Brooklyn Mike | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Let me get this microphone up here. Let's see, because

0:03 Speaker 1: he's got his guitar with him. Brooklyn Mike is here. Hello,

0:07 Speaker 1: Brooklyn Mike. Oh, I think I hear you a little bit.

0:09 Speaker 1: Check check. Oh there we are. Good. Good morning, Matt

0:12 Speaker 1: and everybody. Good morning. Let's say I'm gonna turn that

0:14 Speaker 1: down and turn that up and it's uh yeah, Mike's

0:18 Speaker 1: got his guitar with him, so he's gonna play. So

0:21 Speaker 1: this is exciting because, again, for those who are not familiar,

0:25 Speaker 1: Brooklyn Mike has been well this morning on the Morning

0:29 Speaker 1: Show because every Saturday morning, Peter plays a classic episode

0:33 Speaker 1: of the Morning Show. This Morning Show was from twenty eighteen.

0:35 Speaker 1: It was from the end of twenty eighteen, and you

0:37 Speaker 1: were on it.

0:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty eighteen, and at that point I had been

0:41 Speaker 2: already listening and participating with The Morning Show for probably

0:46 Speaker 2: 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

0:53 Speaker 2: Moose was off the show at that point twenty eighteen.

0:55 Speaker 2: Jarrell was there. Yeah, so at the very least twenty seventeen. Yeah,

0:59 Speaker 2: so we go back good eight years, eight nine years

1:02 Speaker 2: something like that.

1:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so this is the first time. So you've

1:06 Speaker 1: been on the morning show many times. Have you ever

1:07 Speaker 1: been on a rob show, Robber's video show? In fact,

1:10 Speaker 1: I've never had the good fortune to meet Rob yet.

1:13 Speaker 1: Oh okay, so you haven't even met Rob yet. I'm

1:14 Speaker 1: sure you will at some point. Yeah, but you've been

1:17 Speaker 1: on so you've been on Retrospect Radio obviously recently for

1:20 Speaker 1: the first time. So that was that was a lot

1:21 Speaker 1: of fun. That was great. I look forward to coming

1:23 Speaker 1: back in next Friday. Absolutely, And this is your first

1:27 Speaker 1: time on this show, so so welcome. Thanks.

1:30 Speaker 2: Well, you know, being I retired from my regular job

1:34 Speaker 2: at the beginning of this year, and so this is

1:36 Speaker 2: affording me, you know, time to do things that have

1:39 Speaker 2: been back burnard for a quarter century. Yeah, so including

1:44 Speaker 2: you know, performing and playing music. You know, I moved

1:48 Speaker 2: here January of two thousand and one from Brooklyn, New York,

1:52 Speaker 2: and you know, got it, you know, started working and

1:57 Speaker 2: had to pay bills and be an adult. So I

1:59 Speaker 2: kind of back burned the music. I didn't really have

2:02 Speaker 2: the time and the energy. I was working nights, so,

2:06 Speaker 2: you know, working weekends, so my schedule was not conducive

2:09 Speaker 2: really that much to playing out and yeah, I mean

2:13 Speaker 2: 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

2:24 Speaker 2: new life here in New Hampshire with my wife.

2:26 Speaker 1: Yeah, which has worked out beautifully. No, that's wonderful. We

2:29 Speaker 1: have a call. Oh no, nobody there. Someone was calling

2:32 Speaker 1: the studio line. All right, I thought it was one

2:34 Speaker 1: of your fans. But whoever it was, they hung up.

2:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, well one of them. Yeah, Daryl, the Dragons Ione

2:41 Speaker 2: 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

2:46 Speaker 1: him in a long time, but you had lunch with

2:47 Speaker 1: him recently, right at breakfast or something. Yeah. Yeah, we're

2:49 Speaker 1: good friends. Now that's excellent. That is excellent. He's a

2:52 Speaker 1: good man. Yeah. Absolutely, Well he's a musician himself, he is.

2:55 Speaker 1: You guys are gonna do? Uh?

2:57 Speaker 2: We were we know, you know, we we totally had

3:00 Speaker 2: plans because in additions playing guitar and bass, my first

3:06 Speaker 2: instrument was trumpet and I love jazz and uh Darrell

3:13 Speaker 2: plays saxophone and uh and clarinet. Uh, and we had plans.

3:20 Speaker 2: We had it all mapped out. We were going to

3:22 Speaker 2: do a duet. We had a name for the duet,

3:24 Speaker 2: and we had repertoire ready to go. And then he

3:27 Speaker 2: took an unfortunate fall and he's recovered quite well, but

3:34 Speaker 2: he feels he doesn't have the proper dexterity in his

3:36 Speaker 2: fingers in his hands anymore to play. So we had

3:40 Speaker 2: to kind of shelf that that project.

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

3:46 Speaker 1: 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

3:53 Speaker 1: 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.

4:07 Speaker 1: Hopefully we'll be disappointing. Good morning, rick Yeah, morning, Ricky

4:12 Speaker 1: Mapleton is gonna be on with us in the uh

4:14 Speaker 1: in the not too distant future. So, and it's been

4:16 Speaker 1: 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,

4:24 Speaker 1: but that sounds right.

4:24 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm good to have you. Thanks. I

4:27 Speaker 3: was starting to call up with heavy thanks. Give me

4:29 Speaker 3: to you guys.

4:30 Speaker 1: Oh, thank you.

4:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, just a big, big fan of the show. Guys,

4:34 Speaker 3: you're still rocking and.

4:35 Speaker 1: Rolling absolutely well. Thank you very much. We appreciate that

4:38 Speaker 1: and we look forward to look forward to seeing you

4:40 Speaker 1: in February with your new project.

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

4:46 Speaker 3: 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

4:54 Speaker 1: 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

5:01 Speaker 3: 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

5:09 Speaker 2: first thing you think of is you know bread that

5:11 Speaker 2: we eat? Yes, And I think I only learned recently

5:13 Speaker 2: that the band bread, uh, which I always thought, you know,

5:18 Speaker 2: bread that we eat, but it was actually you know

5:20 Speaker 2: bread the nickname for money. Yes, I think that's that

5:24 Speaker 2: was the the meaning of the band.

5:27 Speaker 1: You only learned that recently about Wait about uh that

5:32 Speaker 1: 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

5:37 Speaker 2: 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

5:47 Speaker 2: 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,

5:52 Speaker 1: you had said, I don't remember if this was an

5:54 Speaker 1: on air or an off air conversation during Paul's show,

5:58 Speaker 1: but you mentioned back in New York you would work

6:00 Speaker 1: with Walter Egan.

