Ep 169 Cathy Rich & Gregg Potter

The mega-legend lives on in a jaw-dropping, high energy show, with a fifteen-piece orchestra made up of Buddy’s BIG BAND MACHINE alumni, all the while featuring his daughter, Cathy Rich, as your guide through all that’s 60”s cool, while dropping vocals on you as smooth as “Black Label Scotch’. Oh, and talk about bad ass drummers; we got you covered with Emmy Award winning, wicked as a mother-f***er Gregg Potter beating everything within arms’ reach in a blur of precision and sweat! Ray and Mike were able to slow them both down for a while and find out what they got going on.

Transcript

Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66, it's the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast. Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie. And this is Hollywood Mike.

Hello Hollywood Mike, how are you today? Lovely, lovely Wednesday. It is a Wednesday. Yeah, it is.

It's been a long day. It's been a long week actually. Has it? How come? It has.

Just, you know, everywhere I go, everybody's got this flu thing. Oh yeah, that's true, that's true. Yeah, and I've got like four people that they have bronchitis and it's like weird.

Stay away from me. Yeah, I start wearing garlic and carrying a cross with me. Yeah, now they're saying the dogs are getting it too.

The dogs have got some kind of respiratory thing and it's killing them. Hey, don't talk about my friends that way. I'm sorry, but you know, if they have it, they have it.

Yeah, that's the way it is. That's the way it goes. That's the way it goes.

Yeah, so what we got going on tonight? Well, tonight we have the honor of a person that we interviewed a lot. You weren't here at that time. It was Paul and myself.

And he holds the record of the only person that we interviewed that got a two-part podcast. Did he change his name? No, no, no. He just got a two-part podcast.

We talked for so long that we had to break it up into two weeks. Wow. But now tonight he brought this lovely lady with him.

So this is going to be a much nicer podcast than it was back then. See, that's why they showed up at four o'clock today. They also showed up at four, which we will find out about shortly.

Well, he knew he was going to talk for twice as long, so he decided to show up. So coming to you from episode 24 and 25, it's Craig Potter and Kathy Rich. All right, so that's where it's at.

So since they don't know when to stop talking or anything, I'm assuming he's a drummer. Oh, well, you can only tell that when I do talk, it speeds up. I'm just saying.

I hear you. We usually go into the musicians jokes later in the podcast. We're going to start off early today.

Get right to it. Hey, could you check if my riser's straight? Is the drool coming out of both sides of my mouth? Little higher on the right, please. Yeah, exactly.

One side. Yeah, you got to take a hanky. Keep wiping off the ride.

That's it. So apparently they got a reminder today to to come to the podcast and it said it was 4 p.m., but it was Pacific Pacific time. Pacific time.

I have to find out why they're sending it out like that because we're not right. It was right. All right.

You guys are right. So we've been here since four. Yes.

Yes. What did you guys do? Exactly. We stole so many T-shirts.

We're going to start selling that stuff on eBay. You know, now Ronnie Romero's gone, so I'm actually taking some of it. I think I've got Rick Nielsen's guitar already in the car.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Let's see.

What else did we take? What are those awards up there? I don't know. They look like we'll take those, too. Yeah.

We're going to take the awards up there. We got a bunch of shirts. Oh, those look like what are they? Those look like the little statues that they give the inductees.

That's what those are for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I don't have one of those yet. Yes.

You do have an Emmy, though. That is true. Really? Oh, yeah.

I won an Emmy in 2009. For what? Wow. CBS Television.

OK. It was me, Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trek and another fellow. We were playing at the Grammy Museum, Chicago Grammy Headquarters.

And it was filmed as like a news piece. And what they do with these, how do people win? Well, I mean, it was it wasn't like we were up against, you know, the cast of Dynasty and M.A.S.H. You know, I mean, it was like it was us against like, you know, a plane crash, Rick Nielsen and Potter playing and a children's choir from Nairobi. OK.

And we won. You know, it was edited. You know what I mean? It wasn't like, you know, I didn't.

But you won. But I won. I won an Emmy award.

There's one right in our kitchen. That's pretty cool. It looks just like that.

CBS Television, live performance news. OK. Something I could read.

It's the plaque on the thing is bigger than the thing. It wraps around. It doesn't say like like an Academy Award would just say, you know, best actor.

Right. Or actually a real or an Emmy Award would be best primetime. Right.

You know, this is like it's more it was based on being a news program. But like I'm saying, I won it playing my drums. I wasn't like building homes for the homeless.

Right. Right. Potter won it.

Or I wasn't on TV at a plane crash. They went, my God, he walked by. He looked like a pilot.

He won. And I was really playing. I was really playing my drums.

So it was for a live performance on a news program, on a news program for CBS Television, CBS News. I've never even heard of that before. It's like, how would they word that? I don't know.

Well, an Emmy for live performance on a news broadcast goes to this. You have that. Hold on.

Those are usually the ones that they give out that they don't do them on TV. Right. Correct.

The ones that are done on like Thursday night. Yeah. Right.

Right. Right. Right.

Right. That's it. Yes.

I'm trying to see if I have a picture in my phone, which are that plot, which our podcast listeners are just waiting. Why don't you guys have me send you videos? Yeah. Oh, we get to see this.

Not not this. Not this part of it. But we there's another part.

Well, then what I'll do is I'll send. I'll send. Yeah.

I'll send the actual like the plot front. Right. Right.

You see exactly. And then you can you can send it. We can put it on Facebook and people can see it.

Right. You can speak to the Grammy Foundation or the Emmy Foundation and say, why? And what the Emmy trophy is that? No, I'm thinking the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes gets on the world.

Yeah. OK. This is the woman holding a thing like she's standing.

Right. It's quite large. Really? OK.

It's made by the same company here in Chicago that makes the Academy Award. Oh, OK. So, I mean, it's all it's all legit and it's heavy.

And yes, in real life, they only give two. If you want the other one, you had five guys in your group. Right.

You pay for that. I pay for it. Actually, they may have given one.

And I think Rick Nielsen got the one and I had to pay for one. And when you go to the awards, you pay to bring your little mom with you. That's that's you pay for everything.

You don't get that. They don't they invite you. You're you're invited.

Right. And your friends can't come, but you pay for everybody to come. So basically, it's a fundraiser.

Including yourself. Yes. You pay for you.

Just like the rock and roll. Just like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes.

That's the big that's the big complaint with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is, hey, I win the award. Fantastic. Now, here you go.

Give us the money. All right. So you can yeah.

So you're talking about you're talking about the one in Cleveland, not here. Right. The one in Cleveland.

Yeah, exactly. So there there would be, you know, look at how big that plaque is around it. You know, that's yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of.

That's what I thought it was. OK. Yeah, that's the real thing.

I mean, it's the real Emmy. Yeah, right. But it was like I said, that the plaque wraps around the so I'll send that to you.

Yeah. So you guys can see exactly what it was. That was 2009.

So that's the past. And that happened already. So once I take this thing from Ronnie Romero's shelf, I'm going to have one of those.

You're going to show a guy that can engrave it. Perfect. And I'll show you how to spell my name correctly.

So what were you doing? What were you doing back in 2009 where you end up playing on this news program with? I've always been playing the drums. It was just I was playing in a group and it came about that time. How did we get Rick Nielsen? We were I think we were re recording a cheat trick.

I'm trying to think how the group because I wasn't in a group with with him. Right, right. But he was at the event.

