November 11, 2025 • 52 mins
A song can change a life, and sometimes it waits decades to do it. Sal Baglio, the lead vocalist and guitarist behind Boston legends The Stompers, traces his creative path shaped by family, grief, grit, and a Hollywood surprise that rewired his future.
Sal opens up about the way songs “hover” before landing, why he never writes by formula, and how honoring the mystery keeps the music honest. He shows how instinct, not industry, has always been his compass.
The conversation opens up further as Sal shares his battle with depression, the toll of medication, and the season he quit performing to work in addiction recovery. Out of nowhere a call from Hollywood changed everything: Adam Sandler wanted to put his song “American Fun” in a movie. That out-of-the-blue sync revived his sense of purpose.
The episode also talks about community and competition in the Boston music scene – how bands sharpened each other, how humility grows with time, and why being a “good hang” matters as much as chops. Sal tells hard-won stories of opening for giants, getting booed by the wrong crowd, and returning stronger. The most moving moment arrives with his mother’s final days: a mutual exchange of forgiveness that closes the circle. It’s a reminder that music isn’t just performance; it’s presence.
For more on Sal:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:22):
Welcome to Out of the Blue the Podcast, where real
people share powerful stories ofresilience and transformation.
I'm your host, Vernon West,joined by my son and co-host
Vernon West III, an artist,singer, songwriter, and the
creative force behind our logoand theme song.
Our guest today is Sal Baglio, asinger, guitarist, and composer,
(00:46):
best known for fronting thelegendary Boston band The
Stompers.
Sal's journey has been anythingbut ordinary.
After decades of success, he hita season of loss, depression and
uncertainty, unsure of who hewas without music.
But then, out of the blue, aphone call came from Hollywood,
(01:06):
changed everything.
Sony Pictures wanted his songAmerican Fun for an Adam Sandler
movie.
That moment reignited hisspirit, lifted the Stompers into
a new era, and reminded him whymusic is still the best
medicine.
Now, as a solo artist, Salcontinues to create heartfelt,
powerful songs, carrying theimpulsive joy of his past hits
(01:30):
while reflecting deeply on whereit all began.
His story is one of resilience,rediscovery, and the healing
power of music.
Hi Sal, and welcome to Out ofthe Blue the Podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (01:43):
Oh, thank you.
It is wonderful to be here.
Good to see both of you.
SPEAKER_03 (01:47):
It's so good to see you.
Welcome.
You look like you should be inour house.
I have similar doors.
Well, let's start at thebeginning.
Let's start at the beginning.
Let's start when you startedwhere you think uh something out
of the blue happened that youcan remember and talk about that
sent started this wheel turningin your life and led to other
wheels, to other thingshappening, other out of the blue
(02:09):
events.
What's the first one youremember, the most powerful one,
maybe?
How's that?
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Wow, yeah.
There's there's I guess thereare a few, you know.
I I I was trying to connect thisparticular one uh to music,
which has been an importantthing in in all of our lives,
right?
Uh you know, um you know, uh youprobably feel the same way.
(02:36):
I I don't know.
Um when I say you, I'm talkingabout the collective music,
music, I I didn't make adecision to be a musician.
Right it it found me of whichI'm very grateful for uh at a at
a young age.
(02:57):
Um my father was a musician, mygrandfather on my mother's side
was a musician.
Uh, and there was a lot of musicin in both sides of my family.
And uh I was born and it foundme.
It found me before I could evenuh uh uh clearly understand it.
(03:23):
I loved what every every time Iheard something on the radio, on
the record player, ittransported me somehow.
Uh and can and I connected toit.
So I, you know, when I saw theBeatles in '64 on Ed Sullivan,
that sort of uh uh put you know,gave me a direction.
(03:47):
Well, I want to do that.
But I already was in, I alreadywas in love with music, and it
it had already taken me anddecided this is what you're
gonna do.
I never dreamed in my life Iwould ever do any other job
other than music.
SPEAKER_03 (04:04):
I love that.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
And uh I'm I'm very, very lucky and very blessed that
that I had been able to do that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:13):
I mean, you know, don't get me wrong.
Sometimes things got a littlethin, you know.
You know, uh it is an old bowlof cherries.
SPEAKER_03 (04:24):
Put it that way.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
No, no, no.
So, you know, uh, but most ofthat time I was a single guy,
and you know, I lived at homefor a long time, you know, in
the three decor in East Boston,you know, the you know, you can
you can take the second floor,you know, that type of thing.
And then uh you know, later, youknow, you just uh you get you
(04:45):
make ends meet.
Anyway, the the the reason I I II wanted to talk about that a
little bit with you is to let uhpeople who don't know me know
what the connection to music iswith me, you know.
Uh it's almost uh and I bet bothof you feel the same way.
It's almost uh you can't reallyexplain it and you can't
(05:09):
describe it.
SPEAKER_03 (05:10):
I you cannot, it's almost like it's like an out of
the when you know the musicians.
I feel like are familiar without of the blue.
I mean, every time I've ever I'masking you this when you write a
song, it comes from out of theblue, doesn't it?
I mean, where does it come from?
We don't know, but I used to saythat it's like I used to say out
of the mist, like there's amist, and then starts to take
(05:33):
shape, and then I go, Oh, let megrab that.
Let me go, and you start to makeit into something.
But it's really out of the blue.
I mean, it's it comes from thatgreat out there, which we don't
know.
That's what we're investigating.
That's the phenomenon that weare celebrating, even in this
this podcast, is this thing thatcalled out of the blue.
Because I think it formusicians, we know very much
(05:54):
that we live on that.
I mean, that's the inspiration,that's where we write songs,
that's where we live.
We we we deal with that a lot,don't you?
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
Absolutely, and I agree with you a hundred percent
about uh that's how I writeanyway.
I write, I it's it's almost likeI can feel it, a song hovering,
and I know I I pick up theguitar and boom.
And usually my best stuff comes,it's all together.
(06:24):
It just you know, I I might bebabbling some lyrics that I go
back later and say, oh, oh,that's what I was talking about,
or maybe that this is bringingme here.
But I, you know, I I don'tstart, I don't do it as a
calculated thing, like, okay,I'm gonna write a song now uh
(06:46):
about this particular subject.
And uh, you know, it's justcomes to me, it is so out of the
blue that it is something that II I I don't even know if I want
to understand it.
I don't either.
I I agree I agree 100%.
You know, I mean I've heardother people talk, like I know I
(07:06):
know songwriters who work inNashville, where you go in and
you have to write a song thatday.
You know, this is your job.
It's a publishing deal, and andyou know, and you then they sit
there for hours and say, okay,you know, uh it's whatever.
There's a subject on the table,and then they start writing
about it.
(07:27):
Just the thought of that, itmight be my ADHD, I don't know
what it is, but just the thoughtof it makes me cringe.
I I would I would get bored withthat.
SPEAKER_03 (07:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (07:40):
So I'm always looking for the for that that I
you know, if my antenna is upand there's a song hovering,
case in point, I wrote a songcalled um When We Go Home Again.
It came to me complete, musicand lyrics, and it's about uh
(08:00):
the fantasy of going back homeagain, you know, like uh I want
to go back to 1966 and see myfamily and my friends.
And and so it was a fantasysong, and I wrote it.
There's a line that says, Um,and my dad will be there, his
(08:21):
hair will be thick, he'll showme some chords and how to hold a
pick, and he won't get older andhe won't get sick when we go
home again.
And I wrote the tune, and I waslike, Oh man, you know, this is
this is it was his birthday.
SPEAKER_03 (08:39):
That's the day it came to.
SPEAKER_02 (08:41):
Yep.
I didn't, I it I wasn't eventhinking about it.
It was like, wow, this is hisbirthday today, man.
Yeah, so then so you've bothwritten music, and and uh so you
you know that thing, you know,when it just something falls
into the lab.
There are other things that youknow songs I've worked on for a
(09:04):
long time, you know, thatfinally you've you've finished
them up.
But uh I love the ones, the bestones are the ones that just come
come to you like that.
And and it is um it's out of theblue, and it is something that's
mysterious and beautiful, and uhand I feel fortunate to to to be
(09:26):
a a a part of that.
I really do.
SPEAKER_03 (09:29):
Yeah, and it's like we we we sharpen our antenna
antennas, you know.
That's uh when you when you liveyour life for year after year
after year, and and part of yourlife is to come up with music,
it doesn't become a chore, it'sbecomes something like you have
to do, right?
It's not not like I mean have todo like a chore-wise, it's just
that you need to.
It's like if you don't do it,you get all bottled up inside,
(09:52):
you know.
Even if you write crappy stuff,you just gotta get it out and
keep this, keep the channelsopen, absolutely, you know.
And otherwise you'll get allbacked up.
But um, but I I remember I wrotea song about my dad um after he
died, and that was called Onlythe Good Times Last Forever.
And he came to me.
I was I was dreaming, and I wasdreaming that I was watching the
(10:14):
Gary Sandling show.
And Gary Sandling starts to singthis song.
Well, and as he's doing that,first of all, my father's in
this dream, and he's in thekitchen and he's all dressed in
white, like and he looks reallygood compared to the way he did
when he died.
He looked healthy, right?
And I saw him in the kitchen,he's making breakfast.
(10:36):
And I'm going, Dad, what are youmaking?
You can't make breakfast, you'reyou're dead.
What are you doing?
He just nods and keeps makingbreakfast.
And then this Gary Shailing inmy dream starts singing the song
only the good times lastforever.
And then it dawns on me.
That's what my father's tellingme.
That that was one of the goodtimes we had.
(10:58):
He would get up on Sundaymorning or Saturday morning and
make us breakfast.
And I still get chills when Ithink about it because it was
one of those times that lastsforever in my memory, and that's
what I said, wow.
And then I tried to transcribethat song right then and there.
It did come all together, it didcome all together, and uh, and
that song has actually done somethings to my life that are also
(11:19):
out of the blue.
Like I remember a big lawyerthat uh someone turned me on to
that had got me into the doorwith the labels and stuff.
That I was still doing that, andhe loved that song.
He listened to it on the on theplane ride home, and he said, Oh
my god, I thought of my dad.
