Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Georgia, folks. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. The Daniel Alzheimer's Music Fest is coming to
Atlanta Saturday, February. The twenty second here today to talk
about this is Vince end Garo, founder of the Alzheimer's
Music Fest, along with Brian Mitchell, Agency director for Silver Companions,
d Gayo, Resource coordinator for the Cherokee County Senior Services,
(00:26):
Carissa Rumsey from Fight Living Center in Cartersville. And we're
also here for two of the producers, Brian Holmes and
Van Temple. The first, let's start out with Vince Zenngaro.
This is the eleventh theater for Alzheimer's Music Fest. You're
the founder of it. Talk about how you started.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, I took care.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I've been a musician my whole life, and my dad
got diagnosed when I was twenty nine years old.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
He was sixty two.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
We got diagnosed with early on set Alzheimer's and we
didn't know what we were doing. Dad did, and we
had in our family were pretty ignorant to the disease
and dementia related diseases.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
At that point.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
So through that I kept on calling maybe larger Alzheimer's Foundations,
which they do good things, but they weren't really giving
back to the community. They weren't really giving to the
care givers, which I like to call care partners because
I think that you and that your loved one are
in it together. And they worked just as hard, and
I was like, well, I'm sitting here taking care of
Dad full time. And that was a fourteen year journey
of my pops, from the very beginning to the very end. Unfortunately,
(01:17):
we were able to do that in the house because
of people like Silver Companions, home care companies, Cherokee Senior Services,
and then people also like to Fight Living Center.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Just with all these resources, I.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Was like, well, if I can really get in there
and do something for caregivers and provide respite care, support groups, solutions,
working with FOTAC, Friends of Disabled Medical Equipment, all the
resources that a lot of people just don't know that
are available, then create a restpe care program. Well, we said,
we can really do something right here, right now, something
tangible that can better the quality of their life.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And it's grown. You have I've seen a growth for
the years I've been involved with you. It's grown and
it's enormous. Now you have a huge festival there every year.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, I wouldn't say introduce this year.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I mean it's gotten We you know, done Buckhead Theater
and then we've done tabern A lot. We're doing it.
I'm very excited because we're doing it at Smith's Olbar.
Yeah this year, which is as a musician, like everybody's
played that stage. It's a four hundred. They gave us
the run of the whole place, which is very nice.
So put you know, over ten bands on that and
so we have the producers, which I've wanted on for
a long time, and then we have Glynn Phillips from
(02:24):
Dirty Grushampton band, Crone or Bruce all that, and then
we have Drop Sonic that was a really big good
friend of mine, really big in the nineties. You were
fish a great funk band you've seen many times. And
then then we have the downstairs stage with Ralph Roddenberry,
Thomas Claxon, Donna Hopkins, Lefty Williams, Brad Poole, McHale from Kopius.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Jones just it goes on and on and on.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So it's and also the Judy's so it's gonna be
you know, starting in a round five thirty, and we're
gonna do a meet and.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Greet with the producers, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So if you buy a VP ticket and you become
a sponsor, you get to spend actually a catered hour
hanging out with the producers, getting a really them which
is really neat, sign autographs, and then we start the music.
And that's kind of the way it is, and that's
what it will you do, just a night of fun, camaraderie.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And then most of our sponsors.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Give a lot of great resources on this, so most
of the sponsors we have really come to the table
with a lot of questions to your answers.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
First of all, but before we get to everybody else,
I want to out you to tell me, Yeah, you
get tickets? How do people go and go and get tickets?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Right now?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you want to get tickets, you can go on
Smithsill Bar website, just google Alzheimer's Music Fest and then
you can go on to Alzheimer's Music Festival Org. And
then also stand up for seniors And this is something
I do really want to express.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I fell in love with a nonprofit we're working with this.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Year called stand Up for Seniors, and a good friend
of mine, Indee that helps run the Cherokee Senior Services,
came on board.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
We got together, we were like, let's really do it.
They give so.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Many resources to families which kind of cross populates with
those in need and those living with a dimension related disease.
And I'll probably switch This is a good segue, yeah,
me to switch us over to d and let her
tell for a little while, talk about the organization that
we're raising money for.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, thank you, Ben Good.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
All right, Well, my name is de Gale and I
work with I'm the resource coordinator at Cherokee County Senior
Services and also a stand Up for Seniors. First of all,
I just appreciate y'all inviting me to the table. Oh yeah,
And like Vince said, stand Up for Seniors has been
around for twenty five years as a nonprofit helping seniors,
low income seniors in Cherokee County. And you know, the
(04:29):
biggest thing that we're seeing is a lot of the dementia,
and we're seeing a lot of the you know, children
that don't necessarily know how to help with that calling
into Senior Services looking for solutions and like how can
I help, what can I do? And so I'm excited
that we're partnering with Vince to do this and kind
(04:50):
of help support him as well. But yeah, we've been
a nonprofit for twenty five years helping the low income
seniors and whether it be putting them in motels, which
we've on a lot of that recently, just do the
you know, rate increase for apartments. It's really pushed a
lot of low income seniors out of their homes. But yeah,
we do homer pairs.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Oh really Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
She's spent over three hundred thousand last year helping seniors
and community.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So basically you go, you help Alzheimer's and all seniors
though Senior Plus and what a do you do? Talk
more about your services and what you do?
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Okay, Well, for Senior Services, that's a lot of our
staff there is managed by Atlanta Regional Commission as far
as they're funding, run by the county. We have case managers,
We have a staff of homemakers. They go in and
do lighthouse keeping for our case managed clients. Meals and
Wheels is run out of our Senior Services. Huge program.
(05:49):
There a lot of volunteers that help with that and
then we also have an activity center. Side, we have
our I and a department which takes all the calls.
They get forty to sixty calls a day. Really, yeah,
it's pretty busy. So we've had to add another person
to that department. And well that's why we like a
lot of resources like Brian and everybody to come in
(06:11):
and let us know what they do, because you know,
those girls kind of need to know when they're sitting
there getting those calls and trying to help, you know,
because a lot of times what we're finding is people
call in crisis mode.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Yeah, they're waiting till that last minute to try to
figure something out. And then my job as a resource
coordinator is to kind of help Senior Services with things
like that getting the resources in the building. And then
there's also the stand up for senior side. So I'm
kind of a dual role for two different organizations. But
(06:43):
I love it, you know, love trying to help the
older population. I laugh because sometimes I'm out and about
and I swear I must have a sign attached to
my head because I feel like the old people just
walk up to me and I'm like, is there something
that says I hang out with.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So you get that many calls and that's in one county.
