A

This episode of Tales from the Lot is sponsored by Shakedown T shirts.com with unique lot style T shirts, license plate frames, coffee mugs, and all sorts of things for Grateful Dead, Fish Zappa, panic and more. ShakeDownT Shirts.com where all US orders over $35 ship free. And just for Tales from the Lot listeners use the code lot 20 for 20% off of any order. That's L O T20. Tales from the Lot episode 25. I ducked into a barn door. My guest is Paul Cirincione from Boston. He's here to taping in the 70s, 80s, 90s, seen a whole bunch of shows and good times. Here we go. Hi, welcome to Tales from the Lot. This is Will. My guest this time is Paul Syrencioni. He's coming to us from Boston, I think. I didn't butcher it, but. How you doing, Paul?

B

Very good. No, that was as close as could

A

be expected for a first try at

B

least, right, Chitin Choney, if you want to pronounce it in Italian. Yeah.

A

Welcome. So you're in Boston now. Is that where you're from originally?

B

No, I'm originally from the New Haven, Connecticut area. Okay, so Hampton, Connecticut, specifically. Yeah.

A

That's cool. What were you into, like, musically? What were you listening to growing up?

B

Oh, boy. Well, I am the baby in the family, so I have the benefit of much older siblings and I. I've been a music freak since I was very young, you know, benefiting from those siblings record collection. So the Birds, the Beatles, obviously, Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Hendrix, Joplin, you know, that bunch. But oddly enough, none of them were into the Grateful Dead that I got into a little later through a friend.

A

Gotcha. So, yeah, they were. They were filtering you some good music, it sounds like.

B

Oh, yeah, very much so.

A

So you mean you. Did you meet somebody who was into the Dead that turned you on to.

B

Yeah, a friend of mine who was a year or two older than me, turned me on to them. That would have been the Skull and Roses record, or Skull, as it was sort of originally intended to be called, and then really got into him right after the Europe 72 album came out. So that would have been 73 sometime. And I was hooked from that point on.

A

Oh, well, it came out that fast?

B

I think so. I think it was 73, I'm pretty sure. But it took a few more years for me to attend my first show, which was New Haven in May of 1977. So just a few days prior to the infamous Cornell show. But that run, and it was quite a Show.

A

That's a fine vintage there.

B

It is. It was a, it was a great tour. I mean, I didn't know that at the time, but now years later, looking back at it, a lot of people look, look at that. 77 tour is really, really something special.

A

Yeah, no doubt. What was it like outside? Whether, I mean it's like. Do you remember anything about it? I mean there wasn't, there was no vending. Right. What was, what was going on out there?

B

Oh no, sure there were. There were, you know, your T shirt vendors and not like it became in the, in the mid to early to mid-80s where they really exploded in popularity. But there were always people hawking T shirts out there. You know, in fact, a good friend of mine screen printed a bunch of T shirts. I wish I still had one. But that was a long time ago and you know, it wasn't quite the scene that it became. It was a little mellower.

A

Right. Yeah.

B

I believe, you know, they could still play smaller venues. New Haven Coliseum is where I first saw them and that was about, about a 10,000 seat arena.

A

And you're, you're hooked.

B

After that I was hooked. Yep, yep. Went to that and then a few weeks later, Hartford show in May. May 28th, I think. 77. Yeah, I think that's the day it was. May 5th was my first show, was my first show and May 28th my second.

A

I do remember listening to a lot of a Hartford 77 show back in the day on a cassette that was probably the one.

B

Well, that's been released officially, I think as part of the. I forget what series, what it was called. I forget. But it's on the CD that I have.

A

You know, I have to check that out. It's a good show.

B

I mean I could turn around and check my collection. If you pull it out, I'll find it. I'll find it. Yeah, yeah.

A

And then how did you see a bunch right after that? I mean, how, how soon and how often were you going?

