In this episode of 'Seeing Them Live,' host Charles interviews Eric Green, an award-winning writer, director, and producer. Eric shares his concert experiences, including his first concert with Debbie Gibson and memorable moments from festivals like Lollapalooza. They discuss influential shows by Green Day, Aerosmith, and unique incidents at concerts with Hole and Primus. Eric also talks about his documentary 'Life on the V' which explores the story of the short-lived Boston music video TV station V66 and its significance in capturing the essence of a local music video TV station. The discussion highlights Eric's passion for music, movies, and his unique perspective as a concert reviewer.
In this episode of Seeing Them Live, Charles welcomes award-winning writer, director, and producer Eric Green. They dive into Eric's concert experiences, starting with his first concert at age 12 when he saw Debbie Gibson thanks to his mom. Eric reflects on other notable concerts, including several Lollapalooza festivals in the 90s, and iconic shows by Green Day, Aerosmith, and Ringo Starr. The discussion also covers his most surprising and disappointing concert moments. Eric talks about his background in filmmaking, highlighting his documentary 'Life on the V,' which explores the story of the short-lived Boston music video TV station V66. He delves into the significance of V66 in promoting local music and its addition to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's library and archives. The episode concludes with Eric sharing insights about his pop culture blog, Greens Party, where he reviews concerts and features interviews with musicians.
BANDS: ACDC, Aerosmith, Beck, Ben Folds Five, Black Crows, Body Count, Brian Johnson, Butthole Surfers, Claypool Lennon Delirium, Cypress Hill, Debbie Gibson, Del Fuegos, Dinosaur Jr., Eagles, Eddie Van Halen, Elastica, Extreme, Foo Fighters, Garbage, George Harrison, Ghost of the Sabretooth Tiger, Green Day, Hole, Horde, Ice T, Jake Giles band, Jane's Addiction, John Bonham, John Lennon, Kiss, Letters to Cleo, Lilith Fair, Living Color, Lollapalooza, Metallica, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Moby, Nine Inch Nails, Paul McCartney, Pavement, Pearl Jam, Primus, Ramones, Rancid, Ringo Starr, Rolling Stones, Rollins Band, Ruby, Screaming Trees, Sonic Youth, Sound Garden, The Beatles, The Cars, The Clash, Vans Warped, Yoko Ono
VENUES: Avalon, Boston Calling, Box Center, Citi Field, Fenway Park, Hat Shell, House of Blues, Madison Square Garden, Mansfield, Massachusetts, Orpheum Theater, Paradise, Wilbur Theater, Worcester Centrum
[00:00:00] Charles: Our guest today is Eric Green. Eric is an award winning writer, director, and producer of documentary films, features, and shorts. His films have screened at film festivals and independent cinemas all over the world, broadcast on television, and streamed online. In addition to directing films, Eric has several screenplays he has written, including feature films and an original pilot that are currently in development. In 2022, his documentary Life on the V, the story of V66, was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's library and archives. Eric, welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:00:44] Eric: Thank you so much, Charles. It's really great to be on your podcast today.
[00:00:48] Charles: Yeah, thanks, for spending some time with us today. Your first, concert you had mentioned was, Debbie Gibson, and you were 12 years old and your mom took ya. I just want to point out a recurring theme in a lot of these episodes is the mom, myself included, brings their kid to their first concert.
[00:01:05] So, you know, shout out to all the concert moms out there. So, yeah, if you just want to go through that, I, I wasn't sure if that was part of her Out of the Blue tours still, or, or what?
[00:01:16] Eric: It was so yeah, I mean I've I was kind of we grew up a music geek early on. You know, uh listened to Kind of introduced to music through my older sister and the music she was listening to and then at the same exact time I was learning about music. That was exactly the moment that uh, music videos were becoming a phenomenon.
[00:01:34] So Um, so yeah, I was you know, really into you know Everything America's top 40, uh, you know, the countdowns, all those sort of things. So, um, yeah, so 1988, I guess I was 12 years old. I was a fan of Debbie Gibson and her music and, uh, the Out of the Blue tour came to the Worcester Centrum and, uh, yeah, I really wanted to go.
[00:01:58] And my, uh, my mom took me and, uh, it's, it's funny cause like, you know, I, I'm not a music elitist or snob or anything like that, but based on the vast array of like my music, you know, interests since then, Debbie Gibson being my first concert seems like something I'm almost kind of sheepish about. Like, you know, uh, instead of saying, you know, I don't know, w hat would be a better example, but it's Debbie Gibson was my first concert.
