The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Greg Phillinganes (Part 2)

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

In part 2 of 2, Greg Phillinganes talks more about his time with Michael Jackson, and some of the other artists he's worked with including George Harrison, Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What's up, y'all? Last week on Quest Love Supreme, Greg Philingains took us on a journey journey through his career for auditioning for Stevie Wonder's band, fresh out of high school to work with the Jackson's during the destiny and triumph years. And when we left Greg, he was telling us how he got Jack for his writer's credit for 10%

of the publishing royalties for Michael Jackson's don't stop to you get enough. And he also said there was a Quincy Jones version of that story too. So there's part two of the special Greg Philling Gaines edition of Questlove Supreme. Here we go. So, you know, it's... What's the song? Well, Amir? A hundred ways.

Hunter ways. No. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. There's something a lot more subtle. Oprah. Huh? Oprah theme? I was going to go.

No, no, no. You're never going to get it. No, you're not going to get it. I'm going to set it up for you because you're never going to get it. The setup is this. It's great. Yes. It's good, isn't it?

You have a lot. fun with me. So much. You want to do another one? Yes. Okay. So here's the thing. The thing is this.

So it's me and it's Neil Steubenhouse. And I want to say Paul Jackson Jr. on guitar. I'm not sure, but I think so. And I'm pretty sure it's JR on drums. We're in the studio. And we're just vibing. You know, we're just.

mistake right about here we're vibing you know and we're just a nice little thing going on we're just viving you know and Quincy's like hey all right you know you know um we're just vibing and uh this vibe is being recorded you know right about here and okay some time passes and I don't mean hours I don't days. I mean, some time. And now, Quincy's working on... I think I figured it out.

I believe so. I believe so. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you all say anything, I believe so. And he says, yeah, you know, we're doing this thing and I want to, I want to recreate that groove thing. You know, I want to recreate that thing that's right about this tempo right here. And so if you think you know it, what is this song? Secret Garden. Oh, damn, I had the wrong one. What did you say? Secret Garden. Bingo.

Wow. Tell me a secret. Thank you. Oh. I'm a special secret. Okay. And that's... Okay.

Yeah. Damn. Oh, there's a story for everything. There's a story for everything. So it's like, I love Quincy's dirty draws, but he never... He would never admit that. Because you know what?

I asked him about it one day. He's like, what are you talking about? Long time ago I asked him. And he reared up at me like, what are you talking about? Like, okay, I get it. Damn. You got a good heart. So after that joint came out.

No, I'm just pretty stupid. Oh, well, I was just. No, I mean, it's the game. No, here's the thing. The thing is this. I was too busy being hurt. I was too busy being emotionally affected as opposed to saying

oh hell with this I'm fighting this but really are you really prepared to fight Michael Jackson for a piece of a song with Michael and his his team of lawyer army Are you really gonna Are you really think you're gonna like succeed in that And have a freaking prayer

So what am I gonna do? You know? And so I had to suck it up but what I lost and look 10% please I'd be living next to Quincy with 10% of that one song but you know what I lost in revenue

I'd like to think I gained in a relationship yeah that's what I was thinking of him because it went from that and by the way it ain't just that what else you got oh how about did the Did the end of Heartbreak Hotel play itself? You wrote that bridge?

Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you, which was orchestrated, doubled with strings and everything. Yes. Because Michael said, we need some dramatic here at the end. So I came up with that. Wow.

And then they added an orchestra to that too. Did you start, after this, do you start looking around when you're just jamming, making sure the button ain't pushed? No, darling, because I'm too busy being inspired. because it happens so quick for me literally when Michael said we need some dramatic here at the end

before you could finish the Jeopardy theme song I just go yeah I get it okay oh but it doesn't end there what else you got so now it's the dangerous is it dangerous it's dangerous I think it's the dangerous album

I think it's a dangerous album and we're working on this one song And Michael says, beautiful song, by the way, beautiful. And he says, what I'm going to do here is I'm going to talk kind of like a monologue thing. And I just want something, I want some music underneath. In the closet? In the closet? Here the world.

Ah. No. And I just need, so I need some music because it's going to be dramatic. And I'm going to talk through this thing at the end of it, you know. And so I just need some music. So I said, okay, no problem. Any takers? I was thinking

Oh, you're talking You're just Your mama No Is it Is it the Is it the Why ain't you so much?

Wait, You can't announce that joke What? I missed it I'm so Yeah, I remember Your mama

Yeah, Yeah, Is it Um, What was the The world? That is not here. Is it that?

Oh, they'll be there. What? Will you be there? Bingo. Yeah. I don't even. Oh, at the end.

Thank you. At the end. The end, which was double with orchestra and choir. Thank you. That is about another three minutes, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah.

Somewhere two, three. You missed out on that free willy money? So, can I ask a question? Sure. So can you explain to the listener who may not know that intricacies of what your jobs were

at these sessions. So can you just explain the difference? When arranging becomes writing. When associate producing becomes composing. Well, Steve, I'd love to explain that. Except there's such a fine line and such a slippery slope. It's kind of hard to define. Because I guess basically, this is the equivalent of beauties in the eye of the

beholder. Well, arranging's in the eye of who deems you an arranger. as opposed to a songwriter, as opposed to just an arranger, as opposed to just a little keyboard player that we're going to give a check one time to and send him on his way because I want all the credit. Right. So ultimately those things come down to whether you are going to stand up for it. It comes down to either whether you're going to stand up and fight it or if it's mutually agreed.

Yeah. And mutually agreed in writing. Have you ever seen someone been like, hey, by the way, and they didn't get a call back? Like, have you ever seen someone get blackballed or not used again? Or, don't even miss him that guy. He's, he's a trouble maker. Yeah. I, I, nothing specific.

Like, is there a way to be ex-nade and blackballed from, because you're in a sweet spot? Yeah. You keep getting work and you keep getting work. And you keep, like, you're on, I mean, between, between 77 and 97, you're on everything. I know, but, I mean, whenever I would try to raise. a little dust, I always got a pushback. I mean, there was the time when, what was it? It was triumph.

And I was classified as an associate producer. Well, wait, wait, wait, things went on and on and on and on, and things were fine until one day I show up to the studio and Bill Bray standing outside the door. I said Don't need you today, Bubba What? I'm like, what are you talking about? I got it going I just don't need you today bubble

They just decided that I was done Wow Because any more they would have to pay you Did you say something at the day before? No, no, no, no I did nothing The day before I went into work Everything was fine

The next day I go and I'm barred Yeah, sometimes people bar you Because they feel bad about what you're done to it No, they just decided they could take it over from there. And they did not need my assistance. Yeah, they didn't need my assistance anymore. So they just said, okay, you're done, bye. Can I ask, all right, so my question about triumph, engineering-wise?

