IN THE MOMENT with Michael D. Jones
IN THE MOMENT with Michael D. Jones is an opportunity to get to know an eclectic array of individuals, ranging from filmmakers, authors, performing artists, philanthropists, musicians, fitness coaches, painters, self-help motivators, influencers and more.
These impromptu discussions span the highs and lows of their careers, shedding light on real life struggles and how they've manifested adversity into success.
IN THE MOMENT with Michael D. Jones
From Unsolved Mysteries to Prince: Duane Tudahl on being a tv editor, author, and official archivist for the Prince estate vault material.
Two TV veterans reconnect over a shared credit on Unsolved Mysteries and open a door into Prince’s studio life most fans never get to see. We sit down with editor and author Duane Tudahl to map how a PA-turned-editor found his way to Sunset Sound’s work orders, transformed them into day-by-day chronicles of the Purple Rain and Parade eras, and eventually became the Prince Estate’s lead researcher and archivist. If you’ve ever wondered how a myth becomes a method, this is your tour of the vault—equal parts tape formats, climate control, liner notes, and goosebumps.
Duane walks us through the discipline behind discovery: cataloging two-inch reels and cassettes, cross-referencing engineers and rooms, and shaping box sets that actually deepen the listening experience. We talk Welcome 2 America’s unlikely release, the extended takes that turn 30 seconds into revelation, and why editing Prince means not cutting on the beat because he’s already doing something on it. The stories hit the stage too—$25 Forum tickets, five encores, and a blackout opening that blooms into Stevie Wonder rising for a 20-minute “Superstition.” It’s a reminder that live music can still feel like a secret you get to keep.
We also get practical. Duane shares how to earn trust without chasing gossip, why picking your “mountain” early matters for careers, and how learning the tools others ignore creates resilience. He reveals the next book’s arc—from Lovesexy to Batman—and a passion project worth backing: a documentary on Crack the Sky, the Baltimore band that never stopped showing up. Come for the Prince deep cuts and stay for the blueprint on creative longevity, stewardship, and community. If this conversation moves you, subscribe, share it with a fellow music nerd, and leave a review telling us your favorite Prince era.
If you want to be considered as a guest, please contact us: michael@silverheartproductions.com
Welcome to another edition of In the Moment. I'm your host, Michael D. Jones, and for the next 30 minutes, we're going to dive into the inspiring stories and perspectives of individuals making waves in their field. So join us for insightful conversations filled with positivity, laughter, and a touch of movie magic. And remember, success isn't about reaching the destination, it's about savoring the journey. So let's soak it in every moment right now. Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of In the Moment, and I'm your host, Michael Jones. I am so excited. Literally, I am beyond ecstatic that I even got in touch with this guest. Um his name is Duane Tudahl. Hopefully I said the last name correctly. Okay. So by weird circumstances, I was going down that rabbit hole of something, and I saw his credits uh, like when he was doing his TV stuff and editorial and some of the TV shows. I'm like, well, I worked on those shows. Primarily, It's a Miracle and primarily Unsolved Mysteries. And so looking at that, and I'm like, no, that can't be the Duane Tudahl, who is the author of one of the most prolific, amazing books ever on print, which we're gonna talk about. And I'm like, no, and I'm like, it can't be. And I looked him up and I did a deep dive and I emailed you, which you responded, and you are in fact. So the ironic the irony is we both worked on a TV show called Unsolved Mysteries years ago. I was more in the production side offices in Burbank, and you were, I think, was it probably Studio City?
Speaker:Well, I did, yeah, I don't know if it's Studio City, but it's right around there. It's on Canoga, right?
Speaker 1:No, he was in that building. So we we've never met or talked, but it's so funny. And um, so real quick, so so we're gonna go through everything. Duane is an editor, he's a writer, he's an author, and so one of um the the books that we're gonna talk about just right here Prince in the Purple Rain era sessions, studio sessions. I I don't even know how the hell you got all this information, but I want to just talk about a few things. Um, your journey before we get to the book, what was your journey? Because again, I was I was a novice at Unsolved Ministries. I was just starting, I was a PA, I was a coordinator, et cetera. I worked my way up, and you were there in the editorial. So tell us a little bit about your background.
Speaker:Uh and so we just know about Duane. Sure. Um I moved out to Los Angeles from Baltimore. Uh, and um one of the I don't I got a job as a PA, you know, running errands and stuff like this, a runner, and ended up doing that and moving from that position into a uh um an editor. Shockingly, to go from there to an editor. Um, don't know how that bounce happened, but I used to stay, I worked for a company called the editing company. I used to stay there in the evenings just working on stuff and just trying to do stuff. And I made sure I met as many people as I could. And somebody hired me to work on a documentary about uh the Kennedy assassination. And that company turned into the company that made cops. So that was the basis for reality TV with that. So I kind of got on the ground floor with working on cops, which I was the assistant editor for the first couple episodes and then the pilot in the first couple episodes, and then became an editor for the first two seasons and got to see the progression of it going from this idea that because reality TV wasn't a thing, right? Going from that to um the full-fledged series that you know became one of the biggest uh yeah shows. The funny thing to me is watching early on the um something that I don't think a lot of people know is the original host, you know, where they did the voice that says cops was filmed and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right, was Bert Lancaster. Yeah, he did the voice for the first one because his daughter worked for the company.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker:And so she said, Would you like my dad to work on this? And I wasn't the answer, you know. But somebody else said, Yeah, of course, it's Bert Lancaster. Oh my god. And so uh he became the voice of that for the pilot. And I don't think he did the series, I think it was probably a contractual thing he couldn't do, but still, having Bert Lancaster, I mean the first voice you hear when you see the show is you know, Bert Lancaster's pretty big. Yeah, um, and nobody knew what reality PT would be like, and we really had no clue. Um, and I remember when they brought the song Bad Boys into the office, that was human. They they found that in a cassette at a gas station down in Florida as they were driving up and down the coast to go to the different shows. It was crazy when you think about that started a whole revolution of TV. Yeah, yeah, because yeah, because it nobody what happened was right around then was a big writer strike. Right. And everything went to crap. And they said, Well, there's no writers in these things. So literally, they would put us in the editors, they'd put us in the room with a stack of tapes, and they'd say the field says this kind of a story in here. So you're looking around going through seven hours, right, turning that into seven minutes. And that's how I got and cut my teeth on editing, is is being able for put in a room, and you know, and uh they had an um office down in Marina Del Rey, and it actually was owned by the office was Geraldo Rivera's apartment. I know there are all kinds of weird things that happen with this, and uh, but that was his old apartment. The company was doing stuff with him, but we were able to do it in a in a in a condo in in in uh in uh Marina Del Rey. So that is crazy. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the funny thing. Like again, you know, I went to LA at you know, like age 20, and I got a job, you know, at the time, Cosgrove Mirror Productions, and they were behind Unsolved Mysteries and some of the other hits. And same thing, I was a PA runner, I didn't even know what that was. This is my first job in the business because I wanted to be an actor, but at that time, you know, we Robert Stack was our host, and that was huge. Now I remember as a little kid watching the Untouchables with my stepmom, and here I am because I primarily worked with Robert Stack at as the host unit. Oh, and then but you had that, and then you had cops, and then you also had Rescue 911, which was William Shatner. Yep, and these were really kind of these shows in the forefront that you know you had your recreate, it was more recreation.
Speaker:Uh, you know, those were cops was not, but yeah, those were those were, yeah, yeah, those were, yeah.
Speaker 1:But that was the time, and I it's so nice that again, these were shows that lasted because it was very rare. I was on Unsolved for seven and a half years of the nine years that it was on. Wow. And you know, that was a hit NBC show, and it was it gave me an opportunity to take different steps. So when you went to Unsolved, did you uh automatically just go straight into editing or were you doing other things?