6:01 Speaker 2: Correct, we didn't work Yeah, actually we did work in

6:04 Speaker 2: New York. Walter Egan is originally from Queens from Forest Hills, Queen's,

6:10 Speaker 2: 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

6:19 Speaker 2: he wound up working with one of the bands that

6:22 Speaker 2: I was working with, not on a permanent basis a

6:28 Speaker 2: little bit more than subbing, but we would go up

6:34 Speaker 2: to that band. The band leader, so to speak, Ray Passenan,

6:39 Speaker 2: is from East Millinocket, Maine. Yeah, so we would he

6:43 Speaker 2: booked us. Ray would book us at this in Brewer, Maine,

6:50 Speaker 2: at a kind of a motel that would have a

6:52 Speaker 2: lounge there and we'd play there for the whole week.

6:54 Speaker 2: 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

7:01 Speaker 2: up for the week to Maine, Walter would would go

7:04 Speaker 2: with us and play for the whole week. And in

7:06 Speaker 2: fact he would he would carpool like I would drive,

7:09 Speaker 2: and he'd carpool with me, so I'd have his guitar

7:11 Speaker 2: and his amp in my car. And it was a

7:13 Speaker 2: lot of He's he's a lot of fun. But he

7:15 Speaker 2: lives in Nashville now. Yeah, so, yeah, Walter is a

7:18 Speaker 2: fun guy, is very talented, very talented guitarist. So his

7:22 Speaker 2: biggest hit was Magnet and pretty much a one hit wonder,

7:27 Speaker 2: but very very good songwriter. Yeah, great guitarist, good singer,

7:33 Speaker 2: just all around good guy.

7:34 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, that was fun. Is there anyone else

7:36 Speaker 1: like that that you worked with back in the I

7:38 Speaker 1: don't remember the guy's name.

7:41 Speaker 2: It was only one night again with a lot of

7:44 Speaker 2: the bands that we you know, you were mentioning earlier

7:47 Speaker 2: about you know, one of one of the downfalls of

7:49 Speaker 2: being in a band is when somebody can't make it.

7:53 Speaker 2: But we were fortunate, you know, in in New York City.

7:56 Speaker 2: I mean there's I mean, there are a lot of

7:58 Speaker 2: musicians everywhere, right, but we had quite quite a circle

8:05 Speaker 2: of bands that we all knew each other on the

8:08 Speaker 2: on the circuit, so to speak. So if like if

8:12 Speaker 2: we if our drummer couldn't make it, we had our

8:15 Speaker 2: pick of drummers. Same thing with guitarists and all that.

8:18 Speaker 2: So there was one one night where our drummer couldn't

8:20 Speaker 2: make it, and I don't know how our band leader,

8:25 Speaker 2: her name was Patients More, she found this guy but

8:28 Speaker 2: he was again I don't remember his name, but he

8:31 Speaker 2: was the drummer for Paul McCartney and Wings. So we

8:35 Speaker 2: worked with him for one night. Oh yeah, English guy,

8:38 Speaker 2: 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,

8:47 Speaker 2: walk Away Renee, that song. Just every now and then

8:51 Speaker 2: we'd come across, you know, we'd wind up working with somebody. Yeah,

8:54 Speaker 2: and it was just you know, main job, main thing

8:57 Speaker 2: was to get the job done. But it was all

8:59 Speaker 2: it was all lot of fun, right, There was never

9:02 Speaker 2: a lot of money in it. I mean yeah, you know,

9:04 Speaker 2: for many years and it's still my approach where whether

9:08 Speaker 2: it's right or wrong, I'm happy with it. Where the

9:12 Speaker 2: music that I decide to perform or do, this is

9:15 Speaker 2: what I'm doing solos. But or again, back in New York.

9:19 Speaker 2: 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

9:26 Speaker 2: was in the nineties, mostly country bands. Really yeah, so,

9:30 Speaker 2: and we were super busy. I mean there was a

9:33 Speaker 2: month I remember we did like thirty two jobs in

9:35 Speaker 2: 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

9:40 Speaker 2: a Saturday afternoon at like a fair or something, and

9:42 Speaker 2: 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,

9:53 Speaker 2: I was playing in these cover bands, and family members

9:56 Speaker 2: and people I knew would say, you know, why don't

9:59 Speaker 2: why don't you join a wedding band? You can make

10:02 Speaker 2: so much money. I'm like, I'm not doing that music.

10:04 Speaker 2: I don't really care at this point about the money.

10:07 Speaker 2: I should have cared a little bit more about the money, honestly. Luckily,

10:10 Speaker 2: you know, my wife was very patient with me, and

10:14 Speaker 2: you know, she worked and I worked the day job too,

10:16 Speaker 2: but I'd work part time jobs, full time jobs, depending

10:20 Speaker 2: 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

10:25 Speaker 2: types of jobs, imagine in my life, and so yeah,

10:31 Speaker 2: still to this day, like the repertoire that I do

10:35 Speaker 2: is not primarily songs that people know. I mean, there

10:41 Speaker 2: are a fair amount of those songs. But for example, everybody,

10:46 Speaker 2: anybody who knows me through the station knows Gordon Lightfoot

10:49 Speaker 2: is like my hero, and I don't really do his

10:53 Speaker 2: I do. I think two songs of his, well, now

10:56 Speaker 2: three because I learned sundown, but I do so I

11:01 Speaker 2: do three songs of his that were popular songs that

11:06 Speaker 2: were hits that people would know. But then I'll do

11:09 Speaker 2: ten songs of his that unless you're like a Gordon

11:12 Speaker 2: Lightfoot fan or had his albums or have his albums

11:15 Speaker 2: and were really into his music, you wouldn't know them.

11:18 Speaker 2: But I love the songs. And it's a little bit

11:21 Speaker 2: selfish on my part. It's like three parts to it.

11:23 Speaker 2: Part of it is selfish because I enjoy it. Yeah, okay,

11:27 Speaker 2: And I think that if a performer is doing songs

11:31 Speaker 2: that he or she enjoy really enjoys, you're going to

11:34 Speaker 2: get the best result usually because it's from the heart.