And then it was like, well, we're going to in that time saying like like when they're filming Dynasty or so. How old am I? No, we're just well, he was showing us the he was Ronnie Romero was showing us the thing with Charlie Adams, who's from Joliet, the drummer with Yanni. Linda Evans was the person that brought Yanni, you know, the nice, cute Greek kid from Minneapolis.

He meets her in Hollywood. She dumps a million bucks into this cool group of his. Next thing you know, Yanni is Yanni.

And Linda Evans was on. Linda Evans was on Dynasty. So we're talking about Dynasty.

Dynasty was actually produced by Kathy's aunt, buddy. So there's a whole. So Kathy was on Dynasty as a teen actress.

Yes. OK, so I mean, you have a lot of it all connects. Yeah, there's like I'm like the Kevin Bacon of drums.

Yeah, it's like seven degrees of Kevin Bacon, but it's seven degrees of hotter. You can mention any band in that friggin museum back there. I've either played with them.

They wanted me in the group or I know someone in the group or I bought a flight case from them. Right. Realistic.

I think I played in every one of them. Yes. I mean, you go in sticks.

I auditioned for Dennis, the young solo band. And he said, no, you remind me of Tommy Shaw. And I mean, it's not a compliment.

He goes, Potter, I love you. But really, you remind me of the guy I don't like. Oh, there you go.

I didn't just say that. Did I? OK. Yeah.

Then cheap trick. One day I'm a skinny, rotten little kid still live with my parents. I live with my parents till I was 50.

But so what? I'm laying in bed. I get woken up by Rick Nielsen. He's like, hey, Potter, what are you doing? So I'm sleeping.

He said, I can't play drums. And I'm thinking he wants me to come like playing, you know, like for cheap. Yeah.

Well, no, I didn't think he meant that. But yeah, it was like, you know, probably like the late 80s when Bunny was having some back problems. And Potter, come on out.

We were going to go play in Houston. It was like a big festival, 38 special cheap trick, whatever. It didn't happen.

But yes, I mean, I have I have all kinds of stories in and we played Summerfest like when eventually Summerfest keep saying that. When we played, it was cheap trick. Joe Walsh, Steve Dillon, teenage radiation, because once we get my drum set in here, my real, you know, teenage radiation drum set, that yellow and black kid of mine, that was the kid I played.

But yeah, so that too, I mean, each each of these groups and then who else went up to every every band artifact in there. The only guy I haven't really played with is Muddy Waters because the guy is 107 years old and I'm only 92. So I was young and I was I was too young to play with Muddy Waters.

But I guarantee you, I did play a buddy guy, though. Yes, you did. So you were and Buddy Rich.

So it all works out. The only one I haven't really done work with is Buddy Epson from the Beverly Hillbillies. But I'm sure Jethro was a big Greg Potter fan.

Yeah, you know what I mean? Buddy Epson's a pretty good mandolin player. There you go. So realistically, seven degrees of Potter at this point, because we can go anywhere in the museum and somewhere I am involved.

Yeah, excellent. Nice. OK, so now you see why it's a two part episode with Potter.

Yeah. Did I tell you guys I went to the bathroom? Yeah. Yeah.

Excellent. Well, we have we have another degree because my niece is actually really good friends with Rick Nielsen's grandson. They played soccer together on some national soccer program.

There you go. There you go. So this is starting to work out.

Everyone's connected. Exactly. And I've been kicked before.

Yeah. Like a soccer ball. There we go.

So all this stuff doesn't work out. I have no idea what we're talking about. No, I don't know.

But I do have a question, though. Yeah. What's that? You said you played with Buddy Rich.

No, no, I didn't. I got I did get to meet him at one point. OK, you did.

No, I never. No, no, no. The lightning strikes me when I play in the man's gone 37 years.

And Kathy will tell you, you didn't play with Buddy Rich. There was a time that Kathy was there was a guy named Carl Palmer. Remember that? Kathy's a teenager again.

She's a kid. He's already a rock star. Was he a star then? Was he famous when Buddy pulled him? No.

Oh, when he pulled him on stage? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So in Carl was kind of a hodge. Well, not kind of. He's a great drummer and hotshot drummer.

Jack and, you know, Buddy's daughter, because, you know, drinking. Well, I'm saying jacking in that. Well, what is that terminology? Exactly.

Well, he was hanging around to hang out with Buddy. Well, yes. And making this little girl think that there's something going on with this 30 year old rock star.

He was 20 years older than me. Exactly. So, I mean, Buddy can see that.

Like, hey, really? Do you really think the 12 year old's going to? What am I doing? I mean, it would probably be cool now on Epstein's Island, but let's be careful where that goes. Yes, exactly. Well, I'm just I'm saying, but this would have been a while.

So I'm saying so, Buddy. So here's this hotshot drummer hanging out, standing on the like standing next to the stage. But he's like, oh, you want to come up? You know, you want to play something? You want to play something? So he's like, yeah, cocky.

OK, well, Buddy counts the band off for him just a little quicker than you would think. Right. Right.

Oh, yeah. And Carl looks like it. No.

So I'm saying that's basically I'm sure if there would ever been a time where I would have. Carl actually thought that it turned out really well. And what did Buddy say to you when you were gone? Yeah.

But he went like, yeah, I mean, that's why they're playing the Superdome and I'm playing a nightclub. But really. Right.

Right. Right. I'm still Buddy Rich.

And who's that kid again? Yeah. That's Carl Palmer, father. I mean, he was your I mean, still your friend today.

I mean, you were like a kid. And Buddy knew that this guy was like he loved Buddy. He loved.

And that's cool, too. I mean, I, I, I hung around Kathy to meet Buddy, but he was already had passed away four years before I met her. You were hoping he was going to come back.

But her mother loved me. So, hey, Elvis, Elvis and Marvin Gaye keep coming back. So, you know, you never know.

AI, man. That's right. AI.

We have a hologram of Buddy right now in our friggin living room. He just yells at me. He just yells at me.

Like when I just come in, he'll just yell something at me. You call that a something. Does he? No, he doesn't.

Hey, when AI is finally perfected, I think there's going to be a Britney Spears for everybody. You know, what's because, you know, Britney, you'll pass out Britney Spears is, you know, AI. Oh, OK.

I know. I feel bad for Britney. Yeah.

Yeah. Was that? No, she's just been getting a tough call lately. Yeah, she has been.

And then on top of it, the time person of the year is. Don't say it. Yeah.

Taylor Swift. Oh, no, really? Person of the year. Wow.

No, I bet no 60, no seven degrees of fire there. No, no, nothing. I got nothing.

Wow. Nope. You're swifty.

Get out of there. Yeah. Yeah.

Not a fan. I'm sorry. Not a fan.

Oh, no, I I'm I'm jealous of anybody that sells that many tickets. I know. But but person of the years, I mean, OK, great.

She's an entertainer in the way she sings. People like Henry Kissinger. Exactly.

Right. Yeah. That's what you would expect.

Well, that's what you would expect. Something more so than dating a football player. Right.

Right. Right. Right.

Well, who the heck knows? Yeah. Who are we to say that a billion people can't be wrong? You know, before we go any further, I have to say if I wish we had, you know, cameras rolling, because you have to see her nails. Oh, and his jacket.

It's like Potter's coat. They match his jacket. This is like vibrant metallic silver coat and vibrant metallic silver nails.

It's like he just sharpened to a point. It's like this. It's like he just got off the Saturn five.

Yeah. Yeah. My space capsules.

