October 28, 2025 • 36 mins
Al Pitrelli, Trans-Siberian Orchestra's main lead guitarist and live musical director, spends time talking heart-to-heart with us today.
TSO is the biggest holiday touring act in the history of the United States, playing to multi-generational, family-friendly crowds for over 25 years. Since 1999, they've played over 2,000 Winter Tour shows for more than 20 million fans and donated over $20 million to local charities.
Always a high-octane, pyrotechnic extravaganza, this year's program, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve", will feature an all-new production alongside a special second set of hits and fan-favorites that includes a 25th-anniversary salute to Beethoven's Last Night.
A TSO Christmas concert is something my family looks forward to year after year. Once you attend, you'll be hooked too! Listen in!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Its tradition. Time again. Time to revisit all the holiday
activities we repeat year after year, keep those that we love,
weed out those that no longer serve us, and create
new traditions, new ones that bring us joy. One I
will be keeping is an exciting night with the family
(00:26):
at the Trans Siberian Orchestra Extravaganza. The Trans Siberian Orchestra
is a progressive rock band founded in two thousand by
late rock industry visionary producer, composer, and musician Paul O'Neill
to push the boundaries of possibilities. He wanted to create
(00:50):
something that was a lot different than what people were
used to seeing at traditional rock concerts, a dazzling, theatrical
rock performance with multiple singers who could inhabit the character
he was writing into his rock operas, and boy did
(01:10):
he do that. Al Petrelli, TSO's main lead guitarist, was
asked by O'Neill to join this new project in nineteen
ninety five. Al's an incredible musician and theatrical performer. In
addition to his time with TSO, he's performed with various
(01:31):
acts as a band member, session musician, and touring member.
Listen to some of these names that he's toured with,
Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Asia Taylor, Dane, Blue, Oyster Cult,
and today al leads the Trans Siberian Orchestra as its
(01:53):
live musical director. Although best known for their trilogy of
holiday records Chriss Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic
and The Lost Christmas Eve, TSL has also released several
other rock operas, Beethoven's Last Night that tells a fictional
(02:13):
story of Ludwig van Beethoven's Last Night Alive, the first
of them in two thousand, and their later albums take
on themes such as war and redemption. Twenty five years
after the release of their first album, Trans Siberian Orchestra
shows no sign of slowing down. They are the biggest
(02:35):
holiday touring act in the history of the United States,
playing to multi generational, family friendly crowds for over twenty
five years. Since nineteen ninety nine, they've played over two
thousand Winter tour shows for more than twenty million fans
(02:56):
and donated over twenty million from them to local charities.
This year's tour will feature an all new production of
their beloved The Ghost of Christmas Eve, alongside a special
second set of hits and fan favorites that includes a
twenty fifth anniversary salute to Beethoven's Last Night. Attending the
(03:21):
high octane Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Concert is something me
and my family look forward to year after year after year.
Once you attend, you will be hooked to I am
so thrilled to be joined on Love Someone by Al Petrelli.
Today we're going to rock this episode, but first I
(03:41):
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of the move, none of the cow. I'll welcome back
(05:34):
to love Someone with Delilah. Dang. You look good.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I got you, girl, and my wife told me to
say hello. She's a huge fan.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I wish that our listeners could see this. They only
get the audio portion. But Dan, you look younger than
ten years ago. You look great.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
As see you, my dad. It's so good to see
you and to hear your voice. And we were just
chat and one I saw you was eight years It
was the last time.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Who would go seven eight years ago?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I was just chatting about the first show in ninety
nine we did. We had one box truck and two
buses and a fog machine.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
How many vehicles is in the is in the group now?
Because the line of buses and the line of trucks
with equipment goes on forever. I was there during the setup.
It goes on forever.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, listen, it's growing up every year. Paul put more
and more back into the show, you know. I mean,
if Paul is this thing's father, then I'm like the
weird uncle.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, he was the grandfather, your now dad. He was dad,
he grew into granddad. He passed it on to you,
your dad now and grandpa.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I got my first grandson and a granddaughter on the
way in March.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Congratulations, Thank you. Are you bringing them on the road?
Are you going to bring them for the tour?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I don't think so. My grandson will be a year
old that is coming December. So my oldest son's a
little squirrel about the show. Maybe maybe not, I don't
know yet. But Nicole will take our daughters. Olivia just
turned will be fourteen and lately just turn nine. So
they'll be with me in Chicago for Christmas and then
we'll get everybody back together. We have our family Christmas,
(07:19):
like the second week of January. I think I have
fourteen nieces and nephews and then a couple of grandkids
now and it'll be a very packed house. But everybody
shows up, and you know, there's nothing quite like that
particular version of holiday chaos.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
No, there is nothing. And you know you've discovered this
and I discovered it years ago. Oh they really care
about it. The boxes and the little ones playing in
the boxes. Just that's what they want. They want the boxes.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yeah, I could have saved the fortune on Legos, you know,
just give them the box. What are you going to do, spoil.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Let's talk about this phenomen known as Trans Siberian Orchestra
that you have been with since the inception, since the
beginning back in ninety nine. And like you said, it
was a box truck and a couple of buses and
now it's a mile long caravan and I would want
for every one of my listeners to get to go
and experience it at least once in a lifetime, because
(08:21):
there's nothing like it. You know, I've been to Broadway.
I love Broadway. I love going to the theater. I've
been to c Circola. I've been to rock concerts. I've
been to soft rock concerts. I've been to story nights.
But you have somehow taken all these elements, like I
(08:43):
love going to Longwood Gardens outside of Philly and seeing
the pyrotechniques and now the laser show, the best laser
show I've ever seen. And you've taken those elements. You're like, Okay,
let's have some amazing fireworks. Let's let's have some amazing lasers.
Let's tell an epic story beginning, middle, and end. Yeah,
(09:08):
and let's have people flying around in the sky while
they're telling it with electric violins and singing upside down.
How you've taken all these elements and somehow woven them
into this beautiful, cohesive experience that really leaves you breathless.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Hi, Dauria.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
If I said all that I'm selling a show. If
you say it's a gospel but it's true, well, thank you.
It was it's all that from the mind to pull
on the other.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So if we start from like day one, you know
it'll be thirty one years this coming February where we
recorded those opening notes to the theme from christ c.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Sara ab Of twelve twenty four, okay, And.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
We recorded records for four years, five years before we
did our first live show, and we were selling millions
and millions and millions of copies. It was like, I
don't know if I said this the last time we chatted,
but I felt like I was in the steely day
and at Christmas.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
You know, we're in the studio. We're not touring. What
do we do? We make records.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You want a children's choir on this so fantastic, you
want an entire gospel choir, you want the orchestry, you
want wonderful. We're making records. We never thought about packing
this thing up in the empire five. So in ninety
nine somebody dared him to do a show, which you
don't dare Paul Neil.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
We s they'll figure out a way to do it.
