Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - World Famous Radio DJ RICHARD BLADE: Stories w/ Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand, Richard Branson & More

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

World famous new wave radio DJ Richard Blade joins us this week to share endless stories from his iconic career full of huge name drops. From Michael Jackson private events to being fed by Barbara Streisand to hitch hiking with Richard Branson… Richard Blade shared it all this week. He also opens up about his mistakes in life and how his dog saved him during one of the lowest points of his life. Hope you dig it. Thank you to our sponsors: ❤️ Betterhelp: https://betterhelp.com/inside 🧠 Neurohacker: https://neurohacker.com/inside 😌 Nutrisense: https://nutrisense.com/inside __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Inside the View with Michael Rosenbaum. That's my Halloween voice. Sorry, I had to do it. If you're annoyed, I'm sorry. It's Halloween, so get over it. We always like doing funny, goofy things are Halloween. Ryan, happy Halloween. Happy, all hell is Eve to you.

Why can't witches have babies? Their husbands have Halloweenies. That's my Halloween joke. Because they're hollow. there's no semen yeah yeah no i'm there with you okay that's not that funny but i got um we have a fun episode today for you and uh just a few things happy hallowino thanks thanks for letting uh inside of you be your podcast to listen to i know you there's lots of choices but um hopefully we're doing something right here we're having real conversations with real people celebrities with uh all sorts of

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it's going to be a lot of fun so hopefully i can hug you we can tom and i will do a smallville nights at both those events and thank you everyone for joining patron you guys save the show without you couldn't do it patreon.com slash inside of you if you want to support the podcast and you can also follow us on our handles and write a review if you really want the show to do better on ryan oh at inside of you pod on tv podcast on instagram and facebook that is correct our guest today ryan is a famous dj also done some acting writing a bit of everything a loving man just a really lovable human being i've known him for years and um i actually on his first wave show i i was on that

before. He asked me if I want to come on again. I do, Richard. This guy talks about his relationships with other musicians, talks about his career, his life. It's such a unique thing. He was around at such a unique time when his career blew up, you know, those 80s, those early 80s and into the MTV era. And, you know, and he is still around and still doing a lot of fun stuff. You can listen to him every week in first wave um let's get inside of my friend richard blade it's my point of you you're listening to inside of you with michael rosenbaum inside of you was not recorded in front of a live studio audience all right the first thing this guy does is gets in here and starts talking about hanging out with

Duran Duran. You were just in Chicago, Richard. Yeah, just got back yesterday. One of my favorite bands, so many people love Duran, Duran. I've seen them in concert. I remember I met Simon LeBahn and I was just like, hey, I'm a big fan. He's like, oh, great. It's kind of cold. I'm sure you don't know him is that, or do you? Well, the thing is about being the lead singer of a band. Everyone wants you. Yeah. You know, even though John is there and Nick is there and Roger is there, the press tend to not know about them. The fans do. I mean, it sounds ridiculous. to say that. Right. The press always want, well, we want the singer. We want that Simon

guy. So he always gets the questions. He always gets the appointments. He always gets the time required. So sometimes he's so busy, he's like, yeah, hi. Well, don't you think that that's, you know, it's part for the course? It's like if you're going to be the lead singer

of a band, you're going to be successful, that's what's going to happen. If you're the lead actor in a movie, everybody wants to talk to you about it. Exactly. But with Duran Duran, you know, they've always been the five of them back in the day now the four of them you know so everyone should want john as well and everyone should want nick and roger because they're all loved by the fans but still the press don't know that so it's always oh yeah i want simon right i hear you but like you go to chicago and

you talk to simon oh well yeah and then simon said we're going out sailing tomorrow do you want to come no he asked you to go sailing yeah did you go oh absolutely christ and i were on the boat And I had to hold myself back because I wanted to ask him to sing Rio while we're on the boat. Because that was the video, the music's video. Absolutely. But he did wear the striped t-shirt. And if you go to my social media, there's pictures all over it. I didn't post them until yesterday because I was thinking, no, I shouldn't do that.

But then they posted them on their social media and had this shot of me and Simon and then a picture of me chatting with Roger. And he goes, 24-hour contest. what's Richard Blade and Roger Taylor talking about? So, you know, people could write in and put their posts up. Jesus, man, that's a dream. That's like, to me, if I was on a boat with Duran Duran, I think life had, you know, that was it. That'd be it for me.

It was great. And when I got back from chatting with Roger, because Krista and I kind of just did her own thing, Krista said, oh, I was just with Simon. His lovely wife, his love, yeah, yeah. And Simon was reading poetry to me. Wait a minute. Simon LeBond from Duran Duran. What was he saying?

He was reading different poems. I saw you standing by them. Exactly. He was doing it. That is amazing. I know. You have lived a charmed life. I mean, you really have.

And also, a lot of people, I mean, I've never interviewed someone who's done what you do, what you've done. Uh-huh. I mean, it seems like, you know, becoming an actor is just, it's so hard and there's just a small percentage of people. There's so many more talented people that don't make it than the, ones that do. And like the amount of work, I mean, did you know that you were going to get into this? What were you thinking as a child? I mean, you eventually went to Oxford and your smart guy

and all this. But like with your family, what were you thinking you were going to get into? I didn't know. I wanted to do something. I wanted to write for a long time. When I was a kid, I wrote a spec script for Doctor Who. Oh, wow. Did you watch that show? Oh, I love Doctor Who. People love that freaking show, Doctor. There's so many people listening.

Yeah. So you wrote a spec script for Doctor Who. Yeah, and I sent it into the BBC and heard nothing back. It was like crickets. But, you know, Doctor Who gives a shit. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, unsolicited manuscripts, et cetera, et cetera. They probably dropped it straight into the trash can.

But I always wanted to write. And then I got into college and one of the roommates we had in the dorm was the college DJ. And he was a great guy, Norm Holmes, but he was not particularly good looking or anything like that. But I noticed when he was DJing, all the girls got around him. And I thought, oh, that's not a bad thing to do. So you did it at first for the girls. Oh, well, absolutely. Isn't that why anyone gets into music?

or any form of entertainment in a way. The thought is, hey, you know, because I was always, I never got girls. I was not attractive. I was the smallest kid in my high school. I never went on dates, never went to dances. And so all of a sudden when I started, I did a play and people were like, oh, you're funny. I'm like, wait a minute.

What's this about? I'm getting attention. I need attention. Were you a little bit of attention whore like me? Absolutely. Absolutely. And as soon as the people, I wasn't the captain of the rugby. Actually, I was the captain of the swim team, but it was a very big change when I started

DJing. Suddenly, all the girls were around. And it was like, wow, this is kind of very cool. And I was, I was warming up for Norm because he was in the third year and I was in the first year. Right. And so what was he playing? What kind of music? What year is it? Take us back. Okay. This would be, oh my God, it's way back here. This would be like 1972. Wow. The year of my birth. There you go. You don't, you look good.

