THE JOHN BONSIGNOR INTERVIEW ( Part 1) BIG TALK, Politics, and The Grand Strand Opera Workshop

The John Bonsignor Interview (Part 1)

Big Talk, Politics, and The Grand Strand Opera Workshop

In this first installment of our eight-part interview series, we sit down with a true pioneer of local media and civic life in the Grand Strand — John Bonsignor, longtime host of Big Talk and Talking Politics, and a voice that helped shape political conversation in Myrtle Beach for decades.

At 94 years old, Bonsignor reflects on a remarkable life spent at the intersection of broadcasting, public service, and community leadership. Often described as the “grandfather” of local political talk television in the Grand Strand, he created a platform where ideas, candidates, and debates could reach everyday citizens long before the rise of modern digital media.

In Part 1, we begin at the heart of his legacy:

• The origins and evolution of Big Talk and Talking Politics
• What it meant to host political television at the local level
• The role of media in shaping informed communities
• His involvement in the Grand Strand Opera Workshop and its cultural impact

This episode sets the stage for a deeper exploration of Bonsignor’s life — from politics to the arts, from local activism to national campaigns — and the enduring influence he’s had on the civic fabric of the Myrtle Beach area.

A broadcaster. A community builder. A witness to history.

This is where the story begins.

Transcript

Sound check from interview

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Randall, how are you doing, Randall? How's everything going? You're perfect. Let's hear how it sounds.

Host Randal Wallace introduction

SPEAKER_13 0:08

Welcome to Grand Strand Politics, where today we begin a special series with an exclusive interview with John Bond Sr., the former host of Big Talk.

Big Talk and talking Politics Promotional Video - Big Talk with Paul Gable and John Bonsignor

SPEAKER_12 0:22

I'm Paul Gable. I'm here with my good friend and co-host John Bond Sr.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Hey, bottom line, Sheriff, is that we need to get more involvement, showing them that you are their friends. Did something good, Randall? He did. He came here and agreed to be sitting on a hot seat. Wait a minute. Talk more politics. Romantic voice.

SPEAKER_12 0:47

Did you say romantic voice? Talking politics. I am Paul Gable. I hear my my friend the guy. Let's start it again.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

But we have the possibility. Breaking the cycle, opiate. Oh my god. Oh my god. So we're going back to the basics.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

The children of the alley. Oh my god. Many, many houses coming in. A lot of people moving into the area, et cetera. We haven't seen your child's uh precinct commander out there at all. We have not seen him. The president of South Republicans. I'm telling you you left. I'm telling you you're left.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

I'm telling you you left. And we may argue and we may fight. We will agree never to be disagreeable.

SPEAKER_12 1:40

It's time for us to take a break. We'll be back in a moment to talk more with that. And today we are uh entertaining Randall Wallace at the Greason Delight restaurant in Myrtle Beach. Randall's Myrtle Beach City Councilman, and we'll be back to talk to him about city politics and the upcoming city elections.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

It's on, it's it's it's on my phone bill. It's on my cable bill. Not that I'm griping much.

SPEAKER_13 2:16

I'm Randall Wallace, a Pearl Beach City Councillor, and uh I spent a day here in the hot seat on the on the on the show, and you know, I actually enjoy it.

SPEAKER_07 2:24

How do you pronounce the name of the right? Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_12 2:26

Again, I just want to thank y'all for having me on the show. And we welcome Sheriff Thompson Sheriff Philip Thompson, the Ori County Sheriff. And we'll be back in a moment to talk to Sheriff Thompson about some of the programs and about his golf tournament.

Host Randal Wallace welcomes you to the series on John Bonsignor

SPEAKER_13 3:07

With the grandfather of all political talk show hosts here in Ory County, the man that started it all, including our shows here on the Wallace Podcast Network. Join us for the next few episodes as we talk politics with TV personality and the co-host of Big Talk, the one and only John Bond Sr. on Grand Strand Politics.

Host Randal Wallace talks about John Bonsignor and the interview to come

SPEAKER_13 3:33

Hi everybody, this is Randall Wallace, your host for Grand Strand Politics. And we had the honor in December of this year to sit down and have a long conversation with John Bond Sr., who was the co-host of the show Big Talk and Talking Politics here in Orie County, which is the grandfather of all the political talk show hosts that you that you now have in podcasting. He did it on um on TV, uh uh you know on the the the public access channels um back in the the middle two thousands, late two thousands, um uh in the like the 2011, 12, 13, 14 time range. Uh and I did the show several times uh both uh as a council member and just after I left office. Uh the show lasted until uh COVID and he did they decided not to come back on the air, but it was hosted by John Bonsenior and Paul Gable, who was a very well-known journalist here in Ory County. And they had uh all the local political figures here in gr on the Grand Strand on. And they had John uh Ginrett, who was a national political figure uh for many years, who was a U.S. Congressman. Uh and so we were thrilled that John was willing to sit down and talk with us. And uh it's a real history lesson of Orie County politics from the 1990s all the way through. Um just celebrated in March his 94th birthday, and uh and so this is a real treat for us to have him sit down and talk. And we're gonna be joined for a couple of these episodes by Cam Crawford, the Orie County Councilman, who, like me, did a number of these shows through the years. And um and we're going to we're gonna also introduce you to uh or let him talk about uh his career and life before he came to Orie County. Uh and so it's just a really all-encompassing interview with the person who really started all of these talk shows that you now see. There's there's several now here in Orie County where uh some of the political figures come in and talk. Uh we do a history show here, and we're just getting started on the grand strand on our local show. So uh this is a real thrill. This is like having the Walter Cronkite of Orie County come in and talk to us. So we're gonna let you sit down and and and enjoy this and look back at the history of Orie County in recent times with uh, like I said, the the father or the grandfather of political talk here in Myrtle Beach.

