April 30, 2021 • 34 mins
This week we hear Brian’s thoughts on PRINCE getting booed off stage in Anaheim Stadium while opening for The Rolling Stones, a concert Brian was also opening for with Etta James. We talk about his untimely death and how his insane work ethic may have contributed and Mandi shares two personal stories about the great impact Prince’s talent and music have on audiences and artists alike. We end with Brian's thoughts on Leroy’s stories about Rammstein and Lady Gaga and his final moments with Etta James before she passed.
To learn more about Leroy and to check out all the amazing shows he’s designed for the biggest names in music, go to his website: http://www.leroybennett.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to the after Show, the bonus episode series
for on Tour with Brian Ray. This is a production
of I Heart Radio and Black Barrel Media and I'm
your host Mandy Wimmer. In the after show, we dive
a little deeper into Brian's thoughts about certain parts of
the interviews, as well as expound a bit more on
his own experiences on tour. We get into some crazy
(00:31):
stories in this after show. We hear Brian's thoughts on
Prince getting booed off stage when they were both opening
for The Rolling Stones, princes insane work ethic and how
that may have contributed to his untimely death, and the
impact his songs have had on artists and audiences alike,
particularly Purple Rain. Brian shares his own boot camp production story,
(00:53):
and we wrap with his final moments with Edda James
shortly before she passed. Here's my conversation with Brian A Bryan,
what up? What up? We met again? Hello? Hello, awesome, awesome,
(01:17):
awesome interview this week, Leroy, What what a gem of
a person and what a freaking talented person? Yeah, so talented,
so dedicated, I mean, has literally spent his whole life
focused on making things look otherworldly and beautiful. I mean yeah,
I mean just like I don't think that the production
(01:39):
and lighting teams and the crew and everyone really get
enough credit for pulling all of this off. I mean
it's clearly nothing can be done without any cog in
the wheel, you know, so to say, and the sets
and the lightning design. Mean, he's been Leroy has been
the production designer for some of the biggest names of
music awards shows, everything. I mean, I really encourage everyone
(02:01):
who's listening to actually go to his website. I think
it's liabanna dot com and look at everything he's been
involved in. I mean, you have a couple of hours,
make some coffee. I mean it's impressive. Yeah, some very
important acts you know, um none, the least of which
is uh none, the least of whom would be Prince
and Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga. There's just so many
(02:23):
more though, oh my god, a million more. So you know,
just to get right into it, because we have a
lot to talk about with Leroy. So one thing that
I was curious about, and I'm not sure if the
audience may have been as well, is that you guys
both said that you were part of the Cavala Ruffalo scene. However,
neither of you really kind of went into what that was,
(02:44):
and so personally I don't know what that is. So
can you expound on that a little bit. Bob and
Joe Ruffalo were a management team, uh in the heyday
of sort of California R and B in rock, and
they handled some of the coolest artists around. They handled
Earth Winning Fire for their sort of white hot, sort
(03:06):
of hot new period. They handled a band that I
loved named Little Feet, who was around forever and ever
and ever um. They handled John Sebastian of the Love
in Spoonful and many more things in his career. And
they handled Valerie Carter, who was an amazing vocalist. And
(03:30):
they handled this new ingenue, a guy that no one
had heard of before named Prince, and they would soon
of course, you know, everyone would know of Prince within
a year. Well, and did you say the band that
you were in with them was Yes, So I was
with a guy named Reggie Knighton and the band called
the Reggie knight In Band, and we were managed by
(03:52):
Kavala Ruffalo. So they were just a really cool management,
energetic management team. Uh, and they were. Their outpost was
in Beverly Hills on Brighton Way, and I remember going
to the office and you know, seeing all these artists
coming and going. It was an exciting time. So did
you did you know of Prince during that period or No,
(04:13):
I didn't know Prince. I had a sighting. I knew
what he looked like now. And this is about seven
seventy eight and I'm at a seven eleven in the
valley and here comes this guy wearing a black leather
trench coat and it's him. It's Prince and he was
working with this woman who also worked with the management
(04:36):
named Jamie, and uh, you know, I just kind of nodded.
He kind of nodded back. That's it. I mean, that's
the most contact I've ever had personally with Prince. Well,
I mean, what what a phenomenon Prince was. I find
it really interesting. Obviously, going behind the scenes, into the rehearsals,
into the lives of some of these huge artists I
(04:57):
find very interesting, which is, you know, what we're doing
in on this show, and really to get an insider
look into the world of Prince from his best friend Leroy,
who was I mean, they were obviously best friends, very
close friends for fifteen years or more. UM someone who
worked with him and was also a close friend of
him off stage. The stories that Lee Roy shares in
(05:18):
here in this interview were insane and I think of
um one of the most interesting things that Lee Roy
shares is in his very first few days with Prince,
the first five days, he said was just to boot
him from hell. And you know, he Prince was asking
him to do all of these different things, and he
didn't even know what he was asking him to do,
because Chris Prince wasn't, you know, a producer, he wasn't
(05:40):
a lighting designer. He didn't really know how hard the
things were, and he was asking him to do things
that were basically impossible, but Leroy would do it. And
basically what Prince just wanted to see is that he
didn't quit. And it wasn't The really interesting thing and
I promised all let you talk. But the really interesting
thing about this I thought that Lee Roy said was
(06:00):
he wasn't he would not ask someone to do something
that he wouldn't do himself. So it wasn't like I'm
just going to put you through hell. To put you
through hell, I want to know that you are as
dedicated to my performances as I am. And that's and
he would do the same thing himself. He would put
himself through the same pieces. Do you know of anyone
have you ever worked with anyone that was like that?
(06:22):
And one more thing, I promised, let you talk, but
I lied obviously. The other piece, which I knew continue.
I'm wrapping this up, but this is important. They would
not ever do after parties after shows. After a show,
they would immediately go to their hotel and every critical
person would be there rewatching the show, finding pieces that
(06:45):
messed up and perfecting it. Could you imagine. No, I've
never been in an organization quite that exacting before. But
I think that generally a lot of people out there
don't really know how shows, tours, records come together. They
just see the finished product and go, thank you very much,
Oh my god, this is great, and they just think
(07:07):
it's all like toadstools and rainbows. But you know, it's
really hard work. And you know, what I'm hoping to
do with you with this show that I'm enjoying so much,
is to sort of shed some light onto a process
that is mysterious to people and part of that is, uh,
you know, to talk about an artist that's very, very
(07:28):
demanding and exacting as Prince was. And there are many
others um names I won't name because I wasn't in
their band. It wouldn't be fair for me. But I've
heard stories. I'm sure I guess the worst it ever
got from me, or or the most demanding it ever
was for me in terms of long rehearsals. Was my
(07:49):
first touring in France with Able Broreal Jr. Actually on
drums for a woman in Milne Pharma, and her shows
were spectacular and way over the top, like production values.
