Donnie Iris

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the MOB Website podcast. I
guess today is one and only Donnie Iris. Donnie, you've
been going through some health challenges. Tell us about that.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah. Yeah, I two years ago I developed uh bladder
cancer and uh and I had to I had to
have the surgery to have the bladder removed. And that
was like two years ago. But uh, everything's fine now.
I've I seem to have beat it. There's uh. I mean,

(00:45):
I obviously have some problems with no bladder, but everything
seems fine now. The doctor told me I'm in the clear.
I have to go back every three or four weeks
for maintenance, but other than that, everything's cool. Now.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
How'd you discover you had it?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, I thought I was having a like a kidney
stone or something, and uh drove myself to the hospital
and uh, it wasn't. It wasn't a kidney stone at all.
It was my bladder. So I didn't. I didn't quite
like the hospital I was in, so I got transferred

(01:26):
to what's called Hillman Hillman Cancer Center in in Pittsburgh,
and uh and there there are uh they're very good
doctors and uh they they they took care of me real.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, so you have the surgery. Do you have like
radiation or chemo after that?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah? I had what's called chemo therapy and immunotherapy. And
I remember the doctor calling me and telling me they
came out with this immunotherapy they had the fdd A
had just the FDA had just approved it, and he
was all excited about it and thought it would be
it would be a great thing to do. So we

(02:08):
did it, and sure enough it worked. It worked very well.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Okay. So how long ago did you discovery the problem?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Two years, I believe, okay.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
And when's the last time you've had treatment.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
I've had maintenance treatment within the last week or two.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Okay. And is this something that's been very hard you know,
where you felt shitty or it's like, hey, you just
go through the immunitherapy.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah. No, No, I didn't get sick at all. I
mean a lot of people have told me they've been
sick after chemo, but I never had any problems with sickness.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
So after you went through this crisis house, it affected
your outlook on life?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Oh uh, I don't know. I just I just thought
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do the best I can.
I'll just push on. If I can still do shows,
I'll still do shows. And uh and sure enough. I mean,
we've been able to do shows and there hasn't been
any problems other than I have to take a couple

(03:21):
of pain pills before I go on stage. But other
than that, I'm fine.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Okay, prior to this medical incident, how many shows were
you doing a year?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Oh well, that's a good question. I don't even remember. Probably, uh,
prior to the incident, I'd say i'd say half a dozen.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Okay, So you're doing it for fun as opposed to money.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, We're definitely doing it for fun.
But that they're the crowds are there, the venues are
are generally sold out. So we're we're doing well with it,
I mean when we're loving it. And we got a
new lineup. Now we got uh Jovitally Junior and Jovitally
Senior playing drums with us. Now Jovially, let's yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let's hold on for a second. Jovially drummer. Long history
with James Gang. Yeah, you're from Pittsburgh. Certainly James Gang
started in Cleveland. How do you know Jovitally.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Uh. Well, his son, Junior uh is playing with us now.
So I mean Kevin, our original drummer, is no longer
with us, but uh, Jovi Tally Junior was playing with us, and.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
We I mean, how do you find Jovially Jr?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Well, he uh. For for some reason, he was the
guy that we were going to replace Kevin with our
original drummer, just by auditioning. So he comes, man, he
does a good job, and he's still doing a good job.
And then he told us about his dad, and of
course we were like, oh, yeah, yeah, let's let's get

(05:19):
to know him. And somehow he started playing with us.
So we're up there with two drummers and just having
a ball, man, just having a ball and listening to
Joe Vitelli's or Senior's stories in between the sets are amazing.
He tells stuff about Crosby, Stills and Nash and all

(05:42):
that crap.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
And where do both of them, the Senior and Junior
live right now?

Speaker 2 (05:50):
I think they're both in the Cleveland area.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Okay, so you live exactly where.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
I live in a place called Coreopolis, Pennsylvania, which is
a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
So how far is that from Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
About an hour and a half.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
So you were growing up, would it be a normal
thing to say, Oh, the band's playing in Cleveland, We're
going to go to Cleveland, or you just stay around Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
No, it it was. We played quite a few gigs
in Cleveland. Our original manager, Mike Belkan was our original manager,
and he also managed the Michael Stanley Band, and so
we did a lot of gigs together. We did, oh,
the Richfield Coliseum and a bunch of different places with

(06:45):
with Michael. It was kind of, you know, kind of
a two band situation for most of the Cleveland shows.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Okay, let's go back to the present. So you know,
in the old days, you'd have an agent. An agent
would solicit offers. Now that you're doing a handful of gigs,
where do the gigs come from?

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Oh? Man, I don't know. Our Our manager now is
Michael Michael Belkan, who is Mike Belkin's son, and he
he just gets all these great gigs for us. I
think he does a great job. And I don't I
don't know how he solicits these jobs, but he he

(07:35):
does a great job at it. We're playing, Uh, we
don't go any further than Columbus West or Johnstown to
the east. So yeah, he's keeping us busy with some
really nice shows.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Okay, any recordings in the future.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
We haven't really thought about it that much. We're kind
of into this live gig thing and and uh and
not put putting too many too much pressure on ourselves
for trying to come up with something new. So uh no,
we're not really concentrating on it.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So what's it like being on stage eight decades later?
I mean, you know you started early, you know, is
it the same hit from the audience to get stage fright?
What's it like?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, it's it's it's it's a little bit. Uh, I
don't know. I don't get stage fright, but I go
up there, the audience is right into it. They're they're
ready to go right off the bat. So I feel
very comfortable up there. And uh and the shows are
usually just just a it's a love fest with all

(08:44):
these people. They just we're just enjoying each other's company.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Really, So, are you just a normally energetic guy or
do you feed off the feedback of the audience.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, I am definitely a guy who feeds off the audience,
because usually during the day. I'm a pretty lazy guy.
I don't do a whole lot other other than sit
in my front porch and smoke cigars and and that's
my hobby. Right now, I was smoking cigars.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Okay, So let's go back to the beginning. You grow
up in the Pittsburgh area. How long had your family
been in that area?

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well, they were here all their lives. Really. I was
born in a town called Newcastle, Pennsylvania, which was right
outside of my hometown of Elwood City, Pennsylvania. And that's
where I grew up in Elwood In. I was born
in nineteen forty three, So I grew up there, you know,

(09:59):
as a kid through high school. And yeah, that's about it.
Then I want to have to call it.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Okay, So were your parents or your parents parents born
in the Old Country?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
My parents' parents were born in the Old Country? Yes, yes, And.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
How did they end up in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
That's a good question. I have no idea. No, they
came over on the boat just like everybody else did,
and just settled in Elwood City. How they settled there,
I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
And what did everybody do for a living?

Speaker 2 (10:39):
My dad was a steel worker, my grandfather, Well, when
I knew him, he was retired. Both my grandparents were retired.
Both sets of parents were grandparents were retired. So I
just I didn't know them all that well because they

(11:01):
passed on as I became like a young teenager.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
So what did your father say about working in the
steel mills.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
He didn't stay in the steel mill all that long.
He had quit after a while and started working for
a company called National Distillers who made whiskey and Old
Granddad and PM and all these whiskey brands. That's what
he decided to do. So he became an on the
road salesperson for these for this company, and that's what

(11:39):
he decided to do.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
The kind who stays overnight in a different town or
did it always come home at night?

