September 7, 2024 • 32 mins
What if you could channel your passion for music and sports into a powerful force for good? Join us as we sit down with Chris Bontempo, the dynamic CMO of Johnson Controls and a devoted board member of Joey's Song, to uncover the fascinating story of his career journey, which began at IBM and now thrives at Johnson Controls. Chris shares captivating insights into the history of Johnson Controls, starting with Warren Johnson's groundbreaking invention of the first electric thermostat in 1884, and reflects on how his professional path intersects with his love for music and soccer. Listen in as we explore how these passions have fueled his commitment to Joey's Song, a charity dedicated to enhancing epilepsy research and patient services through unforgettable music-driven events.
Our conversation doesn't stop at corporate success and charitable endeavors. Chris takes us behind the scenes of hosting clients at high-profile sports events like the World Cup and Super Bowl, emphasizing the importance of relationship-building. We share memories of reconnecting with the music scene through concerts and discovering new bands, highlighting the magic of live performances. The episode culminates with an enchanting recapitulation of the Joey's Song benefit in Madison, Wisconsin, where community and music come together in extraordinary harmony. From mingling with celebrated musicians to witnessing awe-inspiring performances, this episode celebrates the enduring power of music in enriching both personal and professional lives, all while making a meaningful impact.
Visit www.joeyssong.org to learn more about Joey's Song and the work we do and get details on our next set of shows. Also be sure to follow us on all popular social media platforms with our handle @joeyssong
Joey's Song is a federally registered 501(c)3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. Joey's Song is 100% volunteer with no paid staff, so we are able to convert more dollars into life saving research.
Our Joey's Song family of artists include Rock N Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy and Emmy winners and Top 40 hitmakers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey Song Podcast
.
I'm your host, Mike Gamal.
For those of you that are newto Joey Song, we're a 501c3
charity that raises money tofund research into treatments
and cures for epilepsy.
We also direct funds to supportpatient services and community
programs as well.
Our fundraising vehicle ismusic.
Every year, we hold a series ofconcerts that feature Rock and
(00:30):
Roll Hall of Famers, Grammywinners and Top 40 hit makers.
These amazing artists all cometo Madison, Wisconsin, each
January for a festival that wecall Freezing man.
You should know that every oneof the artists that plays at our
event donates their time andtalent.
None of our performers take apenny to join us.
We have no paid staff.
We are a 100% volunteerorganization.
(00:52):
The next Freezing man isscheduled to take place January
8th through the 11th 2025, withsix amazing shows scheduled over
four days.
To find out more about Joey'sSong, you can find us at our
website, joey'ssongorg, orfollow us on social media, where
all of our handles are atJoey's Song.
(01:19):
Hey everybody, welcome to theJoey's Song podcast.
My guest today is the CMO ofJohnson Controls, the global CMO
.
That sounds very lofty, and itis, I guess, but to me he's my
friend, Chris Bontempo, who I'veknown for 20 plus years.
We used to work together at IBM.
We have stayed in touch andbonded over music and soccer and
(01:41):
now Joey's Song.
He's a board member and hetalks a little bit about how
music influences his life, howhe still, to this day, when he's
traveling, tries to find waysto find other music ventures,
and just gives you a goodinsight into his background and
why he is a big proponent ofJoey Sung.
So stick tight, Listen to myconversation with Chris Bontempo
(02:03):
.
Hey everybody, Welcome back tothe podcast.
Today I am talking withsomebody who has a deep and rich
history with yours truly.
It is our board member and CMOat Johnson Controls, Chris
(02:26):
Bontempo, Cboe.
How are you?
Great Glad to be here, hey,Mike.
So let's just get all theunpleasantness out of the way
right to begin with.
So Chris was my boss at IBM.
Neither one of us is thereanymore.
So Chris and I have known eachother for quite a long time and
have a deep and rich history.
(02:47):
Is that a good way to describeit, Chris?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Deep and rich would be the politically correct way
to say that I appreciate thesensitivity around that but yes.
I think we've known each otheralmost 20 years now and I would
think those deep IBM roots youbleed blue-ish and I've carried
that on, actually in my new role, which I started in May, as
(03:12):
chief marketing officer atJohnson Controls another blue
company and somehow a companyactually older than IBM, really
IBM.
Ibm is 114 years old andJohnson Controls, started in
your glorious home state ofWisconsin at University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater, is 140years old.
(03:33):
That was Warren Johnson 1884.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I did not know that.
What was the first product?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So let's tell some stories, mike and this is not a
marketing pitch for JohnsonControls, but this is a cool
story.
So Warren Johnson was aprofessor of, I think,
mathematics at the University ofWisconsin-Whitewater and he was
really frustrated in 1884because every time he was giving
(04:03):
a lecture or talking to hisstudents during class time, the
janitor would have to come inonce an hour to check the
temperature of the room.
And so, like if it was too hotor too cold, janitor would come
in, check the temperature andthen would have to walk
downstairs and adjust thedampers on the furnace to adjust
(04:24):
the temperature in the room.
And it's just like us lookingat our you know our mobile
devices all the time and itdistracting, you're like
distracting you, and then youhave to reset your attention.
The same thing was happening in1884.
So Warren Johnson invented thefirst electric thermostat that
(04:45):
would tell the janitor, like thefirst one just told the janitor
outside the classroom what thetemperature was and they could
adjust it without having to comeinto the classroom.
So Warren Johnson patented that, formed a company around it and
the rest is history, as theysay Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, I don't know if I could.
I think I could tell partiallythe Herman Holleruth slash
Watson story, but probably notto that detail.
So you've done very well, Thankyou, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You've done very well .
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yes, whitewater.
So now we'll see how deepyou've gotten in.
Do you know what the Universityof Whitewater nickname is?
You know, like we're WisconsinBadgers?
Do you know what Whitewater is?
I do not.
The Warhawks the WhitewaterWarhawks.
They are a division threefootball powerhouse.
(05:33):
They've won the nationalchampionship like three times in
the last dozen years or so.
So you will.
I'm sure you'll be doing a tourof that.
So Chris and I worked togetherat IBM and went through a lot of
the wars together, and I whenit was time to really build a
serious board here at Joey songis.
So Chris and I, as you canprobably tell, have a very good
kidding relationship with eachother and while we can be deadly
(05:55):
serious, most of the time we'renot.
And when I realized I neededsome some true marketing skills
on the board, I reached out toChris and he very generously
said yes to that.
But talk a little bit, chris,about your journey from being a
wet behind the ears young IBMerto where you are today.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, thanks, mike.
