Louie Louie Part II

Reading "Louie Louie Me Gotta Go Now" actually did help in writing the questions for the interview. I had enough questions to ask just by researching online. Reading the book, however, made the questions more personal. Some of the stuff we discussed in the interview is not found anywhere. Well, except for the book.

So I wrote all the questions, about fifty of them. Then I informed Dick that we were ready and to let us know when he was available. He replied and sent me his phone number. Bam, right there. I got his phone number. I must've been dumb because it hadn't really occurred to me that I was going to have to ask people for their phone numbers. As it turned out, Dick was gracious enough to send it to me without asking. I would imagine he has several phone numbers and one is strictly for business.

Anyway, so we got that out of the way and now it was the computer's turn to get ready. I got a Skype account so we can call out and do conference calls. I got a way to record the calls. I didn't know Skype has a recorder available, so I bought one called Freecorder. They have a free version, but you can only record fifteen minutes. So I needed to upgrade. Once that was done, I set up the computer in the garage. Just in case something happened to the Freecording recording, I also set up the camcorder to record. It actually turned out that the recording from the camcorder sounds better than the one on Freecorder.

So we were set. We had the date set. Everyone was ready. I sent the host the questions. We did a little re-editing to fit his style. I got a back up host ready just in case the first host couldn't make it. The day before the interview is to be done, the first host lets me know he won't be able to make it. Ok, things happen. So I notify the back up. He is ready. Then a few hours before the interview, he informs me he won't be able to make it at seven o'clock. He might be available at 7:30. So I'm stuck. I don't want to postpone it. This is our first interview. For all I know, Dick has cancelled other things from his busy life to do the interview. Postponing it at this late a time will just let him know that we're amateurs, which we are. But we want to act like professionals. Besides it's not like we're Rolling Stone magazine and it's worth his time to re-schedule. Not only that, Dick is giving us credibility by doing our podcast. From now on, we can let other possible guests know that we've already done an interview with a musician from a legendary band. And The Kingsmen truly are a legendary band. Not just because they have one of the most famous songs in rock history, but because of their history. They actually do have an amazing story.

There was no way I was going to do the interview, because as I've said before, I hate my voice and I stutter. So I did the only thing I could think of. I asked my wife. She said ok and said I owed her. Big time. Turns out she did really well for someone who was totally unprepared. And Dick seemed to like her. He was laughing and kidding with her. We called at the set time. He answered the phone. I spoke to him briefly. Very briefly. And the interview was off. At the end of the interview, which lasted less than thirty minutes. I thanked Dick and I'm thanking him now. Now that I'm in a thanking mood. I'd like to thank my wife Yolanda too. She came through for me and for that I'm grateful. (Besides, she might read this someday) Dick was very giving and I will always be thankful that he went out of his way to help us. Especially since we are a podcast that doesn't even exist. Yet. I spoke to him again briefly after the interview and it was awkward. I mumbled something. Then quickly told him that I would email him, which I did. I told him that I put his book on Wikipedia. He thanked me for that.

I will post a clip or two of the interview as a teaser for the real podcast on my next post. I hope you enjoy them and that it makes you want to listen to the whole thing. The whole thing will be available as soon as I get together five podcasts. Then we will get the website going as well. It will be more exciting once we get the website going. At least that is my hope.