Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 102: Michael Alago (A&R Elektra Records, Metallica rep)

Episode Date: October 20, 2020

In an unbelievably normal turn of events, Andy and the band hit the road for a socially distant run of outdoor, drive-in shows. Listen in as he gives his perspective on the state of live music, mid-pandemic from the safety of the band bubble. And we welcome a living music industry LEGEND, Michael Alago! Michael may best be known for signing Metallica (yes, that Metallica), but his story goes much deeper. Shawn and Beats have a few tunes up their sleeve and Ahri reviews voting. This is EP 102. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Follow Michael Alago online and peep his book, "I Am Michael Alago"  Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Brian Schwartz  Shawn Eckels  Ahri Findling Andee "Beats" Avila Arno Bakker

Hey Schwartz, listen, your Michael Olago interview is today and I want to remind you that Michael is, you know, a giant part of rock history. You know, he's done so much, but the big one for me and that I think resonates with you is that he signed Metallica. I think resonates with you is that he signed Metallica. The guy's an incredible guy. And first and foremost, he's a real fan of music. He is the fan of music. And I just wish I could be more like that dude. And please, no dick jokes.

No talking about childish stuff. This is real, okay? Please, try to. You know, this is real. Okay? Please, try to keep it together and show some respect. Late. Two, three, four. Ooh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah Say your prayers to revisions So fucking weird

2020, it sucks Parking lots and outdoor gigs Rocking drive-ins Till Corona is done Restaurants and bars all open Make sure your masks don't write Bonnie's tight Can't pay for my life

Save our bed Off to go for Milan Ooh, Yeah, yeah. And we are back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's everyone doing today? How's our heads? How's our minds? Are we staying out of trouble? Are we staying out of the dark avenues

of our heads and trying to be as optimistic as possible through this fucking shithole we call 2020? Oh man, I hope everyone's doing good. I'm on the road, which kind of feels normal. It's been weird as fuck. But we have a chance to play music. And how we're going to do that is, that's how we're going to do it. If we've got to be in pods or if we've got to be in fucking cars. I mean, every state. This is what I realized.

Every state is different of how they're reacting towards it you know and it's not that they that's all they know because no one knows what the fuck is going on that's what i realized i that's what made me feel a little better about the whole thing like if you live in one state and you're confused like why why is what's going on every state's like, why, what's going on? Every state's like that, that I've been to so far. Some people, you know, it's crazy. Everyone's been keeping it safe, which is fucking cool. Just walking around, just the difference between each state, you know, going to a breakfast joint, literally a state away

where one state won't let you even inside the motherfucker and the other side's like, what's up, shit sweet, come on in. Water's warm. So with all that being said, we just need some, I'm not trying to be a political or whatever. We're just confused. It's a weird time. Everyone, when you isolate for that long,

and you're relying on your local community to dictate the rules and there's no national way of doing things because we're such a big fucking country. Each state is basically their own country because we're so big that it's going to be confusing. And so we've had being a musician, don't knowing the rules, you know, it's challenging sometimes because you don't know. Some nights it's, you know, super locked down. Some cities it's not as locked down. And you just don't want to get in trouble and whatnot.

So we've been keeping it safe and we've been rocking and rolling. It's just wild. It's so, I've never seen our country this confused. I'm young, so I never really experienced any hardship with this country. I've never really experienced anything. I don't think anyone has. But the lack of information is what is

so crazy. And the lack of community within the country is crazy because everyone's on their own ride because they've been on their own ride for seven months, locked in their fucking houses, watching the same porn and shit, going and getting pissed off at the missus or having the missus get pissed off at you and you're sleeping on the couch for five fucking months in your own home. It's just, it's nuts. I've been hearing these stories of, cause I'm really into relationships and how, um, how people fucking deal with this quarantine. I, you know, I feel for the relationship people out there, but what else I realized who I'm fucking just feel so horrible for, are the venues, man. The venues got fucked so hard with no plan to help. So they're trying their best to just try and to keep these doors open because these little venues are where we started. This is where we started listening to music,

our favorite local bands, to see them having a hard time and understand what the fuck is going on and trying to get as many shows in for the year before the winter comes, and you can't play outside. I mean, we played outside every night, and it's been all different.

Some nights we're playing in pods. Some nights we're playing in parking lots. Some nights, excuse me nights we're playing in pods some nights we're playing in parking lots some nights excuse me we're playing at drive-ins and it's i just gotta i gotta give a shout out to all the venues out there working their dicks off they're working hard to try to figure this thing out and i feel so bad for them. So if you got, you know, if you, if you hear your event, your local venues having a hard time, go fucking try to help them out because that is the catalyst of our music

community. You know, we need that. We need to grow bands. It's important. It's very important to grow bands. You can't just go from, you know, a YouTube stream to 5,000 tickets.

The idea of grassroots marketing and grassroots bands are going to die if we don't take care of the little venues. So go and if you need, talk to your venues and see what's up and see how you could help. Just keep the doors open, get through this fucking shit show. No pun intended that we're in right now, but with all the sudden,

with that all said, it's been an amazing experience. I mean, it's been wild. Every show has been sold out. You guys are coming up to me saying how much we appreciate All the stuff we've been doing on quarantine During quarantine, thank you for that And thank you just for being

Dope ass people I mean, it's just been super nice And you guys sold And we sold out all our merch in like four days Like you guys are fucking thugs My team is the pimp So survive in advance Take care of each other

This is important This is hard for everybody So take care of each other Be more sympathetic My management almost quit on me Because I'm crazy right now I don't know what to I normally keep my shit together

But I just feel for a lot of musicians too, who, you know, who suffer with mental illness and depression. And this is a hard time because they don't know what's going on and when they're going to actually get back to work again so that's why we got to take care of the venues get those small venues because all these bands we're going to need somewhere to play it's going to be local so make sure your local venues are taken care of and um so we can build a music community this is the only way we could build a music community that's how i started when i was 19 i used to uh you know you know my story book shows i used to book myself fucking i I used to call 2,000 of these little venues. And they invite me in with open arms without even knowing if I was like a serial killer or not, dog. Like I would roll into these towns, lie my ass off and be like, Hi, I'm Drew Mitchell, I represent Andy Frasco. He's great. He's fucking awesome.

Just please give him a shot. Please give him a shot. The big venues weren't doing that. You got to build up. And these little venues are so important. I can't emphasize that enough. They are so important to what and how we grow a community of music. So take care of your boys. Take care of of them Speaking of growing and building a community We have a really special guest tonight He's not a musician It's more of a music industry episode tonight But we have Michael Alago

He was A&R for Elektra Records and Geffen Records And he found Metallica He's like a metal head He's fucking awesome. It was a nice interview. Crazy story. He got AIDS and is full blown and recovered from that. And was drugging hard and still finding bands and still developing bands.