She can kill birds and small prey with those nails. We'll never go hungry. She can chase a squirrel up a tree.

Looks like this is a four parter. That's right. I'm sitting here.

That's right. Did the toes match the fingers? They do. Yes.

Wow. They're not long. That's good.

Yeah, that's good. They do match what they do. Yeah.

Welcome back to the another episode of the twenty twenty five. But who cares? Kathy's dating life at 12 and Potter's connections to Taylor Swift are nil. But I guarantee that's what everybody listens to this podcast for, because if they want to hear your music, they can.

All they have to do is listen to your music. But I think they don't get to hear people listen to the podcast more when we just talk about random shit like this. I love that it really is, because everybody wants to know, you know, who you are.

Exactly. Is is basically what it is. So I know we have to talk about the Buddy Rich project.

I'm going to another. We do. Yeah, I can do that.

So why don't you tell us about that and how that whole thing just kind of came about? Oh, wow. And the reason why I was so interested in it is because it doesn't matter how old the drummers are. And and I host a lot of open jams and things like that.

And just last Sunday we had a like a 13 year old kid show up to the jam. And then every once in a while we have like this 80 year old guy show up to the jam. I mean, the range of ages that show up are spectacular.

But the one common thread that all the drummers have is you say, well, who's your favorite drummer? Buddy Rich is always the first name that comes out of their mouths. And I love it. I'll give you I'll give you one guess who the second one is.

Sandy Nelson. No, you blew your you blew your I don't even know who that is. I don't.

Ringo. I know it. Yeah.

John Bonham, Neil Peart or Ringo. Neil. It's usually Neil.

And then it's John Bonham. Yeah. I mean, that is that's how they trifecta.

That's the trifecta of right. And I mean, that's one thing, you know, any well, she's had it her whole life. But I mean, my time, you know, Kathy and I have been together how many years now? Really? No, but I'm saying we run into like a long time.

That's part two. Yeah. I was just going to say I remember when I was saying Carl Palmore is jacking her.

I jacked her harder. There you go. There you go.

You said people want to listen to that. Yeah. So I got to wear the silver jacket, Matt, because you like doing that and that's coming back.

That friction alone. I can get melted. That's right.

No, we talk. That's true. It's still yeah.

It's just still blows me like we were just in England. We were just in London, Manchester. We played Bridgewater Hall.

And our special guest was Ian Pace. Wow. Drumming like, you know, icon drummer from Deep Purple.

Right. Which like you said, you mentioned favorite drummers. Ian will be top ten if you're talking to.

He's like a drummer's drummer. Yes. Yeah.

And I'm just saying he and his playing. But when he talks about Buddy Rich, it's like you're talking to a 12 year old. I mean, his is just they they go back to like when I first heard because back then you didn't have YouTube and you listen to a record.

So you would hear this amazing playing, be it a drum roll or something. You didn't know that the man was doing it with just his left hand or I mean, now you see it and you're like, it's better than what you did when you did start seeing him on television. But I'm getting back to just drummers, like you said, drummers, drummers.

They bring up Buddy. Right. It's even in sports, I guess you would still get like Michael Jordan.

But now people pass even Jordan. I say, well, no, it's Kobe or now it's or, you know, sports people or actors. But when it comes to picking up a set of sticks at some point, you get you see this Buddy Rich guy.

Right. And it's just it's different because even the Who was the other guy we were with? Bill Ward from Black Sabbath. Oh, yeah.

Right. You know, but you would think this crusty Englishman that that. But he told us that story, how he and John Bonham sat would sit in a room with a record player and the two of them with a snare drum would sit and try to what did he do there? What did he do there? And try to break down what he was doing.

Invented rock, like heavy metal rock. Right. John Bonham trying to figure out what Buddy was doing, because you would have that that time a record.

So you'd pick up the needle, drop it on something and listen to it and go back. You've got these two men trying to figure it out. Right.

And that to me, I mean, I don't know any other. But so many drummers that I know told me have told me that same story, that growing up, that's what you would do. You would listen to a recording, either rewinding a tape or putting the needle back on a record and try to figure out what he was doing.

You couldn't figure it out. And then when you see it now that you're older and they've got this thing called the Internet and you see this man doing it, it's like scarier because it's like, yeah, there are you know, there's probably like a nine year old, a Indonesian child that plays the drums and cooks and, you know, but it's still not Buddy Rich. The other thing that these kids that do this on the Internet and they play along to a record and stuff, Buddy invented that stuff.

Right. And then he did it with, you know, he did it with a band. Right.

Because when you play along, when you see... Plus he was doing it since he was two years old. That's the other part. Yeah, the talent.

But I'm saying he also got out there and he invented the stuff. Right. It's so much easier to put on... Like people always send me videos of drummers, like young drummers coming up.

Look, he plays just like Buddy. But no. Well, it's like that.

And you're like, OK, anybody can imitate somebody. Right. You can imitate.

He created it. So there's a difference between imitation and creation. And, you know, and that line goes across all instruments.

You know, what you said about, you know, somebody sitting in a room and trying to figure out what he did. That goes for guitar players. You know, that goes for trumpet players.

That goes for bass players. That goes for... I mean, that's just what musicians do. And I think that's what created the longevity for somebody like Buddy Rich, because he did invent it.

So we're going to try and figure it out, just like a guitar player is going to sit down and figure out, OK, how the hell did Hendrix do this? Right. Right. Well, it's because he created it.

He invented it. So we're going to try and learn it. I'm not going to go and try and learn how, you know, somebody 20 years later is just copying Hendrix.

Exactly. Did it. Exactly.

Exactly. Exactly. And that's... Don't send me any more videos of young drummers who think they're Buddy because I don't watch them.

Yeah. I watch them. You watch them? Yeah, because I don't watch them.

Yeah, because if the kid's that good, maybe he'll trip. Maybe he'll hurt himself. Maybe he'll break a bone.

You know what I mean? Maybe you'll manage him. Thank God none of these kids are good looking. I can tell you that much.

I lose my hair and teeth. I'm done, kids. Kathy still thinks I'm 25.

All right. You've seen my... She's seen my passport. But same deal with... Oh, yeah.

So I am... You're not 25. Okay. But we had Ian Pace and that son of a gun.

That man, he's still like, it's just amazing that these guys still want to play like Buddy Rich. So, right. No, I don't really play like Buddy Rich at all.

But... But you do one heck of a job in that band. Well, I mean, we're doing... You do. We're doing... And that's what... But you asked the question.

You're technically the Buddy Rich in the Buddy Rich band. He's holding that throne. Yes.

But in no way do I think I'm Buddy Rich. But like, well, Kathy's going to explain because I'll take this whole thing over. I'll make this a six parter.

I'll make this a goddamn miniseries. I'll make this a frigging docudrama. I'll make this a docudrama mama something.

Well, let us know. We'll call in Dr. Phil. We'll get Dr. Phil in here.

You guys want to take a break and just come back. We'll just let it roll. Yeah.

We'll just sign up a bunch of seasons, 10 episodes per season. There you go. We'll just keep this thing going.

I like it. Yeah. It's called Potter Max.

Pot flicks. No, I mean, what we're doing with the band... Well, you tell them how we're doing. Nobody's going to replace Buddy Rich.

Of course not. You know what I mean? She's had... But again, this is something that kind of irks me too, is that just because someone is no longer with us and they had a creation, either music or whatever, it doesn't mean because that person's gone that that should stop. Right.

Right? Why should that stop? So we went to see Queen and Adam Lambert. Right. And Adam Lambert does a fantastic job.