John Bonsignor Interview 1

SPEAKER_13 6:10

All right, everybody, welcome to the uh Grand Strand Politics, and this is our first episode where we've had a guest uh uh on the episode with us, and that is John Bond Sr., who is the father of these type of shows with talking politics with Paul Gael. Uh you started all this. Yep, I did. That's right. And uh you're the very first one to do all these interviews with local figures.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

We had to play forty four. We had you on as well, Randall. Randall, Randall! Yes, sir, Randall, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Randall. But anyway, we had you and had many other guests there. It was very nice.

Host RandalWallace introduces some segments selected from the catalogue of Big Talk with Paul Gable and John Bonsignor so you can get a taste of the show

SPEAKER_13 8:13

Since the show's been off the air since 2020, uh it's there's probably a lot of folks who may not be uh remember the show as well. Um big talk. I I thought let's let you have a little uh little taste of of the show uh with Paul Gable and John Bond senior asking questions. Uh you know, an intro with Wayne Gray, who's a former council member, former councilman Johnny Vault, and uh and the current solicitor, Jimmy Richardson. You know, and they're gonna it you're gonna hear these guys talk about a wide-ranging uh set of issues, which tells you how much homework these guys, Mr. Gable and uh and John Bonsener, had to do when they had guests on. But what that show did was give uh the viewer a chance to hear really detailed answers about what was going on in their county or in the courtroom uh uh in these cases, and and it's just a taste of what uh what it was like to be in the hot seat with uh with with John Byr Senior and Paul Gable. And one of the things we're gonna do throughout this series is uh when John's talking about a subject, share you uh with you uh you know a little clip of of what he's talking about so that you so that you are who he's talking about, just so that you can hear their voice and know who they are. So, with that, here's a little of just a taste of Big Talk with uh Wayne Gray, Johnny Vaught, and Jimmy Richardson.

Intro by Paul Gable with Myrtle Beach City Councilman Wayne Gray

SPEAKER_12 9:38

Welcome to Talking Politics. I am Paul Gable. I'm here with my co-host John Bond Sr. at Sigami's Restaurant, which is located at 4813 North Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach. And today we're welcoming Myrtle Beach City Councilman Wayne Gray to talk to us about some issues. Well, nice to have you. Thank you, Paul. Glad to be here. Thank you, John. Thank you. Yes, sir. We'll be back in a moment to get into the issues with Wayne.

SPEAKER_10 10:01

Any

segment from Big Talk with Horry County Councilman Johnny Vaught

SPEAKER_10 10:02

means, because there's too many tours here. Well, there's too many tourists here on the.

SPEAKER_12 10:05

Why don't you meet with Senator Letterman? I'm getting older, you know.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

The Senator. Senator, you got you got you got you got you've got three good senators here in Ory County. You got Luke Rankin, you got Embury, and you got Goldsmith. Sure. Now, the if they can't do it, if they can't do the heavy lifting for us, for you and for us, I mean, the they're being uh negligent in their jobs. Embury is right on top of things. Luke Rankin's been a senior member of the Senate. And you got the newcomer, Goldsmith. They they should help us on these things. I agree, I agree. They should push them.

SPEAKER_12 10:42

Yeah, they've got to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Letterman is right over the right right next county from us in Florence.

SPEAKER_12 10:48

But you've already got Florence County probably getting about 15 percent of that money. And that's that's 25. No, but they have. They have shafted us, they have routinely shafted us, they continue to shaft us, and that's the kind of outcry we have to mention that drives so much of South Carolina's economy.

SPEAKER_10 11:06

We really are. But see, that gets us up to and just get back to the numbers because I don't want to waste all this time that I spent playing with numbers. Okay. Give me the benefit of your research. If if if we count as 500,000, rough numbers, our population, that gets us up to 10.2 percent of the population of South Carolina, right? If you take 10.2 percent of the 4.4 billion dollars, it becomes 450 million dollars over ten years. Okay. Now, our I three fund will generate uh eight years, I believe it is six hundred million dollars for the net roads. So even if we go with with the number of five hundred thousand, it's still what I consider to be a drop in the bucket. And and somebody says, Well, how are you gonna do it? And I said the same way the independent republic of Ory County's always done it. We do it ourselves. And that's why we've had to do these ride programs.

SPEAKER_12 12:02

Well, there's that, but but as I've as I've mentioned to you before, too, we've gotten the state used to the fact that we'll go ahead and do ride programs. We'll we'll raise our taxes here in Ory County that don't affect anybody else uh to get the roads that we feel we need, and we leave them off the hook. I don't think we should leave them off the hook.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

They help the uh Carolina Forest area uh going uh north when they widen the road on 501 uh to about uh about about four or five miles. You're supposed to do it going south on 501. That was on the uh on your future uh road building. Uh when is that going to happen? Is that gonna happen never?

