Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alabama's Morning News. I'm jat and joining is now an
incredible producer, creative director, and just an all around decent guy.
Steve Cohen is with us. Steve, welcome in an honor
to have you with me.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well wait, you hear about this lineup that Steve's got
going on in his career. I mean, this guy's an
Emmy Award winner. Let's just start there, okay, And he's
produced all kinds of different things, you know, different shows
we're talking about. Billy Joel's in Madison Square, Garden shows,
He's worked with the Eagles, Riba Elton, justin Timberlake. I mean, Steve,
you're an icon in the business and apparently a lot
of people trust the work that you do and come
(00:32):
to you.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
But let's start with Billy Joel.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
This new HBO special documentary that you put together an
incredible team to produce and make, you know, just something
masterful come to life for all of us that are
Billy Joel fans here. I first saw Billy Joel at
Clarion University in nineteen seventy six, where I went to
school in Pennsylvania, and I thought.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Man, this guy's he's going to be huge.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And I guess it was right when the album came out,
the big with the first one. But while what an
amazing career in life, and you have become more than
just a producer for him.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But you guys are buddies. You've known each other for
a long time.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, you know, when you spend a lot of time,
you know, on the road with someone, you got to
like each other or you don't spend that much time anymore.
But it's funny what you say about Clarion. I actually
have a visual of that backstage pass, so like I
remember this kind of stuff. It's uh, it's it's been
a long, long journey, but all great stuff. Yeah, I mean,
(01:33):
you know, I think that the joy in this film
to me is, you know, having lived a lot of
these experiences, you know, certainly post piano man, you know,
on you know, it's it's a it's a it's kind
of my story as well, and you know, it's hard
to be objective, which is part of the reason that
I really didn't make this film. I basically, you know,
(01:56):
put together the team and Jessica Levin and of course
Susan Lacey, the incredible Susan Lacey. You know, they're the
filmmakers who basically came and said, if we're going to
tell this story, you, you guys have nothing to say
about the editorial content. You got to trust us, and
that Billy was comfortable enough to be able to say, okay,
(02:17):
just be honest and tell the truth. You know what
ends up happening is I end up seeing the results
of a life of my dear friend that I've you know,
been you know, in the sidecar with for a long time,
and you know, very proud and revelatory on a lot
of these stories, even though I live them all like
(02:38):
seeing them from a different angle. So I think the
fans are going to really get a get a glimpse
behind the curtain, which is great.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
The documentary special is called Billy Joel and So it goes.
Episode round one was his Past Friday the eighteenth, and
next one up this Friday, the twenty fifth, on HBO Max.
Don't miss it is really kind of cool and I
guess what five or six hours of just great material.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
How did you guys meet In the beginning?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Billy and I I started a lighting company in nineteen
seventy four out in Los Angeles when he was out there,
you know, living in LA And when I say lighting company,
it was a bunch of Volkswagen headlights and some pipes,
like there was no you know, it wasn't Beyonce. There
wasn't a big production deal, you know. Fifty years ago
and I went on the road and you know, the
(03:24):
first show I did with him. After we finished the
first show, he walked off stage pissed off, and his
sound engineer, Brian Rugles, who picked me up, you know,
who hired me, said hey, Billy wants to see you,
and I'm convinced I'm getting fired. So he takes me
back to the hotel and it was one of those
holiday and courtyards where the pool is in the center,
(03:45):
and Billy made me a drink and he said, look,
we did the show tonight. It was the same set list,
it was the same band, it was the same sound,
but the audience reacted in places that they never did before.
He said, in by process of elimination, we figured it
was the lighting. So welcome, And I was like what.
And that was November nineteen seventy four, and I sold everything,
(04:06):
moved to New York and went to work in the office,
and you know ended up just you know, doing whatever
I could to be the visual guy for Billy for
all those years. So that's that's that's the origin story
of me and Bill. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I mean there's a lot of people professionally tied to
him for years and got very close with Billy, but
it seems that you had a relationship with him went
beyond that and it was more personal. Did you guys
do things on a personal level and are still friends
like that beyond the working environment?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, I mean, you know we're friends, but you know,
our life was work. Our life was always our work.
