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01:00:00 0 |
PETE FORNATALE INTERVIEWS KENNY LOGGINS AT THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION AND RADIO IN NEW YORK CITY. LOGGINS IS ACCOMPANIED BY CHRIS RODRIGUEZ ON GUITAR.
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01:00:45 45.43 |
KENNY LOGGINS RECORDS A PROMO FOR MIXED BAG RADIO
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01:01:14 74.12 |
KENNY LOGGINS TUNES HIS ACOUSTIC GUITAR BEFORE INTERVIEW BEGINS
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01:02:55 175.56 |
PETE FORTNALE INTRODUCES KENNY LOGGINS WHO GOES RIGHT INTO A PEROFORMANCE OF "I'M ALRIGHT." LOGGINS STOPS PERFORMANCE BECAUSE HIS GUITAR IS OUT OF TOUNE.
INTERVIEW: Pete Fornatale 2:58 Hello again everyone and welcome to another edition of mixed bag radio This is Pete Fornatale on location at the Museum of television and radio in New York City with my special guest today and a longtime friend Kenny Loggins Kenny Loggins 3:17 Nova Kenny Loggins 3:20 you got to give me advice Why don't you just be like a dude naturally to which it shows up mystery when no bad news that is getting Kenny Loggins 3:49 done and get smooth feel good Kenny Loggins 3:57 giving up and get you don't got to give me advice. Why don't you just stand Kenny Loggins 4:13 right doing bad Kenny Loggins 4:20 Why don't you just be Kenny Loggins 4:31 Megan up Kenny Loggins 4:43 Julio Jones Kenny Loggins 4:56 up and get to Bobo Oh no you got to give me Why don't you be where you get to give me five Why don't you Kenny Loggins 5:44 I'm gonna stop it it went so far out of tune that I even I couldn't handle it |
01:07:49 469.22 |
2ND PERFORMANCE OF "I'M ALRIGHT"
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01:10:53 653.53 |
Pete Fornatale 10:54
Kenny Loggins and the acoustic version I'm Alright. First things first Kenny, acknowledge your terrific accompany us today. Kenny Loggins 11:04 Chris Rodriguez. Pete Fornatale 11:05 How long do you guys connect Kenny Loggins 11:07 Honerable man . Well, we how long we've been together 12 years. Pete Fornatale 11:10 Wow. Kenny Loggins 11:11 We're like a duo. Pete Fornatale 11:15 You know something about that. But that's for later. Yeah. You know, that's a great one to start with. Because a it is so up and be. You seem so alright. sound all right. You look alright. It's been a while since we've done one of these. Yeah. And you've become a part of the pop culture in so many ways that I'm sure even you didn't expect. Kenny Loggins 11:40 Now you don't think about that when you're when you're starting up. And I was 21 when I started. Yeah. Then I, I was paying $65 a month for half of the duplex in, in East LA. Above Lincoln High School, when when Loggins and Messina hit. And so you know, I went from $100 a week job to a BMW in a dirt driveway. That was the first thing I bought. And that was like my only possession for about a year and a half. And my business manager said, Don't Don't move, don't don't buy anything else. I should have listened. Pete Fornatale 12:17 But success can be a dangerous animal. Did you find out? W Kenny Loggins 12:24 Well you know, Clive Davis used to call it the emotional bends going up so fast. I think I was fortunate in that I had good parenting, you know, so I didn't have to go out and prove too much to the world or to myself, I should say about, about how valid a human being I was by spin by buying everything I could, or by taking every drug that came along, you know, was it was what 71 You know, which was actually the late 60s. Yeah, very, very good. And there was still a lot going on. And I missed a lot of it. Pete Fornatale 13:04 You also had the two older brothers in line. Kenny Loggins 13:09 It kind of kind of older brothers are a funny situation, you know, because my older brother Dan, who's four years older, older than me, he really got me into the music. In the beginning. He taught me to sing harmonies when I was probably six. And I was his backup singer for years. And so I think I was fulfilling his unfulfilled dream. And just those things that happen, you know, along the way he'd come he'd show up every time I'd start a band, he'd be in it for an hour and a half. And my big brother Bob was an influence on me as far as the music that I listened to when I was a kid Pete Fornatale 13:49 which was? Kenny Loggins 13:50 oh, starting off with with Elvis and Buddy Holly and all the rockabilly rock and roll and my brother Dan turned me on to all the black rock and roll of the time, Little Richard the platters, coasters, everything that made me a schizophrenic, because today, I'm always trying to blend those two influences. Pete Fornatale 14:11 Well, you know, rock and roll is a smorgasbord of every possible conceivable influence and should be absolutely should be. I think that's what distinguish ultimately distinguishes the music. Kenny Loggins 14:26 That's what made Elvis Elvis Pete Fornatale 14:28 Yeah, yeah. But now talk about someone who, you know, hears this, pardon the expression hillbilly who this wave of success on a level even much higher than Cobolli you ever experienced? And then most, you know, surrounded for the rest of his life by people saying yes, yes, you're the greatest. You're the greatest and 42 There's too many unhappy endings in this kind of music, but you You're not one of those, and we're gonna go Kenny Loggins 15:02 far so good. And so far so good indeed. Pete Fornatale 15:06 The reason I mentioned the pop culture connection with I'm all right, is that now there's a movie that keeps coming back generation after generation. Kenny Loggins 15:16 Isn't that amazing? And who would have thunk who? I saw recently that it was voted the number one golf song in history. It could also be the number one golfer, so it's like, it's that is so bizarre to me. Yeah, yeah. But you know that that movie, it just, you know, Caddyshack just sum something up in the right movie at the right time. Pete Fornatale 15:44 Were you a writer for hire at that point. In other words, somebody comes