STEVE VAI

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
The following program contains views and opinionsthat do not reflect those of this station
or its advertisements. The Outlaw DaveShow, No word give Me. This
is the outlawed d Show on KPARCnine fifteen. Sank a boat in the
hurricane, I cried the girls inthe corn rain, A flashed raised card

(00:25):
riverside. I cheated, I've stoleand I live. I've been the backside
before God. I spoke to Jointin front of my mind. He's a
very naughty boy. I bought cars, promise about a home. I saw
Elvis in the asktone, I thoughtmy heart. I battle with the booze.

(00:46):
I bought my picture on the coverof the public news. This is
the Outlaw Thieves Show on KPRC ninefifteen. I can steady Dad, He's

(01:19):
gone. She got the story witha big cars and not sorry. Right
yeah, I got to hear anda restless soul go with the wed gonna
go out tonight. That's all.We didn't make all this since well,

(01:49):
since I was coast. He screenis just the come this my be just
like living in Baradize, just likeI don't want to go, Just like

(02:15):
living in Baradiz, I'm gonna givethis so this, Lucy go for crying
out loud. You got all thewriting moves to make me more hard out

(02:35):
night, not rat your babers takeit up to go will make me love
me, to make this moment's lessstand. That's this show, so both

(02:58):
saying called Susy Gold sing not forme, going on time, don't let
us be just like living lies likeI don't want was going on just living

(04:46):
just like this must be just likeliving in paradise excitement. The air is
palpable and folks, I cannot waitto pulpit. She's a wake up call.
It used to be fine and nowused to co hosting this vocal ship.
This is the Outlaw Day Show onKPRCIN. Now time for another busy

(05:10):
bad Here are the statistical results you'rerequested from the discount think tank. The
modern man respects women but still can'tdefine them. The modern man doesn't bait
his own hook and usually wants what'soff the menu. The modern man,
thanks God is just a word yousay before Dan. The modern man has
never heard of Roy Rogers, whohas also never heard of him either.
Modern man is sure he deserves moreand walks off with time, sir.

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Modern Man feels guilty for thinking aboutgirls and has promised Madonna to never do
it again. Modern Man really wantsto make a documentary. The modern man
probably wants to rent his shoes,but isn't sure why. Modern Man always
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the dark web for qute clothes untilyou walk into the room. Modern Man

(05:56):
is a voice enabled except that featurehasn't been set up yet. Modern man
works for home, and we'll doanything for free, shipping anything. Modern
Man's spirit animal is an oyster,if that's okay with you. Modern Man
doesn't drive a stick and never rideshotgun. The modern man looks both ways
before crossing the street, but stillbelieves that means up and down. Modern
Man thinks pirate's booty is just asalty snack. Modern Man prefers moisture,

(06:18):
wicking, and essential oils, andit's pretty firm on that. Modern man
doesn't chew gum, or smoke menthols, or go with girls that do.
Modern Man believes Julianne of Carrots isforeign born royalty. The modern man is
finally tired of Starbucks and is readyfor a change. Start your own list
and send it to me. Careof this station. This your uncle Lotus.
I'll see you at the Peace March. There is absolutely nothing inappropriate about

(06:41):
my programming it. You'd like tobe stick naked in a pile with a
ill billy girl pointing at you,would laughing, Oh my god, that's
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Three. This is the Outlawed DaveShow on KPRC nine fifteen. Let

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tattoo this is I got a fightlike dreaming. I got the world to

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night in the on my I'm alife on the way. I'm I don't

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yeh want to get the restless.It's a hot summer mind. Somebody's like
life like looking for a fight.And we got the world to night in
the war. I'm gonna ride goto mine. We're going to make it.

