In this special anniversary episode of Seeing Them Live, producer and co-host Doug steps in for Charles to celebrate the podcast's third year. Highlighting their journey, Doug recounts memorable moments from some of the podcast's episodes, featuring stories from notable guests like Tom Fitzer, Roger Merlot, Dawn Fontaine, Jamie James, and more. From wild concert escapades to life-changing musical experiences, this episode curates eight standout clips, providing a sampler for new listeners. Doug also shares fascinating podcast statistics, top episodes, and the powerful impact music has had on guests and fans alike.
In this special anniversary episode of 'Seeing Them Live,' producer and co-host Doug takes the helm to celebrate the podcast's third year. With Charles on a break, Doug guides listeners through a curated selection of some of the most compelling and memorable moments from their library of 44 episodes. The journey begins by acknowledging the podcast's inception, inspired by Charles's book 'Ticket Stub Stories,' and how the team aimed to capture and chronicle concert experiences from various perspectives, ranging from professional musicians to average concertgoers.
Doug introduces listeners to a diverse array of guests, from Tom Fitzer, who recounts his wild antics at concerts, to Roger Merlot, a 70-year-old live music superfan who holds records for attending consecutive gigs. The episode takes an emotional turn with Dawn Fontaine's powerful story about how music, specifically from the band Soraia, helped her navigate the darkest period of her life following a personal loss.
Adding another layer of excitement, Doug reveals download statistics, showcasing the global reach of the podcast, with fans in over 30 countries. Additional clips feature tales like Rudy Childs' chaotic encounter with Sharon Osborne during an Ozzy Osborne concert, and Emma, an 8-year-old concert photographer capturing big acts like Joan Jett and Duran Duran. This anniversary special encapsulates the essence of 'Seeing Them Live,' celebrating the joy, chaos, and transformative power of live music experiences.
[00:00:23] Charles: We have Tom Fitzer as our guest.
[00:00:26] Roger has become an icon in London's live music scene.
[00:00:30] Dawn listened to many different genres of music.
[00:00:33] Jessica, welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:00:36] Emma and Barry, welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:00:38] Our guest today is ZouZou Mansoor.
[00:00:41] Rudy, welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:00:42] Today's guest is Jamie James.
[00:00:48] DougF: Hi, this is Doug, producer and co-host for Seeing Them Live. Charles is taking a break, so I'll be filling in as your host for this episode. Three years ago, this weekend, we ran the first episode of Seeing Them [00:01:00] Live. Since then, we have produced 44 episodes, including this one. Worldwide, our episodes have been downloaded nearly 3,000 times with fans in over 30 countries.
[00:01:11] While he was writing his book, Ticket Stub Stories, A Memoir of Live Music, Charles came up with the idea for this podcast. He found that whenever he told a story about something unusual he witnessed at a concert, the person he talked to lit up with the memory of their own concert experiences. That is when Charles told me about his idea to start a podcast with the goal to capture and chronicle these stories, as narrated by the people who attended these iconic shows. When I heard him describe the concept, I was so intrigued. I asked him if I could be his producer. By the way, I highly encourage you to check out Charles' book. If you love books about music, history and culture, you'll really like Ticket Stub Stories.
[00:01:54] Since this is our third anniversary, we thought it might be a good time to highlight clips from some of our shows. So [00:02:00] in this episode, I have curated eight clips from our library of episodes. If you are new to Seeing Them Live, consider this your sampler episode.
[00:02:09] In our three years of operation, we have captured some compelling stories from a diverse collection of guests, including authors, professional musicians, concert photographers, other podcasters and average concert goers. So the clips I'll play for you today have been selected because they stand out in some way. As I play these clips and give you my impressions, I will also provide some stats on the podcast that we have accumulated over the past three years.
[00:02:36] Before I start with our first clip, I would like to make an appeal to our fans. If you like the show, please provide a positive rating on Apple Podcasts or your preferred streaming platform. The more positive ratings we get, the better our rankings.
[00:02:51] Our first episode was released on August 16th, 2023, so appropriately, our first clip will be from our first [00:03:00] episode. Our guest, Tom Fitzer is a social worker who lives in the Chicago area. I know Tom well because he is also the lead vocalist and guitar player in my band, Wrought Iron Soul. When he was younger, attending concerts with his friends. Tom aquired a reputation for being a bit of a wild man.
[00:03:17] Among the stories Tom told in our episode is how, not just once, but at two different concerts at the New World Theater in Tinley Park, Illinois, he got detained in the venue's jail. Yes, they do have one of those. One time for sliding down the venue's grass incline during a rainstorm, another time for impersonating one of the venue's, security staff.
[00:03:40] But the story that I enjoyed the most was when Tom described the circumstances that led him to sing on stage with John Kay of Steppenwolf. Here's a clip from our first episode titled, " Tom Fitzer sings on stage with John Kay while dripping wet".
[00:03:56]
[00:03:58] Tom: And so it was John K [00:04:00] and whoever was left in Steppenwolf. So John k was the lead singer. Again, Steppenwolf, uh, one of my probably top 15 bands. I, I think very underrated and people don't, you know, born to Be Wild Magic Car Ride. I could never hear again, but there's some just great stuff that was, didn't get radio played.
[00:04:18] Anyway, so looking forward to this, I don't think I had ever been to Lisle Fest before. So. Uh, again, I get these ideas in my head, especially in my early twenties. Again, having some beers there with probably, I don't know, five to 10 people. I remember my girlfriend was definitely at the time there, so we get, again, it's kind of like a lawn situation, but at this place there's like a moat or like a small lake that's in front of the elevated stage.
