Remembering Peabo Bryson

In July of 2024 I sat down with Peabo Bryson for an upcoming concert but what I got was some incredible stories.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bushman-friends--4817931/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live from the Heart of the d D Legend in
the boot. Voice of the Streets soon did worldwide. But
it feels so close, close because this is more than
the show. This is home. You're listening to the push
Me show.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
We coach the comedy in real conversation.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Close, turn it up, let me some fun.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So now, kids pushed me in. Man.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
You all right, I'm good.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm good. All right, I'm good. Can you see me?
I cannot see you. Okay, let's see. We can't change that. Okay,
fighting at the bottom and they'll have like a camera.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, I wish I could see that.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
You might have to touch the screen real quick and
the bottom part will pop up.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Okay, there you Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, it's always a good thing to be on the side, yes, sir.
So what's going on? Man, I'm here. Man, you're good.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Man, I'm good.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, life is. We can't wait to see you in
the city tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I can't wait to be there. I mean, you know,
me and Detroit, we we got we got a love
a fan.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
It goes back to my beginning. So tell me about it.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Well, did you know that that the background vocals on
Field of Fire actually from from Detroit.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh I didn't know that. And she ended up being
one of the Mary Jane girls. Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
That is awesome. So you definitely got some Detroit history
going on right now.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
I mean, listen.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I started out with Calvin Ventura.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
First place I ever played in Detroit was Mozambique. Man,
I know I'm taking you back, right, Yeah, you're taking
me back.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
You got some Detroit history.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
I'm serious, man.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
No, I mean, let me tell you something.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
And I played the Park Shamee Park, Well, I guess
it was Shane Park still then, but it wasn't the Amphitheater. Okay,
it was something different. The stage was short, you could
just step down, I mean, and the brothers had had
the rolls in their head.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
That's that I know, right, Yeah, I had them waves
in there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And you know, if you didn't have no personality, then
you can get your butt beat man, because you were
right there.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
There's no way to hide. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you know
they're right there. I mean they're you know you were,
you were reaching distance. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
So I played Detroit every way you can possibly play it.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
That's what's up.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, Detroit is excited to see you tomorrow at the Aretha.
It's gonna be nice day right out the water.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, the water. I love that theater. And there's no
other place like it.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Man. No, it's different. Yeah, it's different from anywhere else.
And you know what, and Detroit deserves that with its
rich music history.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh yeah, definitely. Every time what bush Man?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Ever?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Ya something? Man?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Every time one of the Temptations would quit or get
kicked out, I run up my folks phone bill man,
trying to get that job. My folks beat the living
crap out of me for them for those phone bills.
And I got several times I could talk my way through,
and whoever was gone, I was.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
I was begging to take their place. Oh my god.
The problem was I wasn't tall enough. I didn't know
there was a height requirement to be with them. Oh
you gotta think about it. They were all they were
all six feet in above. Wow.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, you're dropping some knowledge right now. These are things
I didn't even think about.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, most people didn't, because they just looked so uniform,
you know. That's that's why the movement looks so good
to all of them, very very similar height.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Mmm makes sense.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, if a uniform, keep it tall, correct, exactly, and
you know, and actually they didn't want David first.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
They wanted Jimmy.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Oh really well, according to Jimmy and I had, I
spent a lot of time with him, and he'd called
me every once in a while up to his death.
I met him in England and my wife and I
ended up riding with him, or he ended up writing
with us on the tour because he didn't he didn't
get along with mostly everybody else. And it had to
do with, you know, with age comes to a certain

(03:59):
perspect in other words, if you were in a car
and you have a driver and you say I need
to pee, and he says hold it.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
That's when you're in your seventies, that's it.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Just doesn't jail. So he says, I'm seventy some years old.
You don't tell me to hold my water. So the
guy wouldn't stop me. Still wouldn't stop. So Jimmy opened
the door. On the expressway, he.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Got pulled over.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Of course, of course he pulled over, you know, And
so so the rumor started that Jimmy was difficult. I
didn't find it that way at all. And I have
he's a captive audience. Now I can ask all those questions.
I always wanted to ask, did your brother hit that
woman in the head with that hammer?

Speaker 1 (04:43):
You know, look at jim Look at you man. Of
course I'm gonna ask it. Are you serious? Oh my god?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
And oddly enough, Jimmy and David they had a They
grew up single parent, their father, and he was brilliant
as a father.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
They didn't want for.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Anything, and he really took good care of them and
made sure that they had the best and they had
the best opportunities.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
He did that.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
His father was brilliant. Their father was just brilliant, you know,
as a father. I mean, you know, it's like he
broke all the modes and all the stereotypical ideas of
black fathers.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
He did that. So it wasn't that.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
It's just that, you know, you grew up with that
in the street or close to it, or in that proximity,
or grew up in the hood. In general, a little
bit of that stays in you always, I don't care
where you go in life, a little bit of that
And you know what, that's a good thing. Yeah, it
doesn't make any difference how articulate you become, or how

(05:43):
well read or well traveled. It does make a difference,
but not in the way that I'm speaking of. It's like,
you can achieve all those things, and you're meant to
and you're encouraged to, but you don't let that change you.
And if you take that same principle and don't let
money or success change you'll be all right.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
You'll stay grounded. That's real talk right there. Oh yeah,
you know.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
It's like, you know, I had some interest, interesting interactions
with some pretty iconic people, you know, and you don't.
You don't grow up thinking that you're ever going to
know them, let alone be friends, or they would call
you for any reason at all, or just to see
how you are or whatever. But you know, there are
stories to tell and people need to see that side

(06:27):
of these iconic artists, especially since they've gone on to
their glory and their rest. You have to you have
to talk about what that is. You have to talk
about what they would really like and what was really
on their minds. I think that's important. I think that's
as important as keeping their music and the legacy of
it alive.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
I think it's important. There will be some songs that I'll.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Be happy to do and people will happy to be
happy to sing along with because it's what it is,
what it is, and everybody knows that there's not a
more musically a student audience and Detroit in the on
the planet, on the planet.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Nope, we have.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
A iconic musical history that is longer than anything. To none, Yes, yes, amen.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
To second to none.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
You know it's like you can't, man, let me tell
you something, even right now, even this minute, if somebody said,
if it's love that you're running from, there's no hiding place.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Come on, man, you got to sing the rest of it.
You can't help it across the globe. You can't help it.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
No, yeah, you can't know it is Well, we're going
to be singing along with you people, bright saying, man,
we can't wait for you to get here.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Ready, invest your today and we'll see you tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
See tomorrow, mate, cheers, all right, take care, Bye bye
bye bye bye