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Hold words, what is the world'sline? Take it to get this

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light? Brady in a way wasmade. We got the world to night

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in the all all right, that'sbrand new when in the week end from

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v gash for digital downloads it comesout on vinyl. I think in a
couple of weeks we have legendary internationalguitar god Steve Vy. I'm the line
with us. Welcome to the program, Stephen. Nice to did your mom
call you Stephen? My mom usedto call me Stephen. She was the

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only one. Well I'm outlaw day. But somebody'll go David, and I'm
like, ahh, you get theback of the neck thing. You've worked
with everybody from just Frank Zappa,David Lee, Roth White Snake, and
so many others. But you haveensconced yourself as a guitar god the work
that you've done over the past justtwenty years alone, Um, not only

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creating, teaching, sharing your alienguitar secrets, but also just an amazing
body of work and as you stilltour to support and violate which came out
almost a year ago. Um,you have a brand new release out called
Vagash and we just listened to inthe wind off of that, which I

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got before I even watched the video. When I was listening to it,
I heard a little a little deeppurple and in a bit of the start
and in the vocals are little kisssensibilities. And this is before I watched
the video or sat down and readabout it. It certainly evoked that for
me. Oh yeah, I wasa teenager in the seventies and you know,

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one of my ears was listening veryheavily to that all that great classic
rock from those days, led Zeppelin, Queen, Deep, Purple Kiss,
Aerosmith, you know all that stuff. Um. Yeah, my other ear
was listening to all this high informationmusic too. But my work is pretty

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diverse. But for this record,I really wanted to make it straight ahead
rock and roll. It's a throwbackto seventies eighties kind of music I always
wanted to hear when I was ridingmy motorcycle. And the story to how
the record came about is very interesting. Basically, also when I was a

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teenager, I was very much intothe motorcycle culture. He's built mini bikes
and motorbikes. Always wanted to Harley, but couldn't afford it. Finally,
finally, when I moved out toLA and the eighties, I had a
couple of bucks. I actually wentout but seven Harley's. It was a
guilty pleasure. And I had afriend that grew up on Long Island.

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His name was John Gash, Sombrato, Johnny Gash, and it was this
New York kind of East Coast Italian, tough biker guy, wonderful, golden
heart, just this amazing kind ofa intense, funny, unpredictable, lovable
kind of a guy. And hegot the name Gash because when he was

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twenty one, he was riding hisdirt bike along these power lines and he
got lost, so he climbed oneof the towers to see where he was
and while he was up there,he was the electricity arcd and it went
through his body when like in hisshow, came out his feet and he
was fried. And he fell thirtyfeet onto a bobbed wire fence and caught

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fire. And it was yeah,I could laugh because he lived, but
you know, he lived miraculously,but his body was at sixty percent of
his body at a third degree burns. So he gave himself the name Gash.
You got yeah, you gotta earnit, right, uh. And
he miraculously survived and then he movedout to California. Like in the late

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eighties, we started to ride togetherand for years we just had the greatest
experiences with friends and groups that wehad and we go on these extraordinary rides
all around the place the country,and at some point I wanted to I
just had the impulse to create somesongs that were perfectly suited for what I

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wanted to hear when we were riding. So I knew I wanted them to
be real, straight ahead, upliftingrock and roll, intense, melodic,
engaging, comfortable, you know,all these things, because that's how I
felt when we were riding. Youknow, if you ever talked to a
motorcycle enthusiasts, they just racks onromantically about being in the wind, you

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know, And I got I wentto the studio and like a stream of
consciousness, just blasted these songs out. And when I needed a singer after
I abysmally failed at trying to doit myself because I have no roll.
Yeah, no, that was true. I mean not the kind of voice
I felt needed to be on theserecords. And I didn't know that Gash

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could sing. I don't think heknew. Our guest is Steve v We're
talking about an album called VI GashRepublic Harley Davidson and Stafford. Texas sells
more motorcycles than any other dealership ofthe state of Texas that's new and used.
They sell more parts of accessories,they install more tires and repair more
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(17:41):
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dot Com Studios worldwide headquarters with allof our technological mass communicating equipment. So
a month or so ago, Iguess it was a little bit before that.
We had a chance to visit withSteve Vai. He is off now
in summer on a European tour andHe's worked with everybody from Frank Zappa,
White Snake, David Lee Roth.He is a virtuoso Grammy Award winning guitarist

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in his own right. And hereleased a passion project right after the first
year v Gash and Gash was aguy that was one of his writing buddies
when he moved out to California anda motorcycle enthusiast, and they ended up
and lo and behold out. Gashended up actually being the vocalist on this
stuff. And even though this hasall been sitting on a shelf in a

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production studio for decades, he wasn'ta professional singer. He was just like
a He would sing like Frank Sinatrastyle, just for kicks, because he
could sound like Sinahatra. It's weird, but I could hear something in his
voice even when he would just yellat somebody or scream or throw out a
led Zeppelin line, And I thought, what is that, you know?