[00:04:51] And so we're probably like, 50 yards back from that and a little bit of elevated up on the hill too. And I remember pretty early on [00:05:00] when I got there, I looked at things and I said to myself, I'm jumping in the lake and I'm gonna get on stage. Like that was an absolute, I don't know if I told anybody that. But I've heard some of my friends retell the story of just like all of a sudden seeing me down by the shore and um, like doing something.
[00:05:18] And so this was my idea and I told Doug this the other day. I walked down to the front, down to the shore. There's some people up there, obviously, and I just, I said, I'm gonna swim up to the stage. And they're like, okay. They weren't, they were like, okay. And I take my shirt off my pants, I got my boxers on and I, I remember back in the day, they were like, oh yeah, this is why I was remembering it was like around 2003, 'cause I had my very first flip phone, which I got in 2002, and I remember asking this lady to hold this in my wallet or keep an eye on it. Don't let it get wet, and I just, I jumped in into the lake or the moat and I started to swim towards the stage [00:06:00] and yeah, and so I got up to this stage.
[00:06:03] Charles: Do you know what song they were playing Tom?
[00:06:04] Tom: Oh yes. Thanks for reminding me. So I think partially what kind of made this occur, even though it was gonna occur anyway, was they were singing the, the pusher. Which is one of my all time favorite songs.
[00:06:16] Charles: That's an awesome, I love the guitar riff and that is...
[00:06:19] Tom: So good. So good. Yeah, and so, and it's a pretty, you know, it's, it's about six or seven minutes long, so it gave me some time.
[00:06:26] Charles: Right.
[00:06:27] Tom: I get up there, and again, this is 20 years ago, but I pull myself up on stage. I remember walking up to the mic, John K's to the right of me. I kind of do a spin. I put my arm around him and I start singing in the mic with him, some of the words, and he kind of looks at me and then just keeps going with it.
[00:06:49] And we're just like having a good time. Like now, literally, this is probably five to 10 seconds that this happens because before long, a couple security guards are out on the [00:07:00] stage. And I knew this was gonna happen, and so they chased me around on the stage just for a bit, and as soon as I knew that I was gonna get caught, I jumped right back into the moat.
[00:07:10] Charles: That's the ultimate stage dive, right?
[00:07:13] Tom: Yeah, totally. And like they were not following me in there. They were not coming in there. So I remember kind of taunting them a little bit. I wasn't saying anything out loud, but I was definitely like doing the backstroke. Like instead of a swim, I, you know, I was just doing the backstroke.
[00:07:28] And then I remember then like securities lined up by the shoreline there, and there's a couple cops there now. And so I'm like, all right, I better get out. And again, you know, I just kind of get out of there and the cops are not too bad. And I remember kind of just talking and they're like, what are you doing?
[00:07:47] I was like, I just wanted to get up there and sing and you know, and they were like, okay. And I remember the cop like radioing on his shoulder and hearing something like. You know, is he being fine? Is he, what's he being like? He's like, no, he is, he's being all [00:08:00] right. And then I remember on the other end, the guy's like, well then just tell him to leave.
[00:08:03] Like, you can't come back. And I was like, thanks guys. I appreciate it. And then like, my one buddy was down there already, you know, just making sure things were sorted or whatever. And he is like, he's like, I got him. I'll make sure he is outta here. We're going. And then I, I, you know, it was dumb. I missed the rest of the concert.
[00:08:19] But the, the funny part of this is too, is. Stupidly. I remember I got on my, my friend who took me home, Dan had like a crotch rocket motorcycle that he drove there that day and I got on the back of this thing, like in my box, like I probably put my jeans back on. But I remember I had no shirt on and I'm holding onto him and he said it was the worst ride of his life back home where we were going, 'cause I was just like, you know, weaving all over. It was pro, it was not safe, it was not a good idea. But he got us home safe.
[00:08:49]
[00:08:51] DougF: Man, I love that story.
[00:08:54] Our next clip is from season one, episode eight. If we could pick a single individual, a [00:09:00] person that represents the soul and passion of what we're trying to communicate on Seeing Them Live, it would be someone like our guest, Roger Merlot.
[00:09:08] Roger is a live music super fan. He's a retired car mechanic in his seventies with the energy of a 20-year-old who embarked on an extraordinary journey to experience live music. Notably, he holds a personal record for attending the most consecutive gigs at over 725 nights. He also has a personal record for the most gigs in one night, a staggering six gigs at six different venues across London, on a single evening.
[00:09:39] As a result, these milestones capture the attention to the media. He has been interviewed by Vice News, the Guardian. And CBC Radio Canada. Clad in a military jacket covered with badges, Roger is instantly recognized by fans and the bands he loves. This has cemented his status as an icon of London's live music [00:10:00] scene. This earned him the affectionate name, " The Gig Slut", from Debbie Smith of the Band Blindness.
[00:10:06] Roger's dedication to live music goes beyond mere attendance. He meticulously plans his evenings documenting exact timings and schedules for every gig in a book he calls the Book of Bands. So here's a clip from the episode entitled, " London's Notorious Gig Master."
[00:10:24]
[00:10:26] Charles: Okay. And at at that time too, you also attended some gigs with your wife, and I was just wondering how often did you guys do that?
[00:10:35] Roger: Well, I didn't meet her till the sort of late seventies, but in the seventies there were some interesting gigs that popped up. On a Sunday afternoon, you'd go for a few beers and later in the afternoon you'd go down to a place called Ham, which is near Richmond again, on the river. And it's quite historic. Uh, and there's a polo ground there, you know, where they play horse polo, where you get these guys, [00:11:00] uh, riding polo, using these funny sticks with, um,
[00:11:05] Charles: Mallets or, yeah, I don't know. I dunno, the technical term for a polo mallet, but yeah.