He loves the music industry. We have a very insightful conversation with him. So I can't wait for you to listen to this after this, but I'll leave you with this before we let Michael take the stage. Take care of each other. Survive in advance. The second wave is coming or second wave is here. Just be gentle with people. Be gentle because a lot more people are going to lose their jobs. A lot more people are going to get sick. And a lot more people are going to get sad. So if you're normally not in a patient person

or if you're normally a person who busts balls like myself, like, sorry, Brian, sorry, Rachel, just be a little more gentle because we're all trying. Who bust balls like myself. Like, sorry, Brian. Sorry, Rachel. Just be a little more gentle. Because we're all trying. It's not normal. This is not normal. But we're going to make it through.

Because we're fucking strong. Do I have to play the fucking music? We're fucking strong. We're fucking powerful. The world is ours. So let's clean this bitch up. Make sure you vote. Make sure you vote too. So yeah,

Michael Rapport says this perfectly. Vote or shut the fuck up. If you aren't going to vote, shut the fuck up. Okay, I'll leave you with that. I don't really like to get political on this bitch, but vote or shut the fuck up. That's the point we are at this election. Vote

or shut the fuck up. All right, Michael Alago, here we go. Y'all ready? I'm pumped up. I got another week of shows. I should push them. And yeah, 14er Weed is presenting this episode once again because they're bad motherfuckers. They know I'm out on the road. I brought some 14er with me driving around the country. It's probably illegal as fuck,

but thank you for keeping my mind straight. 14er, go grab some weed over with them in Denver, Colorado. Take care of the boy because they take care of your boy. All right, guys. Let's get this interview on the way and we'll keep pounding through this thing.

Keep on keeping on, and be gentle, and don't be so hard on people, and don't be so hard on yourself. Seriously. We're harder on ourselves than we are with anyone else. Take a breath. Realize this is bullshit. This is fucked up.

I know it's fucked up, but we're going to make it through. We're going to make it through. All right. enjoy the interview, guys, and I love you. All right, next up on the interview hour, we have Michael Alago, A&R, Electra Records, guy has a crazy story, he has a documentary on Netflix, who the fuck is this guy, and um it's great, it's great, it talks about just the A&R business in the 90s, and how he got his start, and how he worked his ass off, he was working for Elektra, signed Metallica, first guys, you know signing a band like Metallica is different back then

because back then it was all like glam rock and, you know, it's like all these, everyone was like in their fucking leather pants with their dicks out and fucking wearing fucking shorts or like long ass hair that's blow dry. I'm like, I would hate to be in a band in the 80s. I'd like to be in a band in the 80s for the drugs, but I would hate to be in a band in the 80s i'd like to be

in a band the 80s for the drugs but i would hate to be in a band for the in the 80s for um where i had to like fucking comb my hair and blow dry that shit and like wear like boas and shit i mean i guess i'm kind of doing now with lego clothes i don't know it takes two seconds put on lego clothes i'm not gonna do my hair for 45 minutes. All right. Sorry, I'm ranting today. All right, guys, you ready for it? Let's get it. Michael Lago. Are you ready? Because I am. What up, Michael? How we doing, big dog? Pretty good. Here we are. Here I am in New York City. I woke up this morning and I'm feeling all right. What's the most important thing about COVID, living in New York City, that you learned through COVID? Well, what have I learned?

Well, you know, I have a compromised immune system, so I am cautious about going out into the world at large. We've known about this for about six months or so. The first four months months I basically stayed home Watching too much NSNBC But then I switched it over to TCM Because I love all those film noir, black and white Humphrey Bogart movies Kept me sane

After about four months I decided, you know what? I got to go outside So I would take long walks along the West Side Highway. I always wear a face covering. You know, we still don't have a lot of answers to what is going on with this pandemic. So I do practice physical distancing with friends, even though I do see friends. And I'm crazy about like keeping my hands clean. I'm crazy about keeping my hands clean and stuff like that. So I guess recently I just keep getting in the mail all these hand sanitizers, which drive me crazy because I love all the hand sanitizers. So I don't know.

That's how I guess I'm dealing with COVID. And my dear friend John from the Cro-Mags brings me homemade vegan food every few days so I don't have to leave the house. Why did you pick the music industry? Well, I think the music industry basically picked me. And what I mean by that is, just so your audience knows, I have a book out called I Am Michael O'Lago, Breathing Music, Metallica, beating death. And I say in the beginning of the book, you know, I came out of the womb loving music. There was just nothing else that I loved like music. So as a young queer Puerto Rican kid in Brooklyn, I watched these,

my brain just stopped when I get too excited. I watch all these music shows like Dick Clark's American Bandstand and Don Cornelius' Soul Train and Don Kirshner's Midnight Special. And there was such a wide variety of music that I could hear from all these shows, whether it was David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Grand Funk Railroad, and the list just kind of goes on. You know, I just love music. But as a young kid in Brooklyn, you know, like 14, 15, what does that mean? I don't play an instrument. So I don't know what that means being in the music business, but I wanted to be involved in something. So we're going to fast forward. It's 1980. And I go to School of Visual Arts. And I work at a pharmacy in the East Village. I'm walking down the street, and I see a beautiful art deco building. And that art deco building had a little eight by 10 piece of white paper on it. And it said something like video club opening or music

club opening. And I thought, music club opening. So I go inside and I look around and it's a beautiful art deco building that's empty. And there's a man in the balcony and he's like, kid, what do you want? We're not open. And I said, well, you know, I just read on the door that you have a music club opening. He said, sure, give me your resume. And I was 19. And I honest to God, I don't think I knew what a resume was, to be honest. You know, kid from Brooklyn. What do I know?

What were you doing for the club at that point? What was your job? Like, well, I just walked in the club, as I'm saying to you right now. So there was a guy in the balcony and I said, I don't have a resume. And for some reason, he took delight in that. And he called me up to his office. His name is Jerry Brandt. I didn't know his history then, thank God, or else I probably would have crapped my pants.

And he said, well, what do you do now? I said, I go to school and I work in a pharmacy, but I go out every single night of the week to hear music. And he loved that. We had a long conversation. I'll keep it short. And he said, you know what? I'm giving you a job here at the Ritz.

You're going to open my mail. You're going to answer my phone and you're going to get my lunch. And I thought, oh my God, I'm in the music business. So that's what I did for a period of time. But as a 19 year old, I was a sponge. I listened to him on the phone every day. And that was because he was speaking to booking agents, FBI, ICM, William Morris Agency, and he was booking the entertainment for a 1500 1600 seat room i took all that in about a year later he said kid get on that phone and start talking to the agents and i did that

for three years so you're you're a talent buyer for 1500 cap yeah that's right i was a the booking it was a co-assistant booking director at a nightclub called The Ricks. Maybe your audience knows it now. It's Webster Hall. And that's what I did for my first three years in the music business. Tell my audience about what you first learned. What was the first things, like, as a sponge, you really took advice from this guy who you didn't know who he was, but you knew something was special.