He goes, hey, We're going to go do a tour.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I'm like, huh, how are we going to do this,
he goes on, and we'll figure it out, and that
became our slogan. We'll figure it out, adapt, overcome, and improvise.
Just figure this out. Well, you're gonna have a narrator
recite poetry. How's that going? Or he goes I don't know,
let's just do it. We'll see what happens to right,
all right, brother listen. Fine, So we packed up our
twenty four foot box truck with our fog machine. We
(10:54):
had the crew on one bus. We had the entire band,
like thirteen of us, I think fourteen of us the
other of us, all right, and we hit the down
of the first show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia
and the curtain comes up, house lights go down, and
the stage lights up, and I looked in the front
row and I nearly had a heart attack because right
there was this like older like grandparents with the crocheted
(11:17):
sweaters with reindeers on.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
The ugly Christmas contest with Grandma's sitting in the front
row of a rock concert.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But the kicker is is that sitting next to this
lovely couple was a dude wearing a Slayer hoodie, you know,
making the metal side, and I'm like, who are these
people like, I don't know, turn up, turned down, the run,
I'm just gonna.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Put my head down and play.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And that became the Trans Siberian Orchestra World.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
What do we do next? And who are these people
in the audience?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
There's no demographic, No, there is no demographic. You youve got,
like you said, people in slayer and black goth and
bracelets all the way up that looked like dog collars,
and right next to them is the ugly sweater. All demographics,
(12:12):
all ages. What I love, What I think is so
sweet are the facts that I see two and three
generations of families that this has become their Christmas tradition,
like their holiday tradition.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
They have embraced us.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Albeit the records, the movie and now you know the
show's like when I was a kid, it was Charlie
Brown or It's a Wonderful Life Now my family was
weird growing up Italian. Long now we watched The Godfather
on Christmas Eve, but different stories. Yeah, I love what
these people feel so part of the band, the ones
(12:54):
who come back every year, like you're talking about. I
refer to them affectionate as the repeat offenders. They've been
coming to see us for decades and they're coming back generationally,
and a bunch of them will like act like Graffiki
on the Lion King and hold their brand new grandson
great grandson with the granddaughter or whatever is just so
we know, oh you got a new baby. Because like
we know a lot of the people in the audience,
(13:14):
you know, we've all grown up with Paul's art form,
and we all love it. I love it from on stage,
the crew loves it from beneath the stage, and the
folks in the audience just can't get enough of it.
And I'm so proud that we've been doing this for
so long and it keeps getting at a higher, higher,
higher level of our execution and articulation. I just want
to make it better than it was in previous years.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Well that's going to be hard to do, because it
is spectacular.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
When I first recorded with Paul and you put the
faders up on the song that was supposed to it
was to become Christmas Eve Sarajevo, and my first reaction
was early a Christmas song will gives? And then he
told me the story behind it, which was how a
classical musician in Yugoslavia at the time, would play his
cello at the town square in protested the bombing raids
(14:02):
that were coming in during you know, during the war.
And that was my first just say yes to Paul
because the hair on my arm stood up and he said,
what's up. I said, well, I was Alice Cooper's musical
director in eighty nine to ninety eight. I played in
Zagreb and Belgrad. I was in that town square press record.
That was the last time I have his comment on
anything other than yeah, boss, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
You know, we're gonna record these records, we're gonna do
these tours, We're gonna make this movie. He asked the
crew guys years and years ago, can you sync up
all the lasers to like one of the guitar figures
in the song Wizards of Winter? And they go, now, dude,
that's too fast, can't do it. And he pulls out
whatever computer he had at the time, and he showed
this video of this guy somewhere in Ohio who had
(14:46):
his entire house synked up to that song. Every one
of my guitar parts. This dude had lit up. And
Paul looked at the crew and he said, this guy
did it with a ladder and a staple gun from
home depot. You're telling me that you can't do this.
That was the last time they didn't say yes to
Paul as well, if it was in his big brain,
we were going to make this come to life, no
matter what, visually, sonically, spiritually, emotionally, whatever it is. You know,
(15:09):
it was just like you had said, perfectly, just say yes,
because you're inviting all that good energy in now it's
a possibility.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
If you dismiss it, well, it never sold the light
of to day. You know, let this come to light,
let us let this be something. And that's why we're
still sitting here because we never ever ever make it
through the second week of January without starting on meetings.
I said, okay, take it apart, rebuild it, make it better,
make it more important. You know, if you stay a
(15:36):
student of the whatever art it is, then you're constantly growing.
You know, I tell everybody in the band, my job
is to keep you as a perpetual state of discomfort,
so you never kind of like rocks, because if you're comfortable,
you're not growing. If I keep you uncomfortable, or if
we keep ourselves uncomfortable, you have to grow through that,
whatever that may be. And we haven't seen each other
(15:59):
in person, and I guess you said seven eight years.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
You know, I want to make your joy.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Drop when you see the show this year, go, oh
my god, this is I light years from the last
time I seen it.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I owe it to Paul, I owe it to myself
as an artist, and I owe it to the people
in the audience who have embraced this as their own,
you know. And I want people to continue to love
it and come back and always be surprised.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
It is awe inspiring.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It is awe inspiring. Like when I go to a
Broadway show, if I get that sensation where it takes
my breath away, where I can barely breathe, there's just
so much wonderment. I know the show is going to
be successful.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
A joke, no joke.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
But again, I'm always going to go back to Paul
because he and I both grew up on Long Half. Okay,
so we're teenagers in the seventies, and what did you
do it? You got on the train, you got off
the Penn station, you went upstairs, and you saw Genesis
or pink Ford or the who had Some Square Guarden.
We were kids, you know, talk about a sense of
(17:03):
wonderment and oh my god. I mean, first of all,
we didn't get to see our heroes. You know, this
is a long before MTV was a thing, so the
only way you saw them was in like some circus
magazine or whatever print and you got to go see them.
Mind and these were identity gods when you're a child,
especially like I'm pursuing that I want to do what
you guys.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Are doing and you're sitting there.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
And they would always bring a bigger show to Manison
Square Garden because at the time all the record companies
were there, you know, the whole industry was centered in
the city, so they'd like more production, more alance, more kids.
Brought the pyrolapp or Genesis had the first moving lights ever,
and Paul fell in love with the big rock show.
