Andy chats with TV legend and musician John Tesh about the NBA bringing back his song “Roundball Rock!” and his new instrumental album Sports, which he says is essentially a workout album. They also chat about the sad death of KISS’s Ace Frehley today. Andy also chats with Jen Spincic about the Halloween in Burbank Map website HalloweeninBurbank.com, and Instagram account, which she spearheaded to people where the best parts of the spooky season are happening in the Valley.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
There's nothing that makes you feel like Bob Costas like
listening to that music. That, of course is roundball rock,
a sound, a music, a moment that you'll start to
hear once again on NBC and joining us is the
man behind the music. John Tesh, good evening. I promised
that you would be on with us this evening, and
(00:24):
here you are on KFI AM six forty. Buddy, I
gotta tell you, I ran into you a KTLA and
I just the memories kept flooding back, and I hear
that sound, I hear that that melody, and it just
gets me so pumped, and it takes me back to
I guess the early nineties when things were things were
(00:47):
a little different.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I mean it was.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
It's it can only be described as supernatural because this
song is thirty five years old.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, I wrote it in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
You know the story, you know, on my Answering Machine.
I was in Europe. I had an idea. I called
it in to my Answering Machine. When I do this
story on stage, we're in concert, I have to put
the picture of an answering machine on the on the
screen behind me from I'm talking about you know.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Right, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I mean the funny thing for me is that when
I heard it was coming back, When when Rick Cordella
from from NBC Sports said hey, we want to bring
it back, I just said, Okay, I'm going I'm going
to go into the studio.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm going to get an orchestra and I'm going to
do a different arrangement of it and beef it up
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
So I did and spent some you know, spent some
cash and tested it out on the internet and everybody said, nope,
we want the OG version. So wow, it's on the shelf. Yeah,
you know what they want, the original, They want the original.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I told everybody last week or I was here on
Monday and I was saying TSH is coming in on Thursday,
and the word got around the studio here. Everybody was
very excited, and I told everybody then, you know, hearing
that that sound at least the beginning around about rock,
just that when it just comes in, it slaps you
in the face and it wakes you up and says, hey,
listen to this. In the same way that it felt
(02:12):
like when I was a young boy a young man,
and I saw like Kurt Cobain or I saw James Dean,
where you just are forced to pay attention because something
is going on there. And I know you've written a
lot of things, and I wonder for you, did you
know that this was a different song? Did you know
that it was going to be this level of a catchiness?
(02:38):
I mean truly, since I saw you on Monday, I've
had this song stuck in my head NonStop, and it
only it took thirty years for me to get it
out of my head, so now it's going to take
another thirty to get in it.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Well, it went on the shelf for like twenty years
because ABC took the coverage or the rights away from
from NBC. And I went to NBC and I said, hey,
would you like to license the theme?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And they said, no, no, we want to do something,
We want to do something different.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
And I get that because the team was so sononymous,
synonymous with NBC. They didn't want anybody to think to
think it was on NBC. But no, I had been
I was hired out of I was working for CBS
News as a correspondent back in nineteen seventy six, and
by nineteen eighty two, I got a call from from
(03:22):
Dick Ever saw you know the name, and so Terry
O'Neill and Tommy Roy from NBC saying, hey, we we've
seen your work on the news and we're looking for
somebody who can you know, live stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
And I said, Terry, you get the wrong guy.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I can't name three NFL teams by somebody in the newsroom,
you know.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And they said, no, the's sports.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We'd want you to cover the ones that nobody knows
the rules to them. And I sall, that's perfect. So
because because because this was a CBS actually at the time,
and so what they wanted to do was they wanted
to try and challenge ABC because ABC had a wide
world of sports, you know, with Jim McKay. And so
(04:04):
what they did was they assigned me to downhill skiing
and UH and to figure skating and gymnastics and I
did two Olympic Games as a gymnastics announcer and the
Tour de France, and the Tour de France was.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Really what what taught me how to be.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I'd grown up as a as a player, as a
as a a pianist, but they assigned me to David Michaels.
David Michaels is the Great Al Michael's brother. It's very
talented family. He's a producer. And he said, John, I
want to do the Tour de France MTV style, And
he goes, I know that.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
You're a musician.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Why don't you bring all your synthesizers to Paris edit.
I'll edit the footage and you can do the music.
And and that's why of this new record of mine
called Sports, That's why that record and also round Ball
Rock has an eighty sound to it, you know, it's
like the it's like the alias sound of the of
the the the orchestra hit, I mean one of the
(05:00):
combination of orchestra, but also yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Like there's a prog element to it. And we were
talking last week and it's like I do TV. You
did TV as well. And I think that there's an
assumption that people like us might uh when we have
our side projects, sometimes they're vanity projects. I cannot say
that my music career is as intricate or detailed, and
certainly not as not as accomplished as yours. From even
(05:28):
from a player perspective, you know, you're not doing these
four core jingles. You're talking like key changes and orchestrations
and very complicated. I think I think kind of start
maybe from the prog era of music that obviously our
orchestral too. You know, were you surprised when or were
(05:49):
people surprised? I guess when you were like, oh, also
I did this.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Oh oh for sure when I left. When I left
entertainment in nineteen sixty, everybody made fun of me, and
and even my wife said to me, she said, don't
you think you could probably do both?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
John?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You could probably stay at entertainment tonight.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And I did. I can't remember who the.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Explorer was who burned his boats, but that's was the
metaphor for me. Is I just no one had ever
taken me seriously, and I've been turned down by every
record company, and you know, I get it. I don't
think the guys that Billy Joel's label wanted the guy
who read the celebrity birthdays on television on their But
but what, what what launched my career was was public television.
(06:30):
I had seen uh, I'd seen Yanni and the Three
Tenors and and on.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
And even the uh the Moody Blues were at Red Rocks.
I said that's the place.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
And so my wife Kanye and I County Selica, we
we we put up.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
The money TV money.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Right, Yes, yeah, we put it up to do that
special and PBS tested it and then it ran for
four years and raised seven million dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Amazing. And is it true that you've you've sold eight
million records? Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
That is unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
That most of it is is because of of of
public television.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
But but you know, John, I.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Got to tell you you got you got great reception
from the private jet that you're calling.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Us that stuffs too extensive.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Anyway, the answer question about Rob Morock was that's not
a typical song for me to to to write because
I was writing these big, bombastic, you know, marches and
heroic pieces for the Tour de France, right and I
and uh And when you listen to the new record,
there is a lot of prog rock stuff, and there's
a lot of seven eight, there's a lot of five
(07:41):
four and and but what my advantage was when I
wrote round Ball was I had lived in these television
trucks for so long.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I understood that I.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Understood the segmentation where you have a theme, and then
you have a variation of the theme. Then you have
a thing called the handoff, where the trump's hand off
to the strings. And that's where this section that a
lot of people like were goes, because it's.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Like you're kind of coming around a little bit. You're
reflecting on the accomplishments and now here we are, I'll
tell you what. We got to take a break. Can
you stay with us for the next segment or do
you have to run?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Sure? I'm good?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All righty John Tesh with us. I Andy Reesmier in here.