Speaker:Yeah, I I had done uh I left Cops and went to a show called um Missing Reward, and and that was reality TV same with the same thing like Unsolved Mysteries. And then I got hired at Unsolved Mysteries, and when I got there, they were half the editors were working on film. It was a film-based thing. Yes, it was. And uh so we had, you know, a bunch of I was actually on the video part, but it was the an old system called the Super 90. Um, and basically it was up, down, back and forth. And that was it. It really did not have any sort of magical abilities. Um, but it was great. They they let us run with certain things. The writers were fantastic, the producers, Raymond and everybody else, but were just great. I mean, honestly, it was a it was I worked there for four years. It was the perfect place to learn how to do both reality TV and scripted TV because you got an experience with with takes and and stuff they shot, but also you were sometimes using footage that was you know, found footage or things like that. It was just great. I I I look back on that time and I left there right around the time of the uh um the 94 earthquake. Yeah, right around the time I left there. So and then I I went and did tons of other reality CVs and documentaries. So yeah.
Speaker 1:I think the great thing uh about that company, at least you know, I give all the credit to them, is that they really built it from within. They gave us opportunities. Like I said, I literally did every single position. I kept growing and kept learning, and it gave me a chance. And I tell everyone like that was my film school. Yes, oh yeah, it really was. And this is like cell phones really weren't out yet, and if they did, it was the big giant one. So, you know, and I learned a lot of the old skills just on paper and pencil, like the old school Hollywood of strip systems and budgeting before Movie Magic came out. So I I find it awesome, and you know, like afterwards, I was in the reality world for many years before I even got into features. I was just doing reality, and that just that was the norm again, because of the writers striking these things, and and that was a booming thing. It was like, what is this? Yes.
Speaker:Um, so that's I agree. I had I had the same thing with with what I got to do as an editor, they would have us go to online. So we got to see how online worked. Um, so I was all of a sudden bounced into something I wouldn't have done. And we went to overseas sweetening. So I was like, I may not be for the exact session, but I'd have I'd have a speaking thing with the uh a meeting with the person doing the sweetening, right? And then I come out for the playback and and listen and go, this works, this doesn't. We need more of this here. This is an important part of the story, you know, that kind of stuff. And it was, you know, the then the layers you learn, and again, like you said, every the the biggest thing I've learned in in um in entertainment is learn all you can. Absolutely. I had editors I used to uh editors that didn't want to learn after effects, and I thought, why would you not want to learn after effects or Photoshop? And they said, I don't need that, dude. You're gonna need all this stuff, and it's all it all builds, and a producer is gonna see your value more if you can give them if you can bring them five card tricks as opposed to one. Absolutely. Yeah, so that's that was a big thing for me. And and so I also took a lot of jobs for free. I cut two features for free. Um, well, I mean, and and the fun thing about that is that I thought, you know, nobody's gonna ask me how much I made. Right, right. You know, you've now got a film on your and and it was somebody who was doing small budget films. I thought, okay, but you can all of a sudden have two things, and and that led me to do music videos, and that led me to do uh write a movie. And and so you you just never know. I mean, I joined the um the entertainment league for softball, and so that was because of that, I ended up meeting people that you know were in the same industry because hey, come on over here, you know, or they know you, or make sure you see people's by faces, yeah. So you socialize you. It's all of it was just who you knew.
Speaker 1:It it is, and it I think this is why I love to do networking. This is why you know I kind of miss the in-person meetings, um, so to speak, because you can network, you can get you can actually go to the office or meet other people there or walk around, take the opportunity to walk around and do things and just like, oh, hey, I saw you at the commissary or whatever. Um again, I think those were great times. I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker:Yeah, no, it's always nice to be able to say, you know, talking about the ever, go to lunch, you're gonna finish that or whatever it was that would make you bonded, you know. And and I think people forget how important, you know, because we have texting and everything right now. And and Zoom, like, you know, it's just you forget how much you get out of a in-person thing. Or sometimes you hire people, I know that guy, just bring him in, you know, type of thing, as opposed to I've never met this Jacobutz. You know, so it's very important to the FaceTime with factual face-to-face time with somebody. So yeah, it's good. I I miss that for sure. I agree. Um, COVID, COVID really screwed that up for us. Yeah, I know. It's still we're still recovering. It's like, okay. Dude, I got a 16-year-old daughter. It's it's it hit her right when she should be socializing, and I watch her and her friends, you know, all kind of texting and stuff like this, and not having the the quality experiences that I had grown up, you know, get on your bike and go over to somebody's house and and get lost for six hours in the woods. You know, you don't and I probably wouldn't like her doing that, I have to admit, but but still, there's there's a a a joy of of learning your independence and and and also the the relationships you build just by being around people.
unknown:Yes.
Speaker 1:No, I know it's it was tough. I mean, listen, for so many of us, and it was just you know, I think we're still coming out of that to some degree, um, in some essence. I think it's still like kind of figuring itself out. You would think, oh, it's over. But like, well, yeah, but it's still there's remnants of it.
unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We're also scared.
Speaker:We're also saying, when's the next shoe gonna drop? Exactly.
Speaker 1:And we're all protective. And and again, you know, like I happened to move out of state, I moved from California to New Mexico right and right before it happened. And I'm lucky, I I picked the best place. No one was bothering me. I was kind of you know outside of the norm. I know other people that have left California in the business due to that, and you know, they're thriving again because we are able to zoom and do things, but they're like, wow, I get my quality of life back. I can raise my kids, I can have this, I can go to LA when I need to, but I don't have to be there. Right, you know, and I think it at our ages, you know, we don't have to be there right now. And it's great. So you know that it's good and bad. I think it's show also what I love too is that I think it's shown a lot of people you can start your own business, you can create a podcast, you know, all these things that we never thought we could do. And now, like, well, why the fuck not?
Speaker:I mean personally, you're absolutely no, no, you're absolutely right. I mean, I think that it's it's pushed us to have to, it's the mother of invention. You know, and we we've we've all now gone to okay, I have to do this. I've I write books, I you know, I'm I'm you know, trying to find different ways to, you know, I'm I'm I'm co-authoring a book with somebody right now. Um, just you know, you find ways to to embellish that. And it takes time because you're gonna reinvent yourself and nobody wants to have to do that, but our industry sort of is dying in many ways, and I don't know if it's coming back.
Speaker 1:I don't think so. I mean, I I feel the same way. I mean, somebody asked me the other day, and they go, Are you afraid A AI is gonna, as a line producer, producer, is AI gonna take your job? I'm like, no, because AI can't yell at you. I have to be on set talking to people. I think I'm still safe. AI's not talking to Teamsters. That's me. So far, so far. Yeah, there you go. Um so okay, Duane. Like again, I I'm just so excited that you and I connected. Yes, I do. Because we we have this bond, but then also to you know, Prince is a part of my life. It just is. You know, I tell people I discovered him at 10 years old, I'm 55. It has been a part of my life. It just is. And this is just a mere fraction of it. I see that stuff back then.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker:And your book is generally there, but right now it's right here. I don't mind that. You can also use to lift the coffee table. Yes, if you're changing a flat tire, it's good for that too.
Speaker 1:Um, I gotta ask because here's the amazing thing about this book, and I I encourage everybody to read it. Now, I actually have the audio version and I listened to that, but I'm gonna reread this because I like to take notes in my books. And this is only the first one. Duane has another one. My question is this is so yes, that's the second one. Um, but the book is so detailed to the core of like, oh, from you know, 12 noon to three o'clock, Prince had this uh open book session at Sunset Studios and blah blah blah. I mean, it's like a how'd you get the ver information? But what prompted you to say, you know what? I want to write this prolific book. And this isn't this one in particular is more about their purple rain sessions. Right, right. Well, what got you to do that, which then led you to one of the coolest jobs in the history of the world?
