902. - Bruce Hornsby

8:10Bruce Hornsby:no I just don't think I just can't believe that's considered negative when everyone all anyone cares about is their job like oh you're gonna ask what they've been reading lately like it's just not really how it works I see both sides in the first whatever five minutes of a conversation obviously you can get there I just don't think that like I don't know I just think that's gotten a bad rap

8:28Jason Stewart:We need to have a word for folks like you where it's like a poptimist, but instead of pop music, it's asking what do you do for a living?

8:36Bruce Hornsby:I just think it's like if somebody asked me that, I don't even think twice about it. I mean, I do think twice because I have to explain to them some convoluted bullshit of all my fake jobs that they won't believe. But I'm saying that like. No, no, no. You're a founder. Yeah, exactly. I saw that on TPB. I think everybody that comes on TPBN is called a founder. Just baseline. I think they just sort of bless you with that.

8:56Jason Stewart:It's illegal to be on that if you're not a founder.

8:59Bruce Hornsby:I got a very interesting email. I got a very interesting email from the Nerds Corporation just before we got on here, just interested to see if we wanted to cover their Nerds Super Bowl ad. Okay.

9:13Jason Stewart:I saw your text message, great pitch from Nerds about their SB ad. And I looked at that and my brain was like, I don't have time to figure out what this is. I'm sorry.

9:24Bruce Hornsby:Nerds is returning to the big game for the third year in a row.

9:27Jason Stewart:So you were talking about Nerds the candy, not just like nerdy people.

9:31Bruce Hornsby:It gets better. Okay. Andy Cohen is the star. TasteBuds follows Gummi's glamorous red carpet debut with Andy Cohen as it TasteBuds. Together, they showcase Gummi's mega transformation into something crunchy, gummy, and juicy, mirroring the multi-sensorial experience where Nerds' flavors, textures, and senses unite. This is just completely insane. Andy Cohen got$3 million to fucking give me some candy that will rot my teeth. I respect everybody involved, really. Okay.

10:03Jason Stewart:Well, I want to know why, you know, back in my day, back in your day as well, Chris, we're over the same generation. Super Bowl commercials, we watched them drumroll on the Super Bowl. And now they have debut premieres for Super Bowl commercials. they like roll out early on on social media like the new poppy commercial and your ghost directed the fucking enterprise rent a car commercial with yeah i saw this like all this shit like what happened to just watching the super bowl debuting it at the thing why are you we're we're

10:40Bruce Hornsby:blowing our load early guys i mean look bro you gotta have you gotta have the 10 second cut down the 30 second cut down the minute cut down for socials and then you have the 30 second spot on

10:50Jason Stewart:tv i i don't know to me it's just like it's a dark time when we're having like this is the exclusive debut pigeons and planes debut of the new pigeons and planes debut that's so sick the twitter.com slash at discussing films is launching the new the new way govy commercial starring stun a girl directed by you know and like what are we doing here guys it's a little it's a little much but i guess art has become commerce and commerce has become art we no longer no there's no there's no line we no longer have our unless it's privately funded by uh

11:28Bruce Hornsby:our winners literally just saw that the black keys got a willie meccleston photo for their album cover so it's a tough day for me uh we have a guest so sorry we have a guest today uh oh man bruce hornsby legendary musician has a new album coming out indigo park on april 3rd produced by another legend tony berg but he has worked with everyone i mean from you know the Grateful Dead and Bon Iver to Bob Seger, Dylan, Elton John. He played in The Grateful Dead for a while. He's got his own hits, of course, over the years. He also lives in Virginia. Ain't nothing to do but cook. So let's tap in with Dick Bruce.

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15:25Chris Black:Yeah, well, you guys are ragging about Virginia?

15:28Bruce Hornsby:No, we love Virginia. Do you have...

15:31Jason Stewart:I don't care. I don't give a fuck. Bruce said, bring it on, bitch. Okay, do you have headphones by chance, Bruce?

15:37Chris Black:Well, actually, I don't. I mean, I don't know how to plug them into anything that would make this work. So I told them to tell you that, or I told my guys that, so you didn't get that, unfortunately. So can you work around that?

15:51Jason Stewart:It'll just make you sound that much worse, but it's your funeral, Bruce.

15:57Chris Black:I couldn't be more okay with that.

15:59Jason Stewart:Okay. It'll add hours to my editing schedule this afternoon, but I didn't need to do anything anyway, so I'm just kidding. We'll be fine. You'll just sound like shit.

16:07Chris Black:No, but you really didn't have to do anything. That's the truth of that statement. but you don't have to do shit. What do you mean? What do you mean? So you're good. You're good.

16:18Jason Stewart:You don't know my life, Bruce Hornsby. I totally do not. So you've got me there. Is that some nice sound dampening panels behind you? Why? Because I don't sound that bad? I'm hopefully. No, no, no. I'm not a studio rat like you, but I'm just. Well, yeah, this is my studio where we have such great artifacts

16:39Chris Black:as the Lydian chromatic concept of tonal organization.

16:44Jason Stewart:I know it well.

16:46Chris Black:Back from the old hippie boho jazz days of the 60s in Lenox, Mass., in New England Conservatory, we have the comic book of the Buddy Rich tapes.

16:58Bruce Hornsby:Oh, well, of course. She doesn't have that kind of at hand. Pretty beautiful. First edition.

17:03Chris Black:I'm up there working my balls off, trying to do somebody a favor, and you guys are sucking all over this joint. so that is beautiful stuff we've got uh abby hoffman's steal this book

17:16Bruce Hornsby:actually a classic actually something finally the first book you produced that we have heard of

17:20Chris Black:well we got a lot of mileage out of this when we were young shmendrix in high school we uh we had fake raffles and and sold worthless stock and we uh we wrote to to as abby told us to do we wrote away to record companies telling them that we were a magazine we actually had a bootleg magazine in our town that we uh we produced it's now you can now read it at the william mary college library's rare book archives wow you made it into the permanent collection over there william mary well exactly which is such a scream because if you saw it it's a complete load of bollocks is what it is it's sure complete uh mindlessness but uh we actually so warner brothers in columbia etc they sent us back yes sorry but shelter records leon russell's label leon was a hero of mine shelter sent us records so i love telling leon that later when we became friends that you were the only guy who sent zappo productions some free records i like zappo productions

18:26Bruce Hornsby:zappo productions does sound incredibly fake and that's a compliment well yeah our motto was if you're worth crappo you'll choose that that is that is pretty catchy i have to say okay well

18:38Jason Stewart:actually to our for our younger listeners could you sort of describe a little bit about steal this book by abby hoffman and what you guys were doing with it back then well abby hoffman was a

18:48Chris Black:guy who was he was one of the original yippies and uh he and jerry rubin were sort of the head head yippies uh they were part of the chicago seven there was a really good movie made about that with sasha baron cohen playing abby hoffman they were great rabble rousers and uh troublemakers they were just sort of a an s the system type of a type of young uh hippies i wouldn't say well they call themselves yippies and so uh so that's who abby hoffman was and he wrote this was his second book i think his first book was called revolution for the hell of it So when we were young miscreants and sinners in high school and even pre-high school, we thought this stuff was a scream.

19:36Jason Stewart:It's an absolute scream, darling, yeah. It was. Okay, is a yippee a combination of a yuppie and a hippie? No. Yuppie came later.