I am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Good evening. Joining us via the telephone is mister John Tesh,
the author and the musician behind that wonderful song you've
been hearing round Ball Rock. Thanks for being with us.
You got a new record out as well. It's called Sports.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah. I couldn't come up with another name.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I mean, it's good. Huey Lewis did a little bit,
but you know.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
It's actually a workout record. Really.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
I mean, I my son Gibb said to me, he goes,
you know, I'm a grandpa to his kids, and he said,
you know what, pop up. I never see you happier
than when you're in the studio. And it's been you know,
a couple of decades, you know, as a musician, it
had been a couple of decades since I'd written new music.
We were just always touring with the old music and
with big band stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
And when it was just.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Announced that round Ball was coming back a year ago,
I just I just said, you know what, I want
to just do what I did back in tour front stage.
It's eleven new songs, eleven new songs, and it's the
stuff that I think you like, which is a lot.
It's all instrumental and a lot of odd time signatures,
a lot of nods back to I mean, it's great
band with Andrew Sinnowick playing guitar, really Hendrix Reborn, Tim
(09:34):
Landers on bass and and Ray Brinkley on on drums,
and and then we went to Nashville and recorded with
the symphony there, and so it's it's it's a mixture
of eighty sounds and then also a rock and roll
an orchestra. And I'm always looking for a playlist to
work out to, so I said well, I'm just going
to create this so awesome what it is?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I just the there isn't a thing that exists for me,
So I John Tesh, she will just create it. That
is very It is very Walker Texas Ranger you.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
But but but then it's very funny because my my
Cordy studios in the house. Right. A lot of people
have that too, right, Yeah, And my my wife Connie's
office is next to it. And so I'd be I'd
be like, you know, playing on like six different keyboards,
trying to figure out, you know, different songs, and she'd
walked by and she'd go football, and I go, Okay,
she walked by, she she'd go hockey, and then she
(10:26):
walked and then she walked the other way and come back.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Nope, nous man.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
How many? So I'm so curious about the lore also,
and what are teesh groupies known as? Are they? Are
they Teesh's? Are they Teeshi's? Are they tes like?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
How do you? How do they? How do they define?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Well?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
For for a while when I was younger, it was
tesh heads but now but now my my daughter who's
a ballet dancer and used to used to dance with
us on stage. I remember we were on stage one
night in Florida and she she looked out the audience
and leaned over in my ear and said, hey, hey, hey, dad,
how much long did you thinke? Your audience is gonna
be alive?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And I, oh, come on, no.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
But you know what's funny is that my concerts are
women who bring their their drag, their husbands or their
boyfriends to a John Tesh concert. And so it's a
thing that we do with the band where the guys
usually have their arms folded for you know, for the
romantic stuff and the.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Big band stuff.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
And then and then about two thirds of the way through,
we play like a seven minute version of round Ball.
So those and everything, and the guys out of their seat.
They're like, okay, I'm in.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So on the new on the new album all so,
there is a version of round Ball Rock which is
the Shreds version. So we'll listen to a couple of
seconds of that and then come back and you tell
us about that. So here we go. This is an
off the new album Sports John Tesh's cover of himself
round Ball Rock, but the shred version I think that's
(11:50):
the original, Bud. I think we got the wrong Okay,
so you got to go look it up. You got
to go on Spotify, on YouTube, et cetera. You gotta
find But let me tell you what's crazy is that.
I think it was either yesterday where NBC brought the
song back for one of the games and somebody clipped
it of course and posted it onto Reddit and everyone
(12:12):
is freaking out comments like you can't improve perfection.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, I'm telling you man.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It happened on X two where they they they've changed
a couple of things and maybe made a couple of edits,
and that's what you have to do when you're.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Editing the video. You know's wrong with that.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
But it's so funny because people say, no, no, no, no, no,
I want the peacock.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
With the opening thing. I don't want you.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I don't want you to get to the third part
of the song until we until until al Alice talking
or whatever, you know. And so yeah, that's the thing is,
I have turned this song over to the fans. I'm
not making any changes, and you see what happens with NBA.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's so funny. I personally would like to request the
Dreamcast Arcade video game version of it, which was available
on NBA Showtime NBA on NBC. Uh No, I hear
what you say. But people really just love it, and
you know, it's a nostalgia thing, and I'm so happy
that it's coming back, and you know, You've got such
great energy and you're you're such a multi hyphen it
(13:11):
but also just kind of an inspiration for just like
going for it. And I think that you you just
seem to live out loud in such a great way.
And and you know, I know that as a musician too. Uh,
you know, you really connect with people. Over the years,
LA has fewer and fewer musicians, people from the golden
era of music, making music, performing music, writing music, especially
(13:35):
with things have changed and becoming all digital. Uh, you know,
we lose things as time goes by. And even you
were talking about maybe your audience, but of course, you know,
I would be remiss if I didn't bring up Ace Freely,
who passed away today, first member of Kiss to pass away.
And it's just one of those things where like those
guys I felt like this when Jimmy Buffett died. Those
(13:55):
guys are so alive. It's like, what do you mean,
Ace Freely, what do you mean? He dies, and I
know that you know about it, and I'm so sorry
about that. And I'm so sorry to everybody, all the fans,
and and I wondered if you just wanted to say
anything as as we wrap it up here.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
He was an original either where where I live here
in Los Angeles, I'm surrounded by by all the members
of Kiss. In fact, Paul Stanley's son learned to swim
in my pool. You know, Jean Jean goes to the
same Starbucks, you know, and all and all that type
of stuff, and and and you know, and Paul ast
and Paul were as far as.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I know, they were very very tight.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
But Paul is like the sweetest guy can possibly imagine.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
But but Ace was self taught.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
In fact, he he couldn't figure out how to apparently
couldn't figureut how to do vibrato with you know, with with.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
His fingers on the strings.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
So he would shake the whole neck of the guitar,
which is amazing because it should have just broken off.
And he he had like all kinds of smoke and
stuff at the end of his.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
He was such a showman.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I remember what all told me.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, and you know what his solo album went platinum. Yeah,
so he was. He was serious. But but I remember
when Paul told me that, because I asked Paul how
the a skid his He said he was in high school.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
He was really he was very popular with the ladies,
and so they call him a man.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's a great reason to have a nickname. Very cool.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, this is what's happening right now,
is you know us baby boomers, you know, we're just.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
All hanging on. I got not to lay this on,
but in.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Twenty fifteen they gave me eighteen months to live with
a rare form of cancer, and here I am.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Ten years later.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah, good doctors, good doctor's, amazing prayer and my crazy
Italian wife from the Bronx who wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Let me die.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Hey, that is that is a beautiful story. I didn't
I didn't know that. And I'm so happy that you're
doing well. And I know that you're also a very
faithful guy. And uh, you know, we're we're happy that
you're doing You're doing what you love doing. And you know,
I think everybody was like, oh, he's still with Connie.
