
Speaker 1Yeah , he's unbelievable Phenomenal .
Speaker 2Phenomenal drama guy .
Speaker 1And he's a great . He is my best friend . He's like a good guy too . I know him for 42 years or something . That's ridiculous .
Speaker 2I met him at your wedding .
Speaker 1At my wedding right . He was , as I recall he was in the wedding party .
Speaker 2He had to get Dave Weckl to fill in for him with Spyro Jairo , I think . Oh , yes , he was in my first wedding . I am talking about your first wedding .
Speaker 1He was in the wedding party and he left me a message I can't do your , come to your wedding . I'm going to be doing a gig in a different country . And then he called me back an hour later and says all right , I can make it . I got Camillo . Oh , was it Michelle Camillo ? Michelle Camillo . He says Dave Weckl , he was more than happy to have Dave .
Speaker 2I was like , okay thanks , I saw him play with .
Speaker 1Michelle Camillo .
Speaker 2Dave or Joel , joel , joel , yeah , and Anthony Jackson was on the bass .
Speaker 1It was at the .
Speaker 2Colvin Center in Queens College . It was just I'm a Michelle Camillo fan . I didn't even know who .
Speaker 1Michelle Camillo was . Joel said why don't you come to my ? Because he lived in Yonkers . Come to my house . I got a gig at Mikel's with Michelle Camillo . I thought Michelle Camillo was a girl first of all . He goes yeah , anthony Jackson's playing bass . I didn't know who that was . So I go to Mikel's and it's Anthony Jackson and Michelle Camillo and I was sitting like right next to Anthony Jackson . I didn't have a God .
Speaker 2He's so brilliant and really very the music . It's something about it that's very accessible , even if you never heard it , if you've never heard of him before and even if you don't like jazz it's like Afro , it's Cuban or whatever it is .
Speaker 1I don't know it is . It's a Cuban jazz .
Speaker 2He's an expert in jazz , but also , of course , he's from the . I think he's from the Dominican . Republic Dominican Republic yeah , yeah , yeah , and he's just brilliant . He's got technique like a concert classical .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's ridiculous . Yeah , I love it . Yeah , all right , so that was all good stuff . Al Thanks , john , I think we're
Long Rambling Discussion on Future Gigs
Speaker 1out of time though . Okay , it's going to be like that was actually kind of long .
Speaker 2We talked for a long time , man , Bullshit of a long time . Maybe you have to edit out some of the rambling . No , this is what it is man .
Speaker 1Yeah , this is what it is , but thanks , that was great stuff . I mean I'm glad you finally did this for me . It was cool . I hope people find it interesting and I hope we can do a gig together . It'd be nice to do another gig together , or something .
Speaker 2I would imagine we have future gigs , yeah , yeah , unless you guys start seeing other drummers . Whatever , it's fine we're all just one big happy family right , alright , man , take it easy .
Speaker 1Thanks , man , I got it . Bye .