I mean, when you asked for somemarketing help on the board, at
first I looked over my shoulderto see make sure you were
talking to me.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, Judith wasn't available, so I had to do it
Happily retired Mike Judice.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Pour one out for our good friend.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So it's funny, I've had 20 plus years in marketing
at large companies and actuallyyears in marketing at large
companies and actually beforethat I had a whole career before
I even joined IBM.
So it's been.
When I talk to people about thecareer trajectory and journey,
I always try to make the pointthat these things are not linear
(06:56):
.
No, they are not always upwardand to the right.
There's trials and tribulationsalong the way and what you need
to be is opportunisticaccepting of risk, which human
beings are really terrible at,and energetic and engaged
throughout.
(07:17):
Those are the things that makethe difference.
I started off like all greatstories coming out of college.
My career started with a girl Ifollowed.
I just started dating a girland she was moving to Paris
right after school and I knewthat if I let her go to.
Paris that she'd be very quicklydating a French guy on a
(07:41):
motorcycle Silicon Galois.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Silicon Galois yes, drinking Merlot, yes.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, you know the, I do.
Yeah, so I, on a lark, justwent to Brussels.
I stalked her, moved toBrussels, spent three years
working there for an Americanlaw firm and just focused on
having fun, figuring out how todate the girl and having fun.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, and Brussels, having been to Brussels,
brussels is a good place to doall that.
I didn't do the girl chasing inthere, but I did the two ends
of the fun.
It's a great place, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You know, at that age it's perfect.
So I did that for three years,came back to New York with the
girl and started working in NewYork again for the law firm as
an economist not a marketer,right.
So then the girl got into lawschool in upstate New York and I
of course went along and that'swhen I broke into the tech
(08:40):
industry.
So I found a job in Canada witha tech company.
They hired me because I knewwho they were.
It was the internet era.
They would hire anybody andthey made me a marketing analyst
.
I had no idea what a marketinganalyst was, but I broke in that
way and so I did that.
(09:02):
They spun off my group into astartup, ran the startup for
three years.
We ran that into the ground,ran out of money and then I went
to business school and when Icame out of business school,
that's when I turned into bigbusiness with IBM.
But my the whole point of thattrajectory is that be
(09:24):
opportunistic and be focused onyour life just as much on your
career.
The spoiler alert is that Imarried the girl.
We had three kids.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I was.
I was, even though I, even if Ididn't know that, I was pretty
sure you weren't going to keepher in the thread if that wasn't
, if that wasn't her roommatewas, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
The writer's room would have written her out of
the story Much earlier, muchearlier, it would have been
someone to some, yeah, so IBM.
So IBM 19 years at IBM before Ileft for for JCI 19 great years
actually.
I started off as a competitive,competitive marketer.
You might know that I'm ahighly competitive person.
Might've realized this at.
(10:04):
I started off as a competitivemarketer.
You might know that I'm ahighly competitive person.
You might have realized this atsome point.
I did that.
Then I went into brandmarketing for a couple of years.
We launched a campaign thatpeople might remember called
Smarter Planet, which was a big,big, big brand campaign, led
(10:25):
market intelligence for IBM inNorth America.
That's where our paths reallycrossed and took that one into a
quick shift, because I wasterrible at this job as the
chief of staff or executiveassistant for IBM's chief
marketing communications officer.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I was not going to bring up that little blip, but
when you talked about things notbeing a straight line, I
thought that might beappropriate.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, that was an interesting time, probably not
for the podcast, but a greattime.
Great CMO, cco that I supportedthere.
The problem it was it's likeit's not you, it's me.
The problem is me in that job.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
You know, I to sidetrack us here for a second.
I think I'm going to start asecond podcast because I did one
this morning with another oneof our board members, andrew
Gumpert, who was a chiefexecutive at Paramount and
Nickelodeon, but he was at Sonyduring the hack, right, remember
the big hack?
Yeah, I didn't realize thatwe're talking today and I was
(11:25):
like, oh, we're doing anotherpodcast, so maybe I'll do
stories you can't tell with JoeySong podcast.
I'll have him tell Sony and youcan talk about your time in the
CMO's office.
So, yeah, there we go, there wego.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, so I did that for a little bit and then I that
into.
After I crashed out of that one, joined, became the marketing
leader for a small business thatIBM was just getting into
called Cloud, and you know itwas a small thing becoming a
very big thing very quickly.
So I did that.
(11:56):
And then I joined ourcybersecurity marketing team and
that's where I really foundmyself as a professional.
So I did seven years as ourcybersecurity marketing leader
for the Americas, turned thatinto CMO for the Americas and
then, after three great yearsleading the big IBM Americas
marketing team, joined JohnsonControls this May as the global
(12:19):
chief marketing officer.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I was just going to say you're no longer constrained
by our borders, are you?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, no boundaries can constrain me at all.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Now I know, as in the last few years you got to go to
really cool stuff like WorldCups and US Opens, and I would
follow you on social media beingjealous as all get out.
Now I don't know if JohnsonControls quite has.
I'm sure you'll spend a lot oftime at Fiserv Forum, but I'm
not sure you'll necessarily beat World Cups.
I don't know, maybe you will.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes.
So two important things here.
Number one I think the key tosuccess in these kind of gigs
and jobs is a marketer is toreally get to know your
customers, and so I had theprivilege of doing a lot of
client hosting at many, manyevents, including a lot of
(13:12):
incredible sports events.
So, yeah, I was able to hostcustomers at the World Cup in
Qatar.
So I was able to host customersat the World Cup in Qatar.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I went to the Super Bowl, probably the best.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Super Bowl I've ever seen, which was the Eagles
Chiefs game in Arizona a coupleof years ago all sorts of great
events hosting great IBM clients.
It's a great opportunity tospend a lot of time with them,
quality time.
You talk some business, youtalk life, you talk family, you
get to know each other and thatjust really helps you figure out
the business side of things.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It also helps make all your friends jealous too.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, that is definitely definitely true.
Yeah, but the you know thesecond part of that, mike, is
music.
So I always describe myself asa recovering musician.
I started playing guitar when Iwas 13.
I've played in bands all mylife very bad bands.
(14:21):
All my beer money in collegecame from playing in a blues
band that played in the PioneerValley of Massachusetts.
And then I found, you know,when I got out into the working
world, you know you want to goto concerts.
(14:41):
I used to go to tons ofconcerts.
You want to be engaged in musicand it's harder and harder,
yeah.
And so, as I was doing a lot ofclient travel around over the
last 10 years, I just made apoint, no-transcript.
(15:27):
You, you always hear people say, oh, they just they don't.
They don't do music like theyused to they don't write music
like they used to.
It's not not like it was when Iwas growing up, and actually
that's not true at all.