But I do have a positive punchline, sort of to the end of what I just said. Okay. But, no, you want to ask? Well, just the engineering of the Triumph album sounds very flat to me. as opposed to how wide open destiny was. And I don't know why I really need you to tell me a really good engineering story of Bruce Whedien. What Bruce Whedon brought to off the wall,

it's like, it almost. It's like 3D almost. Who did the same, were the same, do you remember who mixed? I don't, but the same people were not involved. And I kind of understand what you're saying. sonically but I just can't tell you why I'm not because I don't remember who was involved so you weren't there for the overseeing of the mixing and none of that stuff oh no

side question yeah um those sessions yeah yeah sounded really fun because they absolutely were it's almost to the point where I could tell almost what order was recorded because some of them songs you did the majority of the count off you were there one two, three, four. And then some of them songs, you guys sound like you were on your 50th beer. I mean, not that, but just sound like,

oh, da, da, da. So what were just the, the sessions like? I mean, the best way I could describe it is fun. There was so much. And how do you learn this stuff? Like, how does it come from,

here's the cassette demo and da-da-da-da. Like, do you get the cassette first, and do you work out these full-fleshed arrangements and how long? Well, we would hear the demo in some form and then after I came up with the arrangement, I would just, we had charts. I have a chart.

It's actually, my wife insisted that I frame the chart to blame it on the buggy. And so it's over the piano in the house. So we had charts and I would just do a lot of the parts. But it was heck of fun. It was just so much fun, fun, fun. I remember, and I think it was during the Destiny album, I remember being in the studio part

and we were just, you know, there wasn't anything going on officially. It's just kind of different things happening at the same time, just stuff going on. But I remember hearing somebody playing drums and it was really funky. It was just like this thing and I remember peering around and it was Michael.

Hmm. He could play drums? He could play drums. Oh, wow. What? Most people do not know this. But if you think about it, it made perfect sense because like Sammy

yeah yeah he b-boxed yeah you know what I mean so he could definitely play and he was fine and it was I only saw it one time but I was like wow as a matter of maybe there's a picture of an even younger Michael playing drums and I have it I've seen that for him yeah

but no I saw him for myself and it was like wow I didn't I didn't see this coming oh my God we didn't even get to like Thriller and off the wall I'm waiting for the streets of fire and let me give you the positive punchline to all this negativity

because Lai is as I was saying what I lost in revenue I gained a relationship to the point where you know there was this one faithful evening where we were all together in this room backstage in this arena

and and we were all together, outside of Michael, I went to his room separately, but I'm standing there with the brothers in a circle and I remember saying to them, you know what? Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think after, you know, listening to your records junior high school and watching your shows, I never ever imagined in my life that I'd be standing in a room with all of you as your music director

getting ready to tell you to have a great show and it was backstage in Madison Square Garden and we were about to do the 30th anniversary shows and to go from that point early in my life

as a fan and having just fantasies about them and what it must be like to hang with them to actually be arm and arm with them in a huddle

before we start the 30th anniversary shows and I guess to tell them, have a great one. I can't begin to tell you what that's like. That sense of balance in your system is amazing because at the same time it's like, here you are in that moment, but these are still the same guys that may have did a couple of shady things to you. So you have to continue to be the bigger person and really just appreciate the moment and the bigger things that are yet to come. Well, thank you.

All I can say is that, you know, the thing that, that one over everything else was love. And we all realized that we really do love each other. Wait, I'm not done the technical merit questions. Oh, by all means. We over here evoking emotions. And you over here like, what microphone do you? Yeah, let me ruin this for a second.

So we want to be starting something? Yeah. Are you playing the synth bass, the line? Yep. Now, was sequencing out then, or did you have to do that seven minutes in a row? No, I did it. There was tape looping? I don't need no sticking sequence.

Come on, man. But look, you're playing with a lindrum. So you're telling me for seven minutes, yeah, I'm telling you that. Seven minutes in a row, row. Because I was just young and crazy like that. how many punches did you have to do not many don't no dude because i i i graduated one or you

oh well oh yeah okay fair enough it's like jimmy jamb when he said when he would uh play all the stuff from the 12 yeah right straight through and they went to the school of prince so yeah i get it okay it makes sense no i just just now i'm just thinking of all like even you didn't veer off into one ad lib on, shake your body down to the ground to like the last minute. No, that's not true.

That's not true. You got to, I, I, I, I, I had, yeah, I had little, yeah, I had, but I, but I paste it. To that, to your point, yes, I definitely paste it. Okay, you're right. You do. You know, and another thing is, another example of that is, don't stop.

I paste those leaks, too. I mean, I kept basically, oh, an even better example is Thriller. that's what I want to get to. Yeah. Oh, you already answer. You're not sequins it. So you're playing the stuff.

Oh, absolutely. How are you finding these patches? Because now that I, okay, now that the remixes are coming out. Yeah. Thrill is almost borderline,

a pre, pre, pre-pre-pre-cursor the EDM, at least with the patches that you're using. Like, how long do you, that's what I'm saying like in. Well, you know, we had lots of help as far as programming. We had guys like that, We had Michael Bottyker.

He was like on call. That was our go-to guy. And there were others. Was he more of a tech guy or an actual? A player. Because he was playing on the Jackson store. He played. But he programmed better.

But he, yeah. The strength, I would say, was the program. That was shred and butter. So was it a time as money atmosphere? So, okay, so we're in the studio right now. No. It was whatever it takes to get the. writes out. Okay, but what's the patience factor? Because it's like even, okay, so even the little

like right before Vincent Price's rap thing. How long do you have to like, hmm, let me try this. Let me try this. Even with keyboards today, like it takes me 20 minutes to decide and this stuff is already preset. What's the, what's the time, like what time do you have to think of something cool You have mere minutes? No, there was no time. There was no... When it was right, then you knew? Yeah, there was no consideration of time.

It's just like, Lily, I need this patch. Go. I need this sound, rather. Go. And however long it took, was however long it took. Are you playing on beat it? Yeah. What is that intro gong fire?

What is that noise? I could not tell you if you have me a gunpoint. I, I, it's a... Oh, God. God, I saw a YouTube video. It's obviously an old synthesizer. And they were going through the presets on it, and that was one of them.

Really? Yeah. Not Synclavier? I can't remember. I can't remember. It's been a while since I saw that video. Okay. No, I have no idea, bro.

What was that? Human nature is that page and all those cats? Yeah, that's Steve Piccaro. Okay. They didn't need me for that. It's my man, Steve Piccaro. You know the story about that song, right? Yeah, yeah.

Quincy, yeah, he told us about. Quincy and Rod, this thing to because that's ad nauseum, and then they're, like, falling asleep and stuff, and it's the end of the... Yeah, auto-reverse, and then, you know, and they're, like in a semi-sleep state, and all of a sudden,

like, what is that? The rest is history. It was this in clavier, by the way. Okay. Yeah, I kind of remember that now, yeah. It's clavier, too. Okay, 100 Ways is one of our favorite...

Really? You don't Oh my gosh, you guys You're not going to understand it Wow But in hip hop terms Really? That's all I can say

Yes, it's been chopped Lovely to the point where like Almost every line of that thing is The solo. Yeah It means the world to us It was done in an ironic I think it was done in a very

ironic way But it just stopped You might as well play it I mean it's You know It's Yeah I mean, the song's been out for forever.

Yeah. Wait, what's the title of it? Rhyms like dimes. Yeah, this is Jesus Christ. Really? Yo, yo, y'all, y'all can't stand right here. In his right hand was your man's worst nightmare. Loud enough to burst his right ear drum close range.