So you know, when you're spending all of that time
with a common purpose of trying to do the best
and you know, be able to keep your head above
water and then navigate success, you get close, you know,
And I've always been honest with him. He's always been
(04:57):
honest with me. There have been times we've been spent
a lot of time together. There's times, you know, years
went by, we just talked on the phone a couple
of times.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So you know.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It's but you know, you you you cherish a couple
of guys in your life. I do. Anyway that you
can tell things too that you can't tell anybody else,
And the fact that it's Billy Joel doesn't really mattered
to me. It's like Bill, he's my buddies. So yeah, right,
you know, I'm very fortunate I have a good friend.
How many friends do you have for fifty years like that?
(05:26):
That's kind of a statement.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
That's a pretty close friend right there. I think we're
talking with Steven Cohen, the executive producer of Billy Joel.
And so it goes the show on HBO Max in
round two, Part two of it will be this Friday Night,
debuting on HBO Max. Steve, as close as you were
to Billy and still are? It sounds like the days
of him and Christy. And I'm sure the documentary goes
through a lot of ups and downs with Billy and
(05:49):
you know, alcohol and things like this. Did you ever
have the conversation with Billy. Hey, look, I'm gonna be
honest with you. You know this or that about Christy or
this or that about the alcohol er, this or that
about anything that might have been a little but hey,
I don't know if you're crossing a line or note.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, it's it's a personal thing. But I think
we've all, you know, we've all had our struggles, and
we've all helped each other through those moments in life.
And you know, I go back to the thing.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I said before.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
When you stay friends with someone for that long a time,
you have to be able to navigate all of that stuff. So,
you know, he sat me down a couple of times
when I was out of line, and I imagine that
I probably said a few things to him that he
didn't want to hear. But at the end of the day,
it's how you recover from your mistakes, and that's what
I learned from him.
Alabama's Morning News. I'm jat and joining is now an
incredible producer, creative director, and just an all around decent guy.
Steve Cohen is with us. Steve, welcome in an honor
to have you with me.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well wait, you hear about this lineup that Steve's got
going on in his career. I mean, this guy's an
Emmy Award winner. Let's just start there, okay, And he's
produced all kinds of different things, you know, different shows
we're talking about. Billy Joel's in Madison Square, Garden shows,
He's worked with the Eagles, Riba Elton, justin Timberlake. I mean, Steve,
you're an icon in the business and apparently a lot
of people trust the work that you do and come
(00:32):
to you.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
But let's start with Billy Joel.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
This new HBO special documentary that you put together an
incredible team to produce and make, you know, just something
masterful come to life for all of us that are
Billy Joel fans here. I first saw Billy Joel at
Clarion University in nineteen seventy six, where I went to
school in Pennsylvania, and I thought.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Man, this guy's he's going to be huge.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And I guess it was right when the album came out,
the big with the first one. But while what an
amazing career in life, and you have become more than
just a producer for him.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But you guys are buddies. You've known each other for
a long time.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, you know, when you spend a lot of time,
you know, on the road with someone, you got to
like each other or you don't spend that much time anymore.
But it's funny what you say about Clarion. I actually
have a visual of that backstage pass, so like I
remember this kind of stuff. It's uh, it's it's been
a long, long journey, but all great stuff. Yeah, I mean,
(01:33):
you know, I think that the joy in this film
to me is, you know, having lived a lot of
these experiences, you know, certainly post piano man, you know,
on you know, it's it's a it's a it's kind
of my story as well, and you know, it's hard
to be objective, which is part of the reason that
I really didn't make this film. I basically, you know,
(01:56):
put together the team and Jessica Levin and of course
Susan Lacey, the incredible Susan Lacey. You know, they're the
filmmakers who basically came and said, if we're going to
tell this story, you, you guys have nothing to say
about the editorial content. You got to trust us, and
that Billy was comfortable enough to be able to say, okay,
(02:17):
just be honest and tell the truth. You know what
ends up happening is I end up seeing the results
of a life of my dear friend that I've you know,
been you know, in the sidecar with for a long time,
and you know, very proud and revelatory on a lot
of these stories, even though I live them all like
(02:38):
seeing them from a different angle. So I think the
fans are going to really get a get a glimpse
behind the curtain, which is great.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
The documentary special is called Billy Joel and So it goes.