[00:11:10] Roger: Yeah. That's it. Yeah. And so we are doing that and we are there as the plebs going into tread in after the horses had picked up bits of soil and one of the polo players is none other than Ginger Baker.
[00:11:23] Charles: Oh my goodness.
[00:11:24] Roger: Yeah. Which was really quite a good surprise. And what happened is after the match, he proceeded to play a gig with, at that point it was a Baker Gurvitz Army.
[00:11:35] Charles: Interesting.
[00:11:36] Roger: You heard of those?
[00:11:37] Charles: I have not. Roger. No.
[00:11:39] Roger: Well don't worry. It's Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton went on to do various things from Cream and Ginger Baker was the one who was always very talented. As a drummer, you don't have the input to, to make a big band, but he did this thing. There were two brothers. One of them was called Adrian and Ger, and [00:12:00] he joined up with them and for a while they were a band. Later. Ginger Baker had a thing called Ginger Baker's Air Force, whom I didn't see. But yeah, that was a good little surprise gig.
[00:12:11] And then what else did we see in the seventies? Well, in the early seventies, there'd been a thing on the Isle of White, a festival, and some friends of mine did go to that. And we went and we saw bands like The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, the Who again, Moody Blues. And so that was quite a successful outing. Um, we were very lucky because, I mean, obviously I should have seen Hendricks around London before that, but two weeks after this, in 1970 September, he was dead. So that was possibly his last public performance, but I did get to see him. Yeah.
[00:12:50]
[00:12:52] DougF: What I find amazing about Roger's live music experience, is that it spans decades from the early classic rock period to London's [00:13:00] current punk scene. We were really lucky to have him on the show.
[00:13:04] Our next clip is from season two, episode one. I first discovered Dawn through her Instagram posts. Like Roger, she's a prolific attendee of live music events. In addition to sharing great stories about the concerts she's attended, she delivered one of the most compelling accounts ever featured on our show. Her story demonstrates that music is not merely entertainment or a distraction from our mundane existence, but can actually save a life.
[00:13:31] Dawn's story reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the acting coach Stella Adler, who said, " life will beat you down and crush your soul, and art reminds you that you have one." Here's Dawn's story from the episode called, "Dawn Talks about the healing power of live music."
[00:13:49]
[00:13:51] Dawn: I'm just going to tell you this is why I follow music the way I do. And I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today. If I hadn't [00:14:00] experienced Soraia, cause it wasn't so much, I say life's changing, they saved my life. Just to give you a brief overview, when I had moved to New York in 2017 and I had started a new life I was living with my girlfriend of five years and she was only 52 years old and she died of cardiac arrest suddenly.
[00:14:18] Never saw it coming. It was completely unexpected. And, after she had passed in December of 2021, I was really just severely depressed. Didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to go to anything. And I knew the show was happening in April. And I just, I was like, I'm not going to go, not going to go.
[00:14:37] And, a friend of mine that I worked with Gregory, he was a Joan Jett fan. He had seen her back in the eighties and, you know, he had kind of encouraged me. It's like, you know, it'd be good to get out of the house. I was like, okay, all right, you know, and it was like, who's the opening act? And he's like, I don't know, some band called Soraia.
[00:14:54] Cause I don't usually care about the opening acts unless it's for a big band like the Rolling Stones. Cause [00:15:00] they usually have a pretty established artist. Like I saw them play with The Pretenders and Sheryl Crow. But like Billy Idol, I couldn't tell you who his opening act was.
[00:15:09] So, you know, I was like, well, let's go check it out. I did look up Soraia or I saw they were a female fronted band and I'm like, oh, you know, they, I had heard the name Joan Jett come up and I'm like, okay, you know, associated with them.
[00:15:20] It's like one of their singers, like you know, artists that inspires her and that she's a fan of. So I'm like, okay, I think I'm going to like this band. And they came on the stage, their first song, which was Dangerous, off of their Dig Your Roots album. And I think my jaw just hit the floor. I was just mind blown. I mean, they were so good.
[00:15:38] They put on a heck of a show. Every song was incredible. After they were done, I mean, we had, I had good seats. I was probably about 25 rows, four seats. It was great sound. It was at the Palace Theater, a small venue in Albany, New York. And at the end of their show, ZouZou Mansour, their singer had said you know, come [00:16:00] by the merch tables. The band will be there and we'll talk and sign autographs and stuff. And I don't usually do that kind of stuff at a show. And I was like, you know what, I think I'm going to go check it out. I might want to buy an album or something.
[00:16:13] So I went over and first I met Travis Smith, their bass player, and Brianna Sig, the drummer, and chatted with them briefly and got a picture and was looking at the merch and then I walked over and saw my friend Gregory and I was like, all right.
[00:16:27] Well, that was cool. Let's go back to our seats And he's like, oh, well, don't you want to talk to the singer? She's right over there. I didn't see her and I'm like, oh, okay Yeah, I'll go talk to ZouZou. Oh, you know, it'd be really cool to meet her as well.
[00:16:39] And she was really cool. I can't remember exactly the conversation. It was probably something like hey great show. I enjoyed your music. She was very down to earth. Very nice. I got a picture with her.
[00:16:49] And then, went to my seat and I watched Joan Jett absolutely just tear the roof off the place. I mean, she did a 90 minute set the [00:17:00] last like 20 to 30 minutes, she did acoustic music. Cause she had just released that album Change Up where she did a bunch of her songs acoustically. It was her first time doing it live acoustically. Every single song she did was incredible. I mean, she was great. She was everything I had ever wanted to see. But it was funny was after that show, all I found myself thinking about was Soraia like, wow, they were so good. I really want to see them again.
[00:17:27] And I'm thinking, you know, they must be opening for other bands or have other shows going on. And that week after the show, my whole demeanor changed. I just was happier. I didn't feel as depressed. Like the music just really changed me and I felt better.
