The Magic of the Music: Takin A Walk with Bill Porricelli

Buzz Knight

Taking a walk with Buzz Knight.

Bill Porricelli

Hi. This is Bill Porricelli Great to be here with Buzz Knight I’ve had a 40 plus year career in the music industry. I’ve worked with some great songwriters and producers, arrangers and artists over the years, and happy to share it with Buzz, who I’ve known for a long time on the radio side and looking forward to sharing some stories and some never before known facts, which will be fun to do.

Buzz Knight

Looking forward to this, Bill, thank you for taking a walk here on this day in Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park. We’re right near do you take a walk in this area frequently?

Bill Porricelli

Yeah, I have a lot of work I do in midtown and uptown. I don’t get downtown as much, but I love it. The great thing about New York, you don’t get to see many tree lined streets, which is an incredible charm, particularly downtown in the Village area and NYU area, they’ve got this charm. You’re not used to seeing trees in Manhattan, but it’s beautiful. And it’s great having a walk with you.

Buzz Knight

And there’s a lot of characters that you see in this neck of the woods always as well, right?

Bill Porricelli

That’s an understatement. And, you know, incredible artists over the years, you see people singing and they’re playing, and you never know who the next Taylor Swift is going to be, you know, who the next big artist is going to be. But through the years, a lot of them started here, they played here, and this is a launching pad for a lot of artists. And still to this day, you get some really terrifically, talented people that you see in here. So it’s always interesting place to come.

Buzz Knight

Well, the reason I was excited there’s a few reasons I was excited to have you on the podcast. One was certainly just connecting with an old friend, which is what often happens on the Take a Walk podcast. But it’s also many times reconnecting with new friends as well. But as a centerpiece is music and been fortunate to have some musicians on, some folks from the music industry as well. And certainly my personal love of music drives me to having guests such as yourself on the podcast. Talk about your love of music.

Bill Porricelli

Well, I started as a songwriter.. I wanted to be Lennon McCartney. I wanted to. Barry Mann I was a big fan of songs, and I started as a songwriter. And then I guess I came to that come to Jesus moment and just ask myself in the mirror, okay, is this really for you? But I realized that I wanted to be in the industry, and I just love the process songs and through the years and writing sessions and being in recording studios, I got to meet some people who were starting at the time and now are incredible legends of the business who have gone on to incredible things, but I knew I wanted to be in the business. I knew I wanted to be around it. Ideally, it would have been great as a songwriter, but you know what? I guess that wasn’t meant to be. But I have no regrets on the decisions that I’ve made because I’ve got to work with some really incredible people, people that I admired my whole life. And then one day you’re in a recording studio with a Brian Wilson or Paul McCartney or somebody of that stature, you say, okay, I think I made the right decision.

Buzz Knight

We’ll talk about Brian Wilson, first of all. I mean, being in a studio and seeing the genius of Brian Wilson, well.

Bill Porricelli

Brian is just one of those living legends icons. There’s not many of them, and certainly Brian is one. Oddly enough, he and Paul McCartney have had their birthdays within a few days of each other, just turning 80. But Brian, everything that has been said about Brian and all the legendary status is incredible. And there’s a good friend of mine, David Leif, who worked with Brian for years, initially introduced me to Brian, and it was at Ocean Way Recording Studios. He goes, I’m with Brian. We’re making a Christmas album. And he had Carney and Wendy with him, and he had his mother in the studio with him, and this was a number of years ago, but just seeing him at the board and it almost reminds me, seeing him at the board was, like, magical. It was like the first time I met Paul McCartney. First time I met Paul McCartney and we were talking, I couldn’t stop staring at his hands for some reason. I got focused on his thick fingers and thinking about what he created. And he’s talking to me, and I’m staring at his hands, I’m saying, oh, my God, what the hell is he thinking? And the same with Brian, just thinking back of all the songs he wrote, because at the end of the day, I’m a huge fan of songwriters and producers, and Brian has written some of the just insane classic songs that are going to be here for eternity. And just being around him and seeing him, it’s not Brian of the 60s. It wasn’t Brian in his prime, but it was still Brian, and he knew what he wanted, and his ears were just so tuned in to the music and to the production, and he caught things that normally you wouldn’t think he would catch, but he does. He’s certainly not at the level that he was in his prime, but he still had that magic of knowing how to make a record.

