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TMP338 RANDY ELLIS CRUISES IN · Troubled Men Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:16
  Speaker B: Listeners.
• 0:16
  Speaker C: What the hell is he listening to?
• 0:18
  Speaker B: 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 Clampire with my co host, the original troubled man for troubled times, Mr. Manny Chevrolet.
• 0:32
  Speaker C: Hey, man. What's happening, man?
• 0:34
  Speaker B: Oh, not too much.
• 0:35
  Speaker C: You make it more difficult for me to get to this fucking dump.
• 0:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, you know, oddly enough, I don't control where they're. They're tearing up the streets, right? They never asked me.
• 0:45
  Speaker C: They never asked me where.
• 0:47
  Speaker B: Where they should.
• 0:47
  Speaker C: Why don't they just fucking make this place like Venice, Italy? It already stinks like Venice, Italy.
• 0:53
  Speaker B: Okay, sure.
• 0:53
  Speaker C: They just make it like that. Not even have roads. Just have r. Yeah.
• 0:58
  Speaker B: Have to elevate all the houses, put
• 1:01
  Speaker C: them all on stilts, but geez, I hope I can get home.
• 1:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I hope so too, you know. Well, apparently they had a big city council hearing about all the rash of water main breaks that they've been having several a week.
• 1:18
  Speaker C: Yeah. And all they're going to do is raise our taxes. That's all they're going to do to solve the problem. They're just going to raise our property and our sewage and water board taxes. That's our solution.
• 1:30
  Speaker B: Right, Right.
• 1:31
  Speaker C: Well, apparently city man, apparently while they were.
• 1:35
  Speaker B: While, while right after the hearing got done, another giant water main busted over on Claiborne and third street.
• 1:44
  Speaker C: Sure. Yeah, okay. I. I understand. It's all good, as they say. They said they have something our fearless leader, Morano, you know, she's not, you know, she's not going to do for us. She just wants to raise our taxes. That's all she's gonna do. That's her solve. That's her solution for everything.
• 2:04
  Speaker B: Well, she's only been in office a month or so, so she's definitely.
• 2:09
  Speaker D: I've been waiting to see what she's gonna do.
• 2:11
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know. Well, yeah, you know, you got to give her a little bit of time. I'm. I'm still optimistic. You know, certainly it's. It's been neglected for decades, so. So, you know, it's definitely. I don't know what you do at that point where you said they said they have, you know, just this uptown stretch is a 38 mile long length of four foot water main that's all 100 years old. Oh.
• 2:38
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 2:38
  Speaker B: So. And that's only 2% of the total for the city. So I don't know how you, how you can dig yourself out of that, but I mean what's the. What's the alternative? Just leave? I don't know.
• 2:49
  Speaker C: Well, if I could, I would.
• 2:51
  Speaker B: I know. I know I would.
• 2:52
  Speaker C: Leave this fucking place.
• 2:53
  Speaker B: If you could hit a number.
• 2:54
  Speaker C: This is like. This place is like the Middle East. They should just fucking nuke it out of its misery, you know?
• 2:59
  Speaker D: Well, he's been talking about that for a while, too.
• 3:01
  Speaker C: Yeah. You know, just fucking nuke it out his misery.
• 3:04
  Speaker D: Disrepair of the city.
• 3:06
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:07
  Speaker D: They burned the streets on the oak trees, and it's like, well, you know, what are you gonna do?
• 3:11
  Speaker B: Well, the thing is, like, it's. And the oak trees are the soil. You know, we don't have bedrock here, but, you know, one parish over, they don't have bedrock there either. But they. The roads seem to be okay. You can drive on the streets, you know, they pick up garbage there.
• 3:27
  Speaker D: Well, on the way from Thibodeau today, the roads are just as bad on the way over here as they are going down to Carrollton.
• 3:33
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 3:33
  Speaker D: Or this. With that out. What was that street next to us?
• 3:38
  Speaker B: Oak Street.
• 3:39
  Speaker D: Well, whatever. We're on Oak. Yeah.
• 3:41
  Speaker B: Simple Hillary Zimle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a lot of problems.
• 3:44
  Speaker D: It was. It was quite bumpy.
• 3:46
  Speaker B: Anyway, we all made it here, so.
• 3:48
  Speaker D: We all made it.
• 3:48
  Speaker B: Right, right, right. So how are you doing, Manny, other than the.
• 3:52
  Speaker C: I'm all right.
• 3:53
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 3:54
  Speaker C: Okay. How are you?
• 3:56
  Speaker B: I'm good. I'm good. Had an active week this week.
• 4:00
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah?
• 4:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I got to get back in the studio with Glenn Styler.
• 4:05
  Speaker C: You hit the snooze bar too many times.
• 4:07
  Speaker B: Glenn Styler and Jeff Treffinger. It's been a while since. Since we worked on any new music, but.
• 4:14
  Speaker C: So you work and what is gonna happen with this new music?
• 4:17
  Speaker B: Oh, you know, I guess they'll release it in some form or other, you know, once it.
• 4:21
  Speaker C: There's no sense releasing it. If Glenn doesn't want to play live.
• 4:25
  Speaker B: Well, I mean, he's gotta.
• 4:28
  Speaker C: The people love him. He needs to get out there with the people and play live.
• 4:32
  Speaker B: Well, there's certainly a lot of demand.
• 4:34
  Speaker C: Yeah, I know, but he sits at home, you know, watching Jeopardy. Or, you know, Bold and the Beautiful. I don't know what he's fall.
• 4:42
  Speaker B: He has his favorite programs, I'm sure.
• 4:43
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 4:44
  Speaker B: But. Yeah, he's got a full plate, you know, without public performance. But who knows what the future may hold? You know, it could. He could pop up in some.
• 4:53
  Speaker C: He needs to get out there, man.
• 4:55
  Speaker B: Yeah. I don't. I think those days Are behind us, but I'm just glad to have him recording new music and, you know, people get to hear him on. On record. Anyway, let's see. Other than that. Played a party for this movie that's taking place in town. It's. It's. I don't know, it's big cast. And had a party at Francis Ford Coppola's apartment down in the French Quarter.
• 5:21
  Speaker C: Really?
• 5:21
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I got to walk around there on the break. Had the. The bed from the movie Dracula and.
• 5:30
  Speaker C: And Typewriter. Directing this movie.
• 5:33
  Speaker B: No, I think some of the actors are.
• 5:35
  Speaker C: Because his last movie sucked.
• 5:38
  Speaker B: What was that? Megalopolis.
• 5:39
  Speaker C: Oh, God.
• 5:40
  Speaker B: Well, he spent a lot of his own money. I actually kind of enjoyed it. You know, it was a. It was a sprawling work.
• 5:45
  Speaker C: Yeah, I enjoyed it, too. Like, I enjoyed Jockey. Okay.
• 5:49
  Speaker B: You know, it's like, I think he spent something outrageous, like $100 million of his own money making a thing. Well, yeah, he took a bath on it. I know, but. But, you know, he's not in it for the. For the money.
• 5:59
  Speaker C: He's. Well, yeah. For the money, though, he had to save his winery. That's why he made Godfather 3. He only did that for the money. And that movie sucked.
• 6:11
  Speaker B: Right.
• 6:12
  Speaker C: You know, but. Yeah. So you played a part. Anyway. What was the name of the movie?
• 6:18
  Speaker B: I'm not sure what the. What the working title of the. The picture is. It's done by the same people that did the. The spotlight movie about the Boston Globe revealing the. The same. Same people that were involved in that.
• 6:35
  Speaker C: Well, at least there's some production coming back.
• 6:37
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 6:38
  Speaker C: To this.
• 6:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's nice. And they had. It's one of these large cast that has a whole bunch of people, and John Tortoro was there. He was the person that I recognized. But then they had a whole bunch of other actors that I recognized from other films.
• 6:51
  Speaker C: But, you know, you can't know. You don't know their name.
• 6:53
  Speaker B: I don't. I don't know their names off the top of my head.
• 6:55
  Speaker C: You know, thanks for bringing that up, then.
• 6:57
  Speaker B: Oh, well, you know, it's something that happened to me. You what? What was going on.
• 7:02
  Speaker C: I saw all these actors that I knew, but I don't know their names.
• 7:05
  Speaker B: Well, if I said their names, it wouldn't. You know, I'm not sure that you would. You would recognize any of them. Anyway, so we had, what, St. Patrick's Day. They had the parades this weekend. Did you make it out to any of those?
• 7:19
  Speaker C: No, of course not.
• 7:20
  Speaker D: You get your Cabbage.
• 7:22
  Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I didn't go.
• 7:23
  Speaker C: I didn't.
• 7:24
  Speaker B: They throw. They throw cabbage.
• 7:26
  Speaker C: But apparently the kids on the parades in Metairie were. Heil Hitler.
• 7:31
  Speaker B: I saw that. Yeah. Nazi salutes.
• 7:33
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 7:33
  Speaker B: Crazy, man. Anyway, so the tsa, happy news. If you've been watching that tsa, I
• 7:40
  Speaker C: don't travel, so what do I care about the thing, right?
• 7:42
  Speaker B: So. Yeah, but you see the news.
• 7:43
  Speaker C: Yeah, I see the news.
• 7:45
  Speaker B: I'm traveling this weekend.
• 7:46
  Speaker C: Oh, really?
• 7:47
  Speaker B: Yes, I'm flying to your old stomping grounds. Ontario, California.
• 7:53
  Speaker C: That's not my old town again.
• 7:56
  Speaker B: I thought you went to rehab there. No. I don't know.
• 7:59
  Speaker C: Maybe. Maybe you went to rehab there. I don't know.
• 8:03
  Speaker B: I never had to go to rehab.
• 8:04
  Speaker C: You never went to rehab?
• 8:05
  Speaker D: No.
• 8:06
  Speaker B: No, I didn't.
• 8:06
  Speaker C: Really? You just quit cold turkey?
• 8:08
  Speaker B: I did. I did.
• 8:09
  Speaker C: Really, I did.
• 8:09
  Speaker B: Out on my own. Yep.
• 8:10
  Speaker C: I remember when you tried to quit smoking, you had those weird things in your ear. What was that about?
• 8:15
  Speaker B: In my ear? I don't.