Episode round one was his Past Friday the eighteenth, and
next one up this Friday, the twenty fifth, on HBO Max.
Don't miss it is really kind of cool and I
guess what five or six hours of just great material.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
How did you guys meet In the beginning?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Billy and I I started a lighting company in nineteen
seventy four out in Los Angeles when he was out there,
you know, living in LA And when I say lighting company,
it was a bunch of Volkswagen headlights and some pipes,
like there was no you know, it wasn't Beyonce. There
wasn't a big production deal, you know. Fifty years ago
and I went on the road and you know, the
(03:24):
first show I did with him. After we finished the
first show, he walked off stage pissed off, and his
sound engineer, Brian Rugles, who picked me up, you know,
who hired me, said hey, Billy wants to see you,
and I'm convinced I'm getting fired. So he takes me
back to the hotel and it was one of those
holiday and courtyards where the pool is in the center,
(03:45):
and Billy made me a drink and he said, look,
we did the show tonight. It was the same set list,
it was the same band, it was the same sound,
but the audience reacted in places that they never did before.
He said, in by process of elimination, we figured it
was the lighting. So welcome, And I was like what.
And that was November nineteen seventy four, and I sold everything,
(04:06):
moved to New York and went to work in the office,
and you know ended up just you know, doing whatever
I could to be the visual guy for Billy for
all those years. So that's that's that's the origin story
of me and Bill. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I mean there's a lot of people professionally tied to
him for years and got very close with Billy, but
it seems that you had a relationship with him went
beyond that and it was more personal. Did you guys
do things on a personal level and are still friends
like that beyond the working environment?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, I mean, you know we're friends, but you know,
our life was work. Our life was always our work.
So you know, when you're spending all of that time
with a common purpose of trying to do the best
and you know, be able to keep your head above
water and then navigate success, you get close, you know,
And I've always been honest with him. He's always been
(04:57):
honest with me. There have been times we've been spent
a lot of time together. There's times, you know, years
went by, we just talked on the phone a couple
of times.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So you know.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It's but you know, you you you cherish a couple
of guys in your life. I do. Anyway that you
can tell things too that you can't tell anybody else,
And the fact that it's Billy Joel doesn't really mattered
to me. It's like Bill, he's my buddies. So yeah, right,
you know, I'm very fortunate I have a good friend.
How many friends do you have for fifty years like that?
(05:26):
That's kind of a statement.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
That's a pretty close friend right there. I think we're
talking with Steven Cohen, the executive producer of Billy Joel.
And so it goes the show on HBO Max in
round two, Part two of it will be this Friday Night,
debuting on HBO Max. Steve, as close as you were
to Billy and still are? It sounds like the days
of him and Christy. And I'm sure the documentary goes
through a lot of ups and downs with Billy and
(05:49):
you know, alcohol and things like this. Did you ever
have the conversation with Billy. Hey, look, I'm gonna be
honest with you. You know this or that about Christy or
this or that about the alcohol er, this or that
about anything that might have been a little but hey,
I don't know if you're crossing a line or note.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, it's it's a personal thing. But I think
we've all, you know, we've all had our struggles, and
we've all helped each other through those moments in life.
And you know, I go back to the thing.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I said before.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
When you stay friends with someone for that long a time,
you have to be able to navigate all of that stuff. So,
you know, he sat me down a couple of times
when I was out of line, and I imagine that
I probably said a few things to him that he
didn't want to hear. But at the end of the day,
it's how you recover from your mistakes, and that's what
I learned from him.
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