Like she'd enter like through a giant statue and come
down on a cable you couldn't see, with her arms
out like she was like a deity, and come down
(08:12):
to a conveyor belt that would then take her out
to the middle of the like really intense. Um So
to perform these entrances, like these very intense entrances that
had many elements, all of which had to work together
at the perfect timing. The band leader and the tour
director would have the band play the intro song over
(08:35):
and over and over her about three days straight. I mean,
like I'm just saying we had the technology, but they
needed she needed to feel like. I'm not dissing her.
It was really more about the production manager, right and
(08:57):
uh and it was just it was pretty rough, but
you know, it all led to one of the most impactful, amazing,
exciting introductions you've ever seen. But they probably could have
used to tape. Oh my god, that sounds painful. It
was a little bit. You can ask Abe about it
when we when we get to able Boreal Jr. So a,
(09:18):
but tell me about this marriage time in your life.
I'm going to bring back up again. So the other
thing that I think was interesting, kind of along these
same lines, is that in the vein that Prince would
not ask you to do anything that he wouldn't do.
Leroy says it was really hard on him, very very
hard on him. But he would not have wanted to
be a member of the band because Prince could play
(09:41):
anything better than anybody and he and he did write.
And so how do you how do you impress Prince?
You know, I mean, he can do everything right. So
it's like, are you ever good enough? You know, just
I mean I can imagine being on stage, I mean,
even with you you've mentioned about being next to Paul McCartney.
I mean, you're an insanely amazing guitar player, and Paul
(10:03):
McCartney is one of the best. It's like you're always like,
oh my god. I mean, you have to be comparing
all the time. It is similar in that way, like
Paul is one of those rare artists that can do everything,
you know, and then he's also a ridiculous songwriter, arranger, producer,
visual concept genius you know. But um he plays guitar, piano, bass, uh,
(10:30):
you know, acoustic mando, you know, he plays everything, so
and he plays all of it really well. Right, So
it's not like he's going to say, well, how would
you do that? He would just say, Bryan, could you
play that in the the other position? You know, like
you know, he knows what he's talking about. Yeah, I
mean you can't, like you can't fake it with someone
(10:50):
like that. And I can imagine, you know, with Prince
and his as you called it, exacting personality. You know.
Then on top of that, you know where he just
really didn't anything slide. I can imagine that if you
were a band member, you'd feel like living into fear. Well,
it's true, and Prince really cut his teeth on artists
like James Brown, who was famously very very tough on
(11:13):
his band, and he had hand signals that he would
throw on stage. One hand flashing out like spreading his fingers.
That's five, another hand, that's ten. Both that's twenty bucks.
You're gonna have to pay. And that's what Leroy was saying,
is that's exactly what Prince would do. He would do
hand circles. As we miss them, then it's fifty bucks.
He was straight James Brown, and that's so interesting. I
(11:35):
got to see Prince a couple of times, thank god,
because one of my favorite performers. But I saw him
after in Chicago, after George Lucas's wedding at City Winery,
and it was one of those shows that was he
was supposed to go on at eleven or midnight, he
goes on at two in the morning or something like that.
I mean, I think we left around four or five
o'clock in the morning. It was insane. But Leroy was
(11:57):
talking about how he plays every instrument and I got
to actually see that. He was literally it was a
very small stage and he was just going around to
every member of the band. I mean he had all
the horns, you know, he had the backup singers. Yeah,
I mean everyone, everyone that was part of his band
at George Lucas's wedding was packed on this tiny little
stage and he would just go grab instruments literally from
(12:19):
everybody and start playing them and then take the spot
of the backup singer and then need faint and the need.
I mean it was honestly probably the best show I've
ever seen in my life. But the talent that this person,
the raw talent of this person that standing right in
front of you and in such a small venue, I mean,
I'll never forget it. Yeah, white hot meteor, you know.
(12:40):
And it's just it's sad that he's not still with us.
And then you think to yourself, well, some people are
meant to shine hot and bright for for a finite
amount of time and others, you know, stay relevant well
into their older age. Actors as well, you know, artists, writers,
but performing at that level, right, you know, he was
(13:01):
doing the knee drops and the thing and that, you know,
all the crazy stuff, and he did damage his knees
and hips, you know, doing all that stuff. Even Tom
Petty had damaged his knees, you know, from doing knee
drop knee drops back in the New Wave and you
know all rock days of his beginning. So it is
(13:21):
a demanding h It is a demanding line of work.
And he was just you know, white hot, what can
you say, crazy talented. So while we're on that topic,
(13:46):
one thing we I mentioned was that Prince actually predicted
somewhat his own death. He was fascinated with some of
these artists that died young and beautiful is what has
how Lee Roy said it and so incredibly sad to
lose him as young as we did. But Leroy said
that his plan was to die in his late thirties,
and he died I think in his fifties. So thank
(14:07):
god for that. Yeah, yeah, and he had a very
long career. Um, it wasn't over in a split second
like some others, like you know, say, you know Jimmy Hendrix.
That was really white hot, right, but you know, he's
just someone who gave so much and we're so grateful
for all that he gave, you know, for sure, So
(14:27):
your your first major experience with Prince, though you were
also performing, so I'm not sure if you actually saw
him live, but was Rolling Stones tour. You were you
and Etta James were opening for the Stones, as was Prince,
and that was a big topic of conversation in this interview,
how Prince got booed off stage for wearing a thong
and thy high boots and what what was going through
(14:50):
your mind at that point, knowing that that was happening.
Did you recognize the talent of Prince and thought that
this was crazy? Or did you see any of his performances.
I don't recall if we followed with Edna James, if
we followed Princess set, or if he followed us, But
in any case, I was either getting off stage and
you know, drawing off and changing clothes, or getting ready
(15:12):
to go on stage. So I missed his performance, but
I heard about it immediately afterwards. And yes, he was
wearing a leather thong and like women's high heeled boots
and well, I mean with a very fine little heels.
When I say women's, I mean it was not like
you know, dude boots. And then but thankfully he was
(15:34):
wearing a big leather trench coat which offset the whole ensemble.
But you're talking about Anaheim, which is a fairly conservative place.
And you're talking about the Rolling Stones Anaheim, and it
was fifty thou people out there, I think fifty five
thousand or something like that, and it was a blazing
hot day and Prince was unknown. Prince was unknown. Prince
(15:58):
was unknown at that time. So know, it was just
an awful lot, I think for that audience to take in.
You know, all the shirtless beer guzzlers. You know, it's
just a little bit much for them in broad daylight.
You know, there's no lights to help. It wasn't night yet.
Of course, the Stones performance went from sundown way into
the night, so it was not it was outside. The
(16:20):
performance was outside, yeah, yeah, yeah, in the stadium. Okay, alright, alright,
I was thinking arena, but yeah, of course, wow, that's uh.
I mean, obviously he came back and really talked about
how it took Mick calling him to get him to
come back and a few other people. But I mean,
just you think about that now. I mean, how he's
one of the biggest mega stars literally in the world
(16:42):
even today after his passing, you know, and how that started.
