Jan Michael Alejandro, in full

1:28e e all right I think we are live so um yeah without further Ado hi everyone this is TSH um with Unwritten rules of the road and we have a very special episode today um we are joined today by my amazing friend Jan Michael Alejandro thank you so much for joining us today Jan oh thank you for having me it's it it really like I said it it takes me out of like the things that are happening right now to a cooler place that's for sure yeah yeah thank you yeah thank thanks for for taking the time um for for those of you who are new to Jan

2:52um Jan um has a very rich history um in the Music World um Jen um started and correct me if I'm wrong but um uh you started on your first tour uh with EOP as as a tech is is that correct yes like I got the call like 30 days after I got married wow so I got married H December 30th to muffy my best friend of course and and uh 30th of December and then I get this call like right around the eth January uh from England it was for bowi people and and asked if I uh wanted to join them in uh in Toronto and and be a yeah

3:42so I so I said well hang on I have to ask Muffy so I I went and put them on hold and uh I went asked Muffy and she goes you've never been anywhere you know her dad was a professor at Harvard and Cornell and stuff so they've been everywhere and I've been I've been on the plane maybe two times in my life and she goes do it do it I don't know if she knew what she was signing up for when she said yeah join David Bo and Iggy po you [ __ ] kidding me it's like and I honestly at the time I wasn't a big

4:22Bowie fan I I knew a couple of his songs I knew maybe one song of Iggy I knew he the Iggy in the Stooges I wasn't a punk fan I was really a funk guy you know I was like I was soul and Funk and yeah that's that was my upbringing but you know hey this was cool the money that they offered me was like more money than I ever made so yeah this is great so did that and met them in uh in Toronto so that's what how it started that's so wild so do you was it like trial by fire where you were

5:01learning as you went or did you kind of have an idea of things when you when you first started out okay so in a sense it was uh just the little backstory so I'm I'm a musician so I you know know a lot about music and you know basically how to plug [ __ ] in but then I also um was Muffy and I were uh Studio managers at Studio instrument Reynolds in San Francisco at the time of like you know the clients were sent and and gram Central Station and and um Journey was just starting uh doy brothers were big just a ton of people like that in our studiio

5:42so we did everything setting up and and managing the studios doing all the PA and all of that [ __ ] so I knew a lot of stuff in fact that's how I met the people that called me is one time you know somebody said you should ask them if they ever need somebody uh you know just talk to him and say you want to go out at the time I didn't want to go out but I did it anyway I asked somebody so yeah so when I got there it was really funny and when you say did you learn our trial by fire yes absolutely because I

6:16went over there took care of the drums and then when we got to the hotel they were having me get all everybody's luggage and take them to their rooms with the with the with the Bellman right and so I gladly did it you know I was making good money you know for the 70s this was 1977 I uh you know I was making like 700 bucks a week that's you know if you if you like found out how much that was worth now it'd be a good chunk of money right yeah in fact many times I I found out that I was making as much as a

6:57musician was making you know so anyway so that was cool um but my my friends they found out the ones that got me the job they found out I was you know like schlepping the luggage and stuff and they're like [ __ ] no don't do am can I uh can I oh yes please feel yes hey when my grandson was was was younger I had to pay him a dollar for every time he was rich after he was after was hanging out with me and Muffy anyway uh so I stopped doing that that was so that was cool and the cool thing about joining that group at that time was I

7:45met uh David Bowie the musician the piano player not David Bowie the Superstar you know and he was so cool and Jimmy Iggy you know we call him Jimmy uh he was very cool too and we all there was only a few of us in the in the in the group like in the touring group and so we all hung out together uh it was really a lot of fun and um the was sales I can't think of his the first name but anyway the two sales Brothers um I watched their dad when I was younger gupy sales right he was a comedian [ __ ] funny comedian on on

8:29for kids it shouldn't have been for kids but it was funny anyway um so the sales brothers and they turned out to work with David again with tin man I don't know if you know that I didn't really follow that but but they were talented they were super talented uh so that was fun um and Iggy they they were all just fantastic if if a show wasn't like going well David would do an interview with with Jimmy on on the radio the day before next thing you know sold out sold out venue you know people oh David's going to be there you know so what a great

9:08experience for me to travel for the first time to places like Boston New York Chicago Cleveland you know all all of these places that you hear about at first class we stayed with the we stayed with the artists you know I mean we just traveled together and it was a lot of fun so that was my experience my experience in New York you know um ask me questions I'll be [ __ ] going on like going on and on so no this is awesome I love it like I said I feel like you're a treasure Trove of just so many stories and you know thing things behind the scenes that I think a lot of

9:49people don't even think about because you know when you when you when you think about a a a a large artist or a tour you know I personally love like every everything that goes on behind the scenes like it's amazing to see the setup and the tear down and all the things that go on to make a show happen well yes absolutely and it's just it's so amazing I if I have it I would read you a poem I wrote about that but I I'll do that later on if you have time please yeah that would be great but um the thing is that was different in those