Speaker:Um I worked for a magazine called Uptown, which is a magazine of Sweden, and um was about prints, and I'd write about them. And I was one of the researchers for the guy, the guy who wrote those stuff, his guy named Pierre Nilsen, he wrote a couple a book about prints and uh a couple books about prints, actually. And I was the researcher on those books, and or one of the two researchers on the books. And I went to Sunset Sound where Prince had recorded, and I met the management there and Tom met the engineers there. And the engine, I said, Do you have any work orders to the engineers? And they said, Yeah, talk to uh talk to the owner, talk to the manager. So I talked to the manager and he said, Sure, we got them. And you want them? I yeah, that'd be great. So it was he he took me in the room, he he um said the only thing I want you to do is not show the prices. So he actually sat there and cut off the prices before he handed them to me. Wow, he was very specific about it. He said, I don't want to, you know, don't want the prices of and I thought, and when I was getting this, it was probably five years after Purple Rain, five five, six years. So it wasn't that long after purple rain, right? Where it was still been competitive. I mean, now I don't think he'd be as concerned. But um, so he gave them to me and I just started writing them down and writing what it was, and it basically covered from 81 to 89-ish, um, every day when it was there and what studio was there, what engineer was there, what songs were recorded. Um sometimes it's just a little scribble. Uh, sometimes you put an imaginary name on there, but but I started researching it and thought, well, this is a book. Yeah. And I started writing the book, and I realized this is more than one book. This is, you know, so I did the first book, right? And it's a day-to-day journal of what he did in the studio. But I also then I started thinking, well, in the context of where he was in life, you know, you know, the Olympics have happened in in Los Angeles since 84. So, okay, so that he was not there for that, you know, and you realize there's certain things, or the movie came out here, or the movie is being shot here, or you had to act in the movie here, or this is somebody's birthday. So you get all these things, and and and I started thinking, this is kind of compelling, and it's a cool book because for me at least, is it was first off a book I wanted to read. I'm sorry if I'm talking fast. Sorry, but no, no, it's I'm a Gemini. I'm forced out to espresso right now. I get excited about this. I get excited about this stuff. Um, but it's it's one of these books that it's like it is a reference book. So you when you get it, you want to keep it because you'll be, like you said, putting notes in it. That's you know, and you'll look up your birthday. When did you do my birthday? That's almost everybody does that. Or well, what do you do on my anniversary or something like that? Uh or when did he record this song? What's the context of this? Right. So you look up when Dove's crying you realize, oh wait, he that was a day or two after he lost Grammy to Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay.
Speaker:Is there some sort of issue there? And so you start recognizing first off, how much work he did. I mean, when you see how many sessions, uh I think when the there's a two-year period in the book, and it's got like 170 sessions, I think, something like that. Yeah, and that's just what I know. Yeah, so it's it's it's phenomenal to see how busy the guy was. For this guy that was a sexual, you know, his image was a sex constantly doing everything. Um I don't have that in there. He's he's busy, he's busy in a studio almost the whole time. And and maybe he's doing some stuff on the clock, but whatever it is, it's it's pretty compelling to see that this guy was obsessed with writing uh and recording and producing, and that's what his life was. And I think it it kind of comes across something. The second book picks up exactly where the folks work stops, and it's the next step. The first book is um a little bit of the last part of 1999 being released, the Purple Rain Tour, Purple Rain being recorded, Purple Rain movie around the world of day stuff being recorded, which today is the day that the uh yeah, it's the new re uh re-release. Yeah, it's released itself. So it's very coincidental that today is the day. And then the next thing is parade and sign of the times and all the other albums around this. So it's all kinds of outtakes in the second book. So there's tons of stuff, and then the paperback I ended up putting extra 50 pages in because more stuff kept coming out. But it's and I'm working on a third book for that. It's just it's it's when you start, it's it's almost addictive. And I when I did it, I didn't know if anybody liked it, you know, because you don't know. I'm I wrote a book I wanted to read, and I actually got done the first draft of the book a month before Prince passed.
Speaker 1:That was gonna be my question. Did anyone in his camp before he passed, and like he was he aware of it? Did he know? It's like, oh, okay, this is cool. I'm all right with it.
Speaker:Do you think he'd be saying, first of all, I don't think he'd be saying that about anything other than anything he did. That's just he wouldn't say that about it. He'd be like I say, indubitably, which is the way he talked often. Um uh I I've been told Apollonia told me that she knew that that Prince knew. Okay. I have never heard yay or nay on that one, so I don't know. And and I don't think he'd be sitting there going, hot damn, somebody's writing about him. I don't I don't think that's his nature. He was somewhat litigious. Um and I didn't ask to re interview him, I didn't reach out to interview him because of that. I didn't want to have I didn't want to be on his radar. Um I wanted to kind of, you know, and and I didn't want to have him say you can't talk. And so I talked to a lot of people, and then there are certain people that didn't talk to me on the first book. Um Apollonia being one of them, Bobby Z being another one. And then when the first book came out, I talked to them and they they said, Look, now that I see what you're doing, right? I would like to be involved. I'd like to have a part in this. And so they were either in the um the paperback, which had again another paperback of both books, had extra uh stuff in it. Okay. Um, and then or the second book. So they, you know, a number of people that were hesitant because of, you know, sure who's this knocked, because uh right around that time they were getting screwed over by all kinds of different shows. Absolutely. Prince Past, people were just coming out, and I'd already written this, and I was I almost didn't come out with a book because I thought, I don't want to be that guy, you know, that guy's running around, you know, looking like an opportunist with this, but I'd already written the book. And and uh so I found a publisher and they said, Yeah, let's let's do this. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the good thing, it's not like a it's a salacious gossipy, oh, Prince is doing this. Like, no, you're right. He's in the studio recording this song, and here's why this track mattered, or here's the original title, all that. Because again, I think from the um, and again, because you know, Quest Love does the forward or the opening, and we all know he's a prolific Prince fan, and he's getting back to the art of the music and the beats. He's all about, oh, a two, three rhythm on a four or five, all the shit. I don't know. I'm the same way.
Speaker:I'm the same way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there's that technical when you read it, like, oh, as an engineer or someone on the sound department side of things, you can actually say, oh, that's really interesting. Um, and that's what I was learning about in the podcast that the state was putting out during this whole prolific time. You know, Prince is building the exact replica of Sunset Studio board at his house in in Minneapolis because he wants to replicate that and the knobs and the dial. So this is a very it's a very interesting book. Like you said, I can pick up on the day. What was Prince doing on the day at this hour? Oh, that's really cool. So I I would hope that he would see that as a positive. And again, I think the the bandmates, whoever you talk to, realize, oh, this isn't the gossipy bullshit. This is something actually real. And they're involved too, because this was a time that they got to actually have some say in some of the music and and be involved.
Speaker:Yeah, I think I the thing, and a lot of them come to me and said they're grateful for having being able to tell a story. I mean, if you're gonna tell a story about Prince, you have to tell a story about all the people around him. I went into this sort of thinking of it as kind of like a crime that you're investigating. You find everything kind of for the main person, right? And then you have to have all the witnesses, and that there is an important thing. And I even say in the book that's sort of like Roshimon, where you know, all these different people telling the same story at different angles. And sometimes there's contradictions. Some people say this is how it happened, and somebody else says this is how it happened. So I kind of put both in there saying, Look, I wasn't there, right? Right. And if this person says this and this person says this, you know, they both may have some merit. And I don't think Prince was always Prince may have been certain one certain way to this person and a certain way to this person, and he'd play these people against each other. So the stories you're gonna get are gonna be slightly different. But yeah, I my I my focus was gonna be about the music. If there's a relationship with him, with somebody that affected the music, then it I thought was important to give it context. But I tried not to say Prince has sex three times this day, he ate, you know, a baloney sandwich. Yeah, those are things I didn't want to deal with. It was more the the book is called Prince in the Studio Sessions, you know, the parade and Scientists Studio Sessions or Parade in the Parrain Studio Sessions. It is about the studio sessions. That's the skeleton that I did, and I just hung meat on it with all the different interviews, and I did a couple hundred hours of interviews with these people. So it was fun, yeah.