B

Well, that was it for 77. Then, you know, they, they would typically do a swing through New England in the spring every year. So they'd hit, you know, probably New York, New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, Providence, Boston. So my next show, which would have been my third, was the following May in New Haven. And that has been officially released as a Dix Pick, I think. Dick's picks 25, I believe. And that was the first show that I taped as a precocious 17 year old, almost 18 year old. I borrowed a tape deck from, from my pot Dealer of all people. And, you know, in those days we could get tickets at the box office. So we would go down to the New Haven Coliseum and sleep out the night before. You know, babe, sleeping was, you know, not really what happened, but, you know, stayed up all night, you know. Yeah. You know, partying and, you know, playing cards or what have you. But, you know, we were able to get good tickets. So I. I had like about the. I think I was in the 15th row, center on the floor, and I set up a mic stand. I had this big old cassette deck. And you know, even though that has been released officially, I kind of enjoy listening to my recording. I gotta say, it was a pretty flawless recording for a first timer, you know, And I'm still recording shows to this day. Not so much dead, but, you know, I'm a music freak in general, you know, a wide variety of tastes. And in fact, I just recorded some music yesterday.

A

Nice.

B

And the equipment is substantially smaller. This is what I use now, which is an amazing little deck compared to the old Super Scope 330 that I had, that was about that big. And

A

on the top or there's like. Is that stereo or what? What is that? What's going on it.

B

Yeah, these are, you know, I could change the direction of them and you know, they took out and. And it's Bluetooth, so I could. I have an app on my phone so I could monitor the record levels from from afar.

A

Very cool. Do you just put that in your pocket or do you hold. Like, how do you. What do you do with the. The recorder? They make sure that everything is kind of the same.

B

And more often than not, these days, I'm doing it legitimately, meaning with. With the permission of the artist, but without the permission. It's very easy to. To be discreet. As you can see, it's so small. I mean, I don't know, what if I have a. Here's an old school phone.

A

It's about that.

B

My phone. Yeah, it's even smaller and it's dark. So I don't go to a whole lot of big concerts anymore. You know, I've been there, done that. You know, I'm 63 years old, I've done that. And it's just so damn expensive. So I'm happy in the clubs. And in Boston, we have a very good music scene here. I also have a. A very nice external stereo mic. This Audio Technica, which is a little better. These are amazingly good. But this Audio Technica, which I actually found in the trash once, I don't Know who. It's a $300 mic. I don't know who the hell was throwing it away, but that I use, you know, for, you know, again with when I could. Don't have to be, you know, private about it, you know, if I do an outdoor show or. And. But typically this is. Produces amazing results.

A

Nice. Yeah. So before we did this, you had sent me a couple of links I was checking out. I think it was a 79. I was just kind of spot listening to some of the songs that I wanted to hear, like the Sugary and Some of the Things. And what I love so much about just audience recordings in general is you can hear like as the crowd erupt as the song starts, the people singing along is a little bit more in there, which is you're more in the way.

B

I'm the same way. You know, of course I'm partial because I record it. And part of it is it triggers memories. You know, this is what it sounded like to me when I was there. And you know, some of my recordings are not so great. The one that you listen to, I think you're referring to the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh from. Well, I went to. It was a two night run, I think it was November 30th and December 1st of 79. And made the drive down from Boston with a few buddies and went down there without tickets. Pulled up to the box office at I think like 5 o' clock in the afternoon and scored tickets in the mezzanine. And the soundboard was in the mezzanine at this theater. And this is about a 3, 500 seat theater, I do believe it was. So I was dead center sitting like in the row right in front of the soundboard. I even remember Dan Healey giving me some duct tape that I needed for my. My mic stand. You know, Dan Healy was the sound man for the Dead in those days. And so that's one of my best recordings. And so it's very little crowd noise. And the Dead were just, you know, sounding really good that night. That was those two nights really.

