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Circling The Drain is a show about the current state of the music and radio businesses as well as culture in general!
Hosted by John E. Bozeman and Jay Harper along with Jim McCarthy as Co-Host/Executive Producer.
John has had a storied career in music and talk radio, most notably as the Executive Producer for the late and legendary Phil Valentine.
Jay also has has a long career in radio as Announcer, Play-by-Play, Voice and On-Camera Actor. He was also an Artist Rep for MCA records.
Jim McCarthy ALSO has had a tremendous career in radio since 1996 and has since brought his consulting/producing skillset to the podcast world.
Circling the Drain is produced by ItsYourShow.co
Unknown: An act that should have
been bigger than they are. Oh,
they should have, you know, the
Mavericks, yeah, they, I know
that boy, they had a real
following. You know, when they
do perform, especially here in
Nashville, which, you know, is a
little different venue than
Wichita, yes. But you know, we
always pack the places here
because, you know, he was just
so well that the band so well.
Liked and loved here well.
And they did that. They did one
song that, I swear to God, if
you heard it, you'd think it was
Buck Owens, but all you do is
let me down. Oh, that was a
great song. Great song, yeah.
And plus they redid, dr,
feelgood, which I recently put
up on my Facebook again, because
I want people to hear it because
it's such a great version. It
sounds like, it sounds like the
kind of song you'd hear in a
really dangerous bar somewhere
or on Pulp Fiction, you know,
Pulp Fiction soundtrack, it's
just done so well.
Welcome to a podcast about music
and entertainment before it all
goes down the disposal. This is
circling the drain. Welcome back
into circling the drain. It's
the podcast that, well, we just
like to have fun, damn it.
That's all it's about. All we
want to do is have some fun.
Yes, we do write that down. You
know, I think it would get crow
on the phone. Yes, she could do
that. And we want royalty.
That's right, we want royalty
for radio.
Yeah, for radio, radio. But my
name is Johnny Bozeman. A lot of
you know me as Johnny B over
here is my buddy, Jay Harper,
hello.
Jay Harper, thank you. John
Ernest Bozeman, wow, no problem.
Jim Harper, yeah, that's right.
So did your mom or dad when they
were ticked at you? Was it come
here? John earnest,
how did you know my wife even
does that?
And of course, we have James.
What's the middle name? Jim
Patrick, James. Patrick McCarthy
man. Is that a nice Irish name?
Very Italian
here. I thought it was Chris.
We'll
do Christopher. Why not?
Whatever
Christopher. But, you know,
because of the work we have
done, we have had some celebrity
encounter.
Yeah, it's kind of one of the
perks of the gigs that we've had
that don't pay a damn thing, but
they do give you some nice, nice
encounters, nice memories.
Yeah, you do. You get to meet
artists. You get to, well, you
get to hang out backstage.
Sometimes there's, you know,
there's been times when that's
been interesting, been kind of
fun. It's the worst place to see
a show,
though, oh, it really is. The
best part to see the show is out
in the out in the audience,
because backstage,
it sucks. Can't see a damn
thing. Can't hear
no, yeah, no. And they've got
hangers on back there that are
wearing Yeah.
And these, these gurmy radio
people,
are the worst.
Oh, man. They always want
something for free.
That's right. Radio voices,
yeah. Can I get a picture? Yeah?
Okay, yeah, hey, I've got this
pocket recorder. Can you do a
promo for me? Yeah, can you tell
me that you really you dig my
show? That's right. Hey, I'm
Garth Brooks, and I listen to
Johnny B on K. Who cares? Yeah,
those radio guys backstage.
They're there. They're a gurmy
lot.
Boy. They really are. They
always want something for free.
What's the gurmiest thing you've
ever seen? Oh, not like have
been part of, but seen,
I can remember, during my time
and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
the of course, I was on the big
FM powerhouse there. But there
was an am country station in
town that the poor guy that was
like their PD, he was one of
those guys that, you know,
Louisiana is hot most of the
time, and in the summertime it's
especially hot, especially warm.
But this dude, Stuart McCrea W,
i, b, r, radio super, yeah, he
always had the satin jacket on
with the radio station. I think
they were like, I something, so
it looked like the logo, looked
like the interstate sign, yes,
you know. And that was on the
back of the satin jacket. And
the jacket had was already kind
of oily, stainy looking, you
know what I mean, from the from
the oil on the skin, yes. And
because I don't think Stewart
ever took that damn thing off,
slept with it probably, yeah. So
in the middle of summer, he's
got the satin jacket on, and he
always carried around the wall
and sack,
reel to real.
Oh gosh, the damn thing, you
know, it was like a boat. Oh
yeah, those things were big,
yeah. But he always would be. He
would show up at every show with
the mic wanting to get those
promos from the from the from
the ax. Can you say the call
letters for him? Yeah, exactly,
you know, and sound like you
really listen to the station, if
you Yeah, and I got to give
Stuart credit, man. I mean, he
showed up at everything, but you
could, he was so obnoxious with
it, though, you know, poking
that mic in everybody's face and
they're like, and asking for all
that, that gurmy stuff. Yeah, it
was, it was embarrassing to be a
part of that, you know, just to
be associated with radio at the
time, you know, oh, I know,
yeah, hey, dude, we're not, you
know, we're not all that way.
Well, there was one time when I
worked at 106 FM in Nashville,
and, you know, we were the
housewife happy music, you know,
we played a lot of Michael
Bolton and things like that.
Well, Amy Grant had had eye
surgery done, and the program
director, who I've talked about
many times on this show, Billy
Shears, May God rest your soul,
but Billy Shears had this great
idea of getting a huge card, get
well card for Amy Grant that the
station was going and have
listeners sign it and whatever,
and we were going to go out and
bring it to her at her home. So
they did this. And the radio
station had this thing called
Big Mo. It was this god awful,
you know, the big truck of some
kind, big utility vehicle that
they didn't service well at all.