and says, Kenny, we're doing such and such, we need you to write about this. Kenny Loggins 15:53 Well, anyone who writes for movies is is instructed to do that you're trying to capture a particular moment that's delivered to you on a platter, you know, and form and they had temp music, or a temporary music already in place through most of the rough cut that I saw. They didn't have an ending for it yet. But but the piece that they had, where I put I'm all right in was a Bob Dylan piece. So that's where that mo rain. That's where that thing that voice came from was was my, my version of going into that character, which then became part of who I am. Yeah, it's fun. Pete Fornatale 16:33 And it's so complements the attitude of that film. It's it's, it's one of those amazingly great marriages of music. And so, you know, Kenny Loggins 16:43 I got lucky on all those films that I worked on, but that one, especially because that was a relationship that I built with John Peters, through stars born when John was with Barbra Streisand, right. And when I met with John and Barbara to pick up music for stars born, I showed them almost all of my celebrate me home album, and she picked I believe in love. But in the process of turning him on to all my stuff, he became a fan. So when he and Barbara split up and he built or made his production company and started Caddyshack, he called me up, said, come on by. Pete Fornatale 17:19 It just occurs to me that you might be able to answer a question for me. I don't know if this is apocryphal or true. But wasn't Elvis offered the part. The Kris Kristofferson part in A star is born? Pete Fornatale 17:33 I don't know Pete Fornatale 17:33 the colonel turned it down. Kenny Loggins 17:35 Really. Pete Fornatale 17:36 And, and in retrospect Kenny Loggins 17:37 Wouldn't have been too old for that role. Pete Fornatale 17:40 In 7676, no, he, you know, he was just coming back to live performance as the 68 special it's only you know, it's only what's eight years later, he's, you know, the magnetism was still there. And I think it might have saved his life, you know, who knows it's those tantalizing Kenny Loggins 18:00 Oh, no, no working opposite Barbara would not have saved his life Pete Fornatale 18:07 That's very funny. I want to stick with the songwriting for a while, you've already mentioned the things that you liked as a kid, when did you translate in that into writing things yourself? Kenny Loggins 18:20 Oh, I was probably a junior in high school when I started writing songs myself, you know, as I was very shy as a kid growing up at buck teeth, and huge ears, and my mom cut my hair with a sheep shears. So, you know, meeting girls, and then that plus they put me in a Catholic school where there were no girls. So meeting girls became like, my ultimate goal was right out of one of those movies like board games or something. And so for me, long hair came along just in time. And Loggins and Messina. I got my braces off one week before Loggins and Messina opened at The Troubadour. So God was on my side. Pete Fornatale 19:04 That's funny. Not surprisingly, we've heard that story about meeting girls before on this. Yeah. I'm sure you have a drawer full of things that you wrote from that time that no one will ever hear. Yeah, mostly. But on the other side of that coin, there is a song from those days that has followed you throughout your career and throughout your life. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, that young and age to have come upon us a classic for you. Kenny Loggins 19:40 Yeah, it's it's hung in there. Actually two songs that I wrote as a senior in high school. Still follow me around. One of them is Danny's song. And the other one is the one you're talking about now. I have a lady named Marnie Walker, to thank for the fact that That song is still with me. She was a girl I was dating at the time when I was a senior in high school. And her daddy happened to be the CEO of Disney. And she took me home and to, uh, to meet daddy and said play that Winnie the Pooh song. And I said, Well, you know, I played it for him. He liked it. But I was just a kid with a song about Winnie the Pooh. And so he figured as a favor for his daughter, he would call the lawyers up and tell him to let the kid get by. And I am forever grateful for his generosity and for Marny Willingness to introduce me to her dad. Sweet, Pete Fornatale 20:39 sweet. It's been described as a farewell to your childhood. Is that accurate? Kenny Loggins 20:44 Yeah, absolutely. I wrote as I was supposed to be studying for finals. And instead I wrote this. Pete Fornatale 20:49 The thing about it is that it is timeless. It speaks as meaningfully to kids as it does to adults and vice versa. Would you do it for us? Sure. |
01:21:02 1261.98 |
KENNY LOGGINS PERFORMS "A HOUSE AT POOH CORNER"
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01:24:53 1493.02 |
Pete Fornatale 24:54
Radio magic, Kenny Loggins and a live version of a house at Pooh corner. I'm forgetting My timing here, Kenny, did the dirt band have the hit with that before? You were even remotely known? Kenny Loggins 25:07 Yeah, nitty gritty dirt band came came out with that. Pete Fornatale 25:11 So that was your first taste Kenny Loggins 25:13 of success. Yeah. Although the uncle Charlie album at the time was not dramatically successful, it was their biggest record up to that point in their career. But you know, I don't know. My guess is 100,000 150,000. Maybe it went gold over the years. But Pete Fornatale 25:33 was there a radio moment for you where you either heard your song or yourself on the radio, and it meant so Oh, yeah. That Kenny Loggins 25:42 was right after the Loggins and Messina has. The ladies have a scene? That was right after Loggins and Messina. Came out with our first album sitting in was in bed. listening to the radio is still in the same apartment I told you about. And what came on I remember, I remember the disc jockey saying, Here's a song from a new group called Loggins. And Messina. We know who Messina is. But