So what did you first learn about booking shows and finding talent? Well, when I got the job, I did a bit of homework and I realized that Jerry worked in the mail room back in the day with David Geffen at the William Morris Agency. No shit. Are they the same age? Jerry and David? Yeah. Jerry might be like a little bit older,

but colleagues back then, young people working at the William Morris Agency. Jerry was one of the people who helped bring the Rolling Stones to the United States. He worked with Muhammad Ali and Sam Cooke. He discovered Carly Simon and the Voices of East Harlem. And I later found all that out. And I was thrilled to be working for this entrepreneur, mogul type guy. One of the

first things I did was I listened intently to what I could learn from this man. I learned how to book this room, meaning when I spoke to agents, we talked about ticket prices, how many nights, what we were going to pay them, what the cap was. I mean, all this kind of like technical money stuff. But that's important, right? To fill a room? Pardon?

How important is that? I mean, that's pretty important to fill a room, right? If we can't fill a room, then we're not doing our job correctly. Not every night was a sold-out night. I mean, there were nights, if it was a Tuesday, we would have a $2.50 movie night. So I'd show stuff like John Waters, Pink Flamingos, and Female Trouble. We might have two local bands on the bill as well.

But the Ritz was really the place to be in the 1980s. Did you grow up in the city? I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Oh, I heard. You, what, like Williamsburg, the Hasidic area? I grew up in Borough Park, which is a totally Hasidic area back then. At some point, I lived in East New York, Bushwick and Aberdeen, where on my block, we had Spanish, Italian, Black, Irish, Jewish, everything.

So it was like a melting pot. Do you think growing up in New York helped you understand the music industry? I grew up in LA, and I got that same type of thing where I had the opportunity to work at the Key Club and work at record labels at a young age so I could find my passions early. Was that with you as well? What was the question? Living in a city, living in a big city. Yes, of course. Sure, sure, sure. Well, you know, I grew up in Brooklyn, but by the time I was 19,

when I started at the Ritz, about a year later, I moved into the East Village, and I've lived in Manhattan ever since. And of course, being in Manhattan, it is a melting pot, you know, and back in the day, you could go out every single night, whether you were going to Madison Square Garden at eight o'clock, then if it was a Wednesday, you would go to the Cat Club and see who was there. The show at the Cat Club is over, so you head down to CBGB or Max's Kansas City or something on Avenue A in the East Village. So I was always, from a very young age, exposed to a variety of types of music. I love a variety. I love all kinds of music. Recently, I tried opera. It didn't do anything for my head. But when I started as an A&R executive in 1983 at Elektra, I knew my

focus point mostly was going to be hard rock and heavy metal because that's what spoke to me. So you skipped three years. So from the venue to Elektra, how did Elektra find out about you? Sure. I don't know if I skipped three years. Let's see. It's 1980 to 83. I'm at the Ritz. Right. I knew at some point, I think I wanted to do more. And a dear friend of mine, Mitchell Krasnow, said to me, you know, my electro records is in the crapper right now. And my dad, Bob Krasnow, is leaving Warner Brothers. And I think he should meet you. And I thought, because he was going to become the new chairman of Elektra. So I thought, I'd love to meet your father. And also, you know, I didn't want to do anything on the sly,

because that's not how I do things. I said to Jerry Brandt, you know, Jerry, I love it here at the Ritz, but I kind of feel like there's more out there for me. And I just heard that Krasnow is going to go and re-up Elektra. And Jerry was kind enough to say, I've known Krasnow forever, and I don't want to lose you, but I will speak to him as well. So Bob Krasnow hears about me from an old colleague and his son. I get a meeting with Bob Krasnow. And we kind of have that same conversation that I had with Jerry Brandt about everything from the great American songbook from the 1930s

to what was going on in 83 nationally and what was happening in New York City. And it was, and the added bonus to that was Bob was an art lover. So we talked about East Village art, like Jean-Michel Bastiat and Keith Haring and Robert Longo. And it was really a great interview. And he shook my hand and he said,

I'll give you a call in a few weeks. He gave me a call about two weeks later. And he said my hand and he said, I'll give you a call in a few weeks. He gave me a call about two weeks later and he said, I like you and you're going to be in the A&R department. Let's go big guy. And I just thought, great. So what did I do? I

called some friends of mine and I said, Bob Krasnow just gave me a job. What does A&R mean? And they were like, oh, Alago, you've got a lot to learn. Again, artist in repertoire. I am a sponge. Bob also was very kind and let me in on his conversations with publishers, lawyers, artists, managers. And again, I listened to everything.

I'm a quick learner. And I had my own little fun office in the corner of the building where I had lots of black and white pictures hung up everywhere. And I started doing my A&R job. And that, for me, consisted of going out every night, meeting with artists and managers, publishers and lawyers. But still, people that I didn't know, all this unsolicited material was coming to me like insane. So I was listening to independent vinyl, independent cassettes. And most of the time from those independent vinyl and cassettes, I heard a lot of good things. But I realized early on I could not be involved with people who are good. I have to be involved with greatness.

And thank God. And I'm a totally ego-less person, but my ears are good. And I felt like I think I know how to find and or listen to great. What is greatness to you? Greatness to me is somebody who tells a wonderful story, who has charm and charisma, who when you see this person, him, her, they, in front of a live audience,

they do something to the audience. They radiate something from the stage. And if you're any good at your job, the audience feels that and wants to be. There's a connection there. And how beautiful is that when you hear and see a James Hetfield from Metallica on stage? Because that young man, who's not so young anymore, but we're all in our 50s or whatever, he knew how to work an audience. He was a ringleader on stage.

He knew how to whip the crowd into a frenzy. For me, including telling a fabulous story, that's great. Same thing with Rob Zombie. You know, that's the thing. What's harder? Breaking a band that isn't the norm? Because that wasn't the norm for 80s metal. Everyone was in this glam rock idea that you needed to dress up and make up and dress up but like what what made you feel that these

these nerdy dudes were the were the great thing yeah um i always liked heavy music i gravitated towards that um i was never one of those people Who enjoyed listening to Top 40 Or those, as they called them back then Hair bands And again, you know I heard Metallica, L'Amour and Brooklyn In 82

My first thought was Oh, book them at the Ritz Didn't happen for one reason or another It's now 1983 I'm at Elektra I become fast friends and colleagues with Johnny Z from Megaforce Records. He has this independent label that can make a few records,

but they have no money. So he sent me Metallica, Kill Em All, Raven, and Anthrax. Loved all the records. But when I heard Kill Em All, I thought, these are young people who are doing something so different. Doesn't sound like traditional metal. They're merging British heavy metal, hard rock, punk, something that we eventually started calling thrash,

into this one concoction that became Metallica. I saw them in San Francisco at the Stone. And like I said, they blew me away. They all had this wild charisma on stage and after the show i gave lars my business card i never looked like an executive and so lars like looked at me like um you uh are an a and r person who works for time warner electra you're damn right i am i probably had a misfits t-shirt on or a Plasmatics t-shirt on. And I said, I love you people. I want to work with you.

