How Did We Get Weird with Vanessa Bayer and Jonah BayerThis week, the Bayer siblings are thrilled to welcome comedian and fellow Clevelander, Dave Hill to the podcast! They're talking about growing up in the city that rocks, Dave rocking all the way to the stage of the Jon Stewart Show with his band Sons Of Elvis and how this catholic school kid became a force to reckon with in the world of entertainment. We also discuss formative concert experiences—including the Guns 'N Roses show Jonah and Dave both saw in 1991 and the very different takeaways they had due to their relatively minor, but at the time major differences in age. (Spoiler alert: Dave's mom didn't take him to the concert.) Plus, we potentially make some headway in the mystery of whether Jewel played at a beloved coffee shop in Cleveland? Finally, in a rousing game of CHANGE.DORK, the three of us debate the merits of Dave getting let back on Twitter, a Cleveland NHL expansion and should Jacob grow a Tony Iommi style mustache? Should Dave grow one? You'll have to listen to find out!
Hi, I'm Vanessa Bayer and this is my brother Jonah.
We're two siblings who love to talk about our childhood in nostalgia and how it shaped us into the people we are today.
Who are so excited because today's guest rocks.
Welcome to how did we get Weird?
So Vanessa, Today on the show, we have a guest from Cleveland, which is always so exciting and so exciting.
This guest is not someone we knew growing up.
No, we've had some high school friends and that kind of stuff, someone we met as adults. But this guest has unlocked a lot of my own experiences from growing up in Cleveland. Like, I've done a lot of stuff in Cleveland that I didn't really understand until I spoke to this guest. Right, Like, I'll give you an example. I'm keeping a very vague Like one time I was in a band called The Love Kill. We recorded with this guy down de Pew from The Spam Breaker when I was young. I was like twenty two, twenty three, and I remember Don being like Jay Mascus is playing this bachelor party at the studio I work at. You know you should come hang out, and you know how when you're in your early twenties, like you'll just go to stuff you're not invited to and just be like, I should just go to this, Like now, I would be like nervous to go. If I was even invited by the person hosting it, I'd be like did they really like me?
But I just like went.
I was like okay, and I just went showed up, hung out, watch the show is really cool, didn't talk to anyone, and then was like, I guess I'll just go home. And I never really thought about it again. And then I remember becoming friends with our guests and asking about it, and he was like, oh, yeah, that was this person's party.
I know that you know, and he gave me the whole backstory.
And there's I think we'll discover more of those moments throughout the podcast, but so many yeah Cleveland music moments that me and this person were at that I never really understood why I was there.
We got to introduce this guy because I can't wait for it. Was this a treasure hunt because we're going to make so many discoveries exactly.
So in case you haven't figured out, our today's guest is a comedian. Oh my gosh, they've done some writer, podcaster or everything. I mean, Dave has really done it all. His new book is called The Awesome Game, One Man's Incredible globe crushing Hockey Obyssey. It's out now. Let's give it up for fellow Cleveland or Dave Hill.
Hello.
Hello, that was a lot, but I'm just we're so excited to talk.
It's a lot, but never enough, It's never enough. Yeah, we're all from Cleveland, you guys were you guys are an Orange you grew up?
Is that right?
Yeah?
Yeah, we went to Orange schools. Where did you go?
I went to jay Zu in University Heights right by Fairmount Circle, Catholic h you know, elementary school, and then I went to Saint Ignacious. My parents we had to go to all Catholic everything. So I lived this weird, sheltered existence of Catholic school growing up.
Well yeah, yeah, yeah, because we didn't really know a lot of kids from those those schools growing up.
I feel like you're lucky.
Well were you were you into like religion as a kid when you were growing up or was it like?
Uh?
I think I just like accepted it as this thing, you know, like I better be a good.
Well I don't know, just it just fills you.
With uh, neuro seas and things like that and worse, you know, But I think I don't know.
I think I figured out.
I remember talking to my dad when I was like five or six and just being like, well, you're just supposed to be nice, right, that's the deal, right, And he's like yeah. So I'm like, Okay, I think I get it. But that didn't save me from, like, you know, a lot of scarring and things that I'm still working through. I'll probably I'm my goal is to just get like kind of two weeks of mentals to ability and happiness and towards the end of my life, you know, I'm still working on it through all the various methods.
Yeah, no, I guess. So were you as a kid hanging on the east side, west side?
What was your Yeah, where were your what were your big hangs? Because we went to Fairmount Temple for a while, which was probably pretty close to.
Yeah, it was. It was, yeah, not far from from me.
Growing up, I hung out on the east Side, and then when I got into high school, you know, there's a lot I went Ignacious, which was in Ohio City, and then I met you know a lot of kids from the West Side and started hanging out.
You know.
I had a girlfriend very briefly who lived in you know, Rocky River, which was you know world away and uh, but yeah, I'm mostly East side, you know, hanging out and uh, driving up and down Mayfield Road and things like that.
Right, right, Sure.
I spent a lot of time hanging out that that core yard of Coventry outside when Arabica was there.
Yeah, yeah, that was like the cool I was probably not. I probably was not cool enough, but also thought I was at the same time to kind of the worldview I have today is still not cool enough, but also thinking I'm too cool. I'm not cool enough to hang out at that where you're talking about a Coventry.
But then I was also I'm so much cool.
I mean just I'm basically I had like, you know, a couple other friends, and we would just hang out in each other's basements, thinking we're vastly superior to everybody, but also afraid of everybody.
Were you like jamming in the basement, were you what's going on down there?
Yeah?
We would you know, watch cable and some of them would drink I never drank beer, really until I think the summer before college, I was like, I'm gonna start getting into beer, and I never I never looked back. But yeah, we would be down there watching cable and like watching you know, Letterman and all these things, and yeah, sometimes playing music and things like that.
But I was always, even at a.
Young age, like to this day, very like impatient musician, very like quick to get mad at people for making mistakes. I was the same way when I was six sixteen that I am now.
Just yeah, no, it to be like this, yeah.
Really annoying, So no one wants to play music with me.
Last time I saw you perform, Dave was in North Adams and I think you had the opening comedian play bass for you during your set and you were kind of coaching him throughout each song. Yeah.