The thing smoked.
It backfired whole separate
episode at all.
It really is. The thing just
backfired like crazy. So it was
Phil Valentine, Terry Hopkins
and myself, we were going to
deliver this at Amy's house in
Big Mo. I think Terry was
driving Big Mo. Well, Terry and
I are wearing these stupid 106
shirts that looked like we were
pizza delivery guys. Phil had
the which, of course, Phil
Valentine lived by his own
rules. Anyway, we get in the
thing. I said, you're not
wearing your shirt. He said,
Hell no, I'm not wearing a
shirt. I'm not gonna look like a
pizza delivery guy. Phil, look
great. We look like pizza
delivery guys. So we go to Amy
Grant's house in Big Mo, it's in
the middle of summer, and Billy
take a camera, make sure and get
a camera with her, with the with
the card. Well, as you're
thinking, she had eye surgery,
she had eye surgery, she's not
gonna want a picture taken. So
we didn't do that. But we get up
to the we get up, we get up in
the driveway. Big Mo it's
backfiring. You know, smokes
going everywhere.
Is it like Eddie's mobile home
on Christmas vacation? Yes,
exactly.
And so we go up and Terry hits
the intercom and says, Yeah,
we're 106 we're coming up here
to deliver the card to Amy
Grant. Oh yeah, she's waiting on
you. She's out by the pool, and
Terry looks at me, and I went,
Hey, bonus. She's out by the
pool, but she couldn't have been
more gracious. But talk about
feeling like a germ. Oh gosh. I
mean, we were all embarrassed,
and especially Phil said, we're
not taking a picture. She
doesn't want a picture taken of
her by the pool with her, you
know, yeah, that eye patch on
right?
That would be pretty
embarrassing, yeah, for
everybody there. But she dug the
card, though, yeah. Well,
that's, that's cool. She was
gracious about it. She was real
cool.
I really did like her. She was a
very nice person.
You know, you talk about kind of
showing up to events and
embarrassing vehicles on behalf
of the radio station. I had to
drive a couple of clunkers with
the station call letters on the
side of it. Oh, god, that's I
remember we had a promotion in
Louisiana at one of the stations
I worked at where we gave away a
cherried up 66 Mustang. It was a
convertible, and it was restored
to its original condition. Yeah,
sure. Well, it looked great. And
we jocks we had to drive. We
would drive it to various
locations where we would show
up. And if you met us there, you
could register to win the
Mustang, you know. So, yeah, you
know, I drove it well. The damn
thing broke down. It quick,
running about all of us jocks
shared in that. Some of us would
take it to this location, and a
jock would meet you at that
location and get in the car and
drive it to others. You know, we
kind of did it that way. Well,
naturally, it broke, broke down
when I was driving the darn
thing. So the next location that
it shows up at, it died right
when I was about to pull up to
the thing. So I come, you know,
and there's a fair. Decent group
of people there waiting on me
because we had promoted the fact
that, you know, Jay Harper is
going to be at so and so diner
or whatever, right? So there are
people waiting on me to get
there. Well, the thing had
broken down, and I had to be
pushed into location. So I just
kind of get, you know, kind of
coast up to the place. And, you
know, what else could I think
have to say, is she show runs,
quiet,
great, really trying not to turn
it off.
Yeah, yeah. We don't, you know,
those pistons, you know, they
can kind of rub against the, you
know, the block and you know
that would kind of flux
capacitor, yeah, kind of ruined
things. But, but, yeah, you
know, being in radio, and I work
for record labels, I produce
concerts and stuff, you do get
to have some encounters with
some, some really cool people,
in terms of folks that you got
to meet that dis, did you have
any encounters that kind of
disappointed you?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did.
Would you Would
you care to share any of those?
Or would you rather just speak
of the of the good experience?
Well, it was kind of half and
half, really well, because I,
you know, I like Steve Earl's
music, yeah, right. But I'm a
big fan of his music. Steve was
going to be on the Phil
Valentine show, which I knew,
you know, I didn't know if it
would go well or not, because
they're both, you know, Phil was
more on the right and Steve's on
the left, but it was about Steve
was doing these concerts for for
what was called the journey
home. It was, you know, anti,
anti death penalty, right? And I
tried to tell him that he and
Phil actually agreed on that
subject, that Phil wasn't the
big death penalty guy, even
though he was on the right. And
when Steve first got there, it
was the coolest thing, because
he got there early and I sat out
front. In fact, it's in the
building that, you know, WT ends
in. Now, it was W, L, A, C, at
the time, and Steve and I talked
for about 45 minutes. Had a
great conversation. I'm
thinking, Man, I'm getting to
talk to one of my musical heroes
here. And it's it's going well,
but then it took a turn for the
worst, because I had to tell
him. I said, Well, I got to cut
this short. I got to go in. And
he said, You do what you got to
do. And I said, Now Steve, even
though Phil's on the right, I
said, You guys have a common I
said, he's not a big death
penalty guy. So I said, I think
this interview will go well. He
said, No, he's going to ambush
me. And I said, No, Phil's not
that kind of guy. And Steve had
a guy that had been on death row
as a guest with him, nice guy.
But after the when Steve went
in, you could tell Steve was
ready for rumble when Phil
wasn't. I mean, it was, it was
very odd interview, because
Steve was real guarded. Didn't
say a lot. He did, but you could
tell there was no connection.
And what really brought me down
was that, and I don't do this. I
usually don't ask artists for
pictures with me, or I did have
him sign a sight CD for me, but
the news man said John would
never do this, but he said, I
want to do this for him. He
said, He loves your music. I
like to get a picture of you two
guys together, and as we're
sitting there posing, Steve is
complaining about having to pose
for pictures with people.
Yeah, that that surprises me,
because he usually, you know, in
all the years that I've known
him and worked with him, he's
never, never been like that.
I think he just didn't like
being in the, you know, the
mouth of the beast of right wing
radio, which I understood that,
but we were trying to be nice.
