The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Lisa Robinson

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

As we continue celebrating dope women, in this week's episode of Questlove Supreme we speak to legendary music journalist, Lisa Robinson. On the heels of her latest book Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls, Lisa speaks with Quest and Team Supreme about her 50 year career and 5000 hours of interviews that include many of the biggest and most talented artists of the times. Class is in session! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 Slical Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Ladies and gentlemen, right now, Lisa Robinson is showing us. We're on Zoom right now. She just showed me her illustrious record collection, and I'm celebrating right now. Okay, what's behind me is a portion, not all of them, of my 5,000 hours of interviews,

all the original cassettes, plus manic backups that Richard did, my husband, before he died, on CD because he didn't believe in the cloud, the internet, or the computers. So he made backups on two or three CDs of every single cassette. Then I had to hire an IT guy after Richard did. died, and he copied it onto two different computers, three external hard drives, and three backups of the external hard drives and secure undisclosed locations. So what's behind me are the original interviews, or some of them. I have to say that I've known you about 20 years, and often I haven't stayed up at night, but I've definitely wondered, are you properly?

going to archive your collection, your collection of notes. You told me that you have like original hotel notes and, like, stationary. Yeah, yeah. I have an original questionnaire. Michael Jackson told that when he was 11 that I kept in a safety deposit box for years where he said. Wait, is this the infamous one where he called himself a nigger? He wrote, the question was, what's your nickname? and he said the nose and then he wrote N-I-G, one word, one-G, ER, but he crossed that out.

Yeah, that's not one. I've heard about, yeah, I've heard about this. Where did you hear about it other than me? Because I have, nobody else says. Well, I know you, so. Oh, okay. So I have letters, yeah, I've letters from Bowie and John Lennon and everybody on the planet and four storage spaces that I spend,

$50,000 a year in addition to this museum I'm living in, and an office across the street that also houses a lot of shit. And in terms of really properly appraising or archiving it, I've been too busy trying to earn a living for all these years. I just haven't had the time. So the audio archives are pretty well documented now. They're on a bunch of databases. The photo, I have trunks and trunks and trunks of original photos from Bob Grohl and Lee Childers, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Hugh Jor, Maple Thorpe. I mean, so much stuff that I never hung any of it up. It's in storage. It's in my house and boxes and closets.

I actually have something, maybe you would want it. I was in Nashville and I was in a thrift store. and there was one of those huge posters of a black barber shop. You know, the drawings with the fabulous kind of old, like some girls kind of wiggs and things. Like the some girls kind of rolling stones. So I bought it. I bought it and I shipped it back to New York.

And this was in 2004 maybe. Okay. And I said to Fran, what should I do with this? I was going to either give it to Tony Morrison or Bethann Hardison because they collect that kind of stuff. And she said, well, I wouldn't display it. It's really not correct for you to display it. So it's hiding somewhere in a closet.

It's awesome, though. It is so great looking. Anyway, the way of the topic. Okay, I have to properly introduce you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Questleff Supreme. I knew the second that her mic was on, the stories would come. and of course the stories came even before I did the proper introduction. I will say that our guest damn near is a pioneer or invented rock and roll journalism.

There was a time in your life where making a living, writing about the lives of rock stars was a questionable thing. One couldn't make a living off of it. So I will say that our guest today is a pioneer in terms of, of one that actually made their full-time career kind of journaling the lives of others. Name them, New Music Express, Cream Magazine, the New York Post even, all the way down at Vanity Fair, if you will,

she's probably the trusted plus one in the room. She's literally seen everyone and everything. And these types of interviews are my favorite, because oftentimes I say that you'll learn more about a subject based on the extra eyes in the room, not necessarily the subject themselves. So name them from Jagger to Richards to Page and Plant to Bowie, Reed, Lennon, Ono, Jackson, Bono. I forgot what Bono's last name is. It's a black last name.

Houston, H-W-S-O-M. That's right, Houston. His real name is Paul, Paul Houston. Paul Houston, that's right. This is like an uncle of my name. I don't recognize any of those names. Did you ever meet anybody famous? I will say that I highly recommend, as far as memoirs are concerned.

Both are books. No one ever asked me about the girls, and there goes gravity. Those are probably two of my favorite memoirs. I don't know. Like, I, rock, journalists to me are like just as equal rock stars as the actual rock stars himself. So please welcome to Questlove Supreme, Lisa Robinson. Okay. What were you saying, Steve?