Well, yeah, I've kind of turned it into part of the show now, as I kind of my shows now are usually you know, when I'm doing a full show, I usually get like a local drummer, bass player or you know, if i'm.
You know, I've been, I've been.
I'm toured with Tenacious D and I'm gonna go out with them again soon.
They're they're drummer.
Scott and bass player John play with me and I get to yell at them every night, which is really fun because they're amazing musicians. It's always it's funnier the better the musicians to be rate them.
It's funnier the better.
They are, of course, because you can't yell at someone who's genuinely not good.
That's me right right. You brought up this memory.
I was hanging out of Coventry once with my friends who were like fifteen sixteen, and my friend was wearing like a bad religion hat, and I remember this guy came up to us and was like, oh, you guys get like the punk starter pack, Like basically, oh cold.
Calling us posers.
I mean, did you that felt like that was such a big thing in the nineties, like people like all these bands singing about people being posters and not really being into punk. Was that something that was on your are in the nineties.
Yeah, I mean I think about it.
I think with all music, ultimately, like I would just have to have someone play it for me and then I'd be like, oh okay. But until then, I mean now I'm now I'm just kind of always like constantly searching for new things or old things that I missed, you know. And but I think when I was a kid the same thing, like I kind of like kind of made fun of, at least in my head, kids that were like trying a little too hard to be punk rock, especially like it's say ignacious the all boys school, where you had to like you really had to try to like work it into the dress code. Liked be like I'm gonna fit the dress code, but I'm going to get like a military jacket and it's going to have like this patch on it, and you know, I would always be like calm down, but at the same time be like I want to hang out with that guy, you know. But I just remember, you know, there was a certain bands because I was just super into it, you know rock, you know, led Zeppelin and the Who and Kinks and you know, just like classic rock stuff. And then you know, people friends started playing me you know, Who's Kurdoo and the Replacements and yeah, things like then Bad Brains, and then I'd be like, oh, but I but like had had to be like once I would hear and then I would be like, oh, okay, I'm in. But I've always been like more into music than like a scene like I think I've always kind of rejected any scene of Like when I came to New York to go to school, I went to Fordham. I started going to the New York hardcore shows, but I never felt like part of it. You know, I was like, why is everyone dressed the same? This is stupid. Like I would be there and like my Rugby shirt and rebox that my mom bought me, you know, in Cleveland, thinking I was cooler than everyone, which I was not. But yeah, I was always kind of felt like more like kind of observing.
Never felt like I'm going to go all in and get this haircut of that haircut.
It feels like a lot of work, especially in those you know punks that you know, you got to do your hair up, you got to get the clothes, you got to eat it.
Like it feels like a lot of effort.
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I remember going to shows and I would go My buddy Tim Parnan is also from Cleveland, and he's now actually one of the vice presidents of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
So he's really.
Whoa rocking wow and he's a great guitar player, musician, plays in a bunch of bands and actually plays in Sweet Apple with Jay Mascus. But we would we would go to anything that had if there was a guitar player on stage, we would be like we're going, Like it didn't matter, so we would which is great because we would see everything. You know, we would see rat one day, then we would go see h and Orange the next day. But I never again having no not feeling any identity with anything other than my three friends. Like we would go to shows where like the kids. Was like, it took me a while. I was like, what is that smell? Every time we see a certain kind of band when you're with the all the kids, it smells a certain way, And I was like, what is that smell? It's not pot But and then one day I was like, oh, it's hairspray and clove cigarettes. Yeah, and anytime you see a certain kind of band, because this is back when people would be smoking, you know, in the show.
Sure.
And then I remember like going to see you know, psychedelic Furs and a blossom and just being like, what's this smell? Everyone smells this. I'm like, oh, that's the ton of hairspray.
Yeah, Yeah, that's so funny. When I would go see like Jonah's like sort of punk shows. When I was younger, I would do the opposite of you, David, where I would try and dress the same way as everyone and just not pull it off. So we were both probably standing out, but I was standing out and I had made the effort. And it's still like I don't know what I could even do to this day to like look punk. Like I still think it would be so hard for me because I just have like this look all over my face that's like that's not that's not what's going on.
I think that's maybe for the band.
I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I mean because now like really punk, I mean I don't know. I'll wear T shirts, you know, bands and stuff. But like I think when I see like, I don't know, like a mohawk, I feel like, I don't know, like anyone. It's like a mohawk is for like I'm one under the age of twelve maybe or like I don't know, who looks good. Once in a while, you'll see someone with a mohawk that's like totally done. You know that it's like a fu high and you're like, Okay, I respect that.
But when have you known?
I mean I don't see it as much now, but like a few years ago, I felt like there was this thing where I would see men, like grown men, like middle aged men with mohawks, and I would just feel like so bad for them because I'd be like, dude, it's so beyond over.
Whatever you're going for is so like you're a dad? Uh right?
Right?
Yeah, I have a house, Like, come.
On, And what happens with the mohawk when it's not styled? Is it just does it just go off to one side?
Yeah?
Well I guess you could put it in a little pony. But I get it's a tough you know, it's you're making a commitment to. Yeah, it's tough.
Dave, would you Vanessa's talking about going to see my bands as a kid, Like I do remember my family going like watching me play the eucle tavern when I was like a teenager. I mean, would your family like ever come out to see your bands play or anything when you were Yeah.
Like my first band, I formed this band in college called Sons of Elvis.
Yes, I remember I remember that name. Were you guys on the radio? I remember the name sounds familiar.
Yeah, we kind of had this, you know, this blip of where we got a record deal. We signed with Priority Records, which was primarily like a hip hop label, and we but they decided to sign a few rock bands. We signed with them like right after college and we're on the radio and we had a video on MTV at like whoa three at three in the morning and all this, and.
Yeah, were you guys on like MMS and stuff.
Yeah, we were on that and yeah the end.
One seven point nine, Yeah.
And it was really exciting little blip and time. What was your big song we have? I'm glad you asked for this. We and there's a you can watch the video on oh, we will watch it on YouTube.
I think there's a version.