SPEAKER_10 12:42

We've already started the planning now. It's high. You are it's high up for the widening. Okay, that's the for the widening. Right, that'll take it to six lanes all the way to Red Hill. But when you can't keep pounding away from all the way over to the beach from uh the outlets over there, where it's already six. Yeah, that's right. It'll be six lanes all the way from there all the way to 544th Bridge. That'll help. It will.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

That will definitely help.

SPEAKER_10 13:08

I mean, just that one lane that they put in.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Yeah, but you gotta remember you're you're gonna go now in the Carolina Forest and coming in with more housing, 700 and 500. Uh that's gonna be a warranty on the roads that are presently existing, and you know Carolina Forest Boulevard, uh, there's a section there on the road. There's a two-way two-way road, two-way road.

SPEAKER_10 13:29

That's on route.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

It's not four, four lanes, it's two lanes. But where's the planning department? Well, why is the planning department allowing this to go on? They've been negligent in their duties for so many years. They're allowing help to scalp the planning. They got uh aren't they visionaries? Don't they see what's happening in the future? Now you went to a conference you just told us with respect to the hurricanes, uh, evacuations, et cetera. That's planning. That's vision. Where's the planning board? Why are they doing these things? Well, why are no no no no let me just finish my life soapbox here? I think you have to revamp your planning department because they're doing a PP job. He's saying shafting unsigned PP.

SPEAKER_12 14:14

Well, what what I was driving at is just a minute. I I don't want them to yet. Because we can't blame the problems in Carolina Forest on the present planning department, except for the government. Well, they blended.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

No, what they were they're when they were when they were developing it, when they were developing the area. They're the ones that allowed all those housing to go in there. What are you talking about? We can't blame them.

SPEAKER_12 14:42

And that's Paul Prince. That's the one.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

Not alone.

SPEAKER_12 14:48

No, but but my point is, he's the only one that was a member of council. Now, way back, that planning department was told you've got yourself a potential disaster here if this development comes out like we know. We're talking back in the 90s. I was objecting to the moment. That's right. They let international paper get away with a whole lot that's right. I did.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

I objected to that deal that they moved

segment from Big Talk with Solicitor Jimmy Richardson

SPEAKER_04 15:16

on. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_12 15:17

I think the first thing I want to ask is uh we were talking a little bit before the show, and uh you said that your felony prosecutions will hit around 11,000 if the current trend continues in Ory County, and that's probably about twice of what it was when you first took office. Yeah, yeah, Paul.

SPEAKER_07 15:33

Um used to uh I've been doing about 20 years, so it goes back a ways, but for the longest time, a real bad year would be 5,500, and um a more moderate year would be about 5,000 felony charges. We've seen that number increase over the last three or four years. Um, and this year at the midway point we were at uh 5,500, so where we used to be in a bad year. But that was um through the end of June. And if that continues to um stick, we're looking at somewhere around 11,000. Hopefully it'll be closer to 10. Um, but all of those are felonies, you know. So we also have um magistrates' court duties and um family court duties. That's just felonies in Ory County. Now, Georgetown, um those numbers are pretty steady, same place they were uh five years ago, uh, and that's um maybe around um nine hundred, not a lot of felonies going on in Georgetown.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Yeah, but the root cause of that, uh solicitor, is the increase of population we have here in Orie County. So consequently, your crime is going to get up. And then, of course, we have that one cent sales tax uh for tourism that brings in a lot more people. So you you're really having, instead of having 15 million people, you're getting 18 million people, and coupled with that the crime elevates. That's why I would suspect the statistics here in Orie County are higher than Georgetown, just because of the the fact that we're growing faster than Georgetown. Well, let's say that's let me challenge that.

SPEAKER_12 17:13

Because you're a factor. Well, I'm I'm gonna ask them do you have can you give us a rough percentage of the felonies that are caused by we'll call them visitors, tourists or whatever, and the felonies that are caused by residents here?

SPEAKER_07 17:28

All right, I'll give you um uh I don't know that you absolutely call them either one. It's that it's that mid-range transition. Um, but you know, the other day the shooting at Myrtle Beach uh that was caught live over the internet, Facebook Live, uh that gang of people that you see walking down the street, would you believe that not one of those guys were from Myrtle Beach? Yeah, yeah. All all 32 of them were from other places. North Carolina. Yes, North Carolina, but mixed into that 32 were two rival gangs that had brought their business to Myrtle Beach. Um so um John's right, uh during uh the year, a population, I think Myrtle Beach has got a population of 27,000. Yeah, somewhere. I always call it 30,000 in round numbers. It's 33,000. And then you then you um you swell that number by 14 million, 15 million, 18 million, whatever the it's the second fastest growing metropolis in America. So we we do have growing pains. Um there is population increases and it's a tourist center, so a lot of fuel there. Um and a lot of the tourists that you and I think of with kids and strollers, um, no crime is coming from those guys. It's the day trippers or the maybe two-day trippers. Um so um that's it's a little bit of all of it. And and the big elephant in the room is uh opioids, which has obviously raised um the arrest level. Yay, when you look back at um 2010, we had 67 opioid arrests, whether it be pills or heroin. It's just pretty much non existent. Um that number has swelled by ten times since 2010. So that is just uh used to 2010, um, cocaine or crack cocaine was the drug of choice. That's all you saw around here. We never get crack or coke anymore. It's very rare. Um, but it's all heroin and it's all opioids. And um that's the the majority of the colour.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

