Ernie Boch Jr. & Joe Spaulding

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought withBilly and Jenny, brought to you by
the Box Center. For more thanfifteen years, this dining duo has been
eating their way through New England,mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurantsand giving you the inside scoop on where
to whine, dine and spend yourtime. So get ready, it's Food
for Thought giving you something to chewon. Hey, everybody, welcome into

(00:21):
Food for Thoughts on Billy Costa here. So glad that you're out there listening,
because you're going to be glad you'reout there listening. And that's because
I have two superstars in the studioright now. I've got Joe Spalding and
I've got Ernie Baka, And we'vedone this before. We have the only
difference being the other times I've hadthe two of you in Joe, you

(00:42):
weren't retiring, stepping down. Sois this okay, We're going to get
to that in a second, becauseis this the new trend now? Like
nobody retires, they just step down? Yes, yes, okay. So
we're talking about the Box Center,Wang Theater and the Schubert, which it's
just an incredible, incredible thing thatwe have it here in the city of

(01:03):
Boston, So Joe and earlier here. And one thing I can promise you
is that during the course of thisshow, we're definitely going to get some
interesting stories. We're definitely going toget some pretty cool history, and will
definitely take you behind the scenes ofthe years and years of the Box Center,
the Wang Theater, the Schubert Theater. First things first, Joe,

(01:26):
when did you decide you wanted tostep down. I made the decision a
couple of years ago, Billy,and I was thinking about it actually pre
COVID, and then COVID came andobviously we had to shut down and let
almost a thousand people go. Andthen I decided, well, I got

(01:49):
to stay and get us through that. And then we got through that,
and I bet the Ranch that Livewas going to come back in a big
way, absolutely, and it certainlydid. And we've had, you know,
some record years and we're still havinga great, great attendance. Everybody's
coming to everything. Yeah. No, my impression is and Ernie, you
or joke and answer to this.My impression is that you folks at the

(02:10):
Waighing, the Box Center of theSchubert are actually doing as good or better
than you ever did, right,Yes, you know during COVID there was
there were a group of people thatthought, literally thought that live music will
never come back. And that's ado you remember that joke? I knew.
I mean that is like just likethe most ridiculous thing. You know,

(02:35):
I'm saying that in hindsight, butat the time, I knew live
music was going to come back.I knew this whole thing would be over
and it has come back. It'sreally we have a new booker that Brian,
who is doing a great, greatjob. Yeah, because the lineups
for the last three or four yearshave been outstanding because but a real diversity
of the kinds of shows which welove to do, and so you know,

(03:00):
we've become one of the biggest Latinpresenters in all New England. Yea,
yeah, so it's all been it'sbeen great. Not to mention all
of the other things you've done withthe museums at the Box Center, in
the Wing Theater and the Folk Projectwhich is still going just starting. Joe
Is just did a spectacular job kickingit off. Yeah, do you really

(03:21):
had our first induction, Joe,I'm not saying retire. You notice I
lost that word. Yes, youreally want to step down? Things are
going so well, well, itseems like it's a good time to do
that, right, So, youknow, as I get to be a
little bit older, Billy, mybalance isn't as good as it used to
be. And going through sixty fivetwenty four to seven for thirty eight years
is thirty eight years. And wehave a good friend, his name is

(03:46):
ed Simkis. He's a writer,and we were doing the interview for the
Hall of Fame induction ceremony, whichwe just had last weekend weekend before but
and he said, so this isa big gear for you, and I
said, yes, it is.Twenty four is a big year. And
he said, well, you knowI have the I said, I have
the induction ceremony and I'm stepping down. He said, no, screw that.

(04:10):
I wrote the review of your album. Fifty years ago. You had
an album. Oh is that yourconnection to folk? Because you're such a
folk lover, it's correct. Really, were you any good? Well,
you know, let's just say Iwasn't that bad. Hey, he did
an album fifty years ago, backback then, you had to have talent

(04:31):
to do it absolutely well. Youdidn't have social media, you didn't have
TikTok, so you couldn't blow upon TikTok. Nope, you had to
do it the old fashioned web.So now Ernie is the guitar Museum still
there, Ernie, Yes, wehave. We have Farhoff is a collection
of incredible memorabilia from people from Bostonand in national international folk. We have

(04:56):
Woody gut Thries Banjo, Woody,you got Thris band Funny. We have
it on the wall. When youget close to it is like this Forard,
it's really it's crazy. Are yousaying that Woody's spirit is that I'm
saying it's unbelievable. Yes, infact, we are saying that. So
we just had the induction ceremony andwe got lucky. I mean, we
had a new trio play and thetrio was not Peter Paul and Mary.

