Joey’s Song
Joey's Song raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. We host concerts featuring Rock Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy winners and Top 40 artists. On the podcast we talk with our artists, industry leaders and our key contributors to find out what makes Joey's Song so important to them.
To learn more about Joey's Song visit us at Joeyssong.org and follow us on social media @joeyssong on all the popular platforms.
Joey’s Song
Gail Greenwood - Belly & Benny Sizzler
Ever wondered what it's like to rock out for a great cause? Join us as we chat with the legendary Gail Greenwood, whose bass-playing prowess has graced bands like Belly, Gang of Four, Benny Sizzler, and L7. Gail spills the beans on her exhilarating journey sitting in with iconic groups like Gang of Four and The Bangles, and shares the challenges and triumphs of these stellar collaborations. From music to mischief, we cover it all—our pets even make a cameo as we navigate some hilarious internet hiccups along the way!
Step backstage with us at the Joey's Song benefit concert, where the heart of the Midwest's music community beats strong. Listen as we recount amusing stories involving Daxx Nielsen and his dad, Rick, painting a vivid picture of the warm, supportive vibe that makes these events unforgettable. Discover how Gail's connection with Kay Hanley led her to support epilepsy research through Joey's Song, and get excited about a full Belly set that promises to electrify the audience. The dedication and passion of everyone involved shine through as we discuss the importance of this cause.
In our final segment, we celebrate the unforgettable moments that make Joey's Song performances a magical experience. From John Cowsill's mischievous poster escapades to Eric Howk's fanboy admiration for Kay Hanley, we share heartwarming and hilarious stories that highlight the camaraderie among artists. The episode also teases potential plans for expanding the event into a week-long festival, featuring a mix of music, comedy, and collaborative magic. Tune in for an episode brimming with laughter, music, and a community spirit that will leave you feeling inspired and connected.
Visit www.joeyssong.org to learn more about Joey's Song and the work we do and get details on our next set of shows. Also be sure to follow us on all popular social media platforms with our handle @joeyssong
Joey's Song is a federally registered 501(c)3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. Joey's Song is 100% volunteer with no paid staff, so we are able to convert more dollars into life saving research.
Our Joey's Song family of artists include Rock N Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy and Emmy winners and Top 40 hitmakers.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey Song Podcast. I'm your host, mike Gamal. For those of you that are new to Joey Song, we're a 501c3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. We also direct funds to support patient services and community programs as well. Our fundraising vehicle is music. Every year, we hold a series of concerts that feature Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, grammy winners and Top 40 hit makers. These amazing artists all come to Madison, wisconsin, each January for a festival that we call Freezing man. You should know that every one of the artists that plays at our event donates their time and talent. None of our performers take a penny to join us. We have no paid staff. We are a 100% volunteer organization. The next Freezing man is scheduled to take place January 8th through the 11th 2025, with six amazing shows scheduled over four days. To find out more about Joey's Song, you can find us at our website, joey'songorg, or follow us on social media, where all of our handles are at Joey's Song. Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey's Song podcast.
Speaker 1:This week's pod is kind of an interesting one for a number of reasons. First of all, it is with literally the most effervescent, effusive and awesome rock and bass player I have ever met, the amazing Gail Greenwood. Gail is in a bazillion bands from Belly. She's touring with Gang of Four. This fall she's got her own band, benny Sizzler. She was in L7, done a million things Plus we're going to talk about in this podcast her sitting in with the Bangles at the Joey song thing and the fact that it didn't last for 17 hours, because both Gail and I like to talk.
Speaker 1:But I will warn you, between Gail and myself we had internet issues Cut out a few times. Tried to keep it going. I'll put some little explainers in here on what you missed. When the internet cut out Only happens like three or four times, so it's not awful but it's not ideal. So stick around for this interesting in many ways conversation with the amazing Gail Greenwood. Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey Song Podcast. As you heard in my little pre-recorded intro there, my guest today. There are very few people that either go by a first name or a set of initials, but in the music community if you say GFG, everybody knows who you're talking about and that is my guest today, gail Greenwood. Gail, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great. Thank you, Mike. How are you?