Buzz Knight

And the nuances. Right, the nuances, yeah. In particular. Noteworthy.

Bill Porricelli

Yes. No question about it. No question. And he’ll keep running it over and over and over, and people that were in the studio with him are just saying, well, this is Brian. He walks into a studio and the light goes on. It’s something because Brian it’s known of Brian’s issues over the years as health issues. He’s not 100% healthy, but when he goes into the studio, the switch goes on. And it was fascinating to see, it really was. But you just think back and you just try to take a picture in your mind for the memory banks. And that was one of them. That was one of them. Just being in that studio with them was a real special.

Buzz Knight

You took me there. I felt like I was there, the way you were describing it. So we really met when you worked for Paul McCartney.

Bill Porricelli

Right.

Buzz Knight

And how long were you with MPL?

Bill Porricelli

Well, MPL was interesting. How I got there. I just came back. I was living in la. I came back, and there was a position I took with the NMPA. Harry Fox, NMPA’s, national music publishers association. And essentially it’s an organization that represented publishers and the NMPA. Harry Fox was a liaison between the owners of music publishers and the users of music TV producers, advertising agencies and what have you. And I would contact publishers, and this one publishing company constantly came up. MPL, MPL, all these different, eclectic, interesting songs. And I was working at Harry Fox for about a year, and then apparently there was an opening coming up in the company. Now, I did a little research and said, this is a huge catalog. When I called up the manager there, Peter Sylvester, and I said, you must have 7500 employees here. There are seven of us. Seven. This is Paul McCartney’s publishing company. I said, oh, wow, interesting. Short time thereafter, they said, there’s an opening here. Would you be interested? So I took the meeting, and again, it was at a time where I was building a career, and I was never at any place more than a year and moving on. So I anticipated, okay, if I get this job, maybe I’ll be here a year, make a couple of more bucks, and move on to the next thing. Well, that year turned into two decades and was the ride of a lifetime. If you’re in this business. Looking at the catalog, the body of work, the songwriters that I got to meet and represent their songs was a gift and something that I will cherish forever, and then no regrets. And it was an incredible run.

Buzz Knight

Wow. Yeah. Well, I would say that’s an understatement, for sure. Right.

Bill Porricelli

Well, when you represent catalogues like Jerry Herman, I love Jerry Herman. Jerry was just a wonderful man and became a friend. And the estate of Frank Lesser and Harold Arlen, and then of course, Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe from the Four Seasons, and we had that catalog and some Freddie Paris In the still of the night. There were some great songs and great copyrights over the years, and I was fortunate enough to start as a song plugger, pitching songs for film, television, and advertising and it kind of really took off for me. And I started in the mid 80s, but in 1987 there was a movie that had no budget. They needed songs from the but there was no budget and we kind of had to negotiate rights for this album. And I ended up getting four songs in the movie and the soundtrack and it ended up being Dirty Dancing and it was a huge success with CDs. And from there, I think the next big one happened to be Unchained Melody and Ghost, another Patrick Swayze movie. But then it just started to snowball. But to be honest, when you represent catalogs of these type of songs and songwriters makes your job easier. It really does. The relationships with the Crewe and Gaudio and Jerry Herman and the Lesser family and the Harold Arlen family, they were fabulous. And having placed a number of songs over the years was great. I mean, let’s be honest, there are some certain directors that I’ve worked with, like Cameron Crowe. Cameron knows what he wants and Cameron decides on the songs and worked with a music supervisor partner, Danny Branson, for years. But Cameron knew what he wanted. So it’s basically you happen to have the song wonderful. And sometimes I’d rather be lucky than good. Sometimes you just have the song and then there are other times you get to suggest a song and I say it to friends. My most prideful placement was the opening credits to a movie that’s one of my all time favorite movies. Just so happens music consultant on the film, this woman named Marlene Fishback, came into the office since the early ninety’ s and she said, I don’t need much music, particularly for this movie. Maybe I need something. It’s like opening credits. The main character, Andy Dufrain, is sitting in his car outside of a motel. His wife’s having an affair, it’s raining, there’s a gun in the glove compartment. What’s playing on the radio? And my first question was, what’s the time period? She goes mid to late forty s. I had just gotten off the phone about 15 minutes before she came in the office with a songwriter who happened to write If I Didn’t Care by the Ink Spots. And so what happened was I just thought of that and we had a portion of the song and I said, well, what about the Ink Spots If I Didn’t Care? And I think her next thing was, Sounds good. So she went to Frank Darabont, the director, and then we found out.

