Brooklyn Mike | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Let me get this microphone up here. Let's see, because he's got his guitar with him. Brooklyn Mike is here. Hello, Brooklyn Mike. Oh, I think I hear you a little bit. Check check. Oh there we are. Good. Good morning, Matt and everybody. Good morning. Let's say I'm gonna turn that down and turn that up and it's uh yeah, Mike's got his guitar with him, so he's gonna play. So this is exciting because, again, for those who are not familiar, Brooklyn Mike has been well this morning on the Morning Show because every Saturday morning, Peter plays a classic episode of the Morning Show.

0:33 Speaker 1: This Morning Show was from twenty eighteen. It was from the end of twenty eighteen, and you were on it.

0:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty eighteen, and at that point I had been already listening and participating with The Morning Show for probably at least a year or two at that point already.

0:49 Speaker 1: Yeah. I know.

0:49 Speaker 2: It was you know when Moose was still on and Moose was off the show at that point twenty eighteen. Jarrell was there. Yeah, so at the very least twenty seventeen. Yeah, so we go back good eight years, eight nine years something like that.

1:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so this is the first time. So you've been on the morning show many times. Have you ever been on a rob show, Robber's video show? In fact, I've never had the good fortune to meet Rob yet. Oh okay, so you haven't even met Rob yet. I'm sure you will at some point. Yeah, but you've been on so you've been on Retrospect Radio obviously recently for the first time. So that was that was a lot of fun. That was great. I look forward to coming back in next Friday. Absolutely, And this is your first time on this show, so so welcome.

1:30 Speaker 1: Thanks.

1:30 Speaker 2: Well, you know, being I retired from my regular job at the beginning of this year, and so this is affording me, you know, time to do things that have been back burnard for a quarter century. Yeah, so including you know, performing and playing music. You know, I moved here January of two thousand and one from Brooklyn, New York, and you know, got it, you know, started working and had to pay bills and be an adult. So I kind of back burned the music. I didn't really have the time and the energy. I was working nights, so, you know, working weekends, so my schedule was not conducive really that much to playing out and yeah, I mean certainly if you could always find the wherewithal to do it.

2:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, I just didn't have it in me.

2:19 Speaker 2: I was more focused on, you know, just building a new life here in New Hampshire with my wife.

2:26 Speaker 1: Yeah, which has worked out beautifully. No, that's wonderful. We have a call. Oh no, nobody there. Someone was calling the studio line. All right, I thought it was one of your fans. But whoever it was, they hung up.

2:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, well one of them. Yeah, Daryl, the Dragons Ione should be listening this morning. If you're listening, Daryl, good morning.

2:43 Speaker 1: Oh excellent, Good morning Daryl. Yeah. I haven't spoken with him in a long time, but you had lunch with him recently, right at breakfast or something. Yeah. Yeah, we're good friends. Now that's excellent. That is excellent. He's a good man. Yeah. Absolutely, Well he's a musician himself, he is. You guys are gonna do? Uh?

2:57 Speaker 2: We were we know, you know, we we totally had plans because in additions playing guitar and bass, my first instrument was trumpet and I love jazz and uh Darrell plays saxophone and uh and clarinet. Uh, and we had plans. We had it all mapped out. We were going to do a duet. We had a name for the duet, and we had repertoire ready to go. And then he took an unfortunate fall and he's recovered quite well, but he feels he doesn't have the proper dexterity in his fingers in his hands anymore to play. So we had to kind of shelf that that project.

3:42 Speaker 1: Fortunately, let's see it. Oh, I think our caller is online. Hello caller, who's.

3:47 Speaker 3: This Ricky Mapleton?

3:49 Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Ricky Mampleton. Hello are you so? Are you familiar with Brooklyn Mike.

3:56 Speaker 2: I'm yes, I am.

4:00 Speaker 3: Huh, go ahead, I learned a bottom from of your show.

4:04 Speaker 1: Oh wonderful, wonderful. So see you already have a new fan. Hopefully we'll be disappointing. Good morning, rick Yeah, morning, Ricky Mapleton is gonna be on with us in the uh in the not too distant future. So, and it's been on the show many times.

4:17 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'm coming on in February.

4:22 Speaker 1: I think so. I don't have it in front of me, but that sounds right.

4:24 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm good to have you. Thanks. I was starting to call up with heavy thanks. Give me to you guys.

4:30 Speaker 1: Oh, thank you.

4:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, just a big, big fan of the show. Guys, you're still rocking and.

4:35 Speaker 1: Rolling absolutely well. Thank you very much. We appreciate that and we look forward to look forward to seeing you in February with your new project.

4:43 Speaker 3: Ah yeah, I got a project coming up called The bread Man Cometh.

4:47 Speaker 4: A rock opera round Bread.

4:50 Speaker 1: Yeah, very excited about that. I'm a big fan of sandwiches myself in French doasts, so you know I like bread.

4:58 Speaker 3: Oh well, I'll bring some in and have a great show and I'll talk to you guys. Keep going.

5:05 Speaker 1: Thank you so much by bye.

5:07 Speaker 2: It's funny that he mentioned bread, because you know, the first thing you think of is you know bread that we eat? Yes, And I think I only learned recently that the band bread, uh, which I always thought, you know, bread that we eat, but it was actually you know bread the nickname for money. Yes, I think that's that was the the meaning of the band.

5:27 Speaker 1: You only learned that recently about Wait about uh that that the name bread of the band?

5:35 Speaker 3: Oh?

5:35 Speaker 2: Oh, I thought you meant no, No, I knew that that was that was I was confused.