We had a song called Formaldehyde, which was in keeping with nineties post grunge. Arrow was just an arbitrary name that had nothing to do with the song. You know, you know how songs are just like we're gonna call this and now you know, we're like, you know, young and stupid, like let's just name our songs whatever that have nothing to do with the song. And most of our songs were named that way.
Okay, but for Maldehyde was the Big that was.
The big hit, the big, the big one, the one he had.
The video for and stuff.
Yeah, yeah, and we were we were on the John Stuart Show.
John Stewart had this show.
Yeah, yeah, like a talk show kind of thing where he wore like a leather bomber jacket, and we were on that show. And it's very all, very exciting. That is on YouTube. Also you can see I have really I have like want to be like Chris Cornell hair like nine, you know, yeah, long curly hair, curly in a way that somehow my hair won't do anymore, which is fine, but in a way you know that only you know. It's uh yeah, it's just a magical little time. And then you know as painting houses.
Shortly after, Wow, did you guys ever play Buzzardfest or any of that kind of stuff you did? I was recently looking up buzzard Fest info and it's weird that we're talking about this.
Yeah, we played that, We played Enfest, and.
We were so I really wish I could get some of this back because I really don't have it anymore. But we were so can vince that we were the greatest band, which I think is a great attitude to have. Sure, if you're going to have a band, you might as well assume you're the best, right And we were just so we would go out and do those festivals, and you know as a time when there was these radio festivals all over and you would go out and play, you know, to you know, sometimes twenty thousand people, and we were just like, Yeah, this is what we should be doing. This is what makes sense. But now I don't think that way. I'm like, oh, but yeah, it was very fun.
And I'm just looking it up because you guys were on the soundtrack for the film Higher Learning.
I don't know if we were. I can't remember if we were on the actual soundtrack. I know we had a song in the movie.
You had a song in the movie Wow, that is incredible.
Appropriately, the song was in a scene, not appropriately but embarrassingly this it was playing in the frat house where like someone had been sexually assaulted or something had gone just something bad had happened, and these the jerks are listening to our band. Oh man, so or there's a party and maybe not everyone at the party as the jerks, but the jerks who did what.
It's been a long time since I've seen the movie, but.
They did something bad and our music is playing in the background at this party.
Oh man, okay, and what higher learning?
What? What is? It?
Takes place at a college?
It sounds like, yeah, yeah, it was.
I think I want to say it was a John Singleton movie.
And was ice Cube in the movie? Am I getting that wrong?
I'm looking at yah, Jennifer Connelly, ice Cube, Omar Abs, Michael Rappaport, Lawrence Fishburn, Christy Swanson.
Yeah.
Wow, this is a really stacked cast.
And who is very famous model turned like Oh, Tyra Banks.
Tyra Banks, Yes, she was in the movie, says Buster Rhymes. Yeah, yeah, they were all there.
Yeah wow, that's incredible.
Yeah, Dave.
You know, I thought I knew everything about your musical career and then you drop something like this, and it's like it's.
Like a you know what it is.
I'm really old and like so it's easy for like little nuggets like that to just completely escape people because I've been around, been seventy eight years old.
Well, I just feel like I would have thought you were so cool when because they're not that much older than me. But when you were doing this stuff, I was a little younger, and I was like, you're the perfect age. Listen to em Me's listened to like Day or whatever, and I was like, oh, this guy's in son to Elvis, like this is you know, these guys are as big as Sponge or something.
I don't know we were.
I think we were like, yeah, we were, you know, a casualty not quite as big as Sponge. So very cautionary tale nineties tail. We actually I remember the guy who produced Sponges record, you know, the one that started it off for.
Sponge Rotten Pinata. I believe that's the one. Yes, yes, this guy's name I think was Tim Padalin. He came to meet with us about producing our next record. And then as these things go, and very nice guy, these things go, we were dropped by our label and everything.
It was like we had this van. We bought this It was like an eighties conversion van, this long, state of the art, like nineteen eighty eight, like super long van with like it had a VCR in it and like a CB radio. It had like state of the art nineteen eighty eight, and we bought it in like ninety five or something. And the very last that we finally in the end once the band had just completely fizzled out. We sold it for like three hundred dollars to some month. It's very sad.
Yeah, it looks like were you like, I guess we're not a priority at a Priority records.
When you got dropped, Wow, Joanna and on that incredible pun.
I needed to hear it.
Yeah, we're gonna take it. We're gonna take a quick commercial break, but we'll be right back with David.
And we're back.
So, Dave, I wanted to talk to you about a very formative experience in my life we talked about on the podcast. Was my mom taking our mom taking me to see Guns N' Roses in nineteen ninety one at Richfield Calcium on the User Illusion tour with skid Row. And we were texting the other day and you're the only other person I think they did two nights, but you were the only other person I've ever met who was at.
Oh, they did do two nights, and it was it was I want to say, right before Use your Illusion came out.
Now, this is a crazy part.
They had all the merch and all the backdrops and scrims, but they the album's got pushed back, so the albums actually were not out yet.
No, but it didn't matter. But it didn't matter.
They're like, we're gonna do the whole tour anyways and play all these new songs no one knows.
Yeah, and skid Row was on the I remember that show Slave to the Grind tour. That's exactly again, you know, the beginning of the end for yes, for skid Row, because people want eighteen in life, guys.
Slave to the Grind has some jams.
But yeah, it does monkey business, monkey business.
It's it's not that wasn't. I'm not me taking shots at skid Row.
That was just sure, Yeah, we don't want this on Blabermouth as a headline.
No, because I'm just I'm not name dropping. But I do know Dave Snake Sabo. I just saw him, don't know him well, but I wouldn't want him to think I was.
I'm very pro pro skid Row.
Let me be clear, Okay, okay, yeah, so but yeah, I remember at that show, Slash came up to the microphone and said something like, we this is a crazy tour and we we're just trying to figure out which who's going to die first, you know, because they're partying is dancing. You know, they're dancing, mister Brown, all these things are going on, and everyone was like laughing, but then like, come on, we don't say that.
I don't know if you felt. We were there the same night when that happened, but it was very like, oh my gosh, slash come on. But yeah.