A

So you saw that show in 77. Back to that. And then you said that was the only one in 77. And then. And two in 77. Two in 77.

B

New Haven and Hartford and then New haven again in 78. May of 78, which again was a Dick's Picks, I think 28. Where they combined the May 10th show in New Haven and the May 11th show in Springfield, which I was also at. I did not record that one again. I did before I bought My own deck. So I was working with a borrowed deck the night before. But it's officially released now and for everybody's enjoyment and that. Let's see that show. I think they did. That's right. They did a double encore. I think it was Johnny Be Good and Werewolves of London or vice versa. But they did Werewolves of London, which was a trip. And I remember Bobby coming out, he had a wolfman mask on, like a full head mask with the hair and everything. That was a trip. Yeah. So I would. Yeah, I think they played it, you know, more than once. It wasn't just that one show. I can't say whether he wore the mask both all the times, but he did that night. So I was still in high school yet to graduate from high school at that point. Just about to. But in fact, a week or two later I graduated and so. Yeah, that run okay. Yeah. No, I also saw him in Providence a few nights later, May 14th. It's amazing how I could remember. Well, it's not that amazing that I could remember the dates because I've got all the recordings.

A

Yeah, yeah. Beauty of it. We could, we can look back on it like that.

B

Yeah. But I can remember taking a bus from New Haven to Providence with a case of beer and a bag of weed with a buddy. And we got a hotel room across from the Providence Civic center where the dead were staying. And that. That show is. I don't think it's an official release, but it's been wide, in wide circulation for a long time. And of course with archive.org it's up there, you know. Yeah, I think soundboard is up there. And that was a good show too.

A

Great being able to find everything there.

B

Yeah. And I'm amazed my mom didn't give me hell for, you know, you know, her barely 18 year old or not yet 18 year old kid jumping on a bus and going to Providence and staying overnight. But my older siblings broke her in. So by the time it came to me, you know, it was like. Ah, yeah, exactly. Because my siblings are all like 8, 9, 10, 13 years older than me. So that they were already past college age at that point. And gotcha. You know, they were, they were, you know, in College in the 60s, high school and college.

A

Gotcha.

B

And you know, able to go to see Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin and Woodstock and you know, all those shows.

A

Yeah. Oh yeah. So good.

B

I always wish that if I was only born five years earlier, I could have gone to the Fillmore and seen some of those great shows. But now that I'm older and I talk to younger people, they say, oh, you saw Led Zeppelin, you saw, you know, the Dead and with Keith and Donna. Yeah, a lot of shows. So it's. Every generation has their thing.

A

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B

Well, in total, between 77 and 95. I think somewhere around 100, give or take a few. I sort of my most intense period I would say was 77 to 84 and, you know, a little more sporadic afterwards. You know, once I reached, you know, Adulthood, sort of, you know, a job. Yeah, life happens. And I mean, I'd see them whenever they came nearby. I. I never really dropped everything and followed them on tour. I would do swings, you know, catch the New England shows. And a couple of times drove to Pittsburgh, which is like a 13 hour drive from Boston. But because it was the Stanley Theater, you know, it was worth the drive and worth driving through a snowstorm in a crotchety old VW bus with no heat and in a snowstorm for one of those. One of those years. I think it was the 80. 81. Early 81. They did a run in March of 81, followed by the tires like 5

A

inches wide on those vans. Right.

B

Something like that. They're notorious for not having any heat and the windshield was icing over. The windshield wipers are frozen. We eventually had to pull over at a rest area and ride out the snow. And that was an adventure. Yeah. And then we continued on to University of Maryland. This is again March of 81. And then somebody. We got a motel, there's a bunch of us, like six or seven of us. And the guy with the keys to the Volkswagen decided to wake up before everybody else and jump on a plane and head back to New York. And he had the keys to the bus with them. And so we were stranded there and, you know, we had to get, you know, this is the pre cell phone age, mind you.

A

Yeah.