[00:17:42] And so I decided to look up their other tour dates and they had some shows coming up in May. The next one was actually on my birthday in Pauling, New York at Darryl's house, which is owned by Darryl Hall from Hall and Oates. And I was like, Oh, well, that'd be really cool to go to a [00:18:00] show and it's on my birthday, see them. And there, it's not like a show where they're opening for anybody. They were touring with two other bands off of their label, the Kurt Baker band and Ryan Hamilton.
[00:18:11] I was like, okay I'm going to do that. And cause Pauling in New York's not far from Albany. And I was like, all right, I'm good. And it's been a week since the show and I'm like, you know what? I want to send a message to ZouZou and just thanking her for the show and doing what she does and meeting with the fans after, and I kind of just gave her a little background of what had happened with the loss of my girlfriend a few months before and how depressed I was.
[00:18:37] I wasn't going to go to the show and I did, and it just, it really lifted my spirits and made me feel good. It made me feel happy. And I said to her, you know, I'm, I'm going to go to your show on my birthday and Pauling New York. And I also mentioned to her how much I liked the album the Dig Your, Dig Your Roots album. There's a song on there called Still I Rise that really stands [00:19:00] out. That is one of my favorite songs.
[00:19:02] And I didn't expect much of a response. I mean, I messaged her on Instagram and I wasn't really that active on Instagram at the time and I figured, okay, you know, if I get chili to like the message, or she might just send something back saying, thank you. I think it was like a few hours later, I got a super long detailed message from her. It was just thanking me for writing her, how much it made her day. How happy she was that, you know, the music made me feel good and lifted my spirits. And she said that absolutely we could meet and talk after the show in Pauling, New York and she was going to give me a copy of the Still I Rise single on vinyl. And it was just really nice, a lot more than I ever expected in a response. And it just made my whole week, weekend, I should say.
[00:19:50] Until the next day, which is when my life took a really dark turn. And it's interesting that I'm talking to you guys about this now, because I had [00:20:00] another person who wanted to interview me about this about a year ago, but it was still too raw and too hard for me to talk about. I had told some people the story through messages and stuff. Actually I told ZouZou in a message and some other people.
[00:20:17] But, that day after I was living in the house that my girlfriend had owned. And I knew I was going to have to move out cause we didn't have anything in my name. And I was okay. I got a call from her mother and, I went over to see her per their request and didn't have a good relationship with them. They didn't like their daughter because she was gay.
[00:20:39] And, um, I didn't expect the meeting with her parents to go as bad as it did because they were pretty cordial to me during the whole process of her burial and everything.
[00:20:50] Um, they said, I won't go into full detail, but they said some very ugly things that shouldn't be said to any human being that were very hurtful. And I [00:21:00] was in a very vulnerable state, you know, I was still hurting a lot from the loss and, when I left their house that evening, and I went back to my house, to the house I was living in, I felt completely Destroyed, like I had nothing left.
[00:21:17] Like, I mean, I thought they were maybe two people that I could possibly have in my corner, even if we weren't going to be close, but they, the way they treated me was absolutely horrible. And on my way back to my house, I'd made three phone calls, two to some friends and one to a family member. And of course, none of them answered.
[00:21:38] So that made me feel more alone. And you know, I, I know I told you guys that the music pulled me out of a dark depression. It pulled me out of moments away from suicide. I had just given up. I mean, Jen was my whole life, you know? And then they have, you know, excuse me, the two people that I thought would be in my corner, you know, even [00:22:00] though they didn't have a good relationship with their daughter, I thought they'd still show some support and they weren't there.
[00:22:05] I just felt alone. So I went in the house and I wrote letters to my family to my brothers and my mom. And then. I grabbed a bottle of oxycodones, I believe it was, that were left over from a back surgery that my girlfriend had had years ago. And a bottle of Benadryl, and I was gonna take, I think there was nine or ten oxycodones with the Benadryl.
[00:22:29] I was just gonna do it, fall asleep, and be done. And how the music comes into this is I had gone out, I had written the letters, gone outside, put them in the mailbox. Now this is a Sunday. So I was waiting for those to go out the next day and I went back in the house. I had the pills in my hand and it was eerily quiet.
[00:22:51] Normally when I'm in the house, I have something on for background noise. Usually the TV or I'm playing a record. And, but I had just come home and I [00:23:00] didn't have anything going on, so the quickest thing for me to grab was my cell phone. And I just put on Apple Music, and the last thing I was listening to the last band I was listening to was Soraia, the Dig Your Roots album.
[00:23:12] And what song came on? But Still I Rise. And I'm sitting there, and I'm listening to the lyrics, and I don't know what it was. I don't know, but at that moment, it was just like a few seconds, but it seemed like longer something just clicked in my head. Like, what are you doing? What the heck are you doing?
[00:23:30] You know, I was thinking back to the great time I had at the show, the interaction I had with ZouZou, the message I got from her and what I was looking forward to seeing the band again. And I'm like, I have so much to live for. What am I doing? What the heck am I doing? And so I threw the pills away. And I texted my brother, Joe, and I said, you need to call me. It's an emergency, and he did.
[00:23:52]
[00:23:54] DougF: I really admire Dawn's courage in sharing her story so openly. These days, it's hard to get that [00:24:00] kind of honesty. It's a story that stays with you. Many of our listeners must agree because Dawn's episode is the second most downloaded episode. A little later, I'll play a clip from a related episode and fill you in what she's been doing since.
[00:24:14] Speaking of our download statistics, I think it's time to reveal our top 10 downloads for the past three years, as tracked by SimpleCast. Coming in at number 10 is season two, episode 16, called "Tossed by Sharon: Rudy's Ozzy Encounters." We'll be hearing a clip from that one a little later in this show.