Speaker 1:And and that's what's so amazing is that you did all this information, and then I think you got one of the coolest jobs ever. You were actually hired by the Paisley Park Prince Estate to be the art archivist. Yes. Did I say that right? I get it right.
Speaker:I was I was the I was the lead researcher, archivist, and uh well curator and producer for the Prince Estate with So how does that work?
Speaker 1:Because I again I went to Paisley Park in 2000 when Prince opened up for the first time his first celebration, he took his name back, and you know, I saw the vault, like I saw the door. We were taken to the room, you saw the the big metal uh steel door, whatever, all that you couldn't touch it. So I got to being Paisley before everyone got to go. It was fantastic. But to open up that vault and to like, ha, these are his babies. A, how do you do that as a job? And then how do you not let your fan side be like, oh my god.
Speaker:Oh, you you know I'm I'm I've been gaga the whole time. I mean, we we I did some work at Paisley Park. Most of the work I did was at in Los Angeles where they had the stuff moved to. Okay. So they set up their own vault there because they're the Paisley Park was not really a um it's not built to be a vault. I mean, there's pipes and electric electronics and stuff like this, and all that stuff can affect your you know the tapes. They can get wet, they could get cold. Um, so you want to have a a sealed room that's temperature controlled and and no electric plugs because electric plugs around tapes will erase them, they'll degause them.
Speaker 2:Oh wow.
Speaker:So you have to make sure that you have a very specific type of lighting, uh room temperature, that you have a circulating thing so it doesn't create mold, a lot of stuff like that. So that's what the vaults that in Los Angeles had had. Um so I did some work at Paisley Park where I had to, you know, go to see where, oh, they keep all this stuff here, go through the stuff, take it back. But most of my stuff was done in Los Angeles. But I was going, my job was to go through every tape, um, two-inch tape, half-inch tape, uh, digital tape, cassette, um, film, uh uh photos, um all everything, scripts, um you name it, video tapes, and and catalog them, and and watch them all and and catalog them all. So all the box sets we did, like the uh Sign O the Times box set. Which I have. Yeah, that's it's and and I wrote the forward uh the uh liner notes on this, and I also produced the video. Um it was that's right what I ended up doing. And I worked with them until last year, I think it was. And uh um, yeah, it was great. I mean, it was it was yeah, you're right. It was a dream job as a fan. I'm not gonna lie, it was great. I mean, it was it was so fun, and but I also had to ask, I would go back to the you know, Peggy McCreary, Susan Rogers, all the different engineers or band members and say, I'm confused about this. I see this, but this doesn't make sense. And you know, there's things I found that I'm going, well, nobody's known that before. So when we did the box sets, I was doing the liner, the sessionographies, like my book for the box sets, and I was able to kind of say, This is what happened this session, this is you know, and I'd interview because I have a relationship with a lot of these people now. Right. And and um, I mean, I still fan out. I still I'm I'm a fanboy. Yeah, I'm always gonna be that. I try not to be, it's tough, but it is tough.
Speaker 1:It's it's tough because it's something that means a lot to us. And again, for me personally, it's the music, it's all that. And I think, you know, you being in that situation and knowing how to catalog it, and you know, the estate has done a great job of repackaging and putting up this stuff. So it's like, you know, oh, here's Sign of the Times box it, but here's another 62 songs that were unreleased that you're gonna hear. And you're like, oh my gosh. And you're again, this time span, he must be writing like every minute because he's writing for not only himself, but for everybody else. During this one, there's this span where I think it was the most prolific time for him. You're like, what is it? And then it was so far ahead of the times to where, like, oh my gosh, he was just on a on a whole different level. But what I love now is being able to listen to the uh there's this podcast from the Princess State that uh Andrea Swenson does. I've not met her, I'd like to. But I know that you're involved in, and it's so fancy because they really same thing, it gives you this audio, and you get to hear from some of the engineers and the bandmates, and it's just like, oh wow, I did not know that. That's really what he meant when he was doing this song, all of those things. It's fun. For so when you're going through this, obviously you're putting things in order, and I know that they're kind of releasing them a certain way, but is there something you're like, hey guys, I think this would make a really great whatever bootleg series set, and we should focus on that. Or they're like, oh no, we're gonna go in chronological order of when the albums came out.
Speaker:There isn't, I mean, they didn't do a chronological order. The the first thing they did was before I started there was the Purple Rain um deluxe set, which is an extra disc of outtakes. Um, I didn't work on that. Um, and I think the second thing they did was a piano and a microphone uh album, which is a tape they found. But the the 1999, and then there was the I guess Sign of the Times came next, and then we Welcome to America, which is a disc we found in the vault that had a full album that had never been released and he'd he'd already releasing it. So when you see that there's an album that, you know, and so what was cool of being involved in that because that ended up being, I think, a top 10 album when it came out, which you know, getting a posthumous album after, you know, it's tough to get it that that well known. Right, for sure. And uh um that was pretty cool. I mean, I I will say, you know, I go in went into this, I don't do it anymore because I don't work there, but I I um I went in every day thinking as a fan, what would I want? What would I want to see, what would I want to hear, what gave me the chills, what did I say, oh my god, that's an extra three minutes in the song. And sometimes, you know, as somebody who used to collect music, is that 20, 30 extra seconds that you're going, oh that that makes the song. But you want to hear that stuff, and you want to hear um, I mean, the cool thing, I just um I was working on something yesterday, uh, and it was uh one of the one of the band members had said something about he said getting to know what uh what he was doing helps you figure out, helps you digest what came out, you know. So you when you when you can like watching it's like um I love Leonardo uh Da Vinci and yeah, he did great stuff, but I want to see his sketches, right? You know, I want to see what he did. So I want to see, and and there's a value to that, and I think that the I think without that you're you're missing. I think future musicians and musicologists and signing, you know, people who who study this stuff, it will be a value to them. You know, hearing a jam, hearing uh a bootleg, hearing a um uh uh song that didn't make it out, you know, or just an early person of it. Prince had a layer when he's recording. There was some of the cool things I've you know, just in my in my time, not just that, but in in just time of being a fan, you realize on his tracks, sometimes he'll have a bass and it'll just stop. Yeah, you don't hear it until you're actually really listening. Yeah, yeah. But he had a way of hiding all of his mistakes in there and and and making a drum roll or whatever it is to kind of cover this. And and oh, I mean, they're not I wouldn't say they're they're you don't go to a prince album for the production value, you go for the groove and the and the jam and what he did. And that's good production. I'm not saying it's not, but what I'm saying is you don't, you know, it's not like you're seeking out like a Pink Floyd album where you're sitting there going, I can hear the background. Oh, yeah, yeah. You're not you're not going for that, you're going for this jam and you're going for this energy. And boy, you know, the the he he delivered on every level on that one.
Speaker 1:He did. And and you know, it's so funny. I tell people, like everyone talks about, you know, my guitar gently weeps, which is fantastic. However, for me, the greatest guitar solos, it's got to be just my imagination on the small club. Good one. That like to this day, I just that's the epitome of a solo guitar, and it's amazing. And you know, again, we love Prince, but I've seen so many after shows. That's when you see a whole different side of him. And I remember one night when during the Welcome to America, he was doing the um the Stand at the Forum. And then one night he goes, Hey, I want to do two shows back to back at the Troubadour. Right. The seven o'clock show is a jazz show, and I went to the later show. I don't know what it was, but it was a rock. I don't want to say he was angry, but he was angry in a good way. And it was just like he was playing rock and roll, and just it was a whole different persona. And you're just like, My gosh, he's doing his regular concert, then he's got a seven o'clock jazz show, then he's got this rock show, and it was just and it was raw and it was different. Like, oh my god, those are the moments that I loved.
Speaker:Yeah, he played. I don't know if you saw when Stevie Wonder joined him during that.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was there, I was there, I was there.
