Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 33: George Porter Jr. (The Meters, The Porter Trio)

Episode Date: January 23, 2019

Episode 33 of the World Saving Podcast is as salty as that Mexican Gulf it got recorded on. De band went on Jam Cruise - that ship of fools filled with the creme de la creme of the jam band scene, and those crazy fans craving for more. More music, more party, more alcohol, more madness. The show is co-hosted by Lady of the Ship Annabel Lukins and Spoonfed Tribesman Chad Cocuzza, starring the illustrious George Porter Jr. talking about music, life, playing the bass and everything else that hit the decks. To keep up with the podcast, follow us on Instagram @WorldSavingPodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, tour dates, the band and the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com The views discussed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to The Porter Trio, and follow George Porter Jr at www.georgeporterjr.com Check out Andy's new single, "Can't Force Love" on iTunes and Spotify Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ahri Findling Brandon Miller  Arno Bakker Annabel Lukins  Chad Cocuzza 

Hi, Mr. Fresco. This is Michael in guest services. Thank you again for joining us on Manual Region Pearl. I just wanted to respond to some of the messages that you've sent us. Yes, we are blocking all pornographic websites on our Internet server. We do apologize, but this is a family-friendly cruise. In addition, we have no adult films on our on-demand. We do have a couple of new films like Green Book and Mary Poppins. We hope you do enjoy that. Additionally, I just wanted

to remind you that this is a smoke-free cruise. We have been getting some complaints from the people in the surrounding rooms near you that there's a significant amount of smoke coming from the room at all hours of the day so if you could just uh try to not uh smoke any kind of uh cigarettes cigars in your room that would be great we hope you are having fun please see a sound at the desk if you have any more concerns thank you enjoy the cruise first First jam cruise. I'm from Georgia. We don't have jam or cruise there. We got Leonard Skinner, PBR. I've been on Kid Rock Cruise. This ain't nothing like Kid Rock Cruise. And we're here live, alive on a boat.

Andy Frasco, World's Favorite Podcast, Season 2. This is the opening show, the opening episode of the show. And we have my girl, Annabelle, as the co-host. How does that feel, Annabelle? You and I are introducing Season 2 together. This is very exciting. And I are introducing season two together. This is very exciting.

Annabelle basically rocks this fucking jam cruise. She helps books the band. She's running around. She's the party liaison. I mean, you are everything. Yeah. The craziest thing happened yesterday. What happened?

There's an eclectic group of people on this cruise. Younger, older, all of the above. And these, you know, some of our older cruisers were wearing this shirt. And I was really confused. I went up to him and I said, is that me? I saw that on Instagram. It said, in Annabelle we trust.

And I was just like oh my gosh it just was the ultimate compliment and I mean it's just amazing to run around look what you gifted me from the fans and they gave it to me to give it to you so right now just so you folks listening are

get a visual of this there is a it's pink night lots of pink already and these passengers planned on giving visual of this. There is a pink. It's pink night. It's pink night on the boat. Yep, it is pink night. Lots of pink already. And these passengers planned on giving you a apron. They think I called this. They

called it a smock. A smock. What a great word smock is. It says Frasco's tacos with your photo on it. And they made mini Tabasco bottle. Tabasco frasco bottle tabasco frasco it's just like brilliant they're so smart and this and this i know you built this culture i know well we we gave them the platform but they came out of their own you know freak womb you know it was like i was

just talking to someone about today just is the ultimate way for people to get to express freedom and creativity they're so creative there's a guy here he's quite small and he uh has dressed up tonight as a jockey and he's and guess what so it says jc 17 and he's a jockey with his pink last year we had yellow as the color and he was also a yellow jockey. So it's just crazy. Oh my God. Yeah, my pink outfit is dope. But thank you for putting us on the theater tonight.

This is going to be awesome. I know. I love it when you got so excited. You were like, we're in the theater? Oh my God. I'm like, I'm just like, I'm jumping for joy. I'm like, I know you. Thank you, Annabelle.

You deserve it. You guys booked such a good eclectic lineup this year. Yeah, I know. Kamasi Washington. Ielle. You deserve it. You guys booked such a good eclectic lineup this year. Yeah, I know. Kamasi Washington. I know. He's unbelievable. I mean, he has changed the way all of us see, hear, feel music. Have you hung out with him?

Oh, yeah. He's wonderful. What's he like? He's super mellow. I got to hang out. Is he young? Yeah, he's young. He's young.

I saw him like, I didn't want to creep on him. He was just like chilling, playing in the arcade. See, he's a kid. Yeah, I'm like, damn. And I just interviewed T arcade. See, he's a kid. Yeah, I'm like, damn. And I just like interviewed Taz. I know, little Taz. We were just talking about Nintendo Switch.

I know, right? He's a kid. He's a kid. But you're a kid. Andy, how old are you? I'm 30. I mean, I know you did because you turned dirty 30. Yeah, I turned 30 on the boat. I remember that.

I remember that. But I mean, That's incredible. That's how Jam Cruise brings it. From 15 to 17. That's what I'm saying. It's insane. Even younger because there's two cruisers on the ship. They name are Daxton and Jada.

They have both been on Jam Cruise every year of their life. Amazing. 17-year-olds too. Yeah, which is really... Oh, their life. Oh my gosh, gosh really if we've had a passenger that has brought a kid on every single jam cruise since they were born i might have to talk to that person but but the other day my daughter who's six was like okay you never bring lyric no never bring her i know you love lyric you've hung out with lyric and she was like okay

mom and dad i really want to come on jam. Like she sat us down to have a talk. She's six. And we were like, no, Lyric, no. And she was like, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. I want to come on Jam Cruise. Like Lyric, it's just, it's not for kids. It's just not a kid cruise.

She's like, it's totally okay. I'll just bring toys. Peter and I were like, nope. She's so fucking smart. I know. It's insane. She gets it. I mean, she wants to be a part of the party.

I mean, who really wants to miss Jim Cruise? People are having such bad FOMO right now. They're home and they're like... She like convinced me to rake all these leaves at your house so she could jump in them. She's like, but she planned it all like nicely and said like, oh, you want to just move these over here? I'm like, okay, I'll move these over there.

Do you mind moving those over there? And then move them all together. I'm like, oh, I see what you're doing. I got hustled by a six-year-old. Well, guess what? She's totally my mini-me. I love it. And she's going to be doing everything I'm doing when she's my age. You're going to pass the torch, definitely.

Yeah. Oh, my God. So what's been going on? Anything chaotic these last few days? No, no, no. It's been super stress-free? Yeah. It's great.

What was any years where it was like, oh, my God, like one thing after another happened? We've had multiple things happen. Every year something happens. It was the year that we shut down the pool deck. Oh, yeah, because of the weather? Yeah, because of the weather. And actually, it was so great.

The way I did the Umphrey's intro the other night was, you know, that Mother Nature owed us because it was too windy the last time they came on Jam Cruise and they played like an extended scent in the theater, but they never got to play their pool deck set. And so it was really cool that they obviously got to come back and redeem themselves in mother's nature's eyes. It was,

it was awesome. But that, that was the year that, you know, that we had to put sister Sparrow in the atrium and the atrium wasn't a venue. I mean, it's still barely a venue,

but we had to put a full. Did you build that shit? So you created that little venue space? Yeah. So it used to just be a piano. I mean, it's still barely a venue, but we had to put it full. Did you build that shit? Did you create that little venue space? Yeah, so it used to just be a piano. It's where the piano sets are, which are great. The piano sets are beautiful, but now I've established. Did you see the Ivan piano set? Ivan Neville?