Speaker 1:I am fantastic and I'm so glad we finally. You know, finding time on your schedule with the 47 bands that you're in the menagerie you have out there at your house is quite a challenge, so I'm glad we were able to find some time today.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad. I've been looking forward to talking to you for weeks and weeks, so I'm glad we could make it happen today.
Speaker 1:We did. We did so. This could, knowing you and I, this could end up being a four-part mini-series, because both of us like to talk, but we'll try to keep it at a high level, although I don't think the odds of that are very good. But we'll go for it. So the first thing I watch, oh, and there's my dog, maggie, barking in the background.
Speaker 2:I thought that was my dog barking. That was my dog, maggie, barking in the background. Yeah, I thought that was my dog barking. Well, that's my dog.
Speaker 1:Clarice. Yeah, so to all the listeners out there, between Gail's menagerie and mine we have 101 Dalmatians, I think.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I got some alpacas thrown in there too 101 alpacas.
Speaker 1:We'll put the kibosh on that one. So let's talk a little bit about what you've been doing and, like I said, that could take a while between belly gigs and you've got another band that you're in that I'll let you talk about what have you been doing lately?
Speaker 2:well, most immediately. We just finished, a couple of days ago, a run with our friends from boston buffalo tom.
Speaker 2:This is our band belly and we did dates with them and another band um called Parkington Sisters who also play with us on occasion. They're amazing, they're string players and they have their own beautiful band. So we did some Parkington Sisters and some Buffalo Tom Just a little weekend run in New England for the leaf peepers in the area. So mostly it was like really getting ready for that. And then, um, I, I got tapped out of the blue to play bass for uh Gang of Four one of my favorite bands in the history of the world.
Speaker 2:I don't even still don't know how it happened or if it's actually happening, because I'm my mind is blown. Um, that's amazing. I'm so I'm learning 19 songs from that. I'm trying to channel the bass mastery of the original OG, dave Allen, and then Gail Ann Dorsey. And you know Boston, you know so it's daunting, but it's really a great challenge and, like I said, I'm a huge fan. So those are shows coming up that will be in a couple of weeks. That is, gloucester, mass, austin, texas and Mexico City. Wow, um, I have my own band called Benny Sizzler, which I play guitar in with Chill Mott, mark Thomas and Slim Jim Collar, and that's the band I call my forever band, um, and that's a rock band, a punk rock band, and um, so we've got shows. And then, um, I also I don't know if I can announce that I'm going to be playing bass with the freaking bangles yes, you can announce.
Speaker 2:Shout it from the rooftops, my dear, shout it 25, so you can imagine the state I'm in there, huge, huge fan, yeah. And to make it even more sweet, belly, full Belly is coming to Joey's Song 2025. This year we're bringing Chris and Tom Gorman and that is our complete kit and we are going to play a show that night. I think it's at the Majestic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're actually playing with the Bengals, so you're doing double duty on that show, okay. So this is one of the first areas where it kind of cut out a little bit. So I'm going to tell you what we continue to talk about, even though the internet went kaflooey on us. So Gail was talking about the fact that she is playing with the Bengals, with Vicky and Debbie Peterson along with herself on bass, gina Volpe on guitar, as well as the amazing Jane Weedland from the Go-Go's. So she was just talking about the fact that, even though it's not technically a Bangles show, it's going to be a Bangles show. So that's what we talked about this little segment talking about the Bangles.
Speaker 2:Gina Volpe playing guitar? I'm not sure yet. Again, I don't want to tell tales out of school, but it's going to be amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and everybody can. Everybody can see it on the website. Who's going to be there? I was just one of the things I was just about to say is I think probably the worst kept secret of all of this with our new expanded week long shenanigans, is that everybody's going to be in town that whole week. Anyway, we've scheduled the gigs, gigs, so nobody's playing opposite of everybody else.
Speaker 2:So I have a feeling Perfect, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 1:Really what it's going to turn into is six mini Joey songs at these shows, because I just Unbelievable, I can't imagine that it won't. There's too much talent in town for that those few days not not to do that. And if I sit and I think about, you know, the bangles repertoire, or portugal, the man's repertoire, there's going to be somebody that, where everybody's going to go, man, I'd love to sing on that song and there's nothing to keep any of that from happening.