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh you know what, I don't even remember. It could
have been a little bit of both. But I don't
really remember at that time. Let's see, I would have
been oh she, I don't know, by seventeen something like that.
I don't know, something like that. I don't remember. So

(12:08):
how many kids in the family, Me and my sister,
I have a sister, a younger sister, how much younger.
She's five years younger.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
And what was her life about.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh, she was a caretaker. She was a good caretaker.
Her husband developed some problems and she mainly takes care
of him and to me to a certain extent.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
So you're growing up in Pittsburgh. Your father's first work
in the steel mill, then he's liquor salesman. How about
your mother and your father and mother's relationship.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Well, my mother was actually the one who taught me
how to sing. I was very young, maybe five six seven,
I don't know, but she would, uh, she would encourage
me to sing. We had a piano in the basement
where she would take me downstairs and and uh and

(13:11):
and show me what to do and how to sing
and uh to get some vibrallo in my voice and
that kind of thing. But she was the one who actually,
uh encouraged me to sing.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Do you know why?

Speaker 2 (13:31):
I think? Uh, I think that's just the way she was.
She was musically. She played church, she played the organ
or piano in church.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
So, I mean she was just drawn to that type
of thing.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
My dad, on the other hand, was more like a uh,
just a normal guy. You know. We wanted, I guess
wanted me to play baseball and so off, which I did.
And I wanted to play baseball rather than go practice singing.
I guarantee you that, and and so I had a
little bit of both.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
So did you like singing? And did you sing outside
the house?

Speaker 2 (14:13):
I did, but I think I was about nine or
ten when I did that. I started singing at weddings
and different events in Ellwood. I remember as a kid,
like a nine year old or ten year old kid
who did a had to travel to Philadelphia and perform

(14:39):
on what was the name of that show? I can't remember,
Paul Weitman or I forget who it was. I remember
going up there to do that, and I came in
second place, and I want to I won a Calvinator refrigerator.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
I actually had a Calvenator refrigerator, did you Yes, it
was cheap. That's why we bought it one of my
first apartments. But let's go back. I mean, you're not
singing in the basement and all of a sudden you're
on TV. I mean, how does this happen that you
get on TV? Well, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I used to sing on the radio actually before that.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
How do you get on the radio?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I don't know. My mother somehow arranged it for me
to get on the some radio show in beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
I sang there like every weekend or something for I
don't know how many weeks before heading to Philadelphia to
do that Paul Whiteman show. But I mean, I guess,

(15:46):
I guess I was pretty good or something. So I
kept calling me back. I kept going back to sing.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
And what were singing? Oh?

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Man, I have no idea. I can't remember what I
was singing. Probably old I don't know, Bennett or Sinatra
or some some tunes like that.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Did you like doing it or would your mother, being
a stage mother, making you do it?

Speaker 2 (16:18):
I suppose I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the attention, the uh,
you know, the uh, the thrill of it. But uh,
I was young. I mean I didn't know, you know
what what what what was going to transpire after all this,
But yeah, I just I just went along with it
and uh and I had fun doing it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
So did you go to regular public school or religious school?

Speaker 2 (16:51):
We went. I went to public school.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
So if I was in school with you, say, oh, yeah,
you know that's the guy who sings. Were you famous
as the guy who sang school.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Let me see, I don't remember being famous in school,
but yeah, I mean I was young. I don't remember
if kids would come up to me or not. But
the only thing I remember really after singing on the
radio and stuff, was you know, going into going into

(17:26):
high school and you know, just becoming whoever I was
going to be at that time.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
So would you become?

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, I became a pretty darn good pool player because
we used to play pool after school every day down
at the place half a block from my high school.
We'd go down there and just shoot pool after school,
and just I became pretty good at it. Now I'm

(17:56):
not quite as good, but I was pretty damn good
back then.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
How often do you play now? Oh?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
I still play. There's a club around here in Cranberry
that a Cranberry township that I go to, the where
they have fool tables there and everything. So every once
in a while we'll go up there and we'll sit
around play pool.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Okay, were you a good student? Were you a bad student?
Were popular? Were you unpopular?

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I was. I was kind of a nerd. I didn't
I don't think I was all that popular. I was
kind of I got good grades, in high school, I
got uh you know, Uh, I did graduate with honors,
So I mean I just pretty much concentrated on school

(18:46):
pretty much. Wasn't real Uh that was real popular.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
So if I talked to the high school, if I
talk to you, what would you have said you wanted
to be and do with your life?

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Oh man? When I was in high school, yeah, h
see at that time, I really didn't know. I mean,
the plan was for me to go to college and uh,
and that's what happened. Uh. You know, I went to UH.

(19:21):
I went to Slippery Rock University for about two years
and then I got I got a call from a
group called the Jaggers to uh to hook up with them.
Because when I was in college, I had a band,
a three piece band that we'd play in fraternity parties

(19:42):
and stuff like that. But anyway, this band, the Jaggers,
had heard of me and they, uh, they want me
to go on an audition because the leader of their
band was leaving uh for some reason. I don't know,
but uh, so I took I went to auditioned for them,
and we had a new band and call the Jaggers
at that point. So that's when I started into professional music.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Okay, you're born in nineteen forty three. Was there always
a television in your house or do you remember getting television?

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah? Yeah, there was always a TV in my house.
Me and my dad used to Those were the days
of the rabbit ears and stuff like that, where he
just tried to put some aluminum foil on it and
try to get it to work. But we had a
lot of fun doing that. My dad and I we
put up a big pole antenna in the backyard because
there was a hospital behind us, way up high and

(20:39):
we couldn't get the signal high enough to get you know,
to get a good reception. But we figured it out.
We did all right.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Then what were you watching on TV?

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Oh man? Stuff like Howdy dooty, uh shit? What else?
I can't even remember we did. That's the one that
comes to my mind right off the bat.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, I certainly watched that too. Okay, you're singing, your
mother plays the keyboard. At what point do you start
listening to popular music and listening to the radio.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Oh, I guess I started listening to the radio a
lot when the Beatles.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Okay, but by time the Beatles hit you're already in
your twenties.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Okay, well let's see, Yeah I was. I was.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
You're right, so you're conscious at the you know, they
say it's a big debate what the first rock and
roll record is is? You know, I turned Rocket eighty eight?
Is it rock around the Clock? Were you paying attention
to that stuff at that time?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
No? Not really, the only thing I've paid attention to.
I mean, I grew up. I liked Buddy Hawley. I
liked the stuff he was doing. I thought he was
really good. Know I I was around when when when
they they would have that plane crash when they uh,
you know, when they died. But I remember listening to

(22:09):
Richie Vallens and uh and the Big Bopper and all
that stuff. So I have some influences there too.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
And what about Elvis Elvis?