It's just like you don't know,you're not, they are still doing
it because you're not engagedin the music scene and so it was
(15:52):
really refreshing when Istarted going back to music
concerts at all.
Back to music.
You know concerts at all, likeI go to a concert with a hundred
other people at a small club inAustin to go see you know
25,000,.
You know seat venue, you knowin Nashville, if you can see
(16:14):
great.
They're still writing greatmusic, they are still recording
great music, they are performinggreat music with incredible
live performances and you mightjust not know it yet.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Well, I think that that's true.
A couple things.
I used to do that back in the90s at IBM when I was making a
lot of trips out to Bethesda inNew York.
I spent a lot of time at the930 club in DC and would see a
lot of the bands.
I just again this, as you dothese podcasts.
I referenced stuff.
I just did my podcast the otherday with Chris Collingwood from
(16:47):
fountains of Wayne and wastelling the story of I actually
found out they had put out theirsecond album, cause I saw Glenn
Tilbrook from squeeze in asmall club in Bethesda are, and
it wasn't the 930.
It was a different one, but hewent here's a new song by
Fountains of Wayne and I was abig, like the first album.
I didn't know they had put outthe second one.
It was Red Dragon Tattoo, whichis one of my favorite songs and
(17:08):
Chris wrote it.
Point is, I used to do that tooand then obviously going to New
York whether it was Ir, youknow, bottom line or all that as
well.
So, absolutely the case.
But the bigger point on themusic is I went through that
phase, the grumpy old man phaseof I'm going to listen to
Aerosmith's first three recordsand you know that kind of stuff
Right.
And then I realized it's notthat they're not making great
(17:31):
music.
You just have to try harderthan back in the day when there
was three radio stations in yourtown there was the top 40
station, there was the AORstation, there was the oldies
station, so it was real easy todiscover new music because you
didn't have any choices.
Well, now you actually kind ofhave to work at it a little bit
more to find it, and as we agewe get lazier, not more
(17:53):
adventurous.
So that's absolutely the case,and that's what Joey's song has
helped me to do, like figuringout that, holy crap, portugal,
the man is awesome, didn't knowthey were awesome.
They're awesome, you know.
And so I I'm completely withyou on that.
But it takes effort.
It takes effort.
It's real easy to fall backinto.
Hey, you kids, get off my lawn,then go find the new music,
(18:14):
right?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
So yeah get out get out and play, as they always say
, right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Absolutely and take it.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I, joey-san, brought in.
You brought in, you know, someof the talent from Silver Sun
Pickups.
You know last year's benefit,so I was in.
I was in Dallas one night twoyears ago.
Silver Sun Pickups was playingat a local venue.
I had literally never heardthem because I was just out of
(18:44):
touch.
I went and I saw them.
I was blown away.
They are super talented greatsongs, great songwriters, just
really fun.
And here's a great story.
So the opener that night I went, I I caught the opener and I'm
watching this woman perform andshe's great, and I so I take a
(19:08):
you know cell phone video and Isend it to my 18 year old son.
I'm like she is really like,look at this, this, like she's
great, like the.
She just has that naturalperformance.
You know I would buy this youknow album or whatever.
Uh, and he's like oh that'sgreat.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Who is that?
I was like I don't know, I'venever, never heard of her.
(19:28):
Somebody, uh, paris Jackson, uh.
And he's like, oh, okay, great.
And then so I look her upafterwards I'm like Paris
Jackson.
Paris Jackson, it's MichaelJackson's daughter, seriously,
wow.
So some things, talent, part ofit is genetics.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
But an unbelievable stage presence, unbelievable
performance, good songs and shewas for SS, sspu, serious, wow
that.
That's quite a combination,because yeah, and you discover
this stuff?
I would have had no idea, butit was fantastic yeah, yeah,
silver sun is great.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's too bad you're not in milwaukee for doing this,
because they were at the ravetwo nights ago I saw I saw it.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
For the audience.
I do spend a lot of time now inMilwaukee because Johnson
Controls is a Milwaukee.
Well, our corporateheadquarters in C over.
We bonded over two thingssoccer and music.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And other than convincing Mike Giudice that
it's not called the arsenal, wejust basically talked about our
love for football.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Let's talk about-.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
But actually, mike, we were wrong, wrong, I know it
can be the arsenal, but he mighthear this oh now you've ruined
it.
You can never let Jadis know hewas right on anything.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Oh God, this will be the test.
This will be the test to see ifhe listens to the pod.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Or whether I hit the edit button on this segment and
move right past it, but music.
So you're a couple of yearsyounger than I am.
What's the music you listenedto growing up?
What are your North Star bandsfrom your college days?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Well, so when you mentioned the 930 Club, I had
flashbacks, because the 930 Clubwas where I spent a lot of my
high school evenings when I wasgrowing up outside DC.
My older brother and I used to.
We'd go to the nine 30 club atleast once or twice a week to
catch catch bands.
So, my, my musical tastes backthen, old REM replacements
(21:50):
Husker do oh yeah, Got into GooGoo Dolls.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Who, by the way, john Resnick, is coming this year to
Joey Song, lead singer from GooGoo Dolls.
Thank, by the way, john Resnickis coming this year to Joey
Song, the lead singer from.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Goo Goo Dolls.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Thank you for the plug.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yep, you're welcome.
Tee'd that one up for you.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
That was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I actually didn't actually know that, but that's
good.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yep John's coming.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah.
And then you know the big showswe go to see the Hoodoo Gurus,
oh, go to see the hoodoo gurus,oh yeah, from australia,
australian, yeah, yeah, um.
And then, uh, and thenbranching out a little bit, like
we, my dad loved jazz, so we gosee lester, bowie's, brass,
fantasy and, uh, you know, kindof cutting edge jazz stuff like
(22:33):
that um, and then over the yearsI think I've my tastes have
expanded.
You know, I'll, literally I'llgo see now anything, yeah, and I
appreciate the musicianship,the craftsmanship, the, you know
, the talent on stage and justthe ability to get on stage and
to perform at that level as youget older.
(22:56):
I think you appreciate thatmore.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
No shit, absolutely, absolutely.
So I knew your musical taste.
I'm really.
You have a very midwesternethos to your music though,
which is interesting becauseyou're a coastal kid or a euro
kid if you throw in your time inbrussels, but I mean you're
right in the midwest withreplacements and husker and all
of that stuff.
And while Google was.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Buffalo, that was where the action in the in the
late eighties, early nineties?
That was where the action wasyeah.
I mean in DC we had Fugazi andJawbox and you know some great
kind of hardcore bands that werecoming up straight edge stuff
that was always fun to go see.
Yeah, I did branch out.
I listened to a lot of reggaewhen I was at that age.