I never miss that. That's my one time that I just, everybody knows I'm off duty then. Nobody bothers me. He always puts a song in there for me. He's, he used to put Dave Matthews crash because Ivan's whole thing is, you know, you know, I'm a big black guy,

but you know, but I'm going to cry like a baby all the time. I'm not that tough. And so, you know, last year he did a Bruce Hornsby song for me. And then this year he can't look at me. He actually said during the set,

I can't look at certain people because it's just going to make me choke up. And so I was behind him and he played Bonnie rates. If I can't make you love me. And it's just going to make me choke up. And so I was behind him and he played Bonnie Raitt's If I Can't Make You Love Me. And it was just, it was so beautiful. And he loves that piano set. You know, he doesn't get paid. He does it because he loves it. He just is a part of his life.

That's what I love about these musicians. I know. You build a family of musicians. I know. I forgot to say that actually at the at the uh artist photo yesterday it's not just the fans but I was just trying to kill time and I didn't think of it but it's like what we have done for the musicians is amazing I was hanging out with Stan Moore last night and Andy your art your your buddy and I was like Stan are you having a good time you're not playing for four you know days are you okay with that and he's like are you kidding me I get to hang out with

my friends and I was just like, this makes me so happy that we've helped build, you know, not only tours and bands, but lifelong friendships within the musicians, which I know that,

you know, you have found within Vince Herman and you guys met last year on Jam Cruise. And Turquoise. And Turquoise. And Pigeons.

Every band we've toured with is because we built a family with them at Jam Cruise. That makes me so happy. So you are the soul sister to me being friends with all these people. So thank you, Annabelle. I love you with all my heart. It is a gift and a dream.

And I love you too. But so you've had a lot of guys who just play every year. Sure. Just like, is that like your true friend? Like your guys that you've had since the beginning? You've known like George Porter. Like I got guys that you've had since the beginning, you've known like, like George Porter. Like I got George Porter on the interview tonight.

Oh good. So he told me a lot of things. He's such a sweet man, but he told me he did basically all of them. And like, he's dealt with so much, you know, his wife passing and like,

we loved, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a couple years ago. And I mean, he, you know, she loved Jam Cruz as much as he did. And he loves Jam Cruise. It's a part of his life.

No matter what, we just figure out a way to get him on. We've had him in lots of different bands, just because he's important. I call him the king of Jam Cruise. What do you think, as a man, what do you think of George Porter? I've talked to him about it because I know him on stage and off stage. I know him behind behind the scenes he's one of my closest friends and and

so you know he's a father figure and it's and it's you know it's a lot of weight to carry but he he owns it you know he doesn't party anymore he used to party a lot so he sort of you know keeps his eye on and looks out for for all the other musicians and they look up to him. He's just very cool, calm and collected and so damn talented. One of the things I love most about him is because he's going to play in the jam room. Tonight's his jam room night, actually. He's going to play in the jam room and he's the only musician who doesn't invite people to play.

So most jam room musicians are like, hey, you want to come and play in the jam room with me tonight? And he just comes to the jam room and people are like, hey, can I play with you, George? And he just sort of, you know, is a mentor spiritually, emotionally, musically to so many of the musicians. It's unbelievable. I've learned that in an hour of talking to him. I've never met him.

It was so cool to finally interview him. an hour of talking to him. I've never met him. It was so cool to finally interview him. And I just want to say, thank you so much, Annabelle, for bringing me into this family. Everyone's been super sweet to me.

I would like, do you think you want to introduce us tomorrow, 8.30 or Saturday, 8.30 to 10? Of course, I'm going to introduce you on the pool deck. Are you joking? Oh, the honor. I already know what I want to say. Perfect. So, yeah, no, it's it's you know between me and mark and josh and you know we just it's our team our booking team is just the best i mean the the essence of jam cruise is is

is revealed to us when it all comes together on board know, we put it together on paper and hope for the best, but we kind of really have a feeling of, you know, what works. And then it really does. Because once you mix a great community of people with a great lineup of music, with a friendly staff, I mean, it's a no-brainer. And, I mean, like the sunsets that we have had. I mean, it's just literally like ALO was playing on the pool deck or Crumbin last night.

I mean, I got a little wet, I must say. Oh, she's so beautiful. I mean, you think I'm talking about Laura. Yes, I know. Totally. Total girl crush on Laura. And just a crush on Mark I mean god they're just amazing

but just watching the sunset and just listening to the music and thinking about what it means to have the sun setting and have music playing and you're in the middle of the ocean it's just like wow this is real it's true it's true I love it

we're only halfway in And I'm having the time of my life And even the doctors Your Jam Cruise doctor Stitched me up Guys I have 15 stitches I had a cauliflower ear And they have an ear and nose doctor

And he's like you know what I'll fix it up Two hours I was in there just talking to me He was the sweetest guy So respect respect to that doctor. He's awesome. Please note, disclaimer, Andy did not hurt himself on Jamcruise. No, I'm just joking. I'm kidding. But no, I mean, I know we are our medical and safety team is like the best in the business. It's just so cool. I actually just witnessed something when in there, there was a passenger that was looking for something that they didn't have. And he was frustrated with the situation.

Nothing to really do with us. And the way that our team handled it was super professional. I went back in and told them that I think that they're doing such a great job. They deserve it. And I mean, in this scene, well, I mean, in this scene, we need people like that, you know? You know, because people like to have a good time. So it's good that they are on top of it. Shall we continue having a good time? Let's go have a good time So it's good that they That they are on top of it

Shall we continue having a good time then? Let's go have a good time Alright guys Enjoy the George Porter Jr. interview And we will catch you after Bye And we're here With George fucking Porter

Ladies and gentlemen Junior Junior George How you doing? Can I call you Junior? George fucking Porter, ladies and gentlemen. Junior. George, how you doing? Can I call you Junior? Yeah, that's fine. Some people just call me Junior.

I hounded people so long for many years. Why? Why is that? Well, you know, my dad was a senior. Yeah. And it was years. You know, actually, I'm going to tell you the whole truth. You asked the question. Come on, give it to me. The whole truth was that there was a company You know, actually, I'm going to tell you the whole truth. You asked the question. Come on, give it to me. The whole truth was that there was a company that used to sell

like wash machines and all that kind of stuff. It was right around the corner from my house. And me and my wife first got together. We wanted a washer and a dishwasher machine. No, no, it wasn't a clothes washing machine. And we went to this little shop. I think it was called AutoZone or something. Not AutoZone.

I can't think of the name. It was one of those kind of stores where you can go and rent to buy, you know, the kind of things like that. And we went in to go get this washing machine. And the guy, and a guy, you know, he's took all our information and he came back and says, um,

George Porter, uh, are you the, um, George Porter that, um, there's such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a,

such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, but we showing that you have defaulted on a dishwashing machine. I say, I don't own a dishwashing machine. I never owned a dishwashing machine. And we went back and forth about this dishwashing machine.

I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not me. And come to find out, it was my dad. Oh, my God. You know, and it come to find out it was my dad. Oh, my God. And, you know, from that day on, which was probably like 1965, 66, you know, I just insisted on using Junior. You know, I told my mom about that.

And my mom said, well, the way you separate that is you use Junior. That's your name. Yeah. You know, she said, no, you say you use Junior. Oh, also use George Joseph Anthony Porter Junior. The full name? The full name. And then nobody would know that your dad doing anything.

I said, oh, I ain't going. So I went with Junior. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. Talk about your family. Were they big inspirations musically to you when you were growing up as kids? My mom was a singer in a Catholic school choir. And my dad just listened to Bebop and Sonny Stitt and Stanley Turrentine. He wasn't into the Coltrane stuff and

all that kind of stuff, but he did like Shirley Scott, which was Coltrane's wife, I think, for a while. But no, he never played or anything. And my mama didn't play, and she just sang. So were you singing before you played? Or was it mostly? No, I don't think so. I don't think so i don't think so i i um i took piano

um for a short period of time um um not even eight lessons i don't believe um from a cousin my um zig's brother older brother with clinton but um zig and i both being Capricorns, it was too much competition. His brother was teaching me and Zig wanted to be involved in the, you know, you don't teach me. Rob Markman, Jr.: Oh no. Rob Markman, Jr.: So his mom ended that. Rob Markman, Jr.: Yeah. Rob Markman, Jr.: And maybe a year later, my mother bought me an acoustic guitar for

Christmas. Rob Markman, Jr.: Yeah. Rob Markman, Jr.: And I was eight years old. Yeah. Rob Markman, was eight years old. Yeah. Rob Markman So when did you start playing the bass and like really say this is it? Rob Markman Well, I started playing bass when I started playing acoustic because my teacher was teaching me to play classical music.