We couldn't do it anymore. Everybody's wearing masks, everybody's afraid to go out, uh everybody uh had to get injections, and now they say you shouldn't have got them and you shouldn't have got shots and so forth. So it's a confusing world because they tell

John Bonsignor Interview 1

SPEAKER_04 20:05

you one thing one time and then they change it another time. So you have to go on your own feeling, you got a feeling if it's uh something that you think you want to take, you had to do it. Be your own man and uh pull the plug. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. If you want to do it, do it. But don't be coward uh by uh the um various connotations saying oh you gotta do it. You gotta do it on the scientist, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta do it. And lo and behold, I tell you about uh eight months later. Oh well you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done that. Don't tell us what to do, just keep your mouth shut. Then they say there's the Chinese did it walk on laboratories in China, da da da do the And uh we never get the actual facts, so you always hide it from us. Uh so now uh I'm right here with you, Randall, doing this uh podcast, uh audio. And it's my pleasure to do it with you, Randall, because uh you're one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_13 21:05

Well you know one of the the the on our show we did an entire year on John Gin Red, and you and you uh interviewed him because I used that interview.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

Um he was an interesting character because of the fact that he got himself in trouble when it was in conversation, very and however he had an interesting background story when he was coming up in the very crazy very very free card and uh interview uh I I took the Because he was a liberal. Once a conservative came out, blah blah blah, he hit him with uh a ton of bricks, and I had to be there. Now, Paul, relax, take it easy, be nice to our guests. They're not here to be uh ridiculed. Paul, take it easy, Paul Ball wants to see.

segment from Big Talk with former Congressman John Jenrette

SPEAKER_12 22:20

Did the uh did the show of Iran want to meet you, or did he actually want to meet Rita?

SPEAKER_11 22:25

Both. Oh, he wanted to meet Rita for the meeting. An interesting thing with the show of Iran, uh, we we some of us were there as his guest, and uh were you in Iran? In Iran. We were we were this guest, and uh they did not it it involved an alcohol. We had we had a few directs waiting on the party, but when when uh we were waiting on the shawl, they would bring out a a plate of block of ice, and in the little holes in the ice would be vodka or whatever they had, and on the front of the front of the block of ice was a shawl's uh coat of arm, coat of arm. Coat of arm. And I remember everybody was talking, and he and he was coming in down the road, and some and one of the people of the people came and looked at me and saw a little piece of ice, of water, coming along over his position. He pulled the thing out, ran and got another one for me just as the shawl was sitting down, which meant I had alcohol in front of me at that time because the guy, the gentleman, did it, but you know, he had to put it back in before the shawl got there. And we got to be friends from that, and then he he he lost, went out. You remember everybody knows about what happened, I think, at that time. I don't know if what if I had anything to do with it or not, but his wife, after he died, came to Columbia, South Carolina, bought a place, and spent thousands and thousands and millions of dollars for the University of South Carolina.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

But but it was your friend Jimmy Carter that got that uh got him to leave uh Iran. That's right. Told him to abdicate. Yes, and they bring the guy from uh France uh into uh Iran, and he's the one of the uh the Ayatollah. Yeah, that caused all of the problems. That was everybody and that's one of them knocks against Jimmy Carter.

SPEAKER_12 24:24

However, he played the uh wrong part. You know, you talk about this now. John was over on on trips to to be with the shawl, and the shawl was, of course, our other than Israel, he was our number one uh certainly uh Muslim ally in the area. When the Shaw got bounced out in 1979, and they ultimately took the hostages towards the end of 1979, it was another Ory County guy, Lieutenant General Vaught, who was put in charge of the rescue of those hostages. Right. I mean, you talk about this tiny little Ory County, South Carolina. Vaught came from Conway, you came from Lawrence. There ain't 10,000 people today totaled between those two towns, and yet that's the impact that this county has had on U.S.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

power. How long did it take you to write this book? This is a fascinating book. It's uh capital steps and missteps.

SPEAKER_12 25:22

Here's here's a book here about Well, it takes a wild and improbable ride of Congressman John Dinred, and I guess that's a fair statement, isn't it? That's that's but before we get into that, let me say one thing. I've I've neglected mentioning it, I should have mentioned it on John's card. He has the statement until you have done something for humanity, you should be ashamed to die. And I think you lived by that when you were there. You tried to help humanity. You wasn't you you weren't in there for just a couple of big foil men or whatever the case may be. You tried to help the average guy when you were in conference.

SPEAKER_11 25:58

That's the only people I really knew. Yeah, it's been uh it's been wonderful that I I've had some of the opportunities to help people, and and now it's my charge every every day, every time I could help. They shared with me their lives, but I needed the other.