Bill Porricelli

Few days later, you’re in the film. Now, the one thing, I’m not on the end credits, but I am acknowledged on the soundtrack, which is great, but I never used to look for the credits because that wasn’t the job. Your job was to just get it placed, do the job and move on. And that’s what I did. But if I knew then what I know. Now, I probably would have lobbied for a few more credits in films over the years. But look, there are some great placements and some music consultants. I mean, there are other chances that I had. Remember, John Houlihan, to this day, is one of the top music industry supervisors. He was a consultant early 90s on a film. He goes, I got this film. It’s Mike Myers. He plays this weird, crazy secret agent in Britain. It’s kind of a takeoff on British spies. And Jay Roach is directing it and I need some 60s kind of psychedelic music. One of the first scenes, he walks into a club just before he meets Elizabeth Hurley. And I didn’t really have many songs from that period. I said, early seventy s I got something late 60s that may work. And it was Strawberry Alarm Clocks, Incense and Peppermint. So when you see Austin Powers in the first movie, go into the club that’s Incense and Peppermint. That’s one of my suggestions. And you see these movies and they’re on television. You see them every week. And I say, oh, my gosh, I wish I would have put my name on that one.

Buzz Knight

But as you were describing it, I had this picture when you walk in to buy a suit at a tailor and the tailor says, well, maybe this because of this collar and your recommendation mode for a placement sounds the equivalent of a fine tailor fitting someone for a suit.

Bill Porricelli

It’s just interesting. Like I said, there are certain directors, they know what they want. Nora Epron knew what she wanted. Nora was very good. Penny Marshall was like that. We did League of their Own. I had Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie in there. But Nora within the small hours of the morning. And we did the Sleepless in Seattle. And when Harry met Sally And there’s so many different movies. Like I said, Cameron Crow, another director, knew what he wanted. But there are some directors, you can make recommendations, watch a scene like I watch a scene or I watch a commercial. And in many cases you probably 20,000 songs could fit in that spot. Why does that one resonate so much? You don’t know. Sometimes it just clicks. Sometimes it clicks. Why does this movie work or this TV show work? Why does it not work? But having a little luck helps. But when you’re dealing with these incredible songs, again, we’re talking about I was fortunate enough my success had to do with the songs I represented. And I just represented just great songs and songwriters. So my job was just not to screw it up.

Buzz Knight

Are you working on anything now you want to talk about?

Bill Porricelli

Well, there’s a couple of things that I can’t talk about. It because I have confidentiality agreements that looks like I’ll be getting back into publishing pretty significant way. But I’m working with a couple of major labels and major publishers as a consultant on what we’re talking about on film and television, and that’s all relationships. You got to know the studio executives and the music supervisors, and anything comes down to having relationships. But it doesn’t hurt when you’re representing incredible catalog, credible catalog of songs. I keep busy, but publishing, which has been my strength over the decades, looks like I’ll be doing that in a pretty significant way once again soon.

Buzz Knight

Nice. I love the teaser. Thanks for sharing the joy of music and songs. And thanks for the relationship over the years. It means the world

Bill Porricelli

And if you have any questions or anything like that, I’d be happy to have another conversation.

Buzz Knight

Thanks for taking a walk. All right.

Bill Porricelli

Thank you.

Buzz Knight

Good.

Bill Porricelli

Thanks, Buzz.

Buzz Knight

Taking a Walk with Buzz Knight is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts 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.