The game is not only dangerous, but it's the most strange. I sell rhymes like dimes like the one who most you keep gas, about the broke of time. Jokin rhymes like the is you just happy to see me trick. Classical slapstick Rapists need chapstick A lot of them sound like they In a talent show

So I give them something to remember Like the Alamo Tallyo a high joker like space game Came back for five years Yeah, lane and stayed What do you say? This is seven My jaw is dropped

This has never heard this before The song is near 20 years old But what? See, that's the thing I've never heard this is my first time hearing this I've never 100 ways mean something totally different To us, yeah

Initially it was like Yeah that's mom and dad's song Or like yeah Yeah easy to know But not with that. Yeah, but he turned it. And even when I heard it, I was like, yo, I'd never ever thought

to use that. This could be chopped. That's a crazy person who did that. That's a person with a whole lot of time on that. Yes. MF Doom. Who actually did that? Who actually produced that? MF Doom.

MF Doom, you're a crazy guy. You're crazy, bro. He is. Well, did Quincy tell you the story of that solo? He told you, like, he woke you up out of your sleep. Yeah. There was during the time of assembly line

sessions and you, when you went to work for Quincy you knew two things. No, you knew three things. A, it was going to be fun. B, you were going to eat well and C, you never knew how long you were

going to be. So, I mean, it's no o'clock in the morning, man. And I had done some other stuff and at this point, I'm a sleep under a piano. Somebody came in and woke me up and said, all right, you're up again. I go, okay. In my

stupor, you know, I stumble up to the thing and it's a mini-mug and Quincy says, right, so this is 100 ways and we need a solo, go. Wow. That's how I was. Does he play you the full song at least before? Well, yeah, they played the song and I'm like, okay.

So what you hear in that soul, like 90% of it was the first take and I only did so you know da-da-da-da-da-da-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-ba-da-ba-da-da-ba-da-da-da-da-a-da-da- and then I only did like a couple of takes to finish it but up until that point that's the first take and and Quincy to this day says it's his favorite solo of mine because it was done in the the, what he calls the alpha state. Or what's known as the alpha state. Because, you know, only he can like be scientific with it. I was asleep. But, you know, he said, no, dude, it's the alpha state, alpha state. Because you weren't thinking.

Dude. Do you all know about this? There's a scientist that there's a scientist that, there's a scientist that did a research on her students, on her students in which she would do pop quizzes on her 7 AM class. versus prepared test advance notice to her smarter class at 12 in the afternoon. And the pop quiz. The 7 a.m. class will win? They did better because it's almost like. We overthink.

There's a middle ground of not preparing and over preparing and overthinking. Yeah. And the genius zone is always in the middle where it's just like. Yeah. No, that's. And Quincy lives for that. So does Questlove Supreme. Yeah.

He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's and so that's what I, that's where I was. And again, it, it, it, it only took like three takes or so for me to finish, for me to finish it, but that, that, weep, weep, that's just the first thing that came out. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep.

That's me. Cliver Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me,

or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's

East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar, this is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

I have a question about the bad album. Yeah. And I guess I shared this theory in the documentary. It's what I call the brace yourself moment, which you're a big part of like all these songs have to start with this stab from hell, this chord. Well, not even that. I mean, that's probably easy patch, but like, you know, like Dirty Diana's...

And that, like, by this point, are they telling you, okay, Greg, every song on this album, we need... Well, no, because that really wasn't me. That wasn't? No. Those examples, you started like with... Well, first of all, I'm not on Dirty Diana. Oh. I'm not on that at all.

Another part of me? And actually, I'm not on that either. Speed demon? You know, where you make me feel? I'm on the way you make me feel. I'm not on Speed Demon, unfortunately. That's Jerry Hay. That's crazy, Jerry Hay, with those horns, those horn.

The horn. And that's what made the song. You know that. Yes, yes. That's the whole, that's, and so Jerry had to get tightened up for that. Because, you know, Michael was a little, you know, slow on that. And it was like, and Quincy was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

There would be no speed demon without that horn, horn arrangement. So you're going to tighten up, Jerry. But I am on the way it made me feel. And my favorite memory of that is, you know, because I played the string parts. Right? So what I remember is doing that and having Michael standing next to me going,

vibing with me because I'm like, and he's like, neck moving. Dude. That was fun. How big is his, his snaps? Dude, he had the big, I know he had these big ass hands. And his snaps sound like clave's, don't they? Yes.

Because you think it's clave is on the bridge of, uh, uh, rock with you? Yeah, but it's not. No. And when the group. That's his fingers. I thought that was clave. Nope, it's his fingers. Wait, can I ask for rock with you?

Yeah. who well I guess I should have asked Quincy instead that horn intro oh the one that got removed why did they take that away it doesn't make sense to me what horn is it just there's a horn intro to rock with you that got mixed out here's the thing that I love about off the wall well I certainly know I remember that I'll play for you off the record yeah yeah um the thing that I discover about with with thrilling off the wall is that A lot of this stuff is, I can tell that at least what I assume, the relationship between Michael and Quincy, is let's try every idea out. And then you're going to trust me to pull this away and this way and edit this and edit that. So there are a lot of elements on those albums that, had they been there, oh, God, it would have been like the worst dated disco album of all time or, you know. Isn't that crazy? One slight misstep. So I applaud Quincy for knowing what to pull away.

Yeah. But there's just, there's just moments of, okay, so I'm thinking that you were there on the ground floor of the horn intro instead of just the naked. No, because what I remember about that was Quincy saying to JR, I want to have a drumlake that's going to live in infamy. I want to have a drum like that kids are going to remember, you know, a hundred years from now. And so he came over to That was that

Bad question Please tell me that by this time You went on the tour And you and Ricky were back together Oh yeah Yes Oh absolutely Yeah

How did Ricky get that gig And not Jonathan Moffitt Because you were the MD Because I thought like Jonathan would have been The Jackson's drummer for life Yeah you'd think that So how did Ricky get it Well Ricky also had the victory tour right

No No that was Jonathan on Victory Okay Ricky did bad and dangerous. But you did? Yeah, with Cheryl Crow. And what were you three? Yes.

Yes, yes, I was. You just made this woman's life. Yes, I was. You couldn't have been more than five. I don't like ten. Okay, so still. I still have stocks older than you, please. And so I don't remember to be honest.

Because even though, you know, he made me the MD, and that whole process was so weird, there were other people hiring people. So I didn't really hire everybody. So I didn't hire the whole band. I mean, there are certain people that were chosen before I was even asked. How did you present that show without the,

out of the age of Pro Tools? You know, because the bad tool. Oh, well, that's easy. We just had, we just had, like, was it two, or at least two full-blown sync claviers. Too, damn. And back then, that was a lot of money with them. Yeah, like, no, he, it was like whatever,

by any means necessary. I mean, the money was no object, and so we had, like, two full-blown. Well, yeah, I mean, that, because that was his first real tool. To handle the background vocals and the, you know, the extra tracks. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Damn. Man, what was it like with, when Cheryl Crowe came into the,

a picture for that tour. Like, what was, what did she bring to the table? Whiteness. Sorry. Because she wasn't the one with the lights in her hair. No. No, that was Jennifer. She was the guitarist.

You know, you ask a very loaded question, my young friend. Okay. Is that what I was a gig first? Because, no, she was after. Okay. That was, so you did dangerous.

Cheryl did bad I would say that the thing that Cheryl brought the most was yeah the silence the silence the silence here

is this a hot topic that we should something I said Steve he's like the white person about to get single no what she brought was a secret love affair Okay. Here in my garden.

