Mark Rivera: Legendary Billy Joel Sideman

Announcer:

00:00:01.179 – 00:00:24.629

 On this episode of the Takin a walk podcast music history on foot Join host Buzz Knight with a musician whose career defines longevity and excellence Mark Rivera is the author of a new book side man in pursuit of the next gig The story behind his amazing career which has included a 40-year run as a sax player for Billy Joel

Announcer:

00:00:24.92 – 00:00:31.36

 You’ll hear amazing stories and inspiration from Mark Rivera Next on taking a walk.

Buzz Knight:

00:00:32.86 – 00:00:43.24

 Well Mark Rivera it’s so great to have you on the Takin a walk podcast even though we’re virtual I feel like we’re taking a walk somewhere in  your backyard.

Mark Rivera:

00:00:43.25 – 00:00:50.659

 I wish we could be telling the truth especially after last week you couldn’t breathe in my backyard but we’re past that Thank goodness. I hope

Buzz Knight:

00:00:51.759 – 00:01:08.48

 so Well congratulations on the great book side man in pursuit of the next gig I love the book and I love the themes of the book in particular gratitude Can you talk about what gratitude means to you

Mark Rivera:

00:01:09.349 – 00:01:38.87

 Yeah Well the most important thing in in our lifetime is that we realize how great how blessed we are I saw a wonderful I think it was CBS Sunday morning with Michael J Fox and he’s a man living with Parkinson’s disease And Jane Pauley said something to the effect of So what do you what do you have I mean how could you keep so positive And he said if we have something to look forward to we have something to be grateful for. And I have so much to be grateful for Because first of all I have the greatest in my opinion I have the greatest gig any saxophone player could expect to have I’m also Ringo’s musical director I have all these wonderful friends in this business And most importantly I have my family That’s the main thing I’m grateful for Gratitude to me is just stopping, instead of getting on your knees and saying oh please give me give me or I need a I need it’s saying thank you That’s this moment right now There’s so much to say thank you for and so many of us are hung up on getting the next big house the next Tesla the next boat I’m just I’m just happy as a clam to have my gigs and my family Well around me and make new friends like yourself Buzz

Buzz Knight:

00:02:25.46 – 00:02:28.85

 Well, you’re very kind Another theme in the book is longevity. I think it’s marvelous the longevity in your career What do you think the key to longevity is

Mark Rivera:

00:02:40.38 – 00:02:47.729

 getting along just getting along II I always make my position especially as a musical director, make the analogy with a coach on a basketball team I would say they have five guys on the basketball team And if I’m coaching five guys, I could go to one and say hey come on man buzz get it together shake you a little bit where someone else needs to be hey Buzz, You know you miss that lay up You know we get in other words everybody is an individual and how you get along with each person is a separate entity It’s not like there’s no cookie cutter that’s gonna fix uh relationships as far as longevity I mean I just try to do what I do I try to lift people up. my father who’s basically mentioned so many times in the book He’d always say never look down on anyone unless you’re helping them up And I try to live by that because you know everybody thinks that they’re better than or they’re trying to achieve to get as good as we’re always comparing I think longevity comes with your acceptance of your position and who was it Who’s a great coach, Well the but you you’ll say it’s he’s a great coach because he’s your boy from the from the Patriots Bill Belichick Belichick do your job, Three words do your job And if you think about it if I go into a gig or any situation do your job just do what’s expected of you which usually means be courteous to people Uh self respect I think that’s what uh is uh a great deal of it People don’t respect themselves and they just come out with you know guns flying

So many times people have the answer to what they think is your question before they’ve actually listened you know and longevity to me do your job uh and be conscientious of the people around you That’s pretty much it Don’t tick anyone off if you could help it

Buzz Knight:

00:04:46.01 – 00:04:54.029

 Another theme in the book that’s quite obvious is you’re a tremendous storyteller Who did you learn your storytelling from

Mark Rivera:

00:04:55.01 – 00:05:15.07

 I don’t know All I know is I’ve been told that I have an incredible memory I remember people’s names for some reason and when people ask me how do you do that I have no idea But it God forbid if the day ever comes I don’t remember And I start to freak out I remember instances I remember a particular environments I attribute a lot of that to I I’m mildly dyslexic OK So I don’t read very well In fact they just did my audio book which was a real feat for me I attribute a lot of my storytelling to my memory I just if I hear something if you remember the line in when Paul Simon asked about this charts I said well I think they kind of lame So I just came up with a line

I remember I could play those horn parts today because I remember them if I hear it I remember it So my recall is quite strong So I remember stuff that I did In fact friends of mine from Brooklyn they say hey man how do you remember that stuff I said I don’t know It just you know we were on 39th street we’re in a bowling alley We played we did our gigs I remember what guys wore the times how they affected us

it’s funny you ask that buzz No one has ever asked me that and I really don’t obviously don’t have a real good answer except that I seem to have pretty good recall And that makes it and for that matter why let the truth get in the way of a great story right So

Buzz Knight:

00:06:26.72 – 00:06:43.049

 we’ll go back to that moment in the bowling alley  which I’m sure you could remember as if it was yesterday Yes Did you have tremendous butterflies at that moment And do you still to this day have butterflies when you perform

Mark Rivera:

00:06:43.72 – 00:06:49.989

  at the time I was we were 13 It was 1966

we were getting you know the drummer Darryl and his brother Joel and my cousin Vinny who was like you know unfortunately Vinny has passed away but we would practice and practice and we get to the gig and it was just a bunch a bunch of knuckleheads teenage boys wanting to play and it was just a blast and was I nervous Heck yeah  mildly terrified at the time because the first time we played it for you know up until that point all we doing is playing I’m not just stepping stone like you know like 1000 times just for the four of us Finally there’s like maybe it might have been a dozen people but it might as well have been Shea Stadium for all I knew And so that was that was unnerving But to this day people ask two questions here Do you get nervous before you go on So I don’t think it’s nerves as much as it’s excitement It’s adrenaline and then other people ask the other question Does it ever get to be like a matter of fact on the side of the stage at Madison Square Garden and say dude if you’re on the side of Madison Square Garden and you look around at 20,000 people and the buzz that’s going on If you don’t get if your heart doesn’t get pumped up check it because you’re not you’re not conscious It’s  true that the adrenaline the high of performing is tremendous but I don’t call it nerves anymore because we don’t even rehearse with Billy at this point In fact I do a bunch of corporate dates and a bunch of gigs I just did something for breakfast with The Beatles yesterday We got maybe 20 minutes to rehearse barely And it’s five guys but it’s five guys who come in prepared

and it’s like anything Again any great organization is run by somebody who knows to delegate to great people Otherwise you’re gonna find the weakest link in that chain will break So uh it’s uh it’s pretty interesting how you go I just think it’s a matter of how much I love what I do and I’m gonna make it the best it could possibly be

Buzz Knight:

00:08:57.09 – 00:08:59.099

 and you never take it for granted

Mark Rivera:

00:08:59.469 – 00:09:11.9

 Oh no Well that’s again when you cannot do anything I always say I have never phoned in a gig In fact there was a club called Tracks in the city and it was a great rhythm section a dear friend who passed away Yogi Horton was a drummer tremendous talent Whitney Houston and she was Whitney’s musical director tremendous talent Jimmy Ripp who’s Mick Jagger and the um we had this band and we back up all these different performers And as it turns out  one night this guy comes up to me and says hey uh I want to take your numbers someday I might be doing something I say sure I didn’t think about it Four or five years later I get a call from this guy Jimmy Fallon and he says I want you to come to a recording session I’m thinking I hope it’s not your wife because she was not that good And it turns out because of that gig it tracks and the guy hearing that you know again it was a small club and it was uh his wife or girlfriend at the time wasn’t great but we played really well because that’s how we that’s how you do it You don’t phone it in And because of that uh tenacity or because of the pride that they take in my playing The guy called me up And that’s how I got Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer I got to play on sledgehammer because of a gig that I did And this I won’t call it a dive bar but it was it sure as heck wasn’t it wasn’t  Madison Square Garden So it’s  but that’s again the approach it  has to mean something if it doesn’t mean something to you Jeez Do something else