That's in one county, so think about everywhere. It's just such.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Amazing, right and not all counties have a nonprofit like
ours that even help the lower income seniors. So love
to one day expand you know, working with the board
on doing that, hopefully moving into you know, it might
be more north, you know, because that's where there's a
lot of more need as well.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Where can people go and find out about you? Let's
going and give your website?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Okay, Well they can actually just google stand up for Seniors. Yeah,
it'll go right to our website, but it's actually www
dot vac dash cherokeega dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, give me your name and your title.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
I'm Brian Mitchell, co owner, founder of Silver Companion. Okay,
and we provide care in the home.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Given family caregivers are much need to break, it's very
important for family caregivers to take care of themselves that
they can care for, care for others, care for their
loved one with.
Speaker 7 (07:52):
The dimensional later disease.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Talk about Silver Companions in what you do in terms
of what type of place you are, if you and
what you do with the people.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Yeah, so yeah, we provide care in the home mainly
to help provide solutions to people.
Speaker 7 (08:05):
For example, somebody might be.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
You know, may need just to stay engaged, right they
have they may have someone who needs a whole lot
of help.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Could be helping them, helping the.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
Continent's care, bathing room and that type of thing, or
just keeping them engaged, keeping them, you know, keeping them moving,
keeping them you know, play play cards, games, get them out,
getround about, walk around, stay moving. And then also within
that many times we're giving the family member of break,
so it gives them time to get out and do
their own things. Get out, maybe get their hair done,
go to lunch with friends, take care of themselves.
Speaker 7 (08:38):
So that's very very important to me.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
And that's also you know, that's that's how Vince and
I became really connected to We were really speaking the
same language on the advocacy part, the education part of
those DEMENTSI related disease, and that's actually why we started
Silver Companions over a decade ago. My wife and I
first with challenges with her grandmother in Florida and then
my father right here in Cherokee County, has you know,
midst age alzheimer So this is definitely very close to
(09:02):
the heart for me, so thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh yeah, what is your website too?
Speaker 7 (09:06):
Just Silvercompanions dot com.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Suvercompanions dot com. If you need help, go to Silver
Companions please. Yeah, you know Alzheimer's, that's for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
Yeah, and also just also we offer a free support
group once a month as well.
Speaker 7 (09:19):
Vince does a great job with that.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
People can do that via zoom comfort of their own
living room. So instead many times support groups people have
to go somewhere they got to go to like an
assistant living or somewhere else a senior center, mainly in
most time in the evening. That can be a struggle
for families with the venture data disease. So they're able
to do that via Zoom from the comfort of their own.
Speaker 8 (09:38):
I'm Chris A. Rumsey. I'm the owner operator of the
Fight Living Center in Cartersville, Georgia. We're actually one of
the oldest senior care facilities in the state, so we
started before there was even a state license for assisted
living or personal care, so we're kind of a legacy
senior care facility, but kind of what we realized is
(09:58):
from a facility stam point, there's a large gap in
senior care between those who can afford it and those
who can't, and what we get constantly and why I
got involved with Vincent ended up ultimately partnering with him
on the Alzheimer's Music Fest was the advocacy. The calls
that we get our crisis calls of people that I
(10:19):
need a placement today, Do you have anything available? Or
you know what do I do if my loved one
can't afford senior care? And you get the overwhelmed at
home caregiver who just calls desperate for any kind of
help resources they don't know where to start. So we
very much, my husband and I both decided there has
(10:41):
to be from a facility standpoint, owners and operators that
help build the resources in senior care within the state
and help connect people to all forms of senior support.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You're in Cartersville, now you have a facility there too, right, yes, okay,
talking about that.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
So our facility is in a downtown historic district of Cartersville.
It's actually one of the old Victorian homes. It was
built in eighteen seventy two, so it's yeah, it's a
very different model. It looks like a ben breakfast. It's
a lot of people are shocked. They're like, I didn't
realize this was senior care, Like this is what it
can be. And I'm like, yeah, you know, you can
(11:19):
have you know, a home feel and still get you know, support,
and you can work with the community. You know, senior
care is not a one size fits all. Some people
do better at home. Some you know, families need the help.
They can't be the at home caregiver, and so we
try to support the community in any way we can,
even if that is supporting at home caregivers.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Let me ask all of you this one thing. How
I know you deal with Alzheimer's a lot, but how
bad is it Alzheimer's for example, and Vince you you
can chime in on this too. How bad? How many
calls you get to say help? I don't know what
to do this personally, I think they may have Alzheimer's,
but I don't know what to do. How can you get.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
That very frequently?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Actually, you know, when I was twenty nine, a lot
of my friends, of course at age, didn't realize.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
What my family was going through. And my mom passed away.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I'm at fifty five, so my dad got dementia four
years or diagnosed with dementia four years later. And now,
especially as I turned forty nine, twenty years later, all
my friends and family are starting to go through it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
With their parents.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
It's not necessarily. I don't really like calling it a
role reversal. I know a lot of people do that.
They want to treat their parents like kids. It's not
really what happens. There's a lot of pride, a lot
of dignity. You have to really be there. So I'm
getting a lot of clause. And now it's kind of
nice because I feel like I have a superpower that
if I can't help them, I know the resource in
the station, the people that pride that solution to many.
(12:41):
So I think that's pretty amazing that that is able
to give.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And then, you know, as we started on this, I
wanted to touch.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Base real quick is that we just filed for our
own nonprofit, which we've been you know, under which gosh Bus,
the Stand Up for Seniors, photak Okay Foundation, Carrying Together
and Hope even working on to umbrellas just because I
was taking care.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Of my dad and it was a special event, so this.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Would really go to resources we're able to create it
also Dementia Spotlight Foundation. But now we're still gonna be
partnering with all of our trusted nonprofit partners. But now
me and Chris so she's my co executive director, and
we're bringing board members like Brian. We're working with people
like d Terry and then Chris Brian at Fodak and
PK from Second Wind Dreams. So now it's really becoming
(13:25):
this amazing team where the music this is.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Not just a special event. It will be year round.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And again you know, we do it in Savannah and
Tampa and we're we're looking at a few other places.