Who the heck is this Loggins guy. And then I think they played the trilogy, which was probably what a 15 minute thing Pete Fornatale 26:18 11:35 Kenny Loggins 26:19 To make a woman feel on it and peace of mind and one other. Pete Fornatale 26:24 Yeah, that's great. Oh, man, those were the that was that was lunch break. Potty trip, Kenny Loggins 26:34 whatever you need. Pete Fornatale 26:36 Whatever you need. We loved you guys. We loved Harry Chapin for exactly that reason. Yeah. In addition to many other we Kenny Loggins 26:43 used to, we used to Jimmy and I would visit the stations, the FM stations in each city as we would tour after the show. So we'd sit in with the midnight jock, and pick out songs to play, you know. And then And then he'd put on angry eyes, we go outside do a Dube and look at the stars. That's what it was used primarily for. Pete Fornatale 27:07 Listen, we're gonna jump back and forth between past and present during your visit Kenny. I'm specifically interested in a song on the brand new album that sort of looks back at those days. Okay. First thing I want to say is that the new album, the most recent album is called it's about time. What did you mean by calling the album? It's about time? Well, Kenny Loggins 27:30 a couple of reasons. One was I was hoping that the jocks around the country would say, here's the new one from Kenny Loggins, it's about time, and then it would sound like they're happy to get it. And, and it has happened a few times that way. But primarily, the the song it's about time for me was about pulling myself up out of a depression that I'd been in for a couple of years, around whether or not to retire, why I was doing what I was doing. And if I you know, if I wanted to continue it, and that is to write and record, Pete Fornatale 28:03 writer's block or something bigger Kenny Loggins 28:05 was, you know, on a spiritual level, it was way bigger. But for me, there was nothing I could do with my music that could get anywhere near radio. You know, it was all alternative rock, and, and hip hop, and rap. And there was Columbia Records. I was on Columbia Records, they had no idea what to do with it. When I turned it in. I would spend two years making it and hand it in and hit throw in the trashcan. And I figured, why am I doing this? Right? It's not going to reach an audience. And I'm not the kind of artist that likes to just, you know, do carve the Michelangelo and keep it in the basement. So I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. And I told my son, Luke, who was seven at the time, that I was thinking about retiring. And he started to cry. And he wouldn't tell me what he's crying about. And finally, he confessed to my wife Julia. He said, If daddy stop singing, he'll die. Pete Fornatale 29:06 Wow. Seven Kenny Loggins 29:08 at seven. And that was the first message I got that it was time to pull myself out of that hole Pete Fornatale 29:15 out of the mouths of babes. Kenny Loggins 29:16 Yeah He just said, he basically told me. It's not what you're doing. The message I got from him in that moment was it's not what you do. That's the problem. It's how you do it or why you do it. And in particular, why you do it. It can't be about getting it to the radio. It can't be about making a million selling album. It can't be about being a star. I had to realize that I do this because it keeps me alive. It has to do with feeling good in my life. Feel having a sense of purpose, and being creative. That's what feeds me and makes me a good dad and a good husband. Pete Fornatale 29:52 Oh, that's terrific. The song that I alluded to earlier, that has the autobiographical touch is alive and kicking Kenny Loggins 29:59 alive and kicking. I wrote it with Clint Black. And he sat in with me and and we sang and played on it too as well. Pete Fornatale 30:06 Were you thinking from the get go? autobiography? Kenny Loggins 30:10 Absolutely. Now when I went to Clint because I wanted to write a country rock thing that felt like Loggins and Messina and because he'd been a fan and had grown up on lnM stuff he totally understood what I was after. Pete Fornatale 30:25 I haven't heard it yet but I'd love to Kenny Loggins 30:26 Yep, I'm gonna have to retune for it Pete Fornatale 30:29 no problem. Kenny Loggins 31:33 We've never performed this as a duo so I might need two takes Pete Fornatale 31:36 that's what makes you see what happens Kenny Loggins 31:54 give me the tempo you want it Kenny Loggins 32:03 can I buy a piece of like just a piece of eight by 10 paper I need to just give myself a little bit of a cheat sheet lyrically and a Sharpie Pete Fornatale 32:18 we got to paper we got to Kenny Loggins 32:29 I got Wayne not here Can you hold this one Kenny Loggins 32:43 first one is there were no big gigs Kenny Loggins 32:54 second one is Kenny Loggins 33:01 I'm hearing this music coming through these headphones my ears are still working we on the cover the Romans had it for the holiday Kenny Loggins 33:26 got too much coffee My hands are shaking Unknown Speaker 33:34 the car Unknown Speaker 33:49 as far as we can see Kenny Loggins 34:04 and then as far as we know need to tell Kenny Loggins 34:30 Okay, Pete I'm going to the song is going to be a musical quiz for you. Oh, there is a line in the song that is inaccurate. Okay, so see if you can find Pete Fornatale 34:39 it. I will listen Kenny Loggins 34:45 you didn't know that. It's your kid. Think I got it? Pete Fornatale 34:58 Yeah, I'm gonna anywhere Kenny Loggins 35:05 so here's your shot Kenny Loggins 35:33 let me check the tuning one more time |
01:36:43 2203.94 |
KENNY LOGGINS PERFORMS "ALIVE AND KICKING"
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01:41:33 2493.16 |
Pete Fornatale 41:34
what a treat Kenny Loggins and a live version of alive and kicking from his latest CD. It's about time. More with Kenny after this. Did you do it for the rhyme? Yes. Okay. Are you could have done 71 still having fun? Kenny Loggins 41:55 Yeah |
01:41:57 2517.59 |
LOGGINS AND FORNATALE CHAT CASUALLY BETWEEN TAPED SEGMENTS.