Buzz Knight:

00:10:40.239 – 00:11:00.0

 You’ve talked about your  formative years that  really influenced you musically as being that year 1967 in particular Right Tell me about you know the vibe and the music that was bouncing around in your head In 67

Mark Rivera:

00:11:00.599 – 00:11:25.15

 She’s uh I’ll give you a couple of examples and I think you’ll understand In 1967 the Beatles put out Sergeant Pepper and Magical Mystery tour Jimi Hendrix put out are you experienced And Axis Bold as Love Cream put out Fresh Cream and Disrali Gears The Rascals put out the collections album The doors Janis Joplin It was all coming in and it was at the time when DJ S were allowed to play whatever they thought was cool because a DJ they were they were getting records all the time and they play what they liked It wasn’t like it wasn’t the and not to not programming now but jeez they it’s kind of like well this is what you’re gonna play today You have a list of songs and stick to the program which is all well and good for the monetary side of it But as far as getting people to experience music it doesn’t happen And in 1967 look there were so many things going on I’ll go back a few years before that in 1964 when the Beatles came out to the States in in February the preceding November we lost John F Kennedy

there was all this turmoil and there was so much hate and there was so much young people were really disheartened I mean I remember my father practically in tears because of that And and then soon after in 67 we lost Robert Kennedy we lost Martin Luther King So the music was a way that that healed us I was in 67 I was 14 years old if I may say so we were getting smoke a little bit of pot We were finding engaging in sex and having all these things It was a great time and the music reflected that a band called The Moby Grape unfortunately put their record out the same day that Sergeant Pepper came out and they had no chance but they were still one of my favorite bands. I got to see Cream there first show at Fillmore East I got and you saw the you saw the picture of the Jimi Hendrix ticket That’s for real I still have that ticket in my in my in my wallet That’s there was so much going on buzz that I was able to take a train from Manhattan from Brooklyn rather into Manhattan It might as well have been going like to Oz Because kid in Brooklyn you know you have your friends you have your you know you play your games you’re playing stickball all of a sudden you get on the F train you end up in Second Avenue in the East Village Like wow it’s like it’s like remember um uh when in that part and with the Wizard of Oz when they all of a sudden she wakes up and it’s in technicolor it’s it was a whole different world 67 I will say to this day Uh It was the most fertile time in rock and roll music I think it pop music in general And we had um just tremendous influences He had he had Richie Haven singing protest songs He had folk songs He had Joe Baez he had Bob Dylan 63 64 who my mom turned me on to Um at the same time he had the other spectrum at the other end of the spectrum He had psychedelia You had uh Santana you had all these great uh rhythm and blues and Sly and the Family Stone of course um was one of my favorite and you had and I’m not even talking about all the great R and B The Black Sounds out of Detroit and out of Memphis out of Mussel Shoals again Muscle shows It I shouldn’t say that because it wasn’t the black they were all white but they played like in that swamp I think you’re familiar with that Right So I could go on forever But the short answer is it was an unbelievable time All you have to do is get a list of the of the billboard Top 100 of 1967 And you say wow it was like a single week in 1967 It clips what went on and what would go on in a year at this point In my opinion again there’s great songwriters still but there’s not the performers I don’t think that we had then you had to be the some of these recordings were recorded with one microphone in a room capturing 8 10 musicians And the trouble was allowed to say what do you get to measure 63 Turn the trumpet face away from I’m sorry face away from the microphone you had to play with dynamics You had to be able to have this cohesive group And um unfortunately that’s what I missed Most of all was playing with a group of four or five guys in a room and just you know getting into it So I I’m sorry if that took a long time to explain but

