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TMP321 WACKO WADE WRIGHT: RIDING WITH THE KING · Troubled Men Podcast

• 0:15
  Speaker A: Greetings, troubled listeners. Welcome back to the Troubled Men podcast. I am Renee Coleman, sitting once again in Snake and Jake's Christmas club lounge in the heart of the Clempire with my co host, the original troubled man for troubled times and future mayor of New Orleans, Mr. Manny Chevrolet. Welcome, Manny.
• 0:33
  Speaker B: Hey.
• 0:34
  Speaker A: Hey.
• 0:35
  Speaker B: What's going on?
• 0:36
  Speaker A: Oh, not too much, man. It's been a. Been a while. Few. Few weeks of you've been gone.
• 0:42
  Speaker B: Busy.
• 0:43
  Speaker A: Been busy. I know you've been doing mayor stuff. Running for mayor.
• 0:47
  Speaker B: Running for mayor stuff.
• 0:49
  Speaker A: So how's that all going?
• 0:50
  Speaker B: Work my job.
• 0:51
  Speaker A: Right, right. Kid school is back. You got a million kids with textbooks they need.
• 0:56
  Speaker B: Yes, I got.
• 0:57
  Speaker A: Everybody needs something from you.
• 0:59
  Speaker B: Everybody wants something. You know.
• 1:02
  Speaker A: They don't have anything for you.
• 1:03
  Speaker B: They got nothing for me. But see, that's part of my campaign though. It's ask not what the city can do for you, ask what you can do for me.
• 1:14
  Speaker A: Okay. It's got a ring to it. I like it.
• 1:17
  Speaker B: That's what I'm all about.
• 1:19
  Speaker A: Okay. Anybody.
• 1:21
  Speaker B: This city doesn't get it right this time around, I'm done.
• 1:24
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 1:24
  Speaker B: And I'm done.
• 1:25
  Speaker A: Yeah. Cashing in your chips.
• 1:27
  Speaker B: Yeah. And speaking of our mayor. Our mayor's indicted. Yes, that was big news in the last couple weeks.
• 1:34
  Speaker A: That was big news.
• 1:35
  Speaker B: She's got indicted and she's gonna plea on September 11, I think is her plea.
• 1:42
  Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah. Somewhere around there.
• 1:44
  Speaker B: She's her day in court and we'll see. What if she's already made a deal, you know? Huh?
• 1:49
  Speaker A: Well, I. Yeah, I can't see her making a deal. You know, if she. She was going to make a deal. She's had all that time to do that before the indictments came out.
• 1:57
  Speaker B: But will those two guys. Her lover turn on her?
• 2:01
  Speaker A: Is. Well, that's. That's a good question. Will officer Vappy think. Think, you know, I better get while the getting's good and you know, I.
• 2:10
  Speaker B: Didn'T know latoya's husband had died.
• 2:13
  Speaker A: I didn't know that. Yeah. That was over a year ago.
• 2:16
  Speaker B: Oh really?
• 2:16
  Speaker A: But while this was all died of embarrassment. Right? While the.
• 2:21
  Speaker B: Is going on.
• 2:22
  Speaker A: I know while all this was. Had already been going on, he was.
• 2:26
  Speaker B: He just dropped dead.
• 2:28
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was.
• 2:30
  Speaker B: He was. He was in the overhead bin on an airplane. She was taking a trip.
• 2:34
  Speaker A: Well, somebody, somebody was saying up there, somebody was saying, I hope they did an autopsy on him. You know, who knows? You know, some of these. These different.
• 2:47
  Speaker B: I also heard that at his funeral she was wailing like A crazy woman.
• 2:54
  Speaker C: I heard that.
• 2:55
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I could. I could see that.
• 2:58
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 2:58
  Speaker B: She was wailing like a crazy woman. Like, you know, like crazy women do, I guess. But I did not know he was dead. Yeah, but, you know, she's. She's got. What?
• 3:09
  Speaker C: Her.
• 3:10
  Speaker B: Her last day in office officially, I think will be January 10th.
• 3:14
  Speaker A: That sounds about right.
• 3:15
  Speaker B: 10Th or 11th or like that. And we'll see what happens in the next few months.
• 3:19
  Speaker A: You'll be taking over the 11th, I'll.
• 3:21
  Speaker B: Be taking over the 11th.
• 3:22
  Speaker A: Right. Okay.
• 3:23
  Speaker B: And my first thing I'm gonna do is take a trip.
• 3:27
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 3:30
  Speaker B: Because I hear that's what you do, right? You take trips. You go and spread the good word around.
• 3:35
  Speaker A: Uhhuh. Go visit some sister cities of New Orleans.
• 3:38
  Speaker B: Yeah, brother cities, cousins, hooker cities of New Orleans, you know, shitty cities.
• 3:46
  Speaker A: Start a. Start a sister city with Las Vegas.
• 3:51
  Speaker B: Right.
• 3:53
  Speaker A: Go back and shuttle back and forth between.
• 3:55
  Speaker B: Paris is one of our sisters.
• 3:56
  Speaker A: We have all kinds. We have way too many. It's, you know, it's like. I think Liverpool is. Is in there somewhere. Really? Yeah.
• 4:03
  Speaker B: How many sisters do we need?
• 4:05
  Speaker A: That's what I'm saying. Yeah. No, we got a lot of them. Probably like, you know, some. Some weird ones too. Abu Dhabi or something. I don't know.
• 4:12
  Speaker B: And she had to go see all of them.
• 4:14
  Speaker A: Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta go.
• 4:15
  Speaker B: The sisters are doing it for themselves.
• 4:17
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
• 4:19
  Speaker B: Doing it for themselves. But, you know, thinking, you know, I've been campaigning and going to some forums and stuff and. And a lot of these, the same subjects keep coming up as they do every election year. And one that came up, which I thought was a new one, and it has to do with crime and stuff, but is this facial recognition stuff?
• 4:41
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's getting big.
• 4:42
  Speaker B: That's a huge issue. And I thought about it, and I thought about it because I was. It was like seven or eight of us, and I had a few moments to think about it before it was my turn to answer it. And I said, this is what I feel. This is what I said. I said, facial recognition will not stop crime or save lives. It will only force serial killers to. To work from home.
• 5:11
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 5:12
  Speaker B: And it'll. It'll also make. It'll make priests stop enjoying Decadence Fest.
• 5:20
  Speaker A: Okay. Gonna have to reel it back in.
• 5:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, so that's what I thought. And when I said that, I got no reaction except blank faces from people.
• 5:29
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. You could have said something like, you know, facial recognition, it would help me recognize all you people. I Don't. I don't know who the you people are.
• 5:38
  Speaker B: How'd you get in my living you.
• 5:40
  Speaker A: Where'd you come from? Well, yeah, so. So you've been around all these people in, in person. I don't know how much pressing of the flesh is going on at these forums, if there's any fellowship between the candidates.
• 5:52
  Speaker B: Well, I've been going to all the forums for the losers.
• 5:56
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 5:56
  Speaker B: The loser forums where the top three won't even bother going to.
• 6:00
  Speaker A: Right. Let's. Now, when you first were running for Mayor, you know, 20 years ago, they would. The initial debates or forums, you'd have everybody there.
• 6:08
  Speaker C: Right? Yes.
• 6:09
  Speaker B: And now it' the money talks now.
• 6:14
  Speaker A: Because I think they're trying to keep you away from the top candidates.
• 6:18
  Speaker B: Maybe that's.
• 6:19
  Speaker A: This is in the Manny Chevrolet era that they instituted this.
• 6:23
  Speaker B: Well, they always say that they. It's all about the polling. Who's polling the best.
• 6:27
  Speaker A: Right.
• 6:28
  Speaker B: Because you got to remember like a year, like this year is there's 15 candidates or something, so they've got to rent out a bigger hall, they've got to get more microphones, they've got to get more people. So it's all about money. Okay, so that's why they always say, they always want the top three or top five people who are polling. That's what, that's their reason.
• 6:48
  Speaker A: Right.
• 6:49
  Speaker B: You know, but it could be they just don't want you there.
• 6:51
  Speaker A: Yeah. You know, they don't want all the foolishness.
• 6:54
  Speaker B: They don't want me, you know, going to the craft service table and filling my pockets up, you know. Yeah.
• 7:01
  Speaker A: Well, so you've been around some of these other lower tier candidates. You've been around Frank Scurlock, I imagine.
• 7:08
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 7:08
  Speaker A: But you, you just fist bumped him, right?
• 7:11
  Speaker B: Yeah, I kind of did the elbow thing.
• 7:14
  Speaker A: Okay, Right.
• 7:16
  Speaker B: I was so wanted to bring up that issue that he had, you know, eight years ago, but I didn't. I didn't want him. You know who he reminds me of? He reminds me of one of those. I see them all the time at my job at, on campus. He reminds me of one of those, like, fat frat boys who, you know, is always like, has his shirt untucked.
• 7:40
  Speaker A: Right, right, right. Kind of a Chris Far Farley type, almost.
• 7:43
  Speaker B: Kind of a Chris Farley type.
• 7:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, I know what you mean.
• 7:46
  Speaker B: But you know what he's having for his birthday next month? He's having a huge toga party.
• 7:52
  Speaker A: Huh. Okay.
• 7:53
  Speaker B: I'm invited.
• 7:54
  Speaker A: You're invited. All right. You must have, you know.
• 7:57
  Speaker B: Well, he Was inviting everyone. I guess he doesn't have many friends. Yeah, he was inviting all the candidates and their wives.
• 8:02
  Speaker A: Well, maybe that's why he's running, you know, just to make some friends, expand his horizons.
• 8:07
  Speaker B: I guess so. But yeah, he does. I am very much of a Chris Farley kind of guy. It's just like you look at him and you wonder who's driving Ivy.
• 8:15
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 8:15
  Speaker B: That kind of thing. But he seems like a good guy. And the other candidates now, now the.
• 8:22
  Speaker A: Other one I have a question about is Ricky Twigs. Ricky Twigs, is he a real boy? Does he turn out to be a real boy?