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01:47:50 2870.8 |
Pete Fornatale 47:52
Pete Fornatale back with you on mixbag radio with my special guest today. Kenny Loggins, Kenny, we're going to return to the past for a moment as I asked you what the role of Wingate music was in your life. Kenny Loggins 48:05 There was a publishing company named ABC Wingate that I ended up signing a publishing deal with. In the early days, that's when I was probably 18. I needed money to to move out of my parents home and get a place on my own. And, and 100 bucks a week seemed to do the trick. You know, and for that they got the publishing on House Pooh corner and a few other things. But it was three years of 100 bucks a week. And 920 Yeah, it took me right up to Loggins and Messina. Pete Fornatale 48:46 Did you make any new friends there? Pete Fornatale 48:47 Were you thinking of Pete Fornatale 48:50 wasn't Jimmy there in some Kenny Loggins 48:52 No, no, Jimmy was not there. Not at ABC ling a Pete Fornatale 48:54 misinformation? Yeah. All right. The rephrased question is how did you meet Jimmy? Kenny Loggins 49:02 Well, I was auditioning for everybody I could at the time trying to get out of the $100 a week tax bracket. And Jimmy Messina had just left poco and was a producer on Buffalo Springfield and had great credentials, and I sent him a tape simultaneously with my sending him my tape. Don Ellis who would later become the president of Columbia Records, who was at the time an apprentice of Clive Davis sent him a tape of my stuff too. So he got it from a couple different directions. And I called him up and went over to his house and sang a bunch of stuff for him. I sang Danny song I sing house corner, I sing back to Georgia. things, a lot of things, of course, that were on the first album and a couple things that ended up on the second album of the Hiva and we started working on a Kenny Loggins record to be produced by Jimmy Miss You know, right then and there, and it was months before it became Loggins and Messina. But as he showed me his material that he was sick that he had wanted to do and poco and for some reason, had not been allowed to do. Some of that stuff was amazing to me. And you know, I grabbed peace of mind right away as sung I wanted on the Kenny Loggins record. And then and then it evolved as Jimmy started showing me his stuff. I said, we got to do this together. And you know, and so we started working up a couple of his things. And it just one thing after another, it became so we evolved the idea from a Kenny Loggins record into a Kenny Loggins with Jimmy Messina sitting in like the old jazz records. And we turned the we made the record, turned it into Clive Davis at Columbia. And Clive said, You've got to be kidding me. So I'm not going to release a record of a band that's going to break up. If you guys have to make a six year commitment to me if I'm not going to come come out with, you know, the Loggins and Messina record, and then have the band break up for their second record. It made sense. I mean, I'm, you know, he knows what he's talking about. And so we made a six year commitment. That's why Loggins and Messina lasted from 71 to 76. Pete Fornatale 51:17 You know, in retrospect, it's such a short period of your overall career. And yet, I'm sure there was a lot of intensity attached to it as the success came as the new lifestyle for you. Kenny Loggins 51:30 Oh, tremendous, you know, all kinds of intensity. But mostly, I feel gratitude because Jimmy was really my mentor. Even though we're the same age. He taught me how to rehearse for records, how to record records, how to work in the studio, how to put a band together, how to take it on the road, how to hire a manager, how to hire agency, all that stuff that he'd been through. And to his credit, when it came down to it at the end of Loggins and Messina. I remember throwing a tantrum about something. And he walked over to me, and he said, You know, I've been here before. And we better break up now before we can't speak to each other. And it was probably one of the smartest things that I'd ever heard. Pete Fornatale 52:14 Boy he learned his lessons from Stephen stills and Niel Young Kenny Loggins 52:17 he saw what happens to those relationships, and he didn't want it to happen to us. And, and that's why to this day that, you know, we can actually, we can hang out, we can see each other. We're friends, there's not the bad blood that so many bands break up with. Pete Fornatale 52:33 That's terrific. You've appeared together for a benefit here and there along the way. Kenny Loggins 52:36 A couple Yeah. Pete Fornatale 52:37 Would you ever consider the Full Tilt tour? Or is that off the table? Kenny Loggins 52:41 No. We might. It depends on the times and the changes and stuff. I had been so wrapped up in my solo career that, you know, to move back into a duo thing. Neither of us had been thrilled by it. You know, I actually approached him when I had been alive and kicking idea. And he said, he said I don't want to go backwards. I don't want to make country rock again. And I don't know why he feels that way. But so far he doesn't want to do the serious reminiscing that Loggins and Messina would take unless it's a full blown project where we're cutting all new tunes and making a new record and you know, really creating a new Loggins and Messina album and I'm not really drawn to that. That's, that's too big a left turn for me. So that's what's been keeping us from doing