Episode 11 transcript

Note: this transcript is AI-generated, and as such, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.

Chad (00:02.318)
Hello and welcome back to the Aural Mess podcast. My guest this week is Giuseppe Ricapito. How are you Giuseppe? Doing great man. Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself and we'll go from there.

Giuseppe Ricapito (00:08.768)
Very well, thank you. How are you?

Giuseppe Ricapito (00:15.53)
Um, I'm a journalist, musician, um, living in San Francisco, um, big Steely Dan fan. That's how we kind of coordinated and, uh, you know, happy to be here. Got a lot of things to say today, you know? Yeah. Indeed. Indeed.

Chad (00:26.702)
Yeah, well thanks. Great. Well, thanks for coming on and I hope we can cover everything. That'll be cool. Yeah, so let's start out with, you know, tell me about your music. You mentioned that you're a musician. I mentioned before we started talking that, you know, I went and checked out your SoundCloud. I really dug your song, Soul Survivor.

Giuseppe Ricapito (00:44.704)
Oh, thanks a lot, man. You know, that's, that is a funny transition because that's a, the whole idea of that song came out of like three different influences. I was in church with my friend on Easter. Um, and I'm very fascinated by the concept of liturgy, which is religious texts in any form, whether it's Christianity, Muslim, Jewish, Soroastrian, it doesn't matter. It's a, um, fascinating to me. And I took the line from the Bible that day. Um,

He appeared just like lightning and used that to write the song. But as I'm sure you know, in Hey 19 by Steely Dan, you know, it's hard times befallen the soul survivors. And that's where I took that line. And of course, there's soul survivor by the Rolling Stones. And it just kind of comes out. Someone told me once that the song reminds them of Weezer. You take what you can get.

Chad (01:28.302)
Yes.

Chad (01:39.31)
Huh.

Giuseppe Ricapito (01:43.232)
sometime.

Chad (01:44.878)
I can hear a little wheeze. I listened to some of your other tunes. I was getting a little bit of Beck. I was getting a little bit of, I don't know, I'm hearing a lot of influences. So tell me a bit about some of your influences. And you said Steely Dan, obviously, but what else? What are some other artists that you're into and what sort of shapes some of your music? Oh.

Giuseppe Ricapito (02:03.456)
It's Bob Dylan, The Doors, Neil Young, Gran Parsons, all kinds of funk music and things like that. I kind of balance my technical ability with really my love for writing and putting words down in a way that I can organize them in kind of a fun, interesting way. And songwriting, that song just kind of, sometimes they just come out of the ether, you know, and sometimes...

Sometimes it's more difficult. That one's more recent. So it's cool. Yeah, you know, just keep getting stuff down, I think is kind of the main ethic that I'm working with. I've always found it kind of interesting, because, you know, I say, there's like competing songwriting style ethics, or maybe recording ethics that you might be familiar with. And I'm interested to hear your take on this. I think Steely Dan is notoriously, you know,

It has to, we're going to find the right way we want it, you know, 36th take. Well, I read before that someone like Neil Young is just like, you you know, we turn on the tape and if that felt like a good take, we're just going to roll with that. Let's go to the next one. So as I kind of embark on this new journey of being able to write and record some of this music in a more official outside of the SoundCloud, maybe being on, you know, streaming services and things like that.

Chad (03:05.934)
Hahaha!

Giuseppe Ricapito (03:30.336)
still debating which one of those ethics that I'm going to maybe find somewhere in the middle. We'll do 18 takes.

Chad (03:39.63)
Well, you know, maybe it depends on the song, right? Maybe some of the songs need that sort of overanalyzed, you know, 200 take recording to get what's in your head onto the tape, so to speak, tape, old. And, you know, maybe some of the other ones just, like you said, like it feels good, it comes out and you nailed it, right? Or you just, you hear what you're hearing, so.

Giuseppe Ricapito (03:58.56)
Yeah, you listen to some of the songs that you end up loving all the time and finding, you know, is that a theremin? You know, a little bit like... Well, sometimes adding some of those sonic detailings, you know, maybe it takes a little more work, a little more planning and things like that. It's a... Being someone whose most of his professional life has been in a capacity where I'm writing journalism.

right, to day -to -day writing journalism, that more of refining that kind of creative ethic is a little bit more challenging for me to think about, but a totally worthwhile challenge to kind of make to fruition what I want with some of these songs, yeah.

Chad (04:45.262)
Yeah, I was going to say, I'm sure the whole the writing thing goes hand in hand between the journalism side and the music side. So what are some things that you write about in your professional life if you're okay to share that?

Giuseppe Ricapito (04:54.08)
Yeah, I've worked in local news for quite some time. I've worked at Entrepreneur Magazine. I've worked at the Union Democrats in Sonora, California. That's in Tuolumne County. I'll give a shout out to all my friends out there. Right now I work for Bay Area News Group, the Marin IJ, and I cover portions of Marin County in California. Writing stories every day for a daily newspaper. Yeah.

Chad (05:17.454)
Nice, someplace I've always wanted to visit, just never had the chance. I've been to LA, I've been to San Diego, never made it to San Fran and Marin and the whole Bay Area, but someday, soon.

Giuseppe Ricapito (05:26.112)
Talk about music history, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Chad (05:27.982)
Yeah, right, exactly.

So Steely Dan, speaking of bands that spent some time in California, nice segue there. Yeah, that's sort of how we connected, right? I mean, again, I say this almost every episode because it's, I don't wanna say embarrassing, it's kind of cool actually, but I have this stupid Steely Dan meme page and that's how I've been connecting with so many people. And it's just amazing, the depth and breadth of people that I've been able to bond with over this silly band, right? So it's just like, you know.

Giuseppe Ricapito (05:36.384)
Yes, sir.

Giuseppe Ricapito (05:49.12)
You guys are beautiful.

Chad (06:01.486)
How did you get into Steely Dan? You know, I asked pretty much every guest the same question. Like, you know, what was your earliest recollection and, you how are they influencing some of your other musical tastes or even your song?

Giuseppe Ricapito (06:12.)
We're a huge underground world, aren't we? The world of Steelhead fans. I'm sure it's gonna be cool in your life too. How divisive. How divisive sometimes when I'm hearing from over here, I'm hearing from over there, turn that, can I curse? Turn that shit off. I think I'm getting some people into it. So I got a couple of those props. Check out this.

Chad (06:15.118)
My wife calls it a cult, you know, and she's not wrong.

Chad (06:30.158)
Yeah, curse all you want.

Chad (06:41.11)
Oh cool!

Giuseppe Ricapito (06:41.952)
My friend Scrawlick gave that to me. Love it. That's my favorite album. That's my number one. I'm a gaucho guy. But growing up, I think I heard Reelin in the years and do it again all over 95 .5, which is KLOS, class of rock radio in LA. And I was greatest hits guy, greatest hits, can't buy a thrill in Asia. Those are kind of like my, I've had, I have a big collection of records at home and I've always had those, you know, with the.

Chad (06:45.934)
Yeah.

All right.