• 8:28
  Speaker B: He's a real person, okay. He's a very well dressed person, okay? He's got an organization, he's got a manager, he's got a web designer. He's got the whole nine yards for his campaign, okay. What he doesn't have are the votes.
• 8:42
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 8:43
  Speaker B: Or the money. But he's running on. Basically he's run on one platform, like a lot of these candidates do sometimes. You know, like the kid Jonah, who got the wheelchair access for the street.
• 8:54
  Speaker A: Right.
• 8:55
  Speaker B: He's basically his main issue, and it's a good issue is New Orleans has had like over $500 million that they got from Katrina and they've yet to spend it.
• 9:08
  Speaker A: Right.
• 9:09
  Speaker B: Why, yeah, why haven't you spent this money?
• 9:11
  Speaker A: Excellent, excellent.
• 9:12
  Speaker B: And it's been since Landru. It's been now Cattrall, you know, and why haven't you spent this money to fix our streets, you know, all this kind of stuff? And that's his big issue. And he basically couldn't really answer any other question except that question, you know. Okay, and how to infrastructure and all that.
• 9:30
  Speaker A: Right.
• 9:30
  Speaker B: Like, you know, we've got like, you know, five, you know, $500 million just sitting there, you know, and they say.
• 9:36
  Speaker A: They say we don't have the personnel. It's like hire people. Hire people, Expand these, these, these departments and stop giving the contracts.
• 9:45
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, stop giving contracts to the good old boys who basically tear up the street and they leave for a year.
• 9:50
  Speaker A: Right.
• 9:51
  Speaker B: You know, that kind of thing. But yeah, he's. He's quite a character. He, he very well dressed, very well groomed.
• 9:57
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 9:58
  Speaker B: He's like. I think he's like a psych major or something. He's.
• 10:01
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think he works. Might work for that rehab place or something. He's a counselor of some, some type or a consultant or, you know, and people. It doesn't get their hands dirty.
• 10:13
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:14
  Speaker C: Ex.
• 10:15
  Speaker B: He's one of those kind of guys, but he seems like a good guy and. Yeah, but twigs. Yeah, I'll probably see him again.
• 10:23
  Speaker A: Twiggy, he likes to be called. I don't know, maybe not.
• 10:27
  Speaker B: He was one of those guys who wore those really, really thin pants.
• 10:30
  Speaker A: Huh.
• 10:31
  Speaker B: You know, and. And those. Those hipster shoes kind of thing.
• 10:36
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 10:37
  Speaker B: I don't know. I think he's from here. I. I have no idea, but.
• 10:40
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 10:41
  Speaker B: The other, the one who was very funny was this one lady. I forget her name. Now. There's two women on the panel, but the first form I did with her, and she, you know, just like, you know, there's everyone sitting on a panel kind of thing, and she had. She had two. She put out two pink boxing gloves in front of her microphone props. Yeah, it's just. She brought up props. It was two pink boxing gloves. Like, you know, she's ready. She's ready for the fight.
• 11:07
  Speaker A: Right?
• 11:08
  Speaker B: You know, that kind of thing.
• 11:09
  Speaker A: Did she ever address the boxing gloves? Did anyone ever ask her about the.
• 11:12
  Speaker B: Boxing in the closing remarks? I did. I said, I just want to thank, you know, the forum here and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I just said, you know, what's with the gloves? No one's here to hurt you. We're all here to, you know, to get along, that kind of thing.
• 11:29
  Speaker A: Did she ever answer the boxing gloves question?
• 11:31
  Speaker B: Yeah, she. She was like, what?
• 11:34
  Speaker A: Something like, okay, what are you making.
• 11:36
  Speaker B: Fun of my clothes for?
• 11:38
  Speaker A: Okay, all right.
• 11:39
  Speaker B: It's like, calm down.
• 11:40
  Speaker A: She was looking for a confrontation.
• 11:41
  Speaker B: Maybe she was. Anyway, okay, if. Feel free to butt in.
• 11:46
  Speaker A: Yeah, no, he's. He's. He's. He's picking his spots here, I think.
• 11:51
  Speaker B: I'm waiting.
• 11:51
  Speaker C: I'm waiting for my lawn sign.
• 11:53
  Speaker A: All right.
• 11:54
  Speaker B: I want to see. Coming.
• 11:55
  Speaker C: My lawn sign brother. I'm in your camp, Manny.
• 11:58
  Speaker A: Chevrolet for mayor. Lawn sign.
• 12:00
  Speaker B: Yeah. All right, all right.
• 12:01
  Speaker A: We. Yeah.
• 12:02
  Speaker B: What else has been going on with you since.
• 12:04
  Speaker A: What else has been going on? Oh, you know, playing jobs. It's actually kind of a little bit of a slow time here, but got a full weekend here coming up, playing with Ed Volker and Dave Easley. And the Iguanas are continuing our residency over at the Carousel Bar Hotel Motley on. And picked up a gig with the great little Freddie King last weekend, which is now.
• 12:36
  Speaker B: How small is Freddie?
• 12:38
  Speaker A: Ah, he's. He's about your size, I would say, you know. Yes, he's.
• 12:43
  Speaker C: He's.
• 12:43
  Speaker A: He's a full adult.
• 12:44
  Speaker B: What does he. What does he play?
• 12:46
  Speaker A: He's a guitar player, singer. Great electric country Blues man. And actually, our guest here is his drummer and manager and. And lifelong friend for the past 30 something years. We're going to get into all that.
• 13:00
  Speaker B: You've been ripping him off for years.
• 13:02
  Speaker A: It's been keeping him up.
• 13:04
  Speaker C: I've been keeping him straight up. Standing straight up.
• 13:07
  Speaker B: Brother, you've been squeezing that lemon 36 years.
• 13:11
  Speaker C: I think he's five foot four.
• 13:13
  Speaker B: Oh, I'm taller than that.
• 13:14
  Speaker C: There you go.
• 13:15
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 13:15
  Speaker C: Oh, you beat him by two inches.
• 13:17
  Speaker B: Three.
• 13:17
  Speaker A: Three. All right. Yes, he is little.
• 13:21
  Speaker B: I just pulled out enough to win. Okay, we're talking hide our penises here.
• 13:28
  Speaker C: Hey, you know what? We could put a lawn sign in Freddy's yard too.
• 13:32
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 13:32
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 13:33
  Speaker A: All right. We've had a lot of different people drop into the Iguanas Carousel Bar gig. One of them, one night we had Jimmy Anselmo, former guest, you know, proprietor of Jimmy's, another former guest, Steve Lowery. And then a third former guest, Sydney Smith came in.
• 13:53
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 13:54
  Speaker A: And they were all old friends and they hung around, watched a couple of sets of the Iguanas. But I got to talk to Sydney briefly now. Sydney's been in the news a bunch. Have you seen that?
• 14:06
  Speaker B: I heard about it. I haven't really had time to watch.
• 14:08
  Speaker A: Right, right. So, you know, Sydney had a suit against the. The coroner's office for. For having, you know, misplaced his. Not being able to identify his son for months. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he actually had a successful suit against the. The coroner's office and then, you know, for like punitive damages or emotional distress or something, you know, and. And just to admit fault, that's what he wanted to set a precedent so that this doesn't happen with somebody else's family member.
• 14:38
  Speaker B: Right.
• 14:38
  Speaker A: But. But then he had. He. He dislikes the coroner so much, he went and filed another suit which like to have an injunction to. Because, you know, Sidney is. Is ill. Has some kind of. Some Some kind of thing. It's. You know, he's his. Thinks he may not make the year, but he doesn't want the coroner to be able to handle his remains.
• 15:05
  Speaker C: So.
• 15:05
  Speaker A: So he got like a, you know, like a stay away order from my. From my body.
• 15:09
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 15:10
  Speaker B: Stay away from my dead body.
• 15:11
  Speaker A: So they're gonna have to have another coroner come in and get that guy who's.
• 15:17
  Speaker B: Who's wanted in Arizona, working in the Northshore, that young coroner who won.
• 15:22
  Speaker A: Oh, okay. I don't know about that. Oh, yeah, they may get him. He's right over there on the North Shore. I don't know, maybe they get some by from Jefferson Parish.
• 15:31
  Speaker B: No, it was a guy who's he who won the election on the North Shore. But he, he was, he was a corner in Arizona, he. And he, he lost his license, but yet he won the election on the North Shore.
• 15:45
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 15:45
  Speaker B: Without a license. So maybe they can get him. I forget his name.
• 15:50
  Speaker A: All right.
• 15:51
  Speaker B: I don't know.
• 15:51
  Speaker A: Yeah, he might be good for Sydney.
• 15:53
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Sydney's.
• 15:55
  Speaker A: He's going down fighting, man.
• 15:56
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, I hope. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. Why? Yeah, why not? Don't touch me, you bastard.
• 16:04
  Speaker A: Right, right, right.
• 16:05
  Speaker B: Whatever his name is. I don't know what his name is.
• 16:08
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, but shout out to Sydney Smith.
• 16:11
  Speaker B: Well, at least he's going out. I thought he was really ill where.
• 16:13
  Speaker A: He couldn't leave the house, you know, I think he has a good days and bad days.
• 16:17
  Speaker B: Oh, really?
• 16:18
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 16:19
  Speaker B: Speaking of good days and bad days, did you hear. I'm sure you've seen pictures of them in your lifetime. Courtney and Britney, Hansel, those conjoined twins. They're conjoined at the head, I think.
• 16:33
  Speaker A: I've seen them. Yeah, they must be all grown up now, huh?
• 16:35
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, they, they got married. The two of them got married to some guy and they had a baby.
• 16:42
  Speaker A: Huh?
• 16:43
  Speaker B: They had a baby. And who will be having a lifetime of problems, I'm sure as well.
• 16:50
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it's a complicated situation.
• 16:54
  Speaker B: I was thinking about this. So this guy married both of them, did he?
• 16:59
  Speaker A: Well, he can't really do that.
• 17:00
  Speaker B: Well, it could be Mormon, I don't know.