11:39 Speaker 2: So that's one thing and the other thing is I

11:44 Speaker 2: think it's a little more interesting for audiences unless they

11:47 Speaker 2: just want to hear songs that they know. And that's

11:50 Speaker 2: why I don't really want to play like like primarily

11:54 Speaker 2: 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

11:59 Speaker 2: my first band with my brother, which was all classic rock,

12:02 Speaker 2: and it was fine, you know, because people are drinking,

12:05 Speaker 2: you know, they want to sing along and they want

12:08 Speaker 2: to know the songs. But hopefully I could find some

12:11 Speaker 2: venues a little more low key where it's more of

12:14 Speaker 2: a listening experience, So I could do these songs, for example,

12:18 Speaker 2: by Gordon Lightfoot and my other hero Dan Fogelberg, that

12:24 Speaker 2: people might not necessarily know, but I think they'll wind

12:28 Speaker 2: up really enjoying it, hopefully. And the third thing is

12:32 Speaker 2: that at any given point, if I'm performing and somebody

12:36 Speaker 2: is in the audience or more than one person, Let's

12:39 Speaker 2: take Dan Fogelberg for example, that is a Dan Fogelberg song,

12:42 Speaker 2: and then I'm doing these cuts like off albums that

12:45 Speaker 2: when never on the radio, I'm hoping they'll be like

12:49 Speaker 2: really happy about it. Hear that it's like, oh my god,

12:52 Speaker 2: he's doing For example, I used to play this place

12:54 Speaker 2: in Greenwich Village called the back Fence, and I played

12:58 Speaker 2: their solo many times with many bands over the years.

13:02 Speaker 2: And my favorite America song is Daisy Jane. And it

13:10 Speaker 2: got some airplay, but it wasn't like, you know, it

13:12 Speaker 2: wasn't Ventura Highway for example. You know, it wasn't like

13:15 Speaker 2: a huge utit and there. So I was at the

13:18 Speaker 2: back Fence one night and played Daisy Jane and there

13:21 Speaker 2: was this guy there just at the bar, and he

13:24 Speaker 2: loved the song and he went nuts and he said,

13:26 Speaker 2: every I'm gonna make sure I'm here every time you

13:29 Speaker 2: 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,

13:34 Speaker 2: 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

13:41 Speaker 1: a band with your brother. And then my.

13:44 Speaker 2: Brother he passed away unfortunately a couple a couple of

13:46 Speaker 2: 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,

13:54 Speaker 2: 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.

14:00 Speaker 1: Just in case any of my siblings are listening. I

14:03 Speaker 1: often feel like I will sorry, sister, right, it's okay, okay, yeah,

14:07 Speaker 1: I have I'm just remembering. Yeah, yeah, it's okay. I

14:10 Speaker 1: have two half sisters and a half brother. I'm sorry,

14:12 Speaker 1: and everybody scattered. And I was already yeah, I was

14:16 Speaker 1: already older when the first one was born. So I

14:19 Speaker 1: often feel like I grew up like an only child. Okay,

14:21 Speaker 1: so that's okay. Just I'm only correcting you, just in

14:23 Speaker 1: case any of them are listening, which is unlikely, but

14:25 Speaker 1: I don't want anyone to be mad at me. I apologize.

14:28 Speaker 1: 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

14:36 Speaker 2: in that. So my brother, being older than I am,

14:41 Speaker 2: I always kind of looked up to him. I just

14:42 Speaker 2: wanted to like emulate him. And he was a musician

14:46 Speaker 2: from early early on. First played drums. We had a

14:48 Speaker 2: drum kit in the basement, and I'd go down and

14:50 Speaker 2: play the drums, you know, just by ear. That was

14:52 Speaker 2: actually the first instrument that I played. Yeah, and uh,

14:56 Speaker 2: and then he was a great guitarist and keyboard player

14:59 Speaker 2: and singer. My sister is a singer. My father was

15:02 Speaker 2: a singer, and so my first band when I started

15:08 Speaker 2: studying guitar, and my brother had already been playing for

15:11 Speaker 2: years and he was in a band. Then that band

15:14 Speaker 2: split up, you know the way it goes, and then

15:16 Speaker 2: he and the lead singer and a rhythm player wanted

15:20 Speaker 2: to form another band, and I was just learning to play,

15:23 Speaker 2: and I joined them, and we were three acoustic guitars

15:26 Speaker 2: at that point, and then about a year later we

15:30 Speaker 2: had the idea. I started studying bass, and then my

15:34 Speaker 2: friend John Sheridan, who I played with in like a

15:38 Speaker 2: ton of bands. He's like my best friend back home

15:41 Speaker 2: in New York while he's in New Jersey now. So

15:43 Speaker 2: then I then my brother went he like I said,

15:47 Speaker 2: we started out as three acoustic guitars, and then when

15:50 Speaker 2: we supplemented the band with the drummer, my brother went

15:54 Speaker 2: to electric guitar and I went to bass. Okay, and

15:56 Speaker 2: then we were like a legit four piece, you know,

15:59 Speaker 2: 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.

16:06 Speaker 2: I came up with the name for the band from

16:09 Speaker 2: a song by the Pussett's Art band John Poussett's art.

16:13 Speaker 2: Who you interview was a great interview. That was a

16:17 Speaker 2: 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

16:21 Speaker 2: he plays over at the Rex. I've seen him there

16:23 Speaker 2: a number of times. You will not be disappointed.

16:25 Speaker 1: He's great. Yeah. The last time we had him on,

16:27 Speaker 1: that's why it was because he was great. I've seen

16:29 Speaker 1: 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

16:45 Speaker 2: we started that band, County Line. That was about nineteen

16:49 Speaker 2: eighty six or seven, and we went strong for a

16:54 Speaker 2: good three or four years. Yeah, and then in nineteen

16:58 Speaker 2: ninety but we're going we're going one hundred and eighty

17:02 Speaker 2: on this one. In nineteen ninety, my wife and I

17:04 Speaker 2: bought a pizzeria. Okay, so I started working when I

17:08 Speaker 2: was eight years old. I'm going to backtrack real quick

17:10 Speaker 2: a little bit. I started working I was eight years

17:12 Speaker 2: 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,

17:18 Speaker 2: so it was okay, gotcha so eight years old, I

17:22 Speaker 2: started working in pizzeri's. I did that straight through thirteen

17:24 Speaker 2: years until I was twenty one, through all pretty much

17:26 Speaker 2: all my school years.

17:27 Speaker 1: Wow.