• 8:16
  Speaker C: Yeah, Eric. The Eric Clapton thing you said. I remember.
• 8:20
  Speaker B: Oh, the brain tuner. Yeah, yeah, that thing works, man.
• 8:23
  Speaker C: Yeah. So that was a box? Yeah, the black box.
• 8:26
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
• 8:27
  Speaker C: For quitting. What?
• 8:28
  Speaker B: For anything. It's. It's good for any sort of.
• 8:31
  Speaker C: It's okay. Yeah. You had these weird things in your ear.
• 8:34
  Speaker B: Yeah. Little electrodes. Yeah. Attached to you. It sends a 111 cycle square wave through your brain. It's quite. Quite rejuvenating. Yeah. Rehabs, all the.
• 8:46
  Speaker C: Speaking of rehab, did you hear that, you know, Pakistan's at war with Afghanistan?
• 8:51
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah.
• 8:52
  Speaker C: And they bombed a rehab clinic by mistake. The Pakistanis did. And so my thing is, is, like, the patients there in rehab, they're either going to keep up with their addiction after the bombing or quit, man, big time. Don't you think? You know, and that rehab place was an old u. S. Army base that the Afghanistanis, you know, turned into a rehab place.
• 9:17
  Speaker D: You're gonna do one of two things. You're gonna quit. Are you gonna revert?
• 9:20
  Speaker C: Exactly. Exactly.
• 9:21
  Speaker B: Those are your only two choices. Sure, yeah. Yeah. You know, flip a coin.
• 9:25
  Speaker C: Yeah. Right.
• 9:27
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, yeah, they're going.
• 9:28
  Speaker C: You gotta hold that mic closer to your mouth radio because I can't hear a word you're saying.
• 9:32
  Speaker B: Wars and rumors of wars just. It's all out there.
• 9:36
  Speaker C: Well, there's. There's war everywhere.
• 9:38
  Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
• 9:39
  Speaker C: Yeah, there's war. Living is a war.
• 9:42
  Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. It's a struggle.
• 9:44
  Speaker C: Living is a war on the streets of the Nation.
• 9:48
  Speaker D: It's an impossible battle.
• 9:49
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 9:50
  Speaker D: Oh well, none of us are getting out alive.
• 9:52
  Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:53
  Speaker B: Yeah. Just gotta have fun while you're here. Enjoy the, Enjoy the struggle or try to. Right, right, right. Well, speaking of. It's kind of, kind of related. I watched this movie the other night. It's called if I had Legs, I would kick you. Yeah, you saw that now it's, it's, it's listed as a comedy drama.
• 10:15
  Speaker C: Yeah, I thought it was hilarious.
• 10:17
  Speaker B: Did you? Oh, yeah, there's no laughs in the movie.
• 10:21
  Speaker C: It's one of the funniest films I've seen. It's like Young Frankenstein.
• 10:25
  Speaker D: I'll have to check that out.
• 10:26
  Speaker C: Yeah, you got to check it out. Really hilarious movie. Hilarious. I loved it.
• 10:30
  Speaker D: What was the name of that again?
• 10:31
  Speaker C: It's called if I had Legs, I'd kick you.
• 10:34
  Speaker B: I would kick you.
• 10:35
  Speaker C: Yeah, I thought it was fabulous.
• 10:37
  Speaker B: It reminded me of this show that, that won best comedy, the Emmy for best comedy a couple years ago, the Bear. Did you ever see that show?
• 10:45
  Speaker C: Yeah, I, I watched the first season and after that I gave up another
• 10:49
  Speaker B: one of those shows. It's. It's listed as a comedy, but there's no laughs in it.
• 10:52
  Speaker C: Oh, there was one. One episode.
• 10:54
  Speaker B: I mean you kind of, it's kind of a. You slyly smirk at it, you know, or.
• 10:59
  Speaker D: Shameless.
• 11:01
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:02
  Speaker D: I couldn't, I saw a little bit. I couldn't watch it either.
• 11:04
  Speaker C: Yeah, it's a Shameless.
• 11:06
  Speaker D: Not seeing Shameless. He was great. I loved him as Shameless.
• 11:08
  Speaker B: Not that it wasn't a good show, whether you liked it or not, but I'm just saying it wasn't a comedy. That's crazy. That what passes for Comedy Bear was
• 11:17
  Speaker C: pretty funny, I thought. But then I got bored with it after the first like eight episodes.
• 11:24
  Speaker D: I got bored with it.
• 11:25
  Speaker C: Yeah, it was like I really don't care, you know, but there was a couple funny.
• 11:29
  Speaker B: Now I did watch a thing last night, this two part series on Mel Brooks, the 99 year old.
• 11:37
  Speaker C: Yeah. When's this guy gonna just die?
• 11:40
  Speaker D: He is quite old still.
• 11:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, 99 years old. Yeah.
• 11:44
  Speaker D: I don't want to live that long.
• 11:45
  Speaker B: Still sharp. He's still sharp.
• 11:48
  Speaker C: 70s. My range, I think. 70.
• 11:50
  Speaker B: Okay, that sounds about right.
• 11:51
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'm 70. I'm done.
• 11:53
  Speaker D: Still, still here. We're still rolling. Still able. You know, I hope it goes fast.
• 11:57
  Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:58
  Speaker D: Motorbike wreck.
• 12:00
  Speaker C: Exactly, exactly. Well, you don't have drug overdose.
• 12:03
  Speaker B: Sure, sure.
• 12:05
  Speaker D: Yeah, I don't do that as much as Enough to cause that anymore? I don't know. I just. Thank God we quit smoking, right?
• 12:13
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
• 12:14
  Speaker D: That was such a nasty habit.
• 12:16
  Speaker B: Yeah, it was.
• 12:16
  Speaker C: It was.
• 12:17
  Speaker B: We all.
• 12:17
  Speaker C: But I miss cigarettes.
• 12:19
  Speaker D: I miss it, too. It's such a nasty habit. I mean. I mean, I'm still looking at things in my house that have a yellow tint to it, and it's like, I need to repaint that wall.
• 12:32
  Speaker B: It gives you something to remember.
• 12:34
  Speaker D: There you go.
• 12:35
  Speaker B: Well, what else?
• 12:37
  Speaker C: Well, let me ask you a question to the both of you. I don't know who you are, but let me ask you a question. What sounds more racist to you, saying Asian did this and that, or saying Asian did this and that. So what sounds more racist?
• 13:01
  Speaker B: The second way sounds more racist.
• 13:02
  Speaker C: You think so?
• 13:03
  Speaker B: I do.
• 13:04
  Speaker C: Yeah. Because that's what white people say.
• 13:08
  Speaker B: Do they?
• 13:08
  Speaker C: Yeah, that's what white people say. I've been taking this poll for, like, the last week.
• 13:13
  Speaker D: Huh.
• 13:13
  Speaker C: At on campus. Because I work at the big campus here. And you're right. More like 80% saying motherfucking Asian did this fucking shit and that as opposed to Asian, motherfucker. There's a big difference.
• 13:29
  Speaker D: Huh. I would go with the first one, though.
• 13:31
  Speaker C: You think so? That sounds more racist because you're describing them first.
• 13:35
  Speaker D: Right.
• 13:35
  Speaker C: Asian, motherfucker.
• 13:38
  Speaker D: I thought the first one was fucking Asian.
• 13:41
  Speaker C: No.
• 13:41
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's the one that sounds more racist, I think.
• 13:45
  Speaker C: Asian. Yeah, that's the second one I said.
• 13:47
  Speaker D: So what's the first one?
• 13:48
  Speaker C: The first one is Asian.
• 13:50
  Speaker D: Oh, so it's the second.
• 13:52
  Speaker C: I just picked Asian because I don't know many Asians.
• 13:54
  Speaker D: Oh, okay. You know, that makes sense. I get it.
• 13:57
  Speaker C: I could pick any, you know.
• 13:59
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's. That's fine.
• 14:04
  Speaker D: Ass. We're a minority as far as the world.
• 14:08
  Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. All right. So you guys agree?
• 14:11
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 14:11
  Speaker C: So that it's 80. It's 80. 20 right now.
• 14:14
  Speaker B: Huh? That in favor of the. Everybody says what we said, right?
• 14:18
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 14:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:22
  Speaker D: There you go.
• 14:22
  Speaker C: Blank.
• 14:24
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Right.
• 14:25
  Speaker C: You know?
• 14:26
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think.
• 14:26
  Speaker C: Well, I'm good. Okay.
• 14:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, I think we're reaching consensus there.
• 14:31
  Speaker C: Very good.
• 14:32
  Speaker D: Consensus reached.
• 14:33
  Speaker B: Right, Right. Any other. Any other?
• 14:36
  Speaker C: No, I got tidbits.
• 14:37
  Speaker B: Okay. All right. Well, I could say item in the news today. I don't know if you saw this. This gondola came off the cable in Switzerland.
• 14:47
  Speaker C: Good.
• 14:47
  Speaker B: Engelberg, Switzerland. And. And Engelberg.
• 14:50
  Speaker C: Humperdink.
• 14:51
  Speaker B: No, Switzerland.
• 14:53
  Speaker D: And he's a piano player. Huh?
• 14:55
  Speaker C: He was an entertainer. I don't Know if he played okay.
• 14:58
  Speaker B: Singer. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker C: So that's a great name.
• 15:01
  Speaker D: But it was. It was Liberace. That was a piano player.
• 15:03
  Speaker C: Engelbert, I think that's a made up.
• 15:06
  Speaker B: That's a made up name.
• 15:07
  Speaker C: Really?
• 15:07
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:09
  Speaker D: It's not his actual old English. Right.
• 15:12
  Speaker C: You ever been to the Liberace Museum in Vegas? You should go there before you die. It's amazing.
• 15:22
  Speaker B: Worth an afternoon.
• 15:23
  Speaker D: It seems like I've been past it or something.
• 15:26
  Speaker C: Yeah, you should go.
• 15:27
  Speaker D: Next time I'm there.
• 15:28
  Speaker C: I'll make it a point.
• 15:29
  Speaker D: I'll make it a point.
• 15:30
  Speaker C: Okay. It's a really good museum and it's off the beaten track in Vegas. It's not like right in a strip or downtown. It's kind of.
