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that medal into cash with Premier Medal. Well, hello friends,
my birthday weekend may have gotten a little bit too festive.
Let's just say Adval and Gatorade have become my emotional
support animals. So while I recover, I'm digging out one
of my favorite episodes from the archives. Almost two years ago,
September twentieth, twenty twenty three, I sat down with the
co owner and co founder of the legendary House of Guitars,
armand Shawbrook, and this interview is an absolute blast, chaotic, fun,
slightly unhinged, just like the House of Guitars itself. We
cover everything from Armine's friendship with Andy Warhol, his time
in Juvie and it Wasn't for Library Fines, his upbringing,
and of course, the birth of Rochester's crown jewel of
rock and roll retail chaos. It's one of those conversations
where you learn, laugh, and maybe wonder if you've accidentally
ingested something while listening. I don't know, so while I
recover from my birthday Shenanigans. Please enjoy this trip back
through the Bilified archives. It's hands down one of the
best on location and driven by Victor Chrystler Dots G.
Speaker 2: Brown, It's Bilified the Bill Moran Podcast.
Speaker 1: Well, hello and welcome. Thanks for getting your pot on,
Thanks for telling a friend. That's how we supported the
pirate ship and spread the word. Speaking of pirate ships, today,
I am in the legendary store that ate your brain,
The Great House of Guitars with Armin Shawbrook the Colner.
How's it going by friends? Oh? Really? Well, you know,
it's funny to me because you look around here and
it's like an organized chaos. Yes, you know. I remember
coming in here and asking for albums and people would
just sift through and within seconds you'd have it. You'd
have it. And I was telling you before we started,
Like one of my first experiences when I came to Rochester,
I went to Saint John Fisher University was coming for
a midnight release for the Pearl jam Imports with my roommate.
Oh yeah, back in back then. But you have built something.
Do you think of yourself as iconic? No?
Speaker 3: I don't look at it that way, but I mean
at the store itself is world renowned.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, yeah, And uh.
Speaker 3: We were hoped, we were kind of planning that we
were gonna get pretty big in the beginning, you were,
but we started out very humble. We were pretty broke.
Speaker 1: In their early days.
Speaker 3: We had to sleep behind the amps because we couldn't
afford insurance, you know, and for the star and we'd
wake up in the morning when somebody was knocking at
the door.
Speaker 1: And then but now that where was that? Because you
originally was in your mom's basement, right right, right? But
I feel like the whole idea has been to sort
of in a way, I don't want to say, buck
the system, but almost to be kind of that rabble rouser,
only in that the other guitar shops at the time
weren't allowing you to play right. You couldn't touch the equipment, right,
and you guys went, well, that doesn't work.
Speaker 3: Right, And uh, they were kind of like jewelry stores, look,
but don't touch. And if you're young, you got to
come back with your parents are not going to give you.
Speaker 1: An attention at all.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but they and then when you got there, they
took down a guitar. They didn't have a lot of them,
they had a few good ones, and then they put
it down on a little rug in the glass case.
Then you could just look at it and they'd talk price.
Speaker 1: You know, said, but you couldn't pick it up here,
what it sounded like, you feel like, what it felt
in your hand.
Speaker 3: Definitely couldn't. They didn't usually even let you touch it,
but definitely wouldn't plug you in, you know. Yeah, but
at the same time, in the cellar in my mother's
house there's young kids all over the cellar pounding through
big ams.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It was total opposite, and they didn't.
Speaker 1: Like they didn't like us coming in.
Speaker 3: So you couldn't trade in back then because they they
thought the US would make the new look bad. Yes,
but we didn't care. We were trading everything for anything.
We're totally changed. So what a music start was?
Speaker 1: You know? Yeah, almost anti establishment in a way. Would
that be fair to say, you're.
Speaker 3: Probably right, but we weren't aiming for the assist that
we were, you know what, you were younger selves and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so from there it grows and eventually you came
to the location we're at. Yes, in what seventy one
seventy two.
Speaker 3: Around then, we it's like we had some trouble getting
the building, and uh, why was that.
Speaker 1: Because because of who you were and what you were doing.
That not who you were, but more like they didn't
want music in here or they kind of like stores
that just.
Speaker 3: Worked with Arondicoit itself, you know, but they didn't like stars.
It would draw from all over. Yeah, and you know,
and they were even they were nervous and hippies and
hippies were just college kids most of them, you know.
Speaker 1: But you weren't a hippie. No, I wasn't a hippie.
I always think like you were more. Maybe I'm wrong,
but I always got kind of a fifties vibe. Yeah,
I grew up in the fifties. Yeah. So that kind
of rockabilly music you played, I've seen you play. I
saw you out here, Oh yeah at Ice Square jump
up and I was blown away. Oh my god, I
had no idea. Oh thanks, I didn't know you played.
But were there bands and things growing up? Were you
part of bands? Yes?
Speaker 3: I had one of their early well recorded when I
was like fifteen years old on South Avenue when South
Avenue and Saint Paul kind of meets and it was
like six floors up at Vince Jan's studio, and I
remember I had to wait until Gene Cornish, one of
his local bands, was recording, and then afterward I went
up with my.
Speaker 1: Little soupro guitar.
Speaker 3: It's an electric guitar but inexpensive fun and I did
show down and.
Speaker 1: Roaming deer like de e a R. You know.
Speaker 3: I did my two songs and left with an acetate
you know.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: And then I had friends like voted up. Remember BBF
used to have that call in where you get.
Speaker 1: You could call in, so you had your friends, Yeah, yeah,
why not? I spread the word. I would even hey,
he marketed yourself.
Speaker 3: I'd call around and like I'd sing for one girl
over the phone, and then she give me another friend
and another friend.
Speaker 1: I'd be singing my song one on one. Wow. Once
I like a politician. You gotta go door to door, yeah,
shake hands yeah. And then they all voted and liked it.
And then Nick Nixon called me, and then I went
up to BBF and then he says, it's.
Speaker 3: Good, but I can't play it. I don't have a
BMI or aspect. Oh, because I was only about fifteen
independent stuff anyway, I don't know, but he said, we
can't play it without one or the other. And I
and I just left wondering, Bill Will, what is it?
Speaker 1: BMI? What is the aspect? I don't right right because
it's just the way that they were making money.
Speaker 3: It was nineteen fifty eight, you know, I was around then.
So but then I I got Aronicquate when I first
had the radio station, and Ironicquate they played in a
home room and then I got a lot of attention
after all day, you know. Oh, so there was a
radio power radio station here and in the high school,
made high in the high school, so they played at
w r Q. Now it's amazing what a guitar and
a little talent can do when it comes to the
female persuasion.
Speaker 1: Well, rock and roll was brand new, and I don't
think any of.
Speaker 3: The DJs liked it at all, so really yeah, I
mean they liked what they were playing before, you know
how much as they had Doggie in the window, the
one with the waggly tail, Ye, songs like that, you know.
Speaker 1: So when I started in radio, was the original hits
of the forties, fifties and sixties. Oh well, in Poughkeepsie.
So I started playing all that stuff, which was I
mean ancient music to me at the time, Yes, but
it was this stuff. So yeah, you're you're really in
a groundbreaking time basically in everything.