And down the blot was Lincoln Center. Will Lenna Bernstein
(17:43):
was performing with the New York Filmatic, or there was
the theater district, like you said, Broadway.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Paul loved Andrew Royd.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Webber, ah Fedom of the upperh.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Oh my gosh, I mean Jesus Christ, Superstar.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I knew that was a good piece of work because
my father was making Sign of the Cross, like he
thought it was the devil's work back in whatever I
came out, sixty nine to seventy seventy one, whatever, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
But art, you know, had power.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Over people, you know, like you said, if it's not
the sense of oh my God, look at this, or
oh my God, listen to this. And the element Paul
added to it was the incredible accessibility to his story
and his poetry, you know. Speaking of going back to
Bernstein for a minute, he had a fantastic quote I
read regarding Beethoven, and part of Beethoven's level of genius
(18:30):
was how his art was always.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
What's the word that I'm looking for?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It was always understood, okay, it was always accessible, you know,
the art, but it was never ordinary, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And I think that's what Pool kind of nailed it.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Because as I recorded these songs in my early thirties
and now I'm sixty three, so these songs I relate
to differently as I get older. You know, I could
put myself into any one of his songs or anyone
of his characters, and oh, my God, you know, I
live through that, or I'm going through that, or I
miss somebody. And what I noticed over there is that
people in the audience relate to the sentiment of missing
(19:08):
somebody in the case of this year's to you know,
a teenage runaway. Well it doesn't literally have to be
someone who ran away, but somebody that you miss, somebody
that you pray to God, I would just want my
baby back in my arms, you know, and especially around
the holidays, missing somebody seems more magnified.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
You know, there's an empty.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Chair at your dining room table that may or may
not have to be able to be filled here. Maybe
these people have are passed on, maybe life kicked in
you just I'll talk to an old friend or a
relative for thirty forty years, whatever it is. Everybody in
that audience relates to Paul's story. And I think that's
the thing, not the secret agible, but one of the
things that people just can't get enough because now they
(19:45):
realize they're not alone.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, and you're a part of the story. You become
a part the experience. You're not you're not a spectator.
You're a participant simply by the nature of your heart.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know, all was really really very smart in the
way he wrote musically, lyrically, poetically and all the things,
and you know, even the whole presentation of this. You know,
we put everything back into these shows. Right, you're going
back in the ninety nine one truck, well, two thousand
and two trucks, maybe an extra bus. Then all of
a sudden, we cut the band into two halves because
(20:20):
we couldn't get from Boston to Seattle to Miami to Dallas.
You know, we didn't have enough time. So he took
one band and stayed up in the thirteen college. You know,
goes go, well, whoever, you know, I'm getting another bands together.
We're going to have two tours going on simultaneously. Like
you can't today. He's like, yeah, we can, okay again
with the s Bah. And then one day it's like, oh,
we sold out whatever town we were in, We're going
(20:43):
to do a second show.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I'm like when he goes, how's three o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Okay, okay, So how many cities you're going to a
bunch of new cities this year? How many cities are
you guys hitting? Do you even know?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I look at the itinerary. I know when I'm leaving
on when I'm coming home, and then when I get
to rehearsals, when.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
I start, I got going. You know, I know we're
going to be up in Fargo for the first time.
I know, Bakersfield, I don't know that we've been there before.
A couple other places that we haven't been in maybe
fifteen twenty years. You know, they're putting those back on
the map. But I thought it was like one hundred
and ten shows in sixty cities and forty something days
or some ridiculous beat me up Scottie.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Number like that, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
But again, we learned how to do this by doing it,
Paul says. We say, yes, okay, doing two shows a day.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Sound check is at one o'clock in the afternoon after
a four hundred mile drive.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So the crew who we.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Owe everything to rehearses as much as we do because
without them with that in the war, you know. So
we'll button up the show and the autograph line and
the meet and greet, and they'll have the trucks.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
So it of us say, oh wait, wait, wait, stop right,
there's something that folks need to know. The autograph line
is back. Yeah, so folks can get an autograph.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, well, we going back to our first show in
Philly after the Crochet Grandier Sweater Slayer hoodie episode. Me
and a couple of the other people in the band
were so stoked at the reaction I get a standing
ovation up.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
It seemed to last forever because it was like, this
is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
We walked off the front of the stage literally just
to start shaking hands and thanking people.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
We were so knocked out, and that's something that's carried
on right.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Up until last year we did it was twenty nineteen
because in twenty obviously the world show down from COVID.
After every show, everybody in the arena is invited somewhere,
you know, the upper ball where we put a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Tables and chairs out.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
We'll say about to everybody that comes through, just to
stand them, just to you know, again, meeting their kids,
their grandkids. All the best is dilila when somebody comes
and says, you know, my daughter came to see you.
Last year National UKs stayed violin lessons or my son
also played the guitar because he's.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
So knocked out by the show. That's the hidden treasure
in my job.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I don't know if people I'll understand how much energy
that is, how much energy you give out. You guys
don't just sign an autograph. You don't just put your
name on something. You guys touch, you talk, you connect.
You say I remember that reindeer sweater you were here
(23:24):
last year, and she says, yeah, here's my new grand baby.
That is so much love. And granted it's pouring into you,
but when you're giving out the energy you give out
on stage, oh, it's like a full body workout for
two hours and then to give of your heart and
(23:50):
your soul. And that's not a quick line. That's you're
there and you guys are loving and loving on these people.
That's a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
It is.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I'll do it three times today if I could. You know,
I just want to do good work.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Having a blast with Al Patrolli from the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
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but Trans Siberian Orchestra. The whole group the whole organizeization
has donated over twenty million, that's a million dollars to
(26:09):
local charities. So when you guys go through Fargo or Portland, Maine,
or wherever it is you're playing, you donate so much
money to local charities to change lives of the people
that come to see you and their kids and their grandkids.
(26:29):
And you never tell you never blow your horn about that.
You never, you know, get up there and say, oh,
look at us, We're so cool. It's something you do
quietly and sweetly and from the heart. And I love
you guys for that.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Well, thank you again.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Going back to Paul, you know, there's an old saying
the loudest guy in the room is usually the weakest.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
So then if it's just.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
It's a guy in the room, you always got to watch,
you know. And Paul didn't talk about it much, you know,
but he did it. He just said, one dollar from
every ticket we ever sell forever, we'll go back into
the community. Now a dollar is a dollar, you know.
But we almost hit twenty one million tickets sold I
think by the end of last tour last year, and
(27:11):
a dollar from every ticket, you know, he always in
it for the long hold. He didn't talk about changing
the world, but he certainly made a big dent aity,
and I'm proud of him, and I'm proud to carry
on that legacy. I remember I'd walk around when I
met Paul in eighty five, and we kick around the
streets in New York City, and every time I turn around,
if we're going to a club, a pizza place, of course,
whatever it was, he'd always stop and I look over
(27:33):
my shoulder. I'm on thirty eighth Street, He's on thirty
sixth streets.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I'm like, now what. And he'd be in his pocket handing.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Somebody less fortunate a five to ten whatever he had.