(05:18):
It was Peter Paul and Joan Bias. Joan Bias. I never thought I'd
see Joan Biez live. She waslike sitting right next and they performed together.
So you're talking about Peter and Paulfrom Peter Paul and Mary and if
I had a hammer. Yeah,you impressed it. I knew that.
I'm impressed. But that was abig hit though. Joan Bias was the

(05:39):
third in the in the trio.Yeah, I'm guessing it was a total
sellout. No, it was privateinduction. It's private twenty eight people.
We inducted twenty eight artists from JamesTaylor to Nyvis Staples, to Joan Bias,
his Sonhouse to what he got throughYou to Pete Seeger and we had
all their face family and it waslike a religious experience, to be very

(06:03):
honest. Now I've got to askyou. You had your folk years,
right, and I'm guessing you weretalented to some degree, right. Joe
Ernie is his guitar in the museum. I don't think so. My guitar
is very good on his way down. You should have your own case up

(06:26):
there, Joe. Here's a reallygood idea. Here's a great story.
So we also had Tom Rush playingthere. So I don't know how many
years. So I was sixty eight. In nineteen sixty eight, I was
a sophomore in high school and Iwent to see a concert and there was
Tom Rush and this guy had abig bushy mustache, and he had a
nice bushy hair, and he's playinghis guitar and two thousand women are yelling

(06:49):
and screaming. And I thought tomyself, Wow, and listen, he's
singing no Regrets in Circle Games.Wow, which Joni Mitchell wrote a circle
game. And boy, this isreally exciting. And yet he's playing a
guitar with a naked woman on thefront. And I looked at him and
I saw this going on. Isaid, in ley, I want to

(07:09):
beat this is what I want todo for a living. This many years
later, I'm still in the business. All right. Well, hold on
that thought and that guitar. Billyis in the in the bar. Okay,
hold these thoughts. Okay, we'rejust getting started. I've got two
guys who probably have more stories totell than anyone you will ever meet,
got Ernie Bark and Joe Spalding inthe studio. Welcome to Food for Thought.
Everybody, you're listening to Food forThought, brought to you by the

(07:31):
Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel insweets Hey. Everybody, Welcome into Food
for Thought. Billy Coffey here,I've got special guests in the studio Ernie
Bark and Joe Spalding. We'll getto them in a second, but once
in a while on the show,I like to kick off the show with
a new fine. Okay, thisis very cool and by the way,
this is specifically for dog lovers outthere. There is a place right up

(07:56):
the street in Everett. It's calledPark nine Dog Park and Bar. It's
one of the coolest places I've everbeen to. We just shot an episode
of Dining Plubbrook by the way nessonnine AM on Saturday's nine pm Sunday nights.
It is a doggy daycare. It'sa giant facility. It has two
giant bars. You can bring yourdog. You can have a doggy beer

(08:18):
with your dog. Of course youhave the real beer. Your dog will
have the doggy beer. But again, we've got Ernie and Joe in the
studio. Joe Spaulding thirty eight yearswith a Box Center Wang Theater. But
you're retiring. Oh, I'm sorry, stepping down, not retiring. What
does that mean? Well, itis my hope that I will continue to
develop the Hall of Fame and there'llbe a new president and CEO who I

(08:41):
will be consulting for to make theHall of Fame continue to grow as we
just finished our first induction. Sem, how many years have you been thirty
eight thirty eight years yep, thinkingback to thirty eight years ago, where
were you coming from and what wereyou thinking? I was working for Don
Law and I had helped build GreatWoods, which I still call it Great

(09:07):
Woods. Oh, I didn't knowFlack and uh uh and and uh uh
you know I had. Hunter cameand asked me if I would be willing
to leave what I was doing andgo to run uh then the Waning Center
for the Performing Arts, and Isaid no and uh. They then came

(09:31):
back again and said would you dothis? And I said no, uh
and uh. Finally they came backand said, look, we're we're not
doing very well. And if youremember back then, Billy, we were
in the combat zone, which haschanged a little bit. The physical.
All the statues didn't have heads,and it was all one color and the
black glasses you see today was green. They were all broken. And I

(09:54):
went there and I basically asked ifthey asked me if i'd spend a week,
and I would go for a weekand look at the contracts and look
at things and decide whether or notthey should shut down or we should try
to give it a go. Andso I did and I found well,
I used to go there. Ernieand I both went there as we were
growing up in the seventies and somesome times together. So it was it

(10:18):
was an opportunity. And I gotin there and I said, yeah,
this is this, this is aplace, this is real. So I
so I'd take the job. Andthe rest has been history. And in
terms of booking talent and putting talenton a stage, you already had experience
out of Great Woods total, whichby the way, listeners, if you're
not aware, Great Woods became theTweeter Center became the something Else, and
then the Infinity What is the actualname of that, It's the Exfinity.