And then at the time I was texting you the other day, I was I started writing like reviews for this magazine called Rockpool, which was kind of like CMJ or something.
Yeah, and I was living with my parents.
Well I was in college and I was but I was home for the summer, I think, at my parents' house. And I wrote a review of the concert that was in the facts in some pre internet it's gonna go and you know, I didn't have fax machine, so I would go to Campus Drug at Fairmount Circle to fax in my thing that I had typed my review of the concert, and I quoted some either Sebastian Bach or Axel Rose something they said and they use profanity, they said some F words, and I gave it to the guy. And you would give it to like the pharmacist, the multitasking pharmacist at campus drug who was tasked with occasionally faxing something for a teenager, and he took it and he looked at it and he's like, we can't faxis. This is foul mouth garbage, saying you know, he just really And so I went home and I told my mom what happened. And my mom was, you know, was not one for profanity or didn't you know, but she was like, they can't. That's freedom of speech. They can't do that to you. She got really mad and she called Campus Drug and yelled at them wow, and they they did not back down.
They said, we're not going to fax it.
Wow. So what did you do? Did you get How did you get it? To rock Wuo?
I probably just went I don't know, like went to some other place.
I guess, yeah, I uh, it's you know what's wild is that that show for me was the first time I really discovered profanity in a way because I remember Sebastian Bach led the crowd in a chant of ice ice baby, fuck off, oh yeah. And I remember them talking Axel and Sebastian Bach talking between songs and every other word was a F word, and I was like, couldn't believe people could actually speak that way.
I didn't know that was possible.
It's funny because you guys went. Even though now maybe it doesn't seem like you're that different in age, you were so different. You were at such differentferent stages in life. Like Jonah went with our mom. He got a bloody nose beforehand. He purposely got the blood on his jeans so he would look cool.
Yeah, that's amazing.
He sat next to our mom. Our mom has since said it was like probably a little too much for Jonah, like it was where you were in college, and it was probably like you know, it's just like you were both at just such different stages watching Sebastian back and yeah.
Oh yeah, because yeah when that age like three of years, five years.
Is like twenty years.
Yeah, I was probably like twelve or something, twelve or thirteen.
But even if you were like a teenager, you know, even.
Oh yeah, I would have been.
Yeah. But when I was twelve, around sometime in grade school, The Who came and played same place, Richfield Coliseum. Really they played when I was in grade school, and I was terrified the idea of going to a concert, because that's the thing like when you're a kid, like I had such an after school special view of the world until I got into college. Like I thought, if you went to a concert, you would be dragged into the bathroom and injected with heroin, right, and like forced to smoke pot and have sex all at once. Like I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm not so I was afraid to go to the Who concert and my sister went and she got me a WHO bandana.
Which I lost. Nice.
Yeah, but yeah, you're right, because I was like, just the act of profanity or like people kissing or like whatever, these very inconnuous things to me were like whoa, this is like this is very different than middle school.
Like this is blowing my mind in every way.
Yeah, it's pretty wild. How quick Yeah, how quickly that happens? And then a few years later yeah, yeah, you know you're calling people man right right?
Anything else?
Your family's watching you play the youth and yeah, it's like whatever.
Yeah, no, Holy Sparred.
What were some other kind of formative show experiences, I guess for you and growing up in Cleveland? Were there any other gigs that kind of like, because I felt that gig really informed like my worldview in a.
Lot of ways.
And yeah, I still talk about it like all the time. I mean, were there any shows like that for you too?
Oh a lot?
I mean, I would say, and you could cut me off because I could ramble about each of them forever, but I would say, I remember that my my friend Andrew had these cousins. His aunt moved to Scotland and married a Scottish guy, and so he had these like cool cousins from Scotland who would come and visit, and they had cool accents, they were cooler, older, they knew and I became like pen pals with one of them, and she and I had such a crush on her, and she would write letters and like tear pages from like nmy and well, what's the other big British music.
Enemy and what was the other one?
Anyway, all the cool British music papers and magazines, and one of them had a picture of the Cult and you would just look at these pictures and be like, this is cool.
These guys look cool. So it was the.
Cult on the Love Tour, like when you know, before they had turned into like kind of acdc Ish, which I still am into. But for me, Love Is that's a version of the band that I'm into. And so I was like, Okay, this band looks cool. This girl I have a crush on is into them. I'm going to buy this record. Immediately went to like Record Exchange and Coventry bought it, went to my buddy Tim's house I mentioned earlier, and put it on and she's soel Sanctuary comes the first song and we're just like right away like whoa, this band is the greatest band ever you know, or the greatest fan in this minute. And then we like get Seen magazine and we're like, oh my god, they're playing this Saturday. It was like something out of a movie. We're like, oh my god, they're playing this Saturday at Variety Theater. We have to go. So we go and same thing. What's that smell? Oh, it's Hairspray. And the other band is the The Vinyls. The The Vinyls Open. They were great, and then the cult comes out. Ian Astbury has like cool, like he has like the bang still and like I had read that he would iron.
His hair was like perfectly straight hair.
And then Billy Duffy had the big, gretch white Falcon guitar, which I was like, that's the coolest guitar I've ever seen, and I made a note. I was like, I'm going to have that guitar one day, and now I do.
I bought it.
I bought it at Main Drag. Not this exact same guitar, but this exact model I got it. But that one, that concert for sure where I was like okay, and there was like maybe one hundred people there, it seemed like wow, maybe two hundred, but still like we felt like we're totally ground floor with this band that we only we're the only ones to know them, even though they're obviously quite popular.
But yeah, that was amazing. That was That was a big one.
I would say I saw zz Top on the after Burner tour, which was after Burner was the you know, the record after Eliminator. Okay, so it was kind of there in this phase of not being that's not the era that I like, you know, I like the pre the earlier. As an old man, I like prefer the pre drum Machine zz Top. But anyway, the thing that was amazing about this concert was we go to this concert and you know, I don't know who drove, maybe someone's parents drove, or someone's older brother, and we get there and the stage is like a big Sphinx with sunglasses on, and in front of the Sphinx is a.
Giant white mound.