No, no. I made my joke. No, you made. His joke was that I ever told anyone famous. Just for me, out, out the gate, Lisa, for our guests that might not be familiar with your pedigree and your history. could you please give me three random historical

I was there moments that come to mind you know this gives you a chance I was on a plane with Led Zeppelin when their tour manager pulled out a gun I was on the other end of the phone Peter Grant

this is Peter Grant he put out of gun No no it was Richard Cole anyway I was Well wait you can't just glide by that Like what was the circumstances? You just asked for three random. You want me to tell you the whole story? We'd be on for an hour.

Yeah, that's what we lived for. No, no, hold on a second. Let me just say something. Yes. I'm doing a serious radio show, by the way, Sirius XM starting tomorrow night from 7 to 8 p.m. And it's called Call Me with Lisa Robinson because, as you know, I'm still on an old Blackberry.

I only know how to text on it. Yes. And I like people to actually call me. At any rate, okay, so that's one. Keep Texas instruments in business. That's that much I'll say. The second, I am worldwide West, who's with the Knicks now,

my favorite team, are the only people I know who still use of Blackberry. At any rate, back to the three random incidents. Let me think, I can't think of just three out of thousands, but, okay, the leads up, room with a gun, Michael Jackson calling me on the phone, crying that he did not want to tour with his brothers in 1980 on,

that victory tour. 1984. Oh, was it 84? See, you're the scholar. I don't remember all the dates. Okay, so, oh, man, huh? I don't want to talk about the time

Mick Jagger had to borrow my underpants because he lost his jockstrap, but I guess... Oh, wow. Backwards, right? That's been well documented. Here's the point. I just want to say two things.

Okay. You said all the people that I had interviewed and, or you started to talk about Bowie Lou Reed, the stones. Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, et cetera. You mentioned one woman, Yoko Ono. The reason I wrote, nobody ever asked me about the girls

is because I had interviewed Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Linda Ronstad. I mean, everybody after Janice Joplin, thank God there was someone before my time. And the point is I always had to answer questions. Like, what's Eminem really like? What's Cunningham like? I mean, you know, you probably get the same thing.

What was John Lennon really like? What was David Bowie really like? And I finally got to the point after having written There Goes Gravity, which was mostly all about guys, except for one chapter on Lady Gaga. I thought it's about time I started dealing with the women. So that was one thing I just wanted to clarify. And the other thing is when you said that

I was a pioneer at a time when no one was making a living, writing about rock and role musicians, or a popular culture, we still don't make a living doing that. So I just would like to clarify that for the record. We were having too much fun. Nobody was talking about money. Nobody was thinking about that in the 70s. I would make like $40 a week from a syndicated column or editing hip parado with my husband

or going on tour with Zeppelin and the stones are hanging out with CBGBs every night. And I thought this was great. I mean, we were in a rent control department. I'm still in a rent-stabilized apartment. Same when we moved into in 1976. And it's like a museum. I never decorated it. It's just full of books and records and interviews

and some memorabilia that I don't trust to leave in Manhattan mini storage. But it just was different time. It was like also, Amir, you know, you grew up in this business. I mean, I even think I saw as a kid, Leander's in the hearts. I don't know, maybe at the Brooklyn Fox or one of those places, I snuck out of my house as a teenager to go see Thelonious Monk of the Five spot, or John Coltrane or Anita O'Day and Stan Gets at the Village Vanguard, but also to go to those early rock and roll shows at the Brooklyn Fox Theater,

I don't remember going to the Apollo, but I do remember going to the Apollo much later when I was teaching school in Harlem in the 60s, but I grew up with all this music. I used to listen to it under the covers with the transistor radio, you know, that old cliche, and it just made me feel like there was a great, sexy, interesting world out there,

and I was a fan. And I grew up in a left-wing household that played Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie, and I knew about Mama May Thornton and sister Rosetta Thorpe. You know, a lot of stuff that no other journalists when I was starting out knew about, except for my husband, who was on WNEWFM when it was 1969, free form music. And I heard his voice in the middle of the night. He was on the graveyard shift.