Well, thank you. Thanks. And Norm, we'd be playing lots of things like free. All Right Now was the floor. That was the floor film. Yeah. Yes. And some other rock, like deep purple, smoke on the water.

Don, don, don, dom. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And Northern Seoul. And Northern Seoul was American R&B that was imported into the UK. And it was a very fast. uptempo beat and people love that as well and I loved it as well and Bowie was big as well suffragette city wham bam thank you ma'am that packed the floor and I noticed that and I kind of

tried to read the crowd and Norm said after a few weeks he said do you want to do like the first hour and I said sure so I would play the first hour and then he goes you want to do like the first two hours of a four hour gig because it was his last year and he was And you started getting good from this experience. Yeah, I mean, it's part of the 100, you know, the 10,000 hours thing. Right. And so I was playing the music and making sure the crowd was dancing, but staying away from some of the big songs that Norm would play.

Right. So I didn't want to step on his toes. And when he was leaving college, he said, you should take over to DJ. And so the next year I came in and they made me part of the social club, you know, and the college DJ. And it just took off from there. And it just took off from there. And the thing was we rented the gear every weekend at 10 pounds a time, you know, $15 by then.

And so I said to them, you know, this is a bit silly that we're paying this money. Why don't we buy some gear? And that way we don't have to pay out the money. And they said, well, how much would it cost? And I said, I'd looked in the trades ahead of time. And I said, it'd be about 300 pounds. And we'd have our own gear. so in 30 weeks it would be paid for and they went that makes sense can you buy it for us and I said yeah so

I said I'm going to go down to London and I'll buy it and have it shipped up here and so I went down to the end of our hill we were on North Hinkley Hill and there was a the motorway going through the freeway for all the Americans the motorway going through and I stood there and hitchhiked down to London. And I was there for about 10 minutes and this mini Cooper ass pulls up. This guy says, where are you going? I said, I'm going down to London. I'm going down just off Oxford Street to Tottenham Court Road to pick up. That's where the electronic stores were. Yeah, pick up some gear. And he goes, oh, I'll hop in. I'll drive you. I've got a store on Oxford Street. And so I jump in and he goes, so what's your name? I go, it's Richard. And he goes,

oh, I'm Richard too. And that's great. But it wasn't Richard Blade then. No. No, no, it's Richard Shepard. Richard Shepard. There you go. And so we're driving down to London and he said, what do you do? I'm a DJ, you know. He goes, okay, great. He goes, I got this record store and everyone tries to sell their independent labels and

local bands through my store because HMV won't and W.H. Smith won't, but I will. And he said, and I figured I should buy like a little recording studio. And that way the bands could not only make the music and then they could sell it in my store. And he said, but I can't afford anything in London. The prices are crazy. But up here in Oxford, there's a lot of places I can buy that I've looked at and I found this. This is a random guy that you just gave you a ride into London. Yeah, pick me up. But he said, I wanted to pick up a hitchhiker because I was so excited to tell him, I think I finally found a place. You know, this was before cell phones or anything. And he was excited to tell someone that all these weeks and months of

looking for a place. He'd found it. He goes, I found this farm that's great. And I'm going to turn it to a recording studio. And it's actually got enough rooms that people could stay there. And I said, that's great. And he goes, and I'm, I'm going to, you know, be able to put some of the bands that want to make music there. They could stay for the weekend. And it's, it's going to be fantastic. Does this become something big? Well, yeah, it did, kind of. You might have heard of the guy. I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. So he was great and he goes, this is my record store, points to it. And he goes, but Tottenham Court roads another mile and a half down. I'm going to drive you all the way. And I go, oh, thank you, man.

That's so nice of you. And so we drove past his record store, Virgin Records. And we went down to Tottenham Court Road. Wait, did you just fly over the word Virgin Records? Yeah, yeah, I did. Okay. Keep going. Yes. So Richard drops me off. And he goes, well, best a luck, man. And I go, best of luck with the farm. And so that was the start for Richard Branson. Yeah, I know.

Wait, wait, wait. This is a random hitchhiker he picked up was you? Yeah. And so... Are you still friends? Well, not friends, but fast forward to 2005. And he was on Loveline. And Krista and I were driving back from the king's head in Santa Monica.

I've done Lovelin. And I went, you know, I should stop by and say hello. so I pulled off and went over to Culver City where they were doing Love Line from because they were doing it, I think it was on Premiere Networks. Is this when you just started First Wave? Yeah, I was just come back from the Caribbean and I wasn't with K-Rock or anything anymore.

But I'd left on great terms with them. I was friends with everyone, great friends with Drew and with Adam. So I thought, oh, I'll pop in and, you know, see if I can say hi to Richard Branson. So on the very first break, they go, yeah, you know, come and say hi to Richard Branson. So he comes out, all long, blonde hair and everything. I told him the story.

And he goes, I don't remember you, but I remember picking up a hitchhiker. So that was you. And I said, yeah. And he goes, I just had to tell someone about it. I was so excited. Come here. And he goes to me a hug. And he goes, it's so good to see you again.

So I looked at him and I said, so how did it work out for you? inside of you is brought to you by rocket money i'm going to speak to you about something that's going to help you save money period it's rocket money it's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings this is just some wonderful app there's a lot of apps out there that really you know you have to do this and pay for and that but with rocket money it's they're saving you money you're getting this app to save money um i don't know how many times that i've had these unwanted subscriptions that i thought i canceled or i forgot to you know the free

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told you this before. I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater. I wear it religiously. You can get all sorts of amazing, amazing clothing for such reasonable prices. Look, cooler temps are rolling in. And as always, Quince is where I'm turning for fall staples that actually last. From cashmere to denim to boots, the quality holds up and the price still blows me away. Quince has the kind of fall staples you'll wear nonstop, like super soft, 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters starting at just 60 bucks. Yeah, I'm going to get you one of those, I think. I like to see you in a cashmere. Maybe a different color so we don't look like twins. Their denim is durable and it fits right and their real leather jackets bring that clean classic edge without the

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Free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash inside of you. And he left and he couldn't believe it. And then I said, could I get a photograph with you? And he goes, absolutely. And he goes, can my wife as well? I said, she's obviously a huge fan of yours. And he goes, come on.

And he picks up Krista in his arms like that. And we got this picture of him just standing there with a long hair. And I thought, this is a guy who really deserved the success. Because a nice guy. A nice guy. I know that all the employees of Virgin Air loved him. He looked after the ladies and the pilots and everything and really took care of the passengers. And, you know, he had Virgin Bride going on in England as well.