And the first time he ever did that, I said,
what's up of that? He goes, listen, that one is
not going to change my life, may change that person's day,
and then I could change their day. Maybe tomorrow has
a little bit brighter of a hope, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
And I looked at him, was like, you are just
a prince among gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
You're fantastic, And that's who he was, always doing something,
you know, very selfless, and I love him for that,
and I'm proud to be part of something that will
carry on this legacy and his traditions because he did
change oves.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So I go on with your case.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Remember Santa Claus ringing the bell in front of the
grocery store and had.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
The big black cag pot Salvation Army love them.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Fantastic, So that you know that was pulled into so
many things, up so many different levels. I'm just proud
to be his friend, and you know, to be in
his employee and to be his I don't want to
say partner, but certainly be there to help, you know,
bring these things to life a little bit.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
He would be very proud of the twenty fifth anniversary
tribute to Beethoven's Last Night that you just released vinyl
last month. It's out now, so if somebody wants that
beautiful feeling, you hold it carefully between your fingers.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I mean I've been in radio since we played vinyl
and I started on the air, it was all vinyl records.
Yeah yeah, And I think it's sweet that for the
twenty fifth anniversary to Beethoven's Last Night you can actually
get the vinyl to it. That's sweet.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
And it's colored vinyl, which is even.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Cooler, very cool.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So well, you know, I remember I don't know Elton
John Jenilbrick Road or Pain Floyd's Dark Side of the
molind to double out me open it up.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Like, look at the artwork. Yeah, I think I got
a poster, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And the Beethoven reissue you're going to open up is
the book that would all Poll's lyrics in the poetry
and Greg Hildebrand's gorgeous are drawings, you know, and you
know all.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
The artwork that went along with that, and you get,
what are you gonna do? I gotta put the record
on gently, gently, I'm gonna sit.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't touch it. How many times
did I you don't, don't put your fingers don't.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Don't don't? No, no, no, no, no, no outside outside, hold
the outside exactly.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
And it sounds better.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
It does.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
And I'm in her room and I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Not on the treadmill, I'm not in my car, I'm
not climbing up the side of a mountain. I'm sitting
in a room focusing on this beautiful sound that's coming
out of this turntable on.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
This pair of speakers, and it washes over you, and
it does.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
My daughter Olivia she'll be fourteen in a month. She
has you know, we got a return table, a bunch
of y is ago. She has an incredible vinyl collection.
You know, at any give them all, I will pass
the room mill like she's got the Grease soundtrack play
or she loves Elvis Presley. You know, she's playing the
record and she's you know, singing into the hair brush.
She's doing her hair in the mirror and she's wow,
history dusky repeating itself.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, and you feel that my twenty one year old
is the one that loves vinyl. And she's got quite
a sweet collection. And every time I'm someplace in sealed records,
I'm like digging through looking for the Edda James, looking
for Rick James, looking for you know, classics, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, you got to listen to this. She goes,
who's Jim Croach. I'm like, no, Jim Crochy, And you're
(31:00):
gonna just trust me, trust me what I tell you.
You are gonna love this.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
So no, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And so going back to Beethoven now, so twenty five
years since its release, this is the first time that
ever in a Winch told that We're going to do
a small set in the second half of the show
acknowledging that that anniversary and pulls masterful arrangements of the
great composer's work and his story and the poetry and
stuff like that, so never been done before, never been
(31:27):
seen before. So I'm looking forward to that a lot
of new stuff this year.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
So how can folks find if they're going to be
close to them and where they need to travel to?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Our website is transdash Siberian dot com and that's the
safest place to start taking information, Like you said, Vinyl
information the band, where we're going to be anything you
need to know, that's a great.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Place to go.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Trans Dash Siberian s I B E R I A
n dot com for everything you need to know, all
things Christmas, all things Christmas, all things sparkly and explosive
and powerful and mind expanding and joyful, all at the
same time.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
For two hours and fifteen minutes, I want everybody to
shake the world off their shoulders. You know those house
sites go down It's Christmas Eve in theater in New Jersey,
and just get lost in that moment and walk out
of there, like you said, feeling a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I got this note on social media the other night.
A guy named Michael Miller wrote to me and said,
our world needs that family that you brought to us
back in the day. We need it in our current time.
And I thought, we can do this. We can do this.
We can change the world one heart, one song, one
act of love, one kindness at a time.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Just stay focused, you know, because you can't lie to
the truth.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Stay focused, keep your heart open to the possibility of yes.
And turn off the damn news. Stop letting that box
dictate your moods and your emotions.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
A long time ago, I shut that thing off and
I won't look back. Yeah, what kind of mood I'm
going to be in today?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
You know? I already know exactly what my days would be,
full of.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Chaos and fun, chaos, fun, and a whole lot of love.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, I will see you and everybody in the Trans
Siberian Orchestra soon, and God bless you, and be safe
on the road and just think you, thank you, thank you.
I'm going to see you in Portland, Portland, That's what
I'm hearing.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
I hope.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So I'll be the one with the reindeer knitted sweater. Okay,
me too.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I'll wait for you, I'll see I love you, I'll
talk to you.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
So respect always Visweedy. TSO continues to redefine its success
with over twenty million concert tickets sold and is staggering
twenty million donated to charities since inception. They remain one
of rock's most generous bands. The Ghost of Christmas Eve
(34:07):
The Best of TSO and More Tour promises to continue
TSO's tradition of captivating audiences nationwide with an unparalleled blend
of rock, classical and theatrical spectacles, complete with dazzling pyrotechniques, lasers,
(34:28):
and incredible storytelling. There's really nothing like it. They are
one of the only acts today that resonates with younger
rock music fans as well as older adult contemporary listeners,
and they share a positive message for us all. Get
yourself to their website trans dash Siberian dot com trans
(34:50):
Dash Siberian dot com. That's t r a N s
Dash sib e r i a n dot com to
find out if you are near one of their jaw
dropping number of series that they are bringing their act
to this year. Then get yourself and your family to
a show. It's an amazing and inspiring holiday performance unlike
(35:14):
anything else. We no longer have my grandmother's pistachio jello
salad at our holiday table. I didn't really cry over
letting that go Turkey and dressing on Thanksgiving and oranges
in our stockings. We still do. Those traditions will never
go away, along with a host of other family favorites
(35:35):
I carry on from when I was a kid. Over
the years, we've added many fun things too, like our
matching Christmas pajamas, holiday lasagna I start baking that when
I lived in Boston, and of course a mind blowing
Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. I'll be sharing more holiday
(35:55):
stories and traditions mine and yours, old and new on
the radio tonight, as well as playing old and new
Christmas favorites. Join me there, and join me in this
season of giving and slowing down to love someone
Its tradition. Time again. Time to revisit all the holiday
activities we repeat year after year, keep those that we love,
weed out those that no longer serve us, and create
new traditions, new ones that bring us joy. One I
will be keeping is an exciting night with the family
(00:26):
at the Trans Siberian Orchestra Extravaganza. The Trans Siberian Orchestra
is a progressive rock band founded in two thousand by
late rock industry visionary producer, composer, and musician Paul O'Neill
to push the boundaries of possibilities. He wanted to create
(00:50):
something that was a lot different than what people were
used to seeing at traditional rock concerts, a dazzling, theatrical
rock performance with multiple singers who could inhabit the character
he was writing into his rock operas, and boy did
(01:10):
he do that. Al Petrelli, TSO's main lead guitarist, was
asked by O'Neill to join this new project in nineteen
ninety five. Al's an incredible musician and theatrical performer. In
addition to his time with TSO, he's performed with various
(01:31):
acts as a band member, session musician, and touring member.
