Ep. 269 Today's Peep Deserves a Butt Slap: The Only Job Where Butt-Slapping Is Acceptable, Including the Infamous Tom Sullivan "butt slap" During a Live Broadcast, and the Loss of the Great Rick Derringer

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to the Pats Beefs podcast.
I'm just going to jump straightto 269 podcasts.
So today, on this Tuesday, may27, 2025, I posted what is it?
267, 268, and now I will dopodcast 269.

(00:45):
Enough of you already, walsh.
Enough for God's sakes.
Well, the truth is I haven'treally been able to post a
podcast for the last couple ofdays.
So I'm back.
He's back.
How are you so nice of you tobe listening?
I certainly do appreciate that.
It is a beautiful day as I lookout my studio window into the

(01:08):
beautiful foothills of NorthernCalifornia.
My festival is over, finally,right, finally over.
And if you did listen to the youknow podcasts from the festival
, you know you just kind of getsidetracked out of that.
I tried to post them every day.
I did them every day, got awaywith the first day where I

(01:29):
posted and then you just kind ofget off track.
I'm gonna do better at that,but nonetheless, there they are
and we had a great time.
I want to say thank you to myfriend Hefe for coming up from
Lancaster and Palmdale.
I said that on the podcast aswell.
Yes, and I said this as well,thanking my cousin Nick, my

(01:49):
first cousin who came down fromSpokane and that's not just a
hop, skip and a jump, by the way.
So I appreciate you guys very,very, very, very much, as we
enjoyed our company, our eachother's company over that four
days had a great time.
Just by the way, just because Ialways say this to start the

(02:14):
podcast, I'm also.
My name is Pat Walsh.
I cannot just assume anyoneeven knows who I am.
Maybe you're just stumblingacross my podcast.
Thank you, by the way, it's apodcast about nothing, I can
honestly say, or it's abouteverything.
I don't know.
My show is about everything.
I think my podcast is prettymuch the same.
But what I mean about nothingwhen it comes to podcasting,
it's not like I'm notspecializing in any area camping

(02:36):
or cigars, or wine or TV orwhatever it might be.
I'm all over the map, justliving life doing a podcast, and
I enjoy the company and we talkabout a variety of things.
It's always a great pleasure.
You know I won't belabor thepoint about Stryberg because
I've already done that, but Iget very relaxed and I think

(02:58):
it's extremely important to berelaxed and I think we overlook
that sometimes and I think welook as a country.
Even we overlook the value of avacation.
I only took one vacation day,but we had somehow Friday and
Monday for Memorial Day.
By the way, which brings me tothe point of Memorial Day.

(03:21):
Memorial Day was yesterday andI certainly want to.
You know it's hard sometimes tosay I mean for me, happy
Memorial Day, you mean well, Imean well when you say it, we
all wish each other a happy day,but it's a holiday.

(03:41):
So you say, oh, happy MemorialDay.
People are barbecuing, they'regoing to festivals, whatever you
know, but this is, of course,is a federal holiday and the
real reason is to mourn the usmilitary personnel who died
while serving in the unitedstates armed forces.
And without those who gavetheir lives for this country,

(04:10):
you know, I wouldn't becelebrating in any meadow, just
any music I wanted.
I can assure you of that.
I can assure you that Any ofyou know your history understand
that for sure.
But so Memorial Day, a time forvisiting cemeteries, you know,
having memorials again, mourningthose who gave their lives for

(04:30):
this country, died in the lineof duty, and uh, you know, kudos
and shout out and thank you toall the volunteers who go out of
their way to place the americanflags on the graves of those
military personnel that are inthese cemeteries, also, not just

(04:50):
in this country, obviously.
I'm always talking about thefact that I'm blessed to be able
to have the opportunity tovisit other countries and, of
course, I just returned againfrom Italy and when I was there,
just outside of Florence, therewas the American Military
Cemetery.
And when I was there, justoutside of Florence, there was
the American Military Cemetery.
The American Military Cemeteryhad to say it twice, it almost

(05:11):
was so much.
Anyhow, that's the second timeI'd been there and Mark, our
liaison, got very emotional.
I told the story on a previouspodcast.
He got very emotional there ashe was talking about his family
and as when he went, we'resitting on the bus and he never

(05:33):
just jumps off by himself and Iknow I've already told this, but
when he thanked the Americansand he got off the bus he was
very emotional and went outthere and said hi to them.
Anyhow, he said God bless theAmericans a couple of times.
It just gives you that feelingof pride and you see all those
crosses.
I've been to Normandy.