Giuseppe Ricapito (07:09.224)
middling degrees of engagement and enjoyment. I remember liking here at the Western World like 10 years ago, you know, like really being like, oh nice, you know, I like that one. But here's the story. Moved to the Bay Area two plus years ago, two and a half years ago. And caller 10 on 107 .7 The Bone back on the last tour.

uh, two summers ago or whatever, won free tickets, uh, to see Steely Dan at Concord Pavilion, um, was right up there. And it's sometimes when I see those live shows, you know, you see, you see a band live and all of a sudden you're like, holy crap. I fucking love this. I was looking at Fagin up there and I was like, holy shit, this guy's fucking cool. Um, it was really cool. It was really, really, really cool. And that was kind of the gate opening for me.

Chad (07:42.51)
Wow.

Chad (07:53.262)
Yeah.

Chad (08:01.774)
Hahaha.

Giuseppe Ricapito (08:08.256)
Now I have every single release on vinyl and I have a... Please go on if you have a question. I have one idea that I want to pose to you too related to Steely Dan when you're ready. So I got a visual for this one too. I got a bunch of records down here just to kind of like, if I have ideas. Here's one random one by the way. Do you think Bob Dylan got his idea for this record from the Gaucho song?

Chad (08:20.494)
Yeah, go ahead, hit me.

Chad (08:24.782)
I love this.

Giuseppe Ricapito (08:37.352)
It was something between 10 years, 14 years prior. I don't know.

Chad (08:37.518)
Ha ha ha!

Chad (08:41.358)
Yeah, well, I mean, it's only fair, right? Because they can't buy a thrill from a Bob Dylan song, so, you know, turn about.

Giuseppe Ricapito (08:46.848)
That's what I'm talking about. Somebody's got to ask the guy if they run into him. All right, here's my idea. And so this album kind of encompasses one of the ideas and especially the last song. The last song is the title track, Everything Must Go. And I can't frankly remember all of those lyrics off the top of my head, but there's a quality of that song that sort of encompasses

Chad (08:53.102)
Yeah, totally.

Giuseppe Ricapito (09:16.576)
that it's like the final song, the final thing that band has to say as a part of a studio album. And I've kind of applied that to a lot of different things as something that I call like the Swan Song Theory. And that Something like The Doors, for example, Riders On the Storm. You have a song on the last studio album with Jim Morrison that kind of encompasses what the band is all about. It's kind of a goodbye song as well. That, you know, it's the...

Chad (09:40.142)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (09:44.064)
The idea itself is not so refined, but I'm sure there's quite a few examples of people come out of the woodwork. Rolling Stones' new record, you know, they did Rolling Stone Blues. It's only Mick and Keith on the last song. If that comes to pass as being the last Rolling Stones record, it would amazingly fit my theory. Not that I would ask them to have it be the last one. We want more out of Mick and Keith. We want more.

Chad (10:05.07)
Yeah, right, right.

Chad (10:10.446)
Yeah, I think they have at least one more and then mean they're gonna go forever, you know.

Giuseppe Ricapito (10:14.336)
Yeah, me and my buddy have a joke. It's a, if, you know, and, you know, God, God willing, they stay around for as long as possible, Mick and Keith. But if it ends up, if Ronnie would ends up the last one, we're all going to be going to see the Ronnie, Ronnie would Rolling Stone experience. Yeah. You know, I just, I just found that he does the, excuse me. Yeah. He does the lead vocal on, um, Ooh La La.

Chad (10:33.262)
Right. Exactly. I saw it. I saw it. Okay.

Giuseppe Ricapito (10:44.224)
song i didn't really just the lead vocal on that song no this is the the faces 51 years ago you know that i knew what i know now that's ronnie wood yeah i know i didn't realize that either

Chad (10:47.502)
I didn't know that. Is this on the new album?

Chad (10:53.198)
Oh!

Chad (10:58.254)
No way. Huh. Yeah, I didn't realize he ever sang on anything really. Besides, you know, I knew he did some backing vocals and some stone songs, but yeah, wow.

Giuseppe Ricapito (11:04.264)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (11:07.936)
And you know, and funny enough, now that it occurs to me, that's the last Faces studio record and the last song on it, by the way. It's just a freakin' swan song to the band! That's true. That's true. It's, yeah.

Chad (11:13.678)
hahahaha

Chad (11:20.558)
That's amazing. Well, you know, Led Zeppelin named their vanity record label Swanson, right? And, you know, I don't know why. I mean, I think it was just an inside joke with the band because they were nowhere near being done at that point. But yeah, I mean, I always thought that was kind of funny.

Giuseppe Ricapito (11:28.16)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (11:37.504)
Yeah, and it's interesting, you know, I was fascinated by Greek mythology growing up. You know, the falling angel that they have is Icarus. You know, do you know that story? Yeah. Maybe you could tell folks a little bit about the Daedalus and Icarus thing. I'm always kind of, you know, why choose that symbol to meet swan song? You know, I'm not sure. I'm sure there's detailing about why that is, but I'm not sure how they -

Chad (11:45.134)
Yeah. Oh yeah, sure.

Chad (12:03.758)
Well, Icarus is the one that flew too close to the sun, right? Wax wings melted and you know, felt it was death, right? So, I mean...

Giuseppe Ricapito (12:09.824)
Like, his father, his father Daedalus, right? It's kind of a story of paternal negligence when you look at it from one perspective.

Chad (12:13.902)
Yeah.

Chad (12:18.766)
Ha ha ha ha ha.

I wonder if, I think Jimmy Page was the driving force behind a lot of this stuff with the label and all the designs and things. I think he was really the one that was most involved or drove a lot of it. So I wonder if he thought that they were flying too close to the sun because they were huge. I mean, Zeppelin was one of the biggest bands ever, right? I think at their peak and their prime, they just were like gods. You know what I mean? Like.

Giuseppe Ricapito (12:44.992)
Yeah, like 70 from 71 to, I mean, through the end, there's some fascinating, you know, the, the cultural politics of music. When they talk about how punk was on the ascent and all of a sudden, you know, 10 years ago, Led Zeppelin used to be kind of the, the coolest band around young hip, um, you know, um, pushing forward music or whatever. And all of a sudden they were like, I've read some book where they were.

described or believed to be like dinosaurs, you know, because then what they were in their early thirties like me. Yeah, it's a it's a fascinating there's do you read any do you get any rock and roll literature or do you like what kind of stuff comes to mind? What kind of stuff do you like?

Chad (13:15.15)
Yeah.

Chad (13:18.926)
Hahaha!

Chad (13:30.83)
Yeah!

Chad (13:34.446)
Nothing recently, but I mean, I've been reading pretty much every Steely Dan book that I can get my hands on the last few years.

Giuseppe Ricapito (13:41.472)
I still need to the new one. The uh... Quantum criminals.

Chad (13:46.386)
Quantum criminals Do it it's it's really good that the writing is fantastic I said on a previous episode that I was a little hesitant to buy the book I waited and I was kind of mad that I waited because then it sold out and I couldn't get a hold of it for like six months, but I was a little taken aback by the idea of somebody telling me what the characters in a Steely Dan song look like when I've been imagining in my own head for like 40 years You know what I mean? So it was a little bit weird for me and I was kind of like

Do I really want to and then I saw some previews of some of the artwork and I was kind of like I Don't know if I want to do this or not, but I was like I have to get the book I have to read it I have to give it a shot and you know, the arts fabulous. Joanne Lamay is just this amazing artist

Giuseppe Ricapito (14:29.312)
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the cover and is there illustrations on the inside as well?

