Jeff and 38 Special's Don Barnes talk Summer Tour and all those hits

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Don Barnes thirty eight Special. Barnesthirty eight Special. How are you doing,
brother? I'm doing great, justfighting these allergies out here. Oh
my goodness, are they not theworst this year? They're terrible. Well.
As a singer, you know,you have to do about an hour
and forty minutes, so it's likeholding all those notes, breathing correctly.
It takes good stule. But youknow, hey, I knew the job

(00:22):
was dangerous when I took it.Right, you sort of have stuck with
it for a couple of years,that's for sure. So oh it's been
a few yeah, and we're soglad you're still out there, man,
and so excited to see you withLoverboy. Those guys are great, man.
We've done so many shows together.Mike Reno and the guys. They
stand on the side of the stageand I'm like trying to wave them and

(00:44):
come on out and sing with me. Help me out. Yeah, they're
good guys, So great guys,and Loverboy singer Mike Reno is kind of
into taking pictures. Huh. Wetook some pictures. He's all about Instagram
and he's got you know, he'sgoing to be a two million hit by
midnight, you know, but goahead. You know he's just like a
teenage girl, right, I know, and I know that the social media.

(01:07):
Well, we're so glad thirty eightspecial is out for another summer of
great music. And I noticed onyour website too, like a retro t
shirt that's coming out, right,We had we had one coming out this
year. It was the very firstone. We had a silk screen.
Remember silk screen, yeah, seventyyeah. And we had a friend of
virus drew up. He was likea draftsman or something. He drew up

(01:29):
a little angle thirty eight, speciallythe word thirty eight. And anyway,
it was about seventy five or something, you know. But and so we
had silkscreen t shirts were handing outour friends and everything, local town,
you know. But we resurrected thatthis year. It's come back fifty years
later, almost fifty year holy ca. Yeah, so people will still people

(01:49):
see we usually spell it. Weused to make it with the number thirty
eight, but this was the wordthirty eight. You know. Yeah,
I'm looking I'm looking at it onyour website right now. I absolutely have
to get one of those. Thatis so cool. Yeah, you see
the angled font kind of angle tothe right there. Yep, that was
the first first T shirt that longago, so we're bringing it back.
Yeah all right, So will thesebe available? We're looking forward. Yeah,

(02:13):
we're looking forward to it. Oh, they're available on there'll there'll be
at the show, those shirts willbe there, Okay, but yeah,
we're looking forward to it. Man, it's always a pleasure. We've we've
got a whole new show this year. It's everything you want to hear through
the history of the band. Weunfolded all those deep cuts and everything.
We've got several medleys who put togethera secondary songs from movies and everything,

(02:35):
so we just take them for aride. It's about an hour and forty
minutes. And of course it's comingafter a lover boy. I mean,
it's a night of hit songs allthe way through, you know. So
yeah, I'm telling you, it'sa party. It really is. There's
not going to be there, therewill be no Hey, let's go grab
a beer. Songs, right,I mean, yeah, I know it.
It's like every single one of them. But you know, we line
them up because I have the Fortunately, you have the good fortune to have

(02:57):
a lot of a lot of hitsingles through the years, sixteen, top
forty, top twenty, top ten. So yeah, we just line them
up, you know, and moviesongs, you know, or you know,
Back to Paradise and Revenge of theNerds. Love that, Teacher,
Teacher, everybody hears, yeah,Teacher, Teacher, all that. We've
got some funny things that you know, Joe Dirt, you know, guy,

(03:20):
the songs hold on Lucy within JoeDirt, right, But all these
movies about that. We were onA and M record that they headed the
City or A and M films,so we were like to go to rock
band. You know, they weregiving us all the movie movie stuff,
teachers and all that stuff. Butyeah, it's been it's been a great
ride. We we actually rolled downthe road. We still like each other,
and that's a real rare thing.Yes, absolutely, and you can

(03:45):
see it. It's it was acelebration of that brotherhood, that camaraderie.
I love it. We'd go backstagebefore we've got we've got you know,
music blasting back there. We usedto sit around and stare at each other.
It's like it's like a funeral hole, Like you know, I don't
want to keep you know, it'stime to rock. So we blast all
kinds of stuff at DC backstage andeverything. But it's just great to hear

(04:05):
these guys, you know, bustingthat, laughing every night, just having
a great time. So you know, you get this far in life,
you better be having a good time. Yeah, you know what's deep deep
down into this career. So well, yeah, we love to see all
the people's, the looks on thefaces, all the reaction, instant reaction.
It's uh, we have such along history that you you know,