B

So I can't remember exactly how we. I think he contacted us because he realized that he had the keys and he had the motel information. So we made arrangements. He, I think was still at the airport, was able to get him on a flight or some sort of, you know, service where they could get them on the next flight. We had to go to the airport, pick them up.

A

Oh, wow.

B

And yeah, it was crazy. It was good. But we were freaking out for a few hours, man.

A

Yeah, I believe

B

so. That's an adventure from the road.

A

You had tickets for the next show too. So you're like, no, no, we didn't.

B

I think that's why he took off, because he were playing Madison Square Garden.

A

All right.

B

The next day. And that's why he took off and went. But I did not continue on to those shows. Just came back to Boston.

A

Right. You probably did see some MSG shows through the years though, being in that area.

B

I did. I lived in New York from 86 to late 88. So I caught some. Some of the 87 runs. I think it was September of 87. I caught a few shows. Not my favorite venue I know a lot of people love it, but, you know, being from the New York area originally, I got to see Led zeppelin there in 77. Well, actually Pink Floyd on the 4th of July, 77. And then led Zeppelin was a few weeks before that. So that was just a commuter train ride in from New Haven to New York. Yeah, so, yeah. So those are great. But it's huge and loud, you know, especially the East Coast Dead crowd was rather loud and boisterous. You know, it's like, why do you come to the shows if you got a screen during a nice, you know, Stella Blue.

A

I've heard that.

B

Yo.

A

Yeah. Recently somebody was telling me the difference between east coast and west coast. In the 70s and East coast, he went to some MSG shows and it was pretty rowdy. And then he went to Shoreline or something like that in the 80s and. And everybody was kind of sitting down and really mellow.

B

Yeah, I only got to see them once in California, and that was in 1983 in Santa Cruz, Watsonville, which was a great show. And I believe that's the last time they played Deep Ellen Blues.

A

Okay.

B

Electric. Anyways, and it was a beautiful outdoor daytime show, you know, afternoon show. And got to take my first dip in the. And only dip in the Pacific Ocean after that at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Probably had the best burrito in my life. Rode the roller coaster. See, I remember this.

A

Yeah, yeah. And all that because of the Grateful Dead, right?

B

Yeah. Well, that was my one part of my one cross country drive which wasn't specifically to see the Dead, but my girlfriend at the time was living in Colorado and working for the summer. And I got a driveway car and hooked up with another lovely young woman. And I'll skip the story between Boston and Denver, it's a little tawdry, but, you know, arrived and, you know, going to. We had tickets for Red Rocks. They did a three night run there in September of 83. Caught the three nights in red Rocks, which was just magnificent. You know, one of the more ethereal places to see the Dead. Oh, man, I remember pulling into this, you know, deadhead overrun campsite in the dark. You know, in Colorado. I think we entered Colorado on the highway, you know, around sunset. So I didn't really get to see the Rockies. And this campsite was on a hill. I remember waking up in the morning and stumbling out of my tent and walking to the top of the hill and getting my first glimpse of the Rockies. It was a spiritual moment for me. And then the following two nights we camped at a site Campsite that was set up, I think at a flea market site, but it was subsidized by the dead on some level. And there was a food co op from Boulder that set up shop there and sold food. And there were water trucks to provide co ed showers, which was nice. And I happened to be camping right next to Hog Farm People, Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm people and who, you know, look like crusty old deadheads, which they were. But at the time they were probably like in their 40s, you know, which is like 20 years younger than I am now, but they were really cool. And Wavy Gravy, I remember walking. He was walking around in his Speedo bathing suit and his, you know, no shirt, his duck bill hat. And then they had an old school bus that they used to shuttle people from the campsite to Red Rocks to the site. So that was really cool. And then continued on to my friend's place in Gunnison, Colorado. Spent a couple of days there, and then she and I and friends of hers caravan down to Santa Fe and caught the dead couple of nights at the Santa Fe Downs.