SPEAKER_12 26:22

And that's great. But we're gonna take another short break and we'll be back

John Bonsignor Interview 1

SPEAKER_12 26:26

to talk more with you.

SPEAKER_13 26:26

You know, y'all did some interviews speaking of one of you guests was Alan Wilson, who's gonna be running for governor this year. Oh, yeah, great guy.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

I I like Alan. Uh sweet guy, humble, knows what he's doing, would make a great governor, if you ask me. Not that I'm taking anything away from the present lieutenant governor who wants to run as well. As uh Henry McMaster leaves us. Bye-bye, Henry! Henry! Now Henry's got him to move out of the way and make room for my others.

WPDE Reporting on the announcement of Alan Wilson for Governor of South Carolina

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Lawman says he wants to become the state's next chief executive, Attorney General Alan Wilson entering the race for governor, announcing it during a rally tonight in Lexington. As chief political correspondent Andy Weber reports, other Republicans are also considering throwing their hats in the ring.

SPEAKER_08 27:13

I am announcing my candidacy to be the next governor for the great state of South Carolina.

SPEAKER_06 27:20

With Attorney General Alan Wilson's declaration, the race for South Carolina governor has begun. Together we will reach our full potential and capitalize on the opportunities in front of us. Surrounded by a family, the four-term AG from Lexington County was already making big promises if he's elected to come November 2025.

SPEAKER_08 27:40

We'll deliver meaningful relief to hardworking people who are going to finally eliminate the state income tax.

SPEAKER_06 27:48

Wilson is not the only well-known Republican who's interested in the job. Josh Krimball, estate senator from Spartanburg County, already announced his candidacy. Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Congressman Ralph Norman, and Lieutenant Governor Pamela have all said they're winning a run.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

We're gonna look in the short time ahead, and then you know I'm gonna let everybody know when the right time it is to talk about something like that.

SPEAKER_06 28:10

Wilson, meanwhile, told supporters on Monday, get ready for a competitive race.

SPEAKER_08 28:14

It won't be easy, but I never shot away from a fight. So everybody, it's time to get to work.

SPEAKER_06 28:23

While Wilson's announcement is a major development, we still have to wait and see who else enters the race for South Carolina governor. As of today, the primary is still a year away, set for June 2026. Reporting in Columbia, I'm Andy Weber.

John Bonsignor Interview 1

SPEAKER_04 28:37

Ask me if a governor or any incumbent leaves, uh, they should be uh supporting somebody that's uh lower rank than they are, like a lieutenant governor. Apparently, uh Governor McMaster is gonna be supporting uh event. Which I think is a m uh uh silly move on his part. Say goodbye and let everybody alone. But once you pick side, you're gonna have the other side not like and you're not gonna pick on you. Oh, do you remember Henry when he did this and that? No, we don't remember, but shut up and move on.

SPEAKER_13 29:18

He's actually called Rafe here in Merle Beach, because you know he endorsed the mayor candidate in this last election. And uh Henry did. He endorsed the in the Merle Beach mayor's rights, and there's been some there's nothing wrong with uh Brenda Bethune.

SPEAKER_04 29:36

She was very nice. She did a good job. Yeah, I think so, yeah, but uh however, I uh she got uh some bad advice, if you ask me. Whoever gave her advice uh gave her the wrong type of advice. Because in politics, it's how you connect with the voters. That's the most important. And if you don't connect, you're gonna lose. So you had a true markers. A nice guy, very knowledgeable. So she didn't do her homework. She should have, I would have uh told her to be more aggressive, and she wasn't. She was uh going on her laurels and she thought she didn't have to campaign that much because she'd won two other may roll races in her old, so she just slapped off.

SPEAKER_13 30:26

Third terms are hard to win.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

You know, it's kind of unusual to have a third-term mayor. No, well you take uh let's take uh Chestnut, he's won many times the third term. Uh you take uh one to five. Well, there you go. And Mike was a guest on your show. Yeah, I had Mike. If you wanted the itinerary of who I had on the show, is it's one of them. I I I had some opera singers as well that uh that came on, and uh there's no no uh sad that there's no enthusiasm here in the South Opera, although they have some great uh talents in the opera world that come from the South, Louisiana, North Carolina, uh Kentucky, etc. They have great voices, and you wonder why is it that the southerners just don't pick up on it.

SPEAKER_13 31:21

And that's actually something that you started here with the.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

I did with uh yeah, with Tom uh Tom Heron, who's a good friend of mine, uh his wife, Jackie, and I started the Grand Strand Opera Workshop and try to get uh some of the uh operas uh shown on VDD, DVD.