(05:54):
Many of you have probablyperhaps traveled and seen some
of these things in France,normandy.
I've been to Germany.
I've seen death camps, gaschambers, but I've also seen,
you know, the eagle's nest.
But I've seen a country that isresilient, countries that are

(06:15):
resilient you think about theallied forces, anyhow, all of
this stuff in observance fromMemorial Deck could go on and on
.
You know, when you've seen it,it just really it hits you.
I grew up, just like many ofyou, you know, watching World
War II or history, or World WarI or whatever it might be, and

(06:36):
of course we're talking aboutany military service person
throughout the history whodefended this country.
But you know, when you you'rethere, it's just kind of you
feel it, you really are, I don'tknow.
There's some, you see, not justus reacting to what we know
about it, but seeing otherperspectives, and then, anyhow,

(07:00):
yeah, it's, uh, it's anincredible thing and it's very
makes you be, it makes you veryproud to be an American.
You go to Normandy.
They love you.
If you're an American, believeme, love you.
Italy love you.

(07:21):
By the way, the first nationalobservance of Memorial Day
occurred May 30th 1868.
It was Decoration Day, thenobserved on May 30th, proclaimed
by the Commander-in-Chief, johnA Logan, of the Grand Army of
the Republic to honor the Unionsoldiers who had died in the

(07:43):
American Civil War.
The national observance thenfollowed many local observances.
This is where they inauguratedbetween the end of the Civil War
and Logan's Declaration.
You have certain citiesclaiming in fact many claiming

(08:04):
to be the first to observe thisholiday, if you were to look it
up.
According to some sources,anyhow, the National Cemetery
Administration, which is adivision of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, creditsMarianne Williams with
originating the idea of strewingthe graves of the Civil War

(08:26):
soldiers, union and Confederate,with flowers.
And then that's according toWikipedia, but there's several
sources that will cite the samething.
And then you have the officialrecognition as a holiday spread
among the states, beginning withNew York in 1873, and by 1890,

(08:46):
every Union state had adoptedthis.
The World Wars turned this intoa day of remembrance for all of
the members of the US militarywho fought and died in service.
In 1968, congress changing itsobservance to the last day in
May, and then in 1971,standardized its name as

(09:11):
Memorial Day.
By the way, there are two otherdays that celebrate those who
have served or are serving inthe US military.
That would be Armed Forces Day,that's earlier in May.
That's an unofficial US holidayfor honoring those currently
serving in the armed forces.
And then you have, of course,veterans Day, which is November

(09:34):
11th, and that honors all ofthose who have served in the
United States armed forces.
So I hope you had a great dayoff.
I did post some photos from mytrip to France Pegasus Bridge,
first bridge liberated duringD-Day, first house liberated

(09:55):
during D-Day.
They took that bridge, pegasusBridge.
It was an amazing feeling tostand there to be served by a
now elderly woman who, as ayoung child, used to serve the
Allied forces who liberated thatbridge and then went on to help
to liberate France.
I also showed a couple ofphotos of Pointe du Hoc there at

(10:21):
the English Channel.
That was at Omaha Beach, rightthere, normandy, where they
bombed the craters into the topof the hill.
There Shows the cliffs wherethe soldiers had to.
You know they use those asfoxholes and the soldiers
climbing the hills and they'reusing these potato mashers, all