And I thought, A, he had a very sexy voice. and B, he played unbelievable music and he got fired five times. The first time was they're playing what they called unfamiliar music, which was Ike and Tina Turner, Tina Turner and Veneta Fields doing a battle on something got a hold on me. I'll never forget it. P. P. Arnold doing first cut as the deepest. Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions because he also worked at Buddha,

so we worked with Curtis and the eyesweeds. So, yeah. So Richard got fired for playing unfamiliar music, which was black music. Then they hired him back again because he was like the house tippy. And he got fired for playing Jimmy Hendricks' stars bangled banner because they told him it was unpatriotic. Then they hired him again. And I think he played the stooges and the velvets, but like really, you know, some of the sicker stuff. Like I want to be your dog or heroin or white light, white heat, or just kind of normal.

stuff. They fired him again. And I think the last time they hired him, he just went on the air, flushed the toilet, and walked off. And so this was my introduction to the music music. I went to work for him, doing his filing. Five months later, we got married. He turned one of his columns over to me in England. And that's kind of how it started. He opened a door and I barge through it. 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 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. 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 Podcast, 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 here. 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, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12.

and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What I'll say is based on, you know, I've collected a lot of old periodicals and all those things. So I've seen your work. You know, I'll say that the difference between your brand of documenting a moment was way different than, say,

you know, the Beatles would land in America in the 60s and have a press conference like at the airport or at the hotel. and people have random questions. It's like audience, crowdwork or whatever. But your brand work, how did you know that, I mean, it's somewhere between like page, you know, I know that you've done in-depth Q&A interviews as well,

but, you know, you doing quick takes like, you know, Bowie hung out at Max's Kansas City and he wore a leopard t-shirt. Like, people weren't just, describing like what people were wearing or any of those things. Like you were like the precursor to like page six. So how did you even know? I don't know about page six,

but maybe MTV and fashion and style. Yeah. Like the idea of it. Right. Well, first of all, thank God the Beatles were before my time, something else before my time. But I never asked a question at a press conference

because I always asked more interesting questions and I didn't want anybody else getting the answers. Although. Yeah. Oh, Kanye had a listening party once for which is the album. Is it late graduation that John Bryan produced with We Major and Gold Digger on it? The second one. Yeah.

Late registration. Yeah. That was it. Anyway, he had a listening party for that with a whole bunch of press in the room. And Jay was there and I'm friendly with John Bryan and I knew he produced the record and I had met Kanye several times through John. And when they played Wii Major, I went ballistic because to his day, I still think it's the best thing he's ever done. But it was like a Phil Specter Symphony and I just went crazy. So I had to ask a question and I raised my hand and Jay went, oh, Lisa has a question, Lisa has a question.

And I said, how many tracks are on We Major? And they had no idea. They didn't know. They didn't know the answer. And so they started calling me the stumper, her long. time actually, Jay started calling me, kept calling me the stumper. And I went home and called John Brian, who told me that he got it from some kid in a garage who made a loop of it. At any rate, what I did as a journalist from The Jump was I was interested in their lives, their music.

I mean, when I met Jimmy Page, I would talk to them about Muddy Waters and Hallamoof and Elmore James and Willie Dixon, who they ripped off, allegedly. Although I think they had to pay them. Oh, no, it wasn't an alleges. Oh, no, no, allegedly. They stole that shit. Okay. Well, I get very nervous about that.

So, you know, it's like a Deezes and Mero thing. Allegedly, allegedly, allegedly. Anyway, so, so, and I, but I'd also talk to Robert Plant about Fairport Convention and Collider scope and Incredible String Band and Johnny Mitchell because I grew up the same, loving the same music they did. And I, I didn't love a lot of the, folk stuff so much then. I grew to, I did like the incredible string band,

but I'm kaleidoscope. But I would talk to them about their musical taste. I would write about their clothes. I mean, I'll never forget when I was in New Orleans with those guys. The first time I ever interviewed them relentfully, Robert was wearing a red nylon speedo bikini parading around the pool. Parading is the only word I could use for it. And Jimmy Pace was wearing a maroon velvet jacket in 83 degree weather.

And I remember writing that it was sweltering at 83 degree weather. So some of the climate change, that was 1973. Anyway, I just started talking about music. I started talking about their clothes. And this was a time that people don't know. They were written about as a heavy, cheesy, heavy metal. band. Every male journalist, every one of my

so-called colleagues who threatened to quit Cream magazine when I started to do a column called Bellagansa, which was named after a black pimp catalog, and it was all about clothes. And all these guys threatened to leave the magazine because

they said it was decadent. I shouldn't be writing about clothes. This was the alternative culture. This was the revolution. I mean, this is in Detroit, by the way, where the White Panthers and John Sinclair were sitting around a table plotting revolution while the women were in the kitchen cooking. So I would just like to make that point about the MC5, even though they were a great band. However, I would always talk to these guys just on a level of mutual musician fandom and ask them about their lives.