That's amazing. Yeah. So I don't know. Time passes. 1984. And I get a call from Lars saying, are you still interested in us? And I'm like, I certainly am. I know it's going to be difficult.

It's a very delicate operation, getting somebody out of a contract into a new one. He said, we're coming summer of 84 to play with Anthrax and Raven. We're in the middle slot. So I go

to... How big was those dates of those tours? How many people were showing up to Anthrax? Roseland, probably 3,000 sellout. And they were the middle band? They were the middle band. And they were gaining popularity so fast. People were, hold that thought, hold that thought. I think I have it right here.

I don't, but hold that thought. This is a good one. It's so fascinating. Breaking a band in the 80s. Metallica, Metallica, Metallica. Metallica with the talk of the metal underground. The metal underground back then had nothing to do whatsoever with radio.

What it had to do with it was young people circulating flyers saying, come see my band. And what Metallica had was this little demo called No Life Till Leather. This is probably, mine was like, back then was a bootleg of a bootleg. But, you know, that's what people were talking about. That's how their name, my brain just stopped again. They will be coming to talk of the town.

Everyone thought No Life Till Ever was the greatest thing ever. And, you know, they were so different that they were making the difference back then. I see them in the middle slot at Roseland. I lose my fucking mind. I'm drunk, the usual back then. And I make my way backstage and i see lars and i'm hugging him and i'm kissing him and james and everybody's looking at me like and lars like who is this person and lars says guys this is michael olago from electra and they all look at me

like you know again this is an executive this is the person we're putting our lives in his hands well we got along like a house on fire. The next day they were in my office in the conference room. I ordered Chinese food and beer. We talked a lot. Prior to that, I did have a big conversation that at first did not go well with Johnny Z from Megaforce. He wanted me to sign Raven. I thought Raven were fantastic, but they were not game changers. Metallica, I knew in my heart of hearts, was going to be a game changer. So once they were in my office that day, I just feel like they never left. Why did it took a year for them to

hit you back? Were they not? I have no idea. They were on the West Coast. I was on the East Coast. In retrospect, none of that matters. I was just doing my everyday job. They were, let's see, let's see, let's see. They were making Ride the Lightning, their second album for Megaforce. So, you know, things happen. But things happen when they're supposed to happen. So how'd you get them out of the record deal?

Our business affairs people talks with Megaforce's business affairs people. They concoct a deal where everybody walks away happy and the rest is history. Did Megaforce know the gigantic that would Metallica be or

did you have that vision? I can't speak for Megaforce. They loved Metallica enough that they made their debut album Same thing with Raven and Anthrax And knowing that they could not take them any further I was part of a corporation A great label with great history

Who back in the day signed the Doors And the MC5 And the Stooges And I just knew And Bob Krasnow trusted me because as an A&R person, I was going to sink or swim, and I intended to swim. And Bob came in the conference room that day in 84 and said, if Michael, if Alago wants you here,

we want you here. And so negotiations happened, like we all know. You know that as well, being at labels. And again, not to get so long and involved in it, but the rest is history. I've told this story for 30 years, which is fine. I love talking about Metallica. There's a good chapter in my book, I am Mike Lelago on Metallica. And here we are, you know, I signed them 36 years ago. And these are people who stuck to their guns. They always knew what their focus was. And 36 years later, 2020, they're as big as ever. If we weren't in a

pandemic, they'd be playing stadiums. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Have you always been authentic to yourself, Michael? Yes, I've always told the truth. I have always been authentic to myself. I was brought up that way by my mom, Blanche. She always said, just be yourself no matter what. And that's what I have been myself, no matter what. Yeah, I mean, that's important, right? So was it hard to come out? Come out of the closet?

No, I had never been in the closet closet i always tell people closets are for clothes i at a very early age knowing that i was gay i just had this um bravado i had this f you if you don't like me and that's really at a young age that that's all I knew. F you if you don't like me. As I got older, you know, I was still, I am who I am. And I think as a young gay Latino in the record executive before. And, you know, I think when a lot of people left my office, and again, this has nothing to do with ego, it has to do with when they left, they'd be like, you know what, that guy's really cool. And, you know, I just get down to the level of, you know, being in my office has nothing to do with sexuality. It has to do with you're bringing me music. I'm going to listen to the music. We're going to talk about the music and it either works for me as the executive at a label or it's not.

Can we talk about like around 2006 or 2007, what was going through your, as A&Rs, what was going through your head when you saw all these when music was given now for free and people were streaming and stuff how how did you break through that or find bands did you understand waves before so i stopped working officially as an anr executive in 2005 i was feeling kind of sick again and I knew I would have to start some new HIV medications. So I just thought, you know what? I freaking did this beautifully from 1980 to 2005. I'm done. And so I was done. But I still always paid attention to music. At some point in 2009 and 2010, Cyndi Lauper called me and said, Michael, I love your

career. I love what you've done. I know you know how to make metal records, but you know what? It's 2009 and I want to make a dance record. Do you think you could help me? Sure, I can help you. We made a record called Bring You to the Brink and it was very good. She calls me back in 2010 and I'll get to your answer, even though I'm being a little long-winded. And she says, Michael, and Cindy has always been an adventurer. She says, I want to make a blues album. I said, Cindy, I'm

right there with you. Again, Chinese food, no beer, but Chinese food in her kitchen on the Upper West Side, and we went through volumes of blues recordings. And we wanted to find songs that came from a woman's point of view, or we could flip it to make it come from a woman's point of view. We went through hundreds and hundreds of songs. We finally came down to the songs we wanted to

choose. And we went down to Memphis, Tennessee, and we had a young producer, young was 40 years old, named Scott Bomar, and he was friends with all of Isaac Hayes' band. He was friends with all of Al Green's band. And honey, these are all people who are studio musicians. So we went and made our record there called Memphis Blues. It got nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording. Didn't win, but it signaled to us that we did great work.

Fast forward. Well, I'm sorry. I could go on a tangent here. Go ahead. That was fascinating. I know in 2005 that Lars had to speak up in regards to Napster. We saw that music was being, I guess, file sharing and downloaded for free, which means artists are not getting paid. I always got in trouble in my 23 years at labels because I always stood up for

the artist. I never stood up for the label. And it's like, here we are in 2020 and artists are still the last ones getting paid. Or if they're getting paid from Spotify, what are they getting? 0.15? 15 cents or whatever it is. I'm paraphrasing to the dollar. Ain't nobody making money right now. Forget that we're in a pandemic. I don't know where I'm going with this.

So whatever you want to ask me. It's fascinating because you got out right at the time. Perfect timing. And it's like being in a label, I just don't understand how we got this far where it was all about the musicians. It was all about the nurturing of A&R. Now it's completely different. How did we get here?