A

Wow.

B

Again, this is September of 83, and those are special shows again, afternoon shows. I can't remember which night it was, the first or second night. There was a. A downpour. So they cut the first set short and I literally ducked into a barn door to, you know, the. The line from birth. It was a horse track, so there were these barns there, and a bunch of us sought shelter in the barn. And then the storm came and passed rather quickly. And the second set began with a beautiful rainbow going over the stage. You know, I think might have even been a double rainbow. And there, you know, the setting. I don't know if you've ever been to Santa Fe, but you're surrounded by the Sango del Cristo Mountains. And it was just a beautiful, beautiful place to see a show. And again, it was so much mellower than what I'm used to, was used to in the east coast because, you know, you could sort of walk up to the stage and, you know, it was still crowded, but not as crushing as it would be in the Boston or New York now.

A

It's just crushing everywhere. I feel like.

B

Oh, yeah, yeah.

A

All right, so what's something. You're a music junkie. What's something you've heard recently that's new that's really jumped out at you is something that's fantastic that the listeners should check out?

B

Oh, geez. Well, can I give a plug to

A

friends of mine Anything you want. Yeah, like if it's good, look up

B

the Chandler Travis Philharmonic.

A

Okay.

B

Chandler Travis Philharmonic. You could go onto YouTube and find videos. He is a guy who's been around since the early 70s, a cohort of NRBQ. I don't know if you've heard of NRBQ. Yes, another great band from, you know, way back. But he's. He's local to the Massachusetts area nowadays. Lives in Cape Cod. And just a tremendous musician. Talented writer, goofy, funny guy. He was good friends with George Carlin and toured as his opening act for a number of years. Recorded with Martin Mull, comedian. Like I say, he's been around. And the Philharmonic is a large band horn section, you know, double bass, one of the best drummers in the world. And Ricky Bates. And I'm fortunate, I've been recording them a lot for the last 25 years. And he performs in a lot of different configurations. The big band, a smaller version of the band. Four piece, more rock and roll band, blah, blah, blah. Look them up. I'd recommend that to you youngsters out there. Chandler Travis Philharmonic or just Chandler Travis, sure. I'm really impressed with that Billy Strings kid, you know, he's something else, you know, I don't know. I hate to pin it down, you know, my tastes are varied. You know, back in the day, you know, I could be at a Dead show on Wednesday night and a Cramp show on Friday night. You know, I left. I. I didn't never like being pigeonholed as a Deadhead. I mean, I'm proud to carry that moniker. But it wasn't all that I listened to. Like, some people really devote everything and all to the Dead. But I was into the punk scene in the early 80s and, you know, X and Los Lobos and the Craps and, you know,

A

I was still a little young for it, so. So my era was more like Bad Brains and. And.

B

Oh, yeah, them too.

A

Dead Kim, Dead Kennedys and sort of dead Kennedys.

B

The DKs, sure.

A

Yeah.

B

Flipper

A

Germs love that stuff.

B

Yeah. Yeah. And I gotta say, I used to drive cab for many years in Boston and New York City. And one of my favorite passengers in my New York years overall was Joey Ramon. Picked him up late one night, drove him around for about almost an hour. And I'll spare the, you know, all the details, but, you know, he ended up rapping with me. He had a big guy with him. I don't know if he was a bodyguard or a personal assistant, but we were driving around the East Village, the West Village. And that we would make all these stops at these newsstands. You know, in New York they have these 24 hour newsstands. And the other guy would get out, come back five, 10 minutes later with some magazines and comic books. Guess Joey was a comic book fan. So I'd be sitting in the car with. With Joey and my brother happened to be in a seminal New York band in the 70s called Mink Deville, who were the house band at CBGD's for a period of time in 76, 77. And my brother was with him in 77 for about a year. I don't know if you've heard of Mink Deville, fronted by a guy named Willie Duval.