I didn't review their records. I didn't review their concerts. I didn't do any boring analysis shit about their lyrics. And I just think they were relieved. I mean, again, this was at a time when John Mendelsohn wrote in Rolling Stone about the Lemon song that was on Zeppelin, I think the first album, maybe the second. And he said, Robert Plant sings notes only a dog can hear. And if I remember that from 1973, you can be certain that Robert Plant remembers it. And Jimmy would bitch about the reviews all the time.

And I would just say, I don't give a shit about reviews. You don't understand. Your music is majestic. You combine the hard rock and the folk music and Eastern stuff and all this. And years from now, your music will be remembered. And those magazines and newspapers will wrap fish. And sure enough, now Red Zepin is considered one of the greatest. I mean, exile on Main Street was panned.

It was my favorite Rolling Stones record, panned when it first came out. So I think part of the reason that I had the access to these bands was, A, I was a woman, but I was not sleeping with them, and I was not taking drugs with them. I was newly married. Richard was much cuter than any of them were anyway, and smarter. And when I first met Mick Jagger, the first thing I said to him was those of the tackiest shoes I've ever seen. seen because he was wearing some sort of sequin papagallo encrusted shoes that was backstage at an Eric Captain concert and you know that was refreshing to them people would meet Mc Jagger and they'd be like intimidated I was from New York I wasn't intimidated well okay so what I want to know is obviously you're from even though you're of the time you were clearly thinking future generation

Case and point, like Prince opening for the Stones in LA, even though he himself is a baby bloomer, his music and his presentations for Generation Next, it's for what's next. So obviously, you know, you were forward thinking. Who were the other women in that era that was documenting? I know that, you know, you spoke of a time where you and Fran Leavowitz, came up together on that the Stones tour, but like, were there?

No, no, no, you're Annie Lewis. You mean the photographer, not Fran. Annie Lee Woods, not, not, no, I said, no, I said Fran. You said, Fran. Forgive me, Annie Lee Boyce. Okay, I know. Corrections. Annie Lee had already been at Rolling Stone. So Annie had already established her reputation as a photographer when she was at Rolling Stone.

We started working together on the 1975 Stone. Stone's tour. That's before Cock Sucker Blues or? That was during that tour. Was the opening or was that afterwards? That was the big fallas coming up from the butterfly stage. Yeah. Oh, okay.

And also, we kept thinking every city we went to that they were going to get arrested for singing Starfucker. Imagine. I'm trying to remember other things that, oh, God, there's so much that went on on that tour. I remember Mick saying to me at the time that he couldn't get a pill, this is a little gross, but he said, you can't get a pill for diarrhea, but you can walk into any store and buy a gun. And this was in 1975, and I had no idea that you could walk into a

store in the south and buy a gun. I'm from New York City. I'm from the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I'd never seen a gun until I saw it on that plane with Les Eppelin. But it was, I mean, we were on tour. Underground Atlanta had a Lester. Mattis store where they sold Lester Maddox memorabilia. I mean, it just was such a different time. It was like for those who don't know, Lester Maddox was the racist. Yeah.

Is he governor, governor of Georgia or something, or mayor of Atlanta or some political person? Very much like Lindsay Graham or somebody today, only worse. I mean, more, well, more whatever. I'm not going to say it. That would be an allegedly defamation. Oh, like we'd be shocked and we found anything else about

Lizzie Graham. No, I know, I know. But I'm not going to say it. Anyway, the bottom line is I... Yeah, he was the governor. Yeah, so I was sort of a conduit between a lot of these guys.

Like, Richard was at RCA Records and convinced them to sign David Bowie, Lou Reed, and the Kings. So I introduced David Bowie when he came to America to Lou Reed and to Iggy Pop. both of whom he was very inspired by, let's put it that way. And I came to my house, they hung out,

we reduced to come to my house, because Richard produced his first album, although it really did not do well because Lou was a mess at the time, and it was a very checkered situation. But then Lou and Richard didn't talk for years, but then Lou called him back and asked him to co-produced Street Hustle with him,

which is a great record. And so because of our friendship with Lou, or my friendship with Patty Smith, or my going on the Stones tour, or John Lennon and Yoko letting me in their house from 1975 to 80 to do interviews, Bowie would say to me, what's Mick Jagger doing?