• 15:38
  Speaker D: Yeah, I'm off the beaten path type of guy.
• 15:40
  Speaker C: Yeah, you look like it.
• 15:42
  Speaker D: Kind of knew how to gave it before.
• 15:44
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:47
  Speaker D: I try not to, but you know, sometimes it's unavoidable.
• 15:49
  Speaker C: You gotta beat it. You gotta beat it.
• 15:51
  Speaker D: There you go.
• 15:52
  Speaker C: Sure. There you go.
• 15:53
  Speaker B: All right, well, I'll skip that story then and let's get to our guest.
• 15:57
  Speaker C: Okay, here he is.
• 15:58
  Speaker B: All right, well, I have a terrific guest here. He's a Grammy award winning guitar player. He's played with the great Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band for the last 30 years and now also plays with our former guest Tyron Benoit and tour all around the US and abroad. And he and I were recently on the Big Easy cruise together. And we got to spend some time together hanging out. And we're going to get to all that and much more. But without further ado, the great Mr. Randy Ellis. Welcome, Randy.
• 16:29
  Speaker D: Hey, hey. What y' all say?
• 16:31
  Speaker B: Okay, so Andy, Randy Rather. This is not your first time in Snake and Jake's, you were saying?
• 16:39
  Speaker D: No, I used to come here right when it started and Michael Ward. I was playing with Michael Watertown and Reward.
• 16:47
  Speaker B: Really?
• 16:48
  Speaker D: And Mike used to come in here with the furry hat and the furry coat with the high heel boots.
• 16:52
  Speaker C: Sure.
• 16:53
  Speaker D: You know, and. And pimping out. I mean, it was holding court. Yeah, holding court, exactly.
• 16:59
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
• 17:00
  Speaker D: I was a young college kid, had no idea what the hell was going on. And playing with that guy and watching this scene unfold here was eye opening for a little dude from Thibodeau.
• 17:12
  Speaker B: Sure. And you were saying Theral Decloo was singing in the band at that time. And at one time it would be Michael Ward Therrall and often Jun Yamagishi would be here.
• 17:22
  Speaker D: Correct.
• 17:24
  Speaker B: All holding it down.
• 17:26
  Speaker D: June didn't come back. Come in until later.
• 17:28
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 17:28
  Speaker D: I mean, but.
• 17:29
  Speaker B: All right.
• 17:29
  Speaker D: I met June through John Mooney when he. When Mooney was playing Madigans.
• 17:33
  Speaker B: Oh, okay, so you're talking about before that?
• 17:37
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 17:38
  Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay.
• 17:39
  Speaker C: Going bands at Madigan's. Yeah, yeah.
• 17:41
  Speaker D: It was John Mooney by himself. And they put a little. A little stage on the floor that was about this high.
• 17:48
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 17:48
  Speaker D: And he put a microphone underneath it, so when he would kick it. Bass drum sound, really. And he'd have this whole. That whole room full of college kids hanging from the rafters.
• 17:59
  Speaker B: I mean, they'd play every Sunday.
• 18:01
  Speaker D: It would get so intense in there. And that was. I mean, John Mooney back then was, like, really a. I connected with what he was doing.
• 18:12
  Speaker C: Now he's dead, right? No, he's not dead.
• 18:15
  Speaker B: He's still playing French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest with him.
• 18:20
  Speaker D: He was big part of my growing up here, and I did a lot with John Mooney and. And I owe him a lot, really.
• 18:28
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 18:28
  Speaker C: Now, was he on our show?
• 18:30
  Speaker B: John was on. On one of the early shows back. The ring room there. Yeah. He told the story about hitchhiking out in the West. Was picked up by some guys that he realized had raped. Bad intentions for him. And when they stopped at a. A rest stop out in the desert, he. He ran out into the desert and hid among the brush until they finally left.
• 18:51
  Speaker D: That sounds like a Jon story.
• 18:53
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:54
  Speaker C: I don't remember him.
• 18:55
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know John, he was quite the
• 18:58
  Speaker D: character and a really good performer back then. I mean, he's kind of.
• 19:02
  Speaker B: He's still great.
• 19:03
  Speaker D: He's still a great performer. I mean, you know John, he's got some physical issues going on, but, you know, still striving and still moving forward. It's still got that fire in his eyes.
• 19:12
  Speaker B: Oh, man. Still making great recordings, man.
• 19:15
  Speaker D: Absolutely.
• 19:15
  Speaker B: We got one in the can that's waiting to come out, but it was
• 19:18
  Speaker D: off the chain back then.
• 19:19
  Speaker B: Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:20
  Speaker D: Really, really good.
• 19:21
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. John is at the height of his powers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, but you're not from New Orleans, are you?
• 19:28
  Speaker D: I'm from Thibodeau.
• 19:29
  Speaker B: Okay, let's go back a little ways and talk about that. So your family's from Thibodeau? From that area?
• 19:36
  Speaker D: Yes, sir. My great grandfather was a Bajeron, an Ordons. And there's a river that's come up in the DNA stuff that you was talking about earlier. DNA in me or 31 and me.
• 19:51
  Speaker B: Right, right, right. Ancestry.com. all that stuff.
• 19:53
  Speaker D: Yeah, my niece dug through all that stuff, and Revere came up as one of the names that. From Bayou Lafourche.
• 20:01
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 20:01
  Speaker D: So, yeah, we've been there since. I mean, the gravestones. I just buried my dad, my brother in the last few years and. Oh, I'm sorry. The earliest dates go back to the 1830s.
• 20:13
  Speaker B: Okay. So they all came down from. From Nova Scotia along the.
• 20:17
  Speaker C: So are you in mourning?
• 20:19
  Speaker D: Oh, no, no, no.
• 20:22
  Speaker C: Basically, mourning someone who's dead is a waste of time, don't you think?
• 20:26
  Speaker D: Well, I mean, the people I lost lived a great life and.
• 20:30
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 20:30
  Speaker C: So why bother mourning? Yeah, but people mourn.
• 20:34
  Speaker D: Oh, absolutely.
• 20:35
  Speaker C: I know. And it's the biggest waste of time ever. Why would you want to mourn?
• 20:38
  Speaker B: Morning is.
• 20:39
  Speaker C: I knew. I knew this.
• 20:40
  Speaker B: Mexican birds for the living. I would say it's not for the dead, you know.
• 20:45
  Speaker C: Well, you mourn the dead, but that's what, like, people do.
• 20:49
  Speaker B: But it. It's.
• 20:50
  Speaker D: It.
• 20:51
  Speaker B: The purpose of it is for the living.
• 20:54
  Speaker C: I know. And it's a waste of time for the living.
• 20:57
  Speaker D: Well, we got jazz funerals. I mean, that's a good thing that came out of it, really, you know, walking.
• 21:02
  Speaker C: Why? You know, more and more, I. I always thought that the second line and these jazz funerals were for musicians. I thought always. No, no. But lately I've been seeing, like, you know, anyone who was anybody is getting a jazz funeral or. Second line.
• 21:18
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's not just for musicians.
• 21:20
  Speaker C: Oh, really?
• 21:20
  Speaker B: No, no. It never has been.
• 21:22
  Speaker C: Oh, really? Well, that's not what my wife told me.
• 21:25
  Speaker B: Huh. Well, I don't know.
• 21:27
  Speaker C: It's a waste of time, you know, just like mourning.
• 21:32
  Speaker B: Well, you know, to each his own. Everybody gets to decide what's. What fits for them. But go ahead.
• 21:37
  Speaker D: Absolutely. I mean, so. But there's. On the other side of the morning thing. I mean, there's seasons for everything here in New Orleans, and the Indians come out at a certain time, and this happens at a certain time. And the jazz funerals are the same part or the same people that are part of that. All those little culture things.
• 21:56
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 21:57
  Speaker D: And, you know, I've had. I had a guy from California, lives here, and he. He showed me more about New Orleans culture than I ever saw in my life. So, I mean, there's. There's cats that follow that types of thing, and I just never paid attention to it because it was always there.
• 22:12
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 22:12
  Speaker C: And.
• 22:13
  Speaker B: And it's. It's. It's. That's not a culture that you specifically come from.
• 22:17
  Speaker D: Absolutely, yes.
• 22:18
  Speaker B: So it's, you know, and it's nice to see, but in some cases I almost feel like, you know, if that's not part of your culture, why do you feel the need to go inject yourself into it? You know, that's, that's for them.
• 22:30
  Speaker D: Right?
• 22:31
  Speaker B: You know, but whatever, you know, it's, it's nice. People can, you know, appreciate things that are outside of their normal experience. So growing up there, you have a musical family. Is there music in the house, relatives?
• 22:45
  Speaker D: Me and my brother were listening to Guitar Zan by Ray Stevens.
• 22:49
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 22:50
  Speaker D: With a light bright, right. Banging on tennis rackets. And my grandmother walked in and says, y' all want to play guitar? And we're four and five years old. And we went, yeah. She brought us to the music store and got us two guitars and my mother got us into lessons and she was a teacher, so she taught us how to learn by making us practice every day. Right on, right after school we get home, do our homework, do our lesson. We'd have to do it together and then we can go out and play.
• 23:22
  Speaker B: Now that's such a good experience for children because once you learn how to get good at one thing by, you know, adding to it a little bit, adding to your knowledge, you know, constant, you know, striving at the thing, you can do it with anything. You can repeat that process.
• 23:40
  Speaker D: That's how you learn.
• 23:41
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 23:42
  Speaker D: So you learn anything. Right, right. It goes through the 10,000 hours. You know, the only way you can reach 10,000 hours, it's a big ass elephant, one bite at a time every day.
• 23:54
  Speaker C: What is a 10,000. I don't understand what that was.
• 23:57
  Speaker D: 10,000 hours is the, the Malcolm Gladstone practice that you would need to become a proof like a professional at any.
• 24:05
  Speaker C: So how many days or years is 10,000 hours?
• 24:08
  Speaker B: Depends on how many hours.
• 24:10
  Speaker D: Hours a day.
• 24:11
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 24:11
  Speaker C: Well, what is it? What is it? 10,000 hours equals what? How many days?
• 24:18
  Speaker D: Well, I have no idea.
• 24:20
  Speaker C: Well then why the say that?