(10:44):
this other stuff that we learnedover there.
So I showed a couple of photosof Pointe du Hoc.
What else did I put up there?
Oh, right there at, like I say,omaha Beach, at Normandy, a
couple of the monuments that arethere.
So, yes, very important tomention Labor Day sullivan going

(11:07):
to radio here for a second, whois a, has been a colleague of
mine for a very long time inradio.
That's a very long time whenyou work with a person, for geez
how long we've been 32 years.
I've worked with tom sullivan.
Now in the last few years tomhas been working out of new york

(11:30):
doing his radio show.
But tom sullivan is going toretire.
I'm sure he's set financially.
He's a financial guru and I'msure he'll be doing just fine.
You know why not Go out there,live your life.
It's fun doing radio.

(11:50):
It's fun doing all this.
He says he's going to podcast.
I don't know where.
I don't really have anyinformation on what he's going
to be doing or when he's goingto be doing the podcast, exactly
any details on that.
But you know, tom again, Iworked many years with Tom
Sullivan.
For those of you who listen toTom, he has the afternoon show

(12:11):
at KFPK syndicated from noon to3 pm On KFPK and you know I have
a lot of memories of Tom.
I remember one time Ha ha, ha,ha, ha ha.
Oh, one just occurred to me.

(12:31):
So you have to understand, tomSullivan, I'm a bit of a
goofball.
All right, I'm a goofball.
Tom Sullivan is a guy,financially.
I was the sports guy for a longtime on KFPK and you know I
wear old, vintage baseballjerseys to work.
What have you?

(12:52):
I do dress nice.
But Tom, he would come to workbecause he's a financial guy and
he'd be wearing his suit Likehe'd be wearing his suit, like
he'd be wearing a suit, a blacksuit or whatever.
And a lot of times when he wasin, you know, working here, his
segment, his little financialnews segment, came just before

(13:15):
my sports.
So he probably had I don't knowtwo or three minutes.
He probably had, I don't knowtwo or three minutes.
He probably had, let's say,three minutes.
And he'd stand there at the mic, I, tom Sullivan, and they go
all right.
And now, tom, good morning Tom.
How are you?
You know, be Amy Lewis orwhoever throw in to Tom Sullivan
, and oh, good morning Amy, youknow.

(13:36):
And he'd give his report,financial report, he'd interact
with them.
He, you know he was.
Give his report, financialreport, he'd interact with them.
He, you know, he was great,that's why he's been on the
radio so long.
And then I'd be right behind himand one morning, I it just
occurred to me one day when I'mwatching sports, that the only

(13:58):
occupation perhaps you can thinkof another, but the only
occupation perhaps you can thinkof another, but the only
occupation because you witnessthis all the time where you can
legitimately slap a co-worker onhis tuchus is in sports.
That's it.
Like you don't do that.

(14:20):
You cannot do that in any otherrealm that I'm aware of now.
In fact, that's a good topicfor tonight to bring that up
again.
People won't even remember Ibrought that up years ago.
I need to do that, but it's theonly okay.
Think about it.
Like you're working at I don'tknow, mervin's, mervin's, open,

(14:42):
open, open.
How long has Mervin's been?
Macy's, whatever.
If you're working at Mervin's,congratulations, because they've
been closed for like a long,long time.
If you're standing therewaiting for customers at
Mervin's, but like, no matterwhat you're doing, like you're
working a music festival, let'ssay you're, whatever it is shoe

(15:04):
sales.
You're working at the Car Washradio.
You don't walk up to theco-worker and slap them on their
ass.
Hey, good job, hi, good job,betty.
You know, like, especially ifyou're a guy, you can't slap the

(15:25):
woman on the, you can't do iton the derriere, and if you're a
dude, you sure don't want toslap the other guy's ass.
You know what I mean.
Hi, bob, good morning, you know, bob.
I was just noticing yesterdayyou were doing a fine job on
that Cheminski file.
Oh thanks, Pat.
Yeah, right on his ass.