I mean, I guess to anyone out there, it gets
you hope. You know, people talk about getting a million
knows from interviews and knows from all these different places,
and then all of a sudden you finally get the yes.
I mean, you get booed off stage by fifty five
thousand people, and you come back and you are prints
the megastar. I mean, that's pretty inspiring story. So you
(17:04):
got to think about it in terms of the bravery
that it takes to do that. I mean, you know,
who would be possessed with the thought that that's a
great idea to go out on an eighty degree day
in the middle of conservative Anaheim and a stadium of
fifty people in a leather thong. I mean, it is
really brave. And his whole career was brave, and that's
(17:27):
that's incredible. We need artists that are brave that way.
But I will say, I mean, when it's a super
hot day and you're outside, he was wearing the most
practical thing. You know, I was going to wear that too,
but I like to to to add pants. Okay, we'll
leave that there. So the Purple Rain, the Phenomena of
(17:51):
Purple Rain literally talks about how that was really the transition.
You know, Prince was growing and growing and growing in
popularity and then booming double Rain hit. It was just
through the stratosphere, I think was actually LeRoy's words, and
that they would move into a city and they they'd
be sold out for two weeks, I mean, just in
insane popularity, you know, for this song. And then I
(18:12):
think that probably created even more appreciation for all of
his music at that point. But that that was I
don't know if Leroy called it the beginning of the end,
but that was really the turning point for him. How
how do you see that? Well, I mean, you know,
Prince you know, booked himself so solid and so busy
(18:35):
that what human could actually pull that off. He was
doing that and then going out as you know, like
as you were just talking about, and doing after show
party shows, you know, at some little unannounced club, whether
it's the House of Blues or City Winery or something
some small venue, uh, you know, and and so he
(18:56):
would be going, you know, basically from afternoon until the
next morning at five in the morning. And I don't know,
I mean, there's must have been some part of him
that knew that he couldn't do that forever, you know,
he's a human being. No, I know, I think yet
to be determined, but the Purple Rain, you know, particularly.
(19:19):
I have to share a really quick story. I was
the ran the events department for super Bowl forty nine
and we booked Darius Rucker for one of our biggest
events that we go, super Bowl, and a lot of
people that that I had knew that I had booked
Darius Rocker for this event, knew that he was playing
Purple Rain on his tours, and they were really excited.
(19:40):
At a number of people say how excited they were?
Clearly for Darius music, because he's an amazing musician and vocalist,
but people were super excited to see him perform Purple Rain.
And I go backstage and I'm looking at the set
last time with Darius and as manager, and I see
the Purple Rain is not on there. And I said, well,
where's the Purple Rain? Like knowing all these conversations and uh,
(20:02):
And Darius said, well, you know, I've been performing it
for the past I think couple tours and I just thought,
you know, I changed it up. This is kind of
the end, like the end of the road for this tour.
And I said, very respectfully, not tonight, you won't. We're
gonna need you to play that song that was respectfully, yes,
it just kind of came out and of course everybody
got a big chuckle. But um, but I said, no, please,
(20:23):
we really people are expecting that song. Please play that song.
So he said, okay, well I'll think about it. You know,
I really wanted to change it up. Whatever. And so
we're backstage and he's at the end of the set
and he looks over at me and he's like, and
by special request, and I just booked it to front
of house. I'm like, I've got to see this from
the front of house side and he plays Purple Rain
(20:44):
and literally the place just erupted. I mean, just absolutely
went insane. Not a single person still sitting. I mean,
just the songs that Prince wrote, and I mean just
it's it's truly remarkable. I mean, the man had so
many talent in so many areas and left us, as
you've said, such a canon of music before. I mean,
(21:08):
thank god we had him even for a short time. Yeah,
and that story points out, you know, points to the
power of song, you know exactly, And it's a it's
a fairly simple song, but it's just so soulful and heartfelt.
Eda James actually had a great version of Yeah. So
(21:35):
speaking of ed A, Leroy talks about how he did
have that final meeting with Prince at the Hall of
Fame when he was playing the guitar solo of my
Guitar gently weeps and he Leroy. He and Leroy had
not had They personally hadn't had a falling out, but
he hadn't been touring with Prince for a while because
of a bunch of stuff that's in the interview, and
they had that one final moment just the two of
(21:57):
them in the ballroom backstage that it was amazing that
they got that because Prince did die shortly thereafter. It
just reminded me about how close you are with a
Do you remember your last moments with her before she
died or interesting when that happened. Well, we had been
recording for years after I stopped touring with her in
(22:18):
eighty nine, I think was my last sort of touring
with her, so fifteen years from the beginning to the
end of touring. But we continued to work together and
studio projects. I would play on an album of hers
and she you know kindly guest vocal on on a
song of mine um called soft Machine. On my first
(22:41):
solo album anyway, So I'd come out to her ranch
out there in Riverside. She had this beautiful, sprawling horse
property out there, and she had her, you know, a
couple of sports cars. She loved sports cars, and she
had a big RV, you know, one of those sort
of massive like tour bus RVs. She doesn't strike me
as a wards card type. That's kid is so cute. Yeah,
(23:02):
she loved my MG because when I first met her,
I little MG. So she got way into sports cars. Yeah,
adorable anyway, So, um time had passed and now I
had heard that she she was uh diagnosed with Alzheimer's,
and so I thought, I'm going to make a trip
out there and and be with her, and prepared myself
(23:24):
for the idea that she might not be the Edda
that I remember, you know. And she was in her
bedroom and laying in bed, and she was a little
bit out there, a little bit out of it, and
um kind of repeating herself a little bit. And then
I just came up beside her and got her attention
and caught her gaze and then she locked into my
(23:45):
gaze and then I said, Eda, it's Brian, and she
reached out and took my hand and she said, Brian, right, Brian,
don't leave, and she grabbed onto my hands like really tightly,
and I just stayed with her for the longest time,
(24:05):
you know, hanging out and just you know, soaking up
some meta. James. So she so that was the last
time you saw her, and she remembered you and took
a little while. But yeah, we didn't then connected. I
was I was determined to connect with her, right and
I may not have been able to, but I was
glad that I did, because how many years were you
(24:26):
two together to her in fifteen years and then you
know another whatever twenty after that of recording in friendship
you know, right, right, yeah, I mean, and you do
develop those sorts of friendships. And Leroy talks about a
lot of Prince offstage and how partially you you what
(24:48):
you saw is what you got all the time. I mean,
Prince was always Prince. But at the same time you talk,
he does talk about how Prince had a really really
sweet side to him, which was really cute, bringing him
snacks in the middle of the night as he's redesigning
those and having movie nights at Paisley Park and uh, yeah,
so it was just I thought that was like, I
thought that was really cute. I wouldn't have expected that
(25:08):
from the perfectionist to boot camp prints. Yeah, well, you know,
I mean, I think it was all in the cause
of getting people to work as late as he worked,
so it might have been very, very sweet. But I
asked Libroy, I said, like, what was Prince into? Is
he bringing like cauliflower and parrots, you know? Or or
was it more like you know, Edda James used to
(25:31):
call snacks brand, go get me some wam whams and Zuzu's.