5:39 Speaker 1: No, no, we Yeah, Amen, let me some bread. Solid No.

5:44 Speaker 2: No, but I only learned learned recently that that that was the meaning of the of the name of the band.

5:49 Speaker 1: Oh, I got you, I got youa yeah either way. Now, you had said, I don't remember if this was an on air or an off air conversation during Paul's show, but you mentioned back in New York you would work with Walter Egan.

6:01 Speaker 2: Correct, we didn't work Yeah, actually we did work in New York. Walter Egan is originally from Queens from Forest Hills, Queen's, same town. Coincidentally as Simon and Garfunkel and.

6:16 Speaker 4: I.

6:16 Speaker 2: You know, I was playing in many, many bands, and he wound up working with one of the bands that I was working with, not on a permanent basis a little bit more than subbing, but we would go up to that band. The band leader, so to speak, Ray Passenan, is from East Millinocket, Maine. Yeah, so we would he booked us. Ray would book us at this in Brewer, Maine, at a kind of a motel that would have a lounge there and we'd play there for the whole week. It was called Stacy's. Doesn't exist anymore, it's gotten torn down.

6:58 Speaker 2: But this was in the nineties and when we go up for the week to Maine, Walter would would go with us and play for the whole week. And in fact he would he would carpool like I would drive, and he'd carpool with me, so I'd have his guitar and his amp in my car. And it was a lot of He's he's a lot of fun. But he lives in Nashville now. Yeah, so, yeah, Walter is a fun guy, is very talented, very talented guitarist. So his biggest hit was Magnet and pretty much a one hit wonder, but very very good songwriter.

7:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, great guitarist, good singer, just all around good guy.

7:34 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, that was fun. Is there anyone else like that that you worked with back in the I don't remember the guy's name.

7:41 Speaker 2: It was only one night again with a lot of the bands that we you know, you were mentioning earlier about you know, one of one of the downfalls of being in a band is when somebody can't make it. But we were fortunate, you know, in in New York City. I mean there's I mean, there are a lot of musicians everywhere, right, but we had quite quite a circle of bands that we all knew each other on the on the circuit, so to speak. So if like if we if our drummer couldn't make it, we had our pick of drummers.

8:16 Speaker 2: Same thing with guitarists and all that. So there was one one night where our drummer couldn't make it, and I don't know how our band leader, her name was Patients More, she found this guy but he was again I don't remember his name, but he was the drummer for Paul McCartney and Wings. So we worked with him for one night. Oh yeah, English guy, super super nice of course, great drummer.

8:40 Speaker 1: Yeah there, I don't know.

8:44 Speaker 2: There was a guitarist from the Left Bank, you know, walk Away Renee, that song. Just every now and then we'd come across, you know, we'd wind up working with somebody. Yeah, and it was just you know, main job, main thing was to get the job done. But it was all it was all lot of fun, right, There was never a lot of money in it. I mean yeah, you know, for many years and it's still my approach where whether it's right or wrong, I'm happy with it. Where the music that I decide to perform or do, this is what I'm doing solos.

9:17 Speaker 2: But or again, back in New York. All the bands I was in I played bass.

9:21 Speaker 1: Okay, So we were.

9:23 Speaker 2: Doing cover music mostly believe it or not, because it was in the nineties, mostly country bands. Really yeah, so, and we were super busy. I mean there was a month I remember we did like thirty two jobs in one month.

9:36 Speaker 1: Oh my god. Yeah, wow, like doubles.

9:38 Speaker 2: You know, you do an afternoon and you know, on a Saturday afternoon at like a fair or something, and then yeah, play a bar at night.

9:44 Speaker 4: Wow.

9:46 Speaker 1: So where was I going with that? Oh?

9:50 Speaker 2: My choice of music that I play. So back home again, I was playing in these cover bands, and family members and people I knew would say, you know, why don't why don't you join a wedding band? You can make so much money. I'm like, I'm not doing that music. I don't really care at this point about the money. I should have cared a little bit more about the money, honestly. Luckily, you know, my wife was very patient with me, and you know, she worked and I worked the day job too, but I'd work part time jobs, full time jobs, depending on how busy I was with music at any given point.

10:23 Speaker 2: So as a result, I worked a lot of different types of jobs, imagine in my life, and so yeah, still to this day, like the repertoire that I do is not primarily songs that people know. I mean, there are a fair amount of those songs. But for example, everybody, anybody who knows me through the station knows Gordon Lightfoot is like my hero, and I don't really do his I do. I think two songs of his, well, now three because I learned sundown, but I do so I do three songs of his that were popular songs that were hits that people would know.

11:07 Speaker 2: But then I'll do ten songs of his that unless you're like a Gordon Lightfoot fan or had his albums or have his albums and were really into his music, you wouldn't know them. But I love the songs. And it's a little bit selfish on my part. It's like three parts to it. Part of it is selfish because I enjoy it. Yeah, okay, And I think that if a performer is doing songs that he or she enjoy really enjoys, you're going to get the best result usually because it's from the heart. So that's one thing and the other thing is I think it's a little more interesting for audiences unless they just want to hear songs that they know.

11:49 Speaker 2: And that's why I don't really want to play like like primarily like in a bar setting because people are drinking.

11:57 Speaker 1: You know.

11:57 Speaker 2: I did that for years and years and years, even my first band with my brother, which was all classic rock, and it was fine, you know, because people are drinking, you know, they want to sing along and they want to know the songs. But hopefully I could find some venues a little more low key where it's more of a listening experience, So I could do these songs, for example, by Gordon Lightfoot and my other hero Dan Fogelberg, that people might not necessarily know, but I think they'll wind up really enjoying it, hopefully.