And Mick Jagger would say to me, don't tell that idea to Bowie because he'll steal it. Or John Lennon would say to me, I just heard stairway to heaven, tell Robert Plant, it's great. And then I would tell that to Robert Plant, and he'd say, it now? I mean, it was like I was friends with Brian Therry

when he was living with Jerry Hall and she was dating and I put quotes around that, Mick Jagger and I never said a word about it because here's the other thing. I was like a fly on the wall. I would not take note in front of people. If we were doing a real

interview, I'd have my tape recorders on. You've seen them, the analog tape recorders. Yes. You still have that Sony. that machine? I have three of them right behind you. Have you ever conducted an interview like digitally? Are they all? Well,

what happens if you run out of cassette? Hold on. This is really, actually, we'll do this tangent for a second. Then I'll get back to the, why these guys and these women trusted me. When I first interviewed John Lennon,

I went with one analog tape recorder, Sony cassette, and the tape fucked up. So he let me go back the next day and do it again. So from that day, on in 1970, whenever it was, when did they first move to New York? I don't know. It was around 72, 73.

Yeah, from that day on, I always took three tape recorders. And one of them I would have an external mic, two of them would not. Inevitably, one of the three would screw up. But at least I had two. So I had a backup. Right. When I first interviewed Beyonce in 2004, or five, When was the last Destiny show?

I think it was 2005 when she was on the cover of there. Yeah. So she looked at my setup and she just very politely, because she was very charming, said, did you ever think of moving up to digital? And I wasn't even embarrassed. I just thought, oh, digital. I don't know. Probably not.

And then I went home and I said, Richard, maybe I should get a digital tape recorder because people are making fun of me. And so he got a digital tape. He got a digital tape recorder. He made a diagram for me that was literally like in crayons as if it were for a five-year-old with like step one, step two, do this, do that, press play, color-coded on the goddamn thing. And when I first interviewed Lady Gaga in 2010 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, I very proudly brought out the digital tape recorder along with my three analog cassette. And guess which one didn't work? Digital. Digital.

Right. So, you know, somebody says, stick with what you know, I've stuck with what I know. But back to being a fly on the wall with these guys and these women and whoever I interviewed and much later on, I always respected people's private lives. You have to remember there were no, there was no cell phones, no internet, no Instagram, no everybody with a telephone, with a picture, with a camera. Right. So these guys, especially that Zeppelin, who had wives and children back in England,

had U.S. girlfriends, let's put it that way. These were groupies, and some of them were really their girlfriends. And I thought, I'm not going to write about this. They've got wives and kids back in England, and it's really none of my fucking business. And it's nobody else's business either. And I think in that way, I was trusted. not because I was writing like puff pieces about them or anything. I just was respectful and not invasive.

To the point, I may add, where I was so respectful and not invasive that I toured a lot with Elton John. Of course, I knew when he was gay. He was showing me his handbag collection for God's sakes. And, I mean, we were friends, but he wasn't out, and I was not about to out him. whereas somebody else might have done that,

but then they never would have seen him again. Did he acknowledge at least then during his prime that he was out or was just like unspoken? No, no, this was way before, and before he even married that woman Renato, who was his engineer, this was in the early 70s, and I'd be on the plane with him,

and we'd be screaming and having fun and shrieking. And, you know, we'd just talk very comfortably with each other. I mean, I can't explain it. I think in one way, this is going to sound bragy, but it's not that. I think I was more sophisticated than a lot of the rock journalists. I was from New York. None of them had gone to see Philanis Monk at the Prize, but I can assure you, not at the age I run anyway.

And I just had a different kind of confidence, and I wasn't. cowed by any of this. And I just respected people's private lives. And if somebody told me something was off the record, it was off the record to this day. And can I ask you something? Yeah. You don't have to tell a story. You don't have to tell a name. But I'm just curious. How many secrets will go to your grave that you like will never admit? to the world. Well, I know in general, you won't admit it because you just say... Okay, well, here's the thing. Now, I'll tell you. Here's a thing. How many secrets?