(23:42):
Listened to, you know, from theUK I'd listen to the jam right,
the Godfathers Easter house.
You know the water boys remainone of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Oh yeah, I think Mike's, I think he's still
putting out records too.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I think that guy's written more songs and recorded
more music than uh anybody, Iknow absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah that.
That.
That's great.
So you fit right into our joeysong demographic right.
A lot of the bands that we haveum tangentially or directly are
are part of joey song.
So you were able to come thispast year for the first time and
now I will let you heap tons ofpraise on me no, I'm kidding.
(24:24):
So a lot of people are going tobe listening to this because
they know you.
But describe to the folks whatyour impression of the Joey's
Song benefit is was goingforward.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, so I'll start with this.
I did not know what I wasgetting into when, I showed up
in Madison, wisconsin, for thisyear's or the past Joey's Song
benefit, so I brought my now19-year-old son with me, who's a
huge music fan, also a guitarplayer, and we spent two nights
(25:00):
in madison in january and we'reblown away.
I'd like to apologize a littlechilly, a little chilly um, but
the?
Um I didn't realize how much ofa phenomenon the?
Uh that weekend was.
So you know, as soon as we gotout of uh the car at our hotel,
(25:21):
we saw uh k hanley um, fromletters to cleo and you know,
silver sun, pickups, talent,walking uh to rehearsal.
I was like, oh, this isdifferent.
Yeah um, the first night wasn'tthe night of the benefit, but
we went and caught uh uh, a showat the majestic yeah, greg's
(25:43):
greg cox band played the gregyeah, like commercial yeah, he's
an incredible guitar player.
I mean, it was a great intro tothings.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Oh, he's he's unbelievable, uh, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, and Ivy Ford opened up for him.
Ivy Ford is incredibly talentedtoo.
Got to give a shout out to herif you haven't heard her.
She gigs all around the Midwest, apparently, yeah, yeah.
And then so the night of thebenefit, I mean literally the
entire town of Madison seems toshow up, showed up at the Sylvie
that night.
(26:19):
I mean, it was you know sell outcrowd, it was just packed with
great, great fun people, all theauction stuff I had to.
My son was going through allthe auction stuff and I'm trying
to reel him back a little bit,but it was really interesting
stuff there.
And then the performances startand it's just this great
community of musicians and music.
(26:40):
You hear stuff that you're notgoing to hear anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
One-off performances, absolutely Right.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
It's.
You know, these top tier,incredible musicians get
together and they get to playthe music that they love with
you know other musicians whothey won't get to play with
anywhere else?
And so you hear these likeinspiring moments of like genius
on stage and they're justpulling it off.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Well, and there's also incredible a lot of joy in
it too, because you're you'reabsolutely right the not getting
to play with people that theydon't normally play with songs
they don't normally play becausethey're not part of the canon
right, and in an environmentwhere, um, you know, everybody's
thrilled.
(27:27):
If so, we need you to do handclaps on this one.
All right, I'll do hand claps.
You know what I mean.
And the example that I alwaysgive, and you went again.
People are going to think werehearse this because you're the
perfect straight man on this,but the, the example I give of
those never going to be repeatedmoments was the year before you
were there.
Sola Sotham finished up theirset.
(27:48):
They did their two or threesongs and then they did Take the
Skinheads Bowling right theCamper Van Beethoven song with
Butch Vig on drums, chrisCollingwood from Fountains of
Wayne on guitar, duke Ericksonfrom Garbage playing bass, with
the gals from Belly and Kay andFreedy singing backup vocals,
with Perner singing lead whenPerner may sing that song some
(28:12):
other time, but not with thatband.
He's not.
And and that's those it.
The night is just full of thosekind of moments, and that's
what really is is super fun.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I think of the human force of nature.
Joanna Burrish is on the board.
Yeah, she, she had the perfectphrasing for this.
I wrote it down.
I just looked it up in my noteshere from a while ago when I
first joined the board.
But she called it an epiccollaboration of amazing artists
(28:42):
.
And I think that's the bestdescriptor of what happens that
evening.
You see stuff and hear stuffyou'll never hear anywhere else,
so I think it's incredible whenit all comes together.
I will say this, mike, I lovedthe competition format from the
past year.
The know-it-all girlfriends thetraditional versus the
(29:07):
know-it-all girlfriends who cametogether for the first time and
, honestly, the know-it-allgirlfriends just blew them away.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's only going to be worse this year.
We're working on the set listalready.
It's, it's it.
Uh yeah, no see.
The problem is, and I hope thatsome I hope that butch and
everybody are listening.
I'm sure they're not, but theproblem is, the know-it-all
boyfriends want to show you howcool their music is.
The know-it-all girlfriendswant to melt your face right,
(29:38):
and they do it.
They just they melt face yeah,it's very, very clearly.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Uh, they were in face melting mode and, um, I I guess
this is a call to action.
I'm a marketer, so I'm alwaysgoing to give you a call to
action so know-it-all boyfriendsuh, you need to get your.
Your melting your face.
Music and performance on thisyear.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I think that's what it's going to take.
I'm not optimistic becausethere's also just a talent gap
there too.
The girls are just better.
You might need the edit buttonfor that.
I will, but it's not going tobe the first time I've needed an
edit button.
Well, chris, I have a feelingyou and I could do this for
about another hour and a halfjust on the music stuff alone.
(30:23):
But I want to personally thankyou for all your support of
Joey's song.
You are now permanently lockedin.
Even if you take on a CMO jobin Johannesburg, you're still
going to be in Madison everyJanuary.
I hope you bring Henry back andit's going to Henry back and
it's going to be great.
But I want to thank you for theemotional support and the
professional support as well.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Well, thanks for having me on this and thanks for
having me on the board.
It was an honor to be asked tojoin and actually an even
greater honor that you kept meon after the first board meeting
and all the trouble I probablycaused.
Yeah, so I appreciate that, andall the trouble I probably
caused.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, so I appreciate that.
Well, I think you know fromyour org.
Behavior classes is everybodyneeds the example of what not to
do on the board.
So I'm able to reference thatthe phrase don't be a Bon Tempo.
You're not on any of thosenotes, but the rest of the board
is.
So we're good.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, yeah, as long as I'm useful in some capacity
in the board.
I'm happy to be on it.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
We all need a whipping boy and look.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
thank you to you for not just having me on but
everything you're doing for thisgreat cause and raising money
to change people's lives.
It's a fantastic cause and youdo an amazing job leading this
organization.
So thank you, appreciate it.
Chris, next time you're inMilwaukee, the Kurds are on me.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Man.
All right, sounds good.
Thanks for joining us for theJoey Song podcast.