But I think he was ready to, I
think he was wanting more to get
into it, like a debate of some
kind, and it didn't happen. But,
yeah, he was not very nice about
taking pictures. What?
When was this? He had
just done the mountain and he
was getting ready to do the
transcendental blues.
He may not have been sober yet.
No, he was sober. Okay, so he
had made that transition. Yeah,
he had made that transition.
Who knows what mean? He could
have had a bad day. I don't know
what was going on, but that was
not a fun celebrity, yeah,
that's too bad it was, because I
really enjoyed talking to him. I
enjoyed my time with,
you know, Steve is not a quote,
unquote educated guy in terms
of, you know, I think he never
even graduated high school. He
didn't and, but, you know,
certainly articulate and very,
very. Very smart, very
intelligent fella, and that's
why I enjoyed talking to Yeah.
Well, you know, you can tell
he's he's brilliant with words.
His songs and his lyrics are
just borderline genius in many
ways.
Well, we talked about story
songs on this program, and
nobody does a story song better
than Steve Earle. I mean, he
writes great story songs,
and He credits the likes of
Billy Joe Schaefer and towns Van
Zandt. Van Zandt Clark, going so
far as to name his son after
towns Van Zandt, yeah. So yeah,
but you know, I do know Steve
is, he can be a little moody,
and I guess all of us can be.
But in terms of, you know, my
celebrity encounters, I have
mostly good experiences with
that. Of course, I met most of
them during my MCA Records days.
And you know, you've got a
different relationship when
you're the record guy, right? As
opposed to being the radio guy,
very true. I had, you know, some
pleasant encounters when I was
the radio guy, and I guess I
still am one of those radio
guys. But in terms of my
encounters with with folks that
that are from the musical
spectrum of entertainment. Glen
Campbell was just a delight to
be around. And of course, when I
was a little kid, I mean, he was
an idol of mine. Oh yeah, you
know the Glen Campbell, you
know, the good time, our great
show, you know. And he was the
fill in on the, you know,
remember the Smothers Brothers
show. They had a summer
replacement called the summer
brothers smothers show, yes, and
Glen Campbell was the, was the
host of that, yeah, you know,
this is Gosh, 6869 in there
somewhere, probably, so, you
know, gosh, Glen Campbell. I
just always thought he was so
fantastic. He was one of my
dad's favorites too. So when I
got to MCA Records, and Glen
Campbell came over to the label,
you know, I got to hang with him
quite a bit. It was just one of
my best experiences with him was
backstage at the Opry, and he
was playing the opry that night,
and it was just he and I in his
dressing room, and He's warming
up on his electric guitar, and
he was showing off, oh, sure,
you know, yeah. And he was, he
just, it was just him, and he
had his little amp plugged in
there, in the in the dressing
room, and he is just ripping the
hell out of the guitar. Of
course, he was, I think, one of
the greatest guitarists that's
ever lived, but he is just
ripping the hell out of it. And
he looked over me, and I went by
JW, Harper back then, that was a
radio name that I that I brought
with me to. MCA, well, my
grandfather was JW, so it was a
tribute to him. But so he's, you
know, he's just ripping the
guitar, just he and I man, and
he's like, so what do you think?
JW, am I gonna make it? Am I
good enough to be on the Opry?
What do you think it was just
ripping it up, and he's just
laughing. He's one of those guys
that he was just musical. He was
singing all the time. I mean,
you would ride with him in the
car. He's singing. I literally
stood next to him at the urinal
in the MCA Records restroom, and
he's in there singing while he's
taking a whiz. And a funny guy,
and I will use an expletive
here, but this was Glen
Campbell's humor in that
aforementioned restroom at MCA
Records, there was a sign above
the urinal that said, please do
not throw cigarette butts in the
urinal. And Campbell and I, you
know, we're both kind of
standing there. He looks up at
it, and he laughs, and he says,
Do not throw cigarette butts in
the urinal. He looks over at me,
and he says, Hey, JW, let shit
in it. That's hilarious, but,
man, he was such a fun guy to be
around, and again, just such an
enormous talent. But, you know,
I had a number of other
encounter, you know George
straits, good dude, Reba, you
know, got to know her on a
personal level. But again, you
know, being on the record biz
side of thing, when you're kind
of out there promoting their
stuff, you know they're gonna
be, you know they're gonna be
nicer, yeah, they're, they're
gonna be your pal, exactly.
I have to tell a good story on
Hank Thompson, lot of some
younger viewers may not know
he was a superstar back in the
50s. He was a big star,
and one of my favorites, because
I loved six pack to go and all
those great songs he had out,
and he had such a great voice
and he enunciated, so
yes, that's you never had to
wonder. What he was saying. No,
you what he was singing.
You're correct, but just a cool
guy. But I was doing music at
the time, and I was opening for
him, and we were doing two
shows, and the first, and it was
outside, the first show, was
terrible because there was only
two people in the audience. It
was dead. And I guess everybody
knew that he wasn't in a good
mood. I didn't know. And like I
said, I was young at the time. I
was only 17, maybe 1718, years
old, so they picked me to
driving back to the hotel
between shows. So I'm excited.
Man, this is Hank Thompson. This
is Hank Thompson, baby. He's in
my car, so I get him in the car
and I'm driving a hotel. Of
course, I'm just talking his
head off, and he's not saying
anything. He's just looking out
the window. And finally he looks
over at me. Said, Son, He said,
If you wouldn't mind, he said,
I'd rather not talk. He said, If
you could just be quiet and sent
me back to the hotel room.
That'd be great. I said, No
problem, sir. So I didn't say a
word. He got out of my car,
slammed the door, went to his
hotel room. Well, then later on
the evening show, it was packed
and the audience just ate him
alive. I mean, he could have
gone on stage and sneezed, and
they would have gone crazy that
he just had his fans out there.