19:46Chris Black:Yeah, exactly right. We're talking about late 60s, early 70s, so yuppie was not a term. It had not come into the parlor.

19:54Jason Stewart:So then do you know where the yippee is coming from? You'll have to ask. Let's get Abby on the horn. Abby.

20:00Chris Black:Yeah, you're right. The successors to the Hoffman family fortune.

20:05Jason Stewart:Okay. So like Chris and I, our generation, our version of that book was maybe like the anarchist cookbook. So this was sort of the predecessor to that, maybe less revolutionary and illegal, perhaps more rabble-rousy.

20:20Chris Black:Well, another great one that we used out of Steel, this book, was it told you how to become a preacher for a dollar. And this was legitimate. It was called the Universal Life Church, and it's still—

20:34Bruce Hornsby:Oh, yeah, that's what people do to get ordained to marry people.

20:37Chris Black:People still do that. You ride away to the Universal Life Church, and you pay probably more than a dollar 50 years later. But we did it, and we still have our reverend card.

20:48Bruce Hornsby:Bruce, I'm looking to get into the church racket because I feel like the money is good. The money is really good if you do it right.

20:56Chris Black:Per session, per wedding, a couple hundred bucks, 300 bucks? Per session.

21:00Bruce Hornsby:I was thinking more starting my own mega church and getting my tithes.

21:05Chris Black:Yeah, well, good luck with that. So you are, are you Jason? I'm Chris. I'm Chris. You're Chris and you're Jason here. Okay. I'm trying to get this straight. I'm at a loss here, fellas.

21:17Jason Stewart:That's all good. That's all good. We're figuring it out.

21:19Bruce Hornsby:We're going to get there. You're at home. You're in Virginia. Yes, I'm in my studio where we work. Okay, what are your number one? Why have you stayed in Virginia? You just like it?

21:31Chris Black:Well, I lived in L.A. for 10 years. I moved out there from 80 to 90, and I was fortunate. I got what I went there for and got the help out.

21:38Bruce Hornsby:I bet you did. 1980 L.A., oh, baby.

21:41Chris Black:Well, no, it wasn't nearly as sort of let the games begin.

21:47Jason Stewart:It was a little after the heyday, which is the pre-AIDS, mid-Coke of the late 70s into the early 80s. That was the heyday, right?

21:55Chris Black:It was after all that. I got there during the new wave era with the funny clothes and the sort of punk-ish but more pop punk. The flocks of seagulls and things of that nature. Exactly right.

22:18Chris Black:I always thought a great Jewish band would be the Flock of Seagulls.

22:21Bruce Hornsby:Don't do that because you know Jason Seagull is listening and he's going to get that going.

22:26Chris Black:Well, I love Jason Seagulls.

22:30Bruce Hornsby:That's a freebie from Bruce to him.

22:31Jason Stewart:Flock of Seagulls is pretty good, Bruce. Yeah, it is good. It is good. It's just fun. The more I sit with it, the... It's just fun. It's just something fun, you know? It's like a glass of wine. At the first sip, you're like, okay, it's good. And then, you know, 45 seconds later, oof.

22:46Chris Black:Look, I have an eighth grade sense of humor and I retain it. So that's it for me. Welcome home, brother. Welcome home. Jason Segel could be the lead singer of the flyer.

22:57Bruce Hornsby:Principal songwriter, musical director. All of the above.

23:00Jason Stewart:So you were originally born and raised in Virginia. Then you went to Berkeley School. You went down to Miami for a little bit, L.A. for the new wave era. Ten years. For ten years. Right. And then after that, from 1990 on, back to Virginia. My next move is into a pine box, my friend.

23:22Chris Black:Well, it looks like you have a pine box behind you. That's what I was worried about. Well, this is, whichever one of you guys said this is an acoustical construction, that's exactly what it is. It's a studio. I couldn't tell you the acoustical properties that that enhances. I don't know from that.

23:40Jason Stewart:You don't know? I mean, I feel like you should know that, Bruce. No. So a block of seagulls will know that, but I wouldn't know it. I'm going to guess that's called a bass trap. Get those low frequencies that are floating around in the room taken care of.

23:53Chris Black:Okay. That's a solid guess. Seems right. Solid guess.

23:57Jason Stewart:We always love podcasting with people who are like legendary musicians, audiophiles with million-dollar studio setups. And then we're in the room with just Neve consoles and Neumann mics. and then it's talking to an old guy on an iPad every time. No headphones, no mic, no nothing. I just love the juxtaposition of high and low, high and low. I apologize for all of my shortcomings. Don't apologize. No, no, this is all good. No, you're doing fine.

24:26Bruce Hornsby:You're doing much better than us. So, all right, so when you're living in LA in the 80s, what kind of car are we driving? Where are we living? Were you in the valley? Were you on the other side of the hill?

24:35Chris Black:Yes, I was in the valley. I was a station wagon guy, and here's why. I was a keyboard player, so I needed to load my big, big-ass, heavy Fender Rhodes electric piano.

24:49Bruce Hornsby:Of course.

24:50Chris Black:And a little amp to either play a gig or do a studio session in Hollywood or wherever. Valley could have been any of the areas. So, yeah, I drove an old 98 station wagon with the wood panels on the side. Mmm. And had that for years until I moved back home. But I still drive the automotive version of Schmata. I still drive. I have a now 20-year-old Toyota Highlander, one of the early hybrid cars, and still have it. It's just an old jalopy now, but that's what I like. I don't care. So that's what I drove in L.A.

25:35Jason Stewart:So you've always been a cocksure car owner is what it sounds like. That's nice.

25:40Chris Black:And just pragmatic, man. I'm a keyboard player. I drag his roads around. I can't put that in a Maserati.

25:47Jason Stewart:Yeah, but when we started getting that Tupac money, we didn't start going on Ferrari.com or building something out. Well, that's a different era.

25:55Chris Black:But no, frankly, when I got the cassette in the mail from the Shakur Foundation in 1997, seven about a year or so after he'd been assassinated i was i got that from from the post office driving another station wagon so so i mean i love a station wagon so you're a you're a practical guy but i know i just don't care about i i just keep my head in the clouds and i love what i do i'm very lucky uh what i so so so right the rest of it doesn't mean anything to me i'm not interested in all that i don't still care so kind of kind of dull really no i'm no

26:35Bruce Hornsby:that's a that's an incredible quality to have because it's more interesting to us i think i'm good because i don't like watches you know what i mean but you're saying fuck all of it but pretty much it just doesn't enter my mind it doesn't enter my consciousness you know okay do you have

26:48Chris Black:a do you have a wife bruce yes i do i bet it enters her mind occasionally she's not that but big for she's she's more interested in that sort of thing than i am but not really not match made in heaven overly so but if you i mean you guys are out in the sticks in

27:01Jason Stewart:in virginia you know we're spending money on the nice lawn mower you know like it's not necessarily if we're gonna take the helicopter from the airport we're spending money on our old high

27:12Bruce Hornsby:school friend who mows lawns for a living okay okay you're living a country lifestyle to the

27:18Chris Black:point where a high school kid is cutting your grass no no a former high school friend oh wow

27:23Bruce Hornsby:Wow, even better. Okay, so you're really ingratiated in this community.