(10:43):
Okaycause I still call Great Woods.I'm going to I'm going to get up
today at the expence. You're stillcalling it great Culture. Oh my god.
No, there have been three otherreinventions of that place. By the
way, Kiss concert come into InfinityCenter at Great great Wood. You've got
me saying it. Actually I've beento the Kiss show there many times.
Yeah, well, you welcome tocome anytime. It was always a fun

(11:05):
time at the KIS show. Yougot Doja Cat coming in. She just
headlined, uh Coachella. Yeah,Jason Derulo is coming in. And by
the way, that's June first.Everybody go to kiss Onaway dot com.
I'm just saying, Ernie, doyou remember, because it's interesting that you
both have histories in the city.You've been here most of your life,
if not your whole life, soyou knew the wang and now your name

(11:28):
is on it. Do you rememberthe first show you went? Absolutely?
I remember that. I remember thefirst show I went to. I went
to Cat Stevens in the very earlyseventies. It was the music Hall and
right the music it was the musicHall, and it was, as Joe
described, it was kind of arundown theater, and then you know,

(11:48):
you get the theater itself, andthen then the basement. And in the
early seventies, you know, Iwent down there and it was the first
time I ever walked into a andit literally, like you like in the
movies you have this it was allpot smoke, just just pot. I
had never seven, I had neversmelled that much pot in my entire life.

(12:13):
Going there at the time, itwas and see people, see people
in the seventies in public in thebasement smoking marijuana like that was the first
time I ever saw anything like that. Wow. Yeah. And the fact
is, and we were talking offthe air, Ernie and you were saying,
people living here most of their liveshave gone to shows when it was
the Music Hall, now that it'sthe Wang Theater or the Box Center.

(12:35):
And you say, and you saythis all the time, if people haven't
seen the belly right of the wing, the Inner or the Box. And
you can go on tour. Youcan go on yeah, go through the
Hall of Fame, and we alsoinclude the theater. I get to go
on stage, get to go backstage, You get to go in the dressing
rooms. You get to see whereeverybody's in, the autographs on the walls,

(12:56):
everybody that played there, and likewe have glass cases with you.
Joe Perry himself personally gave me aguitar, his his his jeans, his
shirt, and that's what's on display. And didn't Peter Wolf come down personally
and give you the stuff personally?Wow? So how do people go about
taking the tour? You just simplycall Box Center dot organ we have a

(13:20):
tour. You make a reservation andthen you come. Now, I was
every year, Ernie. You werealso saying that you slept on a sidewalk
to see something. Well, my, my, this theater is. I
just can't tell you the connection Ifeel to this theater because you know,
when I was a kid, youthere was you know, there was no

(13:41):
internet. There was there's a thingcalled ticket Master. Oh yeah, and
ticketmaster and you had to you hadto call up and get a credit card
and you can't. That was youknow, when you're twelve thirteen years old,
that's that's not something that happens.Well, you go to the box
office and buy a ticket, andthe good shows you did, they sell
right out. So in nineteen seventythree or nineteen seventy four, it's a

(14:03):
little foggy there. I slept outsidethe box center to get tickets to Deep
Purple. What year was this?This was seventy three, seventy four.
Okay, hold that justin. Theproducer of this show is in the studio
with us right now. Ask Erniewho he went on tour with years later?
Ernie, who'd you go on tourwith the years later? Well,

(14:24):
wait a second, So I slepton the sidewalk to get tickets to Deep
Purple, went to the show.Forty six years later, I was on
tour with them and we played thetheater. That's amazing. So did you
play with Deep Purple? No,we supported We supported band, yeah,
which we toured the whole Ernie andthe Automatics all of North America with Deep

(14:46):
Purple. Did you tell them thestory? Well, you know they you
know, the big rock stars.You know when it's funny when you when
you when you open up for aband, a big band. We opened
for a lot of big bands,a lot of my hero We open it
up and you think, oh,you know, the back in the dressing
room and drink and smoke and talking. No, it's not like that.
I mean, they were the nicestguys in the world. But it takes

(15:07):
a while to do them, youknow. And uh, I guess I
can say this. About halfway duringthe tour, they ran out of pot
and and the guys in my bandhad plenty of supply. So that's when
they that's when we really started hanging. Supply was better. Well, I'm
not you know, it's funny becausein those that type of I wouldn't smoke.

