"Louie Louie" with Dick

So this is what happened. I was anxious to start podcasting. A little too anxious I would imagine, because we were totally unprepared to start. I was listening to K Earth 101, the greatest hits on Earth, which is what they call themselves. Anyway, they play oldies. So on the morning show they had the deejay interview Dick Peterson of The Kingsmen. He was the drummer of the band from 1963 to the present. Dick was promoting his own book' which is called, "Louie Louie Me Gotta Go Now." The interview was good except they were just getting started when the next thing you know, it was over. Dick was on for less than five minutes. I said out loud, to myself, in my car, "that's it!" I never thought I'd be saying this, but I needed more Dick.

Say what you will about Howard Stern, and a lot of people do. He does great interviews. Sometimes, if the guest is good, he will have them on over an hour. With no commercials. That's what I'm used to. So being interviewed for less than five minutes was just not enough. I mustered up the courage to email Dick. I found it thru his publisher. Actually it didn't take any courage at all because I wasn't expecting a reply. So when I got a reply, I was like "Oh man!" I know I've already used an exclamation point twice and I'm not that kind of guy. So you can well imagine what I was going through.

I thought nothing of sending an email because why would they contact me? And I even explained to them on the email. We don't have a website yet. We don't have any podcasts. We don't even have a blog. In essence, we have nothing but an idea in my head. When I sent the email, I was very respectful. I called him Mr. Peterson. Next thing I know I'm corresponding with Mr. Dick Peterson of The Kingsmen. That's when it hit me. This was unreal. I sent an email to the host of the show telling him the good news. This is what I said.

"Holy smokes, this guy might want to do the podcast. He wrote a book about Louie Louie. Let me know quickly when you are available for interviewing? If we do it over the phone, can you record to your computer? Man, we're so unprepared. I just did it on a lark to see what would happen. I didn't think he'd respond so quickly. Anyway, I"ll call you too. And think of questions to ask him."

The host said he wanted more time to prepare so I emailed Dick telling him that we wanted to buy his book and do more research. This gave us more time, which was good. The funny thing is that Dick and I kept corresponding and we were actually joking around. We were emailing each other like we were the best of pals. Or so it seemed like that in my head. He was a funny guy, as I found out after reading his book.

One of the funnier parts of the book is that when the band went on tour, Dick's mother put a letter in his suitcase and on the letter she called him "Lil' Dickie." Naturally, his band mates found the letter and that became his nickname. I suppose only because, at seventeen, he was the youngest guy in the band.

It would be nice if I could say that the interview went without a glitch. It didn't. The good thing about it, as you will read on Part Two of the Louie story, is that we did it and we learned from our mistakes. At least I hope we did.