Remember to visit our website,joysongorg.
Follow us on all our socialmedia handles, which are at
joysong.
We'll see you guys at the show.
Oh geez, sorry about the recordscratch.
(32:11):
Wait a minute.
I forgot one thing.
If you want to help us spreadthe word about Joey Song and our
podcast, there's a few thingsyou can do that are real simple.
That will help us.
One of the things you can do isfollow the show wherever you
get your podcast, give us afive-star review I mean, why
wouldn't you and write a review.
All of these things help ourpodcast and our cause get more
traction and seen throughout thecommunity.
(32:32):
And if you wanted to tell a fewfriends about Joey Song and the
podcast, that would be great aswell.
And, of course, you can visitjoeysongorg and follow us on
social media.
All of our handles are at JoeySong.
Okay, I think that's it.
We will see you guys at theshow.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey Song Podcast
.
I'm your host, Mike Gamal.
For those of you that are newto Joey Song, we're a 501c3
charity that raises money tofund research into treatments
and cures for epilepsy.
We also direct funds to supportpatient services and community
programs as well.
Our fundraising vehicle ismusic.
Every year, we hold a series ofconcerts that feature Rock and
(00:30):
Roll Hall of Famers, Grammywinners and Top 40 hit makers.
These amazing artists all cometo Madison, Wisconsin, each
January for a festival that wecall Freezing man.
You should know that every oneof the artists that plays at our
event donates their time andtalent.
None of our performers take apenny to join us.
We have no paid staff.
We are a 100% volunteerorganization.
(00:52):
The next Freezing man isscheduled to take place January
8th through the 11th 2025, withsix amazing shows scheduled over
four days.
To find out more about Joey'sSong, you can find us at our
website, joey'ssongorg, orfollow us on social media, where
all of our handles are atJoey's Song.
(01:19):
Hey everybody, welcome to theJoey's Song podcast.
My guest today is the CMO ofJohnson Controls, the global CMO
.
That sounds very lofty, and itis, I guess, but to me he's my
friend, Chris Bontempo, who I'veknown for 20 plus years.
We used to work together at IBM.
We have stayed in touch andbonded over music and soccer and
(01:41):
now Joey's Song.
He's a board member and hetalks a little bit about how
music influences his life, howhe still, to this day, when he's
traveling, tries to find waysto find other music ventures,
and just gives you a goodinsight into his background and
why he is a big proponent ofJoey Sung.
So stick tight, Listen to myconversation with Chris Bontempo
(02:03):
.
Hey everybody, Welcome back tothe podcast.
Today I am talking withsomebody who has a deep and rich
history with yours truly.
It is our board member and CMOat Johnson Controls, Chris
(02:26):
Bontempo, Cboe.
How are you?
Great Glad to be here, hey,Mike.
So let's just get all theunpleasantness out of the way
right to begin with.
So Chris was my boss at IBM.
Neither one of us is thereanymore.
So Chris and I have known eachother for quite a long time and
have a deep and rich history.
(02:47):
Is that a good way to describeit, Chris?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Deep and rich would be the politically correct way
to say that I appreciate thesensitivity around that but yes.
I think we've known each otheralmost 20 years now and I would
think those deep IBM roots youbleed blue-ish and I've carried
that on, actually in my new role, which I started in May, as
(03:12):
chief marketing officer atJohnson Controls another blue
company and somehow a companyactually older than IBM, really
IBM.
Ibm is 114 years old andJohnson Controls, started in
your glorious home state ofWisconsin at University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater, is 140years old.
(03:33):
That was Warren Johnson 1884.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I did not know that.
What was the first product?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So let's tell some stories, mike and this is not a
marketing pitch for JohnsonControls, but this is a cool
story.
So Warren Johnson was aprofessor of, I think,
mathematics at the University ofWisconsin-Whitewater and he was
really frustrated in 1884because every time he was giving
(04:03):
a lecture or talking to hisstudents during class time, the
janitor would have to come inonce an hour to check the
temperature of the room.
And so, like if it was too hotor too cold, janitor would come
in, check the temperature andthen would have to walk
downstairs and adjust thedampers on the furnace to adjust
(04:24):
the temperature in the room.
And it's just like us lookingat our you know our mobile
devices all the time and itdistracting, you're like
distracting you, and then youhave to reset your attention.
The same thing was happening in1884.
So Warren Johnson invented thefirst electric thermostat that
(04:45):
would tell the janitor, like thefirst one just told the janitor
outside the classroom what thetemperature was and they could
adjust it without having to comeinto the classroom.
So Warren Johnson patented that, formed a company around it and
the rest is history, as theysay Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, I don't know if I could.
I think I could tell partiallythe Herman Holleruth slash
Watson story, but probably notto that detail.
So you've done very well, Thankyou, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You've done very well .
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yes, whitewater.
So now we'll see how deepyou've gotten in.
Do you know what the Universityof Whitewater nickname is?
You know, like we're WisconsinBadgers?
Do you know what Whitewater is?
I do not.
The Warhawks the WhitewaterWarhawks.
They are a division threefootball powerhouse.
(05:33):
They've won the nationalchampionship like three times in
the last dozen years or so.
So you will.
I'm sure you'll be doing a tourof that.
So Chris and I worked togetherat IBM and went through a lot of
the wars together, and I whenit was time to really build a
serious board here at Joey songis.
So Chris and I, as you canprobably tell, have a very good
kidding relationship with eachother and while we can be deadly
(05:55):
serious, most of the time we'renot.
And when I realized I neededsome some true marketing skills
on the board, I reached out toChris and he very generously
said yes to that.
But talk a little bit, chris,about your journey from being a
wet behind the ears young IBMerto where you are today.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, thanks, mike.
I mean, when you asked for somemarketing help on the board, at
first I looked over my shoulderto see make sure you were
talking to me.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, Judith wasn't available, so I had to do it
Happily retired Mike Judice.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Pour one out for our good friend.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So it's funny, I've had 20 plus years in marketing
at large companies and actuallyyears in marketing at large
companies and actually beforethat I had a whole career before
I even joined IBM.
So it's been.
When I talk to people about thecareer trajectory and journey,
I always try to make the pointthat these things are not linear
(06:56):
.
No, they are not always upwardand to the right.
There's trials and tribulationsalong the way and what you need
to be is opportunisticaccepting of risk, which human
beings are really terrible at,and energetic and engaged
throughout.
(07:17):
Those are the things that makethe difference.
I started off like all greatstories coming out of college.
My career started with a girl Ifollowed.
I just started dating a girland she was moving to Paris
right after school and I knewthat if I let her go to.