27:27Chris Black:Well, that's where I grew up, so I have a lot of old-timey friends, and some of them are still working in their dotage, like me. And so, right, that's how it works. So no fancy lawnmower, just a good old-time, unfancy, great friend who could use it.

27:50Jason Stewart:Sure, sure.

27:51Bruce Hornsby:Wow.

27:51Chris Black:Could use the work.

27:52Bruce Hornsby:So what's the day-to-day looking like in Virginia? You up at five, puttering around? These are new questions for me. It's fun.

28:00Chris Black:It's different. Nobody asked me about my overall.

28:02Jason Stewart:We're not here to talk about seventh, ninth, thirteenth major notes and seventh, sixteenths chord structures, okay?

28:10Chris Black:I know all about that, but what was this last question?

28:13Bruce Hornsby:It sounds more interesting. I'm saying, are you up at five kind of puttering around with your coffee?

28:17Jason Stewart:We want the Hornsby morning routine. when you're waking up, what you're putting in your java, what's for breakfast, taking the dog out for a piss, all that stuff.

28:25Chris Black:This is not really a funny answer. There's no comedy in it. I don't sleep well. I'm always obsessing over what I'm doing.

28:33Bruce Hornsby:Can't turn the mind off.

28:35Chris Black:I can't turn it off, which is beautiful and a pain in the ass at the same time. At 5 in the morning, I'm likely to be up, but I will always try to go back. I get up in the 7s or early 8s, generally.

28:50Jason Stewart:are you talking about on pitchfork or on the on the clock that's the review you're hoping for for your new album i think you mean pitchfork ratings of albums sevens and eights yeah exactly i'm in the sevens and eights usually not a big deal well that's actually true for me there we go hey hey ask bonnie bear i know about pitchfork best new music stone on the bruce stone on okay what about what about bonnie bear what about we're gonna get into bone he's he's a dear friend of ours okay so oh great okay so when you're up at five in the morning you go to bed you have a little ice cream a little you know watch seinfeld whatever it is you wake up at five and what is rushing through your head like i need to finish that saxophone part or this the the pads on the synth line need a different preset or is it something something

29:37Chris Black:else well that sort of thing but not anything quite that sort of quotidian or anodontist it's not it's not it's more is this lyric terrible or is this or is this or is this vocal that is is is this good enough it's more my life is kind of about keeping the self-loathing at bay okay and so so i'm often going yeah maybe not you know maybe that sucks or are you are you looking for a

30:06Jason Stewart:consigliere or a confidant to run some of these questions by i mean your wife uh your wife's name is Kathy, right?

30:12Chris Black:Yeah, she's a good confidant, good consigliere, but I have several friends in town, very bright people, knowledgeable people whom I trust, and so if I think that I've created something that has some worth, I want to get a bounce and bounce it off some people.

30:35Bruce Hornsby:How do you feel about, how do you accept, I mean, you've been doing this for a long time, so I feel like you've learned, but have you always been able to accept feedback, negative or positive, from a friend or a co-worker?

30:46Chris Black:Mostly it's self-inflicted or self-realized, and here's what I mean by that. There's a real phenomenon called hearing music through other people's ears. Okay, so say I come up with some idea on my own, and I flesh it out, and I record it when I feel like it's really there. I'm lucky. I can give myself chills with what I play sometimes. And that's hard. That's hard to do. But you can't force chills. So when you get them, that's telling you something, that something special is going on. So when that happens. Now, there are other times when I write songs and my aim is not to inspire chills. My aim might be to write something funny, an attempt at humor.

31:25Chris Black:So it's a different type of approach. So I've recorded said song, and it's still kind of giving me chills and now i've heard the thing about 70 80 times plus so that's still pretty good if you're still getting them that's that's a good that's one good test to try to have to pass so then i'll go and find a friend and say hey let me run this by you and whatever they say okay so this has happened unfortunately but it's it's it's revelatory unfortunately I'll play this thing that I think is really good that I've heard I'm only on my own to this person and I can tell that it's not really getting them and I go whoa okay so they might say they might gush and go wow they may be being nice I can't necessarily trust that so I mostly trust because my antenna is way up for this and I've been doing it for a long time.

32:30Chris Black:And so, so then, yeah, I'll say thanks for your feedback. Even if they thought it was great, that's not, that's not the test. That's not passing the test. The test is how it makes me feel because I'm very sensitive to it. And I couldn't be wrong. They may be just sitting there glumly with it, not Bob, not moving at all. And then, and really feel it. So I could, I just want

32:52Jason Stewart:to, I just hope that your first inclination is not going towards, oh, they hate it. I just,

32:58Chris Black:you know no no no okay no i'm not no i'm not okay i'm not self-loathing enough to just expect that

33:05Jason Stewart:or even hope for that so you're so you're more of like a lie detector test when you play them the song you think it's good and whether they say yes or no you could see it in their eyes whether

33:15Chris Black:you know how they really feel about it well all i can say truthfully is i think i can

33:19Jason Stewart:you know i'm not sure about well i think you can what is what is the ratio uh like for the new album, let's say there's what, 12 songs or something like that, how many of those, there's 10 songs, nice round number, how many of those are chills worthy, chills giving songs? Okay, okay

33:38Chris Black:1 is, 2 is, 3 is not trying to be, 4 is, 5 is not trying to be 6 is definitely not trying to be, it's pretty out, 7 is a chill song, it's a dulcimer, old-time folky song, sometimes the simplest songs are the ones that give you chills, they're more complex i would agree as the listener i would agree as a listener so but sometimes i have an interest in in in making a sound i haven't heard before and so that's hard to do but so it so it'll lead me into some very dissonant chromatic you know not just you not just using the white notes like almost all pop pop your music deals in white note white note music using the whole chromatic

34:18Jason Stewart:scale we're talking about the piano keys not caucasian people just to be clear yeah yeah

34:24Chris Black:White Keys, Black Keys, right.

34:26Jason Stewart:Yes, yes, yes.

34:27Chris Black:Like the group, the Black Keys, right? A couple of white. I always wonder. Black Keys, a couple of white guys. I just think that's funny. Talk amongst yourselves. It's a good name for a band.

34:37Bruce Hornsby:It is a good name for a band, unfortunately.

34:39Jason Stewart:They should be using a few more Black Keys with a name like the Black Keys, though. Am I right, Bruce? It's a little too Ford F-150, if you ask me.

34:46Chris Black:I'm a little uninformed about the Black Keys. I hope they're better off, Bruce. You're better off, Bruce. For the better, Bruce. No shit. I hope they've used the black notes because that would make me more interested because in my dotage here, I've kind of heard a lot of that in my life. And so I'm kind of a little over that. Not completely because, again, the ones that tend to give me chills tend to be the simpler things. But I sometimes, again, want to try to make a sound I haven't heard before, write on a subject matter level lyrics that I haven't heard anyone deal with. You know, we wrote a song about cryogenics.

35:27Chris Black:I wrote a song about echolocation. Blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, catch up. Catch up.

35:34Bruce Hornsby:Sorry, sorry.

35:35Jason Stewart:I mean, I didn't know that they had medical marijuana out there in Virginia. You're writing some kind of heady stuff over there. This one's about echolocation and cryogenics.

35:45Bruce Hornsby:That's very heady, I have to say. That is very heady.

35:47Chris Black:Well, but you can take it into a real goofy place, at least cryonics or cryogenics. You could say this song is about Ted Williams freezing in a vault somewhere else. Because he's doing that. He's hoping to come back in 100 years when they figured this out.