I mean, he was just us. He is just an incredibly smart guy. What differentiated you from all the other DJs because you were able to make the cross over the Atlantic into the states and become this household name and join K. Rock and do all these things. to interview these big bands. I read something where you said you were sort of the conduit. You were the conduit to all the British singers and all these, you know, to sort of give the American people what's going on, the information of what's going on overseas and the music that's over there. Yeah, I've always tried to be on top of what's happening. One of the things that the local BBC that I worked for for a very short time when I was in Oxford, it was BBC Radio

Oxford. They had a sign up that said, engage brain before putting mouth into gear. In other words, know what you're going to talk about. And the other one was, if you've got nothing to say, don't say anything. And so I've always figured that if you've got nothing to say, don't just give the time and the temperature and the name of the song. Know a little about it. The audience deserves that. And so I've always believed that, whether it was working live or working on the radio. And when I was working in Europe, I toured Europe for two and a half years in the clubs before I came over to America. And I really wanted to get into radio. And when I was in Austria, working at this club called Magic, this guy came up and he said, hey, you know,

I have a radio station that I run called Utrei, Austria 3, which is a nigh. Have you heard of that band? Was the Austrian, a fruer? Yeah, fru, yeah, absolutely. Doot, and we go, dude. Yeah, though they're actually Welsh. Are they Welsh? And they became underworld, the EDM band. Oh my gosh. And they wanted to screw around with DJs.

So they came up with an unpronounceable name. This was long before Prince became Symbol Man. Right. You know, so they came out with F-R-E-U-R-F-R-R-R-F-R. So, ladies and gentlemen, right now, I'd like to play your song from. Yeah, yeah, but D-D-D-D-D-U-D-W. But D-D-D-U-D-W is. You're absolutely right. Brilliant.

Brilliant. So I was working in Europe and I got the taste for radio again when I went on Utrei and I was there for two months every Friday night doing a rock program. And I thought this is great. But the thing was, I was a novelty act. I was an English person speaking in English on a German language radio station. And I thought, I got to go somewhere where they speak English. And there was hardly any radio happening in England. I mean, unless you were one of the six DJs on BBC Radio One, you weren't getting anywhere.

And so that was... So there wasn't really a lot of money to be made. No. Well, decent money if you got onto BBC Radio One, but that was it. That was the only gig in the whole country. And so I thought, okay, I make a list. There's America, there's Canada, there's South Africa, there's Australia, and there's New Zealand. They all speak English, one of those countries.

So I put it in order, shuffled it around. America number one, Australia number two. Zealand number three, Canada number four, only because it's so cold in Canada. Love Canada. Love Canadian people as well. One of my favorite countries. Yeah, they don't get mad in Canada. No, they don't. I just did a gig in Kingsville, Ontario two weeks ago. Loveliest people in the world. Oh, my God. Fantastic. Yeah. And South Africa was number five just because all the racial problems there. I don't think I could work in a country, particularly then that was apartheid, you know, whites over here, blacks over there. I just could not put up with that.

But America was your top choice. America was the top choice. And then L.A. because Hollywood and sunshine, blue skies, California girls. You know, that was the whole thing. Because I've always liked ladies. Yes, you have. As your book, World in My Eyes, States.

Yeah. So I flew over to L.A. And for four years, couldn't get arrested. So I went back to DJing and clubs and doing mobile discos and stuff like that. and I went kept going to every radio station in town and they all said sorry you know can't have you it's not going to work but thank you very much for your tape the worst was when I went to KMET and at the time I'd been doing gigs I'd done a real lucky gig I was asked by a event coordinator to do a gig for their client and would I meet their client first and would I caravan behind her

to the client's house. So I said, okay, and I followed her, and we went up to Malibu, and we turned off just by Paradise Cove and went up the canyon. And she goes, this is Barbara, this is Richard. No, not Barbara Streisand. Exactly. Are you kidding me, Barbara Streisand? She was my first big gig that I did, and it was her son's bar mitzvah for Jason Gold,

the son of Elliot and Barbara. And she put on this ink. She was the nicest person. Everyone said afterwards, oh, guy, yeah, she's such a bitch and all this kind of stuff. She couldn't have been nice. If you show up and do your job, she treated you like gold. The waitress who served me my food was Barbara Streisand.

I mean, couldn't have been nicer. And she had everyone now. When David Geffen was there, Neil Diamond was there. Were you starstruck? Not by her because I didn't play her music much. I was in the clubs at the time. If it had been a neat award who was there, you can ring my bell. But also, didn't she had that song?

And we got nothing to be guilty of. Yeah, a little disco-y. Yeah, a little disco-y. And she, you don't bring me flowers with Neil Diamond. So I play that in the ballad section. But obviously, I knew who she was. I knew she was one of the biggest singers in the world. But there were so many other people there.

Larry Hagman was there. Dallas. Yeah, and that was the great thing. he enjoyed the party so much he took one of my business cards and then I did the party at his house for the rap party for season one of Dallas So wait a minute you started doing so people

Word of mouth are you saying? Word of mouth Richard Blade He's the guy Dick Shepard at the time Dick Shepard and then you saw a movie Ryan you might have heard of this called Blade Runner No well I saw it advertised you know Because the whole thing was

I did all these parties And then I did one for Zaja Gabor And that was up in the hills And one of the stilt houses And there were two people there That I was just thrilled to meet One of them was my all-time favorite movie actor And I'd never met him before

And the amazing thing was I met him again Two weeks later, never again Who? He came up to me, I saw him and I said You know, could I tell you something kind of weird And he said, why? What? And I said,

I went to him, school with a wet underarm because of you for about three weeks. And he said, why would that be? And I said, because my James Bond water pistol shoulder holster kept leaking. And he goes, you know, I had one of those as well. I used to collect all of the memorabilia from the Bond movie. Sean Conner. I know. And he was incredible. You see, you're meeting your heroes and they're nice. That's rare. And they were everything you wanted them to be. That's rare. He, he, He looked like... A lot of assholes, Richard.

I've met a lot of assholes. You know, he looked like if he punched you, you were going down. He looked like... Tough guy. Real man. He looked like Bond. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this.

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platform. And the other person, I was downstairs in the game room while everyone was upstairs eating. And they cleared at the pool table and everything. I put in my DJ gear. So I'm sitting there just kicking back, doing nothing. And this little guy comes in and comes up to me. And he says, could I go through your records, please? And I said, sure, of course you can. I want to guess this one. And he looks through his records. And I said, you know, I have the new Vicketts. tree album. They, they didn't mail it to me. He goes, you do, could you, could you put it on because we're getting ready for the tour? And so I said, anything that you want to hear? And he goes, yeah, shake your body down to the ground. He said, I'm getting the dance, dance routine down. So he gets

out and he start, I put it on. He starts dancing to it. And I'm like, wow. And he goes, he play it again. I said, yeah. And he goes, do you have a cassette player? And I said, I do. Absolutely. I'm not, I can and do an impression of him, so I'm not trying. I said, absolutely. And he goes, I just came from the studio with Quincy. So I got, I'm not Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. And he goes out to his limo and he comes in with the cassette.

And he goes, we just put this together today. And so I play it for him. And you stop, stop. He goes, play that part again. And I go, okay. And you go, stop, stop. Can you play it again? And then when I point to you, turn it up loud.