10:23days and nowadays with Beyonce and you know Lady Gaga and you know C play and there's uh a b and c artist band crew and they usually don't travel together you like we did I mean there was one time on David's tour where we were going from LAX to Tokyo um and he just rented the whole top of a 747 the first class and we were all up there just partying and there was only like maybe 14 of us or in that particular Entourage and we got to go and sit behind the pilots while we were going across the Pacific Ocean you don't get to do that [ __ ] you can't do

11:09it after 911 you can't do that anyway you know yeah but that's sort of stuff that we were able to do I'm sure there like right now there's other you know techs or Ries or you know production managers that do travel with the artist in a private jet or something I'm sure there's some uh groups that do that but for the most part you know it's not like that anymore and that changed ago yeah well um like of all the tours that you've been on um like okay this is a very broad question but if you were to give advice to somebody who's traveling um and on tour um what are some things

11:56what are some things to think about okay so that's another thing that was different so and I'm just going to say it because everybody knows it anyway so in the 70s if you're traveling in the 7s you know it's like you didn't have time for first of all if you're a musician and you want to just like record in your room or something like that that you might have all of these tools Pro Tools or whatever to do that n [ __ ] we we were like where's the bar where you know where are the drugs were all you know that's what it was all about you know and uh all you knew is

12:34that you had to get up make sure you were packed and and and make that next plane you know it's different now it's all different I think I don't know I maybe I'm I'm out of it and I have no idea that you know people are partying that much but then we did and you know we all say oh yeah no regrets and we're glad we survived so I mean as far as it's if I would give any like look at if I would give any advice to anybody I would say take care of yourself take care of each other take care of yourself watch what you eat you

13:13know I had just recently I had a tri triple triple bypass like three years ago a quadruple bypass [ __ ] had a bypass you know I've had I had [ __ ] problems with my liver you know just all kind kinds of health problems you know I'm healthy now as you know because like I'm on my 300 and 300 20 or something like that Bar Method which is where I met you which is right I mean we may have been taking those classes together for a year and didn't know we were taking classes together which is silly but uh but anyway I you know just really all about really taking care of myself I

13:57still have vices like you know like you know but [ __ ] I'm 71 I'll be 72 and there was this whole thing about okay you know alcohol CA causes cancer and my wife is like yeah look at this and I'm like what you what am I gonna do you know well Mother Nature got rid of you know my stash I had probably I would have to say several thousand dollars worth of single M Liquor in my studio that I just cherished I wouldn't I wasn't like an Alie but I enjoyed that I enjoyed you know the therapy was like a nice bottle of whis i oops excuse me that was a

14:47[ __ ] freance slip a glass of whiskey and a and a [ __ ] you know Cuban cigar looking up at the mountains you know sitting by my pool and just like chilling and just like okay I'm a lucky lucky guy this is so cool you know that's that was it I'm not a you know not a not a lush you know I I when you get a certain age you do too much you'll really hurt yourself so people automatically learn that lesson or hopefully they do anyway so rambling I'm rambling sorry sorry no no all good rambling is part of it I think that's it's awesome the Tang

15:29yes well um you know one of the things that um I was I was reading about you sent me some very cool very cool articles um is about your roadcase company um and I love the inspiration that you were talking about the ergonomic design and thinking about like packing like the actual packing of it that's such a like space consideration is a real thing when you're actually like packing up GE and things like that so yeah yeah so sometimes well there's plenty of people out there uh that kind of know you know exactly how they want to pack their trucks you know there's like are you are

16:10you a band that's going to do Club gigs that that um you're in a van or you're in a van and you're pulling a trailer or you're in a bus um or a box truck or a semi or flying you know it's like all kinds of different things so we know all that we're going on 42 years this year for this company but then I was selling uh Muffy and I were selling cases way before that and designing cases way that and um so so you know people do come to us I think one of the things I find very frustrating is a lot of the

16:50younger guys not all of them but some of the younger guys they are not they don't want to they don't want to hear what I have to say which is fine okay you know what I'll just I'll make you whatever you want you know and and that's it sign here and I'll make you whatever you want you know and sometimes it's like hey this [ __ ] didn't my you know these cases didn't fit in my car and I said I don't even know what kind of car you have what kind of car do you have oh a Toyotas toell I'm like [ __ ] you're trying to get

17:21a drum set in your Toyotas to sell okay you know you so you try to talk to them first and and some people go oh giving me too much information you know it's like I hear from Muffy a lot of times yeah these people like they want this and we're like oh well okay well let's you know we tried tried to tell them but it's not that we know everything it's just that we have done we've worked with a thousands of you know art you know artists and groups and you know made thousands of cases you know so so that's all we're trying to do is just impart

17:55what we know just you know try to you know save you some headaches let us you know let us try to do this you know Muffy is working with rocket cargo you know and telling her okay like we really start to make cases you know under 61 inches so it could go on the lower level you know that may not mean a lot to certain people but it's very important to know that so you know you're not paying a shitload more money to get your stuff across the ocean you know whatever you know so come to us you know we're not [ __ ] about it well we you know