You know, the keys to me, the classical formula to playing. So I learned bass lines at the same time as playing, you know, Home, Home on the Range and stuff like that, I learned the bass line. Rob Markman Did you grow up in New Orleans? Rob Markman Yes. Rob Markman So what part? at the same time as playing home, home on the range and stuff like that in the bass line. Did you grow up in New Orleans? Yes. What part? The third ward, which was... In fact, we kind of grew up in a neighborhood

that was right down the street from Parrish Prison. And we were always told, if y'all be bad, that's where y'all going. Really? That's crazy. So growing up in New Orleans, what was the scene like? I was talking to Ivan about this too. Was it just, is it way different than it was now? Or what was the poppin' scene in New Orleans? Was it

the 60s? Was it the 70s? Ivan DeBell You know, I mean- Rob Markman Were you making a living? Ivan DeBell I came to, well I was earning a living, yeah, somewhat in the 60s, playing on Bourbon Street between Uptown New Orleans and the Nightcap, where actually with the band that eventually became called The Meters, we started up there on Louisiana. What were you playing? Was songs or music we were playing?

Yeah. Well, mostly cover stuff you know mostly New Orleans based cover songs and we did you know we we know we did instrumental stuff that we had a saxophone player in the band at the time Gary Brown but it was Leo Nossenthali, Zig was on drums and he wasn't the original drummer but he came in to sub while the on drums and he wasn't the original drummer but he came in to sub while the um the the the drummer went off to had a minor surgery i could never remember his name and um seems like zig erased him you know he's like he's got he got erased from history um and um and art and um the five of us played the nightcap. So we were playing covers most part, but we were doing a lot of New Orleans stuff, a lot of stuff. And Art Neville, of course, he had his own history.

And from time to time, everyone might pop in and sing tell it like it is. Yeah. You know, take how it's sung. You sing. You've always had this voice? Had this voice? Yeah, you have a beautiful voice. I do? George, hell yeah.

Soulful. I mean, I've seen you play at the Maple Leaf now. I've only seen you play the last 10 years, but listening to these old tracks and just hearing all these stories about you, you sing. Were you always singing like this? No. I think it's probably I've grown into the singing.

Well, it's probably now since the 80s because after the meters broke up, then I had to somewhat start earning a living. So I think I've always wanted to, you know, sing. And I'm getting a little better at it. But I was a big fan of Ray Charles and Earl King. So, you know, I think those two guys probably had the most influence. And Curtis Mayfield. Oh, Curtis is the man.

So between the three of those guys, I had the influence of where I wanted to do my thing. And sometimes when I used to do songs like, Yesterday and Get Out My Life, Womanly, D'Arcy. But I got a woman. And so that was my Ray Charles My Rich Halls thing You know Just kind of locked in Just leading on the bass Yeah

So I want to Let's I want to I want to I know I'm jumping back and forth I'm just really excited That's okay Okay

I want to talk about the meters I want to talk about The scene Were you guys like Gigging hard In the beginning years Like What was the break

Was it a record Was it just you guys becoming the meters actually when the meters actually did our first record in 1968 um we went out they you know management you know packed us up and stuck us on the road for a while almost immediately and um yeah we was we were out like i said i have a daughter that was born in 1960 something yeah 68 yeah okay she was born in 1968 yeah yeah george and um you know when i by the time i got off the roads you know for the first couple of years, man, she was a young little thing. So we did a lot of traveling.

Was that hard or no? To being on the road? With having a baby like that? No, not really. I think I was probably considered an absentee father. Did she resent you for that at all? Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

She still hit me on the kneecaps whenever she can. Were you making money back then so you could bring money home, or was it still the grind? I was making money. And, well, you know, I was making money for the 60s. It wasn't, you know, if I was making that money today, I would be sleeping under the bridge. Yeah.

Oh, seriously. Like, I'm thinking about 60s, like, contracts. You ever had any bad experiences with contracts and stuff? Oh, all of them. I mean, the original contract that Demetrius signed took us almost 30 years to get out of it. What? Can you explain this? 30 years?

Bad. So what was the contract? What were they like? What were those development deals like in the 60s? It was a management contract with a gentleman that actually, you know, he was our manager. He was our manager, he was our producer, and he was for a short period of time our booking agent. Then President Carter changed something in the thing making the three things

being a conflict of interest. And so management management record producer gave up the booking agent part of it and um and then put us on the road with a tour manager that was supposed to be acting as our manager but really marshall seahorn was still being our manager he just had this kid out there you know giving making us think that he was our manager you know oh had this kid out there making us think that he was our manager. Oh, so it was just like some schmuck.

Yeah. And yes, he was a schmuck. So there were so many meter songs that were sampled and stuff. And you guys got none of that? Well, today. Now you do.

But like back then? Back then, then no no holy fuck are you serious yeah it was we um we know what luckily now that was just it's one of the things and they have to be considered a favorite but one of the lady in the office her name was mary ledbetter when she she did all the copyrights for all of our songs you know we could we didn't do any of that we didn't know nothing about that by the time we figured out that um that we should be protecting our copyrights and all that kind of stuff and uh and wanting publishing and stuff we had already been um three albums into the industry you you know? Are you serious? So it was, you know, it was just, you know, it was growing pains, you know, growing pains, you know.

You know, by the time Leo and Zig did their homework about, you know, publishing and stuff like that, it was up. But Mary did one thing that we have to credit her for doing is that she put our names on all of the music. That's great. So we got our copyrights because of our name. She registered us as the owners of the song.

Yeah. She registered the songs that's being published by C-Saint Music. And More Saint Music was the original one, then there's C-Saint Music. But, you know, so we never got any of our publishing. Were you getting big record advances, like, for making the records? No, they were getting the big advances. You got none of that either? None of that.

What? So, were you just living on? No, they were getting the big around. You got none of that either? None of that. What? None of that. So you just living on gig money? Yes, yes, yes. And how many shows were you doing? Like 200? Oh, we would do 200 a year easily. Jesus Christ.

Yeah. Damn, that's retirement, George. I want to fight this guy. Who is he? He dead. He dead? Okay, good. He got what's coming for him.

He got, yeah. The devil got him. But what do you feel about sampling music? What's your take on sampling music? Sampling? Yeah. Well, you know, I have, the problem I have with the sampling community,

and I think it wasn't as much the samplers as it was the industry, the way they just kind of closed their eyes to the fact that people were using our performances and just jacking us for it. And then the other part was the DJs, the disc jockeys, who were playing those people's music. I mean, if I was a DJ, I would have thought that, man, I knew these guys were sampling this. I would go research where they got it from and present that music as well. And say, this is where this came from. Because it had been doing both of us a favor at the same time. Are they just being lazy DJs or they don't care?

I just don't think they didn't give us. Yeah, right. I know you use those words, but I'm like, I'm going to be crying. I know. Sorry, sorry about that. I'll stop cussing. But yeah, that's crazy, George. I would be so pissed off and bitter if I walked into a nightclub

and my bass line is playing over something I didn't get paid for 30 years. Oh, 20 years I've been doing that. Yeah. It's okay. I don't have as much a problem with it. I don't listen to it. And I have always had friends that would call me up and tell me, say, oh, so-and-so is doing this.

