affairs.
You
Mr. Billy Mack is here with all original
and Mr. John Goforth on the saxophone,
Mr. Rick Cool on the bass right behind me here,
and Mr. Michael Kinder on the drums.
We've got Mr. Billy Mack and a full band for our sessions
at the 88E's. Please put your hands together for live.
Who's to the TV? Here's real music for real people.
I know a place where there ain't nobody
gonna get on your case. I know a place where the police
don't show their face. I know a place. Come on,
get yourself a taste. You gotta see. You heard it straight from me.
I know a spot where the drinks are cold and the women are hot.
I know a spot to a whole bunch of things that you oughta not.
I know a spot. Oh, get what you want and you get a lot.
Come on and see. You just gotta buy it by me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause my kid brother works in Jimi Jimi.
He'd been turning ball about 90 days.
Joy gets junk about three o'clock. All your nigger knows your
junior walk at night.
Down at Jimi Day. With the Jimi Jimi days.
I know a scene where the rhythm of two wings are short of me.
I know a scene where he too hard, he too soft, he too light in between.
I know a scene. Fine, pretty clean.
Come on and see. I get you in both a race.
Yeah, cause my kid brother works in Jimi Jimi.
He'd been turning ball about 90 days.
Joy gets junk about three o'clock. All your nigger knows your
junior walk at night.
Down at Jimi Day. With the Jimi Jimi days.
Down at Jimi, down at Jimi, down at Jimi Jimi day.
Oh, I'm trying to tell you it's cool.
Oh, ain't nobody gonna act the fool.
Oh, ain't nobody gonna act the fool.
Come on and see. I get you in both a race.
Well, well, welcome my kid brother works in Jimi Jimi.
He'd been turning ball about 90 days.
Joy gets junk about three o'clock. All your nigger knows your
junior walk at night.
Down at Jimi, down at Jimi, down at Jimi, down at Jimi Jimi day.
Oh, I'm trying to tell you it's cool.
This is a little song I wrote about what it's like to be a New
Orleans boy. Get yourself a big time agent.
And the first thing he does for you is he books you a three month
tour in the middle of winter in Alaska.
So this song, you will see why I'm gonna need to cheat a little
on this song. So this song is called Good God Alaska.
You ready?
Couldn't find no gumbo in Juneau. Couldn't find no cornbread in
the wind.
I'm going home, can't stay no way. Good God Alaska.
I caught me a heavy snowing crudo. And New Orleans ain't my share.
I didn't make black magic catch a can. Turned out to be a sex
man and we're both going home as soon as we can.
Good God Alaska.
When it's 40 below and the North wind blows. A poor North Southern
boy can't even feel his toes. It's dark all day.
You pray the weather gonna get better. Then a moose comes walking
by and he's wearing a sweater. No discipline man and there's
no one like Steve Bowes. I'm going home as soon as I can. Good God Alaska.
Drum.
Yo Billy, where you been? Say it.
Yo Billy, where you been?
I think you will act much weaver luck. Hold a checky, go checky.
Go yuck, go yuck. Go go checky, quick yuck. Quad lake, quick yuck.
And ain't it just my funky luck.
I say yo Billy, where you been?
Yo Billy, where you been?
Well let me see, here's a lacke lick, anic, anilick, an amylic,
vagalick, chiknick, yuba shake, a cattle chick, nick,
pot lick, nick, nick, nick, chick, hospital licks, and jick.
Honey you can take your pick.
I say yo Billy, where else you been?
I say yo Billy, where else you been?
The last two of us are kayak jack, a cooler rack, anteack, a cougar back,
cask, and that kook, at cagooliac, and kellyack, quick back, back, back,
no act, second, no attack, oscillac, tertuliac, codiac, and back.
Well that is the most squeezed, always aim and de-please,
but when it's minus ten degrees, I ain't dropping my BDDs.
Everything freezes, from your schnauzer to your sneezes,
so cold every day when the people pray, they go ch ch ch ch ch ch jesus.
I said good God bless me.
Yeah!
So everybody we need a blues tune for the show tonight,
it's called My Whole World Is Blue.
One, two, three, four.