It was huge. So he's out signing
autographs after the show, and
I'm walking I'm carrying some
gear. This dude leaves the
autographed the autograph line
comes over to me. Says, Son,
son, I want to talk to you for a
minute. I said, Sure. Mr.
Thompson, what? What can I do
for you? He said, I wanted to
apologize to you because he said
I was short with you this
afternoon. You didn't deserve
that. You were just trying to be
kind. And he said, I wanted to
make sure I apologize to you and
hope you understood. I said,
Dude, I totally got it as I
understood why you felt the way
you did. You did not need to
apologize to me. He said, Yes, I
did. He shook my hand. He said,
Thank you for understanding. And
he said, I can under I can tell
you're a fan. He said, I
appreciate it. Yeah, gentlemen,
it was and that stuck with me.
And forever, Hank Thompson has
always been one of my favorite
country singers for that reason.
What a humanity to restored.
Yes,
yeah, because I've seen artists
that haven't been that kind
ever tell you what the story
about the when I met the Judds,
I
believe so yeah, at the
dealership, yeah, yeah. You said
that story right where you said
that Ashley was a little aloof,
shall we say, compared to Naomi,
Naomi was warm and friendly.
Yeah, I had a similar thing with
Naomi and Winona.
Wynonna is great too. Yeah,
well,
she wasn't this day. I mean, she
wasn't bad, no, it was just
Naomi was much better. They were
doing an interview across from
me, and they were both wearing
sunglasses inside. And I don't
know why I found that hilarious,
but I had shade, I had some Ray
Bans and so and we were Naomi,
and I could see each other now.
She never looked over. She was
always looking at whoever was
interviewing her. So I put my
shades on, and she happened to
look up look straight at me with
my shades on, and for some
reason, she found that
hilarious, and so they came over
and talked to me in my studio
while and she goes, I noticed
you were wearing your
sunglasses. I just had to say
hello, and she was just as sweet
as could be.
Yeah, my encounter with her was
the same. I was bringing Willie
Nelson on at a concert in
Louisiana, and I was with a
radio station, and they the
Judds were the opening act, and
not anybody really knew who they
were at that time. I think mama,
he's crazy. Had had was out,
yeah, but that was about it.
This was 83 Oh yeah, they were
just starting out. And yeah,
Winona is riding a bicycle
around backstage in the hallways
and stuff. But there was Naomi
no makeup all by herself in the
in the dressing room. And I just
kind of see and I just kind of
poke my head in and I introduce
myself, you know, is it okay if
I stop and say hello. Oh gosh,
come on in. Have a seat. You
know, she couldn't have been any
warmer or more friendly and
gorgeous, yeah, with no makeup
on. And I know I was sitting
there with my mouth open. Oh,
sure. You know, she was probably
3630 you know, because she had
Winona at a very young age.
Yeah, she did. I think Winona
was like 1819, Gene or
something. But, yeah, you know,
no makeup. Nothing pretentious
about her at all, like, oh gosh,
I can't have anybody see me all,
not all dolled up, right? But
she was beautiful nonetheless,
and couldn't have been any any
friendlier, any nicer. So yeah,
and again, I was just some girly
radio guy to her, but she again,
couldn't have been any nicer. I
had a that same concert. Grady
Martin was playing in Willie's
band. Yeah, you know the
legendary guitar player. And I
remember I saw Grady he and some
band members were walking
backstage, and I went up to say
something to Grady Martin, and
he was kind of like, you know,
gruff, oh yeah, a jackass, but I
but I said, Man, I love playing.
I play your instrumentals on
air. I'm with W Yeah, and I play
your instrumentals on air. And
all of a sudden he just stopped
and said, well, thank you. His
whole demeanor changed, yes,
when I told him that, and we
did, we did play, you know,
instrumentals back then, and we
played them, not just to back
time into the news. We did play
them at other times, right? So,
but that, yeah, that was cool.
Grady Martin was like, I mean
guitar God to me, yeah, in many
ways, along with Glen Campbell
and Roy Clark and some others.
But So yeah, Grady, you know
sometimes once you, and I think
you've made the comment about
kicks Brooks, once you said, and
I'll let you tell the story
about meeting him and
Vanderbilt, yeah, and saying,
instead of grooming him about
his music, you commented and
praised him on something else
that kind of changed his
demeanor.
He was right around the time
Arrington vineyards opened up,
yes, and my wife and I had went
to a tasting there, and I saw
him, and you know, I'm like,
Hey, man, I come up and talk. A
tap on his shoulder, kind of a
tall guy, and you could tell the
way he looked. He turned around
and looked at me like, Okay,
another one of these. I said, I
love your wine. And his eyes
just lit up. He's like, Thanks,
because it was a new
venture for, yeah, exactly, a
new passion that he was excited
about.
Well, that's, that's the reason
I have such fond memories of a
lot of people didn't like David
Allen co you know, they I would
hear stories of all, he's a
jerk.
Yeah, he was, he was not nice to
me when I tried to interview the
guy. But again, I think he was
just not, you know, he just
didn't feel good, wasn't in the
mood, yeah, you know, people are
people. They don't always want
to be on. And, you know, have
somebody with a microphone,
right?
I get it, and I too. I think
with David, if you know his
music, he likes you. If you
don't know his music very well,
he's going to be a jerk. But
when I met him, it was at Spence
manor in Nashville. He would
always stay there when he would
record. And a songwriter friend
of mine told me, he said, Why
don't you come to the Spence
manner? I hang out with David,
and you can be there. He said,
You're playing his music. And I
wasn't aware David knew I was
doing that, because when I was
introduced to him, he said, You
know, John works at W and he's
playing your music all time. He
said, Yeah, Buzz Rabin told me
about you. He said, Man, I I
really appreciate that. And the
whole night we got to talk music
with him. You know, he bought
steak dinners for us. We had
steak with him, and he was
singing, trying to sing, would
you lay with me in the field of
stone, which he wrote for Tanya
Tucker, yes, and he forgot the
words. So I, I would sing the
words to him, and when he would
forget the words, he looked at
but it was a great experience.