And I said, okay. So I play it again. again, turn it out loud and he goes, horns aren't loud enough, horns aren't loud enough on that. I got to tell Quincy the horns aren't loud enough. And so I'm listening and he's playing, I'm playing rock with you or, I can't remember which one, don't stop till you get enough from his album. But he was just on top of the music. He was listening to every single. He's obsessed. Yeah, he, but focused. He wasn't one of these artists that let any other people do it for him. And then he would get out there and dance to this song. I'm like, wow, you know,

because I grew up the Jackson Five, and he wasn't Michael Jackson at the time. He was just a member of the Jackson Five. And I, this was a band that had saved my ass so many times when I was DJing, you know, put on dancing machine, and the floor, you know, and one bad, you know, one bad Apple, don't spoil the whole bunch of girl and all this kind of stuff. And ABC, I loved all that music. And then afterwards, he took my card and he said, would you do some parties for me? And I said, sure. So I'd go to his house on Havenhurst in Encino. I'd been there. Yeah. And I DJed about 12 parties for Michael Jackson. He paid well. And then I did the launch party for the tour. And I had to be screened by the FBI. So I'm glad I had a green card at the time. Because the Jackson 5 and myself were,

And it was the Jackson's, but they did the S like a five because they'd left Motown and gone to Epic. We were all in the bank vault of this bank that was on Wilshire Boulevard. Now it's like a clothing store. You've sat around, but right across from the Beverly, Wilshire Hotel. And the idea was we were in the bank vault, and they were breaking out at the bank vault. And they had entertainment tonight there and all the TV cameras. And then I have my fog machine. So they

Of course you do Yeah And they tried to Give us a walkie talkie But the vault door Was too thick For the radio signal But they weren't locking the door

So it was opened slightly So we had an XLR cable go through And when they gave me the signal It was 30 seconds Before they would open the vault door And that's when I dropped the dry ice Into the fog machine

Fill the thing with fog Turn my one laser on back then It was just a red dot Just like, you know, like Pong back in the early days going up and down. It was just a red laser going through the, and they opened the thing, and the fog came out, and the Jackson's came dancing. Come on. So it was great. And I was having a great time.

Were you seeing any like, you know, you're at all these parties and you're DJing all these parties and all these huge celebrities are saying, hey, you have a card and calling you and you're making the rounds and becoming a name? Right. Did you see a lot of drug use? Did you see a lot of darkness? Did you see a lot of craziness? I saw a lot of craziness in the fact that there were a lot of women there going after the artists. But the drug use...

Who is the big one with the women? Well, the Jackson's always attracted a lot of women. They always had tons of women going out. Yeah. And Neil Diamond, actually, at Barbara Streisand's party, there was a lot of hangers on going up trying to get close to Neil because he was a lot younger. Did he like it? He didn't really give them any time of that.

You know, he was kind of pushing him away. Oh, my gosh. But I was getting all this publicity and I got the front page of the Los Angeles time, a picture of me DJing with the Jackson's behind. And I was thrilled with that. So I put this whole package together with an audition tape and all my press cuttings and the fact I'd done radio in England and in Austria. And I went back out to the radio stations.

And again, they shot me down. All of them. All of them shot me down. And the worst one was, KMET. I passed her this and I said, look, I just finished this, starting off the Jackson's tour and it's front page and everything like that. So I'm willing to do anything.

You know, I'll work overnight for a month for free just so you can hear me. You know, you tell me what I can do. And the program director was female and she pushed everything back at me and she said, you'll never work in this town with that accent and then just turned around and just didn't you want to talk what was her name do you remember i'm not going to say sam's name she had a guy's name but i ran into her three years later after my talk and you said fuck you i was sam i didn't actually i she came up to me and uh she was uh had been let go by k m et she was she was as 87 and so i was really peaking and uh she came up to me and it was uh doing a grand opening in beverly hills

And she goes, gosh, you've been doing so well, haven't you? And I said, yeah, what are you doing now? She said, well, I'm not in radio at the moment. I'm a secretary. And I looked to her and I went, oh, though, but you'll do well. You'll do well. It was success. Just being nice about it.

You don't need to. Right? Had to hold it back. I just wanted to. Because things turned around for you quickly. Because I've never forgotten that to this day because I walked out of KMET. Was this 1981? No, this was 19.

end of 79. I walked out and it was at Metromedia Square and I walked out onto the boulevard there and I looked up at the sign that was a KMET that was written on the antenna and I was like you one of these days

I am going to get into radio and I'll show you and then K West which is now Power 1059 K West they were having a contest for the best unknown DJ and so you had to send it a 10 minute tape so I put one together and at the end of the 10 minute tape

I did a remix of Pink Floyd's another brick in the wall which I made just using a reel to reel you know do it no I could I could do it again so much easier now yeah take you 10 minutes now because it's digital you know and I could do 40 tracks right then I was working with a two track tea I took you days days and days I thought either they're going to throw that in the trash because it's you know I was Pink Floyd, you know, who's messing with Pink Floyd, or they're going to like it. And they actually played it on the air. And then they said, instead of one winner, we have two winners for the best unknown DJ. And they picked two winners.

And I was one of the two and got $10,000. You needed that? No, I didn't. I was doing well. I was doing well, but I'm not going to say no to it. And I got the most important thing, I got an hour on the air with J.J. Jackson, who went over to MTV, a year and a half later. With K West.

With K West. Right. And he, again, couldn't have been nicer. He goes, play whatever you want. And I put together a playlist knowing what they liked. You know, so there was ACDC in their brand new track called You Shook Me All Night Long. Oh, my God. Yeah, and 38 special and bands like that.

So you played one hour. I played one hour. And that went off with Gangbusters. And that went off great. My girlfriend at home taped it for me, but JJ taped it. He taped the whole show. and he gave me also a skim tape, which was only my voice

and the first three seconds of music because that's what you send into a radio station. Because they know the songs. They don't want to sit through a home. Brian didn't know any of this shit. I don't think I knew any of this shit. And so I sent that tape out

and I sent it to San Diego, to Santa Barbara, to San Francisco, to Bakersfield. And two days after I sent it out, I got a call from Bakersfield saying, we'd like you to come out because I think we want to work with you. And I said, okay, so I drove out to Bakersfield to Magic 98, and it was a hard rock station.

And they said, we want to hire you as the nighttime guy from six to midnight and the music director. And I'm like, holy shit, the music, I'm disco dick. And they want me to program a hard rock station. And I said, so what's the deal? And they said, well, throughout the day we get harder at night, we really rock. So we rock so hard at night. You can't play stairway to heaven. That's too me mellow.

And I said, so what's the criteria for me adding music? And they took out Ted Nugent's double live gonzo album. And they dropped the needle in the middle of Wang Dang Sweet Puntang. And they said, that's as mellow as we get. Wow. And I said, okay, I'll do it for a year. It was my goal, radio.