Chad (14:34.19)
Yeah, there are illustrations that the chapters are broken out by like songs and characters and things. And everyone has an illustration of, you know, the character in a song or a place or an object or, you know, whatever it might be. They're just sort of scattered through the book and they're great. So it's just interesting like how subjective that is, right? Because I think of Jive Miguel, for example, in my mind, I can see Jive Miguel and it doesn't look anything like what Joan LeMay thinks, right? That Jive Miguel looked like when she...

Giuseppe Ricapito (15:03.296)
That's interesting.

Chad (15:04.014)
had this vision to paint it, right? So it's just, you know, it's kind of cool, but definitely worth picking up. It's a great book.

Giuseppe Ricapito (15:09.184)
Yeah, I'm interested in seeing that. Glamour Profession is my number one tune ever. I love that song so freaking much. I scream that line to people. Anyone who's watching this will know that that line I'm always screaming at you that comes from that song. Don't know what I'm talking about.

Chad (15:14.412)
Really?

Chad (15:24.91)
What do you like so much about it?

What do you like so much about it? What resonates with you in that tomb?

Giuseppe Ricapito (15:34.88)
You know, I think a lot of Gaucho itself has to do with the degradation of decadence. And I think that it encapsulates an idea that seeking what we intend to give us pleasure or make us happy are ultimately the things that push us farther away from our identity. It's kind of that active cognitive dissonance.

I mean, this is what these guys do. They're brilliant at it by putting it in song. It's, yeah, the enigmas of the music matching the, you know, I mean, obviously the clarity of those images, you know, the carob cannibal, you know, with his Eurasian wife, you know, the dread moray eel, these kinds of things that are very, these are very clear.

kind of descriptions of what we're supposed to be envisioning, but their representative symbolism kind of having this undercurrent of animus or malice or menace. Like there's something underneath the surface that's rotten at the core, you know? Even though the guy's screaming, as if to convince you, the listener, that he is the one. You know?

Chad (16:55.054)
It's a dark album. It's a really fucking dark album and that song too. Like, you know, on the surface it sounds like it's got this great disco groove and, you know, it's got these great characters. But yeah, I mean, I totally agree with you. I feel like it's, you know, it's sort of taking a swipe at society at that time, right?

Giuseppe Ricapito (17:14.656)
Absolutely. And, um, you know, I think I saw, um, what, what, what was the thing that did with Asia is it U H R Q. Which QR, right? And so they're doing it with Gaucho, uh, apparently. And so I'm posted that they, uh, on the Reddit page or whatever, that the, that the Gaucho version of that has been delayed indefinitely due to something. And I was like, this fucking album's cursed guys.

Chad (17:23.596)
Yeah, UHQR.

Chad (17:40.878)
Hahaha!

Giuseppe Ricapito (17:42.08)
Again and again we're reminded. For the fans that are listening, you and I know a lot of the stories that come along with this, with that album, especially with Walter, who I found a deep affinity for, knowing that we have similar birthdays and just... Do you get the sense that he was doing a lot of the lyrics? I think he was the lyric guy.

Chad (17:45.678)
Yeah, I know.

Chad (18:07.406)
Yeah, I do. I think so.

Giuseppe Ricapito (18:10.72)
He's one of the few guys I've had to look up what a squonk is. I don't know what it was until I heard that song. Yeah, 11 tracks of whack too, man. Shit.

Chad (18:15.534)
hahahaha

Chad (18:23.886)
Yeah, yeah, great album. It took me a while to get into Walter solo stuff. I think Circus Money is what I first came around to and then I kind of worked my way back to 11 tracks and I love it just as much as anything else now. But for the longest time, it just didn't catch me. I don't know why. You know, I can't explain it.

Giuseppe Ricapito (18:31.52)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (18:39.314)
Yeah, there's less of that. Fagin almost has this sort of indelible pop -y quality. That's catchy, you know? Fagin's on with his cadences and his musical changes. They're catchy. And, you know, in the Asia classic albums documentary, Walter's talking about Bob Dylan, you know?

You know, that same old story that Bob Dylan gave him or everybody else the inspiration to like just do it their way. Yeah, I find his albums to be very uncompromising in their own very unique and cool way. So I give mad props to Walter every day.

Chad (19:22.51)
Yeah, his albums are 100 % him. There's no posturing, there's no, not even really callbacks to Steely Dan. It's the stuff that he had in his head, I guess, and needed to get out and did a beautiful job of it.

Giuseppe Ricapito (19:24.992)
Yes.

Giuseppe Ricapito (19:35.424)
There was, there was one callback that I cannot recall off the top of my head now. Oh, oh, in, um, it's a song on comic period where he made, where Fagin makes a hat too flat reference. Is that what it is? Yes. So he makes it a hat too flat reference. And then Becker has the song on 11 tracks of whack. I always thought this was funny too. Um, comic period is produced.

Chad (19:51.5)
Oh yeah yeah, Tea House on the Tracks? Yeah, uh huh.

Giuseppe Ricapito (20:05.184)
by Walter Becker, but 11 Tracks of Whack is produced by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Walter was like, I'm putting my, I'm gonna be involved in both of these. I'm gonna have my name on both. Thank you. Yeah.

Chad (20:12.974)
Right.

Chad (20:19.822)
Hahaha

So who are some other, you know, I mean, and you mentioned this, Steely Dan, you know, between Fagen and Becker, I think, like you said, I think it seems like Becker wrote a lot more of the lyrics, but they were both just really well -read, literate, cultured guys, you know, from their humble beginnings in Jersey and Queens, right? But who are some other literate songwriters that you like? Like what are some other, you know,

songs that are sort of in that same realm. To me, it's like, I like a lot of what people call, and I hate this term, but sophisticated pop, right? So it's pop music. No, it's a relatively new term that I've picked up. So it's bands like Prefab Sprout, Louis Cole and the Commotions. One might say Fountains of Wayne, right? Because they have so many great cultural references in their stuff and their song structures. So.

Giuseppe Ricapito (20:55.328)
that before. Yeah.

Chad (21:15.534)
who are some of the ones for you? And then we can talk about some of those bands if, you know.

Giuseppe Ricapito (21:18.432)
Um, yeah. Um, you know, I, I, my, my influences and my interests are very wide reaching. I like, I like Primus. I like Ween. I like, uh, you know, I mentioned Bob Dylan and the Doors before. Um, I like just about everything. Um, I like, I like rock music. I like, you know, I like, I like guitars, bass, drums, keyboards. Um,

Chad (21:41.646)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (21:45.472)
I don't delve too much into electronic stuff. I really, I really liked the idea mostly whether whatever kind of, you know, instrumentation or lyrics are behind it. I like songs that have a concept or an idea as wide as an of an umbrella as that could be. And, you know, they accurately or engagingly reflect or project that idea. Does that make sense? I'm, you know, it's a.

Chad (22:11.982)
Yeah, absolutely.

Giuseppe Ricapito (22:13.952)
I need to jog, I jog my own memory sometimes. It's like, I got Beatles here. I got William Devon, which is its own, Grand Parsons, the band. You know, I got to, this one right here is an interesting, not really fitting what we're talking about, but like, you know, I don't know. I like a lot of stuff and I've got 400 plus over there. I've met some people with some incredible collections.