So pretty proud of that to be able to really
come up with solutions.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, do you guys get a lot of the calls
for Alzheimer's people.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
I'd have to say that I don't because I'm not
the I and A department. I do know the calls
are coming in, and that's where the again, the girls
are then basically through the resources that we're getting, is
trying to give those helpful solutions. Like Vince was saying, Yeah,
everybody's usually calling in crisis mode because all of a sudden,
you know, the children wake up one day and go, Okay,
mom or dad is done, gone way too far and
(14:01):
they got to go to work and they're trying to
figure out, Okay, I got to go to my job,
but yet I can't leave mom or dad because it's
been a tipping point all of a sudden. And then,
you know, what we just try to do is how
give what we can as far as the resources. We
have a caregiver support group that we do offer for
some of those that are you know, giving for their
loved ones. But yeah, I can't put a number on it.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I know it's a lot of companions.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
I mean that's we get those We get those calls
all the time, and many times they are in crisis mode.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
They are they're they're they're like, wow, what do we do?
Speaker 6 (14:34):
And many times it could be a hospitalization, a fall,
something like that that really prompts them to say, hey,
we really need we really need help now. So what
I what I'm trying to focus on now, and I
think you know, Ben's over. We're trying to educate people
to plan ahead, like there's there's a lot of things
we can do to kind of line us up so
we're going to be set up for success. When we
so when we do have start having these problems, we
(14:56):
at least have some things in place so we can
kind of hit the ground run and so we speak
on that.
Speaker 8 (15:00):
You get a problem in Cartersville, Yeah, I can speak
to just from a facility standpoint.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
It's daily.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
It's multiple times a day pretty much daily you will
have somebody call in tears just looking for some sort
of support or resource or you know, just need somebody
to talk to and say, well, what would you do
if it was your loved one?
Speaker 5 (15:22):
You know.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
So it's it's a daily occurrence.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So the Alzheimer's Music Fest is is helping people. You
help people. I always talked about this event. So I
always say you're the rubber meets the road guy. They
need something, Bam, you give it to them.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But we do our best, yeah, to give it to them.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Unfortunately, you know through the years now going on well,
taking care of that for fourteen years. He passed, you know,
in twenty eighteen. So you know, I've met a lot
of people that can give resources.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
And we'll be able to do it.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
We can't magically fix things, right, you know, it's not
going to be a magic pill that fixes everything. But
at least again, I want to really really focus on
we want to that are the quality of their life,
the caregiver.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
And the loved one.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
And now that I work at Silver Companions, which this
was a well thought out thing because I've worked in
so many nonprofits. Because we did rest but care, I
wanted to go work.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
With a home care company.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Fell in love with Silver Companions because they're going to
standalone company, They're not a franchise, and I thought there
was something very much to that, and I saw that
community advocate or advoacy they were doing the community I
started talking about, I'm like, I want to learn this
inside out.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And now going into memory.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Cares, assisted care communities, independent care communities, it's given me
this whole different education and outlook on needs out there
that I didn't have before. Because a lot of people
of nonprofits want to kind of stick with the nonprofit
and I get it. And then I did a whole
role reversal where I'm like, well, I want to go
work with a company, maybe their profit, but I.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Got to tell you, most of these profit companies.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Just do as much as not companies for their community,
or just as much they really do and just to
see the advocates out in the field and meeting all
these new people because I knew a lot of them
from the fest because there were sponsors or there you
buy the fast, but just actually really learning and living
and now against me all these other ideas and resources
that going to help, because sometimes there are families there's
(17:07):
still a caregiver. If your loved ones in a community,
you're still a caregiver. If you're at home, you're still
a caregiver, if your loved ones in the community. And
then also the sad thing is you have a lot
of people that kind of I don't know, this is
hard not to judge, but that drop off their loved
one never kind of visit, and that's really sad.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Today.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well, let's take a listen right now and let's hear
from Brian Holmes and Van Temple of the Producers. Are
the producers back together or did you ever break up?
Speaker 4 (17:30):
That's a good question. We I think we broke up
several times. No, we uh, I think we kind of
officially broke up back in the nineties. But we just
you know, we enjoy playing, you know, so we so
we still get requests to play. So it's kind of
hard to kind of hard to turn down, you know,
if the if the money is decent enough to where
it's you know, something we enjoy doing, and it's you know,
so we're just I guess we're considered. We've been back
(17:53):
up and running for years and we just play six
seven shows a year. But then COVID showed up and
that of you know, for a couple of years we
didn't play party at all, of course, and then you know,
so we've started back after COVID, we've gotten a lot
more active again.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So obviously you still like it. So I mean, oh yeah,
I saw you in Albany, Georgia years ago, and I
remember you were great, and it was right when the
album came out, the album with you sitting y'all sitting
above on their your first album, you sit above on
the in the.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Tall I guess the chairs probably those are probably director's chairs.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that album seemed like it was
very successful with what He Got, That I Got and
and all these other songs on there. It became real
popular and you were popular there for a while. So
what happened?
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Well, Van, you want to take that or do you
want me to take it?
Speaker 9 (18:38):
I'll take it well, one thing that happened was, uh,
the independent promoters were being put in jail. Okay, that
had been pushing the album up in the charts. I
think that what she does to me made it to
like sixty one. And another thing is, uh, if I
remember correctly, we bought our own equipment, van and passenger
(19:00):
and we stopped kind of paying those people, and then
that's when the number just fell off.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Well, the Payola thing, it was right in the middle
of the entire congressional investigations on payola. Do you remember
all that, Yeah, it was it was you know, radio
back then was kind of interesting. They wouldn't push anything
that they didn't think was a hit, but there was
a lot of money in favors involved in radio promotions,
especially with independent promoters who were higher guns, you know.
(19:27):
So it was a transition time in the in radio
and MTV had just started to come out, but radio
was the way things were promoted. Was changed because there
was a lot of pressure from the government to clean
up their act. Very very very interesting time.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Do you ever have a video on MTV?