Speaker 2:So well, and here's a different freezing man. Your new festival for the week long of leading up to the joey song finale, I just want to tell you is really a phenomenal and different from any other um festival out there, because with most festivals, any of us in bands that have been doing them for years no, you fly in, you do your set and then you get the hell out of dodge right.
Speaker 1:Joey song 2025 the freezing man week of joey's songs shows so here in our little section two break we were talking about the fact that in most festivals bands fly in and fly out. They do their show and they head out. But with our week at joey's song, the exciting part is everybody's going to be there all week playing multiple dates. They're going to be playing their full band set and the jam, and Gail was just talking about what a thrill that is for these artists to be able to do a hang stay around for some other shows and not just, you know, hit and run like they normally do.
Speaker 2:So all the bands that you have coming are just phenomenal. We'll talk about those later, of course, but yes definitely going to be some insane collaborations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know it's funny that you mentioned that about the. Usually with a festival, you fly in and you fly out. That's actually been not to turn this into a TED talk on marketing, but that's actually been a marketing challenge for me because, you know, we're reaching out to all of these various get. You know, besides the bands that are playing, thanks to you, we've got Johnny Resnick coming and coming and everybody, everybody's trying to get their arms around the fact that Portugal the man's playing on Thursday as a full show and they're playing on Saturday, because it is kind of out of the blue, right it's. It's not how it's normally done, so it's presented a bit of a marketing challenge. All I know is I'm going to be in the front row for all the shows because there's going to be freaking magic every time.
Speaker 2:And you will hopefully at that point have had like nailed down all the logistics and you can actually enjoy yourself, unless you're running around at the last minute. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, a guy can dream, gail, a guy can dream, a guy can dream Well. So first I want to go back to the because, as I've said on all these podcasts, I've said to you I literally have no musical skills or talent whatsoever. I can't imagine having to do and have memorized a full belly set and then a full gang of four set, and then having to worry about a bangle set and all the Joey song stuff. How do you keep all that stuff straight?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, okay, with the boomer brain over here, we're not actually sure it can actually be pulled off 100% successfully yet. But this is what I always say about, if I may speak about myself in the third person. Gfg has a good attitude, if nothing else. And I fling my hair around. I tell most people 90 of my talent is flinging my hair around. So it's got four strings and I play two of them, if I can fake it, but quite, but to be serious, it's uh, I'm. I'm not a studio cat and I'm not one of those people that can read charts. And you know I'm self-taught indie rocker. Right, you know I know how to play my own songs that I write or that we write in belly. You know I know how to play the part that I wrote. So learning covers like this is is challenging, but also it does improve my playing. So I really am, I really do have to actually study and I sit down every day and I'm just like you know, just like ingraining all these songs in my head.
Speaker 1:So I hope I get them all straight, all the various. Well, I will, and I don't think he'll mind me telling this story because our mutual friend Dax Nielsen, he and I, when we were talking Rick coming up last year as he did, and we're still getting over the fact that Rick frickin Nielsen played our benefit I still need to. I still need to sit down when I say that, Um, all right, this is one where my mic actually went out instead of Gail's, so you get most of the drift. Uh, I started telling the story that I ended up telling again about Rick Nielsen. So that's all. This little cutoff is you really didn't miss anything. You never miss anything when I'm talking, but I'm trying to make sure you don't miss anything. When Gail was talking, One of the things that I lost you.
Speaker 2:You said I don't know if he'd mind me telling you this. I think it was going to be like something about what a lovely figure I have.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's what it was. I try to refer to you as he. That way I can't be accused of abuse. No, dax, our friend Dax Nielsen, when we were talking about his dad coming up last year Rick for Joey's song, and I was, you know I said something about well, I realize you're going to do a cheap trick set, but he's going to play, you know, in the street with Jody and the rest of Big Star. Does he need toarse? And I, and I'm sure dax won't mind, I don't think rick will mind and dax said look, mike, at this point, when rick forgets where he is or doesn't know what to play next, he just starts flinging out guitar picks oh hey, that makes me feel better I was just gonna say so.
Speaker 2:Your version of flicking guitar picks is whipping your hair around oh, I love it and I love him, boy, and you would never have known, with him playing last year well, I mean january incredible and I got a bunch of picks out of it too.