Speaker 2 (22:21):
I really I love the early on Elvis when he
was just when he was just going for it with
Don't Be Cruel and the hound Dog and all that stuff. Uh,
that's the Elvis. I really liked the fact I went
to see his place in Memphis, uh maybe six seven

(22:41):
years back, took a trip down there and went and
checked it out, and it was it was it was fun.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
No, I've been there too. I'm not the biggest Elvis fan,
but it's just funny that it's not that big a place.
Now he's got the three Sony trindotrons to watch the
three networks in the jungle room. It's got an interesting feel.
So yeah, after Elvis hits, how about Little Richard, Carl Perkins,

(23:13):
all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Oh yeah, Little Richard I admired. I admired him a lot.
I thought he was great. Uh. Carl Perkins I didn't
pay too much attention to. I don't know why, but
I just didn't. But yeah, Little Richard was uh, I
mean he was, he was great. I think Paul McCartney
might have listened to him a little bit too. A
lot of the things that he does in that that

(23:37):
kind of raspy voice sounds a lot like Little.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Richard, Long Tall, Sally, et cetera. Okay, yeah, then music
starts to change to these two dimensional acts like Bobby
Ride Dell and Fabian. How did you feel about the
music then?

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Actually I knew Bobby right Dell. He My manager at
the time was Joe Rock. Do you remember Joe Rock?

Speaker 1 (24:03):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
He was the guy that man is and wrote for
the Skyliners. Very talented guy. He wrote since I Don't
have you and this I Swear and all these great
songs for the Skyliners. But I lost my train of thought.
Where were we going with this?

Speaker 1 (24:25):
I can't Bobby ry Dell you were talking about?

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh yeah, yeah. So anyway, Joe knew Bobby rid Dell
and he brought him to my house one time. We
got to meet Bobby rid Dell and we actually ended
up producing a record or two for him and James
Darren the same way we did. We did a couple
of records for him as producers because at the time

(24:51):
the Jaggers were hot. We had like a Rapper, which
was a was a big hit back in the seventies.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
But we'll get back to the rapper point. Do you
pick up a guitar or an instrument started playing?

Speaker 2 (25:07):
I think I was in eleventh grade when my dad
bought me a guitar and I started playing it, but
it didn't last very long. It went behind the college
because it was hurting my fingers. So I didn't pick
up a guitar really until I was maybe my second
year of college. Started practicing. Okay, you know you had

(25:29):
a piano in the basement. Do you ever play the piano. Uh,
just a little bit, not anything to speak of.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
No, okay, your father boy guitar, acoustic guitar or electric guitar.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, it was acoustic.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
So now you're a sophomore in college. What is the
inspiration to pick up the guitar again?

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Uh? I think around my second year, I was getting
a little bored with being in college. I started to
get the inkling that I went to be Uh, I
want to be into music. Uh, that's probably why I rather,
I got the guitar and started practicing again and uh,

(26:13):
you know, honing, honing my chops, so to speak. And
like I said, playing with a couple of early on
college bands.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Okay, a lot happened. If you're playing on an acoustic guitar.
It's a big step to get an electric guitar, get
an amp, well, form a band. It doesn't happen instantly. No,
I might have during that time.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
I might have. I might have gotten an electric guitar
at the time. I probably did. I don't really remember,
but I did have an electric and I had an amp,
and we were we were ready to go. We were
we were ready to get out and play.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
So you know that was an error where there were
bands at every corner. If you get gigs, were there
that many gigs? Were you just better than the other acts?

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Well, I don't know what it was, but we were.
We had a nine times a week gig at a
place called Geneva on the Lake, Ohio. We used to
play seven nights a week and twice on Sunday for
two jam sessions. So we were definitely owning our skills

(27:28):
at that time. And we were vocalists too. We all sang,
we all you know, we all did everything. So and
it went on like that for maybe two or three
summers something like that, and we just had a blast.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Okay, wait a second. Not only were you playing at
Geneva at the Lake, were you living there?

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yes, Oh there's got to be some stories there.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
What kind of stories you're looking for here?

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Well, mistiff, drugs and alcohol?

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Sex. Well, I'll be honest with you, at that time,
there was no drugs or alcohol. Well, there was alcohol,
but no drugs. I mean, we were we were pretty
uh we were pretty virgin y virgins at that time.
But but yeah, we drank, but mainly it was it

(28:25):
was playing in uh and sex basically.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Well, you must have been the big stars there because
you were the band.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, yeah, I mean it was Geneva on the lake.
It was. There was a couple other places to play,
but the places we played that called the Cove and
the Sunken Bar, were the two main places up there,
and that's that's where we that's where we were playing.
We used to pit one against the other. We'd play
one one joint one year and another joint the other year,

(28:56):
and then playing against each other to try to get
more money. How was the money, Oh, I don't even
remember what it was, but at the time it seemed
like plenty. We did. We did fine.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
And what music were you playing?

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Oh? Man, we were doing we were doing what was
popular were We were a good cover band. We did
a bunch of covers from whatever was popular at the time.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Okay, so you're hit in the sixties and one hand
you got Perry Como. On the other you have four
Seasons in the Beach Boys. Was that music that appealed
to you?

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Uh, not as much as other music. I like the
Beach Boys. I lest certain songs they did. Who else
did you mention four seasons? Four Seasons? I wasn't a real,
real big fan of the couple. They had a couple
of really nice songs though. And who's the other one.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Well, the Harry Como. I don't expect you're a big fan.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Perry Como, man, he was. Uh. I used to love
his TV show man. Do you watch that.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
With those sweaters?

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah? I love Terry Como didn't live didn't live that
far from me either.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
So how did you first hear the Beatles?

Speaker 2 (30:22):
I remember driving, uh for a while there, I commuted
back and forth to college, and I remember hearing them
on the radio.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
What were your initial thoughts?

Speaker 2 (30:34):
I thought this was great, this is this is great.
They sound great. I love it. I loved it.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
And how did that affect your career?

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh? Man? We uh we we did so many different
Beatles songs throughout my throughout my history. We did a
ton of them. Uh, it's just uh. And then the Stones,
I listened to the Stones. We did a lot of
the Stones tunes. But the British invasion was awesome, man,

(31:07):
it was awesome.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
So what year, if you can remember, do you get
asked to join the Jaggers.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, let's see, that would have been like sixty eight,
sixty nine, maybe.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Sixty eight you're twenty five or twenty six years old,
you orderly went to college in that intervening time. Were
you living as a musician or did you have a
street job? What were you doing what time when subsequent
to dropping out of college before joining the Jaggers.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, well then I went right out of college and
joined the Jaggers. That's what. We hired a guy to
book us. So we were playing clubs all throughout the Midwest,
like six nights a week, staying in one hope, staying
in one room for for I don't know how long.

(32:12):
We played like that and learned how and basically learned
how to play.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Okay, what was the status of the Jaggers.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
When you joined, Well, they actually were called Gary and
the Jewel Tones. And when I don't know, either they
kicked him out of the band or he left the band.
I don't know what happened. But we renamed the band
the Jaggers. We you know, tried to come up with

(32:43):
a name, and we came up with that name because
here in western Pennsylvania, you walk into the woods and
you get all these jagger bushes all over your pant legs,
all these burs all over your pant legs. They stick
and you get you have a hell of a time
taking them off. But that's where we got our name.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
And how did it go from Jaggers with an ass
to Jaggers with.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
A z oh? I don't know. It just seemed cooler
at the time when we did I don't know when
we did it, but it's just it seemed cooler.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
So when you joined the band, what was your role
in the band?