Speaker 4 (19:44):
We had several video Yeah, we had probably three top
ten videos in MTV. We also played the new Year's
Eve ball Second New Year's Yeah, the second New Year's
Eve bougus. It was eighty one to eighty two. It
was eighty eighty one. Man, I can't remember which one
it was.
Speaker 9 (19:58):
It's a long time ago.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Yeah, a long time ago. But it was at the
theater in New York, Camember. The name starts from the
p anyway, it was. It was a live show, you know,
live MTV New Year's Eve was us and flock Sea,
I mean Duran, Duran band called Jack black Jack, mcinheart
Attack Work Yep, yep. And who else played on that?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Man?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Who was the other band?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (20:22):
Was that you two on that?
Speaker 4 (20:24):
No?
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (20:27):
The theater was the Palladium, Okay, Yeah. And it was
funny because that night we played, we opened up early
in the evening, We opened up for the motels at
Radio City Music Hall. Then we threw our stuff, our
crew threw our stuff in a truck. We went across
town to play on MTV. That was. That was quite
a quite an active day.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So you did a lot of touring then used to
it and toured and toured and just kept doing it.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Yep, we did. We toured extensively. I mean there were days.
There were years when we were on the road for
over two hundred and twenty days and the whole year. Yeah,
that's a lot of it's a lot of road road
to work.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Would you do when you when you when you decided
to well, I guess retire or stopped for a while.
What'd you do then you go back? Do you still
work in music or did you find other jobs? Or
what did you find to do?
Speaker 9 (21:06):
I found another job?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, I mean survival became important obviously when we kind
of hung it up in the early nineties as far
as pursuing it as a you know, recording group and
stuff like that. Everybody went off and did other things.
We were all still involved in music, just you know,
on a little bit more limited basis. But when we
finally decided that, you know, we were not probably going
(21:29):
to get a new record deal, and because in nineteen
eighty eight we had a record deal with MCA and
that album never came out, although it has actually come
out since then in a limited manner. But there's there's
a lot of stuff that went down in the music
business side of our career that was very important or
very instrumental, no unintended in our you know, not being
(21:52):
able to continue as far as a serious.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Have you continued to make new music or you've just
played the old hits, hit after hit after hit every
time you win stage.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
That's pretty much it.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
I mean, we did we did an album a few
years ago we never pursued put out, which we still
ought to do something with it. We went down to
Louisiana and recorded with tab Ben Watt his home studio.
It's kind of a blues album. It's a little bit
different from our normal stuff. But that recording is still
available and maybe one day we'll see if we can
get it at least out on iTunes or something.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, you're playing Alzheimer's Music Fist this year, Smith's Obar.
What do you think about that? I mean that Vice
has done a great job with it. He's really just
done just a phenomenal job. And you're the headliner this year.
What about that?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
We're very excited about that.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
Yeah, really, And I.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Guess that's an all day event, is it not? It
is It starts earlier in the day and just keeps
going all the way into the evening. Yeah, yeah, we're
very excited about that. We Smith o'bar is a staple
you know rock and roll room in Atlanta. We've played
there many times, actually played there with different people, you know,
but producers have played there several times too. But it's
a it's a good room and got a lot of history.
(22:56):
Glenn Phillips fan I think is coming on right for us,
and he's that's right, He's he's definitely in Atlanta. Staple
been around for a long time. He was in the
Hampton Grease Band, which was which was one of the
craziest fans ever. Bruce Hampton, who passed away a few
years ago, was the brains behind that. That's that whole thing.
Glenn is a he's a phenomenal guitarist, So that should
be good.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Well, you guys are gonna headline it. They're gonna be
there Smith's old Bar for Alzheimer's music Fist and I'm
looking forward to I'm gonna be I'm gonna be on
the stage now and so I look forward to it.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
We're gonna do We're gonna do our best. Yeah, we're
getting to an age where we kind of how long
we keep.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Doing That's Brian Holmes and Van Temple from the producers.
We're gonna have the producers on the show.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, so happy the producers joined this year. This was
a big thing I wanted. That was on my bucket list.
Of the producers on this I.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Appreciate him because I like him when I was a
young kid, and so, but talk him more about it.
Who else is gonna be there? And tell everybody again,
what do you get tickets?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So the producers.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
It's kind of funny. We're doing a fest in Savannah.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And the only reason I did this past was I
was driving by this place called Coaches Corner. It looked
like a sports bar and the producers were playing. I'm like,
what the producer's playing the sports bar, Coaches Corner. So
I walked in Coaches Corner and met the owner and
next thing you know, we have a fest there. Yeah,
and so I was like I started talking to him.
I'm like, dude, I'd love you on the next Alzheimer's
Music Fest. So we're really excited about that again. We'll
have Glynn Phillips. Glenn is an icon to me. He's
(24:13):
the Southern rock frink Zappa. He truly is. That's just
not my opinion. And then drops Onic gewer Fish. My
band's gonna play.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Three songs I was going to say, are you playing?
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah, I know I never mentioned my stuff. I go
up there and speak in some kind.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Of mission on this show, Georgia focus the song you
hear in the beginning and the song you hear the
are Vince Okay?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah, I'm the I'm the placement sandwich for the show
or my music.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
So I always give.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
You a prog.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I get that and so, and then you know, we're
gonna have a lot of people on the downstairs stage.
We're taking over the whole place, and so it's gonna
be a really fun night and we're selling tickets pretty good.
I would like to sell out, Luis. Buy your tickets
to Alzheimer's Music Pista or stand Up for Seniors. You
can also go to the Smiths Ole Bar eleventh anniversary
(24:57):
Alzheimer's Music Fest if you'd like to become a sponsor.
We got probably about two weeks left as you can
become a sponsor. We have about three spots left for
the sponsorships, so we're selling those pretty well. And just
come out and enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Alzheimer's Music Fests Saturday, February the twenty second at Smith's
Obar in Atlanta. Tickets are available now at Smith's obar
website or by visiting Alzheimer's Musicfests dot org. I want
to thank Vince Sangaro for being on the show today,
also d Gail, resource coordinator for Chikee County Senior Services,
Brian Mitchell, Agency director for Silver Companions, and Carissa Rumsey
of the Fight Living Center. Also thanks to Brian Holmes
and Van Temple of the producers. For questions of comments
(25:31):
on today's program, you can email me John Clark at
Georgianewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your local radio station on
Georgia Focus.