Speaker 1:But I me too, I would, I went I went over to mark his guitar tech and I just held my hand, cupped my hands out and had him fill it up. I'm like you know, oh, and they're down here in my office, absolutely. But a lot of interviews and stuff for leading up to 2025 here and a lot of people that have been to the show and one of the things that they say is it almost doesn't matter what's going on on stage musically, because the energy and the feeling of community is so warm that you know we could, we could be up there like ham boning, like on Hee Haw, you know, and everybody would still love it. So I think you're fine, absolutely, if you get two of the four strings right, you're halfway home.
Speaker 2:And I have to say it is one of the most, one of the more forgiving audiences in the history of rock audiences that I've played in front of Full on love. You see nothing but beatific smiles in the entire venue. So yeah, well, they definitely are very encouraging and the love is palpable well, and that's a wisconsin thing, right I we kind of were wondering if that's just a nice midwestern wisconsin thing. You don't see that in boston, where everyone is a freaking critic from berkeley school of music yeah, no, no, here.
Speaker 1:Here, if you, if you stay somewhat on the beat and aren't too sharp or too flat, we'll call it a win.
Speaker 2:I love you guys.
Speaker 1:That's us. So let's talk a little bit. Before we go into the favorite moments from Joyce, talk a little bit about. Well, let me roll back here a second. Everybody that's listening to this needs to understand what I'm about to say to you guys. All of these artists Gail, tanya, kay, butch you go through the entire list on the website you need to know that all of them come to Freezing Madison, wisconsin, in January for free and they give me multiple days of their time to make this magic happen. And I say to anybody that'll listen I don't know what Butch's rate is to produce your record, but I guarantee you it's not two beers and a ham sandwich, which is what he gets from me to come, and now, with the expanded format, almost everybody's coming in for the whole week.
Speaker 2:Oh, you got to do it.
Speaker 1:No. So to all the listeners, you really need to understand that, that all these folks do that. So and that's one of my windy preambles too so talk a little bit Gail other than the fact that it's just a boatload of fun why supporting something like this is important to you.
Speaker 2:Well, I was originally brought in before the pandemic by Kay Hanley, who found out about it from Chris Collingwood from Fountains of Wayne, and she asked Tanya if Tanya wanted to do this event. And we hadn't even met you yet. And this was I don't even know what year it was, because in pandemic years who even knows what the number was, and in the year of our Lord who even knows what year it was. So they all run into each other and then Tanya brought me on board and I said oh, absolutely. And then when we learned it was about trying to find treatments and cures for the rarest form of epilepsy, you know, pediatric epilepsy, Dravez, if that's how you pronounce it. Yep, you got it you nailed it, thank you.
Speaker 2:I you know Kay's daughter has epilepsy and you know I'm lucky that no one in my immediate family does. But I have empathy and I realized that this was an event that was very important and it could raise a lot of money. And you know Kay, she's a great cheerleader too.
Speaker 1:Oh, the best.
Speaker 2:Really a great recruiter and there was no way Tanya and I couldn't do it. So we went the first year and it was absolutely phenomenal. We did a mini kind of a belly set with just Tanya and I and Kay sat in with us and we had oh, I think we had Eric Hout from Portugal, the man singing songs.
Speaker 2:We did like a we did like a letters to Cleo belly little mini set. And then we had the Know it All Boyfriends backing us up Jay Moran and Tony on drums, and then we. It was so great, it was really fun, but we always knew in the back of our mind wouldn't it be great to bring our brothers, chris and Tom, for? A full belly, and we couldn't do it last year, but we're gonna.
Speaker 1:we're gonna do it this year so I gotta yeah, I gotta tell it, I gotta tell a quick story so everybody at home can understand this. So tanya and gail and k came, uh, and they were absorbed into the joey song family that first year and they immediately welcomed all bought in right away and.
Speaker 1:And after the show I remember it very clearly we were walking out, we had walked back through the stage door and I guess we were getting in a cab to go back to the hotel and I don't remember which one of the three of you it was it was either you or Kay screamed out. You know, we got to do the know-it-all girlfriends against the know-it-all boyfriends.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think all four of us kind of just stopped for a second and looked at each other and said, holy, what a great idea and another permutation of Joey's song was born. And I can't tell you, when I've talked to people that were there in our last benefit and people go through it all and they loved the acoustic set that started it out and they loved meeting new folks like Laura, jane and all these other folks. But everybody to a person, everybody to a person mentions the Battle of the Bands.