12:30 Speaker 2: And the third thing is that at any given point, if I'm performing and somebody is in the audience or more than one person, Let's take Dan Fogelberg for example, that is a Dan Fogelberg song, and then I'm doing these cuts like off albums that when never on the radio, I'm hoping they'll be like really happy about it. Hear that it's like, oh my god, he's doing For example, I used to play this place in Greenwich Village called the back Fence, and I played their solo many times with many bands over the years.

13:02 Speaker 2: And my favorite America song is Daisy Jane. And it got some airplay, but it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't Ventura Highway for example. You know, it wasn't like a huge utit and there. So I was at the back Fence one night and played Daisy Jane and there was this guy there just at the bar, and he loved the song and he went nuts and he said, every I'm gonna make sure I'm here every time you hear just because I want to hear that song.

13:30 Speaker 5: Wow.

13:31 Speaker 2: So to me, that's like it's not even about the money, like that's the payoff, right, you know, it's like mission accomplished.

13:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely absolutely. You mentioned your brother, so you're in a band with your brother. And then my.

13:44 Speaker 2: Brother he passed away unfortunately a couple a couple of years ago, passed away.

13:47 Speaker 1: But he's seven years older than I am.

13:49 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I you know, I know you're an only child, but I think it's kind of normal for let's say.

13:57 Speaker 1: Especially I should just clarify, Mike come not an only child. Just in case any of my siblings are listening. I often feel like I will sorry, sister, right, it's okay, okay, yeah, I have I'm just remembering. Yeah, yeah, it's okay. I have two half sisters and a half brother. I'm sorry, and everybody scattered. And I was already yeah, I was already older when the first one was born. So I often feel like I grew up like an only child. Okay, so that's okay. Just I'm only correcting you, just in case any of them are listening, which is unlikely, but I don't want anyone to be mad at me.

14:28 Speaker 1: I apologize. It's all good. I did know that, and I.

14:31 Speaker 2: Forgot totally okay, But the reference is it's still relevant in that. So my brother, being older than I am, I always kind of looked up to him. I just wanted to like emulate him. And he was a musician from early early on. First played drums. We had a drum kit in the basement, and I'd go down and play the drums, you know, just by ear. That was actually the first instrument that I played. Yeah, and uh, and then he was a great guitarist and keyboard player and singer. My sister is a singer. My father was a singer, and so my first band when I started studying guitar, and my brother had already been playing for years and he was in a band.

15:13 Speaker 2: Then that band split up, you know the way it goes, and then he and the lead singer and a rhythm player wanted to form another band, and I was just learning to play, and I joined them, and we were three acoustic guitars at that point, and then about a year later we had the idea. I started studying bass, and then my friend John Sheridan, who I played with in like a ton of bands. He's like my best friend back home in New York while he's in New Jersey now. So then I then my brother went he like I said, we started out as three acoustic guitars, and then when we supplemented the band with the drummer, my brother went to electric guitar and I went to bass.

15:56 Speaker 2: Okay, and then we were like a legit four piece, you know, with acoustic rhythm.

16:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and it was great.

16:02 Speaker 3: Yeah.

16:02 Speaker 2: The name of the band was County Line and uh. I came up with the name for the band from a song by the Pussett's Art band John Poussett's art. Who you interview was a great interview. That was a great feather in your cap.

16:18 Speaker 1: Oh thank you. Yeah.

16:19 Speaker 2: And if you ever get the chance to see him he plays over at the Rex. I've seen him there a number of times. You will not be disappointed.

16:25 Speaker 1: He's great. Yeah. The last time we had him on, that's why it was because he was great. I've seen him in a few times.

16:30 Speaker 3: Yeah.

16:32 Speaker 1: Huh.

16:33 Speaker 2: So anyway, that was my first band that was all uh, classic.

16:36 Speaker 1: Rock and then and then what why did that end?

16:42 Speaker 2: Work started drying up a little bit. Yeah, So that we started that band, County Line. That was about nineteen eighty six or seven, and we went strong for a good three or four years. Yeah, and then in nineteen ninety but we're going we're going one hundred and eighty on this one. In nineteen ninety, my wife and I bought a pizzeria. Okay, so I started working when I was eight years old. I'm going to backtrack real quick a little bit. I started working I was eight years old in pizzerias.

17:13 Speaker 1: Wow, And I know it's not legal.

17:15 Speaker 2: But it was a pizzeria and it was in Brooklyn, so it was okay, gotcha so eight years old, I started working in pizzeri's. I did that straight through thirteen years until I was twenty one, through all pretty much all my school years.

17:27 Speaker 1: Wow.

17:29 Speaker 2: And then then I wasn't working in pizzer anymore. So from twenty one that was whatever year that was nineteen eighty two, and I was a bank teller and I did a whole bunch that worked for a coffee company, industrial hardware company, all kinds of stuff. But in nineteen ninety an opportunity came up in our neighborhood actually a block from my mom's house.

17:51 Speaker 1: There was a pizzeria for sale.

17:53 Speaker 2: And I wasn't really involved in a career or anything, and I knew how to do the you know, run the business. I did it much all my you know, thirteen years, all my young life, and my wife and I decided to buy the buy the pizzeria. So then I couldn't play music anymore because I was there like seven days a week.

18:09 Speaker 1: Oh yeah.