Listen to some of these names that he's toured with,
Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Asia Taylor, Dane, Blue, Oyster Cult,
and today al leads the Trans Siberian Orchestra as its
(01:53):
live musical director. Although best known for their trilogy of
holiday records Chriss Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic
and The Lost Christmas Eve, TSL has also released several
other rock operas, Beethoven's Last Night that tells a fictional
(02:13):
story of Ludwig van Beethoven's Last Night Alive, the first
of them in two thousand, and their later albums take
on themes such as war and redemption. Twenty five years
after the release of their first album, Trans Siberian Orchestra
shows no sign of slowing down. They are the biggest
(02:35):
holiday touring act in the history of the United States,
playing to multi generational, family friendly crowds for over twenty
five years. Since nineteen ninety nine, they've played over two
thousand Winter tour shows for more than twenty million fans
(02:56):
and donated over twenty million from them to local charities.
This year's tour will feature an all new production of
their beloved The Ghost of Christmas Eve, alongside a special
second set of hits and fan favorites that includes a
twenty fifth anniversary salute to Beethoven's Last Night. Attending the
(03:21):
high octane Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Concert is something me
and my family look forward to year after year after year.
Once you attend, you will be hooked to I am
so thrilled to be joined on Love Someone by Al Petrelli.
Today we're going to rock this episode, but first I
(03:41):
want to tell you about our opening act. This podcast
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of the move, none of the cow. I'll welcome back
(05:34):
to love Someone with Delilah. Dang. You look good.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I got you, girl, and my wife told me to
say hello. She's a huge fan.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I wish that our listeners could see this. They only
get the audio portion. But Dan, you look younger than
ten years ago. You look great.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
As see you, my dad. It's so good to see
you and to hear your voice. And we were just
chat and one I saw you was eight years It
was the last time.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Who would go seven eight years ago?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I was just chatting about the first show in ninety
nine we did. We had one box truck and two
buses and a fog machine.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
How many vehicles is in the is in the group now?
Because the line of buses and the line of trucks
with equipment goes on forever. I was there during the setup.
It goes on forever.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, listen, it's growing up every year. Paul put more
and more back into the show, you know. I mean,
if Paul is this thing's father, then I'm like the
weird uncle.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, he was the grandfather, your now dad. He was dad,
he grew into granddad. He passed it on to you,
your dad now and grandpa.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I got my first grandson and a granddaughter on the
way in March.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Congratulations, Thank you. Are you bringing them on the road?
Are you going to bring them for the tour?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I don't think so. My grandson will be a year
old that is coming December. So my oldest son's a
little squirrel about the show. Maybe maybe not, I don't
know yet. But Nicole will take our daughters. Olivia just
turned will be fourteen and lately just turn nine. So
they'll be with me in Chicago for Christmas and then
we'll get everybody back together. We have our family Christmas,
(07:19):
like the second week of January. I think I have
fourteen nieces and nephews and then a couple of grandkids
now and it'll be a very packed house. But everybody
shows up, and you know, there's nothing quite like that
particular version of holiday chaos.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
No, there is nothing. And you know you've discovered this
and I discovered it years ago. Oh they really care
about it. The boxes and the little ones playing in
the boxes. Just that's what they want. They want the boxes.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yeah, I could have saved the fortune on Legos, you know,
just give them the box. What are you going to do, spoil.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Let's talk about this phenomen known as Trans Siberian Orchestra
that you have been with since the inception, since the
beginning back in ninety nine. And like you said, it
was a box truck and a couple of buses and
now it's a mile long caravan and I would want
for every one of my listeners to get to go
and experience it at least once in a lifetime, because
(08:21):
there's nothing like it. You know, I've been to Broadway.
I love Broadway. I love going to the theater. I've
been to c Circola. I've been to rock concerts. I've
been to soft rock concerts. I've been to story nights.
But you have somehow taken all these elements, like I
(08:43):
love going to Longwood Gardens outside of Philly and seeing
the pyrotechniques and now the laser show, the best laser
show I've ever seen. And you've taken those elements. You're like, Okay,
let's have some amazing fireworks. Let's let's have some amazing lasers.
Let's tell an epic story beginning, middle, and end. Yeah,
(09:08):
and let's have people flying around in the sky while
they're telling it with electric violins and singing upside down.
How you've taken all these elements and somehow woven them
into this beautiful, cohesive experience that really leaves you breathless.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Hi, Dauria.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
If I said all that I'm selling a show. If
you say it's a gospel but it's true, well, thank you.
It was it's all that from the mind to pull
on the other.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So if we start from like day one, you know
it'll be thirty one years this coming February where we
recorded those opening notes to the theme from christ c.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Sara ab Of twelve twenty four, okay, And.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
We recorded records for four years, five years before we
did our first live show, and we were selling millions
and millions and millions of copies. It was like, I
don't know if I said this the last time we chatted,
but I felt like I was in the steely day
and at Christmas.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
You know, we're in the studio. We're not touring. What
do we do? We make records.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You want a children's choir on this so fantastic, you
want an entire gospel choir, you want the orchestry, you
want wonderful. We're making records. We never thought about packing
this thing up in the empire five. So in ninety
nine somebody dared him to do a show, which you
don't dare Paul Neil.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
We s they'll figure out a way to do it.
He goes, hey, We're going to go do a tour.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I'm like, huh, how are we going to do this,
he goes on, and we'll figure it out, and that
became our slogan. We'll figure it out, adapt, overcome, and improvise.