Welcome to Georgia, folks. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. The Daniel Alzheimer's Music Fest is coming to
Atlanta Saturday, February. The twenty second here today to talk
about this is Vince end Garo, founder of the Alzheimer's
Music Fest, along with Brian Mitchell, Agency director for Silver Companions,
d Gayo, Resource coordinator for the Cherokee County Senior Services,
(00:26):
Carissa Rumsey from Fight Living Center in Cartersville. And we're
also here for two of the producers, Brian Holmes and
Van Temple. The first, let's start out with Vince Zenngaro.
This is the eleventh theater for Alzheimer's Music Fest. You're
the founder of it. Talk about how you started.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, I took care.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I've been a musician my whole life, and my dad
got diagnosed when I was twenty nine years old.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
He was sixty two.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
We got diagnosed with early on set Alzheimer's and we
didn't know what we were doing. Dad did, and we
had in our family were pretty ignorant to the disease
and dementia related diseases.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
At that point.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
So through that I kept on calling maybe larger Alzheimer's Foundations,
which they do good things, but they weren't really giving
back to the community. They weren't really giving to the
care givers, which I like to call care partners because
I think that you and that your loved one are
in it together. And they worked just as hard, and
I was like, well, I'm sitting here taking care of
Dad full time. And that was a fourteen year journey
of my pops, from the very beginning to the very end. Unfortunately,
(01:17):
we were able to do that in the house because
of people like Silver Companions, home care companies, Cherokee Senior Services,
and then people also like to Fight Living Center.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Just with all these resources, I.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Was like, well, if I can really get in there
and do something for caregivers and provide respite care, support groups, solutions,
working with FOTAC, Friends of Disabled Medical Equipment, all the
resources that a lot of people just don't know that
are available, then create a restpe care program. Well, we said,
we can really do something right here, right now, something
tangible that can better the quality of their life.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And it's grown. You have I've seen a growth for
the years I've been involved with you. It's grown and
it's enormous. Now you have a huge festival there every year.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, I wouldn't say introduce this year.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I mean it's gotten We you know, done Buckhead Theater
and then we've done tabern A lot. We're doing it.
I'm very excited because we're doing it at Smith's Olbar.
Yeah this year, which is as a musician, like everybody's
played that stage. It's a four hundred. They gave us
the run of the whole place, which is very nice.
So put you know, over ten bands on that and
so we have the producers, which I've wanted on for
a long time, and then we have Glynn Phillips from
(02:24):
Dirty Grushampton band, Crone or Bruce all that, and then
we have Drop Sonic that was a really big good
friend of mine, really big in the nineties. You were
fish a great funk band you've seen many times. And
then then we have the downstairs stage with Ralph Roddenberry,
Thomas Claxon, Donna Hopkins, Lefty Williams, Brad Poole, McHale from Kopius.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Jones just it goes on and on and on.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So it's and also the Judy's so it's gonna be
you know, starting in a round five thirty, and we're
gonna do a meet and.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Greet with the producers, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So if you buy a VP ticket and you become
a sponsor, you get to spend actually a catered hour
hanging out with the producers, getting a really them which
is really neat, sign autographs, and then we start the music.
And that's kind of the way it is, and that's
what it will you do, just a night of fun, camaraderie.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And then most of our sponsors.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Give a lot of great resources on this, so most
of the sponsors we have really come to the table
with a lot of questions to your answers.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
First of all, but before we get to everybody else,
I want to out you to tell me, Yeah, you
get tickets? How do people go and go and get tickets?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Right now?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you want to get tickets, you can go on
Smithsill Bar website, just google Alzheimer's Music Fest and then
you can go on to Alzheimer's Music Festival Org. And
then also stand up for seniors And this is something
I do really want to express.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I fell in love with a nonprofit we're working with this.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Year called stand Up for Seniors, and a good friend
of mine, Indee that helps run the Cherokee Senior Services,
came on board.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
We got together, we were like, let's really do it.
They give so.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Many resources to families which kind of cross populates with
those in need and those living with a dimension related disease.
And I'll probably switch This is a good segue, yeah,
me to switch us over to d and let her
tell for a little while, talk about the organization that
we're raising money for.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, thank you, Ben Good.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
All right, Well, my name is de Gale and I
work with I'm the resource coordinator at Cherokee County Senior
Services and also a stand Up for Seniors. First of all,
I just appreciate y'all inviting me to the table. Oh yeah,
And like Vince said, stand Up for Seniors has been
around for twenty five years as a nonprofit helping seniors,
low income seniors in Cherokee County. And you know, the
(04:29):
biggest thing that we're seeing is a lot of the dementia,
and we're seeing a lot of the you know, children
that don't necessarily know how to help with that calling
into Senior Services looking for solutions and like how can
I help, what can I do? And so I'm excited
that we're partnering with Vince to do this and kind
(04:50):
of help support him as well. But yeah, we've been
a nonprofit for twenty five years helping the low income
seniors and whether it be putting them in motels, which
we've on a lot of that recently, just do the
you know, rate increase for apartments. It's really pushed a
lot of low income seniors out of their homes. But yeah,
we do homer pairs.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Oh really Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
She's spent over three hundred thousand last year helping seniors
and community.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So basically you go, you help Alzheimer's and all seniors
though Senior Plus and what a do you do? Talk
more about your services and what you do?
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Okay, Well, for Senior Services, that's a lot of our
staff there is managed by Atlanta Regional Commission as far
as they're funding, run by the county. We have case managers,
We have a staff of homemakers. They go in and
do lighthouse keeping for our case managed clients. Meals and
Wheels is run out of our Senior Services. Huge program.
(05:49):
There a lot of volunteers that help with that and
then we also have an activity center. Side, we have
our I and a department which takes all the calls.
They get forty to sixty calls a day. Really, yeah,
it's pretty busy. So we've had to add another person
to that department. And well that's why we like a
lot of resources like Brian and everybody to come in
(06:11):
and let us know what they do, because you know,
those girls kind of need to know when they're sitting
there getting those calls and trying to help, you know,
because a lot of times what we're finding is people
call in crisis mode.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Yeah, they're waiting till that last minute to try to
figure something out. And then my job as a resource
coordinator is to kind of help Senior Services with things
like that getting the resources in the building. And then
there's also the stand up for senior side. So I'm
kind of a dual role for two different organizations. But
(06:43):
I love it, you know, love trying to help the
older population. I laugh because sometimes I'm out and about
and I swear I must have a sign attached to
my head because I feel like the old people just
walk up to me and I'm like, is there something
that says I hang out with.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So you get that many calls and that's in one county.