So I was at K&C. And so I went back to DJing in clubs before I did the overnight. It was a DJ in a club from 8. until 11 and then on the air from midnight till 6 at KNAC. And one of the clubs, LaHoc Club in Encino, they decided they were going to buy commercial time to advertise it because it was going well and I was playing this crossover music that was just coming in called New Wave that my dad was sending me from England

and it was getting busy. And so they said, well, we're going to advertise it. So, well, K&C plays New Wave. And they said, no, he's got no signal, can't be heard in the valley. we're going to advertise on this other station called K-Rock. You were the first person to play New Wave at K-Rot? One of the first. I mean, K-Rot was playing it, but I was playing it in the clubs.

So they said, will you go and do the spot at K-Rot, the commercial? Because otherwise, we have to pay their DJs like $500 to voice the spot. If you do it, we save $500 because we're not going to pay you anything. So I said, yeah, sure, you know, because it just brings a crowd in for me and keeps my job going. So I went to K. Rock and I cut the commercial and the program director, the production director, it was really funny. So casual. I just walk into the production room. I said, I'm here to cut commercial. Okay, go on in. Production directors there, John Logic. And he said, oh, you're going to cut commercial? Okay, I'll go for lunch. I'll be back. Walks out, all this gears there. I could have been Joe Blow off the street, you know, walking out with T-Act recorders. But I cut the commercial, put it onto a car, labeled it. I copied the way they did their labels and everything. It came back and he goes, ah, it was really good.

That's great. Thank you so much. So the spot starts airing and the morning show, which was Romando and Evans, heard it. And they said, oh, who's the English guy? He should do some drops for us. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap,

biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. So I came back out and I did these drops for, go to bed with April. She was the nighttime girl. Real good looking. She'd been in Playboy and everything. You slept with her. No, I didn't.

I would have, but I'd try not to at work. I said, go to bed with April, wake up with Romando and Evans. Now, then all the jocks wanted me to do drops. And then these other clients of sales, the salespeople wanted the English accent. So I started doing commercials all over KROC. So now I'm on K&AC, but my voice is all over KROC. And then I get a call, you've got to meet with the program director of KROC.

And I thought, oh, God, he's going to pull everything and tell me I can't do it. So I walk in and he said, we're doing this holiday vacation in Hawaii. And I did this deal with the DJs. If they could sell 20 spots, they go as well. because K Rock had no money and they couldn't afford to give the DJs paid vacations. But if they could sell 20 spots on a plane

to Hawaii, they could get two weeks off. He said, so it's sold out. So we're getting local celebrities in to cover the air shifts. We've got Elvira coming in. We've got Danny Elfman coming in

from Oingo, Boingo. He's going to be Moscow, Eddie. We got Mike Ness from Social D coming in. But we got this open spot from nine to noon. And we need someone. We figured you'd be a good novelty because you've got an English accent. Would you do it? I said, yeah, two weeks.

That sounds great. But I can't pay you. I said, that's fine. And you have to quit K&EC because I can't have you on both. Boy, that's a test. And I said, okay, I said, are you going to Hawaii? And he goes, I know where you're going with this. He said, here's the deal.

It's taken me a year and a half to put this staff together. And we're the Saturday night live of radio. He said, there isn't a bad shift. Every one of my DJs is exactly where they should be and they're great. He said, they're all going to have a job when they come back. And I'm afraid I won't have a position for you. And I looked at him and I said, Rick, when you hear me on the air, you'll give me a job. And he said, okay.

And so I went, I went on the air, I quit K&EC, and I loved K&EC so much. And the people there, Norm McBride, the morning guy and Jimmy Christopher, the program director, I didn't want to steal any audience from them. But you did. Because they had a little, only a little signal. So I changed my name from Dick Shepard, and I didn't know what to call myself. And even I went on the air that day, and I still didn't know what to call myself. And I'm flipping desperately through the Los Angeles Times.

And I see Robert Hilburn, the critic. And I'm like, Richard Hilburn, no, no, no. And I wanted to go back to Richard from Dick. Richard Hilbert, no, no, that's not going to work. It's as bad as Richard Shepherd. I want something else. And I see Blade Runner. It's going to open in two weeks.

I didn't know what the movie was about. No one knew it hadn't opened yet. It was going to open in two weeks' time. So I had Richard Blade. That would work great. So I, this was when newspapers were yay big, right? So I drop it on the floor and the song's finishing. And I come on the air and I go,

That was flock of seagulls and telecommunication, but the fans call it telecom. By the way, this is not Jed the Fish. This is me. I'm sitting in for Jed the Fish. He's in Hawaii right now. My name is, and I'd forgotten because I was so panicked that everyone in, everyone in L.A. was listening. I looked down, and the papers folded.

Oh, I was going to call myself Richard Runner. Sorry. Oh, because Blade Runner. Richard Runner. And I was going to steal the RR of Roller. Royce, I thought that would be a great thing, you know, and all that. Richard You forgot. But you forgot. Yeah, but I forgot. And I looked down and it's folded and it just says, Blade. And I went, I'm Richard Blade. And this is OMD. Electricity. And I started the

song and I went, oh, Richard Blade, I guess I've stuck with that. So that's how that came about. And that was it. And you worked for K Rock for how many years, 18? I worked for 18 years. I gave my notice in February of 2000, because Chris and I were using Y2K as the out. We bought a house in St. Martin in 1997. Were you burnt out at that point? I wasn't really burnt out. I just wanted to do something different. I grew up in the south of England.

I always loved scuba diving. They used to make my own wetsuits and stuff like that. But the water in England is cold. The air is cold. Everything is cold. And it's not that clear. On a good day, maybe I could. see my hand at the end of my arm, you know, underwater. I wanted to teach scuba in the clearest

warmest. But you wanted to retire. And you weren't old. Well, from radio. Yeah. Well, I wasn't even 50. You know, that's a big step to just say, hey, I'm leaving K Rock. And I, I want to just retire and go to the, or at least go to the Caribbean or whatever. But what if I didn't do it then, when am I going to do it? Because we're all, you know, on this one way direction. You know, we're all Yeah. Unfortunately, you can't go back in time. And I'd done everything I wanted to do. I'd done mornings in L.A. I'd done a syndicated radio show. I'd done half a dozen movies. I'd done TV, both hosting and acting. And I was a crappy actor. I was no Lex Luthor. I'll tell you that. But you were done. I was done. And I thought, not because I didn't like K-Rop, but because I wanted to do something different. I wanted to experience it. my biggest nightmare would be waking up one day and seeing white tiles above my head and a bunch of leads and cords and drips going into my arms and then going,

why didn't I try that? You know, you don't usually regret that you're trying. Now you're getting somewhere. I think that's the, you know, we talk about that a lot is like we all have a purpose. And sometimes you, I mean, a lot of times you have to find your purpose. And one thing is I think people, we get. We have jobs and sometimes we're like, oh, we're making money and we're making a living and we're paying for the bills.