17:29 Speaker 2: And then then I wasn't working in pizzer anymore. So

17:32 Speaker 2: from twenty one that was whatever year that was nineteen

17:37 Speaker 2: eighty two, and I was a bank teller and I

17:40 Speaker 2: did a whole bunch that worked for a coffee company,

17:42 Speaker 2: industrial hardware company, all kinds of stuff. But in nineteen

17:46 Speaker 2: ninety an opportunity came up in our neighborhood actually a

17:50 Speaker 2: 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,

17:57 Speaker 2: and I knew how to do the you know, run

17:58 Speaker 2: the business. I did it much all my you know,

18:00 Speaker 2: thirteen years, all my young life, and my wife and

18:04 Speaker 2: I decided to buy the buy the pizzeria. So then

18:06 Speaker 2: I couldn't play music anymore because I was there like

18:08 Speaker 2: 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,

18:13 Speaker 2: and I mean I didn't even lock the door the

18:17 Speaker 2: last day. And my friend John Sheridan, and it's like, okay,

18:19 Speaker 2: you're ready to join the band again and then we

18:22 Speaker 2: were off and running. And then, like I said, country

18:24 Speaker 2: music was like really up and coming then with you know,

18:27 Speaker 2: the coming on the scene of like the likes of

18:30 Speaker 2: Clint Black and Garth Brooks and Brooks and Dunn and

18:34 Speaker 2: you know, Dwight Yoakum and all these guys. Yeah, and

18:37 Speaker 2: it just country music exploded, and believe it or not,

18:40 Speaker 2: 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,

18:46 Speaker 2: 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

18:51 Speaker 1: the nineties, that wave a lot of country was huge,

18:53 Speaker 1: 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

19:00 Speaker 2: of my running jokes is, yeah, what you'd expect, you know,

19:02 Speaker 2: nice Italian boy from Brooklyn playing country music, you know.

19:06 Speaker 2: But you know, I have all the accouterment, you know,

19:07 Speaker 2: the the Western boots and the Western shirts, and I

19:10 Speaker 2: never want I have a couple of stetsons. I only

19:13 Speaker 2: wore I think once when we played we actually did

19:15 Speaker 2: do a wedding. But they were country music fans, so

19:18 Speaker 2: 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

19:22 Speaker 1: owned it for a couple of years and.

19:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, three years, ninety ninety ninety two, and then why

19:27 Speaker 2: 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,

19:30 Speaker 2: there was a pizzer on every block. And there were

19:33 Speaker 2: two main drags in our neighborhood, Manhattan Avenue and Nasa

19:38 Speaker 2: Avenue that kind of intersect at one point, and all

19:42 Speaker 2: the pizzerias and businesses are on that on those two streets.

19:46 Speaker 2: We were on a boulevard. Parking was hard, there were

19:49 Speaker 2: no other stores there, and you know, we were the

19:51 Speaker 2: new guy in town. Y. We you know, we made

19:54 Speaker 2: enough just like to pay the bills. But after three years,

19:57 Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm not doing this. I'm marking like nine

20:00 Speaker 2: the one hundred hours a week. I can imagine, Yeah,

20:03 Speaker 2: I'm done. And we couldn't even say I'm like I said,

20:05 Speaker 2: I'm an open book. I'm honest. We couldn't even sell

20:08 Speaker 2: the business because we couldn't show a profit. Yeah, so

20:10 Speaker 2: we just we we sold whatever, liquidated whatever equipment we

20:14 Speaker 2: could yeahs and said, you know, just chalk it up

20:17 Speaker 2: to experience.

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

20:23 Speaker 1: you know.

20:24 Speaker 2: But I always say, you know, if we hadn't done it,

20:26 Speaker 2: we'd always be kicking ourselves in the butt saying, oh,

20:28 Speaker 2: 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

20:34 Speaker 2: away from there is I'll never own my own process

20:36 Speaker 2: again ever.

20:37 Speaker 1: No, thank you. I don't blame you. By the way,

20:40 Speaker 1: So should we talk about where the name Brooklyn Mike

20:41 Speaker 1: 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

20:51 Speaker 2: to be over it's got to be over fifteen years ago,

20:54 Speaker 2: because I know when we moved to New Hampshire, we

20:57 Speaker 2: lived on the east side. We were on Harvard Street

21:00 Speaker 2: and we lived there for about ten years, and then

21:03 Speaker 2: we moved to the West side, which that's where we

21:05 Speaker 2: are now. We're just like a couple of blocks from

21:07 Speaker 2: the Bedford border. So I know this came up, This

21:14 Speaker 2: Brooklyn Mike nomenclature came up when I was still at

21:18 Speaker 2: the old house. So I know it's more than fifteen

21:20 Speaker 2: years ago. So I'm going to say between maybe seventeen

21:23 Speaker 2: eighteen years ago something like that. Well, I used to

21:26 Speaker 2: watch this show on Manchester Public Television called Norman Friends,

21:31 Speaker 2: which was the great late Norm Moody was the host,

21:36 Speaker 2: and even greater than Norm was his co host, which

21:40 Speaker 2: happened to be mister Matt Connerton. And so that's where

21:45 Speaker 2: how we you and I first met, not in person,

21:49 Speaker 2: 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.

21:58 Speaker 2: He would take phone calls, which was fine, yeah, and

22:01 Speaker 2: you know, no big surprise, I called in, which you know,

22:05 Speaker 2: That's how I came to know Peter and I started

22:08 Speaker 2: calling Peter's And it's kind of funny because when I

22:10 Speaker 2: think back to it, I would do it in New

22:11 Speaker 2: York too. I would call in like I've won some

22:14 Speaker 2: 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

22:20 Speaker 2: that interested me, I'd say I won like two or

22:22 Speaker 2: three things in New York over the years. So it

22:25 Speaker 2: was always kind of fun to like connect with the

22:27 Speaker 2: disc jockey. I thought it was always fun, you know,

22:29 Speaker 2: because I wanted to hear myself on air. I couldn't

22:31 Speaker 2: care about that. Yeah, So so anyway, I called in

22:35 Speaker 2: Norman friends the first time that I called in, and

22:37 Speaker 2: 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,

22:44 Speaker 2: my name is Mike. And I don't know if it

22:46 Speaker 2: was right right on the spot or eventually, I just

22:50 Speaker 2: I guess I didn't feel comfortable giving my last name.

22:54 Speaker 2: It was either that or I remember saying, well, you know,

22:57 Speaker 2: there were so many mics, and there are other mics

23:00 Speaker 2: probably that do call in, so just to make it

23:02 Speaker 2: easy and differentiate, I'm from Brooklyn, so just call me

23:05 Speaker 2: Brooklyn Mic. Yeah, and that's how it started. Yeah, you know,

23:08 Speaker 2: I kind of gave myself, you know, you know, my

23:11 Speaker 2: own stupid nickname.