[00:02:22] So yeah, so that was, uh, the first one my mom took me and, uh, I'd never, you know, had that. you know, experience. I mean, I've been to plays and things like that, but the idea of going to a venue and, you know, going in, sitting in your seats and then seeing your favorite artist on stage performing these songs, maybe even performing some covers and things like that. And, you know, hearing it live on stage, that was something that was brand new to me.
[00:02:50] And, um, yeah, like you talk about, you know, parents that bring you, you know, before you actually have your driver's license, or you're allowed to take, you know, public transportation by yourself and stuff, you, you really are kind of in that mom, dad, please take me to this concert. And I'm sure children today with, you know, uh, Taylor Swift or whoever, you know, have that same experience and stuff.
[00:03:11] But yeah, you know, it's like before you actually are able to drive your own way, a lot of it comes down to who, you know, older siblings, neighbors, friends, somebody who has the ability to take you to a concert until you're, you have the means to do so yourself, but uh, but yeah, that was, uh, that was the Out of the Blue tour and she was popular enough that she was headlining and uh, yeah, it was, uh, it was something I was only 12 at the time. So I didn't, I didn't really have anything to compare it to, but you know, in the years that followed, then I started seeing other, you know, live concerts as well and stuff.
[00:03:46] Charles: I'm kind of in the same boat, you know, my mom took me to see the Eagles when I was 11 and they, my parents weren't like big sporting fans and stuff, so I'd never been to a football game, a professional game, you know, baseball, so yeah, when I walked into this arena and you know, just the crowd itself and then when the music started, like it was so loud, I could feel it.
[00:04:09] You know, the bass and the drums in my body, I was like, oh my God, I was, you know, just blown away as a, as a kid, not have ever, you know, experienced that big of a crowd. And, uh, then the music was just, you know, penetrating my body. So yeah, it left quite an impression on me.
[00:04:30] Eric, we asked you what your best concert was and, and, people would understand it's hard to choose just one. So you, you listed a variety of shows. In your listings, there was a few Lollapaloozas. And I was wondering if, if you regularly attended Lollapalooza or, or it was, you know, just those, uh, you mentioned 1991, 1995, and 1996 and 91 was the first Lollapalooza, which I happen to be at, um, that show as well in my hometown. But I was just curious what, what kinds of things stood out at those Lollapaloozas for you.
[00:05:12] Eric: So, um, I mean, today, uh, traveling music festivals and even like standalone weekend, uh, multi day, uh, music festivals are commonplace. Those are very much things that people, you know, know about and are used to and stuff, but in 1991 Perry Farrell, uh of Jane's Addiction. He had this vision to bring, like a lot of the music festivals he had attended in the UK specifically, uh, the Reading Festival as like a traveling Circus sort of thing to the US and it had never really been done before. I don't even think the term alternative music was like a buzzword at the time.
[00:05:50] It was more like, you know, college radio bands or postmodern music or whatever, you know, or underground music or whatever they want to call it, but it was like kind of, you know, bubbling under kind of music. And, uh, so he wanted to have like a variety of bands, all playing for a certain amount of time throughout the day.
[00:06:10] I was a huge fan of Living Color who were on that very first year. So that was really my gateway. It was like, wow, Living Color is going to be there. And I like Jane's Addiction. I like these other bands too. So I should go. So, yeah, I mean, and that was also, this was pre internet. Another thing that was really, , important to note about that was that that was, uh, one of those early things where that, that first year or two, they had a tent.
[00:06:35] With like a lot of, uh, booths about information. So like pre internet, if you were interested in certain causes or a certain, you know, activism, they would have a booth for various ones, whether that was Greenpeace or Rock the Boat or something like that. That you could get, you know, pamphlets on and information about in between, uh, the bands who were there to see.
[00:06:55] But, uh, the show that I was at in Mansfield, Massachusetts in the summer of 1991, that was Susie from Susie and the Banshees, , she was, uh, six. So each of the other bands got to play 15, 20 minutes longer that day that I was there. But yeah, I mean, you had, you know, the Rollins bands with, sort of a more of a hardcore sense there.
[00:07:17] Then you had sort of more, you know, the, uh, psychedelic elements of, uh, the Butthole Surfers. And then you had, uh, Ice T bringing gangster rap, but then also coming out with his hardcore band, Body Count. And then you had, uh, Nine Inch Nails, which were unlike anything, uh, up until that time. I mean, I think the whole industrial and electronic invasion was a few years later, but wow, seeing him on stage, that was something. And then seeing Living Color perform is great.
[00:07:44] Dave Navarro from Jane's Addiction came out and performed on stage with them when they did a cover of, uh, Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash. So that was pretty awesome. And then Jane's Addiction just really closed the whole show. So that was, that was incredible, just because you felt like you were seeing something before this alternative revolution was about to start.