That's so great and it's a great Hollywood love story
as well, in addition to obviously both of you being
(16:01):
very talented.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
And when I walk into when I walk into a
coffee shop, sometimes people will come up to me and
they'll look at me and they go, oh, didn't you
used to be John Tesh.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, yeah, goes all right, buddy, Well, thank you so
much for being here, John Tesh. What a guy. Catch
the new album Sports by John Tesh and you can
hear some really great workout tunes. It'll really put you
in the mood. Just just give you a good amount
(16:33):
of energy, a good kick you know where you need it.
And I'll tell you what is so great?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
The last comment on the Reddit page where they posted
the song coming Back, somebody says, all is right in
the world for a short moment in time. How about that?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
I agree? I agree, Thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's beautiful, John Tesh. I am six forty live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six on demand.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
By Mandy Reesmeyer. Robert. What do we think of Tash?
Speaker 5 (17:07):
That's that's a complicated question.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I love him.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
I think as a pop culture figure he's kind of
pulling a Shatner and turning a corner. I mean, if
we're going to be completely.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
What the man was just here?
Speaker 5 (17:18):
No, no, no, no, I mean I think people back
in the day, Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Oh, I see, okay, I think back in you have
to let me. Let me just be very very clear.
I have a specific experience with William Shatner that some
people may not know about. So I will hold my
own my own judgment. Please go ahead. Yes, I think
I know what you mean.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I think he might have endured some mainstream kind of
mockery back in the day, but I think he's come
around and people have a great deal of affection for him.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Oh absolutely, yeah. I think that's a that's a really
it's a well said, well said point. And I think
that the the sense that I get is that that's
a guy who's always just known what he wanted to
be and wanted to do and just did it and
didn't care. And like, thank God that we live in
(18:04):
a world where you can celebrate that, because it's also cool. Man,
he's so cool. I'm curious what his life is like.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Because you talk to these people or see them in
relatively brief interviews, huh, and you don't know what reality
they retreat to after all that's over. So like, does
he live in a trailer or a castle?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I want to know, you know, if he's living near
the members of Kiss in the same neighborhood, he's probably
doing pretty well for himself. So more castle, I think
I would hope. I hope for him. Yeah, And I
know he's got it. He's got room for a music studio.
I don't want to speculate, you know, but I know
he's been successful. He's done very well for himself, and
so I, you know, I think that incredibly, you know,
just still making music. I had no idea that he
(18:42):
had a near nearer almost death experience there ten years
ago or so.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
I didn't know that either. So your next job, Andy,
is to get us invited to Tesh's house.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Can you do this?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I'll do my best Budday, all right, I told him.
I talked to him after we got off the air,
and I said, hey, listen, if you're ever in the neighborhood,
you know where we are. Are, Let's have a test party.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
No no, no, no, you got a buttonhole them much
more efficiently than that. Get a commitment out of him.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Where are you gonna be I can we be there please?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, we played Time of the Season earlier in on
the break because we were we're kind of getting in
the mood here for Halloween. You know that that old
Halloween thing. There's not enough Halloween songs, and I feel
like the Zombies is kind of adjacent to being a
Halloween song, and whether or not, might not be many
places to hear Halloween songs, there's places to enjoy Halloween,
(19:33):
especially right here in Burbank, which I have unofficially now
decided we'll have to check with the mayor of the
City of Los Angeles and then also Burbank if we can,
we can make some kind of proclamation Halloween Central in
Los Angeles County. A map called Halloween in Burbank dot
Com with the supplemental Instagram account go Figure, is helping
(19:56):
you find where the best parts of Halloween and Burbank are.
It's a crowd sourced basically just put on by a
fan and that fan we have here joining us on
the phone. Jen, are you with us?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I am high.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Hello, Thanks for being a part of this. I got
to tell you this is such a great resource for people,
for families, for parents who don't know necessarily where to go.
Maybe your neighborhood is not the best for trigger treating
or walking around or seeing stuff. And this, I think
it's important to say, is more than just Halloween Night.
If you've been to Burbank, and I think it's probably
(20:36):
this weekend is really when it starts really happening. Magnolia
Park just is transformed into Halloween Town.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
It is.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Yeah, it's pretty it's it's pretty crazy. I would say
it blew up here about three years ago, and now
it gets to the point for this weekend and next weekend,
especially at Magnolia Park, you're going to barely be able
to walk there's so many people.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Who come there. Not exaggerating, I mean that's absolutely true.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Not Yeah, it's pretty amazing, and it's everybody is. The
map's totally crowdsourced. Everyone in Burbank just puts their their
houses on the map, and even outside of Burbank too,
And the people here really like I mean, they're like haunters.
They dedicate most of their year to building these sets.
And everybody who you know lives in Burbank, the majority
(21:23):
of people they work in the industry.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
And is that the reason that Burbank just became the
Halloween destination in La County. I mean, I know Tim
Burton grew up there. I heard that might have been
part of it, but it really just feels like Burbank
is the place for Halloween.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
I think it's a couple of things. I think also,
you know, people moved to Burbank. All the creatives moved
to Bourbank when they have families, So we have everybody
has families who lives here, and then they just end up,
you know, all the studios are here, so they're these
creatives with families, and they end up building gigantic literally
like movie sets on their front laws.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And what made you want to put all this together
in an app or a map rather and have a
social media account. I mean, it's it's really helpful, but
I don't know that I would have thought of that
to be helpful. I wouldn't have thought of it, you know,
kind of just like blew up.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
I started it in twenty twenty, and it was actually
COVID and you know, like me and my family would
drive around and for something safe that you just look
at the houses, and I was like, man, I bet
other people would think this would be cool too. So
it started off as like a Facebook group and then
it grew to a map like overnight, and you know,
the last couple of years, it's just it's it's really
(22:34):
blown up. I would say, like last October, I think
my map got one point seven million views.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
And people are coming from everywhere to come see the houses.
I mean a lot of these houses have live actors
in their front yards, you know, like the Clownhouse, you
know that, and they put on such an incredible show
and there's something for everyone here. It's like, we have
so many Disney houses too that are so kid friendly.
(23:01):
I can tell you the holiday fantasies come to Life
House that's over on North Salley Street, Like they have
Disney characters there every single night for your kids to meet. Wow,
and you can go and take photos with them. It's incredible.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
So we're talking with Jen Spinsik, who is the creator
of Halloween Inburbank dot com the Halloween Burbank Map, which
is also an Instagram account that has a great, great
collection of I would say diy, but that almost like
under sells the incredible craftsmanship that goes into the decorations.
People obviously walking all around Magnolia Park. There's other parts
(23:35):
of Burbank as well. You've got places beyond Burbank proper
on this map also, I do.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Yeah, yeah, people, because like the hont community is so big,
people are now adding their houses everywhere. I have so
many houses in like Santa Clarita, Glendale, Pasadena. People are
adding their houses everywhere. It's pretty incredible. And Jen, I
know what I like about it is it's like it's inclusive, right, Yeah,
anybody can have their house. It's not even just the
huge houses, Like even the smaller houses can be a
(24:05):
part of it and add themselves to the map.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Now, Jen, I know, we had a huge rainstorm on Tuesday.