A

Great singer, sounds vaguely familiar, but not real familiar now, but that would have been Talking Heads are playing there. Bad came out of that same scene,

B

the same scene as the Talking Heads and Ramones and Television and Blondie. So yeah, so it was that same scene. But McDaville was a little more R B, a little more 50s, early 60s style R B. Great singer. He's no longer with us, unfortunately. He passed away about. I thought, oh, geez, I think it's about 15 years ago now. But I mentioned that to Joe and he goes, oh, man, you know, and he said, what else are you into? I said, well, you know, I'm a big Deadhead, you know, really like the Dead. Oh, the Dead. You know, I saw them at the Fillmore and, you know, they were really cool. I liked them. That's all I got out of it. But, you know, to hear that coming out of Joey Ramone was pretty cool. You wouldn't expect. But, you know, he's a New Yorker. He grew up, you know, as a teenager in the late 60s, 70s, and I'm sure he went to a bunch of shows at the Fillmore.

A

Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. What's the best show? What stands out as like the most fun time, best show you saw?

B

That has to be Lewiston, Maine, September 6, 1980. It was the last show of that tour, that summer tour. And it was an outdoor show, Probably, I'm guessing 20, 25,000 people at the main state fairgrounds. And for some reason I've seen him in Maine a few times after that. They always put on great shows in Maine. I don't get it. But this show, you know, I was recording, I was right beside the soundboard. I dropped some acid. I had a really nice trip, but made one of the best recordings of my Dead taping career. And it was a Long show. You know, typically in those days, a dead show was about two 90 minute cassettes. This was closer to three, you know, two and a half. It was on three cassettes. It was like two and a half cassettes thereabouts. And that's widely circulated and widely thought of as a great show for those of us that were there. But if you listen to it, the second set was monstrous. You know, I'm sure it's up there at Archive and it's out there. I don't think they had a good enough board recording to release it officially. I think there were some screw ups or something along the line. But I, again, I have my recording and I was right there at the soundboard with my mics, you know, 12ft up in the air and great sound despite, you know, my mental state at the time. And it was also Lavon Helm was on the bill and Roy Buchanan, great, great guitarist.

A

Yeah, he's a great guitarist.

B

Yeah. So that was a, that was a really nice show. That's, I think when it all boils down to it, that was my favorite show. Yeah, one time I finagled to get full access backstage. I was a freshman in college, living in a dormitory. And these two very lovely young women knew, you know, they were the type of people that got backstage passes all the time. And they said, oh, you know, you're going to the show. We're not going, but we know some names that they're always on the list. So I went with my girlfriend at the time. And it was at a weird place. It was in a town called Billerica, Massachusetts, which is about 20 miles north of Boston. Small town, suburban town. They were playing in what was essentially the town's skating rink. So a cinder block building. It was put on by the University of Lowell, who didn't have a facility at the time, so that's why it was held there. And we went there and got there early, went to the side of the building where they were checking people for, you know, passes. Got to hear the sound check, which is neat. And as I got closer in line to the guy with the clipboard, I could see over his shoulder at the clipboard. And I didn't see any of the names that my friends had given me, but I did see somebody else's name. And I said, yeah, I'm Joe Schmo. And he said, oh, you got a friend? I said, yeah, her. He said, okay, come on in. And it was full access backstage and didn't ask for an ID or anything. All these years later, I feel kind of guilty that that person maybe showed up and didn't get in. And I'm sorry, if you're listening, I'm sorry, but perhaps they had ID and showed it and got in. But I remember the head larger. Yeah, good one. As we're still outside, this whole contingent of Hell's Angels pulls up on their rides through the crowd. So we're. My friend and I were floating backstage and it was really hot. It was May of 79. And, you know, we availed ourselves of the buffet table backstage and didn't push ourselves, you know, to try to meet the guys, but could smell the good weed coming from the curtained off area. Then at one point, my friend and I were standing in the doorway, garage doorway, and we hear this voice saying, man, it's really hot in here. And we look over and it's Billy Krugsman. And he just starts chatting with us, you know, I was like, do you like the show? And then I remember meeting this. I don't want to say elderly woman, but an older woman. And we said, oh, how you enjoying the show? Said, oh, yeah, my son's a big dead head. And he had tickets, but he couldn't make it. So he said, mom, why don't you go? So she came and she said, I really liked it, but they didn't play my favorite song. We said, what's that? She said, oh, Eyes of the World. We said, oh, that's a second set song, so stick around, maybe they'll play it. And sure enough, they did play it. I didn't see her after that, so I didn't know if she enjoyed it. But I ended up kind of walking onto the stage, well, the back of the stage, and I was sitting on one of the anvil cases for, you know, 10 minutes or so. It didn't sound so good there, but hey, it was cool. But I was, you know, maybe 20ft from Garcia behind him. And, you know, we were floating around between backstage and, you know, front of the stage in the audience, you know, because it sounds better. So backstage isn't all that great, except for the coolness of it, the experience, and in the free food. So that was. Yeah, exactly, in the free food. And the next day was a big outdoor show at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst with. With Patti Smith opening up the Patti Smith Group and Roy Ayers. But also, you know, some years later, I was a personal assistant to a formerly famous rock star. His words, mind you, not mine. But have you ever. You ever hear of Al Cooper? Yes, Cooper with A K, Not Alice.