He's not Freddie Mercury, but should that music have stopped because Freddie's no longer here? No. Absolutely not. And they fill stadiums.

So people love coming out to hear the music. Right. And that's why we do what we do.

Buddy asked me before he passed away, try to keep the band working, try to give something back to young people, try to keep the band working. And not an easy feat. So when Greg and I got together, I had done memorial concerts every year with all the greatest drummers in the world and blah, blah, blah.

But I think what he really wanted was the band to be out on the road, bringing the music to people as often as possible, not once a year. So are, are the members of the band, the guys that actually played with Buddy? Some. Yes.

So, I mean, in New York, we have... And you're just keeping it going. All alumni band. There's alumni in Los Angeles.

We have alumni in London. So we can put together horn sections wherever we go. Right.

Which is cool. But Greg sitting in the drum chair is a departure because we approach it in a different way, because it's, it's all about the vibe that Buddy had and what he, the passion that he brought to his music. You know, no one will ever play like him ever, no matter how much you practice, no matter what you do, no one will ever be born that can do what he did.

So when we go out, we approach it in a different way. When you walk in and you see the band set up on the stage, it's going to bring you tears because it's exactly as if he were there. Big, big band.

Big band. 18 people, 17 people on stage. So yeah.

I listened, I listened to some of the music actually on Pandora. Oh, did you? Yeah, I did. So, you know, we, we come at it, not like anyone will ever be Buddy again, but again, the music should still be heard.

Right. And you're right. I mean, if, if, um, you know, if, uh, we were talking earlier, if sticks can replace guys, if sticks can replace Dennis DeYoung, if, you know, if, you know, if, if you can replace somebody and still maintain the integrity and still maintain the band.

Absolutely. That's it. I think, I think where a lot of people tend to have the problem is, okay, now there's not one single original member.

There's a few of those bands out there that should remain nameless. Right. There's a few of them out there now.

You know, and that's, and that's okay, but don't charge $350 a ticket. And no one is familiar. Yeah.

Like we were, like we were, um, we, uh, you know, uh, you, you guys were talking to Ron Romero, um, earlier and he's got a, he's got a Eagles tribute band called the Flatbed Fords. Right. Well, you can, you can see the latest, what they've got Vince Gill playing with them now.

And they've got Glenn Fry's son playing with them now. And they're still charging $350 a ticket to see the Eagles. And Ron's like, you can come see us for 10 bucks.

Yeah. But the only problem when he goes to sell the t-shirts, I've taken them all. Yeah.

That dude's out on the road with nothing. Exactly. But, but, but, you know, I mean, that is more of what we wanted to do or what Kathy wanted to do, as opposed to finding the next Buddy Rich.

Now that it happens to be this idiot from Chicago, I mean, that's where we, that's where you start to see stuff written on the internet that might scare you. I don't think anybody, I don't think Buddy's fans would like anybody sitting in that chair. Well, that's the other thing.

That's the other part of it. But then you have the ones that absolutely love all of it. And then there's always going to be people that say, But I mean, there are people that'll say like, you know, Jordan was the best.

Right. Right. You know, and no one will ever, okay, we talk musician wise.

I still think Eddie Van Halen was the best. And I think that when that guy came out and you heard that first record of theirs, I think he's the best. Whereas, you know, what a Clapton was, had more feel and Clapton was God.

Right. Exactly. And then Jimmy Page was even better.

Or you certainly don't knock Hendrix. Right. Yeah.

But Van Halen. So then you can start that, not fight, but you know what I mean? Certain you, you just. Well, it's what speaks to you.

Different music speaks to different individuals. And like you said, you saw Queen with Adam Lambert. There's probably people out there that say Adam Lambert should never have even thought of stepping on the stage.

They are Freddie Mercury fans, but they're playing the music. Yeah. There were people that hated Sammy Hagar.

And then there was people that hated whoever the guy was after Sammy for a little while. The dude from Der Jerome. From Der Jerome from.

It's right. Right. Yeah.

I mean, and the one that comes to my mind right now is ZZ Top. Right. That's only three guys that have been together for 60 years.

And the one guy died. Now. So what should we do? Now? They bring in his guitar tech.

It was his tech. That's what they did in Aerosmith with the drummer. Yeah.

The drummer. They brought the guitar tech. Oh, really? The drum tech.

The drum tech. No, that's smart. Yeah.

And the same thing happened with Metallica too. When the member, I don't know, he's probably about 10 years now, where James Hatfield got burned from a pyrotechnic. He was like that.

Oh, and they bring the. And they brought the guitar tech in. Because those guys, they know the set better than, I mean, they actually know it like the band because they're with the band and they usually, they play well.

And actually, then you're getting two jobs for the same one price. You know, go set that drum set up. Oh, and then play it.

Play, walk this way. Right. Boom.

You don't have to pay him twice. You know, the name of this, the name of the band is escaping me right now, but the bass player from Sublime has a side project and he played a little club down the street. And I can't think of his, I can't think of the name of the band right now.

But the whole thing came about because all of their guitar techs, bass tech, drum tech, whatever, they all learned the Sublime parts. And then he's like, you know what? Let's put a band together. And then they spray, spray something, spray.

Oh, geez. I'm gonna have to look it up. Yeah, I don't.

I have a little bit of trivia for you about Sublime. Yeah. What's that? Brad, the original.

Trivia for 300, please. There you go. Brad, the original singer.

Name a band. And between Kathy and I, there's a story. There's a story.

That we touched it. Yes. Like we are almost like, like the.

Tell them. Spray. Spray Allen, by the way.

Spray Allen. Spray Allen. Is the, is the name of his, this side project.

And it's all of their like guitar techs and drum techs. Wow. That's crazy.

And they, they performed a show. Sublime played a show down over in Tinley Park. And this local bar down the street, they wanted a place to have an after party.

So their side project can just jam. And this place held like a hundred people. It was as little intimate, you know, performance.

Right. Of his guitar techs after they finished over here in Tinley Park. So Sublime still actually go out without the man who created the band.

I'm assuming so. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. I'm not, I'm not a huge Sublime fan and I don't know their history. Either was Kathy.

I can tell you. Very quickly. Watch this.

Brad was the creator of the band. His parents lived next door to my mom in Palm Springs. Oh, no kidding.

All right. So when they had done their demo, the parents asked me if I would listen to it because they needed a manager. Okay.

Wow. And so I listened to it. She's like, this sucks.

Really? You know, this sucks. But you know, there's Greg Potter in Chicago. Come take my dad's life over, you little bastard.

But I could have been Sublime's manager. She could have been Sublime's manager. There you go.

Yes. She would have been a junkie by 19. So what? She'd be rich and a junkie with no hair and her teeth be falling out.

But damn it. You got Potter. Now you got nice teeth and you all still got hair.

You're listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. I'm Christy from Crime Cave podcast. I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons have snapped back in the mid nineties.

I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time. With each episode under 20 minutes, I shine a light on some of the most bizarre cases in the last 50 years. Join me in the Crime Cave.

Hi, I'm Rick Anthony. I'd like to thank my radio brothers, Ray the Roadie and Hollywood Mike for allowing me to tell you about my podcast, the Someone You Should Know podcast. We spotlight musicians, authors and interesting people.

And we like to say we're making a difference one artist at a time. The podcast is heard twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, and you can check it out on your favorite streaming platforms and on the Web at someone you should know. Podcast dot com.

