It seems you’re gonna have to ask him, because “I can’t put that in print” is a common theme…
If you could meet any living Rock star, who would it be and why? – Probably Dave Grohl – he seems to be the last great rock star, gets along with everyone, is a true music lover and seems to just have a great time, all the time.
If you could go back to a decade of music, which one would it be and why? Dude, I LIVE in another decade of music, pretty much every day. That being said, I am trying to rank the decades according to preference. I guess 70’s, 90’s, 80’s, 60’s, then 00 – now. That could change at any moment though.
Favorite cover band of a classic rock band? Not strictly classic rock, but Me First & The Gimme Gimmies – they were so much fun. I really enjoy the Lexington Lab Band, check out their Youtube channel, they are extraordinarily good.
Coolest thing you’ve gotten to do or place you’ve gotten to go because of your job in radio? – Lots of things come to mind, meeting AIC on the Dirt tour at the Riviera in Chicago (ask me about what happened later that night, I cannot put it into print!), broadcasting from the radio studio at the R&R HOF (ask me about what happened later that night, I cannot put it into print!), so many bus trips to so many concerts (ask me what happened on the U2 trip because I cannot put it into print!), the motor-home trip to Woodstock ’99, that I CAN put into print, it was a shit-show. Literally, figuratively, metaphorically, just a shit-show. Getting to be in the snake pit for the Black album tour stop at the coliseum, playing and singing on stage at the Embassy several times will always be cherished memories, and there’s many more that I can’t even remember right now…I’ve been extremely fortunate over all these years.
What got you interested in Rock music? Like so many Gen X humans, it was KISS. I didn’t know anything about them, but when I saw the Dynasty album cover in the music section of the K-Mart on West Coliseum in the summer of 1979 when I was 8, I was captivated. It was the first album I bought with my own $, but it was my bedtime when we got home, so I wasn’t allowed to listen to it until the next morning. I propped the album on the shelf next to my bed and fell asleep looking at it, wondering what it would sound like. Anyway, my first KISS song was “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”, which most die-hard KISS fans tell me was not a good thing.
If you could be one drink, which one would it be and why? Neat bourbon. Who has time to make a cocktail?
What is your favorite concert story? – So many killer shows over so many years. However, I’m going to tell you about one of the worst. November 1991, Smashing Pumpkins and RHCP at the convention center in Indy, which was demolished along the with Hoosier Dome, to which it was attached. First, it wasn’t a great place to see a show. The staff didn’t have it together at all, and we were still in line throughout the entirety of the opening act, who were not on the bill, but when looking at tour merch they were selling Pearl Jam t-shirts. This was just after Ten came out, but before it broke and we had never heard of them. Looking it up later, it seems PJ wasn’t at the show that night, Lukin was, but they were still selling the PJ merch for some reason, I guess because they were a part of the tour as a whole, but they missed some shows? I got to see PJ the following year on the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, so all was not lost. Anyway, back to Indy. For some reason, the Pumpkins and the audience in Indy did not hit it off. It was a rowdy RHCP crowd, and they weren’t feeling the softer side of the Pumpkins, so they were…unenthusiastic. Corgan because very annoyed and started insulting the audience, which went over about as well as you’d expect, saying things like “Thank you, Indianapolis, we’ve never played a funeral before, this is great!”. Soon every song’s end was greeted with boos and returned with middle fingers and more insults from the stage. Finally, the set ended and soon RHCP came out. They played a handful of songs, including two from the new album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. They had been on-stage for about 40 minutes when Kiedis started hyping up the crowd by saying something along the lines of, and I am absolutely paraphrasing here, “Alright Indianapolis, are you ready?! We’re going blow the roof off this place, we’re gonna play a medley of all your favorite Chili Peppers’ songs, it’s gonna be awesome. Who’s ready?! Here we go! 1! 2! 3! 4! And as soon as he said “4!”, the house lights came on, the band ran off the stage, and the show was over. The audience, including me, was stunned. What had just happened? Did they really just do that? It was obviously retaliation for how the Pumpkins had been treated, so I get it, but it was still a drag. All in all, worst show ever.