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And I grabbed and brought him inthe studio and I just I gotta tell
you, Dave Man, I wasjust stunned at what came out of his
mouth. It was so powerful,so connected, and so confident and intense
and playful, and I thought,yeah, of course that's him, and
he just nailed this stuff. Andwe had our songs and they were great

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on the road, and I wasplanning on going back and you know,
writing a few more songs. Weonly had eight songs, and one of
them I had written with NICKI sixthe song New Generation. And I had
some obligations, some contractual obligations thatI needed to complete, which was a

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sex and religion and some other thingsat that time. And when I decided
that, you know, it wouldbe good time to go back and flesh
this out, tragically, Gash waskilled in a motorcycle I and I was
just so disheartened. I just threwthe whole project on the shelf for thirty
years. Yeah, and twenty abouttwenty years ago, I was able to

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start listening to it again. Youknow. It brought back all those those
great experiences, and the record justfelt authentic to me because there was no
committees involved. You know, itwas really totally free. I just went
into by myself. I went intothe studio and just rocked all this stuff

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out, with the exception of thedrums. I had found this fantastic drummer
from Texas. Her name is TiffanySmith, and this girl came up and
just nailed this stuff. We recordedsixteen hours a day for three days and
the gash stuff represents about half ofthe stuff I recorded with her. And
yeah, I had the record andleft it on the shelf and then just

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started feeling like I think other people, but some people will get kicked out
of this because it's a good soundingrecord. Dude, it's one of those
it's it's he's got and sadly we'vealready lost him. A writers were discovered
him. He's got one of thoseiconic voices that's full of what's the wordy
like gravitass or something like that,where it's just it's real, it's real.

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And I listened to him before Iread about the song, so I'm
like, who is this guy singing? And of course that I read the
press release and I'm like, uh, you know, it's one of those
confederacy of duneist thing. You're like, oh, man, I've discovered this
piece of work after the creator hasalready left us, and yeah, uh,
but so the first single in thewind and you've created a video for

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it, and it's got old footageand I don't know if this is old
footage of you guys out having funor is this archive from somewhere. Is
this year A lot of that's archivefootage. There's a lot of photos of
Gesh. There's no so that Jahin there. That is him. The
photos. Yes, Yes, he'sbald, and they'll see the scark body.

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Yes. And he's reading the magazinebackwards on the motorcycle because yes,
he was insane. If you lookat the back of the record cover,
you'll see he's riding his motorcycle.He's sitting on the back seat, turned
around backwards and flipping the finger.Yeah. Yeah, outrageous things. You
just never knew what he was goingto do. He had that rock star

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DNA man. Yeah, And Iwould say I'm an authority on that.
Up to that point, I hadworked with and recorded people like Devin Townsend.
I worked with Zappa, Roth,Graham, Bonnet, David Coverdale,
Ozzie Lemmy. I've worked with somany people, and there's what I noticed

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is there's a big difference between somebodythat can sing well and a rock star.
You know, the people that geton the stage and command an audience
and hold them you know, andengage them in their rapture, so to
speak. That's you know, it'srare. He had both of them.
Did you do so with Zach Wildtoo? Oh? Yeah, Zach and

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I he's he's got that vibe,you know. Uh. And he's not
just putting on a motorcycle jacket becauseit looks cool. It's like he's gonna
go jump on one of his threeHarley's in the garage out there and go
someplace. Yeah, Zach, asas authentic as it gets. And I
didn't know that you you had beenriding for but forty fifty years now,

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I didn't know that. Yeah.I kept it low key because it was
trendy to be seen on a motorcycleand I just didn't want to be that
guy. There's some photos out there, but I always kept it private.
This is the outlaw dy show thatI'm ill wording with the people. It's

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the lost this Finch and my serviceintense, the rason like that could blind
now in my place when I'm thechange, I love to make my fun
racing to the right. Race cameto fun Lady. So many dying and

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they're trying to get away, butI don't care. I do if you

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could see the shoe in me,truly you was a sets that shooting shot
like a suicide on going that it'sthe book Sis, Susan, Listen,
I'm mysie down. Men with lonethat trip to say pless not a from

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a one. No, I don'trun time, you may not stop NA.