(15:46):
You can't do that man.
Who's doing that?
You think in 23 years my dad'sthe assistant plant manager at
Campbell Soup.
Hey, how's it going, jose?
Good, good, hey, good job.
Right on his ass, no, but insports, absolutely Slap it all

(16:09):
day long.
So, anyhow, my whole point isthat, tom Sullivan, I was going
to bring this up on my show, soI did so.
Tom Sullivan moves to the side,and that's business.
I'm Tom Sullivan.
Gay, happy, gay, mo, I did so.
Tom Sullivan moves to the side,and that's business.
I'm Tom Sullivan.
Gay, happy, gay Moves to theside.
He's, you know, he's got hispapers shuffling up his papers
there, moving aside, and thenthe music starts for the sports.

(16:30):
Not even a break in betweenBlah, blah, blah, blah, all
right.
Well, that takes us to 952,says Amy Lewis or whoever, and
Takes us to 952, says Amy Lewisor whoever, and that takes us to
sports with the sports guy PatWalsh.
Now, I just told, then I come on.
You know the music's down and Icome on.
I just told the story.

(16:53):
Like I just said, the wholestory I just told you in the
last couple of minutes.
You can't slap anyone on thederriere when they're doing
their job.
I said so.
Can you imagine?
This is live on the air.
I said can you imagine?
Look at Tom here.
Tom just did a fine job doingthe financial news.
Is it right for me to slap Tomright there on his tous?

(17:19):
To which I proceeded to do justthat?
I slapped him on his arish, Ican tell you I think he's a
jockeys guy.
Because I felt a line, Iwhacked him.
He turned around in his darkblack suit, looked at me wearing

(17:43):
my Chico State sweatshirt orGod knows what.
Like I was crazy, to which Daveand Amy I think we're the
morning host started laughingbecause you know something, it
was hilarious.
And Tom, I'm sl slacking.

(18:04):
I'm doing that.
You know tom's the kind of guyhe's the complete opposite of me
when it comes to his radio show, tom, you do not venture into
his radio studio.
Don't go in there, man, if youneed something from that studio
during that time slot, you bestwait.
Listen.

(18:25):
People are different.
They run their show differently.
You don't walk into Tom'sstudio to get whatever it is you
left.
Maybe Kitty could get away withthat, but most people nope,
because you would hear about it,he would let you have it, he'd
blast you, yeah.

(18:45):
So you'd have to time it towhere maybe you left the studio,
use the restroom, whatever youhad to do, you sneak in there,
grab something you left in there.
It was always caught that offguard.
So I'm going to be honest withyou.
So I heard about this and thenI started noticing that.
So me being the sort of uh,what I want to say, uh, I don't

(19:05):
know what the right word isbeing the little brat, being the
go ahead, test me guy.
Being the in a good, in a funway I don't mean that serious in
a uh, I'm going to just kind ofgo against the grain.
You know what I mean.
I would occasionally do that.
I'd wait until he'd get into areally heavy topic.

(19:27):
I'd walk in and grab my youknow my whatever, something I
didn't need, just because Ineeded it.
You know what I mean At thatmoment, the binder with my
commercial copy in it orwhatever, and he'd look up at
you.
He never said anything to me,nice guy, one year for christmas

(19:51):
I'll never forget.
I come to work early in themorning when I was the sports
guy working a split shift atKFPK, and I'm sitting at my desk
working, tom Sullivan comesinto the building.
Good morning Pat.
I say good morning Tom.
He says I want to wish you aMerry Christmas and he gives me

(20:13):
a gift.
I said what, tom?
Look, I didn't know.
I know you didn't know.
I said I think you knowobviously don't have anything
for you.
No, I know, I know you didn'tknow.
I said I think you knowobviously don't have anything
for you.
No, I know, I know it's notabout that, I just wanted to
give you this gift.
And he goes and, by the way,I'll never forget he said this
this is years ago.
He says, by the way, I think hewas single at the time.
I don't know, I don't know.