Speaker 2 (33:21):
I was one of three singers. I mean all of
us sang, so yeah, I did certain songs, the other
guy did certain songs, so on and so forth.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
And at what point did you start playing original material
and at what point did you start recording that material.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
We started doing originals like in sixty nine early sixty nine,
and we wrote some songs. We went up to our
manager Joe Rock hooked us up with Gamble and Huff

(34:07):
to go up there to record some songs, which we did.
And uh, I mean somehow he knew these guys and
was able to get us in because Gamble and Huff
was they were they were big time, big time dudes,
right and uh and and we were like we were
like a white eyed, a blue eyed soul band. At

(34:31):
the time. Uh, except for the Rapper, the song of
the Rapper. But that's what we did. We went up there.
We did an album with Gamble and Huff came out
pretty well. Now I'm no longer with the Jaggers, but
they're still performing and they're still doing some of those songs.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Okay, you're in the Jaggers. You go to Gamble and Huff.
You must have thought, man, I made it.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, I mean it felt great. I mean we were
gonna go up and uh and we did. We we
just we recorded and had a great time. And before
I knew it, the Rapper had come out and I
remember hearing it on the radio and I remember, you know,

(35:24):
everything was like a whirlwind at that time because we
went out and did the We did American Bandstand. We
did these shows with like people I used to watch
on TV, these dancers on American Bandstand. I was like, Wow,
this is this is unbelievable. But yeah it was. I

(35:45):
don't know how it happened, but it did.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
So how did you write the Rapper?

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Believe it or not. It was the middle of the night.
I woke up with the with the song in my head.
It was a rapper I had it all planned out.
I brought it into the band and we put it
together and that was it. That's how it happened.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Okay. Prior to the Rapper, had you written a lot
of songs?

Speaker 2 (36:10):
No? No, not a lot. No, I mean early on,
I did some things that were just like I mean,
way early when I was like sixteen or so. But
but yeah, nothing serious.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Okay, the rapper in the middle of the night. How
similar was that to the record that came out?

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Uh? Similar in what way? What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Well, the melody, the sound did it sound?

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Yeah, yeah, it did it did? It came out pretty
much the way I had it planned. When I brought
it into the band, they understood and they just they
just played it. They played the right parts. They did
everything that was in my head.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Okay at the time, forget what rap means today. That
was a hip turn to rap. Let's sit down and wrap.
So how did you come up with the term the
rapper for the song?

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Well, the rapper it was a different kind of rapper.
It was a rapper that went into a bar at
night and started rapping the chicks as a pickup line.
That's what I meant by the Rapper, which is totally
totally different.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Okay, you go to Philadelphia to record with Gamble and Huff,
who records the Rapper? They record it?

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Uh no, no, I take that back. We were in
we were at a place called Century Sound Studios in
New York. That's where we did the Rapper And that
would have been late sixty nine and the song came
out in early seventy.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
And who produced the record.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
We did? We did with a friend of Joe Rock's
what was his name? I can't remember his name anyway,
we pretty much produced it ourselves.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
And when it was done, did you believe it was
going to be a hit?

Speaker 2 (38:12):
I didn't know. I had no idea. But it was
just one of those things. Just one of those things, Bob.
It's one of those things.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
I mean, did you don't know? Did you play it
for the record company and they say, wait a second,
this is the one.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, we did. We did. We got turned down by
five or six of them, until Neil Bogart said, Okay,
we'll take it, we'll give it a shot. So he
gave it a shot and the next thing we know,
we're going to American Bandstand and stuff.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
You know, Well, Neil Bogra legendary, you know, in the
Bubblegum era, then Casablanca Records. He ultimately dot answer at
a young age, what was your experience with Neil Bogart? Oh?

Speaker 2 (38:55):
He was he was cool man. Well, like I said,
he was cool because he gave us a chance. I mean,
you get turned down by all these people, you start
getting like, what the hell? So I mean, yeah, I enjoyed.
I enjoyed it. I enjoyed meeting them, and thank goodness,
he gave us a break.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
So what was it? I mean, the Rapper went to
number two? I mean, the Rappers one of those songs
that you were lyve you could never forget it. What's
it like having, you know what, a gigantic hit?

Speaker 2 (39:28):
I don't know, man, that just just happens. You just
don't know. It's just it's something. There's just something there.
I don't know what it is. It's just it just happens.
I mean, and we you know, and we hope that
that happens every time, but it doesn't. It's just just
it's coincidental. It's lucky, it's it's everything. It's the stars

(39:49):
and all that shit.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Okay, now the record's a hit what's your life like
once the record is a.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Hit, Like I said, we're we're jet setting all over
the place, you know, going here and there and everywhere.
Uh to uh to back the song up, to get
to get some exposure as people, as musicians whatever.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
Rapper is a gigantic kit. See any money.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
We did, we did. We saw money. In fact, we
uh as a group, we all went down to this
this auto dealership in beaver Falls and we all leased
seven Lincoln Continentals, the big boats with the real long

(40:44):
front end. They were. They were gorgeous, gorgeous cars. So,
I mean the money was rolling in and we were
able to spend it.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
Okay, you wrote the rapper who owned the publishing on
the wrapper?

Speaker 2 (41:06):
I think we split publishing with the record company. I'm
pretty sure that's how it worked. We had our share
of the publishing, they had their share of the publishing.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Who owns it today?

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Good question. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
Well, let's put it a different way. Do you get
paid on it?

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah? Yeah, on the wrapper?

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah usually BMI they send me a check every like
every quarter. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
So's the money any good?

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yeah? I mean it's it's not anything spectacular, but it's
a nice little check, a little surprise, little mail money
every once in a while, never hurt. So yeah, it's nice.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Okay, so you have this gigantic kid. Then what happens
for the.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Well, basically what happened is we pretty much had our run.
There was not any tension or anything, but just just
uneasiness in the band. People wanted to do other things.
One of the guys in the band got asked to

(42:23):
join the Skyliners, so he went with them for a while.
What I did was I left. I left and came
into the studio, the studio that we're sitting at right now.
I don't know what year that would have been, do
you do you know that the year that we recorded here,

(42:47):
late seventies. So yeah, right here at this studio, late seventies,
we're recording and I was learning how to do the stuff,
the stuff with it on this board and maybe becoming
an engineer or something. But that's what I was doing

(43:08):
at the time. And I was also singing some gigs
with a guy by the name of b. E. Taylor.
Did you know b E? No?

Speaker 1 (43:14):
I didn't.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
He was a Christian singer. We did, like I don't
know how many duo shows he and I sang together
for many years, just as like a side gig. We
did this and that here and there. In fact, we

(43:37):
did we did shows up my dad's tavern. After my
dad no wait, no, wait a minute, after my dad
quit selling whiskey, he and his partner, he and a
guy friend of h is hooked up and started a
place called Loose Tavern, so which he spent a lot

(43:57):
of time. Man, And this is right around the time
of the Rapper. So I used to go there all
the time, and my dad was behind the bar. He
would be making chili or soup or or meatballs or whatever.
They go in and hang out with him. And in
meantime the Rapper was was on the charts. It was

(44:20):
on his way up. And he used to have a
thermometer thing behind the bar and he would draw on
it every day as it went up and up and up.
So and he was like he had his old chest
out ship. He was like he was all into it.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
So how hard was it to quit the Daggers?