I don't know how we got there to be perfectly honest, but I was out every night. Andy, I was out every single night until it nearly killed me, but it didn't. And I loved being out every night. I loved seeing the local band that may not have made

it at CB's, but they were good. And you offer advice to these people. And even if people were good and they knew I was in the audience and they were excited about that, I always said, you know, your music may not be for me. But if you are dedicated to your craft, you got to keep doing what you're doing. You got to make that DIY totally independent record. You got to make stickers you gotta make uh t-shirts you gotta have merch and you know what if the label doesn't want you you gotta get you gotta get on the road and that yeah well there was a book like i think glennie friedman the

photographer who used to shoot black flag he had a book out called get in the van that's what we do uh how anr got to this point, I do not know. You know, people, they don't, I don't think A&R people go out as much as they used to. I think they like to watch stuff on YouTube. For me, YouTube, it's so, it's two dimensional. It doesn't really tell me what you're like in person. I want to see you in person. I want you to sweat on me.

I want you to fucking spit on me. I want to talk to you when it's over to see if you really have something to say. And that's how I did my job. Yeah, but I'm talking about, we're not signing bands to develop bands anymore. We're signing bands who already have something going on. Was it always like that? No, not at all. Look, maybe when I signed Metal Church, i knew that they sold 5 000 units in seattle but i loved the record yeah they did a cover of deep purple's highway star yeah that

that interested me and it's my job working at a corporation to do artist development artist development does not exist anymore i'm going to give you a current story about how artist development doesn't exist anymore. Give it to me, Goose. It is good, too. My cousin Julie calls me. It's about a year and a half,

two years ago, and she says she's in Florida, and I hear this story for 30 years. Michael, my next-door neighbor's son has a band. Okay. You've heard this story millions of times. It's my cousin, Julie. I got to listen.

You know what, Julie? Mail me their independent CD. She mails me the independent CD. It's a band from South Florida called Ether Coven. Honey, I hear this CD. I go berserk. It's a band from South Florida called Ether Coven. Honey, I hear this CD, I go berserk. It is brutal. It has nothing to do with radio.

It is majestic sometimes. It sounds like swans and crowbar, and I hate God, and I thought, I love these people. So I go to Lauderdale, and I see them live, and it's so brutal that I know, oh God, this is not going to be on the radio. I don't care.

I'm going to help you people. I solicit 10 labels that I felt were like-minded to the music. So whether it was Seasons of Mist, Nuclear Blast, Napalm, Century Media, the list goes on. I send a CD out, all the A&R people, nine of the 10 A&R people write back or call me and say, cool band, but their numbers are terrible. And at first being like 58, 59 years old, I thought, oh, their numbers are terrible.

Oh, you mean like Twitter and YouTube, their numbers are terrible, infuriated me, and I thought, okay. So, I got them signed to Century Media. Unfortunately, our record came out right before the pandemic.

Ether Coven. Everything is temporary, except suffering, and it is a fantastic record. I'm glad that Mike Gitter had the balls to sign them, even though they had no numbers. Because once again, I still feel that it's the A&R department, publicity, marketing, promotion, it's their department now to get their numbers up. An independent band can only do so much when they're in a band. Yeah, it's true.

It's also the idea of nourishing these insecure artists. Music isn't... If people were confident, they wouldn't need people like you or me to tell them they're good

they need us because they want to be on a label whether it's an independent or a major and you know i always thought i'm just here to help you be better if you feel like you need my help. Nobody's perfect. It's a funny thing. Metallica, specific to them, always knew what they wanted to do. That first album was very focused. And then I started hearing bits and pieces of Ride the Lightning because Lars would send me cassettes. And I thought thought this record is going to be a masterpiece the bits and pieces were so much more advanced even than the first album and um it was incredible not everybody is like that and they do artists do need help whether it's for me once i sign them and we listen to

the songs you know the songs have to be great and you know when you're making a record your record has to take the audience on a journey and that journey has to the record has to have a beginning a middle and an end and you better take people somewhere and you're hoping that you know the moon is right and the sun is shining or whatever, that once you put out that record, it says something to an audience. Not every record does that, unfortunately.

Yeah, do you miss developing? I love artists. Do I miss developing? Sure, but I wouldn't want to be in this climate. So right now, I love Ether Coven. I'm here for them. I'm going to hear the demos for the next record.

I do help nurture them. That's a beautiful part of the job, which is really not a job. What's the word. It's the, what's the word? It's the thing one has wanted to do, like myself, my entire life. Yeah.

And I still get to do that when the opportunity presents itself. And I'm still out there listening to music. And I still want to hear loud, aggressive, heavy metal. And right now, there are three records that I love. I love Ether Coven. Everything is temporary except suffering. There's a new band called Plague Years. And they have a record that just came out like 10 days ago called Circle of Darkness.

And there's a band that's on Century Media called The Offering. And their record is called Home. And all three of those records are frigging heavy, and it gets me excited, and it gets me to still want to look for young artists to work with. It is halftime at the Enni Fresco interview hour. Welcome back to a very special episode of Review. I'm your host, Ari Finling. The first review we've ever done on voting.

What I'll tell you is to do it. Just fucking do it. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, although we all know who you should vote for. But I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to tell you what to do. You want to be a Republican and vote for Donald Trump. You want to be a Republican and vote for Donald Trump. You want to be a Democrat and vote for Joe Biden. You want to be an idiot and vote for Kanye West.

Whatever you want to do, just fucking vote. Okay. It's the only way to exercise your voice in this country is by voting. If you think things suck, then vote. If you think things are great, then fucking vote. It's literally never been more easier to vote than right now, okay? You want to do it in person? Go do it in person. You don't trust stuff? Go vote in person. You want to send it in by mail? Send it in by mail in your fucking underwear while having sex with your cousin. There are no rules

Except for that. I don't think you should fuck your cousin But if you want to vote while fucking your cousin do whatever you want Just fucking vote if you if you don't like the world that you're living in right now the way to change that is to vote It's not to go on fucking Yelp and say, oh my god, I hate the fucking pasta house. No, go fucking vote. Get the pasta houses taxes fucking jacked up so that they can't operate anymore. That's how you make real change. You don't do it by bitching and moaning on a website like Yelp, fuck Yelp, okay? Vote your goddamn asses off on or before November 3rd and let's make and be the change that we see in the world. Again, I'm not going to tell you what change that wants to be. You want free healthcare? Great, vote. You want,

you know, people like Andy Frasco to be locked in cages? I don't know. Vote. There's marijuana on the ballot in like 40 states. Do you like pot? Good. Fucking vote for it. Make sure you look online and see who's running. See what they're all about. Make sure when you get your ballot, if you're doing it mail-in or if you're doing it in person, look on the back. There's a bunch of shit on the back.