That's in one county, so think about everywhere. It's just such.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Amazing, right and not all counties have a nonprofit like
ours that even help the lower income seniors. So love
to one day expand you know, working with the board
on doing that, hopefully moving into you know, it might
be more north, you know, because that's where there's a
lot of more need as well.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Where can people go and find out about you? Let's
going and give your website?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Okay, Well they can actually just google stand up for Seniors. Yeah,
it'll go right to our website, but it's actually www
dot vac dash cherokeega dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, give me your name and your title.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
I'm Brian Mitchell, co owner, founder of Silver Companion. Okay,
and we provide care in the home.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Given family caregivers are much need to break, it's very
important for family caregivers to take care of themselves that
they can care for, care for others, care for their
loved one with.
Speaker 7 (07:52):
The dimensional later disease.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Talk about Silver Companions in what you do in terms
of what type of place you are, if you and
what you do with the people.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Yeah, so yeah, we provide care in the home mainly
to help provide solutions to people.
Speaker 7 (08:05):
For example, somebody might be.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
You know, may need just to stay engaged, right they
have they may have someone who needs a whole lot
of help.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Could be helping them, helping the.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
Continent's care, bathing room and that type of thing, or
just keeping them engaged, keeping them, you know, keeping them moving,
keeping them you know, play play cards, games, get them out,
getround about, walk around, stay moving. And then also within
that many times we're giving the family member of break,
so it gives them time to get out and do
their own things. Get out, maybe get their hair done,
go to lunch with friends, take care of themselves.
Speaker 7 (08:38):
So that's very very important to me.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
And that's also you know, that's that's how Vince and
I became really connected to We were really speaking the
same language on the advocacy part, the education part of
those DEMENTSI related disease, and that's actually why we started
Silver Companions over a decade ago. My wife and I
first with challenges with her grandmother in Florida and then
my father right here in Cherokee County, has you know,
midst age alzheimer So this is definitely very close to
(09:02):
the heart for me, so thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh yeah, what is your website too?
Speaker 7 (09:06):
Just Silvercompanions dot com.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Suvercompanions dot com. If you need help, go to Silver
Companions please. Yeah, you know Alzheimer's, that's for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
Yeah, and also just also we offer a free support
group once a month as well.
Speaker 7 (09:19):
Vince does a great job with that.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
People can do that via zoom comfort of their own
living room. So instead many times support groups people have
to go somewhere they got to go to like an
assistant living or somewhere else a senior center, mainly in
most time in the evening. That can be a struggle
for families with the venture data disease. So they're able
to do that via Zoom from the comfort of their own.
Speaker 8 (09:38):
I'm Chris A. Rumsey. I'm the owner operator of the
Fight Living Center in Cartersville, Georgia. We're actually one of
the oldest senior care facilities in the state, so we
started before there was even a state license for assisted
living or personal care, so we're kind of a legacy
senior care facility, but kind of what we realized is
(09:58):
from a facility stam point, there's a large gap in
senior care between those who can afford it and those
who can't, and what we get constantly and why I
got involved with Vincent ended up ultimately partnering with him
on the Alzheimer's Music Fest was the advocacy. The calls
that we get our crisis calls of people that I
(10:19):
need a placement today, Do you have anything available? Or
you know what do I do if my loved one
can't afford senior care? And you get the overwhelmed at
home caregiver who just calls desperate for any kind of
help resources they don't know where to start. So we
very much, my husband and I both decided there has
(10:41):
to be from a facility standpoint, owners and operators that
help build the resources in senior care within the state
and help connect people to all forms of senior support.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You're in Cartersville, now you have a facility there too, right, yes, okay,
talking about that.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
So our facility is in a downtown historic district of Cartersville.
It's actually one of the old Victorian homes. It was
built in eighteen seventy two, so it's yeah, it's a
very different model. It looks like a ben breakfast. It's
a lot of people are shocked. They're like, I didn't
realize this was senior care, Like this is what it
can be. And I'm like, yeah, you know, you can
(11:19):
have you know, a home feel and still get you know, support,
and you can work with the community. You know, senior
care is not a one size fits all. Some people
do better at home. Some you know, families need the help.
They can't be the at home caregiver, and so we
try to support the community in any way we can,
even if that is supporting at home caregivers.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Let me ask all of you this one thing. How
I know you deal with Alzheimer's a lot, but how
bad is it Alzheimer's for example, and Vince you you
can chime in on this too. How bad? How many
calls you get to say help? I don't know what
to do this personally, I think they may have Alzheimer's,
but I don't know what to do. How can you get.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
That very frequently?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Actually, you know, when I was twenty nine, a lot
of my friends, of course at age, didn't realize.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
What my family was going through. And my mom passed away.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I'm at fifty five, so my dad got dementia four
years or diagnosed with dementia four years later. And now,
especially as I turned forty nine, twenty years later, all
my friends and family are starting to go through it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
With their parents.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
It's not necessarily. I don't really like calling it a
role reversal. I know a lot of people do that.
They want to treat their parents like kids. It's not
really what happens. There's a lot of pride, a lot
of dignity. You have to really be there. So I'm
getting a lot of clause. And now it's kind of
nice because I feel like I have a superpower that
if I can't help them, I know the resource in
the station, the people that pride that solution to many.
(12:41):
So I think that's pretty amazing that that is able
to give.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And then, you know, as we started on this, I
wanted to touch.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Base real quick is that we just filed for our
own nonprofit, which we've been you know, under which gosh Bus,
the Stand Up for Seniors, photak Okay Foundation, Carrying Together
and Hope even working on to umbrellas just because I
was taking care.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Of my dad and it was a special event, so this.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Would really go to resources we're able to create it
also Dementia Spotlight Foundation. But now we're still gonna be
partnering with all of our trusted nonprofit partners. But now
me and Chris so she's my co executive director, and
we're bringing board members like Brian. We're working with people
like d Terry and then Chris Brian at Fodak and
PK from Second Wind Dreams. So now it's really becoming
(13:25):
this amazing team where the music this is.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Not just a special event. It will be year round.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And again you know, we do it in Savannah and
Tampa and we're we're looking at a few other places.