• 24:22
  Speaker D: Well, because 10,000 hours practice hours or 10,000 working hours. 10,000 what? Hours of doing one thing and you're going to be really good at it.
• 24:32
  Speaker C: Like masturbating. 10,000 hours of masturbating. You'll get good at it.
• 24:36
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, now we'll let us know.
• 24:39
  Speaker C: So 10,000 hours. I don't understand.
• 24:42
  Speaker B: Practicing an instrument of practicing tennis, of, you know, doing anything.
• 24:49
  Speaker C: But how many years is 10,000 hours?
• 24:53
  Speaker D: It depends.
• 24:54
  Speaker C: Well, no, it doesn't depend.
• 24:56
  Speaker D: Well, I mean, if.
• 24:56
  Speaker C: Give me an answer. How many years is 10,000 hours.
• 25:00
  Speaker B: Well, you understand this, man. Let's move on.
• 25:03
  Speaker C: If it move on, you don't have an answer. Just move on. You bring something up, you don't have an answer, move on.
• 25:11
  Speaker B: Listen, what if you practice five hours a day? The number of days it will take to reach 10,000 is different from if you practice one hour a day, is it not?
• 25:22
  Speaker C: I have no idea.
• 25:24
  Speaker B: It's math.
• 25:25
  Speaker C: Okay, well, I'm not very good at math, but you guys said 10,000 hours, so give me the.
• 25:31
  Speaker B: The equation doesn't forget the days. It's not how many days. It's how many hours.
• 25:35
  Speaker C: Anyway. Oh, okay.
• 25:37
  Speaker B: Moving on.
• 25:37
  Speaker C: All right, Moving on.
• 25:38
  Speaker B: So. So you start practicing and. And your brother and I. Your brother and you both are. Are getting good together, and you're. Is this the beginning of a band that you.
• 25:49
  Speaker D: No, he dropped guitar and started playing piano. Okay, so he was taking piano lessons, and he's still a great piano player.
• 25:56
  Speaker B: Right on. You're not in school band, obviously.
• 25:59
  Speaker D: Oh, no, my brother was in the school band, but I was in the rock and roll band.
• 26:03
  Speaker B: Okay, so at what point the rock
• 26:06
  Speaker D: and roll band was called Ellis? Okay, so if I run into Tab Benoit anywhere in the world, he's gonna go, look, it's Randy Ellis from Ellis. He used to rent my pa. Oh, yeah. Or Tab used to rent my pa. Right. Because I had. I was playing with all the older guys that were working offshore, so they would.
• 26:25
  Speaker C: 416 days. 10,000 hours equals 416 days.
• 26:31
  Speaker B: So you're saying if you practice 24 hours a day, you could do it that quickly?
• 26:36
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 26:37
  Speaker B: All right, well, there you go. For anybody that can practice 24 hours a day for 400 days straight, you
• 26:42
  Speaker C: will reach 416 days.
• 26:44
  Speaker B: There you go. 416. 116. All right. Glad we got to that. I don't think that's possible, do you?
• 26:52
  Speaker D: No.
• 26:52
  Speaker B: No. You can't practice 24 hours a day. At some point, you'll reach a saturation point where you're not really. The practice isn't.
• 26:59
  Speaker D: You'll blow your hands up.
• 27:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's not really.
• 27:02
  Speaker D: Your elbows and your stuff won't.
• 27:04
  Speaker B: And that's.
• 27:04
  Speaker C: That's just kind of depends on what you're practicing.
• 27:07
  Speaker B: Okay. All right. Yes.
• 27:09
  Speaker D: I don't think you could do anything for 24 hours a day for. For more than two or three days,
• 27:13
  Speaker C: sleep for 24 hours a day.
• 27:15
  Speaker B: Huh. That'd be interesting.
• 27:17
  Speaker C: I've done it before to see that.
• 27:18
  Speaker B: Then for 400 days, like Rip Van Winkle.
• 27:21
  Speaker C: 416 days.
• 27:22
  Speaker B: 416 days, yeah. That'd be like a coma.
• 27:26
  Speaker C: Well, yeah.
• 27:27
  Speaker B: Okay. Something to look forward to.
• 27:29
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'm looking forward.
• 27:31
  Speaker B: Sure. Yeah, I'll bet. Well, let's see. So, Randy. Yes. You were talking about the band. And. And so. So Tab Benoit. So you. You know him from. Is he from Thibodeau as well?
• 27:43
  Speaker D: Taz from Homo.
• 27:44
  Speaker B: Right, right, right.
• 27:45
  Speaker D: They had a band called Toy that was doing. I guess it was like new wave at the time. New, yeah.
• 27:53
  Speaker B: Now, how old are y' all at this?
• 27:55
  Speaker D: He's a couple years older than I am.
• 27:56
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 27:56
  Speaker D: Two or three.
• 27:58
  Speaker B: So this is your teenagers?
• 27:59
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 28:00
  Speaker B: All right. And are y' all playing, like, dances around there?
• 28:04
  Speaker D: Are you finding skating rings and. And there was a few clubs. This was after the whole big rock and roll scene. I mean, the rock and roll scene died in the 80s. They had. They had so many clubs in Thibodeau and Downavaya. I mean, it was only 15 venues. Venues. I mean, 2,000 people venues. And it was packed all the time.
• 28:27
  Speaker B: And what kind of bands? Rock and roll bands, like from down there or New Orleans bands.
• 28:34
  Speaker D: It was Big J Productions. So he would bring those bands and bands from New Orleans and send them down to buy.
• 28:41
  Speaker B: Like it was a down to buy
• 28:43
  Speaker D: tool, stuff like that.
• 28:44
  Speaker B: Okay, so like hard rock bands.
• 28:46
  Speaker D: Correct.
• 28:47
  Speaker C: All right.
• 28:47
  Speaker A: Correct.
• 28:48
  Speaker B: Well, I'm just asking because I don't know.
• 28:50
  Speaker D: That's exactly right. So, yeah, so for now, I went to GIT in California, graduated high school and went to la.
• 28:56
  Speaker B: What high school did you go to?
• 28:57
  Speaker D: Thibodeau High.
• 28:58
  Speaker B: Okay. And you're again, you're playing music through high school. Bands around there. Now, how'd you wind up going to the Guitar Institute of Technology?
• 29:12
  Speaker D: Filled out the application and sent them a tape and did a couple little interviews and made it through.
• 29:18
  Speaker B: Now, did your guidance counselor at school.
• 29:22
  Speaker D: Oh, no, no, it was all you. Yeah, they did.
• 29:26
  Speaker B: What'd your parents think about this? That you're going off to Los Angeles to.
• 29:31
  Speaker C: They wanted you out of the house.
• 29:32
  Speaker D: They were okay. Yeah. And it was that time. I mean, it was time to go somewhere. I was going to college or going to do that, and I chose that. Then I left there and went to college. So I went to Northwestern for a little while and ended up at UNO with jazz studies, so.
• 29:46
  Speaker B: So. Well, tell us about being out there in Los Angeles. Was that culture shock for you? Where were you living?
• 29:52
  Speaker D: Absolutely. I mean, earthquakes and pretty girls that don't talk to anybody. We'd. We meet the young ones that Came up from San Diego or young girls that came up from San Diego, but it was the titty bars, man. We lived with all the strippers.
• 30:10
  Speaker C: There you go. Yeah, I live with strippers too, in la, man.
• 30:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, man, he's from out there.
• 30:16
  Speaker D: Absolutely.
• 30:17
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 30:17
  Speaker D: Hollywood Boulevard at La Brea. I mean, it was my, my little thing. So Seventh Veil was right down.
• 30:23
  Speaker C: There you go, baby, Seventh.
• 30:25
  Speaker D: And there was a couple of other ones right in between. And we just met the girls and the girls brought us over there and then the girls brought us home and there wasn't a whole lot of, you know, he in and she in. It was just this other little thing.
• 30:40
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 30:41
  Speaker D: And it was, I mean there was. But it was a community, but it wasn't like crazy. It wasn't like, like Playboy Mansion or anything, but it was. We lived with the strippers because they had money.
• 30:54
  Speaker B: Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, man. I was talking about that last week.
• 30:56
  Speaker C: If you're a junkie, you want to date a strip. Well, they come home with cash.
• 31:00
  Speaker D: Junkies were students, you know, I was practicing 10 hours a day back then just to keep up in school.
• 31:06
  Speaker B: So right now, now tell us.
• 31:07
  Speaker C: 416 days. There you go.
• 31:10
  Speaker B: Now tell us about that. The, the other students that you are out there with, they're from all over the place. Anybody that we would know that, that you would know?
• 31:21
  Speaker D: Some of the teachers maybe, huh?
• 31:23
  Speaker B: Now you had some good teachers out there.
• 31:25
  Speaker D: Yeah, it hit and miss. I mean, but all of them were good at what they did, right?
• 31:30
  Speaker B: Right. Anybody in particular you want to give a shout out to?
• 31:34
  Speaker D: Oh, Paul Gilbert, Nick Nolan, that was my two favorites. Jamie Finlay, he played with Frank Sinatra Jr. For a long time. He was a, he was a great player. He was my one on one coach.
• 31:48
  Speaker B: Okay, right.
• 31:49
  Speaker D: But you can go sit in these little rooms just about as big as this little corner in front of Paul Gilbert and ask him how to do something. And he's like, you know, do the thing or Joe Pass or Joe Diorio or who? Tommy Tedesco was still there. Tommy Tedesco brought me into my first studio gig. Wow.
• 32:08
  Speaker B: No shit.
• 32:10
  Speaker D: He goes, here, play E minor pentatonic. And he'd give me the guitar back. The producer would come and go, hey, man, that sounded great.
• 32:19
  Speaker B: Really?
• 32:20
  Speaker D: What the fuck is going on here?
• 32:22
  Speaker B: Well, that's pretty cool. So, so, so Git had had that kind of interface with the professional scene there.
• 32:30
  Speaker C: Oh yeah.
• 32:30
  Speaker B: These guys were, you know, shepherding you into the, the studio.
• 32:35
  Speaker D: Absolutely.
• 32:35
  Speaker B: World. So did you get to do that for a while? You?
• 32:38
  Speaker D: I did, like, five or six date with. With Tommy. I mean, nice. He was one of my instructors and took me under his wing. I mean, he was a monster.