You don't want to fill in your ballot and forget that marijuana is on the docket or forget. Maybe your state is going to say, hey, everybody gets a free Tesla. I don't think it's going to be there, but maybe. Check the back of the ballot. All I'm saying is do your research, exercise your right to vote, and goddammit, just fucking do it so I can leave my house. How is it to be a gay man

in the metal industry? Everybody asked me that. They've asked me that for 30 years. Really? Yes, of course hon i think because i've had this no nonsense attitude and a no nonsense approach to everything again you were either gonna like me or not and i don't care yeah i don't care you know people are gonna talk about you whether you're black you're whether you're black, you're white, you're Asian, you're gay, you're straight, you're an amputee.

I mean, people always have something to say about people. Yeah. So at an early age, I learned not to let that bother me. What about when you got HIV? I was sick. I was very sick. I got tested. Do you mind talking about that a little bit?

No, I never do. What was going on? I talk about it in my book. I talk about it to people who want to talk to me about it. Yeah, you know, obviously I was a drug addict and I was an alcoholic. I was out every night. What were you taking?

Oh, what was I taking? Like heroin? Oh, God, no. I hate needles and no, I never sniffed it. I loved vodka and Jägermeister and cocaine and crack and mushrooms and ecstasy. You know, when you're on all that kind of stuff, sometimes you're not making very good decisions. At some point, I became positive.

At that point, it was very scary for the gay community. It was a death sentence in 83. I was asymptomatic for seven years. And then around 1990, I got the mumps. That's dangerous for a man in that's not a teenager yeah and I got very sick and that was the beginning of me getting symptoms of um full-blown AIDS and in the 90s I had full-blown AIDS when there was no medication and I had a doctor who was in the front line of the AIDS epidemic. Sorry about that. My brain stops every so often.

And, you know, Barbara Starrett took a liking to me. When she was not doing her rounds in the AIDS ward at St. Vincent's, she bicycled to my house at 5 o'clock in the morning to say, how are you? Jesus. Oh yes. It was a blessing. Yeah.

Blessing. And she, she was my primary care physician and I was losing weight left and right. I was, I was vomiting and shitting everything. I was just lying there. There was nothing anybody could do, but pray and have

hope. And my mother was lighting her candles to St. Jude every day for me. And Barbara would just say, hang on, hang on. They gave me intravenous vitamin drips. And at one point, I always tell people it was like that movie, The Dallas Buyers Club. It's like we got pills from Mexico. We didn't know what the fuck these pills were. Barbara said, I said, Barbara, you keep me alive. I'm taking the pills.

Months went by. Maybe a year went by. I'm still on the sofa. Everybody's coming to see me, and everybody's leaving my house crying. I didn't look like myself. They thought you're done. Everybody thought I was

going to die. We talk about it in my documentary Who the Fuck Is That Guy? About a year later, Barbara is writing a black at 5 o'clock in the morning. She says, as your primary care, I got to tell you something. We have an FDA approved medication called AZT

and I don't want you to take it. I said, Barbara, I'm just doing whatever you tell me. I'm laying here and I'm still alive. Months later, AZT kills a lot of the gay community. It was approved prematurely. She was a smart cookie. She was in the laboratory. She was in on the front line. She was in the laboratory. She was on the front line.

She was one of those doctors that everybody went, let's ask Barbara Scarrett. So anyway, I don't take the AZT. I'm still frigging alive. I'm skinny as all heck. And I'm just, you know, home. Were you still working? I was on leave.

I was dropping dead. That's what I was doing. But, you know, yes, God willing, and Bob Krasnow and everybody who I worked with at Electra, they were like, can't wait. Stay strong, and we can't wait for you to come back. Anyway, some antiviral becomes available, and FDA approved, and Barbara said, I want you to start taking this. available and FDA approved.

And Barbara said, I want you to start taking this. I'm terrible with time, but about maybe six months later, I was still skinny and I went right back to Electra. Now remember it's the nineties. People don't know. It's like, you know,

when you have an STD or something, this is worse than that. People don't know, you know, Michael had eight. Can we shake his hand? Yeah. I mean,

that's what I'm thinking. Like, how many people, like, that you took care of and nurtured and babied, all these bands, how many people disappeared out of your life when you find out you had AIDS? Mostly none of them. Kirk Hammett

would call me all the time. He would always, you know, wish me well. Whatever Metallica can do for you, we're here. John Lydon, who people have said various things about from the Sex Pistols, he's been in my life for 39 years. We never had a bad word with each other. I signed him. I dropped him.

He was here for me via mostly phone calls because he probably still ran. Him and his wife, Nora, still living in London. And, um, you know, Cindy Lauper and her manager,

every Rob zombie, uh, you know, everybody was here. Like we love you. It's fucking hard. We just want you to get better. Yeah.

Here I am. Another frigging 30 years later, tuesday i'm gonna be 61 let's go big guy that's what i'm talking about let's get it i'm gonna have on the following tuesday the 21st i'll have uh 13 years clean and sober and you know at 61 there's zero viral load in my body good for you man that's that is a miracle when so many men and women that i knew who found out 30 years ago they were positive they're not hearing so it's really it's a blessing and it's all my mother's candles for 58 years to St. Jude. And when you have faith, you got to just keep the faith. Yeah.

And it's also the attitude towards it. I mean, people die when they give up. And I feel like you're a guy who never gives up in life. Are you? I never give up on it. If I believe in something, if I believe in a person, in myself, I just don't give up. Because I feel like there's always hope out there. And things may not happen exactly how you want them to happen. But sometimes a version of that thing happens. And that's all you needed anyway. How many, but like, how do you keep that optimism when you have a disease that's unknown you know

like you're going through age 30 years later it's zero in my body i i deal with it by not drinking or drugging i deal with it by taking my medications every day when i'm supposed to and i just that's the attitude i have to keep i know i you know like when people on Facebook and social media say to me, you know, you should, you never write about like politics. Now I've been, but you know, because you know what? I don't want, I don't want negativity in my life. I only want to be a positive human being. I want to spread love, not fear out there. And you know, when you spread love and kindness to people, that's like a domino effect. And when you do that, it's just, you know, when you spread love and kindness to people, that's like a domino effect. And when you do that, it's just, you know, it fills people with hope. And that's what you want to give them.

You got to give people hope. What about 30 years ago? 30 years ago, I was scared. I was scared that I was going to die. I might have lost my faith back then, but slowly, but surely, like I said,

when I went back to work and I was taking that first antiviral, I was just grateful that I was waking up every day and that I could make it on the subway up to, you know, Rockefeller Plaza to my office to get back to work and listen to cassettes. And, you know, I don't, I don't remember exactly what artists I happened to be working with back then, but I was back at work. I wasn't really a hundred percent feeling like Michael, but I was up and about and I was getting as normal, if that's the word, as I could with this virus.

And, you know, I never got full blown again after that. I get sick in the winter. I have asthma. I get fucking bronchitis. That really is a doozy for me. But, you know, I take care of myself and God and my mom and life has treated me well. So when I get up in the morning, I do my 12-step meetings. I make my bed.