(20:36):
I can't imagine you didn't getyour wife a gift, right?
If you're married, so you musthave been single.
I mean, isn't that funny?
I know he's married now, but Inever knew back then.
But it doesn't matter.
Not relevant to the story.
He says you're the only personI got a Christmas gift for this.
What?
Yep, you're the only one, so Iopen it up.
And how about that?

(20:58):
Tom Sullivan went out of his wayto have a bobblehead a
porcelain bobblehead made mybobblehead of me wearing a
Dodgers hat and a Ramssweatshirt or Rams shirt and I
just thought that was the nicest.

(21:21):
It was the most thoughtfulthing to do, and I don't know
why Tom chose me and why he didthat, but I'll never forget that
and I still have that up on mydesk at work.
And Tom, thank you.
You know.
Again, it was very nice andthat's been 20 years ago or more

(21:43):
.
So he and I got along very well.
One day I told him I justthought of this, he's a baseball
fan, he's a Yankees fan, I, I'ma Dodger fan.
I know, I know, settle down.
And I said, tom, you know, Iguess you would do the cut-ins

(22:07):
on KCRA.
By the way, stan Atkinson Ineed to talk about him tonight
passed away, long-time anchor onKCRA.
He's been on my radio show.
I need to talk about himtonight.
Um, anyhow, see, I do that andthen I get myself off track.

(22:32):
So Tom would come on KCRA and hewould do the financial updates
on KCRA as well as KFPK, andhe'd wear his suit.
And I said, tom, because wewere eagerly anticipating the
next day being opening day, Isaid you know what you should do
, tom?
I said you should wear that.
I can't remember if he waswearing it or if he told me

(22:56):
about it or whatever, I don'texactly recall.
Or he showed me a picture, itdoesn't matter, but it was a
white T-shirt and it had the bigNY for the Yankees.
I said, tomorrow on KCRA on TV,when they throw it to you for
the financial report, you shouldjust go and before you get to

(23:16):
anything serious, just go.
Oh yeah, by the way, firstthings first.
Happy opening day and just openup your nice suit and show that
NY logo, which he did, which hedid.
I thought way to go, tom.
And the anchor started laughingoh man, it was great.

(23:37):
It was great.
They loved it, tom loved it.
It went over real well.
So you know, tom and Tom wasalso one of the first guys to do
some a couple of liners for mynew radio show, pat,
congratulations on your new Pat.
Tom Sullivan, congratulations onyour new radio show.
I know you're going to do well.
Here, have some Irish whiskeyto toast, that's right, it was

(24:00):
just a very nice thing.
Going to miss working with you,tom.
I'm going to miss your voice onthe radio.
That's what I'm going to miss.
Working with you, tom, I'mgoing to miss your voice on the
radio.
That's what I'm going to miss.
So as soon as I find out aboutit you know what I'm going to do
I'll get him on my podcast here.

(24:22):
That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to jot that down.
Get him on my podcast.
Boom, remember that, let's see.
And again, I will talk aboutStan Atkinson on my show tonight

(24:45):
.
Long-time news anchor.
A very sad thing.
Golly.
Part of my youth gone.
That's how it feels.

(25:15):
Part of my youth is just gonewhen I read that Rick Derringer
died.
Man, you know Rick Derringer,this guy.
I grew up with Rick Derringer'smusic.
Big, big fan of Rick Derringer.
I'm going to talk a lot abouthim on my radio show, the Pat
Walsh show on KFBK.
I hope you'll listen.
Did I say that already?
93.1 FM 1530 AM, kfbk inSacramento, 7 to 10 PM.

(25:39):
But Rick Derringer, I mean partof my high school memories.
This guy can't believe it.
Part of my high school memories, this guy, I can't believe it.

(26:11):
It first took hold.
It was an old spring night Atthe old town hall there was a
group Called the Jokers.
They were laying it down.
You know I'm never gonna Losethat funky sound.
Rock and roll.
Put your crew Rock and roll.
Put your crew, lordy mama,Light my fuse, light my fuse.
Rock and roll Back and roll.