So pretty proud of that to be able to really
come up with solutions.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, do you guys get a lot of the calls
for Alzheimer's people.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
I'd have to say that I don't because I'm not
the I and A department. I do know the calls
are coming in, and that's where the again, the girls
are then basically through the resources that we're getting, is
trying to give those helpful solutions. Like Vince was saying, Yeah,
everybody's usually calling in crisis mode because all of a sudden,
you know, the children wake up one day and go, Okay,
mom or dad is done, gone way too far and
(14:01):
they got to go to work and they're trying to
figure out, Okay, I got to go to my job,
but yet I can't leave mom or dad because it's
been a tipping point all of a sudden. And then,
you know, what we just try to do is how
give what we can as far as the resources. We
have a caregiver support group that we do offer for
some of those that are you know, giving for their
loved ones. But yeah, I can't put a number on it.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I know it's a lot of companions.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
I mean that's we get those We get those calls
all the time, and many times they are in crisis mode.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
They are they're they're they're like, wow, what do we do?
Speaker 6 (14:34):
And many times it could be a hospitalization, a fall,
something like that that really prompts them to say, hey,
we really need we really need help now. So what
I what I'm trying to focus on now, and I
think you know, Ben's over. We're trying to educate people
to plan ahead, like there's there's a lot of things
we can do to kind of line us up so
we're going to be set up for success. When we
so when we do have start having these problems, we
(14:56):
at least have some things in place so we can
kind of hit the ground run and so we speak
on that.
Speaker 8 (15:00):
You get a problem in Cartersville, Yeah, I can speak
to just from a facility standpoint.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
It's daily.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
It's multiple times a day pretty much daily you will
have somebody call in tears just looking for some sort
of support or resource or you know, just need somebody
to talk to and say, well, what would you do
if it was your loved one?
Speaker 5 (15:22):
You know.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
So it's it's a daily occurrence.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So the Alzheimer's Music Fest is is helping people. You
help people. I always talked about this event. So I
always say you're the rubber meets the road guy. They
need something, Bam, you give it to them.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But we do our best, yeah, to give it to them.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Unfortunately, you know through the years now going on well,
taking care of that for fourteen years. He passed, you know,
in twenty eighteen. So you know, I've met a lot
of people that can give resources.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
And we'll be able to do it.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
We can't magically fix things, right, you know, it's not
going to be a magic pill that fixes everything. But
at least again, I want to really really focus on
we want to that are the quality of their life,
the caregiver.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
And the loved one.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
And now that I work at Silver Companions, which this
was a well thought out thing because I've worked in
so many nonprofits. Because we did rest but care, I
wanted to go work.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
With a home care company.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Fell in love with Silver Companions because they're going to
standalone company, They're not a franchise, and I thought there
was something very much to that, and I saw that
community advocate or advoacy they were doing the community I
started talking about, I'm like, I want to learn this
inside out.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And now going into memory.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Cares, assisted care communities, independent care communities, it's given me
this whole different education and outlook on needs out there
that I didn't have before. Because a lot of people
of nonprofits want to kind of stick with the nonprofit
and I get it. And then I did a whole
role reversal where I'm like, well, I want to go
work with a company, maybe their profit, but I.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Got to tell you, most of these profit companies.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Just do as much as not companies for their community,
or just as much they really do and just to
see the advocates out in the field and meeting all
these new people because I knew a lot of them
from the fest because there were sponsors or there you
buy the fast, but just actually really learning and living
and now against me all these other ideas and resources
that going to help, because sometimes there are families there's
(17:07):
still a caregiver. If your loved ones in a community,
you're still a caregiver. If you're at home, you're still
a caregiver, if your loved ones in the community. And
then also the sad thing is you have a lot
of people that kind of I don't know, this is
hard not to judge, but that drop off their loved
one never kind of visit, and that's really sad.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Today.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well, let's take a listen right now and let's hear
from Brian Holmes and Van Temple of the Producers. Are
the producers back together or did you ever break up?
Speaker 4 (17:30):
That's a good question. We I think we broke up
several times. No, we uh, I think we kind of
officially broke up back in the nineties. But we just
you know, we enjoy playing, you know, so we so
we still get requests to play. So it's kind of
hard to kind of hard to turn down, you know,
if the if the money is decent enough to where
it's you know, something we enjoy doing, and it's you know,
so we're just I guess we're considered. We've been back
(17:53):
up and running for years and we just play six
seven shows a year. But then COVID showed up and
that of you know, for a couple of years we
didn't play party at all, of course, and then you know,
so we've started back after COVID, we've gotten a lot
more active again.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So obviously you still like it. So I mean, oh yeah,
I saw you in Albany, Georgia years ago, and I
remember you were great, and it was right when the
album came out, the album with you sitting y'all sitting
above on their your first album, you sit above on
the in the.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Tall I guess the chairs probably those are probably director's chairs.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that album seemed like it was
very successful with what He Got, That I Got and
and all these other songs on there. It became real
popular and you were popular there for a while. So
what happened?
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Well, Van, you want to take that or do you
want me to take it?
Speaker 9 (18:38):
I'll take it well, one thing that happened was, uh,
the independent promoters were being put in jail. Okay, that
had been pushing the album up in the charts. I
think that what she does to me made it to
like sixty one. And another thing is, uh, if I
remember correctly, we bought our own equipment, van and passenger
(19:00):
and we stopped kind of paying those people, and then
that's when the number just fell off.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Well, the Payola thing, it was right in the middle
of the entire congressional investigations on payola. Do you remember
all that, Yeah, it was it was you know, radio
back then was kind of interesting. They wouldn't push anything
that they didn't think was a hit, but there was
a lot of money in favors involved in radio promotions,
especially with independent promoters who were higher guns, you know.
(19:27):
So it was a transition time in the in radio
and MTV had just started to come out, but radio
was the way things were promoted. Was changed because there
was a lot of pressure from the government to clean
up their act. Very very very interesting time.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Do you ever have a video on MTV?