18:30we want to you know I don't care if you're buying your first case one case or 100 cases you know we treat everybody the same we love our customers and you know we just you know we want to work with them and so that's our thing Muffy right now is we're seeing that there's probably going to be a lot smaller things going on like um like um it was Van's Warp Tour right so that's coming back we were working with Vans work tour when they first came out and that sort of thing is coming back it's smaller you know it's like not all bands can afford

19:09to you know they're not all working Arenas or stadiums you know it's like Muffy thinks that that it's going to be coming back to clubs and so she wants to really work with them make things a little less expensive affordable so you're not carrying stuff in you know egg crates and and keeping it in the original cardboard boxes you know and she you know she's starting a program where she is going to rent with my daughter Arlene uh you know rent rent cases so we want to try to really fit people's budgets and not you know treat everybody like you know they're the beyonces and cold plays and stuff like

19:51that you know although you know keep those orders coming please no it's very it's very appreciated you know I myself am an independent musician and and I and I am one of those people that you know I do the club gigs um you know occasional festivals but you know we're we travel in our van with a trailer um and so for artists like me which there's many of us um you know it's very appreciated and so important to protect our gear we've actually been asked like well how what is it that you do to protect your gear and that's something um that a little investment goes a long way because you

20:27don't want to have to keep replacing your here with every tour that comes you know and regarding the truck pack okay so if somebody says look at we have this size trailer we have this size van you know we'll work with you to design the cases so you have the whole backline you have wardrobe you have all these stuff and we'll try to get it if it's possible to fit it all in that van or you know then we let's make it we'll make it happen we'll work with you you know we're not going to treat you like you're you know you're dumb because it's your

20:58first tour you know um yeah I was asked to from our friend uh Benny Collins who we knew from 70s and he worked with Michael Jackson and several people just a ton of people he's gone now love him miss him uh but Benny called up and he goes hey Michael wants to take out his Jumbotron well a Jumbotron for people that don't really know in the old I mean this is in the old days old technology now that's what you would see at Dodger Stadium when you saw the replay and you saw the kiss cam and all that that's a big ass Jumbotron so he he says I need

21:37you to make sure that it's balanced and it fits in a seat container no problem okay so like I didn't have all the formulas for that I didn't have the dimensions for that so he sends me over to what was Michael's Ranch called Neverland never so I go to Neverland right and it's set up there and it's so funny because I go out there and he has the Jumbotron set up Michael wasn't there but you know the people that were helping me to measure uh were out there and Michael has in his uh a a a a coffee table a sofa and and then like a PlayStation or

22:22or Nintendo in front so he actually would sit there in his backyard at with the with his Nintendo you know projected on the Jumbotron I mean who gets to do that he was such a [ __ ] kid right after that they let us like go to the his little theater which had like the popcorn stand and the just like a miniature version of a regular theater so we got to help ourselves we got to go on you know all his rides there it was awesome I I didn't get I didn't ever get to meet him but many of my friends uh work for him and so that was a really you know it

23:03those are the perks of doing what we do and it's not because we're just like Star Struck it's just because you know these are [ __ ] amazing people you know these are geniuses these are yeah no people that you don't get to and it's not about you know oh that's they start it's about their music and their creativity and their their their insight and vision you know and like yeah one day maybe you'll talk to my my wife Muffy about you know her being backstage at a Jerry Lewis telepon and and oh God I can't think name uh one of the Jazz the famous jazz singers comes

23:45off stage and she was just you know it's just one of those are the lucky things that we get to do it's just once in a lifetime things you know that we get to being still in the business you know sort of from the backstage you know but it it it it's it makes a difference you know it makes a difference what we do what all the production managers catering truckers all of the all of the people that helped to put the show together you know it does make a difference and and fortunately we get to work with all all of them and meet them

24:23and we love them yeah absolutely I mean it's it really it's a it's a beautiful small world the music Community is and um you know from from getting to know you and and and reading about you as well like I see that you've been a person that's been of service to your community um yeah you sent over an article that I thought was just remarkable um that you donated a kidney to Reggie McBride and I just thought that was incredible I mean wow yeah so okay so what happened was Reggie had been working so Reggie and I were in a band together but but be but he's also played with George

25:04Harrison Elton John he's on many albums Stevie Wonder uh he had [ __ ] you should have him on the [ __ ] show he's got stories he told me the first time he met Stevie W he was in a hotel room and Stevie just started wrestling him like what and he has great stories about James Brown too and anyway so Reggie was working with uh oh [ __ ] I'm I'm I God I just lose lose my train of thought sometimes especially right now during this sh anyway Barry Manalo so he was working with Barry Manalo and he called up every once in a while he called up for cases even though we're

25:52friends we're also you know you know he's the musician I'm the case maker so he's my customer hey Reggie how's it going he goes I it's going all right I said what kind of case you need he goes I need a portable dialysis machine and I'm like what and I've made those before for like rich people who can afford to take those around that was in the old days and now they're getting more readily available um I said what's going on he goes ah my kidneys are failing so I said I'll give you mine and he started laughing he thought he he thought I was joking and I