I mean we were barely hanging on. I think that
there were some concerns that we were people were going
to start moving out of the city because it was
so serious. Did you see any casualties as far as
the Halloween haunts go in Burbank that.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
You're aware of, Yeah, there were actually. Like the Pirates
of Burbank, they build like a Pirates of the Caribbean
movie set on their front lawn and they have a
big krack in arm that they have a huge pirate
ship in their front yard with a krack and that moved.
And I know one of their krakens broke was a
couple of water, but they've already fixed it, like on
top of it. You know, Circus of Nightmares had something
(24:46):
like that too, where like some of their animatronics got
wet that they fixed it, so everyone's on top of it.
Like they got up and running again within twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Amazing. So if people want to add themselves, if they
have a display in their homes, how do they do that?
Speaker 6 (24:59):
All they have to do just go to www dot
Halloween a burbank dot com and then you'll see something
right at the top and I'll just say add yourself
to the map.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Awesome, and that's it.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
It's super easy, super easy form they fill out and
I approve it same day.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
So we talked about Clownhouse, We talked about the Pirates.
Are there any other special ones that you want to
shout out that you think are maybe in the running,
because Burbank doesn't. Don't they give an award for best
best best display?
Speaker 6 (25:24):
They do, Yeah, they're so. I one of them that
really blew me away this year. It's called the Burbank
Haunt it's on eight fifty seven North Maprile and they
do Beetlejuice and this year the owner of the house,
John you know the scene where they get possessed and
they're singing the song and the thing comes out of
the Yeah, so he built that scene in his front
(25:45):
yard where the skeletons are moving and dancing and the
hand comes out of the super Bowl and hits some
It's incredible. It's so really fun to see that one.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
There's so much creativity and and I'm so happy that
the community exists in Burbank. We were talking to the
clown guys earlier in the week and you know, saying, look,
La is not known necessarily for being a place and
has a ton of community, but if you look for it,
it's just right there. And what a great thing for
kids to be able to see and you know, fun
for the whole family. The thing that they wanted everybody
(26:14):
to know was that if you do go, it does
get crazy crowded, like you were saying, and just to
be respectful obviously of the neighbors, because you know those
are people's homes.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
I think that's the one thing is just you know,
sometimes people will park in people's driveways and things like that.
So just I guess my advice there is just you know,
if you can't like park a block or two away
like a Magnolia or a big street and walk in
and you know, and and and don't litter because a
lot of times, like the next day, the neighbors are
picking up. Everyone's trying.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
You don't want that, you don't want you don't want
this to go away. This is such a cool thing.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Yeah, no one wants it. Everyone loves it, and it's
it's it's so fun to see everybody out getting together.
They're putting like their differences aside in life and just
having fun and looking at houses.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well said Jet from Halloween and Burbank map on instat
That's just Halloween in Burbank map on Instagram or you
can find her online at Halloween in Burbank dot com.
Happy Halloween to you, Thanks so much, keep us posted
and hopefully we'll have a winner here and we can
celebrate him on the show for the best haunt in Burbank,
(27:17):
the I think real capital of Halloween in southern California.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
Right. Thank you for having me on Andy, Happy Happy Halloween.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Bye there.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
She goes.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Remembering the life and legacy of Ace Freely, the longtime
guitarist of course of Kiss, one of the founding members
who died today. A few weeks ago, his family said
that he suffered a fall a brain bleed. There was
a report that he wasn't doing well, and then a
(27:53):
confirmation today from the family. We are completely devastated and heartbroken.
In his last moments, were fortunate enough to have been
able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts,
prayers and intentions as they left this earth. We cherish
all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his
strength and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude
(28:15):
of his passing is of epic proportions and beyond comprehension.
Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace's memory
will continue to live on forever. Ace Freely died today
from the Bronx. Grew up as in a working class family.
(28:36):
I believe as a teenager started playing guitar. Would have
been in the sixties late sixties. Co founded Kiss with
Paul Stanley, Gen Simmons and Peter Criss in nineteen seventy three.
It's a band that when you think about them, and
I said this earlier, like when Jimmy Buffett passed away,
(29:01):
who was sad. It was a shock, but it also
felt so counterintuitive to the emotion that you get from
listening to that kind of music. Prince same way. None
of these guys are about dying. It's about living and
living living loudly. You of course know him from his
(29:27):
rocket shooting les Paul guitar. They stuck a smoke machine
in one of the pickups, so when he would hit
a solo, just catch on fire. Of course, we were
just listening to one of the songs from his solo
career back in the New York Groove. And without Ace Freely,
(29:48):
not only would you not have Kiss, you wouldn't have
so many hard rock, glam, heavy metal, melodic guitar players
who came after words. There is no Foo Fighters, there
is no Pantera, there's no guns n' Roses without Ace Freely,
(30:11):
cool guy, sad news taken too soon, was still making music. Nicki,
who was a producer on this show, I walked in
today and I said, oh no, because I know that
You're a huge Kiss fan.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Loved them. I saw them in like nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And you had a kiss shirt on recently, and you
told me somebody came up to you in the mall
and said, try to try to call you out.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
Yeah, they tried to gate keep. They pointed at my
teh and said, what's your favorite kiss song? Thinking I
wouldn't know that. I bought it a hot topic or
something or urban outfitters, and I said, sure know something,
and they went, oh, like, oh, they didn't think I
wouldn't know as any song.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
It's a legit kiss song. It's not just some you know,
I love rock and roll. No, sure know something.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
The MTV Unplugged version is the best because they've got
like an orchestra behind them.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
When I think about aast Freely and I think about
that band, it's like, obviously they are a metal band.
They've got this glam rock thing, they've got this amazing
stage persona. But also the songs are so good. They're
these incredible dare I say, and I don't I think
this is I mean, this is a compliment kind of
power pop songs where there's blues influence, there's classic rock influence.
(31:26):
I mean, there's all of these things that are happening
that are making this kind of stage spectacle into this
very catchy, just hard hitting, pump you up, give you energy,
make you feel good kind of music. The Spaceman or
space Ace is what they called him.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
That was the.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Character he created with that makeup and the stars on
his eyes. Another classic rocker passing away way too soon.
Another musician. This week, we're just talking about DiAngelo who died.
It's tough. It's tough stuff, but we've got a lifetime
of music to remember these wonderful people by coming up
(32:10):
in the next hour. We've got lots to talk about.