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Well, like I said, we pretty much we pretty much
had had it. I mean we you know, when it's over,
it's over. And when I came into the studio here
The funny thing was a group called Wild Cherry came
in and they were going to record here. So the Leafs.

(45:12):
The keyboard player in the band, Mark avsek, He and
I kind of hit it off. We were like, okay,
you know, whenever this is over, let's maybe get together
and you know, maybe write some songs or do this
or that. I said, okay, Well, first of all, we

(45:34):
went out on the road with Wild Cherry.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
Okay, wait, you're in the studio, you see yourself as
a behind the scenes guy. How do you end up
going on the road with Wild Cherry.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Well, well, here's what he did. One of the guys
in the band was leaving, so Bobby Parsi, who was
the leader of the band at the time, asked me
to join him and go on the road with him.
So I said, yeah, oh yeah, let's go. So yeah,
I spent I don't know, a year, year and a half,
maybe two years with Wild Cherry. This was after they

(46:07):
had this play that fucking music quite so yeah. I
toured with them for a while and that was like heaven.
We were flying everywhere. We'd go stay at a hotel
for a week and get all tanned and stuff, looking
wanting to look good, and we would say all week

(46:29):
and at the end of the at the end of
the week, we'd have a show to do. We played
like in Albuquerque, I think it was exactly that scenario.
We didn't play till the end of the week. We
just sat there and had fun.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Okay, at what point in this scenario do you get married? Oh?

Speaker 2 (46:57):
I was married in I think sixty eight. I think
I got married in sixty eight, yeah, or sixty nine.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
How many times you been married?

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Once? Just once?

Speaker 1 (47:09):
And did you get to where's you're still with your wife?

Speaker 2 (47:12):
No, we're still we're we're still separated.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
How long have you been separated?

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Separated? Probably thirty years or so something like that.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Let's stay there for a second. I lived that life,
did you? Yes? Unfortunately, How did you ultimately decide to
get separated?

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Oh? That that that was just that was just going
to happen. I mean we were separated physically, so you know,
so that becomes that becomes the thing. You're physically separated
for so long you're separated, So that's that's what we were.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
So who was this woman you married?

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Her name was Linda.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
And Rod you meet her? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah, oh man, I met her at a club that
we played in uh in beaver Falls, would called the
Club Natural, And we played there like six nights a week,
every night, and she would come in there and I
noticed her, and that's how it happened.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
But who wanted to get married? Who are you?

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Oh man? I guess we both did. We uh yeah,
we decided to get married, and we did and had
two wonderful daughters. And now I have five great grandkids,
not great ganches, but grandkids, and I'm loving it.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Okay, But you're a musician and you're the breadwinner. What
does she say about your career moves? Leaving the Jaggers,
going to work in the studio, going on the road
with Wild Cherry? Was she cool with it? Did she
want you to quit? Get a regular job? What'd you say? Oh?

Speaker 2 (49:14):
No, no, no, no, she was cool with it. She
uh you know, everything every move I made, she was,
she was there, she was, she was into it. You know,
you need to do what you gotta do. I mean,
you don't hear very much of that, but it's true.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
And then, of course the obvious question is why have
you never gotten divorced? Oh?

Speaker 2 (49:40):
I don't know, never found it, never found any use
in it, really, I mean, why.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Well, has she found someone new? If you found someone.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
New, Yeah, she's she's she found somebody. I found someone
and everybody. Everybody's happy. We still get along great. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
And is she off the payroll or you still supporting her?

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Well? I do what I can for her. Put it
that way.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Yeah, okay, So you go on the road with Wild Cherry.
How does that end?

Speaker 2 (50:23):
M Well, that is at the point where Mark av
second and I start this new songwriting team and start
Donnie Iris and the cruisers.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Stop for one second when you stop being Dominic Arachi
and become Donnie Iris.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Oh that was long before. That was way before nobody
could ever pronounce my last name, and it was just
the right thing to do. I just change because basically,
although my name wasn't Dominic, my mother always called me
down neat Donnie. She didn't like Donny, she liked Donnie.

(51:09):
So my first name was Donnie. My last name is Jiachi.
So I had to change that because nobody was ever
going to get that right. I changed it to the
way it looks irase Iris. That's why I changed it. Now,
everything's cool, nobody makes mistakes.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
So you got this songwriting partnership with Mark Abset. Yeah,
and take us forward from there.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
All right, Well, we decided to get together and write
some songs. So we get down in my basement and
beaver Falls at my house in beaver Falls, and and
we start there was I had a piano in my
basement and and we start clinking around, start writing tunes,

(52:01):
and before you know it, we had I don't know,
six or seven songs ready to go for whatever, and
uh went into the studio and uh and we recorded
back on the streets. The first album was had Leah, Agnes,

(52:24):
uh and and the others whatever. But uh, we ended
up on a label called Midwest Labels.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Wait, wait, let's go back. You're recording the record at
the time. Agnes is a date. There was somebody on
some sitcom, some woman that was always blowing the whistle
called Agnes. How do you come up with the name Agnes?

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Funny thing? Agnes rhymes with everything, right, it rhymes with everything, gladness, sadness.
You know. There's that's why we that's why we use
that name. That's exactly why we use the name.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Okay, tell me about the creation of Aliah.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
All right, this is a story. So, Leah was a
woman I knew who was dating the drummer in our band,
and uh, I just thought she was beautiful. It's just gorgeous.

(53:40):
So but I didn't know her. I just knew her
from a distance. And later on in life, I have
to go forward here because tell you the end of
the story. I go, I get into somehow, I get
into mortgage banking, all right, bear with me here. I

(54:04):
get into mortgage banking and I start doing business with
this girl. Anyway. The girl was Leah's daughter, and I
didn't find this out too and like, I was doing
business with her for a period of time, and I

(54:27):
asked her, I said, you know, is your mom Leah?
She said, yeah, yeah, she has a flower shop right
up the road here. I said, we gotta go see her.
So yeah, I mean when I went up, I saw
her again. It's just as beautiful as ever, and it was.

(54:48):
It was a great time. We hung out together, me
and Leah and her daughter been hung out. We just
go places and have a good time. Man.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
So how did you write the song?

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Uh? The song went through several phases. Really, it went
through a an anti war idea. Uh, it went through
a I forget. There might have been one more, one
more thing, but it ended up as the we we
had that. We had the vocal course in the background

(55:23):
in our heads, the ah Leah. It was like a chant.
It was like a Gregorian chant. And and we looked
at it other and we said, Hey, that's that happens
to be a name. It happens to be the name Leah.
So let's let's go with a girl. Let's go with that.