I'm going home to see my dad inthe hospital.
(11:39):
And and it touched him.
And I remember playing a gig,some guy coming up to me saying,
You that song you sang aboutyour dad, I my brother, and I
thought about you know, so it'shelped people like and that your
song, Come Home Again, it's verygreat because that's us how
that's one of those songs thatit brings healing to people.
(12:00):
That sentiment is so seriouslypowerful, you know.
It really is.
So that's a let's get intothese, you know, your journey as
far as you know, you you weredown in your down in yourself.
You didn't want you never didanother job at music, and you
were facing that, oh my god, uh,moment, you know, that a lot of
us face, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
Uh yeah, yeah.
Well, I I I I should say that uhthat depression uh uh ran a
little bit in my family as well.
And um uh and uh I mean justdifferent different parts of the
(12:40):
family, different people haddifferent struggles that were
emotional and and mental.
SPEAKER_01 (12:45):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (12:46):
And uh as a as a child, uh you know, there wasn't
back in those days, there thereweren't words for things a lot
of times, you know, like therewere like there are today.
There weren't uh you know,what's the matter with you?
You know, like what I used tohave a uh a thing I used to call
an unknown sadness where itwould it would come over me and
(13:15):
uh sometimes I'd weep, uhsometimes I'd just feel sad, but
I couldn't explain.
It wasn't, and nothing hadhappened in particular.
So, you know, uh you start tomake things up, you know.
If you're a kid, if you're ayoung person, you you're going,
why am I why do I feel this way?
(13:35):
You know, is there somethingwrong with me, or maybe
something happened, you know,you you you start coming up with
all kinds of stuff, basically,without I don't want to, you
know, take too much time in thatuh that place.
I I I believe uh that that Ihave depression.
(13:55):
In fact, I was uh diagnosed withmajor depression.
Um, major depression it was acycle thing.
It it would it would come andgo.
There was a word for it.
I can't remember it right now.
And uh it was a disorder, andum, this was later in life, not
(14:17):
not when I was a child.
So I went through all theseyears with this with depression,
and and as I got older, it itgot worse.
Sometimes depression isphysical, and you don't know
why.
You just want to just sit thereand sleep all day, you know.
You're not lazy, you're not it'sjust it's physical, right?
(14:40):
So I had bouts with that, youknow, uh my whole life.
And so um uh I had the majordepression, so they put me on a
medication.
This medication helped a littlebit, except I blew up to almost,
(15:02):
I was just under 400 pounds.
Yeah, that stuff does that,yeah.
Talk about depressed, you know.
Yeah, I mean, I couldn't notonly could I not tie my shoe, I
couldn't see it.
Oh that's that was good.
That was like a rim shot.
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
Oh man, tip it up, tip it up a little bit.
There you go.
Perfect.
That was a rim shot, it wasyeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
Your camera went down to show us your shoe.
SPEAKER_02 (15:31):
Yeah, I couldn't even see my shoes, but about and
so um, you know, so dealing withthe depression over the years.
So at this this one point, I gotoff the medication and um both a
couple of things happened.
You know, I I was in adepressive state.
The music business, you know howit goes.
(15:53):
It uh some some years are reallygood and sometimes it's not, you
know.
I was coming up maybe on 40years with the Stompers, four
decades, yep.
And I've I've been writing newmusic, but uh there was no um
platform for it, and uh so thatwas weighing on me.
(16:16):
I decided to stop playing, anduh uh I I don't know why, I
don't know what made me thinkthat would be a good idea.
So, you know, uh uh just goingback to what we were talking
about earlier, Vernon, at theheight of the Stompers, you
know, like the 80s, the heightof the band, my father would say
(16:40):
to me, you know, the airport ishiring in case you want to get a
job.
And I'd be like, Oh dad, I'm I'mthe stomp.
I'm never gonna need anything,you know.
You know, again God, God lovehim, you know.
It's it's true.
I bet you your dad told youthat, didn't he?
SPEAKER_03 (17:02):
Well, you know, that's I might have told this
guy, but um my dad was gone bythe time I was 17.
But my mom was like all over melike Sass was doing great and
everything she was saying.
You know, you want to take thatpost office exam to have
something to fall back on.
I said, Mom, give me a break,will you?
Yeah, take the post office exam.
SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
They meant well, yeah, of course.
But we were we were on a we wereon a mission.
So so the depression had gottenso bad, and I I I said I'm not
gonna play out anymore.
Uh I took a job um in thesubstance abuse field, but it
(17:44):
was I was uh running a songwriter's group.
Like so all these people who arein yeah, that's great.
We'd come up with a subject andwe and we'd write about it, you
know.
Uh although I did get a lot ofuh uh fulfillment out of doing
that job, there's a lot toworking in that field that is a
(18:08):
real drag.
Uh uh, you know, the businessend of it.
You know, you see people notgetting sort of not getting
treatment because of insuranceor you know, they they act it
out and they're gonna get thrownout.
And I I couldn't that that thatpart of it was just not me.
(18:29):
I didn't want any part of that.
I loved the people and I loveduh sharing with them and writing
music and hearing about whatthey had coming back, but the uh
the rest of it was a real drag.
And so I sunk down deeper anddeeper.
I I would drive to work and I'dI'd be like, um I I don't want
(18:54):
to, I I can't even go in.
And I'd sit outside weeping anduh you know listening to some
music on the radio, and I'mbeing like, Oh, I'm not doing
the right thing.
I'm not doing the right thing.
I should be doing somethingelse.
So one day, in the midst of allof that, I'm working, my cell
(19:19):
phone goes off, and it says Sonypictures.
And I'm like, I I mean, Ihaven't got a clue, you know.
I'm like, and uh and I answerit, and the you know, the voice
says, uh I'm looking for SalBagliard.
This is he.
(19:41):
Uh did you write American Fun,the song American Fun?
And uh uh Do you own the rightsto it?
All this stuff.
And I'm like, Yeah.
He says, Adam Standler wants touse it as a movie.
And and I said, Who is this?
(20:02):
You know, is this Vernon?
You know, like this is this is amusical friend of mine somewhere
going like, yeah, I'm gonna messwith Sal a little bit.
They used a song that I wrotewhen I was still living at home.
I I wrote that song, I was ateenager still, American Fun.
And uh and 40 years later,somebody wanted to use it in
(20:27):
their movie.
That's one and and that wasreally it was really uh um it
took me out of it, it was out ofthe blue.
And I'll tell you, Adam's peoplewere the nicest people.
So there's a little backstory toit, and that is that a gentleman
(20:47):
by the name of John Philbrickused to be a roadie for the
Stompers in the early 80s.
He went out to California and hewas working for Happy Madison,
which was Adam's company.
So so Adam was shooting themovie in New Hampshire, and he
(21:08):
he was asking about other actsfrom Massachusetts.
He he had Giles in there, and Ithink um maybe Robin Lane had a
song in there, whatever.
He was looking for local, localmusic.
And and my friend, this thisguy, John, said, you know, I
used to work for a band calledthe Snarpers.
(21:29):
If he fell in love with AmericanFun, it's the closer to the
movie.
SPEAKER_03 (21:33):
That's all right that's what I thought.
SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (21:36):
Which movie?
SPEAKER_02 (21:37):
And Grown Ups, it's called.
Um, okay.
It's uh Adam Sanham film GrownUps.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He did a couple of and then umand through Adam, I met Brooks
uh uh Brooks Arthur, who was hismusical, he was his producer.
(21:58):
And uh he's he's since passed,passed away.
But Brooks Arthur was arecording engineer and record
producer way back in the early60s.
He he produced uh Society'sChild by Janice Ian and some
other some other great tunes ofthe uh out of the 60s.
I'm trying to remember what theyare right now.
(22:19):
And so through Adam, I metBrooks, and Brooks was just he
was just really, you know,because I was asking him a
question.
How do I get my other songs inmovies?
You know, you know, but he wasreally, really kind to me, and
uh as Adam was.
And then he ended up using uhtwo more songs in Grown Ups 2.
(22:42):
Honestly, I've never heard them,but they're in there because I,
you know, I get the uh you getthe chat, the ass cap thing that
says it, you know.
But um, yeah, that was reallysomething, man.
I I I feel uh blessed, you know.
Uh it's a strange thing whensomething good happens, you
(23:05):
know.
SPEAKER_03 (23:06):
Uh a lot of times it's harder to handle than bad
things because it can screw yourmind up a little bit.
SPEAKER_02 (23:13):
Wow, that's it's it's like okay, something good
happened.
That means something bad's gonnahappen.
That's how that's how I've gonethrough my whole life.
That is the sound and thethought of depression.
Yeah, it is that what I justsaid to you something beautiful
(23:33):
happens out the blue, and thedepressed brain goes, something
bad's coming.
SPEAKER_03 (23:39):
That's what it says, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:40):
It's coming, man.
So so I'm not gonna enjoy thisbecause I gotta get ready for
this horrible thing.
SPEAKER_03 (23:48):
You know, I think it's something to do with out of
the blue things that with that'swhat I think what we learn from
this uh phenomenon is that firstof all, we don't have any
control over it.
So, like Shakespeare says,there's nothing good or bad,
only thinking makes it so.
So you know, we just we justhave to look at it like okay,
(24:09):
stuff is happening.
All I have to do is show up,right?
And enjoy it, and that's it.
And then when something badhappens, well, I'm just gonna
take it one day at a time and dowhat I gotta do to deal with it,
and I'm gonna learn from it.
I look at it like that now.
I think I look at everythingthat happens to me out of the
blue, whether it's good or bad,that I'm gonna have to, it's a
(24:30):
learning experience.
I'm I'm I'm getting ready for alearning experience.
That isn't always a comfortablefeeling.
That that's me, that's mydepression starting up because
oh, I'm going back to schoolagain.
This is it.
Like my uncle said to me the dayI went to talk to him.
After he's my uncle was a a uhuh kind of connected guy in the
in the north end, and after wegot ripped off, my mother sent
(24:53):
me to go talk to Uncle Louie.
Okay, and Uncle Louie says, Itold him what happened.
He says he gets real quiet.
He goes, You know, Vernon calleda fifty thousand dollar lesson.