Coffee is so expensive. Where do you think the most
expensive coffee in Los Angeles is? You might think it's
Beverly Hills. True, there is a ten dollars cup of
coffee there, but no, it's actually in the San Gabriel Valley. Plus,
(32:32):
are you looking for people in the dating world who
match your freak? What is that all about? Does it
actually work? And then I think at some point we'll
talk to a mortgage broker. This is going to be
really exciting about if this is the right time to
refinance because mortgage rates are finally coming down. That's all
(32:54):
coming up in the next hour. Here it's KFI AM
six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (32:58):
App, KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
There's nothing that makes you feel like Bob Costas like
listening to that music. That, of course is roundball rock,
a sound, a music, a moment that you'll start to
hear once again on NBC and joining us is the
man behind the music. John Tesh, good evening. I promised
that you would be on with us this evening, and
(00:24):
here you are on KFI AM six forty. Buddy, I
gotta tell you, I ran into you a KTLA and
I just the memories kept flooding back, and I hear
that sound, I hear that that melody, and it just
gets me so pumped, and it takes me back to
I guess the early nineties when things were things were
(00:47):
a little different.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I mean it was.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
It's it can only be described as supernatural because this
song is thirty five years old.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, I wrote it in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
You know the story, you know, on my Answering Machine.
I was in Europe. I had an idea. I called
it in to my Answering Machine. When I do this
story on stage, we're in concert, I have to put
the picture of an answering machine on the on the
screen behind me from I'm talking about you know.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Right, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I mean the funny thing for me is that when
I heard it was coming back, When when Rick Cordella
from from NBC Sports said hey, we want to bring
it back, I just said, Okay, I'm going I'm going
to go into the studio.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm going to get an orchestra and I'm going to
do a different arrangement of it and beef it up
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
So I did and spent some you know, spent some
cash and tested it out on the internet and everybody said, nope,
we want the OG version. So wow, it's on the shelf. Yeah,
you know what they want, the original, They want the original.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I told everybody last week or I was here on
Monday and I was saying TSH is coming in on Thursday,
and the word got around the studio here. Everybody was
very excited, and I told everybody then, you know, hearing
that that sound at least the beginning around about rock,
just that when it just comes in, it slaps you
in the face and it wakes you up and says, hey,
listen to this. In the same way that it felt
(02:12):
like when I was a young boy a young man,
and I saw like Kurt Cobain or I saw James Dean,
where you just are forced to pay attention because something
is going on there. And I know you've written a
lot of things, and I wonder for you, did you
know that this was a different song? Did you know
that it was going to be this level of a catchiness?
(02:38):
I mean truly, since I saw you on Monday, I've
had this song stuck in my head NonStop, and it
only it took thirty years for me to get it
out of my head, so now it's going to take
another thirty to get in it.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Well, it went on the shelf for like twenty years
because ABC took the coverage or the rights away from
from NBC. And I went to NBC and I said, hey,
would you like to license the theme?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And they said, no, no, we want to do something,
We want to do something different.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
And I get that because the team was so sononymous,
synonymous with NBC. They didn't want anybody to think to
think it was on NBC. But no, I had been
I was hired out of I was working for CBS
News as a correspondent back in nineteen seventy six, and
by nineteen eighty two, I got a call from from
(03:22):
Dick Ever saw you know the name, and so Terry
O'Neill and Tommy Roy from NBC saying, hey, we we've
seen your work on the news and we're looking for
somebody who can you know, live stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
And I said, Terry, you get the wrong guy.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I can't name three NFL teams by somebody in the newsroom,
you know.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And they said, no, the's sports.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We'd want you to cover the ones that nobody knows
the rules to them. And I sall, that's perfect. So
because because because this was a CBS actually at the time,
and so what they wanted to do was they wanted
to try and challenge ABC because ABC had a wide
world of sports, you know, with Jim McKay. And so
(04:04):
what they did was they assigned me to downhill skiing
and UH and to figure skating and gymnastics and I
did two Olympic Games as a gymnastics announcer and the
Tour de France, and the Tour de France was.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Really what what taught me how to be.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I'd grown up as a as a player, as a
as a a pianist, but they assigned me to David Michaels.
David Michaels is the Great Al Michael's brother. It's very
talented family. He's a producer. And he said, John, I
want to do the Tour de France MTV style, And
he goes, I know that.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
You're a musician.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Why don't you bring all your synthesizers to Paris edit.
I'll edit the footage and you can do the music.
And and that's why of this new record of mine
called Sports, That's why that record and also round Ball
Rock has an eighty sound to it, you know, it's
like the it's like the alias sound of the of
the the the orchestra hit, I mean one of the
(05:00):
combination of orchestra, but also yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Like there's a prog element to it. And we were
talking last week and it's like I do TV. You
did TV as well. And I think that there's an
assumption that people like us might uh when we have
our side projects, sometimes they're vanity projects. I cannot say
that my music career is as intricate or detailed, and
certainly not as not as accomplished as yours. From even
(05:28):
from a player perspective, you know, you're not doing these
four core jingles. You're talking like key changes and orchestrations
and very complicated. I think I think kind of start
maybe from the prog era of music that obviously our
orchestral too. You know, were you surprised when or were
(05:49):
people surprised? I guess when you were like, oh, also
I did this.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Oh oh for sure when I left. When I left
entertainment in nineteen sixty, everybody made fun of me, and
and even my wife said to me, she said, don't
you think you could probably do both?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
John?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You could probably stay at entertainment tonight.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And I did. I can't remember who the.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Explorer was who burned his boats, but that's was the
metaphor for me. Is I just no one had ever
taken me seriously, and I've been turned down by every
record company, and you know, I get it. I don't
think the guys that Billy Joel's label wanted the guy
who read the celebrity birthdays on television on their But
but what, what what launched my career was was public television.
(06:30):
I had seen uh, I'd seen Yanni and the Three
Tenors and and on.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
And even the uh the Moody Blues were at Red Rocks.
I said that's the place.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
And so my wife Kanye and I County Selica, we
we we put up.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
The money TV money.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Right, Yes, yeah, we put it up to do that
special and PBS tested it and then it ran for
four years and raised seven million dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Amazing. And is it true that you've you've sold eight
million records? Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
That is unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
That most of it is is because of of of
public television.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
But but you know, John, I.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Got to tell you you got you got great reception
from the private jet that you're calling.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Us that stuffs too extensive.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Anyway, the answer question about Rob Morock was that's not
a typical song for me to to to write because
I was writing these big, bombastic, you know, marches and
heroic pieces for the Tour de France, right and I
and uh And when you listen to the new record,
there is a lot of prog rock stuff, and there's
a lot of seven eight, there's a lot of five
(07:41):
four and and but what my advantage was when I
wrote round Ball was I had lived in these television
trucks for so long.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I understood that I.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Understood the segmentation where you have a theme, and then
you have a variation of the theme. Then you have
a thing called the handoff, where the trump's hand off
to the strings. And that's where this section that a
lot of people like were goes, because it's.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Like you're kind of coming around a little bit. You're
reflecting on the accomplishments and now here we are, I'll
tell you what. We got to take a break. Can
you stay with us for the next segment or do
you have to run?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Sure? I'm good?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All righty John Tesh with us. I Andy Reesmier in here.
I am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Good evening. Joining us via the telephone is mister John Tesh,
the author and the musician behind that wonderful song you've
been hearing round Ball Rock. Thanks for being with us.