Speaker 3: They're like, if it's stinks, it might make it. Yeah,
they didn't like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that was that was the idea, and you
kind of knew what the youth wanted.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which I was only, you know, about seventeen years old.
Speaker 1: So, and how old were you when you start?
Speaker 3: I was about I was younger than that, I was
sixteen fifteen then.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you started the store, were you about twenty
twenty twenty? Yeah, and you had lived here? What were
you doing prior to that?
Speaker 3: I graduated from high school, but I got in trouble
as a kid, and then I was sent up to
Almira Reformatory for three years, but I did a year
and a half inside and then I was paroled back
to Rochester and I worked at Skips meat Market on
Front Street and Main Street Near's Bullhead.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and I.
Speaker 3: Learned a lot from mister Lombardo. He's passed away now,
but he gave me a job from inside there. And
you need one to get out, and then I learned
a lot from him, and then I started the House
of Guitars at the same time in the basement of
my house. But that back then it wasn't It was
only open sporadically because I had to work.
Speaker 1: So you were just you. So you had to say
at your house, where were you getting the guitars from?
Were you purchasing them from?
Speaker 3: Like I wouldn't spend no money on myself at all.
Everything went back in the store, and uh, we would
just keep buying and buying use from band members that
were selling them.
Speaker 1: Oh and then so then you and then you would
So basically you were flipping guitars. Today they call it
with flipping cars and flipp You were buying, like I
used to coment and say, that's a great We were
buying new too, buying new too, right yeah when you
could right yeah. Yeah. And you're working at skips yeah.
And you're on parole yeah, which is a whole thing
because you got a parole officer and all that. Right.
May I ask what got you up to the reform school.
Speaker 3: Uh, burgery. I committed a burgery in wester Ron. They
catch you, They just never caught us. At the scene,
but we one of the guys with us. I wasn't
in on that one. But he hit a gas station
and broke in. Never no violence, it's always at night.
But he broke in and he stole the timing light
and some tires or something.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't down that one.
Speaker 3: And he, uh, he found out a kid owned it,
and we never stole from other kids. So I told him,
we'll just throw it on his lawn and you know,
take off. And he walked up to him and told him.
Speaker 1: Amen, I robbed your store, but here's your stuff back,
is what he said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that guy they cops picked him up. Well, anyways,
he was in it. I guess he was in a
little trouble too. And suddenly he showed up back at
the station with the timing light that was on the
hot list, and then they broke.
Speaker 1: Oh, so they broke him even though he owned the store.
Speaker 3: No, no, he didn't know that. He just worked at
a guest so he worked at it. So they go, hey,
this was on the hot list, what are you doing
with it? Thought it was stolen man, that's.
Speaker 1: And so they get it. That's It seems like a
lot of time for nothing. Yeah, you know what I mean,
you look like today in the city. They wouldn't do it.
Nothing else, no nothing, that's a non violent craw yeah. Yeah, wow.
Speaker 3: And all the places we're hitting are insured and usually
they almost every time when they in the papers, they
claim we took way more than we took.
Speaker 1: Of course, they gotta make it sound good. You got
to tell papers arm and you know that goes. That's interesting.
So out of that you come back was now you're
a parent. I'm a parent. Yes, if that happens. Mom worried,
Dad worried about you and the future. What are you
going to do? Did you get those speeches or did it?
Speaker 3: My father was like a permanent member in the Canadagua
Hospital since the World War two, So I didn't know
him that good because you weren't allowed in unless you
were sixteen year older. So we if he felt good,
he'd come out near the car and we'd see him
a little bit tough. We didn't really know him that well,
but we liked him and loved them, but not close.
Speaker 1: You know. Sure, it's kind of weird. Yeah that is,
and tough, I would assume.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And he tried to make it on the streets
and then he'd have a crack up in the middle
of the night. He was walking around with a knife
making crow sounds. He worked as a sniper or something
as a marine.
Speaker 1: So was that like a signal to signal?
Speaker 3: Yeah, like the two snipers in the trees would call
back and forth to each other. Anyways, he's like sleepwalking
looking for Japanese and making crow sounds.
Speaker 1: So wow, you know.
Speaker 3: He'd have to go back. Man wars wars ugly, that's
nothing pretty about it. It's no arms and heads flying,
you know.
Speaker 1: So out of all that, you you you kind of
do you wind up sort of being I would assume
mature at an early age? Is that fair? You know
what I'm saying? Independent?
Speaker 3: Because my mother were sure she had to work because uh,
they got to feed everybody. Yeah, well they we got
a government check, but it was very small, but it
had to be just spent on us. And she couldn't
pay for her house that her and her husband bought
with the money, so she had a work to keep
the house. And then we had social workers all the
time on us, Like they even took my brother away
and put them in a foster home for a while
because I wasn't old enough to watch them, according to them,
but you know, it ended up we were getting hostile.
And they're the social workers back then weren't like today's
where they're really trying to help you. Back then, they were,
you know, looking for kids that take away and you know,
and they're pretending they're reading a newspaper in front of
your house and a car.
Speaker 1: So is it fair to say like you? I mean, man,
you made lemonade at a Lemons, right, I mean when
you think about that beginning, yeah, and all the things
that could have gone, How angry you could be, all
this stuff. Every time I've run into you just seem
pretty laid back, pretty happy. Yeah, and everything seems to
be working just fine. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'm not proud of that I stole or anything. Kid,
I'm embarra about it. I'm sorry it was no problem. Yeah,
but I mean but it's all over, kid.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got arrested as a kid for fake
ID and I mean, you know it just this stuff happens,
I understand. So then from there you wind up, the
store keeps growing and growing in popularity. What do you
think it was that got it? Because I would say
this is internationally known the Great House of guitary. It
is all over the world. Yeah, so how does what's
that like if you were to teach let's say, I'm surprised,
and maybe you have. We've been brought in to teach
a business course in a way to say, what is
that one thing that sets you over? I don't know.
Speaker 3: Our weatitude, like we ended up with morals self morals,
you know what I mean. Like if I really found
a wallet on the ground, I was no longer that
kid from at seventeen. I would try to find out
whose it was and I wouldn't want to take it,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So you think that like just good business practices.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and being fair all the time. We were the
first discount instruments too, because we had low upkeep in
our early days and they wouldn't go down to dining
back then the other music stores. Yeah, and we would
cut it, you know, well, I could cut it in half.
I could cut it forty percent, stomach fifty bucks.
Speaker 1: This is funny to me, but it almost feels like
your upbringing kind of where you didn't have a lot. Yeah,
and then I mean the house of guitars now right,
you can find anywhere on the internet with the annual
income or whatever it is. But I think you've always
kept that mentality of I don't need a lot, I
don't need, and that helped you kind of help the customer.
Speaker 3: We were actually happy, my brother Bruce and my brother Blaine.
At times he'd be working at the store, but we
were actually happy when we were struggling in the early days,
when we were sleeping in stores, and and you know,
and if we sold the guitar, we would we wouldn't
spend that money. If I gave a couple lessons, I'd
take maybe friends that are hanging out helping, I take
them across the street and buy them a cup of
coffee and a hamburger. We were spoiling ourselves, right, but
only music, lesson money, never.
Speaker 1: Something that came out of a sale. You know.