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

23:14 Speaker 1: since Peter asked me.

23:16 Speaker 2: Peter asked me recently, says, you know, when hopefully you

23:20 Speaker 2: start performing out places, are you, you know, going to

23:23 Speaker 2: book yourself as Brooklyn Mike. I'm like, no, no, it's

23:25 Speaker 2: like why not, Yeah, it's kind of it's kind of pretentious.

23:29 Speaker 2: I think I don't think I think you should. I

23:31 Speaker 2: don't know, I said, I'm going to think about it.

23:33 Speaker 2: A funny little anecdote about that is that I did

23:37 Speaker 2: one another place in Greenwich Village that used to do

23:40 Speaker 2: plenty of them, that would do open mics, and I

23:43 Speaker 2: only did an open mic one time in Greenwich Village. Again,

23:45 Speaker 2: this is like mid eighties, and like, I'm gonna do it.

23:49 Speaker 2: It's gonna be kind of fun. I even played on

23:50 Speaker 2: the street one time with the guitar case open in

23:53 Speaker 2: the village. It's just a fun experience. So it's something

23:56 Speaker 2: I made. One thing I never did though. I never

23:58 Speaker 2: played on the subway that I wouldn't do. So I

24:01 Speaker 2: played this open mic once at this bar in Greenwich Village.

24:07 Speaker 2: And again, my my last name is like very ethnic,

24:11 Speaker 2: not that it's that difficult, but my joke was always,

24:15 Speaker 2: you know, usually when people get married, the woman takes

24:18 Speaker 2: the husband's name.

24:19 Speaker 1: Yeah, And.

24:22 Speaker 2: I always said I would have preferred to take my

24:24 Speaker 2: wife's name because I just like it better, you know.

24:27 Speaker 2: And so I booked myself as Mike and then I

24:30 Speaker 2: used her last name.

24:31 Speaker 1: Oh no kidding, Yeah, interesting, Oh that's funny, that's funny. Well,

24:34 Speaker 1: 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

24:38 Speaker 1: here with us live in studio. He's got his guitar,

24:41 Speaker 1: and I'm going to bring the level up on that guitar.

24:45 Speaker 1: And uh, you know we're already live, so no chance

24:49 Speaker 1: to do a proper sound check.

24:50 Speaker 2: But uh, I have the level set right at midway,

24:54 Speaker 2: both volume and tone, so I could always adjust it

24:57 Speaker 2: if I that's great.

24:59 Speaker 1: It's plenty of plenty loud. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, sounds

25:04 Speaker 1: 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

25:22 Speaker 2: I have to start with a song of his. Okay,

25:25 Speaker 2: So here's a song again. This is a real old one.

25:28 Speaker 2: This goes way back. I don't know, sixty eight, sixty nine,

25:34 Speaker 2: and certainly not a song anyone would know unless you

25:37 Speaker 2: know you're a Gordon Lightfoot fan or have his albums

25:40 Speaker 2: and you know, would be familiar with it. Even if

25:42 Speaker 2: you're not a fan, if you have the album, you

25:44 Speaker 2: might know the song. Yeah, but I'm gonna start this one.

25:47 Speaker 2: I played this once years ago on Peter's show. He

25:50 Speaker 2: really liked it, okay, and I think it's apropos for

25:54 Speaker 2: 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

26:03 Speaker 2: out to live on his own for the first time,

26:05 Speaker 2: maybe going away to college, and having his own little

26:08 Speaker 2: place and really kind of something I think a lot

26:12 Speaker 2: of us could relate to, like learning how to do

26:15 Speaker 2: things on your own for the first time, you know,

26:17 Speaker 2: away from mom and all that good stuff, you know.

26:20 Speaker 2: And so he's really going through that process in his

26:25 Speaker 2: own place here, and every Saturday he has a gathering

26:29 Speaker 2: at his home or his apartment, whatever it may be,

26:32 Speaker 2: and his old friends come over every Saturday night, you know,

26:36 Speaker 2: and at the end of the night, everybody leaves, and

26:42 Speaker 2: 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.

26:47 Speaker 2: And that's kind of what this little tune is about.

26:50 Speaker 2: 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

27:11 Speaker 4: still a lot of things that I should know. Anyone

27:18 Speaker 4: can guess. I don't know how to press my Saturday clothes.

27:28 Speaker 4: Everyone who's going home. I feel a little sad to

27:34 Speaker 4: watch them me. But I'll be cool because I don't

27:41 Speaker 4: believe the happy times are gone. I could still put

27:48 Speaker 4: on my Saturday clothes. Everyonebody knows I've got two. That

28:06 Speaker 4: was a swell time. So now we'll take the bucks

28:12 Speaker 4: away and put the glasses on the train. I'll see

28:16 Speaker 4: 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

28:43 Speaker 4: my own we're here, I'd still be put in a

28:49 Speaker 4: week or two. There's lots of things to do in

28:54 Speaker 4: my Saturday clothes, and everyone's on hold. I've got to

29:06 Speaker 4: turn bad. Was a swell time. So now I'll take

29:15 Speaker 4: the butts away and put the glasses on the tray.

29:20 Speaker 4: I'll see you all next Saturday.

30:00 Speaker 1: Hmm, that is wonderful. Wonderful Brooklyn. Mike is here with

30:13 Speaker 1: us a live in studio And uh so that was

30:17 Speaker 1: Is Gordon Lightfoot your your favorite Did you say he

30:19 Speaker 1: was your favorite favorite singer songwriter? Absolutely? What what is

30:24 Speaker 1: it like? Is it is it possible to sort of

30:28 Speaker 1: describe what it is about him that connects with you

30:30 Speaker 1: so much?

30:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been asked of me. Well, on the surface,

30:36 Speaker 2: I love his voice, his singing style, but just his

30:42 Speaker 2: the music in general. I mean, uh, you know, he's

30:46 Speaker 2: the consummate storyteller. People usually refer to him as that,

30:53 Speaker 2: and there's something about uh. It's kind of funny because

30:57 Speaker 2: many of my favorite UH musicians singer songwriters are Canadian,

31:03 Speaker 2: and I think it's something about, you know, you're from

31:06 Speaker 2: a different place. Wherever you're from, you kind of have

31:11 Speaker 2: 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.