26:31said no no no really my friend uh Jean Schwarz across the street you know she lived till 91 with one one uh one kidney so [ __ ] if she could live to 91 and you know and if they think mine is good enough I was in my 60s at the time right and I said hell man if you want an old used kidney man I'll give you mine so it took three years because the musician Union Insurance did not want to pay for it they would rather pay for dialysis which cost a shitload more uh yeah you know but finally it happened you know there were times that I was

27:12getting up there I was like okay 66 67 you know was like I was get it was getting up there are we still on I I I oh yes I lost you uh anyway so so I would call him thinking was going to say hey man I'm starting to worry because I'm I'm really getting older here you know I'm not I'm I'm starting to worry but then he'd hey Jen how you doing are we still doing this and I'd be like yeah we're still doing this you know finally we got the call Muffy and I were in Maine we get the call from scripts they go hey we're on man we're

27:49on so yeah so it was awesome so it happened and and just like you know maybe if few weeks before yeah a few weeks before that call we were going to do a GoFundMe you know and so we were my son Eric like did a video at his house and we we never got that GoFundMe out but did we didn't have to so it all worked out you know and and Reggie has done a few gigs since then but one day he called me up because we check up on each other and he uh he goes guess what I'm like what he say I got a gig and I

28:25go yeah who with who the The Temptations I'm like all right so that was great that was that's amazing that's amazing so here's the deal with that people say God H can't believe you donated your kidney and I'm like you know what you would do it he said they go no I wouldn't I said yeah you would no I wouldn't and I thought I would I thought more people would like be so open I have another friend who is in some of my place I'm not going to mention his name because I'll just say Christopher uh but he also donated and so that was really cool and then I have

29:08a couple other friends whose wives donated to them which is awesome and they're in the music business too and they're all doing well you know so yeah any of your audience out there there's many people that need kidneys I you'd be surprised and look it I'm 71 going on 7 two I still drink and and I'm healthy look it man so if you can go out there and you know if you could donate a kidney to a friend or some do it I'm saying do it because it'll change your life their life and you you know your life you're just gonna you know you'll get paid back in

29:50so many ways so many ways so do yeah okay that was my Public Public Announcement for today well I think it's really beautiful that you know because not everybody would be willing to do that honestly and I think that's really beautiful that you are the kind of person that has that kindness and generosity of spirit that would do that for a friend and that's amazing you know thank you Mom and Dad for instilling that in me Trav a lot I travel a lot on on plan I I do I travel like I you know I'm in New York four five six times a year different places so I travel a lot so I

30:29think okay well donating is my way of being the last one on the plane what does that mean that means that I think with my upbringing and all that that I would let other people get out of the plane before me but I have no idea I could be like oh [ __ ] planes on fire get the [ __ ] out of my way pting all ladies out of my way so I can get out first so this is my way of being the last person off the plane yeah yeah well um H you're by the way uh Mary is saying hi uh so yes she's yeah she she had she had a

31:12a hard year last year so Mary I love you so much and I think about you all the time and thank you for joining us and I hope we see each other again last time we saw each other was in Portland and I hope we see you soon yeah yeah and um oh I just real quick to to William uh William is mentioning um that he is blind um thank you so much for um tuning in um and I think you having a little bit of um some tech issues so Scott you wouldn't mind to take a look at that um but I wanted to go back to

31:47just the fact that you know you were talking about um being the last one you know off the plane and um and you mentioned to GoFundMe and I just wanted to you know to bring up the fact that you you've just lost your home in the fires um and oh yeah sorry to bring up sorry but I I feel like for for for people who are givers and and who have been so generous sometimes you kind of forget to receive um that that can happen um and just sort of a reminder um you know and just a shout out to the community uh for those for those who are

32:24are new to Jan um uh you know Jan this remarkable person um and and so wonderful and kind um to his community um just lost his home um and so we have some links posted up um um that include uh his Road case company if you're interested in some cases um as well as a GoFundMe um if you would like to to donate um and and these are different ways that we can support Jan um how are you doing um how are you and Muffy doing gosh okay so you know when when You' collected like 50 years of [ __ ] not just [ __ ] you so a lot of a lot

33:04of really Priceless things family heirlooms just like a ton of stuff um you know if you lose all that stuff you could get really emotional about it yeah but my wife and I have not cried about that what what I've lost the know which I told you is like talking to a friend and all of a sudden just realizing how much love we have oh god oh myself I wasn't going to do this okay water this time yes um and really this is all about the love friendship yeah anyway yeah you know but I just thank all my friends and for just reaching out absolutely it's it's

34:28you are a person who is very easy to love ah [ __ ] I told myself I wasn't gonna do that ah it's okay such a baby no understandable completely understandable I I I can't even imagine well honestly um my heart goes out to all the people you know if if we would the only ones that lost our our house it would be different you know was like oh [ __ ] yeah but so many people and also many people who don't have the resources that we have who don't have the friends that we have you know who don't have insurance you know there's many people out there and those are the people that