Speaker 3: All that went right back, right back, kept building more
and more product.
Speaker 1: So this, I mean slowly over the years. When do
you think it really took off? Was it the eighties
the nineties? Was it those TV commercials you did when
your eyes were blown and you're hopping around with the
money ears. Oh by then we were exploding. Yeah, you
were exploding me those ads are iconic, and what I
love about it is and this is the one thing
I think for everybody that's so important is authenticity. Yeah.
You are who you are. You didn't never try to
fit into anybody else's mold. You were always just arming. Yeah,
I have an odd sense of humor. Yeah, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3: But you know, we like people. We love our customers. Yeah,
a lot of them are actually friends. They've been shopping
here for almost sixty years, you know. Yeah, so you
know it's waiting on a buddy, you know.
Speaker 1: But then you've gotten I mean to the point where
I mean that wall.
Speaker 3: Back there has you know, all the autograd.
Speaker 1: Autographs that people would be, you know, just love to
have themselves, you know, Stephen Tyler signing the wall. You know.
Ozzie was a big thing in here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he did three in stores, once with Randy Rhodes,
and he came back with Mottley Crue and we had
Motley Crue and Ozzie at the same time. Ozzie's sitting
here and Mottley Cruez in the vick for the Beck autograph.
Speaker 1: All this you had the place out of the.
Speaker 3: And then is Azzie's drumm and Carmen Peace was upstairs
teaching a mass through drum class and police had barricades
around all our buildings.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure, yeah, So how did these connections happen? Though?
Like these guys walk in like they walk into a
lot of stores, I'm sure, yeah, but they keep coming
back here.
Speaker 3: Well, they were doing official end stores. They agreed to audit, okay,
and they posed with pictures with the fans if they
want to.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But I remember at one point in my radio career,
I was around the country station in town. I wasn't
on that, but we were in the same building in
Sheryl Croquet Buy and she shopped here. But she came
to shop here. She wasn't doing an in store. And
that's what I'm saying is like the reputation of what
the guitars were that it's it's got this iconic everything
about it is so authentic you're not going to find
it anywhere else.
Speaker 3: In her case, she was after kind of a rare guitar.
It wasn't old, but it was limited. It was a
buck going signature metal fender and she couldn't find it
anywhere in the country and we had one, so she
come charging it, so she came in. But she's very brilliant.
She's pointing to all the guitars, the vintage ones. Yeah,
that's a fifty nine, that's a sixty two, Like do
it you know, really better than most of them. We
got to look it up in the book. Well we're
pretty good at it. Yeah, But I mean, but she
knew her style, she knew her stuff.
Speaker 1: That's impressive. Is there anybody that you met along the
way that sort of uh disappointed you that you were
you thought, maybe I'm a little disappointed. I know you're huge,
by the way, Bob Dylan fan. Have you ever had
Bob ever come to the store, Not that.
Speaker 3: We know of, because a lot of times he travels
in incognito.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, I grew up down near Woodstock, so as
a kid I used to I mean, it was like
I would hear stories of Dylan all the time. And
he wasn't there when I was growing up, but he
had been there and the band was still there, Levon
Helman all and I always got like, as a child,
I was going there we go with another Bob doing
story people that I always but the music was great.
He was a great story or is a great story writer. Yeah.
I mean, is that your favorite?
Speaker 3: He's one of my favorites. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, in terms
of I look up to him as a great writer. Yeah,
And I got to getting to like him. It takes
a little while because he sounded a little bit like
a hillbilly in the beginning. I mean, you know, not
a pretty voice. But his voice is effective, even though
we don't sing really well, but it's very effective. So
his words stand out when he does them, you know.
But so many people were having like top ten hits off.
I'm like Peter Paul and Mary Exploded with Blowing in
the Wind and then you know the Birds with Tambourine Man,
and you know one one after Henrix with all along
the Watchtower. They're all Dylan written songs, you know. And
a guy in Rochester. This might be interesting. Spider John
Kerner lived in a Rendequoit on Harvington Drive. But he
was on a elektra in the early days, kind of
right before Dylan, and he was in the Minnesota scene
and he was helping teach Bob Things and the guitar
real or Bob hit New York.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: But when Bob hit New York, he was crashing at
everybody's apartments, you know. I mean he was struggling and
very close to the streets. He was, you know, he's
playing in place as well. Maybe this club will feed
me and let me sleep in the back, you know,
you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he didn't.
Speaker 3: He didn't make it with a instantly either.
Speaker 1: No. No, And I'm hearing you talk about Dylan, but
I'm thinking of yourself too, did you you never you
said you always knew you'd be successful with this. We
thought we would be, Yeah, but did you think he'd
be here? We didn't know how big it would go,
but we had a lot of confidence. Yeah. You just
can't think otherwise. Yes, outside of here, because you seem
to have a lot of artistic talent. Think do you do?
There's other things. There's painting. Correct, you do artwork and
still do art shows from time to time. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I did one in Brooklyn. I think it was what
three years ago, five years ago, I have no concept
the time, at a good major gallery. And we showed
up for the uh the opening, like for three days
we were there, but we sold enough house of guitar
shirts and everything to cover our trip hotel and everything.
And wow, but we got a lot of press on it.
We played telephone in the morning the day before like leaving,
and we used to get people on the phone, but
now we just leave messages. My name is Armine Shadbrook.
I'm an Exica and bah bah bah, I got paintings
in prison. And I'll also be there with a Rikers
Island guard who does photography and we're having a show.
Speaker 1: At you know, and I got them out. Yeah, yeah,
sure were coming and yeah, this is great coverage. Someone
told me, well, I'll ask this first. Uh, certainly, when
you get to the level that you get, there are
going to be rumors about different things store or yourself. Yes,
what is the weirdest rumor you ever heard about yourself? Oh?
Speaker 3: I don't know so many of them really, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean just things that you would look at people
and go where did that come from? I know, yeah,
I would think that it has to be did it
bother you? Because you seem to be a little bit
more of a private person.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm quiet, yeah, naturally, but I'm I'm not shy though,
but I know I am quiet, but uh, I don't know,
I don't know. Sometimes they come up with something and
they say they were with me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, when did we do this? You have
more friends than you knew, right, I mean, yeah, the
stories go wild. Yeah, that's got to be. But I
did hear probably scared the town some to well. Where
were sitting was a grange.
Speaker 3: Hall, correct, Yeah, the farmers all built the grange hall together.
Speaker 1: Right. Then.
Speaker 3: They used to sell their vegetables out front and trucks
back when we had subway tracks there and then titas Okay,
but they'd sell sell their vegetables out of the truck
and inside here where we're sitting now, they used to
have square dancing, yeah, and different performers perform.
Speaker 1: Well, I grew up in a small town downstate. We
had a grange hall, right. There were usually small towns
that had that, and a lot of farming and agricultural
more or less was.
Speaker 3: And then there was and then trying to think of what. Oh,
the Masons used to have meetings on the second floor. Okay, yeah,
and I'm not sure what all that it's about, and
it's kind of secret secret, but they got little they
had little platforms and we came in and we heard
they sit on chairs with goat legs and all these
and something to do with the winds, the four winds,
yeah whatever.