Blue house on the corner, blue car parked outside,
blue dress on the woman in the window with the light blue eyes,
blue cloth on the table, blue napkin cloth knife,
blue rimmed china, 74-1, a mass blue ribbon on ice,
since you've been gone, I don't know what to do,
baby since you've been gone, my whole world is blue.
Blue shirt on the hanger, blue buttons on the floor,
blue socks on the dresser, got my whole blue jeans on the floor,
blue Monday on the radio, blue birds that don't wanna fly, yeah,
blue healer in the backyard, how I would have had that blue moon in the sky,
since you've been gone, baby there ain't no other you,
darling since you've been gone, my whole world is blue.
I put on my old blue jacket, I went down to the Blue Note Cafe,
my blue hair waitress looked at me and she said, I got a blue plate special today,
since you've been gone, baby I don't know what to do,
I've been gone since you've been gone, my whole world is blue.
If that's Mr. Jack, go for it with your saxophone, ladies and gentlemen.
Oh yeah, brother.
Well, I slipped on my dark blue lovers, I stepped down to the Blue Note Saloon,
blue label stacks, 45 of them tube box, blue, blue, 7-8-2, since you've been gone, baby what can I do,
my, my, my, my, since you've been gone, my whole world is blue.
Yeah, let's take a moment and introduce the band, ladies and gentlemen,
I'm sitting here with three of the most in-demand guys in the Northwest, you know,
and it just, you can't get any, it's just hard to explain how good that feels.
Mr. Rick Hool on the bass guitar, ladies and gentlemen.
On the drums, Mr. Michael Kinbrick.
On the saxophone, Mr. John Gofor it, yes.
For all you fans out there, the T&M CD and the Back 9 CDs,
these are the gentlemen who made all those songs sound so good.
Mr. Billy Beck, you're on 29, and the keys are an excellent band,
I think the A band is definitely the way to say it.
Mr. John Gofor it on the saxophone, ladies and gentlemen.
Don't hesitate to give your obunctious about your cause.
I'm not very obunctious, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to try them hard.
Mr. Rick Hool on the bass, come on, give it up, give it up.
Mr. Michael Kinbrick on the drums, and you started your band with a good film.
If you had your choice, dead or alive, of an arranger,
because saxophonists are basically vocalists, but then they hear everything,
you hear everything, who would be your arranger, who would be your ideal arranger?
Oh man, that's a good question.
That's a really good question, but there are so many guys that were really great.
Claude Thornhill comes to mind, not as well known as some, Henry Mancini, Ellington,
incredible arranger, Count Basie, yeah.
The list goes on and on, there's so many good arrangers out there.
What makes a good arranger, can I get a number two question?
Well, a good arranger is sensitive to all the instruments,
and understands what they do and what they can do together and in small groups.
A really great arranger can take a band and create small bands within that band,
and so it creates all sorts of different textures musically, yeah.
Oh, good answer. John Goldforth on saxophone.
Oh man, that's good, John Goldforth.
I'm so lucky to work with this guy.
Oh, well, just stand over here, he's got his own microphone, and he's in the light.
Just stand right there, you're in the light.
Oh, feel that light.
It looks good on you.
It looks beautiful.
You look great in red, by the way.
Thank you very much.
I had to fight little Richard for this.
We were at the rack at the same time.
Quite the entertainer, and way more so than most Seattleites.
You bring it, you bring it, dude.
Thank you very much.
You know, obviously by the audience as well, I can tell that class just showed up in the room.
Class. You got it.
You bring it all the way, performing, outfits, songs, arrangements, the band.
There's just no down spots.
So, tell me something, is it tough for a blue-eyed soul boy from New Orleans to live in a rock and roll town?
You sang about it. Is that a tough one?
It was a tremendous adjustment for me, because my very first night I played at a nightclub here in town was called Pier 70,
and I asked the audience to clap along, and they clapped on one and three.
Oh, we're on beat.
We're known for that.
But I, what really, the job brought me up here, it was falling in love that made me stay up here.
That's a trade-off that when you have the girl that I get to kiss goodnight every night, that's a trade-off anybody will take.
You're not the only one. Miss Mary Lee Rush is your wife, and we're all very proud of her accomplishments.
