Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Interview with Genny Schorr, Punk Pioneer and Wardrobe Stylist To Rock Stars

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Inspired by the Beatles, Genny Schorr was a member of one of the first female punk bands in LA. She co-owned a vintage fashion store frequented by rock stars, and was wardrobe stylist for the Bangles,... Tom Petty, and Linda Ronstadt.Her spouse is Kosh, who was the creative director of Apple Records for the Beatles.Her new book is titled “All Roads Lead To Punk: Riding the First Wave of the Phenomenal Los Angeles Punk Scene Through Music and Fashion" - and she has one fascinating story to tell.We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you don’t, subscribe ad-free here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Starting point is 00:01:50 Jenny Shore has led 10 incredible lifetimes. At least that's what I felt after reading her new book titled All Roads Lead to Punk, riding the first wave of the phenomenal Los Angeles punk scene through music and fashion. As we'll soon hear, Jenny was part of one of the very first female punk bands in Los Angeles and opened for such major acts as Elvis Costello on the attractions and Devo. She was a co-owner of a vintage fashion store frequented by all the rock stars of that time. She was a wardrobe stylist for artists like the Bengals, Tom Petty, and Nick Lowe. she's met George Harrison.
Starting point is 00:02:30 She has partied with Paul McCartney. Great story there. She also styled and toured with Linda Ronstadt. Her spouse is Kosh, who was the creative director of Apple Records for the Beatles, and who designed some of the greatest album covers of all time, including 26 album covers for Linda Ronstadt. As I said, Jenny's had 10 incredible lifetimes. To begin at the beginning,
Starting point is 00:02:58 Jenny Shore was born and raised in Los Angeles. Yes, I was born on sunset. It was amazing, really, to be brought up in the 60s. My parents came from New York. They had a very liberal background. They were actually pretty hip for their time. So they took us to, like, Lovens, and we were at, like, a peace march with Martin Luther King.
Starting point is 00:03:28 which launched the Summer of Love in 1967. What was your first introduction to rock and roll? I was first introduced to Elvis Presley by my first babysitter Jill. And then we saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and that kind of rocked my world, so to speak. Was that the moment music really ignited in you, Jenny? Well, I remember listening to Chubby Checker. I think that was the first song I ever heard was The Twist.
Starting point is 00:04:00 And I don't know, I always had stars on my eyes, I have to say. And I was already styling myself with like petticoats because when I was like four and five years old. So I don't know. I was kind of primed for it and I don't know why. I guess the Beatles was the first time you saw a band in action because Chubby Checker, Elvis were solo acts. Yes. and I think Elvis was kind of banned shaking his hips from the boob tube or whatever, but the Beatles were like young and infectious, and I think it is a story that a lot of people
Starting point is 00:04:39 do tell that that was the sort of life-changing experience. And then we moved to North Hollywood to a condominium, which I don't know if many people lived in condominiums yet, but I had a new babysitter named Cookie. And she taught me how to play guitar. And she had a folk duo and hung out on the sunset strip at like Pandora's Box. And she was performing. She was pretty young, though. I think she was, could be more than 18 years old at the time. And that was probably 1965, 1966. So you learn guitar, and then I guess at some point you want to start a band or get into a band. Yes.
Starting point is 00:05:31 How old would you be then? That would be high school. I graduated from my nylon string guitar to an electric guitar. I somehow convinced my parents to buy me a Les Paul Jr. And a mini practice amp. And I thought it was really cool. but guys at my school weren't into female rock guitarists. It was sort of a similar story to Joan Jet in a way.
Starting point is 00:05:58 It just wasn't accepted, you know. And I did try out for the runaways, the original three-piece lineup. And, of course, Kim Fowley was there running the show. Kim Fowley was a controversial producer-songwriter, and he managed Joan Jett and the runaways. Fowley was also the MC at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Concert in 1969, where Lennon and the Plastic Ono band played. I wasn't really a lead guitarist at that point, and I just kind of threw together something from a Lou Reed album, and he told me I needed to lose weight. I had several little red-ins with Kim Fowley that were sort of crappy.