it. Pete Fornatale 53:32 Yeah. I mentioned before we started that I remember a particular Thanksgiving morning, when you guys happen to be in New York, headlining at Madison Square Garden, a show that also featured Kenny Loggins 53:46 poco was opening act and Steely Dan. Pete Fornatale 53:50 Yeah isn't that incredible? What a lineup. And of course, you had superseded Jimmy's former band at that time. Yeah, I think Richie had left. I don't think Kenny Loggins 54:01 Richie wasn't. But you know, everybody, mostly rusty Young's band bad. Pete Fornatale 54:04 Yeah, everybody was cool about it. And you came by my show, and performed at that what was at that point, and unrecorded, Loggins and Messina song, watching the river run? You remember that? Yeah, that tape still floating around? Kenny Loggins 54:23 I'm not surprised. We Jimmy and I had just written that song. And we wrote it based on a dream that I'd had. In the dream. I was at a songwriters convention on an island. And I was walking around among 1000s of people. And they were passing paper around and each person was taking this this piece of paper and writing something on it and passing it to another person. So I kind of looked at it. And it was sheet music. And each person was writing four bars of music, based on the music that had been written on it ahead of them, and then passing it to another person who would write four more bars of music And then more paper coming around, I saw that people were writing lyrics. And each person would write one line of lyric, based on the stuff that was written ahead of it, maybe throw a little curveball in there and try to trick the next person a little bit. And the next person would write another line, and they'd see what they see where that song went. And at the end of the dream, this compositions were performed. I was so touched by the dream that I told Jimmy about it, we thought we'd give it a try. And I had a melody that I'd been working on. And so we we cheated a little bit and used the melody. But we made the game, the way we played the game was that we were not allowed to talk at all. To communicate about the song, we couldn't talk, what the song was about. So we had no idea where it was going to go lyrically. And not being a fool. I let him do the first line. And he and I gave him the syllabus, and he wrote data, data, data data, he wrote, if you've been thinking, you're all that you got, and then I wrote then don't feel alone anymore. And then he wrote, because when we're together, then you've got a lot. And I wrote, because I am the river and you are the shore. And we both looked at it and like wow, this is this game is going to work and we kept going and we wrote the whole song that way. Pete Fornatale 56:20 It's still so represents the partnership that I think we're going to play it for our listeners, Loggins and Messina on mixed bag radio. |
01:56:28 3387.99 |
PETE FORNATALE SETS UP FOR A BREAK WHERE A LOGGINS AND MESSINA SONG " WATCHING THE RIVER RUN" WILL BE INSERTED IN PRODUCTION.
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01:56:30 3390.71 |
INTERVIEW CONTINUES:
Pete Fornatale 56:31 Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina watching the river run from the best of friends, which was the compilation album after the fact. And the original album that it appeared on was full sail. Kenny Loggins 56:46 Was it full sail or Loggins and Messina? Pete Fornatale 56:49 We're getting a we're getting a he knows I'm right. Again. I'm sorry. I was full sail. Listen, did dreams, either before or since ever play that strong apart in your songwriting? Kenny Loggins 57:03 A lot. Yeah, I do dream melodies. I always try to keep a tape recorder near the bed. Because I will wake up with a melodic idea or a lyric idea. And the hardest part is forcing yourself to get up out of bed and then put it down because you know, the ideas are precious. My son is a songwriter now Crosby 22 He's in Nashville right now writing and performing with his band. And I keep telling him you know, I know the stuff is flooding through right now. And but don't take anything for granted. Keep track of everything. Because this is your stock and trade. This is what matters. And in the long run, you may go back to something 20 years old and finish it. Pete Fornatale 57:46 The we talked a little bit about this earlier, but you became the movie guy in the 80s. Was that on the strength of the success of I'm Alright. Kenny Loggins 57:55 I'm not sure I think it was mostly luck. I'm all right did really well. But the second thing I did was as a favor to a friend. Dean Pitchford was a lyricist. In town I'd written a couple of tunes with and, and a friend of mine. And he showed up one day with a screenplay he was working on called Footloose. And he asked me if I would read it. And if I would consider writing some of the tunes so that he could get his foot through the door with Paramount as far as being a songwriter as well as the screenplay writer. And so I read it. And, you know, it wasn't done with a win, but it was good. And I thought, well, what the hell is its Dean, we'll write a couple of tunes and see what happens. And the next thing you know, it's like the biggest movie of the summer and continues to just go out there and become this anthem. about freedom came to Broadway at one point, it was on Broadway. It's all around the country, and now they have versions that high schools are doing as plays. Although, ironically, in some areas, it's been censored. Isn't that ironic? In some areas, theywon't allow it. Pete Fornatale 59:05 Oh, that's funny. Kenny Loggins 59:07 So how true is that play? Pete Fornatale 59:09 Really? Really? Well. I'm sure you know, the Game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. You're one of the easiest. No, yeah. You want to play that game with loose? Yeah, is there some way that two guys with acoustic guitars can we can |