(15:31):
I only I I you know,I have a medical license by the
way, for a pot. Oh. Yeah, so you've got the car.
I got the car, so Ionly do it, you know in
the privacy mayrint home. Yeah,but you weren't smoking on them. Maybe
one guy, Yeah, but maybeonce or twice. But it was,
uh, you know it was.And so getting back to my connection with

(15:52):
the theater, it's it's incredible.And when Joe came, Joe called me
up one afternoon and said, hey, I want to have lunch. And
let me tell you, anytime i'ma big week like that calls me and
they want lunch, they want something. And even though I know knew Joe
and this was joe idea, Ididn't know really what he wanted. And
he approached the concept of me puttingmy name on the theater. And I

(16:15):
said, Joe, that's like ATand T and Gelatin. That's like a
big the I'm a little guy.I don't do stuff like that. When
did this call happen two thousand andfifteen? I said, I would have
no idea. Well, we openedtogether as a box center in November of

(16:36):
sixteen, and so it probably wasa you know, twenty really hard mid
teens. So it was really hard. When we made the deal. You
know, we looked at each other. We're friends, so it was like
a one page right, and thenit got a little bit bigger because that's
what attorneys do. But at thesame time, we both agreed, we're

(16:57):
going to put it in the drawerand we're never going to look at it
again, all right, And that'sbeen the case, and so we had
to keep it a secret. Thatwas hard, and the other people hadn't
left yet. But when we hadthat meeting, I told Joe no,
and he said go home and thinkabout it. And I called Johannago,

(17:18):
let's have lunch, and we putthat deal together in fifteen minutes. Fifteen
minutes. But when you think aboutit now, it makes so much sense.
You know, your connection to rockmusic and rock music and your love,
your passion for music to be involved. Anyway, we got to take
a break, but we're going tocome back. The next segment is kind
of short. Just be ready forit because I'm going to put you each
on the spot and tell me.Have you tell me what your best concert

(17:41):
of your life was and why?Okay, it's food for thought. Billy
Costa here with Ernie Bakan Joe Spaldingand we'll be right back. You're listening
to Food for Thought, brought toyou by the Box Center and Sailing Waterfront
Hotel in sweets. Hi. Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought Billy
Costa. Here, we've got ErnieWalk and Joe Spaulding. And right before
the break, I said, okay, I need to know your best concert

(18:03):
you've ever been to ever, Joe. I'll start with you Ed Sharon at
the Wang Theater. Whoa, andI remember when you booked that. That
was a huge booking. I couldn'tbelieve it. I said, you go,
Joe, And he came out andhe stood on the front of the
stage and he said, I wanteverybody to know I'm a folk artist and

(18:23):
I will always be a folk artist. Wow. So uh it was cool.
And now he's coming back, youknow for Boston calling. I know,
I memorially weekend and that was anothersurprise place the Garden when he comes,
Oh sells out multiple nights. He'sout stadium. How did he get
ed? Sherry? Okay, Earnie, your favorite concert ever? Okay,

(18:48):
Well, it's attached to a tinystory Aerosmith Tokyo Dome. Whoa aerosmith at
the Tokyo Dome. I was in. I was in Tokyo. I was
at a meeting with all the Japaneseand you know, they have all the
blue suits and the red ties andbig giant table and I and I get
a text ernie we're playing the TokyoDome tonight, and I go tonight.

(19:15):
Yeah, I go excellent, that'sgood. That's good. And he goes
come to the show, and that'sit. So he said, not names
at the door, tickets, noneof that, none of that. So
I said okay. So I'm likeokay. Gauntlet thrown down. And I
grabbed a cab and I, youknow, they're very polite in Tokyo,

(19:38):
very very polite. So basically Iwent to the to a cab, said
take me to the Tokyo Dome,and then cruised around saw where the you
know, the eighteen wheelers were,and went down in there and politely passed
multiple security things. You didn't getstopped. I didn't stop. Let's say

(20:00):
that. And I got there.I got there, and I got I
got to the Now, Tokyo Domeis a giant blow up. It's like
a balloon, and I was atthe door and I'm looking around all that
thought. You're at the door atthe Okay, he's at the door at
the Tokyo Dome. Aerosmith is aboutto take the stage. We'll take a
break and we'll get the rest ofthe story next. You're listening to Food

(20:21):
for Thought, brought to you bythe Box Center and Sailing Waterfront Hotel in
sweets Hey, everybody, welcome backto Food for Thought. Billy Costa,
Ernie back. Joe's faulding here andright before the break, Ernie, you
were walking up to the backstage doorand the Tokyo do I'm back. I'm
back there. Eighteen wheels all overthe place, a glass door and the

(20:41):
doors you can't only certain doors canyou open, because it's like it's like
this air thing. And so Ilook, I look, and I see
Joe out of the corner of myeye. I see Joe out of my
texted my good Joe, I'm right, I'm right at the door, right
there, and he sent the guyopened it, did down, hung out,
did it and saw one of thegreatest Arismith shows I've ever seen.