36:06Bruce Hornsby:You know, I'm happy. I'm good with dying. I think I'm fine. I don't need, you know, if I can do 80, 85, I'm good. 85 good ones, I'm happy I'm out. It's a good run. It's a good run. That's what I'm saying.

36:19Jason Stewart:This obsession. But also, what do you think about, I mean, I live in Los Angeles, so there's a lot of people who have the cryogenic chambers where they're not being frozen, but, you know, the air is being changed, so they're okay with living. They're going to die a pretty 85 versus a wrinkly and tattered and torn 85.

36:37Chris Black:So whatever they like. There's Raymond Kurzweil, whose whole trip is called the Singularity. He's into all of this. And hey, good luck to Ray. I like his electronic keyboards, Kurzweil.

36:52Jason Stewart:Is there a keyboard to I want to live forever pipeline? Are there any other people who are, you know, are you like that?

37:01Chris Black:No, I'm not dealing with life in that cosmic way. I'm interested in it. I find it fascinating. That's why I'll write a song about it. What are you doing to take care of yourself, though? Let's see. Well, I just read an article in the New York Times, Science Times, every Tuesday. The New York Times is such a resource. And every Tuesday, they print the Science Times, which is fantastic. And they have sort of a wellness section back in the last couple of pages. And this past week, or last week, there was an article about olive oil and detailing the great properties. The benefits. And no deleterious ones.

37:50Chris Black:And so, well, that's right. So it tells you the smartest amount to use per day. but with all these great again uh properties i said well i'm going to do that so in the last week and a half we'll see if i stick with it you've upped it i i well i've never been a big olive oil guy but i'm gonna i'm gonna try it out so stuff like that i'll read and i like that so

38:17Bruce Hornsby:you're willing to experiment do we have an exercise regimen over there i'm a walker i used to be a

38:22Chris Black:bit of a trotter but at age 59 which is a good while ago i got tired i kept getting bursitis in my left foot and i got tired of limping through airports and on and off stages so i became a walker and i've never had a bit of problems so so yeah i'm a i'm an old-time walker do we keep

38:44Bruce Hornsby:do we keep the walking on property are we going out oh no going out we have breaks a nice place

38:49Chris Black:to walk. Are you strapping on the Chuck

38:51Jason Stewart:Taylors or we have some newfangled fancy boy shoes?

38:55Bruce Hornsby:That's my question. Which hokas are you wearing? I don't think Chuck Taylors are

39:01Chris Black:great walking shoes. I love Chuck Taylors. When you were a kid, they were. They're not. Talk about no support. Chuck Taylors, they endure on a fashion level. They still do. I know it became hip in the notties for young hipsters to wear the chucks. But it seems like it's still kind of in vogue. So let it go.

39:28Bruce Hornsby:They'll never die. Did you wear them to play basketball at one point in your life?

39:32Chris Black:Yes, I did. Yeah, we had the chucks. That's wild. We thought we were high cotton when we got the Converse All-Stars with the stars here. Oh, yeah, there's some hilarious pictures of old big bony ass playing high school ball. I have a beautiful picture I played in a great league a real ghetto hood league called the Peninsula District Alan Iverson played in this league Michael Vick played in this league so it was no joke

40:02Bruce Hornsby:Alright, well no dogs allowed

40:04Jason Stewart:So AI, Mike Vick and old Boney Ass come through on the pick three Let's go

40:11Chris Black:Yeah, Boney Ass was in the mix but I could hang a bit with the fellas.

40:18Jason Stewart:Oh, I mean, that's not... This is a good segue to tee you up for the infamous rumor that I've heard that you have defeated Allen Iverson at three games of one-on-one basketball.

40:32Bruce Hornsby:But Bruce, I'm going to listen to you lie about this, but Bruce, how old were you when you were hooping with the fellas?

40:40Chris Black:Paint the picture.

40:40Bruce Hornsby:Set the scene.

40:41Chris Black:Well, I'm not going to talk about the Iverson because you've rendered your verdict on it. No, no, no. I need to hear it from the horse's mouth. I would love to hear it from the horse's mouth. Never talk about it because it just sounds...

40:52Jason Stewart:Pretend that Chris is not even here. Put your hand over his little square, please. No, no, no.

40:56Chris Black:You guys have made your bed. I'm good.

41:01Jason Stewart:No, please. Please, Bruce.

41:03Bruce Hornsby:Bruce, please. When you want your spring break to feel like... And your kid's pool day to feel like... and your hotel bed to feel like ooh, and room service to feel like

41:21Chris Black:because at Hilton, hospitality feels like your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton, for this day.

41:35Bruce Hornsby:We're leaving today and entering a world of Mickey Mouse waving, princess meeting and greeting.

41:41Jason Stewart:Lightsaber clashing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror dropping

41:46Bruce Hornsby:Banshee flying Space Mountain launching Galaxy rewinding Galaxy rewinding Fireworks igniting World of Other Worlds For whatever you love Infinite worlds await at the most magical place on Earth Walt Disney World Resort

42:07Jason Stewart:when when you when you and alan iverson played one-on-one yeah okay i was 38 and he was 18 19

42:16Chris Black:uh yeah bubba chuck as we call him chuck is if i saw him if you and i were out in hampton and we ran into chuck that's what he would that's what i would say oh really you've been you've been a

42:28Bruce Hornsby:basketball lover though since you were a child this is like your other passion correct well i

42:32Chris Black:I have lots of passions. I'm an inveterate reader. I'm so deeply involved in the literary fiction world. I know it sounds snobbish and all, and it is. I am a snob. Welcome home.

42:43Bruce Hornsby:Welcome home, brother. Welcome home.

42:45Chris Black:So not just hoops, and I love that. It's all fine. But as I get older, I'm less involved with that and more interested in the amazingly inspiring, great writing. So there's that. But that's not fun. We'll go back to fun.

43:07Jason Stewart:No, it's kind of – I mean it's interesting because like people will always be writing interesting, you know, nonfiction or fictional novels. There's always going to be so much amazing things to read. But your version of basketball and the NBA when it was your heyday, as time progresses, it only gets worse with the rules and regulations and leagues and commercial breaks. The game of any professional sport from when you were a child to now has sort of been kind of ruined with all the hoopla.

43:40Chris Black:Okay, so you're the good old days kind of guy. Okay, so I'm not quite with that. I think the skill level of today is off the charts compared to the old days. If you look at an old hoops game, and I know a lot of people will just hate this and just go, oh, you're full of shit. You don't know. Just stick to the piano. So whatever. Have a ball with that. Hey, fuck those people. But just take the level of shooting ability now. Steph Curry has changed the game, and a lot of people think it's for the worst because, oh, it's boring now and no threes, and why not shoot the mid-range? And I'm with that.

44:23Chris Black:I think mid-range is undervalued. You have to understand, guys, I'm really involved in all this because of my son. Do you know about my son, Keith? He played, correct. My oldest son, by one minute, he played at LSU. He was a second-team All-SEC. he got a cup of coffee with the Mavericks in training camp played three years in the D League and then five years overseas and now he's a back to his his old school he's a grad assistant at LSU so okay so I'm immersed with this because of him uh you know the whole NIL it's just so okay so

45:02Jason Stewart:you're saying everything was better well I'm not saying everything was better I'm just saying obviously skill, gameplay, the fitness level, it's gone off the charts. It's amazing. I'm more complaining about the flopping, the fake fouls. And like you said, it's just a three-point contest. No one's going. No one's driving in. It's just three-point fake foul, timeout, commercial break, this. The energy is not what it used to be for me.