That's the Someone You Should Know podcast with me, Rick Anthony, making a difference one artist at a time. So how do you how do you come across the job? Were you over at Maureen Valley or something and looked up on a job board and it was up there looking for a drummer? No, her and I were on a dating site. Oh, so once I was not sure.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Actually, it was kept. I want to hear the match.com story.

I think that's going to be true or not. I think that's going to be better. Go ahead.

I'm going to make this stuff up anyway. Who's going to tell it? Don't tell it. OK, so her and I, I've known her since.

How old am I now? Seventy five. Seventy eight. Eight.

Right. OK, I every drummer in the world knows Kathy Rich. Like if she opens her, her son's godfather is Neil Peart.

You know what I'm saying? So it's like everyone knows Kathy Rich. OK, drummer, not everyone, but every drummer, because everyone, if you're a drummer and you don't like Buddy Rich, you're an idiot. Because even if even if you like, don't like him, you have to say, I like.

Yeah, right. You know, I'm not a sports fan, but I knew Tiger Woods played golf pretty good. Right, right.

You know what I mean? So, OK. So you met me at the. So I've known her forever.

Right. So when I first met her, you know. It was at the Neil Peart concert.

I did a memorial concert. Memorial concerts with like 10 of the best drummers in the world playing with their father's band, which at the time I didn't realize that one day will be mine. OK, so we have this relationship for years.

I know 90 friends, friends, friends married. I live with my I already told you, I live with my mom till I was like 65. 10 years now left.

Exactly. I mean, you know, I've never married myself, but Kathy was married and things. So, you know, I blah, blah, blah.

So we we never talked about really. We didn't talk because really, you don't. We never talked about drums.

Yeah, you don't work out with like, did your father practice? Did your father really yell at the band? Did your dad eat breakfast? Did your dad ever? No, no, nothing like that. No. We talked about my horror movie monster model, monster models, memorabilia, things like weird, awful, weird things, things.

Right. I really like 70s and 80s horror movies. She's like, oh, I, I like that.

I like that stuff, too. You know, I mean, what? You found the one. Seriously, yes, because I am aware.

I had to wear all the one woman that was into a dude with toys. Basically, yes, and hammer films and old English horror films. I guess I have a warehouse full of things that I've collected like since.

That's true. I bring them out. Yeah, and I had normal women and they would be like, you leave that shit at your mom's house.

And I don't really want to see a 28 inch replica of the shark from drugs. She's like, where is it? I want to see it. Yes.

Wow. I said, I'll show you that later. Yeah, I say whatever.

Yeah, exactly. We'll give everybody out there a second to realize what that joke was. OK, hold on.

All right. Well, and OK, it's a replica of the shark from jaws. All right.

Not just a great white shark, but the replica of the one used in again. So I'm explaining. Indeed, she's like, I've got to see that.

I want to see the exact replica of the shark from jaws, not just a great white shark model that you can get, you know, go to target. They got little rubber sharks all over the job. This is a stuff like that creature from the Black Lagoon hand.

You've seen the film Creature from Black Lagoon in the beginning. They're chiseling out the fossilized hand. Yeah, right.

He has it. Wow. Obviously not the real one, but the replica, but I'm saying that is of interest nowadays.

Again, you could buy that stuff, but this would have been. But that was how we. But that's how we formed our friendship.

Then, oh, my gosh, is Buddy Rich really have a snare drum in every room? No, no, it doesn't. You go to her mom's house in Palm Springs. You didn't even know that Buddy Rich paid for everything.

There's not even a drum. Well, God rest her soul. She's not here, but I'm saying no drums, no not ever in our homes ever.

That's what we talked about. And then, yes, you know, blah, blah, blah. Relationships up.

And then he invited me to come to the Emmys. There you go. Circling back to the Emmys.

So there you go, degrees of Potter in the Emmy. So I win that for twenty two thousand nine. I get nominated again.

Twenty ten. Yes. Kathy, I'm talking to at the time.

She goes, if you if you get nominated again, I'm going with you. I'm going with you a year later. So I'm like the prestige.

I freaking I hold that trick so frigging long that you're like, holy shit, this guy's real. So I wait a year in the frigging weeds. Call it back.

I got nominated. I got nominated again. Oh, I'll come and we'll go to the Emmys.

So that's so then that would be. That was it. So, yeah, twenty twenty ten relationship.

She's not married anymore. Yeah, right. You know, blah, blah, blah.

So, yes, twenty ten. I came to Chicago. We went to the Emmys together.

Once she's with me. That was it. Yeah, she can't leave.

You were you were still in like the Palm Springs. I was living in Las Vegas. Yes.

Yeah. West Coast. I'm still living with my mom.

Yeah. So, I mean, what's more attractive? This guy's a genius. He's like my hero now.

Toys. I hate to be a jerk, but, you know, toys. Live with your mom.

The whole bit. He's got it. Yeah, exactly.

People wonder, like, why are you driven a Porsche since you were 20? Custom made boots. Yeah, you live with your parents, you idiot. So you spend all your money on cars and toys.

I got a goddamn creature hand that cost me eighteen hundred dollars. I bought when I was 19 years old. I kept it in a warehouse so I could impress Kathy Rich, who traded me a Buddy Rich snare drum for the thing just so she could look at it.

I've got a full size great white shark head mounted on a friggin wall, sat in a box for 20. And a life size pinhead. A life.

This is a crazy story. Wait to hear this story. Oh, this is a crazy story.

So, you know, you know, pinhead. My favorite horror character is pinhead. Pinhead.

Right, right. Hellraiser. Hellraiser.

And we've got a, you know, since the very first movie, full size replica of pinhead. And he stands. We put lights on him as the Christmas tree.

Not too sacrilegious. You come to our house and basically you die of lymphoma. You know, I mean, you get like cancer just walking in a house or you get struck by lightning because for a while we had the exorcist girl sitting in one of our guest bathrooms.

You know, Reagan from the Exorcist. Oh, we finally had a good spin and talk. Yeah.

So they had a lot of cleanup in that bathroom. Oh, yeah. I guess walk into your shit.

Exactly. We're done. The split peep suit budget was unbelievable.

It was unbelievable. And like I said, you leave with some disease. So she loves this pinhead guy.

Right. Keep going. Cut to 12 years later.

Right. From we get the pinhead. He's in our house.

We have him. I just love. She loves him.

I like. I love pinhead. Doug Bradley.

He's the greatest. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. OK.

One year ago, we go to a horror convention and Doug Bradley is going to be the guest. OK. Right.

So I get my little puzzle box and I have a cell from one of the movies and I'm like, maybe he'll sign it for me. Right. Right.

You get there and you find out it's $200 just for him to sign. Right. But it was worth it to me.

Right. She's like, OK, let's go. We don't pay rent and they.

But if I can get an autograph from this, you know, an old Shakespearean actor that ended up doing a crap horror film, you know, it's like now he's the most famous, you know. So as it turns out, we go up to the table. I put my little things down there.

I'm like, could you sign this for me, please? It's like very, you know, he's very in character, right. Very proper and whatever. So he's like, it's like $80 for per signature or whatever.

I'm like, fine, fine. So I said, you know, making conversation. No one else is in the line.

Just the two of us. Right, right, right. So I said, by any chance, are you going to be in England in February? So why? What's going on in England in February? I said, well, we're playing there and we would love to invite you to come and see us.

He's like, playing? What do you mean playing? Are you in a band? I said, well, yes, it's, you know, what's the name of the band? I said, it's the Buddy Rich Big Band. And he's like, what? Buddy Rich, the drummer. And she's like, yes.