Buzz Knight:

00:15:59.14 – 00:16:19.489

 it was an amazing time for sure I grew up in Stamford Connecticut So I would take the train as well and head to the to the village And I was influenced greatly by the radio That’s why I got into radio listening to WNEW FM I was fortunate to get to work there at a point in my career as well And you’re right it had tremendous influence on how it curated for fans in a much different way

Mark Rivera:

00:16:35.049 – 00:16:49.169

 Absolutely In fact he’s mentioned WNEW I’m good friends with Dennis Elsas still And Ken Dashow I mean I’ll tell you we named our dog Roscoe because I remember Roscoe’s tag I remember I  do love you So and he was the coolest DJ I have had my headphones and radio just transported me It was so tremendous to have it was such a vital part of my life I I mean and FM was happening you know you were getting album cuts you weren’t just getting like uh you weren’t just getting the top 40 singles it was exploding It was great So you know you know

Buzz Knight:

00:17:21.26 – 00:17:43.18

 I have a listener to the podcast who wanted to ask a question a gentleman by the name of Tom who lives in the Philadelphia area And he wanted me to ask you what do you think was the uh early fascination that the Philadelphia market had before really many other places had it with the song Captain Jack

Mark Rivera:

00:17:49.92 – 00:17:52.939

 do you remember Ed Sciaky I do So I mean you can’t you can’t even imagine how much of an how much of an impact one person could have here We are we’re talking about what A DJ is allowed to do Try to get somebody to play Captain Jack 12 times in a row and if he didn’t get fired I don’t know what the heck was going on Ed Sciaky took it took Billy on his shoulders Uh You know the thing about Philadelphia because people ask me like you know uh other than you know Madison Square Garden all these exotic places What’s your favorite city to play Say Philadelphia they say why Philly I said Philly got soul Philly’s always had soul Philadelphia to me two things They love you they love you but if they don’t love you they hate you It’s like sports like the Rangers and the Flyers or the uh or any rivalry with Philadelphia you had this insane sense But Captain Jack almost couldn’t fail because of Ed Sciaky You remember Ed Of course right

Buzz Knight:

00:18:56.859 – 00:19:14.489

 I do Yes I and I know uh Ed was an amazing trail blazer and also one thing I always loved about Ed was Ed never saw a free hospitality platter backstage that he could never have his way with

Mark Rivera:

00:19:15.439 – 00:19:16.609

 I did see You’re absolutely right Ed enjoyed the backstage the fair old backstage fair I’m also do you remember Mark Goodman Ok Mark and I have very good friends In fact they just did a Q and A that um Mark hosted because Mark’s out of Philly Right Or just outside of Philadelphia Yeah I’m telling you there’s so much connection to this um

I call it the Acela Line from Boston I mean I’ll go up as high as Maine because I love Maine But from Boston through Connecticut through New York to New Jersey Philadelphia Washington that whole corridor right there It’s uh it’s something might it must be something in the water because it’s how it’s how we connect to things But um yeah I remember when Ed used to come backstage he’d always have you know there’d be some mayonnaise I we go you know gotta get this But he was such a sweet man and he gave his passion was boundless He just he exuded like the enthusiasm and he he’d be yeah And it’s like you make your point that it but it but he was so into it I can’t remember his wife’s name there but she was always there with him always And uh that that that’s the reason Captain Jack I think that’s the reason that Billy sustained because they were ready to I think they’re ready to pass I think Columbia or CBS or whatever they were they were close to like hey we got nothing And Ed Sciaky believe uh pretty much single handedly turned Billy’s career around

Buzz Knight:

00:20:53.64 – 00:21:09.17

 Well yeah Judy Sciaky That’s right Was his wife right And I think if I’m not mistaken too there was also a pivotal moment with a Sigma sound session live session that WMMR would play

Mark Rivera:

00:21:09.18 – 00:21:10.79

 Right I wasn’t in that band I wasn’t in the band at the time but I know that I know what you’re talking about and it was that that time because I think that was like 78 maybe So what they’re about the main thing is it’s when you believe in something and you when you hear something and it connects with you it’s this innate thing It’s visceral because it’s like I always say about people say what is it about the saxophone So it’s like it’s the closest thing to a human voice because it’s in you And when a song comes into your psyche or your into your being people talk about like being Billy Joel fans and Billy Joel’s song is a three minute snapshot of my life Well I go back a lot further than that I go to Beatles songs Beatle lyrics I remember look I wanna hold your hand up front Yeah It won’t be long Yeah The first time I heard it won’t be long I freaked out My aunt bought me the record It was just like a it was a game changer and I could hear some Beatle lyric I remember uh being on the train on the bus Rather my friend John we cut out of school and I had my father’s Toshiba transistor radio with the one ear button listening in and we can work it out Came on I’m like this is great First of all the song was tremendous because he had the perfect balance of Paul’s optimism Try to see it my way We can work it out Life is very short There’s no type of fuss and that’s John said this is how it is stop puts it around and get hit to it But Paul their balance of the lyric was tremendous So

when something comes into you and makes has that kind of effect it’s tremendous It’s just tremendous because

I mean there are moments in my life that I’ll never forget the first time

well my grandmother’s living room listening to Meet The Beatles and then watching the Ed Sullivan show that is a pivotal moment in my life Not unlike um when I was accepted at the high school performing arts these are things that you know change my life I was 14 or yeah 14 I was going to high school to and there were uh there was music dance and drama There wasn’t even a gymnasium in the school It was that you went there to to hone your craft And those things were just tremendous just tremendous to have that opportunity

Buzz Knight:

00:23:44.81 – 00:23:47.329

 Tell me how you got connected with John Lennon

Mark:

I was in a band called Bump It was it was actually called um Community Apple No no I’m sorry It was before it was called Dog Soldier After a John Lennon lyric Um my dear friend John Colbert was in a band Uh It keeps cycling back and back and back I met John Culbert the keyboard player Uh We did a jam session in Brooklynn bunch of friends but my cousin Vinny which is how the book starts My dear cousin Vinny drove up to the Catskills and I had already been like you know I was with Sam and Dave and I thought I made it and I fell No I was with Eclipse We were with this band that I was and I thought I was a rock star because we we were managed by uh blood and tears as manager and then that went went to crap So finally I’m playing in his Latin band playing bass in a Latin bands No place you wanna be especially if you thought you would be a rock star and we go upstate and I’m playing boom boom boom bored to tears and freaking out saying this this is what my life has become And I had a saxophone Uh and I got to sit in with this little combo And the night before I met this trumpet player Bob Livingood also may he rest in pieces so many say that too often Um And he heard me play and he was impressed with my sound So he said yeah I gotta come down to the record plant Uh I’m in a 10 piece band and I think you would dig it  So I’m like yeah OK I didn’t think much of it but I got to play a little bit So it took me out of the doldrums of the boo boo So I finally got that fast forward maybe a half a year Bob Livingood calls my cousin Vinny says hey tell Mark if he wants to come up to the record play I’m like yeah cool So we go there and it was a tremendous band 10 piece band Uh Vinny a car on a brother played drums

Uh It was just a powerhouse 44 horns two trumpets trombone and the saxophone And it turns out they were going to replace the saxophone player And the only one who had heard me to that to that point was Bob Livingood the trumpet player And of course John Colbert

So I get in the band time goes on and little by little I knew John Lennon was was recording in the studio because uh the guys in the band had already does have handcrafts that they call walls and bridges And my uh friend Jimmy Ivey uh from Interscope Records and a couple of other small and endeavors in his life He and I grew up in rival bands

So he said one day he and Roy Sala who were the owners of the record plant said come inside I’ll do something And I was literally cleaning the garbage I was living at the record plant and they invited me in little by little by little