And then the opening band was the call Uh and so they played and then so there's the Sphinx and this big white mound and then this this sound of snorting like like you hear through the pa like really loud, and then the mound goes up the Sphinx's nose like the Sphinx had snorted a huge pile of coke, revealing zz tops e quick wow.
And to your earlier point, if I.
Was like, oh my gosh, you can do that, like that seems insane, Like I was like, they're just reference it there. Sphinx just snorted a giant mountain of coke. I was like, that's that can't be legal. And then they came out and just doing all the cool stuff, you know, their moves and spinning the guitars and this is the thing. They they're spinning the guitars. The guitars are spinning, and there's fog, and at one point you can't see the guys anymore, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill of vanished, but you see their guitars and there's only fog, and then the fog clears, the guitars are still spinning, They're gone. It was amazing to this day. I don't know they did it, but it was amazing.
Wow.
And then at one point and they're playing the stages the dashboard of the eliminator of the car from like the Legs video, and then at one point something like goes and then the dashboard changes to a spaceship of course the afterburner.
So true, truly one of the greatest shows I've ever seen, and regretfully the only time I've seen zz top Wow. But I did meet Billy Gibbons within the past year, and he was an absolute delight and he was amazingly cool, and it was I was genuinely like on the short list of people that I was like, very terrified and nervous around, he was definitely one of them.
I was like, oh, man, very scared.
Now is Billy Gibbons. He's one of the.
He's the guitar player and singer.
He's got the beer and I guess a bunch of yeah.
And Dusty Hill died within the last couple of years. Yeah, okay, but yeah, he's the guy. So I don't know, so that one.
I mean, yeah, that's a good one.
I saw replacements at the Agora on the Police to Meet Me tour Wow and Royal Crescent Mob Open from Columbus and I've never heard them before, and me and my friends just love them and to this day, like are just.
So into that band.
And I've since become friends with Happy Chichester the bass player, which is real thrill and he's an amazing guy and still lives in Columbus. And but seeing their replacements and then like you know, Slim Dunlap the guitar player, was just like walking walking around the lobby and you could just talk to the guy in the band. I was just like what, yeah, like because my notion was I remember like going to see like smaller shows like at you know, Peabodies or Fantasy Sure, and then being my notion of bands was that everyone was a rock star and everyone had roadies, right, And then you would see a band set up and then they would start playing and I was like, wait, why are the roadies playing?
It's true, Vanessa, do you have any kind of show memories? Is this jogn anything for you? I know you weren't go to Price May shows a me.
I know, well, you know one of really my first concert that Jonah Ever took me to that I ever went to Jonah took me to, which was Lilith Fair. I'm curious if you went.
To Lots of Music Center.
Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, I didn't see that.
I mean that probably would have been like something I would do now, but probably then I would.
Have been like be like, they're not rock and hard enough for me.
I was definitely in like a phase of there had to be a certain amount of rocking happening. Yeah, no, that's not the case. I still let's be clear, that's right. Yes, No, you got that, you know, all over the place.
Now do you remember Jewel Ever playing at Airbeka And I actually asked Jewel about it when she was on our podcast. But this was like this legendary thing to me, and I can't tell if I made it up or not.
This is I didn't hear that.
By the way.
A note, I'm grateful in many ways to be on this podcast, but among the reasons is that you have amazing guests, and I'm definitely way low on the list. You've had Jewel, you had Brian Baker, Yes, I mean you get cool guests on this.
I mean, well, Dave, you are in the pantheon of cool guests us. Yes, sure, well you're too kind. But I cause I saw the Brian Baker episode and I was like, I gotta get on.
Yeah, you tasped when I pestered you. I was like, yeah, I Brian Baker's on the show. You better have me on.
Yeah, Brian.
Brian is sort of one of those guys too where I was so nervous to talk to and he's like so incredibly funny and cool and nice.
Yeah.
I met him the summer before last and I went to Copenhall in Copenhagen and drank like a fifteen year old who had never had beer before for like four days straight. With me and my other middle aged buddies, we just hung out in the field. So when I, embarrassingly, when I met him, I was like a drunk teenager trying to act like I was had not been drinking beer in a field all day.
Sure, sure, sure, I just want to go back really quickly and say, Jonah, we have to figure out. Don't you think Dave that this makes sense that Jewel played at Arabica This for our listeners Arabica was this like kind of cool coffee shop, and Jewel talked a lot about playing in coffee shops, which feels very nineties. Yes, yeah, and I bet it's true. I wonder who we could ask, how we could figure this out.
I've really this is the kind of stuff I researched all the time.
Yeah, there's got to be a way to find out.
Kathy from the grog Shop would probably know. I would probably know because the grog Shop I think would have just opened and she.
Would have it would have been the old location though right in the old location.
She might know.
She might know.
Okay, we're gonna solve this. We're going to solve this mystery.
Yea, because I I Yeah, because I went to a lot of stuff, like sometimes I have artifacts, Like I went to a Marilyn Manson signing a chain link addiction the piercing store.
Yeah, I know, was that on like Lorraine or By.
Yeah, it was on the west side. This is you know, it's crazy. And we also had J. D. Sampson from Latigro went to my high school and really we went we went to the signing together as teenagers.
Way we talked about it. Yeah, that's amazing.
And Jonah worked for JD's mom's party.
Yeah party.
I worked for their parents' party planning place as a as a kid in high school.
Yeah, oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Yeah yeah yeah.
Chain link addiction. I don't know if this was the store. I think it was. Was that the store like downstairs from Fantasy They sold like cool rock things.
I think there were two.
I think there was, but I think I think it seems like it would have been in that area.
Yeah.
I think there was one on the rain maybe and then a second one. But they were like, yeah, they did piercing they sold. It was kind of like like record have a little bit, but yeah, mostly piercing stuff.
Yeah.
I think that might have been my buddy Tim Parnan that I mentioned earlier. It was kind of my partner in crime for you know, we would go to almost every show together. We I think it was there that like because we one thing that was like not or you know, our friends would like very much look down on.
Is we were.