Host RandalWallace introduces John Bonsignor's appearance on Greg Everett's Carolina People about the Grand Strand Opera Workshop

SPEAKER_13 31:42

John Bonsignor is active in everything. And uh it's just got an amazing list of uh organizations that he founded and or worked with from SCORE, which is the retirement, uh the retired executives, save our cats, which does the feral uh cat program and you know the trap noon release and uh and and feeds the cat colonies to uh the of course the Republican Party, the South Strand Republican Club, which we're gonna talk about, and the Oregon County Republican Party. But the Grand Strand Opera Workshop is one that was really interesting. I went to several of their of their uh meetings and events where they would watch um opera on uh on opera on a on the big TV and discuss it. They they gave some scholarships out to some kids and uh had a young lady perform one time. I remember going to that. And it was founded uh by John Bond Sr. and uh and a and a really good friend of mine, Jackie Heron, who is Tom Heron, the political consultant's uh wife. She has since passed away. Uh and uh this was the organization that they founded. And I found a really good interview from Greg Everett's show, uh Carolina People, um with John uh Bonsignor when uh this organization was just getting going. And you also get a feel for uh John Bonsenor, who has uh some opera training as a as a singer, and um and then when the interview kicks back in that we did, he's gonna discuss uh you know his time uh when he was in the opera in New York City. So this is really a combination of two really, I think, good interviews. The one with Greg Everett and of course the one that we did, uh, where he talks about that part of his life and career.

John Bonsignor on "Carolina People with Greg Everett" on The Grand Strand Opera Workshop

SPEAKER_02 33:32

We're focused on the opera on the Grand Strand, and we're busy with the co-founder of the Grand Strand Opera Workshop, John Bonsignor business. Mr. Bonsignor, do you mind if I call you John? No, it's kind of early in the morning. He got me up early. Early on a Thursday morning, that's right. Well, of course, Claudio was kind enough to come in. Ronaldo was here slaving away late last night. He and his wife Fran. Have you been to the restaurant last year?

SPEAKER_04 33:56

Last night I was trying to trap some cats. We're not talking about opera. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Late late night. You were out on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

I came here especially from my good friend, Greg Everett. I thought it was for Donald Smith, our director. Please stop with Donald. He's losing some of his gray matter. He's forgetting. He's forgetting. You share that with him. Yeah, I tell him directly to his eye.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Yeah. Donald, you're losing a little bit of your gray matter. What does he say? No, I'm not. Oh. What do you expect him to say? He's just a quick response. No, I'm not. He's forgotten. He's a good response. That's right. He was supposed to come see our operas last year of the season for 2007, 2008. Never showed up. Oh, come on. He never showed up. He was busy with one of these many things he does in the area. But I told him if he came, Donald, I'll teach him how to do the scales, the vocal scales. Oh, yeah. Well, you never share that with me, John. Why do you offer that to Donald and not to uh to Greg Everton? Because he's losing his gray matter. Oh, he does the scales before he falls off the earth. That's right. Well, of course, again, Claudio was kind of to come in early this morning because his brother was working late last night serving great meals here at the Italian restaurant of the year. You've eaten here before, John. Well, absolutely, many times. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

Even when when Mama was here. She loved opera, you know, Mama. You know, Mama used to sing to me every time I came.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

And then she saw me coming in the door. She would give me a little bit of right here, right here in front of the uh in front of the beautiful statue, which is normally pouring down water. They were kind of to turn it off here so we could film this movie. It's great to get you in. But possibly can you come September 15th, about another month from now?

SPEAKER_04 35:30

A month from tomorrow. Absolutely. We're going to be doing E. Lombardi. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

E. Lombardi. Okay. E Lombardi. I'm not going to test your memory as to who wrote that opera. Um you it has my memory, I actually. Giuseppe Verdi. Oh. Josette. Yeah, Joe Green. Oh, Joe Green. Yeah, listen to that. Joe Green. That's hilarious. Well, of course, is that one of the early things you had to learn prior to getting interested in opera? Was learning Italian or well enunciation is very important.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

Uh enunciation and uh when you when you do opera, the first thing you do is before you even go on to the musical scores, what you should be doing is memorizing the text of the opera. Right. And getting also getting some background, doing some uh reading on the background of the opera what the uh composer wanted, uh what what were the scenarios, what time it took place, and the things of that nature. And then you read the s you read the uh score, uh, and then you try to you you go over it with the diction coach, and he teaches you exactly the the proper pronunciation. And sometimes you don't say the entire vowels when you sing, you just chop them. And and and when you do that, it's because of the uh some vowels you cannot uh in in the in the context of the opera you just can't reach the note that you're trying to, so you just chop it. That's the little tricks of the trade that the opera singers uh do. And and the coach helps them along. That's what the coach is for.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Before folks reach the level that they're performing to large audiences, John, is it is it is it does it require quite a bit of natural talent, or do do folks just require a lot of many years of training? Are there a lot of natural assets that an opera?

SPEAKER_04 37:11

It takes a lot of it's it's it's physical. It takes a lot of out of your out of your system. When you finish an opera, you're completely drained. And drenched. Well, you got the hot lights on you, you gotta memorize the the score, you gotta prepare for the aria's, and sometimes you have to hit a high C a C. In the daughter of the regiment, the tenor has to hit seven high C's in succession practically. So that takes a lot of a out of you. Uh and you have to be uh you have to be physically uh prepared for it. Yeah, you you just can't go and sing an opera, just to go and sing it, like somebody just tells you, uh, can you sing a song for us? You're having a meal, can you give us a song? You can't. I mean, it's it's difficult. Yeah. You've got to use your diaphragm, you gotta use the breath control, and then of course there's a psyche about it. You're saying, Can I hit that note? Can I do it good? Is my voice going to carry? Am I gonna crack? And things of that nature. So so you want to do it pro uh perfectly. You you want you want to be a professional, but you you also don't want to be an amateur about it, and you say, Okay, let me let me sing the song to one.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