[00:08:06] And then by the time it went again in 1995, by that point, It was really like kind of a tastemaker festival. So in 95 went back to Mansfield, saw, that was the year that both Hole and Sonic Youth were headlining that day, and loads of other great bands. Beck was early in the day Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Elastica, Cypress Hill, Pavement. And then there was a side stage. So that was another thing having multiple stages so you could pick and choose. I'm gonna go see this band on this stage because I'm more fan of them than that. Or try to run over in between the two or something. So yeah, I think Moby was on one of the side stages, a few others. Um, so yeah, that was, uh, that was such a great day seeing that.
[00:08:50] And then, actually a few months later, Spin Magazine had this story about Lollapalooza, where they had a giant photograph that, uh, I believe it was, uh, Patty Schimmel or Melissa Offerman, one of the members of Hole took of the audience from the stage. And so I was so excited. I got a magnifying glass out and I could actually detect where I was in that crowd during their set. I was almost like Steve Martin in The Jerk. I exist. Look at me.
[00:09:17] So, uh, so that was cool and then in uh, 1996 Uh, by that point the only New England date was up in Vermont. I think it was like an old horse race track or something like that. You know, we had to drive really far go up there, but uh, that was the year they really tried to mix it up multiple stages. They had a, Sound Garden was really the highlight of that day for me. Uh, looking back, that was, that was incredible.
[00:09:43] The Ramones, uh, were there and I didn't know it at the time, but that ended up being their final tour. Uh, so that was really special. Uh, Metallica was the headliners and that got some blow back. The alternative music elitists were like, Oh, Metallica playing here. And then the metal elitists were like, Oh, playing all the blues.
[00:10:01] But hey, I thought it was cool. I thought, you know, they, I thought they were good. Maybe, you know, maybe today, years later, they played the Chicago one off annual festival and it went over fine. But I think maybe at the time, Uh, you know, they were just ahead of their time in that respect. But yeah, and then there was other, you know, as one of the side stages had a then unknown Ben Folds Five. Ruby was there and she was even signing autographs. Uh, there was Rancid, there was Screaming Trees, a whole bunch of great bands there. So yeah, um, that was really, uh, by, by that point, by 96, you also had a lot of other traveling, uh, music festivals. You had, uh, Horde, you had Bands Warped, you had, uh, The Lilith Fair, all those, uh, Music festivals that were, you know, kind of catering to specific, uh, genres and whatnot.
[00:10:51] So, um, yeah, then I guess, uh, I think Lollapalooza hung around another year or so, and then they took a hiatus before trying to come back and then coming back as a standalone weekend festival. But yeah, I always remember those, uh, three shows I went to of Lollapalooza in the 90s as being really special.
[00:11:09] Charles: Yeah, and you bring up a couple good points, Eric. Yeah, I was just reading recently, I think I was on a Wikipedia Jane's Addiction page, and Perry Farrell, they were, it was described as him being the godfather of alternative music. And I thought, huh, I never heard of that. I never heard that before, but I, but like to your point, you know, it was kind of a new thing and then, you know, just the idea as a fan of wrapping your head around this, like, wait a minute, there's going to be a bunch of bands and there's going to be these stages and, you know, now it's such commonplace, but at the time it was like, what, how are they going to do this? Yeah, it was very unusual at the time, as, as you said.
[00:11:51] Eric: I mean, it's interesting because I went to a Boston Calling not this past year, but last year in 2023. And now you go to a festival and it's just like, oh, the food court where there's multiple restaurant vendors. Now you go to, you know, Bose and Toyota have a booth Duncan Donuts has a selfie state like All these things where it's like, oh, yeah, there's also a concert happening, by the way.
[00:12:14] But there's multiple stages. And I mean, it's very much a kind of go big or go home big thing now, where they have multiple stages, multiple headliners, multiple, you know, even I think they have a Ferris wheel there, like rides even. So like now it's just like such a different thing. Whereas I think it was just like a blank canvas in the early nineties. Oh, Hey, let's try this. Cool. Let's do it. You know?
[00:12:40] Charles: This weekend, I am going to Lollapalooza on Saturday here in Chicago and my wife's a big Killers fan. So we're, we're going to go check that out. But there are some other bands I want to check out and, um, yeah hadn't been there for a while actually. You know, it's usually, this time of year, it's, it's usually like the hottest day of the summer, you know?
[00:13:02] Eric: I'll expect a full report on your next podcast about that.
[00:13:06] Charles: And then, uh, Eric, there are a few more that you'd mentioned. Let's see, like, Green Day in, in 1994...