Well, probably for the last um probably the last 15 20 years um you know licensing people have been licensing these things but there's artists like queen latifah and and you know others you know that's out there um that's you know this sample that has sampled us and um and and used our ideas and just kept the money. So crazy. They didn't even try and license it or nothing. Man. And then also, I want to talk about those effers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who you guys, it's crazy.

These people, I'm sorry. This isn't George speaking. It's fucking nuts, man. Seriously. How can they not put the funkiest band in the world, not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Is it politics?

You know, man, I think maybe someone in the band pissed them off. Yeah, someone hooked up with a girlfriend or something. I mean, at one time, when we first was nominated to come do this, to do it, you know, they wanted us to come and play

and all that kind of stuff. And there were members of the band that, you know, because we were all, at the time, the band was already split up. And, you know, so they were the more me persons of the band, in the band, you band, that dealt for themselves and put a bad light on the organization. Of course, at the time, it wasn't an organization. It was a default band at this point.

Yeah, I think that's it. Because what was funny is that when The Grateful Dead got inducted, I was on tour with Bill Kersman and Papa Molly in a band called Seven Walkers. Oh, nice. And so they brought, did Seven Walkers play that thing with Bill? We was just there.

Bill played it. But Bill was on stage, and he made his little speech, you know, after the induction. And he said, and I was sitting out in the audience. I wasn't there. I think I was told about it. But he told them from the stage, he said, sham, sham, sham on you guys, you know, because, yeah, Seven Walkers played that thing. And he said, later today,

one of the bass players for the original meters, you know, who is, I mean, half the meters is just in here, you know, studied those guys, you know, and y'all guys have not nominated them, you know. So he gave them the thing. He ripped them a new one, you know. And a whole bunch of, you know, the audience stood up and gave Bill a big audience round of applause, you know, and everything. And we was nominated the next year. Oh, okay.

We didn't win again. That's unbelievable. We've been nominated four times, I believe. Nominated four. Does that award mean anything to you, or do you want want to be in that uh you know i don't know and you know what what you know like idea is what is is this going to actually give me more income yeah as a you know as a working now i'm 71 years old now you know and and i'm thinking that everything and anything I do from this point on should be considered a working effort to, you know, just to be able to retire at 91. Yeah.

I mean, you're still gigging hard. And still be in good health. She's going to make sure I'm in good health. But, you know, I think that the idea of retiring, it's not a bad idea. So many of us don't retire. We just drop dead on stage sometimes. I don't think I'm interested in doing that. Rob Markman You know Bruce Hampton? Rob Markman Oh yeah, I know him. I love Colonel.

Rob Markman Yeah, Colonel. Everyone always has at least a couple of stories. Rob Markman I was on stage at the Maple Leaf the night he passed away. What? The night that happened. With Day of Schools? Yeah. And Taz, where he dropped the guitar to Taz?

You saw that? Yeah. No, I was on stage at the Maple Leaf. Oh. They were in Atlanta. Explain this. And someone, one of the guys in the audience, you know, kind of leaned up on the stage and told me, said that Colonel Bruce just...

I was told that the Colonel got electrocuted, you know, because, you know, it looked like he reached down at something to the audience. It looked like he reached down, but he was kind of like going down, you know? Yeah. And it was like, I was like, ah, you know, it kind of like threw me for a click. Could we probably like, I met him for the first time with PBS, we were out touring

and we would play some dates with him. And then we had been doing Jam Cruise. You know, he's been on every Jam Cruise. You know? And we had been spending time with Panic on the La Playa for a few years. We had spent some time

together. Me and him used to always sit together on the Jam Cruise in the autograph room and stuff and just give people shit. He was so special to a lot of people. I just couldn't believe that with the Taz thing. You know, Taz is unbelievable.

Yeah. I feel like that's... Well, I'm in the movie. Really? Yes, I'm in the movie. Where? When? Well, I don't know if it's out or it's been out or nothing,

but I need to call Sarah and ask her what's the latest on that. I believe they were doing some new editings and stuff when I talked to her about a year ago. And I need to call her because I haven't said hello this year. That's unbelievable. I want to go back to the meters. Can we go back to the meters for a second? Okay.

What's the best musical moment you ever had with the meters? Was it when you played with the Stones? Was it, what do you, to you? You know, I think, you know, a nice story would be is that we got invited in 75 to do the U.S., do,

I think it was 14 days with the, on the U.S. tour. With Stones? With the Stones. And, the very first one

was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And, the promoters was the local promoters. And those guys, they weren't big fans of the meters, the local promoter. But the Stones wanted us. The promoters was trying to do one of their people. And the Stones said, this is who we want to play the gig.

And so we got to play the gig. But when we showed up for the load-in after the songs, the sound checks and everything, and a stage was ours, when we showed up, they escorted us to the men's locker room. I mean, like the shower room. That was going the men's locker room. I mean, the shower room. That was going to be our dressing room. All the way in there, it was almost two blocks away from the actual theater. At some point after our sound check and stuff,

which really wasn't a sound check, it was a line check, we were sitting in the dress around. I was way back in the back by the shower smoking a joint. And I looked around. I heard sound voices. And I looked around in the back behind me and I turned around. Jagger and Richards came walking in to our shower. And Jagger was pissed. You know, he says, is that the way they treat you guys, you local people, man?

Is that the way they treat y'all? You know, and they were really upset, man, you know. So, you know, they said, nah, man, grab your stuff, man. Come on, come on, you know. And they took us to where, you know, Stonesville. Stone Street. And, oh, man, when we, you know, as we were walking towards, you know, we was walking around like a dome. It was a dome. So we walking around this dome.

And as we got to the area, getting closer to the area, you can hear birds and signs and music and shit like that. And man, it was like we just walked into a tropical paradise. It was unbelievable. Pissed me off even more so. I said, man, they had us in a shower. We wasn't even maternity. We were in the shower. Were you getting paid good for the support run or they just didn't care about you?

The money was really, really cheesy. It was unspeakable cheesy. But the Stones don't really pay that much money anyhow. Rob Markman It's for the experience. Yeah. Sometimes a lot of people have paid the stones to put their artists on these gigs. Oh, 100%.

So, you know, we got, they brought us around and they brought us in and then they gave us an area that was really nice. Then one of the guys gave up their jam room to be our dressing room, you know? Yeah. And, you know, and then,man And then all of Ronnie and everybody came out because those guys were fans of ours. And for them to see how Beaver Production was treating us was really insulting.

They even gave Beaver Production shit. Rob Markman How many days were you on the road with them? We did, I think it was 14 shows. 14 shows that, I guess it was- And they're all just like stadiums or what? Well, a couple of them were like in a football field. Yeah. I think the one in Memphis, man, those guys came out on stage

on elephants. No way. That's crazy. They rode out on stage on medium-sized elephants. Yeah. Oh, my God. It is halftime at the Ennefresco Interview Hour. Hi, I'm Brandon Miller,

lead investigator for the World Saving Podcast, and we are undercover at Jam Cruise 17. Wow! Let's fucking do this. Hey, this is Brandon here, coming at you from Jam Cruise 17. Brandon, it's nice to meet you. Now that I have a microphone in my face, I feel pressured to speak. And you got a shit ton of pins on your hat.

How many hits have you taken today? Seven. Seven? Seven. And is that all you've done today? So tell me what your shirt says, sir. It says, I shaved my balls for this? Well, I only shaved half of them.

So as I heard you come down the stairs, you were talking about motorboating somebody's bosom. Well, I was talking about motorboating her mom's bosom because Pam has some big tits haze. So, are you two together? Some singles mingles at the jam cruise. Singles mingles! So, what's the craziest thing you've seen? I walked into my roommate banging some dude in the shower.

Damn! How about you? I took a dump dude in the shower. Damn. How about you? I took a dump on someone's chest. Damn. What's the craziest thing you have done on Jam Cruise? Fucking Andy Frasco. You fucked Andy Frasco? In my dreams.