35:22really need help too Muffy and I really did not we we weren't going to put up um GoFundMe but my daughter Stephanie bless her heart she's a care a health caregiver and she thought about you know where she grew up her house she thought about her sister Arlene who also lost her house um so she did this and and and you know it's like I couldn't we couldn't say don't don't do it but honestly you know like I said I'm wearing the same tennis shoes as I walked out with Muffy had like two things on a hanger when we got to the hotel you know so we will we will

36:09definitely use use use it you know even though but but also you know if people can help other people out there that really need it that that's awesome too you know that that would be that would be great yeah yeah so yeah thank you I just wanted to tell you that you're you're getting some some wonderful love um uh Delia uh Ruiz is sending love from Alvin Andia oh yeah so Alvin is let me tell you about Alvin and dilia they live in my hometown of Palm Springs uh they are my really good friends Alvin was my Alvin was my best man at my wedding but he was also

36:57like Like Instrumental and you know helping me when I first went to Hollywood he played with Little Richard and then Eric Burton and George Harrison and Elton John he played he's the one that introduced me to Reggie wouldn't you know there wouldn't be this whole thing with the kidney thing if it wasn't for Alvin and Alvin has been a really dear friend and dilia as well just so supportive so I love you guys and and and let me do a shout out to all my palm spring friends I went I lived in Palm Springs from elementary through high school and we all there for some reason

37:36we have all stayed real Mary who just she's from Palm Springs and and and her brother Billy Steinberg who's also you know he's a Hall of Fame Hall of yeah Hall of Fame songwriter you know he he's also from Palm Springs too uh was funny because he was we reached out to him to see he if he had to evacuate cuz he's in LA and I said hey yeah why don't you this was on Tuesday why don't you why don't you uh come stay at my house you know we have a a back house where you could stay a little did I know it's like

38:10it's like little did I know it's good thing he didn't come so anyway but yeah my Palm Springs friends I gotta make a shout out and everybody I just really now that I have my [ __ ] together I can talk about it the [ __ ] outpouring has been so intense humbling I want to say that it's overwhelming but I don't even want to use that word that's part of the feeling but it is humbling and it's just really hard hard to take sometimes because you just did had no idea that you know maybe you had this many friends or you know that people really cared and especially in

38:55this time when there's so much [ __ ] hate you know just you know the other like last year I was worried about Asian hate you know it's like it's like I have to look around make sure I was you know you know so so you know now now when there's so much hate it's like really more intense that when you get this much love so I just want to thank everybody for really coming through for us from you know free meals and and and um clothes and everything everything it just like it it's it's awesome and thank you so much and I will pay it back I I will

39:33Muffy and I will always pay it back and just so you know so thanks I think that's that's amazing and um again like you know going back to to the fact that sometimes it's it is overwhelming to receive um especially sometimes good stuff you know you like you were saying you get used to sometimes some neg negativity right um and then you start receiving the love and you're like whoa okay and it's it's like it's intense it's very intense you know and people have said look it let us do this we want to do that and I suppose it's like let me do what I did for

40:12Reggie because I wanted to do it you know I really did and if I wasn't going to be able to do it I would have like I told people if I was if it didn't happen I would have been in a very dark place that I couldn't help him you know and yeah you know that you know so anyway so that's how the world you know turns I guess I'm seeing um some more some more love for you in the chat we're getting uh really sweet sweet messages um here's one from Annette um hi Jan thank you and Muffy for being my decades long friends

40:49since the 70s love you both dearly and sending you both so much love and courage during this difficult time and always yeah Annette her son mil and her husband Rocky were our good friends in the 70s we all kind of grew up in rock and roll together yeah that's awesome yeah that's awesome that's cool yeah and so let me just also say that I want to shout out to the people that help me um if if I do we have time oh we have plenty of time yes absolutely yes so the people that really helped me get like um started on the road um and gave

41:27me my gigs uh was uh Vern moose moose constan and and uh Rob Joyce those are the guys that called me from England and worked with Bowie a couple of years before that and they're the ones that got me started in it and then uh a guy named Eric Barrett uh got me my gigs uh and also um a band called the section which is Leland scolar and Craig Dury Daniel korchmar and uh Russ kungle and you know they had they they kept me working for a long time we did Running on Empty tour together with Jackson Brown who's I still get to see and he's

42:12just such a wonderful person too and um that you know um with them I work with Linda ronad did I say James Taylor already you know and out of those out of those uh tours I got to meet all the people from shoko and I miss who are Sound and Lighting then we're all still friends we made such great connections I mean we're not just friends we would take a bullet for each other that's how crazy it is you know we would um so anyway and a lot of them are you know they're my age and they're still working they're working with the stones are

42:51working with all these you all these great groups still you know so so anyway so did shout out to all of them and and all of the people I've worked with and and just thank you you know thank you for being part of my life you know so I'm seeing more love from um Susan and Jacobs Peter's in Japan yeah he's such a baseball Enthusiast yeah you know he's like you can't be a fan of the Dodgers and the Yankees and the San Francisco Giants at the the same time he would sing and I'm like those are my three Dodgers Yankees and then the Giants and