18:10 Speaker 2: And then we got rid of the pizzeria in ninety two, and I mean I didn't even lock the door the last day. And my friend John Sheridan, and it's like, okay, you're ready to join the band again and then we were off and running. And then, like I said, country music was like really up and coming then with you know, the coming on the scene of like the likes of Clint Black and Garth Brooks and Brooks and Dunn and you know, Dwight Yoakum and all these guys. Yeah, and it just country music exploded, and believe it or not, in New York City and Long Island and New Jersey.

18:43 Speaker 2: You know, all the line dancing and all the you know, all the bars and clubs were doing it.

18:48 Speaker 4: Oh.

18:48 Speaker 1: I believe it because I remember that that wave in the nineties, that wave a lot of country was huge, and it was very very mainstream in that in that sense.

18:57 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but it's you know, my kind of one of my running jokes is, yeah, what you'd expect, you know, nice Italian boy from Brooklyn playing country music, you know. But you know, I have all the accouterment, you know, the the Western boots and the Western shirts, and I never want I have a couple of stetsons. I only wore I think once when we played we actually did do a wedding. But they were country music fans, so we are to our country music. That's what they wanted.

19:20 Speaker 1: By the way, I'm curious about the pizzeria. So you owned it for a couple of years and.

19:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, three years, ninety ninety ninety two, and then why did you give it up?

19:27 Speaker 1: It failed? Oh really?

19:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, we were the small guy in town. You know, there was a pizzer on every block. And there were two main drags in our neighborhood, Manhattan Avenue and Nasa Avenue that kind of intersect at one point, and all the pizzerias and businesses are on that on those two streets. We were on a boulevard. Parking was hard, there were no other stores there, and you know, we were the new guy in town. Y. We you know, we made enough just like to pay the bills. But after three years, I'm like, I'm not doing this.

19:58 Speaker 2: I'm marking like nine the one hundred hours a week. I can imagine, Yeah, I'm done. And we couldn't even say I'm like I said, I'm an open book. I'm honest. We couldn't even sell the business because we couldn't show a profit. Yeah, so we just we we sold whatever, liquidated whatever equipment we could yeahs and said, you know, just chalk it up to experience.

20:18 Speaker 1: Right right, you know, yeah, yeah, exactly, and life went on. Yeah, yeah, you know.

20:24 Speaker 2: But I always say, you know, if we hadn't done it, we'd always be kicking ourselves in the butt saying, oh, what is exactly what could have happened?

20:30 Speaker 1: So absolutely it was.

20:31 Speaker 2: It was a great learning experience, which what I took away from there is I'll never own my own process again ever.

20:37 Speaker 1: No, thank you. I don't blame you. By the way, So should we talk about where the name Brooklyn Mike comes from, because you weren't always Brooklyn Mike.

20:45 Speaker 2: No, I've always been Mic from Brooklyn. So it's got to be over it's got to be over fifteen years ago, because I know when we moved to New Hampshire, we lived on the east side. We were on Harvard Street and we lived there for about ten years, and then we moved to the West side, which that's where we are now. We're just like a couple of blocks from the Bedford border. So I know this came up, This Brooklyn Mike nomenclature came up when I was still at the old house. So I know it's more than fifteen years ago.

21:20 Speaker 2: So I'm going to say between maybe seventeen eighteen years ago something like that. Well, I used to watch this show on Manchester Public Television called Norman Friends, which was the great late Norm Moody was the host, and even greater than Norm was his co host, which happened to be mister Matt Connerton. And so that's where how we you and I first met, not in person, but we came to know each other so to.

21:51 Speaker 1: Speak, because Norm would take.

21:54 Speaker 2: Calls on you know, while the show was going on. He would take phone calls, which was fine, yeah, and you know, no big surprise, I called in, which you know, That's how I came to know Peter and I started calling Peter's And it's kind of funny because when I think back to it, I would do it in New York too. I would call in like I've won some like prizes on radio shows.

22:16 Speaker 1: Like I wasn't like a.

22:17 Speaker 2: Prize hog, but every now, if it was like something that interested me, I'd say I won like two or three things in New York over the years. So it was always kind of fun to like connect with the disc jockey. I thought it was always fun, you know, because I wanted to hear myself on air. I couldn't care about that. Yeah, So so anyway, I called in Norman friends the first time that I called in, and you know, you'd say, you know, oh who's online?

22:39 Speaker 1: Or what's your name?

22:40 Speaker 2: Actually you would answer the phone, and so I said, oh, my name is Mike. And I don't know if it was right right on the spot or eventually, I just I guess I didn't feel comfortable giving my last name. It was either that or I remember saying, well, you know, there were so many mics, and there are other mics probably that do call in, so just to make it easy and differentiate, I'm from Brooklyn, so just call me Brooklyn Mic. Yeah, and that's how it started. Yeah, you know, I kind of gave myself, you know, you know, my own stupid nickname.

23:12 Speaker 1: It works, it works. Yeah, you've been Brooklyn Mic ever since Peter asked me.

23:16 Speaker 2: Peter asked me recently, says, you know, when hopefully you start performing out places, are you, you know, going to book yourself as Brooklyn Mike. I'm like, no, no, it's like why not, Yeah, it's kind of it's kind of pretentious. I think I don't think I think you should. I don't know, I said, I'm going to think about it. A funny little anecdote about that is that I did one another place in Greenwich Village that used to do plenty of them, that would do open mics, and I only did an open mic one time in Greenwich Village.

23:45 Speaker 2: Again, this is like mid eighties, and like, I'm gonna do it. It's gonna be kind of fun. I even played on the street one time with the guitar case open in the village. It's just a fun experience. So it's something I made. One thing I never did though. I never played on the subway that I wouldn't do. So I played this open mic once at this bar in Greenwich Village. And again, my my last name is like very ethnic, not that it's that difficult, but my joke was always, you know, usually when people get married, the woman takes the husband's name.