Speaker:It was a good show. Uh Janelle Monet opened up for that episode of that show, and it was a great show. And and I didn't know we knew Stevie Wonder, it was a Friday the 13th. Yeah, yeah. Didn't know Stevie Wonder would be showing up, and then you're hearing this riff going, I don't know that I know that sounds familiar. And then you see Stevie, yeah. You see Stevie Wonder rising, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about that. And you go, doot doot doot doesn't that's a 20-minute jam. And it was so good, it's suspicious superstition, and it just didn't damn, and and you know, just what he can do, yeah, with with that. And and I actually got to meet, I did a documentary where I got to I was producing a documentary about and Stevie Wonder was in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:And I got to sit there and say to him, dude, I was there at the concert, and and you what you did with Prince, and he's like, Hey, thank you. It was just fun to be able to say back to this person, you know, you you I'm a big fan of Stevie Wonder as well. Yeah, me too. So so to see both of them, and I think Sheila E was there that night. Oh, yeah. And it was like it was a night.
Speaker 1:So the great thing about the form too is a robot. Dude, the great thing is that first off, Prince made it like 25 bucks a person, so you could actually afford. So I went every night. I went to like 13 of the shows. That's one night smart. No lie, he had five encores. People left, people were leaving, and I kept saying, No, no, trust me. He came up five times and it was just awesome. And you're just like, oh my god. And then yeah, Sheila was there, or like Stevie would be there, Janelle Monet, um, Mary J. Blige would come up, and and you're like, what? And and and then like it was just for $25, and I'm dancing on like, and then afterwards, on the second floor of the forum, he'd have the after show. So some nights he'd play, some nights he wasn't. And and so like you never knew what you're in again. And that's how I met the twins and how we became like besties. And um there was this really cool moment as after show. So Prince is literally next to me, this close on the on the keyboard. Shelby's in front of me, Sheila's on drums. Uh, someone, it was like must have been 75 people in this room, and it's just like a private jam, and you're just like, What?
Speaker:How did I get here? Yeah, that's I it I think that's the thing that makes me the most sad is I have certain certain performers I love. Certain performers David Bowie and Prince are really two of my two of my I see a bowie thing behind you. Yeah, exactly. So I but Prince just loved playing. I mean, you'd see this guy, and like you said, two very different shows in one night. And on that tour, he never played the same show twice. No, and that was we did when we were doing the uh um I edited and produced the um the Welcome to America uh video and for the Welcome to America box set. And I had to look through most of those shows, seeing what the best shows were. Yeah, and you know, that's not the worst job ever. Um looking through it and also just saying, okay, we want a good selection of songs that he didn't always do. And he ended with um a Brian Ferry song. Um so it's like you just go and he started with um I don't remember what he did, but it was it's just it was there's so much to what he was doing different every night. And even the funny thing is that concert started off with like three or four minutes of black, like stages dark. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I'm sitting there going, how do I make that into a video? Yeah, yeah, and make that interesting. And he made it interesting. Yeah, you know, I mean, Prince made editing his stuff very simple because you just follow him, yeah, and you just look for the best angle, and and you know that uh he's gonna have the performance. And I I funny learning when I was editing him, the big thing I learned is don't, you know, because when you're cutting music, you cut on the beat most of the times. With Prince, you don't do that because he's doing something on the beat, yeah, and you don't want to lose that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, you never know what's gonna happen.
Speaker:He's directing how you produce and edit it. It's it's it's that's how potent his music was, is that he would make sure that he's giving the signals to everybody how to do things. And and boy, to grow up in real time watching his career, yeah, was I think the best musical lesson anybody could have. I don't play instruments, I played a tuba in in high school, which is a chick magnet, by the way. Oh, yeah, oh absolutely. Absolutely. Ladies love the tuba. Um, and uh, but it it was just it was you know, seeing him and seeing his guitar work and seeing just how fluid and it seemed like the guitar was part of him. Oh, yeah. And you just it's it's just there's a poetry to what he did, and we'll never ever get that back.
Speaker 1:The amazing, you know, I went to a few nights of those uh the residency in uh 3121 in Vegas. So again, he's doing a show, and this night. Now I did not see Michael Jackson, but Michael Jackson was there. Yeah, uh Michael Jackson was there, but Will I Am came out. Um my god, unforgettable. Is it Natalie Cole? Natalie Cole came out.
Speaker:Okay, sure, sure.
Speaker 1:And there was somebody else, and these were the surprise guests, and and then um Knarls Barkley, that guy. Anyway, so Prince does a show, and it's like amazing. So I always found a way to so next door was the little jazz cafe. Right. So I got into that. So then Prince, he just walks around in between all of us with the guitar and he just plays. He doesn't talk, he doesn't sing, he's just walking, and there's like a group of us, and he's just like walking, playing guitar, like blah blah blah blah blah. And you're like, and you're just like witnessing, you're like soaking language.
Speaker:Yep, yep. We're we were lucky to be able to see and absorb this stuff. You're absolutely right. And I just and what a performer is gonna say, no, Prince, I don't want you to show up on my stage. You know, there's a funny story. The second book I got is uh Elton John wrote the forward for well that's okay. That's one of my questions. How did you get Sir Elton John to write? It blows my mind that Elton John would have written a forward for my book. That just doesn't make sense. Uh a friend of mine named Matthew Pitone, uh, guy I've known for several years. We were both Prince fans back years ago. Um, he's a photographer and he's worked for Prince and he's worked for um uh Lenny Kravitz and uh he does stuff with Dave Chappelle. He's just a great guy. And and he and I have been talking before, and we worked, he worked on the box sets as well, um, the Prince box sets. Uh he's done stuff for Quincy Jones. Um, but he I was trying to figure out who I was gonna use, you know, to get. And he said, I well, my wife and I saw a documentary, or not documentary, but it's about the World Health uh organization, and Elton John was on there. I said to my wife, boy, it'd be cool if Elton John would write something like this. And the next day, Matthew reached out to me and said, What do you think about Elton John? I said, Amazing. So he said, Let me let me reach out to them thinking, Oh, let me reach out to Elton John. And and uh he did. He went and and what was crazy is I got him a copy of the book before obviously the months before it was published, and my publisher was like, Yes. Um and I said, I have to have it by December 1st, or else we can't use it. And December 1st came and went. I was like, ah, and December 15th. And then I think it was either the like January 1st or something like that. It he sent us the thing. Wow. And if you get a chance to read it, I'll get you a copy of the book. But if you get a chance to read it, um he has a story in it about the I'll tell you in a second. But anyway, when we got the thing, I was just sort of tears came up my eyes because this is freaking Elton John. Yeah, that's amazing. You know, I mean, you just that's Elton John. My drama's first concert. I took her recently to go see, well, not recently, a couple two, three years ago, to see Elton John at the Dodger Stadium. Yeah, and she was like, Oh, okay, I see now who this is because she knows. Um, but yeah, just Elton John, even being on his radar was crazy. So um he has a story in the book about he didn't have a long relationship with Prince, but he didn't meet him a couple times. And one time he met him in Vegas, and Prince said, Why don't you show up to my show tonight and you can jump on stage with us? And Elton John's okay. And he said, Yo, what will I go sing? He says, Oh, you'll sing um uh well and windy road. And he's I don't know that song. That's that's the Beatles. He said, I don't want to just watch me and you know see the moves. And yeah, he said, Okay, and uh Prince didn't and Elton John singing and do the solo. Prince walks off the stage. Like, you don't leave Elton John on the stage there. And Elton John's go, I'm looking for a cue. And and I just thought, that's Prince, man. You know, the first time he met him, apparently walked up to him and said, uh Elton John said, I'm a big fan of yours. And and and Prince said, All right, and walked away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like I can see that.
Speaker:I can see that imagine the cojones on the guy to be able to do that. I would be thinking, Oh my god, I should have gotten him a drink, or can I cook you something, Elton John? Oh my god, you know, I mean, this is he's done so much for my musical tastes, you know. But yeah, that was. That was, I mean, I have I'm not gonna lie. That was a how do I top that? You know, what do I do for the third book?