Oh. Who? Well, between two people and I was the other one. Oh. Oh. Yes, Greg. Damn. Cam, like, yeah, you can sniff.

No, that was Fonte's question. Yeah. That was Fonte. Oh, my fault. Fonte under the cup of shade. Yeah. What you got to say, Fonte? That's a perfect question, Tim.

Nah, ma'am. Hey, listen. I guess. I was asking question. You're talking. I guess you didn't see that coming, eh? Nope. Well, Steve, you missed out.

Wow, wow. Steve's probably in the control room right now. Wow. Yeah. That's what happened. Man. Good for you. No, I wasn't good because I was married, liar.

He said secret lover of love affair. Yeah. What? Okay. That's the thing. How can you be? Yes, I was bad. how okay so explain not just a tour darling

I was bad explain that it wasn't just the name of a tour how can how can one can one be a working musician and have domestic normalcy I mean if you're doing the Michael Jackson Bad tour

are you know what about the kids at home for it not just you, just like the bass player or the lighting coordinator. Like you guys were going from from 87 to the top of January 89. No, understand. We rule the world. Understand that. Yes. But were girls flinging themselves over all of us?

Not over all of us. And I was in that group. I wasn't getting girls flung at me, you know, because a lot of people just assume, oh, my God, you must have had it dripping out of your ears. And I, no, no, that did not happen to me. I didn't mean it from that perspective, but I just meant like, if you have a relationship at home, like if you're your college professor wife is at home.

No, it's very, very difficult and you better bring him out at some point. Or like, would Michael allow, like, would he chartered Jetford families to come and visit? No, no, no, no, he didn't do that. But he did welcome families. He was into that. And, you know, several of us, including me, brought our families out at different points. I mean, and, you know, Michael, you know, one of the singers, Dorian Holly, brought his little Niana, and she spent a lot of time on the road with us. And, you know, Ricky brought his kids and his wife.

I brought mine out. It was great in that way. Didn't help. Well, it's not in my case. And, yeah, no, I mean, I remember when we, when we, when we, um, We were in Tokyo, and he arranged for us to all go to Disneyland. Just y'all. Is it just y'all?

We shut down the park, baby, and it was us. And you haven't lived until you've been to Disneyland with the head Mickey. And a matter of fact, I used to call him Mickey, and he would answer to that, too. But, no, it was great. And so, yes, he loved, you know, the family's hanging. and all that. But to answer the question, yeah, you needed to have, you couldn't sustain a tour like that

and never see your spouse or your family at any point. You had to have them join you. It's easier now with FaceTime and all that stuff. Oh, absolutely. Back then, it was like. No, it was rough. No, but it's like going, it's a rap. Yeah.

You're going to go a bid. Yeah, you're going, like you're doing it. You're in the military. Yeah. It's like you're gone. I would have been Valerie Simpson. Wait a minute. We did not even ask, well, but, but, we did not even ask,

behind the mask. Oh, yeah. Behind the mask. Yeah, so I was working on my second solo album while working on... The pulse? Yeah.

While we were also doing... Oh, my God. Wait a minute. We're just all over the place. We are because we are... Remind me to remind you that Minel did write by you. Oh, for Can't Slow Down.

Never mind. No, no, no. Well, he did. basically yeah he did well he did better to me than Michael did for that's for sure right or uh might or did you do all night long and no no no no no no here let me give you level find away yeah no no he actually did all night long by himself but i did uh level find level find find a way and level conquer all yes he did ah the two best song and i thank you very much and a crazy video yeah and i and i did get uh you know

credit and checks for that. Who sang on Love or Conquerol? The female. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, crap. I can't remember her name right now. I see her face and I can't remember her name. Oh, look at that. I always thought that was his take on the Al Green song.

Like, that was Love or Conqueror. Interesting. No. That's what it sounds. That's what I mean. It might sound like that. Well, yeah, I didn't really. Because I, well, I tell you what?

I wasn't. Well, not really. because I wasn't, I wasn't thinking of that. Okay. That wasn't my experience. That song is so good. Oh, my God. That's interesting that you, because I wasn't thinking that at all.

Oh, wow. Okay. Marva King. Marva King? Marva, thank you. Princess Marvel King? Well, well, later on here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I keep getting heard Marva Hicks confused. Okay. She was James Brown, right? No, that was Marvin Whitney. No, that was Marv Whitney. Yeah. A lot of novels. Nice here to join it, Steve.

Thanks. You missed his, Steve. The unfair. You missed it. It was a good news. It wasn't bad news. Well, you'll hear the replay. It's right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. So Lionel did do right, right to her by me. Okay. You worked on his first solo album, right? Yeah.

That was where I first saw your name. Yeah. When I was like four, yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, and then. You left during the Lionel Richie portion. And that's all he lived. The first one, the first Lionel Richie, you are.

You're on that. You don't have the right to comment and ask questions. You got to sit for a second. The intro to you are. No, we're in so serious. No, first of all, I'm not on that. But what you sound like, was like that was like, was like, are you out of there?

Okay, don't come back if you leave. But you sound like that, what was like, some kind of kind of. No, some kind of movie was like The guy goes, no, I was like an S&L Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. You know, the thing that you did. That was cool. That was a mirror when we first started to show.

Okay, thank you. But yeah, Serbs you right. That was Mr. Filming. What about my love? Oh, yeah, and I wrote that with The Very Mysterious John McLean, yes. Oh, wow. The executive John McLean. Wow, I didn't. So, oh my God, there's

some more John McLean credits that I've seen and I didn't think that was him. He was a songwriter first? Well, we... Oh, wait a minute. You didn't get credit for surgery rate. Oh, I got a story about me and John. Hit me.

Well, John, who I love dearly. Let me just start out by saying that. Let me just say that right now. I do love him dearly. I really do. He's the kind of guy that you'll never get to love because he just doesn't allow it. but I love him and we spent

a lot of time together in 79 and the early 80s we spent a lot of time together and I had this dream we had this dream of forming a band

that would be called PM and never yeah and never happened he's in Detroit no it's from here but um we we hooked up somehow and and uh he was the first guy that sounded like prince before prince that's how he played guitar that john mclean yep man yeah that john mclean we gotta find this motherfucker well if you do you will win the ultimate prize we

gunning for him it's just we can't find him and you know what Sorry to say, but you probably won't. Really? Yeah, he's that mysterious. You know what? You can Google anybody on the planet. Yeah, I was like to say, I can't even, if he walked in right now, I wouldn't know. I've never seen what he looks like.

You can't Google. I imagine that he looks like Stony Jackson. I found an old picture of him, but, you know. Is he a brother? Is he? Oh, yeah, okay. He's a black guy. Damn.

But don't. You can't find him. Wow. Damn, so he Medinaized his way into the industry as an executive. the same way that Benny Medina was a musician before. Oh, he was an Apollo, right? Yeah. Yeah, he's Benny Medina, Lord.

Apollo out. Yeah. It's funny. Aged for bad, oh. But, no, actually. It's good. Actually, John was a little more legitimate. But anyway.

We need a theme for it. Great. Yeah, you do. You do. Or maybe I'll just come up with my own. I'll just do a couple of spots for you. But anyway, don't be teasing us now. Don't write a check.