[00:24:35] Number nine is season two, episode 15 called "From High Hopes to Chaos: Eric and Scott at Jane's Addiction." That episode debuted a new Seeing Them Live segment called the After Show Report where guests dive into the events of a single concert. In this case, Eric Green and Scott Patrick Wiener, shared their reactions to an onstage altercation [00:25:00] between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro at a Jane's Addiction Show in Boston. An incident that ultimately led to the cancellation of their reunion tour and a series of legal battles. By the way, both Eric and Scott have been guests on Seeing Them Live in separate episodes.
[00:25:16] Number eight is season one, episode 10, "Dave Matthews, rescues Pauline."
[00:25:22] Number seven is season two, episode 12, " From V66 to Lollapalooza: Eric's concert adventures." Eric Green was the guest in that episode, and if you remember, he was one of the guests for the Jane's Addiction After Show Report.
[00:25:38] Number six is season two, episode three, " L7 gives Steve their drumsticks."
[00:25:45] Coming in at number five, is season two, episode five, "The world's youngest concert photographer." We will be playing a clip from that episode a little later in this show.
[00:25:56] Number four is season one, episode two, "Valerie [00:26:00] makes eye contact with Steven Tyler."
[00:26:02] Number three is not really an episode, it's our trailer. So, I guess there's a lot of tire kickers out there.
[00:26:08] Number two is season two, episode one with Dawn, which we just covered in the last segment. For a long time, Dawn's episode was the number one downloaded episode. However, recently, another episode overtook Dawn. It's actually the very next episode we ran in season two.
[00:26:25] So, the number one downloaded Seeing Them Live episode over the past three years is...
[00:26:33]
[00:26:36] DougF: Season two, episode two titled "George Michael sings to Jessica." Because of its current status as the number one downloaded episode, the next clip I will play will be from Jessica's episode. Our guest for season two, episode two was fellow podcaster, Jessica Catena. She is creator of the Music Notes with Jess podcast, a weekly show focused on the latest [00:27:00] trends in the music industry.
[00:27:01] In this clip, Jessica talks about how her father beat her to a seat at a Lady Gaga concert.
[00:27:08]
[00:27:10] Charles: So, if we move to your most surprising concerts. There's one in 2018 with Lady Gaga at City Field, and again, I think the surprising thing for you was that it ever happened at all, right? Because again, because of the weather.
[00:27:26] Jessica: Yes. So, I don't know how it is where you guys live, but we get notorious rainstorms over the summer. It's practically hurricane season, and there's once in a while where we can even get a nor'easter where you literally have to look outside to make sure it's okay to just even be outside and from working in radio, I can tell you that normally, once you see that things have to be taken into consideration for safety, you cannot go outside if there's any thunder and lightning, because lightning, [00:28:00] you don't want to play with that.
[00:28:01] So City Field is where the New York Mets play and there's no coverage at all. That it's just an open arena where you just there it's you and the sky and the Mets, that's it. So what happened was, two of my cousins had asked if I wanted to go see Lady Gaga with them. So I said, sure, you know, that sounds cool. She's awesome. So we were looking at the forecast and we didn't even know it was going to happen. So to play it safe, my dad offered to give me a lift because I lived in New York at the time and I had one cousin in New Jersey and another cousin who would work nearby in, in the boroughs in Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:28:41] So to be safe, my cousin from New Jersey asked if she could sleep over regardless of the concert happens or not. And I said, of course. So that was our plan. And we continued to just go into the concert regularly and then. A few hours in, I [00:29:00] get a text message from my dad saying, I got in. And when I say you got in, I was like, like, you know, inside the venue, cause it was pouring outside.
[00:29:08] It was literally a downfall where it just did not stop raining. I could show you the pictures. I don't know if you saw my Instagram, but you literally see, it looks like there's a hose right behind Lady Gaga singing, it was just... It was messy. It did not look good, even though she did great. But my dad said, no, I'm in, I'm on the ground floor. They gave me a free ticket and I was like, I hate you.
[00:29:31] Charles: He scored some great, great seats, huh?
[00:29:33] Jessica: Yeah. And you know, it's crazy. I really believe in this, but I believe he got those tickets because of good karma, because he was staying at the bar area right by City Field. And someone was going to the concert and they didn't expect it to just rain like this the whole time. They were just thinking that it was going to stop eventually, but it didn't. So he actually lent someone or gave someone his umbrella that he had. So he was [00:30:00] watching Lady Gaga in the rain and he happened to see in the box office if there was some extra tickets and they just split it to him out of sympathy.
[00:30:07] Charles: Wow. Yeah. You know that never hurts to ask, right?
[00:30:11]
[00:30:13] DougF: I love that story, not just for the wild weather and the Lady Gaga spectacle, but for the way it turned into this unexpected moment of good karma. Sometimes the best concert memories aren't just about the music, but about the little twists of fate that happen along the way.
[00:30:28] For this next clip, imagine that you are a sought after concert photographer. You have backstage experience photographing some of the biggest acts in pop and rock music, including Jane's Addiction, Olivia Rodrigo, the Black Crows, Joan Jett, Duran Duran, the Pretenders, and Guns N Roses.
[00:30:51] Now, imagine that person is an 8-year-old girl. In season two, episode five, we interviewed Barry and his daughter Emma. At just [00:31:00] eight years old, Emma has already photographed numerous prominent bands and artists thanks to the mentorship of her father Barry, a seasoned freelance photographer who began his career in 1997 working for Jam TV.
[00:31:14] Barry has a rich history in photography, contributing to notable publications as the Rolling Stone Network, Rollingstone.com, Forbes Magazine and wire services like Getty Images and the Associated Press. So here's a clip from the episode titled, "The World's Youngest Concert Photographer."