And even after that, when I saw
him in station promotions,
whatever, always super nice to
me. And so my, my experience
with him was phenomenal.
Yeah, I had, I had, kind of,
when I was in radio, developed a
little bit of a relationship
with Gary Morris, who, you know,
had some, some pretty good sized
hits. He was playing a nightclub
and stuff, and I was, you know,
the radio geek to bring him on
stage. And, yeah, so we're off
on this, I say. And I smoked
back then, and he did too, and
he bummed cigarette off me, and
then he bumped another one. And
it kind of got to be a little
bit of a joke there. Anyway, he
came back to town and remembered
me and, you know, and I would
just give him say, great. He
didn't even have to ask, you
know. And I would pick on him,
Hey, man, you know, here, I,
matter of fact, I bought him a
pack, and I just brought him
there. You don't have to buy me.
I brought you a pack. He smoked
Menthols. But anyway, he got to,
he got to where he would call
me, you know, at the radio
station, when he had new stuff
coming out, asked me what I
thought a new album would come
out. Hey, man, what do you like
is the single? I mean, you know,
we had this little relationship
kind of thing going and but then
when he was named to be on
Broadway in Les Miserables,
where he did, uh. The Jean
Valjean character. I believe
that was his role in that. Yeah,
never heard, but never heard
from him again once he hit
Broadway, exactly, was over.
But, you know, it's kind of
funny. I don't know, a year or
so back, probably longer, I
commented on his Facebook page
about, you know, just kind of
the little story I just told,
right about him bummed
cigarettes and all that on his
Facebook page, and he responded.
And I didn't tell him where I
was, but he asked in the in the
Facebook response, he says, Were
you a jock in Louisiana? And I'm
like, Yes. He goes, I remember
you, you were my cigarette guy,
yeah, it's great, yeah. And I
said, Well, I have quit smoking
since then. And he said, Good,
so have I, but yeah, you know,
that was kind of a, you know,
fun little exchange with Gary
Morris way back when. And, you
know, the guy could just sing
his tail off. Man. Fantastic.
That big. I mean, he was
certainly well qualified to be
on Broadway. No doubt about
that.
Yeah, there was one time I wish
I would have had an encounter.
It was an artist that we
recently lost, Raul Mallow,
yeah, yeah. Sad story. Oh very
talk about a fantastic voice,
just, yeah, operatic, almost
great singer.
But my family and I were having
dinner at the loveless cafe here
in Nashville. It's kind of
outside of Nashville a little
bit. And we were there one
night, I think it was back in
2000 and Raul was there. He had,
I guess, ridden on his
motorcycle, and he was just
having, I think there was one
other person there was all and I
knew it was him, but I didn't
want to bother him. And so me
and the family were talking, and
we were talking that my dad was
talking some shop to me about
right? You know the show, Phil
Ballantine show, and after Raul
left before we did, and my
sister, who worked in in the
music business, kind of pulled
me aside. Said, did you notice
that Raul Milo was here? And I
said, Yeah, I did. I said I
would have loved to said
something to him her, but she
said, I noticed every time you
talked, said he must listen to
your show because said every
time you were talking, he would
stop talking, and I could tell
he was eavesdropping. And I
thought, wow, that's cool. So I
said, Either he hates me or, you
know, maybe he
likes me. I hope, yeah, I never
did get a chance to meet him or
work with him, you know, he was
on the MCA, but I had left the
label before, you know, before
they came aboard. But, you know,
everybody that I did know at the
label just said, you know, he
was just a prince of a guy, that
it was really fun working with
them. And that's an act, you
know, we've had another podcast
about it, an act that should
have been bigger than they are.
Oh, they should have, you know,
the Mavericks, yeah, they, I
know that boy, they had a real
following. You know, when they
do perform, especially here in
Nashville, which, you know, is a
little different venue than
Wichita, yes. But, you know, we
always pack the places here
because, you know, he was just
so well that the band so well
liked and loved here well, and
they did that. They did one song
that, I swear to God, if you
heard it, you'd think it was
Buck Owens, but all you do is
let me down. Oh, that was a
great song. Great song, yeah.
And plus they redid Dr, feel
good, which I recently put up on
my Facebook again, because I
want people to hear it, because
it's such a great version. It
sounds like, it sounds like the
kind of song you'd hear in a
really dangerous bar somewhere
or on Pulp Fiction, you know,
the pulp fiction soundtrack.
It's just done so well.
It's such a unique sound, too. I
mean, a kind of a, some of the
recordings of kind of a Tejano
feel, yes, it's just really,
really cool and creative stuff.
Oh, they were fantastic, yeah,
so it's a shame, man, yeah. It
made me really sad. Yeah. Rest
in peace, and a young man too,
he was and what was sad is they
were having a tribute concert to
him two nights at the Ryman, and
he was supposed to be there, but
couldn't. They had to rush him
to the emergency room. When I
heard that, I thought, he's not,
yeah, if the man can't make his
tribute, that's, yeah, that's a
that's a horrible,
that's a bad sign, horrible
sign. So our thoughts and
prayers go out to his friends,
his family, and yeah,
man, we've lost some. We've lost
some, some big ones in 25 Yeah,
we
had, well, shooter Jennings. He
had a great drummer. And, gosh,
the guy's name is escaping me,
but he died shortly after,
around the same time as Raul
Mallow did. And great drummer.
Well, you know, again, getting
to celebrity encounter. Years
that that we enjoyed. This is
certainly a celebrity. He's not
a musical act. But, you know,
I've and again, this is not to
suggest anything other than the
fact that I met Donald Trump,
got a chance to be on his plane.
This, I can tell you, yep, this
is in 2016
it was the greatest experience
of
your life. You got to meet it
was
totally wonderful.
It was totally wonderful.