• 17:03
  Speaker A: Well, yeah, even.
• 17:04
  Speaker B: That's it. I saw a picture of them together and so, so I'm thinking to myself, which one did he impregnate?
• 17:14
  Speaker A: Well, it must be the one that he married.
• 17:16
  Speaker B: Well, I don't know that because they.
• 17:17
  Speaker A: Have, they have two different bodies. It's just they're connected, you know, they're not, they don't share like a torso or anything. Like some.
• 17:24
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, but it's also the best of both worlds for him because they're twins.
• 17:28
  Speaker A: Is it? Is it the best of both worlds?
• 17:30
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, because let's say he gets in a fight with one, he still has the other to bang if he wants to bang the other one.
• 17:36
  Speaker A: Yeah, but he's got to listen to both of them.
• 17:38
  Speaker B: Yeah, but I think that's a great deal.
• 17:42
  Speaker A: They got him coming and going, man.
• 17:45
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, but I just, I, I. Because I'm sure they're both in love with him.
• 17:49
  Speaker A: Are they?
• 17:50
  Speaker B: I, I don't know. Conjoined twins.
• 17:52
  Speaker A: Might hate one of them, but, I.
• 17:54
  Speaker B: Mean, he's got to be a freak.
• 17:56
  Speaker A: Well, you know, that's a special kind of man. Yeah.
• 17:59
  Speaker B: You know, what if the lights are out, he just pops the wrong hole. It's like, oh, I thought that was you, honey. No, it's me. You know, it's crazy, man.
• 18:09
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 18:09
  Speaker A: I don't know. I don't know. It's above my pay grade.
• 18:13
  Speaker B: What does that mean?
• 18:14
  Speaker A: It's something. I'm not familiar with that kind of situation. I can't even imagine all the.
• 18:21
  Speaker B: I mean, they've got to be really tight, those two sisters.
• 18:24
  Speaker A: Well, yeah.
• 18:25
  Speaker B: Like to, like, watch your other sister get banged by some guy, and you're thinking to yourself, damn, what about me? When am I gonna find a guy? And then what if she finds a guy, the other one?
• 18:35
  Speaker A: Right.
• 18:36
  Speaker B: So they're all gonna be like Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice in bed.
• 18:40
  Speaker A: That's quite an image there. Yeah.
• 18:44
  Speaker B: Now, could they. What happens if the one that's married to the guy, the other one marries conjoined male twins?
• 18:53
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 18:53
  Speaker B: We're talking freak city, man.
• 18:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the. The odds are really stacked against something like that.
• 19:00
  Speaker B: I think they should run for a mayor.
• 19:02
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 19:02
  Speaker B: You know, all right. I'd vote for them.
• 19:04
  Speaker A: Okay. You know, to come establish residency. Well, maybe we should get our guest in here. Sure.
• 19:10
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I'm ready.
• 19:11
  Speaker A: Been patient. Yeah.
• 19:12
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'm ready.
• 19:13
  Speaker A: Right on.
• 19:14
  Speaker C: Interesting conversation.
• 19:15
  Speaker A: Okay. Thank you.
• 19:18
  Speaker C: All right.
• 19:19
  Speaker A: Well, we have a terrific guest. He's a fantastic drummer, record producer, songwriter, founder of Made Right Records. He's played with Electric Country Blues Man, Little Freddie king, for over 30 years and managed his career since 1993. And he's produced all Freddy's records since the 2000s, including the latest 2025s. I used to Be down record. Terrific record here. We're going to get into all that. He's played New Orleans his whole life. Get into all that and much more. But without further ado, the great Mr. Wacko Wade. Welcome, Wacko.
• 19:56
  Speaker C: Thank you, Renee. Great to be here. I'm honored to be on your show. I'm honored to meet the future mayor of New Orleans.
• 20:04
  Speaker A: Future mayor of New Orleans. That's right.
• 20:05
  Speaker C: It's a beautiful thing.
• 20:06
  Speaker A: It is a beautiful thing. Now, now, Wacko, I've wondered this. I haven't known you a whole long time, but I feel like we've, you know, we have a certain chemistry, certain kindred spirit kind of thing. How did you get the name wacko.
• 20:21
  Speaker C: Oh, the wacko developed a while back just because of the drumming.
• 20:25
  Speaker A: Oh, okay. What else in your drum style?
• 20:27
  Speaker C: When I was younger, I had a little strength, you know.
• 20:30
  Speaker A: Oh, okay, so you whacked the drummer.
• 20:31
  Speaker C: I could knock the shit out of them.
• 20:33
  Speaker A: Oh, okay. I gotcha. Okay.
• 20:34
  Speaker C: As I got older, that kind of decreased, but they still called me wacko.
• 20:38
  Speaker A: So it didn't have anything to do with you being wacky.
• 20:40
  Speaker C: The mentality was combined with the power.
• 20:44
  Speaker A: Okay? Right.
• 20:44
  Speaker C: The mentality was I was halfway wacko. And the drums were the other whack.
• 20:48
  Speaker A: Okay, I like it. I like it.
• 20:50
  Speaker C: But it stuck with me. So that's why I made a corporation called Wacko Wave Production, which handles all the music business for little Freddie King.
• 20:59
  Speaker A: Nice.
• 21:00
  Speaker C: You know, so that's the way we roll, dude.
• 21:03
  Speaker A: Right? You got it all in house. You don't have to worry about anybody pulling something fast on you, y', all, or. Or on Freddy and doing it wrong.
• 21:11
  Speaker C: Renee, you. You experienced in the business. You understand how it works. When I first got in the business, and you'd go to these people, you know, and ask for help and all, and they'd rob you. They'd rob you, man.
• 21:24
  Speaker A: Sure. They don't think anything of it.
• 21:26
  Speaker C: No, man. Without the gun. You don't have bullets in a gun, but they rob you. So when I met Freddie and I learned of all the royalties and the songs you've written, and he's never got, you know, two nickels to rub together. And so Freddie didn't kind of trust, you know, the Caucasian dude anymore.
• 21:46
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 21:46
  Speaker C: You know what I mean?
• 21:46
  Speaker A: Right?
• 21:47
  Speaker C: And so I promised him. I said, look, we're gonna have a 360 degree partnership, okay? Me and you are gonna own everything. 50. 50. Is that okay? We make a dollar. I get 50 cents. You get 50 cents. And so that's the partnership with. We went into 36 years ago.
• 22:06
  Speaker A: Nice.
• 22:07
  Speaker C: And so I started following his publishing, you know, songwriting with bmi. I got him registered into bmi.
• 22:15
  Speaker A: Right.
• 22:15
  Speaker C: His original record company didn't even care about registering them.
• 22:19
  Speaker A: Oh, man.
• 22:20
  Speaker C: The original record company just wanted to record and get the disc out and start selling, huh? Nothing about the artist publishing. You got to have your own manager, dude.
• 22:30
  Speaker A: Right.
• 22:30
  Speaker C: Your manager's got to do that for you.
• 22:32
  Speaker A: Oh, geez.
• 22:33
  Speaker C: Now here's Freddy. Freddie, I don't know. Sure, you know, but that's how I got started. But we on equal terms and we split everything. He lets me handle the business for his bookings, and I say, dude, it's called show business. Right. And you the show. Okay, I'm the business.
• 22:52
  Speaker A: Right.
• 22:52
  Speaker C: Show business. And so that's the way we roll.
• 22:56
  Speaker A: Nice.
• 22:57
  Speaker C: And we've been doing a long time, and we up and, you know, we shorten the tooth now. I mean, I'm 81 years old. He's 85 years old.
• 23:04
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 23:05
  Speaker C: So we weighing him down. We losing power. But we still like playing our music.
• 23:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, man.
• 23:10
  Speaker C: And lo and behold, people still like to come and. And shake their booty to Freddie.
• 23:15
  Speaker A: Yeah, man. Yeah. People love the band.
• 23:17
  Speaker C: It's a booty shaker, dude.
• 23:18
  Speaker A: And look, chicks dig Freddie. Little Freddie King, man. The. The chicks come and I guess they figure, oh, you know, he's. He's safe. I can flirt with him. He's not going to. He's not going to come feel me up. He's a gentleman, you know.
• 23:30
  Speaker C: You got it. You have it, brother. So the thing is. Oh, he's so cute.
• 23:35
  Speaker A: Right? Right.
• 23:36
  Speaker C: I said, well, what about the drummer?
• 23:40
  Speaker A: You're kidding, too.
• 23:41
  Speaker C: Yeah, we were in. We were in Paris one time doing a gig at the JVC theater. And big crowd there. And we finished playing, we go to the dressing room, and, man, we were sweating bullets, drinking beers, and I get a knock on the door, and the guard said, man, look, they got a line of chicks out here. Want to meet y'. All. I said, oh, dude, let him in one at a time. So the guard lets them in one at a time, and they start. They went to Freddie. Went to Freddie. They went to Freddie. All of a sudden, Freddie had, like, eight broads talking to Freddie. And I'm sitting over there. I said, freddy, could you please send a couple over here, dude, Give me.
• 24:22
  Speaker A: A couple of cast offs.
• 24:24
  Speaker B: How long ago was this? Or was this just recently?
• 24:27
  Speaker C: No, this was a while ago.
• 24:28
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 24:29
  Speaker C: We've been overseas, man. We've been to 18 countries, you know, 150 cities. I mean, we used to rule when we was in 30, 40s, you know. Yeah. But at 80, dude, hell with it. Yeah, they got to come see us, dude.
• 24:42
  Speaker A: Right. We got to make a house call.
• 24:44
  Speaker B: Rolling a different way.
• 24:45
  Speaker C: You got to come to the Night Ward to see the King now.
• 24:48
  Speaker A: Right? Right.
• 24:49
  Speaker B: I've never seen Freddie King.
• 24:52
  Speaker C: Long live the King, dude.
• 24:53
  Speaker A: That's terrific.
• 24:54
  Speaker C: If you want. If you want by water vote, you got to come to BJ's and I'll put you on stage, I'll introduce you. This is the next mayor of the city of New Orleans. There he is, dude.