Paris that she'd be very quicklydating a French guy on a
(07:41):
motorcycle Silicon Galois.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Silicon Galois yes, drinking Merlot, yes.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, you know the, I do.
Yeah, so I, on a lark, justwent to Brussels.
I stalked her, moved toBrussels, spent three years
working there for an Americanlaw firm and just focused on
having fun, figuring out how todate the girl and having fun.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, and Brussels, having been to Brussels,
brussels is a good place to doall that.
I didn't do the girl chasing inthere, but I did the two ends
of the fun.
It's a great place, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You know, at that age it's perfect.
So I did that for three years,came back to New York with the
girl and started working in NewYork again for the law firm as
an economist not a marketer,right.
So then the girl got into lawschool in upstate New York and I
of course went along and that'swhen I broke into the tech
(08:40):
industry.
So I found a job in Canada witha tech company.
They hired me because I knewwho they were.
It was the internet era.
They would hire anybody andthey made me a marketing analyst
.
I had no idea what a marketinganalyst was, but I broke in that
way and so I did that.
(09:02):
They spun off my group into astartup, ran the startup for
three years.
We ran that into the ground,ran out of money and then I went
to business school and when Icame out of business school,
that's when I turned into bigbusiness with IBM.
But my the whole point of thattrajectory is that be
(09:24):
opportunistic and be focused onyour life just as much on your
career.
The spoiler alert is that Imarried the girl.
We had three kids.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I was.
I was, even though I, even if Ididn't know that, I was pretty
sure you weren't going to keepher in the thread if that wasn't
, if that wasn't her roommatewas, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
The writer's room would have written her out of
the story Much earlier, muchearlier, it would have been
someone to some, yeah, so IBM.
So IBM 19 years at IBM before Ileft for for JCI 19 great years
actually.
I started off as a competitive,competitive marketer.
You might know that I'm ahighly competitive person.
Might've realized this at.
(10:04):
I started off as a competitivemarketer.
You might know that I'm ahighly competitive person.
You might have realized this atsome point.
I did that.
Then I went into brandmarketing for a couple of years.
We launched a campaign thatpeople might remember called
Smarter Planet, which was a big,big, big brand campaign, led
(10:25):
market intelligence for IBM inNorth America.
That's where our paths reallycrossed and took that one into a
quick shift, because I wasterrible at this job as the
chief of staff or executiveassistant for IBM's chief
marketing communications officer.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I was not going to bring up that little blip, but
when you talked about things notbeing a straight line, I
thought that might beappropriate.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, that was an interesting time, probably not
for the podcast, but a greattime.
Great CMO, cco that I supportedthere.
The problem it was it's likeit's not you, it's me.
The problem is me in that job.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
You know, I to sidetrack us here for a second.
I think I'm going to start asecond podcast because I did one
this morning with another oneof our board members, andrew
Gumpert, who was a chiefexecutive at Paramount and
Nickelodeon, but he was at Sonyduring the hack, right, remember
the big hack?
Yeah, I didn't realize thatwe're talking today and I was
(11:25):
like, oh, we're doing anotherpodcast, so maybe I'll do
stories you can't tell with JoeySong podcast.
I'll have him tell Sony and youcan talk about your time in the
CMO's office.
So, yeah, there we go, there wego.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, so I did that for a little bit and then I that
into.
After I crashed out of that one, joined, became the marketing
leader for a small business thatIBM was just getting into
called Cloud, and you know itwas a small thing becoming a
very big thing very quickly.
So I did that.
(11:56):
And then I joined ourcybersecurity marketing team and
that's where I really foundmyself as a professional.
So I did seven years as ourcybersecurity marketing leader
for the Americas, turned thatinto CMO for the Americas and
then, after three great yearsleading the big IBM Americas
marketing team, joined JohnsonControls this May as the global
(12:19):
chief marketing officer.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I was just going to say you're no longer constrained
by our borders, are you?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, no boundaries can constrain me at all.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Now I know, as in the last few years you got to go to
really cool stuff like WorldCups and US Opens, and I would
follow you on social media beingjealous as all get out.
Now I don't know if JohnsonControls quite has.
I'm sure you'll spend a lot oftime at Fiserv Forum, but I'm
not sure you'll necessarily beat World Cups.
I don't know, maybe you will.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes.
So two important things here.
Number one I think the key tosuccess in these kind of gigs
and jobs is a marketer is toreally get to know your
customers, and so I had theprivilege of doing a lot of
client hosting at many, manyevents, including a lot of
(13:12):
incredible sports events.
So, yeah, I was able to hostcustomers at the World Cup in
Qatar.
So I was able to host customersat the World Cup in Qatar.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I went to the Super Bowl, probably the best.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Super Bowl I've ever seen, which was the Eagles
Chiefs game in Arizona a coupleof years ago all sorts of great
events hosting great IBM clients.
It's a great opportunity tospend a lot of time with them,
quality time.
You talk some business, youtalk life, you talk family, you
get to know each other and thatjust really helps you figure out
the business side of things.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It also helps make all your friends jealous too.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, that is definitely definitely true.
Yeah, but the you know thesecond part of that, mike, is
music.
So I always describe myself asa recovering musician.
I started playing guitar when Iwas 13.
I've played in bands all mylife very bad bands.
(14:21):
All my beer money in collegecame from playing in a blues
band that played in the PioneerValley of Massachusetts.
And then I found, you know,when I got out into the working
world, you know you want to goto concerts.
(14:41):
I used to go to tons ofconcerts.
You want to be engaged in musicand it's harder and harder,
yeah.
And so, as I was doing a lot ofclient travel around over the
last 10 years, I just made apoint, no-transcript.
(15:27):
You, you always hear people say, oh, they just they don't.
They don't do music like theyused to they don't write music
like they used to.
It's not not like it was when Iwas growing up, and actually
that's not true at all.
It's just like you don't know,you're not, they are still doing
it because you're not engagedin the music scene and so it was
(15:52):
really refreshing when Istarted going back to music
concerts at all.
Back to music.
You know concerts at all, likeI go to a concert with a hundred
other people at a small club inAustin to go see you know
25,000,.
You know seat venue, you knowin Nashville, if you can see
(16:14):
great.
They're still writing greatmusic, they are still recording
great music, they are performinggreat music with incredible
live performances and you mightjust not know it yet.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Well, I think that that's true.
A couple things.
I used to do that back in the90s at IBM when I was making a
lot of trips out to Bethesda inNew York.
I spent a lot of time at the930 club in DC and would see a
lot of the bands.
I just again this, as you dothese podcasts.
I referenced stuff.