Speaker 1:Well, because that's this question. So the next ones that you have, obviously you're probably gonna do like another era, another session. So what you know, what I don't know if you can talk about it or not, but like what is that next one going to be about?
Speaker:Next one's gonna be 87, 88, and maybe even 89, looking into that right now. Um that whole Love Sexy World. Yeah, but it would cover the release of Sign of the Times, uh, the Scient Times tour, Madhouse, second, the second Madhouse being recorded, which is great. Madhouse 16 is my one of my favorite albums. Yeah, um, um, all the stuff for Love Sexy, Black album, yeah, black album being canceled. Yeah, yeah. Um, um uh Jill Jones album being released, yeah. Um couple of stuff like that. The Love Sexy tour. Um, and if I go 89, it would be Batman and things like that. So it's got a ton of stuff, and then prep work for Graffiti Bridge. But it's forgotten. And again, the tricky part for me was almost all the band members left after this book. So the end of this book is is they got fired, or the yeah, you gotta get the now, you gotta get some of the NPT, or pretty much it's him because he was doing a lot on his own. He's like, all right. But you have to still have the band, and so I had to like he did in the sense that he had now train and learn new personalities. I'm having to do that with the neck book. So it's like and but uh but honestly, honestly, everybody has been so uh kind. Um and I've been lucky to have interviewed Kat Glover who's passed away, yeah, and things like this. I spent many times with her just getting information and and I'm I'm I'm so blessed and so fortunate in this stuff. I mean, uh, it's a lot of hard work and you keep pushing, but boy, people I think when you go to somebody with kindness, have an open heart and and and wanting to help them, they seem to they seem to be open to to coming back to you. And I I find that in life in general, it's if you you know, if you go into if you come in and grump in and grind and you're not gonna get something, but if you come into it saying, Look, I'm having a good day, regardless of what it is.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker:And I think that that the and so I think with people like the the people who worked in the band and and all the people we worked on with the box sets. I mean, the diamonds and pearls, which I produced, um, that was all new people. That wasn't even the people from Silent Times, that was new people on top of that. And so you meet these people and and you've got to have a good reputation going into these things, or else people will be like, yeah, I don't know. I've heard one bad thing about your buddy.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And I think that again, that goes back to your writing and doing something that's actually productive and uplifting. It's not salacious, it's not gossip, it's not again. There's a lot of books that came out there. It's like, oh my, you don't even know anything about him. Your information's all wrong, it's all bull crap. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and so again, that's why I respect. Well, hey, you're, you know, I can tell that already you are a decent human being, and also too, you're writing about something that's authentic. No, I'm being genuine. And also, here's the thing you're so genuine that the state said, hey, this guy's genuine. And that's a lot of trust because I'm sure there's a lot of people that want to go in there. Oh, let me do whatever and have their everyone seems to have an agenda. And I just think you just did the job and the work. And again, for us, the the fans that get to benefit from these re-releases, I think more so the piano microphone and say, Welcome to America, these things that we never would have known of. Right, right, right. Um, that's a really great, amazing thing.
Speaker:And I hope that they continue to do that. Yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna be involved because I I like I said I don't work with them anymore. And they did the Around the World Day thing that I had nothing to do with. Um, but I I have nothing else. I hope they keep doing stuff. I mean, yeah, as a fan, I want to see more stuff. I I love this stuff. I every I would call my wife when I was I because I lived in Los Angeles in an apartment while I was working there for some, you know, I'd be there for a couple weeks and come back out to Colorado because I moved out, also moved out of Los Angeles. Um, and I would say, guess what I'm doing today? And she'd say, You're going to the vault. I was like, I know, that's what I'm doing. And so it was I never, ever, ever took that for granted. I always respected and I always said a thank you every time I walked in. I wanted to make sure it was never, I never thought of it as this is my position. This is the position I'm I'm fortunate to be in for a little while. And the next person whoever it is will do that as well. Um, it is an honor, and every, you know, in life I find that there's certain things that feed your family. Like, you know, we've done jobs that were like going, okay, pay the pay rent. And there's certain jobs that feed your soul. And this was one of those ones that fed my soul. I I really felt like I'm getting something, and I also knew so many fans that I I either knew before or got to know, and it'd hear their stories of how Prince changed our life, yeah, and and things like this. And and that's just there's something about that when you when you're doing something that matters to somebody, right? You know, whether it's a charity thing or or just making their life a little bit better for a little while, you know. And there's just something you and when you go to sleep at night, you're thinking, you know what? Some people were happy today because of stuff I did. And you know, so that's that's kind of where I am with with in life in general, you know.
Speaker 1:No, I I appreciate that. You know, again, when I'm on set, you know, as a producer, line producer, I'm I try to keep it live. I try to keep it fun. I remind everybody how grateful we are. We should have fun. Don't take it too serious, absolutely, and just be grateful because anything can change in a moment. Um, you know, a movie I did a while back, I was and I did not know at the time our costume designer, Lisa, she's like, Oh, I'm bringing my friend on. Do you mind? Her name is Jill. I'm like, okay, whatever. I had no idea. So Jill Jones was in our costume department in this movie. So I got to work with Jill, and then the twins, I gave them their first um movie job ever. And so they were in my office. Nandy was my second A D or second, second AD, and Maya was my coordinator. So here I'm I'm geeking on every day. I get to go to work, I got Jill and I got the twin. So I'm getting different stories. I'm getting the Jill from like, you know, the purple rain days, and I've got the twins to give me, and I'm just like, I'm feeding up, oh my soaking off because the prince was still alive at this point. But it just, but it was the coolest thing ever. And you know, we all worked together, and it just, but it was like it was awesome, you know, and it just like this is so cool because it's such a small world. And I think again, it is when it comes from that integrity in that good place, um, and it's just it's just genuine. Um you know, I just think that becomes really authentic. And um, so I appreciate everything that you did, but now I gotta ask you, Duane. Yes, sir. Because you're doing something else. Yes, I am. So it can all be about prints. I know you have other agendas, other things that you're so what is it that you're working on now? Because I know you have something big that you're working on that you want to talk about.
Speaker:What is that? Um well with it with the industry the way it is right now, there's not a lot of work. All of us are going, wait a second here, I gotta, you know, Uber or something. And I still, my my, I mean, I have to admit, most of us in the entertainment industry, our skills are that. You know, whereas and some of it doesn't translate to another company or another business. Right. And it's tough to pivot. So I thought I'm gonna start trying to make my own stuff. So I've I've started a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary I want to do or been working on since March for a band out of Baltimore called Crack the Sky. I'll show you. Got a shirt with a logo on there so we can see on it. Crack the Sky. Nice. Okay. That's the main event. And they're a band from Baltimore that grew up. I'm I'm from Baltimore originally, and they they are this they're celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Okay, and they're still together. Um, four of the original five members are in the band right now. Um, back in 75 when they came out with the first album, Rolling Stone said it was the debut album of the year. Um, Rolling Stone has listed the their first album as um being uh one of the best top 50 prog rock albums of all time, you know. And this is a band that is from West Virginia, but they they made a home in Baltimore and never hit anywhere else. For some reason, yeah, they just hit and they used to sell, they still sell at shows. They sell as they every month they're doing a couple shows and they still sell them all out. Um, and these guys are in their mid-70s, I guess, and and just they're just so good. And it's such an underdog story. And I love the idea of these guys who are still out there, they just came out with an album this week, and they're still working this, trying to, you know, and and I think that we've as Baltimore people, Baltimore on some of us call us, um, we have taken them into our our our our our hearts, and and they're our Mount Rushmore, really, of musicians. That Baltimore had a great music scene. And and you know, Joan Jett came from Baltimore, Gina Shock from the Go Go's came from Baltimore. Um got a number, uh uh Frank Zappa was from Baltimore. Okay. You have a number of people that are from, but they but these guys were literally so good. And so what I've done is I've put together a Kickstarter campaign. Um if you go to if somebody wants curious, go to Kickstarter and look up Crack the Sky under documentaries, and you'll see. And we're um we're asking for a minimum, we're trying to get a minimum amount that I can just kind of do the documentary. It's not gonna be, you know, it's not a big budget. Um and uh we're at 52%, no, 53% is what it says. Nice, all right. Um and we have about three more weeks to get the funding. Uh Kickstarter is one of these ones that's all or nothing. So we either get right everything or you get nothing. And uh so we need to get to that level. But that's what I'm doing right now is is I thought, you know what? If people aren't gonna knock on my door, I'm gonna find the band that that deserves this attention. The underdogs again. How can I give back to these guys that gave me so much music and so much fun and so many good times? How can I give back to these guys? And they've been so cool and so fun. Nice and and participating in all this stuff, and just you know, and then we got rewards where the band will teach somebody for an hour how to play guitar, or these are all kinds of these are these are the kind of hearts on these guys, and I just I love that. And and so my thought is the more that we get, we're asking for a modest fund to a modest of goal, but if we get more than that, the more I can hire more people and friends and people that are editors and people that you know do graphics and things like this, and I can start to help out some of my friends that that are looking for work, and and me too. But you know, all of us I just trying to say, you know what, I need somebody to do the writing for this, I need somebody to do camera on this, lighting, sound work, you know, mixing, sweetening. I I just I want to be able to kind of help people that I know that I love get right pay the bills.