24:19 Speaker 1: Yeah, And.

24:22 Speaker 2: I always said I would have preferred to take my wife's name because I just like it better, you know. And so I booked myself as Mike and then I used her last name.

24:31 Speaker 1: Oh no kidding, Yeah, interesting, Oh that's funny, that's funny. Well, do you want to play.

24:35 Speaker 4: Something for us?

24:36 Speaker 1: Yeah? Okay, if you're just joining us. Brooklyn. Mike is here with us live in studio. He's got his guitar, and I'm going to bring the level up on that guitar. And uh, you know we're already live, so no chance to do a proper sound check.

24:50 Speaker 2: But uh, I have the level set right at midway, both volume and tone, so I could always adjust it if I that's great.

24:59 Speaker 1: It's plenty of plenty loud. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, sounds good in the headphones. Make it a little less bright here.

25:08 Speaker 4: Okay, So.

25:19 Speaker 2: Not to be redundant, but Gordon Lightfoot, I just feel I have to start with a song of his. Okay, So here's a song again. This is a real old one. This goes way back. I don't know, sixty eight, sixty nine, and certainly not a song anyone would know unless you know you're a Gordon Lightfoot fan or have his albums and you know, would be familiar with it. Even if you're not a fan, if you have the album, you might know the song. Yeah, but I'm gonna start this one. I played this once years ago on Peter's show.

25:49 Speaker 2: He really liked it, okay, and I think it's apropos for today because it's entitled Saturday Clothes.

25:57 Speaker 1: Ah, it's a little.

25:59 Speaker 2: Tale about I kind of envisioned a young guy going out to live on his own for the first time, maybe going away to college, and having his own little place and really kind of something I think a lot of us could relate to, like learning how to do things on your own for the first time, you know, away from mom and all that good stuff, you know. And so he's really going through that process in his own place here, and every Saturday he has a gathering at his home or his apartment, whatever it may be, and his old friends come over every Saturday night, you know, and at the end of the night, everybody leaves, and he's already looking forward to the next Saturday.

26:44 Speaker 1: You know.

26:44 Speaker 2: He's like cleaning up after the mess that they've left. And that's kind of what this little tune is about. And it's called, like I said, Saturday Clothes.

27:05 Speaker 4: I feel a little blue because I can't sew. There's still a lot of things that I should know. Anyone can guess. I don't know how to press my Saturday clothes. Everyone who's going home. I feel a little sad to watch them me. But I'll be cool because I don't believe the happy times are gone. I could still put on my Saturday clothes. Everyonebody knows I've got two. That was a swell time. So now we'll take the bucks away and put the glasses on the train. I'll see you all next Saturday.

28:24 Speaker 6: Two three.

28:36 Speaker 4: I feel a little off because they're gone, and if my own we're here, I'd still be put in a week or two. There's lots of things to do in my Saturday clothes, and everyone's on hold. I've got to turn bad. Was a swell time. So now I'll take the butts away and put the glasses on the tray. I'll see you all next Saturday.

30:00 Speaker 1: Hmm, that is wonderful. Wonderful Brooklyn. Mike is here with us a live in studio And uh so that was Is Gordon Lightfoot your your favorite Did you say he was your favorite favorite singer songwriter? Absolutely? What what is it like? Is it is it possible to sort of describe what it is about him that connects with you so much?

30:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been asked of me. Well, on the surface, I love his voice, his singing style, but just his the music in general. I mean, uh, you know, he's the consummate storyteller. People usually refer to him as that, and there's something about uh. It's kind of funny because many of my favorite UH musicians singer songwriters are Canadian, and I think it's something about, you know, you're from a different place. Wherever you're from, you kind of have different sensibilities, and I think it comes out in the songwriting.

31:17 Speaker 2: Like Joni Mitchell is my favorite female vocalist, She's Canadian. Another one of my favorite songwriter singer songwriters is Bruce Coburn, also Canadian.

31:28 Speaker 1: Dan Hill.

31:31 Speaker 2: I don't know, it's just something I've just always loved his music and just something different about it. Certainly, you know, started out as straight folk, but then like a lot of music of that was coming folk music that was popular in the sixties and those singer songwriters and bands that can I married through into the you know, late sixties into the seventies.

32:04 Speaker 1: You know, there was a change. There was like an.

32:07 Speaker 2: Infusion of country and so then we get you know, country rock. And it's also kind of funny because growing up, when I was really young, there was an elderly woman we had. We lived in a six family apartment house that my parents owned and downstairs from us, we were on the second floor. On the first floor, there was elderly woman and she lived with our son, and we'd go down when we were really really young, like you know, five, six, seven years old, and we just like spent time down there because we were just like friendly with the neighbors.

32:41 Speaker 2: And she would have I don't remember what program it was on TV, but she loved country music, but I mean country western, and I hated it. Its just I just felt like it was just so corny, because you know, I wanted to hear the Beatles and you know all that, and so I I was always in the back of my I think subconsciously thought I don't like country music. I hate country music, right, And then the evolution of I should say the infusion of country music into rock. So many of the bands that we grew up with that I wound up loving.

33:17 Speaker 2: I'm thinking, oh, these are great rock bands. I love them. But looking back on it, there was like a lot of country influence. So Eagles, Poco, even Crosby Still's Nash. You know, you went from folk, you know, and then there was rock elements. But then and even if you know, when you see videos and pictures of these guys. They were wearing like country outfits, Like the shirts were like all deck down and stuff.

33:41 Speaker 1: It was it was a style, you know.