[00:13:15] Eric: Yeah.
[00:13:16] Charles: As a show that stood out for you.
[00:13:17] Eric: So, uh, Green Day, uh, they had really become, you know, the big buzz artist in 1994 when Dookie came out, and they were really kind of bringing that style of punk to the masses and then, you know, really just catching on. They just played a month earlier at the Woodstock 94 festival.
[00:13:35] And so, they were doing a free concert at the Hat Shell for WFNX, the alternative rock station here in Boston at the time. And, yeah, so my friend and I, we went. Uh, the Hat Shell is, it's on the Esplanade. It's this outdoor venue right by the Charles river near Boston. So basically, you know, we just took the T train over and then walked over from there and literally, you know, everybody was there, everybody in my age group was at this show.
[00:14:00] So we show up, apparently they only played for like 20 to 25 minutes before they got shut down because of all the mosh pits and people vandalizing certain areas. I didn't even see a lot of that. Just me and my friend went and we were just, I wouldn't say the back, but towards the middle back of the audience and just not even trying to be in a mosh pit, but you kind of found yourself moving with the motion of the, the crowd there.
[00:14:25] But yeah, that was something that you were seeing a band just in their, in their Zenith in that moment, seeing that. And that was something that just became legendary in terms of, you know, wow, you were at that show. And then by the time I got back, I was able to catch the 11 o'clock news. And all they were talking about was a concert in Boston was shut down prematurely.
[00:14:43] So yeah, they did that and that was, uh, that was pretty incredible. And then in the years, the following year, there was so much blowback about free concerts, but then, you know, a few years later, they got the second chance and they were just like, kind of having that precursor, please be on your best behavior so we can continue to do this sort of thing.
[00:14:59] And, you know, live, free events started to come back a few years later. But, I saw Green Day again, maybe 2017. Ironically, it was on St. Patrick's Day, so everybody was wearing green, even regardless that day. And that was, that was a really, uh, fun show. By that point, they were, you know, in an arena, full bands, and, uh, you know, really, uh, having a robust catalog as well. But yeah, I always remember that early show when they were just, full of energy before getting shut down.
[00:15:27] Charles: Yeah, that sounds like a special show for sure. Like you said, legendary. And then you had also listed, you've, you've seen Aerosmith many times. With your proximity to where they're from, is that because of that or you, you happen to see them a lot over the years or what, what's behind that?
[00:15:47] Eric: Yeah, I mean, I grew up, I've always been a big fan of theirs. And, you know, especially as you're young and learning about music, it's like, wow, they're actually from here and they still live here. That's so cool. So, uh, first time I saw them was in 1990 and, um, Mansfield, Massachusetts, they, uh, it was part of the Pump tour.
[00:16:05] The Black Crows were the opening act on that show. Yeah, and then in the years that followed, I saw them a whole bunch of times, uh, you know, sometimes at outdoor sheds, sometimes at, uh, arenas. I saw them at the Fleet Center in Boston, where that was a New Year's show going 1997 into 98.
[00:16:24] And then, uh, the last time I saw them, I believe it was 2012. They did a big, there was a big, plaque, unveiling outside of their old apartment on Commonwealth Avenue. And, they had a big event. Bob Kraft was there, the Patriots cheerleaders were there, and the band came out to accept the plaque. It was a big free event.
[00:16:42] They shut down the city street on Commonwealth Avenue, that section, and, uh, they played for a good 45 minutes, just playing, uh, mostly early stuff, mostly early stuff, but they've always been uh, you know, just great performers and great, uh, students of the blues, especially in the early stuff and everything.
[00:17:00] And, I mean, sometimes it had to do with proximity. I mean, when I lived in New York for many years, um, I did see them at Madison Square Garden as well when they co-headlined with Kiss.
[00:17:09] Charles: Yeah.
[00:17:10] Eric: Two icons of the 70s still, uh, still doing great and on one tour. That was pretty fun. So, yeah, I've seen them, uh, multiple times, so they're always, uh, great. I do wonder if this is really their farewell tour they're about to embark on or, or not.
[00:17:25] Charles: Yeah. Like, like the Rolling Stones, right. They've been back a few times, I think just recently. Right? You'd also listed, you'd saw Ringo star in 2010 on his birthday. Right?
[00:17:38] Eric: Yes, yeah, so, uh, I'm, I'm a lifelong Beatles fanatic, and, uh, never, obviously, before my time, I never got to see John Lennon, never got to see George Harrison, um, but, uh, yeah, 2010, uh, he, Ringo Starr was gonna do a concert on July 7th, 2010 at Radio City Music Hall in New York and that happened to be a 70th birthday.
