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widgets, and I wasn’t. The label should serve the music and not the music<br />
serving the label.<br />
There are a lot of ways to do it differently, and plenty of ways to do it differently<br />
and not survive. You have to find a way to make it sustainable.<br />
How many shows do you play out a year, typically?<br />
160 to 180. We’re typically out about eight months touring, but that includes<br />
travel days. This year, about 210 traveling days.<br />
You have a family, correct?<br />
I do. I have a family of five. I am now the parent of… well, all my children are<br />
legal adults. They all made it to 18, and they are happy and hopefully well<br />
adjusted in this weird, wild world. They’ve all done really well.<br />
Congratulations, that’s definitely something to be proud of.<br />
It’s a point of pride for my wife and I. We raised our children in a solid marriage<br />
and a good home despite the fact that we are sort of— itinerant gypsy nature of<br />
our industry. We raised kids with solid roots.<br />
What do you think of the current state of Phoenix music right now?<br />
I think we could use more stages, so we could have more live bands and more<br />
people coming together to celebrate their unity, community and diversity through<br />
local music and art. I think we need less DJs, but I’m an old guy. I’m not a big<br />
fan of taking someone else’s music and mashing it up and calling it your own. I<br />
gravitate towards art that is made from the heart and by the hand.<br />
I was lucky to come up in the ’90s when there were all those stages around<br />
Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson. There were so many bands and not enough time<br />
to see them all. It was awesome. No cover at Long Wong’s, and Sun Club was<br />
begging you to come in and get a pitcher of beer, and you’d wade through the<br />
slosh to get into the bathroom. It was dirty but it was luminous. I hope we can<br />
get back to that dirty renaissance.<br />
It seems to be cycling around again.<br />
Last Exit, the Crescent and [Valley Bar]. I’ve watched Charlie [Levy] for so long.<br />
He’s great at attracting the talent, and he treats them well and they come<br />
back. He and Danny Zelisko are both bringing great music to the Valley. All the<br />
promoters do a great service to our community.<br />
There are definitely some unsung heroes. What else is coming up?<br />
We have a festival in Rocky Point called Circus Mexicus. We started it in 1999.<br />
We played to 200 people the first time. When the economy isn’t too bad and<br />
people aren’t telling lies about violence on the border, we go about 4,000 or<br />
5,000 people strong in that little community. The next one is June 8 to 11. The<br />
Peacemakers will share the stage with the Samples and there will be tons of<br />
Arizona bands. There is a bunch of good music happening on at least a half a<br />
dozen stages that weekend. We’ll also be doing charity events that benefit the<br />
community, and it is always nice to do that.<br />
JAVA 37<br />
MAGAZINE