And I'm always fascinated to learn about what has driven them and what's interested them. You know, I've been trying to write new stuff in the past year, having been influenced more by Steely Dan, but it really hasn't come to fruition in a way where I'm writing songs that sound like Steely Dan, you know. But I also don't think of my influences when I'm trying to write or try to make music. I just kind of like to let the feeling flow.

Chad (23:10.638)
Yeah, no, it makes sense. And I agree. I like songs that go somewhere. I love songs that tell a story. You know, Bruce Springsteen is a master storyteller in his songs, right? Like 4th of July, Asbury Park is one of my favorite songs ever. And that's just a great story song. There's a singer -songwriter from England called John Wesley Harding, and he named himself after the Bob Dylan album. Yeah, but I can't think of his real name. Wesley Stace, I think is his real name, but he goes by John Wesley Harding on his records.

Giuseppe Ricapito (23:11.968)
Mm -hmm.

Giuseppe Ricapito (23:31.744)
Okay, yeah.

Chad (23:39.38)
He just gets into some of these great story songs. He has one called the Red Rose and the Briar and it's a six minutes of just him and a guitar and he tells a story of like scorned lovers, you know, it's just such a great tune.

Giuseppe Ricapito (23:52.736)
These are all suggestions that I'm going to have to take to the bank and listen to.

Chad (23:55.918)
Well, what I usually do in these episodes is, you know, I'll make a playlist after we are done, like I'll go back through our conversation and like any songs or anything that gets mentioned, I'll throw a playlist up and then I link it in the show notes, but I'll send it to you obviously before that.

Giuseppe Ricapito (24:08.896)
Cool, that's phenomenal. Well, you know, it occurred to me that there's one that I neglected to mention. It's the Brian Jonestown Massacre. You familiar with that? Yeah, they're great. I used to have a radio show in Sonora, and I'll shout out 103 .5 KAA DLP. Still a community radio station going on over there. But I interviewed Anton Newcomb, who's the, you know, the provocative, but also, you know, just phenomenal leader of that band and has been for so many years.

Chad (24:15.532)
Oh yeah!

Giuseppe Ricapito (24:39.008)
Um, and, uh, we did the same thing. I asked him to tell me three songs that I would put, that I would link to our show and then I cannot remember what they are, frankly. Um, that was, it was so long. It was four years ago, something like that. Four or five years ago, maybe. So I'll find those too. I'll find those and post them somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of, speaking of, um, maybe, maybe this is, this is an interesting idea that I wanted to pose too. So.

Chad (24:49.582)
Hahaha!

Giuseppe Ricapito (25:08.736)
We got William Devon. Alright, so he has a famous song called Be Thankful For What You Got. What is it? Diamonds in the Back, Sun Rooftop, I don't know, with Gangsta Lean. It's like a heavily sampled, incredible funk song. If you go to YouTube, and I wonder even, can I check YouTube while I'm doing this? It might be a little bit. Just a...

Chad (25:12.718)
I'm not familiar.

Chad (25:35.438)
Yeah, sure. Yeah, I shouldn't.

Giuseppe Ricapito (25:37.408)
I'm not going to have any side. But if I do, and this is something that comes out of kind of the current digital era. So if I search Curtis Mayfield, diamond in the back, it has 60 million views. And so the idea is that however many individual listeners that don't know that's William Devon.

Chad (25:51.918)
Whoa.

Giuseppe Ricapito (26:02.272)
think that the William Duvall's most popular song, most iconic song, most influential song is actually by Curtis Mayfield. And so to me that represents some form of again, like cultural dissidence that there are people out there saying, dude, I heard this amazing Curtis Mayfield song and more people will see, you know, and it's not. So it's, it kind of comes out of like the, I was, I was a kid in the Limewire era.

Chad (26:09.55)
Oh.

Giuseppe Ricapito (26:31.744)
you know, the, you know, the even a little after Napster. And, you know, rest in peace to all those family desktops that I destroyed. But yeah, you know, I always ask back on Limewire, what was the most popular song by the Doors? It was House of the Rising Sun by the Animals.

Chad (26:32.366)
Sure.

Chad (26:39.086)
I remember those days, yeah.

Chad (26:56.366)
Hmm, I don't know.

Chad (27:00.782)
Ha ha ha!

Giuseppe Ricapito (27:01.632)
You know, and it's a, I don't know, what do you take of that idea? Does it occur to you that there's anything similar? It's almost like, you know, I don't know if it has to do more with like the actual artists getting their due for creating something that they're not getting credit for, or just the belief or like this kind of, you know, mental homogenization of something like, oh, I need to know who this is. So it must be someone that I know.

I don't know. There's a, I'm sure there are implications to it.

Chad (27:37.134)
I think there are a couple ways to maybe think about that. So one is in the 60s and 70s, I feel like everybody recorded everybody's songs. Like, I mean, you've got Nina Simone doing Rich Girl by Holla Notes, right? You've got, I mean, right? And you could call them covers, but at the time it wasn't really a thing doing cover songs. It was just, there was a song you recorded on your album, you put it out because it was popular, you liked it, whatever.

Giuseppe Ricapito (27:46.368)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (27:52.416)
Yeah, yeah, right, yeah.

Chad (28:04.91)
And I think that carries through into current day. Another example, talking about a cover is my daughter who just turned 18, she's got a playlist and she's got some really, really great stuff on her playlist. But one of the songs that she likes to listen to a lot lately is There She Goes. And she thinks it's by Sixpence and on the richer who's great band, but they did a bunch of pop stuff, I guess in the 90s, really 2000s. But I keep telling her like,

when are you going to listen to the laws, right? Because that's the original version. And she's like, yeah, she goes, I know, you know, I know, I know what is I listen to it. She's like, I don't like it. I like this version better. I'm like, well, that's unfortunate. I mean, you know, you know, accounting for taste, right? Obviously. But the thing is like, that's the thing is, you know, in, in.

Giuseppe Ricapito (28:34.912)
It's out there.

Giuseppe Ricapito (28:45.16)
I'm like listening to walks.

Chad (28:52.59)
30, 40 more years is that song gonna be lost to time except for the Sixpence on the richer version because it got more airplay, it was more popular, you know, whatever, right? Maybe it's gonna outlast the original. So I see what you're saying.

Giuseppe Ricapito (29:05.6)
Totally, I wonder what you think about the world of, this is a whole, it's still, I'm still getting into it, but the world of covers of Steely Dan songs. Have you heard the Minutemen version of Dr. Wu? It's very weird. It's very weird. And also, you know, there's, this speaks to more too of like, you know, like none of those Gaucho songs are on, you know, Instagram and Facebook, you can post songs, you know, you can make them, but.

Chad (29:19.182)
Yes, I have. Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (29:35.136)
None of those gotcha songs are on there. Do you have those versions by that? I'm not even remembering what this thing is called. You know, it's the, you know, those instrumentals. Like if I search Babylon Sisters, yeah, if I search Babylon Sisters or something, I think it's called like the elevators or something like that. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, but I can't find the actual version of Babylon Sisters.

Chad (29:48.174)
Oh, like, Musac?

Chad (29:56.142)
Yeah, elevator music, right? Yeah, sure.