But you also, she's very polite.
Yes.
And she digs you, man. She digs you.
You're up there singing about her half the time, aren't you?
Are most of these songs about Marilyn?
If it's a love song, it's about my wife.
She's in there, huh?
My wife's right there, what do you expect me to say?
Okay, so, tell me what the funnest song for you, I mean, I love the Alaska song, I'm always laughing at that one.
Everything is blue, that's my new favorite.
Thank you.
I know a place, I love that tune you're walking through, what's the funnest song for you to write?
You have so much fun at writing songs, obviously.
The funnest part about writing, I sometimes joke that it's like the Old Testament.
You have an auditory hallucination and you write it down.
The great thing about songwriting, if you don't limit yourself, I mean, some guys like to write in a certain pocket and they're just great at it.
But I get to hear something and somehow it gets through the synapse, what's a good way to put it, from synapses to sinew.
Oh, it's got your bones.
And the greatest, it's a gift that I'm so grateful for.
And Michael is a songwriter, we all grew up in the era of what they call one-four-fives.
And they're all great songs.
And I try to avoid the one-four-five no matter what.
And that's my number one goal usually.
And so when I do fall into that in a song, it's because it just speaks to me that way.
But I was lucky of all things, I spent about seven or eight years in Nashville as a songwriter.
And even though I was a square peg in a round hole and everybody would ask me, oh you write songs like that, give me some for Perlinovsky.
The discipline of Nashville writers, they understand the structure of a song.
And you combine that with the songs I grew up listening to, the songs of Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday.
Those songs have structure and that's the heart of it, can you work within that structure? And the hook.
Oh yeah. And the words are so fun.
And you have to listen to horn players to sing like you do.
What are the horn players that really, because I mean vocalists listen to horn players and horn players listen to vocalists.
Well you know some of the really, James Moody comes to mind right away, Johnny Hodges.
And the vocalists, I was lucky, I was so lucky that a guy took me under his wing when I was 11.
And he gave me Ella Fitzgerald's Stopping at the Savoy.
And I had no idea there was a whole world out there of,
And so every time I took the bandstand as a young kid or a teenager with adults,
as soon as I started singing like that, they didn't look at me as most people justifiably look at the kid acts.
So Ella Fitzgerald had a profound influence on my life and the left turn and everything.
So it's a combination of horn players and singers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get that. Somebody's singing lead in your head.
Okay so same question to go for. What are your ideal arrangers?
Who are some of your ideal arrangers? Because you hear everything in your head. I know you do.
You know I'm certainly with John that a great arranger works with 12 staves, staffs,
I don't know, staves I guess are really 12 lines at a time.
And I can barely work with one at a time. I'm lucky.
Those guys have 12 in a row with all the parts like that.
And they are the unsung heroes of the business.
They're the guys who are the last, only the musicians pay attention to who the arrangers are.
And in R&B music, a guy who doesn't get enough credit for his arrangements is Stevie Wonder.
Because Stevie Wonder does a lot of his...
Go ahead, go ahead.
And in terms of that genre, the incredible Donny Hathaway.
Donny Hathaway was an extremely gifted man.
He was mentioned so much.
Extremely gifted man.
Yeah, a lot of musicians mention him in just passing.
And for the, you know in the old school it was guys like Nelson Riddle.
You know guys who just made great charts. Charts guys love to play.
So you carved out a niche.
The golf thing, that's part of your niche.
But how come we don't have like a rack of Billy Mack CDs in?
I need a rack of Billy Mack CDs.
I'm like, why is there this gap in my CD library?
There's no rational explanation for why I didn't record myself more often.
Beautiful stuff man. You make beautiful music.
I gotta reach for this. I gotta get it down.
That is my new goal. To start making a couple of CDs a year.
Because I have a back...
Amen.
I spoke to the gal who will hopefully be my new publisher tonight.
And she said send me some songs. And I sent her, I think I sent her 30 songs.
Just because there are so many sitting around that need to get cut.
But it also, it requires a supporting cast.
And you know, making a CD, even a golf CD to make a good one is going to cost you...
You know, you've got to put a significant investment in.
But the way you...