We would always be cherry picking like different stuff that we were into. And so we were super into rat okayy and so, and our friends were like what and We're like, no, rat is amazing. And I'll say that to this day. The first two records, and they're like kind of the Stones of hair metal in my estimation. But we were like they sold like snake skinned like pants that were printed. They were like like jeans but printed to look like snake skin. Okay, And we went and bought like Catholic schoolboys who had not a single item of other clothing that would go with snakeskin pants. Sure, and we would buy these. We bought these pants, and I would have no occasion to wear them. Really, I think we each wore them when we played like a Battle of the Bands or something.
But I think we got we got them a chain Link addiction. I'm pretty sure.
Yeah, it sounds like you would have. You know, I almost did my senior project from high school at chain Link Addiction. I thought about doing it there or at the sam Ash Music in Mayfield, but ended up doing it at Ultrasound Music in Mentor, Oh. I worked for this guy Gary who was the owner, and I did. I worked, and then he hired me on that summer and I remember being like, can you just pay me in records and him being like, no, I have to give you money, but you can spend it on records, because all I wanted to do was buy CDs and vinyl.
Yeah, yeah, it's a weird like thing, like I don't know.
Just now, I'm just like totally going back to this that time and just like find finding stuff in Cleveland, like when you're like, You're like, I think I'm not like the other kids, and I need to find the other weird stuff around this town. And like, yeah, but I'm going to Catholic school and they're beating anything out of me. But I was like, we'd go to chaining addiction buy these snakeskin pants. And then I remember there was a commercial on the radio for a haircutting salon called Londonia Moda, and they played the Smiths on their commercial on the radio, and I was just like, I'm going there to get my haircut. And I went and got like my first non barber haircut of my life, you know, and I got like flock of seagulls haircut, and all of a sudden, like I went from getting like, you know, especially Catholic school boy, you have no say in what your hair looks like at all. For almost some some people live their whole lives don't ever would say. And but I finally, like, you know, got to be like fifteen or something and was like, I'm going to break free from fran Antonio's barber shop at Fairmount's Circle and I'm going to go to and I went to this place and like the girl cut my hair.
Was English, which is like from outer space, you know.
Right right, And and then I had this hair that was like had this long thing in the front like for all pretty much the rest of high school. And then also I was getting you know, zits and stuff. So I would get oxy wash, which I don't even know if that's still a product, but you would wash your face with this stuff to get try to get failed to get rid of your it's. And then I was like had my uh my hair that would go in my face and I would be getting the oxy wash on that. Oh and it was dying the front of my hair orange. Only I didn't know it because when I would look in the mirror, the light would be shining down to the front of your hair always looked lighter anyway, right, So I was unwittingly walking around with like an orange flock of seagulls and my friend's mom saw me walking home from the grocery store and pulled over one day and was like, are you dyeing your hair? And that's when I was like, I know what are you talking about? And that's when I found out the effects of oxy wash. I'm really sorry to turn this into like therapy session.
No please, Yeah, it's all about Yeah, that's an awkward stage in life. Yeah, and you remember I got my hair cup. Of these Italian guys, Yeah, who used to call you Giuseppe called me Giuseppe. So funny looking back, because that's just not my name. I'm not Italian. But they'd be like, hey Giuseppe, and I go with my dad.
Yeah's amazing, so funny.
I loved you. Yeah, it's really cute. Hey, JIUSEPPI I remember they would call you Giuseppe.
I'm going to call you Giuseppe. Whenever I'm around you. If I've had more than one beer, you will be Giuseppe.
Yeah. I kind of liked it.
It's so cute. It's nice. Well, we're going to take a quick commercial break, but we'll be right back with Dave Hill and Giuseppe. And we're back. Well, Dave, are you ready to play a pretty fun game if we do say so ourselves, please Yeah, Okay, So we're going to play this game called change dot door.
Change dot door.
Otherwise known as let's make fun of people who don't know how to use change dot org. And in this game, we're going to bring up three different petitions that people have made on change dot org and then at the end, we'll each pick which one we would sign if we had to sign one. Okay, Okay, Jonah, do you want to read this first one?
Sure?
I can kick us off. This petition has almost one thousand signatures. It is called free Dave Hill Let him back on Twitter? Oh this says Dave Hill, authorcomedian, rock musician, and one of the most entertaining tweeters in Twitter's history, has been banned from the service for making satirical responses to hateful comments from the supporters of someone who actually deserves to be banned, Donald Trump. You can read the sad story here. There's a link to a Cleveland dot com article about dat getting banned from Twitter. Twitter's censoring of one of its greatest exponents is denying intense pleasure to anyone without access to Facebook or Instagram. Tell Twitter to beg for Day's return. One hundred and twenty six signatures and it's still open. Dave, what do you think about this petition?
Well, I wish the numbers were higher.
It's pretty high, almost a thousand people. That's pretty good.
The one thing, you know, I mean, at this point it's pretty irrelevant, I think Twitter. But yeah, at the time when I, because I I was banned for Trumps, supporters would insult me and I would respond with mother jokes, like, you know, basically suggesting I was having a consensual intimate relationship with their mother and sometimes their dad, because they would invariably suggest that I was into men, and I would say, well, it's funny, bring that up. I'm porking your dad as well, which they didn't anyway.
So I was banned and then.
I and at the time, I was like, oh my gosh, if I'm not on Twitter, how will I write?
What will happen your career?
Yeah, I'll be done. I'll be done for and U And then I really people would rally, you know, I thought my comedy peers and stuff would would really like because I was, to my knowledge, the first non right wing person to be banned that I was aware of, right, people didn't really seem too worked up about. They're like, oh, that sucks, take care, But so whoever made this petition? And yeah, but now I was reinstated. That that sounds a bit formal when Elon Musk took over, But now it's getting back on there. I was like, it's it's like going back to some bar that you used to like and it's turned into like they have DJ night and there's a cover charge. All of a sudden, You're like, what is this isn't the place where I would have beers with my friends?
What?
Right?
I mean?
It would to be clear, I mean Twitter was already garbage when at the time I was banned, but there was there was I would say, like around two thousand and eight or something, there was a period where Twitter was like a nice way to connect with people.