Something best experiences
you've ever had. Of all your
life is better than going to
China,
but because you were a big fan
of his right? Yeah, right.
Well, he had yet to
announce his candidacy for
president. This was in 2016 I
was in Charleston, South
Carolina, and I worked at that
time for the South Carolina
Radio Network, among other
stations, but I worked for the
state network. We were on 30
some odd stations around South
Carolina, and I was the morning
news anchor for the radio
network. So anyway, I was tasked
to go, you know, had press
credentials, and Trump appeared
in Charleston. He was actually
speaking at the Citadel, which
is the Military College of South
Carolina. My son's a graduate.
But anyway, my son met him too.
I took my son with me on this
little jaunt. But anyway, we
Donald Trump appeared in South
Carolina, and we were invited on
his plane. And it's the plane
everyone probably has seen the
big blue plane with Trump and
blaze. And on the side, you
can't miss it, yeah, and so you
know us press guys, we all you
know, went up on the plane and
hung out with the Donald. And I
had a chance to interview him
and talk to him for a while.
Couldn't he could not have been
more warm, more friendly, more
funny. Was very, very pleasant,
joking around with people,
showing he was very proud of his
plane, which he should be
beautiful. And of course, you
know, Mr. Ego, Mr. Trump, his
initials were, are emblazoned in
the leather of all of the of the
seating on the plane, and
mahogany wood everywhere. And
but again, you know, I had some
little chats with him and stuff.
He couldn't have been any nicer.
And, yeah, I got some photos,
which is kind of a no no when,
you know, when you're in the
press, yes, you know, you're
Donald Trump, though you're not
really supposed to, you know,
get photos with people like
that. But yeah, I went ahead. I
got photos with him. And, but,
yeah, he, you know, couldn't
have been, couldn't have been
any more pleasant, you know. So
there are people that you know,
when I tell them that they
automatically think that, you
know, I'm this big right wing
weirdo, but I was there in terms
of just a from a news
perspective.
Well, the whole thing with
Donald Trump, he's really not
right wing, that's what I that's
what really blows me away, is
that the guy, I mean, he's voted
Democrat his life. He's hung out
with Democrats. He's given
Democrats money. I don't look at
him as right wing, but yeah,
well, that's people either hate
him or they, yeah, he's no
middle ground. Well, thing with
me is I don't hate him. I also
don't love him. I mean, I'm not
drinking the Kool aids, yeah.
Well, but so, you know, there's
a non entertainment celebrity
that about. But, you know, in
that role as news guy there in
South Carolina, I will say I
had, I had some fun covering,
you know, South Carolina, at
least then, and I think still is
one of the early primaries in
the presidential race. So all of
the candidates end up there.
Yeah, I went to some I had to go
to Hillary Clinton stuff as
well. I never met her. They
didn't guy, they didn't let
anybody. They didn't let she was
so surrounded, they didn't let
anybody get close to her. I bet
not, but I went to some of her
events, and, you know, it looked
like a lesbian Birkenstock
convention.
But aside from why, that shocked
me,
but you know, but anyway, I got
a chance to get up close and
personal to her, but I never did
interview or talk to her, but I
was I did have to go cover some
of her campaign stops, but I did
get to talk and interview Jeb
Bush, Rand Paul. I got to kind
of know a little bit. I
interviewed him a number of
times, and it got to where he
would see me and say, Hey, Jay,
how are you, you know, wow, and
a lot of the other candidates.
So it was fun in that
perspective of being able to
talk and get to meet with a lot
of the of the President.
Initial, Mike Huckabee, yeah,
you know, of course, you know,
there's not a camera or
microphone. He doesn't like,
that's true, but he's very good,
yeah, he
is good at what he does. I had
to interview him. I got to
interview him one time, and I
sent him for Phil, yeah.
So, you know, in a very nice
kind of, you know, down to earth
guy. So from that perspective,
being able to, you know, be
around all of those kind of
guys. You know, I saw George
Bush speak at his brother's
event there in Charleston for
Jeb and of course, Laura was
there, you know. And also, you
know, when I was on the plane
with Donald Trump, I chatted
with Eric for a while. He was
there. I'm impressed with Eric,
along with his wife, Laura, who
I didn't know, you know, I met.
I knew that was Eric's wife,
right, but I didn't know that it
was the, you know, Lara Trump,
who is now a celebrity in her
own right. Yes, she is, you
know. And they were both, both
very pleasant to meet, but so,
yeah, being around some of the
political candidates was, was
kind of interesting knowing that
full well, one of these folks
that I'm shaking their hand or
chatting with is probably going
to be President of the United
States. And I never, in my
wildest dreams thought it would
be, have been Donald Trump. Oh
no. I never thought that all of
those folks, you know. Well, I
never
did. Yeah, I remember. I
remember when he first announced
he was running. Dan Mendez saw
me in the kitchen. He said, What
do you think of Donald Trump?
I said, snowball's chance. No
way in hell that guy
well, and I didn't even take it
serious. I only think he's
serious about it, Dan, it's not
gonna happen. What was I wrong?
Yeah, I know. Weren't we all? I
can remember Nancy Pelosi being
asked about Donald Trump being
president, and she looked at the
camera and laughed. It's like,
trust, there's no Donald Trump
is not gonna be president, even.
Oh, everybody felt that way. But
yeah, do you remember Saturday
Night Live, doing the bits? And
they had, I forget who they have
playing, yeah, I think they had
Alec Baldwin playing Trump, and
whoever was playing Hillary
Clinton, they were supposed to
be in a debate. And the person
playing Hillary Oh, this is so
easy, like it's not gonna
happen. I think it was Amy, but
polar peeler, she says her name.
I think she did the Hillary
stuff, but, but, but, you know,
back to entertainers that I've
met and had a chance to have
encounters with. As I say, most
of mine had been rather
pleasant. I did have an
encounter around Kenny Rogers
where he was in a frustrating
situation. I think I may have
told this on a podcast in the
past, I was stage managing an
award show, you know, televised.