Starting point is 00:06:45 And when I finally did meet my band members in 1976 via a Dr. Fieldgood show at the Starwood and then this after party at the Continental Wright House, as we like to call it, I did finally meet my band members. I did audition for one more Kim Fowley band. Don't ask me why, but Venus of the Razor Blaze. But I did finally meet the women that would become my band members. You said in your book that it was very difficult to find other like-minded female musicians at the time, right? Yeah, there wasn't many. I mean, there was people that came before us, like Fannie and things like this. But the time that we got together, it was sort of glam, which turned into punk. We were sort of comprised of almost like groupies, but groupies that wanted to be in a band, you know?
Starting point is 00:07:44 Right. So I had been running away to home. Hollywood, by the way, in high school because my mother got sick. And then she did succumb to her illness when I graduated high school. So I was already running away to Hollywood, like in sort of mid-70s. I started seeing bands play live. The first band I saw was the kinks, and I fell in love with them. But I was running away with this kind of, she was pretty wild. Her name was Robin, and I really cared for her a lot. And we were going to the Rainbow,
Starting point is 00:08:21 to Roddy's English Disco. In the Valley, it was the Sugar Shack. And we were really in our wild air. And I don't think I would have rebelled that hard if my mother hadn't gotten sick, but I really needed an outlet. And I really wanted to find other musicians that would accept me.
Starting point is 00:08:40 My other bandmates were also hanging out at the Rainbow, but they were working. in the industry. Marina, she was like a rock journalist for Teen Magazine, and there was other women that were working at record companies and things like that, so that everyone had like a dual lifestyle in a way. And when we started our band, we all eventually came up with punk names. So I was Jenny Buddy, Joanne became Marina Del Rey, our bass player Joanne, she became Spock because Dave Vaney and named her spot because she was like a lover of science fiction. So we all like took on punk names.
Starting point is 00:09:23 And then we had Holly Vincent. I think she was at one time called Barakuta Majors or something like that. And we helped sort of build the L.A. punk scene. Marina, who had a real job, she signed the lease for the club The Mask with Brendan Mullen because he was Scottish. So we co-signed the Lee's. We were one of the first bands in there. And then other people started seeing us play, not really knowing our instruments that well,
Starting point is 00:09:55 and it sort of inspired others to do the same. What was the punk scene like at that time in L.A.? We were a bunch of weirdos, you know, a bunch of people that didn't fit in. I was my mom's golden child, but then became the black sheep of the family when she died. So we were just, from all over
Starting point is 00:10:21 and we just used to hang out we would hang out anywhere just like at the mask or just like sit there was an apartment complex called the Canterbury we would just like read fanzines hang out on sidewalks wherever
Starting point is 00:10:40 you know wherever we could congregate and be together how did your band get the name backstage pass well Marina she had the idea at the rainbow. And she said to Rodney, I just started a band. And he said, what's the name? And she said, backstage pass. And then that's how about started. Right. That's a great name, though. What year are we in now, Jenny, when you've formed and the band's got a name and you're
Starting point is 00:11:10 starting to perform around town? What year would that be roughly? So in 1976, we started. And we started rehearsing at Cherokee, studios where people were there like David Bowie, and we were like sort of a curiosity. And I think Alice Cooper may have been there as well. And we didn't really play shows. We met Jake Revere at this Dr. Fieldgood show. He started Stip Records, and he brought the damned to the States. They were the first British punk band to come to the States.
Starting point is 00:11:49 and they were opening up for television, got kicked off the tour for upstaging, and then they came to L.A. And he scrambled and got them a gig at the Starwood. And then he all stayed with different punk people. So they stayed with us. I was hanging out with Brian James, and he was hanging out at our apartment. And we had to answer our phone, stiff records. How can we help you? And he was doing things like going to Island Records and standing on the desktops and yelling at them, trying to get Elvis Costello a deal.