Wow. So how many condoms have you gotten through on this trip? 16,000. Holy shit. Holy sailors use condoms. All right, well, I'm hearing conflicting answers. So who else are banging on the ship? Everyone.

Literally everyone. All right, well, my room number is 8021. This pin you're wearing, tell me how it's worked for you on this trip. This blinking boat pin that I got from the Singles Mingles means I'm DTF for sex. As I was walking by after meeting this young gent and he read my palm, I read his scalp. It was love at first sight. And then you gave me this pin that said DTF for sex when it's blinking.

And so I just started blinking it every single night. And what do you know? Like moth to a flame. The gents are coming on Jam Cruise 17. You heard it every single night. And what do you know? Like moth to a flame. The gents are coming on Jam Cruise 17. You heard it here, folks. Have a good rest of the podcast. Wow! You're a big session player.

Yes. Do you love doing that? Is that like your passion right now? I love that. I love working in the studio. What do you love about it? Is that like your passion right now? I love that. I love working in the studio. What do you love about it? Just the creative nature. And, you know, I mean, when it's relaxed and, you know,

and nobody's not watching the clock, you know, it's usually really comfortable. And I just like the creative part about it. You know, it's not like we have to, you're working to please someone in front of you that's going to be feedback, immediate feedback, which sometimes, you know, could be good to have, you know, when you're in the studio, you're kind of isolated from that immediate feedback that, oh my God, that's BS, man.

You shouldn't do that. Have you ever produced records yourself? I've produced all, I've produced seven records on myself produce what seven i think it's seven six or seven solo records or like bands um bands you know it's band records yeah on myself my running partner's group yeah let me tell me about that do you what do you love about producing is it do you like being in control like that or do you like being the bass player what what are the differences both yeah both i i like uh i like being able to um you know i like to be able to be inspired you know working with alan two cent you learn things if you're paying attention you know didn't he give you a record deal yes yeah we um uh the first the our

earliest story alan was the partner oh how bad did he know about this no he didn't know as much about the badness because actually he he was he found out later in his in in our relationship within their relationship is that they were there his partner was back doing him too. Holy shit. This is like outlaws. This music industry is a bunch of crooked outlaws. Man, it's gangsters, man. The music industry was controlled by gangsters, yes.

Really? They were worse than the mob. I just don't, how do people get, is it because musicians don't really want to read the contracts? They don't want to understand it? Rob Markman, Jr.: Well, the earlier guys couldn't read. They were just great.

They were great blues players. And I believe it probably emerged from those... And not only just... And not only the blues community, man, but the country industry, the country music business was just as cut through. Rob Markman Yeah. Rob Markman The only industry in the music industry that was the artist, was the real thing, was the gospel community. Rob Markman Yeah, explain that.

Rob Markman The gospel community was just, most of the majority of those gospel groups, man, do really well. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And also because they sell their records right there. They get them manufactured, and people buy them straight from them. There's no middle person. The guys are managers.

None of that kind of stuff. And the country music and rock music and R&B and stuff. Man, you know, I mean, I remember Jagger, Zig one time in Europe, we heard something and Zig came into the little party after the thing and Zig was complaining about something and Jagger kind of looked at him and said, man, you guys haven't made any kind of, how do you say that? You guys haven't made near the money that they've stolen from us.

Oh my God. He said, so don't complain, man. Don't complain. You know, get high. Was Mick like that? Was he just straight up like that? Oh yeah, yeah. He was just straight out.

You know, I think one of the rules is man is that you you know you just don't really complain publicly about your shit yeah you know totally coming right now we all trying to get high we don't want to fucking hit you was it how was like the partying in the 70s was it uh was it wild i know the partying now in this scene. I doubt it's as wild. Well, you know, I'm more worried when I was partying, which was over 30 years. I've been sober 30 years. Yeah. But them 20 years of my partying, I have to say that we partied with cleaner drugs than these kids are partying with today.

Like, explain that. Well, I mean, cocaine was cocaine. I never did smack, but smack was smack. And acid was acid. And pot was, well, pot today is better, I think, today. It's better pot today than we had back then. Because we had a lot of that Mexican stuff, you know? Yeah.

And every now and then we might get some stuff from overseas. But it was mostly Mexican. But, you know, Oaxacan, I believe it was called. That was the shit. Yeah. If you were smoking Oaxacan, you were smoking the shit. Was LSD a big part of Meters musically? Not Meters, no.

George Porter Jr. George Porter Jr., oh yeah. I started doing acid probably in 67. Like microdose? Well, I don't know what that is, but there was some shit they called windowpane. Yeah? I remember windowpane. Yeah? I remember windowpane being a thing.

And then there was, it wasn't brown acid. It was somewhat that same kind of system that the brown acid was kind of. We had that in New Orleans. Yeah. Was it? Yeah, because I feel like, you know, I take mushrooms or psilocybin and a little bit of acid because I was going through depression, living on the road so much. It kind of just opens your brain up, like you said, of not having this pity party for your friend and figuring out what the main source of where you're getting all this angst or whatnot. I'm very curious about LSD uh music and being an open vessel can you explain more

about like finding a groove i never you know i can't today really um explain um all i can do is look at what i did then and and and and verify whether i thought it was good or not. When I look at a lot of the music that we recorded in the late 60s until probably 71, 72, I was not disappointed in what I did as a bass player. Yeah. I mean, in those period of time, I was just a bass player in the band. So I had very, I think during the earlier sessions, I think I may have wrote two songs that made it to the records. Yeah.

So I walk away and listen. If I listen at what my performances was today, there are some performances that I'll say, woo, but the majority of it is acceptable. I would say most of that music, especially between 68 and 71, was definitely on acid. Yeah. So what about...

We even spiked the manager one time. Tell me about that. How did you do that? What happened? We were recording this Cabbage Alley album, and the manager was... Well, we didn't do it on purpose. Me and Cyril had spiked a bottle of wine. We had dropped a tab of acid in a bottle of wine,

a whole tab of acid in a bottle of wine. It was sitting on the counter. We walked out of the control room, went back in the studio. When we came back in the control room, the manager had drank the damn bottle of wine. The whole bottle? The whole damn bottle. Oh, my God.

Did you tell him or not let him ride in? No, we didn't tell him nothing. What? He was lit, boy. Was he cool? Yeah,

he wasn't cool. He was freaking out. He didn't know what the hell to do. Oh my God. Did you ever hang out with the dead at all?

Like Jerry? No, I never knew him. West Coast cats? I never knew him. Mickey Hart was my first um meeting with um a member of the dead i did a small tour with him and um mickey still takes lsd he does every day yeah oh wow yeah um or at shows he's at when he's performing he said like a little microdose. Uh-huh.

And after I did the thing with Mickey, then it was a couple of years, and then Malcolm, Papa Molly, asked me about doing some dates with him and Bill. He's from San Francisco too, right? I don't know. I thought he was from Texas. Oh, I thought he was in San Francisco. I know he's been all over the planet. Let's put it that way. But we did the project with Seven Walkers, and that was Bill. And then I've actually played with almost the whole rhythm section. Really?

Four other guys. Yeah, four other guys. the whole rhythm section. Really? Four other guys. Yeah, four other guys. I did a thing with Phil, I think it was last year, it was a little project in Mobile, Alabama,

and we actually played together. And Bob Weir, last year, I played with him. He came out and set in with them. We played his nightclub in Sweetwater. The trio?

It was the running point of this band. Wow. Unbelievable. George, I want to go back to this 68 through 71. What are the songs you're still most proud of, of that time? You're like, you don't get the chills from hearing the bass line. Well, naturally the most hated song on the planet is Sister Strut. I hate it the most.

Why do you hate it the most? I just played it so much. I played it so much that I was in a band called Porta Baptiste Stokes. And Russell Baptiste hounded me. It was a trio, a power trio, about playing Sissy Strut. You know, bro, we need to play Sissy Strut. We need to da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da it's a guitar trio you know we don't we need an organ player to play sissy strut and um so um one day him and brian went to soundcheck early and um when i got there um russell said hey man check this out bro check this out bro and they um they started playing sissy strut but they played it kind of backwards they flipped it out and they turned it into a 12-bar blues. So they played a second lick first on a one and a four chord, and the first lick on a five and a four chord.