• 25:04
  Speaker B: I don't really.
• 25:05
  Speaker C: The Chevrolet Man's here.
• 25:06
  Speaker A: That's right. Well, wacko, let's go back a little bit, talk about your early life here. So. I know I. I know already. And I can also tell by your accent that you are from New Orleans.
• 25:21
  Speaker C: Gotta have concrete under my feet, brother.
• 25:24
  Speaker A: Right on. That's how me and Manny are, too. We don't like the dirt. We don't like the trees.
• 25:29
  Speaker B: It's pretty dirty out there.
• 25:30
  Speaker A: Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't like that. So. So what neighborhood did you grow up in?
• 25:35
  Speaker C: I grew up in the mid city.
• 25:37
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 25:38
  Speaker C: Mid city. Alexander Street, Canal street, my city park. Oh, right on Orleans Avenue, up in there.
• 25:46
  Speaker A: Okay. Well, yeah, that's my old neighborhood where I had my first.
• 25:49
  Speaker C: Used to walk to the park as a kid and, you know, playing at Park City park and stuff. That's when they had the canal. Orleans Avenue was a canal. It was a drainage canal back in the day.
• 25:59
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 25:59
  Speaker C: And each side of the roads was shelled. It was the white clamshell roads. It wasn't paved or nothing. And we play in that canal. But that's where I grew up.
• 26:10
  Speaker A: This is like the 40s.
• 26:12
  Speaker C: No, this is the 50s.
• 26:13
  Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
• 26:15
  Speaker C: 55.
• 26:16
  Speaker A: Oh, right on. So, and you went to elementary school in that neighborhood?
• 26:20
  Speaker C: I went to. I went to John Dabart, which is on Orleans Avenue.
• 26:26
  Speaker A: Daubert.
• 26:26
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Until they. I was in the second grade and they threw me out.
• 26:30
  Speaker A: Really? Why is that?
• 26:31
  Speaker C: They locked me in a closet, and my mother got mad that they locked me in the closet.
• 26:34
  Speaker A: Well, why would they do that?
• 26:35
  Speaker C: Well, I was bad.
• 26:36
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 26:37
  Speaker C: I was starting my wacko series, you know.
• 26:39
  Speaker A: Oh, really?
• 26:40
  Speaker B: So when did you come out of the closet?
• 26:42
  Speaker C: When my mother came and got me. Said, I'm taking you out of this school.
• 26:45
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 26:46
  Speaker C: And so she. She said, I'll fix your ass now. So we walked to the streetcar. Canal Street 7 says to get the streetcar. We went to Sacred Heart of Jesus on Canal Street. And we walked into the. Whatever it is and had these ladies in there, which these hoods and these white chest protectors on. And she said, this is where you're going. And so I enrolled the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• 27:10
  Speaker A: Okay, well, you were Catholic already, I'm imagining, huh?
• 27:13
  Speaker C: Well, yeah, as a Catholic, I went to St Anthony of Padawa and walked there on Sunday.
• 27:17
  Speaker A: Okay, but so were those nuns in the full habit.
• 27:21
  Speaker C: They straightened me out, dude.
• 27:22
  Speaker A: They straightened me out.
• 27:24
  Speaker C: She said, do whatever you got to do to this sucker. Straighten them out.
• 27:27
  Speaker B: Oh, gosh.
• 27:28
  Speaker A: So.
• 27:28
  Speaker C: So they bust your knuckles and pop you in the ear and twist your ear and stuff back then. They can manhandle you back then.
• 27:34
  Speaker A: Oh, sure.
• 27:37
  Speaker C: Beautiful thing.
• 27:40
  Speaker A: So were you starting to play drums in elementary school?
• 27:44
  Speaker C: I joined Sacred Heart Band as a kid. You know, eighth grade, I'm beating on the snare drum, marching in the parade. And I played a snare drum and I got kind of hung on it. And then my mother took me to World Lines on Canal Street. And we went in the music store and they had the drum sets there. And my mother talked to this man. His name was. What was his name?
• 28:09
  Speaker A: Al Dorian.
• 28:10
  Speaker C: How you knew that dude?
• 28:12
  Speaker A: Because I do my research.
• 28:12
  Speaker C: Okay, do it. Remember the name. He talked to Al Doria. And he was a very good jazz drummer. Very good reed's charts and all. And so my mother asked me if he taught drums. He said, yeah. And he actually goes to your house. He'll drive to your house and sit down in the dining room with you and put the newspaper on a table and give you drumsticks, you know, and start teaching you your paradiddles and stuff like that. So I took lessons for him for a while, and then I got onto the set as I got a little older, you know.
• 28:44
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 28:45
  Speaker C: And so I started playing, like in 1959, when I entered high school, my freshman year in high school, that's when I really start playing and start making money.
• 28:54
  Speaker A: Started playing in bands?
• 28:55
  Speaker C: Yeah. Started making $5 and all the crabs you could eat.
• 28:58
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 28:59
  Speaker C: You know.
• 28:59
  Speaker A: And what kind of music were y' all playing? Like New Orleans R and B, we.
• 29:05
  Speaker C: Do OP or everything. Every brother in New Orleans that made a 45 record. We. We copied a song. Yeah, we played them all, man. You know, whether Jesse Hill or, you know, Ernie, whoever it was, Johnny Adams, whatever, they come out with these cats. We would copy it, Right. So we were a white R B band, right? You know, rhythm and blues, you know. And that was the first band I was in, the Night Owls.
• 29:32
  Speaker A: Oh, the Night Owls. Right, right.
• 29:33
  Speaker C: Yeah, we played a lot. Sidney Snow was my bass player.
• 29:37
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 29:37
  Speaker C: Sydney. And then Jimmy Hutchison played sax and. And Jimmy went on to form bands down the years in the 80s called the Hutch Brothers. They were a big band in the city that played dances. And Glenn May played guitar. Glenn was a good guitar player. But anyway, that's where I started with the Nine Owls. And then I started rolling after that too.
• 29:59
  Speaker A: Right.
• 29:59
  Speaker C: So.
• 30:00
  Speaker A: Well, and where'd you wind up going to high school?
• 30:02
  Speaker C: I went to St. Aloysius High School.
• 30:04
  Speaker A: St. Aloysius. So that was a very Prestigious school at that time.
• 30:08
  Speaker C: It was hard to get in. Yeah, I was lucky I made it. I applied for Jesuit and they didn't let me in, so I went to Aloysius.
• 30:15
  Speaker A: Now, were you in the. The music program at St. Aloysius?
• 30:18
  Speaker C: No. No, I was not.
• 30:20
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 30:21
  Speaker C: I was more of an athletic guy. You know, I played basketball, baseball and ran track because I know so many. They had a great band.
• 30:28
  Speaker A: I know so many great musicians that came out of Saint Aloysius, man.
• 30:32
  Speaker C: This is what happened when I got into Aloysius in 59, 60, the band wasn't too much. Toka was the band leader, this guy named Toka. But I think in my junior year then they started a jazz group. A jazz band, you know, and they used to do international competition with this jazz group. And then as I got out of school, Johnny Vodakovich was five years behind me.
• 30:59
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 30:59
  Speaker C: I mean.
• 31:00
  Speaker A: Cause he went to St. Aloysius.
• 31:01
  Speaker C: Johnny got out of St. Aloysius. But I was way ahead of him about five years, you know. But Johnny got into that jazz group, that band, and they won international competition for the jazz group. And that's when it really started. That band became like. Every kid wanted to be a drummer, wanted to go to Aloysius, okay. Like you, Stan Moore and whoever. They. You know, they got a bunch of drummers that come out of wishes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 31:27
  Speaker A: No, horn players, too, man. I knew guys I played, played with when I was coming up. They were older than me, but then they. They had all gone to that school.
• 31:34
  Speaker B: Is that still around, that school?
• 31:36
  Speaker A: No, no, it was on. It was on Rampart Street.
• 31:39
  Speaker C: They put it to rest. It was Espanade and Rampart at the corner there. They put some apartment complexes there.
• 31:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, it closed, what, in the 70s?
• 31:49
  Speaker C: Yeah, they called it. They moved to Coryezu, okay. On Franklin Avenue. Allegiant Fields, Legion Fears. Then they changed it to Brother Martin, and then they changed it to this. But the thing is, they left the history of Aloysius in the dumpster. They threw all the stuff in the dumpster. And they got this Brother Martin, you know, and they send me letters every month to send them money. I said, oh, oh.
• 32:14
  Speaker A: Brother Martin approaches you to send money.
• 32:16
  Speaker C: They want me to send money.
• 32:17
  Speaker A: Never went to Brother Martin.
• 32:19
  Speaker C: I said, where's, dude? Where's all our stuff? We got 100 years tradition where we. Is it, dude?
• 32:23
  Speaker A: Right? You know, they just threw it away.
• 32:25
  Speaker C: Nah, dude, nah. They got the word they could make a lot more money if they'd put out stuff on the wall. Now trophies and our banners from Aloysius.
• 32:34
  Speaker A: Okay, so they. So they pulled them out of the closet now.
• 32:36
  Speaker C: Yep.
• 32:37
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 32:38
  Speaker B: That closet keeps coming.
• 32:39
  Speaker A: I know, I know, I know, I know.
• 32:41
  Speaker C: They're ready to go now, right? Sorry.
• 32:43
  Speaker B: It's like city hall. All those records they found at the dump.
• 32:46
  Speaker A: Holy cow.
• 32:47
  Speaker B: Can you believe that?
• 32:48
  Speaker A: Oh, man, I can totally believe.
• 32:50
  Speaker C: Believe it.
• 32:52
  Speaker A: So.
• 32:53
  Speaker C: So let me say this. A bad model, but look, let me say this. It's a good school. I take it back. It's a good school. You can send your kid there if you want to. A lot of my graduate brothers sent their kids and their grandkids there. It's a good school, sure. But, you know, I'm kind of got a little hard on about it, you know?
• 33:11
  Speaker A: Right.
• 33:11
  Speaker B: You just ain't sending them any money.