Starting point is 00:12:27 And we got to open for Elvis Costello. Amazing. Yeah, yeah. The jammed were the ones that said, get your asses, you know, out of the rehearsal and do a gig. So they were the ones that pushed us to start playing. So that was 1977. and Dave Vaney was on the cover of Slash Magazine, which was a pretty insane, great punk magazine. And I was heavily in all of those pages with the screamers mostly.
Starting point is 00:13:04 So we were really good at promoting ourselves in the way, like I was pictured with Tom Petty. And the caption said, Sheep to Sheek. Backstage Pass will be going on tour with the Heartbreakers, which was all a bunch of crap. Before we even played, we were like in British magazines and in Japan. Wow. Yeah, it was wild. I'm really excited, though, because my book is in Japan, by the way. And it's all over the world now in Europe and Australia.
Starting point is 00:13:39 And I'm really excited about that. Back in 1977, Jenny and a friend found out about a big party Paul McCartney was throwing in Hollywood to celebrate wings over America. They weren't invited, so Jenny and company decided to climb over the fence and crash the party. Oh my God, yeah, that's a good one. I was friends with a girl named Tammy Taylor. We actually auditioned for Vitas and the Razorblaze together. And I don't know, we found out about this insane party at Harold Lloyd Estate, which was Wings
Starting point is 00:14:25 Over America. They were celebrating their two best-selling albums. So we decided to go. Now, we didn't know this, but the dress code was white. I was not wearing white. She had mostly white. And so we had to climb over these fences and we get there and white table cloths, white everything. And there's all these incredible stars like the Jackson's, Michael Jackson, before he did anything to himself, he looked amazing. And Ricky Nelson and Frank Zappa and Tammy had an instabatic camera. And people just thought she was like a photographer. is supposed to be taking pictures.
Starting point is 00:15:17 So she took everyone's pictures. It's also Jack Nicholson. She let me use all these photos in my book, which was just so kind and generous. For listeners listening to this, it's full of great photos from that era. Thank you so much. And so everything was going well,
Starting point is 00:15:40 and we got to see some of the entertainment. Oddly, also Linda Ronstat was there, who became a big client. of mine. Which we'll talk about in a moment. We'll talk about that. And oddly, Nelson Riddle was like the entertainment, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, which featured in my life later. So then there was the mansion, and I had to use the powder room. So we went in, and there was Paul and Linda and their children, like on the staircase. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting or something. And And Tammy was going nuts, and she wanted a picture with Paul and Linda.
Starting point is 00:16:22 So Linda Borgartney had taken the kids upstairs, and Paul came down, and Tammy said, can I get a picture of you and Linda? And he said, oh, yeah, sure, you know, when she comes back down. And then, I don't know, he must have, like, signaled to the guards or whatever. And bam. I was like, Tammy, we need to go. She's like, no, no, I want to get a picture with Paul and Linda. And I like, uh, Tammy.
Starting point is 00:16:48 And then we got snagged. We got stuck in the tram with like some other party crashers and ferried back to the entrance. You know? Wow. What an experience. So we did get to meet everybody. And then again, thankfully I met Paul McCartney later when him and Elvis Costello were together. As mentioned, backstage pass open for Elvis Costello and the attraction.
Starting point is 00:17:15 at the Whiskey in L.A. Yes, that was crazy because I guess Jake didn't want Elvis to be upstage, so he chose us and we were a little bit inexperienced. Yeah, that was November of 1977, and the Whiskey always had two shows a night, and they would kick out the people from the first show. So we used to, like, huddle, like, upstairs. Not, well, that night we were playing, but, you know, normally we would, like, huddle upstairs. But we did a debut show with Quiet Riot, who I knew from high school, my high school days.
Starting point is 00:17:57 Kevin Dupro was the first guy ever kissed. And I knew Randy Rhodes through Kevin. So we opened for them at Hotel. I think it was called the Roman Inn. And we opened for Elvis. and we opened for Devo. Devo. Wow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:17 They were great. I didn't know what to make of them. They scared me a little bit. I don't know why. They were very unusual. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, I briefly, like, dated Bob. I don't think he spoke more than two words the entire time.