Just figure this out. Well, you're gonna have a narrator
recite poetry. How's that going? Or he goes I don't know,
let's just do it. We'll see what happens to right,
all right, brother listen. Fine, So we packed up our
twenty four foot box truck with our fog machine. We
(10:54):
had the crew on one bus. We had the entire band,
like thirteen of us, I think fourteen of us the
other of us, all right, and we hit the down
of the first show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia
and the curtain comes up, house lights go down, and
the stage lights up, and I looked in the front
row and I nearly had a heart attack because right
there was this like older like grandparents with the crocheted
(11:17):
sweaters with reindeers on.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
The ugly Christmas contest with Grandma's sitting in the front
row of a rock concert.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But the kicker is is that sitting next to this
lovely couple was a dude wearing a Slayer hoodie, you know,
making the metal side, and I'm like, who are these
people like, I don't know, turn up, turned down, the run,
I'm just gonna.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Put my head down and play.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And that became the Trans Siberian Orchestra World.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
What do we do next? And who are these people
in the audience?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
There's no demographic, No, there is no demographic. You youve got,
like you said, people in slayer and black goth and
bracelets all the way up that looked like dog collars,
and right next to them is the ugly sweater. All demographics,
(12:12):
all ages. What I love, What I think is so
sweet are the facts that I see two and three
generations of families that this has become their Christmas tradition,
like their holiday tradition.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
They have embraced us.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Albeit the records, the movie and now you know the
show's like when I was a kid, it was Charlie
Brown or It's a Wonderful Life Now my family was
weird growing up Italian. Long now we watched The Godfather
on Christmas Eve, but different stories. Yeah, I love what
these people feel so part of the band, the ones
(12:54):
who come back every year, like you're talking about. I
refer to them affectionate as the repeat offenders. They've been
coming to see us for decades and they're coming back generationally,
and a bunch of them will like act like Graffiki
on the Lion King and hold their brand new grandson
great grandson with the granddaughter or whatever is just so
we know, oh you got a new baby. Because like
we know a lot of the people in the audience,
(13:14):
you know, we've all grown up with Paul's art form,
and we all love it. I love it from on stage,
the crew loves it from beneath the stage, and the
folks in the audience just can't get enough of it.
And I'm so proud that we've been doing this for
so long and it keeps getting at a higher, higher,
higher level of our execution and articulation. I just want
to make it better than it was in previous years.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Well that's going to be hard to do, because it
is spectacular.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
When I first recorded with Paul and you put the
faders up on the song that was supposed to it
was to become Christmas Eve Sarajevo, and my first reaction
was early a Christmas song will gives? And then he
told me the story behind it, which was how a
classical musician in Yugoslavia at the time, would play his
cello at the town square in protested the bombing raids
(14:02):
that were coming in during you know, during the war.
And that was my first just say yes to Paul
because the hair on my arm stood up and he said,
what's up. I said, well, I was Alice Cooper's musical
director in eighty nine to ninety eight. I played in
Zagreb and Belgrad. I was in that town square press record.
That was the last time I have his comment on
anything other than yeah, boss, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
You know, we're gonna record these records, we're gonna do
these tours, We're gonna make this movie. He asked the
crew guys years and years ago, can you sync up
all the lasers to like one of the guitar figures
in the song Wizards of Winter? And they go, now, dude,
that's too fast, can't do it. And he pulls out
whatever computer he had at the time, and he showed
this video of this guy somewhere in Ohio who had
(14:46):
his entire house synked up to that song. Every one
of my guitar parts. This dude had lit up. And
Paul looked at the crew and he said, this guy
did it with a ladder and a staple gun from
home depot. You're telling me that you can't do this.
That was the last time they didn't say yes to
Paul as well, if it was in his big brain,
we were going to make this come to life, no
matter what, visually, sonically, spiritually, emotionally, whatever it is. You know,
(15:09):
it was just like you had said, perfectly, just say yes,
because you're inviting all that good energy in now it's
a possibility.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
If you dismiss it, well, it never sold the light
of to day. You know, let this come to light,
let us let this be something. And that's why we're
still sitting here because we never ever ever make it
through the second week of January without starting on meetings.
I said, okay, take it apart, rebuild it, make it better,
make it more important. You know, if you stay a
(15:36):
student of the whatever art it is, then you're constantly growing.
You know, I tell everybody in the band, my job
is to keep you as a perpetual state of discomfort,
so you never kind of like rocks, because if you're comfortable,
you're not growing. If I keep you uncomfortable, or if
we keep ourselves uncomfortable, you have to grow through that,
whatever that may be. And we haven't seen each other
(15:59):
in person, and I guess you said seven eight years.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
You know, I want to make your joy.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Drop when you see the show this year, go, oh
my god, this is I light years from the last
time I seen it.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I owe it to Paul, I owe it to myself
as an artist, and I owe it to the people
in the audience who have embraced this as their own,
you know. And I want people to continue to love
it and come back and always be surprised.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
It is awe inspiring.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It is awe inspiring. Like when I go to a
Broadway show, if I get that sensation where it takes
my breath away, where I can barely breathe, there's just
so much wonderment. I know the show is going to
be successful.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
A joke, no joke.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
But again, I'm always going to go back to Paul
because he and I both grew up on Long Half. Okay,
so we're teenagers in the seventies, and what did you
do it? You got on the train, you got off
the Penn station, you went upstairs, and you saw Genesis
or pink Ford or the who had Some Square Guarden.
We were kids, you know, talk about a sense of
(17:03):
wonderment and oh my god. I mean, first of all,
we didn't get to see our heroes. You know, this
is a long before MTV was a thing, so the
only way you saw them was in like some circus
magazine or whatever print and you got to go see them.
Mind and these were identity gods when you're a child,
especially like I'm pursuing that I want to do what
you guys.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Are doing and you're sitting there.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
And they would always bring a bigger show to Manison
Square Garden because at the time all the record companies
were there, you know, the whole industry was centered in
the city, so they'd like more production, more alance, more kids.
Brought the pyrolapp or Genesis had the first moving lights ever,
and Paul fell in love with the big rock show.