[00:18:03] So I decided, all right, you know, I think I want to get tickets. So, you know, when, and, uh, what he does, he's been doing for many years now, the Ringo Starr and his all star band. So he has multiple members from other groups or, you know, notable solo artists. And so he'll do, you know, some of his hits and then each of them can take the stage and sing some of their hits as well.
[00:18:23] So this happened to be his birthday and, you know, he did some of his hits. He did, uh, You know, Don't Come Easy. He did a Photograph. He did, you know, some of the Beatles ones. They sound like octopuses garden. And then last song of the night was A Little Help From My Friends and a whole bunch of his friends came out.
[00:18:40] Yoko Ono was there, Brian Johnson of ACDC. All these people were there and then afterwards he leaves and we're expecting an encore. But it's swirled silence. The lights don't go up and it's full silence. Nobody knows what to expect 'cause this is his birthday and there's gonna be an encore and you know, we, we don't know.
[00:18:56] But then all of a sudden, Paul McCartney comes out on stage and then Ringo comes out and joins him and the two of them sang Birthday together. And I couldn't believe I was even witnessing this, let alone that it was happening. But that was absolutely incredible. That was a very, very special show.
[00:19:13] I had seen Paul McCartney the year before at City Field in New York and, uh, that was significant because he was The Beatles were the first artists to play, uh, Shea Stadium. And now with the new Met Stadium, Citi Field, he was coming in to be the very first concert there. So I felt really special that I got to see both of them.
[00:19:29] And then skip all the way ahead to 2022, I got to see Ringo and his all star band at the, uh, Box Center here in Boston. And then, uh, less than a week later, I got to see Paul McCartney at Fenway Park. So again, it was like almost getting to see the two of them the way I did in 2010, but separate concerts altogether.
[00:19:49] Charles: Oh, man. Yeah, that sounds like a real, a real treat to witness it was, yeah, it must have been incredible. For your, your most surprising, Eric, it involved a little bit of nudity um from the performer.
[00:20:03] Eric: Yeah, so Hole um, and, uh, a big fan of theirs, especially, uh, them in the 90s, I thought were fantastic. I had seen them at Walpole's when the album Celebrity Skin came out, they did a show in Boston. It was part of the, uh, WBCN Christmas rave. It was them and Garbage for that particular night.
[00:20:23] At the Orpheum Theater. And, you know, Courtney Love has had a reputation at the time of getting into scuffles with, you know, the audience or things like that. So anyways, over there at the show and she's getting into, you know, some, some back and forth with this one audience member way up in the balcony.
[00:20:41] And, you know, then it culminated with her just pulling down her top and exposing her breasts right there on stage. So, uh, yeah, the audience was just very surprised by that moment. And this was before the era of, you know, cell phones or, you know, people instant reports of, Hey, I won't believe what I just saw on Twitter or anything like that.
[00:21:01] So, I mean, there have been rumors of such things happening at other shows, but you know, I wasn't expecting that, but it was a great show, musically, of course.
[00:21:11] Charles: Yeah, that was the, the Celebrity Skin tour?
[00:21:14] Eric: Yes. Insert joke there.
[00:21:16] Charles: Yeah, right, exactly. I love that album. It's great. And then, under you're most disappointing, and we changed that here to, not disappointing, as in bad, but a Primus show in 2015, you know, maybe their solos got a little out of hand, you were saying perhaps.
[00:21:34] Eric: Yeah. I went to a concert in 2015. It was Primus with Dinosaur Jr. and Ghost of the Sabretooth Tiger. And, um, I had seen Primus before a few years earlier. I saw them at the WBCN, uh, River Rave. And, uh, they were good. They're good musicians, obviously. They have some great, you know, sort of, uh, whatever you call it, funky metal, uh, kind of songs and stuff.
[00:21:56] And, uh, Les Claypool is clearly front and center. Having the bass be the driving part of their music. And, uh, so I was at the show and I thought Ghost of the Sabertooth Tiger, I thought was absolutely incredible. They blew everyone away and I kind of wish they had played a little longer, but then, um, yeah, Dinosaur Jr., who are always good.
[00:22:15] I want to just state for the record, I think they are great musicians. Their musicianship is good and they did have some good tunes in there, that night, but, uh, you know, I think at a certain point, it just felt like, you know, Hey, look at me, I can do a bass solo for 25 minutes and, you know, it's like, kind of was hoping for something more of that.
[00:22:38] But the interesting thing about that particular tour is that, um, Les Claypool of Primus and then Sean Lennon of the Ghosts of the Saber Toothed Tiger, ended up becoming friends and started their own group, Claypool Lennon Delirium. And a few years later in 2019, I saw them when they played the House of Blues and I think that was absolutely incredible seeing them because I think both of them were really bringing their kind of surreal musical sensibilities to each other and uh, I thought that was really good.