• 32:47
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 32:47
  Speaker D: Monster.
• 32:48
  Speaker B: Yeah. Well, you've seen that movie, the Wrecking Crew.
• 32:51
  Speaker D: Yeah, he's.
• 32:51
  Speaker B: He.
• 32:52
  Speaker D: He is the Wrecking Crew.
• 32:53
  Speaker B: Right, right, right, right. And you had that book, the Tommy Did Asko book.
• 32:57
  Speaker D: It was Tommy. Yeah, yeah.
• 32:59
  Speaker B: You didn't need the book.
• 32:59
  Speaker D: Yeah, I didn't see a book. I just met this guy, and he was just. He was this crazy person icon that. Yeah, well, I had no idea.
• 33:10
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:10
  Speaker D: It was just like Levon Helm. I walk up a set of stairs, and Amy says. Amy looks at somebody, and Levon comes up to me and goes, you must be that little coon ass I've been hearing about. And I was like, yes, sir, I am. I didn't know who the he was. Yeah, right. And then it's Levon Helm.
• 33:28
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 33:28
  Speaker D: So hurrah.
• 33:30
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:32
  Speaker D: My brother says that, but, you know, God bless Levon Helm.
• 33:36
  Speaker B: Right on. Yeah, yeah, Absolutely. God bless. Live on Helm.
• 33:40
  Speaker D: Love that guy.
• 33:41
  Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, man.
• 33:42
  Speaker D: What's not to monster? Salt of the air in all senses of the word monster.
• 33:48
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:49
  Speaker B: Incredible. So were you playing in bands out there playing it? Not doing so much.
• 33:53
  Speaker C: Okay, well, you're just hanging out with strippers?
• 33:57
  Speaker B: Well, I was studying, going to school.
• 33:59
  Speaker D: You know, everything goes through phases, and we ended up getting an apartment closer to school and with the three or four students and, you know, did the rest of our time out there, it was kind of quiet because we saw how, man, school got harder and harder and harder and harder and harder. Yeah, I mean, once you got to a certain point, it kind of plateaued, and it was like, oh, okay, so I can relax a little. No, I can't. Right. So we had to, you know, stay serious in school, and that was a distraction, you know?
• 34:27
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 34:27
  Speaker D: It became a distraction.
• 34:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. The strippers, you mean?
• 34:30
  Speaker D: Yeah, sure.
• 34:30
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:31
  Speaker D: Oh, like. Like they can be, you know.
• 34:33
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a stripper.
• 34:36
  Speaker D: What you gonna do?
• 34:37
  Speaker B: You don't. You don't want your life to end up there with the strippers.
• 34:40
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 34:40
  Speaker D: Hey, hey, again, we go through phases,
• 34:42
  Speaker B: right, right, right, right. You know, something to pass through.
• 34:45
  Speaker C: There's nothing wrong with strippers.
• 34:47
  Speaker D: No, they're not.
• 34:48
  Speaker C: Greatest clothes ever.
• 34:50
  Speaker D: Yes, I love them.
• 34:51
  Speaker C: Yes, I love strippers.
• 34:53
  Speaker D: It's all good.
• 34:54
  Speaker B: Right on. So. So you're there for a while, and then you decide to come back to New Orleans, and you.
• 35:00
  Speaker D: I went to Macintosh first Oh, okay. Northwestern for a semester. And then I saw a friend of mine, he was going to uno, so I just went to the music program at uno.
• 35:11
  Speaker B: Okay. And that's when Ellis Marcellus was.
• 35:14
  Speaker D: Steve Maskowski was the guitar teacher. Nice.
• 35:17
  Speaker B: My first teacher. My first bass teacher.
• 35:19
  Speaker D: Is that right?
• 35:20
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:20
  Speaker D: Because Steve's a bass player, Right.
• 35:22
  Speaker B: When he got back from Berkeley, he was. Must have been 19 or 20 years old. I started playing with my dad's band. And my dad goes, hey, this guy plays bass. You want to study with him, right? Sure, man.
• 35:32
  Speaker D: Absolutely. There you go. Credentials.
• 35:35
  Speaker B: So that's a. That's a great program, the UNO program. So you. You went through that?
• 35:42
  Speaker D: Well. Are you smiling? My dad's house burnt down, and we lost the paperwork, and he wasn't living there when the loan papers came through. I guess there's one way we can say how. I had to drop out of school, okay. Because I couldn't get the Pell Grants because I didn't apply for them.
• 35:59
  Speaker B: Right.
• 36:00
  Speaker D: Because I didn't get the mail. Blah, blah, blah.
• 36:02
  Speaker B: Sure, sure, sure.
• 36:04
  Speaker D: So a couple of months later, Chubby Carrier called.
• 36:06
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 36:06
  Speaker D: I mean, so it wasn't long before I was on the road. I called my guidance counselor. I was like, hey, dude, I'm in Paris playing guitar right now.
• 36:15
  Speaker B: How did you. How did you know Chubby or how did he know of you?
• 36:20
  Speaker D: I want to say Russ Broussard.
• 36:22
  Speaker B: Russ Broussard. Okay. Because he mentioned that.
• 36:25
  Speaker D: Well, he played with Chubby, but I don't Chubby or him and Kippy Bake were leaving Chubby at. At the same time. So me and Sammy Neal got into Chubby's band at the same time.
• 36:38
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 36:39
  Speaker D: So I think it was Russ. And I don't know where I know Russ from or where he got my name.
• 36:44
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 36:44
  Speaker D: But my recollection says it was Russ.
• 36:48
  Speaker B: Shout out to Russ. Bruce.
• 36:49
  Speaker D: Russ. Bruce. What'd you say, baby?
• 36:53
  Speaker B: Another sweetheart.
• 36:55
  Speaker D: Golly. And a monster.
• 36:57
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Great player. Yeah. Absolutely.
• 37:00
  Speaker C: We should get him on this show.
• 37:02
  Speaker B: Yeah. He was on the show during the pandemic. We should have him back on. There's a lot of things have happened.
• 37:07
  Speaker C: He's.
• 37:08
  Speaker B: Anyway, he's. I play with him with Susan Castle, obviously. We're. We're on the boat together. The ship.
• 37:14
  Speaker D: Ship.
• 37:14
  Speaker B: The ship.
• 37:15
  Speaker D: Boat. I call it a boat.
• 37:16
  Speaker B: That's what I was going to give
• 37:19
  Speaker C: you a hard time.
• 37:19
  Speaker B: It's a ship.
• 37:20
  Speaker D: It's a boat.
• 37:21
  Speaker C: No, it's a ship.
• 37:22
  Speaker B: It's both.
• 37:23
  Speaker C: No, it's not. You ask any sailor they're going to tell you the difference.
• 37:27
  Speaker D: Okay.
• 37:27
  Speaker C: It's a ship.
• 37:28
  Speaker B: It's a ship.
• 37:29
  Speaker C: Get it together.
• 37:30
  Speaker B: Get it together. Get it together. It's so. So. So you're. You're off on the road with. With Chubby, and it's a whole new, new chapter of your life.
• 37:42
  Speaker D: The first, the first outing on the road was a Dino Cruz.
• 37:46
  Speaker B: Dino Cruz?
• 37:47
  Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
• 37:48
  Speaker C: Dean Martin.
• 37:49
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 37:49
  Speaker D: Dino Cruz.
• 37:50
  Speaker B: You know, Dino Cruz and I made a record together right there.
• 37:53
  Speaker D: Which one?
• 37:54
  Speaker B: Well, it's. We. The one with.
• 37:57
  Speaker D: The one with Keith Keller that didn't get released. That's the one.
• 37:59
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 38:00
  Speaker D: I did the next one.
• 38:00
  Speaker B: Oh, right.
• 38:01
  Speaker C: Right on.
• 38:01
  Speaker D: With Jack Snyder.
• 38:02
  Speaker B: Right on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:04
  Speaker D: And Jack's the one that told me about the Mardi Gras Indians. I mean, I had no idea. And it was Jack that informed me about New Orleans culture.
• 38:11
  Speaker B: Okay. It's a. It's a.
• 38:12
  Speaker D: It's a small. Jack Schneider.
• 38:14
  Speaker B: Jack Schneider, man. Well, you know, this seems like a good time to take a little break here. Why don't you tell the people?
• 38:21
  Speaker C: Yeah, we're gonna take a break. We'll be right back.
• 38:28
  Speaker B: Just chop my stone.
• 38:31
  Speaker D: You know, if I catch a buzzing around here, you know I'm gonna jump. Cause I'm alone and bro, I'm in
• 38:43
  Speaker A: the mud of a Louisiana swamp And I see love it since it's so power it Right on.
• 38:56
  Speaker D: Cause I'm a lonely frog I'm a lonely frog I'm a lonely frog I live with the alligator I swam with the poison sneak If I made some one wrong move that was the last move that I'd make.
• 39:21
  Speaker A: Cause I'm alone and wrong. I was right in the mud of
• 39:27
  Speaker D: a Louisiana swan And I seen the
• 39:32
  Speaker A: love it seems it's over
• 39:37
  Speaker D: and dried up.
• 39:40
  Speaker A: Cause I'm alone and fro I'm alone.
• 39:51
  Speaker B: And we're back. Back with Mr. Manny Chevrolet. I have Renee Coleman back with our guest, Mr. Randy Ellis. Now, Randy, you're new to the podcast, but as our faithful listeners know, this is a listener support operation. And we have a PayPal and a Venmo link in the show notes of every show and the Facebook page. And our supporters will contribute. Buy us cocktails, help defray our operating costs.
• 40:21
  Speaker D: Oh, so the cocktails are free notebooks.
• 40:24
  Speaker B: And yes, our listeners are buying cocktails for us.
• 40:27
  Speaker D: Well, thank you.
• 40:28
  Speaker B: And Manny, last week I was talking about a guy who I wasn't sure if it was a scam or not because he was sending a PayPal contribution to an account that we do not do not have. And as it turned out, he was just didn't know how to operate it because he did find the correct link. So shout out to Brian Hudson. And it's one of those things where, you know, you get a card from your grandmother and you open it up and you go, oh, that's cute. You know, it's.
• 40:58
  Speaker C: Don't.