Starting point is 00:18:30 I thought, he's so weird. I don't know. I don't know. He's so weird. Oh, we opened also for the mumps, who I love. We had heard about them from Blondie, who we were hanging out with. And so we played with them at the Buhay Gardens. And that was a wild scene.
Starting point is 00:18:47 And that's also in my book, an incredibly wild scene. And in that whole period of time, Jenny, you're underage, right? You can't even drink in these clubs. Am I right? No, I'm getting hand-stamped. I'm getting hand-stamped. I'm not really drinking in clubs. No.
Starting point is 00:19:07 But we were doing quail-loves. We were doing paupers, especially what my mom was sick. I was running away to Hollywood with Robin. We were doing all kinds of nonsense. There was orgies. There was, you name it. I mean, we were going out with guys in bands. We were really acting out our pain.
Starting point is 00:19:27 We both had a lot of pain. Mine from my mother's illness and the death. And then she had a lot of pain from some serious wrongdoing by her stepfather. So I say the book, that sex was our superpower. and we used it, but it was really coping with our mutual pain. Jenny was in backstage pass for two years. Then she decided to make a big gear change. Her name was Tony, and she was from Texas.
Starting point is 00:20:05 She was an Army brat. She was an incredible seamstress and designer and sketch artist. and she lived on Clark Street right next to the whiskey where it was all happening. And I met her and she ended up marrying Jake Rivera and moved to England. But before that, she was the seamstress for the band and I was wowed by that because my mother was also a seamstress. And I was always looking for mommy, you know, and she was older. and I so admired everything she did. And I was with her when she made
Starting point is 00:20:46 Niccolo's Riddler suit with the question marks. And I was like there, like watching her do it. So it was shark skin. It was green, you know, with the black question marks. It was amazing. And he wore it a lot in that period. And I was wowed by her and what she did. And she would draw rock stars in outfits.
Starting point is 00:21:10 But she did all with Nelson's checkerboard, everything. It was her idea to come up with, I think, this certain kind of bow tie. And she made, it was cheap trick underwear. And then they kind of stole the idea in a way. I mean, she wasn't mad at it or anything. But anyway, she would draw, like, let's say, Ray Davies or Tom Petty in an outfit. Go to the sound check. could do then. You could do all these things back then. And then she would get orders that way.
Starting point is 00:21:46 They would see themselves, looked exactly like them, the sketch, and she would have them come to her apartment, and they would come up with what they wanted, and she would make custom clothes for these bands. And I thought, this is it, this is it, you know. And so I was actually working at a store called Straight Jacket, but then we ended up buying it and co-owning it together. And Jake was our silent partner. But I was really young. I didn't quite know what I was doing, but I had Hooks, and had contacts. Any band that came into town came into Straight Jacket. So we had like vintage clothes, vintage embellish clothes, we made custom clothes, and we had an autograph book. All the pages are in. the book. While Jenny worked at
Starting point is 00:22:39 Straight Jacket, lots of different rock stars would come in to shop, including one particular guy from New Jersey. One time, someone just ampled in, and I was like, are you in a band? He said,
Starting point is 00:22:56 yeah, I'm in the East Street band. I was like, oh, yeah, I knew that. And it was Bruce Springsteen. And so I ended up dressing him for the cover of Queen magazine, and that was 1981. Wow. You also styled Nick Lowe, as you mentioned, squeeze, Tom Petty, Cameron Crow, the Spark, Split, Ends, like, what a great roster that was. Yeah, for Cameron Crow, I didn't exactly
Starting point is 00:23:20 style him, but he was friends with Jake. He was doing fast times at Richmond High. Right. And he used an Elvis Costello poster. I don't know what it was, but we became friends, and he was so sweet. I almost started dating him, but that he met Nancy from Hart. So that kind of just, I really liked him, though, you know, and we would talk on the phone sometimes. I really, really liked him. He's an incredible raconteur. I really enjoy listening to him. He also has a new book out right now, I think.