You don't want to get involvedwith those guys, they'll be in
your life forever, and your lifewill be miserable.
(25:14):
So you just gotta write it off.
I'm sorry, that's what you gottado.
So that was like a huge lesson,right?
Oh, yeah.
There was no, you know,vengeance is mine, says the
higher power, says the Lord.
And I leave it into that hands,you know.
Whatever, whatever peoplewhatever did things, you got
(25:34):
your equipment stolen.
I did too.
And oh yeah, and so manymusicians had their equipment
stolen.
And um, I remember I'll neverforget I used to we used to
sneak into the Orpheum shows asI was a 15-year-old kid, and one
show we're trying to get intothe Who was playing, and we get
in the we're going trying to getin the fire escape, right?
(25:55):
And out of the door of the stagecomes running Keith Moon, and he
runs and he stops and he ends onthe stairs and he starts crying.
And we're going, What's up,Keith?
He goes, Somebody stole theeffing guitar, man.
They think we're making moneywith this bastard, they don't
know that they're killing us andthey steal a guitar, they stole
(26:19):
it.
He's freaking out about it.
I'm going, like, holy crap, wow,that was a real lesson in rock
and roll.
And here's my god.
I mean, I thought of Keith Moonas like a god, but he had you
know, he was no, he was aperson, very much so.
God rest his soul.
Great drama, too.
SPEAKER_02 (26:38):
Years later, we played there together.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
Yes, we did, and we we were probably I don't we
didn't get anything stolen thatday, but they probably had eyes
on the thing.
I'm gonna get that stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
They were making a list.
I want that guitar, I want that.
SPEAKER_02 (26:54):
Yeah, yeah.
We we we we had a mutual uh loveand respect for each other, and
and and and that wasn't an easything to do, you know.
When when you're younger, oh mygod, competition is crazy.
I've had this this conversationbefore.
When you're younger, your bandis your gang, and you know, and
and you you you sort of build awall around you so that nobody
(27:17):
can you don't want anybody to bebetter than you, you know.
That that's a beautiful thingthat in my old age now.
I'm so happy when I hear a greatartist, you know, where I'm
like, wow, this is beautiful.
That's great what you're doing.
I can do that uh and not feellike uh threatened by it, you
(27:38):
know.
As a as a young man, as a youngman, unfortunately, it it could
be like that sometimes, youknow.
SPEAKER_03 (27:46):
So Vernon's out in LA, how's the competition out
there, Vernon?
They have I think they have ait's pretty cool.
My son talks to me.
You tell me it's a little moreof a community, like they
support each other, the bands,right?
Verna, it's a little differentout there.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
Yeah, I mean, there's always like competition,
I think, among people.
And like you hear people kind oflike talking about, oh, this
band, you know, oh, we gottaplay with them, or but um I mean
the we try to make a scene, youknow.
Like I'm in a I'm in a band, sothat like a lot of the bands
(28:19):
that I play with start becomingbuddies, and like it doesn't it
doesn't seem like it's helpfulat all to be like you know, like
negative and then kind of try tobe be an island out here.
You need to like you need helpfrom other people.
Um but they every now and thenlike you like run into certain p
(28:42):
characters that like have reallybig egos, and like they're
usually pretty good, but they'lljust be they'll just like have
like a really big ego where likeI remember one guy specifically
I like went up to him after ashow and I was like, yo, like
you you are such a great singer,man.
Like you you like your band, youguys really kick ass.
(29:03):
And he like didn't even likelook at me kind of vibe.
And I just remember getting sucha weird bad taste in my mouth,
and then all of a sudden I'mlike, Yeah, I guess they I guess
he kind of had a chip on hisshoulder.
I guess and then it it turns outthat that was like of something
a lot of people felt, and thenhe ended up kind of like burning
(29:25):
bridges and leaving his band.
And like people kind of turnedtheir back on him because he had
that like demeanor.
So it is sort of it is sort ofrefreshing to see like people
you we don't uh if you're in itfor the music, you are joyful
and you're like gonna appreciatethose compliments.
And you're and people are gonnalike sniff out if you're doing
(29:47):
it to like feed your narcissism,kinda.
So that that's kind of like it'slike checks and balances, I
guess.
I mean, I'm sure it was probablythe same.
Like, you gotta be I hear this alot.
You've you've gotta be talented,but you've also got to be a good
hang.
Like you've gotta you gotta beable to like I don't know.
SPEAKER_03 (30:10):
That had something to do with it.
It definitely did.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
I will definitely say though, I am I think I'm in
that phase still where like Iwish I could be a little more
like not threatened.
I and don't get me wrong, I knowthis is not the correct mindset,
but like I it feels almost likeoh I'm never gonna be that good.
Oh like I just gotta like focuson my own thing because that
(30:38):
person is so good at what theydo, and I'm over here in my
little you know shack justtrying to you know find food to
live, and they're so successfuland they're so good.
And then when people pop off andthey're really young, I'm like,
oh, I'm so old, like my prime ispast.
It's so it's it's so I and Idefinitely struggle with like
(31:02):
you hurt me, Vernon.
SPEAKER_02 (31:03):
You're hurting me.
SPEAKER_00 (31:07):
No, but I mean like I feel like I feel like that's
just something that like youwill kind of get over.
I mean, I'm hoping I'm I'mworking on it, but I also deal
with these depressive thoughtstoo, personally.
So I think it is kind of likeit's just like the the little
gremlin in your mind that triesto keep bringing you down, and
(31:30):
it's like the it's like thecounterforce to the
out-of-the-blue muse.
I like to think of it as like amuse, which is super corny, but
like it's like you have the musethat's like pulling you this way
and like giving you it's liketelling you to let go, and then
that's when you open up yourchannels to receive like really
authentic music, and then yougot the voice in your head
(31:53):
that's like, how is that?
What is that?
That's not a science, you can'tdo that all the time.
What if that never happensagain?
And then you I don't know.
So I'm going off, I'm going offon a tangent here, but it's
definitely beneficial to havefriends that support you and
create a community, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (32:13):
Well, you know, when I think back to the days we were
coming up, it was neighborhoods.
Bands were almost therepresentative of their
neighborhood.
Oh, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah,yeah.
You were like, not so muchsecure anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (32:27):
I mean not so much anymore because the internet
yeah, the internet's dissolvedneighborhoods.
SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
Yeah, the internet's done a uh dissolved a lot of
different things, but yeah, Imean, like the the music scene,
the music scene at that point intime.
I mean, you we had to go printup a flyer and go put it outside
the rat, you know, right?
Monday night, Sass and theStompers are playing, you know.
(32:54):
That's that was it.
You didn't you didn't go on onany internet or something.
That's how you let people know,you know.
Later on, if you if you had amailing list, that was pretty
heavy.
SPEAKER_03 (33:05):
That was heavy duty, yeah.
Well, you know, easy emails.
SPEAKER_02 (33:08):
Uh yeah, it I want to get back to something uh
though, Vernon, that you youwere saying uh because so yeah,
the voice that voice will alwayskind of be there, you know.
Uh the one that says, ah, youknow, am I good enough?
But that's okay.
It's okay to it's okay sometimesto like to be uh hungry and
(33:35):
competitive in a way that's notharmful to yourself or others,
mostly to yourself.
Um and for me personally, I hadto, I don't know if I learned it
or what happened, but I had tolearn something called humility.
(33:58):
And it's not it's most peoplethink, oh humility, you felt bad
and and you were humiliated.
Nope, nope, nope.
Humility.
I'm I'm I'm good at this.
These are the things I'm goodat.
So when I meet somebody elsewho's good, maybe they're really
(34:19):
good, it's okay, because I'm I Igot my thing.
And I know what I'm good at, Iknow what I might what I would
like to be better at.
And hey, listen, I wasn't likethis at the 18, 19 years old, or
20 years old, maybe not even at30.
(34:41):
You know, it took me a while tofind this thing, or maybe it
found me out of the blue.
Out of the blue.
That's right.
I'm serious.
Um I'm very serious about that.
I mean, I agree.
You know, I hope that didn't godown the the the wrong thing or
come off the wrong note.
No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03 (35:00):
No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02 (35:01):
Right in right into it, you know, you know that you
you've got a gift, yeah, and youyou you you uh honor that gift
and you take care of it.
I mean, I I don't know if weneed to go down this road where
I'm sure there was some you andI didn't take care of the gift,
no by going in other directionsor whatever, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (35:25):
Yeah, and so if you don't okay, my my son knows I
was always not always a goodboy.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:34):
You were you're a mess.
SPEAKER_03 (35:37):
I was a mess.
SPEAKER_00 (35:38):
You're talking about like like drugs and boos and out
and drugs, yeah.
Yeah, you know, uh my dad'sinfamous nose job.
SPEAKER_03 (35:52):
What happened?
I didn't get a nose job.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
No, I mean, didn't you get socked in the face?
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (35:57):
I got punched the first time I actually actually
drank with a bunch of kids.
I was like 16.
Oh, you were young, and I wasover some kids' house, and we're
all drunk.
First time I was ever drunk, thenext thing I know, I see a TV
flying across the room.
So I said, Well, I got I gottaget out of here.
Some there's a fight is breakingout, and I get up and someone
suckered me and broke my noseacross the side of my face.
(36:19):
And then I might go home, my dadlooks at me and goes, What the
heck happened to you?
He and next morning I go to themass general, and they're gonna
well I'm laying on a table andthey go, You know how much force
it took to break that nose?
And I go, Yeah, it's gonna takethat much to put it back.
Oh, baby, and you know what theydid, they stuck all these q-tips
(36:41):
with cocaine with pharmaceuticalcocaine, pharmaceutical cocaine,
like it was also this is theorigin story.
There was a there was about 50of these q-tips up my nose, and
my face is numb, baby, and theymy face is numb, right?
And they're coming over to me,and I'm laying there, and
they're going, all right,Vernon, get ready.
(37:02):
And they pull up the things andthey get they take a plier's
like a like a curved, he sticksthem up my nose, and he goes,
and one guy's holding my hand,the other guy.
We hear the sound, and then theysay, and then they say, Okay,
and they bring a mirror over,right?
And they say, How's that?
I go, a little to the left.