Speaker 1: So did you ever find anything left over when you
moved in here? Just like a lot of cabinets that
had the g in it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then those four platforms were there still in place
on the second floor. But a lot of presidents were Masons. Yeah,
I mean it's that yeah, but they just looked out
for themselves kind of. And then someone from the Grange
from years ago kept an insurance policy and house of
guitarres at old eighteen under rates you know what I mean?
Oh really, And it wasn't a big one. It wasn't
enough to cover all our insurance, but they wanted to
be part of it.
Speaker 1: Still.
Speaker 3: It kept this policy going for quite a few years.
Speaker 1: That's funny.
Speaker 3: Insane rates, yeah, I mean twenty dollars a year.
Speaker 1: You know, man, you're not going to get that anywhere. No.
I was told that you were friends with Andy Warhol.
Speaker 3: Yes, he was interested. I did a like, how.
Speaker 1: Does that come about? Out? I could see where the
two of you probably can you know, Yeah, I got
a way very well. Sure.
Speaker 3: But he's kind of like the underground Master or something. Yeah,
And he's used to dealing with unknowns rather than famous people.
Speaker 1: So I recorded.
Speaker 3: A play by the rock opera where we do a
little acting and it leads to a song, and then
we play it and then we go on to our
next scene. And I kept going for three records. And
at first you know he was going to be an
Andy Warhawk Presents.
Speaker 1: And so he heard he heard your rock opera. How
did you well? I sent it to him.
Speaker 3: I sent it to This is kind of funny because
I I, uh called the Rondo Library and Who's Who
and had him look up his address and his phone
number and everything was in there.
Speaker 1: It was modern day Google, right. I called him on
the phone, but it was at his house. He lived
with his mother, he did, he lived with his mother,
and uh, and you called right to his house, right to.
Speaker 3: His house, and his mother's going and he and you
got one of your friends are in the phone. And
I got there and I said, well, my name is
Arman Shawbrook. I got in trouble as a kid, as
a youthful of funder. I'm not a convicted fellon. I
got a youthful funder status.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: They offered us a y oh they call it and
you can plead guilty. The leading like a bad life.
You're not pleading guilty, did the crime, then you don't.
Speaker 1: Have a record. I'm not a convicted fella. Good. Yeah,
let me get me. It sounds the whole way out.
It's just such a technicalities. It's so silly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's a plead deal. They didn't catch us
at the scene and offered us a plead deal, but
then they gave us the worst they could give us.
Speaker 1: Kind of Yeah, so you tell him this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I got this tape and then and then
I out to him and he started going wild and
started calling our little store down the street here the
back in the early the middle sixties, and he said,
please come to New York right away. And you know,
then we went to New York and he's talking to
play and everything, and he wanted us to sign up
on an off Broadway thing for where we would work
seven days a week for over a year. But the
only thing is every it was just Bruce and me
pretty much and one employee, Bob Huber back then, and
they were all in all in the play, so we couldn't.
We didn't want to close house with guitarists because that's
our Bradbasket our baby.
Speaker 1: So he wants you to come to New York and
do this. Yeah, now she needs the guys here to
keep running it.
Speaker 3: Right, there's no one left to be Bruce and just
one other person. You know, our business was youe. So
I kept trying to talk him into a movie. It's
backwards because usually you do a play, then you send
you sell movie rights, then he sells soundtrack rights, and
you know, it goes like that. That's the best way
to get the most out of it. But I I.
Speaker 1: Was trying to switch him.
Speaker 3: After a while, he started humoring, and finally he said,
I got a prison we could shoot it and you know,
and it sounded good because I could go there for
a period of time and then come back. Yeah. But
all of a sudden, oh he even said, I knew
John Hammond from Columbia and he had a lot of
interest to in it. He he he's the guy that
signed Bob Dylan and uh Springsteen and Stevie ray Vaughn
and Sonhouse. I had something to do with signing Billie Hollidays.
He signed Robert Johnson's son some house, you.
Speaker 1: Know, And this guy's interested now in your rock opera.
As well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I said, Andy wants you to pay for
the whole play for soundtrack. Right that he started stuttering.
I said, should I tell Andy know then? And then
he's a real nice guy. I mean, I don't mean
to disrespect him, he's a real nice guy. And he said, well,
tell mister Warhol when it's ready, we'll.
Speaker 1: Come and see it. So it ended like that.
Speaker 3: But then the girl came in and shot him and
he almost died. He was in the hospital for over
a year and it was hit fifty to fifty whether
he'd live or die, you know. And yeah, the girl
also shot a Paris art dealer in the arm, you know.
And I knew Andy kind of helped her get a
publishing deal, but she hated men and her men manifesto
or whatever she you.
Speaker 1: Know, man manifesto, but she.
Speaker 3: Wow those I went there a little bit. Sandy has
helped there. Yeah, yeah, I don't think he was even
taking a cut. I think he just helped her. And
she charged it and shadow plaint blank in the chest
three times and a pair of s art dealer in
the arm.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and during that, So does that sort of
the end of your rock opera fora with him or
does it come back? It kind of comes back, but
I did give me one second. See how professional I am.
I realized I didn't plug in the cameras, so the
audio wasn't going to the cameras. I know. But while
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And Arman was telling us about Andy Warhol after he
got shot.
Speaker 3: When I got out of the hospit when he got
out of the hospital, I went there started seeing him
again and he allowed us right in. But his paranoid
I noticed the whole thing was so secure, like he
had an elevator door, hit a doorbell on the elevator door,
and then they had opened. Then you walk four feet.
Then there was a total metal thing with bulletproof glass.
Speaker 1: He hit a well, I don't he can't blame the
guy no.
Speaker 3: I don't blame him at all. And he's kind of
like didn't want the street people in the room anymore.
But there was Time magazine and you know, sitting there
like in a two hundred dollars suit and all these
people waiting for him, and he opens the door. And
that was with some strange characters. I had Rick Bradman,
who's on the he's on the thing, but he weighs
like three hundred pounds.
Speaker 1: He's about six or.
Speaker 3: Four, you know, and he goes, ermann, come on in.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 3: First he goes come on in. Then Time went to
cut in front of us. Then uh he said no, no,
no Arman and his friends.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: So he still helped me, even though you know, he
was no longer Andy warholp percents because I put it
out already. But he still helped me, and he had
I went on the Joe Franklin Show on Channel nine
and New York p w P I X eleven news.
I knew, I knew Channel eleven. I grew Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: They charged into my hotel room and it was a
little embarrassing because we had a lot of empty beer battles.
Speaker 1: All over the place.
Speaker 3: That's fine, and then that their public radio station played
my whole triple album after they interviewed me with with
nothing censored, And it was full of a lot of
f words and everything to make it real, like you say,
oh darn in prison, you know, so I had to
keep it real. And they just made an announcement that
if bad language disturbs you in any way, or sexual
situations or anything, please turn your radio off for the
next three hours and funny minutes, Wow, have a warning,
and then played it.
Speaker 1: They straight out what was it at night? Usually there
was something called.
Speaker 3: No daytime, daytime daytime.
Speaker 1: Yeah. They interviewed me for a long time for it. Yeah,
so what where where does that all go? Where is
that now the rock? I had no idea you did that?