And then like the whole thing shifts. His voice, his voice got higher. He didn't even go back into that scary Shakespearean English voice.

He becomes a little 10 year old girl. He hands you back the $80. Yes, he did.

Yes, he said, I can't take your money. I can't take your money. He goes, Buddy Rich.

Then she goes, he goes, how are you, Buddy? You know, he's still talking. I said, that was my dad. That's Mike.

Oh, my God. He starts going. I listened to Buddy Rich all through college.

Wow. He goes, do you remember a recording with Buddy Rich? And there was a little girl singing. And I'm like, that was me.

And he goes, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was a little girl. And she sang the beat goes.

I said, that was me. He's like, oh, my God. He said, that recording is one of my all time.

The beat goes on? Yes. The beat goes on. That was you.

History has been that stage. Uh-huh. Miniskirts to the current day.

Uh-huh. Genie of opera is on the board. Can you uh-huh? And the beat goes on.

And you're kidding me. So that's what you said. You're pulling a Doug Bradley over you right now.

So then he. Yes. He gets up from the table.

He comes and he goes, can I have a picture? He goes, can I take it? And he's still talking English. But can I take a picture with you? In case you're like, well, yeah, but could you sign my puzzle box? And he literally pushed the money back with the money. Wow.

It was friends and family. I can't, I can't give me his email address, his contact information. We're like best friends.

Best friends now. You know, he's like, you know, I love for sale. I'm the, I'm the big swing face album.

He knows every tune on every track. It was crazy. And he said, and he goes, cause Kathy's like, who would think that? He said to me, who would have thought that Buddy Rich's daughter would be a fan of Hellraiser? No, I am.

I said, you're the greatest. You'll never be another pinhead. Right.

Cause they had just done that new Hellraiser movie. And we were kind of like dogging it a little bit. And he's like, he's like, well, no, it's, it's, it's the, and I go, it's not the brand.

You're the brand. God, I believe it's a female. Whatever.

Not that I don't like women in movies. I'm just saying when you change from a scary English, bitter man. Right.

Okay. So that was my Doug Bradley. That's pretty crazy though.

That is very now. Now how long ago was that? That just one year ago. Just one year ago last year.

Yeah. Like last year we were going. Yeah.

We were going. Why didn't you bring him with us? I'm telling you, if the guy was here, he would come. He would come hang out.

He like, he's. Oh yeah. I chat with his wife.

I mean, it's a whole thing. And he, and he doesn't, we're thinking like he lives in England now. He lives in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh or something. He lives in Pittsburgh. Really? We're going to ruin a lot of.

Yes. Imagery is going to be ruined. If he had been in England, he could have driven you from Manchester.

This is part seven. I can't even get into that. We had a little discussion before you got here.

It was harrowing car experience. It would have actually helped us if we could have had. Doug Bradley had been driving.

It would have been much better. In costume. Yes, absolutely.

Yes. Oh yeah. I sent him the picture of the Hellraiser wrapped in the lights for Christmas.

He couldn't believe it. He's he's like, that's, that's beyond. So did he give that to you? No, no, no, no.

I had that for years. Yeah. We had that.

It was just a matter of, because of getting back to. Who's just a weird circumstance. I could never get anyone to come to those horror festivals with me.

Oh, I love festivals. That's what you're saying. I may be your hero.

I mean, actually I'm sometimes my hero. How did you talk? I'm my own hero. First of all, talk this.

How do you get a pretty girl? Get her to move out of Chicago and look at your frigging toys that, you know, your mom didn't even let in the house anymore. And it got to be that I have storage spaces. I spend more on storage than like the exhibit.

You know what I mean? Like, oh, it's on a tool. Yeah. That's Potter's frigging toy collection.

Yeah, I don't know where to go. I'm completely blown away. I've seen it.

They change a sign from public storage to powder because I've paid for it at this point. Well, now Kathy pays for it. Prior to that, I paid for all this stuff.

No, I work for it. I work for it. I work hard, but it was, I don't know where I was at.

I don't know. I'm blown away. I didn't want to get into the driving to Manchester because we are here actually to talk about a performance we do have coming up.

Does this show go out live or is it come out? When does it come out? It will come out in a few weeks. When is the show? The 21st of December at the Arcada theater. So no, we're not pushing that here is what you're telling me in a nice way.

That's that's a, I don't know. I don't have to check the schedule. Why don't you talk about it? We will talk about it.

We'll talk about it in case we use it. Otherwise, this can go into part four and then just go part four B. There you go. At the Arcada theater, we're doing our Christmas show.

On the 21st. On the 21st of December in St. Charles. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. That's a great Christmas.

Yeah. We love it. This is our third time there.

Yeah. Second time. Third time doing the Christmas show.

Onesty Productions. Onesty. Ron Onesty.

Great. Absolute best Chicago venue. The best producer of shows.

Yeah. You know, anything around here. I mean, there's nothing.

He's the man. He's the man. You have two theaters.

You got the Arcada and the display. We've played both. Run like they're run.

Beautifully. Beautifully. And you guys should come.

Yeah. You guys are welcome to come. Absolutely.

What's the date? Yeah. Thursday night. Look at your schedule.

It's a Thursday night. Oh, it is a Thursday night. Yes, it is.

Right before Christmas. Oh, so there's a chance I'm not playing. That's my problem.

Everybody always says, oh, don't you? On a weekend. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

But your weekend will be shot. I mean, every once in a while we do. Like we played last Thursday.

But I doubt if we're playing on the 21st. Well, you're welcome. You're more than welcome.

You're both welcome to come. It's a fun show. Right.

And at that point, then you can sit back and judge my buddy rich abilities like everyone else. Yeah. Just shake your head and go, you're nobody.

No, no. You know, I wouldn't. I wouldn't know the difference.

I wouldn't know the difference. I am not. I don't know that much about drums.

I just know they go pop, pop, pop. And that's it. That's what I listen to.

Yeah. So we're good. Well, well, then see what the feeling you get.

I mean, like we were saying that what we're trying to do is bring the vibe of I mean, when you did see buddy and what kept or what has kept him alive so long is that not only was he a drummer's drummer, but even if you were look at the was it Al Pacino that wrote a whole piece on like what was going to see Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall. Right. Oh, yeah.

With buddy. And he goes and he like totally forgot that Frank was there. Right.

He just said, I couldn't believe what I saw. Now that I understand completely. Yeah.

He explained. I got there early and I see a drum set in front of the stage and I'm thinking to myself, what the hell am I? I want to I came to see Frank. Yeah.

Why is this in the front drum set here? And I'm going to have to sit through some guy banging on the drums before. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And then, you know, and then it happened. Right. This the buddy comes out, does it whatever.

But the way he explains the way he wrote it, you know, but it's unbelievable. And I'm saying that that's that's more of what we're we're doing other than my God, he he perfectly note for note now hit the drums like Buddy Rich. We play as material.

We play as actual charts. We have alumni members, you know, men that played the stuff. Right.

And that's really. And then you have Kathy that at least stands on the side of the stage and crosses her arms and either shakes her head. Yeah, I will tell you this.

This is what this is what I know about. This is what I know about Buddy Rich. And I will tell you this.

But, you know, he's he was animated. Yeah. I mean, he was a show.

I mean, you could you could put you could put those drums center stage and you understand it completely. You could turn off the volume on a video or whatever and just watch him and you feel the groove. OK, well, that's exactly what Al Pacino talked about.