(37:23):
Well I God.
And when I walked out of therewith the nose thing all stuffed
up and a brace on me, I think myfeet never touched the ground,
man.
It was my first time onpharmaceutical.
Okay, boy boy, something else,man.
I didn't know how bad I wouldnot want to have that feeling
later on in life because Ididn't have it for many years,
(37:44):
another 10 years before I triedthe other stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (37:46):
But um, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (37:48):
But I mean, that's all but to me, it was like
inspiration.
I don't know if I really feltanimosity to anybody.
SPEAKER_02 (37:54):
I did feel competitive, definitely, because
it's suddenly it becomes like asport, and it really is healthy,
healthy competition is good, youyou know, keeps you keeps you,
you know.
SPEAKER_03 (38:07):
I think so.
That's I think what that's whatmade the Boston scene pretty
great back then is because therewas a the bunch of bands kind of
competing and getting makingsetting the bar higher and
higher each for each other.
SPEAKER_02 (38:19):
I mean, that night that we were 20 years old
playing at the Orphium, uh, Ithink it was it was us.
I think I don't know.
I forget if the fools were thefools play too.
Oh it was you, it was us.
It was the Stompers, Sass, JamesMontgomery, Giles, and maybe
maybe another band.
(38:39):
I forget, but I think that'swell.
SPEAKER_03 (38:41):
I think that was it.
I think that was it.
SPEAKER_02 (38:43):
You gotta be on your you gotta be on your A plus
game, you know.
You know what I mean?
That's how you're gonna do it.
You're gonna go out and say, uh,you know, I I got a run and joke
with with uh Mike Gerard fromThe Fools, you know, he's I
said, do y'all we always wantedto go on before you guys because
uh gives us our A plus game, youknow.
(39:05):
We feel a little bit more we wewe needed to to work a little
harder, you know, so that whenwhen we left the stage, they
they remembered who was there,you know.
SPEAKER_03 (39:15):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:16):
That was the thing in stand-up, too, where like no
one wants to go on after the guywho kills because then the
audience is like, all right, youbetter bring it, and then the
vibe is different and they haveto work harder.
That is like you know, somethingI have also thought of and dealt
with with other bands.
(39:38):
You gotta bring it.
And then if you're opening forsomeone who's big, no, not in a
not in a negative way, but Ithink it's always beneficial to
try to play better than them.
Not better, but like try to likebring the best show.
Because you wanna you wanna tryto be like, I don't know,
unforgettable.
(39:58):
You're not gonna be if you'reopening for a band that's like
on that's touring and all theirfans are there, they're probably
gonna get the better response orwhatever.
It's fine.
SPEAKER_02 (40:07):
Oh yeah, you you get that that teaches you how to
take a punch, though.
I mean, I we I I'm sure I'm sureno, I'm serious.
I you know, we we opened for sowe opened for people like uh the
Jay Giles band.
We went on tour with them, andthat was that was good because
we had a rock band that wassimilar to that, right?
(40:28):
But then we would get dateslike, okay, you guys are gonna
open for Roxy Music tonight, andwe just got booed the whole
time.
Booed, just get off.
We hate you, you know, becausewe're up there going, let's
rock, you know, whatever we weresinging about, you know.
And Roxy Music was kind ofthey're an already kind of you
(40:48):
know, different, different bag.
Nothing against them, right?
But the audience was so youlearn you learn how to take a
punch, you know what I mean?
That's that's that's how you doit.
You could you could go home andand say that's I'm never gonna
do that again, or you just getback up and and you do it, you
know.
But yeah, yeah, well, I've got alot of those stories.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
I was growing up was like the most like that.
Like, Dad, do you remember whenI would play like VFWs or like
churches?
Yeah, and I would go up with mylike singer-songwriter band, and
we'd play like you know, likelittle catchy pop rock tunes.
Because I was super inspired bymy dad's music, and like I was
(41:31):
always playing class, I was grewup playing like some classic
covers, and like I was like, Iwant to write fun songs, I'm
sick of these like Metallicasongs.
I don't know, but then I wouldplay all these like pop rock
songs, and then I'd have my fourfriends and my girlfriend like
singing along, and then we gotthe stage, and then the guys
with the big gauges in theirears, and like you know, they'd
(41:54):
come on with their heavy Screamoband, and it was like I felt
like no one everyone kind oflike talked smack about us, and
then immediately it was like theheaviest band you've ever heard
in your life.
So, like, there was a lot when Iwas young of just like you know,
like the the the shit talkingand like the booing, and like oh
(42:16):
it was that that was tough.
That was the that definitelytaught me resilience for sure.
That doesn't really happenanymore because you know you
find your your crowds, it's alittle different, I guess.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (42:29):
Listen, you know, so it's kind of getting back to our
show here because we've beenhaving a great conversation
about this is the show, damn it.
So many things.
I know it is the show, damn it.
So we we we're talking about somany great things that really it
everything is out of the blue.
SPEAKER_02 (42:46):
We are talking about out of the blue stuff, and I was
also uh you we we don't we won'tgo there.
I wanted to sh no no I wanted toshare with you about about the
the the the death of my mother,oh boy, which was uh yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna give you the brief thebrief thing.
(43:09):
So so my mom was uh in a nursinghome uh last couple of years of
her life, and uh this oneparticular night she'd fallen
and uh hit her head.
Now, she had done that a fewtimes previously and always was
okay.
This time uh we get a call, shehas a brain bleed.
(43:34):
Uh, do you want us to go in?
Uh she's 95.
No, don't I don't want to put itthrough that.
Five in the call, 5 a.m.
I get a call.
You need to come, you know, youryour mom's pass is gonna pass
away.
Uh so you should get here assoon as you can.
My beautiful wife and I, Godlove her.
(43:56):
She uh I was a wreck.
Uh we go into uh BethersioHospital.
My mother's in an emergency uhroom, and uh and she's
unconscious, and I go in and I,you know weep and start talking
to her and saying a fewdifferent things I wanted to
(44:19):
tell her, you know.
And uh once again, they told meto come in, she's gonna pass
away.
A little while later, a nursecomes in and says, um, okay,
we're gonna send her back to thenursing home.
And I was, what are you talkingabout?
Uh well, she could go now in twohours or two days.
(44:46):
I I I I was just dumbfounded.
I was just, I didn't know whatto think.
She gets back to the uh nursinghome, and I I figure she's gonna
be in bed unconscious the wholetime.
She wakes up.
She wakes up and she looks at meand she says, She goes, This is
(45:11):
in a nice place.
She was in the same place she'sbeen in for a couple of years,
but between the headbang and andthe probably the trauma of the
of the night before and allthat, she thinks she's in a
different place.
I said, Okay.
The next day she's up in awheelchair, and I'm talking with
(45:34):
her like this, having coffee.
I'm like, Ma, how you doing?
I'm good.
And uh the next few days I wasable to speak with her.
Uh some of it was memory stuff,talking about uh growing up and
(45:57):
different funny things, thingsmaking her laugh.
And then uh little by little shewould uh uh sleep, and that kind
of took over the next 12 days orso, where she would just be
sleeping and she wouldn't getand eventually she didn't wake
up again.
(46:19):
And um I went in uh oneafternoon and played some songs
for her, you know.
I uh I played lovely Rita,because Rita was her name.
Uh and then um a few otherthings, you know, that that
meant something to her.
And um and she never regainedconsciousness, but she did
(46:41):
squeeze my hand.
And so that was really quite athing to have happen.
At first, I was very angry thatthey told me she was gonna pass
away and she didn't, because Ihad kind of wrapped my head
(47:02):
around that a little bit, youknow, like okay, so she's gone.
I'm sad, I'm um uh I'm mourning.
And then she came back, and Iwas a little angry that they had
told me that that's what wasgonna happen to her.
But in the end, it was a gift.
A gift, yeah.
It was a gift because I got tosit with her, you know.
(47:24):
Um one of the one of the mostintense things that ever that
happened between us, it was justher and I, and I said to her, I
said, Ma, I said, uh, do youforgive me for any time that uh
I might have made you frightenedor angry while growing up?
(47:50):
And she looked at me and shesaid, Well, that goes both ways.
SPEAKER_03 (48:05):
That is something beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (48:08):
Did she ever anger or frighten me when I was a
child?
Maybe, but but that that'sneither here nor there.
I think what she was saying is Iforgive you, you forgive me,
we're okay.
SPEAKER_03 (48:21):
That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (48:23):
The circle.
The circle is okay.
Yeah, that's that's what I gotfrom it.
It was really probably the up tonow the heaviest moment I've
ever had in my life, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (48:39):
That's a beautiful thing that happens out of the
blue.
Really a ple really anunbelievable pleasure and honor
to get to know you, Sal, and umand have you welcome you to the
out of the blue family.
So we'll we'll be doing this.
So we're gonna be, you know,it's a family, you know what
(49:00):
family like we don't go away.
SPEAKER_02 (49:04):
So no, we make the gravy on Sunday and you come
over.
SPEAKER_03 (49:08):
That's it.
Gravy on Sunday.
SPEAKER_02 (49:12):
But anyways, this is this is it's been a it's been
wonderful.
Thanks, thanks for having me.
And and Vernon, nice to meet youagain.
Even if we met a couple of timesbefore, that this is nice, man.
So good luck out there, myfriend.
SPEAKER_00 (49:26):
Thank you, appreciate it.
It means a lot.
SPEAKER_02 (49:28):
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (49:30):
Who knows?
We may share some music togetherbecause absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (49:35):
I really do.
We got a guitarist, bassist, anddrummer sitting right here.
SPEAKER_03 (49:39):
So right here.
Yeah, uh Stomp West.
SPEAKER_02 (49:48):
Oh, yeah, that's what we need to do, is go back
to all right.
SPEAKER_03 (49:55):
Well, thank you for everybody for joining us here on
Out of the Blue, the podcast.
And this is Sal Baglio andMustang Vernon III.
And boy, oh boy, what a greatpodcast episode this has been.
Please smash that like buttonand follow and get the word out
there so more people will sharetheir out of the blue stories
and we can get this world flyingstraight, straighten up and fly
(50:16):
right.