[00:31:34]
[00:31:37] Charles: Yeah, it worked out too. You picked up a couple more souvenirs, didn't yah?
[00:31:41] Emma: Yes At the end of the show, this guy was wrapping up all the things for the show And he was, passing out guitar picks and he passed me one. He passed me a Mike Campbell one, but then he said, I can give you something even better. And it was, um, a Tom [00:32:00] Petty one, and that was from their last show.
[00:32:02] Barry: Well, wait, you got a, you got a better story than that. Hold on. So, so the crowd demanded you get a set list, right? And then he said, Oh, I have a guitar pick for you. So he gives you a Mike Campbell guitar pick, right? And then he goes, hold on, I can do one better. It's basically, it's, it's Mike's guitar tech. It's who it was. And he goes into his little bin and he goes around and he comes up with a Tom Petty guitar pick. He hands it to you, and then you hand it to me, and what happens?
[00:32:30] Emma: And he says, hey, don't take that. And then you say, well, I'm her father.
[00:32:36] Barry: I said, hold on. So he thought I was stealing it from a six year old or however old. So, it got to this really weird moment, and then he goes, okay. Sorry. Okay. Yes, of course. You're, you're her dad. So, yeah, it got weird for a minute. So, it was literally the last Tom Petty tour.
[00:32:51] Charles: Wow.
[00:32:51] Barry: That was pretty cool. I mean, believe me, I'm jealous of that guitar pick.
[00:32:54]
[00:32:56] DougF: Yeah, Barry, you're not the only one who's jealous of that guitar [00:33:00] pick.
[00:33:00] Our next clip connects to our interview with Dawn. If you remember from that clip, Dawn was a big fan of the band, Soraia. Dawn became close friends with ZouZou Mansour, the lead singer of Soraia. After our interview, Dawn encouraged us to reach out to ZouZou so we could invite her to be a guest on the show, and she agreed.
[00:33:19] For background, ZouZou Mansour is the dynamic lead singer of the Philadelphia-based band, Soraia. Soraia has opened for major bands like Joan Jett and has collaborated with major artists like Steven Van Zant and John Bon Jovi. In this clip, ZouZou talks about how their music has influenced and saved fans like Dawn.
[00:33:39]
[00:33:41] Charles: If we could switch gears for a second here, ZouZou I wanted to talk about your fans, your fan base, or just fans in general. And one in particular, we had on, this is how we kind of connected with you, was through, one of your fans, Dawn Fontaine was on the first [00:34:00] episode of our second season here at Seeing Them Live. I know you had listened to that episode and her story was so powerful that, you know, she literally says that your music, your performances and your interactions with her, literally saved her life. Just briefly, you know, what kind of impact did that have on you, and or the band, when you hear something like that?
[00:34:27] ZouZou: I feel like that's what music did for me. I think it's a beautiful thing and I, I don't take credit for it. Like I go, she heard the message she was supposed to hear when she heard it. And we happen to be the medium of her hearing it. Like, I don't ever get pompous about that.
[00:34:41] I don't ever get pompous about like the gift of songwriting either. I'm, I cultivated it and I did the hard work, but I, I know that that's. To me, a God given thing. And I, I'm a strong believer in higher power and whatever your religion, I don't, it doesn't, that doesn't apply. It's really just that I know, you know, [00:35:00] all my job is to do what I do.
[00:35:03] You share my experience and share my hope. Some of us have been given a second chance at life, you know what I mean? And that's what I have to share. Like, I can't make up that experience and I can't not be the underdog. That's who I am. Like, that's, and I think that speaks to people.
[00:35:19] There was a guy who came to our show and said, I had my suit laid out and was ready to commit suicide. All my notes written and your song Jolene saved my life. And I think that's the first time I ever heard that. I realized the power of, that it's not for me. Like I don't I think what I realized when I hear that.
[00:35:43] It's first of all, we love Dawn. I mean we love Dawn. Anyway, uh Dawn is like us so that's why we love her not because we saved her life or our music saved her life is because she's a fan and she gives to us as much as we give to her. Like, literally, like, there's no way [00:36:00] we would keep doing it. Otherwise, we didn't hear that story. It wouldn't help us on dark days when we want to quit or we can't pay for my cat to eat.
[00:36:07] I don't care if I eat my cat doesn't eat. There's a problem in the world. So, like, literally. You know, it gets us through stuff too, and we're just darker people. We've been through stuff. We've been through a lot of stuff and I think that resonates with people who have been through stuff, you know what I mean?
[00:36:24] It doesn't resonate with people who aren't ready to look at that. Like Iggy doesn't, would not have resonated with me 10 years before I saw him. But I saw him at the right place, the right time. And I saw him literally one time live. And it changed my life, saved my life, probably. Saved me from a career that would've killed me, to be honest.
[00:36:44] And that's not why I got into music, I had to remember that. So when I hear stuff like that, I think I have more in common with her than she probably realizes. I said the same thing to Joan Jett. I know when I met her, I said, you saved my life. And I said, why would you say that [00:37:00] to somebody? And I realized, I'm like, well, it's fine.
[00:37:06] Like these people did save my life. Music is going to keep saving people's lives. Songs, whether it be a song, a band, a band's story, a movie. That's art. That's why we need art. Like, it's, it's really that simple. But, her story did affect me and, you know, it was funny because she loves Still I Rise and we almost never do that live.
[00:37:29] So we did it last tour, she's like, she came up and she's like, did you see me? And I was like, no, I had my eyes closed. I'm trying to remember all the words. Like, so many words.