(55:44):
This is all crazy shit, but it's the truth. It's
just that's the way it happens. That's the way it happens. Man.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
How did you stock the vocals? I mean that record
has a unique sound.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Yeah, we we did. The we did had a lot
of stacking at the place, just just for the effect. Really,
the we layered one on top of the other for
I don't know how many how many tracks there were. Jerry,
the original engineer here, would remember, and Mark Mark probably remembers,

(56:20):
but I don't have any idea how many times I
did that. But uh, but it had a certain sound
to it. It had a chewiness to it. It had
it had this jump out of the radio at you
when it comes on. It had that kind of feel
to it, which was something we hadn't planned.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
So what happens? First, do you finish the album and
look for a record deal or you cut Aliyah look
for a record deal.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
We have the album finished, so we give it to
uh Belkan Maduri in Cleveland and to uh and their
their uh their staff, the people they work with to
get records promoted and so on and so forth, and
uh uh they get it on the radio. Uh and

(57:15):
these radio stations are adding it like uh w b
z Z, I think it's bezz in Boston, Saint Louis, Dallas,
all these all these radio stations are adding the record.
They're adding it, and we're thinking, I mean we're not like,

(57:37):
we're not like twisting arms to get them to play
the song. They're playing it, and uh, before we know it,
it was. It was spreading all over the country and
it was a It was a hit. It was a
hit album oriented rock song, not necessarily a pop tune,

(57:59):
but it did make it way up to I think
twenty nine or something on the Billboard charts.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Okay, let's go back. You cut the record, you give
it to your managers. What do they do about getting
a record deal?

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Well, they after they had done what they did, they figured, okay,
it's time to make a deal. They knew people in
at MCA, so they sell the record to MCA, and

(58:34):
so now we have a large company behind it that
can do to do more for the band. So yeah,
they they sold the masters to them.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Okay, but the record said Carousel Records. What was up
with that?

Speaker 2 (58:54):
Yeah, it was an offshoot of MCA. It was managed
by a guy of the name of Rick. Oh what
was his last name, Rick? I can't remember, Rick Frio,
Rick Frio, Yeah it was. It was his his deal

(59:16):
with mc A.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Okay, could you believe you had another hit?

Speaker 2 (59:24):
No? No, it's like ten years later is another one coming?
So no, I you know, that's what you hope for,
but you don't really expect it. It's just like I
say that, that stuff just happens. It's just he hit
the radio and before I knew it, it was happening
all over again.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Okay, and do you immediately go on the road.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
No, we don't. We Uh. What we do is we
start hearing. We start hearing a bunch of clamoring to
put the band together. So so first of all, I
put I put me, and Mark put the band together.
We just I remember going to a local place here

(01:00:10):
in New Brighton and hearing some some dude play from Erie, Pennsylvania.
Who well, I said, yeah, this this guy could do it.
So his name is Marty Lee. He's my guitar player
to this day. He came and joined the band. And

(01:00:30):
that was one guy. Mark Avsek knew this drummer by
the name of Kevin Valentine, so he had Kevin on board.
And I knew this bass player by the name of
al Britton McClain who also decided to come into the
studio and play on it. He was on board. And

(01:00:51):
then of course me and Mark and then we we
put it all together. And then, like I say, there
was a clamoring to put the band together. So we
reheart We rehearsed for I don't know two three, four weeks,
and we put the band together, and before you know it,
we're opening for Nazareth, seeger H, Teddy, Nugent, all these people.

(01:01:18):
We're opening up for these great people.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
Some people have been in the business for a long
time and they're friends with all these people. Are you
the type of person you know who's friends with these people?
You say, no, I'm a guy from outside Pittsburgh. I've
met these people. I'm in my own world.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Well I met you know. I think one of the
best tours we did was was with Loverboy, because I
got to meet these guys and we kind of had
fun together. I mean, Mike, Mike know and I have
become friends. Every once in a while run into them
because we're doing a recent show somewhere. But yeah, we

(01:02:09):
we did a tour through the Midwest. The lasted for
maybe I don't know, three or four weeks or something
like that, and they were they were just great Midwest entertainment,
starved people and here comes lover Boy and Donnie Iris
and we're rocking him to death. Big crowds, great, great crowds,

(01:02:33):
and it was it was just that was the best
tour I ever did, best tour I ever had.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Okay, when you're an opening act for some of these stars,
is the audience paying attention? Are you playing through people talking?
What's it like?

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
Yeah? It varies. The Loverboy tour was just great. They
they they were into it no matter what. But when
we first went out, we opened for Nazareth in Saint Louis,
and you know, Nazareth. I looked out into the audience

(01:03:09):
and I saw a sea of I don't know, camouflage,
I don't know what. It was, just like, oh, this
might be a problem. I get out there. I got
my yellow suit on and my bow tie and all this,
and I know they're going to hate me, and for
sure they just they started booing from the first moment

(01:03:33):
we laid from the first note, and we got through it.
I think our set was like a half an hour.
So we get through it, and we come to Leah
and we start that and I can remember seeing the
audience and all kind of turning around, looking at each
other and saying, I know this song. I know this song.

(01:03:56):
And at the end of it, by the end of it,
they were clapping, and it was it was worth. It
was worth all that craziness just just to hear that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
Okay, So how much were you working. It sounds like
you're working a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Yeah, yeah, we were. We did. It's been it was
such a whirlwind. I think we were going from one
gig to another. I think we had a tour bus
and all that stuff we were going. I don't know
where we went after that, but I mean we were
working we were definitely working.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
And now it's the MTV era and there's a video. Yeah, yeah,
will tell us about that, all right, which one do
you want?

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Which one?

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Were talking about it from the very beginning.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Aliah oh okay u Aliah somehow gets on MTV and
Agnes somehow gets on MTV uh as recordings and we're like,
you know, we're on MTV, man, we're on MTV and

(01:05:13):
uh but then they added they added uh uh Leah
the live version from uh from where we were playing
in Cleveland. But yeah, I mean it was great stuff,
great stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Okay, are you now recognized because you're on MTV?

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Uh yeah, yeah, now now and then now and then
I am.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
What about in the height in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Yes, I remember going to a place called Kennywood Park
here in here in Pittsburgh. It's a big amusement park.
And I was there and people were coming over to me, man,
like I was there with my daughters, my wife and
my daughters getting trying to get them on rides and stuff.
People are coming over and get my autograph and all

(01:06:08):
this stuff. I'm thinking, Wow, what's going on? Man? They
had recognized me?

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Yep, Okay, why was it called the Cruisers.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
Well, uh, originally I wanted to call ourselves the Turnpike
Cruisers because it seemed like I was always going back
and forth on the Turnpike, you know, to to Mark's house,
to the studio here or there whatever. But after we
thought about, we thought, oh, let's just change it to

(01:06:45):
the cruisers. Cruisers would be better.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
And was it always going to be Donnie Iris and
the Cruisers or was it the Cruisers and stuff? Was
always going to be Donnie Iris and the Cruisers?

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
It was, Yeah, it was always going to be Donnie Iris.
I mean I was doing all the h not all
of I mean, Mark did so many vocals with me,
but usually uh, you know, the vocals were going to
be basic my concern, and we just that's that's what
we did.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Okay, at some point you have to make another record.
How does that happen?