45:31Chris Black:Well, okay, the energy. I was with you until you said the energy. because here's why the nba the nba season has always been way too long and so because of that when i was when i was younger say 70s 80s uh i didn't care about the regular season because we thought they were just kind of country clubbing it out they're just going through the motions and of course the players will go hey what do you know and and of course you're right i'm i'm a musician so happy you're right i don't know anything but you've asked me about this and i'm to playing devil's advocate because i think there's some truth to what i was saying in that i love the playoffs when i was in in those year in those years 70s 80s when i followed it because man they're going after it and that now they're really guarding it just didn't feel that way and what i'm saying is it's a standard it's a standard rep but it's not new see you're saying it as if it's new, this has always been something that's been thought of.

46:34Chris Black:And as I'm sure you know as well, a lot of people have been trying for years to shorten the season, make it 60 games, and not four rounds of playoffs. So just tighten it up, but it'll never happen because of money. And so I understand all of that. It all makes sense. Now, the crazy new wrinkle, of course, now is college basketball where, for instance, my son played in Europe five years and the money over there. Now you've got people who are playing at a very high level over in Europe. They're coming back here and they're being allowed to play in college where they're making three times the money often that they are playing high-level European basketball.

47:22So now that's really...

47:25Bruce Hornsby:It's an American game. What can you say?

47:30Chris Black:No, you're right. Soccer is king there.

47:32Jason Stewart:Yeah.

47:33Chris Black:By a mile.

47:34Jason Stewart:But it is ironic that the college athlete, you know, the 18-year-old college athletes are getting paid 5x of, you know, the Lithuanian Michael Jordan or whatever, you know?

47:44Bruce Hornsby:Exactly. You're down. Are you down with college players getting paid? I am. I think if they're going to use their image and stuff, you know.

47:51Chris Black:Yeah, absolutely. They should have always been paid because somebody was making a killing on this. Yes, yes. And let's face it, people were cheating their asses off from the 60s on, at least the 60s on. I'm not naming names, but everyone knows these names, I think. Everyone who actually follows it just a little bit knows who at least some of the real cheaters were back in the 60s and 70s. We know Moses Malone from up in Petersburg, Virginia. We know that he was going to get paid a lot of money had he gone to Maryland and not gone to the ABA. So I guess what I'm saying in a long-winded fashion is that players are being paid.

48:37Chris Black:Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. And have been for years.

48:41Jason Stewart:I think it's a good thing to also sort of encourage them to at least just go do the four years of college instead of going straight from high school into the pros, which a lot of people can do, but I feel like it sort of can mess you up later on in life with just like administrative and business and life lessons and things like that, you know what I mean?

49:03Chris Black:Well, but the other side of that is this, and this has always been the case. A lot of kids did not grow up in an environment where academic achievement and intellectual curiosity was a prized thing, was a prized idea. And so a lot of these kids, they go to college. They're not ready academically for college. They have no shot at it. So they're just trying to get through, and the schools are trying to run them through, and that's always been the case, and it's still the case. And look, we know this firsthand. We know it really well. This is not me just reading the paper or watching somebody. talk about it we we've seen this so much in aau he came up through the boo williams program in in hampton legendary program my son keith was in the boo program from age 10 to hey you guys just froze up by the way oh no maybe not okay so so anyway we're good so that so that's uh that's always been a problem and i don't know how that changes it's the same in football uh track so I guess you'd say that I'm I'm a little mixed I'm sort of in the middle about all this I think there are lots of good things that are happening obviously that I think that the kids should have been paid for years yeah yeah yeah cheating was rampant now cheating is legal so it's not cheating because it's better to make it legal

50:40Bruce Hornsby:it makes everything a little easier for everybody

50:42Chris Black:Well, it just is. Look, my son played at Oak Hill in high school, you know, the vaunted venue for years for high school basketball. He played his junior senior there, the year there. And there's just a lot of crazy stuff going on with the coaches coming in and parents talking in the stands and you're overhearing this and you're going, wow, okay, is this what really happens? You know, so look, we really have walked the walk.

51:11Bruce Hornsby:Okay, so you got no kids that are musicians, or are they hobbyists, at least?

51:18Chris Black:They love music. They really like what I do, and that's just beautiful. I have twin sons, one minute apart. One was a baller. One was a runner at Oregon. So I was a duck dad and a tiger dad. It was great fun in those years. Duck daddy.

51:36Bruce Hornsby:All right, so your kids are athletes, and they think it's cool that dad does his little music thing.

51:41Chris Black:They really do. Yeah, they really do. What more could you ask for, Bruce? I mean, how could you not? No, it's all beautiful. I'm really fortunate. Look, we didn't take, I've never taken myself that seriously, as you can probably tell. I take some things deeply seriously, but mostly it's about frivolity and having a laugh. And that's the way I raise our boys. luckily we had the mom who was a bit more of a disciplinarian but somebody's got a crack somebody's got a crack you needed her though i'm saying i'm saying the good thing we had did you bring them

52:19Bruce Hornsby:did you at any point did you have like the whole family on tour situation in the bus no not really

52:24Chris Black:no it's boring for them um boring for my wife kathy just can't stand yeah kathy kathy doesn't

52:31Bruce Hornsby:want to be yeah in a bus underneath a arena somewhere you know looking for food well it's

52:36Chris Black:boring for me it's boring for me and i'm the one who gets to play i have the two two or three hours that where it's kind of you can be euphoric and that's why you do it when is the last time you

52:45Bruce Hornsby:did a full tour oh last last year well you do you you're pretty consistent pretty consistent yeah

52:51Chris Black:20 24 and 23 and 22 and not not 20 and 21 because of covid sure 1918 but i still did a good number solo concerts just me and a piano this is this is the band my left hand is the band sure so you could well heard that before all right so you can show up

53:08Bruce Hornsby:so you just show up you just show up with the piano and get crack get cracking so you pull up

53:16Jason Stewart:with the with the the worlitzer or the fender roads in the oldsmobile or do or do we have the do we have the red nord lead in the piano box i'm lucky that's a good good memory there you remember

53:28Chris Black:You remember my older days with the Rhodes?

53:32Jason Stewart:It was back to 21 minutes ago, but yeah, it wasn't that far.

53:34Chris Black:The true answer is not fun, but it's very nice. I'm a Steinway artist, and Steinway makes, of course, great pianos, and they supply me with great pianos. Damn, you got a Steinway deal? I never heard of that.

53:46Bruce Hornsby:People get their little Fender shit. You said, I got a Steinway deal.

53:48Jason Stewart:You got your little Nike deal? That's cool. I got Steinway, baby.

53:51Chris Black:Well, the only reason you haven't heard of it is that the whole practice of acoustic piano is going away. sure sure it's not yeah it's a hassle i'm an anachronism but you don't have your own model per se you're just a sponsored athlete exactly right okay i didn't know if you i didn't know

54:09Bruce Hornsby:if they'd let you design your own they don't want to let bruce in in they gave bruce an extra key

54:13Chris Black:he got 89 now although here's a beautiful uh artifact here this shows you how seriously we take ourselves as can you see that picture i can see it i can see it a little bit but

54:25Jason Stewart:Is that you in a wedding dress? Not me. That's a man and another man.