Oh it's out as a three album set, it is. Yeah,
here the house guitar is going to buy it? Yeah
you can right. Wow. And then so through all that
and Andy Warhol, did you spend time with him after? Yeah,
he kept helping me. Did he ever come up here? Uh? No,
he almost did.
Speaker 3: He got jealous once I said a second cousin of mine,
Robert Kanjie's gonna he might be able to shoot some
scenes in that, and he called the Paul Paul Morrissey,
he was kind of his partner that did the movies.
Speaker 1: He goes, Paul, we're going to Rman.
Speaker 3: What is the name of the town, Ironically, We're going
to Ironically All I'm thinking, Oh, I'm going to bring
on the mcgills a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, give the tour.
Speaker 3: We're gonna shoot some footage. Yeah, but he got shot
before that happened.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's an amazing You ever look back on your
life and go, boy, this has been an unbelievable ride. Yeah,
with interesting people.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I was lucky in that in that way,
you know. Yeah, But I and I used to call people,
you know, I called Norman Mailer, talk to Norman Maineal,
Jimmy Breslin, talk to him. Just call them up, call
them up, tell them my story.
Speaker 1: And you so you were pretty much marketing your yourself.
No one else would. But then you go along because
then there was the record label that I believe you
still have. Yeah, with the house guitarist. See, but you
helped others try to get so well, almost the way
Andy was helping.
Speaker 3: You kind of. But there a lot of them are
very talented. We did don Potter over the Rainbow and
our label, you know. And Don just ended a Columbia contract.
That kind of helped. Happened because I was talking to
Epic about bringing it, putting out introducing Banton Don because
they weren't printing it anymore. Yeah, and then they told Don.
And then Don called me and he says his record
contracts over in a few months, said, and I talked
to him about doing a record at PCI, and he
bought John le Barbara, which is he's a real good
writer of you can write the score for every instrument,
you know.
Speaker 1: So he was a treasure to have.
Speaker 3: And we did it at PCI, and then we had
a sign casts. We videoed it too, and we had
a simulcast later with Channel thirteen with I'm JQ, so
you could listen in stereo all wow together three two one.
Speaker 1: And they looked a TV and radio at the same time
the same time. What year was this, probably round seventy three,
seventy three? Oh yeah, man seven, I'm sorry seventy eight
okay still but yeah, so the technologies but that had
to be so that had to be pretty big for
the time.
Speaker 3: I don't know about technology, but there just sitting. Then
well that's trying to sync that up, right, you know
they'll think, yeah, both hitting play at the same right,
that's funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it worked good.
Speaker 3: I mean, you had big speakers next to your TV
and you kept the TV off if you wanted.
Speaker 1: How did you get them to agree to do that?
I don't know.
Speaker 3: I talked to Nick Nixon and he's the one that
helped me with I'm JQ. And yeah, thirteen was interested
because it died, and then twenty one called us after
and I said, oh, you want to run it?
Speaker 1: And I said and they said, well no.
Speaker 3: We want to do a whole new one and we're
going to pay the band real good. And then I said,
uh sure you know.
Speaker 1: So did you end up almost managing some of these
guys as well? I don't know. No.
Speaker 3: I wasn't into managing, ye was. I left them free there? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But see all of this, it's incredible because it's all this,
but we helped them. We helped them. We know the
House of guitars, we don't really I didn't know about
the Rock Opera. I didn't know about the artwork stuff.
Oh yeah's all these other things. Where's the time everybody's
only got twenty four hours a day. I know your
son's work here now, and so you have a family,
you've got all that. Where did the time?
Speaker 3: Then we were doing Chesterfield King Yeah, and amcle at
Mary Yes. Then Dirty Looks we grabbed. They were a
Pennsylvania band, and I sent a tape to Z Rock.
I don't know if you know what that is.
Speaker 1: It's like a syndicated thing because I almost got satellite. Yeah,
it was by satellite. So there was a station in
Poughkeepsie and they brought in Sebastian Bach. Oh okay in person.
So I'm at this station called WPDH and Poughkeepsie and
I'm down in some club and Sebastian Box shows up
and it's that radio stations night. It was the first
exposure to like a radio war because I'm twenty or
twenty one years old and here comes Sebastian Bach and
he's grabbing the microphone like out of my hand because
I'm supposed to be making announcements for the radio station.
And I wound up getting almost in a fish flight
with Sebastian Bach. And I always go back in my
head like how does that happen? But it was x RAQ. Yeah, yeah,
that syndicated. It was everywhere.
Speaker 3: Well, anyways, they were pounding it, Mike Casun. They were
pounding it in drive time in Los Angeles, Chicago and
New York City, the whole country, and Billboard called and
interviewed me about it, and I just said, you know,
pushed their grope there. You know, very good group. They're
kind of got a little bit of feel of a
C d C. But I think they write better songs,
you know, not so much anthems. But they got some tricks,
you know where they take cut some oldies and you know,
I can't take my eyes of a few. Suddenly he's
in this metal song or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a trick. But it's almost like ear
candy people, and you would almost be listening. The writer
is smart enough to do that kind of stuff, you know. Yeah,
and I heard that before, right, So what would you
say is your key to success? Because in a way,
it almost feels like you just followed what just felt
right and it just all worked out. I'm sure somewhere
along the line there was a stumble or something, but
you learn it seems like it's been a I find
you fascinating. Oh, thanks fascinating writing this and doing that,
and it just always just kind of creating.
Speaker 3: I have to kind of see how I can help
the band do it and to have a little plan
in mine or can I do it? And sometimes I can't,
you know, I don't have a right, you know, But
other times i'll but I don't give up, and I
don't put no heat in the bands, like we're not
making money at none of that stuff, and we just
keep going and going and pushing to it.
Speaker 1: It breaks.
Speaker 3: If the band stays together long enough, we're cool.
Speaker 1: We're going to make it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But but I have to see the angle kind
of I have a little plan I could do something
with that kind of feel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that's interesting.
Speaker 3: Then Bat came to us because Bat wanted to turn
from folk to country. So he put on an album
called Mister Wright, and then he had a top ten
hit with They took one of it Why On the
Judge took one of the songs and had a top
ten hit. Then Kenny Rogers took one of the songs
and put it on his album that Bat wrote not
off my album, but no right things he wrote particularly
for them. But all of a sudden it was happening,
because it's real hard to change your image and from
the public. If you're a folks singer and suddenly your
country the public don't go for it.
Speaker 1: No, they don't. People don't like change.
Speaker 3: So we had to do the best we could. But
he had the right people behind him. Besides me, you
had you know, people on his from Nashville.
Speaker 1: And then on the other side of that, you've got
so the house of guitars originally just guitars. See, you've
got that whole business. When do you expand into kind
of the record side of things, not not so much
your record label, but where you're selling.
Speaker 3: Oh, we just right right away, right away, and even
in my basement you did. You had a section of records.
Speaker 1: You okay, and then that just slowly, so everything just
kind of just went yeah right to where that that
that's it's amazing you always because you know a lot
of times you hear different people. I had a grind
I had to do this. I'm sure there was you've
talked about it's starting your mom's basement, going along, but
it almost seems like the whole journey has been a
pleasure for the most part.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's some strains in it. But you know, like
deadlines that much for deadlines, right, and uh, you know
just the things that affect everyone, like deadlines and things
like that. Yeah, and problems come up and we just
take care of them.