Speaker 4 (19:44):
We had several video Yeah, we had probably three top
ten videos in MTV. We also played the new Year's
Eve ball Second New Year's Yeah, the second New Year's
Eve bougus. It was eighty one to eighty two. It
was eighty eighty one. Man, I can't remember which one
it was.
Speaker 9 (19:58):
It's a long time ago.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Yeah, a long time ago. But it was at the
theater in New York, Camember. The name starts from the
p anyway, it was. It was a live show, you know,
live MTV New Year's Eve was us and flock Sea,
I mean Duran, Duran band called Jack black Jack, mcinheart
Attack Work Yep, yep. And who else played on that?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Man?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Who was the other band?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (20:22):
Was that you two on that?
Speaker 4 (20:24):
No?
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (20:27):
The theater was the Palladium, Okay, Yeah. And it was
funny because that night we played, we opened up early
in the evening, We opened up for the motels at
Radio City Music Hall. Then we threw our stuff, our
crew threw our stuff in a truck. We went across
town to play on MTV. That was. That was quite
a quite an active day.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So you did a lot of touring then used to
it and toured and toured and just kept doing it.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Yep, we did. We toured extensively. I mean there were days.
There were years when we were on the road for
over two hundred and twenty days and the whole year. Yeah,
that's a lot of it's a lot of road road
to work.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Would you do when you when you when you decided
to well, I guess retire or stopped for a while.
What'd you do then you go back? Do you still
work in music or did you find other jobs? Or
what did you find to do?
Speaker 9 (21:06):
I found another job?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, I mean survival became important obviously when we kind
of hung it up in the early nineties as far
as pursuing it as a you know, recording group and
stuff like that. Everybody went off and did other things.
We were all still involved in music, just you know,
on a little bit more limited basis. But when we
finally decided that, you know, we were not probably going
(21:29):
to get a new record deal, and because in nineteen
eighty eight we had a record deal with MCA and
that album never came out, although it has actually come
out since then in a limited manner. But there's there's
a lot of stuff that went down in the music
business side of our career that was very important or
very instrumental, no unintended in our you know, not being
(21:52):
able to continue as far as a serious.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Have you continued to make new music or you've just
played the old hits, hit after hit after hit every
time you win stage.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
That's pretty much it.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
I mean, we did we did an album a few
years ago we never pursued put out, which we still
ought to do something with it. We went down to
Louisiana and recorded with tab Ben Watt his home studio.
It's kind of a blues album. It's a little bit
different from our normal stuff. But that recording is still
available and maybe one day we'll see if we can
get it at least out on iTunes or something.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, you're playing Alzheimer's Music Fist this year, Smith's Obar.
What do you think about that? I mean that Vice
has done a great job with it. He's really just
done just a phenomenal job. And you're the headliner this year.
What about that?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
We're very excited about that.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
Yeah, really, And I.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Guess that's an all day event, is it not? It
is It starts earlier in the day and just keeps
going all the way into the evening. Yeah, yeah, we're
very excited about that. We Smith o'bar is a staple
you know rock and roll room in Atlanta. We've played
there many times, actually played there with different people, you know,
but producers have played there several times too. But it's
a it's a good room and got a lot of history.
(22:56):
Glenn Phillips fan I think is coming on right for us,
and he's that's right, He's he's definitely in Atlanta. Staple
been around for a long time. He was in the
Hampton Grease Band, which was which was one of the
craziest fans ever. Bruce Hampton, who passed away a few
years ago, was the brains behind that. That's that whole thing.
Glenn is a he's a phenomenal guitarist, So that should
be good.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Well, you guys are gonna headline it. They're gonna be
there Smith's old Bar for Alzheimer's music Fist and I'm
looking forward to I'm gonna be I'm gonna be on
the stage now and so I look forward to it.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
We're gonna do We're gonna do our best. Yeah, we're
getting to an age where we kind of how long
we keep.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Doing That's Brian Holmes and Van Temple from the producers.
We're gonna have the producers on the show.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, so happy the producers joined this year. This was
a big thing I wanted. That was on my bucket list.
Of the producers on this I.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Appreciate him because I like him when I was a
young kid, and so, but talk him more about it.
Who else is gonna be there? And tell everybody again,
what do you get tickets?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So the producers.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
It's kind of funny. We're doing a fest in Savannah.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And the only reason I did this past was I
was driving by this place called Coaches Corner. It looked
like a sports bar and the producers were playing. I'm like,
what the producer's playing the sports bar, Coaches Corner. So
I walked in Coaches Corner and met the owner and
next thing you know, we have a fest there. Yeah,
and so I was like I started talking to him.
I'm like, dude, I'd love you on the next Alzheimer's
Music Fest. So we're really excited about that again. We'll
have Glynn Phillips. Glenn is an icon to me. He's
(24:13):
the Southern rock frink Zappa. He truly is. That's just
not my opinion. And then drops Onic gewer Fish. My
band's gonna play.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Three songs I was going to say, are you playing?
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah, I know I never mentioned my stuff. I go
up there and speak in some kind.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Of mission on this show, Georgia focus the song you
hear in the beginning and the song you hear the
are Vince Okay?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah, I'm the I'm the placement sandwich for the show
or my music.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
So I always give.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
You a prog.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I get that and so, and then you know, we're
gonna have a lot of people on the downstairs stage.
We're taking over the whole place, and so it's gonna
be a really fun night and we're selling tickets pretty good.
I would like to sell out, Luis. Buy your tickets
to Alzheimer's Music Pista or stand Up for Seniors. You
can also go to the Smiths Ole Bar eleventh anniversary
(24:57):
Alzheimer's Music Fest if you'd like to become a sponsor.
We got probably about two weeks left as you can
become a sponsor. We have about three spots left for
the sponsorships, so we're selling those pretty well. And just
come out and enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Alzheimer's Music Fests Saturday, February the twenty second at Smith's
Obar in Atlanta. Tickets are available now at Smith's obar
website or by visiting Alzheimer's Musicfests dot org. I want
to thank Vince Sangaro for being on the show today,
also d Gail, resource coordinator for Chikee County Senior Services,
Brian Mitchell, Agency director for Silver Companions, and Carissa Rumsey
of the Fight Living Center. Also thanks to Brian Holmes
and Van Temple of the producers. For questions of comments
(25:31):
on today's program, you can email me John Clark at
Georgianewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your local radio station on
Georgia Focus.
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