Right. You're talking about you're a musician, obviously. So, I mean, you would even pick up on more of that.

But I'm talking Al Pacino really didn't say I'm a musician and I understand what he's doing. He just said, I saw this man. I saw something that I had never couldn't believe.

Right. And that to me is that that's pretty amazing. I find this I find this so surreal that we're sitting here talking about Buddy Rich in front of his daughter like she's not here.

She calls him Buddy Rich. She calls him Buddy. Yeah.

You know, and like when you see like I've got we've got all her stuff. Buddy used to sign like birthday cards to her. Buddy Rich.

Autographed stuff as Buddy Rich. Thanks for being a fan. And nobody ever says Buddy Rich.

Nobody ever says Buddy. No, Buddy Rich. Chicago, there's only one buddy and his guitar is hanging.

But it's always Buddy Rich. For some reason, you have to say his first name and his last name. He called me Kathy Rich for the first two years.

It got weird. You know, once you took my shirt off. I said, you know what I mean? Because then I had to stop paying her.

Wow. Whoa. Don't get me going.

We got to call Dr. Phil now. To this episode. It's going to take a turn for the worse.

Trust me. Yeah, Doug Bradley could be in the band by Wednesday of next week. You guys got anything coming up after the holidays? Yes, then we go to Los Angeles.

We're playing at Vibrato, which is Herb Alpert's fantastic, beautiful club out there. Yes. And then we go back to London.

We're doing Ronnie Scott's for a week. And then? And then... That rock and roll fantasy. We're doing a rock and roll fantasy camp.

Oh, are you really? Wow, no kidding. Have you ever done that before? Yes, I've done that. What was it now? Like the seven times? I'm a counselor.

Oh, no kidding. You get two for one. He's a counselor.

Imagine paying all that dough and then Potter shows up and plays the drums. Hey, watch this. You just twirl the sticks and smile.

Smile away, boys. Smile away. And just twirl those damn sticks and wear your mom's clothes.

Boom, that stuff's going to work. And all these kids go home and go right into therapy. Exactly.

The only thing is to afford it, you can't be a kid. We had the plumbing king of Canada. We had him.

We've had Motorola. Right. I mean, the guys that come out, this is like big dough.

But as it turns out, you meet some... Amazing people. Amazing people that, you know, their heart is like... They so love music. They so love music.

That they just want to be around it. Yeah, right. And then you're immersed for four days.

Yes. You meet them on Thursday. You don't come out into the light ever.

Wow. It's crazy. You meet them on Thursday.

Because what the counselors do is you put a group together. So they give you five people that by the end of the four days, you have to have a band. Right, right.

And you perform. And you perform. Yes.

How long of a show? What is it like a 30 minute set? What is it? I think about four tunes. Right. But then you get to get up and play with... There are usually like three or four... Guests.

Like stars. Superstars. Right.

So like the one I'm doing or the one we're doing in March, it'll be Michael Anthony from the bass player from Van Halen. Right. Warren D. Martini, the guitar player from Rat.

And it's all heavy metal stuff. Drummers. Not jazz.

Tommy Aldridge, the drummer from Whitesnake Ozzy. Yeah, right. And Sebastian Bach from Skid Row.

Oh, wow. So basically, if you sign up for this camp, you're going to play a Rat tune, a Van Halen, a Skid Row tune. And with Tommy Aldridge, you'll play an Ozzy tune or Whitesnake.

But I'm saying, so that's what you work on with these guys. Right. And then so in the set, you'll play with those guys.

Then you'll play your own set. So I think you... Right. You get to play once with the star.

With the star. And then you play your show. So about four tunes, maybe.

Yeah. Right, right. I mean, it's enough that these... That's all you can really put together in those four days.

But I'm saying these are... You get five, six people from around the world. That you have them put in and make a band. And you make a band.

And you rehearse. And you just... But it is. It's one of the things.

You meet them. You don't know their names. By the end of it, you're crying.

You're like, we're still friends with every single band we've had. Right, right, right. It's nice.

They become like part of your family. Yeah, right. Oh, that's great.

Yeah, you had this shared experience that you can't really explain to anybody. So it's not an instructional thing. It's like, oh, you all got to know how to play.

Because in four days, we're playing round and round. Well, right, right. Exactly.

You're going to play it with the real guy. I mean, we've done it with... I don't know. We had... We did it with Paul Stanley.

Paul Stanley from KISS. Right, yeah, yeah. Or take, for instance, we did it with Joe Perry once.

Okay. So the band I was counseling didn't have a drummer. All right.

So I played the drums with Joe Perry. Very nice. So when we're done, he's like... What song did you play? I played Train Kept the Rolling.

There you go. Sweet Emotion. And then Train Kept the Rolling.

Are you an Aerosmith fan? Some are, yeah. Okay. If you listen to the record, the song starts out like the standard blues.

Then halfway through, they kick into the live version. Okay. Which it starts out with this pretty fast drum roll, whatever.

So we play with Joe, with my band that we had, you know. And when we're done, he's like, Hey, man, we haven't played Train Kept the Rolling like that since 78. That's awesome.

Where'd you get that shirt, man? So I'm like, you know, I mean, he was just like, he's like, Man, you know, Joey doesn't have that energy anymore. But in a cool Boston accent. Yeah.

Pada. What's your name? Pada. What's your name? Pada.

Man. Okay. Fast forward.

We're done for the day. And Joe's, you know, talking with Kathy. You know, they're talking about Buddy Rich.

We're playing in Vegas. Were we in LA? We're in LA. Oh, we're in LA.

He's like, we're playing in Vegas. Why don't you guys come to Vegas? Because Aerosmith had a residency at one of the hotels. So Kathy and I go.

We get to the hotel and we call his guy. He's got a, you know, a guy. He goes, the guy goes, I'm going to meet you guys out.

And where were we sitting? Like in the bar. In the bar. He's like, come on.

I want to talk to you guys. So we're figuring they're going to tell us the show's canceled. Canceled, whatever.

Please go home. Yes. Joe hates you.

Potter's an idiot. Looks at me, goes, hey, Potter. Does everyone know? What Aerosmith songs do you know? Well, I'm thinking, well, maybe, you know, because like when Poison was here, they brought me up and I played rock and roll all night.

Like their encore. They let me come up and play the drums. Something I said, well, all of them.

What do you want to do? He goes, no, no, no. Like out of the set. Point at the ones you know.

I said, I know all. I know all of Aerosmith. Pretty much.

I mean, from the list, I mean, they play all the hits. He goes, because this would have been when Joey Kramer first hurt his back. OK.

So they're looking at canceling. Oh. So Joe had just played with me and he's like.

Go talk to Potter. Go talk to Potter. See if he'll come and play.

Wow. So I get the set list. We look at it.

You know, I'm like, tell him I could play 80% of that. Whatever they want. Whatever they want.

He goes, well, Stephen makes that decision. So let me go back. That close.

That close. So Stephen, Stephen put the garbage on it, huh? Stephen says the drum roadie, the drum roadie. John Douglas, wonderful guy.

That's the guy he felt more comfortable because John had been there, has worked with Aerosmith since got like forever. Let's understand. That's a pretty cool.

But I mean, I almost almost a nice. That was a nice deal. But I'm saying that came out of just fooling around at that rock and roll fantasy camp as a counselor that Aerosmith goes, you know, Joe Perry goes, what about this Potter guy? Because I never I never are.