And I said, you know something, I can play it that way. And so we started calling it Sissy Got the Blues. That's sick. Do you still play a lot of those meter songs now? I recorded an album with the running point. It's called Can't Beat the Funk. And it was, I did 14, 16, I did 16 meter songs that was recorded by the band, never performed live by the band.

Yeah. And that was about four years ago, I guess now. And today I'm still playing with Running Poet. You know, there's about three of those songs that still don't get played live. Really? You know, yeah. Is it hard? Is it they just guys don't know it live?

Yeah, I think, well, you know, we have a new guitar player now in running part. It's Chris Atkins. And he came to the band wanting to play those songs. Oh, wow. So we actually play, I think there's only one that we don't play. Oh, we may play all of them now. Because Chris, you know, my original guitar player, Brent Anderson, didn't have a problem with playing those songs.

And they were guitar-led songs. But they were songs that started on the end of things. And so one was always a problem, knowing where one's supposed to be at. When one is just not spoken. was always a problem knowing where one's supposed to be at. Yeah. When one is just not spoken, you know? Yeah. And so,

so we never played them with Brit in the band. Those three songs, they were with Britches and The Mob. I can't think what the other one is. But, well,

those two. Maybe it's just two. And, but Chris wants to play those songs. so we've been playing them. Rob Markman That's awesome. Do you feel weird not playing with your boys? Rob Markman Not at all. Not at all, man.

Rob Markman Was there any bad beef with y'all? Rob Markman Oh, in the meters? No, no bad blood. There's no bad blood. You know, Art Neville just recently retired. Rob Markman Oh, wow. Rob Markman He may be one of the few musicians on the planet that actually retired.

Rob Markman Yeah. That's crazy. You can't retire. Rob Markman Yeah. There are people who don't want you to do. But he retired. His health just started getting really under way. Rob Markman I've been going to your Maple Leaf show,

and just listening in to songs, maybe you've heard them, maybe you haven't, and finding the perfect bass line. Like, it makes the song so much better. It makes the song so much fuller. I mean, did you learn that from anybody, or just from playing and playing and playing with different drummers and different? I think playing with Zigaboo, you know, I learned a lot about syncopation because Zig was a very syncopated drummer. But, you know, I believe working with Alan

Toussaint, you kind of, you know, because I was a busy, busy player when I was a kid, you know, got going to, before we started doing those recordings, those Lee Dorsey recordings with Alan Toussaint. And before the meters actually became the meters, I was bassline all over the place, you know. I wasn't playing triplets a lot. bass line all over the place. I wasn't playing triplets a lot. I was playing, I'll be doing more walking kind of bass line patterns, not necessarily a jazz walk, but a blues kind of walk thing, which is very, very close to a jazz walk.

One is, I always used to say that most jazz is just 12-ball blueses. Really? I always get bitched around by those jazz musicians. But my thoughts is that as a bass player, I have a job. My job is that the drummer is the guardian of the groove. If he's a good drummer, then he says he creates a pocket that the rest of us have to climb into. And I believe that what I call a pocket is when a bass player and a bass drum locks

in the same area of that piece of music. And my bass line does not interfere with the backbeat. In other words, when that snare drum pops, there's no bass note on that snare. But you are simpatico with the drummer. Yes, yes. And then from there, the rest of the band can do and go anywhere they want to go,

because they have a pocket to climb into. And even when you're playing on situations where the music goes anywhere, it goes all around and jam and stuff, Like my Monday night gigs, we play with things. We go off there. And more like the first 20, 30 minutes of the set is usually just music off the top of our heads. We just start playing. What? Yeah. So that's because when you're transitioning into these songs, from song to song, I saw last night at the jam, there's no set list. You're just going straight into the groove.

Right. And then your drummer is amazing. Yes. There's no set list. You're just going straight into the groove. Right. And then your drummer is amazing. Yes. He looks like a kid. Terrence Houston. How old is he? He's about 30-something, huh? He's in his 30s.

You found him in New Orleans? Yeah. Oh, my God. My daughter brought him to us. She told us to go check him out, yeah. All these musicians just magnate to you george it's an amazing feeling that you are like i won't say that you are like the godfather of funk man i'm serious george a lot of people every time you i've only got this with you and bruce hampton

where once they say your name people are smiling yeah. Yeah. It's just, you're meaning so much to people. And to hear that you've suffered through those 30 years of the record company, that fucking pisses me off. Not getting publishing. That's annoying. Because now everyone would be on their ass about the publishing. And just because it was a different time, no one was thinking about it. Well, it was taught. I mean, you know, music, I think the whole idea of music was people started playing music because it was a family gathering.

We all got around and we played. And it grew from being inside the family thing to the guys going on the corner and playing with the other guys, you know, some of the things. And then they say, well, let's go somewhere and the other guys, you know, some of the things. And, but, you know, then they, you know, say, well, let's go somewhere and play for people, you know? And, you know, and I mean, my very first gig, I'll never tell you, the very first gig I played, I was probably like 15 years old, maybe. And it was in a sanctified church, you know,

and it was uptempo gospel music, you know? And the band got played seriously the band got paid a dollar and 50 cents a piece and a bottle of wine a quart it was like i guess it was like a quart bottle of wine you know i didn't get i got the dollar and 50 cents i didn't get the wine because they wouldn't let me drink the wine. Yeah? What happened when you drank the wine? Oh, I wasn't. Oh, okay. I couldn't get home. You were 15.

My wife, my mother would kick my butt. Dollar and 50 cents? Dollar and 50 cents. That's crazy, man. What do you think? Why? They just didn't care about the side musicians? Or that was just the budget? Well side musicians or that was just the budget?

Well, I think that was just the budget then. And for the musicians, we weren't doing it for the money. No. We were just playing. We were developing a craft, a style thing, I think. I can't really give a real true answer to that because you know it wasn't until we learn or we start seeing managers buy houses and buy big long cars and build swimming pools and stuff that we realize that man somebody's making money

here you know you're eating out of cans yeah and and and and you know and yeah we're still eating out of the out of the you know the campbell soup band you know unbelievable so you know that's so that but that was what was the moment what was the moment was there a moment like i am like eating out of cam this manager is rolling in and uh well i would think it would we were on bourbon street by now and you know and we we we were making more money in our tip joint and the club was paying us oh my god are you serious yeah but see bourbon street held that against you you know i mean they they i mean today i mean you know to yeah even today man the clubs on bourbon street man those guys are getting paid like eight8 to $10 an hour. What? Yeah.

But you're making a bunch of tips. But your tips, the tips, you know, some of them luck out and make really great tips. Yeah. But, you know, most of them, you know, I mean, you know, the disco joints, you know, they don't call it disco anymore, but it's the same shit. Yeah.

You know, what do you call it? Dance music or something like that. It's the same thing. What do they call it? Dance music or something like that. It's the same thing. It's disco. Those rooms are pushing the live music off of Bourbon Street quickly and quickly. There may be eight, maybe 10 live bands playing on Bourbon Street today. When we played on Bourbon Street in the 60s, there was a band in every room, even in the lobby of the hotels that was down there. There were bands. So every room on Bourbon Street

had a band in it. Did you ever play with Booker? James Booker? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Not a whole lot, but I had played with him several times. I heard he was kind of like

the mayor of New Orleans. He would dress up in like uh police outfits and like just like was it all these different characters like all these like New Orleans brought a lot of characters and they've transcended the music scene for the last 30 years and or 40 or 100 I mean music and food is of America I think is from Louisiana and New Orleans, that culture. What do you, do you think that's helping you grow as a person in New Orleans? Like, what do you, do you love New Orleans? Did it help me grow as a person?