54:30Chris Black:It's my bass player getting married to my keyboard player in drag. That's the miserable couple. That's the cover of our live record from 2011, Bride of the Noisemakers.

54:48Bruce Hornsby:Bride of the Noisemakers. That's a pretty good piece of merch, I got to say. Yeah, that's nice.

54:53Chris Black:I think so.

54:54Bruce Hornsby:Simple. It's to the point, you know?

54:57Chris Black:Well, it's just out, you know? It's just nutty and it's fun. And so that's what we do. It's just having fun with it. For instance, do you know, you probably don't know this one. This is another one of our classic covers.

55:11Jason Stewart:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw that on Spotify just yesterday. Whose photo?

55:14Bruce Hornsby:Who took that photo?

55:15Chris Black:My dad took it. This is my uncle Charles Hornsby at a party in about 1967.

55:20Bruce Hornsby:It's a really good picture. Yeah. It's a really good picture.

55:23Chris Black:It's so great.

55:24Bruce Hornsby:Yeah, it's awesome. That's a really good cover.

55:26Chris Black:Well, here's a great Charles Hornsby story for you. So he was at a wedding, some country club wedding with his wife, Becky. And he said, Becky, I want to leave. I want to get out of here. She said, well, I'm not ready to go, Charles. So you, hey, look, there's a dark room over there. Go sit in it, and I'll be ready in a little while. So he goes and sits in this room and just waiting it out, outlasting the function. All of a sudden, these two old country club ladies come in, and they start just bitching and moaning about the flowers. Oh, Lord, look at these flowers. I don't know about it. They don't want to take care of them.

56:02Chris Black:They're just doing anything. They're just terrible. Terrible. And this voice from the dark mist says, well, I'd water them from here, but I just don't have the pressure I used to.

56:20Jason Stewart:damn so charles no stranger to a piss joke i like that well that's right instantly just uh

56:25Chris Black:offending the ladies and they left which is what he wanted sure yeah it was a it was a victory for him i guess and that's the back that's the back cover that's great honestly really good really

56:35Jason Stewart:really good well that's what we like uh on the on the i want to shift gears a little bit to fashion in the world of basketball. Have you ever, I mean, you're friends with Spike Lee, basketball enthusiast. Yeah. Have you ever, you know, maybe been sitting courtside with him at a Knicks game? Yeah. He pulls up with one of his crazy outfits, and you said, you know, Spike, this one's a little too far for me. Oh, no, I would never say anything. Spike's a fashion play.

57:05Chris Black:He's got his great style, and it's totally idiosyncratic, totally unique to him. and so you know why would anyone question it no spike is a is a true original in every way it's a beautiful guy i've worked with him and for him for 30 you scored a couple of his flicks

57:26Bruce Hornsby:six yeah that's a lot wow so what when that yeah that process does he just let you cook kind of and you guys come come back together when it's time to review or is it pretty hands-on well

57:36Chris Black:Well, it started off in the standard way. He asked me, I think it was sort of an audition. He was checking me out as a scorer.

57:44Bruce Hornsby:Kick of the tires on Hornsby, as I say.

57:47Chris Black:Okay. So it was an ESPN documentary called Kobe Doing Work. It was an in-game. Kobe was mic'd up in the game. And so it was basically a game film, hearing Kobe talk about the game and hearing what he says, blah, blah, blah. He's doing work. So I went over to his house, had the film ready with the time code running through, and said, okay, see this number. I want this kind of music. This number, this music. And so I dutifully took it, badly sent me this link to this time-coded film. And I wrote to that. But sometimes, usually if I would take it kind of out, kind of chromatic.

58:38Chris Black:I did that one time when Derek Fisher was diving out of bounds for a loose ball. And for some reason that inspired me to make some what's called point, pointillistic music. I started doing pointillism, Derek, Derek pointillism Fisher.

58:53Jason Stewart:So D fish, he, he's oozing point, pointillism. You said, I don't know. It's just where I was read musically. And so it's, so it's a little scatty, like, like that kind of thing. Yeah.

59:08Chris Black:called blip block music so uh sure spike so when it came out though that pointillistic move of mine was nowhere to be found spike had found something else i'd done that he liked more so that signaled that the next move for the next thing that i did for him which was called red summer was a small sort of art art film uh where at this point the next several things i did he would just send me the script and he'd say, hey, just write music and what you feel in these certain scenes. And just send it to me and I'll place it. And that's what we did forever after.

59:46Jason Stewart:Okay, so what did, when you get the email from Spike and he's like, I got a new flick called Black Klansman.

59:52Chris Black:Yeah, I did.

59:54Jason Stewart:And then you're like, you just crack your knuckles and start tickling the ivories or where is your headspace when you see that script?

1:00:00Chris Black:Well, specifically for Black Klansman, his longtime great composer terence blanchard was doing was scoring the thing but he threw me a bone so he wanted he asked me if i'd do some crazy old silent phil film music uh a la birth of a nation the dw griffith film which i think was the first first silent film at least in america i was about was about the clan so uh when you would go to those old movies there would be a live pianist playing sort of ragtime-ish music. You probably can hear it in your head when you think of these old movies. And so he asked me to do my version of that. So I did that. So my music shows up in one of the Klan meetings when they're watching Birth of a Nation.

1:00:47Chris Black:Oh, I see, I see, I see. So that's all I did for that. But maybe you didn't mean to be specific about Black Klansman. No, no, no, I mean a little bit.

1:00:57Jason Stewart:I was hoping it would spawn a nice little story. and I like Spike being like, we need some ragtime music for the Klan meeting. Let's get Bruce on the horn. Who's my white guy?

1:01:09Chris Black:Well, that's pretty much what happened.

1:01:14Bruce Hornsby:That's kind of how it goes. That's kind of how it went. You called. What can I say? All right, so this new record, you got a lot of people on it. What's the process like? Are you just texting? You calling? Are people introducing you when you need them to? How do you procure?

1:01:33Chris Black:Well, these are all friends. The three sort of bigger name artists are all friends of mine. And then I guess the next name on the guest list would be Blake Mills. Do you guys know who that is? Yeah, we know Blake Mills, of course, yeah. Oh, fantastic. Well, Blake, he and his guys, Pino Palladino, Miss Dave, sort of the Blake Mills trio, they played on about half the record in my band noisemakers played uh of bride of the noisemakers

1:02:03Bruce Hornsby:fame yes of course yes of course where where did this all go down is everybody coming to virginia

1:02:08Chris Black:no no uh we did it at sound city out in la okay you did yeah the old the venerable vaunted venue

1:02:15Bruce Hornsby:all right so when you're all right so when you're in la now and you're at sound city and you're you know it's you and and justin vernon and ezra you know drinking sparkling water where where you stay What hotel are you staying at? There's a little Holiday Inn Express Right around the corner Bruce come on Come the fuck on You're staying at Holiday Inn Express Next to Sound City because it's convenient

1:02:39Chris Black:Yeah because Sound City is in this industrial complex

1:02:41Bruce Hornsby:Oh you know it Yeah but I mean you could Get a car over there

1:02:47Jason Stewart:Van Nuys to the Chateau Marmont 18 minutes over the hill Bruce

1:02:51Chris Black:Well sometimes I stay at A great old friend's house that will remain nameless. And he lives...