Speaker 1: How's how was it for COVID with how the guitar
did whatever we were allowed to do.
Speaker 3: We we never well, I think we had a shut
down for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: But the moment they said you.
Speaker 3: Could deliver to a car, suddenly we were bringing guitars
and every selling them.
Speaker 1: And I got to think a lot of people started
playing guitar maybe or a lot. Well.
Speaker 3: During COVID, all collectibles like records went way up in price,
all the use and all the baseball cards and all
the audience know that it went crazy because people had
nothing to do in their houses, so they were buying
all these collectibles.
Speaker 1: Of the prices were soaring. You know. Yeah, who would
you say is kind of the biggest influence on your
life when you when you look at things. I don't know,
was there anybody I think I honestly got I know
a lot of people. Yeah, I don't know that I
know anybody who really went to the beat of their
own drum and just kind of did they did well.
Speaker 3: Warhol was important. I mean I saw the way he
operated and it was so different, you know. You know
Warhol kind of say yeah, we'll do it and then
put it on Paul Morrissey to really do it.
Speaker 1: Was like his partner. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Paul will be in Europe shooting movies because it was
not Union in there, Okay, And Andy's on the phone
at night and talking about your RECLA wouldn't it be
nice if he was he couldn't eat, or he was
he could only drink virgin's blood and if he might
die if he if they weren't a virgin because he's
a out and all these girls are after him. Yeah,
because he's rich and all these girls are lying. And
then he's the Count's rolling around throwing up all over
the room.
Speaker 1: And so and he's the idea guy. Paul was the
executioner of us. Yeah, everybody works great to go. Yeah,
it's a great tandem.
Speaker 3: Not that Andy wouldn't I mean, he did his own
heart and I'm sure yeah, well I can't say that too.
He's walking around in the studio and he's going, oh,
that's very nice. He's got all these runaway art students
just had a little green or pink to hear, and.
Speaker 1: Then they do it, and then he goes along and
signs them. Um. So that's why he called it the factory.
That that's very interesting. I didn't know that at all.
Speaker 3: Oh, he's funny, he keeps you know, he he was
painting with matella paint one time, you know, paintings. Uh,
this is a little bit of later years, and he's, uh,
he's he's planning to pee on all of them. Them
they you know, he's calling them the pea paintings. Okay, well,
and uh, he can't pay that much, he's telling me.
So he got a bunch of people off the street
the p in his paintings, and he's.
Speaker 1: Paying them.
Speaker 3: And the s and the p would would corrode the
metal metal paint and they could turn colors kind of
little green in it.
Speaker 1: And please tell me he sold this for millions of dollars.
Speaker 3: They were in a Paris art gallery, all on display,
and we just called them the pea paintings.
Speaker 1: But did you know did people know? Yeah, but did
they know that it wasn't Andy who peed on them? Yeah? Oh,
they did.
Speaker 3: He told reporters, I think he couldn't pet that much. Yeah,
I plan a piano, all of them giving them money
and battles away. Yeah, and they're they're going up to
the second Florida's a line.
Speaker 1: What a character?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and then the factories at our party all night. Yeah,
and he leaves. And this I didn't understand about him.
I had a lot of opportunities in the early days,
but I was trying to keep it business. But he
wanted me to go to his parties with them all night.
And I was trying to keep it business, but I
was wrong. That's how he helps you.
Speaker 1: Make it, yeah, because he connects you to people in
a more casual setting.
Speaker 3: This is the president of Warner Brothers Pictures armand you
should do a movie on arm Mountain Story.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: That's how what he does. And he asks that schedule too,
but they listen.
Speaker 1: Is there any regrets?
Speaker 3: Just that, just because the every time he'd ask me,
let's I'm going a bunch of parties, Arman, would you
come with me? And I go, oh no, no, I'll
see you tomorrow afternoon.
Speaker 1: Were these like studio fifty four days? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but he was always doing them, you know, yeah,
and you never went never went with them. I yeah,
what's I blew it on that one?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you're doing what you think is right
at the time and in terms of business, but try
to keep it all busy. See, I'm such a sucker
for a party.
Speaker 3: That I oh, yeah, what about to make a fool
of myself?
Speaker 1: Wow. That's the other thing is that i'd be on duty.
He's a fine line, you got. Yeah, I'd be a professional.
I'm on duty, get it. That's very that's very funny.
But okay, another room, two more things. I'll just touch
on these two things, and I'm sure you've got a
million things to do today. Did you run for Senate? Yes?
Speaker 3: I ran for Senate fifty third district for of New York.
Speaker 1: Yes. When was this.
Speaker 3: Seventy two and seventy Senator Laverne was the senator at
the time. Okay, But I ran against Gordon Dehan and
uh a priest, a Catholic priest, and uh we had
debates and everything on television. But I ran into the
trouble there too, because they wouldn't talk about the things
I wanted to talk about. And uh, the reporters at
the television stations. Uh, have a preview thing with the
two major candidates, and they decide what to talk about.
Speaker 1: Oh and so you weren't one of the major candidates,
you know, did you have did you.
Speaker 3: We're all debating on the same floor though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, would you? Did you know what they were talking?
Did they give you like, here's what we're going to
talk about ahead of time? Or were you were surprised? Yeah?
Speaker 3: No's so like sabotage. Well, they don't pay a whole
lot of attention. You got equal time. But yeah, but
uh it's their questions and they and all that has
already set up.
Speaker 1: But you know what I mean, Yeah, what did you
learn from that kind of experience? Was there anything you left?
Speaker 3: I didn't like how it was set up like that.
I felt funny about it, like that ain't pure news.
Speaker 1: No, it's not. How about politics in general? For you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all kind of spoil it for you. Yeah, well,
not spoil it. I pulled a non talk thing and
they took the camera off me. Then I turned my
mic off. If you don't behave we won't turn your
mic bick you know, right in the middle of those
Sunday morning shows.
Speaker 1: Wait a second, what did you do? You turned your
mic off?
Speaker 3: I would talk about the subjects I wanted to anyway, Yeah,
and they would they took the camera off me. Well,
going on, and then they turn my mic off than
they did, Wow, and and.
Speaker 1: And then that stuff doesn't make you Some people would
would acquiesce to that. You know what I mean, give in,
you're just holding your owns going now, that's not what
I want to talk about. So you let them turn
off the mic. Yeah, are you amusing? If I behave,
they'll turn it back on. I said, I will, you know,
And then they turned my mic. Bick, what were the
issues that you wanted to talk about?
Speaker 3: Prison reform? There was a lot of things against gay
people that were ancient, you know, seventeen hundred stuff was
more than three in a street corner. They could all
all be arrested, thrown in jail. I didn't know that
ancient stuff, you know, that made no sound.
Speaker 1: They had three gay people on a corner. You could
get arrested just for being okay's all right. So and
you were saying things like this is wrong, this is wrong,
this is.
Speaker 3: And the Gay Alliance was running. I was making radio
ads for them, and they're running them in different stations.
You know, one out of three people have homosexual tendencies.
It could be your mother, your father, your sister, your
best friend.