43:37and Susan is my dear friend who we met through Facebook because we both love uh a theater and I love it yeah I love it that's awesome um I really want real quick I wanted to say thank you so much to uh Richard ainson um who is um plugging your cases um in his Facebook uh music group so thank you so much for doing that we really appreciate it it's awesome thank you thank you very much for all of that and oh my all my customers I don't know how many is out there but all my customers over the years we're going to go on 42 years next

44:12next year and and thank you for such a run um we're getting a question actually uh from the UK this is my friend Mike in xrl 7 um who was asking about the early days of your case company um did it take a while to get the word out or was it a fast process um because okay so I worked for another company and I brought them to their first million dollars because I had just gotten off the road and I had a lot of not only did I have a lot of contacts from that being on the road but I just look at I I love people so it's easy for

44:52me to just like you know go up to them hey you know I'm I guess I'm a good sales you know so so I brought them to their first million and they thought okay they're paying me too too much commission and fired me and that's when we started Jan out so I actually just brought my customers with me uh Muffy was pregnant with Eric my son and this was 1983 we lived in Silver Lake we had a rented uh little house and uh with a garage and we started there with a Sears credit card and a 1966 Mustang that that company that fired me they couldn't pay

45:33me so I took the owner's 66 Mustang which I hate this but I had to sell it for only $3,000 that sucks so oh but and then with uh what what happened was there were other case companies um that were out there that helped me especially um I can't God I John Gres and his partner who I can't think of and I can't think of their case com but they but they made cases for me ANS ended up making cases for me and some other companies and i' put my label on there I didn't really make cases I just sold them and I put my label on

46:14there and I designed them so that's how we started and I actually got no one had a brochure in color then except for oh czone maybe I don't know um so I wanted a color brochure and I just got back from a nam show and Fender had this beautiful little color brochure so I just copied that we had somebody in graphic arts that could do it so we had a label we had an address and you know and people thought we were a big company already you know so so it was really great some of my friends like Harold Jones who I went on the road with you

46:55know he was with di Ross he was one of my first customers and and it just like ballooned we were doing like 40% a month like going like crazy you know so it I would have to say that it was hard and it and it also was easy you know because we were in the business so that was cool so I hope that answered your awesome um just wanted to say thank you so much to William uh for tuning in um and uh you know thank you thank you for taking the time uh William um was sharing some of um his experiences with his uh friend who also had to

47:39evacuate um so sorry yall see yeah uh Richard is asking if there is any band you exclusively make cases exclusively well you know it's all depends who the the team is who the crew you know is you know because uh you know each you know roie or Road manager or tour manager or you know wardrobe manager you know they all have their people that they like to work with so um it changes I mean I can tell you many you know like we did all of Michael Jackson's stuff for the longest time we did most all all of beon Beyonce's tours except for one where something changed

48:32in management so we didn't do that that particular tour um so we never know Coldplay has been calling us a lot lately you know there's a lot of a lot of bands that call us regularly um my friend Alex with with um um with Lenny Kravitz um and Alex Alex came over and gave us gift cards and stuff for my dogs he just dropped in you know he just just wonderful and um you know so let's see we do like we have for now we do all of the major league baseball teams we and my uh Mark Mark O'Neal who used to work for the Ducks and is in the

49:18Hockey Hall of Fame he runs the sports division so we have all the hockey teams which I pretty much started when I was there and then he was my customer and and after he won his Stanley Cup ring with the Ducks he took over and he he blew it up he he built it so that was cool so we do a lot of sports um groups oh uh you know we do a lot of orchestras like I'm working with the New York philarmonic and Houston Symphony now I just did last year was you know oh yeah Chicago Symphony and Boston Symphony New York fil harmonic Dallas Symphony

50:00you know La film harmonics we're doing now um so those you know in the Metropolitan Opera those you know when they call me up it's like okay this is an honor this is yeah because I'm So Into classical and Opera that it's like okay I'm such a fan so you I'm a little wow about that yeah it's amazing um real quick um just want to say thank you so much to everyone um that's been tuning in and for your awesome questions if anybody has any specific questions please feel free to drop them in the chats and we'll we'll we'll send them over to um Jan um we actually have a

50:44question from uh Sarah DeVille um also a violinist um I'm sure yeah um and she is asking if you can share your favorite Bowie or Iggy Pop stories she is a huge fan of both oh that's good well okay if it was an igy Pop I I was in England at a counter and this guy kept on tapping me on the shoulder it was it was this was David's tour it wasn't even Jimmy's tour it was David's tour and tapping me on shoulder and then I'd look back and there'd be nobody there and then it kept on doing it and finally I [ __ ] went around this call oops there's kids oh

51:37there there you go sorry I said the f word he's alive do do you owe them some probably anyway so so so Iggy so I see him and he's like he's just cracking up you know he's like a he's like a regular well then okay and I know now he also is I just haven't been in contact he like you know you have so Boe and Iggy they have these big big giant lives like this and you're only like this little dinky little part of it but it it's okay that I was this little dinky little part of it you know I still have those memories