1:03:01Bruce Hornsby:He's over in Sherman Oak. He has several extra bedrooms. He has several extra bedrooms if you need to stay over. That's right.

1:03:07Chris Black:But I don't stay there all the time because sometimes I like to be really close to Sound City. And so the AliExpress works just fine for me.

1:03:14Jason Stewart:Okay. So Bruce, you show up. I came here to work, not to fuck around. Yeah, exactly.

1:03:18Chris Black:Well, it's just ease of operation. No, I get it.

1:03:22Jason Stewart:And also, since you probably fly private, and it's right by the airport there, so it's easy, yeah?

1:03:29Chris Black:You say that because you know it's not true.

1:03:32Jason Stewart:Well, I said that because Sound City is right by Van Nuys Airport, which is the private plane airport of LA. That's right. And I was also assuming, you know, it was maybe not true. Yes, that's right. It's not. You teed me up, Bruce. But yeah, I mean, Sound City, legendary spot. So when we get Bonnie Raitt or Ezra from Vampire Weekend or whatever, we'll tap in and knock it all out and then we'll kind of finish up the bits and bobs at the home studio in Virginia.

1:03:59Chris Black:Well, in the case of the three sort of name guests which is our last big late great Bob Weir is on our record and he did it in his bus. He did it on his own. Bonnie did it on her own up in Marin where she and Ezra, we did, we recorded Ezra at, uh, do you know the name Ariel Rechcheid? You know, of course we saw him on Sunday.

1:04:28Jason Stewart:I actually, I hung out with him on Sunday. You did what on Sunday?

1:04:31Bruce Hornsby:We hung out with him on Sunday. We saw him at a party.

1:04:32Chris Black:Is that right? Okay. Yeah. Well, Ariel's a dear friend and we record, he has a place over in Burbank. And we were, so we recorded Ezra, Ariel and I were there. Ariel recorded Ezra with, with, and with P there. So a small little world. Well, I get to, it's beautiful. I'm just fortunate in my older age to be working with all these younger people that are so great and so interested in helping me. Hey, man, they recognize game.

1:04:59Jason Stewart:I mean, I'm sure the feeling is very mutual. I mean, all of these people, you know, Justin and Ariel and Ezra, you know, they're probably pinching themselves being able to work with you. And it's cool. It's a vice versa.

1:05:12Chris Black:Well, it's definitely vice versa. That's how I feel. But if they feel that way, that's beautiful. The whole thing is beautiful.

1:05:19Bruce Hornsby:Have you been to Justin's compound in Eau Claire?

1:05:22Chris Black:Yes.

1:05:23Bruce Hornsby:Okay. We went there, whatever, like a year ago probably. Okay. And I did feel like it was truly the middle of nowhere. How does it compare to where you are in Virginia? Like as far as feeling separated from society?

1:05:37Chris Black:I think he's more separated because he lives out in farmland.

1:05:41Jason Stewart:Yeah, true, true, true. And you're by the Virginia beachy side. You're more coastal than inland, yeah?

1:05:47Chris Black:No, I'm in between Williamsburg, which is where I am, is in between Richmond and Virginia Beach. So, no, we're on the James River.

1:05:56Jason Stewart:Well, oddly enough, I have an aunt named Kathy who lives in Blacksburg, and that's much more out deep into the country.

1:06:06Chris Black:Yeah, Blue Ridge Mountains. Yeah, the Hokies and all that. That's right. VTech. But yes, Justin's Place, April Base out there, it's a beautiful, creative spot. I imagine I've been there in a good while, but I was there two or three times.

1:06:25Bruce Hornsby:It's still cooking. It's perfect for you because if you don't stay at the house, there's no nice hotel to even tempt you out there. So you kind of got it. It's perfect, really.

1:06:32Chris Black:One time I was there for four or five days, and I stayed. my guy Tony Berg who runs Sound City who produces with me my records lately Tony's having a great run he's produced the artist Somber who was up there for the Best New Art.

1:06:49Jason Stewart:Unfortunately I have to hang out with him today

1:06:52Chris Black:Are you serious? Are you going to see Shane today?

1:06:55Jason Stewart:Yeah well my wife is a wardrobe stylist and she was just styling for something for him but he has like a record release party tonight at the Chateau and I'll be there in 12 hours.

1:07:06Chris Black:Well, you can tell him Bruce Hornby says you ain't worth near a quarter.

1:07:09Jason Stewart:He would love

1:07:10Chris Black:nothing more than to tell him that, Bruce.

1:07:11Jason Stewart:Nothing would please me more than that, Bruce.

1:07:13Chris Black:No, I know him.

1:07:14Bruce Hornsby:I believe you.

1:07:15Chris Black:I know Somber through Tony.

1:07:17Bruce Hornsby:I didn't realize Tony. I actually did not realize Tony did that album. That's interesting.

1:07:22Chris Black:Tony's been working with Shane for quite a while.

1:07:25Jason Stewart:I'll let him know that Bruce says hi.

1:07:27Chris Black:Yeah, that's fine. Or what I said. So cool. Or just repeat exactly what I said

1:07:33Jason Stewart:with the same accent if you could i'll go back on the game tape and figure out exactly what you

1:07:37Chris Black:said i'll i'll let him know but n-a-r-e nare yeah nare nare quarter yeah nare quarter

1:07:47Jason Stewart:okay let's okay so we're talking about the old the old fender roads in the car we got the new somber all that stuff you've been in the game for a minute is there like a production technology or instrument or something that you were hesitant to use at first and now you've eventually given into, you know, like an auto-tune or some weird new gizmo or something like that?

1:08:10Chris Black:Yeah, that's a really good question. I'm not sure what the answer is. I'm pretty half-assed at the Pro Tools thing. I guess I'm just not built mentally to retain all that. I have to write the steps down. It's kind of pitiful, frankly. so I'd like to say that that was that that was it uh something that I've embraced and become adept at but I I can't say that that really that I really have but you were you were never like

1:08:39Jason Stewart:hey what about this like VST or the software synth you were never like oh hell no I'm never

1:08:44Chris Black:going to touch that well it's not about hell no I just it's just too many other things to do on a creative level just to try to come up with all that stuff won't help you write great songs it won't help you with with deep a deep level of content so my whole thing is about as i said head in the clouds keeping okay so you're still trying to figure out the corg triton presets we don't even we haven't even got into the no no the fact is i'm not trying to figure them out because i don't give a shit about i've never heard of the corg try to try to enter try until now really Now I know what the tritone is.

1:09:22Chris Black:Do you guys know what a tritone is?

1:09:23Bruce Hornsby:No.

1:09:24Chris Black:It's the Diablus Musicus. It's the devil's interval.

1:09:34Bruce Hornsby:A chill through my body.

1:09:35Jason Stewart:It does sound devilish.

1:09:36Bruce Hornsby:It does sound devilish.

1:09:37Chris Black:Yeah, you could be burned at the stake in the 1400s for playing a tritone.

1:09:41Jason Stewart:The Korg tritone, it was like a synthesizer, 80s, 90s. a lot of people use it for a lot of hip-hop production. Like Dr. Dre.

1:09:50Chris Black:Not surprised.