There's some fans of the golf work here and they know that these guys made that stuff sound like a million dollars.
Yeah.
Wow.
You asked why there isn't a rack of Billy Mack CDs.
Because for 8 or 10 years at a time I may be off playing 225 nights a year.
But hopefully there come those points where you get to record something that does make a difference.
Very moving music that you make. So I want a rack of Billy Mack CDs.
I'm working on that.
I...
We're down to even time, whatever it takes.
I am greatly indebted to my parents for not...
For letting me walk away from a lot of things in order to do what I do.
And to my wife, who is always at my side, who believes in me.
And anybody who knows Merrily knows that Merrily is the real deal.
She is the real deal.
And she sets a standard in my...
It's a very cool thing when you're not even the star in your own bedroom.
That's actually a very cool thing.
You're living with an RV queen.
Yeah.
That's great.
Shut up.
Yes.
And lots of joy out of that woman.
I'm sure you get so much joy. It's amazing.
Okay, the interview could last all night.
But I think there's more music in our future.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming out and being a part of our evening.
Mr. John Goforth on the saxophone, Rick Poole on the bass, and Michael Kinder on the drums.
Mr. Billy Mack, here at ADP.
Years go by, time just flies, sometimes we may lose track of why.
We fell the day we met, so less you should forget.
I wouldn't trade you for the world, not for any other girl.
Not for diamonds, not for oceans filled with pearls.
No, not for both the Carolinas, not for all that tea in China.
I wouldn't trade you for the world.
Days will pass, but love can last.
It doesn't have to fly so fast.
Before it slips away, I'm gonna take my chance to say.
That I wouldn't, I wouldn't trade you for the world.
Not for any other girl.
Not for a Venus or a princess framed in curls.
No, not for Istanbul or Paris.
Not for mantle, Ruth and Maris.
I wouldn't trade you for the world.
I'd trade my steps for Freda Stairs, my charm for Chevalier's Deafenere.
But never gin for Solitaire.
So here's part promise and part prayer.
I wouldn't trade you for the world.
Not for any other girl.
Not for mansions built for Duchesses and Earls.
No, no, no.
Not for a King's ransom.
Not for God to make me handsome.
I wouldn't trade you for the world.
I wouldn't trade you for the world.
Thanks everybody.
Thank you very much for being here today.
Thanks for being here today.
Thank you.
Well I'd like to touch you baby, but I don't want to get burned.
I've been thinking about what you got, I'd like to get turned.
And I don't want to wait, don't want to play no games.
Well I don't even really need to know your name.
Like a group on safari, hunting your big game.
I'm leaving the station on your love train.
And I don't want to wait, don't need to think it through.
Well don't you know your baby knows what's good for you.
Satisfaction baby is all I need.
Satisfaction baby is guaranteed.
Satisfaction baby is guaranteed.
Satisfaction baby is guaranteed.
I'm running on my money in your sun machine.
I'm running for your lover, come on green.
I'm holding all the aces, this mama didn't raise no fool.
You're playing with me, you've got to play by house rules.
And I don't want to wait, don't need to think it through.
Well don't you know your baby knows what's good for you.
Hey, thank you so much.
Willie wrote that song.
Thank you so much.
Mary Mae Paige and the Assassins.
Been in the scene for how many years, Mary?
This band has been together for two months.
As you see, we just added Baja a couple months ago.
No, not yet.
But us four have been playing together for a little over a year.
But you've been singing this stuff for years.
How many years you've had a band?
I've had a band since like 1994.
We got to Seattle in 90.
You came from Seattle, from Alaska?
I came from Florida, but I'm a Washington native.
That's a whole other part of the country, Florida, Alaska, I don't know how I did that.
So now you've been writing music for quite a while.
I love originals, love getting originals.
What inspired you first to write original music?
I just had something to say.
I had words in my head and little melodies and they kind of needed to come out.
And you're a vocalist, the same thing about singing, huh?
Kind of, yeah.
I've always kind of wanted to sing.
The very first song I wrote was a blues song.
I wrote it in the third grade.
It was called Dog Gone, My Dog Is Gone.
And it was a blues.
I'll teach Baja one of these days.
Well, now on your website it also says you're influenced country, rock, and torch.