Starting point is 00:23:50 Yes, he does. When I saw Almost Famous, I cried the first time. I was just... I loved that movie. I loved it, and it just made me think of some of my past, you know, a kind of very nostalgic, emotional way. So I absolutely loved it. One of Jenny's other amazing lifetimes was working with the great Linda Ronstadt. So I absolutely adore Linda to this day.
Starting point is 00:24:22 And my spouse, Kosh, did 26 of her album covers. Wow. So we first met back then, by the way. Right. But it wasn't many years later until we got together. But straight check I had closed. And I was panicking. I didn't even know what panic attacks were back then.
Starting point is 00:24:46 I just know that I was having them. I didn't know what I was going to do. But Nick Lowe came into town and he was opening up for Tom Petty of the Heartbreakers at the Universal Amphitheater. And this was 1983. I think it was the spring. And I had Nicklow tickets. And Linda had Nicklow tickets. through Danny Farrington, who was her roommate.
Starting point is 00:25:14 He was a guitar, Luthier. He did all that incredible Pearl Inlay on like Johnny Cash's guitar. And then all the British people wanted him. So he did Elvis Costello, which he still uses. He did custom guitars for squeeze. He did beautiful stuff. And we had a lot of the same clients. So they had Nicola tickets.
Starting point is 00:25:36 I had Nicola tickets. And we were sitting side by side. And he introduced me to Linda. said what I did, you know, with clothing and everything. And we were watching Nick Lowe. And then Tom Petty comes on. And I said something cheeky to her. I said, I know what you're doing.
Starting point is 00:25:56 And she said, what? And I said, you're checking out Tom Petty's ass. And she said, I am. She loved Tom Petty and Heartbreaker. She ended up doing a Heartbreaker song later. I think she did the waiting. So she, had become to Peter Asher's office on Dohidi. I was working for her the next day.
Starting point is 00:26:17 Wow. I started working for her and she was blown away by what I had brought her. So she wanted you to style her. Did she love what she were wearing? Well, how does she make that jump to hiring you to do that? I think it was just her instinct. Yeah, probably what I was how I looked, probably when I was dressed, that I was young. And I didn't know about the Nelson Riddle album that she was about to launch. But they were really hesitant to let her do it. You know, there's a really cool interview about that. And she had to do one last rock tour, which was get closer.
Starting point is 00:26:54 So I brought her all these clothes that were like petticoats that were like pre-Madonna era. And she loved them because her previous stylist, she adored. I guess she was getting married or something. and she had dressed her kind of like Beverly Hills in a way, not rock and roll, not stage clothes. And I brought her a 50s torch singer dress that was Black Sequin. And she was like, oh, I love this. I wish I had it, but I just already shot my album cover and it was What's New. She wore the dress and other things I ended up purchasing for her on all these What's New videos.
Starting point is 00:27:40 And then she started touring with Nelson Riddell and she took me around the world with her. Linda Ronstadt only covered one Beatles song in her recording career. It was originally sung by Ringo. What song was it? Answer, after this. Answer. Linda Ronstadt famously only covered one Beatles song in her vast catalogue. It appeared on her 1996 album, dedicated to the One I Love.
Starting point is 00:28:28 The song was Good Night. Jenny's spouse, Kosh, designed the album cover. Jenny didn't just tour with Linda Ronstat. She actually moved into her home. Yeah, she lived in Brentwood on Rockingham Avenue. And yeah, she likes living with people. She likes having roommates. And Danny lived there also, and also Nicolette Larson,
Starting point is 00:29:00 who was on tour a lot. And it was insane. So Dwight Yocum picked me up with his El Cabino, and it was insane, like being buzzed into Linda's little mini mansion. I think it was previously owned by Zazoo Pitts and had all these hidden staircases and things. It was wild. And, yeah, I loved it. And I couldn't believe it was real. It was such a blessing to have her, like, help me in that way.