33:44 Speaker 2: And so unbeknownst to me, it was like I was absorbing that, you know, and not really putting a label on it, you know what I mean. Not that that's necessary, but it's just kind of funny how things turn, you know, And then I wind up being in country bands.

33:59 Speaker 1: I'll go, figure, we have we have a call. Hello, call her? Who's on the line. Good morning, Gene Simmons, Gene Simmons, Oh my goodness, Jean Simmons of Kiss. Welcome, sir.

34:17 Speaker 3: I was just doing in doing my early Christmas shopping for and I uttered it unleashed. Wow, And I heard the Brooklyn Mike on your show. Is that correct?

34:29 Speaker 1: Brooklyn Mike is here, you know, Gene Simmons of Kiss, another real New Yorker. Yes, yes, that's right.

34:36 Speaker 3: In fact, that's why I was calling. I know that Brooklyn Mike is a very humble guy, and he will never admit they actually said in with Wicked Lester for four shows.

34:48 Speaker 4: Wow.

34:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, he left that out. He did not mention that earlier when he was talking about his will, he will deny it.

34:57 Speaker 2: Gene, I you know, I'm I'm I'm humbled by your call this morning, but I don't know if you're. At first, I was thinking, this is the first time you and you and I have ever spoken, But now it just you just sparked the memory that one night, way back in the good old days, you and I spent a fun evening at Studio fifty four. Wow, Oh the memories.

35:22 Speaker 3: That was the night that you and I were doing lines off the smaller Carly Simmons back.

35:26 Speaker 2: Oh, hey, well she didn't mind, so I mean, you know, get it. Well, the getting's good.

35:32 Speaker 1: I guess it was consensual, right, Ah the memories.

35:36 Speaker 3: Thanks memories.

35:40 Speaker 1: Wow, Well, this is amazing. It's wonderful to have this kind of reunion happening. Jeene Simmons of Kiss, Well, Matt, I.

35:46 Speaker 3: Am absolutely mesmerized that I have my old friend Brooklyn Mike in the studio.

35:52 Speaker 1: Yeah.

35:52 Speaker 3: I hang up now and continue my Christmas shopping, all right, And I just wanted to point out that for the next fifteen minutes, if you go to Kiss online dot com, fifteen percent of all coffee monks wow, by one.

36:07 Speaker 1: That's at Kiss Online dot Com only for the next fifteen minutes. Wow.

36:11 Speaker 3: So the next fifteen minutes by one coffee munket full price, get the next one fifteen percent.

36:17 Speaker 1: Oh that's a deal. That's that's fantastic. Wow. As amazing as we New Yorker say, such a deal. Wow.

36:25 Speaker 3: I think we do have the four cups where false Stanways on one and Gene seven Kisses on another. Uh huh, Acey and of course Peter Chris from chis.

36:41 Speaker 1: Wow. Well, that's amazing. So you can get all four. That's that's great.

36:47 Speaker 3: Collect them all, Mat.

36:48 Speaker 1: That's wonderful. Got to collect them all.

36:50 Speaker 3: I am not a professional math, but I will say that if you buy the Jean and Paul, you will get the Ace and Peter at fifteen percent off for the next fifteen minutes.

37:00 Speaker 1: Wow. Oh boy, it just gets better. I hope you'll extend that, because you know, I am doing a radio show. I don't think I can make that purchase in the next fifteen minutes.

37:12 Speaker 3: That's something you're gonna have to work out with your people.

37:14 Speaker 1: Matt, I understand. Geene Simmons of kiss.

37:18 Speaker 3: I am kicking up Brooklyn. Mike's time. Nice to hear your voice again. Brooklyn.

37:24 Speaker 1: Mike, thank you, my friend.

37:25 Speaker 3: Maybe you can make a stop on that nighttime show there on Friday night.

37:30 Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you? All right, Oh wow, he's gone Gene Simmons of Kiss.

37:35 Speaker 2: He mentioned Peter Chris. Peter Chris is from my neighborhood in Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Oh, yes, yeah, actually the same street that might that I lived on for a little while that my brother lived on. Oh no kidding, and uh on the same street also down the other end. Barry Manilow. Oh nokiddy, that's pretty wild. Wow, that is Yeah.

37:52 Speaker 1: So did you ever interact with Peter bris No, no, no, or what about Barry? No, no, no. It's nice to be able to reunit reunite you with.

38:01 Speaker 2: G I'm just you know, I'm playing it back in my in my mind that it was quite quite the affair, something.

38:11 Speaker 1: I can imagine. Well, do you want to you want to play another song for us? I'd love to hear more. All right, do you mind if I keep it a little low key? I don't mind at all if I whatever, whatever you want to play.

38:27 Speaker 2: Okay, here's a song again. Dan Fogelberg is my other singer songwriter hero Man from Peoria, Illinois.

38:34 Speaker 1: Huh and yeah.

38:37 Speaker 2: I mean if I had to describe myself musically and what I do, I'd just say the mellow music man, you.

38:43 Speaker 1: Know, like it or not.

38:44 Speaker 2: I mean, that's just just what I am and what I do. Sure, but it doesn't mean I don't do any up tempo stuff. But my heart is really with like the sentimental, really mellow kind of stuff. So okay, this one's entitled song from Half Mountain.

38:58 Speaker 1: All right, Brooklyn, Mike live and studio, m hm, sounds good.

39:06 Speaker 7: All right, Okay, here we go.

39:25 Speaker 4: Now the windows. In a moment, it will be raging.