Oh, absolutely. You know, I would, I would think that if I was, if I grew up anywhere else on the planet, I'm not sure if I would be a musician. You know, I mean, there are wonderful musicians that come from all over the country and all over the states. But I think just my roots and being in New Orleans, you know, just gave me the incentive to, you know, I wanted to be a musician. I did it outright.

I knew that. You know, my dad wanted me to learn the trade, you know, to be a presser, you know, get a real job. Oh, man. But, no, it was. Was there always pressure from your parents to get a real job, even when you were in the meters and not really making money? Well, when I was in the meters, I really making money when i was in the meters i

had by that time my mom and dad had already been separated and mom had lost control of her her drug her drug addicted kid oh yeah music is it all right one last question george i'll let you go i know it's thank you for doing this by the way oh thanks really means a lot i i could hear stories forever i mean honestly you gotta read the rest of it in the book yeah yeah you got a book It really means a lot. I could hear stories forever. I mean, honestly. You got to read the rest of it in the book. Yeah, yeah. You got a book? Well, we've been working on it for 10 years. Come on.

Get it out, George. You've done so much in this music industry. There's so many people, advocates, and who will fight for you, bud. I'm just letting you know. We got your back. Write the book. Talk that shit. Come on, George.

One last question, but if you could tell, you know, 19-year-old, 20-year-old George what you've learned from these many years in the music industry,

what would be the advice you'd give him? Wow. I would probably, you know, I think the most important part about what we do for a living is, you know, I think we have to learn the craft, learn the music, learn about, but most important, learn the business because the music business is that just that it's a business you know and you know i mean you know we all you know the idea i mean i think the idea of musicians the younger musicians they look up on television they see these guys playing yeah and they say i want to

do that so okay so you can't just jump from looking at it on a tube and jump to where those guys are. Or if your chances of getting where they are probably gets a lot better if you know the business. But then again, that could be a bad thing, you know, because, you know, the industry don't want you to be smart. You know, the industry don't want you to be smart. No. They'd rather you be dumb and stupid about the business because then they can control how you do it, you know? I think right now the industry is taking a nice bloody nose because, you know, first of all, we can record a record in this room.

Yeah. You know, we can produce it, master it, do everything. Well, we can't master it in this room, but we can get it on tape, you know, or on hard drive, you know, where the industry has nothing to do with it, you know. And at that point, then, you know, but still, it's still not as easy as getting your music on the air for the media. I mean, the internet thing is great. But for some reason or other,

there aren't as many, what you call, platinum records guys on the internet. I mean, there's been a few success stories that's internet involved. But most part, it's not. You have to go through the machine. Yeah, the machine still controls the whole planet and where, you know.

So I think learn the business and then play dumb. Yeah. That's the vice I'm looking for. Learn the business and play dumb. You know, just hear what they're talking about. Protect your shit. Just protect your stuff, man. Make your music.

And the deals that you're going to make with your publisher and all that kind of stuff, I think today it's almost like a given. You own your publishing. You should. You give a piece of it away to give the record label incentive to go make money with it you know because i mean before it was they took all the publishing you know and you know they well i mean they had incentive but they didn't really need it because they had it all yeah you

know now you know if you own 75 of the of the of your publishing and they own 25%. They're going to make money. They're going to go out and hustle that 25%. Yeah, because they got to hustle it because they're only getting 25%. Right, right. So that's, you know, so it's, I mean, you know, learn the business. You know, it can't, I mean, learn your craft, learn your instrument, you know. Be a confident player, but, you know, but also be a smart player. Absolutely.

George, thanks for inspiring so many people. Thanks for inspiring me to be a better person. I mean, I'm going to try not to cuss now. I mean, I've learned a lot from you. So thank you so much. And also, I would love for you to sit in playing Saturday. I don't know what you're doing. We're in a funk outfit uh a lot of horns um ivan's gonna sit in it'd be an honor saturday saturday night i don't think ivan's gonna be here saturday night i think he's off

the boat and he's on thursday i have a thursday show too yeah oh y'all play thursday thursday yeah okay that one's late that's at 2 a.m. I don't want to put you too late. I wonder who kept you up all night. Yeah, because we play right after you, I think.

Yeah, so if you want to play at the theater, you're more than welcome if you're going to be up. Oh, okay, cool. It's just been an honor. Out on the pool deck. Yeah, out on the pool deck.

All right. Thank you, George, so much and thanks for everything you've done and fuck the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Hey, guys. It's Andy. I want to introduce, we put out our third single off of our album,

Change Your Pace. It's called Can't Force Love. I'm going to play that right now. So you guys get to hear it if you haven't heard it. Yeah, I love this this i'm starting to really love this record more and more as i listen to it you know some i normally get sick of my shit because when you're working on a record you that's all you think about but i took a step back you know that's when you really know if you you made something good i think i made something good

here um but i don't know maybe maybe it sucks. But I hope you like it. Ladies and gentlemen, the world premiere on the World Saving Podcast, Can't Force Love. Hope you enjoy it. If you need sunshine I'll open the blinds You need a smile, I'll give you mine If you're aiming for a mountain, I'm your walking shoes Whenever you need a man, you know I'm your walking shoes Whenever you need a man You know I'm here for you And I don't know

Am I moving too fast? Do you know Am I part of your plans? You can't force love, it's gotta come to you You can't force love, it's gotta come to you Are you insecure, babe? Well, me too But you can't force love

It's gotta come to you You need laughter I'll be your clown You need some courage We can walk through town And when you need a relax You need some courage, we can walk through town And when you need a relax, I'll bring the cocaine When you need a change from real babe, we'll jet on an airplane

But I don't know, am I moving too fast? Do you know, am I part of your plan? You can't force love, it's gotta come to you You can't force love, it's gotta come to you Are you insecure babe? Well me too You can't force love, it's gotta come to you But I don't know, am I moving too fast? Do you know, am I part of your plan? Do you know, am I part of your plan? You can't force love, it's gotta come to you Oh, you can't force love

You can't force love, it's gotta come to you You insecure babe, you insecure babe Well, me too. You can't force love, it's gotta come to you. You can't force love, it's gotta come to you. And there you have it. George Porter Jr. George is the man I got Chad Kikuzu with me

Finishing off this episode What's up, Chad? Oh my god I don't have any more of my voice What a great experience J.M. Cruise was You know, it really is A one-of-a-kind experience

I mean, we've been to All kinds of festivals All over the world We've done all kinds of crazy shit But I mean, we've been to all kinds of festivals all over the world. We've done all kinds of crazy shit, but, I mean, this is like the elite party-goer, festival-goer people. It is, dude.

What is the craziest thing you saw on the Jam Cruise? Well, you know, I have to say that I mean, it's not that crazy, but you see people going through, like, emotional things, like where, you know, you're looking at the beautiful sunset and then you turn around and somebody's

proposing to their girlfriend. There's a bunch of people clapping and crying and shit. And then you just go down to the theater and see the most funkiest fucking music. Like, you know, like elite musicianship kind of folks. But then you'll see a dude walking around with like a unicorn fucking

thing in his butt. Just like, hey! It's true. Every corner you turn around, there's always crazy shit. Man, we were there for seven days. Now we we're just kind of like decompressing. We just drove six hours today

to Savannah, Georgia. We're about to start our tour with Carl Denson. Chad's with us, with his brother. But I thought the coolest is when we did second lines. I fucked up my ear. I had 15 stitches in my fucking ear. We went sailing.