(21:04):
I've seen ever Smith, No,yeah, probably sixty times. Yeah,
that was my favorite show. GodI go back. I remember when they
used to rehearse on commab right,like a garage or something. Somehow I
knew, oh, I know whatit was. I was working in the
stereo component's department of leech Mare Sales, no kidding, which uh one in

(21:25):
Boston and Cambridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and the guys from Aerosmith
came in and this was the highend components room. It was like TECHAI
five. I had the component roomat Leach Mayre. So they came in
to get a sound system for theirhouse I think at the time was in
New Hampshire. So I sold themthe sound system for the house, and
then they wanted to know if Icould come to the house and and help

(21:48):
set it up and everything. There'snothing to setting up in those days,
you know, they weren't running wiresfor the ceilings or the walls. So
anyway, I kind of got toknow them, and then I started being
able to go to the rehearsals.And then when I I found myself at
Merrimack College, this was several yearslater, I contacted them because they wanted
me to produce a concert and thehockey rink at Merrimac. So I called

(22:11):
the guy and they did the concertat Merrimack Ermith and they're about to want
a yeah, major world tour.They're doing New Year's even the gardener you
going. Unfortunately, I will notbe here New Year's Eve. I know,
KI killing me. By the way, how are you feeling? You
had surgery nine weeks with my newknee, nine weeks to my new meat.

(22:32):
But props to the New England BaptistHospital. They fid spectacular noted him
mattingly there. Total knee replacements,total knee replacem you talked to Justin,
my executive producer, his knee.As currently as we sit here, blown
out, I don't need a replacement, but I U, yeah, I
screwed up my knee. Meniscus.Meniscus yeah, easy, easy fix,
easy fix. Yeah. I needthis fixed as soon as possible. I

(22:56):
can't even bend down on the groundand play with my daughter. It's killing
me. So Hoefully I'll get thesurgery done soon and be back on my
feet and be running around like you. Ernie jos balding this city. I
mean, I know you're saying you'restepping down, but under your reign,
you know, alongside Ernie and anincredible staff, you have created wonders at

(23:18):
the Wang Theater, at the BoxCenter, at the Schubert. As you
step down into your next chapter,so to speak, what are you going
to miss the most? My staff? You know, we have a culture
at the Center that is, youknow, we're a team and they all
function as a team. And youknow, I'm just thinking how much it

(23:41):
work it was to pull off theinduction ceremony with two hundred and fifty guests
that are coming from all over theUnited States and Canada, and it's the
Seeger family, and it's the Odettafamily, and it's the lead Billy family.
And how we're going to make thatall work? They did. They're
just phenomenal. So it's been areal pleasure and an honor. And I

(24:02):
think the other thing is that,you know, my philosophy has been that
arts and music are the foundation ofa civilized society. So everything we do
is based on that. So whetherwe're doing Bluey or we're doing any other
we're doing comedy, or we're doingrock and roll, or we're doing Hadestown,
which was here a week or soago. You know, you're you're
you're really really reaching hundreds of thousandsof people that entertainment and music make a

(24:30):
difference and that I love and Joethe theater as a language. It's more
than a theater. It's it's it'sa living, breathing entity of the community.
Joe just touch on just some ofthe stuff we do that has nothing
to do with shows. So soand and uh. You know, we
have an education program which is oneof the largest, uh in the arts

(24:53):
in the United States, and notin all of people know about it because
they all think about Kat Stevens oror Ed Sheeran or whatever show we're having.
But this little program, because ofthe way that it is today live
streaming. We now live streaming interactivereading series with eleven hundred kids in the

(25:14):
Schubert Theater and we go live streamto two hundred and eighty six thousand kids
around the world at the same timeat the same time, and it's it's
mind boggling, and you know,you never know where it's all going to
come back, because as you heard, we both love Kat Stevens. Well,
Kat Stevens wrote a book, allright, it's he wrote a book

(25:37):
with Peter Reynolds, who's the bestselling the famous Peter Reynolds, local guy.
He animated. He animated so much, so much stuff. His best
selling book The Dot. You goto any grammar school and there's always a
rentals section. And so he dida book with Kat Stevens called Peace Train,
and that was my second favorite concert, by the way, also with

(26:00):
the Wang Kat Stevens. You can'tget better than Cat Stevens. No storytelling.
What do you take any artifacts withyou? Uh No, I'm gonna
keep hoping I get to come backand take something out of there. I
actually though that's very interesting that youasked that because you have another good friend,

(26:21):
you know, David Bieber the biggestrock collections. We'll hold that thought,
okay, because I know who you'retalking about with David Bieber. He
is highly, highly regarded in termsof rock and roll memorabilia. Is it
the biggest collection of the country orit's I think it's the biggest collection in
the kind of And what's super coolabout it it's housed in Norwood, Massachusetts.