39:34 Speaker 4: Now my soul is young. In a moment, it will be aging and higher the pines. I wrote several lines and left them in a bottle for you to find. Now the dream is rising. In a moment it will be passed. This breath is my first, it will all too soon be my last. And on me with the coast. I made several toasts to you and me and the sea, and no one heard.

41:02 Speaker 6: Mm hmmm.

41:13 Speaker 4: Now wised. In a moment, it will be raging.

41:21 Speaker 1: Now my soul is young.

41:24 Speaker 4: In a moment, it will be aging and higher. Both four pines, I wrote several lines and left them in.

41:39 Speaker 6: A bottle for you to fine.

41:56 Speaker 1: Wow, beautiful, beautiful. So that's side that San Fogelberg. Fel Berg, Yeah, Fogelberg. What I feel like I've never really listened to much of him. I mean, what are what are his big hits again? I forget? Well, there's the Leader of the Band? Uh, the one he talks about his fut leader of the band.

42:15 Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah yeah, and then is longer longer than anything?

42:19 Speaker 2: Oh, that's the big, big one is that's actually my wife and I and mine. That's our wedding song, no kidding, longer and then uh yeah. But I do like twenty his songs, and wow, none of them are let me see, none of them are really are hits?

42:35 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, no, that's cool though, actually you know why, I mean, why be predictable? Yeah, you know, dude, it's cool that you do some some deep cuts there. Yeah.

42:49 Speaker 2: How about a song by Bruce Colburn? Yes, yes, so this is called Lord of the Starfields Again he was really, I mean, this guy is a prolific songwriter, is virtuoso guitarist, Yeah, and really a one hit wonder Wondering Where the Lions Are nineteen seventy five. I don't know if he had, well, Danny rocket launcher, yeah, rocket launcher.

43:14 Speaker 1: Yeah. In the eighties, that's when I first became aware of a right now Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this one is kind of.

43:23 Speaker 2: Lord of the Starfields, not really a religious song, but kind of giving acknowledgment or praise to what I would refer to. And it's not my own term source. Everything emanates from yeah, yeah, and it's entitled Lord of the Starfields.

43:41 Speaker 1: All right, Brooklyn Mike live in studio.

43:56 Speaker 5: Load of the star Fields, Ancient of days, You's maker.

44:11 Speaker 4: Here's a song in your praise, Wings of the storm cloud beginning, and then.

44:27 Speaker 6: You make my heart.

44:32 Speaker 1: Like a banner in the wind.

44:37 Speaker 5: Oh the Fire's song, Keep me birded.

44:47 Speaker 4: Oh my, the Fire's a.

44:50 Speaker 5: Song, Keep me birded.

45:08 Speaker 1: Lord of the star feels.

45:13 Speaker 4: Souler of life, heaven under far, both of your life, voice of the no smile of what to you all the warrior only comes home to you. Oh on the fire sun keep me.

45:57 Speaker 6: Oh my.

46:00 Speaker 8: Fire's son, keeping the fires sun keeping.

46:30 Speaker 1: Well, that is cool. Yeah, I've never heard that before. That's an oldie. Yeah. Yeah. He's known more for producing, right, He's produced a lot of albums, hasn't.

46:40 Speaker 2: He I'm not certain about that. Yeah, but what I will tell you is his albums are engineered. They're like the finest sounding, like sonically, the finest albums that I that I own, and I own like three hundred albums. They just sound so good the way they're produced and engineered.

46:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, Ri Scobert and that.

47:00 Speaker 2: It's funny because I saw him a number of years ago and when vinyl was coming out again and he had a new album and it was on vinyl, and I bought it, and I'll never buy vinyl again. Honestly, it just sounded horrible. Really, Yeah, I was really disappointed with it, especially in comparison to like his old albums from the seventies, which sounds so good.

47:20 Speaker 1: I know, I don't know what it is. I know that some vinyl now is it's not like there's a cheaper way to do it where it's not like, uh where it's basically just they how do they do it? It's not I don't I don't remember exactly, but it's it's there's a cheaper way to do vinyl now that's uh, it's not like the original. It's it's you're basically listening to a CD, but it's on the record, okay, instead of uh, you know, instead of listening to actual vinyl. Yeah, but uh no, that's interesting.

47:51 Speaker 2: It wouldn't surprised me though, if he were a producer, because the guy's brilliant. Yeah yeah, and I've met him a couple of times.

47:56 Speaker 1: Super nice. Oh yeah. But he's still tours. Yeah, he's still plays it. Yeah yeah good.

48:01 Speaker 2: I mean as far as touring, I don't know. But he still does shows for sure.

48:05 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

48:06 Speaker 2: But even like Gordon Lightfoot, I mean he died a couple of years ago and he was almost eighty five years old. He's still doing like one hundred shows a year. Oh wow, crazy?

48:14 Speaker 1: Yeah? Wow? Do you want to do? We have time if you want to do one more? You want to do one more? See? What should I do?

48:20 Speaker 7: What should I do?

48:21 Speaker 1: If you're just joining us? We've got Brooklyn Mike here in studio, a long time member of the extended family around here. But this is, uh, this is Brooklyn Mike's first time on this show. Yeah, it's fun. I'm very excited about it. Like I said, I've.

48:34 Speaker 2: Started saying before being that I'm not working around regular job anymore now now it affords me time to do you know, or be able to come here in the morning or yeah, you know, because I was working weekends, I was working nights and just wasn't conducive to doing too many other things.

48:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what should we do here? Would it be crazy to do another Gordon Lightfoot song? Not at all, not at all eas your favorite after all? Again, it's very uh, very selfish of me here. No, that's that's quite all right. Plus you do you do songs that a lot of us haven't heard before, so well, see that's see, that's my thing.