[00:23:08] But yeah, maybe just the particular night the particular songs. Uh, that was a little bit of a disappointment. Just that I think I wanted uh, something a little bit more surprising from that particular show.
[00:23:20] Charles: Yeah. No, when you brought that up, I thought, yeah, you don't, you know, back in the day, um, you used to see a lot of solos, you know, guitar solos and the drum solo and a bass, you know, and I was trying to think the last time I'd seen a band do that. And I don't know, I couldn't think of anything recently where I've seen somebody, you know, kind of go off like that, you know, the traditional, every member takes their turn and..
[00:23:46] Eric: Yeah, I think the era of like the virtuoso of Eddie Van Halen playing his solo John Bonham doing his big solo. That's kind of, you know, lessened in recent years, but certainly the bassist, having a bass solo for that long is kind of diminished even more so.
[00:24:03] But you know, obviously I like a good solo. I like a good show off moment in the middle of the show where the other guys take a break.
[00:24:09] Charles: Exactly. Yeah, definitely. What I wanted to touch on next were, I'll call them keepsakes. So you, you had talked about this Foo Fighters, 2015 Fenway Park concert t-shirt. You like that shirt.
[00:24:23] Eric: Yeah, I just saw Foo Fighters for the 14th time, just a few weeks ago. They played Fenway Park, but this was the first, time they had played Fenway Park in 2015. So, Dave Grohl just a few weeks earlier had the famous story of him breaking his leg, when he was doing a show overseas.
[00:24:38] So he finished out this tour while sitting in this giant throne just playing guitar instead of Running around on stage. But, uh, yeah, that was really an exciting show. And I think, you know, Fenway Park wasn't always a concert venue. I think it wasn't, I think there was a few shows, some shows there back in the seventies, and then it kind of simmered for a long time until like the 2000s, they started to bring concerts back there.
[00:25:01] So, it's obviously a big deal to play a show there. And I think a lot of musicians who come there respect that in a big way. So, when the Foo Fighters did a show, I bought this t-shirt where it was like, kind of like the green monster. It was kind of like the, the lettering and everything looked like Boston Red Sox, but it was Foo Fighters.
[00:25:21] I'm kind of kicking myself because, was at the second time, 2018, at their merch booth, they had like bobble heads that were supposed to be like baseball players, but it was all the heads of the band members. So you could buy like a whole, I mean, whatever it was over 100. But then a few weeks later, the Red Sox won the World Series and then on Twitter they said, Hey, congratulations on winning the World Series with a picture of their little bobble heads and stuff.
[00:25:46] But yeah, that particular shirt, you know I hang on some t-shirts, until you can't. That particular one, I think it was kind of really special because you definitely weren't going to find it just anywhere.
[00:25:56] Charles: Yeah. I looked at it online. You're right. It has like this, vintage baseball kind of look to it. What it made me think of too, Eric was like, some of the recent shows I've been to, a lot of bands are catering to the venue rather than having like the back of the shirt listing the 25 cities they played. Like I just went to see the Black Pumas not too long ago at the Salt Shed in Chicago, and they had they're there for three nights And they had like this Bulls-inspired Black pumas t-shirt what like the three-peat from the Bulls, you know, but it was Black Pumas. Yeah, I'm just seeing more of that.
[00:26:33] Like with The Cure, I bought this poster a couple of years ago at the United Center and it had like Chicago on it and it was very specific to the venue and that date, which I think makes it more collectible or just makes you want to maybe buy that rather than the generic, you know, tour shirt that you see a lot of times.
[00:26:54] Eric: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:26:55] Charles: And that kind of, that kind of stuff was totally sold out too. When you, you know, after. After the warm up band, they were, like, all that stuff was gone. So it seems to be a good, way to, to move merch. Under your keepsakes again, you have a number of backstage passes, and I wanted to segue into your blog, which is called Greens Party, after your, your last name, obviously.
[00:27:19] You acquired a number of these backstage passes, maybe not all of them, but as a result of doing concert reviews, which you feature on your website, Greens Party. And so if you want to just chat about that for, for a bit?
[00:27:35] Eric: So, I started a pop culture blog sometime around 2013 and I kind of just wanted to have a place for all of my, my thoughts on pop culture as a whole, you know, instead of talking to my wife, so you're off all the time, but having an actual platform where I could share my thoughts and put it out there. And I started just as me, you know, riffing on, on certain things and then, before I knew it, I, I started, you know, reaching out to publicists, seeing if I could cover and do a concert with you, or certain shows that were coming to town, and you know, I think it started small and then slowly built from there.