Cash can't cash. Give it all now. You can't pay for you. You might be surprised. Anyway, so. Evan? Yes. So you all had a group called P.M.

No, we had the idea of a group, but it never came to fruition. What projects, what, okay. But you know what we did work on together? What? A TV series. The name of the producer escapes me right now. But the show is called The Righteous Apples. Oh, my God.

How about that? The righteous, yeah, they did a cover of, let it go. But let the love out of your heart. It was a Page's joint. Originally, Richard Page did the joint. And then they did a cover of it. The Righteous Apples. It was like, they were like a high school.

Was this for Cindy Heron from? No, but I'm trying to think of the name of the creator and the writer, and I can't for the life of me right now. Black guy where he wore round glasses. It was a PBS thing. And we wrote and produced songs for that show. Like Roller Ella? Yeah.

As a matter of fact. I'm looking at the IMDB page right now. We'll just continue that's more. I'm not. Is there another song called Feels Like the First Time? It doesn't list just this one. Okay. But I, yeah. But yeah, we, we did that.

And that was the crony Jackson was in it. Stony Jackson was in it. Yeah. Stony Jackson was. Stoney Jackson. Yes, he was. But John doesn't look like Stoney. And Ernest Thomas.

Wow. Isn't that crazy? Ernest once thought I was Commons bodyguard. That's hysterical. That broke my heart, man. That's hysterical. That's funny. Yeah.

It's funny. Topper Carew. Top, thank you. Topper Caroo. on to do with Martin. Martin, yeah. Thank you. Wow. Yes. That was my introduction to Topper. That was the first thing that you scored or like for television? I think it was the only thing. Okay. So Michael Henderson was on that? Sorry. Really? He was on an episode, yeah. He was? I guess. Wait, was this a drama? Just as a member of the band.

Not as like a speaker. I wouldn't call, well, I guess you can call it a drama sort of. Yeah, I guess. Michael Henderson. What year? 80 and 81. I was one the show was on. Oh, that's the cocaine Michael Henderson here. Oh, that's messed up. Prang this shit down to a whistle. Can you please break it down, me, motherfucker? Have you ever heard of Michael Henderson's

rant, drunken rant in Japan? No. He's a classic? Oh, my God. It's the best thing. Best thing in life. Just Google. I'm not breaking it down for nobody.

I'm not backing it out. Michael Henderson. 10 pendergast, my father, man. Oh, wow. Curtis Mayfield, they're trying to kill Curtis. Like, he's just drunk and he's playing in front. It feels like he's performing for an audience of 14. And you can hear people like, because he's responding to people.

Oh, you're going to leave, baby? Oh, that's okay. That's all right. Yeah. And they're just like, just sing your song. I'm regular. Wow. What year is this?

I'm looking. It has to be 84. It has not wasting any time. It has to be 84. And, like, Norman, I think Norman Conner's his drumming. But he takes, it's a seven-minute buildup to sing going places. Yeah. And when he...

Living around, he didn't drink. It's a very special person. Like, I did, I was like, damn. It's like, he gets into the verse before you realize it's going places. Right. And it sounds nothing. I'm like, oh, that's what he's singing. His son, his son lives in Philly and keeps.

taking it off of YouTube. Yeah, because I can't find it right now. Wow. But someone can't... It's messed up. I got it on. I got the NEP3. That shit ain't going nowhere.

Have you ever seen a version where they made a video to it? Stone's throw made... Stone's throw did like a... Animated... An animated... Oh, shit. It's the best thing on Earth.

Take me a motherfucker your right. Motherfucking not. He goes into the next song. Oh, this sounds better than Ray Charles. It sounds better than Buddy Riches, it sounds better than Freddie Hubbard.

I heard about the Freddie. Really? Pass those three. Really? Pass those three. They're cursing people out. But this is just like, he's, you know,

what's the, which one is the right? Where is he cussing people about that? Oh, someone interrupts. There's a scuffle between him and the drummer. At the time, I think, was not Bernard, but.

I thought it was Fathead. Fathead was a sax player. Yeah, Fathead was a sex player. But it was a scuffle between him and the drummer. And the drummer walked off. He said, that's all right. All right. It went.

Oh, that. Okay. He's doing busted. I have a version of him doing busted. Okay. And then someone gets on the stage. It's like, you a dog. You a dog.

And Ray's just like, bless your heart. Bless your heart. You were nothing but a dirty dog. Oh, it's a woman. She didn't, no, a guy basically like, Ray must have did something wrong to a woman either slept with his wife or something. He said, you ain't nothing but a dog. Bless your heart.

Can someone please get this gentleman out of the state league? You ain't nothing but a dirty dog. You are dog. And then they take him off and then like you hear him walking like a crash cut south. Oh yeah. See him walking out. And then so all right, all right.

Let's all the song. Like nothing happened. But yes. It's a. there but no Michael Henderson Oh Brady Humber loses his shit

That's the name of it Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah So

I've So listen What I know you have a What three songs Did you say No to

that you could have been on Like did you only Stay in the winter circle Michael Lionel

Stevie The only example I have of that is a song that I was originally asked to overdub on piano. And I was very full of myself. Oh, no. And I went and did the session, but I mean, I was full of myself musically. And I thought, like, whatever I played would be great. And it wasn't because they just wanted something. just wanted the changes in the rhythm that it was in. And I was overplaying. I overplayed

and I over my, I overplayed my way out of the session and I regret that because I really love this song and it's one of my favorites from George Benson. It's turn your love around. How do you, they just wanted you to play the piano line? They just want to do, dood, doon, do. But I was playing, I was playing, I was playing, I was just overplaying, you know. And I, and I, were they afraid to ask you to just play simple? I guess.

They just said, well, it's not, okay, thanks. And then the next thing I know, somebody else was on it. But so, yeah, but I remember being asked to play on it, but I just, I didn't, I didn't play it right, you know. And I could have. And I, even at that point, I was definitely more trained because of all the other years of doing sessions.

and I just should have known better, but I overplayed. Were you formally trained how to play me? We didn't talk about that. Were you formally, like, you know how to read or was it just about here? No, I started playing by ear at, well, my mom says, the legend has it, two. I started playing by ear at round two, but then I started taking lessons at around six, and so I did have formal training. And I had three teachers, and the third one was the most influential and the most effective.

and he was the pianist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and his name was Misha Kotler and he was a badass. He didn't take any mess and, and you know, I needed discipline because I was running over my last teacher because I thought I was hot snot and knew everything and I left his house crying many times because he just, he was this Russian, you know,

like Polish and he was, you know, very strict and took no mess, you know. But it's the discipline I need it. That's what's up. Wait, did Lukatherd produced that? Quince? Turn your lover around? He actually, I think he might have been one of the producers.

I think, I'm not sure. But. But it wasn't Quincy, though, right? No, no, no, no. Okay, okay, okay. Okay. What have you played on that we might not know? Like, Jay Graydon did turn your lover around.

Thank you. That was Jake Reagan? Really? Yeah. Wow. So weird. Yeah. what have I played on in a minute?

This is a hard question for you because you know everything. I mean like, you know, did you suffer, you know, are you on the heat is on by Glenn Fry or? No. Is that you playing on? I can't tell you why. I wish. I wish.