Sure, right, right, right, right right? Yeah? So would you sign this petition or what do you think? No?
No, not today?
Not today?
Yeah no, I would say, h no, Vanessa, what about you?
You know, it seems like you don't need to sign it anymore since Dave's been reinstated, but I do at the time, you know, when it came out at the time, I would have signed it.
So thank you. That's that's the correct answer, by the way, of course, in Jonah.
I agree, And you know, Dave, maybe in some ways this is kind of good for you. Like I said, you've been very prolific with you know, you've written all these books, You've gotten all this stuff done, and maybe if you were on Twitter you would have wasted that's right, five hundred hours. You know, that's a good point, you know, corresponding with people. You know, yeah, maybe, I mean the best that was, like.
I will say, being banned or whatever you want to call it is was one of the better things that happened to me in recent years, like all of a sudden had two extra hours and every day yep. And yeah, I've since eaten it up, you know, on Instagram and things like that much, right, But there was a brief period I would say even still that I don't wake up and look at Twitter and think, oh the world is garbage and start to day that way.
I don't do that anymore.
You know what, I don't think I would sign this because I do think I agree. I appreciate this person making it, I really, you know, that's very nice, but at the same time, this was you know, you were able to to be more productive without it, so you know, didn't need it. Don't need it. Okay, I'm going to read the next one. So this next one's very long, Vanessa, so you can yeah, I'll look kind of.
Yeah.
This is called Cleveland NHL Expansion Petition. My name is Kyle Canda, and I have come to you to ask for your help to make Cleveland a greater place to live and love. As you know, we have a very strong sense of pride in our city and consider each other our family blah blah blah blah blah blah law. And one of our main focal points is our professional sports teams. Whether it is the years of futility with the Browns, the reigning of the New World Champions Cavaliers, or the resurgence of the now Guardians. We put a lot of money and time into following our teams and supporting them anyway we can. This city is lacking one important piece of professional sports hockey.
I think that's good.
Okay, they say there's a Monsters or an AHL team, but they want kind of a NHL team in Cleveland.
Dasports person, they want an NHL team and wow, this person, this is one of the most long winded positions.
It's long, and it's one block of text.
With the block of text, it's really hard to read.
But the gist of it is an NHL team in Cleveland, Dave, what do you think about that?
Yeah, Oh, I totally agree. I would sign them that. The monsters are the I think have the highest attendance of anyone in the AHL.
Now this is the first I'm hearing of them.
Month me too.
I know where do they play?
They play whatever, the US whatever.
It's called rocket fuel whatever, rock field house whatever.
This quick, quick and loan and then it's yeah changes every every time you go home.
It changes.
Which is the most offensive name I've heard I think for any building is I was listening to the radio and someone called it Romo fijo, Rocket Mortgage, field House, and I that was I would have been driving and listening to the radio. I think it was Alan Cox on his show actually on WMS. Okay, and no disrespect to him, sure, big fan, But he I want to say, is the one who said Romo fijo and I almost crashed the car. Yeah, I don't think you should give a complete corporate.
Name like a whim, like a fun nick.
Yeah yeah yeah, field House.
These names do it feels like in California, the Crypto dot Com venue that just is such a bizarre I don't even crypto dot com.
Is that real? Real?
Yes?
Real?
I thought that was a joke, like a Simpson's kind of name for something I didn't know that was.
It's it's The Staples Center is now called the Crypto dot Com Arena.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Well, the thing that I don't understand.
Not to digress too much, but when they name buildings after a com you know, yeah, I don't think, oh I.
Want to support. I'm just like, okay, that's a company I hate.
Now I guess I guess what happens is you go there and everything's like branded maybe Rocket Mortgage. So then you go, well, I guess I have to get my mortgage somewhere.
Yeah, let me let me let me break sure the psychology work, Yes, yeah, I know the psychologist and Dave you. I think you did my old podcast in New York at one point going off track and we did it at the studio commerce had called rubber tracks. I think I got free shoes made yeah, and so we gave everyone free shoes.
They gave it at the band to support there.
They let us give our guests freeshoes, and they recorded unsigned bands there for free. And I remember talking to someone who had come up with a concept, who was involved and being like, I don't get it. This must be so expensive to do, like you don't you know, And they were basically like, we just want them to associate this brand with a positive experience.
Yeah.
And I think that was the same with House of Vans all these venues, Like they're not asking you for money, they're not doing anything, but subconsciously you see the brand and you're like, oh, I have a good feeling about this experience, and now I associate it with this brand.
Right yeah, right, Like Progressive Field. I'm like, okay, I well progressive that's I'll go to a baseball game and that I love that.
Yeah, yeah, I think that's I.
Think I just explained it.
It's true. I think you're right.
And the fact is, despite me saying that I'm rejecting these companies, I think you're probably right.
It's the opposite.
I'm going like, yeah, you're you might be consciously rejecting them, but subconsciously you're welcoming them, right in.
David, You're probably going to be on crypt dot com as soon as we get off this podcast.
I will.
I'm already going what kind of coins I gotta buy?
Yeah?
Okay, Jonahs, you want to read this last one?
Yeah?
So so I think, yeah, I think.
Oh, Jonah, do you would you? I would sign this. I think an NHL team And it's a great idea.
Yeah, why not? That would be cool.
I think it would be I would love it.
I mean, I wish this guy had restructured his petition. Honestly, there's a little hard. It feels a little bit like, make it easy for people to read, make it easy for people to sign. But it's the same time, I agree, Okay.
That would be like one of you know, that would almost get me to move back to Cleveland.
Okay, wow, wow, incredible. That's strong, right, But dorse.
Almost is a key, very key word.
Okay, yes, Okay. This last one is called Jacob must grow a Tony Iomi style mustache sign it. This is a you're signing it right?
Okay.
This one has seven signatures they're trying to get to ten. It says this is a short one. Jacob has a new Tony Iomis signature SG, but he lacks a necessary facial hair to do a justice. Without this fablous mustache, it's just Jacob playing guitar with a mustage. It would be something epic. Dave, what do you think you think Jacob should grow a mustache to play this guitar?
Yeah?