We never cross paths. You know, I mean, like, you know, Aerosmith, you know, when I played with Steve Dahl, I was a kid. You know, I mean, so I'm thinking that was good.

Yeah, it was good. But I mean, that was getting back to the rock and roll fantasy camp. It's an unbelievable experience.

Yes. For for for everyone involved. I mean, it's it is pretty cool.

You know, you pay for it, but, you know, you get what you pay for. But you it's worth it. You buy a Ferrari, you spend all that money.

It's a Ferrari, right? I mean, a Rolex watch lasts forever. It's expensive. It lasts forever.

You know what I mean? Well, it's like the baseball fantasy caps and the same. Yeah, the same deal. It's big money, but you're playing with.

But you're playing with real guys that you love. And then imagine if you really played enough that they went, wait a second. You see the swing on that guy? Bring him back.

Let him at least hit some. Because realistically, if, you know, who knows if they didn't have the drum roadie, it would have worked. Right.

It would have been me. That would have been pretty amazing. But it's all right.

I've got several of those stories. That's for part eight. What gigs Potter didn't get or what gigs were other drummers threatened with? We hear those stories a lot.

We if you don't straighten up, we're getting we're going to get Potter. Yeah. And it goes, we've got Kathy's number.

We'll call her. So they threaten you with Kathy Rich. Yeah.

They threaten the drummer and Kathy Rich. All right. Like, oh, my God, if they call her and then Potter will show up.

Yeah. Yeah. Kathy will drive them there.

Yeah. Kathy will drive them and wait for them. And bring her fingernails.

Exactly. And she's not letting go. Someone's getting paid.

But, okay, so we talked about the gig, that's for chapters, part seven, in case we can't. But you guys are welcome to come to England with us. Oh, great, let's go.

That's not until June. End of June. Oh, we have plenty of time.

Come on. They're talking about a possible Vegas residency, April-ish. Wow, nice.

Yeah, sure. Either way. A lot of things going on.

You guys are coming to hang out with us somewhere and then you could make the full assessment like... Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, because maybe you could turn to Kathy and say, maybe that 12-year-old Indonesian could.

Get him up there. That cooks. Cooks, does the whole Szechuan thing.

Get him. Forget Potter. We could be like announcers.

We could do a podcast while they're playing. Yes. Oh, did you see how he struck that snare drum? He's excellent.

He learned that technique from the Indonesian kids, right? Cooking with a wok. Wok and woe. Wok and woe.

He's really doing a nice wok and woe. How do you think he'll start this next song? We'll use that Swedish swirl. Okie doke.

Wow. Yeah. We've got... We just took off.

Yeah. This is crazy. And I didn't even take anything or drink anything.

I don't smoke anything. Oh, no. Hanging out with us, you don't need to.

Trust me. Right. Well, okay, guys.

Thanks for coming out. I'm sorry. That's it, pal.

That's right. You've got another show. We've got another show.

Oh, they do. They'll be coming in, standing behind you like, can we go on now? You guys might want to just go home. I think we're probably just going to go home now.

I'll just text them and tell them to forget it. We're done. Yeah.

We haven't even gone into... What else have we not told them about? Our shark fishing adventure. I mean, we've got... The TV show. No, don't even.

Yeah. We haven't even told you about the television show, the shark fishing. All you heard about was the Manchester, London to Manchester.

No, Manchester, London. The harrowing ride to... Well, you've heard. At least I heard it.

Mike didn't hear it. I heard it. You'll have to tell Mike at another time.

You'll tell Mike some other time. And you also heard... You see who the manager already called and checked in. He said he was just pulling over to take a nap.

To take a nap. Oh, Mike doesn't really know. He has no idea.

Inside story. You don't really know. Right.

But your laugh, you're going to get a little tear out of your eyes. Yes. You'll get a little teary-eyed.

Little teary-eyed. All we kept saying was, he's not going to crack up this $140,000... That's right. ...Coop, is he? That's right.

That's all we kept thinking was, he wouldn't do that. Please, God, don't let him crack up this car. I mean, you know, because of the materialistic piece of junk that I am, I'm thinking, who cares if Potter and Cappy's guts are splattered all over the floor? But you're not going to dent this... You're not going to dent that beautiful car, are you? You're not going to dent this frigging car, are you, man? I'm thinking, that's more important to this man, but it wasn't.

I mean, no way, but that's what my brain was thinking. We're safe, Cappy, because he won't crash the car. He won't crash the car.

No, he won't crash the car, no. Maybe we should start a new podcast. What's it called? We'll call it Potter's World.

Potter, it's rich. Big and rich, Potter and rich. Potter, it's rich.

Yeah, bet. Potter, it's rich. Whatever.

Rich Potter. Rich Potter. Yeah, we could start a little weekly podcast.

We'll just talk about... There's no end to the stories. There's no end to our stories, because Cappy and I have now been together for... A long time. A long time, and I'm telling you, these road trips that we go on, you wouldn't believe... Any of it.

We haven't told you about the time, every time we're in... Do you realize they have another show coming on? I don't care. I waited for two frigging hours. I had to sit and talk to Ron Romero for two hours.

Eagle's Tribute Band. You're right. They're working more than the Buddy Rooster.

I love him. Oh, yeah. He's such a great guy.

And what he's doing here, this museum... We didn't even talk about this. This is magical. This is amazing.

This is what Ron gave us. Because if you remember the time when we did yours, we met you somewhere in Hinsdale or something with our little portable recorder. We had an office.

Right. We had an office. Yes.

A little conference room. They gave us a conference room at the medical... Yes. Then we talked about you a little bit.

He goes, oh, Kathy could have come too. Yeah. But that was when I... He never told me he was doing that.

No, that was when I was still scared of her and I called her Kathy Rich. No, it was like six months ago. Oh.

No, I think it was longer than that. It was longer than that. It was a couple of years ago.

Episode 24, 25, we're looking like 2019 or something. Oh, okay. Exactly.

So I... Time flies. And you were like, yeah, she could have came. I'd rather talk to her than you.

Next time. No. We'll do it again.

No, no. We'll do it again because there are several things we didn't even really touch, but we're ready to go. But thank you for having us.

Well, thanks for coming out. Yeah. Thanks.

Awesome. It's been a pleasure. Isn't it rich? Isn't it Potter? Wow.

A lot of energy there, huh? Yeah. Yeah. I knew what was coming.

Yeah. I kind of knew that as soon as I walked through the door here tonight. And I thought there was like 20 people back there.

I thought I walked into like a fundraiser or something back there. And it's just the two of them sitting at a table in chairs. With Ron.

With Ron. And then they had somebody else on speakerphone. Yeah.

Some guy who's a manager managing them in England. They just got back from England like Sunday night or something. Yeah.

So they're probably jet lagging still. Yeah. A little bit.

A little bit. But still a lot of energy. I swear, we got halfway through the interview with them and it dawned on me that we never exactly came out and said that she was Buddy Rich's daughter.

I think people would have, you know, people eventually figured that out. But I mean, we're sitting here talking about Buddy Rich like she's not even in the room. Exactly.

It was very surreal. Just a bunch of buds at the bar. Yeah.

That's what it was. Pretty wild. It was a good time.

Very good time. So as always, I want to thank everybody for listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast. And tune in every Tuesday for another exciting episode.

See ya. The Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast is edited by Paul Martin. Theme song courtesy of MNR Rush.

The Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast does not own the rights to any of the music heard on the show. The music is used to promote the guests that are featured.