• 40:58
  Speaker B: Don't spend it all in one place. But. But. But every little bit helps. That's what they say.
• 41:03
  Speaker D: Thank you, sir.
• 41:04
  Speaker B: So, yes, you can avail yourselves of those. Those links as well as the Patreon link. We have a handful of patrons supporting us week in, week out. Again, we're running on fumes from the Patreon supporters. Thank you. And also link for the Troubleman podcast T shirts is there and. And follow us on Facebook, Instagram and rate, review and subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening to it. Give us five stars. Cost you. Nothing helps us a lot. And yes, I'll be out this. This weekend playing with. Opening for Dwight Yoakum and the Avett Brothers in Ontario, California. And then I'm right after that, I'm off to Minneapolis and Chicago with Sunny Landreth and the Iguanas.
• 41:55
  Speaker C: So we're gonna have a break.
• 41:56
  Speaker B: We're not gonna have a break. We're not gonna have a show next week.
• 41:59
  Speaker C: That's good.
• 42:00
  Speaker B: I know you're very thrilled and so everybody gets a break. Seems like enough of that. Back to you, Randy.
• 42:07
  Speaker D: Radio.
• 42:08
  Speaker B: Randy Ellis, our guest.
• 42:09
  Speaker D: Hey. Hey.
• 42:10
  Speaker B: You're saying that before Chubby, you actually played with Dino Cruz?
• 42:14
  Speaker D: Dino Cruz.
• 42:15
  Speaker B: Dino Cruz is a legendary character in New Orleans. He's a legend in his own mind, but he could project that to other people would meet him. Like MTV came down here and they met this guy, and he had such convincing bullshit with him that they put him on mtv, like hosting the whole Mardi Gras weekend.
• 42:33
  Speaker C: And how did you spell cruise?
• 42:36
  Speaker D: K, R, U, S, E. Oh, okay.
• 42:38
  Speaker C: That's cool.
• 42:39
  Speaker B: Had a very interesting life, I think. Had been adopted by someone.
• 42:45
  Speaker D: What a gangster.
• 42:47
  Speaker B: Gangster story. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 42:49
  Speaker D: Not only gangsters, but there was the gypsy thing involved with that too.
• 42:55
  Speaker B: Yeah. Who knows?
• 42:56
  Speaker D: Who knows?
• 42:56
  Speaker B: We can't get into too much of it because we want to stay on you, but that's great. I think that's the first time that Dino's been brought up on this podcast. And he always has a warm spot in my.
• 43:07
  Speaker D: That was a fine.
• 43:07
  Speaker C: What happened to that guy who was living across the street? That homeless guy?
• 43:12
  Speaker B: Jimmy Chubbuck?
• 43:13
  Speaker C: Yeah. What happened to him?
• 43:14
  Speaker B: I Have no idea. You know, he last was seen at the London Lodge out there before they tore it down. So I don't know where Jimmy Chubbuck has gotten to. If anybody knows, you know. Still got a. We're keeping a seat warm for you, Jimmy. But Dino Cruz was a. Was another matter. I mean, he was a guy who would buy guitars, refurbish guitars, sell guitars,
• 43:35
  Speaker D: leave them in the yard for the dog to scratch on and put them in the fire.
• 43:38
  Speaker B: Right, right.
• 43:39
  Speaker D: He had him on the roof of his house.
• 43:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 43:41
  Speaker D: Because it makes the sun, it bakes the paint.
• 43:44
  Speaker B: Yeah. Could age them and use Abrah.
• 43:46
  Speaker D: You gotta beat the paint.
• 43:48
  Speaker B: Right.
• 43:49
  Speaker D: Right on top of the house.
• 43:50
  Speaker B: Okay, cool. So you spent some time with Dino, but then you. You made it on to. You didn't do a lot of world. World traveling with Dino.
• 43:57
  Speaker D: No, he didn't do that kind of thing. No.
• 43:59
  Speaker B: No.
• 43:59
  Speaker D: But I made his final record.
• 44:02
  Speaker B: Nice.
• 44:02
  Speaker D: And, yes, I know I did a bunch of Dino, but I moved to Chubby Carrier. I mean, and that was my touring band. That's who brought me around the world.
• 44:13
  Speaker B: Now, I saw you with Chubby on the Big Easy Cruise, and I was commenting to you afterwards, like, what a tight operation it is or how razor sharp. And you said, oh, fuck, man, he's relaxed now. You should have seen him when he was really. So tell us about that. What kind of the band.
• 44:31
  Speaker D: You know, 10 years ago, or when I joined the band, when it was me, Corey Dupla and Chubby's son playing drums. I mean, it was a machine.
• 44:40
  Speaker B: It's like kind of a James Brown type operation with the kicks. Right, right.
• 44:46
  Speaker D: I know. Washboard.
• 44:48
  Speaker B: Right.
• 44:48
  Speaker D: I mean, but.
• 44:50
  Speaker B: But that kind of show, I mean.
• 44:51
  Speaker D: Oh, it was. It was absolutely. I mean, blues bands hated to follow us.
• 44:56
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 44:56
  Speaker D: And we'd play blues festivals. Right. So I was the guy that everybody hated at the blues festival. Right. Jimmy Thackeray would. He would. He would. He would go into fits going, I can't follow that washboard. And it's Jimmy Thackeray because people love the energy, the whole thing. And then the band was so good. Right, right.
• 45:20
  Speaker B: And you were saying he had y', all, like, very disciplined.
• 45:24
  Speaker D: As a disciplined operator there was. He'd throw up fine signs, you know. You know, everybody. Everybody in the band knows what that means. I mean, you included.
• 45:34
  Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. Like somebody flash a five at you,
• 45:37
  Speaker D: and they do it four times, docking you $20. Docking you 20 bucks.
• 45:41
  Speaker B: Right, right.
• 45:43
  Speaker D: Or it's like going to.
• 45:45
  Speaker B: That's old school, man.
• 45:47
  Speaker D: It was tabby Thomas. We were doing Jazz Fest, and before the show, Tabby hands everybody a pink T shirt with his picture on it. Right? Oh, everybody gotta wear this T shirt. So everybody puts on the T shirt, we go play the show. We get in the trailer behind the stage. I guess there's Fayette o' doa or whatever it was. It was on the other. It was. The fairgrounds were all different back then, or the stages were. But get back to the trailer, and Tabby goes, All right, it's $25 for the t shirt. It's $20 piece. So y' all all will be $5.
• 46:25
  Speaker B: He had to buy.
• 46:27
  Speaker D: Wait, no. You had to buy a T shirt and you only got paid $20, so you owe him $5.
• 46:32
  Speaker B: Oh, geez.
• 46:32
  Speaker D: Right? So.
• 46:33
  Speaker B: What a racket.
• 46:34
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. What a jerk, man. Jesus.
• 46:37
  Speaker D: So, I mean, we all had our experiences playing.
• 46:39
  Speaker B: Sure. They call it paying dues.
• 46:41
  Speaker D: That's right.
• 46:41
  Speaker B: Right on.
• 46:42
  Speaker C: Pay to play. So basically.
• 46:44
  Speaker D: Well, that was a. That was a one off experience. Sure.
• 46:48
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 46:49
  Speaker D: They don't do that to you all the time.
• 46:50
  Speaker B: Right, right. It just makes a good story. Makes a good story for the podcast years later. Because Chubby wasn't doing that.
• 46:57
  Speaker D: No, no, no. But Chubby, he'd throw up the fine signs and sometimes he would, depending on the violation, because, hey, man, we all know that we need to hold yourself together, especially on the road, because we are here together and we are a team, and this is the team effort. One person slacking messes everybody up. So you gotta hold your thing.
• 47:21
  Speaker B: We're all going to win together.
• 47:22
  Speaker D: That's right. One link. One bad link in the chain holds everybody back.
• 47:26
  Speaker B: Right, right.
• 47:26
  Speaker D: That's what I'm saying. That band, when I got with Chubby, with me, Corey, and Chubby's son, bruh, it was. It was just heavy. Sure. Everybody there knew what was going on, and it was like a freaking train going. Muscular.
• 47:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 47:42
  Speaker D: Muscles. Yeah, right, right. Doug Baloch died muscle. That's what that meant.
• 47:47
  Speaker B: Yeah. So. So you guys are playing the whole festival circuit in the US and then
• 47:54
  Speaker D: all over Europe, South America.
• 47:56
  Speaker B: Really? Like, where'd y' all play in South America?
• 48:01
  Speaker D: Brazil, at the Bourbon Street Club or whatever that is.
• 48:05
  Speaker B: Okay, so he would.
• 48:06
  Speaker D: So Chubby would go New Orleans club.
• 48:08
  Speaker B: Chubby would go all down in South America. Huh.
• 48:13
  Speaker D: With cruises and whatnot.
• 48:14
  Speaker B: Oh, okay. So y' all been doing cruises for. For a long time.
• 48:18
  Speaker D: You got to pay me to go on them ships. Yeah, I won't go otherwise.
• 48:24
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, well, sure. I mean.
• 48:26
  Speaker D: I mean, I did a bunch of blues cruises and, you know, the Chubby cruises, then blues cruises again and these now these New Orleans crews. And we did something else in California, then the Baja Peninsula type thing.
• 48:41
  Speaker B: Right, right. Well, what about Japan and all y' all ever go.
• 48:46
  Speaker D: I've never been. Never been that side.
• 48:48
  Speaker B: No, me either. Now, I was gonna say the audiences, even in New Orleans, but I'm sure everywhere when a. When a Cajun or zydeco band sets up and starts doing a sound check.
• 49:00
  Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
• 49:01
  Speaker B: Maybe it's just the rhythm section playing. If people are there, they'll start dancing. Not even a song playing.
• 49:07
  Speaker D: They don't have that everywhere.
• 49:08
  Speaker B: They feel that beat, man, they just start dancing. So do you guys have that reaction worldwide?
• 49:15
  Speaker D: In Germany, it was playing this airline, airplane hangar. It was all like hairy backed bikers, right? All wearing leather and chaps and they were. They were bikers, right? To all extent. And it was 5,000 of them, right? And we're. We step on this stage, Chubby's got a. An accordion in his hand, and these dudes look at us and we start playing. And, you know, they just kept on looking at us and we play. We'd finish a song and it was quiet. We play another song and all of a sudden you start to see them move their heads. And three songs later they were freaking moshing to the zydecoat, bro. It was uncanny, right? I mean, just we turned them in like four or five songs. They had no idea what we was gonna do. Right?