52:18too that the fire didn't take away um anyway so sorry um no apologies anyway so so stuff like that uh there's two Bowie ones one was we were in Belgium and it was raining so we didn't go out on our day off and David comes in with a portable turntable and uh and a and a comedy record I can't remember it was a it was a comedy record he puts it on and we were just it was so funny oh National Lampoon it was it was you know it was like and you know just stuff like that because we would just like hang we would go we would we would

53:02uh like go out and do stuff on days off all the time uh two more stories one was in San Diego after our first gig on the um um Heroes tour um we were at the hotel and you know I David wanted to still play so we were in like a Sheran club like like you know the the bar at a at a hotel and so I asked the band that was playing you know I said hey look we're with the Bowie group and you know they want to jam you know could they borrow your instruments yeah so the whole band got up and started playing

53:45and David started singing and like there were only a few people in there and all of a sudden more people more people and once they realized it was David Bowie [ __ ] they oops I Did It Again [ __ ] Oops I did oh we just have to keep a little jar next to you your little your little swear jar okay once the people figured it out it was like Tony Mia and and God I can't remember this other bodyguards name they had to actually carry him out they had to carry David out wow that's wild that every once in a while we we like would do that like they

54:26would asked me to talk to the band and and and like we would be in Australia or something and we would we would do that they love they love doing that and so that was fun and the last Bowie thing was I hadn't worked for him a long time Carlos Alamar uh you know invited us to spiders from Mars I think it was no no no glass glass spiders or I don't know can't keep up it was in Anaheim and we saw the show and we were back at the hotel waiting for Carlos and uh David Muffy and I had our kid by then we we had a babysitter so we

55:05were sitting at a table and David sat down with us and said hello and said a you know said our names you know I hadn't worked for him for three years and he asked about our son and and then he did you know he didn't know his name but he asked about the case company and I was just we were blown away that he all these things and we hadn't worked for them in so long um that that that was cool that was cool and one last thing doing Saturday Night Live doing Saturday Night Live with David I did two Saturday Night Live shows one was when

55:45we did the Running on Empty tour with Jackson Brown that was fun and then I worked Another Saturday Night Live with David and don't you know that just recently Rolling Stone said that show was the number show you know a musical act on Saturday Night Live out of all these thousands of Acts that have that particular show with clomi and and I see George Murray Bas Carlos Alamar I can't remember the other guitar players name just because I'm senior moment and Dennis Davis who's gone now and they were all my friends I still jam with with with uh um with George I paused for a second

56:34because we used to get together every Thursday and of course last Thursday we didn't because the studio that we my my house my studio was burned down with all the instruments and stuff so we'll figure out how we can play again um yeah anyway that was awesome that Saturday Night Live show and and right after that show I flew to England to work with blondie for the first time so that was cool anyway so that that's amazing um Richard ainson is actually asking if you got to work with Bowie when he toured with Freddy Mercury no I I didn't and um but here's the thing about David and about Linder on

57:17thatat too you know they they did what they did until they were tired of it and then they moved on to something else and they didn't care about the record companies they didn't care about whatever you know and it's almost like they didn't care about those particular fans for Ziggy or they you know it was like thank you for being I'm I'm gonna be doing this now and not only did they do that they did it well they not only did it well they were excellent at whatever they transformed into Linder onad was an amazing this makes me tear up too because she can't sing now but

58:02she's still amazing and she's still she's you know she's still out there but God she had such a beautiful voice and if she if she was doing you uh de Padres I think it's called so the Spanish stuff from her childhood or Nelson riddle or uh Pirates aen she could pull it off you know there's not many could do that and not many uh you know who could do that because of the record labels you know they were like oh no I better not I it's like they did it and thank God you know she had Peter Asher who would just like who was Talent thank God she had Peter Asher

58:51who you know he was an artist himself so he really understood he let them do their thing and and it was wonderful so anyway just so honored and humbled and you know blessed to have worked with all these fantastic people really Sarah is asking what are your five stranded on an island albums five five oh my God that's really good um I don't know the name of it but it would be uh Nina Simone is one um I mean anything by Nina Simone maybe the one where it's uh uh God I can't another it's the it's a song by Randy Newman uh [ __ ] I can't

59:44think of it's one of my favorite songs but whatever album that is and live albums so anything by Nina Simone let's say um uh David I I gotta say stage because that's the album I wor I worked on so and if you guys haven't listened to it it's so amazing so stage David Bowie um Jackson Brown Running on Empty because I worked on that one but you know it's like I say that stuff but honestly they were works of art that I just and as a musician just love it um um lots of Opera God any you know any because I love it all um what else oh did I name five yet I

1:00:34think that's four I'm you have one more one more oh my God one more George gerswin rap city oh yeah yeah kind of kind of that that's a lot I mean five five is a lot to ask you're right I you know that I I I've wanted to do my 100 and my 100 movies too but anyway so yeah I love that you've listed off Opera I know this is um a tangent but um uh Jan has also written operas he is a composer and a Lyricist and a poet um and you've written musicals and operas and I think that's just amazing that you're such a