But I think it's so important, whether you're making money at it or not, to find something you loves, that passion on the side, that's something that you can do that keeps the fires burning, the fire inside you burning. And so, you know, I commend you because that's a big step to just say, hey, you know, I've got, now is the time. I'm still young and I'm going to change gears. and I'm going to do, I'm going to take off for a while and reinvent myself. It was something I had to do.

It was, and if you have to do it, you just rip yourself apart inside because you're regretting, why didn't I try that, you know? Yeah. It's like seeing that hot blonde on a Friday night, if you don't go up to her and say something, you regret it all day Saturday. Or you regret asking her and then she says, fuck off. But at least. One or the other.

At least you gave it a go. At least you try. Yeah. You became really famous during this time with K Rock. It was like the biggest station out there. You're doing this new wave. You're doing music you love. You're introducing, you know, one of the biggest music scenes in the, in the world to British music, new wave music, alternative music.

And in doing so, you were sort of, like I said, before, the conduit, did you, did you, you formed huge relationships? I mean, I saw an interview where you're, you know, after Andrew Fletcher of. Pesh mode passed away and God rest his soul, you knew him. And you know, you were texting with Martin Gore who wrote all the Depeche Mode songs and still does. And, and he's texting you right back. And you have this relationship with so many people. And, you know, you dated the beautiful Terry Nunn from Berlin, taking my breath away. And you had a passionate relationship with her. All these relationships were you, did you ever get to a point where you mixed up in drugs? Were you mixed up in the scene? Were you drinking a lot? Did you always have a good head on your shoulders?

Or were you, uh, were you enjoying it like everybody else and getting in too much? I, too deep. I never did drugs. I drank, I, I, two times. I mean, I did cocaine twice. Uh, I never. With who? One time, uh, it was with a record company geek and, uh, a couple of bands in Riverside. The other time, I was doing a TV show called MV3. And we at one point had the psychedelic furs there on stage and 100 dancers. And the psychedelic furs, this was in June. And the sun was baking down June of 1983. Okay.

They'd done their sound check. And for an hour, they were just standing on stage. And the dancers were milling around. And the floor manager finally said to me, he goes, if we don't roll tape, we're going to lose the band. He said, we've got to do something. I said, well, why isn't he rolling tape, the guy upstairs, you know, the producer? And he says, fuck, you know what he's like. He said, you go up and I walk in.

And to me, in hindsight, and I'm sure it wasn't this big, there was a mound of coke, like in Scarface on his desk. I'm sure it's probably fist size. But to me, it was, you know, a small Everest. And next to it, a snub-nosed 38 because the Teamsters had been coming around. repossessing some of the cameras and they'd already taken out the crane and so uh i said we have to roll tape or we lose the band and he goes listen daddy because he's at his vocal tick everyone was daddy listen daddy i'll roll tape if you do a line with me i said i can't do that i said i got to be on camera he goes you need it'll make you better i'm like if i do a line

will you roll tape and he said i'll roll it if you do a line. So I said, okay, and he gets this, I don't know, 5, 20, whatever it was rolled up. He does a sniff first. So I go down and do it. And I'm like, I'm expecting rainbows and unicorns. And all I get is I'm grinding my back teeth because I'm naturally hyper anyway, right? Okay, let's roll tape. And he goes, do another line. I said, that wasn't the deal. You said, I'd do a line and we'd roll tape. And he go, why don't you get the fuck out of here and you tell them to roll tape yourself. You can do that, right? And I went, okay. And I went down. I said, all right, roll tape. And then from then on, it was me and a guy called Peter Facer, you know, I think you

met Peter, yeah, that would call all the roles because the producer, director didn't do it. Two months later, the show went off the air. But you never really, I mean, look, you got into bands reunited, you helped them, which is one of my favorite shows where they find members of the band, and they get them back together for maybe one. last show and some of those bands actually continued playing for a while to this day ABC drama rama berlin uh who else flock of seagull as well yeah he ended up touring most up by himself but um you've done so much you've written so many you've written like seven books yeah you're getting a hollywood star of fame yeah in a year you there's a richard blade day that just happened

which was emotional and you were in the in the courtroom and they gave you the thing and you were like, you know, I mean, can you believe, I mean, when you look back at all the things you did and a lot of times I say it's like sort of happenstance or it's luck as a commodity of preparation meets opportunity and sort of that's how my life was. I was like this and they go, oh yeah, oh, well, okay. And then somebody remembers you and then you get something and then that something leads to something or nothing. And it's just sort of like you just hang around and you keep going. And it seems like you've worked so hard to get where you. are and you continue to work hard and your work is so important to you do you now look back

and if you were under those um you know in that hospital room with all the things hooked up to you would you say hey i've lived a great life this is this is what i've wanted to do and i've lived my dreams yes i would i mean we all have minor regrets when you've tried and failed i mean i wrote a script actually for a tv show that i loved but i actually never was able to get it the TV show in time, but I watch this show, I have them all on DVD, and I wrote this script, and I thought it was really,

really good, and it opened fantastic with this fire bearing down on Smallville and Superboy putting it out. What? And it was all put together by Lex. Swear to God, one of these days, I'm going to have to get you the script. Please. Yeah, because I'd written for a sci-fi show

before for UPN before it became to see w called seven days a time travel show um but no i i loved smallville and i have to say you or you thank you you and your dad best two actors he made me better he made me a better actor fantastic thank you never missed never missed an episode no no no it's absolutely true that's why it's so cool and got to know you as a friend and i'm sitting here today because Chris and I would never miss Smallville. We just loved it. I love that. It was fantastic.

It's just so it's, I love it. I get a little. Yeah. And I know there were certain episodes because I wrote when I wrote for seven days, you know, like in the middle of the season, you just, there's a couple of what I used to call throwaway episodes.

But some of the episodes of Smallville. Some of them were fantastic. I always say that there's some that are like we're doing a rewatch podcast now. And it's like some of the episodes, I'm like, okay, this is the show that I'm proud to be on. I mean, there were some really great ones. Oh, when Par Ken is being buried. Oh, when the snow and the black and white.

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problem call connects Ontario 1866 531-260-19 and over physically present in Ontario eligibility restrictions apply see golden nugget casino.com for details please play responsibly but anyway back to you yeah but you best Lex Lutha but thank you yeah thank you I appreciate that I really do James Gunn are you listening he's listened and he's uh I love him but um now I want to tap in just a little bit now some of the people you've met like who would you call friends that you could text of the big 80s bands that we love like what are what are some of the people that you could you could text and they would respond um john taylor from duran yeah simon obviously terry and i terry none yeah she played uh last yeah last night in perth australia so i texted her again on thursday and i said hope you're not flying in coach because it's so long plus Perth is another five hours after Cindy yet.