Speaker 2:No kidding, are you serious? I am so glad that resonates with people because the amount of pure joy, but also cutthroat competition that the know-it-all girlfriends in our inaugural performance had to bring to be, I mean, like the industry professionals that are the know-it-all boyfriends I mean we are talking industry professionals.
Speaker 1:We are talking butch vick, jay moran, chris collingwood, right one hour I mean, I mean, I Freedy, freedy, you know our pal Freedy, and this one was our final kerfuffle of it. We had just been going through the list of all of the amazing folks on the KIAB roster and Gail and I started talking over each other when she was mentioning John Auer and I was mentioning Freedy. The point of all of it is there's amazing musicians on both sides and Gail and I were talking about how fricking great they all are. I was just you were just saying John Auer and I was saying yeah and Freedy, all these, all these Grammy and amazing guys on the KIAB.
Speaker 2:Oh, unbelievable, and so we knew we had to really bring it and and I I was so glad that that was a successful part of the fundraising night because we really wanted to do it again.
Speaker 1:And we're doing it again in 2025. Yeah, and we're up in the ante. There's new members on both sides in the KIAB and the KIAG Do you want me to list the amount of talent that the KIAG has. I'm afraid the Internet will explode, but let's try it.
Speaker 2:That's it. Put on your raincoat, because here we go, we're going Gallagher style. You might get some watermelon juice on you. Laura, jane Grace, paris Campbell, grace, sierra Swan, gina Volpe, debbie and Vicki Peterson, linda Pittman, kelly Stewart and, if she comes back this year, which is daughter, bo Violet Big. And then we're bringing in three new powerhouses, because you are the recruiter extraordinaire Heather Picarro, tracy Bonham and Jane Weedland. Ladies, and gentlemen, boys watch out yeah it's I, I.
Speaker 1:It's almost unfair. It really is. It's like no, it's just, it's a slaughterhouse because you know in sports, when you win the championship, you get the last draft pick the next year. Well, it's really not fair that you guys and it wasn't even close and it's really unfair that you get to add Jane and Tracy and Heather, all of them, yeah, yeah, I mean Grammy Awards and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. It's really not fair.
Speaker 2:Oh no, it's not fair at all, and that's perfect for us like that. Who said anything is fair in life, mike, this is about winning that damn belt, and we're going to do it again.
Speaker 1:Boys better watch out. Yeah, the Vegas line is not being kind to the KIAB.
Speaker 2:Oh, really, although wait a minute, I've been talking to Jay. I think those guys are upping their ante a little bit they are.
Speaker 1:So I have seen some of the songs that they're working on and they learned from you guys last year. That's absolutely true.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting, yeah Well they better not have T-shirts, because you know I'm bringing. I am like the queen of swag. You like marketing? I kind of do too. Yeah, t-shirts, baby Uniforms. I mean that kind of was unfair. We had full uniforms and they were just like wearing their regular rocker guy clothes.
Speaker 1:I was like hey, try harder guys. Well, you know the other part, though, too. Which really sealed it was the signs that you guys made.
Speaker 2:I forgot about the signs.
Speaker 1:Come on and there's still a picture of you and Kay sleeping on one of the monitors because you're so bored from the KIAB set.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, if there's nothing like a hand bone, it's Kay Hanley and Gail Greenwood, that is for sure. Yeah, we were so bored by one of their song choices. If there's nothing like a hand bone, it's Kay Hanley and Gail Greenwood, that is for sure. Yeah, we were so bored by one of their song choices that we decided to take a nap on a freaking 120 decibel stage wedge and sleep quite contentedly, because the song was so boring. Of course, it was phenomenal. It was probably Dave Perner doing. I Feel Like Making Love.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which really did kill, by the way.