And down the blot was Lincoln Center. Will Lenna Bernstein
(17:43):
was performing with the New York Filmatic, or there was
the theater district, like you said, Broadway.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Paul loved Andrew Royd.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Webber, ah Fedom of the upperh.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Oh my gosh, I mean Jesus Christ, Superstar.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I knew that was a good piece of work because
my father was making Sign of the Cross, like he
thought it was the devil's work back in whatever I
came out, sixty nine to seventy seventy one, whatever, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
But art, you know, had power.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Over people, you know, like you said, if it's not
the sense of oh my God, look at this, or
oh my God, listen to this. And the element Paul
added to it was the incredible accessibility to his story
and his poetry, you know. Speaking of going back to
Bernstein for a minute, he had a fantastic quote I
read regarding Beethoven, and part of Beethoven's level of genius
(18:30):
was how his art was always.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
What's the word that I'm looking for?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It was always understood, okay, it was always accessible, you know,
the art, but it was never ordinary, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And I think that's what Pool kind of nailed it.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Because as I recorded these songs in my early thirties
and now I'm sixty three, so these songs I relate
to differently as I get older. You know, I could
put myself into any one of his songs or anyone
of his characters, and oh, my God, you know, I
live through that, or I'm going through that, or I
miss somebody. And what I noticed over there is that
people in the audience relate to the sentiment of missing
(19:08):
somebody in the case of this year's to you know,
a teenage runaway. Well it doesn't literally have to be
someone who ran away, but somebody that you miss, somebody
that you pray to God, I would just want my
baby back in my arms, you know, and especially around
the holidays, missing somebody seems more magnified.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
You know, there's an empty.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Chair at your dining room table that may or may
not have to be able to be filled here. Maybe
these people have are passed on, maybe life kicked in
you just I'll talk to an old friend or a
relative for thirty forty years, whatever it is. Everybody in
that audience relates to Paul's story. And I think that's
the thing, not the secret agible, but one of the
things that people just can't get enough because now they
(19:45):
realize they're not alone.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, and you're a part of the story. You become
a part the experience. You're not you're not a spectator.
You're a participant simply by the nature of your heart.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know, all was really really very smart in the
way he wrote musically, lyrically, poetically and all the things,
and you know, even the whole presentation of this. You know,
we put everything back into these shows. Right, you're going
back in the ninety nine one truck, well, two thousand
and two trucks, maybe an extra bus. Then all of
a sudden, we cut the band into two halves because
(20:20):
we couldn't get from Boston to Seattle to Miami to Dallas.
You know, we didn't have enough time. So he took
one band and stayed up in the thirteen college. You know,
goes go, well, whoever, you know, I'm getting another bands together.
We're going to have two tours going on simultaneously. Like
you can't today. He's like, yeah, we can, okay again
with the s Bah. And then one day it's like, oh,
we sold out whatever town we were in, We're going
(20:43):
to do a second show.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I'm like when he goes, how's three o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Okay, okay, So how many cities you're going to a
bunch of new cities this year? How many cities are
you guys hitting? Do you even know?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I look at the itinerary. I know when I'm leaving
on when I'm coming home, and then when I get
to rehearsals, when.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
I start, I got going. You know, I know we're
going to be up in Fargo for the first time.
I know, Bakersfield, I don't know that we've been there before.
A couple other places that we haven't been in maybe
fifteen twenty years. You know, they're putting those back on
the map. But I thought it was like one hundred
and ten shows in sixty cities and forty something days
or some ridiculous beat me up Scottie.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Number like that, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
But again, we learned how to do this by doing it,
Paul says. We say, yes, okay, doing two shows a day.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Sound check is at one o'clock in the afternoon after
a four hundred mile drive.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So the crew who we.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Owe everything to rehearses as much as we do because
without them with that in the war, you know. So
we'll button up the show and the autograph line and
the meet and greet, and they'll have the trucks.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
So it of us say, oh wait, wait, wait, stop right,
there's something that folks need to know. The autograph line
is back. Yeah, so folks can get an autograph.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, well, we going back to our first show in
Philly after the Crochet Grandier Sweater Slayer hoodie episode. Me
and a couple of the other people in the band
were so stoked at the reaction I get a standing
ovation up.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
It seemed to last forever because it was like, this
is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
We walked off the front of the stage literally just
to start shaking hands and thanking people.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
We were so knocked out, and that's something that's carried
on right.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Up until last year we did it was twenty nineteen
because in twenty obviously the world show down from COVID.
After every show, everybody in the arena is invited somewhere,
you know, the upper ball where we put a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Tables and chairs out.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
We'll say about to everybody that comes through, just to
stand them, just to you know, again, meeting their kids,
their grandkids. All the best is dilila when somebody comes
and says, you know, my daughter came to see you.
Last year National UKs stayed violin lessons or my son
also played the guitar because he's.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
So knocked out by the show. That's the hidden treasure
in my job.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I don't know if people I'll understand how much energy
that is, how much energy you give out. You guys
don't just sign an autograph. You don't just put your
name on something. You guys touch, you talk, you connect.
You say I remember that reindeer sweater you were here
(23:24):
last year, and she says, yeah, here's my new grand baby.
That is so much love. And granted it's pouring into you,
but when you're giving out the energy you give out
on stage, oh, it's like a full body workout for
two hours and then to give of your heart and
(23:50):
your soul. And that's not a quick line. That's you're
there and you guys are loving and loving on these people.
That's a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
But it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
It is.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I'll do it three times today if I could. You know,
I just want to do good work.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Having a blast with Al Patrolli from the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
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b I G E l O W t e A
dot com. I also want to mention to people now
that here's a little known fact that you, not you,
but Trans Siberian Orchestra. The whole group the whole organizeization
has donated over twenty million, that's a million dollars to
(26:09):
local charities. So when you guys go through Fargo or Portland, Maine,
or wherever it is you're playing, you donate so much
money to local charities to change lives of the people
that come to see you and their kids and their grandkids.
(26:29):
And you never tell you never blow your horn about that.
You never, you know, get up there and say, oh,
look at us, We're so cool. It's something you do
quietly and sweetly and from the heart. And I love
you guys for that.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Well, thank you again.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Going back to Paul, you know, there's an old saying
the loudest guy in the room is usually the weakest.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
So then if it's just.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
It's a guy in the room, you always got to watch,
you know. And Paul didn't talk about it much, you know,
but he did it. He just said, one dollar from
every ticket we ever sell forever, we'll go back into
the community. Now a dollar is a dollar, you know.
But we almost hit twenty one million tickets sold I
think by the end of last tour last year, and
(27:11):
a dollar from every ticket, you know, he always in
it for the long hold. He didn't talk about changing
the world, but he certainly made a big dent aity,
and I'm proud of him, and I'm proud to carry
on that legacy. I remember I'd walk around when I
met Paul in eighty five, and we kick around the
streets in New York City, and every time I turn around,
if we're going to a club, a pizza place, of course,
whatever it was, he'd always stop and I look over
(27:33):
my shoulder. I'm on thirty eighth Street, He's on thirty
sixth streets.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I'm like, now what. And he'd be in his pocket handing.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Somebody less fortunate a five to ten whatever he had.