To finish without you. You know that Stevie Wonder is not blind. Like, how many secrets? What is it? Although, when I did talk to Stevie Wonder, and we were in his studio, and I told him I had an analog cassette recorders. He said, wait a minute, wait a minute, I got to give him. Now, I'm joking. Like, he knew what side one and side two was at the cassette. Nobody took me into his kitchen, open. into cabinet, pulled out from the top shelf a dat recorder, and gave it to me. I still have it in the packaging in one of my storage spaces because Stevie Wonder gave it to me. I'm not going to use

it. And then I ran into him and Mr. Chowse last year and I went up to him and I said, I'm Lisa Robinson from Vanity Fair. Do you remember when Annie and I came to photograph you and you gave me that machine? He went, yeah, that dat machine. So, you know, I was watching hustlers the other night and I know there's a line in there where Jennifer Lopez says, I swear to God, Stevie Wonder, came into the club, he's not blind. I mean, why would someone pretend to be blind? Come on. Marketing.

Marketing. How many secrets will you carry? Here's the thing. There are certain people who have passed away that now I feel like I can say certain things about, okay? I mean, I won't mention all the names, but when sign of the times came out, I went to hear it at a musician's apartment. He had an advanced pressing.

And he kept looking at me to see what I thought. And of course I was blown away. I mean blown away. And he said to me about another rock star. He said to me, this is Mick talking. He, the other rock star, said to me, if he was white, we'd all be in trouble and out of business. Thanks. I don't know if that's been printed anywhere and people know who said it to whom.

I don't know that I would write that because those two guys are still alive. Prince isn't. But I did tell him that. And I told him out at his house and I told him several times that he was an unbelievably underrated guitar player. And he said, why don't you write that? I said, why don't you let me interview you with a tape recorder and I'll write whatever you want. you can take me taping you. I mean, I did that a little bit with Kendrick.

You know, sometimes in order to make somebody feel comfortable, I would say things like, listen, if you're really nervous about something and you think I'm going to misquote you, although I won't because I transcribed every single one of my interviews myself in longhand. And I never would miss. I'm the only journalist I trust.

Let's put it that way. I don't like journalists. I don't trust many of them, if any. And what I went through in the early 70s with all those guys trying to blackball me. I mean, the other women that were around, Lillian Roxton, who wrote the Rock Encyclopedia, was my best friend at the time. She was a very brilliant Bohemian, Australian woman, and she died in 1973. Gloria Stavers, who edited 16 magazine. She also died in 1983.

I think. Right. She edited 16 magazine, but before 16 magazine, she was a Norman Norell, very high fashion designer model in the 40s. She dated Lenny Bruce. She dated Jim Morrison.

I'm not sure dated is the right word, but whatever. Those were the only women who were my mentors. The rest of the women writing about music were critics. There was Ellen Willis and the New Yorker. There was Janet Maslin from the Boston Phoenix.

There was Ellen Sanders. from Life magazine and they reviewed things. They were critics. They didn't do interviews. So I would do interviews with the tape on. Then I would also hang out with them at After Hours clubs, at parties, when they rehearsed in rehearsal studios, in people's bedrooms like Earl McGrath used to have parties in New York and the Stones would rehearse with Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood one night in that room.

I remember Annie taking pictures. I would go out to Andy Warhol's compound in New Hamptons where they were staying before the 75 tour. I would go, I took Michael Jackson to Studio 54 the first time he ever went. I took the clash to Studio 54. I got the Clash their record deal. I got Elvis Costello's record deal. I never made a dime from this. I was so stupid.

I never thought about money. I mean, we didn't think about money. We were having fun. We were young. It was the 70s. and I was getting to see all these concerts for free. And prior to that, I had to pay to go see a concert. We were getting all these albums for free.

Since you were there when it was rebel music, and then it's solely more, I guess one could say that that 75 tour of the Stones was sort of them becoming the seeds of what we now know is the Rolling Stones, more like an institution and less about, you know, the hydard daughters, rock, rock rebels that are coming to town to pillage. But when do you consider what was the year that you saw this is now a business, not just, you know, rock and roll? I saw it right from the beginning. I saw it with Led Zeppelin when I went to see them in Jacksonville in July, 1973. and they played to an 80,000 seat stadium. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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.

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 Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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 podcasts. This week, 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 different question. Lester Bangs. Hi. Yeah. Can you tell our audience about Lester Bangs?

Yeah, I was going to say, of your contemporaries, I guess Lester has this, you know, the cooler than the hour rock. you know, you know, jaded, crinid. Was the legend bigger than what do you actually want? Yes, yes, yes, yes. The myth was greater than the word. All right, pull the curtain. Lester was drunk. Lester was, okay.