Those are three words.
No blues in there.
How did that happen?
Well, I grew up listening to Patsy Cline and Tammy and all of the girl country singers.
And I love torch music.
I like, you know, Katie Ling and Barbra Streisand and all those good girl singers.
Well, did you have a voice as a little girl?
Was this always something that was obvious that you were going to be a singer?
Oh, no.
No.
I took some voice lessons when I got to Seattle and learned how to sing.
Who did you take lessons from?
That's curious because not everybody takes voice lessons or even thinks about taking voice lessons.
I took from a woman here in Seattle named Susan Carr.
And she's on Queen Anne and she's fabulous.
She is.
She is.
You did a great job with you.
You can sing.
It takes a lot to project your voice.
I mean, some people think they can sing, but when you actually get in front of a crowd with a microphone,
it's a whole other bag of worms.
It's a whole other bag of worms.
The first step is the hardest part.
Do you like that fishing reference, bag of worms?
I do.
Well, now, okay, so Country Rock Torch and the Blues.
Your first song was the Blues.
And you have four CDs out.
Am I right?
I got Osmosis and Blue Who and then Leave in Oz.
And we're going to bring back some of those Leaving Oz songs.
We're going to bring back Melody 31 and Closer.
And then I have Drink with the Band.
Yeah.
And then the last one, The Most Beautiful.
And Rock and the Knot.
And Rock and the Knot, we did a live CD a couple years ago.
So that's five.
Five CDs, okay.
All right, five CDs in her bevy.
That's right.
And what is, yeah, what kind of music do you work on?
What are you working on?
We're going to record something soon.
Okay.
More original songs.
And these guys, Willie Straub, can write some songs.
Yeah, me too.
Thank you.
He's been in your band for a few, hasn't he?
Or he's just been in the scene for years.
We're going on a year and four months together, I think, Mary.
Somewhere around there, yes.
You missed our anniversary in July.
I got you something.
Really?
It's in the mail.
Well, now you guys do have a lot of fun.
And that's part of the chemistry, isn't it?
I mean, to be able to make fun on a stage for people.
You've been doing this for how many years?
Probably 25.
How many bands you've been in?
Maybe eight.
Yeah, between eight and 25.
What did she ask you?
How many bands?
Okay.
Well, and it's true, people know you as Polly O'Curie's brother.
I got to say that.
But you have a musical family, and you obviously show your stuff.
Well, thank you.
Yes, Polly O'Curie is my sister.
She's a bass player currently for Two Slim and the Taildraggers.
And prior to that, had a band that I was in.
And she's a great bass player, great vocalist, and a great writer.
And a nice sister.
And a nice sister, too.
They have a good sister in the family.
Where did you learn how to play piano?
I actually grew up as a classical pianist.
You know, my dad taught me how to play piano.
So, you know, since the age of three, four, five, something like that.
Played top 40, and then that was back home in Egypt.
And then I came to America because I love jazz and Latin.
And here I am in a great blues band.
Well, I can hear you, Chops.
You've got the boogie-woogie in you.
So now, what was the first blues and boogie-wee that really,
or blues that got you infected with the music?
You're not going to believe the story.
I never played blues about three years ago.
I was working for an audio company,
and one of my dealers said that you should come by and jam with us in blues.
And I said, I have no idea how to play the blues.
So I showed up in the club,
and I cannot believe that three chords can do magic.
You've got to feel it, though.
Let's hear it for three chords.
Can we hear it for three chords?
I know, I tell people I can play piano because my mom plays and my grandma played.
But I tell them I only play three chords, so they don't expect this much.
But you can really play.
You know the sevenths and the ninths and all that stuff.
Do you know the actual theory and all that?
I'm not a drummer. I can't count.
Sorry.
Well, I've been studying jazz.
And of course, yes, I do know my chords, hopefully.
He knows his chords.
What's your favorite chord?
My favorite chord?
One without the tones.
I'm going to let him think about that.
What's your favorite chord?
Well, you know what?
I play a lot of different kind of music.
And there's Eastern, Top 40 blues, of course, and jazz.
So what about floats?
Well, and that's got to be an interesting place to be as far as putting all that together in your head.