I would run out to the market, you know, we're
on tour. We'd be at the hotel, you know, holding
up in her room and she wont some snacks. Go
down to the corner market and bring back some stuff.
And so so Leroy gets back to me and said,
(25:51):
I'm gonna just read his text. He loved junk food.
It was usually chips doritos. He told me they cure headaches.
I think he hadn't eaten. He got a headache as
anyone would. Derito's were his go to food, so as
a result, his headache would go away. Smiley face like,
I'm not sure that Leroy buys that that that's what
(26:13):
that's what Prince believe. We're about to put at Valentine
all out of business. It's to Rito's. It's tomatoes, people,
you're doing it wrong. They hangover cure perhaps, and then
he writes bless him, and then he writes, uh, fruit dips, bread,
peanut butter, and jelly cookies, basically anything that had sugar.
That was his fuel to keep up. So I guess
(26:35):
he needed the same. I feel like now I know
I could be friends with Prince because I can, I
can be down with some of those snacks. I'm just saying,
you know, we need at this moment to humanize this
deity all right, so we could talk about Prince forever.
But I do want to wrap this up with a
couple of other quick stories here because rom Romstein Romstein Romstein,
(27:00):
because we we kept I keep missing it up all
the time. M Stein, Romstein Romstein, Right, is it? Romstein?
We're going to be in so much trouble. Maybe we
should google this before we go any further. This is embarrassing.
We we got to know this. Sorry, Okay, let's get
it right. How do you say it? Mstein? Okay, alright,
so they are badasses. Yeah, totally completely. Have you seen
(27:23):
one of their shows? I have not that I've seen
videos of their shows. Ridiculous, the insane amount of pyro.
I mean, how do you even a how do you
come up with that? I mean it sounds like the band,
the band members itself are a huge part of coming
up with that, and then Leroy works on the lighting
around that. But I'd be terrified. It's more like, how
how do you follow that? Like the next tour more fire?
(27:45):
I guess you just need like next time, he's going
to be more fire, more pyro, Yeah, more water fire,
you know. And then what they did was the way
they build on it is the next tour, they'd start
with nothing. There'd be nothing on today, so that when
they build to something, it has more impact, like an
acoustic intro. Very cool, your favorite thing. Oh yes, I've
(28:10):
got to see one of those shows. I mean that,
I'm definitely. I admit I had not heard of them
before LeRoy's interview, and at this point I have to
see them. Very cool. So Lady Gaga also some really
great stories. I was actually the vice president of events
for Super Bowl fifty one, the halftime performance that he
was talking about, and so I was in super Bowl
Stadium when she flew nine ft from the air. I mean,
(28:32):
that woman is fearless. I think that that's an important
element for the kind of artists that we're talking about.
Is courage, bravery, courage, bravery, Jess, courage, bravery and fearlessness.
You know, it's uh, I can't speak anymore. Courage, bravery,
(28:53):
and fearlessness very important. That would definitely define Lady Gaga,
that's for sure. I mean, it would be cool for
us to work with. I mean, he told some great
stories about her. It's just it's always nice to know
again who these people are off stage and how amazing
they are to actually work with. Yeah, that's another artist.
I mean Abe talks about. Abe talks about a session
he did with her and her sort of knowledge base
(29:17):
of music and her willingness to just keep working at
it in the studio. It was really impressive. He was
really impressed by that. Yeah, well, lots of them like
it seems to be a theme. You know, the biggest
artist in the world have the best work ethic. Yeah right,
you know. All right, so we're gonna wrap it up
the lightning round all right, So audience question First, I
(29:39):
only have one question this week, so if you have
questions out there for Brian, please send them in for
next week. The question is I thought there was this
was actually kind of interesting. You've been in music industry.
You've been playing on stage since how old? Since I
was seventeen sixteen something? How do you hear? How does
(29:59):
this not a act? You're hearing? What exactly that old chestnut? Yeah? Right, well,
I do have I guess what they would call tonitus,
where I do hear a ringing and it gets worse
if I say, drink a ton of coffee, don't sleep,
and if I hear a lot of loud music, and
right now it's fairly sort of subdued. So I'm enjoying
(30:21):
that even with all the coffee that you've been drinking.
Excuse me, how do you know about my coffee drinking?
All right? Okay, so my lightning round? Yes, all right.
So one has to do with music and one has
nothing to do with music. Sadly, in this episode, we've
talked about some very untimely deaths, Prince being one. We
(30:41):
also spoke about Edna James, and we've we've talked previously
about losing musicians way too young. Of the musicians that
we have lost too soon, which one were you the
most shocked by or had the greatest impact on you.
I think Prince was a big shocker for me, you know,
I mean, I just to me, he still looks like
(31:01):
he's thirty eight. Yeah, exactly, even though you know he
was fifty something, so right when he was shocked when
said that, she just didn't look like it. And uh,
I mean David Bowie, you know, I just wasn't prepared
for him to be gone. Tom Petty was not prepared
for him to be gone. And they aren't older guys.
(31:22):
We just weren't made aware of the nature of their health,
you know, that they were in ill health or anything
like that. So, I mean those are just yeah, I
mean all of them, man, I want all of them
to be around always. I know, I know, I gotta say,
I think Tom Tom. It was between Tom Petty and
Prince for me, absolutely devastated on both of those. Man.
(31:42):
Oh God, So so you gets to do this is
my next question. Are you ready? I'm getting ready? Okay,
you get to do life over. You have the opportunity
to start life over in a different era. Which era
do you choose? You know what, that's wild. I don't
think that I would choose a different one. I like
(32:04):
where we are. I like that I was born straight
in the middle of nineteen fifties. I know, I'm old,
nineteen fifty five. I mean, so I was there when
that's when rock and roll started, basically fifty five fifty six.
That's the you know, that was the big boom. Uh
and um, the big bang, I should say, um, yeah,
(32:25):
that was the big bang right there, you know. And
as a result, I got to be influenced and be
around the energy that surrounded this new thing called rock
and roll. So I'm super happy with that. And then
I got to see the sixties as a youngster, you know,
preteen youngster. Uh, you know, and that's all really valuable.
I saw and learned so much. Yeah, I'm surprised with
(32:48):
all the classic cars that you love. Well, my favorite
classic cars are all from the fifties and sixties, and
that's you know, I am kind of a hobbyist, but yeah,
I'm a bit of a hobbyist, but my focus has
been on the cars that I remember as a child.
I guess that that's fairly typical for collectors. They are
most influenced by the ones they remember when they were
(33:10):
little kids. Right, right, So you did it right, is
what you're saying. I did it right for me. I
love it all right. That's where we're going to wrap
up next week. While I'm not going to tell anyone
what's coming next week, but you're going to be really excited.
Well okay, sounds good. Okay, by many, Thank you for
(33:42):
listening on tour and the after show our productions of
I Heart Radio and Black Barrel Media. This show is
produced by me Mandy Wemmer with executive producer Noel Brown.