SPEAKER_01 (50:19):
When the clock strikes backwards and you're
spinning around, and you wake upback in the world.
SPEAKER_03 (50:26):
Out of the blue the podcast, hosted by me, Vernon
West.
Co-hosted by Vernon West theThird, edited by Joe Gallow.
Music and logo by Vernon WestIII.
Have an out of the blue story ofyour own you'd like to share?
Reach us at info at out of theblue-thepodcast.org.
(50:48):
Subscribe to Out of the Blue onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
And on our website, out of theblue-thepodcast.org.
You can also check us out onPatreon for exclusive content.
Welcome to Out of the Blue the Podcast, where real
people share powerful stories ofresilience and transformation.
I'm your host, Vernon West,joined by my son and co-host
Vernon West III, an artist,singer, songwriter, and the
creative force behind our logoand theme song.
Our guest today is Sal Baglio, asinger, guitarist, and composer,
(00:46):
best known for fronting thelegendary Boston band The
Stompers.
Sal's journey has been anythingbut ordinary.
After decades of success, he hita season of loss, depression and
uncertainty, unsure of who hewas without music.
But then, out of the blue, aphone call came from Hollywood,
(01:06):
changed everything.
Sony Pictures wanted his songAmerican Fun for an Adam Sandler
movie.
That moment reignited hisspirit, lifted the Stompers into
a new era, and reminded him whymusic is still the best
medicine.
Now, as a solo artist, Salcontinues to create heartfelt,
powerful songs, carrying theimpulsive joy of his past hits
(01:30):
while reflecting deeply on whereit all began.
His story is one of resilience,rediscovery, and the healing
power of music.
Hi Sal, and welcome to Out ofthe Blue the Podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (01:43):
Oh, thank you.
It is wonderful to be here.
Good to see both of you.
SPEAKER_03 (01:47):
It's so good to see you.
Welcome.
You look like you should be inour house.
I have similar doors.
Well, let's start at thebeginning.
Let's start at the beginning.
Let's start when you startedwhere you think uh something out
of the blue happened that youcan remember and talk about that
sent started this wheel turningin your life and led to other
wheels, to other thingshappening, other out of the blue
(02:09):
events.
What's the first one youremember, the most powerful one,
maybe?
How's that?
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Wow, yeah.
There's there's I guess thereare a few, you know.
I I I was trying to connect thisparticular one uh to music,
which has been an importantthing in in all of our lives,
right?
Uh you know, um you know, uh youprobably feel the same way.
(02:36):
I I don't know.
Um when I say you, I'm talkingabout the collective music,
music, I I didn't make adecision to be a musician.
Right it it found me of whichI'm very grateful for uh at a at
a young age.
(02:57):
Um my father was a musician, mygrandfather on my mother's side
was a musician.
Uh, and there was a lot of musicin in both sides of my family.
And uh I was born and it foundme.
It found me before I could evenuh uh uh clearly understand it.
(03:23):
I loved what every every time Iheard something on the radio, on
the record player, ittransported me somehow.
Uh and can and I connected toit.
So I, you know, when I saw theBeatles in '64 on Ed Sullivan,
that sort of uh uh put you know,gave me a direction.
(03:47):
Well, I want to do that.
But I already was in, I alreadywas in love with music, and it
it had already taken me anddecided this is what you're
gonna do.
I never dreamed in my life Iwould ever do any other job
other than music.
SPEAKER_03 (04:04):
I love that.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
And uh I'm I'm very, very lucky and very blessed that
that I had been able to do that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:13):
I mean, you know, don't get me wrong.
Sometimes things got a littlethin, you know.
You know, uh it is an old bowlof cherries.
SPEAKER_03 (04:24):
Put it that way.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
No, no, no.
So, you know, uh, but most ofthat time I was a single guy,
and you know, I lived at homefor a long time, you know, in
the three decor in East Boston,you know, the you know, you can
you can take the second floor,you know, that type of thing.
And then uh you know, later, youknow, you just uh you get you
(04:45):
make ends meet.
Anyway, the the the reason I I II wanted to talk about that a
little bit with you is to let uhpeople who don't know me know
what the connection to music iswith me, you know.
Uh it's almost uh and I bet bothof you feel the same way.
It's almost uh you can't reallyexplain it and you can't
(05:09):
describe it.
SPEAKER_03 (05:10):
I you cannot, it's almost like it's like an out of
the when you know the musicians.
I feel like are familiar without of the blue.
I mean, every time I've ever I'masking you this when you write a
song, it comes from out of theblue, doesn't it?
I mean, where does it come from?
We don't know, but I used to saythat it's like I used to say out
of the mist, like there's amist, and then starts to take
(05:33):
shape, and then I go, Oh, let megrab that.
Let me go, and you start to makeit into something.
But it's really out of the blue.
I mean, it's it comes from thatgreat out there, which we don't
know.
That's what we're investigating.
That's the phenomenon that weare celebrating, even in this
this podcast, is this thing thatcalled out of the blue.
Because I think it formusicians, we know very much
(05:54):
that we live on that.
I mean, that's the inspiration,that's where we write songs,
that's where we live.
We we we deal with that a lot,don't you?
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
Absolutely, and I agree with you a hundred percent
about uh that's how I writeanyway.
I write, I it's it's almost likeI can feel it, a song hovering,
and I know I I pick up theguitar and boom.
And usually my best stuff comes,it's all together.
(06:24):
It just you know, I I might bebabbling some lyrics that I go
back later and say, oh, oh,that's what I was talking about,
or maybe that this is bringingme here.
But I, you know, I I don'tstart, I don't do it as a
calculated thing, like, okay,I'm gonna write a song now uh
(06:46):
about this particular subject.
And uh, you know, it's justcomes to me, it is so out of the
blue that it is something that II I I don't even know if I want
to understand it.
I don't either.
I I agree I agree 100%.
You know, I mean I've heardother people talk, like I know I
(07:06):
know songwriters who work inNashville, where you go in and
you have to write a song thatday.
You know, this is your job.
It's a publishing deal, and andyou know, and you then they sit
there for hours and say, okay,you know, uh it's whatever.
There's a subject on the table,and then they start writing
about it.
(07:27):
Just the thought of that, itmight be my ADHD, I don't know
what it is, but just the thoughtof it makes me cringe.
I I would I would get bored withthat.
SPEAKER_03 (07:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (07:40):
So I'm always looking for the for that that I
you know, if my antenna is upand there's a song hovering,
case in point, I wrote a songcalled um When We Go Home Again.
It came to me complete, musicand lyrics, and it's about uh
(08:00):
the fantasy of going back homeagain, you know, like uh I want
to go back to 1966 and see myfamily and my friends.
And and so it was a fantasysong, and I wrote it.
There's a line that says, Um,and my dad will be there, his
(08:21):
hair will be thick, he'll showme some chords and how to hold a
pick, and he won't get older andhe won't get sick when we go
home again.
And I wrote the tune, and I waslike, Oh man, you know, this is
this is it was his birthday.
SPEAKER_03 (08:39):
That's the day it came to.
SPEAKER_02 (08:41):
Yep.
I didn't, I it I wasn't eventhinking about it.
It was like, wow, this is hisbirthday today, man.
Yeah, so then so you've bothwritten music, and and uh so you
you know that thing, you know,when it just something falls
into the lab.
There are other things that youknow songs I've worked on for a
(09:04):
long time, you know, thatfinally you've you've finished
them up.
But uh I love the ones, the bestones are the ones that just come
come to you like that.
And and it is um it's out of theblue, and it is something that's
mysterious and beautiful, and uhand I feel fortunate to to to be
(09:26):
a a a part of that.
I really do.
SPEAKER_03 (09:29):
Yeah, and it's like we we we sharpen our antenna
antennas, you know.
That's uh when you when you liveyour life for year after year
after year, and and part of yourlife is to come up with music,
it doesn't become a chore, it'sbecomes something like you have
to do, right?
It's not not like I mean have todo like a chore-wise, it's just
that you need to.
It's like if you don't do it,you get all bottled up inside,
(09:52):
you know.
Even if you write crappy stuff,you just gotta get it out and
keep this, keep the channelsopen, absolutely, you know.
And otherwise you'll get allbacked up.
But um, but I I remember I wrotea song about my dad um after he
died, and that was called Onlythe Good Times Last Forever.
And he came to me.
I was I was dreaming, and I wasdreaming that I was watching the
(10:14):
Gary Sandling show.
And Gary Sandling starts to singthis song.
Well, and as he's doing that,first of all, my father's in
this dream, and he's in thekitchen and he's all dressed in
white, like and he looks reallygood compared to the way he did
when he died.
He looked healthy, right?
And I saw him in the kitchen,he's making breakfast.
(10:36):
And I'm going, Dad, what are youmaking?
You can't make breakfast, you'reyou're dead.
What are you doing?
He just nods and keeps makingbreakfast.
And then this Gary Shailing inmy dream starts singing the song
only the good times lastforever.
And then it dawns on me.
That's what my father's tellingme.
That that was one of the goodtimes we had.
(10:58):
He would get up on Sundaymorning or Saturday morning and
make us breakfast.
And I still get chills when Ithink about it because it was
one of those times that lastsforever in my memory, and that's
what I said, wow.
And then I tried to transcribethat song right then and there.
It did come all together, it didcome all together, and uh, and
that song has actually done somethings to my life that are also
(11:19):
out of the blue.
Like I remember a big lawyerthat uh someone turned me on to
that had got me into the doorwith the labels and stuff.
That I was still doing that, andhe loved that song.
He listened to it on the on theplane ride home, and he said, Oh
my god, I thought of my dad.
I'm going home to see my dad inthe hospital.
(11:39):
And and it touched him.
And I remember playing a gig,some guy coming up to me saying,
You that song you sang aboutyour dad, I my brother, and I
thought about you know, so it'shelped people like and that your
song, Come Home Again, it's verygreat because that's us how
that's one of those songs thatit brings healing to people.
(12:00):
That sentiment is so seriouslypowerful, you know.
It really is.
So that's a let's get intothese, you know, your journey as
far as you know, you you weredown in your down in yourself.