Speaker 1: Okay. That had to freak people out at the time.
Speaker 3: Well, I just did, you know, I believed in what
they what they said, and yeah, you know, and they
were running at all, you know, in different stations in
the city when I was running.
Speaker 1: And then.
Speaker 3: And then we had we had crazy posters and in
pins it said learn a new lick.
Speaker 1: I meant it's a guitarre lick. Yeah, but they took.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you've always kind of pushed against the grain
a little bit, right, building the house guitars where you
could actually touch and play the guitar and do that
against the grain, and then you go here.
Speaker 1: That's a progressive mindset for nineteen seventy two in terms
of you know what I mean right now. I was
back in the sixties.
Speaker 3: Oh, back in the sixties, well, seventy two when I
ran for office.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's what I'm saying, like when you ran
for office too, that's progressive for the time with being
forward about equal rights for gay people or even trying
to change some archaic laws, and.
Speaker 3: The Liberal party trusted me. Yeah, and they said, well,
you can talk about anything you want and don't. And
then I said I might not agree with the liberal
stance all the day, and they said that's okay, yes,
do it.
Speaker 1: You know, So how old were you at that time.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure, probably still seventy two, I don't know,
I don't know, thirty.
Speaker 1: Something, okay, all right, but a young man compared to
probably stodgy old guys who have held office for a
long time. They didn't want anything to do with you. No,
definitely not that kind of nice to me though, I mean,
I'm sure, well, there's sucking play. There's something that seems
to have left our society. Civility. I feel like in
society there isn't and so even if somebody doesn't agree
with you, they still would be civil towards you, now
we I mean, it's awful the way people treat each other.
But I think that that, to me is uh interesting
that you've always sort of politely i'll say, pushed against
the GA game. Yeah, politely. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't try to recoupolgrim.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no no no, but that wow, But it
wasn't an inner strengths man because you know, people at
that time didn't want that stuff, I know, didn't want
to recognize it, didn't want to hear about it, didn't
want to you know. I mean, we're still just coming
out of out of just all the stuff with black
people in America at the time. It's just that something's right.
They're still and I mean, boy, you talk about hatred
for people for no reason other than you exist.
Speaker 3: I want to cross the country on all news stations
from Chicago to New York City to California and talked
about my record, and they pulled me into a how
does black and whites get along in prison? And I go,
they hate each other. You know, I don't all black
television station, but you know, I'm saying, when there's tension
going on, I might have a best friend that might
be a black guy that sell next to me, but
I can't talk to him or he can't talk to
me during the tension and the riots because if I
talk to him, white people are going to attack me,
and if he talks, black people are going to attack
him and take him out. So you know, there's always
that tension going on, and we both understand. So then
maybe for a week we don't talk to each other,
and then all of a sudden we're back like it
never happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, is that time in reform school or
reform Well, let's make some security prison. They sent you
to maximum security prison. Yeah, machine gun.
Speaker 3: That's the walls, the dogs, and the between the wall
and the Wow.
Speaker 1: That really seemed to have quite an impact on your
life in terms of Oh yeah, even politically later.
Speaker 3: On, I did what I wanted and suddenly I couldn't
do anything right.
Speaker 1: No, I understand that, But I'm just saying, like even afterwards,
trying to get reform, trying to do good by the Yeah, yeah,
I was.
Speaker 3: I was trying to tell them, you know, for a
prison reform, I was saying that work with the unions
as much as you can, but you know, allow the
inmates to earn their own money. Part of it could
go to the victim of their time.
Speaker 1: Well that's a great idea, you know.
Speaker 3: Uh, and maybe they can start out oak screening T
shirts and jobs like that from the public. But you know,
don't kill the union, right, work with them, right, and
then then maybe somebody like Kodak could bring in a
shop there and pay them pretty decently and they could
support their own family instead of government checks going there.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know they I said, they're all going
to come out someday. What kind of condition do you
want them? And right, it's a great point. I want
them to very well. Supposed to be a reversing that
steps in this way, he is going to kill them.
Speaker 1: Well, it's supposed to be reformed. We're supposed to be Oh,
there is trying to get fun. No, there's not. That's
this bull Yeah it is. And it's supposed to try
to get you ready to come back into society.
Speaker 3: And the inmates are trying to break you, and the
cards they're trying to break you.
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's a what had So how old
were you when you went in? How old were seventeen? Seventeen?
That'd be one of the scariest things in the world
for you. Oh yeah, it is scary.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I could say murderers and everything, but
a lot of most of them are normal people.
Speaker 1: They just lost control for a few minutes, right, But they.
Speaker 3: They're not They're not like you think, no, right, but
everybody's in there.
Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, So I see. So it's it's that kind
of thing where I almost feel maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: It's about maybe eighty five percent New York City in there.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, that makes sense. It's a bigger part of
the state, bigger population. But for you, I always, I mean,
you seem to have a lot of empathy for people,
where you will try to help them out, meet them halfway,
do that sort of thing. The another rumor I had
heard was Metallic and when they did they Kill Them
All album, and they recorded it here in Rochester. They
they came here, yeah, but they didn't have money. No, they.
Speaker 3: They came from California, that's where you're from. And uh,
there's a studio in the city.
Speaker 1: Was it Daje Alon at the time. I don't know.
Speaker 3: No, No Music America, Okay, Music America studio with Paul Curcio.
He ran it and he used to be in the
Mojo Men in the sixties, but he's passed away now.
But they recorded there and they gave him an old
house for free to stay in. So that's why they
picked Rochester, I think. Okay, But they didn't have a
laundry mat, so they did their laundry down the street.
Each week, and they'd hang here whether laundry was washing,
and they'd be looking at guitars and I say, can
I plug it in for you?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 3: And they go, no, man, I ain't got no money.
I don't want to waste your time. We go, that's okay,
you can plug in, you know. And then they came
back at a later time when they were filling venues,
but seventy grand on vintage guitars. You know, really they
get new ones for free, but they want all the
vina vintage stuff. Yeah, where do you get the vintage
from bands? And people sell on them and trading them.
Speaker 1: Does anybody go now on ain't or anything and trying
to hunt these things down? The public does No. I
don't know if anybody here at the Hog does.
Speaker 3: We watch it from one time if something is reasonable,
but we got to get it at the price.
Speaker 1: Where there's some there's some cool artifacts around here, like
Jimmy Hendrick's pants, yes, right, yep, and then uh, Elvis
Elvis Presley's pans.
Speaker 3: But there were motorcycle there were motorcycle plant pants. Whenever
he rode his motorcycle around Graceland, he wore those pans
and they actually came from the Beatles because when the
Beatles visited Elvis, they gave him the McCart he gave
him to McCartney, and then McCartney gave him to Donny Lane.
Uh for his birthday, Okay, and then later Donny Lane
needed equipment, and uh he came here and uh he
traded in the pans and all kinds of stuff. Way,
so you did it swap, yeah for keyboards and stuff,
and he's and what fans are Deny Moody blue and
then Paul McCartney wings, Yeah, Paul.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's how he got the pants from Paul.
From Paul. Yeah, holy man, somebody needs to do the
six degrees of Armen like all the people you're connected
to throughout history.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's amazing. So you did a swap. Well, we
gave him some money too. We bought more than that
from other things he had.