I just did my podcast the otherday with Chris Collingwood from
(16:47):
fountains of Wayne and wastelling the story of I actually
found out they had put out theirsecond album, cause I saw Glenn
Tilbrook from squeeze in asmall club in Bethesda are, and
it wasn't the 930.
It was a different one, but hewent here's a new song by
Fountains of Wayne and I was abig, like the first album.
I didn't know they had put outthe second one.
It was Red Dragon Tattoo, whichis one of my favorite songs and
(17:08):
Chris wrote it.
Point is, I used to do that tooand then obviously going to New
York whether it was Ir, youknow, bottom line or all that as
well.
So, absolutely the case.
But the bigger point on themusic is I went through that
phase, the grumpy old man phaseof I'm going to listen to
Aerosmith's first three recordsand you know that kind of stuff
Right.
And then I realized it's notthat they're not making great
(17:31):
music.
You just have to try harderthan back in the day when there
was three radio stations in yourtown there was the top 40
station, there was the AORstation, there was the oldies
station, so it was real easy todiscover new music because you
didn't have any choices.
Well, now you actually kind ofhave to work at it a little bit
more to find it, and as we agewe get lazier, not more
(17:53):
adventurous.
So that's absolutely the case,and that's what Joey's song has
helped me to do, like figuringout that, holy crap, portugal,
the man is awesome, didn't knowthey were awesome.
They're awesome, you know.
And so I I'm completely withyou on that.
But it takes effort.
It takes effort.
It's real easy to fall backinto.
Hey, you kids, get off my lawn,then go find the new music,
(18:14):
right?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
So yeah get out get out and play, as they always say
, right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Absolutely and take it.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I, joey-san, brought in.
You brought in, you know, someof the talent from Silver Sun
Pickups.
You know last year's benefit,so I was in.
I was in Dallas one night twoyears ago.
Silver Sun Pickups was playingat a local venue.
I had literally never heardthem because I was just out of
(18:44):
touch.
I went and I saw them.
I was blown away.
They are super talented greatsongs, great songwriters, just
really fun.
And here's a great story.
So the opener that night I went, I I caught the opener and I'm
watching this woman perform andshe's great, and I so I take a
(19:08):
you know cell phone video and Isend it to my 18 year old son.
I'm like she is really like,look at this, this, like she's
great, like the.
She just has that naturalperformance.
You know I would buy this youknow album or whatever.
Uh, and he's like oh that'sgreat.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Who is that?
I was like I don't know, I'venever, never heard of her.
(19:28):
Somebody, uh, paris Jackson, uh.
And he's like, oh, okay, great.
And then so I look her upafterwards I'm like Paris
Jackson.
Paris Jackson, it's MichaelJackson's daughter, seriously,
wow.
So some things, talent, part ofit is genetics.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
But an unbelievable stage presence, unbelievable
performance, good songs and shewas for SS, sspu, serious, wow
that.
That's quite a combination,because yeah, and you discover
this stuff?
I would have had no idea, butit was fantastic yeah, yeah,
silver sun is great.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's too bad you're not in milwaukee for doing this,
because they were at the ravetwo nights ago I saw I saw it.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
For the audience.
I do spend a lot of time now inMilwaukee because Johnson
Controls is a Milwaukee.
Well, our corporateheadquarters in C over.
We bonded over two thingssoccer and music.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And other than convincing Mike Giudice that
it's not called the arsenal, wejust basically talked about our
love for football.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Let's talk about-.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
But actually, mike, we were wrong, wrong, I know it
can be the arsenal, but he mighthear this oh now you've ruined
it.
You can never let Jadis know hewas right on anything.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Oh God, this will be the test.
This will be the test to see ifhe listens to the pod.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Or whether I hit the edit button on this segment and
move right past it, but music.
So you're a couple of yearsyounger than I am.
What's the music you listenedto growing up?
What are your North Star bandsfrom your college days?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Well, so when you mentioned the 930 Club, I had
flashbacks, because the 930 Clubwas where I spent a lot of my
high school evenings when I wasgrowing up outside DC.
My older brother and I used to.
We'd go to the nine 30 club atleast once or twice a week to
catch catch bands.
So, my, my musical tastes backthen, old REM replacements
(21:50):
Husker do oh yeah, Got into GooGoo Dolls.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Who, by the way, john Resnick, is coming this year to
Joey Song, lead singer from GooGoo Dolls.
Thank, by the way, john Resnickis coming this year to Joey
Song, the lead singer from.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Goo Goo Dolls.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Thank you for the plug.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yep, you're welcome.
Tee'd that one up for you.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
That was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I actually didn't actually know that, but that's
good.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yep John's coming.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah.
And then you know the big showswe go to see the Hoodoo Gurus,
oh, go to see the hoodoo gurus,oh yeah, from australia,
australian, yeah, yeah, um.
And then, uh, and thenbranching out a little bit, like
we, my dad loved jazz, so we gosee lester, bowie's, brass,
fantasy and, uh, you know, kindof cutting edge jazz stuff like
(22:33):
that um, and then over the yearsI think I've my tastes have
expanded.
You know, I'll, literally I'llgo see now anything, yeah, and I
appreciate the musicianship,the craftsmanship, the, you know
, the talent on stage and justthe ability to get on stage and
to perform at that level as youget older.
(22:56):
I think you appreciate thatmore.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
No shit, absolutely, absolutely.
So I knew your musical taste.
I'm really.
You have a very midwesternethos to your music though,
which is interesting becauseyou're a coastal kid or a euro
kid if you throw in your time inbrussels, but I mean you're
right in the midwest withreplacements and husker and all
of that stuff.
And while Google was.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Buffalo, that was where the action in the in the
late eighties, early nineties?
That was where the action wasyeah.
I mean in DC we had Fugazi andJawbox and you know some great
kind of hardcore bands that werecoming up straight edge stuff
that was always fun to go see.
Yeah, I did branch out.
I listened to a lot of reggaewhen I was at that age.
(23:42):
Listened to, you know, from theUK I'd listen to the jam right,
the Godfathers Easter house.
You know the water boys remainone of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Oh yeah, I think Mike's, I think he's still
putting out records too.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I think that guy's written more songs and recorded
more music than uh anybody, Iknow absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah that.
That.
That's great.
So you fit right into our joeysong demographic right.
A lot of the bands that we haveum tangentially or directly are
are part of joey song.
So you were able to come thispast year for the first time and
now I will let you heap tons ofpraise on me no, I'm kidding.
(24:24):
So a lot of people are going tobe listening to this because
they know you.
But describe to the folks whatyour impression of the Joey's
Song benefit is was goingforward.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, so I'll start with this.