(26:42):
All right, we'll get more onthat coming up after the break.
But we do have to take abreak. It's food for thought. We
will be right back you're listening toFood for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and WaterfrontHotel in sweets Hey. Everybody, welcome
back to Food for Thought. We'rehaving a lot of fun here today.
Ernie Bach is here and Joe Fallingis here with pre living history, rock

(27:02):
and roll history, music history,the Wang Theater history, the Box Center
of the Shuper Theater, and alittle bit earlier on the show, I
put Ernie and Joe on the spot. I said, tell me your favorite
concert effort, and Ernie you saidyours was Aerosmith and Joe yours with Cat
Stevens, oh Ed Sharon Beka.Of course you put ed Shearon in the

(27:22):
Wang Theater and you get to sella share. So then Ernie says,
well, you didn't tell us yourfavorite and it's not easy. Oh man,
I will say one of the standoutsfor me. Oh god, I'm
gonna do a flurry of concerts,okay, all of which were standout.

(27:44):
I saw the Rolling Stones at LynnManning Bowl when they arrived in the United
Sid so you were there. Iwas there. My dad never took us
anywhere, all right, we wereso poor. Somehow he was a bartender
in the combat zone at the palace, right, some customer or something came
in and gave them tickets to theStones. I didn't even know who.
The Rolling Stones were pouring rain thatnight, and he brought me and my

(28:07):
brother and he let us jump offthe wall and we went right up on
the on the grass to the tothe stage. So that's a standout for
that reason, only because my dad. We never did anything. And they
say, you know, that's abig controversy there. They say that was
the first time the Rolling Stones playedin the United States. It was,
well, yeah, but if yougo in they some other state down south

(28:27):
claims it's the first time. Howabout the Beatles at Suffolk Downs. Yeah,
I didn't see that. Yeah Idid. Okay, you did,
Joe, you were the Beatles SuffolkDowns. There you go, all right,
Okay, I'm gonna give you anotherone. Okay, and you're gonna
be surprised by it. Okay.Genesis when they first arrived in the US.
Peter Gabriel was the lead singer.See Ernie, I'm kind of a

(28:48):
rock or to you, Like,what what venue was that Genesis at?
I think music hall? Yes?Nice, okay, I that carpet Crawlers
the Music Hall in Boston. Allright, and I will say this too,
you could never go wrong. Andagain, don't laugh. This is
the judgment for his own right.You can never go wrong with the bon

(29:11):
Jovie concert. Completely agree. Okay, A big documentary coming out, Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yep, it'sgonna be good. Yeah. Speaking
of good and big, so isit Boston Magazine that just came out with
the city's most influential. I havea bone to pick with them. Okay,
we're not on it. No,Joe's Bolding's not on it? Are

(29:32):
you? Joe mustake must be amistake. But Ernie, you are on
it. I've been on it fora few years. Use me, well,
not everybody. It's a thing thatyou don't lobby. They kind of
just do it. Yeah. Didthey call you and tell you or they
used to call me and tell me? Now they just do it. Yeah.
There's some other friends of ours,Oh absolutely, And I mentioned but

(29:56):
Patrick Lyons, Patrick Lyon's definitely there. Ed Kane, big night, entertaining
and Mesick, very gifted author,amazing, amazing, great guy. So
anyway, there is that any otherconcert do you want to talk about now
that you let me say two orthree, and well, I mean,
you know I used to there wasa concert in Now it gets a little

(30:18):
foggy with me on this one.There was a concert at Sullivan Stadium.
Whoa Elton, John Fleetwood, MacLoggins in Messina And this is one night
in Jillette Stadium. And you knowI live somewhat close Sullivan Stadium, so

(30:40):
I Sullivant Sam couldn't get tickets,couldn't get tickets back then if your pictures
stadium in front of it, therewas a high like hill that you could
not see into the stadium, butyou could see the stadium and you could
hear the music. Ridiculous. Sothere were hundreds, if not thousands of
pepeople on that hill outside that carncer. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I'm