You saw me with a cauliflower ear and then it got blooded out. We had an adventure on the fucking ocean amigo i was successful at getting the boat cops called on me again so what happened we were jamming on the elevator you know me and maddie arno was with us we were rocking a drum thing and you're going up and down the elevator doing some drums you know little surprise jam and you take it out into the hallway and it gets so packed that they're like you know if there's a fire guys

people are gonna die there's too many people right here what do you think jay uh cruise jails like oh man that's something i never really want to know about oh my god sean almost went to cruise jail two years ago remember at the casino where he was just fucking wasted at rock boat and what happened you uh we were sitting there and we were getting crazy with the cheese whiz per usual and they were like that guy he's cut off and i was like nobody cuts off sean he's like what i'm cut off i'm like yeah they cut you off dude they wouldn't let me get you drink fucking just pours his beer out right there on the casino floor. And then, you know, of course, Joe comes and saves him,

takes him to the room and shit. It's time to go. Yeah, it's time to go. So what did we learn about this jam cruise experience? I learned that we have a bunch of musician friends who are just like good fucking people and like really just care about each other, you know? Like we have a family now.

It is a giant floating family. It's unbelievable. Second year and this made me feel like, holy shit, this is the past. Well, you know, last year was kind of our first year and then everybody got wind of the craziness and then, you know, we're showing up and playing a three o'clock

in the morning set to a packed house and everybody's really fucking weird, you know? It's true, man. You know, it does take a couple days. You get acclimated, you know, your first day, everybody's you see everybody getting adjusted. But like that third or fourth night, man, it's just the most trippiest environment you could

really fucking have on an ocean, you know? You know you know it's like to think like you you are stuck with what 2,500 people hopefully they're good people and and they are fucking good people everyone's been was super nice hugging us and oh yeah man that's just part of the love man very abundant love and what's cool about you know the boat boat proportion of it is that, you know, if you're a festival, you're not contained. So you might meet somebody that you really like and, you know, have a little quick thing with and you might not ever see them again. But pretty much on the boat, you're guaranteed to see that person again. So you really get to be able to, like, build a bonding experience with these people, you know. Yeah.

It's different. be able to build a bonding experience with these people. It's different. That's why I didn't want to hook up on the boat because then you're hooked up for seven days. I'm a lone wolf. Nobody likes taking that sand

to the beach. Chad, it's been fun, bud. Thanks for having us, man. We've had a blast, dude. Oh, man. Now we've got some dates with Denson. We're playing in Atlanta, bud. Thanks for having us, man. Oh, man. Now we got some dates with Denson. We're playing in Atlanta. People. Charleston this week. Wilmington, North

Carolina. Three nights with Carl Denson. And then we're doing Gasparilla Fest in Tampa. I'm trying to convince the Cucuzza boys to come with us. And then we do Rock Boat. Another fucking cruise. Dude, we've been on boats this whole month. Dude, this is like the Catalina fucking wine mixer, dude.

Yeah, we went down to start off the cruise. We went down and hung out with our buddy Branton on a sailboat down in the Key West and went and floated out to Marquesas Island, an uninhabited island. Let's talk about that. We went fucking sailing in kind kind of near the caribbean and we had to like fucking sleep on a sailboat i've never done that before i was a little scared at first because you it was your buddy or was brandon's buddy and like oh yeah this guy must

be a pro fucking sailor for like two years like what the fuck are we doing it is crazy you get on a little 50 foot sailboat with nine nine people we had on a 50-foot sailboat. Oh, my God. And you don't see land for a few days. And you're going like, you know, I don't know how many knots it is or whatever. 10 miles per hour. So you're not going fast. You're just taking your time on these fucking waves.

It was scary. We caught a shark. Didn't we catch a shark? Yeah, we caught a couple sharks. I caught a catfish. That was pretty cool. Yeah, you got a hardhead catfish. Matt got a big-ass mackerel that we ate.

It was a big kingfish. Big kingfish. And we ate everything that we caught, pretty much, except for the sharks. Yeah, we let go of the sharks. I mean, we're talking catch a fish and eat it right there two seconds later. It was delicious. We're living, Chatty. It's awesome, dude.

Let's do a high five. Let's do a high five. Yeah. That's it, guys. Let's do a high five. That's it, guys. That's all we can give you today. We had a great time at Jam Cruise. We're still buzzing. We're tired. We worked our ass off. I got a ton of interviews. Chatty was rocking.

You guys were up to like 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m. every day. How many times did you see the sunset or sunrise? Every day. Oh oh my fucking god I had to get some sleep because I had to talk to people on these interviews

it's hard to sleep on that boat man because there's always something cool going on there's people playing music until like 8am you're energized the whole time

no matter what it's beautiful subscribe to the podcast find us on Instagram I got tour dates andyfrasco.com I got a couple new singles out My new record comes out in February

So pre-order it We gotta pre-order it so we can get Oh, shout out to fucking Ari Fink For putting Can't Force Love And Change A Pace on SiriusXM We're on the radio, people We are on the radio

Things are moving But Chatty, people. We are on the radio. Things are moving. But Chatty, thanks for being part of the show. We're going to get you on next week, too, so we can talk about... Carl Denton's going to get us fit. He's going to put us on a diet. He's going to put us on fucking weights. Did you see when we watched

the Kansas City game with him? He was just pumped up. He was like, I'm squeezing my butt cheeks. You're in my personal space. He's a strong motherfucker, dude. You see those pictures of him doing the yoga class for everybody.

I know that. No, that Tai Chi thing. Brick shithouse, that guy. That fool would beat the shit out of me with a couple fingers. I got to be real respectful. We got to be on our best behavior when we're with Carl. He's on our team, dude. He's on our team. I know got to be real respectful. We got to be on our best behavior when we're with Carl. He's on our team, dude.

He's on our team. I know, but still be respectful. Let's not black out in front of him too many times. I want to go on tour with him again. All right, guys. That's it. Season two starts.

We got a lot of new things. You got any new... You better get some segments in there, Chatty. Yeah, we'll get some together. Matty and Chatty story time. We'll get some nice relevant stuff. Go check out Chad's band, Spoonfed Tribe.

They're the baddest. They are the baddest. And they have Ah, Fuck Yeahs. If you're in the Dallas area, Texas area, they gig around there a lot. Oklahoma too? Yeah, all over the place. We got some new music coming out from our little side project thing that we're going to be blasting off pretty hardcore this year.

The End of the World Parade. We've been in the studio. Been in the studio. So look out for that, bro. One of the days you'll let me produce your records. On that note, you hear that silence? He'll never let me produce. Why won't you let me? I'm ready to produce.

You want to produce? I want to produce. I want to try. Let's give it a whack at it. Any bands who want me to produce their records, holler at me. All right, guys. Love you guys. Be safe.

Wear condoms. Take care of yourselves. Life's short. Do all this crazy shit. I never knew I was going to go on a fucking sailboat, and we did it. I was scared, but I made it through. You can make it through, too. You even did it with cauliflower here too.

Fuck yeah, dude. Rocky Balboa up in this bitch, dude. Bum, ba-da-bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum, ba-da-bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum, ba-da-bum, ba-da-bum, ba-da-bum, ba-da-bum. Alright, guys. Goodbye.

Well, thank you for listening to episode 33 and the season 2 opening show of Andy Fresco's world saving podcast produced by Andy Fresco Joe Angelhauer and Chris Lawrence

please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon for info on the show please head to our Instagram at frescoandjeddy for more info on the blog and tour dates head to andyfresco.com

for more information on our guest George Porter Jr. please head to georgeporterjr.com that is georgeporterjr.com that is georgeporterjr.com special co-host is Annabelle from Jam Cruise check her out on jamcruise.com check out Andy's latest single Can't Force Love on iTunes, Spotify and everywhere else where you can stream your music

this week's special guests are Ari Feindling and those crazy motherfucking lovely amazing people on Jam Cruise. Wow, what a party that was. We are down in the lobby of the Marriott in Miami, just debarked the ship back on earth. The van's battery gone flat, we spent most of our fees on tabs, we're broke, hungover and tired as fuck, I'm recording this in the bathroom with Andy.

Hi Andy. But the internet is free. So I guess we're back to normal. Welcome to season two of the World Saving Podcast, everybody.