I mean, you're improvising when you're playing blues and jazz,
and yet you're bringing together your roots, your Egyptian roots,
your blues roots, your classical roots.
I mean, it's got to be interesting.
I try not to.
I mean, I try to give each category of music its own feel.
But blues especially is very expressive to me.
And the more you hear, the more you just find out stuff that is amazing.
We're talking about freedom of expression here in America. Look out.
I'm going to get that Constitution out in a second.
Can I preach? Look out.
Okay, Mr. Drummersome.
I've got to give the drummer some.
Carl Martin, how long have you been playing the drum?
I started playing when I was 12 years old.
You knew you had some rhythm and you wanted to do something with it.
I was doing things around the house, and finally my parents said,
you know what, we have to buy him a drum set.
Now, who was the first drummer you saw live?
The first drummer I don't recall exactly, but I remember going to a Buddy Rich show,
saw him before he died, and it was just jaw-dropping.
Your parents made a point of taking you to that show, I bet.
Actually, I went with a friend, but they were very supportive.
They've been very supportive. What are you laughing at?
Well, you have a lot of fun.
And how long have you been playing with your bass player, Patrick Buddy, over there?
I've played with Patrick in this band for a little over a year, like Mary was saying,
and we've played together.
We've been in another band together and have done casuals together.
I can see you guys have had casuals together, as you were saying.
You knew you were going to be on TV and you intentionally wore the kilt.
Can I ask you why?
Actually, I wear the kilt a lot. As a matter of fact, if I forget to wear it for a gig,
there are several people on Facebook, apparently, who raise quite a stink about it.
I figured they might be watching, possibly.
Do you have a history? There's a story here?
Oh, I'm Scottish. I mean, by heredity. So I figured I've earned the right.
There's a kilt store in Pioneer Square. Have you ever gone in that way?
I have some utility kilts, yes.
So you've got a closet full of these things.
Yes, I do.
Oh, to use a word. And what's that thing called? What's that thing called? A purse? No.
This is called a sporang. And this is because there's no pockets to put anything in.
So you've got to be able to – but the other thing is that men can't sit in skirts, right?
So this holds the front of the –
Everything's there on the – oh.
Just hanging out here on a Monday night. Just hanging out. I had to go there.
It's not a skirt. Oh.
I'm the serious member of the band, just so you know.
Tell me about your gear. I mean, your bass.
This one?
I see a bass instrument. Listen. You've got a five-string bass I want to hear about this.
You've got a nice instrument. I can't go anywhere without digging a hole.
Tell me about your bass, mister.
It's a Fender Fretless Jazz 5, made in 1990.
How long have you been playing?
Thank you, Rick, for that. Never mind.
This one I've had for –
How long have you been playing bass?
How long have I been playing bass? Way too long. Like 35 years. No, actually 30 years.
I also know, when did you first realize it was your instrument of calling?
You know, that's a really funny question, because I actually – I first started taking piano when I was five.
Took 12 years of classical piano.
Then started taking trombone lessons somewhere in there.
Took another 12 years of trombone lessons. Played professionally as a horn player for years.
Started playing bass. I'm completely self-taught on it, and it's the only thing I play now.
You definitely got a knack for it. On bass, Patrick McDonnell. We've got a great band here, The Assassins.
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
In the rhythm section, love.
The Assassins
The Assassins
The Assassins
I'm too sexy for my shoes.
Too sexy for my shoes.
Too sexy. I'm just too sexy.
I'm too sexy for this kilt.
Too sexy for that pill.
Too sexy. I'm just too sexy.
If you want my body and you think I'm sexy, come on baby, let me know.
If you really need me, just reach out and touch me.
Come on baby, let me know.
Tell me so.
We'll do it one more time.
If you want my body and you think I'm sexy, come on baby, let me know.
If you really need me, just reach out and touch me. Come on baby, let me know.
Tell me so.
I'm standing on shaky ground.
Every sense you pull me down.
I said I'm standing on shaky ground.
Every sense you put me down.
I'm standing on shaky ground.
Every sense you pull me down.
I said I'm standing on shaky ground.
Every sense you put me down.
Alright boys!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!