• 33:13
  Speaker A: That's it, brother, you got a chip on your shoulder.
• 33:17
  Speaker C: It. Because.
• 33:17
  Speaker A: Because, yeah, they.
• 33:18
  Speaker C: They don't forget. And you will. You should leave brother Martin a few bucks. I said, huh?
• 33:25
  Speaker B: You gotta leave me a few bucks.
• 33:27
  Speaker C: So. So.
• 33:28
  Speaker A: So you get in the night owls and you guys start playing out. This is like the early 60s. The 1960 or something like that.
• 33:35
  Speaker C: Yeah, it was the early 60s. Yeah.
• 33:37
  Speaker A: So what kind of places are y' all playing?
• 33:39
  Speaker C: Back in the 60s and all the early 60s, it was the weekends were dance night, you know, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were dance nights for the high schools. The teen. It was called the teenage dances.
• 33:52
  Speaker A: Right.
• 33:52
  Speaker C: And like a Sacred Heart on Canal street, they had a Saturday night dance, and you buy a ticket and they punch your ticket for the month it is. And so the bands, like, you know, the Contours, the Jokers, the night Owls, used to rotate and play these dances. Then St. Anthony had dances on Sunday night.
• 34:10
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 34:11
  Speaker C: You know, and that's where the Jokers used to play there.
• 34:13
  Speaker B: It was segregated. Totally segregated.
• 34:16
  Speaker C: Yes, it was back in the day.
• 34:19
  Speaker A: Right.
• 34:20
  Speaker C: Because segregation come to 63. So I'm talking 60, 61, 62, you know, so it was like a, you know, white kids dance hall. But the bands all picked up the R B sound. Sure.
• 34:33
  Speaker A: Because that's what everybody wants and wanted to dance to.
• 34:35
  Speaker C: Not the unusual thing was like they opened a place called Germania Hall. Right. You know, on Bienville Street. And it was a small place, and that was the only place where the black artists used to come.
• 34:48
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 34:49
  Speaker C: And they would be the headliner. They'd make posters and put the headliner, jesse Hill's coming, you know, Friday. You got to play with night hours.
• 34:59
  Speaker A: Okay. So you would back up the.
• 35:00
  Speaker C: We'd back up the headline artists that made these 45. See, Cosmo used to record them in Alatuzen and Cosmo would record these dudes and give them boxes of 45 as payment. Yeah, yeah, go out there and sell them, dude.
• 35:17
  Speaker A: Right.
• 35:18
  Speaker C: So they would come to us and they put the. And they'd sell them for like, you know, $4 or $3 a record.
• 35:23
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 35:24
  Speaker C: And they make some good change. But we backed all those orders, you know.
• 35:27
  Speaker A: Yeah, man, that Germania Hall I was telling you, that's across the street from my first house on.
• 35:32
  Speaker C: On bf. That's what you told me. Yeah, yeah. Then they had one out in. It's called Woman of the World Hall. Wow. Hall. That was out on St. Bernard Avenue up in there. But they had a lot of good dances back in the day. But then the night owls, we got sophisticated and we started playing ballrooms. So the first place we hit was Magazine Street. Mary's Tavern.
• 35:58
  Speaker A: Now that's a place my father talks about play. And when he was. When he was. My father's about. Let's see, he's. My father just turned 85, so he's Freddy's age.
• 36:08
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 36:09
  Speaker A: So he's a little bit. A little bit older than you. But my father would tell stories about playing Mary's tap. My father's a saxophone player and I think he would say that the jobs were like five or six hours long.
• 36:20
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
• 36:20
  Speaker A: And you'd make like $12 or something.
• 36:23
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, no doubt about it.
• 36:24
  Speaker A: For a six hour job.
• 36:25
  Speaker C: Yeah. And they would close up when the police wagon came.
• 36:30
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 36:30
  Speaker C: You know, when the paddy wagon came, that's when the band stopped playing.
• 36:34
  Speaker A: They'd play all night long, man, you.
• 36:36
  Speaker C: Just keep playing, dude. Mary's Tavern. And I think your boy Elvis Presley, when he used to come to New Orleans and he played Pontchartrain beach and stuff like that, he used to come to Mary's Tavern.
• 36:49
  Speaker A: Oh, just to hang out.
• 36:50
  Speaker C: Because nobody would go there.
• 36:52
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 36:53
  Speaker C: Because all the seamen that worked on the docks, you know, the ships, they'd walk down to Mary's Tavern to get loaded and chase the women, chase the skirts, right. And Sidney tells me, we played there one night and there's Presley sitting in the corner. And I didn't know who the dude is. Yeah, I didn't know that was him. But Sydney Snow tells me to this day, man, you remember when Elvis used to come in there and see us? I said, well, he only came to city maybe once. He said, well, that was the night he came to see Us, yeah.
• 37:25
  Speaker A: Was reading that you had one time got. Got called to. To come fill in for Huey Piano Smith's drummer.
• 37:33
  Speaker C: All right. Yeah, that's a good one. My mother worked at wbok, the black radio station in Walls back in the day, I think, admin work or whatever. But anyway, I got a call at home from her, and she said, okie dokie, who was a famous disc jockey. Okie dokie. He said that they need a drummer. And I said, well, who? She said, this guy Huey. I said, well, where's he playing? She said, I don't know, some place on Rampart Street. I said, rampart Street? Rampart street was the black Canal street back in the 60s, early 60s and 50s. Shoe shine stands, pawn shops, clothing shoe. You know. So she said, on Rampart. I said, holy mother. Get the name of the place? Yeah, I'll be there. She said, the King's Club, man. I put the drums in the car and I bust out down there and I get to the area and I knew I was in, you know, an African American neighborhood. So I pulled up to the Kings Club and I got five dudes outside, and they look at this, you know, the snowball here. And they say, dude, where you going? I said, I think I got a gig here. I said, is Huey playing here? He said, huey Piano Smith? Yeah, he's playing here. I said, can I talk to him? He said, yeah, come on inside. I'll take you. So I went there and I said, hey, Huey, my name is Wade. At the time, I called myself Wade. I wasn't wacko yet. I think I got wacko after that gig. So I said, I'm your drum. He says, oh, really? He said, you know my material. I said, no, I'll figure it out. I said, I got a cow belt on the bass drum. That ought to do it, huh? That ought to do it. I got a cowbell. Don't you just do it.
• 39:21
  Speaker A: Right?
• 39:22
  Speaker C: So anyway, I loaded the drums in and I played the whole set with him. Carol Fan, Bobby Moore, Shan and. And Huey Piano Smith, Bobby Marchand.
• 39:32
  Speaker A: That was.
• 39:33
  Speaker C: It was. It was an all. It was all brother club, you know.
• 39:37
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 39:38
  Speaker C: And it was packed, man. And it's on a Sunday night. The brothers and the ladies go out on Sunday night. They dress to the nines. Ties and dress it or nine hats. And this place was packed and dressed at a nines. And. And here's his Snowball sitting on the drums. And they're looking at me hard, you know. Now, back then I could be arrested. The police Came in there, they could come and put me in jail. Yeah. Because I was playing in this black club, and, man, I kept looking left, I kept looking right, you know what I mean? I was a nervous son. Bitch. Yeah. Four hours, dude, but no problems. No problem. After the gig, the guys came up to me and said, man, you did a hell of a job. Thank you.
• 40:18
  Speaker A: Nice.
• 40:19
  Speaker B: They gave you $12.
• 40:21
  Speaker C: It might have been 10, too.
• 40:22
  Speaker A: Yeah, right.
• 40:24
  Speaker C: 10 was a round number. Sure, sure, sure.
• 40:27
  Speaker A: Well, man, this is. I'm loving all these stories, but it seems like about that time, man.
• 40:33
  Speaker B: Yeah, we need to freshen up, Wacko.
• 40:37
  Speaker C: Take it away, dude.
• 40:38
  Speaker B: Troubled nation knows the drill. We'll be right back.
• 40:42
  Speaker D: I used to be down Whoa But I ain't down no no more I.
• 40:53
  Speaker C: Used to be down.
• 40:57
  Speaker D: Whoa but ain't down no more Whoa, my baby, pick.
• 41:09
  Speaker C: Me up.
• 41:15
  Speaker D: I used to be down oh, but I ain't down no more I used to be down Whoa but ain't down no more down and out Whoa, my baby they pick me up get up in the morning figure something to eat Tell me, baby that you're not gonna eat I used to be.
• 41:58
  Speaker C: Down.
• 42:01
  Speaker D: Whoa but ain't down no well, when I'm down and down Whoa, my baby.
• 42:19
  Speaker A: And we're back. Yes, back with Mr. Manny Chevrolet, that is me. I am Renee Coleman. You are back with our guest, Mr. Wacko. Wade. And now, Wade I know, or Wacko as we're calling you. I know you're new to the podcast, but all of our devoted listeners understand that this is a listener supported operation and we have no corporate sponsorship. And our listeners access the Venmo and PayPal links that we have in the show, notes of every show, as well as the Facebook page that we use to promote it. And they buy us cocktails, they. They support our, you know, expenses, and sometimes they even send us mail to the bar. And we received a piece of mail to the bar a couple of weeks ago and after the show, so we didn't get to open it. But here tonight, we do have it. And this is, you know, address. Snake and Jake's Christmas Club Lounge. Tension Troubled Men podcast. 2612 Oak Street, New Orleans, 70118. In case any of you people are keeping score. And we open this up and it's a. An old, old timey. Yeah, it's a postcard with a pulp novel cover on it that says Quickie. Yeah, baby, the title is Quickie.
• 43:43
  Speaker B: Nothing wrong with Quickies.
• 43:45
  Speaker A: Oh, what a what a gal was Quickie. So that's her name was Quickie by Gerald Foster. And you open it up inside and it says it's two $20 bills taped to the inside and one on one side says troubled men podcast. Keep up the awesome work. So it's $20 for our cocktails tonight. It is beautiful. And then the other side says Manny for mayor. Vote early, vote often. And it's a $20 to support Manny Chevrolet's campaign. And then it says P.S. if you still have them, can you send me a bumper sticker? And, and this person show you how what kind of high class listeners we have. Person encloses a self addressed stamp envelope.