And uh finally John was about to do this tribute to Sir Lou Gray and the band backed him We did a couple of tracks most of it was um lip sync but but we did get to play a couple of things with him but it was just again it was another one of those Oz moments I think I said in the book something to the effect If I told you when you go through those doors you’re gonna meet John Lennon first we say yes sure sure But once you do

there’s no turning back And what would you say How would you act It’s like one of those moments that you just don’t know you try not to step on your tongue and you try to be cool which is um again part of uh longevity

just be cool It’s I don’t I don’t know what else to say but that’s how we got to work with John

Buzz Knight:

00:27:27.5 – 00:27:37.819

 So tell me some um horn players that really influenced you from the past and any horn players of the present that influence you

Mark Rivera:

00:27:38.449 – 00:28:05.609

 uh the horn players of the past would have to be junior Walker King Curtis Uh You know I’m not I’m not a real jazz guy I mean I I listened to my dad took me to see Sonny Rollins when I was like seven or eight or maybe 10 I’m sorry I was about 10 He took me to see Coleman Hawkins last performance So those were mend a players and uh he’d have you know just jazz with Ed Beach That was a radio station He used to listen to Wrvr Riverside Radio You OK There you go So and um so my father used to take the stuff really slowly and it would last like the full the full hour on each side of the uh the tape So those are the guys I would have to say oh Bobby Keys Bobby Keyes was a big influence because he was a soulful rock sax player I’m not like a real chops guy I’m not like a uh but the guys who really impressed me with Ticks with technique is of course Michael Brecker David Sanborn Ronnie Cooper Barry player but there’s a gentleman who’s playing now with um Dave Matthews uh Jeff Coffin who used to play with um Bella Fleck and the Flecktones I don’t know if you hit that but he’s just a tremendous player And there are young players I get I just sat in I just did a gig over last weekend and this young kid like 35 half my age which is crazy uh with a tremendous tone and a great attitude kid Steven just a wonderful young player vibrant and I’d hear him playing and I turn around and said that’s great stuff and he’d look over and he goes just trying to be like you Mark I’m just trying to be like and think wow what this this this so this this wheel keeps turning But uh those are those are the guys they I’d have to say there’d be more R and B the guy I can’t remember the saxophone player who played on the Pink Panther that sound on the Henry Mancini CD In fact the saxophone player I think got a piece of a royalty They gave him on that which is tremendous to think about a guy whose sound was so influential so much a part of the song

Buzz Knight:

00:29:42.76 – 00:30:07.64

 Mark I think if you like an entrepreneur in how you sort of not only have your Billy Joel you know gig that you’re so grateful for but you have the other work you know with Ringo you have the work you do on the corporate side Um you know to really sort of round out your work Um Where did you get this entrepreneurial spirit

Mark Rivera:

00:30:08.939 – 00:30:31.469

 in pursuit of the next gig I guess It’s really it’s funny because people say now how could you possibly be in pursuit of the next gig So this has been going on for 50 years From the time I was 13 it was my first gig but from the time I was like 18 all the way through which is 52 years I’ve been gigging and I’ve been playing with different bands and you go through different cycles and it’s it you try not to just stay stagnant playing with different people To me is the greatest thing It’s the greatest communication It’s um entrepreneurially speak if that’s a word Uh I was always trying to trying to create a situation for myself I mean there was obviously times when there was no work Billy would take off for three years and I had a hustle I had a hustle I had I was selling life insurance I was cutting trees down And uh I do look I think the main thing is um that I learned from my father to never be above any situation If your family needs to be fed If you if you have people that you have to take care of nothing should ever be below you should be happy to have the opportunity to provide So that uh necessity being the mother of invention You come out of that I needed to do certain things and I was not gonna be let down I was not gonna let them down It’s pretty much how it went And I to this day I don’t think about it as an entrepreneur but I guess of course you’re right Buzz It’s uh it’s what I do I go out and I hustle

Buzz Knight:

00:31:40.42 – 00:31:51.38

 So let’s play some word association or words association with some Billy Joel songs If it’s ok with you Of course scenes from an Italian restaurant

Mark Rivera:

00:31:51.56 – 00:32:21.459

 the word association there’s like a bunch of guys Uh We used to play myself Liberty Russell and David Brown used to sit in back while Billy would start the beginning a piano uh of Italian restaurant The scenes are like you know it’s like a uh it’s a it’s a proper piece of music with like a AAA beginning an intro a release a prelude and then each one is a section So these are different scenes You could I i it’s almost like you could be sitting in Brooklyn outside and you’re looking around you’re sitting and having a bottle of wine or some pasta with some friends Oh that’s going on Oh there goes Brendan Oh you know 20 years later these are the scenes that I think that Billy was evoking At least that’s what I get out of it

Buzz Knight:

00:32:36.709 – 00:32:38.699

 Summer Highland Falls

Mark Rivera:

00:32:39.219 – 00:33:03.469

 That’s uh that’s just him He loves that area Highland Falls It’s just he just uh the song itself is beautiful because it is about manic depression It’s just uh it’s just high as a kite and low as low as the the lowest doldrums you could think of It’s the and but most importantly it’s the ability to lift yourself out of those uh out of that depression reasonings cover this with a sandy Uh It it’s just he writes his he’s such a wordsmith It’s just it’s just his battle with his probably his own Uh I won’t say just depression but we’re all manic we’re all manic we’re all um Hey this is great It’s great until it’s not And then this sucks It sucks until it’s not And it changes So we constantly go through changes and we evolve and I think the most important thing is how do you cope How do you get by day to day What do you do What are you gonna do now How you gonna remember the Great Mike Tyson line Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face you know So we’re all gonna get punched in the face So Summer Highland Falls one of one of my favorite songs

Buzz Knight:

00:33:51.109 – 00:33:53.939

 one more here Uh This is the time

Mark Rivera:

00:33:54.13 – 00:34:19.03

 my favorite Billy Joel song my s singular favorite Billy Joel song because it says these are the times to hold on to so many people look back on their past or live for what might come in the future This is the only time presence you and your presence in the present moment is the most important thing It might have been Michael Ja Foxx again that said this you can change your future by your perception of your past

In other words your attitude at this present moment reflecting on the past and accepting that will change your attitude now which in sense will change what you feel going forward But this is the time holding you close is like holding the summer So it’s like I told II I was a AAA guest DJ on Sirius radio and I picked different songs and that was that was I said this is my favorite song I said if I wrote the line

uh about uh this beach is so cold on winter afternoon but Holding You Close is like holding the summer sun I said if I wrote that line I would have been done as a songwriter And that’s just one of the thousands of lines that Billy wrote Uh It just means so much such a beautiful song This is this is the time not that in the past and not what you’re thinking about going for This is the time to hold on to It’s the constant he’s always doing that He’s got this amazing ability to really play with you with the words But uh the song is beautiful And David Brown played such a beautiful solo on that It’s like Hendrix In fact the end of it is like the end of a Jimi Hendrix song He’ll say it You know that one and easy money easy money is the end of Axis Bold Billy steals from the best

Buzz Knight:

00:35:56.56 – 00:36:05.489

 allow me to play Word Association right now and uh I’m gonna say Mark Rivera and my word would be amazing Well

Mark Rivera:

00:36:05.5 – 00:36:07.6

 you’re so very kind Buzz It’s incredibly kind of you

Buzz Knight:

00:36:10.59 – 00:36:20.139

 Thank you for being on my podcast and thank you for all the joy you continue to uh give me and others I appreciate it

Mark Rivera:

00:36:20.59 – 00:36:27.56

 Buzz Thank you Thank you for the opportunity And God willing we keep keep moving forward

Announcer:

00:36:28.689 – 00:36:37.129

 taking a walk with Buzz Knight is available on Spotify Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts

Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.

After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.