(26:34):
Drop on out and spread the news.
It's getting started buzz aboutthis time of year.
You hear this one on the radioall the time and I remember as

(26:54):
17 years old I went out andbought his new live album and I
just loved it, especially thesong Sitting by the Pool, but
the whole album so good, greatlive album.
You guys are making a lot ofnoise tonight.
This is going to be hot.

(28:19):
Woo, thank you.
Guitar solo.
I remember Rick Derringer.
Oh, it's such a great album.
I remember Rick Derringeropening for Led Zeppelin.
Remember that Led Zeppelin atSitting by the pool Whoa,

(28:43):
sitting by the pool, sitting bythe pool, 1977, remember that
when Judas Priest got booedoffstage that day.
It gives me time to think.

(29:07):
Sitting by the pool, Talking toa friend oh man, rick Derringer
, what a guitarist too.
And his work with Johnny andEdgar Winter.

(29:58):
Rick Derringer, 77 years old,passes away.
Ah, ah.
What a story, by the way.
What a story, by the way.
So I'll talk more about him.
No cause of death, by the way,has been announced, and his

(30:23):
career spanned decades.
You know he was a member of theMcCoys.
He did with Johnny Winter,still Alive and Well.
He worked with artists likeSteely Dan, alice Cooper, kiss,
weird Al, cyndi Lauber andothers Rock and Roll, hoochie

(30:44):
Coo man.
That was again just such a hugepart of my youth maybe yours as
well.
We listened to that all thetime.
But he first rose to prominencewith a song and you know, not
many people know this about RickDerringer, because the song is

(31:07):
so different, the style is sodifferent, the style is so
different.
But this song was went tonumber one on the US Billboard
Hot 100 back in 1965 and heeventually joined Johnny Winter
in 1969.
He shot to fame.

(31:28):
He's just 17 years old.
He eventually joined JohnnyWinter in 1969.
He shot to fame he's just 17years old when his band, the
McCoys, recorded this song Againwent to number one US Billboard
Hot 100.
This was 1965.
And that song hang on, sloopy.

(31:51):
He was 15 years old, excuse me,17 years old.
Hang on, hang on, sloopy,sloopy.
Hang on, hang on.

(32:11):
Sloopy, sloopy, hang on.
Sloopy lives in a very bad partof town and everybody, yeah,
tries to put my Sloopy down.
Sloopy, I don't care what yourdaddy do.

(32:33):
Song written by Wes Farrell andBurt Burns Cause you know,
snoopy girl, I'm in love withyou.
First recorded in 64 by theVibrations.
Hang on, snoopy, hang on.
That one went to number 26.
Hang on, snoopy, snoopy, hangon.

(32:56):
Snoopy wears a red dress yeah,as old as the hill.
But when Snoopy wears that reddress, yeah, you know it gives
me the chills.
16-year-old leader.
I say don't worry, sloopy girl,you belong to me.

(33:21):
16-year-old leader of Rick andthe Raiders.
Rick Serringer flies to BellStudios in New York.

(33:43):
Records his lead over theStrangelove's, already recorded
backing vocals, over the StrangeLoves, already recorded backing
vocals.
They decided to change Rick'sgroup to the McCoys to avoid
confusion with another popularband at the time, paul Revere
and the Raiders.
Rick began using the stage nameRick Derringer.
The single was released on BangRecords.

(34:04):
Enter the chart August 14, 65.
Reached the top spot in Octoberon the second.
Thanks for listening to Pat'sPeeps 269.
See you on the radio.
Come on, sloopy Slupe, let yourhair down, girl, let it hang

(34:30):
down on me.
Yeah, yeah, come on, slupe,come on, come on.
Oh, come on, slupe, come on,come on.
Oh, come on, slupe, come on,come on, oh, come on, slupe,
come on, come on.
Well, it feels so good, come on, come on.
Well, it feels so good, come on, come on, you know it feels so

(34:53):
good.
Come on, come on, shake it,shake it, shake it sloopy.
Come on, come on.