[00:28:07] I've gotten to cover, you know, loads of shows that, you know, I really thought were possible. But, um, a lot of times, you know, you get, sometimes I've gotten to go backstage. I got, uh, when the Melvins were in town, I got to interview, uh, Dale Prover before the show. , that was really exciting. , last year, uh, X was in town at the Wilbur Theater and I wasn't even expecting this, but you know, with my ticket, they said, Oh, backstage.
[00:28:31] And then one of the ushers said, Hey, after the show, I'll bring you over to backstage area. And it was, you know, afterwards, then the band came out and just, you know, just a very brief, you know, chat with everybody and stuff. And that was, that was a lot of fun. And sometimes a lot of these passes sometimes are more like photo passes, like they give you the permissions to take photos for the first three songs.
[00:28:54] It's always the first three songs before they're drenched in sweat at the end of the show and that kind of thing, but, uh, but yeah, I've, uh, I've gotten to do that and gotten to, you know, cover, uh, a lot of musicians and album reviews, talk to musicians and find interesting and stuff. It's very, it's very cool.
[00:29:10] I think a lot of, I think a lot of music journalism, you know, is the old school is, you know, Oh, you have to be objective. You have to just state the facts and then support your stance and I think I'm more, I'm more giving you my perspective on things. So I'm giving you my history of my interest in this if I've seen them before. When I got interested in them. If I'm an expert versus someone who's you know, flown all over the country to go see them and that those sort of things. I'm giving you the context and then my thoughts on the show itself and you know, maybe some photos and things of that nature yeah, it's uh, it's been a lot of fun.
[00:29:44] Again, I've gotten to do things. I never even thought that Ringo Star show at the Box Center in 2022. I got to be in the photo pit for that. Pearl Jam when they played Fenway Park in 2018. I got a media pass for that as well. So again, certain things I never thought were even possible, but sometimes, you know, you just gotta try to put your writing out there.
[00:30:02] Charles: And what I really liked about your reviews, which I read quite a number of them on your website, was your honesty. You know, I love that. Like you're saying, well, I, I used to like these guys and then I kind of took a break and now they're back in town and I want to check them out or, you know, yeah, I'm not, I'm not an expert in, on these guys, but you know, this was my take on it.
[00:30:24] Because sometimes, you know, I read, I read reviews of concerts and music and stuff and I just feel like the writer sometimes gets into the weeds with the language, the comp lexity of some of those terms they're talking about yours was just like right now having a conversation, you know, it was like, you're, you're describing what you saw and what they played and overall impression, which I thought was really cool. I really enjoyed that approach.
[00:30:52] Eric: Oh, thank you.
[00:30:53] Charles: And then Eric, I mean, reading your bio was like, you know, I, at the beginning I read that short bio, but I encourage people to check out your website because you've done like a lot of stuff and I did not do it justice at the intro there. But you have, I guess, would you call it a film company or production company called Cruising in the Van Productions?
[00:31:15] Eric: Yeah, that is my film production company. And so in addition to all my, you know, interests in the blog and reviews, I'm a filmmaker as well. So, I've done narrative and documentary. But most notable for your audience is my feature length documentary, Life on the V, the story of V66. So, it's a documentary about a short lived music video TV station that was on in Boston in the 1980s, at exactly the moment when cable penetration was just starting to come through in New England, maybe 30 to 35 percent.
[00:31:50] Here was a free over the air TV station, that was playing music videos just like MTV was, but they were local and live. And, a good 20 plus years after the channel ended in 1986, I just started reaching out to former employees, musicians that were popular on the channel and sort of crowdsourcing for fans to send in old videos, old VHS they had just in their basement and stuff. So I put this together and um, you know We've played film festivals played independent cinemas. It's been added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's library and archives and the Paley Center's permanent collection as well. And we've done some screenings actually in uh, Chicago The Museum of Broadcast Communications. It's in there.
[00:32:31] It's in their permanent collection as well. And, yeah, no, I've gotten a, you know, like we're sitting here talking about music, some, some of these people I remember seeing their videos and then I'm sitting across from Greg Hawks of The Cars or Danny Klein of the Jake Giles band or any number of music members of, uh, the Del Fuegos, members of Extreme, you know, people that I was a fan of back in the day. And now I'm sitting there talking to them about music. That was really exciting.
[00:32:57] Charles: Yeah. And what, what was interesting was like how they also promoted local bands. So bands that would never have a shot at all of getting on MTV, we're able to get on V66. And I love the way it starts out, with that guy, um, John, uh..