Speaker 1:It did, it, did, it, did Well, but just to show that there was no prisoners taken, I think one of the signs referred to the KIAB's mama. Oh well, so you know, I mean, when you're going there, you're not pulling any punches.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no, mamas were not. There was no holds barred. No, no, no, mamas were not. There was no, uh, no, no holds barred. Nobody was off limit. People's mothers, um right, we, yeah, I actually there was like a kind of like a last minute thought and I was like I, oh shoot, I ran down to the local cvs, I got some poster board, some giant markers, and I was like ladies, go to town, let's.
Speaker 2:It was great you know what, though, we had some really kick-ass signs and things. You know, one of them, one of my favorites, was hey, we got bangles MFers you know what I mean. You can try to beat that.
Speaker 2:Or we're just not that into you. I think one of the other posts was something like play, something you know, but the funny thing was that John Calsill, who was in the Boyfriends he found our stash of posters before we could even debut them. And, um, he found our stash of posters before we could even debut them and he stole them and it was like a bad summer camp yeah trick and we are going to get them back this year like new, yeah that that cow sales bad news, I mean council is so he's like the worst human being in the history of human beings yeah, I.
Speaker 1:I have spent most of this year getting the subpoena in place to keep him you know a restraining order because he's the man, the man, oh, he's a whirlwind of energy and good vibes.
Speaker 2:I love him so much yeah.
Speaker 1:And talented as all get out to, when he, when he sang on the on the last song, the sly and the family stone song, oh, no, he crushed it. Oh no.
Speaker 2:He's, you know, and you know, not only a member of the councils, which are actually from Newport, where I live Yep, you know. So he's a huge, huge, huge star internationally but also, obviously, the most famous band besides Belly I kidding, that came out of newport, um he is also been playing drums, but he played drums with the you know the beach boys, for 20 boys.
Speaker 1:So he's just a phenomenal human being. And married to, um, uh, vicky peterson yeah, he and vick, he and vicky. I got a john, uh, his two brothers and his sister still tours the cowsills and they came through wisconsin, played the state fair and I went down and got to. Oh, you went to see them. Yeah, I got to go and hang out a little bit before the show. They're just as sweet as John is just as sweet.
Speaker 2:Council is phenomenal. She has one of the most beautiful voices in the world. Yeah, wow, how cool is that? No, I noticed that you don't skimp on going to any show that comes through, and most of them. It's so funny because I look at your instagram and I'm just like, yeah, you know them, you know them, you know and I don't know if you've connected to all of them via joey songs, but I was just like you are literally vip at every single show that comes through and you'll go as far away as milwaukee, and I I love yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker 1:That's a road trip for me and you're all.
Speaker 2:You are vip all the way. Mike Kamal's here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and.
Speaker 2:Joey Song put out the red carpet.
Speaker 1:The crowd parts and lets me figure out where I want to watch the show. Yeah, you've pretty much nailed it. You're beloved.
Speaker 2:You don't know this yet, but you're beloved. Oh, we got to call you. Well, MFG, you probably do get called time. I don't know if your wife and kids would appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Oh, they don't care. Yeah, they consider the F part of my name as well, but for different reasons. So we slid into our last topic there in talking about Cowsill stealing the show for the final song. Talk about some of your favorite onstage memories of Joey's song. What are some of the moments that really stick out for you now that you're a two-year vet?
Speaker 2:I think one thing that just I really can't get out of my mind was when Eric Houck found out that Kay Hanley was the voice of Josie. That's right. And who knew that a rocker like that, like those guys, are just like the coolest. I mean, you know, portugal, man is one of the coolest. I mean, you know Portugal and man is one of the coolest bands in the history of the world. And I did not know he was such a fan boy for Josie and the Pussycats. So he came out and we did.
Speaker 1:Three Little Words.
Speaker 2:Yeah, three Little Words. The Josie song and obviously Kate you know, sang lead on it and he sang backup and note for note, word for word. He did not mess up and that has to be one of the highlights for me.
Speaker 1:That was just phenomenal. If you listen to the tape of the show, at the very end he says into the microphone one of the greatest songs ever written.
Speaker 2:Yes, he literally, and that from a band that knows how to write a song or two. Right Literally said one of the greatest songs ever written.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he's not wrong. That's the problem, he's not wrong.
Speaker 2:No, not wrong. Perfect, perfect First chorus just where you want you, just everything you need in a song, right there, in a little nutshell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the Kay.