That's really me playing on. Yeah. Yeah. No, I can't even think of anything. You did a flowetry remix? Is that for real? A flowchery remix? Yeah.

Or is Discog's lying to me right now? I did a flow tree. Maybe they did a remix. Oh, they did it. I didn't. They gave you credit. Really? Oh, okay.

Outside of the... Wait a minute. What? Oh, I'm so glad this came to me. It's going to kill me. What? I got to go back to Triumph. Okay.

Explain, you said this to me once and I didn't know. Okay, so help me out here, guys. Dilla Lightworks. Raymond Scott. There you go. Okay. On your ways, on triumph, I was going to ask.

ask about that actually. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You said, was that the exact what's going on? Like the... Well, I don't know about that, but I know that the instrument used was a melitron. Yeah. But the same one, did you tell me that that was the same exact one that Marvin used on what's going on?

Oh, I don't think so. I couldn't possibly know that. Okay. No, but I know it was an electron. Someone told me, okay. Someone said that like that either Randy, like Marvin had it,

or that Barry had especially made. Well, yeah. Barry had, do you know the story of Motown that Raymond Scott had built, had convinced Barry Gordy to purchase two of his, his version of Tonto.

Okay. And this, and he ordered two of them. And then I think mid-second one, they just discontinued the production. He was like, no, never mind.

What year was this? Seventy. 69.70. Because I'm wondering if these instruments that you're talking about, if they were used in these incredible ways for songs like reflections. Because I defy anybody to tell me what the hell that sound is in the opening. Boom. Yeah.

Whatever that is. And then they use something else later on like, you know, in these random places in the song, which is brilliant. But I have no idea what it is. Here it is. Okay. So, yeah, in 1969, Barry Gordy tipped off about a mad musical scientist

engaged in mysterious works. Wow. Visited Scott at his Long Island lab to witness the electronium. That's what he called it. Electronium, wow. Yeah. And all of its infinite possibilities. and goryy hired scott and 71 to serve as director of motown's electronic music and research department in los antilles

wow and oh a position scott held until 1977 really wow uh no motown recordings using scott's inventions have been publicly identified well sad as that but yeah he originally someone says uh that he originally started working on the electronium out of barry's house uh they set up a room over the garage And he worked there putting stuff together so Barry could get involved and see the progress and at one point worked out of the studio The unit unit never got finalized and Ray had a real problem letting go It was always being developed and that was a problem for Barry you know what do you think it probably sounded like crap It was a waste of seven hundred dollars. What do you think it probably just wasn't good? Yeah Do you have a we are the world question? Steve? Oh, yeah, I mean I didn't even put it too

in my head that that was you on that just, you know, is your name on the cover of that, 45? No, not the cat, no, that's just the artist. But I did play piano on it. You're one of the artists then. What happened there? No, I wasn't, no.

It's not on the cover? No, no, no. No. No. Ever since you walked out, it ain't been the same? It really hasn't. I don't know what it. A win is a win.

A win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

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And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest, the director, of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else.

If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, Greg. Who was the artist, and maybe it's the same person,

but who was the artist that you really ran to the studio outside of, of course, Stevie Jackson's, Lionel, that you ran to work with because you were so excited. And who was the artist that you ran on tour to be with? Nobody. So excited. Is anybody? Well, as far as touring, you know, there was a time when I toured with a beetle. Which one?

The ring? Nope. This other guy that I was touring with, I was in his band. And we already had a set thing going. And then that artist managed to convince George to tour with us. And he said, you can use my band. And so it was the Eric Clapton and George Harrison Tour of Japan. And you haven't lived until you've toured with a beetle.

Jesus Christ. It didn't suck. and we go to here's a crazy thing we go to Tokyo and of course Georgia was absolutely lovely beautiful human being we go to Tokyo and we're all

terribly excited and we're in the hotel it's called the Capitol Tokyo Hotel we're in Georgia's room TV's on and they're playing footage of I mean they're announcing obviously that George is in town but they're playing

footage of when the Beatles pulled up to the exact same hotel we're staying in. So now I'm in a room, I'm in a suite with a beetle watching footage of when his band pulled up to the same hotel we're in. Like, okay, just kind of take this in for a second. And so we toured around. It was great. And then another George story, which I always love to tell. It was the second time I went to visit him. at his home and he opens the door and he's he's in cornrows. Who's that? George Harrison was in cornrows. I kid you not.

Okay. He opened the door and I go, well, I didn't see this coming, George. He was like, what do you think? What do you? I said, first of all, how did you even get your hair in cornrows? Is the black girl hiding? Okay. What happened?

How did that work? But he was in coroner. I wish I took a picture of him. But so we're hanging out. And then he goes, do you want to hear the new song then? I go, okay. We go up to the bedroom, plays a thing. And I got my private world premiere of free tent.

As a bird. Wow. As a bird. And I'm sitting there and I'm absolutely transfixed and mesmerized. I can't believe that I'm first of all. sitting in the bedroom of a beetle listening to the last song all the Beatles did.

And I'm sitting there and chills are running up and down my spot. First of all, I'm getting chills even talking about this right now, but I'm sitting there and I'm just trying to take all this and I'm going, I'm in a room with George Harris and a song. But, damn.

Okay, on the heels of that question, you also MDD a lot of specials and award shows. What was one of your favorite experiences? with that. P.S. I really enjoy watching you because you're always so animated. Thank you. Well. What was your first one that you did?

Like your first awards that you... Oh my goodness. I don't know. The first award show that I'm ded? Wow. I don't know. I'd have to research that. I don't know. Awesome life. Awesome life. Damn. So Ricky Minor wasn't born with that baton in his hand? He just... Okay, here you go. I'll just play it, Ricky. I love it.

Thank you. But no. No. No. I don't remember, but I'll tell you what the pretty much the best one was. It was based off of how I got started. The Jackson third, the special, did, no, you said how you got started. I got started. No, I was thinking of the Detroit Symphony thing. Stevie. Stevie.

Yeah. What Stevie? Songs in the key of life. It was a Grammy tribute. I am deeded. That's right. And you won a Emmy. Yeah.

So that's why that's the best one. Ah. So you're a G. An egg. Yeah. So the second best one is probably the Jackson's 30th anniversary at the garden because, I mean, this is the Jackson's 30th anniversary in the garden. It's, I think, you know. Slight, all right, question.

Yeah. Since that night was so vivid and that day after was so memorable. Yeah. How did you? was based off of, because we did two shows. I know. I'm going to ask you about that second show. Okay. How did you get out in New York City?