This was actually being taped in
Branson, Missouri. Yeah, it's
like the opry hall there. I
mean, it's a beautiful, think
it's, I forget what it's called,
but anyway, it's a nice, big
theater in Branson, Missouri,
and Kenny Rogers was due to be a
presenter on that. And there was
so I went and grabbed Kenny from
the dressing room, and we walked
over to the wings, and he was
supposed to, like, be there for
a few moments and then pop out
and do his thing, read off the
teleprompter and what have you.
Well, there was some sort of
snafu with the taping or
something. We had to stop they
had to stop tape. Oh, no. So
it's, you know, the state of the
director. Okay, we'll be right
with you, Kenny, you know. So
okay, you know Kenny Rogers,
gosh, the guy's been making
movies. He knows the whole hurry
up and wait routine, right for
that, but he was in no mood to
hurry up and wait. We stood
around backstage for several
minutes, and he starts pacing
and screaming the F word and all
this, like, you know what? And
the F is taking, you know, and
looking at his watch, this is
effing crazy, so, you know. And
I'm kind of like, you know, just
kind of standing there like,
Well, gee, I'm sorry, Kenny, you
know that. But anyway, when he
finally got to, you know, when
we got to where we were rolling
tape again, yeah, you know,
gosh, Mr. Pro Kenny, oh yeah,
the minute the camera comes on,
yeah, yeah, it's like, Hey,
thanks for being here. Super I'm
in a great mood. That's right,
our next nominee, yeah. But, you
know, I got the guy some slam.
He was nice to me. He was just
frustrated the situation. But,
you know, it's again, it just
shows, you know, we get maybe
these visions of people and, you
know, but they're people, yes,
yeah. Get frustrated, they get
ticked, they get pod about bad
mood, about Yeah, just like
everybody else. And, you know,
in fairness to celebrities,
they're always expected to be
nice and friendly and and, and
most of them are, oh, they are.
Most of them are, yeah, they
realize and respect the fact
that, hey, this is my public
these are fans. I appreciate
them. If it weren't for them, I
wouldn't have what I have
exactly. But, you know, there
are times. And, you know,
they're in a bad mood. I mean,
how many radio shows did you do
where you felt like hell and
maybe you weren't, you know,
didn't have your A game, you
know, many times, yeah, I know
that's been the case for me,
yeah.
And what really used to drive me
crazy was Phil would always come
to me, Phil Valentine, if he saw
I was in a bad mood, you know.
And I was not one that was
really good at hiding it. And
he'd go, anything, everything,
okay, in there, Johnny. But you
brought up celebrity, you know,
because due to my father, I got
to be around primarily, it was
two guys, Jimmy Dean and Roy
Clark, and I got to be around
those guys a lot when I was a
kid. And it was very funny,
because when I first started
working at 106 with Phil
Valentine and Terry Hopkins, my
first day there their their
guest was on the phone, Jimmy
Dean. And so I had to call to
get Jimmy on the phone. So as
I'm trying to get Jimmy on the
on, you know, ready for the
interview. He goes, your voice
sounds familiar. He said, Do I
know you? And I thought for a
minute. I thought, I don't want
to go down this road. I just
said, Oh, I have one of those
voices that people and so the
more we talked, he said, I know
you. He said, I know you from
somewhere. And I said, No,
Jimmy, I'm sorry. It's just, you
know, I didn't want to go into
it, because, for one thing, I
was thinking of Phil and Terry.
I'm thinking these two guys
don't want me to be the center
of discussion. Yeah, because
knowing Jimmy, he would say
something on the air about it.
And so I didn't tell him who I
was, but Dad, later on told him.
He said that was John. He said,
Why didn't he tell me? And he
told him. He said, I understand,
you know a
lot of folks. There's a whole
generation that only knows of
him from the sausage thing. Yes,
that's all you know. He was a,
he was a big star in his own
right on TV show, oh yes, you
know, Big Bad John. It was a
monster. Yes, it was, you know,
1960 on country radio, pop,
right? It didn't matter that
that was everywhere.
Well, he was one of the first,
actually, that made country
music more than hillbilly music.
You know, Jimmy kind of had some
class about him. And, yeah, he
was one of the first to really
do that.
And of course, he was an actor
on the Dan Daniel Boone with
Fess Parker.
He was in, he was in a James
Bond movie, yeah, diamonds are
forever. That's right, right? So
yeah, and that made me kind of
feel cool. I was, you know, my
friends all thought that, you
know that,
yeah, I never got to, you know
the I worked on a talent
promotion that was the Wrangler
country showdown for years, and
then it became the True Value
Hardware and GMC truck was a
sponsor. Ultimately, Jimmy Dean
sausage was a sponsor of, yes,
of that, of that contest. I had
left all that before Jimmy Dean
took became a sponsor of that.
But the folks I work with on the
on the promotion the contest,
they got to deal with Jimmy Dean
personally quite a bit, and they
said he was kind of a demanding
guy. Oh, he could be that he
could, yeah, that he could be
really, really kind of terse. He
was that his bedside manner was
a little suspect at times.
Well, when I was a kid, I
enjoyed Roy Clark more than I
did, because Jimmy seemed to be
more with the adults. Yeah, Roy
just seemed to love every he had
a really fun loving spirit.
Yeah, I
remember those saying about
Jimmy Dean that, and I hope I'm
remembering this properly, that
he had kind of a young trophy
wife.
Yeah, he did that. She used to
sing at the stock. Guy kind of
wanted to be a star. Well, yeah,
she was on. She was a very
beautiful girl, and she sang at
the stock Yeah.