You got a new record out as well. It's called Sports.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah. I couldn't come up with another name.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I mean, it's good. Huey Lewis did a little bit,
but you know.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
It's actually a workout record. Really.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
I mean, I my son Gibb said to me, he goes,
you know, I'm a grandpa to his kids, and he said,
you know what, pop up. I never see you happier
than when you're in the studio. And it's been you know,
a couple of decades, you know, as a musician, it
had been a couple of decades since I'd written new music.
We were just always touring with the old music and
with big band stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
And when it was just.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Announced that round Ball was coming back a year ago,
I just I just said, you know what, I want
to just do what I did back in tour front stage.
It's eleven new songs, eleven new songs, and it's the
stuff that I think you like, which is a lot.
It's all instrumental and a lot of odd time signatures,
a lot of nods back to I mean, it's great
band with Andrew Sinnowick playing guitar, really Hendrix Reborn, Tim
(09:34):
Landers on bass and and Ray Brinkley on on drums,
and and then we went to Nashville and recorded with
the symphony there, and so it's it's it's a mixture
of eighty sounds and then also a rock and roll
an orchestra. And I'm always looking for a playlist to
work out to, so I said well, I'm just going
to create this so awesome what it is?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I just the there isn't a thing that exists for me,
So I John Tesh, she will just create it. That
is very It is very Walker Texas Ranger you.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
But but but then it's very funny because my my
Cordy studios in the house. Right. A lot of people
have that too, right, Yeah, And my my wife Connie's
office is next to it. And so I'd be I'd
be like, you know, playing on like six different keyboards,
trying to figure out, you know, different songs, and she'd
walked by and she'd go football, and I go, Okay,
she walked by, she she'd go hockey, and then she
(10:26):
walked and then she walked the other way and come back.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Nope, nous man.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
How many? So I'm so curious about the lore also,
and what are teesh groupies known as? Are they? Are
they Teesh's? Are they Teeshi's? Are they tes like?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
How do you? How do they? How do they define?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Well?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
For for a while when I was younger, it was
tesh heads but now but now my my daughter who's
a ballet dancer and used to used to dance with
us on stage. I remember we were on stage one
night in Florida and she she looked out the audience
and leaned over in my ear and said, hey, hey, hey, dad,
how much long did you thinke? Your audience is gonna
be alive?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And I, oh, come on, no.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
But you know what's funny is that my concerts are
women who bring their their drag, their husbands or their
boyfriends to a John Tesh concert. And so it's a
thing that we do with the band where the guys
usually have their arms folded for you know, for the
romantic stuff and the.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Big band stuff.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
And then and then about two thirds of the way through,
we play like a seven minute version of round Ball.
So those and everything, and the guys out of their seat.
They're like, okay, I'm in.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So on the new on the new album all so,
there is a version of round Ball Rock which is
the Shreds version. So we'll listen to a couple of
seconds of that and then come back and you tell
us about that. So here we go. This is an
off the new album Sports John Tesh's cover of himself
round Ball Rock, but the shred version I think that's
(11:50):
the original, Bud. I think we got the wrong Okay,
so you got to go look it up. You got
to go on Spotify, on YouTube, et cetera. You gotta
find But let me tell you what's crazy is that.
I think it was either yesterday where NBC brought the
song back for one of the games and somebody clipped
it of course and posted it onto Reddit and everyone
(12:12):
is freaking out comments like you can't improve perfection.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, I'm telling you man.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It happened on X two where they they they've changed
a couple of things and maybe made a couple of edits,
and that's what you have to do when you're.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Editing the video. You know's wrong with that.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
But it's so funny because people say, no, no, no, no, no,
I want the peacock.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
With the opening thing. I don't want you.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I don't want you to get to the third part
of the song until we until until al Alice talking
or whatever, you know. And so yeah, that's the thing is,
I have turned this song over to the fans. I'm
not making any changes, and you see what happens with NBA.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's so funny. I personally would like to request the
Dreamcast Arcade video game version of it, which was available
on NBA Showtime NBA on NBC. Uh No, I hear
what you say. But people really just love it, and
you know, it's a nostalgia thing, and I'm so happy
that it's coming back, and you know, You've got such
great energy and you're you're such a multi hyphen it
(13:11):
but also just kind of an inspiration for just like
going for it. And I think that you you just
seem to live out loud in such a great way.
And and you know, I know that as a musician too. Uh,
you know, you really connect with people. Over the years,
LA has fewer and fewer musicians, people from the golden
era of music, making music, performing music, writing music, especially
(13:35):
with things have changed and becoming all digital. Uh, you know,
we lose things as time goes by. And even you
were talking about maybe your audience, but of course, you know,
I would be remiss if I didn't bring up Ace Freely,
who passed away today, first member of Kiss to pass away.
And it's just one of those things where like those
guys I felt like this when Jimmy Buffett died. Those
(13:55):
guys are so alive. It's like, what do you mean,
Ace Freely, what do you mean? He dies, and I
know that you know about it, and I'm so sorry
about that. And I'm so sorry to everybody, all the fans,
and and I wondered if you just wanted to say
anything as as we wrap it up here.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
He was an original either where where I live here
in Los Angeles, I'm surrounded by by all the members
of Kiss. In fact, Paul Stanley's son learned to swim
in my pool. You know, Jean Jean goes to the
same Starbucks, you know, and all and all that type
of stuff, and and and you know, and Paul ast
and Paul were as far as.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I know, they were very very tight.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
But Paul is like the sweetest guy can possibly imagine.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
But but Ace was self taught.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
In fact, he he couldn't figure out how to apparently
couldn't figureut how to do vibrato with you know, with with.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
His fingers on the strings.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
So he would shake the whole neck of the guitar,
which is amazing because it should have just broken off.
And he he had like all kinds of smoke and
stuff at the end of his.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
He was such a showman.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I remember what all told me.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, and you know what his solo album went platinum. Yeah,
so he was. He was serious. But but I remember
when Paul told me that, because I asked Paul how
the a skid his He said he was in high school.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
He was really he was very popular with the ladies,
and so they call him a man.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's a great reason to have a nickname. Very cool.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, this is what's happening right now,
is you know us baby boomers, you know, we're just.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
All hanging on. I got not to lay this on,
but in.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Twenty fifteen they gave me eighteen months to live with
a rare form of cancer, and here I am.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Ten years later.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah, good doctors, good doctor's, amazing prayer and my crazy
Italian wife from the Bronx who wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Let me die.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Hey, that is that is a beautiful story. I didn't
I didn't know that. And I'm so happy that you're
doing well. And I know that you're also a very
faithful guy. And uh, you know, we're we're happy that
you're doing You're doing what you love doing. And you know,
I think everybody was like, oh, he's still with Connie.