49:14 Speaker 2: It's like, hopefully you know, whatever the songs are, you know, people are enjoying them, and hopefully it makes it more interesting rather than hearing a song that you've heard three hundred.

49:23 Speaker 1: Exact, you know, a thousand times exactly.

49:25 Speaker 2: Like I told Peter, like I do a couple of Eagles songs, but you know, nothing against take it easy. But I'm not doing it anymore now.

49:31 Speaker 1: I know how to do it.

49:32 Speaker 2: If somebody requests it, I could do it, yeah, but it's not My choice is not to do take it easy?

49:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, do we really need to hear it? Again? I don't blame you. You know what I mean, I don't blame you.

49:42 Speaker 2: So let's see. So this is actually this is kind of a moody song. This is also an old one, just goes back I don't know, sixty six, maybe nineteen sixty six, sixty seven, can remember, I mean, Gordon was you he was performing way back in the early fifties, I think it was. So this song is about the four seasons, which you know, was kind of apropos right now, we're kind of changing seasons here. He starts starts with this. It's four verses and starts with the spring, summer, autumn, you know, ends with the winter, but then by the end of the last verse, it's returning to spring again.

50:26 Speaker 2: And he kind of describes it as you could if you really listen to it, it could be related to a relationship between two people. So there's that analogy, so to speak. And this was actually the first day that I started that I studied guitar. I was determined to play a full song the first day, so I went I had my lessons, and I went home and I learned. I played this song the first day. So this is the first song that I learned how to play. On the guitar, and it's entitled pussy Willows Cattails.

51:00 Speaker 1: Okay, so all right, good luck with this one, Brooklyn Mike live in studio.

51:04 Speaker 7: Okay, m.

51:27 Speaker 4: Pussy willows, cattails, soft winds and roses, rain pools in the woodlands, water to my knees, shivery, quivering the warm breath of spring. Pussy willows, cattails, soft winds and roses,

51:59 Speaker 4: cat birds and corn fields. Day dreams together, riding on the roadside. The dust gets in your rise, raveling, disheveling. The summer nights can bring pussy willows, cattails, soft winds and roses, slendered rays and colored days, dark blue horizons, naked limbs and wheat bios, Hazy afternoons, voicing, rejoicing. The wine cups still bring pussy willows, cattails, soft winds and horses.

53:07 Speaker 4: Harsh nights and candlelights, wood fires of blazing, soft lips and fingertips, breasting in muscle treasurey, remembering the promise soft spring,

53:27 Speaker 4: we see willows, cat tails, soft winds and roses.

53:52 Speaker 1: Oh beautiful, beautiful.

53:54 Speaker 2: I'm wondering if I could uh substitute my my music for sedation at the Doctor's Eye.

54:02 Speaker 1: You sound great. You sound great, Brooklyn Mike, thank you so much, my friend. This has been wonderful. It's really been my pleasure to be here. Thank you, Matt. Absolutely, and you're gonna be on Retrospectrum Radio right next Friday. Yeah, it's coming from us this coming Friday. I should say very good, very good, by the way, before we run out of time too. I just want to remind everybody for those listening live on Saturday tonight, the pop punk pop up at Terminus Underground of course, presented by New Hampshire Underground.

54:28 Speaker 1: Jenny and I will be there the event doors at seven pm, All ages fifteen dollars entry, twenty dollars VIP lounge. Come see some great bands, Island of Alaska on what You're On gr Im and of course some great artwork. Jenny will have a table setup. Also, Dennis Layton will be there with his art with Love from Faith, Elements and Fantasy, Brenda Drew Designs, Cosmos Creations, Andre Dumont, Prospero's Painting's Mystics and Chelsea Purington Photography. That is tonight, doors at seven at one thirty four Hayines Street and Nashua, New Hampshire.

55:00 Speaker 1: You can go to New Hampshire Underground dot org for more information. So we look forward to seeing you there and I believe this is part of the Winter Stroll in Nashua, so great events, so come see us. By the way, if you're wondering what happened to Jenny, she went home because we had a very important package delivered, so she took an Uber home microphone, a new microphone for my podcast studio at home, and it's an expensive item, so she went home to make sure that the ports pirates didn't get to it.

55:29 Speaker 1: But Brooklyn, Mike, thank you again, my friend. This has been absolutely wonderful to have you here and we'll do it again in the Future're coming back in January, right to this show.

55:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe we're booked for January twenty fourth, outstanding.

55:41 Speaker 1: I'll look forward to it. Thank you very much. Absolutely anything people should know about where to find you online if they want to book you, or now that you're taking bookings or gearing up to do.

55:50 Speaker 6: That, you know.

55:51 Speaker 2: I've got a couple of videos on YouTube, okay, but they're under my name, which is Michael Plotino plot I n O okay, first time I've given it out. Oh yes, but there's just I've just got a couple of videos on there. I'm just starting to try to have some kind of online presence. It's very very new to me. Yeah, you know, I'm still used to recording on a four track cassette, which I love doing, right, you know, So certainly if anybody listening really wants to get in touch with me through any of the radio shows, all you guys know me and have my contact so that would.

56:27 Speaker 1: Be awesome, absolutely absolutely all right, Brooklyn, Mike, thank you so much, And of course if you missed any part of today should will be up in just a little bit at wmnhradio dot org and at my website Mattconnorton dot com. And that's gonna do it for us for now. We'll talk at y'all a little bit later.

56:43 Speaker 9: Bye, everybody, you're listening to w M and

57:30 Speaker 4: H before Luis