Giuseppe Ricapito (30:03.04)
So it's almost like those covers take precedence, but I don't know if it has to do with like this whole kind of ephemeral world of music licensing, social media. And what's the deal, you know? Me as a fan would love to just lambast everyone every single day with an actually just going down the list on Gaucho to go in in circles. But.

Chad (30:11.79)
licensing. Yeah. Right.

Chad (30:25.038)
Well, there's a whole kerfuffle on TikTok right now because Universal Music decided to just pull all of their music off of TikTok. So you've got a lot of people that were using certain songs for videos. Now they can't, right? And I think it's the same thing. I mean, I don't think it's Universal's fault, but I think the Gaucho stuff isn't available because it was on a different label. And yeah, I think you're right. It was just a licensing thing, right? So yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (30:38.336)
That is fair.

Giuseppe Ricapito (30:48.096)
thing, MCA, EBC records, kerfuffle. Kerfuffle, I like that. Yeah. Yeah, I know it's fascinating. I don't know. You see a lot of that. Sometimes you can't find something you're looking for, which is always frustrating, you know? I personally expect my technology to do whatever I want it to do.

Chad (30:54.67)
hahahaha

Chad (31:12.622)
That's right. Spotify does that too. Spotify just, I mean, besides artists pulling their stuff off Spotify, which look, I totally get it. You know, Spotify screws people out of royalties and you know, they've done a lot of bad things. But at the end of the day, you know, besides artists intentionally pulling songs off, Spotify just randomly pulls things. Like you'll have a playlist and then, you know, five songs get grayed out all of a sudden. It's like, you know, why isn't this able to be played right now? And they're like, oh, well,

Giuseppe Ricapito (31:40.928)
Yeah, totally. More power to Neil Young, man. I love Neil Young. Neil Young doesn't care about me wanting to hear a song. I don't even use Spotify. I use Apple Music. I care about the program, guys. Neil pulls his stuff. I don't have the same...

Chad (31:42.22)
You know.

Yeah, and Joni.

Giuseppe Ricapito (32:05.596)
Politics is Neil Young. No one is the same politics as another person But what I've always admired about Neil Young is him saying like this is what I feel and this is how I'm gonna represent my philosophy You know, it's a 60s thing. It's like this is how I protest This is how this is how I this is how I use my agency and my creative output or whatever Commodity it is that I am supposed to represent

and use it as some kind of cudgel against a thing that I don't like. So it's like, it's like, Neil, that's fucking cool, dude. Yeah, yeah. He's, he's touring again with Crazy Horse. Yeah. Two California shows for everyone in California, two in San Diego. It's with Crazy Horse. Rock it out. Yeah. I'll, I'll, I'll say so, um, I'll keep thinking about the, uh, the playlist now. This inevitable playlist. Um, I saw him.

Chad (32:40.434)
Yeah, he's a badass for sure. And you know, really?

Oh wow.

Chad (32:52.718)
Nice.

Giuseppe Ricapito (33:02.752)
I've seen him many, many times and live acoustic last summer with my friends Tim and Caleb. This was at the...

man, it wasn't the Fonda in LA. It was an outside venue. It was called the Ford, the Ford. And he played a song called I'm the Ocean. And so originally that was on that record, Silver Ball or Disco Ball, the one he did with Pearl Jam Guy. But he did it. He did it. He re -released it with this acoustic version. And I was not familiar with it. Every time I see Neil Young, I learn a new song by him, you know?

Chad (33:32.366)
Yeah, right, right.

Giuseppe Ricapito (33:43.712)
Cause he just like, and I saw him once he'd with the promise of the real and he did a song called fucking up, which I fucking love. And then he did this song, I'm an ocean or I'm the ocean. And it's just moving. It's just, it's, you know, still Neil up there. Someone commented to me once with my friend, Steven told me that we were talking, we were seeing the shins at a festival and the, what's the shins famous song, new slang.

Chad (33:52.014)
Hahaha.

Giuseppe Ricapito (34:14.304)
And just the fact that it's still even true today that one guy with an acoustic guitar can command the attention of tens of thousands of people or thousands of people. It doesn't matter. But one guy with one instrument, but the power of the music and the power of the words can have everyone in rapt attention. It's, it's, um, you know, fuck technology. That was my counterpoint to my technology comment earlier.

Chad (34:37.422)
Oh yeah, for sure. That's what music's all about.

Giuseppe Ricapito (34:44.16)
You know, it's so cool. It still blows my mind. It's gratifying. It gives you hope. You know, it's a music, creativity connection still has that power. Yeah.

Chad (34:44.334)
Hahaha.

Chad (34:59.79)
Yeah, music just hasn't yet finally gone to shit. It's still going strong. No, I don't think so either.

Giuseppe Ricapito (35:04.608)
I don't think it ever will, you know, it's people in cycles. And I think, I think the popularity of music is in itself such an ephemeral idea and always so developmental and changing the business of it. Is it the business of it that defines popularity or is popularity one person feeling emotional in his room hearing a song? You know, it's like these, these, these intangibles are so

not universal and not objective, that it gives me hope that in whatever kind of form that we have the ability to make something and people can hear it, it will exist and it'll keep going strong, you know? Yeah.

Chad (35:48.462)
Yeah, that gives me hope too. And that's the hallmark of a well written song, is if you can strip it down to its bare essentials. You know, I mean, a lot of songs you hear an acoustic or unplugged version or just, you know, somebody covers it with just the guitar and if it still hits you the same way, then, you know, the songwriter's done their job.

Giuseppe Ricapito (36:06.016)
Yeah, dude, that's like that musical heritage idea, you know, traditionals. You know, it's like, you know, I mentioned earlier, like House of the Rising Sun. I think there's like, there's a someone, someone obviously recorded it first, but it's like a traditional, you know, it's been, I had a CD. I can't even tell you who it was. I had a CD. It was called like The Roots of Bob Dylan.

Chad (36:24.3)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (36:33.792)
And Bob Dylan does that House of the Rising Sun on his first record. But I can't even remember, you know, it's like an old blues tune. Yeah. Yeah. I found this other record the other day of like these, you know, what's another one? Cream does it a lot, you know. Born Under a Bad Sign, Albert is my jam. Of wine in the world.

Chad (36:53.388)
Yeah.

Chad (36:56.75)
Right.

Hahaha

Chad (37:03.278)
You ever have you ever heard the Pat Travers version of that song? Of what on the bad side, yeah. Yeah, I'm not going to pretend to be super familiar with Pat Travers is catalog, but that was just a song that ended up on a cassette for me years ago when I was in a band with this guy who just had fantastic musical taste. You just make me tapes of stuff and be like you need to hear this right? So I think I was into the cream tune and I was on a big blues kick at the time and he was like, well, if you like that song, check this version out.

Giuseppe Ricapito (37:07.328)
of Born Under a Bad Type? No, Pat Travers, no.

Chad (37:32.334)
and it's just awesome. So I'll throw that on the playlist also. It's really good.

Giuseppe Ricapito (37:34.944)
What kind of band are you in right now? Like, what do you play?

Chad (37:38.414)
Not in a band at the moment, just playing for myself. But I'm getting that itch again. It's been a long time since I've played with other people and...

