At this moment, as I write, The Pursuit Of Happiness is performing live in Canada at a promotional event in conjunction with the recent 30th anniversary re-release of their debut album "Love Junk" (re-released September 21, 2018).
Of course, I would love nothing more than to be present at said event as I have never once seen the band perform in concert...and truth be told, since the band is no longer signed to any American record labels, and have not been for nearly 25 years, the likelihood of them touring the United States is sadly unrealistic. Yet, while I cheer the band onwards from very afar, I am still caught up within a certain powerful afterglow...and to think, it all began with a blogpost from this site.
If you are regular visitors to this site, you may recall that in August, I wrote and published a tribute to The Pursuit Of Happiness, partially because "Love Junk" was reaching its milestone and partially because it had been something that had existed in my head for more years than I am able to fully reveal to you and that time truly felt to be, at long last, the right time.
Additionally, I wished to compose something in tribute to this band that actually happened while all of the members were...frankly...living. Not that any of the members happen to be of an elderly age (they aren't) but it always feels like tributes are written once someone passes away--postings of the very type and style that I have written on Synesthesia over the years. I just did not wish for it to be the same way for this band because shouldn't we offer our words of praise and love while we are all still here among the living? How often do we ever hear any sort of praise in our day to day lives anyway, for that matter. With regards to The Pursuit Of Happiness, it was import to me to pay tribute right here and right now and all I could hope for is that the band members would see it and feel the appreciation and love contained in the words.
I have no idea whatsoever of the reach that posting would ultimately have.
Now I have to preface the remainder of this particular posting by announcing to you that I am indeed Facebook friends with the members of The Pursuit Of Happiness. This does not mean that I am chatting with them with any degree of regularity, aside from vocalist Renee Suchy, who has been exceedingly kind, generous and open with her friendship towards me and I am as grateful as I am astonished (she would probably be laughing her head off right now as any words of me being starstruck tend to have her sending me responses like "You're killing me!"). Not at all.
Yes, I have sent very brief messages to both guitarist Kris Abbott and even bandleader/singer/songwriter/guitarist Moe Berg here and there, to which each of them have been kind in their responses but as I do not wish to intrude, I leave them alone. When I completed my tribute posting, I did have a direct avenue to the band via Facebook so to both Kris Abbott and Renee Suchy, I sent them the piece and that was that. Again, all I hoped for was a positive response from the band. What occurred was more than I could have ever wished for.
First of all, my main wishes were granted as both Abbott and Suchy responded affectionately to the posting. Abbott then informed me that she would send it to the band's Media Coordinator and before I knew it, the piece was shared on the official T.P.O.H. Facebook page as well as the band's 'official Twitter account.
Soon, that one posting became the most read/clicked posting that I have ever written, as it has received well over 2500 clicks and counting, far outpacing tributes I wrote for both Prince and Tom Petty when each of them passed away. To provide you some context, the things that I write typically do not click much further then somewhere between 50-100, sometimes a little more or less. My space in the Internet ocean is quite tiny and I never expect more than a very small sense of being noticed and that is just fine with me. But yes, I was screaming for joy on the inside as I regarded the numbers climbing higher and higher for this posting about this band. But this was not about me. This achievement spoke directly and loudly about the powerful love that remains for The Pursuit Of Happiness and how it has endured for these past 30 years.
If it had ended there, I would have been more than satisfied and happy. But...yet, it kept going...
"How would you like to interview Moe?"
What?!
The answer to that question was an obvious one and yet, I was absolutely terrified as I am not a professional interviewer by any means and the interviews that I have conducted upon my Savage Radio program which broadcasts upon WVMO 98.7 FM, have been with a variety of wonderful artists and musicians local to Madison, WI, some of whom I am now very friendly with, so any sense of pressure or nervousness was considerably muted.
The possibility of interviewing Moe Berg was of an entirely different league and I was terribly unsure if I was really up to this challenge. But...really...to have the chance to speak with a musical hero, why would I ever pass that up if it was a real possibility?
I will spare you the minutia of all of the back and forths between myself, Berg's management and the top brass of WVMO as we all e-mailed details, questions, answers and so on. But it was a process that lasted for several weeks before finalizing the day, date and time that Moe Berg would call me in Monona, WI from Toronto, Canada and we would have an interview that I could record and then, program into a future episode of Savage Radio. I absolutely wanted to ensure that whatever time spent was worthwhile for Mr. Berg and hopefully our conversation would be fun and informative to listen to. I wanted to keep any fan worship at considerable bay because there was work to be done and I also wished to tackle the conversation with some sense of intelligence and depth.