31:21 Speaker 2: Another one of my favorite songwriter singer songwriters is Bruce Coburn,

31:26 Speaker 2: 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

31:34 Speaker 2: his music and just something different about it. Certainly, you know,

31:42 Speaker 2: started out as straight folk, but then like a lot

31:47 Speaker 2: of music of that was coming folk music that was

31:54 Speaker 2: popular in the sixties and those singer songwriters and bands

31:58 Speaker 2: that can I married through into the you know, late

32:02 Speaker 2: 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,

32:11 Speaker 2: country rock. And it's also kind of funny because growing up,

32:16 Speaker 2: when I was really young, there was an elderly woman

32:19 Speaker 2: we had. We lived in a six family apartment house

32:23 Speaker 2: that my parents owned and downstairs from us, we were

32:26 Speaker 2: on the second floor. On the first floor, there was

32:28 Speaker 2: elderly woman and she lived with our son, and we'd

32:32 Speaker 2: go down when we were really really young, like you know, five, six,

32:35 Speaker 2: seven years old, and we just like spent time down

32:38 Speaker 2: 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

32:45 Speaker 2: was on TV, but she loved country music, but I

32:49 Speaker 2: mean country western, and I hated it. Its just I

32:52 Speaker 2: just felt like it was just so corny, because you know,

32:55 Speaker 2: I wanted to hear the Beatles and you know all that,

32:58 Speaker 2: and so I I was always in the back of

33:01 Speaker 2: my I think subconsciously thought I don't like country music.

33:04 Speaker 2: I hate country music, right, And then the evolution of

33:09 Speaker 2: I should say the infusion of country music into rock.

33:14 Speaker 2: So many of the bands that we grew up with

33:16 Speaker 2: that I wound up loving. I'm thinking, oh, these are

33:18 Speaker 2: great rock bands. I love them. But looking back on it,

33:22 Speaker 2: there was like a lot of country influence. So Eagles, Poco,

33:27 Speaker 2: even Crosby Still's Nash. You know, you went from folk,

33:30 Speaker 2: you know, and then there was rock elements. But then

33:32 Speaker 2: and even if you know, when you see videos and

33:34 Speaker 2: pictures of these guys. They were wearing like country outfits,

33:39 Speaker 2: 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

33:47 Speaker 2: absorbing that, you know, and not really putting a label

33:51 Speaker 2: on it, you know what I mean. Not that that's necessary,

33:54 Speaker 2: but it's just kind of funny how things turn, you know,

33:57 Speaker 2: And then I wind up being in country bands.

33:59 Speaker 1: I'll go, figure, we have we have a call. Hello,

34:03 Speaker 1: call her? Who's on the line. Good morning, Gene Simmons,

34:10 Speaker 1: 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

34:20 Speaker 3: for and I uttered it unleashed. Wow, And I heard

34:25 Speaker 3: the Brooklyn Mike on your show. Is that correct?

34:29 Speaker 1: Brooklyn Mike is here, you know, Gene Simmons of Kiss,

34:31 Speaker 1: another real New Yorker. Yes, yes, that's right.

34:36 Speaker 3: In fact, that's why I was calling. I know that

34:39 Speaker 3: Brooklyn Mike is a very humble guy, and he will

34:42 Speaker 3: never admit they actually said in with Wicked Lester for

34:46 Speaker 3: four shows.

34:48 Speaker 4: Wow.

34:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, he left that out. He did not mention that

34:50 Speaker 1: earlier when he was talking about his will, he will

34:54 Speaker 1: deny it.

34:57 Speaker 2: Gene, I you know, I'm I'm I'm humbled by your

34:59 Speaker 2: call this morning, but I don't know if you're. At first,

35:04 Speaker 2: I was thinking, this is the first time you and

35:06 Speaker 2: you and I have ever spoken, But now it just

35:09 Speaker 2: you just sparked the memory that one night, way back

35:12 Speaker 2: in the good old days, you and I spent a

35:15 Speaker 2: fun evening at Studio fifty four. Wow, Oh the memories.

35:22 Speaker 3: That was the night that you and I were doing

35:24 Speaker 3: lines off the smaller Carly Simmons back.

35:26 Speaker 2: Oh, hey, well she didn't mind, so I mean, you know,

35:31 Speaker 2: 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

35:42 Speaker 1: 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

35:50 Speaker 3: Mike in the studio.

35:52 Speaker 1: Yeah.

35:52 Speaker 3: I hang up now and continue my Christmas shopping, all right,

35:56 Speaker 3: And I just wanted to point out that for the

35:58 Speaker 3: next fifteen minutes, if you go to Kiss online dot com,

36:03 Speaker 3: fifteen percent of all coffee monks wow, by one.

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

36:09 Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. Wow.

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

36:15 Speaker 3: get the next one fifteen percent.

36:17 Speaker 1: Oh that's a deal. That's that's fantastic. Wow. As amazing

36:21 Speaker 1: as we New Yorker say, such a deal. Wow.

36:25 Speaker 3: I think we do have the four cups where false

36:28 Speaker 3: Stanways on one and Gene seven Kisses on another. Uh huh,

36:33 Speaker 3: Acey and of course Peter Chris from chis.

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

36:45 Speaker 1: 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

36:53 Speaker 3: that if you buy the Jean and Paul, you will

36:56 Speaker 3: get the Ace and Peter at fifteen percent off for

36:59 Speaker 3: the next fifteen minutes.

37:00 Speaker 1: Wow. Oh boy, it just gets better. I hope you'll

37:04 Speaker 1: extend that, because you know, I am doing a radio show.

37:06 Speaker 1: I don't think I can make that purchase in the

37:08 Speaker 1: 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

37:22 Speaker 3: 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

37:28 Speaker 3: there on Friday night.

37:30 Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you? All right, Oh wow, he's gone

37:33 Speaker 1: Gene Simmons of Kiss.

37:35 Speaker 2: He mentioned Peter Chris. Peter Chris is from my neighborhood

37:38 Speaker 2: in Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Oh, yes, yeah, actually the same

37:41 Speaker 2: street that might that I lived on for a little

37:43 Speaker 2: while that my brother lived on. Oh no kidding, and

37:45 Speaker 2: uh on the same street also down the other end.

37:49 Speaker 2: 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,

37:56 Speaker 1: or what about Barry? No, no, no. It's nice to

37:59 Speaker 1: be able to reunit reunite you with.