For more information about on tour, visit our website black
Barrel Media dot com for behind the scenes photos from
these interviews, or to submit questions for the after show.
(34:02):
Visit our social media at onto our pod on Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter. For more shows from I Heart Radio and
Black Barrel Media, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
You're listening to the after Show, the bonus episode series
for on Tour with Brian Ray. This is a production
of I Heart Radio and Black Barrel Media and I'm
your host Mandy Wimmer. In the after show, we dive
a little deeper into Brian's thoughts about certain parts of
the interviews, as well as expound a bit more on
his own experiences on tour. We get into some crazy
(00:31):
stories in this after show. We hear Brian's thoughts on
Prince getting booed off stage when they were both opening
for The Rolling Stones, princes insane work ethic and how
that may have contributed to his untimely death, and the
impact his songs have had on artists and audiences alike,
particularly Purple Rain. Brian shares his own boot camp production story,
(00:53):
and we wrap with his final moments with Edda James
shortly before she passed. Here's my conversation with Brian A Bryan,
what up? What up? We met again? Hello? Hello, awesome, awesome,
(01:17):
awesome interview this week, Leroy, What what a gem of
a person and what a freaking talented person? Yeah, so talented,
so dedicated, I mean, has literally spent his whole life
focused on making things look otherworldly and beautiful. I mean yeah,
I mean just like I don't think that the production
(01:39):
and lighting teams and the crew and everyone really get
enough credit for pulling all of this off. I mean
it's clearly nothing can be done without any cog in
the wheel, you know, so to say, and the sets
and the lightning design. Mean, he's been Leroy has been
the production designer for some of the biggest names of
music awards shows, everything. I mean, I really encourage everyone
(02:01):
who's listening to actually go to his website. I think
it's liabanna dot com and look at everything he's been
involved in. I mean, you have a couple of hours,
make some coffee. I mean it's impressive. Yeah, some very
important acts you know, um none, the least of which
is uh none, the least of whom would be Prince
and Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga. There's just so many
(02:23):
more though, oh my god, a million more. So you know,
just to get right into it, because we have a
lot to talk about with Leroy. So one thing that
I was curious about, and I'm not sure if the
audience may have been as well, is that you guys
both said that you were part of the Cavala Ruffalo scene. However,
neither of you really kind of went into what that was,
(02:44):
and so personally I don't know what that is. So
can you expound on that a little bit. Bob and
Joe Ruffalo were a management team, uh in the heyday
of sort of California R and B in rock, and
they handled some of the coolest artists around. They handled
Earth Winning Fire for their sort of white hot, sort
(03:06):
of hot new period. They handled a band that I
loved named Little Feet, who was around forever and ever
and ever um. They handled John Sebastian of the Love
in Spoonful and many more things in his career. And
they handled Valerie Carter, who was an amazing vocalist. And
(03:30):
they handled this new ingenue, a guy that no one
had heard of before named Prince, and they would soon
of course, you know, everyone would know of Prince within
a year. Well, and did you say the band that
you were in with them was Yes, So I was
with a guy named Reggie Knighton and the band called
the Reggie knight In Band, and we were managed by
(03:52):
Kavala Ruffalo. So they were just a really cool management,
energetic management team. Uh, and they were. Their outpost was
in Beverly Hills on Brighton Way, and I remember going
to the office and you know, seeing all these artists
coming and going. It was an exciting time. So did
you did you know of Prince during that period or No,
(04:13):
I didn't know Prince. I had a sighting. I knew
what he looked like now. And this is about seven
seventy eight and I'm at a seven eleven in the
valley and here comes this guy wearing a black leather
trench coat and it's him. It's Prince and he was
working with this woman who also worked with the management
(04:36):
named Jamie, and uh, you know, I just kind of nodded.
He kind of nodded back. That's it. I mean, that's
the most contact I've ever had personally with Prince. Well,
I mean, what what a phenomenon Prince was. I find
it really interesting. Obviously, going behind the scenes, into the rehearsals,
into the lives of some of these huge artists I
(04:57):
find very interesting, which is, you know, what we're doing
in on this show, and really to get an insider
look into the world of Prince from his best friend Leroy,
who was I mean, they were obviously best friends, very
close friends for fifteen years or more. UM someone who
worked with him and was also a close friend of
him off stage. The stories that Lee Roy shares in
(05:18):
here in this interview were insane and I think of
um one of the most interesting things that Lee Roy
shares is in his very first few days with Prince,
the first five days, he said was just to boot
him from hell. And you know, he Prince was asking
him to do all of these different things, and he
didn't even know what he was asking him to do,
because Chris Prince wasn't, you know, a producer, he wasn't
(05:40):
a lighting designer. He didn't really know how hard the
things were, and he was asking him to do things
that were basically impossible, but Leroy would do it. And
basically what Prince just wanted to see is that he
didn't quit. And it wasn't The really interesting thing and
I promised all let you talk. But the really interesting
thing about this I thought that Lee Roy said was
(06:00):
he wasn't he would not ask someone to do something
that he wouldn't do himself. So it wasn't like I'm
just going to put you through hell. To put you
through hell, I want to know that you are as
dedicated to my performances as I am. And that's and
he would do the same thing himself. He would put
himself through the same pieces. Do you know of anyone
have you ever worked with anyone that was like that?
(06:22):
And one more thing, I promised, let you talk, but
I lied obviously. The other piece, which I knew continue.
I'm wrapping this up, but this is important. They would
not ever do after parties after shows. After a show,
they would immediately go to their hotel and every critical
person would be there rewatching the show, finding pieces that
(06:45):
messed up and perfecting it. Could you imagine. No, I've
never been in an organization quite that exacting before. But
I think that generally a lot of people out there
don't really know how shows, tours, records come together. They
just see the finished product and go, thank you very much,
Oh my god, this is great, and they just think
(07:07):
it's all like toadstools and rainbows. But you know, it's
really hard work. And you know, what I'm hoping to
do with you with this show that I'm enjoying so much,
is to sort of shed some light onto a process
that is mysterious to people and part of that is, uh,
you know, to talk about an artist that's very, very
(07:28):
demanding and exacting as Prince was. And there are many
others um names I won't name because I wasn't in
their band. It wouldn't be fair for me. But I've
heard stories. I'm sure I guess the worst it ever
got from me, or or the most demanding it ever
was for me in terms of long rehearsals. Was my
(07:49):
first touring in France with Able Broreal Jr. Actually on
drums for a woman in Milne Pharma, and her shows
were spectacular and way over the top, like production values.
Like she'd enter like through a giant statue and come
down on a cable you couldn't see, with her arms
out like she was like a deity, and come down
(08:12):
to a conveyor belt that would then take her out
to the middle of the like really intense. Um So
to perform these entrances, like these very intense entrances that
had many elements, all of which had to work together
at the perfect timing. The band leader and the tour
director would have the band play the intro song over
(08:35):
and over and over her about three days straight. I mean,
like I'm just saying we had the technology, but they
needed she needed to feel like. I'm not dissing her.