That's so great and it's a great Hollywood love story
as well, in addition to obviously both of you being
(16:01):
very talented.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
And when I walk into when I walk into a
coffee shop, sometimes people will come up to me and
they'll look at me and they go, oh, didn't you
used to be John Tesh.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, yeah, goes all right, buddy, Well, thank you so
much for being here, John Tesh. What a guy. Catch
the new album Sports by John Tesh and you can
hear some really great workout tunes. It'll really put you
in the mood. Just just give you a good amount
(16:33):
of energy, a good kick you know where you need it.
And I'll tell you what is so great?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
The last comment on the Reddit page where they posted
the song coming Back, somebody says, all is right in
the world for a short moment in time. How about that?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
I agree? I agree, Thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's beautiful, John Tesh. I am six forty live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six on demand.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
By Mandy Reesmeyer. Robert. What do we think of Tash?
Speaker 5 (17:07):
That's that's a complicated question.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I love him.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
I think as a pop culture figure he's kind of
pulling a Shatner and turning a corner. I mean, if
we're going to be completely.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
What the man was just here?
Speaker 5 (17:18):
No, no, no, no, I mean I think people back
in the day, Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Oh, I see, okay, I think back in you have
to let me. Let me just be very very clear.
I have a specific experience with William Shatner that some
people may not know about. So I will hold my
own my own judgment. Please go ahead. Yes, I think
I know what you mean.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I think he might have endured some mainstream kind of
mockery back in the day, but I think he's come
around and people have a great deal of affection for him.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Oh absolutely, yeah. I think that's a that's a really
it's a well said, well said point. And I think
that the the sense that I get is that that's
a guy who's always just known what he wanted to
be and wanted to do and just did it and
didn't care. And like, thank God that we live in
(18:04):
a world where you can celebrate that, because it's also cool. Man,
he's so cool. I'm curious what his life is like.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Because you talk to these people or see them in
relatively brief interviews, huh, and you don't know what reality
they retreat to after all that's over. So like, does
he live in a trailer or a castle?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I want to know, you know, if he's living near
the members of Kiss in the same neighborhood, he's probably
doing pretty well for himself. So more castle, I think
I would hope. I hope for him. Yeah, And I
know he's got it. He's got room for a music studio.
I don't want to speculate, you know, but I know
he's been successful. He's done very well for himself, and
so I, you know, I think that incredibly, you know,
just still making music. I had no idea that he
(18:42):
had a near nearer almost death experience there ten years
ago or so.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
I didn't know that either. So your next job, Andy,
is to get us invited to Tesh's house.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Can you do this?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I'll do my best Budday, all right, I told him.
I talked to him after we got off the air,
and I said, hey, listen, if you're ever in the neighborhood,
you know where we are. Are, Let's have a test party.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
No no, no, no, you got a buttonhole them much
more efficiently than that. Get a commitment out of him.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Where are you gonna be I can we be there please?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, we played Time of the Season earlier in on
the break because we were we're kind of getting in
the mood here for Halloween. You know that that old
Halloween thing. There's not enough Halloween songs, and I feel
like the Zombies is kind of adjacent to being a
Halloween song, and whether or not, might not be many
places to hear Halloween songs, there's places to enjoy Halloween,
(19:33):
especially right here in Burbank, which I have unofficially now
decided we'll have to check with the mayor of the
City of Los Angeles and then also Burbank if we can,
we can make some kind of proclamation Halloween Central in
Los Angeles County. A map called Halloween in Burbank dot
Com with the supplemental Instagram account go Figure, is helping
(19:56):
you find where the best parts of Halloween and Burbank are.
It's a crowd sourced basically just put on by a
fan and that fan we have here joining us on
the phone. Jen, are you with us?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I am high.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Hello, Thanks for being a part of this. I got
to tell you this is such a great resource for people,
for families, for parents who don't know necessarily where to go.
Maybe your neighborhood is not the best for trigger treating
or walking around or seeing stuff. And this, I think
it's important to say, is more than just Halloween Night.
If you've been to Burbank, and I think it's probably
(20:36):
this weekend is really when it starts really happening. Magnolia
Park just is transformed into Halloween Town.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
It is.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Yeah, it's pretty it's it's pretty crazy. I would say
it blew up here about three years ago, and now
it gets to the point for this weekend and next weekend,
especially at Magnolia Park, you're going to barely be able
to walk there's so many people.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Who come there. Not exaggerating, I mean that's absolutely true.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Not Yeah, it's pretty amazing, and it's everybody is. The
map's totally crowdsourced. Everyone in Burbank just puts their their
houses on the map, and even outside of Burbank too,
And the people here really like I mean, they're like haunters.
They dedicate most of their year to building these sets.
And everybody who you know lives in Burbank, the majority
(21:23):
of people they work in the industry.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
And is that the reason that Burbank just became the
Halloween destination in La County. I mean, I know Tim
Burton grew up there. I heard that might have been
part of it, but it really just feels like Burbank
is the place for Halloween.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
I think it's a couple of things. I think also,
you know, people moved to Burbank. All the creatives moved
to Bourbank when they have families, So we have everybody
has families who lives here, and then they just end up,
you know, all the studios are here, so they're these
creatives with families, and they end up building gigantic literally
like movie sets on their front laws.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And what made you want to put all this together
in an app or a map rather and have a
social media account. I mean, it's it's really helpful, but
I don't know that I would have thought of that
to be helpful. I wouldn't have thought of it, you know,
kind of just like blew up.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
I started it in twenty twenty, and it was actually
COVID and you know, like me and my family would
drive around and for something safe that you just look
at the houses, and I was like, man, I bet
other people would think this would be cool too. So
it started off as like a Facebook group and then
it grew to a map like overnight, and you know,
the last couple of years, it's just it's it's really
(22:34):
blown up. I would say, like last October, I think
my map got one point seven million views.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
And people are coming from everywhere to come see the houses.
I mean a lot of these houses have live actors
in their front yards, you know, like the Clownhouse, you
know that, and they put on such an incredible show
and there's something for everyone here. It's like, we have
so many Disney houses too that are so kid friendly.
(23:01):
I can tell you the holiday fantasies come to Life
House that's over on North Salley Street, Like they have
Disney characters there every single night for your kids to meet. Wow,
and you can go and take photos with them. It's incredible.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
So we're talking with Jen Spinsik, who is the creator
of Halloween Inburbank dot com the Halloween Burbank Map, which
is also an Instagram account that has a great, great
collection of I would say diy, but that almost like
under sells the incredible craftsmanship that goes into the decorations.
People obviously walking all around Magnolia Park. There's other parts
(23:35):
of Burbank as well. You've got places beyond Burbank proper
on this map also, I do.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Yeah, yeah, people, because like the hont community is so big,
people are now adding their houses everywhere. I have so
many houses in like Santa Clarita, Glendale, Pasadena. People are
adding their houses everywhere. It's pretty incredible. And Jen, I
know what I like about it is it's like it's inclusive, right, Yeah,
anybody can have their house. It's not even just the
huge houses, Like even the smaller houses can be a
(24:05):
part of it and add themselves to the map.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Now, Jen, I know, we had a huge rainstorm on Tuesday.