38:01 Speaker 2: G I'm just you know, I'm playing it back in

38:05 Speaker 2: 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

38:13 Speaker 1: to play another song for us? I'd love to hear more.

38:15 Speaker 1: All right, do you mind if I keep it a

38:17 Speaker 1: little low key? I don't mind at all if I whatever,

38:22 Speaker 1: whatever you want to play.

38:27 Speaker 2: Okay, here's a song again. Dan Fogelberg is my other

38:30 Speaker 2: 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

38:40 Speaker 2: 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

38:46 Speaker 2: I do. Sure, but it doesn't mean I don't do

38:47 Speaker 2: any up tempo stuff. But my heart is really with

38:51 Speaker 2: like the sentimental, really mellow kind of stuff. So okay,

38:55 Speaker 2: 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

39:39 Speaker 4: be aging and higher the pines. I wrote several lines

39:49 Speaker 4: and left them in a bottle for you to find.

40:07 Speaker 4: Now the dream is rising. In a moment it will

40:12 Speaker 4: be passed. This breath is my first, it will all

40:19 Speaker 4: too soon be my last. And on me with the coast.

40:28 Speaker 4: I made several toasts to you and me and the sea,

40:35 Speaker 4: 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

41:32 Speaker 4: 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.

42:02 Speaker 1: What I feel like I've never really listened to much

42:05 Speaker 1: of him. I mean, what are what are his big

42:07 Speaker 1: hits again? I forget? Well, there's the Leader of the Band? Uh,

42:11 Speaker 1: 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

42:21 Speaker 2: wife and I and mine. That's our wedding song, no kidding,

42:25 Speaker 2: longer and then uh yeah. But I do like twenty

42:30 Speaker 2: his songs, and wow, none of them are let me see,

42:34 Speaker 2: none of them are really are hits?

42:35 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, no, that's cool though, actually you know why,

42:42 Speaker 1: I mean, why be predictable? Yeah, you know, dude, it's

42:46 Speaker 1: cool that you do some some deep cuts there. Yeah.

42:49 Speaker 2: How about a song by Bruce Colburn? Yes, yes, so

42:53 Speaker 2: this is called Lord of the Starfields Again he was really,

42:58 Speaker 2: I mean, this guy is a prolific songwriter, is virtuoso guitarist, Yeah,

43:04 Speaker 2: and really a one hit wonder Wondering Where the Lions

43:07 Speaker 2: Are nineteen seventy five. I don't know if he had, well,

43:11 Speaker 2: Danny rocket launcher, yeah, rocket launcher.

43:14 Speaker 1: Yeah. In the eighties, that's when I first became aware

43:16 Speaker 1: of a right now Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this one

43:20 Speaker 1: is kind of.

43:23 Speaker 2: Lord of the Starfields, not really a religious song, but

43:28 Speaker 2: kind of giving acknowledgment or praise to what I would

43:34 Speaker 2: refer to. And it's not my own term source. Everything

43:37 Speaker 2: 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

44:19 Speaker 4: 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,

45:28 Speaker 4: voice of the no smile of what to you all

45:38 Speaker 4: the warrior only comes home to you. Oh on the

45:49 Speaker 4: 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.

46:34 Speaker 1: That's an oldie. Yeah. Yeah. He's known more for producing, right,

46:38 Speaker 1: He's produced a lot of albums, hasn't.

46:40 Speaker 2: He I'm not certain about that. Yeah, but what I

46:43 Speaker 2: will tell you is his albums are engineered. They're like

46:47 Speaker 2: the finest sounding, like sonically, the finest albums that I

46:52 Speaker 2: that I own, and I own like three hundred albums.

46:54 Speaker 2: 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

47:02 Speaker 2: ago and when vinyl was coming out again and he

47:05 Speaker 2: had a new album and it was on vinyl, and

47:07 Speaker 2: I bought it, and I'll never buy vinyl again. Honestly,

47:10 Speaker 2: it just sounded horrible. Really, Yeah, I was really disappointed

47:14 Speaker 2: with it, especially in comparison to like his old albums

47:17 Speaker 2: from the seventies, which sounds so good.

47:20 Speaker 1: I know, I don't know what it is. I know

47:22 Speaker 1: that some vinyl now is it's not like there's a

47:27 Speaker 1: cheaper way to do it where it's not like, uh

47:30 Speaker 1: where it's basically just they how do they do it?

47:34 Speaker 1: It's not I don't I don't remember exactly, but it's

47:37 Speaker 1: it's there's a cheaper way to do vinyl now that's uh,

47:41 Speaker 1: it's not like the original. It's it's you're basically listening

47:44 Speaker 1: to a CD, but it's on the record, okay, instead

47:46 Speaker 1: of uh, you know, instead of listening to actual vinyl. Yeah,

47:50 Speaker 1: but uh no, that's interesting.

47:51 Speaker 2: It wouldn't surprised me though, if he were a producer,

47:53 Speaker 2: because the guy's brilliant. Yeah yeah, and I've met him

47:56 Speaker 2: a couple of times.

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

48:00 Speaker 1: still plays it. Yeah yeah good.

48:01 Speaker 2: I mean as far as touring, I don't know. But

48:03 Speaker 2: 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

48:08 Speaker 2: couple of years ago and he was almost eighty five

48:11 Speaker 2: years old. He's still doing like one hundred shows a year.

48:13 Speaker 2: Oh wow, crazy?

48:14 Speaker 1: Yeah? Wow? Do you want to do? We have time

48:17 Speaker 1: if you want to do one more? You want to

48:18 Speaker 1: 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

48:23 Speaker 1: in studio, a long time member of the extended family

48:27 Speaker 1: around here. But this is, uh, this is Brooklyn Mike's

48:30 Speaker 1: first time on this show. Yeah, it's fun. I'm very

48:32 Speaker 1: excited about it. Like I said, I've.

48:34 Speaker 2: Started saying before being that I'm not working around regular

48:37 Speaker 2: job anymore now now it affords me time to do

48:40 Speaker 2: you know, or be able to come here in the

48:41 Speaker 2: morning or yeah, you know, because I was working weekends,

48:44 Speaker 2: I was working nights and just wasn't conducive to doing

48:48 Speaker 2: too many other things.

48:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what should we do here? Would it be

48:56 Speaker 1: crazy to do another Gordon Lightfoot song? Not at all,

48:59 Speaker 1: not at all eas your favorite after all? Again, it's

49:03 Speaker 1: very uh, very selfish of me here. No, that's that's

49:06 Speaker 1: quite all right. Plus you do you do songs that

49:10 Speaker 1: a lot of us haven't heard before, so well, see

49:13 Speaker 1: that's see, that's my thing.