I mean honest, as you were saying this, I was like, you should please email me this because I want to sign this as soon as we're done.
Okay, yeah, okay, And what do you think you think? It's just why is this important?
I just think like, if there's a thing like, is there's a guy gonna have a Tony Iomi mustache or not going to have a Tony Iomi mustache, you want to go mustache on that?
Yeah?
And I assume we're talking about Tony Iomi, like, you know, sabotage era mustache.
Yes, it's a classic.
The photo I can put the photo into you, but yeah, it's a classic kind of you know.
I don't know if that's not a fun but.
I would argue that you're in the ballpark of a Tony Iomi mustache. And I say that as the highest praise.
Yeah, and wow, I really appreciate that.
Yeah.
I mean you also have like a Jeff Skunk Baxter mustache thing going on a little bit.
Yes, yeah, in between, Yeah, I don't have a lot of control with the shape.
This is kind of just great.
I mean, you're it's this is a home run mustache. Thank you, not criticism. I couldn't grow that mustache. I'm some something among my genetic flaws.
That's yeah, Vanessa, what do you think about to Jacob Burrow this mustache?
No, is this Tony Iomi's signature SG. That's got to be a kind of guitar, is that?
Yeah? It's a good so.
I thank for me you ask I have two of them in the room with whoa, you have two sgs.
I have two Tony iomig in the room with me. Really crazy, Literally this is one of them. Whoa, And then I have another one out there.
Incredible.
Now, maybe a'll right the new petition, which is Dave Hills got to grow a Tony Iomi mustache, And I know you just told me will be kind of a challenge for you. But I mean, if Jacob has to do we don't even know who Jacob is. You're a public figure, Dave, and you haven't you Tony too? I really, you know, I don't know this guy. If he hears this, I don't know. This sounds like a petition.
This is probably too much information.
But I was been in the face by my dog when I was eleven, and in addition to not being able to grow a very impressive mustache, because of the scar, it just stops.
Abruptly on the left side of my feeling. It doesn't look weird.
It just looks like I've shaped it looks like I've made that. Yeah, it's because my face is just like, okay, we're done, and because of this scar. But I did try to grow a mustache once and I was eating it some Indian restaurant in Chelsea here in New York, and there was a like a Bollywood poster painting or something on the wall, and there was like a beautiful woman in bed with a handsome man with no mustache, and behind them was a framed photo of an angry looking man with a mustache. And I asked the waitress, you know, she SAIDs from this movie, you know, and you know, this woman's having an affair with the handsome guy, and that angry guy in the photo with the mustache is her husband, who's not there obviously. And later when I was talking to my friend Dan Dratch.
You guys might know Dan. That's why I use this full name.
He We're debating the merits of my sad mustache, and then we said, let's ask the waitress what she thinks of the mustache. I said, do you think I should continue trying to grow this mustache or shave it immediately? And she said, do you want to be the guy having the affair or do you want to be the angry husband? And I said, up, wow, I want to be the guy having the affair, I guess in this scenario. So she said, yes, that's the correct answer, and I shaved the next day.
Wow.
Wow, I don't know why I told you all that.
No, I like that story, and honestly, I take back what I said. I think Jacob should be the one to grow the mustache and not you and play the guitarist freely, is what I'd say.
Yeah, I'm gonna oh, there's, oh, there's mustache photos.
I didn't.
Oh, that's a photo with the petition of Jacob and Tonyomi.
Yeah, so I agree.
Now, that I see the photo, I'm like, I'll sign that twice.
He should totally.
I think, look, I think if you can grow it, it would probably be fun to kind of be like, oh, I look like Tonaomi and I'm playing signature guitar. But I don't think it's a requirement to look like the person to play the signature instrument.
Necessary.
That gets into like costplay.
Yeah, thin gets into cosplay. I mean they seem like cool guitars. I want one, regardless of my facial hair.
But you should get one. Yeah, I should get one. I should get one.
I've never Yeah, well, so, Dave, if you had to sign one of these petitions, get Dave Hill back on Twitter, give Cleveland an NHL team, or have Jacob grow mustache to play as iomisg which one of these would you sign if you had to sign one?
It's really hard. I guess my heart says the mustache one. My brain says the hockey one. Okay, yeah, but I guess if I had to pick, I'm gonna go mustache on this.
Okay, mustache, Vanessa, what about you?
I'm gonna actually go NHL team because I think that sounds cool.
It would be cool and it would be cool. I think it would be better for more people than the guys mustache.
Sure, I would only only serve a small group of people.
Right, Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I'll go.
I'll go NHL team too, good for the Cleveland economy, good for everything, and so yeah, we'll give it up to Cleveland. Dave. Speaking of Cleveland and hockey, you have a new book about hockey. I know you have bally Lotch as a new record. Anything you'd like to kind of promote?
Yeah, where can people find you?
Where can I think?
Oh, I'm glad you asked. I have an internet website at Dave hillonline dot com on all my social medias are at mister Dave Hill at Mr Dave Hill all one word. And yeah, the book The Awesome Game, which is a book about hockey that I wrote for ideally all people like you don't have to like hockey to read it. I'm told that's the case if people are hesitant to read a book that's mostly about hockey. Yeah, that would be the main by the that. Yeah, the Valley Lodge Record comes out a couple of weeks and then going on tour with Tenacious D in May and in Ireland and the UK. And I say that mostly just because I'm bragging and excited because it's all so loud.
Yeah that's so cool.
I'm just really just just just excited.
Great, incredible, incredible, Well, thank you so much for being here. This is so much fun.
Thank you. Yeah, this is a great both of you guys.
We're big fans of yours. I remember we did that show together in New York right at the bell at the bell.
Yeah, yeah, that might have been the last time, maybe the last. But then then I think I ran into you on the street once. I think some other time, but I don't know the timeline of it. But all by way of saying I've not seen you in far too long.
Yeah yeah, I was thinking the same thing. So so nice to see you, and and thanks for being here, and thanks to everyone for listening. If you enjoyed this, please subscribe to the podcast and keep an eye out for next week's episode of How Do We Get Weird? We discussed more stories from O childhood cultural touchstones, like how Cleveland rocks Yes,