Richard, my husband, was first working for Buddha Records, and then he was working for RCA records. So he had expense accounts. So even though we were living in a rent control department and we didn't have a lot of money, he had an expense account. So I would order Chinese food and we would feed and entertain these unbelievably,

what's the word I used in my book? I don't know. It was a thankless task. Let's put it that way. A lot of these guys would come and sleep on our sofa. People said we had this salon. We did not have a salon. We had a homeless shelter.

I mean, Dave Morse would come in from Detroit and sleep on our sofa. Plenty Kay lived there for almost a year on our floor of the living room. You know, John Landau would come in from Boston when he was writing at the Phoenix before he discovered the future of rock and roll and his name was Bruce Springsteen. Richard Meltzer and Lester Banks were there a lot.

Richard Meltzer was the real deal. He was a better writer. He was smarter. He was crazy. Lester was drunk. And Lester was also crazy and drunk and obnoxious, quite frankly. I mean, the myth in many of these things is greater than the reality.

He has been lionized so much, not in a small part by Cameron Crow and that movie, but I only remember the drunken nights when we had to like whisper like, how are we going to get Lester out of here, you know, or Richard Meltzer would be walking around with his shirt off and a bottle a scotch and I don't know, he's still somewhere alive writing. And I haven't read him recently, but to me, he was the real thing. And Lester got all of the credit. And I don't know whether he emulated Richard, but Richard was much more interesting and insightful, I felt.

Anyway. So I have my observations in hip-hop journalism when I saw the shift occur where, like, people who I truly respected for their opinions were writing about music as opposed to now. The intern from four years ago now getting their cover story. You know, just like, you know, the level of hip-hop journalism has gone to shit, in my opinion. But for you, when was music or rock? journalism at its at its best in your opinion and when did you notice that there's a shift you know like do you got and in terms of no no just in terms of really giving a good story um oftentimes

like uh okay i know that if like say to date uh pitchfork sometimes they'll pan in an album just to impress their contemporaries to, you know, in that Lester Bang's way, where you're not writing your honest opinion about something, you want to do a performative bashing. It might have been his honest opinion.

I mean, he had very many run-ins with Lou Reed. I don't really... Here's the thing. I never read this. I don't know. I did what I did because I wanted to read what I wanted to read. I mean, Tony Morrison always said, write the book you want to read. It's like, or write the book that you

want to write or whatever, I don't know. Listen, when the roots started playing instruments, why did you do that? Hip-hop bands weren't playing instruments. You did that, why? Because you wanted to hear a band that was doing hip-hop play instruments or doing rap-play instruments. I did what I did because nobody else was doing it. So, I mean, I never even thought about it. I just did it.

And I really didn't read a lot of that stuff. I don't think I've ever looked at the chalk in my life. I didn't look at complex. I maybe looked at that vibe and the source and Rolling Stone a little bit. But I never really read Rolling Stone because I didn't like the person who owned it. And I didn't like the way women were treated in that office. And it is really a badge of honor as far as I'm concerned. And I never wrote for them.

and I'm being really blunt and frank with you. I'll probably get a lot of haters about a lot of this stuff, but I just, I didn't really read it. I read Cream Magazine a little bit. I mean, I read my husband's column. He did a rewire yourself years before anybody was writing about technology. You wrote a book called The Video Primer. Richard said two things that stick out in my mind that are so brilliant.

One was everybody kept saying in the 70s, who's the next Beatles? Who's the next Beatles? Which band is going to be the next Beatles? And Richard said, the next Beatles is going to be a machine. This was in 1971. Okay? So that's who I was married to.

He also said about musicians, because for one minute, we were managing some musicians, which really was not a smart move. But he always said managing an act is like running backwards, holding up a mirror. So, you know, I just, didn't read this stuff.

So I can't say when I think it shifted, if it did shift, what I read, I read, I don't know, what did I read rock journalism? I'm not really, because nobody was doing what I was interested in. I was doing what I was interested in. And I'm not saying that to Sam conceded or anything because a lot of people weren't interested in what I was writing about. But I was much more interested in the human side, and I wasn't seeing that in too many places.

Certainly not when I started. And I'm not even sure now. I mean, I occasionally read a profile in the New York Times Magazine section about somebody I'm interested in. And I'll stop halfway through because it's just so long. I mean, I also feel leave somebody wanting more. You know, it's like I take it as the biggest compliment when I've done cover stories in Vanity Fair. And people have said to me, oh, my God, I wish it was longer. I don't get my job.