(31:04):
gonna throw another one at you.This is weird. These are just popping
into my head. This goes wayback. I'll give you two going way
back. I saw justin You're gonnabe so impressed. I saw the Ike
and Tina review, whoa okay routetoo? You know where faces was and
they had a theater room there.Wow. Ike and Tina Review is another

(31:26):
one before that? You're ready?Yeah, sly in the family, Stone
and Wilson Pickett, Harvard Stadium,James Brown at the Channel. Ooh,
you got James Brown at the Channel. Wow, the famous Flames. It
was incredible. Yeah, wow,Okay, all right, Joe, I
gotta ask you. There's a lotof talk. In fact, there was

(31:47):
a big one that broke on socialmedia justin I think it was two weeks
ago, talking about the incredible riders, the demands that some artists make when
they're coming into a venue. Youhave to have some stories in terms of
the artists who were the biggest painsin the ass. Well, I do,
but I keep that secret. Lady, don't mention tell the crazy,

(32:13):
crazy stories of you know, onlygreen and and M's. All right,
so you have to buy the packageand you have to figure out how to
get We're not naming names were oror I'm gonna bring a pet or I'm
gonna you know, it's I couldgo on and on and on. It's

(32:34):
it's but frankly, uh, I'vebeen really impressed with ninety nine percent of
the artists that we have that howfriendly they actually are and they're you know,
been very respectful of the center.You know, I'll never forget Neil
Young coming and Neil so you know, it's just absolute incredible and nice guy.

(32:55):
Nice guy would rehearse for three orfour hours with his family. It
was really great. Uh. Andlast time he was there, he you
know, there was this woman thatwas walking around taking pictures of the ceiling
and all the rest of that.And I said, I don't know who
that woman is. And this isduring rehearsal, and my assistant Ann Taylor
said, oh, it's Daryl Hannahand I said, Daryl Hannah Hannah and

(33:22):
really they're now an item. Soit was you know, those kinds of
things happen all the time. Butit was Neil Young who also said,
you know, listen, you don'tneed to build a building to have the
Hall of Fame, all right,you can just put it right in this
building, right, And that wasright. Gave gave us the idea.

(33:42):
It was never never before, andso far it hasn't happened again that we're
the only hall of Fame that's ina living, breathing, performing right,
so wow, and the only folkhall of Fame in the country. And
we just opened a new exhibit,the Blue Note Exhibit on Blue Note Records
Don was, who's the you know, great player notes. Yeah, and

(34:02):
he and and uh he produced theRolling Stones. Uh wow. So so
he's he's a big time guy andhe's been the president of Blue Note Records.
And they're celebrating their eighty fifth uhanniversary. We just opened an exhibit
on that. You know, whatwould have been cool. I know,
the New Kids are coming back tocelebrate thirty five years in the business.

(34:23):
Uh. And they're not at theGarden, They're doing the Xfinity Center.
That would have been great to seethem do the Wang. Yeah, you
remember when they did when we startedthe Boston Music Awards. What's that?
You remember when they did the Wangwhen we started the Boston Boston I know,
and I was, you know,was in my They rehearsed in my
hanger, the New Kids multiple times, multiple times. Yeah, they heard

(34:45):
in Europe and my hanger Private Aviationand my Private Aviation hanger they've done They've
done it a couple of times.And I got to tell you when you
know, I've had Deaf Leppard rehearsedthere, and Guards Mac rehearsed there and
on the bands and I don't goannouncing it or anything like that, but
every night. When the New Kidswere rehearsing, there was a group of

(35:08):
maybe fifty fans right outside no,yeah, the fence, and they were
like like housewives they call blockheads.Yeah, they were like regular women,
all women, all women there andyeah, they were amazing. I love
those guys. Yeah, thirty fiveyears they're celebrating. Donnie Wahlberg was on

(35:30):
Drew Barrymore a couple of days agothis week, and he told the story
of how you know, he's alwaysin New York working shooting Blue Bloods and
his wife, Jenny is always inHollywood doing the Masked Singer. So the
way they stay together because they missedeach other so much, is they sleep
together on FaceTime. I heard thatthey keep their phones next to each other

(35:53):
and they can hear each other breathing, and if one wakes up, they
can wake up the other one.And Yeah, anyway, New Kids are
coming. They'll be out at theXfinity Center this summer. Oh god,
I just had a point I wantedto go to and I forgot Ernie.
A lot of people don't realize howgreat a guy you are and how much

(36:14):
you do for charity and philanthropy.And I know one project that I'm still
wondering why you did it and whatit's about. If you go to Martha's
Vineyard in Vineyard Haven on the mainroad, I forget the name where state
road bed Beach Road Road, there'sa park there that you built right on

(36:39):
the main road that is just beautiful. And you know, this is only
like maybe the fourth year, sothe planting is looking really good. But
I just did something that I don'ttalk about that much. I just opened
a restaurant. Oh my god,what how do I not know that?