And the first time he ever did that, I said,
what's up of that? He goes, listen, that one is
not going to change my life, may change that person's day,
and then I could change their day. Maybe tomorrow has
a little bit brighter of a hope, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
And I looked at him, was like, you are just
a prince among gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
You're fantastic, And that's who he was, always doing something,
you know, very selfless, and I love him for that,
and I'm proud to be part of something that will
carry on this legacy and his traditions because he did
change oves.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So I go on with your case.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Remember Santa Claus ringing the bell in front of the
grocery store and had.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
The big black cag pot Salvation Army love them.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Fantastic, So that you know that was pulled into so
many things, up so many different levels. I'm just proud
to be his friend, and you know, to be in
his employee and to be his I don't want to
say partner, but certainly be there to help, you know,
bring these things to life a little bit.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
He would be very proud of the twenty fifth anniversary
tribute to Beethoven's Last Night that you just released vinyl
last month. It's out now, so if somebody wants that
beautiful feeling, you hold it carefully between your fingers.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I mean I've been in radio since we played vinyl
and I started on the air, it was all vinyl records.
Yeah yeah, And I think it's sweet that for the
twenty fifth anniversary to Beethoven's Last Night you can actually
get the vinyl to it. That's sweet.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
And it's colored vinyl, which is even.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Cooler, very cool.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So well, you know, I remember I don't know Elton
John Jenilbrick Road or Pain Floyd's Dark Side of the
molind to double out me open it up.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Like, look at the artwork. Yeah, I think I got
a poster, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And the Beethoven reissue you're going to open up is
the book that would all Poll's lyrics in the poetry
and Greg Hildebrand's gorgeous are drawings, you know, and you
know all.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
The artwork that went along with that, and you get,
what are you gonna do? I gotta put the record
on gently, gently, I'm gonna sit.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't touch it. How many times
did I you don't, don't put your fingers don't.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Don't don't? No, no, no, no, no, no outside outside, hold
the outside exactly.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
And it sounds better.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
It does.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
And I'm in her room and I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Not on the treadmill, I'm not in my car, I'm
not climbing up the side of a mountain. I'm sitting
in a room focusing on this beautiful sound that's coming
out of this turntable on.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
This pair of speakers, and it washes over you, and
it does.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
My daughter Olivia she'll be fourteen in a month. She
has you know, we got a return table, a bunch
of y is ago. She has an incredible vinyl collection.
You know, at any give them all, I will pass
the room mill like she's got the Grease soundtrack play
or she loves Elvis Presley. You know, she's playing the
record and she's you know, singing into the hair brush.
She's doing her hair in the mirror and she's wow,
history dusky repeating itself.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, and you feel that my twenty one year old
is the one that loves vinyl. And she's got quite
a sweet collection. And every time I'm someplace in sealed records,
I'm like digging through looking for the Edda James, looking
for Rick James, looking for you know, classics, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, you got to listen to this. She goes,
who's Jim Croach. I'm like, no, Jim Crochy, And you're
(31:00):
gonna just trust me, trust me what I tell you.
You are gonna love this.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
So no, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And so going back to Beethoven now, so twenty five
years since its release, this is the first time that
ever in a Winch told that We're going to do
a small set in the second half of the show
acknowledging that that anniversary and pulls masterful arrangements of the
great composer's work and his story and the poetry and
stuff like that, so never been done before, never been
(31:27):
seen before. So I'm looking forward to that a lot
of new stuff this year.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
So how can folks find if they're going to be
close to them and where they need to travel to?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Our website is transdash Siberian dot com and that's the
safest place to start taking information, Like you said, Vinyl
information the band, where we're going to be anything you
need to know, that's a great.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Place to go.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Trans Dash Siberian s I B E R I A
n dot com for everything you need to know, all
things Christmas, all things Christmas, all things sparkly and explosive
and powerful and mind expanding and joyful, all at the
same time.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
For two hours and fifteen minutes, I want everybody to
shake the world off their shoulders. You know those house
sites go down It's Christmas Eve in theater in New Jersey,
and just get lost in that moment and walk out
of there, like you said, feeling a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I got this note on social media the other night.
A guy named Michael Miller wrote to me and said,
our world needs that family that you brought to us
back in the day. We need it in our current time.
And I thought, we can do this. We can do this.
We can change the world one heart, one song, one
act of love, one kindness at a time.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Just stay focused, you know, because you can't lie to
the truth.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Stay focused, keep your heart open to the possibility of yes.
And turn off the damn news. Stop letting that box
dictate your moods and your emotions.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
A long time ago, I shut that thing off and
I won't look back. Yeah, what kind of mood I'm
going to be in today?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
You know? I already know exactly what my days would be,
full of.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Chaos and fun, chaos, fun, and a whole lot of love.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, I will see you and everybody in the Trans
Siberian Orchestra soon, and God bless you, and be safe
on the road and just think you, thank you, thank you.
I'm going to see you in Portland, Portland, That's what
I'm hearing.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
I hope.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So I'll be the one with the reindeer knitted sweater. Okay,
me too.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I'll wait for you, I'll see I love you, I'll
talk to you.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
So respect always Visweedy. TSO continues to redefine its success
with over twenty million concert tickets sold and is staggering
twenty million donated to charities since inception. They remain one
of rock's most generous bands. The Ghost of Christmas Eve
(34:07):
The Best of TSO and More Tour promises to continue
TSO's tradition of captivating audiences nationwide with an unparalleled blend
of rock, classical and theatrical spectacles, complete with dazzling pyrotechniques, lasers,
(34:28):
and incredible storytelling. There's really nothing like it. They are
one of the only acts today that resonates with younger
rock music fans as well as older adult contemporary listeners,
and they share a positive message for us all. Get
yourself to their website trans dash Siberian dot com trans
(34:50):
Dash Siberian dot com. That's t r a N s
Dash sib e r i a n dot com to
find out if you are near one of their jaw
dropping number of series that they are bringing their act
to this year. Then get yourself and your family to
a show. It's an amazing and inspiring holiday performance unlike
(35:14):
anything else. We no longer have my grandmother's pistachio jello
salad at our holiday table. I didn't really cry over
letting that go Turkey and dressing on Thanksgiving and oranges
in our stockings. We still do. Those traditions will never
go away, along with a host of other family favorites
(35:35):
I carry on from when I was a kid. Over
the years, we've added many fun things too, like our
matching Christmas pajamas, holiday lasagna I start baking that when
I lived in Boston, and of course a mind blowing
Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. I'll be sharing more holiday
(35:55):
stories and traditions mine and yours, old and new on
the radio tonight, as well as playing old and new
Christmas favorites. Join me there, and join me in this
season of giving and slowing down to love someone
Host
Delilah
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