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
We decide to. We decided to come back here to
this studio and we write some songs again. Some of
them were some of them were written ahead of time,
some of them were done in the studio as as
jam sessions, and but we won this time. We wanted to,

(01:07:48):
We wanted to have see. We mixed the first album
Everything Right Here and the follow up album, King Cool Album.
We wanted to have it mixed where the heck you are?
Where we where? I can't remember where it was mixed,
but we wanted a different place to mix it, and

(01:08:11):
so we did. We got a different mastering people involved
because we wanted to have more fidelity out of the songs.
Because what we found out here was the most of
the songs we did were kind of mid range ye

(01:08:31):
in in in the spectrum of in highs and lows.
It was more of a mid range thing, which might
have been a good thing for the for the Aliah record.
I don't know who knows, but we decided to do
a different on the second album, and it's the second
album sounded really good, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
So. Tell me about the writing of Sweet Merrill Lee
and was there in the back of your mind how
do we follow up Alia?

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Well, uh, I got to give most of the credit
for something like this to Mark. I mean Mark comes
up with lyrics like he's waking up in the morning,
you know, he's just like uh so he he put
all the lyrics together, went into the studio said here
you go. I went in started singing basically that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
So what was the experience after the second record as
opposed to the first?

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
This experience after thee in.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
Terms of how did it feel, Alia was the biggest
solo hit you ever had. So now you're following it
up with King Cool. You're having success, But do you
feel like you're losing momentum, maintaining momentum, gaining momentum? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
Oh, I thought we were pretty much maintaining what we
had with King Kol because Love Is Like a Rock
was fairly pop. There was a couple of other tunes
on there that that we still do live that that
people remember. I mean they were played enough to where
they were recognizable, like a song called Tough World. Uh,

(01:10:19):
you know, just little pickets, little things here and there.
They're still recognized when we play them on stage other
than the big hits.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
So tell me about coming up with Love Is Like
a Rock.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
That was an in studio jam. We what we did
was we had a tight tape machine and we made
a loop out of it, a physical loop out of it,
and you know, within a certain tempo. I mean, we
had that we had the loops set up from one
side of the studio to the other to make this

(01:10:55):
big tape loop. Anyway, that's how we came up with
the with the beat, and pretty soon Marty put in
the uh, the riff, the guitar riff and the bass
riff and this and that. It all came together and
then the very end uh we wrote we wrote the

(01:11:16):
lyric our Love is Like a Rock.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
So you worked that record, Tell me about recording the
next record, The High End.

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
Mighty, The High and Mighty. We had all kinds of
problems with in the studio that some of the that
was a that was a gut wrenching experience because the
studio tape at the time wash was coming apart. They

(01:11:46):
were the the not the shiny side, but the other
side where the where the music's at it was. It
was deteriorating for some reason. We had no reason, no
idea why, but for that reason we had to We

(01:12:07):
had to just like go with what we had. And
it still didn't sound that bad. It came out okay,
but just the vibe in the studio wasn't there that
it should have been, and that's what I think, that's
really why that album was not successful.

Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
So what's your attitude going into recording the next album?
Fortune for ten.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
Ooh, we felt a little better, then felt a little better.
I honestly don't remember what we've done this, Like, I
don't ten to twelve albums, and I don't remember exactly
what songs are on there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
Well, let me talk about some of my favorite songs. Well,
can you tell me about Stage Door, Johnny?

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Oh, yeah, I like that tune. I thought that was
a good tune. Yeah, we don't do it anymore, but
because not that people, not that many people remember it.
But yeah, I thought that was a good song. It's
one that we could have continued on, continued on with.

(01:13:17):
But I think that whole record, that whole the whole
story behind it, just give us a bad taste of
what can happen when things are right in the studio.
I mean, it's just, you know, we stayed away from
that record as much as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
Well, what was such a bad experience in the studio.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
Well, the problems that we were having with tape, with
the problems with the studio, everything was the things just
weren't right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
Actually, I'm talking about the next album, Fortune for ten.
What was your experience recording that?

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
Oh? Uh, Fortune for ten was it was a pretty
good time. I remember. I remember doing the songs and
taking them into uh take him to Cleveland, try to
get some uh uh some airplay on it. I went
to see kid Leo. Uh do you remember him Choreo

(01:14:18):
of course mms, yeah, yeah, we I remember going in
and he said, well, what the heck is Fortune for Ten?
I said, I said, you know what, it's my glasses,
the glasses I used to wear. That's what the name
of the glasses were, Fortune for ten. That I told

(01:14:40):
him that's what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
How did you decide to name the album Fortune for ten?

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
Well, I'll be like I said, it's just, uh, let's
give it a name. So I named it after my glasses.

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
And then and my other favorite song on that album
is Never Did. Can you tell me anything about that?

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
Yeah? That Never Did us a good song. That was
written by Albritton McClain or bass player who's a massive,
massive talent in his own right. He sings, he plays,
he he was he was a gifted player. This guy.
I mean, he brought a lot to the table if

(01:15:27):
if musicians listened to the bass and some of the
stuff he does he does on My Girl and uh
and some of the other things that he does little
nuances that he does. He's he's he's just he's just
a cut above. He's got natural ability.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
On that album, there's a song do you Compute? This
was before everybody had a computer on their desk at home.
Where did that even come from?

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
It came from Mark. He bought the guitar. The atari
thing is. Yeah, Uh, he bought that, and uh he said, Man,
we got to get into this uh this computer thing,
I said, And if we would have had the money,
we would have spent some money on uh, you know,

(01:16:18):
on Microsoft and all that ship. We just we just
didn't have the money. But anyway, yeah, we we got
the computer. Mark was very much into computers. He still is.
He's just like, well he's he's a genius. What can
I say? But yeah, we just had fun with the
video and that thought it was a pretty cool video.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
So then it ends with mc A. How does it
end with m c A.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Well, it's it's kind of a long story, but basically
what happened is we weren't happy with what Rick Freo
was doing on his end, uh, and Mike Belkan and
I just, uh we just decided we wanted to get
away from them and uh and move on. So we did.

(01:17:17):
We did. There was a whole court thing involved in
uh and uh. You know it ended up where they
did let us go. So we were on our own time.
We were fine.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
Okay, at what point do you realize, Wait a second,
this isn't working. I'm gonna working at a mortgage shop.

Speaker 2 (01:17:41):
Oh let's see, No, when was this? This was? Okay? Yeah?
Like right after that, right after that, me and a
buddy of mine, we were kind of local celebrities around here.
He he was a local celebrity because of football he played.

(01:18:02):
He played for the Steelers. He played for Kansas State
and he played for the Steelers, and he and I
were kind of kind of a big deal around here.
So this guy who owns a mortgage company says, I
want you to come and work for me. We think
we can use your names to do business. Okay, I'll

(01:18:25):
give it a shot. So I had nothing else to do.
We were involved in lawsuits and all kinds of shit.
I didn't want to be bothered with. So so I
become a mortgage broker and I did that for like,
I don't know, six six seven years something like that

(01:18:46):
started our own business, being two partners started owned business
and mortgage business, made made money doing that and uh
and eventually, of course, you know that isn't going to
work out for me. I figured, Okay, we brought this
business up into something, we'll sell it now. So we
sold it, made some money on it. I went off

(01:19:09):
my own and just I just kind of waited it
out really to see what we were going to do.
And Mark at the meantime was going to law school.
He went to case Western University and graduated in like
two and a half years. And because of all these

(01:19:31):
lawsuits and stuff that we were getting involved in, I
guess he wanted to be a music infringement attorney. You know,
he figured he he was always calling there and so
that's what he's doing now. And he's doing great at it.
He's like he's making just you know, lawyers, they make

(01:19:56):
tons of money, and God bless him, he's doing great.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
We're still going out and having a good time doing shows,
just handpicking these great shows we're going to. We are
going to the Bahamas the February or March or next
year at We're gonna do some show with Billy Ocean

(01:20:22):
or I think Billy Billy Ocean. Uh, Yeah, I think
it's him and like two or three other like big
name bands, and I'm like, I'm into it. Yeah, let's
go because it's on a stage where the stage looks
like a big clam. It's a big clam that we're
going to sing on, and it's like, I can't wait. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:20:44):
Okay, would you make more money at being a mortgage
broker or being a musician.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
Being a musician, No, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:54):
Okay, So from beginning to end, how long were you
a mortgage broker?

Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
Oh? Maybe five, six, seven years something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:03):
And what's the key to being a mortgage broker? The
key to be successful? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:21:11):
Oh, just it's like anything else, just like uh, getting
to know people, getting to the getting to the getting
to the point where you trust each other. You're doing
trying to do them a good job. They're trying to
do a good job too, and that's how you build
up these uh these contacts. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:33):
Was it depressing to have a street job.

Speaker 2 (01:21:38):
No, not really. I mean I guess I guess it was.
But I never got to a point where I let
it really affect me. You know, I just went with
the flow, and you know, everything was cool. It was successful.
So yeah, that was fine.

Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
Okay, tell me about the lawsuits.

Speaker 2 (01:22:03):
Well, let me tell you about the first one. The
first one was over Leah. There was a guy from
the from Detroit who claims that who used to who
used to go into the studio. He used to make
tapes like the little cassette tapes, and he would send

(01:22:28):
them out to all the record companies, and he felt
that we had to have heard his tape before we
were able to do Leah, which of course was bullshit.
I mean, we wrote that song down in my basement,
you know. So anyway, we go to court for all this.

(01:22:53):
In the meantime, we're spending all our money on lawyers
and music experts, all this crap, spending all this money
that should have been ours with the record and he
So anyway, what it comes down to is we won

(01:23:14):
the lawsuit. He didn't get anything, but we lost everything.
We lost all the money from the fucking record. It
was just like, oh, well, let's move on, you know,
painful experience.

Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
And you're seeing another lawsuit.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
Oh, let me go back to this one. First. The
lawyer for this guy from Detroit was Bob Sear's attorney.
He was Bogs I mean, come on, man, I mean
never mind. Anyway, the other lawsuit was the one with

(01:23:58):
MCA we and the one we wanted to get away
from them and move on, and in the end we did,
but you know, they it was just it was just
something that I guess had to go to court in

(01:24:18):
order to have some sort of ending to it, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
Was that expensive too?

Speaker 2 (01:24:25):
Yes? It was, Yes, it was. I mean, here's basically
what happened was. I said Mike, my manager, I said, look,
I ain't got the kind of money now to go
do another lawsuit. He said, don't worry about it. We'll
take care of it. So at least cost wise, I
was okay.

Speaker 1 (01:24:46):
So, you least the leaking Continental at the height of
the Rapper when it was Donnie iris and the Cruisers,
was that ever financially successful.

Speaker 2 (01:24:55):
For you, Donnie Irison the Cruisers?

Speaker 1 (01:25:00):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:25:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:25:06):
And at this late date, is there any income from
those songs on those records?

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
Oh? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, like I said,
we're doing great gigs for the most part, sold out
gigs to venues about you know, twenty twenty five hundred people.
And yeah, I mean they're just they're great shows. Now
I'm off for a while, but our next show will

(01:25:34):
be in Pittsburgh with With Sticks and Reo Speedwagon, so
I'm looking forward to that. That's in August. But in
the meantime, I'm just gonna relax, smoke cigars and have
a good time.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Okay, where did this cigar thing come from?

Speaker 2 (01:25:54):
You know? I used to smoke cigarettes like they were
going out of style. I mean, I was smoking three
packs a day. As soon as I woke up, I
smoked a cigarette, as soon as I got on the phone,
I smoked a cigarette. I mean. It was awful until
one night we were doing the show somewhere. I don't
remember where it was or anything, but I came close

(01:26:16):
to passing out on the stage. It was so bad.
So I got the nicotine gum, I got the patch,
I got all that stuff to try to quit smoking.
But eventually I came back around. Only this time I
came back around to cigars because you don't have to
inhale them. You can enjoy them for the pleasure of

(01:26:37):
just blowing smoke. And I've had no problems since, no
problems with my voice, no problems with energy, nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
It works, just going back to the money for one second.
What are you living on now? What's paying the bills? Now?

Speaker 2 (01:26:59):
Well, it's it's uh, it's gigs, royalties, social Security. Ah.
But like every every every every quarter, I get a
check for you know, all my songs and uh. And

(01:27:20):
now I'm with Mark Avssek put me with Warner Chapel,
who really gathers up great, great stuff, so I get
some money from them. Uh, and I'm doing fine.

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
So if you never did another gig, is there enough
money from royalties to live on?

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
Mmm? Yeah, I think so with the with the Roorty
money and the Social Security, I could I could get by.
But I don't plan on quitting anytime too. I mean
something would something bad would have to happen, and I'm
hoping that doesn't happen because I'm want to keep going.

Speaker 1 (01:28:00):
Okay, let's go back a step. You leave mc A.
When you leave mc A, are you feeling like that's
such a bad situation. I just got to get out
of here or is it more of if we're with
somebody else, we're going to have more success.

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
Yeah. I mean we weren't sure. We just wanted we
just wanted to get away from them, and we knew
our people, you know, Mike Belch and the CARMANDERI and
those guys. They knew enough people that maybe we get
a shot to somebody else. But basically we wanted away
from m c A. They were at that time, they

(01:28:39):
were really not not that good a record company as
far as we were concerned. So, you know, whatever whatever
happens after that, we thought, you know, we gave m
c A a shot. It didn't happen. We'll just take
our chances from here on out.

Speaker 1 (01:28:58):
Okay, you take your chances. You never have major success
after that? What did it feel like? And at what
point did you give up the dream?

Speaker 2 (01:29:09):
Oh? Hm uh, you know, I don't know. Something something inside,
I guess keeps you going. And the fact that Mark
Avsek and I were, you know, just such good friends
and we've been through so much that you know, we figured,

(01:29:35):
you know, just let's just keep going. And then there's
and then this cancer thing happens, and and all of
a sudden be I think, because at least partial partially
because of it, we're getting all these great gigs again,

(01:29:55):
and we're playing in front of a lot of people,
and uh, and we're just basically hardly even believe in it.
But here it is again, and we're just we keep
looking forward to more shows because there's so much fun
anymore that I mean, I'm just enjoying it. I'm enjoying

(01:30:20):
it like it's the first time I've ever played. It's
been great.

Speaker 1 (01:30:26):
Well, I've enjoyed talking to you, Donnie. Thanks so much
for talking to my audience. I wish you good health.
May you die on stage in your nineties.

Speaker 2 (01:30:39):
That's what I plan on doing, brother, And thank you
for everything. Bob, It's been a pleasure, man.

Speaker 1 (01:30:46):
You bet till next time. This is Bob left set