Right. Well, it wasn't by plane. Yeah. First of all, nothing was happening the day of, or the day after. We might want to tell everybody what that day was. It was September 11, 2001. Yeah. And that was after the second show, which was September 10th, and the first show, which was the 8th, because it was a break-up.

between, I think, because of the circus. But the first show was September 8th. The second show was September 10th. And I remember after that show, just you know, having more of a private celebration,

you know, dinner with a buddy of mine at the time and had like, you know, just kind of a celebratory dinner and everything was great. And then my wife at the time, um, the next,

morning, you know, we, we slept in late because, you know, we had such a great night. So we slept in late. And I had this plan. I had two plans that I wanted to do. I wanted to go to Central Park and take my wife on a canoe ride. And I also wanted to go to my favorite place, my favorite restaurant for lunch, which is a restaurant called La Bill Bouquet. And so I called the restaurant after I woke up because I wanted to make reservations I called and say yeah what's going on and go I said I'd like to you know

come to the to the spot today and the person said today's not a good day said why so it's not a good day people are crying it's terrible it's not a good day I go what are you talking about the person went

have you seen the news I go no said you might want to turn the TV on right now. That's how we found out. Damn. And then after the initial shock, which took a long time to get over,

then we started smelling smoke. And by the way, I was staying... What hotel? Yeah. I was staying at the Plaza Athenay, way, way uptown. And you can smell the smoke there. Damn. The producer of the show,

David Guest, was very good to me, though, because he let me stay at the Plaza Athenae until the end of the week. or until I could get a way out. And so what happened was we kept trying by flights, and it was very, very, very difficult. Frida Payne, I remember, was one of the lucky ones.

She got out on a plane. Came to find out later on that Michael... That car ride with Elizabeth Taylor. Yeah, he went in. That was a whole lot. That was real. Wow. Yeah, he did that.

But I didn't know how... Have you heard about that? The cross country did they need a movie about? Yeah, with Elizabeth Taylor. And I watched his name, Marlon, Yeah, I didn't know that way. I don't know. Yeah, because I didn't know I didn't know that at the time.

And I didn't know how the rest of the brothers made out. I didn't know how anybody else got out. But me and my wife at that time, we, we couldn't get a plane out. So we just decided at the end of that week, that Saturday that we'd rent a car. So we drove over to, we got, we went over to Jersey and got a Hertz rent-a-car car. And we drove cross-country. And it was part of like a mini, mini-cavocade. because Cheryl Lynn was with us.

Oh, man. Yeah. Strange badfellas. Yeah, she and her cousin, or her manager, actually, we drove, we didn't drive all the other, but we drove in separate cars, and we drove cross-country all the way back. And we stopped in St. Louis where her manager's mom lived,

and was it St. Louis? I'm pretty sure what was St. Louis? We stopped there, and we made a couple of other stops, and we drove all the way. And that was the first and only time I ever drove cross-country. And I never imagined it would be for that reason. Damn.

Shit. That's crazy. No traffic. No traffic. It was eerily calm and still. There's no traffic. And I remember hearing them play this particular song a lot during our cross-country ride.

It was a song by Enya. Sail away? No. Oh. That is not the right, no. Radio changed, like, for that for like two weeks. No. They only play, like, imagine.

There was a whole no songs or the no playlist. Yeah, which is why I OD'd on the blueprint. Yeah. Because it came up that day. Yeah. Yeah. It's, ooh, man. Can you, do you remember, I'm sure you remember, can you take us through where you were when you got the do's about Mike?

Yes. I was in Beverly Hills and I was I just dropped off a watch to get repaired and my wife at that time called me and said did you hear about Michael? I go, what are you talking about?

I heard the news and I just I was in shock I was just you know. And yet, I wasn't. And what I really remember

after that is going through the preparations with Randy. Because Randy brought me in and he wanted me to help out with the memorial. And then we

had a meeting at Ken Ehrlich's house. Randy, Ken and I and we started talking things you know, talking things through and, you know, artists and so forth. And I remember thinking, well, it would be really nice if Steve sang I never dreamed he'd leave in summer. Had to change the channel. Which was deeply poetic because he did leave us in summer.

And I remember going to, I remember having private meetings, you know, with Randy. And I remember going down to L.A. live and it was the only time that I was in the LA Live executive building you know where all the offices were and I remember having we were we had this meeting with Randy and Ken and um uh Simon was Simon's first name um who no as sideman um he he's Zidman he's he's the uh he's the uh He's the, he basically runs, he basically runs LA Live, Staples Center, and Microsoft Center. Lee, Lee Zidman. And, uh, LaiWiki wasn't there at that time, I don't think.

But there were other executives. And we, you know, they were, we were discussing everything like, you know, how many tickets for family, how many tickets for VIPs, all this kind of stuff, everything, you know. And then I remember meeting at Staples with the brothers in a backstage room. And it was me and the brothers, Kenner, like Valdez Flag, legendary stage manager, and maybe one other person, and we were just all sitting there. And at different points, you know, one of the brothers would cry. It was really, really heavy. And I remember also taking the walk.

through the underground tunnel from Staples to what is now Microsoft Center because there's this underground tunnel that connects it to two because it was built that way for, you know, just as a cool thing for any artists that wanted to do double duty or whatever. Easy access, you know. And so we walked this underground tunnel from Staples to,

it was a different name then, but whatever. But so we go there and that was designed for the family to leave Staples to go to Microsoft Center for the overflow of people who couldn't get into Staples. It was designed for the... So the family was going to go. The original idea was that the family was going to go and thank them, but they didn't do it.

They didn't do it. We did a practice walk, but after it actually happened, they didn't do it. Because it was like enough already. It was like, you know, it was like, you know, with everything that went on. And, and,

uh, so yeah, it was very heavy. And I remember, um, I remember, I remember having a very, very private moment with Marlon,

uh, at Havenhurst. And him, you know, we talked and, and, you know, he cried on my shoulder.

You know, um, very, very difficult. But, uh, you know, but I also remember,

you know, at Staples when we were there going through things, and Barry came over, and we all took pictures together, Barry and the brothers and me, and just all kinds of memories, you know. How can one be creative in a time like that? Because, you know, you have to go over arrangements and, okay, Mariah, what key do you want to sing in and da-da-da-da-da, and, you know, call up musicians and background sound check. You know what?

You just do. You just do, man. You know, one thing Ehrlich is really good at is just forging through no matter what, because he's had to. In all kinds, he's had, he's been hit with all kinds of last minute things like, you know,

they were rehearsing the greatest. Like the day of. The Grammy thing where, Rihanna and Chris Rob. Thank you. God. Yeah. I was there.

I was there. I was there. I was crazy. I think. I was, I know I was there. Dude. I know I was there. All right.

To give you a back story. You talk about having a change on the fly. Yeah. Wow. And what was it? What? The backstory was that the Chris Brown and Rihanna thing just happened. And that was the year they decided to let artists double up on things.

So Timberlake had like two or three songs. Okay. And Chris Brown had two or three songs. And Rihanna had two or three songs. And it was going to be like the first mashup thing of duets and multiple songs. But without Chris Brown and Rihanna there, there was like space for five songs. And I'd never. Two things happened that day.

which is the most surreal shit I've ever seen in my life. One, Ehrlich and his whole crew literally, now it's about, let's say, an hour, 15 minutes until they realize that Brown and Rihanna are no-shelf. So they're just scouring up. Scrabbling. Boys and men, can you sing, let's stay together. How green, can you?

They're just grabbing people from the audience. Like this. We need a four minutes on. So that whole thing of like, Boystamins singing, let's stay together. Yeah, Justin and all that stuff. None of that shit was playing. No, no.

The superstition thing with Stevie Wonder, with the Jonas Brothers. With Jonas Brothers, yeah. None of that shit was playing. But wait, here's the other funny thing. So the cold play controversy with Joe Satriani. Oh, yeah, where they hit Jack the Viva LaVita joint. So they have been running away from getting their summons from Satriana's people for like two months.