01:59:29 3569.37 |
KENNY LOGGINS PERFORMS AN ACOUSTIC VERSION OF "FOOTLOOSE"
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02:03:22 3802.36 |
Pete Fornatale 1:03:24
that was fun. One of the things I've always liked about you Kenny's at your game for anything. And, and it's great. And one of those things has resulted in some really interesting collaborations for you. I think it's fair to say that you play both ends of the street on that one, you can be totally solo if you need to be in your writing and in your performing. But you can also open yourself up to other influences, other writers, other partners, Kenny Loggins 1:03:56 I've always admired collaborators and I have had a tendency to really enjoy it. It's just something about my personality that that does it well. Part of collaboration is is to appreciate the person you're riding with an enough to rescind, control, and share the control. And when it really works. The song comes out bigger than either individual. Pete Fornatale 1:04:24 Well, now the theme that's emerging here is that you are represented in in so many really different aspects of our popular culture. And it's only when you sort of look back at it and see the body of work that you realize that the partnership the collaboration that I specifically want to ask you about which yielded gold for you was with Michael McDonald Kenny Loggins 1:04:48 Oh yeah, that that was an interesting time for me because I discovered Michael MacDonald's music through faultline The Doobie Brothers album like so many and I put in a call and said, find this guy, you know, I've got to write with him. And simultaneously Michael is also a collaborator. And although I think he writes alone, more often than he collaborates, but he, at that time was putting out calls to collaborate with other people as well. Carly Simon was one of them. And, and I was one of them. So our calls, crossed paths. And it turned out that he only lived like five minutes from me. And I went over to his house, we set up a writing date, I went over to his house. And I liked it. I like to say that we were writing before we met. Because as I was I'd unpacked my guitar out of my trunk. And as I was approaching his front door, when his door was ajar, I heard the strange of this piano thing Dum Dum, to do to dump didn't dump to do to who to do. And I heard him go through bedrooms. Okay, so from room, you know, because you know, Michael, he wasn't singing words, yet. We didn't have any words. And he stopped at the after eight bars. It just he had that first part of the melody. And as I'm knocking on the door, he stops the song in my imagination goes, she heard a person in line, and they're not going to do it. And I say, Mike, what? Play that thing that you were just playing? What was that? And so we just entered into immediately writing what a fool believes Pete Fornatale 1:06:28 those must be the magically thrilling moments when they happen. Kenny Loggins 1:06:33 Oh, I was up all night. I couldn't come down. I mean, we must have finished the tune of two in the morning. And then I just sat in my living room and played our cassette demo over and over again and laughing. Like we both knew we had it. Pete Fornatale 1:06:46 The results were a big hit record for the Doobie Brothers. A Grammy. For the for the writers for the writers. Yeah. And, and you, you cut it as well. Well, yeah, Kenny Loggins 1:07:00 I cut it. But I learned a very important lesson I was making Nightwatch with Bob James. And we were in New York. So I cut Nightwatch with my band. I did not cut What a fool believes with Mike McDonald on the piano though. And that's the lesson I learned was that without Michaels hands on the piano, you don't get that feel. He does a thing that's called a gospel stride where his hands are wide apart. classically trained pianists put their thumbs pretty close together, that he was trained by Ray Charles and some church of some street. And so his stride style is unique to him. And I think we missed the tune. And Bob actually, Bob James wanted to drop the tune from the record. I remember when we're mixing he said, there's only one song here I don't get. And that's that What a fool believes thing is just doesn't feel like it fits. And I'm going. You gotta be kidding. I think this is like the most important song on the record. And what I learned was a if you're going to collaborate on production with somebody, you have to respect what they say to you enough to figure if they don't get it or if he doesn't get her she doesn't get it. There must be a reason for that. And instead of arguing for, you know, keeping it in place, and the other was if I make a song if I write a song with Mike McDonald, Michael is going to play on it from now on and that's what happened. The next song we wrote with was this is it. Pete Fornatale 1:08:23 Well I'll tell you what any objection if we played the doobies? Kenny Loggins 1:08:27 Of course |
02:08:30 4110.32 |
PETE FORNATALE INTRODUCES "WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES" BY THE DOOBIE BROTHERS, WHICH WILL BE INSERTED LATER.