49:14 Speaker 2: It's like, hopefully you know, whatever the songs are, you know,

49:17 Speaker 2: people are enjoying them, and hopefully it makes it more

49:20 Speaker 2: 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

49:27 Speaker 2: Eagles songs, but you know, nothing against take it easy.

49:30 Speaker 2: 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

49:34 Speaker 2: 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

49:39 Speaker 1: 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

49:48 Speaker 2: of a moody song. This is also an old one,

49:52 Speaker 2: just goes back I don't know, sixty six, maybe nineteen

49:55 Speaker 2: sixty six, sixty seven, can remember, I mean, Gordon was

49:59 Speaker 2: you he was performing way back in the early fifties,

50:02 Speaker 2: I think it was. So this song is about the

50:08 Speaker 2: four seasons, which you know, was kind of apropos right now,

50:11 Speaker 2: we're kind of changing seasons here. He starts starts with this.

50:16 Speaker 2: It's four verses and starts with the spring, summer, autumn,

50:19 Speaker 2: you know, ends with the winter, but then by the

50:21 Speaker 2: 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

50:31 Speaker 2: you really listen to it, it could be related to

50:34 Speaker 2: a relationship between two people. So there's that analogy, so

50:39 Speaker 2: to speak. And this was actually the first day that

50:43 Speaker 2: I started that I studied guitar. I was determined to

50:46 Speaker 2: play a full song the first day, so I went

50:49 Speaker 2: I had my lessons, and I went home and I learned.

50:53 Speaker 2: I played this song the first day. So this is

50:55 Speaker 2: the first song that I learned how to play. On

50:57 Speaker 2: the guitar, and it's entitled pussy Willows Cattails.

51:00 Speaker 1: Okay, so all right, good luck with this one, Brooklyn

51:03 Speaker 1: Mike live in studio.

51:04 Speaker 7: Okay, m.

51:27 Speaker 4: Pussy willows, cattails, soft winds and roses, rain pools in

51:35 Speaker 4: the woodlands, water to my knees, shivery, quivering the warm

51:44 Speaker 4: breath of spring. Pussy willows, cattails, soft winds and roses,

51:59 Speaker 4: cat birds and corn fields. Day dreams together, riding on

52:06 Speaker 4: the roadside. The dust gets in your rise, raveling, disheveling.

52:14 Speaker 4: The summer nights can bring pussy willows, cattails, soft winds

52:22 Speaker 4: and roses, slendered rays and colored days, dark blue horizons,

52:43 Speaker 4: naked limbs and wheat bios, Hazy afternoons, voicing, rejoicing. The

52:52 Speaker 4: 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

53:15 Speaker 4: 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

53:58 Speaker 2: for sedation at the Doctor's Eye.

54:02 Speaker 1: You sound great. You sound great, Brooklyn Mike, thank you

54:05 Speaker 1: so much, my friend. This has been wonderful. It's really

54:07 Speaker 1: been my pleasure to be here. Thank you, Matt. Absolutely,

54:09 Speaker 1: and you're gonna be on Retrospectrum Radio right next Friday. Yeah,

54:12 Speaker 1: it's coming from us this coming Friday. I should say

54:15 Speaker 1: very good, very good, by the way, before we run

54:17 Speaker 1: out of time too. I just want to remind everybody

54:19 Speaker 1: for those listening live on Saturday tonight, the pop punk

54:23 Speaker 1: pop up at Terminus Underground of course, presented by New

54:27 Speaker 1: Hampshire Underground. Jenny and I will be there the event

54:31 Speaker 1: doors at seven pm, All ages fifteen dollars entry, twenty

54:33 Speaker 1: dollars VIP lounge. Come see some great bands, Island of

54:36 Speaker 1: Alaska on what You're On gr Im and of course

54:40 Speaker 1: some great artwork. Jenny will have a table setup. Also,

54:43 Speaker 1: Dennis Layton will be there with his art with Love

54:46 Speaker 1: from Faith, Elements and Fantasy, Brenda Drew Designs, Cosmos Creations,

54:50 Speaker 1: Andre Dumont, Prospero's Painting's Mystics and Chelsea Purington Photography. That

54:55 Speaker 1: is tonight, doors at seven at one thirty four Hayines

54:58 Speaker 1: Street and Nashua, New Hampshire. You can go to New

55:00 Speaker 1: Hampshire Underground dot org for more information. So we look

55:04 Speaker 1: forward to seeing you there and I believe this is

55:07 Speaker 1: part of the Winter Stroll in Nashua, so great events,

55:11 Speaker 1: so come see us. By the way, if you're wondering

55:12 Speaker 1: what happened to Jenny, she went home because we had

55:15 Speaker 1: a very important package delivered, so she took an Uber

55:18 Speaker 1: home microphone, a new microphone for my podcast studio at home,

55:21 Speaker 1: and it's an expensive item, so she went home to

55:25 Speaker 1: 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

55:32 Speaker 1: been absolutely wonderful to have you here and we'll do

55:36 Speaker 1: it again in the Future're coming back in January, right

55:37 Speaker 1: 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

55:43 Speaker 1: anything people should know about where to find you online

55:45 Speaker 1: if they want to book you, or now that you're

55:47 Speaker 1: 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

55:55 Speaker 2: they're under my name, which is Michael Plotino plot I

55:58 Speaker 2: n O okay, first time I've given it out. Oh yes,

56:01 Speaker 2: but there's just I've just got a couple of videos

56:02 Speaker 2: on there. I'm just starting to try to have some

56:07 Speaker 2: kind of online presence. It's very very new to me. Yeah,

56:10 Speaker 2: you know, I'm still used to recording on a four

56:13 Speaker 2: track cassette, which I love doing, right, you know, So

56:18 Speaker 2: certainly if anybody listening really wants to get in touch

56:21 Speaker 2: with me through any of the radio shows, all you

56:24 Speaker 2: guys know me and have my contact so that would.

56:27 Speaker 1: Be awesome, absolutely absolutely all right, Brooklyn, Mike, thank you

56:30 Speaker 1: so much, And of course if you missed any part

56:32 Speaker 1: of today should will be up in just a little

56:34 Speaker 1: bit at wmnhradio dot org and at my website Mattconnorton

56:38 Speaker 1: dot com. And that's gonna do it for us for now.

56:40 Speaker 1: 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