I did not know what I wasgetting into when, I showed up
in Madison, wisconsin, for thisyear's or the past Joey's Song
benefit, so I brought my now19-year-old son with me, who's a
huge music fan, also a guitarplayer, and we spent two nights
(25:00):
in madison in january and we'reblown away.
I'd like to apologize a littlechilly, a little chilly um, but
the?
Um I didn't realize how much ofa phenomenon the?
Uh that weekend was.
So you know, as soon as we gotout of uh the car at our hotel,
(25:21):
we saw uh k hanley um, fromletters to cleo and you know,
silver sun, pickups, talent,walking uh to rehearsal.
I was like, oh, this isdifferent.
Yeah um, the first night wasn'tthe night of the benefit, but
we went and caught uh uh, a showat the majestic yeah, greg's
(25:43):
greg cox band played the gregyeah, like commercial yeah, he's
an incredible guitar player.
I mean, it was a great intro tothings.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Oh, he's he's unbelievable, uh, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, and Ivy Ford opened up for him.
Ivy Ford is incredibly talentedtoo.
Got to give a shout out to herif you haven't heard her.
She gigs all around the Midwest, apparently, yeah, yeah.
And then so the night of thebenefit, I mean literally the
entire town of Madison seems toshow up, showed up at the Sylvie
that night.
(26:19):
I mean, it was you know sell outcrowd, it was just packed with
great, great fun people, all theauction stuff I had to.
My son was going through allthe auction stuff and I'm trying
to reel him back a little bit,but it was really interesting
stuff there.
And then the performances startand it's just this great
community of musicians and music.
(26:40):
You hear stuff that you're notgoing to hear anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
One-off performances, absolutely Right.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
It's.
You know, these top tier,incredible musicians get
together and they get to playthe music that they love with
you know other musicians whothey won't get to play with
anywhere else?
And so you hear these likeinspiring moments of like genius
on stage and they're justpulling it off.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Well, and there's also incredible a lot of joy in
it too, because you're you'reabsolutely right the not getting
to play with people that theydon't normally play with songs
they don't normally play becausethey're not part of the canon
right, and in an environmentwhere, um, you know, everybody's
thrilled.
(27:27):
If so, we need you to do handclaps on this one.
All right, I'll do hand claps.
You know what I mean.
And the example that I alwaysgive, and you went again.
People are going to think werehearse this because you're the
perfect straight man on this,but the, the example I give of
those never going to be repeatedmoments was the year before you
were there.
Sola Sotham finished up theirset.
(27:48):
They did their two or threesongs and then they did Take the
Skinheads Bowling right theCamper Van Beethoven song with
Butch Vig on drums, chrisCollingwood from Fountains of
Wayne on guitar, duke Ericksonfrom Garbage playing bass, with
the gals from Belly and Kay andFreedy singing backup vocals,
with Perner singing lead whenPerner may sing that song some
(28:12):
other time, but not with thatband.
He's not.
And and that's those it.
The night is just full of thosekind of moments, and that's
what really is is super fun.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I think of the human force of nature.
Joanna Burrish is on the board.
Yeah, she, she had the perfectphrasing for this.
I wrote it down.
I just looked it up in my noteshere from a while ago when I
first joined the board.
But she called it an epiccollaboration of amazing artists
(28:42):
.
And I think that's the bestdescriptor of what happens that
evening.
You see stuff and hear stuffyou'll never hear anywhere else,
so I think it's incredible whenit all comes together.
I will say this, mike, I lovedthe competition format from the
past year.
The know-it-all girlfriends thetraditional versus the
(29:07):
know-it-all girlfriends who cametogether for the first time and
, honestly, the know-it-allgirlfriends just blew them away.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's only going to be worse this year.
We're working on the set listalready.
It's, it's it.
Uh yeah, no see.
The problem is, and I hope thatsome I hope that butch and
everybody are listening.
I'm sure they're not, but theproblem is, the know-it-all
boyfriends want to show you howcool their music is.
The know-it-all girlfriendswant to melt your face right,
(29:38):
and they do it.
They just they melt face yeah,it's very, very clearly.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Uh, they were in face melting mode and, um, I I guess
this is a call to action.
I'm a marketer, so I'm alwaysgoing to give you a call to
action so know-it-all boyfriendsuh, you need to get your.
Your melting your face.
Music and performance on thisyear.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I think that's what it's going to take.
I'm not optimistic becausethere's also just a talent gap
there too.
The girls are just better.
You might need the edit buttonfor that.
I will, but it's not going tobe the first time I've needed an
edit button.
Well, chris, I have a feelingyou and I could do this for
about another hour and a halfjust on the music stuff alone.
(30:23):
But I want to personally thankyou for all your support of
Joey's song.
You are now permanently lockedin.
Even if you take on a CMO jobin Johannesburg, you're still
going to be in Madison everyJanuary.
I hope you bring Henry back andit's going to Henry back and
it's going to be great.
But I want to thank you for theemotional support and the
professional support as well.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Well, thanks for having me on this and thanks for
having me on the board.
It was an honor to be asked tojoin and actually an even
greater honor that you kept meon after the first board meeting
and all the trouble I probablycaused.
Yeah, so I appreciate that, andall the trouble I probably
caused.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, so I appreciate that.
Well, I think you know fromyour org.
Behavior classes is everybodyneeds the example of what not to
do on the board.
So I'm able to reference thatthe phrase don't be a Bon Tempo.
You're not on any of thosenotes, but the rest of the board
is.
So we're good.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, yeah, as long as I'm useful in some capacity
in the board.
I'm happy to be on it.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
We all need a whipping boy and look.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
thank you to you for not just having me on but
everything you're doing for thisgreat cause and raising money
to change people's lives.
It's a fantastic cause and youdo an amazing job leading this
organization.
So thank you, appreciate it.
Chris, next time you're inMilwaukee, the Kurds are on me.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Man.
All right, sounds good.
Thanks for joining us for theJoey Song podcast.
Remember to visit our website,joysongorg.
Follow us on all our socialmedia handles, which are at
joysong.
We'll see you guys at the show.
Oh geez, sorry about the recordscratch.
(32:11):
Wait a minute.
I forgot one thing.
If you want to help us spreadthe word about Joey Song and our
podcast, there's a few thingsyou can do that are real simple.
That will help us.
One of the things you can do isfollow the show wherever you
get your podcast, give us afive-star review I mean, why
wouldn't you and write a review.
All of these things help ourpodcast and our cause get more
traction and seen throughout thecommunity.
(32:32):
And if you wanted to tell a fewfriends about Joey Song and the
podcast, that would be great aswell.
And, of course, you can visitjoeysongorg and follow us on
social media.
All of our handles are at JoeySong.
Okay, I think that's it.
We will see you guys at theshow.
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