It was really more about the production manager, right and
(08:57):
uh and it was just it was pretty rough, but
you know, it all led to one of the most impactful, amazing,
exciting introductions you've ever seen. But they probably could have
used to tape. Oh my god, that sounds painful. It
was a little bit. You can ask Abe about it
when we when we get to able Boreal Jr. So a,
(09:18):
but tell me about this marriage time in your life.
I'm going to bring back up again. So the other
thing that I think was interesting, kind of along these
same lines, is that in the vein that Prince would
not ask you to do anything that he wouldn't do.
Leroy says it was really hard on him, very very
hard on him. But he would not have wanted to
be a member of the band because Prince could play
(09:41):
anything better than anybody and he and he did write.
And so how do you how do you impress Prince?
You know, I mean, he can do everything right. So
it's like, are you ever good enough? You know, just
I mean I can imagine being on stage, I mean,
even with you you've mentioned about being next to Paul McCartney.
I mean, you're an insanely amazing guitar player, and Paul
(10:03):
McCartney is one of the best. It's like you're always like,
oh my god. I mean, you have to be comparing
all the time. It is similar in that way, like
Paul is one of those rare artists that can do everything,
you know, and then he's also a ridiculous songwriter, arranger, producer,
visual concept genius you know. But um he plays guitar, piano, bass, uh,
(10:30):
you know, acoustic mando, you know, he plays everything, so
and he plays all of it really well. Right, So
it's not like he's going to say, well, how would
you do that? He would just say, Bryan, could you
play that in the the other position? You know, like
you know, he knows what he's talking about. Yeah, I
mean you can't, like you can't fake it with someone
(10:50):
like that. And I can imagine, you know, with Prince
and his as you called it, exacting personality. You know.
Then on top of that, you know where he just
really didn't anything slide. I can imagine that if you
were a band member, you'd feel like living into fear. Well,
it's true, and Prince really cut his teeth on artists
like James Brown, who was famously very very tough on
(11:13):
his band, and he had hand signals that he would
throw on stage. One hand flashing out like spreading his fingers.
That's five, another hand, that's ten. Both that's twenty bucks.
You're gonna have to pay. And that's what Leroy was saying,
is that's exactly what Prince would do. He would do
hand circles. As we miss them, then it's fifty bucks.
He was straight James Brown, and that's so interesting. I
(11:35):
got to see Prince a couple of times, thank god,
because one of my favorite performers. But I saw him
after in Chicago, after George Lucas's wedding at City Winery,
and it was one of those shows that was he
was supposed to go on at eleven or midnight, he
goes on at two in the morning or something like that.
I mean, I think we left around four or five
o'clock in the morning. It was insane. But Leroy was
(11:57):
talking about how he plays every instrument and I got
to actually see that. He was literally it was a
very small stage and he was just going around to
every member of the band. I mean he had all
the horns, you know, he had the backup singers. Yeah,
I mean everyone, everyone that was part of his band
at George Lucas's wedding was packed on this tiny little
stage and he would just go grab instruments literally from
(12:19):
everybody and start playing them and then take the spot
of the backup singer and then need faint and the need.
I mean it was honestly probably the best show I've
ever seen in my life. But the talent that this person,
the raw talent of this person that standing right in
front of you and in such a small venue, I mean,
I'll never forget it. Yeah, white hot meteor, you know.
(12:40):
And it's just it's sad that he's not still with us.
And then you think to yourself, well, some people are
meant to shine hot and bright for for a finite
amount of time and others, you know, stay relevant well
into their older age. Actors as well, you know, artists, writers,
but performing at that level, right, you know, he was
(13:01):
doing the knee drops and the thing and that, you know,
all the crazy stuff, and he did damage his knees
and hips, you know, doing all that stuff. Even Tom
Petty had damaged his knees, you know, from doing knee
drop knee drops back in the New Wave and you
know all rock days of his beginning. So it is
(13:21):
a demanding h It is a demanding line of work.
And he was just you know, white hot, what can
you say, crazy talented. So while we're on that topic,
(13:46):
one thing we I mentioned was that Prince actually predicted
somewhat his own death. He was fascinated with some of
these artists that died young and beautiful is what has
how Lee Roy said it and so incredibly sad to
lose him as young as we did. But Leroy said
that his plan was to die in his late thirties,
and he died I think in his fifties. So thank
(14:07):
god for that. Yeah, yeah, and he had a very
long career. Um, it wasn't over in a split second
like some others, like you know, say, you know Jimmy Hendrix.
That was really white hot, right, but you know, he's
just someone who gave so much and we're so grateful
for all that he gave, you know, for sure, So
(14:27):
your your first major experience with Prince, though you were
also performing, so I'm not sure if you actually saw
him live, but was Rolling Stones tour. You were you
and Etta James were opening for the Stones, as was Prince,
and that was a big topic of conversation in this interview,
how Prince got booed off stage for wearing a thong
and thy high boots and what what was going through
(14:50):
your mind at that point, knowing that that was happening.
Did you recognize the talent of Prince and thought that
this was crazy? Or did you see any of his performances.
I don't recall if we followed with Edna James, if
we followed Princess set, or if he followed us, But
in any case, I was either getting off stage and
you know, drawing off and changing clothes, or getting ready
(15:12):
to go on stage. So I missed his performance, but
I heard about it immediately afterwards. And yes, he was
wearing a leather thong and like women's high heeled boots
and well, I mean with a very fine little heels.
When I say women's, I mean it was not like
you know, dude boots. And then but thankfully he was
(15:34):
wearing a big leather trench coat which offset the whole ensemble.
But you're talking about Anaheim, which is a fairly conservative place.
And you're talking about the Rolling Stones Anaheim, and it
was fifty thou people out there, I think fifty five
thousand or something like that, and it was a blazing
hot day and Prince was unknown. Prince was unknown. Prince
(15:58):
was unknown at that time. So know, it was just
an awful lot, I think for that audience to take in.
You know, all the shirtless beer guzzlers. You know, it's
just a little bit much for them in broad daylight.
You know, there's no lights to help. It wasn't night yet.
Of course, the Stones performance went from sundown way into
the night, so it was not it was outside. The
(16:20):
performance was outside, yeah, yeah, yeah, in the stadium. Okay, alright, alright,
I was thinking arena, but yeah, of course, wow, that's uh.
I mean, obviously he came back and really talked about
how it took Mick calling him to get him to
come back and a few other people. But I mean,
just you think about that now. I mean, how he's
one of the biggest mega stars literally in the world
(16:42):
even today after his passing, you know, and how that started.
I mean, I guess to anyone out there, it gets
you hope. You know, people talk about getting a million
knows from interviews and knows from all these different places,
and then all of a sudden you finally get the yes.