1:01:26multi-dimensional artist and Creator so um anything on Deck right now well I you know look at let's see what happens now because I have no more instruments but I have a laptop you know and so you know I've been thinking a lot about I have have some unfinished operas and and unfinished uh musicals and plays and uh and I love writing play poetry too which I've been doing a lot of so I'll probably continue to do that I my wife and I talked about it and we've been wanting to scale down anyway so you know Mother Nature really helped us with that and now we have to we're

1:02:13forced to really see what the next chapter is and um we know we want to travel uh I know I want to write you know I know I want to work a little less but there's no way that I'm going to be able to uh retire but that's okay because we do love you know the whole you know making you know making cases so that's okay too um so yeah that's that's what's on on tap I guess maybe we could do something huh when you get back the road yes I would absolutely love it it would be an honor yes I was I was wondering um well

1:02:53a couple questions um first um what are ways that people can support you what are things that you need um besides through your cases through the GoFundMe are there any other ways that people can you know this is really hard and what Mafia said is that you know after all of this hey how are you I'm doing great what about you all right hey this is my my friend he works here hello Hi how are you he's from uh Brazil yes and he also does k Kung Fu k f Kung Fu and I did yeah competitions and I have many mows I did for a long time it was that's

1:03:36that's part of me you know yeah that's amazing I love watching it yeah it's nice it's nice I love to watch you know like stre the philosophy around kofu and China noway for me super special all right well thank you nice good to see we'll be leaving I don't know I don't know how much longer well we found a place in Fullerton so I hope you guys yeah thank you so nice meting here here here for you anytime you want to come back oh that's awesome right thank you so much have fun okay bye bye H yeah sorry whoever's watching out there is like what the [ __ ] is he no I love I

1:04:23love the sideway because I I feel like it's such an example of how um you just so easily make friends and um you know I think that's just it's it shows your character just that you can just make friends um and and have this incredible um Community around you so it's very inspiring to to be a part of that thanks well I really appreciate God spent a lot of time with me sorry sorry whoever's still out there I think we're all enjoying it and we're all very grateful for your for your time and your sharing um I was wondering you mentioned um earlier about a poem you might be

1:05:02willing to to share with us and that's only if you're comfortable it yeah of course are you kidding look at me man I just when I go on my so when I go on my business trips if I could find an open mic you know in any City I I love doing poetry like um doing my poetry so you don't have to ask me twice let's see if I can even find it sh while you're looking I just wanted to um say thank you so much um to our friends on both Facebook and YouTube have who have been watching and asking questions and being so loving and

1:05:42supportive um thank you so much for your kindness um Dwayne Hester um thank you so much for checking out the Gund me that is awesome um Richard um thank you for sharing it to your to your groups as well um Richard was mentioning that it's been hard to watch all the stuff in La that's been going on and um you know we really appreciate like just the amount of Outreach um I think something you know that I've been witnessing is just the incredible amount of Community Support um you know I'm seeing people coming out in droves that are donating and volunteering and um people outside

1:06:18of La who have been reaching out to all of us just making sure we're okay um and we're so grateful um I just I just feel so to be surrounded by such good people and um and to know amazing people like Jan um you know it's it's a privilege so um thank you all so much for for for tuning in and for being so supportive yeah thank you so much and thank thanks for having me I did find it and it's a like there's many poems I would have to um read uh because there's so many people out there that there's a lot of things we

1:07:01could talk about but this one is really dedicated to my touring friends uh past and present and it's called without without a rocket we all started out by plugging it in and unplugging it wrapping a cable lifting and loading holding a flashlight reading a manual we would soak it up from our peers before us wanting to get the gig then one wondering how to pull it off sometimes we would [ __ ] it up sometimes we would make up the impossible happen it was never just rock and roll we were not the artists but when the lights went up and show started we all shared the Roar and

1:07:42Rumble we all made the magic happen getting high without the rocket it got lonely money didn't matter relationships and marriages suffered life on the road has its costs but we were taken to places that we may never have been able to go before met great people along the way we were mostly in the background but wouldn't trade it for the world we have the stories and no regrets and that's that oh that is so beautiful I haven't read that in so long sorry oh oh I love it I love the last part too when you say we have all these stories and no regrets yeah thank

1:08:30you so yes thank you so much thank you whoever joined us I really appreciate it thank you Scott you know for doing this including me oh well thank than you for including me TSH thank you absolutely thank you we'll stay in touch for sure even though I'm now gonna live in the Orange County I've think never think I would be saying that what did they say Never Say Never well there you go yeah well thank you so much for for sharing um your beautiful self with us we're all so grateful and we're all rooting for you and um for those of you um online um we

1:09:14we will'll be sharing out once again links um that um you can check out Jan and his work um and ways to support him um and yeah thank you so much again for for tuning in and Jan we just we're sending a lot of love and support your way okay let me say once again thank you to my family and my friends for just all the outpouring of love it's just been so incredible I could die right now and it would be all right just just to sum it up you know thank you yeah um oh and real quick Sean Patrick said totally felt that poem uh yeah yeah

1:09:56awesome take care thanks for doing this and I'll see you again hopefully soon soon yes okay all right take care bye