• 50:18
  Speaker B: The journey.
• 50:19
  Speaker D: There was a bunch of black dudes and me, you know, on the stage.
• 50:22
  Speaker B: Oh, sure, yeah, yeah. Like y' all came from outer space or something.
• 50:25
  Speaker D: Outer space is ex. Exactly what we look like.
• 50:28
  Speaker B: Right?
• 50:28
  Speaker D: So, yeah.
• 50:30
  Speaker B: So were you the only white guy in the band?
• 50:34
  Speaker D: Yes.
• 50:35
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 50:35
  Speaker D: At the time.
• 50:36
  Speaker C: Right, right, right.
• 50:37
  Speaker B: Well, that's interesting, you know, going around all these white countries, you know, and, you know, with a.
• 50:43
  Speaker D: It's more fun now because in Chubby's band, it's. It's Chubby's family. And just for some degree. And he started calling me because I'd go to practice at Chubby's dad's place at the old bar in Lawtel.
• 51:01
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 51:02
  Speaker D: The Offshore Lounge is what they call it. So it was Roy's place. So Neil was running around. He was a little kid. And he remembers my truck coming up the road. And we always knew that was you coming up there. But we'd all start running back to the house. And little Neil is in the band now, right? So Neil started like, right when he met me, he was like, man, you like my uncle, man. So he called me Uncle Randy. Sure. So now all of the rest of the band calls me Uncle Randy.
• 51:31
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 51:32
  Speaker D: I mean that's, it's a moniker in the whole chubby carrier thing. So walking through an airport, you know, you got Neil running behind me going, uncle Randy, we need to get some of that fucking sushi you had last time and like shushed my. With the freaking language, dude. Oh, okay. Oh, we gotta get this right, Right. So, yeah, it's, it's more fun with that nowadays than it ever was with
• 51:55
  Speaker B: the multi generational film. Sure, yeah, yeah.
• 51:59
  Speaker D: And it's respect and it's camaraderie and it's all of it.
• 52:03
  Speaker B: I mean, and there's no substitution for playing with guys that you've played with for decades.
• 52:09
  Speaker D: Absolutely.
• 52:10
  Speaker B: There's a level of, you know, understanding and, and it's almost telepathic playing with guys you know exactly where they're going to be, exactly where they're going to play on the beat. You can hear everybody listening and, and, and you know, honing in on, on.
• 52:25
  Speaker D: I've learned that, that I don't have to look at anybody. And sure, I get pickup gigs and I, I don't know the songs and I'm like, hey man, y' all just play and I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick it up, don't worry. Right. And it's a bunch of little b leouche bands, so I'm kind of showing them too, you know, some things. But somebody telling me what to do on all these little things is like a distraction. Hey, stop all that. I'll play it, don't you worry. Just give me a second. Give me one round and I got it right. And if I don't, I'll put some salt and pepper in. Sure. And it's all good. We're going to get through this song and I'm not going to mess anything up.
• 53:02
  Speaker B: Right, Right. Don't, don't try to give me too many details.
• 53:05
  Speaker D: But yeah. Don't, don't, don't. Don't try to distract me with. Go to here and here. Don't even tell me the chords.
• 53:10
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 53:12
  Speaker D: I'm better off not knowing.
• 53:13
  Speaker B: I'll figure out what I'm gonna figure out.
• 53:15
  Speaker D: We've all been doing this long enough that sure, if you don't. You had done your 10,000 hours.
• 53:20
  Speaker B: There you go. There you go.
• 53:22
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 53:23
  Speaker B: Well, so, so, so you play with this band for a while now, now in 2010, you guys wind up winning the Grammy for your, Your record, Zydeco Junkie.
• 53:32
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 53:33
  Speaker B: No.
• 53:34
  Speaker C: So were you at the main show or the other show? Because we've had guests who've won Grammys before, but they're not at the main show. They're, like, at the show the night
• 53:44
  Speaker B: before or the early show.
• 53:46
  Speaker D: The early show.
• 53:47
  Speaker C: You were at the early shows? You weren't on tv? You didn't go up on TV and say thank you?
• 53:52
  Speaker D: Not on live tv, no. Yeah, but I was filmed.
• 53:56
  Speaker C: You were filmed, but you never made it on broadcast television. Television.
• 54:01
  Speaker D: Not that I know of.
• 54:02
  Speaker C: Yeah. Okay.
• 54:03
  Speaker B: Well, it must be.
• 54:03
  Speaker C: You want a Grammy?
• 54:04
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 54:05
  Speaker B: I'm guessing that since it was the, you know, Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band.
• 54:11
  Speaker D: Correct.
• 54:11
  Speaker B: That you got a Grammy as well.
• 54:13
  Speaker D: Correct.
• 54:14
  Speaker B: So you gotta, you gotta one. Nice.
• 54:16
  Speaker C: Now, where do you keep it? Above your toilet? Yeah, yeah, that's where you should.
• 54:21
  Speaker D: I wanted to put it on the hood of my truck, but,
• 54:25
  Speaker B: you know, too top heavy.
• 54:27
  Speaker D: Yeah. Can't lift the hood.
• 54:29
  Speaker B: Well, that's very cool, man.
• 54:31
  Speaker D: Yeah, man. It's, it's. Man, I, I, I've said since the beginning that the Grammy is for everybody else. I mean, for all those people that, that it's, it's important to.
• 54:43
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 54:43
  Speaker D: Because I don't watch all of that stuff. I don't pay it. I was part of the Grammy since I, Since I, I got on the list of you can vote for the Grammy because you're a Grammy winner. So I did that for three or four or five years, and I just. You lost interest because I didn't know anybody that was on there.
• 55:07
  Speaker B: You don't have an informed opinion.
• 55:09
  Speaker D: And if I did, I voted for two people and 68 votes. Right. And it's like, this is nonsense. I'm just, I'm checking a box that I have no idea what it is.
• 55:20
  Speaker B: Right, right. Well, Manny always talks about how, like, he grew up in LA and that. That many of the awards were filled out by gardeners or housekeepers.
• 55:31
  Speaker D: So, I mean, it was all about, Again, it was about the people that it was important to. When I go out to get my hair cut in Thibodeau, you know, some girl says to her child, this Mr. Randy won a Grammy. You know, we just watched the Grammys. Okay. So it's important to them. Sure. Okay. So in that respect, I'm gonna, I'll stop and talk and give them a little story or something. But, man, that wasn't for me. That's for them.
• 56:00
  Speaker B: Well, it's still. It's a nice thing.
• 56:02
  Speaker D: It's a nice accolade. It's an accolade for sure. But at this point, you know, it wasn't important when we wanted. And Chubby was like, come on, man, let's go. And I was like, oh, holy shit, we won. Oh, okay. I mean, it just wasn't a big thing to me.
• 56:18
  Speaker B: Right, right. Well, you know, but, I mean, it's just good to not get too hung up on those kind of things. I was gonna say you play all the same notes after you won the Grammy that you played before the Grammy. Right. I know. I hear you.
• 56:29
  Speaker D: It's like, wait, after the Grammy, I told everybody, look, I'm still gonna go back to playing a $50 show somewhere. Sure. Because that's what we do.
• 56:38
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 56:39
  Speaker D: You know, I'm gonna go do that again.
• 56:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 56:41
  Speaker D: Grammy or no Grammy.
• 56:43
  Speaker B: Right?
• 56:43
  Speaker D: So.
• 56:44
  Speaker B: I know. But you can do it with a Grammy just as well as you can do it without one.
• 56:48
  Speaker C: Fuck. Yeah.
• 56:50
  Speaker B: So it must not have hurt the bookings for Chubby.
• 56:55
  Speaker D: Oh, Chubby did well. But then, you know, some other things happened. Gas prices or something went up, and we started playing more local shows, Right. And then Covid hit, and it kind of threw everything out of kilter, right? So he started having a local band, and I was in Thibodeau, so I wasn't driving out to Lafayette for 50 bucks, right? That's. That. I. I can't do that.
• 57:16
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 57:16
  Speaker D: I could do a $50 job in Thibodeau.
• 57:18
  Speaker B: Right.
• 57:19
  Speaker D: Well, I'll come to New Orleans, but not to Lafayette. That's too far.
• 57:23
  Speaker B: Right, right.
• 57:24
  Speaker D: It'll cost me nothing. Gas.
• 57:25
  Speaker B: Sure.
• 57:26
  Speaker D: Half of that.
• 57:26
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 57:27
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 57:27
  Speaker B: So, you know, like, everything in the. In the music business, it's cyclical. It goes up and down. You know, the only. And, you know, friends that go, oh, geez, you know, you're playing more now than ever. I thought your. Your career was almost over. It's like.
• 57:41
  Speaker D: Over?
• 57:42
  Speaker B: What are you talking about?
• 57:43
  Speaker D: Our careers never end.
• 57:44
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's like, you know, it's only over if you. If you quit answering the phone.
• 57:50
  Speaker D: Mixing a song, you gotta stop, right? You gotta. There's a stopping point, right?
• 57:57
  Speaker B: With mixing a song.
• 57:58
  Speaker D: With mixing a song.
• 57:59
  Speaker B: Right.
• 57:59
  Speaker D: With playing music, there is no stopping point because we gotta keep on playing. We gotta keep on making the mixes.
• 58:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 58:05
  Speaker D: Right.
• 58:05
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's a. You know, it's. It's a. It's a calling.
• 58:07
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 58:08
  Speaker D: That's what we do.
• 58:09
  Speaker B: Well, I really enjoyed being on that Big Easy cruise and other musicians that had been on a bunch of other cruises contrasted that by saying on other ones they'd been on other bands, didn't go and watch everybody and. And they didn't hang out as much. And they said they were saying they really enjoyed the camaraderie that. That. Do you find that we all friends?
• 58:34
  Speaker D: I mean, I saw. I walked into the airport and I said, they shouldn't allow all you to be in the same area at the same time. Right. And we all drinking coffee in the airport. You were probably there.