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02:08:48 4128 |
Pete Fornatale 1:08:49
Doobie Brothers hit version of what a fool believes you heard Kenny tell the story of how he feels his own recording missed the mark. But you got it right the next time. Kenny Loggins 1:09:00 Oh, yeah. Pete Fornatale 1:09:01 How so put put this as it in, in a timeframe for us? Kenny Loggins 1:09:06 Well, we got together to write again second time. And we got a melody that came pretty quickly, based on an opening line that Michael had on the keyboards. There many times in my life. I have been wondering why and the rest was all non la la la la la. And we we tried two times to write the lyrics to this thing. And we thought we had we had one other line of lyric that came with the original melody as we were developing it, which was a line you think that maybe it's over only if you want it to be we thought that had something to do with a boy girl relationship. So we kept trying to force a boy girl lyric onto it. And the son wouldn't fall which is very rare. Normally, if you've no matter what you're doing, if you've tried to write a lyric, something's going to come out. But we couldn't find a lyric that we liked and we literally walked away from the tune twice, throwing away What we had, at the same time as writing that too, and my dad went into the hospital for major surgery, and I visited him in the hospital the morning of the surgery. And we had a talk. And he tried to convince me that he was prepared to die on the operating table. And that pissed me off. Because I thought that he had a major say on how this was going to go based on the attitude that he took with him to that operating table. And that afternoon, while they're working on my dad in the hospital, I get together with Michael to kill a couple more hours into try to work on that tune again. And the minute we got to the line, you think that maybe it's over only if you want it to be I knew what the song was about. And that shifted everything we've just the the lyric literally poured out from that point on. Pete Fornatale 1:10:50 Do you start out to write anthems? Or do they just turn out? Yeah, seriously? Kenny Loggins 1:10:57 No, I don't I don't start out to write anthems. But I have somehow managed to produce a few of them. I think that it's just the nature of how I hear a melody. Pete Fornatale 1:11:09 Well, this is the collaboration with with Michael McDonald that went all the way to the recording studio. This is it. Pete Fornatale 1:11:21 There was somebody Kenny Loggins 1:11:27 my driver he would know |
02:14:06 4446.02 |
Pete Fornatale 1:14:07
Kenny Loggins and this is it Pete Fornatale on mixed bag radio more with Kenny in just a moment. Pete Fornatale 1:14:16 Pete Fornatale back with you on mixed bag radio with my special guest today. Kenny Loggins, we're covering a lot of ground in a short period of time, Kenny. We haven't mentioned the Beatles. And whatever a impact they might have had on you, and B, whatever relationship you might have had along the way with any or all of them. Kenny Loggins 1:14:36 Well, my primary relationship was as a songwriter. When I started writing, my the first stuff I wrote was influenced by Bob Dylan, and the folk music period. And then that quickly evolved when the Beatles showed up. And I became a student of Their melody. And so I've always been drawn to the intersection of a Dylan Paul Simon James Taylor. And the melodic form of The Beatles. And that's, I think, probably the most primary force on my songwriting. Pete Fornatale 1:15:21 You shared a stage with McCartney in the 90s correct Kenny Loggins 1:15:24 that was at the Greek theatre when we were doing an Earth Day show. Oh, I'm sorry, that was at the Hollywood Bowl when we did an Earth Day special. And that was a trip Pete Fornatale 1:15:41 I have a specific question about Earth Day in the environment which we're going to save for a minute condition to stay with the Beatles for a moment I know that you've got a couple of favorites that either John has written or John and Paul Kenny Loggins 1:15:55 I think this was Paul's Pete Fornatale 1:15:57 yeah Kenny Loggins 1:16:00 to lead a better I need my love to be there he make making each day changing my life nobody can deny that there's something Kenny Loggins 1:16:36 ready to have my tuning machine on that's good because I had and I'm doing that as your minor seven Kenny Loggins 1:16:56 okay let's try it then. To lead a better life I need my love to be Kenny Loggins 1:17:13 making each day Hello Vicki changing my life ever nobody can deny that is something Kenny Loggins 1:17:36 reading through each one Billy being the love never times watching and hoping a mom I want her everywhere and if she's beside me but love to need her know and that is to share each one really good can be someone speaking that she doesn't know I want her everywhere and if she's beside me I know I need to love I need to Pete Fornatale 1:18:45 know Kenny Loggins 1:18:47 this to share each one really love never watching and hoping to be in depth and |
02:15:58 4558.09 |
KENNY LOGGINS PERFORMS A PAUL MCCARTNEY SONG "HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE."
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02:19:24 4764.06 |
Pete Fornatale 1:19:26
what a combination of Paul McCartney lyric and Kenny Loggins performance here, there. And everywhere. Kenny. Are you a record mogul now? Kenny Loggins 1:19:38 No. Pete Fornatale 1:19:41 I assume that the relationship with Columbia is Kenny Loggins 1:19:44 oh, I didn't understand what you meant. Yeah, yeah. I am a mogul. Now, a mini mogul. Pete Fornatale 1:19:50 Tell me a little bit about that. Kenny Loggins 1:19:52 Since the new album, it's about time is a self released record. And what that means is it's on my own label. The label is called all the best And it's shared with my manager Bill Leopold. We decided, in August last August to self release the record, we'd been shopping it around. And I realized that the major labels were in a completely different line of work than I'm in. There they are into signing young acts that will blow 10 or 20 million units out the door, in a six month period of time and go immediately on to MTV. That's a different business than the one I'm in. I'm in a marathon business, where I rely on a strong fan base. And then I try to turn people on to the music by doing your show by doing as much radio and TV as I can. And by touring. And gradually, I reached the fan base that I had, maybe since 71, but it's it takes a lot of work, I have to convince them, it's like running for office, I have to convince them, that I can still do what I've always done, and I may even do it better. And that what I try to do as a songwriter right now is write stuff. That is the score to our lives in this moment. That means that there are things going on in our lives that matter, even though we're not teenagers. And