Starting point is 00:29:34 she was dating at the time. I didn't remember this beat. So when she was putting the Nelson Riddle show together, there was a couple of things. We went to this club to see this band, the Step Sisters, which I renamed Red and the Red Hots. And we also met Jim Carrey, who was very young. I think he couldn't have been more than 21, because a lot of times These big acts had comedians opening up for them. So we met Jim Carrey and she started dating Jim. Ah. But then she realized that he was very young.
Starting point is 00:30:12 And there is like a fabulous picture of me in a Tinkerbell outfit. And Jim and Linda dressed up as Minnie and Mickey Mouse that were going to the Leland-Sklar Halloween party that he had every year. Great photo. But then she got introduced to Mr. Star Wars. George Lucas. George Lucas. And started dating George. They were so similar.
Starting point is 00:30:42 And I thought they were both so boring. They both had the same car. It was wild. So we started going up to George's The Ranch or whatever. Skywalker Ranch. Skywalker Ranch. going in Lear Jets. I was so scared. And with the dogs, Linda's big Akita dogs and everything. Yeah, it was crazy. And he had a daughter who was very little, Amanda. She was pretty wild.
Starting point is 00:31:19 Linda lived across the street from O.J. Simpson. She had an instinct about him, didn't she? She did. And we used to, like, walk in the neighborhood. We would also go to like Jane Fonda's workout. We would like try to be in shape if she had to go on tour and that kind of thing. And we saw O.J. like in his yard with his chow chow chow dogs and he was scowling at us. And she said, Cheney, I don't trust that, ma'am. And she probably knew Nicole, you know. And luckily for her, she had sold that house before the whole incidents happened.
Starting point is 00:31:57 So she missed that circuit. You started styling Linda for her Nelson Rinal tours, but you also started styling her streetwear too, right? Oh, yeah, I did all of that. I would go and get her, all of her streetwear, you know, places like Fred Siegel, stuff like that. Street jacket was on Third Street, or one of the first boutiques like that, but then the Melrose boom happened. And so I was buying stuff from her for Melrose stores as well.
Starting point is 00:32:30 and she just loved it because it wasn't like these Beverly Hills prices. For the Nelson Riddle stuff, I bought her tons of vintage, which you could get them for really inexpensive. And then we had things made as well from Western costumes. So, yeah, I got to do all that stuff. It was really fun. And you said in your book that dressing Linda was the highlight of your career. Why do you say that?
Starting point is 00:32:56 Yeah. Well, it's one of the biggest highlights, I think, because she's a, a kind, generous person. I got to hear her sing every night when we were on tour. And she also loved my songs that I was writing. I was still writing songs past backstage past. What I would just hear her sing in the house with no microphone, no studio. I said, your voice is more beautiful in person. And she loved that. And you said she was a teetolar too, which is interesting because not a lot of rock stars were. And you said, and I thought this was very interesting, you said it added years to your life. I've told her that. And it's true because I also gave up like any kind of
Starting point is 00:33:43 recreational drugs right before I met her. I wasn't doing tons of cocaine, but I was doing drugs. And I was smoking some. But she also had her days with drugs. I'm sure, or alcohol. I don't know. Yeah. I'm saying, like, in her S&L period, you know, yeah, she wasn't doing any of that stuff. I mean, we were, like, drinking Diet Coke and things like that.
Starting point is 00:34:13 But, yeah, it was very grounding experience. But then later, ended up touring with the Bengals, and they were more my age. But it was definitely easier to work for one person. Yeah, than a band. Yeah. you know, than a band. And also, Linda had already been through that pressure cooker
Starting point is 00:34:36 of being pushed to tour, tour, tour, tour, door, door, door. So she got to call the shots at this point. She also got badly taken advantage of by Rolling Stone at the time, you know, with the Annie Leibowitz photos and that kind of thing. So she started to become very protective about her private life. She was never photographed with George Lucas. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:00 Interesting. She started to become pretty strict about things. And there's some interviews where she really lays it down the way she wants to lay it down and she doesn't get prodded by nosy questions or she won't talk about her private life. That was a long time ago, but Jenny is still in touch with Linda Ronstadt to this day. I asked Jenny how Linda was doing. She has the same wit and brain. Physically, she's not like she was, but she is clever and smart and has a wonderful viewpoint about the world in politics.