• 44:33
  Speaker C: Thank you.
• 44:34
  Speaker A: So I appreciate that that you can. And I went ahead and put a couple of Troubleman podcast stickers in there.
• 44:41
  Speaker B: Oh, the bumper sticker can fit it and I'll.
• 44:44
  Speaker A: Well, you might have to fold it maybe or maybe you could, I don't know, Watertown, Massachusetts. Yes, so yes. So. Oh, Watertown. So shout out to Mr. David Nealon.
• 44:57
  Speaker B: Thank you David. I appreciate it and I hope you put it on your car because that's what it's all about.
• 45:04
  Speaker A: Bumper sticker.
• 45:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, putting it on the car.
• 45:06
  Speaker A: Right, right, right.
• 45:07
  Speaker B: So thanks for the envelope.
• 45:09
  Speaker C: That's funny.
• 45:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stamp self addressed envelope. And also we have some, some people who did use the, the, the links, use the PayPal link going old school. That's Kevin Todd is way over there in England. Shout out to Kevin Todd. He's a longtime listener. Also we sold the T shirt. We have the, also in the, those, those links. The, the show notes. We have the Troublemen podcast T shirt links. We sold a, a medium T shirt to James last week. And thank you James. Thank you James. And also, let's see, we say wear.
• 45:49
  Speaker B: That shirt in the shower.
• 45:51
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 45:54
  Speaker B: Just. And send us a picture.
• 45:55
  Speaker A: All right. Okay. Also follow us on social media, Instagram, Facebook and we do have the Patreon page where we have the small handful of patrons who are supporting us week in, week out and you can join that crew and at some point I may come over and mow your lawn. Also, let's see, rate, subscribe and review the Troubleman podcast. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us five star stars. Cost you nothing helps us a lot. Also announce a couple of dates I have coming up. Tribe Nunzio. It's a big day coming up September 19th at the broadside. Also as I mentioned, the Iguanas are still every Sunday. We've been extended through the end of the year every Sunday 7 to 10 at Carousel Lounge. At Hotel Montley on. And also have a announcement, the Tav Falco record that I played on with, which is a record that has all kind of crazy people on it. Jimmy Rip, Ann Magnuson, Kid Congo Powers, lots of luminaries and. And I played on a song. The record's called Desire on Ice. It's coming out September 12th. And I played on the song lady from Shanghai. I think there's a movie, Orson Welles movie called lady from Shanghai might be based on. Anyway, I think that's enough of that. Back to our guest, the great Mr. Wacko Wade. Now, Wacko, you're playing in all these bands now. You make it to Bourbon Street. Papa Joe's. Now, Papa Joe's was a big club at the time. And I talked about this to you a little bit backstage when we were playing with Little Freddy and you were saying how you first got into Papa Joe's by subbing for Little Joe Lambert. Now, Little Joe Lambert. When I was a kid, Little Joe Lambert came in as a sub for our drummer in this wedding band that I was playing in. I was maybe 14 years old, and he was already playing with Freddie Fender. You know, he had been playing with Freddy Fender for. For a bunch of years. This is in like the late 70s. At this point on the break, he pulled me aside and he said, hey, look, you're young. This is. Is a good band for you to be playing with. You get some experience playing. But you understand these guys are not serious, right? He goes, you know, do this for now, but. But realize these guys are, you know, I was like, well, thank you. I appreciate. Now, I told that story to my parents. My mother said that was wrong of him. He shouldn't have said that. My father said, no, that was really nice of him. My father being the musician's like, no, no, that was. That was a solid. He was doing you. But Little Joe Lambert, so. So that band was Freddie Fender. And Freddie Fender must have been fresh out of prison at that time, huh?
• 48:43
  Speaker C: Exactly. When I was playing at Papa Joe, you know, Bourbon street, they had the three o' clock jam session. It would be like three to eight in the morning when the sun came up, you know, and all the musicians would come down there. Rod Bernard, the guy he made this year, Go On Forever, which was a swamp pop hit. Skip Easterling and Freddie Fenne just got out of jail. I think he did 10 years at Angola and they let him out. And I think he walked all the way to New Orleans to get a gig.
• 49:20
  Speaker A: Incredible.
• 49:20
  Speaker C: But he played.
• 49:22
  Speaker B: What did he do?
• 49:23
  Speaker A: For like a couple of years. Joints.
• 49:24
  Speaker C: Smoking weed, man.
• 49:25
  Speaker A: Yeah, like just a small amount of weed. Yeah, smoking weed had him in the farm for 10 years.
• 49:31
  Speaker B: It's going to be that way again soon.
• 49:32
  Speaker A: Oh, Jesus.
• 49:33
  Speaker C: I think they let him out early because they. They knew he was kind of like a musician, and, you know, he worked in New Orleans, and I think he has some political clout. But anyway, I was playing down the street at the. Let's see. Well, I was playing on the street, different places with Frogman Henry and different clubs, you know. And they would call me, say, man, can you play drums? And it would be sit in guys in a band, you know. And Freddie Fender used to sing. And he turned to me and he said, hey, man. He said, look, I got a couple of gigs. Would you play drums? I said, yeah, what are you playing? He said, well, I got a bass player. We're going to play La Casa La Marina. And I said, what? You know, I didn't know Spanish back then. La Casa de la Marina. What is it, the house or something? Marina. And it was down over Decatur street, and it's where all the seamen and everybody had the fights. And it was a nasty street back in the day in early street Decatur, seedy.
• 50:38
  Speaker A: The corner was super seedy.
• 50:39
  Speaker C: It was seedy, dude. All the babes there and, you know, hustling is rough, so prostitute strolls up and down. Yeah. So he said, I got a couple of gigs. Would you play him? I said, sure. So I played Casa La Marina one night with him, and, man, a fight broke out, and, man, I hid behind the drums and. And I said, man, look, dude, I don't know if I want to play with you anymore. He said, well, I'm going to Houston, Texas. I'm getting out of New Orleans. Ain't no money here. And I said. He said, you want to come? I said, why would I want to come with you when I got three other gigs around the street and all, you know, you can't offer me any kind of security. I said, no. I said, but look, I got this dude down at the Elmer Rocket Club. You could check him out. And Little Joe Lamb was playing at the El Morocca Club with Ronnie Barron. Ronnie Baron used to play B3 organ. And he was good friends with Mac. Mac Rabanack and went to LA and they formed that. You know, the Voodoo? No. You know.
• 51:40
  Speaker A: All right, well, that was the whole beginning of Dr. John.
• 51:43
  Speaker C: That was the beginning.
• 51:44
  Speaker A: Mac was not supposed to be Dr. John.
• 51:46
  Speaker C: No. Ronnie Baron was really supposed to be Dr. Joe but I know Little Joe went with him, you know, and the rest is history. Right as Freddie got really good, you know?
• 51:56
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
• 51:57
  Speaker C: And I went back to Bourbon, and then they opened up the Playboy Club on Ivyville Street. And I got. My band, got a gig there. We got a year contract playing at the Playboy Club every night.
• 52:08
  Speaker A: Now. Now, that was the time. So Al Baletto was. Player. Was the music director there, I guess.
• 52:14
  Speaker C: He played upstairs in the Jazz room and downstairs was the rock room. Rock and roll.
• 52:19
  Speaker A: And in the jazz room, he had Angell Trasklair, was the girl singer. Had Johnny Vidal Malkovich was playing drums.
• 52:25
  Speaker C: He had Paul Staley.
• 52:27
  Speaker A: Oh, okay.
• 52:29
  Speaker C: No, he had Bill Huntington was playing guitar Pharaoh. Paul Farah.
• 52:35
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 52:36
  Speaker C: No, his drummer was Al Farah.
• 52:38
  Speaker A: Okay, Al Farah. All right.
• 52:40
  Speaker C: That was Al Baletta's first drummer, Alfa.
• 52:43
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 52:43
  Speaker C: And then when Al Farrell went to Al Hertz Club on the corner, Al Hurd called him to play drums because Al was terrific. Yeah, man. Al used to come downstairs and watch me play. And he said, man, you got good chops and all. I said, are you kidding me? You're blowing smoke up my ass, dude. I watch you and I'm amazed. I'm amazed. He said, no, keep at, dude. You're pretty good. So anyway, Al went with Al Hurt, and then I think that's when your boy Vodakovich might have got the gig.
• 53:11
  Speaker A: Okay. All right, gotcha.
• 53:12
  Speaker C: But I was. I was leaving. I was heading out of town. I got drafted into the United States Army, 1968. They said, we need you over here to kill a few people.
• 53:24
  Speaker A: 68. Holy cow. That was right in the middle of the ship, man.
• 53:27
  Speaker C: They said, we need you, dude. They just had a Tet offensive. We lost about 10,000 people. We need you. I said, oh, great. Ain't this fucking great?
• 53:34
  Speaker A: So you were. You found yourself in Vietnam eventually. Oh.
• 53:38
  Speaker C: So anyway, my band boy, my band mates, they're going to fit, figure it all out. Say, look, dude, we got some. We got some ludes. We got some quick. We got all these drugs, so we're gonna drug you out. The day you got to go check in, when you take your physical, you're gonna be so drugged out, they're gonna bomb you out. Okay?
• 53:53
  Speaker B: Yeah, there you go.
• 53:55
  Speaker C: Yeah, but I said, I'm not into drugs and all, dude. So anyway, I went down to the courthouse, took my physical. I'm in line with all the brothers. It was nothing but New Orleans brothers. I'm in line, and I hear, hey, Wade. And I turned around, hey, remember Me, dude? I said, not really. He said, man, I was the waiter at your wedding. I said, no shit? I said, what you doing, dude? And then the guy in front says, hey, Wade, how you doing, dude? You remember me? I knew everybody in line, dude. They either worked at the club on Bourbon or, you know, they had my wedding or something.
• 54:33
  Speaker A: And here it's all the people with no deferrals. You weren't. You weren't in college anymore, so I went.