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you see high five and singing along whole prosing, tears in their eyes.
Sometimes a song might remind them,you know, past situation or whatever.
But you know, some of thesongs getting me a little choked up
looking out there seeing I bet somethinglike what if I'd been the one to
say about it? Yeah, that'sexactly the one I was going to point
to if I'd been the one.That one still gets me. I was

(04:50):
like a sophomore in high school andand uh, you know, it makes
you think of that particular person,that relationship or something that was going on
then, and man, you're backthere in still I know it, and
we you know, we take painstakingefforts to make it all sound clean and
loud and noe and not really distortit or and then you know, we've
baffled off everything. Audio technology hascome so far. Now, that's why

(05:13):
we have in air monitors and andall the you know, just a clear
PA system and everything. So itsounds just like the record. I mean,
we're we're throwing down. It's aboutone hundred and three DECI bels,
you know, and that's how welike it, my friend, that's right,
that's right. But yeah, loverboy man, they line them up
and shoot them down too. It'sgreat. We stand on the side and

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you know, watching them throw picksout of them and stuff. You know.
See, I love that when whenbands interact and they they first of
all, you know, sonically,you guys, you guys were both coming
up exactly at the same time,and you know, and it's cool that
you've you know, remained friends,and you know, it's like getting you
know, like getting the guys allback together when the two of you can

(05:55):
can play a show together, evenif it's not like an official tour.
Yeah, you know, it's funnybecause it went back into eighties, everybody
was competing with everybody else We've gotall these friends Areo Speedway and Kevin and
Stiggs and Tommy Shaw, all thesepeople. We were all competing with each
other. So you're trying to kickeach other's bass out there on stage.
You're trying to show up the whoever'sgot to follow you. God help them,
you know. So it was itwas a heavy competition. But the

(06:18):
greatest thing after all these years iswe respect each other because we survived.
And so when we see each other, we're happy to still be there.
Obviously happy to be there. Anduh, and to know that the music
took stood the test of time,went through over the years and decades,
you know, and still it's stillvibrant. Still means a lot to people.

(06:42):
And uh, it's just instant respectall those guys. It's easy top.
I just did a personal appearance withBilly Gibbons out there. We you
know, we opened for the EazyTop eighty one or you know, they
had the big bowler hats and cameout after three years with the beards and
all. But I told him,I said, man, you're I said,
you're like a car a tune character. But he loved that. But

(07:02):
he he's a sweet guy, justa true gentleman, you know. And
he's he's cultivated this persona and buthe's just say he's a very intelligent guys.
Dad was the head of the HoustonSymphony. Oh yeah, yeah,
he comes from very musical family andso anyway, so it's always fun to

(07:23):
come around your idolscap a hero ofivirus, you know, low down how
how you know that's why he's backstage. He's just he's yeah, backstage,
he really do mirror just really calm, nice. He loves his pajamas,
he travels and the silk pajamas allthe time. I don't know what I
wanted is Oh, don you're givingus all kinds of good stuff here.
I love it. Yeah, hesaid, get your wife, get him

(07:44):
with back Christmas time. But getyour wife, get you some silk pajamas.
Man, it'll set you free.Okay, Wow, what else do
you say to that? Right?Okay, yeah, right right, I'll
do it. So funny we dolike a one hundred Cities of the Year.
I love that. Yeah that's crazy. Yeah, still still to this

(08:05):
day, fifty years later doing onehundred dates. That's amazing. Yeah,
it's just sell out everywhere. Peoplewant to relive all that those times it
was happier times. I think youknow everybody had. You know, I
just like you just said a minuteago, just was some relationships back then.
He just had times when you wereit was youth and you know,
so this, this whole enterprise ofours I started with Donnie Vans and we've

(08:26):
known each other since we fourteen yearsold, and and you know it holds
our struggles and our triumphs and ouryouth and uh, you know, our
heart. So you know that's whatwe do. We we go out there
and we we we share that witheverybody. So it's always a great time
bring that party to the people.The phrase is a wonderful venue. We'd

(08:48):
love it and can't wait to beback there both. All right, don
thank you so much. Always apleasure to talk to you. Can't wait
to see in a couple of weeks. Thanks Pat to Jeff. Give Mike
a big hugs for me. Soyou got it.