Starting point is 00:35:48 And I adore. Kosh and I have both been to see her. We spent a couple Christmases with her. Yeah, we talk on the phone. and I'm also really close with her personal manager, Janet. And we also know her manager, John Boyland, who was with her, like, since the beginning. And I'm sort of like a nerdy encyclopedia,
Starting point is 00:36:13 especially about her career and her clothes. And she loves that. She wants me to help, like, sort of categorize some of that stuff for her, which I would love to do. I was lucky enough to be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 24. when Linda Ronstad was inducted, and she was formerly inducted by Glenn Fry of the Eagles, as Glenn played in her band before the Eagles were formed.
Starting point is 00:36:41 Linda couldn't be there that night, but Bonnie Raid, Emmy Lou Harris, Stevie Nicks, Cheryl Crow, and Carrie Underwood sang Linda's biggest hits. It was amazing. And nobody sings her music like Linda. Yeah. Nobody. Nobody. The amount of like different genres. I mean, I remember when we were doing Nelson Riddle interview, but she was saying, I think the future of pop is Latin. You know, she was taking Spanish lessons when I first started working for her. So she was already prepping for all these things. I also got to go to New York with her. She did an opera, which wasn't as successful, not nearly as successful.
Starting point is 00:37:29 those Pirates of the Penn Zance, but it was Loboam. Right. And I have to say that her albums with Nelson Riddle, am I right about this? That was really kind of the start of rock stars doing American standards. 100%. She was the first. She was the first.
Starting point is 00:37:48 And she actually did a recording with Jerry Wexler. Jerry Waxler. It was a little jazzier, and she felt very rushed. And it was during the Pirates of Penzance era. And she ended up deciding on going with Nelson Riddle. And she didn't know if Nelson had ever heard of her or, you know, what he would think. I mean, because rock and roll to people like Frank Sinatra and that kind of thing, they were pretty threatened by it, especially like the Beatles and all that kind of stuff.
Starting point is 00:38:25 I think the Beatles actually ended a lot of careers. You know what I mean? When you think about the Frankie Avalon's of that era? Yes. It was hard for them to get a gig after that. When we return, Linda Ronstadt wants to work with Nelson Riddell, but Riddell doesn't know who she is. When she did the Nelson Riddell and we went to Radio City Music Hall,
Starting point is 00:38:58 and they had some of those songwriters, like the Tim Pan Alley, people that were still alive were celebrating Linda. And they felt so honored that she was doing this material. But this is the materials she grew up on, you know. When Linda Ronstadt first approached Nelson Riddle about working together, he didn't know who she was. As Jenny mentioned a moment ago, artists like Riddell were from another generation. So Riddell asked his daughter who Linda Ronstadt was, and his daughter said, Oh my God, Dad, you have to work with her.
Starting point is 00:39:32 Yeah, Nelson was incredible. I was sitting next to him on a flight from Japan to Australia. he said, ask me anything. And I was like, I don't know what to ask. Like, yeah, I was really missed opportunity because he had all the good dirt on everybody, you know, Rosemary Clooney, you know, you name it. He's such an exquisite artist and arranger Nelson Riddle.
Starting point is 00:39:57 Even his work with Sinatra is among my favorite. Just an amazing music talent. Backstage Pass Reunited. Yes. And tell me the story around that. There's this woman Terry Morland Henderson. She is married to one of the members of a band called The Pop that was playing sort of in that era. And she put together this reunion show.
Starting point is 00:40:28 And she asked us to perform, which was amazing. I think we opened up for the pop as well and needles and pins. And there was a lot of bands of that era. era. So, Maureen and I had played for years, you know, but it's like riding a bike. I've been playing since I was eight years old, you know? So we ended up getting some of our friends that were good musicians and good harmony singers. And we reunited. And we did this show and a lot of people hadn't seen us. It was amazing. We only did like three songs. And then we started playing other shows, and then COVID happened.