Speaker 1:Nice. So okay, um, and again, I want to make sure that I put the links in here and all the stuff, not only for the books, but for the Kickstarter, anything you want, I want to plug, I want to help support you because you're friggin' awesome. So, in addition to the Kickstarter, is there anything else? I mean, are you still involved in TV movie world or is that kind of like, hey, I'm just more working on being the author?
Speaker:Yeah, I've kind of stepped back. I'm still I'm working on the books. Um the books are available at by my name, DuaneTudal.com. Yes. You can find them. Or if if uh sometimes if people want to buy them and they're overseas, what I say is buy it locally, and I will do a um book plate where I'll sign it. Oh, nice, okay. So sticky back. Oh, very cool. So and so I will send that to people. You can get that on my uh my Facebook too, on my website too. Um, I created a Facebook group called the Print Studio Sessions, something like that. I don't remember what it's called, but that's out there. Um just I I like staying in touch with all these people and getting to know more people and just expanding um the range. And and the stories people tell me, um especially during, you know, times are tough in a lot of ways, and hearing how people get healed by music and and and things like that really makes a difference to me. It kind of ends the day with a really high note when people you know come up to you and say, you know, not my stuff, but just music or something or story, and just in general, and and meeting you. I I would never have, you know, and you and I worked together. We didn't know.
Speaker 1:I know, that's the crazy thing.
Speaker:That's why I'm so happy they we connected. And I love that. When you wrote me the email, I was going, oh, geez, this is crazy. And because it was two different buildings, same company, same show, but you guys are production, we were post-production. Yeah, I never and we rarely met except for Christmas parties. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So uh, or when we'd have challenges back and forth between the two buildings. So funny it was, yeah. So and I I rarely ever I I think I was in the other building like three or four times in the entire four years I worked there. There was no reason for me to be over there. There's you know it always was kind of intimidating to us. It was probably the same way for you guys coming over to our place.
Speaker 1:It was probably yeah, it was so rare. I mean, it just wasn't, you know. First off, there was no parking over there, so it was always a nightmare if I had to go there. I'm like, oh my god, at least we have a you know parking structure or something.
Speaker:No, we had to park tandem uh underneath the building. It was crazy. I know, I know. And if somebody had to leave, they'd yell up to the window, uh, there's a blue car and a green car in front of that. So you had to throw keys down. And oh, it was crazy. But yeah, it was good. I honestly, Unsolved Mysteries and the people there, the producers, John and Terry, Raymond, uh all these fishari, they were all great.
Speaker 1:They gave everybody a chance. And I that's what I again. I'm I'm grateful because it literally was my film school. It taught me. And if I did not again, it's very rare for a hit TV show to be on that long. And that you had and the great thing is at the time I was there, everybody's like we had great benefits, and everybody was having a baby. And I was I I just turned 23, and at the time I'm no longer married, but you know, we had our kid. But again, thank God I had benefits, it was a staff job, you know, and we all again, it was a family. Like I say that in like real world, like there was a family, there was a connection, and you just felt that teamwork atmosphere, you know, to that sense. And again, John and Terry.
Speaker:Yeah, you told me you talked to Jeannie this morning, we're going, oh, this is an old friend. And yeah, yeah, for sure. And I don't think a lot of people realize like Matthew McConaughey was on the show. Yes, he did that's he did one of his first texts. Yes, his shirt was mowing the lawn, mowing the lawn, exactly. I'm like, um that stuff is great. I mean, you had a lot of people that started with with Unsolved Mysteries, and I thought Matthew McConaughey. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then also, I want to say um There's a couple other people, and I can't remember who they were.
Speaker 1:I I want to say the woman from uh the Larry David show, C urb and But there's been a few people that have now become celebrities, but also too. So I remember um I at the time as there's a PA working with me named David McKenna. He's like, Oh, I got the script, Mike, I got the script, it's about gangs in Venice, you know, want to read it, want to read his first script out was American History X. You know, that was him when he was on TA with me and I'm sorry. You know, so that's crazy. But other people have stepped up and done things, and Stuart Albert and then Ed Horwitz, who gave me my shot. I mean, he's been you know been awesome. And so it's so great to see everyone kind of thriving. And like we found our niche, and we're like, oh, that's cool.
Speaker:Good people, you know.
Speaker 1:Did you go to the reunions? Do you ever go to the reunion? I haven't, I haven't.
Speaker:Uh you only went to one, but it was so fun. Yeah, go go next time, so I can go too.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I I have my unsolved jacket that I found. We had these great gold with the plum arms and then the black and hit the logo. And you know, again, this was just I was young. I I you know, I just moved to LA and I don't know, and it was so cool.
Speaker:And so it's good, it's a good time. I I I highly suggest anybody that's trying to get into entertainment, take a job like you did and I did as a PA. Yeah, you'll you'll get to know how every job works and find your and the other thing I would here's the best advice I wish I'd known beforehand is if you're trying to get into a certain type of show like comedy, climb that mountain. Yeah, start doing PA work for those shows. Because if you start doing for these shows, they don't translate. No, and and I wanted to be in sitcoms. I did stand-up comedy for a while, and I wanted to be, I wanted to be, and I started climbing the mountain of reality TV, and none of that translated. So I had to go back down and become an assistant on a on a sitcom because I did not have any connections, because it is a very different world. So don't take a job in a field that you don't want to grow in unless it's just the beginning and you're certainly, but honestly, you're gonna get sucked in and end up doing the jobs I never thought it'd be in reality TV. No, reality TV wasn't a thing. Yeah, so and I and that literally that became my career, and it was fine, but I really wanted to get into stand-up comedy and I really wanted to do sitcoms and I wanted to write them, and I I no longer had the connections because of that. So I that's the biggest advice I I would say. Also, direct your own stuff, yeah. Find a way to direct something and learn. You're not gonna nobody's gonna tell you you can't direct something if you're funding it. You know, if you're putting together, yeah, nobody's gonna say, ah, you don't know what you're doing. Yeah, create your content. Exactly. Create content.
Speaker 1:Well, this is fantastic. Is there anything else that you want to plug, you want to share? Any advice? I I I think I'm drained. You're good.