Giuseppe Ricapito (37:47.072)
Totally where I'm at, too. Where are you based, by the way? Cool, I had a fake ID when I was 18 and I was from Cherry Hills, New Jersey. So am I, you know? Tell me about your instruments.

Chad (37:49.678)
Oh, I'm in New Jersey, so I live in Jersey, I work in New York.

Chad (37:57.486)
I've been to Cherry Hill a lot.

hahahaha

Chad (38:10.766)
Yeah, sure. So let me say, I guess, I guess from from my left to right behind me here, I've got a 93 Pink Paisley Telecaster. I bought it in 93 when I was 21 years old. I was a big fan. I was really into the 60s blues rock stuff. So Clapton, Page, Beck, you know, the usual suspects. And that was sort of my thing. And I just

Giuseppe Ricapito (38:15.36)
Perhaps, yes.

Giuseppe Ricapito (38:20.64)
Ciao!

Giuseppe Ricapito (38:25.778)
Nice!

Chad (38:37.038)
saw this in a Sam Ash store. I think it was in Cherry Hill, actually. It was. It was fucking Cherry Hill. And I went, I knew I wanted a telly. I didn't have a color in mind, but I saw this thing hanging on the wall and I was like, oh, that's cool. And I'm like, can I pull off a pink guitar with, with Paisley? I'm like, yeah, I can do whatever the hell I want. I don't care. So I bought the thing, um, you know, sort of an tribute to like that whole sixties psychedelia blues rock, you know, like that sort of.

Giuseppe Ricapito (38:42.804)
Oh yeah, baby!

Giuseppe Ricapito (39:03.648)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, yeah.

Chad (39:07.022)
I've had it ever since and I love it. It's just my absolute favorite thing in the world. Next to that is I've got a Guild acoustic that I bought myself a few years ago. Yamaha acoustic next to that, which is actually my daughter's. She took an interest in guitar a few years ago. So I bought her like a starter, you know, a dreadnought and taught her how to play a little bit. Yeah, she needs to start playing again and so do I. And then I've got a Squier vintage jazz bass.

Giuseppe Ricapito (39:23.614)
Nice, yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (39:27.744)
Yeah, yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (39:32.192)
So it's primetime that bass over there I can see.

Chad (39:34.094)
It's cool. I picked that color specifically because it reminded me of James Jamerson's bass.

Giuseppe Ricapito (39:41.248)
I got a couple over here too. I got my strat out of shot. I got a 69 Fox Panther base and I got my, I got a Thunder Jet base scratch down there. That's my pride and joy that thing. Yeah.

Chad (39:51.95)
cool.

I think I saw that on your Instagram. I think you were playing that in a video clip or something.

Giuseppe Ricapito (39:57.568)
Yeah, back when I had the hair, that blonde straight to look like Julian Casablanca's from The Strokes or something. COVID was hard on us and hard on us all very differently.

Chad (40:05.998)
Not on purpose, right?

Chad (40:11.374)
But yeah, the last band I was in, it was, I just, we did covers. You know, we did originals for, and we wrote some stuff together for fun, but the last iteration of the band that I was in, we were trying to get more, you know, paid gigs and actually, you know, play out more. So we adapted our set. Oh yeah, for sure. So we adapted our set a bit. We started out doing like a lot of alternative and grunge stuff. It's what we were all into. And it was just.

Giuseppe Ricapito (40:27.424)
Yeah, no, don't me all, huh? Don't tell all. Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (40:37.746)
day.

Chad (40:39.374)
the time, you know, we're talking like 95, 94, 95. So, you know, once, once we realized, okay, well, nobody wants to hear that in a bar, right? We just sort of pivoted and started doing, you know, more popular stuff. Like we did, geez, like Lenny Kravitz and,

Giuseppe Ricapito (40:42.624)
Sure.

Giuseppe Ricapito (40:51.616)
here.

Giuseppe Ricapito (41:01.024)
It's a contemporary rocks of the day.

Chad (41:03.662)
Yeah, more contemporary rock, but more upbeat stuff people could dance to, you know, and then we threw in some old disco and funk shit. So we're doing like KC and the Sunshine Band play that funky music. I will survive. You know, we did we did a good version of that.

Giuseppe Ricapito (41:07.104)
Yes, please.

Giuseppe Ricapito (41:17.664)
Like, Borea Gaynor? Oh yeah, love that. Did you guys do Oasis?

Chad (41:19.662)
Yeah.

Chad (41:25.646)
No, you know, we never did the Wonderwall thing.

Giuseppe Ricapito (41:28.672)
You know, I do like Oasis outside of Wonderwall.

Chad (41:32.616)
I you know, they have a song, I think it's their first album, and it was like their first song that I became aware of, which was called Live Forever. Great tune, really great song.

Giuseppe Ricapito (41:44.03)
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Whole first album is a bona fide classic. Yeah. Which one is the one? Columbia. Dude, they jam. That's fucking rock and roll. And not to mention that they captured the ethic, the brothers, and Liam is always like, fuck yourself. Noel being the fucking, the Paul McCartney -esque artsy one. They fucking jam.

Chad (42:04.43)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (42:13.92)
And not to mention, I grew up in the world of the strokes and inner pole. That was kind of the big, the contemporary. Yeah, if you caught me when I was 14, in the year, if I could ever do math, 2006, I would have told you the modern age by the strokes, my favorite song of all time. But Oasis was...

Chad (42:20.686)
Like the Rock Revival.

Giuseppe Ricapito (42:43.936)
their last album came out in 2008, you know, before the inevitable breakup and some of those songs rip, you know, I'm out of time. That's like a Liam Gallagher song. It's just like, it's so like pure Beatles and they're all so good. I love it.

Chad (43:01.006)
What's the one, I can't think of the name of the song, but I can actually see the video in my head and they're like, there's a helicopter that they come in on or something.

Giuseppe Ricapito (43:08.8)
Oh, that's the first track on the third record. Dang it. I like I remember things like that without remembering the do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Chad (43:17.582)
Yes, that's a great song. And I don't care what anybody says, Champagne Supernova is undeniable. That's a fucking masterpiece.

Giuseppe Ricapito (43:24.)
Cool. That also crushes during karaoke. Throw that on. A couple guys from Manchester in the crowd there, you throw that on. That's gonna win you the plaudits of the karaoke crowd, yeah. You have to direct it at the main Cunians. Yeah, yeah. Totally, no doubt, yeah. Yeah.

Chad (43:28.462)
Yes.

Chad (43:38.638)
You're drinking for free the rest of the night.

Chad (43:44.608)
Hahaha!

Chad (43:48.686)
Damn.

Giuseppe Ricapito (43:51.104)
I know we're getting close to time. I if I have anything else to say, you know?

Chad (43:51.276)
Ah.

Chad (43:55.438)
Well, let's see, what else is in your show and tell bag over there?

Giuseppe Ricapito (43:57.824)
Yeah, let's see, you know, I'll pull out the last three that I haven't quite mentioned. See if we can direct us. You know, do you like the band? Oh yeah.

Chad (44:04.622)
Yes, I do. I came into them a little bit later in life, but I love them.

Giuseppe Ricapito (44:10.272)
Right. And I saw a very funny meme once and it showed like a toddler, you know, with her paintbrush and easel. And it was this thing. It was painted by Bob Dylan, right? You had music from Big Pink on the back. I love Rick Danko. You know, the movie is great. You've seen the Scorsese movie. There's so many good parts in that. There's the Neil Young.