Speaker 2:Hanley magic right there. She is just such a great writer. A great writer, I mean, and that's the thing like we have a lot of original artists, like we're doing covers for for Joey's song, but or maybe we're not. It's a surprise, we don't know it all depends on we spin the wheel.
Speaker 1:That's right, anything can happen?
Speaker 2:What song we're going to do? So we have no idea in advance what songs. We're going to do Wink wink, but there are every, every single person. I mean Tracy Bond, I'm Laura Jane, but there are every single person. I mean Tracy Bond, I'm Laura Jane, you know Sarah Swan, I'm Gina Volpe, I mean, these are all writers, they're all writers.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm a manager.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I mean, if we do this right, Gail, the whole idea of turning it into a week long and calling it a festival right means we can add other things to it right. Songwriter sessions, yes, Comedy. Other things to it, right, Songwriter sessions, comedy, other, you know, I mean think South by Southwest-y kind of thing, more so than just you start to have. And we've already got a pool of talent. I could do 20 different shows for the next 10 years and never have the same thing repeat twice, cause we've got. You know, I mean when, when Tracy came on board, we added three more Grammy nominations to our total. And you know, jane's a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and it just keeps growing. And I guess we should mention that coming with Heather is her dad, steve Porcaro, who was in this little band called Toto.
Speaker 2:Holy moly.
Speaker 1:And wrote Rosanna, and wrote Human Nature for Michael Jackson no way and all of these other stuff. So Steve is also coming along as well. So Fan-freaking-tastic.
Speaker 2:Are you kidding me. Nope, it's just surprises, and I'm involved in some of the pre-production because I'm managing the Know it All. Girlfriends, I thought I knew everything. You keep dropping these little nuggets on me and I am like just my mind is blown on a daily basis. That's freaking awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're very excited to have Steve come. We're very excited to have Steve come. And on the flip side, you know, we've got from kind of my generation with Steve but we've also playing with Portugal. The man is Kenny Hoopla, who is the hottest. I don't even know how you categorize Indie. He's in that you know some 41.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of like pop punk. But like jazzier Unbelievable.
Speaker 1:He was supposed to open for 30 seconds to Mars on their stadium tour. The problem was he was selling out 5,000 seat arenas in Europe and stayed over there because he's I believe it so stinking hot, and he's, I believe it. And so it's nice to have this whole range from somebody like Steve and Butch that are on the older side of this we're heritage acts, heritage. Yes, there you go, there you go. A strong vintage, a strong vintage A very strong vintage. Yeah and then. Oh, it's a new generation coming in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kenny Hoopla's a new generation, for sure it's a new generation coming in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kenny Hoopla is a new generation for sure, and he's phenomenal. Anybody that's listening to this, kenny Hoopla, all one word. He's a mind blower, just a mind blower.
Speaker 2:Now he's playing with Portugal.
Speaker 1:The man he's going to do his own set, so they're doing a co-headline thing, so Kenny's going to bring his band and they're going to do a full Kenny Hoopla set and then his band and they're going to do a full Kenny Hoopla set, and then PTM is going to do a full set together.
Speaker 2:So incredible. Oh my gosh. This week is just like the whole week is blowing my mind. Yeah, we're going to all need long naps long nap, long January naps, cause the good thing about it is it is an early January and it's a really fabulous and really great feeling. It's a great way to start your year off.
Speaker 1:Yep, yes. So is there any other Joey song memory that you've got? First of all, the Josie and the Pussycats. One is perfect because it's everything that's great about Joey's song, right? You know, I often say to people we bring together artists that may know of each other but don't know each other. So you know, eric and Kay are talking and oh yeah, I wrote the Joseph. You get all these phenomenal things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, like Joey song got um and Johnny Resnick from the Google dolls Yep, I've known since the eighties when our when our bands were both punk rock, we used to tour with them and he came up and did uh k tanya and I do a uh red sox foundation foundation later at hot stove in boston and um, he came and did a hot stove and and he was fabulous, like a real gamer, and that's the thing. Like there'll be a lot of you know, quote unquote rock stars there or front people or or people that are more well known than some of our bands, and they are gamers, they are willing to do anything. Yeah, you know, and you you can't, you just will not find that anywhere else.