Speaker:This isn't this is so much fun. I I I I I love my time in the industry. I'm glad that you uh you reached out to me. Yeah, thank you. And this again, another piece of suggestion, reach out to somebody. You did not know me. Yeah, yeah. And uh two weeks ago, you didn't know me.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't, and seriously, and that's why I'm like, there's no way it's the same person. And I'm like, Are you kidding me? And like I told my girlfriend, I was I was like literally like a little kid, and then I talked to Jeannie, who's a mutual friend of ours, and she's like, Yeah. And I'm like, what? You knew him. I didn't know it's just like, and again, it's opened up a whole new world, and you know, you and I have had some offline talks, and that's awesome. I'm just thinking it's like, you know, it's a it's a world that we're in, but I love it that we're in the prince world and also the unsolved, like we just have that world.
Speaker:It's nice when you have a couple of the common like that's another thing I was gonna say something about. But the thing is is finding that common plane of reference with somebody for sure. And this is I worked at a job one time, and for the it was um a bunch of people who were younger, and then me and a one or two other people are my age, and the boss said, We're gonna have this day, we're gonna meet and talk and have a great time. And you know, you don't have to work, we're serving lunch, and then we'll hang out in the afternoon and you can leave. And we ate lunch, and the boss gave his big talk, and it was great. And then about two o'clock, he said, Okay, everybody's gonna just hang out if you want it Friday afternoon. Yeah, and all the young people left. And I thought, Yeah, did you not understand? This is the best time to meet those people, the owners of the company, meet them, find out that plane of reference, spend the time. What are you gonna beat traffic that day? Yeah, exactly. But but you know, you also have the chance to meet a guy who's possibly a millionaire, possibly doing exactly what you want to do and how he got there, and he's gonna eventually be looking for people to raise up because that's what we do, is and that's why I'm always happy when friends of mine do well, because we're all gonna grow up together. And but I didn't understand why, and that was a good thing for me. Is everybody left that gave me more one-on-one time with these guys?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So I find every opportunity to network, you know, whenever I go to an event, it's really it's just you meet somebody, and it's funny, like you know, the girlfriend, you know, she's my partner, I love her, and you know, we met a while ago, and you know, she went to an event, and her goal was to meet five people, and I happen to be one of those five, and you know, now we're in love and we're happy, and just you know, it's this idea of like, hello, my name is boom, and you just don't know, and that's the great thing. And and you know, what it might transpire, like Jeannie's got a couple of great stories in her book where she's sitting on the plane talking about something, and that's a great story, and you're like, yeah. Now listen, sometimes I don't want to talk to people on a plane, I get it, but you just never know, like, oh, that's actually kind of cool.
Speaker:Yeah, no, you never know where that connection is gonna come from. I I met a friend on a cruise, and we still keep in touch. This cruise was when our kids were young and our kids just had a dance together, and we still keep in touch. And I think we've recommended each other for things, work and stuff like this. Yeah, but it's like it's like she's a Facebook friend. The other thing is I always make sure I try to wish as many people happy birthday on their Facebook pay day. Oh, yeah, you know, it tells you when the birthday, you literally have to and you look like you're the greatest guy ever. And I thought, why don't every why doesn't everybody do that? It's so it just makes so much sense to do that.
Speaker 1:It is so easy just to have, you know, even a thank you after an interview or a note. And I still write private notes sometimes just because it again, it's that extra little wow, okay, Jones is on the radar. Yeah. Um I just also think it's the time I was raised. I just knew how to do that.
Speaker:Well, and you know, that's a good point. Is I think a lot of things kind of the internet and and all this stuff has made us ruder, more distant, more cold, and and more anonymous. You know, I I can say something mean to somebody if my name is, you know, uh PrinceFan72, right, you know, as opposed to my name is Duane Two. You know, I I can be insulting if I want if I'm anonymous. And I I don't think these are things you'd say to people in person. I don't really don't I think that we've lost. The art of conversation. I think we've lost. Um, you know, my my daughter listens to the same music. She she listens to one genre. And I'm like, I grew up with all these different things beating their path to my door. She listens to the same type of music over and over and over. And we'll listen to Sirius XM. And I know every song on every channel that I'm listening to. And she says, How do you know these songs? Yeah, that's how it was. You sat there and listened to the radio until you were you were listening for five hours, waiting for the song to be repeated. And you along the way, you've got James Brown, or you got Sly Stone, or you've got, you know, whatever it was, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, whatever it was, and you're just going, This is light but exactly. And you would, but you would never, I would never have sought that out, but I know it. Yeah. And so, or Boston, you know, whatever it is, you just would not have known this stuff. And all of a sudden you're going, Oh, oh, that's good. Yeah. So I agree. I just think I think we've lost a common humanity and a common, you know, you could have before you could have conversations with people you disagreed with. And now it just seems like you can't even do that.
Speaker 1:You can't. And it's, you know, it hope hopefully everything turns around. But this is why I do believe music is so important because it does keep us all together, um, you know, in that world. And I don't want us artists to stop. Like, I don't want us to ever give up. It's, you know, because we're all important. And whenever I'm on a set, I try to make sure that every single person, I want them to realize that their job is the most important job. Yeah. You're the PA, the EP, the grip, the gaffer, the whatever. We're all because you're the best at what you're doing. And you take all of them together and you can have one great product. So everyone has to realize how important they are.
Speaker:I heard I heard a quick story, real quick. I'll make this fast. No, um, I remember hearing a story, and I uh so far as I know this is true, but there was a um, I think Stephen Hawking had gone to um either it was like a set of start one of the Star Trek, and it wasn't the original series, but it was one later, and he wanted to sit in the captain's chair. And you realize that this is one of the smartest men that ever was around. Right. And the reason why he wanted to is because the TV was important to him. Wow. And you realize the effect that this has, and then and good and bad, because you do things that are mean and things that are cruel, that's gonna just make the the gumbo worse. You know, I want to I want to have fine ingredients in my gumbo. I don't want to, I always tell my daughter, how much crap do you want in your ice cream? You know, as little as possible, and so you don't just sprinkle crap on your ice cream, yeah. You gotta seduct, you gotta be selective about what you let into your ice cream, and and and so I when I think about the Stephen Hawking wanting to be there, because TV is important to him, and Star Trek was important to him, and and that guided him and probably influenced him, thinking I would like to do this stuff. And so I I think about that every time I do TV is how will this be perceived and how will this will somebody be able to go to sleep after this? Or will somebody be like, and and there's been shows I worked on that I'm going, ah, nobody is nobody's gonna like this and was garbage, but again, you gotta pay the bills, and we all are sometimes having to do that. But for the most part, I try to make it so that if I meet up with the people I interview at a party afterwards, they're not gonna want to punch me. Yeah, you know, they're gonna be like, hey, nice job. I really enjoyed that. Um, I prefer it, and I'm I'm not talking about fake stuff, I'm just talking about if somebody's generally kind and generally a good person, let them be a good person and let them be kind and share that with people and let them and let that joy and that ripple go across the pond. That's to me, at least, you know.
Speaker 1:So this is a Duane, this is a great way to end it. Thank you so much, man. I I am so first, I'm actually honored, like really, uh, someone of your statue and just everything that you've done. And I'm excited. So please not only get this book, but all the books that Duane has. And I'm gonna put in the links for his website. Um the Kickstarter. Yes.
Speaker:That's the name. DuaneTudahl.com is the website.
Speaker 1:Okay, great. And I'll be simple. Very simple. I'll make sure that's in there. Um, uh, thank you so much, man. I appreciate it. I'm so excited. I'm glad I got inspired to restart this. Um this is great.
Speaker:I'm excited too. I'm very excited too. This is a lot of fun. Thank you, man.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Until the next time, this is your host, Michael Jones, for In the Moment. And everyone, have a great day. Don't miss out on the next episode. Subscribe now on all streaming platforms in your area. Join us as we celebrate the extraordinary moments that shape our lives. And I'm looking forward to hearing your story and your success. In the Moment is produced by Silver Heart Productions LLC, original music and composition arranged and performed by Zakk Jones and Matthieson Nisch Quan Thank you so much for being part of the show and keep manifesting joy and happiness daily.