I make my tea. I get on my knees and say my prayers. And I start my day off with goodness every day. And when I do that, the world's great. Yeah, I mean. The world's great for me and the people that I know and love. The world's great for me and the people that I know and love. And you hope that the people that you know and love stay safe and sane in this crazy world we live in.

Yeah, I mean, it starts with optimism through yourself, right? I mean, if you can't love yourself, who are you going to love, right? Yes. Was it ever hard for you to love yourself? Yes, when I was sick. When I was sick, I blamed myself Like, oh, you know I should have known better You should have known better?

Why? Well, because I was out every night I was loose I had anonymous sex And I guess I wasn't thinking too much of myself Because I was drinking and drugging like there was no tomorrow. Was it hard for you to commit to a relationship? Yes, I didn't have many relationships.

I had a lot of one night stands and that was OK then because it was what it was. That's where my mind was at, you know? Was that idea why you wanted to be in the music industry in the first place? What? Just partying and having a good time? No, I wanted to be in the music business because I love music, and then later I found out

as I got my first job that I wanted to find great artists and nurture them and make music that would make a difference. And of course, part two of that is because you have a corporate card as an A&R executive, you're out every night. That's part of the job. And I just took it to the hilt. What I think right now, as grown men and life, you know, because I'm in a 12-step program, but I think this applies to everybody, all we can ever do

is think about life in the terms of one day at a time. Yeah. We got this moment. I was on one of these things, Zoom, with a friend of mine from the program, and he was going to get me some information. So it's the end of the day now,

and I said to him, Christian, I didn't get the information from you. He calls me back. He said, Michael, I'm in the hospital. I said, what are you talking about? He said, when I left the physical, it was before the pandemic. So we left the physical 12 step room. He said a car turned around the corner, threw me 20 feet in the air. And my, my shoulder hurts. My head hurts. They're

doing an MRI. So that goes from I'm in the morning, everybody's rah, rah, that we're sober one day at a time. And he leaves the physical room and he gets hit by a car he's fine right this very minute i spoke to him this morning his neck is getting better he doesn't have to wear a neck brace anymore but the point of this is we have no control except for anything except for the moment and i hope because we're both grown men now i don't know how you conduct your life and but i hope you take good care of yourself especially because we're in a pandemic but you know i don't drink anymore i don't have anonymous sex uh i don't even have sex anymore oh is it hard to have sex now with no not at all but there's not a lot of people I want to have sex with. And anyway, so, you know, it's a funny thing.

It's not a priority for me at the moment. I mean, if something came along and a 240-pound bodybuilder said, let's go, I'm going. Then what's important to you then, Michael, right now at 61? What's important? I'm grateful that I wake up. I'm grateful that I have a routine. I'm grateful that we can have a conversation here.

I'm grateful that Drew Stone and Michael Alex made a documentary about me because I was clean and sober and had something to say. Because of that, a little book company said, do you have stories? And I had to say to them, do I have stories? I've been A&R for 25 years. I have stories outside my life. And they gave me a book deal. So I'm just full of gratitude every single day. I want to be here.

I am alive because I want to just be of service to people, whether it's musically or spiritually. And whenever I can help somebody, I don't give advice. I just tell people what worked for me. And if what works for me works for you, I did my job. Wow. Fascinating, buddy. I'm proud that you're alive, and i'm proud that you are optimistic and uh giving yourself time for being a guy who always took care of everyone else

you're you're finally taking care of yourself in a sense of you know just telling your story and telling because not a lot of people have you ever met david geffen well darling yes i worked for him for 10 years. I'm sorry. That's my idol. Really quick. I was at Electra. I was at Geffen. I was at Electra. And I was at Geffen. That's 20 years. Don't ask why I left

each place. It had to do with money. And I'm not a money-hungry person, but you know, when you feel like you've earned something, you've earned it. David Geffen is a tough cookie. He is brilliant. On an everyday basis, our president was a man named Ed Rosenblatt. I loved to work for David Geffen because when I'd go to LA, we had all those bungalows on Sunset Boulevard. So of course, when I got to LA, I would go right to David's office just to say hello. We would talk about music, but mostly we would talk about art. He was a huge art collector.

So we would sometimes, if he had the time, we would go to a gallery. Or when he bought the Jack Warner estate, Jack Warner, he took me to Jack's house because he had to inspect something. Or he would take me to this burger place that, when I still

ate meat, that he loved going to. It was called the Apple Pan. And all the Apple Pan was, when you walked in, was two counters. And everybody was there. All his mogul friends were there. And there I am as a tag along with David Geffen. Brilliant man. Brilliant.

We know that, though. Did he underestimate metal music? No. Again, he hired his A&R people because he didn't use those words, sink or swim. But as an A&R executive, that's what you were going to do. And if you swam, the company was happy. If you sunk a few times, you'd lose your job.

Thank God I never lost a job. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like a label. It's kind of like a bank with a big interest rate, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And, you know, the beauty of where I worked for Electra and for Jeff, and they operated like a boutique label. You know, they were very specific.

They didn't sign anything, as people used to say, that stuck to the wall. So I felt very blessed to work for these two organizations twice. And I did good work. And again, I don't know where I'm going with this. Were you prouder at your work at Electro or Geffen?

Well, you know, Electro really wound up being my home. Yeah. But I did love working at Defen. I never, the reason it didn't work for me in the end was I never wanted to, I don't swim, I don't drive a car, and I didn't want to move to LA. So being in a satellite office was okay. Yeah. I don't know what to say. And so in the end,

I guess my home, because I had such a relationship with Bob Krasnow, that I guess my home was really electric records. That's amazing. And that's where I did my greatest work. Well, I'm proud of you, bro. Nice to meet you. Thanks for being on the show.

I love just hearing stories of A&Rs because I think A&Rs don't get enough credit or not credit, but they don't get enough of the nurturing and love that they deserve because you're the ones who believed in these bands and took care of these bands when the big machine was looking at them as numbers and spreadsheets. Oh, yes, of course. Thank you very much for that. I appreciate that. And I'm glad we got to talk today. Totally. Stay well and stay safe in this insane world that we live in. And bless everybody out there. Have a great day. Thanks, buddy. One last question.

What do you want to be remembered by? I want to be remembered, I guess, by somebody who has always told the truth and who always was basically a kind human being and a person that, like I said earlier, if I could be of service and help you with anything in your life, if I could do it, I want to be there for you. Well, you're doing a great job, buddy. Thanks for your services and thanks for just keeping music alive. I appreciate you, buddy. Well, thank you for having me here.

I appreciate it, too. Have a great one, you for having me here. I appreciate it, too. Have a great one, Michael. Thank you for being on the show, buddy. Later. Bye-bye. There we go. Michael Lago. Wow.