You didn't want you never didanother job at music, and you
were facing that, oh my god, uh,moment, you know, that a lot of
us face, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
Uh yeah, yeah.
Well, I I I I should say that uhthat depression uh uh ran a
little bit in my family as well.
And um uh and uh I mean justdifferent different parts of the
(12:40):
family, different people haddifferent struggles that were
emotional and and mental.
SPEAKER_01 (12:45):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (12:46):
And uh as a as a child, uh you know, there wasn't
back in those days, there thereweren't words for things a lot
of times, you know, like therewere like there are today.
There weren't uh you know,what's the matter with you?
You know, like what I used tohave a uh a thing I used to call
an unknown sadness where itwould it would come over me and
(13:15):
uh sometimes I'd weep, uhsometimes I'd just feel sad, but
I couldn't explain.
It wasn't, and nothing hadhappened in particular.
So, you know, uh you start tomake things up, you know.
If you're a kid, if you're ayoung person, you you're going,
why am I why do I feel this way?
(13:35):
You know, is there somethingwrong with me, or maybe
something happened, you know,you you you start coming up with
all kinds of stuff, basically,without I don't want to, you
know, take too much time in thatuh that place.
I I I believe uh that that Ihave depression.
(13:55):
In fact, I was uh diagnosed withmajor depression.
Um, major depression it was acycle thing.
It it would it would come andgo.
There was a word for it.
I can't remember it right now.
And uh it was a disorder, andum, this was later in life, not
(14:17):
not when I was a child.
So I went through all theseyears with this with depression,
and and as I got older, it itgot worse.
Sometimes depression isphysical, and you don't know
why.
You just want to just sit thereand sleep all day, you know.
You're not lazy, you're not it'sjust it's physical, right?
(14:40):
So I had bouts with that, youknow, uh my whole life.
And so um uh I had the majordepression, so they put me on a
medication.
This medication helped a littlebit, except I blew up to almost,
(15:02):
I was just under 400 pounds.
Yeah, that stuff does that,yeah.
Talk about depressed, you know.
Yeah, I mean, I couldn't notonly could I not tie my shoe, I
couldn't see it.
Oh that's that was good.
That was like a rim shot.
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
Oh man, tip it up, tip it up a little bit.
There you go.
Perfect.
That was a rim shot, it wasyeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
Your camera went down to show us your shoe.
SPEAKER_02 (15:31):
Yeah, I couldn't even see my shoes, but about and
so um, you know, so dealing withthe depression over the years.
So at this this one point, I gotoff the medication and um both a
couple of things happened.
You know, I I was in adepressive state.
The music business, you know howit goes.
(15:53):
It uh some some years are reallygood and sometimes it's not, you
know.
I was coming up maybe on 40years with the Stompers, four
decades, yep.
And I've I've been writing newmusic, but uh there was no um
platform for it, and uh so thatwas weighing on me.
(16:16):
I decided to stop playing, anduh uh I I don't know why, I
don't know what made me thinkthat would be a good idea.
So, you know, uh uh just goingback to what we were talking
about earlier, Vernon, at theheight of the Stompers, you
know, like the 80s, the heightof the band, my father would say
(16:40):
to me, you know, the airport ishiring in case you want to get a
job.
And I'd be like, Oh dad, I'm I'mthe stomp.
I'm never gonna need anything,you know.
You know, again God, God lovehim, you know.
It's it's true.
I bet you your dad told youthat, didn't he?
SPEAKER_03 (17:02):
Well, you know, that's I might have told this
guy, but um my dad was gone bythe time I was 17.
But my mom was like all over melike Sass was doing great and
everything she was saying.
You know, you want to take thatpost office exam to have
something to fall back on.
I said, Mom, give me a break,will you?
Yeah, take the post office exam.
SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
They meant well, yeah, of course.
But we were we were on a we wereon a mission.
So so the depression had gottenso bad, and I I I said I'm not
gonna play out anymore.
Uh I took a job um in thesubstance abuse field, but it
(17:44):
was I was uh running a songwriter's group.
Like so all these people who arein yeah, that's great.
We'd come up with a subject andwe and we'd write about it, you
know.
Uh although I did get a lot ofuh uh fulfillment out of doing
that job, there's a lot toworking in that field that is a
(18:08):
real drag.
Uh uh, you know, the businessend of it.
You know, you see people notgetting sort of not getting
treatment because of insuranceor you know, they they act it
out and they're gonna get thrownout.
And I I couldn't that that thatpart of it was just not me.
(18:29):
I didn't want any part of that.
I loved the people and I loveduh sharing with them and writing
music and hearing about whatthey had coming back, but the uh
the rest of it was a real drag.
And so I sunk down deeper anddeeper.
I I would drive to work and I'dI'd be like, um I I don't want
(18:54):
to, I I can't even go in.
And I'd sit outside weeping anduh you know listening to some
music on the radio, and I'mbeing like, Oh, I'm not doing
the right thing.
I'm not doing the right thing.
I should be doing somethingelse.
So one day, in the midst of allof that, I'm working, my cell
(19:19):
phone goes off, and it says Sonypictures.
And I'm like, I I mean, Ihaven't got a clue, you know.
I'm like, and uh and I answerit, and the you know, the voice
says, uh I'm looking for SalBagliard.
This is he.
(19:41):
Uh did you write American Fun,the song American Fun?
And uh uh Do you own the rightsto it?
All this stuff.
And I'm like, Yeah.
He says, Adam Standler wants touse it as a movie.
And and I said, Who is this?
(20:02):
You know, is this Vernon?
You know, like this is this is amusical friend of mine somewhere
going like, yeah, I'm gonna messwith Sal a little bit.
They used a song that I wrotewhen I was still living at home.
I I wrote that song, I was ateenager still, American Fun.
And uh and 40 years later,somebody wanted to use it in
(20:27):
their movie.
That's one and and that wasreally it was really uh um it
took me out of it, it was out ofthe blue.
And I'll tell you, Adam's peoplewere the nicest people.
So there's a little backstory toit, and that is that a gentleman
(20:47):
by the name of John Philbrickused to be a roadie for the
Stompers in the early 80s.
He went out to California and hewas working for Happy Madison,
which was Adam's company.
So so Adam was shooting themovie in New Hampshire, and he
(21:08):
he was asking about other actsfrom Massachusetts.
He he had Giles in there, and Ithink um maybe Robin Lane had a
song in there, whatever.
He was looking for local, localmusic.
And and my friend, this thisguy, John, said, you know, I
used to work for a band calledthe Snarpers.
(21:29):
If he fell in love with AmericanFun, it's the closer to the
movie.
SPEAKER_03 (21:33):
That's all right that's what I thought.
SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (21:36):
Which movie?
SPEAKER_02 (21:37):
And Grown Ups, it's called.
Um, okay.
It's uh Adam Sanham film GrownUps.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He did a couple of and then umand through Adam, I met Brooks
uh uh Brooks Arthur, who was hismusical, he was his producer.
(21:58):
And uh he's he's since passed,passed away.
But Brooks Arthur was arecording engineer and record
producer way back in the early60s.
He he produced uh Society'sChild by Janice Ian and some
other some other great tunes ofthe uh out of the 60s.
I'm trying to remember what theyare right now.
(22:19):
And so through Adam, I metBrooks, and Brooks was just he
was just really, you know,because I was asking him a
question.
How do I get my other songs inmovies?
You know, you know, but he wasreally, really kind to me, and
uh as Adam was.
And then he ended up using uhtwo more songs in Grown Ups 2.
(22:42):
Honestly, I've never heard them,but they're in there because I,
you know, I get the uh you getthe chat, the ass cap thing that
says it, you know.
But um, yeah, that was reallysomething, man.
I I I feel uh blessed, you know.
Uh it's a strange thing whensomething good happens, you
(23:05):
know.
SPEAKER_03 (23:06):
Uh a lot of times it's harder to handle than bad
things because it can screw yourmind up a little bit.
SPEAKER_02 (23:13):
Wow, that's it's it's like okay, something good
happened.
That means something bad's gonnahappen.
That's how that's how I've gonethrough my whole life.
That is the sound and thethought of depression.
Yeah, it is that what I justsaid to you something beautiful
(23:33):
happens out the blue, and thedepressed brain goes, something
bad's coming.
SPEAKER_03 (23:39):
That's what it says, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:40):
It's coming, man.
So so I'm not gonna enjoy thisbecause I gotta get ready for
this horrible thing.
SPEAKER_03 (23:48):
You know, I think it's something to do with out of
the blue things that with that'swhat I think what we learn from
this uh phenomenon is that firstof all, we don't have any
control over it.
So, like Shakespeare says,there's nothing good or bad,
only thinking makes it so.
So you know, we just we justhave to look at it like okay,
(24:09):
stuff is happening.
All I have to do is show up,right?
And enjoy it, and that's it.
And then when something badhappens, well, I'm just gonna
take it one day at a time and dowhat I gotta do to deal with it,
and I'm gonna learn from it.
I look at it like that now.
I think I look at everythingthat happens to me out of the
blue, whether it's good or bad,that I'm gonna have to, it's a
(24:30):
learning experience.
I'm I'm I'm getting ready for alearning experience.
That isn't always a comfortablefeeling.
That that's me, that's mydepression starting up because
oh, I'm going back to schoolagain.
This is it.
Like my uncle said to me the dayI went to talk to him.
After he's my uncle was a a uhuh kind of connected guy in the
in the north end, and after wegot ripped off, my mother sent
(24:53):
me to go talk to Uncle Louie.
Okay, and Uncle Louie says, Itold him what happened.
He says he gets real quiet.
He goes, You know, Vernon calleda fifty thousand dollar lesson.
You don't want to get involvedwith those guys, they'll be in
your life forever, and your lifewill be miserable.
(25:14):
So you just gotta write it off.
I'm sorry, that's what you gottado.
So that was like a huge lesson,right?
Oh, yeah.
There was no, you know,vengeance is mine, says the
higher power, says the Lord.
And I leave it into that hands,you know.
Whatever, whatever peoplewhatever did things, you got
(25:34):
your equipment stolen.
I did too.
And oh yeah, and so manymusicians had their equipment
stolen.