I mean we were barely hanging on. I think that
there were some concerns that we were people were going
to start moving out of the city because it was
so serious. Did you see any casualties as far as
the Halloween haunts go in Burbank that.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
You're aware of, Yeah, there were actually. Like the Pirates
of Burbank, they build like a Pirates of the Caribbean
movie set on their front lawn and they have a
big krack in arm that they have a huge pirate
ship in their front yard with a krack and that moved.
And I know one of their krakens broke was a
couple of water, but they've already fixed it, like on
top of it. You know, Circus of Nightmares had something
(24:46):
like that too, where like some of their animatronics got
wet that they fixed it, so everyone's on top of it.
Like they got up and running again within twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Amazing. So if people want to add themselves, if they
have a display in their homes, how do they do that?
Speaker 6 (24:59):
All they have to do just go to www dot
Halloween a burbank dot com and then you'll see something
right at the top and I'll just say add yourself
to the map.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Awesome, and that's it.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
It's super easy, super easy form they fill out and
I approve it same day.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
So we talked about Clownhouse, We talked about the Pirates.
Are there any other special ones that you want to
shout out that you think are maybe in the running,
because Burbank doesn't. Don't they give an award for best
best best display?
Speaker 6 (25:24):
They do, Yeah, they're so. I one of them that
really blew me away this year. It's called the Burbank
Haunt it's on eight fifty seven North Maprile and they
do Beetlejuice and this year the owner of the house,
John you know the scene where they get possessed and
they're singing the song and the thing comes out of
the Yeah, so he built that scene in his front
(25:45):
yard where the skeletons are moving and dancing and the
hand comes out of the super Bowl and hits some
It's incredible. It's so really fun to see that one.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
There's so much creativity and and I'm so happy that
the community exists in Burbank. We were talking to the
clown guys earlier in the week and you know, saying, look,
La is not known necessarily for being a place and
has a ton of community, but if you look for it,
it's just right there. And what a great thing for
kids to be able to see and you know, fun
for the whole family. The thing that they wanted everybody
(26:14):
to know was that if you do go, it does
get crazy crowded, like you were saying, and just to
be respectful obviously of the neighbors, because you know those
are people's homes.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
I think that's the one thing is just you know,
sometimes people will park in people's driveways and things like that.
So just I guess my advice there is just you know,
if you can't like park a block or two away
like a Magnolia or a big street and walk in
and you know, and and and don't litter because a
lot of times, like the next day, the neighbors are
picking up. Everyone's trying.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
You don't want that, you don't want you don't want
this to go away. This is such a cool thing.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Yeah, no one wants it. Everyone loves it, and it's
it's it's so fun to see everybody out getting together.
They're putting like their differences aside in life and just
having fun and looking at houses.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well said Jet from Halloween and Burbank map on instat
That's just Halloween in Burbank map on Instagram or you
can find her online at Halloween in Burbank dot com.
Happy Halloween to you, Thanks so much, keep us posted
and hopefully we'll have a winner here and we can
celebrate him on the show for the best haunt in Burbank,
(27:17):
the I think real capital of Halloween in southern California.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
Right. Thank you for having me on Andy, Happy Happy Halloween.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Bye there.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
She goes.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Remembering the life and legacy of Ace Freely, the longtime
guitarist of course of Kiss, one of the founding members
who died today. A few weeks ago, his family said
that he suffered a fall a brain bleed. There was
a report that he wasn't doing well, and then a
(27:53):
confirmation today from the family. We are completely devastated and heartbroken.
In his last moments, were fortunate enough to have been
able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts,
prayers and intentions as they left this earth. We cherish
all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his
strength and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude
(28:15):
of his passing is of epic proportions and beyond comprehension.
Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace's memory
will continue to live on forever. Ace Freely died today
from the Bronx. Grew up as in a working class family.
(28:36):
I believe as a teenager started playing guitar. Would have
been in the sixties late sixties. Co founded Kiss with
Paul Stanley, Gen Simmons and Peter Criss in nineteen seventy three.
It's a band that when you think about them, and
I said this earlier, like when Jimmy Buffett passed away,
(29:01):
who was sad. It was a shock, but it also
felt so counterintuitive to the emotion that you get from
listening to that kind of music. Prince same way. None
of these guys are about dying. It's about living and
living living loudly. You of course know him from his
(29:27):
rocket shooting les Paul guitar. They stuck a smoke machine
in one of the pickups, so when he would hit
a solo, just catch on fire. Of course, we were
just listening to one of the songs from his solo
career back in the New York Groove. And without Ace Freely,
(29:48):
not only would you not have Kiss, you wouldn't have
so many hard rock, glam, heavy metal, melodic guitar players
who came after words. There is no Foo Fighters, there
is no Pantera, there's no guns n' Roses without Ace Freely,
(30:11):
cool guy, sad news taken too soon, was still making music. Nicki,
who was a producer on this show, I walked in
today and I said, oh no, because I know that
You're a huge Kiss fan.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Loved them. I saw them in like nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And you had a kiss shirt on recently, and you
told me somebody came up to you in the mall
and said, try to try to call you out.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
Yeah, they tried to gate keep. They pointed at my
teh and said, what's your favorite kiss song? Thinking I
wouldn't know that. I bought it a hot topic or
something or urban outfitters, and I said, sure know something,
and they went, oh, like, oh, they didn't think I
wouldn't know as any song.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
It's a legit kiss song. It's not just some you know,
I love rock and roll. No, sure know something.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
The MTV Unplugged version is the best because they've got
like an orchestra behind them.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
When I think about aast Freely and I think about
that band, it's like, obviously they are a metal band.
They've got this glam rock thing, they've got this amazing
stage persona. But also the songs are so good. They're
these incredible dare I say, and I don't I think
this is I mean, this is a compliment kind of
power pop songs where there's blues influence, there's classic rock influence.
(31:26):
I mean, there's all of these things that are happening
that are making this kind of stage spectacle into this
very catchy, just hard hitting, pump you up, give you energy,
make you feel good kind of music. The Spaceman or
space Ace is what they called him.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
That was the.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Character he created with that makeup and the stars on
his eyes. Another classic rocker passing away way too soon.
Another musician. This week, we're just talking about DiAngelo who died.
It's tough. It's tough stuff, but we've got a lifetime
of music to remember these wonderful people by coming up
(32:10):
in the next hour. We've got lots to talk about.
Coffee is so expensive. Where do you think the most
expensive coffee in Los Angeles is? You might think it's
Beverly Hills. True, there is a ten dollars cup of
coffee there, but no, it's actually in the San Gabriel Valley. Plus,
(32:32):
are you looking for people in the dating world who
match your freak? What is that all about? Does it
actually work? And then I think at some point we'll
talk to a mortgage broker. This is going to be
really exciting about if this is the right time to
refinance because mortgage rates are finally coming down. That's all
(32:54):
coming up in the next hour. Here it's KFI AM
six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (32:58):
App, KFI AM six forty on demand
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