So yeah, I guess that makes
sense. Yeah, yeah. Never did
Donna Mead, that's it. Yes. Yes,
yes. Okay, now it's all coming
back to me. Yeah, yeah. The
stockyard man, that was kind of
a cool place. That was a cool
place. Sat down and checking
out. Oh, I got a great story
about stockyard. I've got one
too. Go ahead. Johnny B Well, I
just met Merle Kilgore, son
Steve Kilgore, who was a
magician, and I'd met him with
Dave White, my friend I've
talked about here many times.
Dave, of course, was
handicapped, and we were going
into the stock cars, and we were
all drunk, and I was first going
down the stairs, Dave was behind
me, and Steve was behind Dave,
and our wives were already they
had already made the stairs down
while we were taking our time
because of Dave. So Steve gets
the wild idea, I'm going to help
Dave down the stairs. Well, all
Steve did. Steve tripped into
Dave. Dave tripped into me. We
fall down the stairs into the
stockyard. It, and people were
going fine, and Dave's wife
goes, these three are too drunk
to even think about fire. But it
was very embarrassing.
Yeah, I can imagine, man, I
remember again. I was at MCA
Records at the time, Jerry Lee
Lewis was playing the stockyard.
Think about it. And all of us in
the MCA Promotion Department, we
all, you know, went down to the
stockyard to see Jerry Lee
Lewis. Oh, yeah. And he was, he
was the killer that night. And
he, you know, played all of his,
you know, rocking my life away,
which was a great, oh, that was
a great, and a bunch of other
stuff. And then he said, Now, I
recorded a version of this song,
and I got a lot of I got a lot
of heat for it. And he started
playing the intro to somewhere
over the rainbow. Oh, wow,
because he released that as a
single you may recall, yeah, so
he starts playing that, and he's
talking about it. He says, Yeah,
I caught a lot of crap for
releasing this and but I'm gonna
play it anyway. I love this
song. It's one of my favorite
song. I think I did a great job
with it. So if you're offended,
I hope you enjoy it, but if
you're offended by the fact that
I'm singing Somewhere Over the
Rainbow. Go, whoa. Of course,
everybody, man, I apologize for
that, but I it kind of loses its
emphasis if I don't say the real
word right in my mind. But
anyway, and then he just tackles
like he's just no big deal. No,
he didn't care what anybody
thought. And of course, you
know, if I remember correctly,
Bruce Hinton was also there. He
was the second in command at
MCA. Bruce is kind of, well, he
was kind of a straight lace,
kind of tight, you know, upper
lip kind of guy. And everything
was very prim and proper with
Bruce, until, oh my God, and he
was like a Paul. What did he
say? Oh, my goodness, I can't
believe he used such language.
Oh, the filth that came out of
that man's mouth. But of course,
Bruce was like the biggest
pothead on the planet. So it was
prim and proper. But, like,
Yeah, but he and Bowen were, you
know, kindred spirits in that
regard. They love the herb,
yeah, love the Earth. But
anyway, I was like, Man, that's
the killer. You know, Jerry Lee,
yeah,
I think one of the best
celebrities I've ever met, and
one that really is near and dear
to my heart's trace eggs, yeah,
I've never gotten to meet him,
great guy. But what was funny
is, when I he had already met
Phil, but we were on the air,
and it was when Honky Tonk, but
donkey donk was out. And at that
time, I was married to a woman
that had three daughters, and
the youngest daughter loved
country music, and so I wouldn't
when I would take her to school,
I had to hear all this country
music, and she would go from
station to station, and I had to
hear Honky Tonk with Donkey donk
about three times a morning. And
I said something about it on the
air one day. I said, if I have
to hear Honky Tonk, but donkey
donk, one more time, somebody's
gonna lose their life. Lose
their bad donkey. Yeah, you lose
their badonka. And it was about
two calls later, all of a
sudden, I answered the phone,
yeah, what's your name? And
trace. I went, Oh, crap. I said,
this wouldn't be trace Atkins,
would it? Silence is the only
trace in this truck. I went,
Okay, hang on, but he was real
good natured about it. He said,
You can hate it all you want.
It's gonna put my daughter's in
college, yeah, but after that,
just got to know him, and I
couldn't think of a nicer guy
that I've ever met, and somebody
that is, you know, I really
think the world of, and I think
he's a, you want to talk about a
true man, a real man's man,
That's him man, yeah. And his
wife is sweet as can be she, and
she's an actress, and yeah, they
are very good
together, yeah. And in one of
the podcasts, we talked about
singers that want to be actors,
and trace does a decent job.
We've talked about that,
yes. In fact, I saw one. My wife
put one on, and I'm sorry I fell
asleep in it, because I was
tired, but when I woke up, trace
was doing a scene. It was called
mother's night out. Mom's Night
Out had Patricia Heaton in it
from Everybody Loves Raymond.
Trace was doing a scene with
someone, and I mean, it was
touching. I couldn't believe how
good. His acting was the guy
ought to be. I don't know why
Taylor Sheridan doesn't use him.
He would be perfect on his show.
He'd be great. He'd fit in on
land, man, your guy is
phenomenal.
Well, again, you know, we've all
had, for the most part, pleasant
experiences. Yes, we have with
the with the celebs, but again,
we've been in a little, little
different position when meeting
them, as opposed to just your,
you know, average fan out there
encountering these folks.
I love your music, yeah, it
saved my life.
You were in the Beatles.
That was awesome. Yeah? That was
great, man.
You guys gonna get back
together? Well, guys, it's been
wonderful to talk about this.
And if you would quickly tell
them where they can find
circling the
drain, that's right, of course,
the website circling the
drain.net as represented by this
fine t shirt that I have here.
And if you would, in fact, like
to have one of these head sure
would. Yeah, head to circling
the drain.net. Also, we are on
Facebook. We're on x we're on
YouTube. Like and subscribe to
that YouTube channel. We'd
certainly appreciate it. And of
course, all of the typical audio
platforms, Amazon music, Apple
podcasts, etc, we can be found
in all of those locations,
so there is no excuse for you
not to be involved with circling
the drain, and we will be back
soon, right here.