Speaker 1:you will not find that it's funny that you say that because john and robbie came again mike going to all the shows, came through summer fest this summer and we got together before the show and was kind of talking through it all and I said, you know, I don't know, you know you'll have a song or two at lead. And I said, and you might get, you have to do hand claps on one and play tambourine on another. And he's like, okay, you know, he's like.
Speaker 2:Complete gamer. Well down for the cause.
Speaker 1:Absolutely and really.
Speaker 2:You know, it's really nice. And you know some of these people are. They're sort of unreachable because they're at a level where they really can't, just like you know, be regular people that can walk to CVS you know I can, but yet at Joey's song, like everyone is just like so, so easy to get along with.
Speaker 1:There's no egos, I think people are probably your other podcast guests have mentioned that, but like you'd be hard pressed to find one inflated ego in this group, well, and if you and if you do, they all succumb to Butch's. Check your egos at the door speech anyway.
Speaker 2:And when.
Speaker 1:Butch Vig speaks. We all say yes, sir, and we bow.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, you've heard of a bitch slap. Well, that's a bitch slap. So you know you might get a butch slap and your ego is at the door.
Speaker 1:T-shirts are being made a butch slap. That's perfect, absolutely perfect. Well, gfg, I know we could keep doing this for about another hour, but we should probably wrap things up because you need to rehearse that entire gang of four set and then your bangles set. Yeah, the alpacas. The alpacas probably need to be fed they sure do I gotta go.
Speaker 2:I gotta go shovel some alpaca poop, um really great fertilizer, though let me know, I'll send you a 50 pound bag for your garden, yeah, just let me know sure.
Speaker 1:Well, or maybe we can raffle that off at joey's song 50 pounds of alpaca poop who says our auctions are useless? Right, but you're a delight, you look lovely today thank you.
Speaker 2:Yep, I know I had to have my passport photo taken so I had to like put on the kabuki so I got full like an inch of makeup on my face, but um, funny so that's funny. So do I I was gonna say, wow, I'm like I got.
Speaker 1:I've tried a new foundation today and I really like it.
Speaker 2:It really evens you out. I love it.
Speaker 1:Well and my dear, if anybody needs evening out, it's me. So that's perfect, gail, we will see you in a couple months here in Madison for Joey's song, and I'm sure we will be talking Any parting words for all the Belly Gang of Four Bangles fans out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just like. It's just an event that you just really cannot miss. And I actually know for a fact because we just played all our Belly shows and our super fans, who are actually our super friends, are all coming out to Madison. So I already know that there's a giant Bell belly fan base that's coming out to.
Speaker 1:Madison.
Speaker 2:So they're going to try to stay for as many shows as they can.
Speaker 1:So and they're all.
Speaker 2:A lot of them are going out to the Gang of Four shows too, which is nice.
Speaker 1:And that's amazing when they found out about the belly and the bangles.
Speaker 2:they just like there's no way. That's what our January is. So come on out and it's for a really great cause and I guarantee you it will be the highlight of your year?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it will only be January and your year will already be highlighted. Yep, you know what?
Speaker 2:I would do is I would, just like you know, cross off the rest of the calendar because there's nothing else that's going to compete with that.
Speaker 1:Just nap until the next Joey song.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Sounds good. Gail, I love you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Love you too, mike. Thank you so much for talking to me. All right, all right, I'll see you soon.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right, rock and roll bro, thanks for joining us for the Joey Song Podcast. Remember to visit our website, joysongorg. Follow us on all our social media handles, which are at Joey Song. We'll see you guys at the show. Oh geez, sorry about the record scratch. Wait a minute. I forgot one thing. If you want to help us spread the word about Joey Song and our podcast, there's a few things you can do that are real simple that will help us. One of the things you can do is follow the show wherever you get your podcast, give us a five-star review I mean, why wouldn't you and write a review. All of these things help our podcast and our cause get more traction and seen throughout the community. And if you wanted to tell a few friends about Joey's Song and the podcast, that would be great as well. And, of course, you can visit joeysongorg and follow us on social media. All of our handles are at Joey Song. Okay, I think that's it. We will see you guys at the show, thank you.