I mean, you get booed off stage by fifty five
thousand people, and you come back and you are prints
the megastar. I mean, that's pretty inspiring story. So you
(17:04):
got to think about it in terms of the bravery
that it takes to do that. I mean, you know,
who would be possessed with the thought that that's a
great idea to go out on an eighty degree day
in the middle of conservative Anaheim and a stadium of
fifty people in a leather thong. I mean, it is
really brave. And his whole career was brave, and that's
(17:27):
that's incredible. We need artists that are brave that way.
But I will say, I mean, when it's a super
hot day and you're outside, he was wearing the most
practical thing. You know, I was going to wear that too,
but I like to to to add pants. Okay, we'll
leave that there. So the Purple Rain, the Phenomena of
(17:51):
Purple Rain literally talks about how that was really the transition.
You know, Prince was growing and growing and growing in
popularity and then booming double Rain hit. It was just
through the stratosphere, I think was actually LeRoy's words, and
that they would move into a city and they they'd
be sold out for two weeks, I mean, just in
insane popularity, you know, for this song. And then I
(18:12):
think that probably created even more appreciation for all of
his music at that point. But that that was I
don't know if Leroy called it the beginning of the end,
but that was really the turning point for him. How
how do you see that? Well, I mean, you know,
Prince you know, booked himself so solid and so busy
(18:35):
that what human could actually pull that off. He was
doing that and then going out as you know, like
as you were just talking about, and doing after show
party shows, you know, at some little unannounced club, whether
it's the House of Blues or City Winery or something
some small venue, uh, you know, and and so he
(18:56):
would be going, you know, basically from afternoon until the
next morning at five in the morning. And I don't know,
I mean, there's must have been some part of him
that knew that he couldn't do that forever, you know,
he's a human being. No, I know, I think yet
to be determined, but the Purple Rain, you know, particularly.
(19:19):
I have to share a really quick story. I was
the ran the events department for super Bowl forty nine
and we booked Darius Rucker for one of our biggest
events that we go, super Bowl, and a lot of
people that that I had knew that I had booked
Darius Rocker for this event, knew that he was playing
Purple Rain on his tours, and they were really excited.
(19:40):
At a number of people say how excited they were?
Clearly for Darius music, because he's an amazing musician and vocalist,
but people were super excited to see him perform Purple Rain.
And I go backstage and I'm looking at the set
last time with Darius and as manager, and I see
the Purple Rain is not on there. And I said, well,
where's the Purple Rain? Like knowing all these conversations and uh,
(20:02):
And Darius said, well, you know, I've been performing it
for the past I think couple tours and I just thought,
you know, I changed it up. This is kind of
the end, like the end of the road for this tour.
And I said, very respectfully, not tonight, you won't. We're
gonna need you to play that song that was respectfully, yes,
it just kind of came out and of course everybody
got a big chuckle. But um, but I said, no, please,
(20:23):
we really people are expecting that song. Please play that song.
So he said, okay, well I'll think about it. You know,
I really wanted to change it up. Whatever. And so
we're backstage and he's at the end of the set
and he looks over at me and he's like, and
by special request, and I just booked it to front
of house. I'm like, I've got to see this from
the front of house side and he plays Purple Rain
(20:44):
and literally the place just erupted. I mean, just absolutely
went insane. Not a single person still sitting. I mean,
just the songs that Prince wrote, and I mean just
it's it's truly remarkable. I mean, the man had so
many talent in so many areas and left us, as
you've said, such a canon of music before. I mean,
(21:08):
thank god we had him even for a short time. Yeah,
and that story points out, you know, points to the
power of song, you know exactly, And it's a it's
a fairly simple song, but it's just so soulful and heartfelt.
Eda James actually had a great version of Yeah. So
(21:35):
speaking of ed A, Leroy talks about how he did
have that final meeting with Prince at the Hall of
Fame when he was playing the guitar solo of my
Guitar gently weeps and he Leroy. He and Leroy had
not had They personally hadn't had a falling out, but
he hadn't been touring with Prince for a while because
of a bunch of stuff that's in the interview, and
they had that one final moment just the two of
(21:57):
them in the ballroom backstage that it was amazing that
they got that because Prince did die shortly thereafter. It
just reminded me about how close you are with a
Do you remember your last moments with her before she
died or interesting when that happened. Well, we had been
recording for years after I stopped touring with her in
(22:18):
eighty nine, I think was my last sort of touring
with her, so fifteen years from the beginning to the
end of touring. But we continued to work together and
studio projects. I would play on an album of hers
and she you know kindly guest vocal on on a
song of mine um called soft Machine. On my first
(22:41):
solo album anyway, So I'd come out to her ranch
out there in Riverside. She had this beautiful, sprawling horse
property out there, and she had her, you know, a
couple of sports cars. She loved sports cars, and she
had a big RV, you know, one of those sort
of massive like tour bus RVs. She doesn't strike me
as a wards card type. That's kid is so cute. Yeah,
(23:02):
she loved my MG because when I first met her,
I little MG. So she got way into sports cars. Yeah,
adorable anyway, So, um time had passed and now I
had heard that she she was uh diagnosed with Alzheimer's,
and so I thought, I'm going to make a trip
out there and and be with her, and prepared myself
(23:24):
for the idea that she might not be the Edda
that I remember, you know. And she was in her
bedroom and laying in bed, and she was a little
bit out there, a little bit out of it, and
um kind of repeating herself a little bit. And then
I just came up beside her and got her attention
and caught her gaze and then she locked into my
(23:45):
gaze and then I said, Eda, it's Brian, and she
reached out and took my hand and she said, Brian, right, Brian,
don't leave, and she grabbed onto my hands like really tightly,
and I just stayed with her for the longest time,
(24:05):
you know, hanging out and just you know, soaking up
some meta. James. So she so that was the last
time you saw her, and she remembered you and took
a little while. But yeah, we didn't then connected. I
was I was determined to connect with her, right and
I may not have been able to, but I was
glad that I did, because how many years were you
(24:26):
two together to her in fifteen years and then you
know another whatever twenty after that of recording in friendship
you know, right, right, yeah, I mean, and you do
develop those sorts of friendships. And Leroy talks about a
lot of Prince offstage and how partially you you what
(24:48):
you saw is what you got all the time. I mean,
Prince was always Prince. But at the same time you talk,
he does talk about how Prince had a really really
sweet side to him, which was really cute, bringing him
snacks in the middle of the night as he's redesigning
those and having movie nights at Paisley Park and uh, yeah,
so it was just I thought that was like, I
thought that was really cute. I wouldn't have expected that
(25:08):
from the perfectionist to boot camp prints. Yeah, well, you know,
I mean, I think it was all in the cause
of getting people to work as late as he worked,
so it might have been very, very sweet. But I
asked Libroy, I said, like, what was Prince into? Is
he bringing like cauliflower and parrots, you know? Or or
was it more like you know, Edda James used to
(25:31):
call snacks brand, go get me some wam whams and Zuzu's.
I would run out to the market, you know, we're
on tour. We'd be at the hotel, you know, holding
up in her room and she wont some snacks. Go
down to the corner market and bring back some stuff.