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And I heard as it were thenoise of thunder one of the four
beasts sing, come and see.And I saw and behold a white horse.
And his name that sat on himwas Outlaw Deed. The outlaw nation
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Thailand. Hey, then's our gueststo Steve v We're talking about the
album v Gash, an album herecorded decades ago with one of his motorcycle

(29:10):
ride about how many motorcycles do youhave right now? How many you got
in the garage right now? Well, oddly enough, at one point,
when I finally had the money,I ended up buying like seven. I
had them for years, and Ijust sold my last one shot off because
well, I'm getting another one.But the last one I had was like
a real chopper, you know.It had like a stick shift and foot

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clutch and a big giant apang orhandlebars, you know, and it was
a piece. It's it's too much. So I've got I've got right now,
I've got three in the garage.The one I'm riding is the Fat
Boy Low. It doesn't have aferry and it doesn't have the saddle back
that I don't have to drag myleg over anything. It's easy to hop
on and it's got a nice fattire and it rides well. But well,

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put on this record. Does itever scary? On? Of course
it does. You got to playthis record when you're riding the bike.
I'm telling your brother, it's anice experience. And you said that,
you said that earlier when you weretalking about anybody has ever ridden a motorcycle
or motorcycle enthusiast. When you getinto the end and those of you that
don't ride, here's what it is. When you're on this machine, this

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two wheels, this steel pony,this iron dragon, there's other people out
there that are you know, youcan't sit there. I mean, your
mind may wander, but your mindis focused on operating this machine, navigating
the road. Your life. You'reclinging to it. You can't worry about
your four oh one k. Youcan't worry about you know, the hoa,

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you can't worry about that, allright, you got. Yes,
it is. It is liberating.And you know what's funny, tell me
if you if you feel this alot of times when you watch somebody riding
a motorcycle or you think about ifyou think, oh that's dangerous, and
yeah, it's risky, but whenyou're on the bike and you've got that
thing in your hands, I've alwaysfelt like totally in control. Of course,

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you know, you never know,but I was lucky. I never
had any accidents or never went down. And because you just feel the control.
First of all, you have tohave the confidence, you have to
be able to control it. There'sphysics to it that that aren't obvious that
you can only accumulate from from riding. And the second thing, it's kind
of that skyteavingthing. And I don'tknow if you've ever jumped out of a

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perfectly good airplane, but when youdo, you better leave the fear on
the ground before you take off.I've never done that, but there is
a photo in the the CD andthe album of Gash jumping out of an
air of course he did, becausethat's of course he did. You're an

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apeist, and I know that's adivergent topic, but I we're we're running
out of time, and I knowyou're busy, but you're an apeist,
which means that you are part ofa positive effect for your community. Does
this something that you just became ahobby online or did somebody teach this to
you? Was it handed down toyou? It was just one of those

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things that I'm a beekeeper an apist. Yeah, it was one of those
things. When we moved into ourproperty, it was vacant for ten years.
So we acquired this property that wasdead, you know, and I
just did a little research because wewanted to plant some you know, my
wife wanted a garden. I wantedto put some fruit trees in and I
found out that honey bees are excellentto have and it's an easy hobby.

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It's kind of an eclectic hobby,but it's a fascinating one and I embraced
it, and I've had bees.I've kept bees for decades now. People
around me that have some property,and even those that don't have started to
do it. And many of themare concerned about the ecosystem. Some of
them are just trying to get theagg exemption on their property. But I

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think it's such a cool thing.And to have local honey for those of
us here in the South that haveare inundated with pollen and allergies and stuff.
To to have locally sourced honey isone of the best remedies for sinus
problems. And so I'm a bigadvocate and I was pleased to sound like
Steve. Yeah, and man,we get a lot of honey. One

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year at the most kives I've hadwas seven colonies at one time, and
that year we harvested six hundred poundsof liquid honey. That's awesome. It's
amazing. The departure of Dave Wieneruh Wunner. Uh? Is that leave
a hole in your life? Oris that? Uh there's something positive?
Well, everything's always positive. Davewas a dutiful soldier in the band for