You don't want to give the profession a bad name.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

Well, you want to, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You don't want to give yourself a bad name. That guy is all over the hill. He couldn't hit that note. It was terrible. Oh, I thought it was going to be sensational, but he let me down. He wasn't. You really know when you hit that note.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

Do you all I mean it's just like a joy is so always you relieve yourself. Yeah, yeah. Ah, I did it. That's how I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

But can you imagine the seven high C's that the tenor has to sing in the daughter of the regiment after he's done that? And that's what made Pavarotti so great. When he when he did The Daughter of the Regiment, when he hit those high C's with with clarity, with bell-like precision.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Share with viewers what they will see if they experience and attend the event on um August or September 15th. Forgive me, what September 15th, a month from tomorrow.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

Yes, it's 615, and ordinarily we have it at the firehouse at uh station number six. Okay. It's North 38th Avenue. Right. Uh between Grissom Park Way and Oak. Sure. And why we have that, they have a big conference room, and we have the DVD and we have the presentation there, they have the screen and so forth. Uh and we we put on the operas there. And what we do is before the opera goes on, we give them a little bit of background to the opera and what to look for and so forth. And you ordinarily we have somebody that lectures it, but not too long because people get restless and they really came to see the opera, sure. Not for somebody to give them a long-winded uh discourse on the opera. Uh and uh every opera we've shown this far, everybody enjoy themselves. We usually get uh between twenty-five and fifty people that come.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

You could seat how many, John. You could actually seat how many. If if more folks encourage it.

SPEAKER_04 40:00

I believe what the uh fire department uh likes us to seat, the maximum they want is about 75.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Okay, great. So you've got room for at least 25 more.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

Yeah, in fact, we had one of your reporters there uh last year, Steve Porter. He did a wonderful job. Good. Steve was very good. He's a very interesting guy, Steve. He's he's uh not only does radio, he does radio show very well, but he also writes a very nice column. Yes, yes, yes. And he's very active in the community, so that that shows that he's well-rounded and then he's takes the uh community to heart.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Right. You ought to call him and you get off the show this morning, and or I'll call him and let him know you're on the air. He's on the air, exactly. You call him on the air. That's right. He doesn't want to hear from me then.

John Bonsignor Interview 1

SPEAKER_04 41:27

Of course, they had very catchy tunes. But in the sea they had dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun da, la la la la la la la la la la.

SPEAKER_05 41:38

They catchy tunes.

SPEAKER_13 41:39

You know, and I always like to tell this story about you, and I guess I could tell, you know, I had enough of my old girlfriend uh Marley, if you remember, you see. I like Marley. And you used to sing uh one of the songs from La Traviata to her.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

I did, I did, I did. I sang that uh love the witch from the ending of the first act. You see my voice is not there today. Yes, sir. I'm getting up there here, so uh my timber, the voice timber, the way it sounds, the way it comes off, it it it it has a uh it doesn't have that sweetness to it. I can hear it, but the sweetness you have here. But when I was younger, I I had uh all of the accustomes uh to make a good opera singer. Which I did at one time in 1958 or so, uh doing Tanaviata and I did the first scene of Tanaviata. It's an interesting story. I was doing it with uh uh an opera company, Salmaji, Salmaji opera. Those people that are old enough like me know and they're from New York, they would or new or New York City, they would remember Salmaji because he would put up operas and um uh he'd have a uh very low cost, and he would do it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which was uh a big, big hall. And uh he didn't charge much, but he actually introduced them to young artists. Um and I did the first act of La Traviata, as I said, and I did it with a girl by the name of Rena Telly. She was um uh a little bit ahead of me in the voice category. She was uh a better uh stage presence than I. Uh I was a young uh a young uh tenor, and so consequently I had to look at her, uh and then we had the uh conductor was uh Mike's throat fiddle. I was giggling because as I recall how we got a mixed up and on the stage because his markings on the stage in Brooklyn Academy's stage is huge. There's certain spots on the stage that the audio, you can't pick up the audio. Dead spots, they're called dead spots. And they mark it for you, and you should have to be here when you're singing this. So naturally, I just young kid, um, I followed the arena. So she brought me along and she put put me outside the Xbox, and she was outside the Xbox. And we're singing it for hours and going crazy. I said, What the hell are we doing? Going crazy like that. I said, What's what are we doing? So we finished the I finished the aria and so forth. And naturally, if you think you did good, you feel good about it. Oh, I did great, wonderful. Rena, we did great. Yeah, we did. And then when we finished with the curtain comes down and we said and Ferrara comes over, what the hell are you talking? What did we do? No! Nobody hurt you! What are you talking about, Maestro? You're outside the Xbox! I can't tell you what he said in Italian because it's not something you uh want to hear. I said, What? No! No, you're not getting paid! Well, I don't uh didn't I pay you, I paid you, so how can I get paid if I paid you? See, that time when you're up and coming and you're studying it, etc., and you're a uh get somebody to put you on stage for something you're studying uh for, uh you ha uh the uh impresario you have to pay. So you pay them uh for to be on stage. So you have to pay, you know, you you're paying you're paying them to be on stage. Yeah, yeah, I'm paying them. So I thought it was good, you know. So if they accept it, that means they like it, but they're not gonna give you the money back. They're gonna keep it. I said I said to me, it's only sixty dollars. But sixty dollars at that time, you've got to remember, it was about three, four hundred dollars. That's what I'm saying. That was a lot of money, man. That's a lot of money, sure. So anyway, uh we uh really got uh our ASS kicked. And I'll never forget that day because we uh I had a great feeling that uh we did so nice. Because we're on pitch, I can hear that we're on pitch, and the the rolling uh the rolling tones uh that came from Rena, she's so beautiful. She was so romantic in in her singing, and it came across so nice and so beautiful, and I was just awed by it, and sometimes I forgot my orgs and I had a listen to she had to whisper them to me because I had forgotten I was so engrossed in how she was singing, and then it's over, and it hear my stroke come up, yeah, your strength. But he said it in in in a in a rougher way in Italian. I can all but imagine. Oh, yeah, imagine. Imagine what you're thinking plus more. He wasn't very nice. You know, when they when they blow up like that, you can't talk to them. You gotta get away. It's like that touching a hot fire. You touch a hot fire, ah! It's the same thing with them. You let them go. I'm glad I only did the first act because I got out of there quick. Was that the only time you did that? Or did you do other other operas too? Well, I did uh small parts uh on opera and so forth. Well, I wasn't that good. I was good, but not that good. I didn't. I had the uh power and I had the beauty of uh at times, but sometimes I would go off pitch. Uh I I couldn't hear myself sometimes because nowadays the uh singers have uh uh air air plugs they put in and they can listen to the prompter, the prompter tells them doves son all, and you sing doves son all and they sing it with you and it makes it easier. But when you don't have that, you you go off pitch. And you instead of sing. So you it doesn't sound good. So it was okay for me, but sometimes the audience didn't like it. They boo come on, gosh darn it. I work so hard. Can't you give me a cheer? Yay! No, they went boo. They're like in Italy. They Italy, if you if you want to be a vegetarian or you want to open up a vegetable shop, sing at Verona. They throw all kinds of vegetables at you, apples, pears, uh uh carrots. So you collect them all and you open up a shop and you sell them.