And um, I remember I'll neverforget I used to we used to
sneak into the Orpheum shows asI was a 15-year-old kid, and one
show we're trying to get intothe Who was playing, and we get
in the we're going trying to getin the fire escape, right?
(25:55):
And out of the door of the stagecomes running Keith Moon, and he
runs and he stops and he ends onthe stairs and he starts crying.
And we're going, What's up,Keith?
He goes, Somebody stole theeffing guitar, man.
They think we're making moneywith this bastard, they don't
know that they're killing us andthey steal a guitar, they stole
(26:19):
it.
He's freaking out about it.
I'm going, like, holy crap, wow,that was a real lesson in rock
and roll.
And here's my god.
I mean, I thought of Keith Moonas like a god, but he had you
know, he was no, he was aperson, very much so.
God rest his soul.
Great drama, too.
SPEAKER_02 (26:38):
Years later, we played there together.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
Yes, we did, and we we were probably I don't we
didn't get anything stolen thatday, but they probably had eyes
on the thing.
I'm gonna get that stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
They were making a list.
I want that guitar, I want that.
SPEAKER_02 (26:54):
Yeah, yeah.
We we we we had a mutual uh loveand respect for each other, and
and and and that wasn't an easything to do, you know.
When when you're younger, oh mygod, competition is crazy.
I've had this this conversationbefore.
When you're younger, your bandis your gang, and you know, and
and you you you sort of build awall around you so that nobody
(27:17):
can you don't want anybody to bebetter than you, you know.
That that's a beautiful thingthat in my old age now.
I'm so happy when I hear a greatartist, you know, where I'm
like, wow, this is beautiful.
That's great what you're doing.
I can do that uh and not feellike uh threatened by it, you
(27:38):
know.
As a as a young man, as a youngman, unfortunately, it it could
be like that sometimes, youknow.
SPEAKER_03 (27:46):
So Vernon's out in LA, how's the competition out
there, Vernon?
They have I think they have ait's pretty cool.
My son talks to me.
You tell me it's a little moreof a community, like they
support each other, the bands,right?
Verna, it's a little differentout there.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
Yeah, I mean, there's always like competition,
I think, among people.
And like you hear people kind oflike talking about, oh, this
band, you know, oh, we gottaplay with them, or but um I mean
the we try to make a scene, youknow.
Like I'm in a I'm in a band, sothat like a lot of the bands
(28:19):
that I play with start becomingbuddies, and like it doesn't it
doesn't seem like it's helpfulat all to be like you know, like
negative and then kind of try tobe be an island out here.
You need to like you need helpfrom other people.
Um but they every now and thenlike you like run into certain p
(28:42):
characters that like have reallybig egos, and like they're
usually pretty good, but they'lljust be they'll just like have
like a really big ego where likeI remember one guy specifically
I like went up to him after ashow and I was like, yo, like
you you are such a great singer,man.
Like you you like your band, youguys really kick ass.
(29:03):
And he like didn't even likelook at me kind of vibe.
And I just remember getting sucha weird bad taste in my mouth,
and then all of a sudden I'mlike, Yeah, I guess they I guess
he kind of had a chip on hisshoulder.
I guess and then it it turns outthat that was like of something
a lot of people felt, and thenhe ended up kind of like burning
(29:25):
bridges and leaving his band.
And like people kind of turnedtheir back on him because he had
that like demeanor.
So it is sort of it is sort ofrefreshing to see like people
you we don't uh if you're in itfor the music, you are joyful
and you're like gonna appreciatethose compliments.
And you're and people are gonnalike sniff out if you're doing
(29:47):
it to like feed your narcissism,kinda.
So that that's kind of like it'slike checks and balances, I
guess.
I mean, I'm sure it was probablythe same.
Like, you gotta be I hear this alot.
You've you've gotta be talented,but you've also got to be a good
hang.
Like you've gotta you gotta beable to like I don't know.
SPEAKER_03 (30:10):
That had something to do with it.
It definitely did.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
I will definitely say though, I am I think I'm in
that phase still where like Iwish I could be a little more
like not threatened.
I and don't get me wrong, I knowthis is not the correct mindset,
but like I it feels almost likeoh I'm never gonna be that good.
Oh like I just gotta like focuson my own thing because that
(30:38):
person is so good at what theydo, and I'm over here in my
little you know shack justtrying to you know find food to
live, and they're so successfuland they're so good.
And then when people pop off andthey're really young, I'm like,
oh, I'm so old, like my prime ispast.
It's so it's it's so I and Idefinitely struggle with like
(31:02):
you hurt me, Vernon.
SPEAKER_02 (31:03):
You're hurting me.
SPEAKER_00 (31:07):
No, but I mean like I feel like I feel like that's
just something that like youwill kind of get over.
I mean, I'm hoping I'm I'mworking on it, but I also deal
with these depressive thoughtstoo, personally.
So I think it is kind of likeit's just like the the little
gremlin in your mind that triesto keep bringing you down, and
(31:30):
it's like the it's like thecounterforce to the
out-of-the-blue muse.
I like to think of it as like amuse, which is super corny, but
like it's like you have the musethat's like pulling you this way
and like giving you it's liketelling you to let go, and then
that's when you open up yourchannels to receive like really
authentic music, and then yougot the voice in your head
(31:53):
that's like, how is that?
What is that?
That's not a science, you can'tdo that all the time.
What if that never happensagain?
And then you I don't know.
So I'm going off, I'm going offon a tangent here, but it's
definitely beneficial to havefriends that support you and
create a community, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (32:13):
Well, you know, when I think back to the days we were
coming up, it was neighborhoods.
Bands were almost therepresentative of their
neighborhood.
Oh, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah,yeah.
You were like, not so muchsecure anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (32:27):
I mean not so much anymore because the internet
yeah, the internet's dissolvedneighborhoods.
SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
Yeah, the internet's done a uh dissolved a lot of
different things, but yeah, Imean, like the the music scene,
the music scene at that point intime.
I mean, you we had to go printup a flyer and go put it outside
the rat, you know, right?
Monday night, Sass and theStompers are playing, you know.
(32:54):
That's that was it.
You didn't you didn't go on onany internet or something.
That's how you let people know,you know.
Later on, if you if you had amailing list, that was pretty
heavy.
SPEAKER_03 (33:05):
That was heavy duty, yeah.
Well, you know, easy emails.
SPEAKER_02 (33:08):
Uh yeah, it I want to get back to something uh
though, Vernon, that you youwere saying uh because so yeah,
the voice that voice will alwayskind of be there, you know.
Uh the one that says, ah, youknow, am I good enough?
But that's okay.
It's okay to it's okay sometimesto like to be uh hungry and
(33:35):
competitive in a way that's notharmful to yourself or others,
mostly to yourself.
Um and for me personally, I hadto, I don't know if I learned it
or what happened, but I had tolearn something called humility.
(33:58):
And it's not it's most peoplethink, oh humility, you felt bad
and and you were humiliated.
Nope, nope, nope.
Humility.
I'm I'm I'm good at this.
These are the things I'm goodat.
So when I meet somebody elsewho's good, maybe they're really
(34:19):
good, it's okay, because I'm I Igot my thing.
And I know what I'm good at, Iknow what I might what I would
like to be better at.
And hey, listen, I wasn't likethis at the 18, 19 years old, or
20 years old, maybe not even at30.
(34:41):
You know, it took me a while tofind this thing, or maybe it
found me out of the blue.
Out of the blue.
That's right.
I'm serious.
Um I'm very serious about that.
I mean, I agree.
You know, I hope that didn't godown the the the wrong thing or
come off the wrong note.
No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03 (35:00):
No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02 (35:01):
Right in right into it, you know, you know that you
you've got a gift, yeah, and youyou you you uh honor that gift
and you take care of it.
I mean, I I don't know if weneed to go down this road where
I'm sure there was some you andI didn't take care of the gift,
no by going in other directionsor whatever, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (35:25):
Yeah, and so if you don't okay, my my son knows I
was always not always a goodboy.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:34):
You were you're a mess.
SPEAKER_03 (35:37):
I was a mess.
SPEAKER_00 (35:38):
You're talking about like like drugs and boos and out
and drugs, yeah.
Yeah, you know, uh my dad'sinfamous nose job.
SPEAKER_03 (35:52):
What happened?
I didn't get a nose job.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
No, I mean, didn't you get socked in the face?
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (35:57):
I got punched the first time I actually actually
drank with a bunch of kids.
I was like 16.
Oh, you were young, and I wasover some kids' house, and we're
all drunk.
First time I was ever drunk, thenext thing I know, I see a TV
flying across the room.
So I said, Well, I got I gottaget out of here.
Some there's a fight is breakingout, and I get up and someone
suckered me and broke my noseacross the side of my face.
(36:19):
And then I might go home, my dadlooks at me and goes, What the
heck happened to you?
He and next morning I go to themass general, and they're gonna
well I'm laying on a table andthey go, You know how much force
it took to break that nose?
And I go, Yeah, it's gonna takethat much to put it back.
Oh, baby, and you know what theydid, they stuck all these q-tips
(36:41):
with cocaine with pharmaceuticalcocaine, pharmaceutical cocaine,
like it was also this is theorigin story.
There was a there was about 50of these q-tips up my nose, and
my face is numb, baby, and theymy face is numb, right?
And they're coming over to me,and I'm laying there, and
they're going, all right,Vernon, get ready.
(37:02):
And they pull up the things andthey get they take a plier's
like a like a curved, he sticksthem up my nose, and he goes,
and one guy's holding my hand,the other guy.
We hear the sound, and then theysay, and then they say, Okay,
and they bring a mirror over,right?
And they say, How's that?
I go, a little to the left.
(37:23):
Well I God.
And when I walked out of therewith the nose thing all stuffed
up and a brace on me, I think myfeet never touched the ground,
man.
It was my first time onpharmaceutical.
Okay, boy boy, something else,man.
I didn't know how bad I wouldnot want to have that feeling
later on in life because Ididn't have it for many years,
(37:44):
another 10 years before I triedthe other stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (37:46):
But um, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (37:48):
But I mean, that's all but to me, it was like
inspiration.
I don't know if I really feltanimosity to anybody.