[00:37:39] It's funny. It's like, I'm not, absolutely not trying to say that's smaller than anything. It's huge. It's a huge thing. But what I am trying to say is certain music hits us when we're supposed to hear it. And I, that's again, something bigger than, than me or her or us or any of us. It's like, if you're ready to hear it, what's it saying if you when you're ready [00:38:00] the teacher appears. That's what I feel like music has always done and will continue to do .
[00:38:04]
[00:38:06] DougF: That's a powerful reminder of how music connects us, artist and listener often in ways neither side fully realizes. It's not just about a song or a performance, but about the shared experience and the humanity behind it. Stories like Dawn's and ZouZou's show why art matters and why it will always have the power to save lives.
[00:38:27] Now, for an update on Dawn and Soraia. Dawn has seen the band over 50 times, and we recently learned that she's now booking all of Soraia's gigs. So, congratulations, Dawn.
[00:38:39] Before I play our next clip, I think it is time for some more podcast stats. As I said during the introduction to this episode, our podcast reaches fans in over 30 countries. So, here's the list of the top 10 countries that download our podcast.
[00:38:55] Number 10, Germany.
[00:38:57] Number nine, [00:39:00] Australia.
[00:39:00] Number eight, China.
[00:39:02] Number seven, Spain.
[00:39:05] Number six. Singapore.
[00:39:08] Number five, Russia. Hmm. Maybe Putin's a fan.
[00:39:12] Number four, the Netherlands.
[00:39:15] Number three, Canada.
[00:39:18] Number two, the United Kingdom.
[00:39:21] And the number one country that downloads Seeing Them Live...
[00:39:25]
[00:39:28] DougF: The United States.
[00:39:29] So our next clip is from season two, episode 16. Our guest was another Wild Man of live concerts, Rudy Childs. Rudy is a renowned filmmaker and rock photographer, best known for documentaries such as The Dogmatics and 1984: Riding Into Hell.
[00:39:49] In our interview, he spoke candidly about his early struggles with drugs. This led to an encounter with Sharon Osborne as highlighted in this clip. Here's Rudy in the [00:40:00] episode, "Tossed by Sharon: Rudy's Ozzy encounter."
[00:40:03]
[00:40:05] Charles: Yeah, you mentioned that on your website and it's part of, uh, I guess it's all chronicled in your untitled book or the working title of your book is Riff Raff and Rock and Roll. And so you talk about these interesting, interesting stories. Just a few highlights from the book and you do talk about your struggle with drugs and, and such.
[00:40:29] So again, I encourage people to, to check out these stories, but a few that stood out to me. And I'm, I'm not gonna go in any particular order, you had a run in with Sharon Osborne, was it an Ozzy Osborne concert or a Black Sabbath concert, or..
[00:40:43] Rudy: No, it was Ozzy concert. It was, uh, 82. and it was the Merriweather. By this time, you know, 78, I start taking pictures by about 82, I start figuring out that I could get passes somehow. And part of how we got the passes [00:41:00] was we, we would go to the hotel and meet the band and we'd meet Ted Nugent and stuff like that, get his autograph.
[00:41:05] And, you know, I had a friend that was a flim flam artist and he was kind of like, oh, you know, can you get me passes? Can you ask people and stuff, but we weren't girls. So we weren't going to get passes unless we had drugs. So we ended up kind of weaseling our way into a few situations with with drugs.
[00:41:22] For the most part we relied on this one guy. He ended up getting us passes to this Ozzie concert. I've been sober for like 37 years now, but, back then I was not sober and, and we'd smoked some angel dust and I was pretty high and I was sitting outside the dressing room and I decided I wanted to go, I was getting impatient and that stuff kind of makes you more aggressive and, and I, um, I just went into the dressing room.
[00:41:46] Because I wanted to get high with Ozzy and there wasn't anyone around to stop me. And then once I got inside, I started, there was another door back to the right. And I was like, well, that must be where Ozzy is. Cause it's these two ladies over there.
[00:41:56] And she turns around, sees me and it's Sharon. [00:42:00] So she's like, what are you doing in here? Get out, get out, started screaming at me. Somehow security barreled in and grabbed me and they're dragging me out.
[00:42:09] Charles: Did you ever meet Ozzy or..
[00:42:12] Rudy: Yeah, I did. Yeah. It was really cool. I met him finally, uh, we were trying to find, in 84. I was trying to find Motley Crue or something in, in one of the hotels in the Four Seasons, and he came out and he had this big old fur coat on and stuff. All the times I've met him, like at a album signing, he was always kind of just quiet and, and, you know, just observed and noticed. But when I, one time we've talked to him and I said something about having pictures of the Randy road show back in 81 in Towson, Maryland. And he was, Oh my God, you know, kind of got his attention. But for the most part, you know, these guys just, I see a lot of the artists, you know, when you talk to them, they, it just seemed like they see, hear so many stories from people and, you know, they just kind of try to just listen.
[00:42:57] It's really hard to get them to engage. [00:43:00] There are some that I've, I've, you know, had good relationships with over the years though, and, and reach that point where you can have a dialogue with them. But a lot of rock stars, when they're in that certain mode, they're just, they're just doing their job. So it's, it's kind of hard to catch them and you got to catch them at a restaurant or something like that.
[00:43:17]
[00:43:19] DougF: Well, I guess that's the hard way to meet Sharon Osborne. Fortunately, Rudy had the courage to face his addiction, and years later was able to connect with Ozzy in a much more, shall we say civilized setting? I think this story does illustrate how rock and roll encounters can range from pure chaos to genuine connection. I guess sometimes you just have to survive the first kind to get to the second.
[00:43:43] Before I play our last clip, I wanna provide some final statistics on the podcast.
[00:43:49] This list is the top 10 streaming platforms where people download Seeing Them Live.
[00:43:55] Number 10 is Double Twist Cloud Player, whatever that [00:44:00] is.