1:09:52Jason Stewart:Big in the West cause hip-hop sound. Okay.

1:09:55Chris Black:Yes. Well, you guys are quite connected in the young music world.

1:10:01Bruce Hornsby:Takes one to know one, Brucey. Hey, Bruce. Look, we talked to a lot of these people on the show.

1:10:07Chris Black:Clearly you do, yeah.

1:10:08Bruce Hornsby:It leads to that. It's part of the gig. No different for you. But do they know the Buddy Rich comic book?

1:10:17Chris Black:Do they have that? I doubt.

1:10:19Bruce Hornsby:I feel like you might be the only person we've ever talked to that has the Buddy Rich comic.

1:10:22Jason Stewart:I'll ask Somber tonight if he has the Buddy Rich comic book.

1:10:25Bruce Hornsby:Do you think Somber knows who Buddy Rich is? I'm going to say no.

1:10:27Chris Black:Probably not. But have you heard the Buddy Rich tapes? No. You guys ever? Oh, my God. You need to hear these. They're just classics. It's Buddy Rich just excoriating his band, just eviscerating these poor young bastards in a bus. And people would take these rants, and they're just legendary.

1:10:51Bruce Hornsby:That sounds pretty good, actually.

1:10:53Chris Black:Oh, it is great. That's why somebody made a comic book about it.

1:10:56Bruce Hornsby:Is it available on streaming? Can I stream the Buddy Rich tapes on Spotify?

1:11:00Chris Black:You absolutely can.

1:11:01Bruce Hornsby:Yeah, I think you can hear, I think they're on YouTube, probably.

1:11:06Jason Stewart:Yeah, they're definitely on YouTube.

1:11:07Bruce Hornsby:That's where stuff like that really lives.

1:11:09Jason Stewart:So Buddy Rich, infamous kind of amazing drummer back in the day, but he would have these epic rants where he would just like destroy his band members on the tour bus and somebody had the bright idea to record them.

1:11:20Chris Black:Yeah, that's exactly, that's exactly, that's a good synopsis. That's a good description of the classic Buddy Rich tapes. So yeah, there you have it.

1:11:30Jason Stewart:So if I'm a trombonist, you know, having a cigarette after a long haul and Buddy's just laying into me, foot up my ass.

1:11:37Chris Black:I thought you were saying that you are a trombonist because I was going to tell you the two trombone player jokes that I know. Do you want to hear them?

1:11:46Bruce Hornsby:I would love nothing more. I guess we don't have a choice. Go ahead.

1:11:48Chris Black:Oh, you do. No, I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking.

1:11:51Jason Stewart:Go ahead. I mean, I'm more interested that you have two.

1:11:53Chris Black:I don't know many good jokes, but okay. These are total musicians jokes. What do you say to the trombone player after you pay him? the answer is thanks for the pizza oh I think trombone players never get gigs he's a pizza delivery man that really went over my head they never get gigs as trombone I've never had to hire a trombone player before

1:12:14Bruce Hornsby:keep the change guys as it

1:12:17Chris Black:as it as it easily could

1:12:24Chris Black:okay so the other one is what's the definition of an optimist I don't know A trombone player with a beeper. He thinks he's going to get a call for a kid.

1:12:37Bruce Hornsby:Okay, that one's good.

1:12:38Jason Stewart:The beeper will leave. Trombone is good. He gets a pager just to make sure I don't miss any calls coming in from Clive Owens around the corner. That's good. That's good. That one I got.

1:12:48Bruce Hornsby:You don't have to be a music director to understand that one. Okay, that's good.

1:12:52Jason Stewart:But I think just like good song structures and chord structures, Both of those jokes have structures that are tried and true, and I can take that format and change it up with some more modern terminology and different things, and it'll work just as good.

1:13:08Bruce Hornsby:That's true.

1:13:09Chris Black:Yeah. Archaic, old, like, what's the definition of a great Neve board operator?

1:13:20Jason Stewart:What do you call an optimist? A podcaster who gets an agent or something like that. Yeah, there you go.

1:13:26Chris Black:That's good. Yeah. That's way better.

1:13:30Bruce Hornsby:Nice work, Jason. All right, Bruce, thank you for joining us, Sam. How Long Gone? It was a pleasure. The album is out April 3rd everywhere that you get music.

1:13:38Jason Stewart:And the first single is out now, Indigo Park. And I really like the artwork of the new album, too. It's great.

1:13:44Chris Black:Well, that's an old Edward Hopper etching. You guys know who that Edward Hopper was? Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Jason's shaking his head. Chris is more of the shutterbug.

1:13:53Bruce Hornsby:How much did you have to pay to use that, though?

1:13:54Chris Black:No, it's an etching, and we own one.

1:13:57Bruce Hornsby:Oh, you own. Oh, I see. Okay, okay. So you got that.

1:13:59Chris Black:There were about 200 and some made back in the late 20s or 30s when he created the etching. So we've had this hopper etching. It's fairly famous. It's called Night Shadows. And this is sort of Bruce's aging record, you know, sort of notes to self or notes to my aging self.

1:14:22Jason Stewart:You thought I was old in the last one. Wait till you hear this one. Exactly.

1:14:26Chris Black:That's right. You thought I sounded like shit before. You haven't heard anything. Hang on to your hat. I saw this picture, this strange night vision of this solo guy, walking across this dark street, and I thought, that's probably me right now. That's how you feel.

1:14:48Bruce Hornsby:God bless.

1:14:49Jason Stewart:Now and then, sure.

1:14:50Chris Black:Yeah.

1:14:50Jason Stewart:hey I mean when you what the we walk alone when we're a musician's musician don't we

1:14:56Chris Black:it's true well I'm not going to answer that because I don't know the definition of a musician's

1:15:04Jason Stewart:musician I get called that all the time but we just talk to him for an hour anyway well we know you're a musician's musician because you hang out with Ariel and you know like the people who really know and get it they're like okay that's why i'm saying they're they're just as they're geeking out over you just as much as the other way around well yeah you're getting you're getting respect

1:15:24Chris Black:from the heads again in my later years that's uh been such a blessing such a beautiful i'd love to

1:15:31Jason Stewart:see it love to see it and it's always better when the musicians who the young musicians who are idolizing you you know got a couple hits under their belt you know they're a little successful you know versus the little busker you see in idaho you know ariel's got his own studio in burbank you know it's not a big deal a couple plaques on the wall well but for me it's not about that it's that they're fucking good you know well that yeah that is they go hand in hand i i've met a lot of people who are sort of obsequious to to me and they're young people

1:16:04Chris Black:but I don't care about them. This is different. This crowd is different because they really know how to get it done. They're very talented and artful. Yeah, that makes a difference.

1:16:17Jason Stewart:Well, that's why we had you on the pod today, Bruce, because just like you, we influence the influencers. You know what I mean? We don't have the biggest yacht on the dock. We don't have our, you know. But those who care, those who matter, they respect us. Hopefully one day we'll get sampled by Joe Rogan and we can kind of ride off into the sunset.

1:16:39Bruce Hornsby:From the Joe Rogan Foundation. I'll applaud from afar when that happens.

1:16:42Chris Black:Thank you, Bruce.

1:16:43Bruce Hornsby:Appreciate it. Have a good day.

1:16:45Jason Stewart:All right. We appreciate it, my friend. Thank you. Later.

1:16:48Chris Black:Later.

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