that's worth that stuff is still worth writing about. Maybe more so than ever, and there just aren't a lot of writers doing it. So that's what I'm trying to do is reach people through their hearts. Pete Fornatale 1:21:32 You do it? Well, unquestionably. Thank you. The first project for yourself is called it's about time. How can our listeners most easily have access? Is it through the web? Kenny Loggins 1:21:45 Well then go through my website, Kenny loggins.com, then go to Amazon borders. It's it's available because it's distributed through a major distribution company. Pete Fornatale 1:21:55 There is a single from the project currently right? Kenny Loggins 1:21:59 And miracle of miracles is actually getting airplay. How about that? Yeah. It's getting a what's called AC radio airplay, adult contemporary, which is good. That's where holla notes broke man on a mission. And it seems to be working things are going really well with it. Pete Fornatale 1:22:17 Well, I'll tell you, it'll get some AirPlay here right now, if you'll tell me a little something about it. Kenny Loggins 1:22:23 It is a song that I see as a husband wife song, it's really the husband's point of view, when the kids come along, the husband tends to be at least in my experience that has been tends to be put on the backburner because it as as it's the nature of things, mom is now totally into being a mother and totally wrapped up in that baby bubble. And after a while, Dad's got to go in there and get her and this is a song saying you know, I love you I appreciate what we have. I love what we have we i i love the children as much as you do. And now let's make some time for each other it to me, the core center of that universe, the son of that universe is the strength of the relationship of the husband and wife and the children orbit around that like planets. It shouldn't be the other way around. Pete Fornatale 1:23:17 That explanation completely explains the title. I miss us |
02:25:53 5154 |
Pete Fornatale 1:25:54
That's Kenny Loggins and the single from his latest project. It's about time it's called, I miss us and you can find out more about it. Just by dialing up WWW dot Kenny loggins.com. Kenny our time is running away from us as it always does. But I got a couple of more things for you. Tom Dowd, according to my research once gave you a perspective on success that made sense to you? Do you know what I'm talking? Kenny Loggins 1:26:23 Yeah, sure do. It's funny that you'd bring that no one's ever asked me about that before. But Tommy Dowd was a great producer. And he passed away what a year ago now. He made a record with me. Which one was it? You know, my memory with that things? Keep the fire away. That was Tommy's. Right? Okay. So I'm gonna back up for an edit Okay, on that. Tommy, dad was a great producer. He produced Leila. He produced with a bunch of Rod Stewart stuff. And he produced keep the fire with me. very inventive guy. But he told me, he said success is like being seen from a moving train. He said for a moment, you're in the window, and then the train moves on. And I've been fortunate in that I've been able to every now and then jump to another part of the track and get seen, again from the window. But the trains moving pretty fast. And I think that's part of what an artist has to learn to accept, you don't stay in the window forever. Pete Fornatale 1:27:31 That's a terrific perception. And once you come to terms with it, once you make peace with it, it allows you to do what your son told you to do. Kenny Loggins 1:27:41 Right? Exactly. Make the music for for your own heart. Pete Fornatale 1:27:46 At a certain point, the environment became a big issue for you. Does something like that automatically mean, it does involvement in the environment automatically mean involvement in politics? Kenny Loggins 1:28:05 Not necessarily. It can. But I found that a more activist approach to environmental issues is to is to work with people who are actually creating change. And politics is not the best way to create change. I mean, it has to get there sooner or later. But I was working with a company for a while called Green Mountain energy. And their whole premise was to encourage people to sign on to green energy. And what that would, what that meant was when you when you bought energy through that company, they would then use a percentage of the money coming in to develop more green energy. So they were building windmills, they were working with geothermal. They were work working with solar, and trying to continue to develop the avenues that would put more green energy into that big pool of energy we draw from as a country, the more alternative energy we put into the pool, the less foreign oil we need to put into the pool. Okay. So the point was, and that was God 10 years ago, that we had the technology and still have probably better than ever, the technology to supply this country with more than 50% of its energy, if we would simply have the visionaries in the political positions to develop that, to to encourage that and to use it. But it hasn't happened and it continues to not happen. And we've seen the results from that. Pete Fornatale 1:29:42 Well earth day passed this year with just a little whisper not that bellow that it's sometimes Yeah. Are you discouraged about the future of the environment or encouraged? Kenny Loggins 1:29:54 It probably depends on what day you talk to me about it. But there are times where I'm pretty discouraged but you know, I see it as an inevitability of the consciousness of this country sooner or later we've got to figure out that we can't be sending our sons and daughters to war to secure our addiction to oil and that we have the ability we have the technological ability to replace a massive percentage of that if we just want to so that's this the line and conviction to the heart you know, I believe will survive if we only try Pete Fornatale 1:30:34 you know, remember what I said earlier about anthems that is certainly another one before I asked you to play it I just want to wish you continued success and we'll see you next time the train passes Kenny Loggins 1:30:47 okay thank you |
02:30:49 5449.16 |
KENNY LOGGINS PERFORMS "CONVICTION OF THE HEART"
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02:36:18 5778 |
Pete Fornatale 1:36:19
and that just about does it for this edition of mixed bag radio. My thanks to Kenny Loggins for being our guests. Thanks also to Bill Koh lar, Chris Hall, Linda fetter, Chris Rodriguez and Jerry Lembo. Special thanks this week to chip crystal Rella and Ken Beck at the Museum of television and radio in New York City. If you'd like to know more about our program, or see exclusive video of previous guests, please visit our website at mixed bag radio.com This is Pete foreigner towel. Thanks for listening. And thank you for being so generous |
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