SPEAKER_02 (37:54):
I did feel competitive, definitely, because
it's suddenly it becomes like asport, and it really is healthy,
healthy competition is good, youyou know, keeps you keeps you,
you know.
SPEAKER_03 (38:07):
I think so.
That's I think what that's whatmade the Boston scene pretty
great back then is because therewas a the bunch of bands kind of
competing and getting makingsetting the bar higher and
higher each for each other.
SPEAKER_02 (38:19):
I mean, that night that we were 20 years old
playing at the Orphium, uh, Ithink it was it was us.
I think I don't know.
I forget if the fools were thefools play too.
Oh it was you, it was us.
It was the Stompers, Sass, JamesMontgomery, Giles, and maybe
maybe another band.
(38:39):
I forget, but I think that'swell.
SPEAKER_03 (38:41):
I think that was it.
I think that was it.
SPEAKER_02 (38:43):
You gotta be on your you gotta be on your A plus
game, you know.
You know what I mean?
That's how you're gonna do it.
You're gonna go out and say, uh,you know, I I got a run and joke
with with uh Mike Gerard fromThe Fools, you know, he's I
said, do y'all we always wantedto go on before you guys because
uh gives us our A plus game, youknow.
(39:05):
We feel a little bit more we wewe needed to to work a little
harder, you know, so that whenwhen we left the stage, they
they remembered who was there,you know.
SPEAKER_03 (39:15):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:16):
That was the thing in stand-up, too, where like no
one wants to go on after the guywho kills because then the
audience is like, all right, youbetter bring it, and then the
vibe is different and they haveto work harder.
That is like you know, somethingI have also thought of and dealt
with with other bands.
(39:38):
You gotta bring it.
And then if you're opening forsomeone who's big, no, not in a
not in a negative way, but Ithink it's always beneficial to
try to play better than them.
Not better, but like try to likebring the best show.
Because you wanna you wanna tryto be like, I don't know,
unforgettable.
(39:58):
You're not gonna be if you'reopening for a band that's like
on that's touring and all theirfans are there, they're probably
gonna get the better response orwhatever.
It's fine.
SPEAKER_02 (40:07):
Oh yeah, you you get that that teaches you how to
take a punch, though.
I mean, I we I I'm sure I'm sureno, I'm serious.
I you know, we we opened for sowe opened for people like uh the
Jay Giles band.
We went on tour with them, andthat was that was good because
we had a rock band that wassimilar to that, right?
(40:28):
But then we would get dateslike, okay, you guys are gonna
open for Roxy Music tonight, andwe just got booed the whole
time.
Booed, just get off.
We hate you, you know, becausewe're up there going, let's
rock, you know, whatever we weresinging about, you know.
And Roxy Music was kind ofthey're an already kind of you
(40:48):
know, different, different bag.
Nothing against them, right?
But the audience was so youlearn you learn how to take a
punch, you know what I mean?
That's that's that's how you doit.
You could you could go home andand say that's I'm never gonna
do that again, or you just getback up and and you do it, you
know.
But yeah, yeah, well, I've got alot of those stories.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
I was growing up was like the most like that.
Like, Dad, do you remember whenI would play like VFWs or like
churches?
Yeah, and I would go up with mylike singer-songwriter band, and
we'd play like you know, likelittle catchy pop rock tunes.
Because I was super inspired bymy dad's music, and like I was
(41:31):
always playing class, I was grewup playing like some classic
covers, and like I was like, Iwant to write fun songs, I'm
sick of these like Metallicasongs.
I don't know, but then I wouldplay all these like pop rock
songs, and then I'd have my fourfriends and my girlfriend like
singing along, and then we gotthe stage, and then the guys
with the big gauges in theirears, and like you know, they'd
(41:54):
come on with their heavy Screamoband, and it was like I felt
like no one everyone kind oflike talked smack about us, and
then immediately it was like theheaviest band you've ever heard
in your life.
So, like, there was a lot when Iwas young of just like you know,
like the the the shit talkingand like the booing, and like oh
(42:16):
it was that that was tough.
That was the that definitelytaught me resilience for sure.
That doesn't really happenanymore because you know you
find your your crowds, it's alittle different, I guess.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (42:29):
Listen, you know, so it's kind of getting back to our
show here because we've beenhaving a great conversation
about this is the show, damn it.
So many things.
I know it is the show, damn it.
So we we we're talking about somany great things that really it
everything is out of the blue.
SPEAKER_02 (42:46):
We are talking about out of the blue stuff, and I was
also uh you we we don't we won'tgo there.
I wanted to sh no no I wanted toshare with you about about the
the the the death of my mother,oh boy, which was uh yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna give you the brief thebrief thing.
(43:09):
So so my mom was uh in a nursinghome uh last couple of years of
her life, and uh this oneparticular night she'd fallen
and uh hit her head.
Now, she had done that a fewtimes previously and always was
okay.
This time uh we get a call, shehas a brain bleed.
(43:34):
Uh, do you want us to go in?
Uh she's 95.
No, don't I don't want to put itthrough that.
Five in the call, 5 a.m.
I get a call.
You need to come, you know, youryour mom's pass is gonna pass
away.
Uh so you should get here assoon as you can.
My beautiful wife and I, Godlove her.
(43:56):
She uh I was a wreck.
Uh we go into uh BethersioHospital.
My mother's in an emergency uhroom, and uh and she's
unconscious, and I go in and I,you know weep and start talking
to her and saying a fewdifferent things I wanted to
(44:19):
tell her, you know.
And uh once again, they told meto come in, she's gonna pass
away.
A little while later, a nursecomes in and says, um, okay,
we're gonna send her back to thenursing home.
And I was, what are you talkingabout?
Uh well, she could go now in twohours or two days.
(44:46):
I I I I was just dumbfounded.
I was just, I didn't know whatto think.
She gets back to the uh nursinghome, and I I figure she's gonna
be in bed unconscious the wholetime.
She wakes up.
She wakes up and she looks at meand she says, She goes, This is
(45:11):
in a nice place.
She was in the same place she'sbeen in for a couple of years,
but between the headbang and andthe probably the trauma of the
of the night before and allthat, she thinks she's in a
different place.
I said, Okay.
The next day she's up in awheelchair, and I'm talking with
(45:34):
her like this, having coffee.
I'm like, Ma, how you doing?
I'm good.
And uh the next few days I wasable to speak with her.
Uh some of it was memory stuff,talking about uh growing up and
(45:57):
different funny things, thingsmaking her laugh.
And then uh little by little shewould uh uh sleep, and that kind
of took over the next 12 days orso, where she would just be
sleeping and she wouldn't getand eventually she didn't wake
up again.
(46:19):
And um I went in uh oneafternoon and played some songs
for her, you know.
I uh I played lovely Rita,because Rita was her name.
Uh and then um a few otherthings, you know, that that
meant something to her.
And um and she never regainedconsciousness, but she did
(46:41):
squeeze my hand.
And so that was really quite athing to have happen.
At first, I was very angry thatthey told me she was gonna pass
away and she didn't, because Ihad kind of wrapped my head
(47:02):
around that a little bit, youknow, like okay, so she's gone.
I'm sad, I'm um uh I'm mourning.
And then she came back, and Iwas a little angry that they had
told me that that's what wasgonna happen to her.
But in the end, it was a gift.
A gift, yeah.
It was a gift because I got tosit with her, you know.
(47:24):
Um one of the one of the mostintense things that ever that
happened between us, it was justher and I, and I said to her, I
said, Ma, I said, uh, do youforgive me for any time that uh
I might have made you frightenedor angry while growing up?
(47:50):
And she looked at me and shesaid, Well, that goes both ways.
SPEAKER_03 (48:05):
That is something beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (48:08):
Did she ever anger or frighten me when I was a
child?
Maybe, but but that that'sneither here nor there.
I think what she was saying is Iforgive you, you forgive me,
we're okay.
SPEAKER_03 (48:21):
That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (48:23):
The circle.
The circle is okay.
Yeah, that's that's what I gotfrom it.
It was really probably the up tonow the heaviest moment I've
ever had in my life, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (48:39):
That's a beautiful thing that happens out of the
blue.
Really a ple really anunbelievable pleasure and honor
to get to know you, Sal, and umand have you welcome you to the
out of the blue family.
So we'll we'll be doing this.
So we're gonna be, you know,it's a family, you know what
(49:00):
family like we don't go away.
SPEAKER_02 (49:04):
So no, we make the gravy on Sunday and you come
over.
SPEAKER_03 (49:08):
That's it.
Gravy on Sunday.
SPEAKER_02 (49:12):
But anyways, this is this is it's been a it's been
wonderful.
Thanks, thanks for having me.
And and Vernon, nice to meet youagain.
Even if we met a couple of timesbefore, that this is nice, man.
So good luck out there, myfriend.
SPEAKER_00 (49:26):
Thank you, appreciate it.
It means a lot.
SPEAKER_02 (49:28):
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (49:30):
Who knows?
We may share some music togetherbecause absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (49:35):
I really do.
We got a guitarist, bassist, anddrummer sitting right here.
SPEAKER_03 (49:39):
So right here.
Yeah, uh Stomp West.
SPEAKER_02 (49:48):
Oh, yeah, that's what we need to do, is go back
to all right.
SPEAKER_03 (49:55):
Well, thank you for everybody for joining us here on
Out of the Blue, the podcast.
And this is Sal Baglio andMustang Vernon III.
And boy, oh boy, what a greatpodcast episode this has been.
Please smash that like buttonand follow and get the word out
there so more people will sharetheir out of the blue stories
and we can get this world flyingstraight, straighten up and fly
(50:16):
right.
SPEAKER_01 (50:19):
When the clock strikes backwards and you're
spinning around, and you wake upback in the world.
SPEAKER_03 (50:26):
Out of the blue the podcast, hosted by me, Vernon
West.
Co-hosted by Vernon West theThird, edited by Joe Gallow.
Music and logo by Vernon WestIII.
Have an out of the blue story ofyour own you'd like to share?
Reach us at info at out of theblue-thepodcast.org.
(50:48):
Subscribe to Out of the Blue onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
And on our website, out of theblue-thepodcast.org.
You can also check us out onPatreon for exclusive content.
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