So he had a plan. He had a plan. He's like, yo, I'm going to get the motherfuckers at the Grammys. When I tell you, you remember them old Keystone caper things where like you watch the Keystone cops. Yeah, like the cops went in this room. That's exactly what happened. That's funny.

So you had the people running this way to serve the papers and then Cole playing running this way. It was like you could have put flight of the bumblebee to the shit. I saw. Really? Just just in the topic. Oh, God, I don't know if I should. We'll edit it out if we need to.

No, just. No, I said all my stuff. No, it's just the end of the night. You know, like artists are like very, I think like a cat like an oasis. You know, those guys like, I don't care about the Grammy. Like, fuck the Gramies. That sort of thing.

But. Tom York took losing to Coldplay very, very hard. Oh, really? And how hard? A very emotional way. So just to, that was the most surreal. Dang. But to see, yeah, literally, between Ehrlich,

just scrambling for people to sing shit. Yeah. And Coldplay and Satriani's, uh, I had no idea that. But it was going on. It was the funniest day of my life. Wow. Yeah. It was funny.

I'm glad somebody would have something to laugh about that. it. Well, it didn't. The thing was, we didn't. No, no, no. I know. I know. You didn't know what was happening. Yeah, it's sort of like being in the New York doing the blackout. Right. Like, in Detroit, I saw y'all, I knew y'all were in the blackout, but I don't think y'all, like, really knew because there was no TV to turn on to see. Yeah, right. You couldn't be told you were in a blackout. But it was just like, oh, we heard like, Rianna's not coming. Like, we didn't, until I got home, then we saw, oh, shit, that happened?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was the sort of the thing. Wow. So, do we cover everything in your life? No. No, not even close. Like, what are we doing? It's like a whole part two? Yeah, I would say yes. Part two, this is already a two-part episode. We can talk about weird science and movies and shit.

Oh, wow. You scored weird science? I didn't score it. I did. Actually, I just did one thing. Okay. For a female artist, the girl who did Private Joy. Shane. Shane? Yeah. Yeah.

I did. She did a cover prints? Yeah. Yeah. And I sang the demo. Private Joy. Produced by Jimmy Iovine. Wow.

Oh, that's right. Somebody asked me to do that, you know, produce that thing for that girl. So I did. I did Private Joy. Wasn't you in the live scene of Streets of Fire? Were you in the band? No. No.

No, I was in another movie, darling. Oh, which? What movie? the only my only this is it my only movie day but

I didn't do this is it yeah because Michael oh you're right you're right you're right sorry I was young say it but you haven't lived until you've been directed by

Steven Spielberg thank you what movie oh Chutching yes the two joint you were the piano player

time to go we got two people Have to go. So was he. Ron Ciglo was in the color purple too? He's in the color purple. I was an extra in the color purple as well. I was six.

Were you a baby? Yeah. I was six. No way. I was one of the kids. The scene where she's hanging up clothes and she's saying, no, you got to fight. You got what C. Leonetti are talking.

Yeah. And so then like a kid comes and runs through the sheet. And she's like, y'all, get on the way from here. I was one of the kids. No way. That's hysterical. Yeah, I actually got out. I'll shoot your picture.

Gosh, you're not going to believe this, but also I was in a kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were the mailman? No. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, he was, you were the kid. You were the kid, you were the, one of the kids of the owner of the general store. Right, right, right.

You're going to buy something, girl? Yeah, you're going to buy something, girl? Yeah, you were a pet for Tanigal. Wait. How many times can do that? But guess what, though? Guess what? What?

That's not even my voice, dude. Time to go. I was wondering. Oh, wait, wait, wait. I could, but I did say it. Yeah. I did say it, but in the final, in the overdeveloping process, I guess it wasn't loud enough. So they had, they had somebody else go, well, I got to go.

But I did, that's me playing. Wow. Yeah. Isn't that hysterical? Fucking dope. So, so I, if you want a really good laugh, whip that out one night. You'll crack up your, yeah. Got to go.

You'll laugh yourself silly. Wait, great. But that's how I met Oprah. Ah. What? And that's how I met. Danny. Danny Glover. Yeah. Right.

And that's how I met the cast of wacky characters. And, yeah. Wait. Oh, there's another thing that I did that I'm very proud of. Well. That you probably didn't know how I did. Thanks to Ken Erlich. Oprah's final two shows.

Thank you. Oh, man. Okay. Wait. What were her final two shows? An extraaganza with every star you've ever heard of in your entire life in the entire galaxy that she's ever interviewed

that came out. Oh, to say goodbye and that stuff. So what musical moment? Who was the last? You MD'd whatever the musical moment was? Oh, I emmdeed the whole thing. So who was the last person to sing?

I don't know who the last person was, but probably my favorite segment was when we surprised it with Steve. Okay. Because what happened was the setup was Jamie You know went to her and started, you know, talking on his smack and everything

And he started Isn't She Lovely, right? So he started it. So we did a slow version and that's me playing with him and everything. And then we, I do some some chord changes, you know, some different chords to set up into the original key

of Isn't She Lovely for Steve to rise out of the floor. on a piano. Isn't she not? And she turns around and goes, oh my God! So that was, yeah. Wait, I got to ask. Do you, have you ever had,

as an MD, a Murphy's Law moment? Oh, where you, everything could go wrong? I don't know. Like has a sequencer ever not worked on, you know, when jam is on at the intro?

You know, did you miss a, you can't feed your baby cue or that freeze or want to be starting something or oh we probably did we probably had some you mean doing the bad tour well yeah I mean just in general or in general not not yeah probably but not too not anything that just stands out to where I go oh you won't believe this so I'm sure they they they were mercifully far and few between okay okay well wait I'm sorry I really do want to know what you played on we other world, like what instruments that you...

Oh, it's piano. I played piano. This lion plays piano, too, right? Yeah, but, well, and to your point, yes, and he co-wrote the song, but no, he doesn't need to play it. He's one of the featured artists, so he doesn't need to play. So they had... There were other scents and stuff, though. Oh, yeah, so Quincy had a few of us. It was me,

David Page, and I think... And there was one other way. I can't remember who they're going to kill me, though, but... But I played piano. Page played, you know, electric piano, I think, or other instruments and there was a third keyboarders as well. So there were a bunch of us. No, well,

just other sense. Not strings, but yeah. So there were I'm pretty sure three keyboard players and I did the piano. Thank you. Thank you. Well, brother Greg. Amir. You gave us. Did I give it?

Dog, you brought it. You brought the stories. You brought the drama. My hands ain't stopped sweating. Well, you know what? But it takes some as nerdy and as knowledgeable as you are and your fine team, let me just say right now, you guys are really wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

I must say... I have to pee. I don't know. Okay, no, I get it. No, I guess. Bodily function, that's all. I know, I get it. And I have to pee right now, but I must say... Me too. I had no idea that I would be here for over three hours, but I have enjoyed every second of it.

It's felt like three minutes, and blessings to you all and I really appreciate you. Just thank you for, yeah, just for all your contributions, all your music, just for raising all of us. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Well, thank you. On behalf of Sugar Steve and I'm paid, well, he's not here. In spirit.

On behalf of Sugar Steve and Boss Bill and Fonticelo and Laia. Yeah. I'd like to say thank you. Greg and this is Cuest Love, Corsloved Supreme. and we will see you on the next go round. Only on Pandora. What's Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.

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