That's how I feel. My final question to you is with the life that you lived in all of your archives and memories and whatnot, are you actively trying to seek, I feel like the next step for you is basically either as a movie or as a series like

The Netflix series. Yeah, like you're, this, this is a no-brainer. Has anyone approached you about? You know, the couple of people who have, I wouldn't want to really work with. You want to do something? I'll do something with you. I mean, I'm serious.

I don't know. I think between now and death, I don't know what I want to do. I do want to place all this stuff. I mean, I want to sell it because I need the money, but I also want to place. all this stuff with people who love it. That's why I first talked to you about the albums in here,

because I don't want to see these albums go to some record store in Brooklyn where somebody's going to buy one of this and three of that and two. I just want the collection to be with someone who loves it. You know, Q-Tip actually did make his way over here one night to look at them. And he started looking up every album and appraising it and figuring out the prices. And then he said, I'm sending my assistant back to see you next week and we're going to do this. And that was a year ago. No, that was one, two, three, three and a half years ago, I think.

I'm coming around and scoop them. I'm sorry. That's for what? I said, I'm coming over there to scoop them. Okay. After I get my second vaccine shot, I have never been so happy in my life when they lowered the age and I'm, you know, old enough. to get this vaccine. But honestly, I want the archives, the tapes.

I do want it to go maybe to an institution where people can listen to it and study it and learn from it or do a series of podcasts or do a series of documentaries. I don't know. The problem is I always was too busy just earning a living and getting through every day. And now, starting this serious radio show,

which is just once a week, I'll be able to talk, which I love Ben writing. I don't know if I want to write another book. I don't know. I don't know who else I want to interview. I mean, you talk about how did I know the future of rock and roll was CBGBs? I didn't. I just was there when it happened. And it just seemed right.

It was fun. If I had been able to predict the future, first of all, as Fran Leverett says, I would pick better a lot of tickets, but also I would have known about hip hop before I did. Because that's inexcusable. That I was living in New York City, and I didn't even know that this was going on for quite a while. Because as I said, it's still the music that's on my iPod, that in Frank Sinatra, and some salonius Mokinero-a-Garner. Wow.

Well, thank you, Lisa. Steve, you wanted to ask me something? Yeah, like, you know, why? Why aren't you just airing these legendary interviews that you have as complete? As a podcast? As a podcast, yeah. Well, because somebody hasn't made me the right offer yet. When they do, I will.

Because that's the check. Yeah. I mean, the show I'm doing for series is just a call-in show because I wanted to do something like Stephen A. Smith does. You know, I wanted people calling in asking me. but for music? Well, he does that for sports. I'm going to do it for music.

Okay, that's great. I could do it for basketball, too. I could name you the starting five on all 30 teams. You know what a basketball. No one loves the Knicks more than you do. And I'm like, I'm one of those long suffering Nick fans. I know you're happy about three wins in a row that they had.

Come on. At least they're competitive. At least it's watchable. It's not like it was. Julius Ramble is good. I love Emmanuel quickly. and don't even get me started on the New Jersey Nets because that's the whole other thing.

Well, Lisa, we thank you. We've been trying to make this happen for years. I'm proud that you got your technology set up on and working. Oh, just to be able to do Zoom. Yeah, thank you. I had to hire an IT guy to do that. I thought it was going to be. You've got to come here and look at those albums in here, seriously.

Yeah, I just want to say, I'm proud of you getting over your technology fears and doing this because, you know, you and I often had the Flintstones, bird writing a message sending pigeons to our windows kind of relationship. So one day I'm going to get you using an iPhone, for real. I have an iPhone.

I just want you to use it. I listen to music on it. I go to YouTube and I Google and I make phone calls outgoing when I travel, when I used to travel. You up to 2000? Okay. Lisa Robinson, ladies and gentlemen, QuestLeft Supreme

won't be half. Thank you so much. Laya and Fonticelo. and Shooka Steve. Thank you, Lisa. We will see you on the next girlfriend. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, thanks, guys. Yo, what's up? This is Fonte.

Make sure you keep up with us on Instagram at QLS and let us know what you think and who should be next to sit down with us. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast. All right? Much Love Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio,

visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHard 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. 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 Slice of Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover

they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his. last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.