• 54:39
  Speaker B: So you were married? You got married?
• 54:41
  Speaker C: I was married, dude. You have kids? No, no kids.
• 54:45
  Speaker A: But they still took you?
• 54:46
  Speaker C: I had a cat, though.
• 54:47
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 54:48
  Speaker C: I had a cat, dude. But anyway, yeah, I went four years, and I stopped playing drums. Yeah.
• 54:54
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 54:56
  Speaker C: But when I was overseas, I walked down the street, you know, and they have a club playing with a band and all, and I go and I say, dude, can I sit in and look at me like I'm crazy, you know? And I'd sit in with these little Filipino bands and little Japanese bands, all these little bands, you know, just to keep my chops going.
• 55:13
  Speaker A: Sure, sure.
• 55:14
  Speaker C: But four years, I got out, came back to New Orleans.
• 55:17
  Speaker A: Now, you were mentioning, like, you weren't into drugs, but you're talking about bands playing on Bourbon Street. Now, at that time, Bourbon street had a. Still a ton of Dixieland bands playing on it, right? Yeah, a ton of great players, and I think a lot of guys that were still on dope at that time.
• 55:35
  Speaker C: Yeah. The Dukes of Dixieland were playing at the. On the corner. And Louis Prima had his club, okay. You know, with Sam Butera, right. At the show bar, Dukes of Dixieland. The whole street was popping. Al Hurd had his club. Club, you know, Then Pete Fountain puts his club up. Then Frankie Ford with his sea cruise. He started a club on the side street. And then Frogman had his club, the La Strada Club.
• 56:03
  Speaker A: Oh, okay.
• 56:03
  Speaker C: On Bourbon Street. He played there for years, you know, but the street was a popping street, dude. With live music.
• 56:11
  Speaker A: Right, right, right, right.
• 56:12
  Speaker C: With live music. I don't know what they got down there. I ain't been there maybe 20 years in bourbon.
• 56:16
  Speaker A: It's a lot of classic rock cover bench sounds nowadays.
• 56:19
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 56:20
  Speaker A: From what I can tell. So. So you're. You're playing at the. The Playboy Club. Getting back to that now, I read something about. About how Don Kirschner came in and tried to recruit you for the Archies.
• 56:34
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me. If I mentioned the Playboy Club, I got to mention my good buddy Ricky Castrilla.
• 56:41
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 56:41
  Speaker C: Ricky Castrilla.
• 56:43
  Speaker A: Love Ricky Castrella.
• 56:44
  Speaker C: Ricky Castrilla was guitar player in the band and he eventually went to Tips and became the mc.
• 56:49
  Speaker A: Yeah, he was.
• 56:50
  Speaker C: Then he went to Rosies and became the mc.
• 56:53
  Speaker A: I didn't realize he went that far back as a musician.
• 56:56
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, he went back with me at the Playboy Club and we had a four piece group. It was a great group and Ricky's a good buddy. I wanted to mention since you say Playboy.
• 57:07
  Speaker A: Yeah, no, I dig Ricky, man. I tried to, to get Ricky on this podcast before. He lives somewhere in.
• 57:13
  Speaker C: He's in Birmingham, Alabama. Yeah, he left with Katrina. He never come back.
• 57:17
  Speaker A: Yeah, he's keeping a low profile.
• 57:19
  Speaker C: Yeah, he still plays music up there. Here.
• 57:21
  Speaker A: I really dig the way he plays.
• 57:23
  Speaker C: He plays really cool. He plays little clubs and balls. He's got a following of, you know. It's good for him, dude. Yeah, I love Ricky, man.
• 57:30
  Speaker A: Yeah, me too, me too. No, I tell you what, when, when, you know, after Sunny Schneider went from Tipitinas to House of Blues and at some point they didn't, they cut Ricky loose from, from stage managing tipas for the next five, 10 years, I played there. It was a nightmare because bands would overplay their, their time wasn't organized. They didn't have a stage manager. Yeah, it shows you that's. That guy is earning his money, man. He was really doing something. He's really key. He really understood how show business works. You know, cutting them off, telling him.
• 58:13
  Speaker C: You know, he's such a good personality, man. He was friends with everybody, man. Yeah, I mean, you know Leon Russell and all those cats would come through. He's really good friends with James Booker. Yeah. You know, and he used to tell. He used to be roommates. Was it James Booker? Nah, I forgot he was roommates with one of those characters.
• 58:38
  Speaker A: Sure, sure. Probably a bunch of them.
• 58:41
  Speaker C: Professor Longer. Somebody used to tell me, man, I had to take the guy to the emergency room again. I said, oh God. Because they were heavy into dope, you know, back then.
• 58:51
  Speaker A: It sounds like Booker.
• 58:52
  Speaker C: I'm guessing that was it.
• 58:53
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. James Booker.
• 58:54
  Speaker C: That was it.
• 58:54
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 58:55
  Speaker C: He was roommates with that dude.
• 58:56
  Speaker A: That makes sense.
• 58:57
  Speaker C: And you know, I mean he had take him to the emergency room again. I said, dude, why don't you just rent a ambulance and just park it at your house and bring him in, you know? Sure. But he, he was, he's the nicest guy I ever want to meet though. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 59:14
  Speaker A: Salt of the earth now. So, so you, you, you get out of the service, you get back To New Orleans. It's the mid-70s, early-70s.
• 59:22
  Speaker C: I wasn't playing music at all. And then I got a phone call from a friend, longtime friend of mine. He was playing in a band. They were having a reunion tour because they used to play in the 50s, this band, they're called the Sparks. S P A, R K S. The Sparks. And they won the Ted Mac Amateur Hour.
• 59:44
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
• 59:45
  Speaker C: Back in the day when you were. I don't know if you were born, but they had heard about it. The Ted Mac Amateur Hour used to come on tv. It was a national program. It's like the Ed Sullivan show, okay. But it was the Ted Mac Amateur Hour. So the sparks from St. Bernard in the parish, right? You know, go on Ted Mac and win the whole banana. Okay, they win the whole banana.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker B: So what, they just played an R B song or a rock and roll song.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker C: They wrote a song called Mary Lou. Okay, Mary, Mary Lou what you gonna do? Sweet, sweet Mary, Mary Lou. You know, it's one of these old.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, I got it.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker C: High school type deals, you know. But that thing went national and they signed a record contract and they went on tour all around and all that horse stuff. So when I got out to service, they were dead. You know, they had done their thing. Yeah, we in the 70s. And I get a call and said, the Sparks had no reunion. You want to audition for the drumming part? You know, I said, yeah, I'll give it a shot. I said, I haven't played in a long time. So I went to where the rehearsal was. I sat on the drums, met everybody. JV with Panier and, you know, all the guys in the band, and they played the first song, and then there's a New Orleans song. And I knocked them out. The old 45, dude, I knock them out. You name it, I'll play it.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, you know, because you'd been playing all that stuff since you were a kid.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker C: I knew that stuff. I like recording. So I played the first song, and the guy says, you want to play in a band? You got a gig. I said, yeah, I'll play. So I started with them, and they went on a one year playing different clubs and dances and trying to stimulate. And that's how I got started back in.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker A: Okay, and you guys were traveling around.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker C: It was mostly New Orleans playing.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker B: So wait a minute. Let's go back to when you were a soldier. Did you ever go to Vietnam?
• 1:01:43
  Speaker C: I visited Da Nang.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker C: I was in Da Nang on my last tour.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker B: You said you. You play with Japanese and Filipino Band that was in. Is that in Vietnam or.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker C: No, that was in the Philippines.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker B: In the Philippines.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker C: I was in the. I was in the navy.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker B: Right. Okay.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker B: Now you were stationed where. You were on a ship.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker C: I was on a ship and we was tied up. It was. We were destroyer tender. We took care of the destroyers.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker B: Oh, I got you.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker C: We put new gun barrels in. We. We had weld plates on the side when they took hit. Hits and all like that. Subic Bay. I was in Subic Bay. Subic Bay was a big US Military naval base with an air base. But when you went out to. When you went out the base, you walked over a canal.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker C: Over a bridge and they call a canal.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker A: I know, but about this. I know.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker C: When you go over that bridge, the marine sentry is at the gate there. They won't let them people come in, but they let us go out. When you walked over the bridge, you held your nose.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker B: Oh, God.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker C: You walked across and you held your nose. And that whole street for like two miles was ballrooms left and right, left and right, left and right, left and right. Ballrooms as far as you could see, dude and sue and, you know, so I was there.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker A: I've heard other Navy guys talk about that very bridge.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker C: So anyway, we left there and we had orders to head back to the U. S. And then my ship captain came on the one MC and he says, hey, man, we've been detoured. We're going over to Nam. And we did a little stanchion. Nam for like, six months.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker B: All right. But you didn't see any kind of conflict?
• 1:03:37
  Speaker C: You want me to tell it? Host the whole deal, dude?
• 1:03:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, well.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker C: Yeah, well, when my ship was off the coast of Da Nang. Da Nang is a harbor. Yeah, it's a harbor with the mountains and all. When my ship went there, they had a merchant marine ship loaded with cargo, and it blew up in front of us because the VC used to float mines on the coke cans. They tie a claymore mound on the coke can and they throw them in the water. And those mines would touch metal. So anyway, we. We getting ready to go in between the mountain ridges, and the ship blows out in front. So we go. We back up. Captain backs his bad boy up, and then we get a jet escort across, just flying across just so we don't get attacked. That sucker sinks. They sent tugboats out to pull it out the way so we could go in. Okay. So the cab says, okay, everybody take off your uniform and only go skin. Skin top, no white shirts. So we Went through the pass. We went into Da Nang harbor, and it's a big marine base. You got an airstrip at the end there and jets are taking off. And we tied up right there. And when we got in, tied up that night, we got a mortar round from the mountain. They started shooting mortars at the ship, trying to knock us out. They wanted to take down this big, you know, repair ship. Man, that was a billion dollar ship I was on. Right. But they took that down. So they sent a marine detachment and put machine gun nests all around the ship and start lobbing shit into the mountain, you know. But every night that was. Would happen.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker A: Oh, man.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker C: Six. Six months.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker A: Six months.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker C: In the daytime you go on deck without a shirt on, you know, or if you wanted to go out there, you know. And I used to.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker A: Because the white shirt would be visible from.