But Terry Nunn, lead singer of Berlin, one of the most beautiful people inside out human beings. You know, if you don't know her, take my breath away, and they had loads of songs writing on the Metro, I love the Metro, so many songs. But how long did you guys date? But a year and a half. A year and a half. And it was intense. Oh, well, I asked her to marry me after six months.

And what you say? She said, yes, but not right now. and then we broke up on the night she asked me to marry her and it was something not good no and there we actually have a biopic in development right now about that one chapter in the world in my eyes the chapter called no more words and you're both but of course um everything slammed to a hole in may. Why? There was something called the writer strike. Oh, no, no, no, I don't mean, I didn't mean that. I mean, why did, why did your relationship with Terry suddenly stop? I was cheating. You were. And you admit that openly in the book. Very openly. I was, as my wife said,

when she read the book, because I said to her, I've got to be completely honest about everything in here. She said, oh, no, go ahead. Everyone's got a pass. Don't worry. And then Krista read the book. She's like, oh, my God, you were such a. man whore. And I said, yeah, I was. And I was so in love with Terry. I mean, she literally did take my breath away every time I saw her. But when she went on tour, I was, you know, the hot DJ in town kind of thing. Right. And there was so many women. For someone I worked with used to say, when you're a DJ, the moment you put your lips against a microphone on a popular radio station, you change and become Brad Pitt, you know, and back then especially.

Yeah, because that was the only way you got your music. Yeah. So, I mean, I was screwing around all the time, but the moment Terry came back, there was not another, wasn't another person in the world, never mind another woman in the world. But she found out. She showed up at a gig of mine, and I was with my co-hosts from MV3, and we were having an affair. and I was DJing and a guy, six-foot tall guy in pink spandex with wings on his back came down to the club. And he goes, hello, we've got a message.

And I said, oh, look, singing Telegram, I guess. Who's the message for? And I'm doing this on the mic, you know, could make it fun for everybody. And he goes, it's for you. And I went, okay, what is it? And he goes, no, it's upstairs. And so I went, okay, because it's clubbed. called Mr. Jays underneath a Chinese restaurant.

And so I said, okay, hot toddy is going to play the music for a little bit. The club DJ, I'm going upstairs. Anyone want to come? And so about 100 people came upstairs, and we go into the parking lot of Mr. Jays in El Monte. And it was something that Terry had planned to do two weeks before when she got back for three days off tour, and we went to see sparks together at the Hollywood Bowl, at the Greek theater. but she couldn't get permission for it for what she wanted to do because of

where it is. But in Almonte they have a private airport right next door so you can use planes there. You can't just fly over the Greek. And so I said to the singing telegram, okay, what's the message in us? I'm saying that Karen's got her arm around me

and giving me kisses and stuff like that. And he goes, message is up there. And so I look up And there's a plane that's just flying around Mr. Jays and the big parking lot. And it's skyriding across its wings. I'm ready to jump, marry me, Terry. And I went, just tell me she's not here.

He goes, she's over there. And I look and I see Terry's car and the door is opening. And Terry is wearing the wedding dress that she was wearing in the masquerade video. And she's halfway out of the car and sees Carrie. Karen kissing me and suddenly realizes, oh my God, you know, all the times I've been with Karen and Terry slammed the door shut and I just ran over to her car and held onto the handle of the car and I'm screaming, I love you, I love you, I'm so sorry, I love you. And she just drove off with tears in her eyes and the plane just kept flying over saying,

I'm ready to jump, marry me. And the crowd's going, was that Terry Nunn? And you're numb. Your whole body's numb. I just said to Peter, who was with me as well, take Karen home now. And we had a limo because I was doing the mornings. And the club went until midnight so I could sleep in the car. And he goes, how do you get home?

I said, I'll find a way, I'll find a way. And so Terry goes off one way. The limo goes off the other. And the plane is just making fun of me by just flying around saying, I'm ready to marry you. Did you ever talk to her again? Not for seven years. And the next time I talked to her, and this part's not in the book, actually.

Next time I talked to her was on a Saturday. And I was doing my shift on K-Rock. And it was, I think, probably August. And I was in shorts, tank top, baseball hat, unshaven. And the phone rings. It wasn't the hotline. She didn't know the hotline at that time. She was out of music.

She quit the band in 86 and went through a bad, bad period. And she called me up on the request line. I go, hi. She goes, it's Terry. And I went, oh, my God, Terry, how are you? How are you? She goes, I'm great. I want to see you today.

And I said, where, when? And she goes, as soon as you get off the air, and I said, where do you want to meet me? And she said, in Beverly Hills, the place is a jag dealership now. It used to be a restaurant. And I said, okay, I'll go home and change. She said, no, come as you are. I said, I can't come as I am. I'm in, can't go to a restaurant.

She goes, it's not just a restaurant. It's my wedding. I was like, oh, my God. Okay. And I said, but I'm in shorts and a tank top in a baseball hat. And she said, I don't care. I want you at my wedding. And so I drove to Beverly Hills and went to her wedding.

in shorts and a baseball hat. Did you cry? I did. And her mother and I danced. And she said to me, we always hoped it would be you. And it's not the husband she's with now. Right. It was her first husband.

It only lasted about 18 months. But it was hard. And then she told me a few things. And I apologize to her. And for the next probably 10 years, Every time I would see her, I would say, I am so sorry. I am so fucking sorry for what I did to you because what I did was inexcusable. But it looks as though, you know, it takes a lot of guts to write in a book saying I was a man

whore. I did this. I was, and I didn't like what I did, but I found my way. Yeah. And I knew I was wrong. I knew when I was doing it. You didn't deny it. No.

But it was little head was thinking more than big head. you know and it was it was really it was awful what i did to her awful but uh we'll we'll see you know i mean they're you know talking about the biopic and they really want to get into that chapter but she went through a bad period and you know i really screwed up one of the most beautiful women on the planet for a number of years and that i can't forgive myself for i I can forgive myself for losing her and for her losing me, but I can't forgive myself for putting her in such a bad position mentally. Oh, I know.

Well, you know what? She forgives you. Yeah, she does, but. But you don't forgive yourself. Yeah. No, not for that. No. Yeah.

I don't. She was, she's a great, great human being, a great human being. Did you ever go through depression? Did you ever, you know, we talk about that, but did you ever go through like hard times where you need to see a psychiatrist or. or talk to them about, you know, your issues. And because we talk about mental health here a lot, but did you ever have to deal with that?

Or did you ever? No, I didn't. I had one very short bout, very short, a couple of hours. But I put a gun against my head in that very short period of time. And that was when I ended up marrying Karen. And it was a good marriage, but not a passionate one, if you know what I mean. Right. And I came home one day, and there was no, no nothing, but some of her clothes were gone, and the house felt different.