Starting point is 00:41:15 And that kind of put the cabosh on things. That was legend by Backstage Pass. I wondered what it was like to get together again after all those years. Fun, but band dynamics never change. Is that right? That way. Even after 42 years? Never, never, never, never change.
Starting point is 00:44:14 Ask anybody. They never change. But it was great. And it was great to kind of see what we could have sounded like if we developed a bit more. because we had this opera singer who sang backup. She just loved it. It was just kind of fun to see it with like a little bit more musicianship, a little bit more harmonies, a little bit more groundedness. But I don't think we'll do anything in the future.
Starting point is 00:44:44 But my book comes with our original demos. Yes. Well, two songs from the original demo. It comes with a 45 single. and Kosh designed the single cover and the book cover. And there's QR codes. Yes, there's QR codes to some of the songs I had written after Backstage Pass that I really adored. I ended up doing a demo in England at Niccolo's studio.
Starting point is 00:45:09 I also did a demo in Texas with golden earring. Radar Love. Radar Love. Tony was dating the lead singer, Barry, at that time. and then her brother Tom Wright, who photographed the Who in their early stages. Pete Townsend says that he's partly responsible for helping them break out. I think they met him in art school. Like I said, Tony was an army brat, so she lived in England.
Starting point is 00:45:40 So her family lived there, and that's how Tom met the Who. So Tom, he produced it. What was it like to look back on your life to write this book? What was that experience like for you? It's a little bit gnarly. It's like 30 years of my life, I would say. It was gnarly. I did a lot of crazy things.
Starting point is 00:46:08 I dated a lot of rock stars. I got my heartbroken several times. I was experimenting. I was bisexual. Yeah, that was one thing. that happened to where Kim Fowley outed me for being bisexual in front of a crowd. I wasn't ready to come out in that way. It was emotional because of my mom's illness and death, and I was remembering things,
Starting point is 00:46:37 that some of it was painful. Yeah. Did you keep journals when you were going through all this? It feels like a journal. One compliment someone gave me was, was my neighbor. He's he's in the film industry. And he said, you know, I felt like I was reading like a diary of a 15 year old. And you sounded like a 15 and 16 year old. And he loves it. You know, so I've gotten so much great feedback. I never knew if people could relate to it.
Starting point is 00:47:09 I think 2025 has been such a shitty year in a lot of ways. And I think this maybe provides some kind of entertainment, some kind of outlet. It's like juicy, you know, it's like juicy 70s stories, 80s stories. I think some people can relate to it that have had trouble with their family. You know, certainly there's been a lot of strife this year politically where families are like splitting apart. Right. So I'm really glad that my book came out this year. It was like therapeutic for me. It was good for me. It's been great. to put myself out there. And people seem to really dig it.
Starting point is 00:47:52 I didn't know how people would respond. But I've just gotten these, like, incredible notes from people, like, just saying it's sexy, but it's emotional. And I can't put it down. Linda's manager, Janet, she, like, read it in one night. She said, I made myself a cup of tea. I said, you already read it. And she was just like, I laughed.
Starting point is 00:48:15 I cried. You know, I've gotten some. incredible response and people telling me that it was so well written. I just never expected to hear those things, but I'm so pleased. It's so enjoyable, Jenny, and it's all of those things, by the way. I love that. That was my interview with Jenny Shore. Her book, All Roads Lead to Punk, is available now, and all proceeds from the book benefit Junior High L.A., which is Jenny's adult child Eden Haynes, nonprofit, which is a community art space and safe space for people who feel marginalized. A big thank you to Jenny Shore, and as mentioned, her spouse is Kosh, who was the creative
Starting point is 00:49:05 director of Apple Records, and you can hear my interview with Kosh right here on your podcast app. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terstream Mobile Recording Studio, director Callie O'Reilly, producer Debbie O'Reilly, Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine. Tunes provided by APM Music. Follow me at Terry O. Influence. This podcast is powered by ACAST.
Starting point is 00:49:37 Stay tuned for more Beatilology interviews coming up.

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