[00:44:00] Number nine is Facebook. And by the way, we have a Seeing Them Live page on Facebook. Just log into Facebook and search for Seeing Them Live.
[00:44:09] Number eight, Overcast.
[00:44:12] Number seven, Microsoft Edge.
[00:44:15] Number six, iTunes.
[00:44:18] Number five, Spotify.
[00:44:21] Number four, SimpleCast.
[00:44:24] Number three, Mobile Safari.
[00:44:27] Number two, Chrome.
[00:44:30] And the number one streaming platform for Seeing Them Live...
[00:44:34]
[00:44:36] DougF: Apple Podcasts. So as I suggested in the introduction to this episode, the best way you can help the podcast is to provide a positive rating on Apple Podcasts.
[00:44:46] Alright, for our final clip, we're going to season three, episode six with guest Jamie James. Jamie is a Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter who has been performing professionally since 1978. [00:45:00] His career journey runs from leading the King Bees in his early days to performing alongside Hollywood legends, like Harry Dean Stanton and Dennis Quaid.
[00:45:09] Throughout the show, we've heard some wild tales from concert goers about the chaos they've seen unfold on stage. In this clip, Jamie flips the perspective sharing what he witnessed from the other side of the stage during a wild gig with AC/DC and ZZ Top. One that took a very unexpected and dangerous turn.
[00:45:31]
[00:45:33] Jamie: But anyway, all of a sudden, one day I get a phone call from the president of RSO, Al Cory. And, he was really a very active guy in the music business. He had worked at Capital and helped break the Beatles and all this stuff. And he goes, Jamie, Jamie, you sitting down, you're sitting down. I said, what do you mean what's going on? I thought he was gonna drop us from the label. Now, sit down. Sit down. I sat down, he goes, Jamie, we got a hit. We got a hit. I said, what do you mean we got a hit? My Mistake. [00:46:00] It's on heavy rotation. Three stations in Detroit. You got a hit. Gotta hit. Gotta go, you gotta go and do some big shows.
[00:46:07] I said, what do you mean big shows? And so then they put us on some of these big, so when Humble Pie canceled, this was with ZZ Top and AC/DC and Sammy Hagar went on before we did. And he got bottled off stage. I think he got like two or three songs in. He got bottled off. So we're on there to take Humble Pie's place. But they didn't make an announcement, I think, until that show. And by the way, I had forgotten about that until you guys, somebody, one of you guys did your research. 'cause when I read your thing that you sent me the other day, I went, oh man, I forgot. 'Cause all these years I thought it was because we sucked. But actually the truth is, when we walked out on stage, I could feel a little hostility. 'Cause we were wearing Colonel Sanders ties. We had short hair. This was in Toledo and the Midwest with all these neo hippie kids that were drinking beer and don't know their ass from their elbow as far as rock and roll.
[00:46:57] So I said to Michael and Rex, okay [00:47:00] guys, we gotta go right into My Mistake 'cause it's a big hit in this area. So we go right into My Mistake and most of the audience, as soon as I start playing the rep, da, da da, da da, most of the audience gets up. But there was a small cluster of people in the beginning that started throwing eggs and tomatoes and shit at us. I looked over and Michael had an egg dripping off his thing.
[00:47:20] And then somebody threw up a full bottle of whiskey it looked like, and it didn't make the stage, and it hit this girl on the top of the head. And from where I was standing on stage, all I could see was this sheet of blood washed down her face. And that's it. I stopped and I looked at the guy I saw who threw the bottle, and I looked at it and I said, listen, you asshole, just come up here right now because I want to shove this fucking guitar down your throat. You don't know the first thing about rock and roll. You have just ruined this girl's week, maybe her month. You know, what are you coming for music? And you're gonna do something like that. I was upset, man. So they dragged me off stage and we didn't even get a whole song. And that was before My Mistake was finished.
[00:47:57] Charles: Oh my goodness. Yeah, that, that's nuts. I was [00:48:00] also reading that they were selling, and I vaguely remember these things, these Olympia kegs, they're like round white orbs of beer.
[00:48:08] Jamie: There was a lot of beer there, man.
[00:48:11] Charles: It holds like five gallons of beer and it has a tap on it. And I guess people were throwing those things around like when they were empty, of course.
[00:48:19] Jamie: I went down and tried to find that girl. All I remember is I saw the ambulance take her out of there, and I was really disheartened man. I just thought, what are these fans these days coming to? Because I, as you saw, I loved going to music shows in the late sixties and early seventies. No one ever behaved like that, man. You know what I mean? It was a whole different thing and I don't know, man. You know, throwing stuff at bands, whatever, you know. Yeah, we looked different. And, and I remember a couple of the guys from AC/DC came to our trailer to say, you know, give their apologies and someone from ZZ Top and we got paid our full money, but it still didn't soften the blow. It was a tough blow, but, we survived.
[00:48:57] Charles: Yeah. So your most disappointing concert, you were [00:49:00] the concert.
[00:49:01] Jamie: That's right. Yeah.
[00:49:02]
[00:49:04] DougF: What I like about this story is that even in the madness of a stage under siege, Jamie's first thought was to protect the fans and stand up for what's right.
[00:49:13] Well, that's it for our three year anniversary episode. I wanna thank Charles for coming up with the idea for this podcast, our fans who listen and all the guests we've had over the past three years.
[00:49:25] If you'd like to drop me a line, you can send an email to dflorzak@seeingthemlive.com. That's D as in Doug, and then my last name, F-L-O-R-Z-A-K@seeingthemlive.com. If you want to share your concert experiences with us, please go to our website at seeingthemlive.com. Click on Become a Guest and fill out the form.
[00:49:50] Maybe the next concert story we tell will be yours.