Simply stated, I needed to "Cameron Crowe" this thing.
That was the day, date and time agreed to by all parties for the interview. I arrived at WVMO by 8:00 p.m. to settle myself and make sure all of the technological aspects were in place and ready. And I have to admit to you that by this point, I was absolutely terrified!
I mean --I was as prepared as I would ever be by this stage. In all of my previous interviews, I never had any prepared questions ready as I just wanted the conversations to flow naturally. For this conversation with Moe Berg, and especially as I would have him on the telephone and unable to read any facial expressions, I knew that I would have to be prepared so as to not waste time. So, I wrote out nearly two pages worth of questions to work almost as a script but I didn't wish to sound canned or stilted. My nerves had already been getting to me, so much so that there were moments when I kind of wished that the interview would fall through so I wouldn't have to do it. And what that means is this: I didn't want to do it, screw it up and make a fool out of myself as well as the station just by me being associated with them.
I wondered if Terry Gross ever felt like this.
So, as I sat in the quiet WVMO studio, I tried to calm myself and think mostly about the messages I had received from both Kris Abbott and Renee Suchy, each of whom expressed to me how everything would work out just fine, Moe Berg being a lovely man and that I should just go for it and have a good time with it.
By around 8:33 p.m., the light on the studio phone lit up and I saw the word "Toronto" on the display screen. I took a deep breath, picked up the receiver and said, "WVMO..." And then, it happened...
"Is this Scott? Hi. It's Moe Berg."
After a few minor preliminary words, the interview began and over the course of 51 minutes, I asked and I was graced with answers, all delivered via Moe Berg's loquacious storytelling which just held me completely captivated. There was no small talk between us and once the interview was completed, no more words other than a "Good night" were said. Which was fine because I really just needed to exhale!
I did it! I really did it and made it through the interview! This part of the job had been completed and I had all of the raw material needed to try and make a show happen. And even still, there was more work to be performed.
After making several copies of the interview, to ensure that I had additional versions should something unfortunate happen to one of them (yes, I was that paranoid), I listened to the entire conversation twice--the first time to make myself believe that it did really happen and the second time, to try and find decent spots where I could insert music, times where I could speak live on air, as well as points where I could place our station breaks. That was when I realized that I would need perhaps an additional 30 minutes of air time to really make the proceedings flow as best as possible--which meant that I needed to get permission from the top WVMO brass to extend Savage Radio from 60 to 90 minutes, a request which was unquestionably the easiest piece of this puzzle to achieve.
On Wednesday, September 26th, Savage Radio went on the air with this event that was unprecedented for me and my show, and despite a couple of hiccups, noticeable only to myself, the show aired without any significant hitches. As with that initial blogpost, my desires for this specific episode were really simple:
I wished that Moe Berg had been satisfied with my questions and the time spent on the phone answering them for I knew that he was performing a task that he was never required to do whatsoever. He was enormously gracious with his time and energy and I hoped he knew how deeply appreciative I was and remain for his generosity. Secondly, I hoped the show would be a good experience for anyone who took time out of their lives to choose to listen.
Once the show ended, I uploaded it to Soundcloud, shared it on my personal pages, and with Kris Abbot and Renee Suchy and left it at that.
And again, everything continued...
First, I was just humbled to have received enormously kind words from Abbot and Suchy, already exceedingly more than I could have wished for. The show was then soon heard and re-shared by The Pursuit Of Happiness' media team upon the band's official Facebook and Twitter pages, and what responses I have seen have been positive, again confirming the unbreakable hold this band has maintained over listeners and fans during these 30 years, as well as the excitement over the "Love Junk" re-release.
Again, all I can really say after recounting this activity to all of you is that I hope that any of you out there who have not ever been familiar with The Pursuit Of Happiness, to please make the effort to reach out and discover this incredible band and really take a dive into a musical vision that has remained so very singular as I am unable to think of any bands that have ever really sounded quite like them. If there was anything that I did, from the blogpost to the interview, that helped in giving this band and the "Love Junk" re-release some additional and much deserved attention, then I am thankful.
And once you do find it, without question......PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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