A

Yeah, he played with. He played with Bloomfield, The Blues Project.

B

Yeah. Well, there was a super session album with Mike.

A

Yeah, that's what I'm familiar with him from. And some other Things too. I know he's. And some other stuff.

B

Oh, a shitload of other things. You know, the Blues Project, Bob Dylan's organ player on Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, bunch of other records. Played with Hendrix, the Stones, the who. He was the stage manager of the Monterey Pop Festival.

A

Oh, wow.

B

And discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd, signed them to his label and produced their first three records. Produced Neils Lofgren, the Tubes. So he's got his fingerprint all as.

A

As you're saying these things, I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess I did sort of know that. And it's like ringing some bells.

B

Yeah, look him up. You'd be amazed at what this guy's. You know, what he's been involved with. But he lives in the Boston area and circumstances came up he needed a personal assistant, and a friend of mine had the gig prior to me, and he recommended me to him when he was moving on. And I was with him for about a year and a half. And it's really cool. Basically just hanging out at his house, you know, four or five days a week running errands, bringing him to gigs and rehearsals, and listening to his stories, you know, of which he's got a bunch. If you ever could find the book, his book. Backstage Passes in Backstabbing Bastards. Backstage Passes and Backstage. Backstabbing Bastards. It's a great look at the rock and roll world, you know, from, you know, the perspective of somebody who was in there deeply. It's fascinating. It might be out of print, but you could. If you're ever in a used bookstore and come across it, it's a real good read. In fact, one of the more interesting stories he told me was in 1980, he was living in London and he was. He's a night owl, you know. He, like, sleeps like four hours a night. So he was up at about four in the morning or three in the morning when the news broke that John Lennon had been shot and killed. And he was. Al was due to record with George Harrison the next day. So he was going to be driving down to his. George's estate with Herbie Flowers, I believe. Great bass player, session man mostly. And, you know, they touch base in the morning and say, well, what do you think? You think we should still go through with it? And they agreed that it would probably be good for George to, you know, be with people and make some music, get his mind off the thing. So they did. They drove down there, spent the day drinking wine and playing, making music until George said, oh, boys, you think I'm a bit soused, it's time to call it quits. But that's, you know, amazing that he spent the day with, you know, a beetle the day after John was killed.

A

Well, Paul, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you being on and you told some great stories today. So, yeah, I just. Thanks a lot for being here.

B

You're welcome, Will. Thank you for having me.

A

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