And so I made about three calls, and on the third call, I got her sister. And she said, Karen's in Santa Barbara with her mother, doesn't want to speak to you for a week. She wants to get her head together. We never argued. it was out of the blue it would be like you and me on stage at the palace and suddenly me turning around

and hitting you with a baseball bat saying fuck off yeah fuck off and you were like well where hey hang on what happened I had no clue what caused anything and this just hit you hard

it hit me so hard and I called a couple of other people I called Peter got his machine there was no one I could talk to at the time and i was just spinning i mean literally almost like vertigo and i'd bought a shotgun for karen to have it as protection in the house and because i was doing gigs people knew when i was gone because i advertised on the radio right and i'm not into guns i'm not a big gun person

but i figured a shotgun you don't have to aim it and it makes a lot of noise so if someone did break in caron could just you know pull the trigger and point it roughly in the direction and maybe make contact with a couple of the pallets but the noise would but you got that dark that i got the gun and put it against my head were you really thinking about doing i was going to pull pull the trigger but my i had a dog a little dog called angel and angel lay on my foot and started to howl like she knew what was going on and i thought if i kill myself what happens to angel is she going to starve to death

maybe I should put some food down so I put the gun down first and then I thought what the fuck am I doing that how would my mum handle this you know she's lost dad how would she

devastated yeah and that was like that was the darkest I've ever been and I've never been there before I've never been there since but for that two to three hours it was wow

didn't like it obviously. Yeah. Understatement of the year. I didn't like it. Yeah. Well, you should have seen someone, a therapist, and talked to. I didn't need to afterwards.

Really? No, I didn't need to. I mean, I would go to a therapist. I mean, a lot of people do and get reward from it. But I'm, I've never been in that position where I thought I can't get through this myself. And if I, if I had those thoughts. once again, I would definitely go to a therapist. I would 100%.

When Karen and I got back together, just over a week later, we went to a therapist together, a marriage therapist. We went two times. And she said, I don't see anything wrong with you as a couple. You know, you don't argue. You seem to really relate to each other. But something inside was not clicking with that. I know about that.

I know about being in something where you're like, this person's great and she's this and that and I everything should lead you to think that everything's fine and this is but then there are a few things that you just don't feel or you're not feeling or you're just like you can't force it and there's no rhyme or reason it's just a feeling that you're just like you can't make something work that really just ultimately isn't there if you're missing a big component you know the small thing that seems so trivial could be that's it all these other little things I could deal with but this one is just like I just I know I know what you're saying I know that I know the feeling

and I'm being fortunate with Krista we've never had that we have the same kind of relationship that I had with Karen where we we hardly ever argue yeah I mean might say how honey come on do this oh yeah you're right or you're wrong or whatever but we never get into arguments but I don't know what triggered it with karen i've got ideas what might have triggered it yeah it's a shame yeah it's well i'm glad you didn't do it that thing so was angel at the time angel was a great dog too but listen i mean i could talk to you forever and i you know um then i want you to come back because this you have so many stories it's just like i could just sit here and listen to you for days but the book rolled in my eyes you also have the other book what is it tell me okay i have you have seven

books lockdown interviews yeah i have three nonfiction right And then four novels, and I'm writing my fifth novel right now. I have locked down interviews, which were done during COVID, when the bands had nothing to do but talk. Like with Boy George, six hours we chatted, you know. So, I mean, it just, just, it was incredible because normally when you get a band, you have 15 minutes because they get access Hollywood waiting. Yeah. And so it was, it was fantastic. Not COVID, but the lockdown.

Yeah, yeah. And then the unlocked interviews were bands. raring to go and get back out on the road like blondie and roxy music and people like that and that's in the unlocked and then uh the four novels one of them is alternate history uh but one is two thousand years ago a group of romans survive a atlantic hurricane but are washed up on this strange shore which is actually north carolina but you can't say that in the book because it wasn't north Carolina. And they encounter a group of Native Americans who weren't Native Americans. They were natives at the time. And these 45 of the most hardened warriors in the world learn a different way,

a way of peace and a way of love until a great evil comes. And then the Romans have to decide do we try and go back to Rome or do we stand and fight? Jesus, how do you? And it's really cool. Your mind Just good. That's the thing. You're so creative. You're just, you're doing what you love. Last question. Top five favorite bands of all time. Even a gun to your head. Okay. Sorry about that. Okay. No, no, no. Chris, Chris and I. We play this game all the time. All right. And now listen, I know you have a, you're friends with a lot of these guys. But so you got a really in your heart of heart, top five bands. Okay. Top five bands. I bet I can get one of them. Okay. Depeche Mode. Tide number one. Smiths. Who is tied with Depeche Mode? Do you think of Smith?

No, no. Depeche Mode, Duran Duran. Beatles. Beatles. Oh, yeah. All right. And greatest song from the Beatles, for me,

she's leaving home. That is a three-minute movie. If you listen to the lyrics of that, it's a movie. It's most incredible. And the way the chorus changes from she's leaving home to she's having fun just brilliant

breathtaking. The Pesh mode Beatles. It's got to be Morrissey or Smith I'm sure. Tears for Fears. Oh, I love Tears. I just saw him at the ball. Great. Sergio Mendez. My all-time favorite song that Krista's going to play at my wake in about 112 years time

is Mascanada. It's Brazilian. I know it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. What a song is just. And what's the last one? The last one is maybe now Durand, Duran, having spent, seen them recently a number of times in concert and realizing what an incredible body of work they have. And I made a mistake a few years back when I was actually having drinks with Simon. We were talking about, you know, radio and touring and all different kinds of things. And I went, God, you're so lucky to have so many songs.

And he looked at me, he goes, has nothing to do with luck. And he was right. He was right. No, I know. It was work. You know, I mean, they put it together. Because so many bands would kill to have that many songs. It's incredible.

Richard, this has been awesome to me. I just so much insight. It's just like, I know little things about you and your talent and this, but I didn't know a lot of these stories and how all these things came together. And there's so much more to talk about. Get the book. We're old in my eyes. He has so many other books. It's so interesting. If you love the 80s, if you love music, he knows so much about music. And your life is so interesting. And I'm so happy for you and Krista and that you found your person. And thank you for being a friend and coming here today. Oh, anytime. I'll come back

and next time I won't talk so much. Oh, no. I like it. It helps me. It's easy for me. Cool. All right. You're the best. Thanks. Yeah, he opens up. There wasn't, he doesn't really hold back, you know, and I, and his stories are really interesting and fun and it just puts me. I love that era. I love hearing about, does he know these people are, you know, meeting Duran Duran or going out with beautiful Terry Nunn from Berlin. And it was just, it was fun for me. It really was. And I hope it's fun for you. Any 80s folks out there. Again, Patreon.com slash inside of you, join today. the podcast i will send you a message uh we need you to support the podcast and talkville podcast uh that's patreon.com slash talkville if you want to support both podcasts more so mine um but thank you for listening today uh one of the perks of being a patron is you get your your name the top tiers get their name shout it out every month every week every week 50 episodes a week because i think we do 50 maybe we do 51 not sure but ryan let's do it here the shout out to the top tier patrons nancy davis

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