(33:40):
like thirty three years, and he'sin his own right. He's a fantastic
guitar player, and he's released alot of solo work and he just,
you know, decided at this pointin his life he wants to focus on
some different things, inn't it.I Mean that's fine. Dave's a brother,
So so who replaces him in theband as you get ready to out

(34:00):
of Europe? Who who is newlya part of the culture, or is
somebody else stepping up from being aguitar tech, or how does that work
in your world? Well, actuallyit's all that Dave was kind enough to
find. His replacement was a studentof his that eventually came on tour with
us as Dave's tech, Dante Frazello, wonderful guy. Well, are right,

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it looks like an Adonis, likethis young kid, good looking,
big giant muscles, and he playshis ass up good and throughout the tour
he would come on and he'd playa song, you know, instead of
Dave. Dave would have him comeout and do it so I could feel
that he knew what he was doing. And he does, and he's a

(34:45):
perfect kind of replacement. A lotof rhetoric in our culture about the people
on the other side of the world, China and Russia. They're in the
news a lot. You have traveled. You're one of the only people I
know that have had interaction with fansover there. And I try to tell
people all the time, you can'tjudge people's by their governments and their government

(35:07):
economic activity. The people in Russia, the people in China, they're just
like us, right. Well,absolutely, it's according to what you're focusing
on in any culture and what I'vediscovered when I started to travel and tour
in places that most people just don'tgo. I started going through Eastern Europe,

(35:30):
you know, all the Baltics,and then I started going to Russia
in the early nineties and China.I'm told I'm the first American rock artist
to play in communist China. Andwhen I go, of course, you
have to understand that certain traditions andcultural things. But no, when I
go, it's it's all about music. It's all about those people that love

(35:52):
the guitar, that love to comeand feel that thing. It's not about
politics. It's that actually makes upa small percentage of I don't see any
of it when I go because I'mnot looking for it. People around the
world are like us in that theyjust want to enjoy life. They want

(36:14):
to have what they need to takecare of their families, they want to
have playtime, they want to feelproductive and creative, and everybody feels that
way. It's just that also,you know, humans are still locked in
a particular type of mental insanity,you know, Yeah, and it's fear.

(36:37):
It just comes out of fear,and unfortunately it rears its head most
obviously in the political stage, becausethe stuff that goes on is truly insane.
You know, I don't really giveit my attention because I'm a I'm
a musician. I go to placesfor people who want to just come out

(36:58):
and enjoy the music, and youdon't. When you do that, you
don't see the politics. This nextsong is called Let's Jam. It's from
Vagash came out on digital downloads earlierthis week. The vital copies will be
coming out to the next couple ofweeks. Steve v getting ready to continue
his Inviolate World tour. This songLet's Jam, You wrote it for me,

(37:21):
I did. I wrote it forall you DJs. Come on,
you guys know you're DJ is tohold a special place in the heart of
real music lovers. And when Iwas a kid in the seventies, they
did that for me, and theywere just like a safe place to go,
you know, and you you couldthey had more control perhaps of playlists.

(37:45):
So yeah, this is the songis an ode to my appreciation for
you guys. And I did thiswithout I wrote the song without ever knowing
it would ever be played on theradio. I just was one of those
things. Well, it's a it'sa it's a sentiment that I can certainly
relate to, having grown up inthe seventies and eighties and getting to listen

(38:07):
to radio, and then after abrief stint in the military where my recruiter
lied and said I would get tobe on the radio. Oh, you
request that when you get to yourpermanent duty station. I've had the pleasure
of working in radio for over thirtyfive years and various iterations and incarnations,
and radio and mass communication and musicare the things that bring communities and people

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together, and it really is.And you've found your note and lucky for
all your listeners. I'm appreciative ofyour time today, Excited about this new
album. Sorry about the tragic storyof Gash, but he will live on
forever in our hearts and in ourears. Now thanks to you, right
on. Thank you so much brotheranytime, Landy's a gentleman. That is

(38:51):
our soft far the evening. Thankyou for coming. Please live by the
assets and now forget the speakers.JUGI it back go m HM.