And so so Leroy gets back to me and said,
(25:51):
I'm gonna just read his text. He loved junk food.
It was usually chips doritos. He told me they cure headaches.
I think he hadn't eaten. He got a headache as
anyone would. Derito's were his go to food, so as
a result, his headache would go away. Smiley face like,
I'm not sure that Leroy buys that that that's what
(26:13):
that's what Prince believe. We're about to put at Valentine
all out of business. It's to Rito's. It's tomatoes, people,
you're doing it wrong. They hangover cure perhaps, and then
he writes bless him, and then he writes, uh, fruit dips, bread,
peanut butter, and jelly cookies, basically anything that had sugar.
That was his fuel to keep up. So I guess
(26:35):
he needed the same. I feel like now I know
I could be friends with Prince because I can, I
can be down with some of those snacks. I'm just saying,
you know, we need at this moment to humanize this
deity all right, so we could talk about Prince forever.
But I do want to wrap this up with a
couple of other quick stories here because rom Romstein Romstein Romstein,
(27:00):
because we we kept I keep missing it up all
the time. M Stein, Romstein Romstein, Right, is it? Romstein?
We're going to be in so much trouble. Maybe we
should google this before we go any further. This is embarrassing.
We we got to know this. Sorry, Okay, let's get
it right. How do you say it? Mstein? Okay, alright,
so they are badasses. Yeah, totally completely. Have you seen
(27:23):
one of their shows? I have not that I've seen
videos of their shows. Ridiculous, the insane amount of pyro.
I mean, how do you even a how do you
come up with that? I mean it sounds like the band,
the band members itself are a huge part of coming
up with that, and then Leroy works on the lighting
around that. But I'd be terrified. It's more like, how
how do you follow that? Like the next tour more fire?
(27:45):
I guess you just need like next time, he's going
to be more fire, more pyro, Yeah, more water fire,
you know. And then what they did was the way
they build on it is the next tour, they'd start
with nothing. There'd be nothing on today, so that when
they build to something, it has more impact, like an
acoustic intro. Very cool, your favorite thing. Oh yes, I've
(28:10):
got to see one of those shows. I mean that,
I'm definitely. I admit I had not heard of them
before LeRoy's interview, and at this point I have to
see them. Very cool. So Lady Gaga also some really
great stories. I was actually the vice president of events
for Super Bowl fifty one, the halftime performance that he
was talking about, and so I was in super Bowl
Stadium when she flew nine ft from the air. I mean,
(28:32):
that woman is fearless. I think that that's an important
element for the kind of artists that we're talking about.
Is courage, bravery, courage, bravery, Jess, courage, bravery and fearlessness.
You know, it's uh, I can't speak anymore. Courage, bravery,
(28:53):
and fearlessness very important. That would definitely define Lady Gaga,
that's for sure. I mean, it would be cool for
us to work with. I mean, he told some great
stories about her. It's just it's always nice to know
again who these people are off stage and how amazing
they are to actually work with. Yeah, that's another artist.
I mean Abe talks about. Abe talks about a session
he did with her and her sort of knowledge base
(29:17):
of music and her willingness to just keep working at
it in the studio. It was really impressive. He was
really impressed by that. Yeah, well, lots of them like
it seems to be a theme. You know, the biggest
artist in the world have the best work ethic. Yeah right,
you know. All right, so we're gonna wrap it up
the lightning round all right, So audience question First, I
(29:39):
only have one question this week, so if you have
questions out there for Brian, please send them in for
next week. The question is I thought there was this
was actually kind of interesting. You've been in music industry.
You've been playing on stage since how old? Since I
was seventeen sixteen something? How do you hear? How does
(29:59):
this not a act? You're hearing? What exactly that old chestnut? Yeah? Right, well,
I do have I guess what they would call tonitus,
where I do hear a ringing and it gets worse
if I say, drink a ton of coffee, don't sleep,
and if I hear a lot of loud music, and
right now it's fairly sort of subdued. So I'm enjoying
(30:21):
that even with all the coffee that you've been drinking.
Excuse me, how do you know about my coffee drinking?
All right? Okay, so my lightning round? Yes, all right.
So one has to do with music and one has
nothing to do with music. Sadly, in this episode, we've
talked about some very untimely deaths, Prince being one. We
(30:41):
also spoke about Edna James, and we've we've talked previously
about losing musicians way too young. Of the musicians that
we have lost too soon, which one were you the
most shocked by or had the greatest impact on you.
I think Prince was a big shocker for me, you know,
I mean, I just to me, he still looks like
(31:01):
he's thirty eight. Yeah, exactly, even though you know he
was fifty something, so right when he was shocked when
said that, she just didn't look like it. And uh,
I mean David Bowie, you know, I just wasn't prepared
for him to be gone. Tom Petty was not prepared
for him to be gone. And they aren't older guys.
(31:22):
We just weren't made aware of the nature of their health,
you know, that they were in ill health or anything
like that. So, I mean those are just yeah, I
mean all of them, man, I want all of them
to be around always. I know, I know, I gotta say,
I think Tom Tom. It was between Tom Petty and
Prince for me, absolutely devastated on both of those. Man.
(31:42):
Oh God, So so you gets to do this is
my next question. Are you ready? I'm getting ready? Okay,
you get to do life over. You have the opportunity
to start life over in a different era. Which era
do you choose? You know what, that's wild. I don't
think that I would choose a different one. I like
(32:04):
where we are. I like that I was born straight
in the middle of nineteen fifties. I know, I'm old,
nineteen fifty five. I mean, so I was there when
that's when rock and roll started, basically fifty five fifty six.
That's the you know, that was the big boom. Uh
and um, the big bang, I should say, um, yeah,
(32:25):
that was the big bang right there, you know. And
as a result, I got to be influenced and be
around the energy that surrounded this new thing called rock
and roll. So I'm super happy with that. And then
I got to see the sixties as a youngster, you know,
preteen youngster. Uh, you know, and that's all really valuable.
I saw and learned so much. Yeah, I'm surprised with
(32:48):
all the classic cars that you love. Well, my favorite
classic cars are all from the fifties and sixties, and
that's you know, I am kind of a hobbyist, but yeah,
I'm a bit of a hobbyist, but my focus has
been on the cars that I remember as a child.
I guess that that's fairly typical for collectors. They are
most influenced by the ones they remember when they were
(33:10):
little kids. Right, right, So you did it right, is
what you're saying. I did it right for me. I
love it all right. That's where we're going to wrap
up next week. While I'm not going to tell anyone
what's coming next week, but you're going to be really excited.
Well okay, sounds good. Okay, by many, Thank you for
(33:42):
listening on tour and the after show our productions of
I Heart Radio and Black Barrel Media. This show is
produced by me Mandy Wemmer with executive producer Noel Brown.
For more information about on tour, visit our website black
Barrel Media dot com for behind the scenes photos from
these interviews, or to submit questions for the after show.
(34:02):
Visit our social media at onto our pod on Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter. For more shows from I Heart Radio and
Black Barrel Media, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
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