breaking the rulez but I’ll do it for Joe… (or why i’m writing about another radio station here…)
Dec 16, 2020
ONE OF THE RULES of marketing is that you don’t promote any competition… but I’m not good with RULEz…
I’ve been in radio all of my adult life… I was in it when it was fun. I went to more concerts and met more rock stars than I should have had a right to meet. But the one I didn’t meet until 1999 was Joe Walsh.
I was a fan long before his days with the Eagles. James Gang baby… Funk #49… And that voice… immediately identifiable… He once said that he was put on this earth to make music and that’s what he does…
Joe was living in Olivenhain (near Encinitas, CA) while I was on the radio in San Diego. My friend Jeff was putting on a concert at the Oceanside band shell and arranged an interview… I invited Joe to come on the air with me one day… and he said “I just might take you up on that…” and he did…
I love the rock and roll side of Joe but there is way more to it… we talked music… that’s what I really love to talk about… How songs were written… and the ideas in how the sounds are created and there is so much that Joe has done and so much that he knows about… For instance … we talked about “cyclical breathing”… (before guitar Joe learned to play Oboe), Tommy Bolin- Joe’s suggestion to replace him in the James Gang, the work Joe produced with Dan Fogelberg, Dan’s “Souvenirs” album… My favorite Eagles ballad that Joe actually wrote “Pretty Maids All in a Row”… All of that in one hour.
And we laughed and had fun…
We played Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and over the guitar collage (the psychedelic section with all of the string scratching and Robert Plant’s moanings) Joe had me play a sad violin solo… (it was funny as hell…)
Above all else… Joe Walsh is a genuine caring and compassionate man…
And the last time I spoke with him was when his album Analog Man was released. He told me that he was in love, real love, the kind that you feel 24 hours a day even when they aren’t there love. And in the picture above, is the woman Joe is in love with… his wife Marjorie.
He wrote the song “Family” because of this love and that’s on the album. Listen to it by clicking here.
In one of those rare cosmic instances, last week, I had opened up my US phone for a business call and I got a message from an old friend from the KPRI fm days…
Patrick Osburn called me and told me that he was working with 88.5fm in Northridge and that Joe jumped in to help them raise funds by doing a volunteer radio show once a week… He and Joe spoke about me and Joe “remembered me fondly” and said hi… so Pat reached out…
So if you live anywhere around the world and want to listen to Joe on Saturday Nights … here’s the link… You can hear Joe on 885fm.org
Funny what happens when you answer the phone…