Chad (44:18.9)
Hahaha!

Chad (44:25.102)
Yep, sure.

Chad (44:32.302)
Yeah, of course.

Giuseppe Ricapito (44:38.656)
drug nose story, there's Dr. John doing such a night, you know? I think, yeah, not to mention Van Morrison wearing like a corduroy velvet onesie, drapesing around the stage doing caravan.

Chad (44:44.398)
Yes.

Chad (44:55.63)
Hahaha!

Chad (45:01.998)
I mean, cocaine's a hell of a drug, you know?

Giuseppe Ricapito (45:04.16)
You know, you gotta ask them backstage. Yeah, apparently it was wild. I mean, it was the last one and that's the story unto itself. I still want to read like Robbie Robertson's, he just passed, right? Robbie Robertson, his Garth Hudson, by the way, who was always the oldest. It's like the only one still alive now. But yeah, he's got a book called Testimony, but there was always Animus.

Chad (45:26.926)
Wow.

Giuseppe Ricapito (45:34.08)
because I watched a documentary about LeVon Helm, who's the only one from the United States, by the way. We're all from Canada, but LeVon, and the songwriting royalties, again, to the business of music side, they were all getting railroaded and Robbie was just making chunkfuls of cash after he ended the band. There was a lot of issues with them over that. And they had the...

Chad (45:39.79)
Mm -hmm.

Right.

Chad (46:01.55)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (46:04.)
Of course, sensational tragedy of having one of their members pass away, Richard Manuel. But yeah, we can transition over to Graham Parsons, second record, Postumus, the discovery of, discovery of Emmylou Harris. There's some great tunes on here. Brass Buttons, Las Vegas, In My Hour of Darkness.

That's the one in my art. Swan Song. No doubt. Yeah, I went to, I did sort of the pilgrimage to Joshua Tree. I have seen the Joshua Tree Inn where he died. Didn't go in the room, I was outside.

Chad (46:33.07)
Yeah.

hahahaha

Chad (46:49.1)
Oh well.

Giuseppe Ricapito (47:01.408)
but also went to Cap Rock where you know he was famously, I don't know what you call it, what do you call it when you burn someone, the body? Why am forgetting that? Yes, well yeah, an unofficial cremation. You know the story of how his road manager, you didn't know this? Oh, so for anybody who wants to know more about it, there's a movie where Johnny Knoxville actually plays his road manager.

Chad (47:12.918)
Oh cremated cremation?

Chad (47:18.062)
No, no I don't. No.

Giuseppe Ricapito (47:30.176)
So I guess Graham and his road manager have this pact, whoever dies first, that person gets cremated at Cap Rock in Joshua Tree. Graham Parsons died of a drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 26 or 28, something like that on the outside of the 27 club, somewhere like that. And he was getting, he was the like the scion of money from Florida. He was a rich kid and he...

He went to theology school at Harvard before he dropped out and just decided he wanted to be a musician. And for years his bandmates would be pissed because they'd be like, hey, we need to like write songs and tour. We need money. And you know, he'd be eating peaches and smoking long cigarettes. But when he died, he was at LAX and was going to get his, you know, his body as remains were going to be returned to Florida.

Chad (48:16.078)
hahahaha

Giuseppe Ricapito (48:29.472)
where he was going to be interred by his family. His road manager stole his body from LAX, threw it into a vehicle and drove it to Josh Retreat National Park where he doused it with like three gallons of gasoline and lit him on fire. It's an incredible rock and roll legend. And I do believe he was like prosecuted, but maybe got out of it. That's where the story kind of, but I have a photo there at Cap Rock.

Chad (48:39.702)
No way.

Chad (48:47.982)
shit.

Giuseppe Ricapito (48:59.616)
I made a point of these are two separate trips, the hotel and the Cap Rock, but I made a point of going to go find it. It's a very nondescript. It's just a rock. But there's a lot of graffiti and like, you know, let's be decent. Yeah.

Chad (49:10.028)
Hahaha

Chad (49:15.374)
Yeah, sure. There's just gotta be a vibe when you're standing there. I mean, you can feel it. I believe in that.

Giuseppe Ricapito (49:21.204)
You know, he was, there's a lot of, you know, the song Wild Horses, a lot of people, I think unduly speculated that it was written by him because in the second Flying Burrito Brothers album, they do Wild Horses and it came out before Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones. But he was friends with Keith Richards. I do believe that was a song that was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. You know, I don't think there's some, yeah.

I think they wrote it. I think you hear the influence of a country music acolytes like Graham Parsons on the songwriting styles of Ethan Mick, you know, who the country tunes that they have are some of the best I've ever heard. I love country rock, you know. Yeah.

Chad (50:03.118)
Oh yeah. Right.

Chad (50:12.142)
Yeah, I do too, oddly enough. Like you wouldn't think I would just based on the other stuff that I listen to, but especially in my older years, I've really sort of taken more of an appreciation for.

Giuseppe Ricapito (50:21.824)
Right. Speaking of country rock, which has, um, which has debatable quality, Steely Dan touring with the Eagles. Did you go?

Chad (50:28.686)
No, I didn't go. I should have. I just couldn't bring myself to pay. I wasn't going to go and sit in those bleeds at the garden or at the Prudential Center in Newark, which were the two options for me. So my thing was, what's that? Oh, Madison Square Garden in New York City. Yeah, in Manhattan. Yeah. And.

Giuseppe Ricapito (50:43.456)
Where's the garden? Where's the garden? Oh, okay, okay, okay, wait a minute.

Chad (50:51.382)
Nosebleeds were like 350, right? And if you wanted halfway decent seats, they were like six, 700 bucks. And I'm like, do I really need to drop $700 to go hear a 40 minute greatest hit Steely Dan set without Walter? I don't think I do, you know, as much as I'd love to. I love the Eagles, you know, like I don't have any hate for the Eagles. I like a lot of their stuff, but again, wasn't worth it, you know. Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (51:11.072)
700 bucks, you know, or you're getting two tickets. You're getting two tickets for you and a person you don't know with. And yeah, I did spring. I did spring. 250 for, I mean, they played four shows at the Forum in LA. No Bay Area shows so far. But I got COVID. I know. Yep. Yep. Yeah.

Chad (51:15.534)
Yeah, oh yeah, right.

Did you?

Chad (51:30.606)
Oh man!

Chad (51:35.214)
All that money just to go get COVID. Well, how was it? Like, you know, how was the whole show? I mean...

Giuseppe Ricapito (51:39.264)
I got COVID, I didn't go. Yeah, the plans ended, I had COVID. I was gonna go with my mom. But no, it didn't happen, I was ill. Yeah, it happens. 500 bucks, that was returned to me.

Chad (51:41.006)
Oh, we didn't go. Sorry, I thought you got it at the show. Wow. Oh, bummer.

Chad (51:48.534)
Ugh.

hahahaha

Chad (51:56.078)
Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that, that sucks. Yeah.