• 58:46
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
• 58:46
  Speaker D: And it was like, holy shit, man. Everybody's here.
• 58:49
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, I took a picture. I was like, man, this fucking airplane goes down. Holy cow, man. It's like the New Orleans musician. New Orleans music community will absolutely take decades to recover.
• 59:01
  Speaker D: That's for me, the cruises are. Are that. I mean, it's for hanging out with the other musicians. I mean, I got to know Taj Mahal on the. On the blues cruises, and I get up and go have, you know, breakfast with him. And how many people can say that? And, dude, I mean, 10 cruises. Todd remembered who I was. Come on, Savage. It was like, holy. I. I'm on a first name basis with Taj Mahal.
• 59:30
  Speaker B: Right.
• 59:31
  Speaker C: So now who is Taj Mahal? I don't know who.
• 59:33
  Speaker D: He's an old blues singer.
• 59:35
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 59:36
  Speaker D: Out of the Bay Area.
• 59:37
  Speaker C: Oh, really?
• 59:39
  Speaker D: Well, he lived in the Bay Area for quite some time. I don't know exactly where he's from.
• 59:43
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 59:44
  Speaker D: But he was always. He was always been a bay guy, right?
• 59:47
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:47
  Speaker C: So Taj Mahal, maybe he's from India. No, no, no, he's not from India.
• 59:52
  Speaker D: No, he's. He's not from India.
• 59:54
  Speaker C: Okay. All right. Well, I don't know. I never heard him anyway. He seems like a good guy.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker B: He.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker D: He's a very nice. But he's. He's old.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker C: But he's.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker D: He's been.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker C: We're all old.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker D: He's been touring the world longer than most, and he had a career, then he raised his family, and he had a career again. So he's on the end of that
• 1:00:14
  Speaker C: career, so he thinks he's better than us. Oh, okay. All right. Well, we should get him on the show.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I have to work on that.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, we'll get him on the show and I'll rip him a new one.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker D: There you go.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker B: Okay. I'm sure he's looking forward to that. Now, it's. At some point here you start working with. With Tyron Benoit. Yeah.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker D: For Covid The. I started working in a studio. I've been having a studio all my life. I've been a studio rat all my life.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker B: All right. You have your own studio.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker D: I do. Nice. So we started writing, and I was at one of my writers shows at a local barbecue joint in Thibodeau, and Tyron was there, and we started talking, and it might have been a Ruben Williams show. And Totsi was there. Todd Crater. Totsi was Dino's guitar player before me. Right. To go back, I mean, so I saw Totsi and was like, what's up, dud?
• 1:01:18
  Speaker C: So.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker D: And I think Tyrant was there that night. And we started talking about the band and did the whole Tyron Benoit band, because I wasn't playing with Shelby anymore because he was doing the local thing. So, yeah, we started producing records. We started making a bunch of songs. So I got four computers worth of songs. We got hundreds of them, some of them finished, some of them just an idea.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker B: All you and Tyron.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker D: I had a writing session. So we started. It started off with three of us, and then that kind of fizzled out. Then we restarted it, and it was a. They had 60 people on a text message that I'd sent out every week on Tuesdays. Hey, this is what I'm cooking. You know, come bring a song. Bring an idea or not. And we all sit at the table with a notebook, and everybody writes a couple lines. Somebody takes it over. A couple of minutes later, I go turn the studio on. Somebody's up with a guitar track and a vocal going on bang. Now we got a map. Nice. Next we're gonna. Are we gonna put drums and everything to it, or we'll just move on to the next song and just. So that's an idea, right? We could do three or four of them in a night, Right. Sometimes we just do one, sometimes we do three or four.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker B: Nice. And when you get. Get into that kind of rhythm where you're doing it every week, you know, it gives you something to look forward to. And people start writing. It's like, oh, no, I have an idea. So now I have something to bring into the.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker D: Into the workout. Writers would come in and some guy would it, 30 seconds, he's got a whole page written. Then the next guy takes two hours to get, you know, the next two lines. Right, right, right. So there's all this thing going on. So I was like, kind of steering the ship because I can't tell these people what to write, and I can't say no. Just at the end, I was Starting to do that. But we don't do it like that anymore. But we're taking those songs with people like Tyron and Tillis Verdon from I forget what Bansy. He's a New Orleans. He's a Bourbon street guy forever. But he's after party with Jeff McCarty. I got my mix guy. I got Troy Perkle, who we're gonna start releasing some stuff for him. So it's called Shoe Pick Sessions and that's the moniker. So it's Randy Ellis and Shoe Pick Sessions.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker C: Oh, I saw that.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker D: Tyron Benoit and Shupik Sessions, and that's just coming out.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker B: You're starting releasing.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker D: Correct. Troy Purkle and Shoe Pick Sessions. So Shoe Pick Sessions ties all of it together. So when Tyron puts his record out with Donny Markowitz, whatever. On Spotify, if he's listed under Shoe Pick Sessions, it's not gonna. It's not gonna track. So if we put Tyron Benoit and Shoe Pick Sessions, it's going to track on his. But it's also going to track on Shoe Pick Sessions. And if somebody sees Shoe Pick Sessions and goes to Shoe Big Sessions, sees Randy Ellis and Shoe Pig Session and Troy Purkle and Shoe Big Sessions got
• 1:04:33
  Speaker B: a brand going there.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker D: We got a. That cascade or waterfall or.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker C: Sounds confusing to me.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker D: It is.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker B: No, you have a whole umbrella operation going on.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker D: Yeah. There's multiple things, tears going on. So I'm the cook. I'm the guy that fixes the cables. I'm the guy that moves the microphones.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker B: Right.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker D: I'm the guy that cleans the toilet.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker D: So nice. So I owned a publishing company. So we start all this music has got. What are we going to do with this?
• 1:05:08
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker D: So I started the publishing company in 2024. We got probably 16 releases maybe at this point, and we got hundreds to go, so.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker B: Man. Exciting.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker D: Moving, moving, moving, moving.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker D: Randy always nice.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker B: And imagine you and Tyron are going out. He's doing dates. He's always booking dates.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker D: We'll be in Natchez, Mississippi this weekend. Smooths grocery.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker B: Okay. Well, this. This will come out after that. But y' all are doing the. The New Orleans festivals and.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker D: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker B: Imagine you guys are going to be out on the festival circuit this summer. I know.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker D: Absolutely.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker B: Y' all hit Colorado a lot and have a.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker D: Heard of a Colorado trip in July.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker B: There you go.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker C: Nice.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker B: Well, we're kind of on the downslope of the podcast here, Randy. You know, it's.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker C: I had a great time, so great fun, man. It's been.
• 1:06:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, man, it's. It's really great getting to know you. Yeah, you know, it's. It's funny. You be in the music business right? In this area all your life, and. And took us this long to get to know each other, right?
• 1:06:17
  Speaker D: There you go. Yeah. You're a local. I thought she was from, like, Lafayette or something.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker B: I mean, I don't know Lafayette.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker D: I don't.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker B: I don't.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker D: I don't know why, but I just had that feeling.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker B: Right on. Now for.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker D: Maybe next time, my man here will be you, you know, happier in a better place.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker B: I wouldn't count on it.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker D: It's okay.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker C: Well, I wasn't happy.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker D: Well, I don't know.
• 1:06:35
  Speaker C: You got a problem with me?
• 1:06:36
  Speaker D: No, no, no, not at all.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker C: Take it on the arches right now if you want.
• 1:06:41
  Speaker D: On the arches?
• 1:06:42
  Speaker C: Yeah. You ever heard that expression, look it up?
• 1:06:44
  Speaker B: All right.
• 1:06:45
  Speaker D: Oh, okay.
• 1:06:45
  Speaker C: All right.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker B: All right.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker C: I'm a good guy.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker D: I didn't say you were good.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker C: Do you dye your hair? You don't, man. It's jet black.
• 1:06:55
  Speaker B: You too, Manny. Both of y' all have the powerful set of.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker C: I've got tons.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker D: The gray's starting.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker C: No, I've got tons of gray. But you've got a jet black head of hair.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker D: But I got the bald spot going, too.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker C: Yeah, so do I. I have that, too. Yeah, I have that.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker D: We're all getting a little older.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker B: It's the alternative, I like to say.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker C: Anyway, that's it.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker B: That's it, I think. Yes. Getting older beats dying.
• 1:07:22
  Speaker D: Yeah. Up until 70, you know? Then we can just.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker C: I don't know.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker B: I think I'm gonna go way past that.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker D: Mom.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker C: Good luck.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker D: My dad was 88 or 87, and my mom smokes like a train. And she's 89.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker C: Good for her.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker B: Nice. I have two grandmothers who. Who lived past 100, so.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker D: Oh, you got me beat. Go ahead, man.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker B: Save my money.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker D: Save your money?
• 1:07:45
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker D: Well, Elon says you don't have to.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker B: Okay, well, I'm not listening.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker D: I don't make enough. Anyway.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker B: Anyway, thank you so much, Randy, and, oh, yes, the presentation of the Troubleman podcast stickers. There's a couple stickers. One to stick and one to save. And as always on the Trouble Men podcast, we like to say trouble never ends.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker C: But you know what, man? The struggle continues. Good night.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker A: Good night.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker D: Good night.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker C: Was it something I did?
• 1:08:16
  Speaker B: Was it something I said?
• 1:08:18
  Speaker A: The look in your eyes Turn you to red Too much to say too much to show the look in my eyes Tell it to you tell it to you know the time is down for me to see here? The time is now for you to see? Standing on my tippy to? I'm standing on my tippy. Was it not enough time, not enough upset? The look in your eyes turn me to red? Too much to say Too much to lose the look in my eyes Tell it to you, tell it to you tell it to you tell it to you? And I know know the time is now for me to sleep? Yes, I know the time is now for you to see? Standing on my tippy to. I'm standing on my tippy toe to Standing on my tippy toes? I'm standing on my tippy toes. Sa. Oh, no. The time is now for you to see? I'm standing on my tippy down? I'm standing on my tippy down? I'm standing on my tippy down.