(36:59):
You know? I have to havea restaurant television show, The Way Dining
Playbook on Neisson Saturday mornings at nine, Sunday nights at night. All that
thought, because I want to hearabout the restaurant and Joe, we've got
a few minutes left in the show. I want to know what you're hoping
becomes of the wang and things you'dlike to see instituted after you step down,
so to speak. Well, takea break, it's Food for Thought.
We'll be right back. You're listeningto Food for Thought, brought to

(37:21):
you by the Box Center and SalemWaterfront Hotel in sweets. Hey, everybody,
welcome back to food for thought.Billy Costa here, Ernie Boka is
in studios, so is Joe Spalding. We've only got a few minutes left
show. I can't thank you enoughfor everything you've done over the what thirty
eight years? Yep, thank youvery much with the Wang Theater, the
Box Center, the shoe Bert andyou've just done so much for the city,

(37:44):
so much for culture, so muchfor music. You're stepping down.
What's the one thing you want tosee maintained at at these ven continues to
be a true performing arts center forthis city, a nonprofit that is going
to commitment to the arts and educationand providing a diversity of kinds of the

(38:07):
entertainment we do today. But you'llstill be involved to some degree, I
hope. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a plan. Now.
I was told a couple of minutesago off the air that if people
go to the Wang Theater, yourface is in the ceiling. What's that
about? That is true, allright, and I'm not like to talk

(38:30):
about it very much. But whenwe were doing the restoration back in eighty
eight and eighty nine, and youknow, fixing the theater up and becoming
a national Historic Landmark. All themurals were falling off, and since we're
a National Historic Landmark, we neededto be able to figure out what was
being painted there. Well, itturned out was an artist named Kellogg.

(38:53):
Turned out that we needed to repaintmost of them. We did it in
a warehouse and with Wisconsin, andI would visit Wisconsin and I would go
there and an eighty five year oldpainter was painting it all and he knew
that I was so into it thatthe theme ended up being Zeus in the
Seven miss So as you get allthe way around, you get to Zeus

(39:14):
and Zeus has a lightning bolt andhe put my head on the top of
it. It looks really cool,wow, and hopefully will be there for
another sixty years and unless somebody goesup and changes it, you've got a
lot of shows coming in. Itwas such an interesting conversation. I didn't
get to all the schedules. Butwhat's the website for people to go to

(39:37):
find out who's coming to Jocenter dotorg, Boxcenter dot org. And by
the way, I know Bluey's comingin. Yes, Bluie's big play justin
my executive producer, his son isreally a big blues fan or is it
Gemma? It would be Gemma.Yeah, she's almost two. Yeah,
so yeah, that's going to bea big show. It's doing great.
And as I said, Hadestown wasjust in Yeah. Yeah, broken another

(40:00):
record, multiple nights, multiple listen. Things have been on fire. It's
really good, all right, Ernie. Before we go, you opened a
restaurant in Uganda. Yeah, whatGinger Uganda, the Bach Cafe, which
is next to the back Medical Center, which is next to the school.
And we're going to do an agriculturalproject and raise rabbits, goats and cows

(40:27):
because there's there's very little of thataround there. Wow. And a little
bit earlier in the show, Ialluded quickly to this park that you set
up on Martha's Vineyard, Bock Parkon Beach Road. It's part of the
beautification of Beach Road and you're thebeginning of it. So folks get on
to vineyard this summer. Make sureyou right there in the vineyard, daven

(40:50):
right on the main road. Checkit out. It's a beautiful park.
Uh. Great to see you,guys. I got to tell you I
could talk for another hour, youknow, so could very quickly. What's
the next show you're going to withthe Wang or the Box Center? Joe?
Uh what am I? Haities down? They just left. I just
went the I go to Bluie.Don't go to Bluie. I don't go

(41:10):
to Bluick. I'm thirty. Whereare you going now? I think I
think I'm gonna hit Mega death atGreat Woods? Whoa mega Death? All
right? Okay, we gotta definitelygonna do two Dusky trucks at the Wing.
There you go, Joe, Congratulations, enjoy this next chapter of your
life. Ernie, thank you somuch for coming in. It's food for
thought. Everybody. Thank you somuch for joining us for this past hour

(41:32):
or so. I hope you enjoyedit as much as I did. But
up next, everybody, sixty minutes.