Found fucking Metallica. Worked at Electric. Worked at Warner Music. A little industry love. Had AIDS. Fucking crazy. In the 90s, y'all. When no one knew what the fuck was going down

with that disease. So, shout out to Michael for staying optimistic and staying alive, bud. That's all that matters. All right, we'll catch you on the tail end and we'll go from there. Love you guys. Now, a message from the UN. mama's don't let your babies grow up to be frasco

don't let them drink whiskey or eat lots of drugs let them be doctors and lawyers and such. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be frasco. Cause they'll never be home. They'll be beaten off alone. Even with someone they love. Frasco ain't easy to love And he smokes lots of weed He'd rather give you some shrooms

Than something you actually need Birkin socks, sandals, and old Lakers jerseys Each night begins a new day If he doesn't text back and he don't die young He'll probably just crowd surf away Mamas, don't let your daughters grow up to date frasco Cause he'll cuss at Thanksgiving, smoke pot with grandma And stink up your whole goddamn house

Mamas, don't let your daughters grow up to date frasco They'll have lots of sex get it she pv blame it on her ex-boyfriend's mouth and there you have it michael lago fascinating right i didn't know who he was either and um i was like damn this guy has been in the scene he had to deal with the whole aid sitch and just that dude when you're feeling death like that where like especially in the 90s bro when you don't even know what's going it's kind of like no i don't actually i don't want you to put that perspective into place because i don't know what the fuck i'm talking about there but maybe the mindset of like when you don't know anything about a disease

in that time and you're just sitting there like a sitting duck, like, oh, God, when is it going to get me? That must fuck with your head. It's got to fuck with your head. So shout out to Michael for being honest. Shout out for him. Go grab his book. Go watch his doc if you want to get a little more insight

than what I gave on the interview. But that's it, y'all. Have a great day. Don't forget to have a great fucking day. If we forget to have great days, then why are we living? We can't just marinate shit all day and watch the news. This was the first, last night, it was a killer show. We sold out. We've been, you know, the Roanoke shows were the biggest shows on the tour. And we sold out both nights, which is the most tickets we've ever sold in anywhere. As a two-night run, you know, we've done, which was pretty cool. And it was just so socially distant perfectly.

We were on a baseball field. It felt right. It felt right. It felt right. But it was nice to see. And I don't know where I got there with that, but be nice. Take care of yourself.

Because if you stay out of your head and just live in the present moment, we're going to get through this shit. 2021, you better not fuck us. Like 2022, you listen to me, 2021,

don't fuck us. We're emotionally unstable as a, as a world. We're like now, you know, that point where that thing, we're like, even if aliens came,

we're like, fuck it, whatever. Let's not, let's not think like that. Let's think optimistically. Let's think powerfully. Let's think in forms of

just happy go lucky that we are alive and we are on this earth for a reason. And that is to breathe the air. That is to feel the moment. And it's to connect and love with people. Don't ever forget that. Okay. I got a

couple more shows this week. Lexington, Kentucky tonight on the 20th. I got Nashville. The first show sold out. I think the early show sold out. I think there might be a couple more tickets for the second show, the night show. So grab your tickets there. Atlanta, second show sold out. The early happy hour show is not sold out. City Winery. And then the 24th, we're doing a private party in Charleston, but I've heard this thing's fucking crazy. I don't know how crazy it's going to be with the whole COVID thing, but it's like a nude party. I think what I'm getting from all the promo, it's a nude party. So it's masks and nudity,

which is going to be fucking, it's like the porns I've been masturbating to is a mask porn. I'm like, oh, why am I doing this to myself? Just trying to get, you know, maybe we'll talk about that on another episode. But go grab your tickets. Go see us play.

Denver, all my Denver homies, I am opening for the Sweet Lilies. Or not opening. I'm their piano player for the Sweet Lilies. Like me, Jason Hahn from String Cheese and the Sweet Lilies. We're playing Cervantes October 30th. Go out there and check that out. And then October 31st for all my dance party homies. We're throwing a Halloween party. I want to dance with somebody dance party. You know what time it is. Let's get this shit. So I'm pretty busy a couple weeks and I'm going to Mexico. Unless they don't close the borders, I'm going to San Miguel.

My buddy has a pad out there, so I'm like, fuck it, let's ride. So I'm flying across the country to another country to see how Mexico is dealing with this COVID crisis. And then I got some exciting news about some other ventures that I can't talk about until I take this meeting tomorrow. Once I can, I will let you know. But it's very exciting. And it's very cool. And it's different than my music stuff, which is cool, too. And I'm nervous about it.

But we'll talk about that on another episode, too. All right, guys. Stay calm. Stay focused on your heart. Get out of those. Get the shoe away, the devil out of your mind. The shoe devil.

Get out of here. I don't need you here because it's all about optimism. I want November and October and December. Reflect what happened and how you became better people instead of how you became shittier people through this quarantine.

So we could fuck 2021 up so hard with optimism and dream chasing and power. Power, when I mean power, I want you to work out. I want you to stay healthy. I want your mind powerful, everything. It's all about power. 2021, go out and vote or shut the fuck up. All right. Love y'all. Be safe. And I will catch you next week. I do mushrooms with Todd Glass.

We did a whole round three with Glass. I was in LA last week and I called him because he's very nervous about the virus. So we did a socially distant mushroom intake podcast outside in his house. It's so sick. So you'll hear that. And then I got Bill Walton on the show, which is fucking crazy. Basketball and deadhead. Let's go, dog. Let's go, Bill. Thanks for taking my call. I got a phone call from Bill. He's hey Andy It's Bill Walton I'm like oh my god I made it Um and then I got Jay Maskis from Dinosaur Junior

And we got the boys from Camp we got a lot of good Ones to finish off season Three um I love you Be safe wear condoms Um let the know World let the world know that... Fuck shit up out of here.

All right. Be safe out there. Love you. Keep wearing masks. You guys have all been great on this tour. Thanks for being socially distant. Thanks for being sweet. I love you all.

Talk soon. You tuned in to the third season of Blissful Blah at Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast, produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For more info on the show, please head to

Instagram at WorldSavingPodcast. For more info on blog or tour dates, head to AndyFresco.com Check out the new album, Keep On Keepin' On. Or let Andy entertain you at the Thursday night online shit show. Or at this crazy Saturday night wanna dance with somebody dance parties. Oh right, summer season is here, no festivals, no music, so instead of trying to keep the

lip going and hoping to find some shitty Patreon born youtuber gigs this summer, I decided to reroute. Build in closets and wardrobes, build a tiny summer house and do some painting. It will be October in no time. And yes, I sort of hate it compared to the wonderful life I live. But I'm also thankful that people trust my skills or my good looks or whatever. They have my back and I managed to make some money. The big danger in this line of work actually, it pays a lot better than being a musician. Alright, how are you doing?

Making ends meet? Worried? No work? Putting on a virtual dance party every week? Let's make sure to carry each other, get one another's backs, keep each other safe, keep each other sane, keep each other healthy. Let's unite, for it will be a long road ahead. See you next week.