[00:33:15] Eric: Garabedian.
[00:33:17] Charles: Garabedian. Yeah. He a, he says there were two problems with MTV. Problem one: they were only on cable, which you mentioned Boston, only like 30 percent of the population could get cable at that time. And problem number two: I thought they sucked. And he just, he's, you know, he's like that he's very straightforward, guy, but you know, everybody from the documentary that you know, worked for him, they loved working there. It was a really cool atmosphere. They were all bummed out when it ended. But yeah, his, his very straightforward direct approach to chatting with you, I would imagine, right. He was, you were interviewing him. I thought it was hilarious.
[00:34:02] Eric: Well, thank you so much. And uh, please fans, check out Life On the V the Story of V66, uh, the website's, LifeOnTheV.Com and it's available for a streaming on our number of services including Amazon prime video, Google play, Night Flight Plus. Hoopla, if you have a library card and Fandor as well. Voodoo or sorry, Fandango at home as it's called now.
[00:34:24] So yeah, please check it out and, yeah, we're also on social media, at V66 Documentary as well. And, uh, yeah, my own website CruisingInTheVan.com for other films I've done as well.
[00:34:35] One of those cool things is a very quick, uh, story. Back in, I'd seen Letters to Cleo, the Boston band a number of times, one of the best was in 1996. I saw them and they brought out Greg Hawks of The Cars to perform some Cars covers with them on stage at Avalon. And I thought that was so cool. And then skip ahead way over a decade later, I got to interview Greg Hawks for the V66 documentary.
[00:34:58] And I mentioned to him that just a few months earlier, I interviewed Kay Hanley and Greg McKenna of Letters to Cleo. And, uh, he said he had a great time. They had done a cover of a Dangerous Type by The Cars that Greg performed on and said he had a great time with them. And then skip all the way ahead to 2019.
[00:35:16] Letters to Cleo did their annual show at the paradise in 2019. And they, this was like a month or two after Ric Ocasek of The Cars had passed away. And so Greg Hawks came out and played a number of songs, I guess three or four songs with them. And I thought that was just such a special moment in Boston music history, let alone music history, to see that kind of tribute to Ric Ocasek, right there.
[00:35:37] But yeah, getting to talk to a lot of people, especially, I mean, music videos are still around now. It just exists in the, you know, more YouTube, format and whatnot. But the music video TV channel was really exciting at the time. In the eighties.
[00:35:51] Charles: It's definitely a cool story to, to check out and, you know, the arc of the story is very interesting and where the station, you know, one, how John had discovered it, that signal, like kind of a little loophole sort of thing, and then where it all ended up in the end. It's about 90 minutes and I recommend people check it out. Anything else Eric?
[00:36:14] Eric: This has been really awesome. I've been to Chicago before. I definitely would love to catch some shows there. Maybe you can point me to some cool venues, or obviously you mentioned Lalapalooza coming up soon. Uh, in terms of plugging please check out cruisinginthevan.com, my film company or Greens Party, my blog, greensparty.tumblr.com. And the documentary Life on the V, the story of V66, that's lifeonthev.com.
[00:36:39] I think it's so cool you exploring all different concert experiences. Is there going to be some, I don't know, aggregator at the end of a season of this many people said, you know, this was the best con, or, or something of that nature?
[00:36:51] Charles: You know, that, that's a good idea, Eric. I don't know. Yeah, maybe. We'll have to think about that one. Yeah, that would be interesting.
[00:36:57] Eric: Yeah, just curious how mine stacks up to someone else's or something like that.
[00:37:01] Charles: Yeah.
[00:37:01] Eric: everybody's given the same answer on one, one question or something like that.
[00:37:05] Charles: Well, you know, everybody talks about, you know, like I said, their mom taking their first concert, for the most part. And then that Prince was their best concert. But we have a guy coming up who was very, very disappointed with the Prince concert that he attended. So I, I, you know, we're, we're looking forward to hearing why that was.
[00:37:25] Eric: Can't speak for every Prince tour, but the one time I saw him was in 2010, he did a whole residency at Madison Square Garden, he did a good 18 shows in one month and I got to see him and that was, that was truly incredible. By that point in time in his career, just so many hits and everything and just such musicianship. Yeah, so no surprise that that's a common answer people give.
[00:37:47] Charles: Yeah. So I was kind of surprised to hear his responses. That was one of his worst concerts. We'll have to hear more about that. Eric, this has been great. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us and we'll stay in touch and maybe go see some live music.
[00:38:04] Eric: Terrific. Let me know when you're in Boston.
[00:38:06] Charles: All right. I will. Thank you.
[00:38:08] Eric: Thanks so much, Charles.