Chad (52:04.43)
I just hope that Fagen has another tour in him after this because I know they're like, you know, all over the place right now and they're adding dates and everything else, but I just hope he comes home, takes a little break and maybe goes back out in the summer just without the Eagles and just does another round of Steely Dan concerts because I will f -

Giuseppe Ricapito (52:19.616)
I'll take, I'll take, I'll take, take, I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll

Chad (52:24.462)
Yeah. Yeah, I would for that too. If it's a two hour Steely Dan show, a thousand percent.

Giuseppe Ricapito (52:31.616)
Yeah, yeah, that might be the last hurrah. Did you ever see them with Walter?

Chad (52:34.734)
Yeah, no. So I'm, historically have not been a live music person. I'm a studio album kind of person. And from the time I was even a kid, like even in my teen years, like I just wasn't really into going to see bands live because, you know, half of them couldn't reproduce on stage what they could do in the studio. And to me, it just wasn't worth it, right? I mean,

Giuseppe Ricapito (52:40.958)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Chad (52:57.326)
As I've gotten older, I realized that like, you know, only have so many chances to see your favorite musicians perform and it doesn't matter if the sound quality is not great or somebody sings a sour note or, you whatever. It's more about the experience. So I've started to go to more shows, you know, probably since my late thirties on.

Giuseppe Ricapito (53:03.006)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (53:14.176)
Oh, that's cool. Yeah. I've been having a lot of shows. What was your first live show?

Chad (53:20.366)
Oh, um...

Trying to think. So I grew up in Atlantic City, so with the casinos there were a lot of artists coming in, not like rock artists necessarily, but I saw, I think the first real big concert that I went to was, I saw the Stones in 89 on the Steel Wheels tour. And I thought they were old back then, like you know, who knew, right?

Giuseppe Ricapito (53:39.84)
Steal wheelchairs to her, huh?

Giuseppe Ricapito (53:45.408)
I've seen the Stones a bunch of times, man. Shit, I think the first time I saw them was in 2016. So that's, I mean, you do the math, math. I can't remember how many years that is, like 27 years later. But I like that album. Do you like Steel Wheels, the record?

Chad (53:58.19)
Hahaha

Chad (54:07.022)
I do, I really like that album. Yeah. Yes, oh my God, I was just gonna say that song.

Giuseppe Ricapito (54:08.704)
Yeah, me too. I really do. Slipping away, the key.

Exactly, exactly. We know, yeah, we know, yeah.

Chad (54:17.514)
Keith Sings lead on that, right? Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (54:19.264)
He sings lead and he can't, he sings the lead on it. It's atypical for him to have lead on multiple songs on a record. And I believe the song is called, I Can't See You Anymore or something. Yeah, something like that. But yes, it's a great record. Slipping Away is one of the great songs by The Stones. One of the many great songs. And...

Chad (54:34.092)
Yeah.

Chad (54:45.23)
Yes, agreed.

Giuseppe Ricapito (54:46.4)
and among the top songs that Keith Richard sings lead on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chad (54:50.414)
Yeah, I agree. And the funny thing is on the strength of that, I think was it after that album, maybe he had his solo record with the expensive winos. Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (55:00.736)
Correct, yeah. You know, he had his first solo record, with the song, you just don't move me anymore. That's a great song. You know what my favorite song is on that first record? It's Locked Away. And I do believe maybe Norah Jones sings background on it. You oughta be locked.

Chad (55:11.182)
Yeah.

Giuseppe Ricapito (55:27.282)
He has a real like he has this reputation obviously for being like this, you know, tough guy kind of thing. But, but he, you know, those, those are very emotive. It's a very sweet song. Some of them. My buddy just sent me something earlier today. He watched some video where I guess Keith was, Keith was talking about Jimmy Page and he goes, he goes, he goes like this, shy boy, bit of a shy boy that Jimmy Page.

And you know Keith is really into like Jamaican like the dreads or whatever in his marijuana. This is such a Jamaican thing I think he does this on multiple videos I have to do this without laughing it's that funny. He does like he'll be like I just want to say to all my fans you know Merry Christmas and then I'll go like this and be like

Gold rings on ya. It's like this whole meme, Keith. Gold rings on ya. Yeah, yeah, totally. This is my last record. Maybe someone out there knows this, maybe you'll dig it. It's called The Village Stompers, Washington Square. And so I guess part of the, you know, I've always liked a lot of the same kinds of music. So this came out in 1963.

Chad (56:28.782)
Hahaha!

Chad (56:33.358)
rings on you. Wow, that's awesome.

Giuseppe Ricapito (56:55.2)
And this might be something that you could have imagined like Walter and Don listening to maybe when they were in college, maybe earlier picking this up. I don't know what populous was at all. But the Village Stompers are as authentic as they are unique. Their performances reflect a mixture of folk and Dixieland elements and show vividly the folk spiritual idiom and how it is related to the Dixieland expression of American jazz.

Chad (56:55.406)
Huh, okay.

Chad (57:25.486)
Oh wow, that sounds right up my alley, man.

Giuseppe Ricapito (57:26.208)
So I don't know. It could be, yeah, you know, might, I think this album is maybe the most pretzel logic. It's like adjacent with the title track, Washington Square is, you know, it's cool. It goes like, it does different phases, little banjo thing, little guitar thing, kind of a swing. It's very cool. I'm sure you dig it. That's part of it.

Chad (57:54.51)
Yeah, check it out.

Giuseppe Ricapito (57:55.328)
That's my final recommendation to listeners and to you.

Chad (57:58.38)
All right. Well, listen, I like to close these now. I had this idea that I'm going to ask the same question of every guest at the end because I think it's an interesting question. So here it is. What's the most unlikely song you're obsessed with? So over the past little bit we've been talking, I've heard of your influences. You've been telling me some bands you dig. I've seen some of your record collections. So I kind of know where you're at. But what's something that I wouldn't expect? Like give me a curve ball of a song that you just love that doesn't fit the mold for you.

Giuseppe Ricapito (58:08.32)
Yes.

Giuseppe Ricapito (58:16.724)
Listen.

Giuseppe Ricapito (58:31.264)
You know, I want to have a good answer. Give me one second. Can I reflect on my phone? I got a good one for you. Let me, I just want to look at recent, you know, and I want something that I really want to throw down with this choice. I'd say, you know, honestly, honestly, Mac Dre comes to mind, but I don't want to give that. Hey, well, I'll say this because I'm going to go see this on Thursday with my buddy Canyon. Maybe it's a, it's a little more, it's on that ethic. It's heavy. It's punky. They're called.

Chad (58:35.758)
Yeah, absolutely.

Giuseppe Ricapito (59:00.064)
prison affair and the song is called Out of Jail by Prison Affair. I believe they're from Barcelona. And it sounds like a cross between Devo and the Ramones and having a panic attack. And speaking of panic attack, that song, I'll shout out my friends Bert and Nick and a couple other buddies from back home. That band is called Off with Keith Morris.

Chad (59:04.942)
Okay.

Oh wow.

Giuseppe Ricapito (59:30.016)
song panic attack. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah.

Chad (59:31.662)
Alright, I will have to check that one out. Yeah, well Giuseppe this has been great. Thank you so much for coming on. I've been really enjoying talking to you.

Giuseppe Ricapito (59:39.488)
Indeed, it has been wonderful. Thank you so much and thanks again. Appreciate you very much. Wonderful. Thanks again. All right.

Chad (59:44.686)
All right, yeah, we'll have to have you back on soon. All right, thanks.