SPEAKER_13 48:59

I was gonna say, I always figure operas crowds would be a lot more docile.

SPEAKER_04 49:04

Uh docile, oh no, no, no. When they come and they're spending their money and they want to be entertained and they want to be grossly involved in the opera, and they want to hear some fine music and singing, they're not gonna be docile. They're looking to boo you, and they're looking for any error you make, and they let you have it. Even Povero Pavarotti um uh had uh situations where he went off pitch and they booed him boo. I know that that man uh to God bless him that he died a couple of years ago. But he had a nice sweet voice. Not always he was on pitch, uh not always he uh was amorated with the uh audience, nor is was the audience uh enamorated with him. So that's uh that was that. So that's opera, that's one thing for the opera.

SPEAKER_13 50:02

And how many years you did that for a number of years, right? You involved in the opera.

SPEAKER_04 50:06

Yeah, I I still do it. Uh sitting in here in this chair, I I just keep singing, I remember some of the songs like La Bionbio separ Well, I can tell you that's a talent because you would melt Marley with that.

SPEAKER_13 50:43

It worked every time.

SPEAKER_04 50:45

I don't know why you didn't why didn't you just sweep her off her feet and what she loved, she reacted to that better than anything I ever tried to do. You were a very handsome guy when you were younger. Not that you aren't now, but you were dashing. You and Thad Vyers and uh Russell Frye and Brad Daniels, you're all good looking guys. I mean, to say, uh, in my estimation, you could have got any girls you wanted. Yes, sir. A lot of people. But you let them escape.

SPEAKER_13 51:17

Well, I have a talent for that, but but let's say you you you uh so you did the opera stuff for how many years?

SPEAKER_04 51:24

I I I don't go by years, I I go by how I feel. I feel like I can still sing a little bit. I uh can't uh go on stage right now and sing. I'll be a better comedian on stage than I'd be a singer. That's what I think, but I may be wrong. He's the comedian singer. Who's that?

SPEAKER_13 51:46

Have you ever seen the show Hamilton?

SPEAKER_04 51:48

Hamilton? Oh, you mean that the play Hamilton? Yeah, and the king comes out and he sings. Yeah, I guess that's sort of an opera. Yeah, well that yeah. He's a comedian. Yeah, well, i i it it it it's something that he catches the audio audience off guard. They didn't expect it, putting in here it is something, so they enjoy that. Anytime you can catch the audience off guard, it's always worth it because you you make a big hit out of it.

SPEAKER_13 52:14

And I know she can sing in Italian, but do you speak Italian too, or do uh it?

SPEAKER_04 52:17

Yeah, I do. I didn't know that. Yeah. I mean I do it because you say Italian. You know, you forget as you get older, you forget. And uh so that's my the case I the case in me uh with I spoke French, I uh a little bit German. Oh wow and Italian. Italiano Io Pall Italiano. What is but I can do Monomia.