• 1:05:29
  Speaker C: Easy target. Easy target hitting, you know. And so I used to do roving patrol on the deck. You have to do a roving patrol duty, you know, at night now, in my gun and all. And when I see something in the water, I shoot the piss out of it. A shooter, dude. I don't know what it is. It could be a frogman, dude. I don't know what it is.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker B: Surely don't surf, though, I think.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker A: Right, right. Yeah, yeah, but he might. He might. Might scuba dive, who knows?
• 1:05:54
  Speaker C: Yes, but I was sitting on the deck. I was out on the deck one time doing something, and a jet took off from the air base and one was flying across and it collided. Both the planes collided in the air in a base. So we got the ring to send a boat over to get him, you know. So we dropped the boat in the water and we went and pulled the guys out and put them in black bags. And he came in, he had to put them in the freezer. No, it's just one after another, man.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker A: Right, right, right.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker C: Oh, man.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker A: Well, you know, I want to go back a little bit because I was reading in your bio you mentioned this guy. So you're talking about when you're playing with the dead end kids, and you mentioned this guy, Barry Rodrigue. Yeah, B3 player.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 1:06:41
  Speaker A: So I know Barry Rodrigue. I mean, I don't know him personally, but my father had this drummer, CJ Shereme, who had a trio. He was a singer. Joe Clay.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker C: Yeah, Joe Clay.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker A: Joe Clay was rockabilly singer.
• 1:06:55
  Speaker C: Yeah, the country dude. Yeah, but.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker A: But then he came. He's from Greta Night.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker C: He lives on the West Bank.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's passed now, but. But at One time he had a trio that was him on drums and singing. CJ singing. Barry Rodrigue playing. Playing B3, B3 and kicking bass pedals. And this, this guitar player, Roger Bertrand. Do you ever know that guy? Roger Bertrand?
• 1:07:20
  Speaker C: No.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker A: Anyways, he's a right handed guy who played left handed. Telecaster guitar, Paisley guitar. Amazing guitar player. Anyway, nobody mentions Barry. Rod.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker C: Barry lived on the same side of the river on the west bank with Clay.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker C: Clay was a school bus driver. He used to drive years later.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker C: But anyway, Barry and him were friends. But then Barry played with us in the Dead End Kids. He originally started with Ricky and the Tokens when Ricky formed his first band on Bourbon Street.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker A: It's called Ricky Castrella.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker C: Ricky Castrilla formed the Ricky and the Tokens in the early days. Okay. And they played, they played on Bourbon street and it was very popular. And then something happened where they had a little falling out or something and Ricky was without a job and they changed the name of the band. Paul Varisco and the Milestones.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker A: Okay, right.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker C: They call a band Paul Varisco to Milestones. Paul was a singer, very good singer.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker A: He took over famous New Orleans.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker C: Paul had made a 45 record that was doing pretty good. But for some reason they bounced Ricky. But Rod, we was playing organ with Paul Barisco. And so we get the job at the Playboy Club and we tell Barry, look, dude, we play every night for a year. You know, the mood, the money though. So Barry, Barry left the them for the weekend. Come with us.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker C: So we had him on the organ, man, oh man. And the first thing Ricky says to Barry says, all right, look, we doing Vanilla Fudge. Keep Me Hanging On. And Barry looks at him, said What? Barry's a B3 rhythm and blues guy, right? We doing Vanilla Fudge, man.
• 1:09:04
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker C: Keep Me Hanging on was out of.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker A: His, out of his depth there. Yeah, well man, you know, so, so we're, so now we're going to move forward. So 1993, you meet little Freddie King. You talked about this a little bit earlier in the program. You, he, he, you wind up putting together a band for him when he gets back to. Gets to New Orleans for, for Jazz Fest. And that, that's the beginning of Yalls whole, whole tenure together.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker C: Yeah. Freddie started out there in nineteen nineteen seventy playing for the Jazz Fest for Quinn. And they played at Armstrong park with the first Jazz Fest.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker A: Nice.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker C: And Quinn's always liked Freddie, you know. Yeah. Because he's original. Sure. He's authentic. And so Freddy's Played there every year. Every year. So he used to play with a guy called Percy Randolph, who blew harp and played rub board in harp, and he used to do a twosome, a gazebo. But anyway, Randolph passed away and Freddy was by himself, so he asked me if I could put a band together behind him, and that's how it started with him.
• 1:10:12
  Speaker A: Now. Now you hired me. Started hiring me last year to. To sub with little Freddy's band. Now, how. How did that. How did you even think to hire me? I'm just curious about that.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker C: To hire you?
• 1:10:24
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker C: Well, I asked around. I said, do y' all know any bass players that ain't worth a shit? And they say, oh, man, we got this guy.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker B: I know the perfect guy.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker C: I said, well, he'll fit in the Freddie King Band because we all lay with it, Right?
• 1:10:42
  Speaker A: All right. Well, I knew. I've been preparing my whole life for this job. Well, I love playing trance music like you guys play. I love playing the. The. The music where that Freddy plays, where every beat is one. It's all one, one, one, one. So if you have an extra one or. Or less. Well, you don't have a one or less than that. It's okay, because it's all one. It's all. It's on the one, as James Brown used to say.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker C: So to get to your point, I call Greg Shotzi. You know Greg?
• 1:11:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, I know.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker C: I call Greg and I said, give me a list of BAs. And you were first on his list. So that's how I called you.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker A: Greg recommended you shout out to Greg Shots. What a. What a prince, man. Okay, well, now the. It's the. As Paul Harvey would say, we know the rest of the story. Well, man, we could talk all night like this, but it's kind of that time.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker B: So when is Freddie King playing?
• 1:11:39
  Speaker C: When's he playing?
• 1:11:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, when's he playing again? Okay, we can tell the nation.
• 1:11:43
  Speaker C: Oh, the nation. The world, dude, we play the first and third Fridays at the DBA on Frenchman.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker C: And then we play the second and third or whatever at BJ's. So we work four times every Friday, okay. Either DBA or BJ's. DBA. BJ. And then, like, Renee knows the seasons coming. October's busting open. We got a lot of stuff, you know, like the New Orleans Brewery and the Crescent City Fest, and we got.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker A: A lot of barbecue and Blues fest. And Freddie gets on all those things because he's so beloved. And you're. You guys play such an authentic style of music that nobody plays around. Here.
• 1:12:23
  Speaker C: I just had a guy write me to come to play for Blues Fest, but it's. It's the same time Jazz Fest.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker C: And I don't like to leave the city, you know?
• 1:12:32
  Speaker A: No. Why would you?
• 1:12:33
  Speaker C: A place to called Crockett, Texas.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
• 1:12:36
  Speaker C: You ever hear that, though? No. The guy said, davy Crockett parks over here. And I got a river. What we have at a festival. And I look on Google Earth.
• 1:12:45
  Speaker B: Way out of Texas.
• 1:12:46
  Speaker C: Yes, I look on Google. Where's Crockett, Texas? Dude, it's way up. No, I said, oh, Lord, dude. But no, we. We turn that one down, you know?
• 1:12:53
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker C: Then I got a call from Florida. Fly out there.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker B: I said, stay out of Florida.
• 1:12:58
  Speaker C: I said, baby, look, if you. You want to see Freddy, like, he's at BJ's on Burgundy Street. 4307 Burgundy.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker A: Right.
• 1:13:07
  Speaker C: They got his pitch on the joint. You can come in. I'll buy you a beer.
• 1:13:11
  Speaker A: Right on.
• 1:13:12
  Speaker B: There you go. You heard that, First Nation.
• 1:13:14
  Speaker A: Well, Wacko, it's been fantastic.
• 1:13:16
  Speaker C: I appreciate you inviting me, Renee, and meeting the mayor here, the next mayor in New Orleans.
• 1:13:21
  Speaker A: Hopefully it's an auspicious night.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker C: What a treat, dude.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker A: And let me. Let me give you a few Troubleman podcast stickers, as always, I may have given them.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker C: I put them on my drum. Dude, can I put them on the drum?
• 1:13:36
  Speaker A: Absolutely. And I put them. Put them on the drum. Put them on your computer, your cars.
• 1:13:40
  Speaker C: All right.
• 1:13:41
  Speaker A: Several there.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker C: Beautiful.
• 1:13:43
  Speaker A: And Freddy had such a good time.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker B: That he'd like to. He should. Come on.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, I'll have Freddy on.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'll bring Freddy one one time for you guys.
• 1:13:52
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:13:53
  Speaker C: I'll set it up with Renee and both of y'.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker A: All.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker C: That'd be great. They'll bring them over.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker A: That'd be fantastic.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, as always in the Troubled man podcast, we like to say trouble never ends.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker B: But you know, Wacko, the struggle continues.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker C: The trouble keeps going on, brother.
• 1:14:10
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker C: Exactly.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker B: Good night.
• 1:14:12
  Speaker A: Good night.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker D: Train ring, LA train ring.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker C: In your.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker D: Life in the night Cause feeding all.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker C: Out of sight.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker D: Better slow down. Cause it's going to be train raid, LA train raid if you don't stop, you fool soon you will be history train race, LA train raid not paying any changing will put you in a new dimension Lighten up off the gas and barge the crash Train wreck, Louisiana train wreck Smoke coming out to sag Engine speed down track Railroad sign does.
• 1:16:02
  Speaker C: Away.
• 1:16:05
  Speaker D: People'S not laid Train race, Louisiana train race.
• 1:16:28
  Speaker C: Sam.
• 1:17:02
  Speaker D: Train rate, Louisiana Train rate.