Speaker 1: Wait, so you bought the pants from him or you
were money? But he got a keyboard in the okay, Okay, Okay,
he needed.
Speaker 3: Equipment really, but he got a little money and some
a bunch of equipment.
Speaker 1: Okay, but what were you going to do? You never
sold the pants? Oh, we won't you won't. We just
put it up there for the public to see. Yeah,
that's fascinating. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then got Jimmy Hendrix's pants, Yeah.
Speaker 1: From a party right that he left him somewhere, left
them at a Moody Blues party. That was as well.
Did that come in the same transaction? Yes, this is
so cool. That is so cool. So you would if
somebody had something that was vintage, Yeah, you would be
willing to They get it. They want it, can approved y, yes, authenticity,
you got it. Yeah, the thing I always wanted. And
this is terrible. I shouldn't eve admit this, but somebody
somewhere has to do.
Speaker 3: A lot of Beetle autographs were in uh a book
that a writer wrote about the Beatles, Joff Guy Glani
or something like that. I can't think of his name exactly,
but he came in with Donny and he wrote a
lot of Beatle books. Okay, you know this is in
the seventies. And we traded him some stuff, gave him
some money for the books, for autograph photos and stuff,
and that's just stuff you'll keep.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 3: So, the John Lennon military jacket was in his book.
A picture of it is book he's another one that's
not the one on the cover of Sergeant Pepper, but
John owned more than one, and that one he showed
in his book. John sent it to him to do.
He was also I think the Ronald McDonald clown in Canada.
Speaker 1: Who was this guy who wrote the book. But he
do a lot of charity stuff give him. Yeah, well,
how do you put a value? Is there a value
you can put on a Jimmy Hendrick's pants or Elvis's pants?
It would be crazy. Yeah, I mean that's what I'm
thinking that I'm thinking, even when you bought it and
exchange money and the guitar, your value is only what
somebody's going to pay for it, right, Yes, yeah, but
you wanted that stuff.
Speaker 3: But well yeah we got a I mean we're giving
a pretty lot for it for those days. Yes, nothing
that we couldn't you could, we couldn't go near it
to Yeah, uh, it wouldn't be practical.
Speaker 1: Let's say still sort of I would say, like Ironicoy,
not exactly on the beaten path places, right, Well, yeah, right,
I mean if I'm going to I like it. No,
I'm not saying it's a bad place. That's not my point.
My point is that all the artists that come here
come out of their way to see this place and
the reputation of them. Yeah, the reputation is you just
had zz top. Leonard skinnerd in here. Sika Copeland stopped by,
was buying the albums, right, you said, over the weekend
and you've got It's just it's got it? Does it? Ever?
It's the store that ate my brain? Did it ever?
Kind of fry your brain a little bit? That all this,
all this success or at least appreciation for what you created.
Speaker 3: You know, we're always proud, but when they're here, see
we're like on duty, so we got to be professional.
Can't scare them off.
Speaker 1: Is there a staff meeting at all? I'd love to
be in a staff meeting. No, no staff meetings, no,
nothing nothing. No, that's the kind of business I like.
I like no staff meeting. No. What does the legacy
you want to have? What do you want people to
think when they think I don't know, you don't know.
I don't really worry about that. Yeah, I don't think
you do? You do? You really are the guy that
goes to his own thing and have just built something.
You know when people say you won't work a day
in your life. If you do what you love, do
you feel like you've worked a day in your life?
I know what you mean.
Speaker 3: But at times you were, you know, because you're you're
on duty, tress day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, stress in the ownership and then yeah yeah, that
kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Deadlines, I got to get this ad in or copy
won't change next week.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I remember when you used to send the
ads to the radio station. You would handwrite them out.
It would be faxed over on the house and.
Speaker 5: We're trying to figure out what what's in the ass
and you had to like and you had to Sometimes
they were like a sixty second ad, so you're crabbing
all the work there.
Speaker 1: It was fantastic.
Speaker 3: I started to use some three DJs.
Speaker 1: Oh you did? They did? Oh yeah, yeah they did
because you couldn't. Yeah, and you have to speed it
up and go really fast.
Speaker 3: But that was effective. It was with two and that
was sharp.
Speaker 1: Well, it's it's amazing because it worked on radio and
the TV ads were I mean, we used to love
to see them. Yeah yeah, and it was all authentically you.
And I would say, if I guess the success is
just being who you are.
Speaker 3: And and my tags like when the events are coming,
I got little tags pushing this and yeah but free
like we got that one guy coming for from the
firm and yes, the Graham and then so you know,
I'll tag that and they'll have to do that real
fastg Yeah, they'll they'll do it anyway. They can do
it anyway they can get it in there. Yeah, I
don't complain. I realized the spot through it. Yeah, you know,
but then they might rewrite it and omit a lot
of sentences that I you know, maybe I'm repeating a
little bit. We don't need that sentence gone. Yeah, whatever
they can do. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Your mom when you moved out of the basement the store, Yeah,
did she see it get to sort of the way
it is today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she saw the front building here. We had the
front building at that time, so she knew you were
around our way.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: At first, she uh wasn't crazy about it in her house,
you know, short from work and.
Speaker 1: You're exhaustly.
Speaker 3: Banging away the neighbors a Colin police.
Speaker 1: What is it like at your house, in your own
personal home, do you have the same kind of thing?
Pretty quiet? Yeah, when your kids were growing up. Did
they have people in and banging on it? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
You seem to just be like that's all right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm very honest with my kids, like I don't
I didn't, I didn't want I'm stupid, so I didn't,
didn't deny.
Speaker 1: Anything anything, but I exposure is the greatest.
Speaker 3: I would explain the goods and beads of it.
Speaker 1: Oh, I see what you're saying with everything. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I try to stay their friend a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yes, not always easy to until you're too old
and they won't want to be saying with you. Yeah,
but they work here, so that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's good. Well,
this has been a pleasure for me. Thank you for
taking the time. Thank you, my friend. It's been really
really great. Harvin Shauberg, the Great House of Guitars. It
is uh internationally known right here in Irondequoi. Thank you
very much. Thank you. You made me forget I was
on the air. Yeah. Well, it's just like having a conversation.
That's what I like, one on one. Thanks Mac of
all trades. Mac has a gift, and that gift to
you is your time. What do I mean you got
a list? Come on, you've been adding to the list,
not knocking things off the list. Why not hand the
list over to Mac of All Trades, whether it's painting
a room, fixing drywall, electrical carpentry. Maybe you got a
big job like you're like, Man, I cannot stand this
powder room anymore. We need a full bathroom remodel. I
want one of those great toilets put in here. Mac
can do all of that in his sleep, Man Mack
of all Trades, from handyman stuff to full carpentry work,
electrical work, full kitchen and bathroom model. I mean, whatever
it is, they can do it. But the point is
they give you your time back. You know, I always
figure this. We all only got someone's time on the planet.
We don't know when it ends. Do we want to
waste it doing things we don't really want to do,
like painting the room or putting up some trim No
Mac of All Trades five eight five two zero two
ninety two eighteen and online at Macofalltrades dot net.
Speaker 4: Btb's wood fired Pizza and Grill in the Mulich resee
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