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- [00:00]
Alan Cross
Hey, it's Alan and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing history of.
- [00:05]
Co-host or Announcer
New music, early and ad free on Amazon Music included with Prime.
- [00:10]
Alan Cross
This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Feeling lost?
- [00:14]
Co-host or Announcer
Stressed out?
- [00:15]
Alan Cross
Anxious? Welcome to the club. The 24 hour news cycle and doom scrolling and the constant bombardment of information from all directions affect all of us.
- [00:24]
Co-host or Announcer
Yet we're expected to hold it all together.
- [00:26]
Alan Cross
Something that's easier said than done. Men have this thing too, that we're supposed to be strong and steady performers and providers. And you know what? A lot of us do.
- [00:36]
Co-host or Announcer
We just push it down into that.
- [00:37]
Alan Cross
Black ball inside of us because, well.
- [00:40]
Co-host or Announcer
That'S what guys do. We're tough, right?
- [00:42]
Alan Cross
But that leads to depression and burnout and other, shall we say, unhealthy activities.
- [00:47]
Co-host or Announcer
As we try to cope. Here's the truth.
- [00:50]
Alan Cross
It's okay to admit that you're struggling and that you need someone to talk to. Doing something about your mental health takes strength. And once you begin to open up and admit all the burdens that you're carrying around, you can work on being the best you can be for yourself, your loved ones, and everyone around you.
- [01:06]
Co-host or Announcer
Now trust me on this.
- [01:07]
Alan Cross
Once you start talking about the things stuffed into your black ball, the whole universe begins to open up. BetterHelp is there for you. With more than 35,000 therapists available, BetterHelp is the largest online therapy platform. It has an App store rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on 1.7 million reviews from clients all over the world. It's so easy and convenient, too. An online session starts with the click of a button at any time of.
- [01:31]
Co-host or Announcer
Day or night so you can fit.
- [01:33]
Alan Cross
Therapy into your busy schedule. Learn how to set boundaries, deal with anxiety, and learn positive coping skills. And you can switch therapists anytime. There should never be any stigma around mental health. You take care of your physical health, right? So why should your mental health be any different? As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of experience. Guys, talk it out with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com ongoing today and get 10% off your first month.
- [02:04]
Co-host or Announcer
That's BetterHelp.
- [02:06]
Alan Cross
H-E-L-P.com ongoing Mama, Papa.
- [02:10]
Nancy Hill Hickst
Mi cuerpo crece a un ridmo alarmante. Il arro que compren.
- [02:25]
Co-host or Announcer
What do you do for fun? You know, hobbies, pastimes, things that you do just for you, away from your job and all your other responsibilities. Let's See, I got, got my dogs, my wife and I like to travel. And I've always had this thing about the JFK assassination. I've read all the books, you know, the documentaries. I've even been to Dallas and the grassy knoll in the book depository. I can't explain it, I just find it all very interesting. Maybe you're into sports or collecting hockey cards or wine or rare scotch, video games, Japanese anime, beanie babies, comic books, souvenir spoons. No need to justify anything. It's just something that you enjoy doing for you. It fulfills you somehow. Now consider this. When we think of our favorite musicians, we probably imagine them being immersed in music all the time. I mean, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all they do is think about music and make music. The truth is you can't do that. No one can. Everybody needs a break from whatever it is that they do. You gotta rest the brain, recharge and go on a search for new inspiration. Put down the instruments and see what else is out there. Become a more rounded person. So that's one aspect. Another aspect is, look, I've had some success, I've made some money. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to indulge in those things that I've always dreamed of. You can't take it with you, so spend some of that cash. All right, so on. Like what? Well, I think you might be surprised. Let's take a look at the hobbies and non musical passions of some very famous musicians. This is the ongoing History of New Music podcast with Alan Cross. Hello again, I'm Alan Cross and this is one of those fun episodes where we look into the lives of famous rock stars. Not in any intrusive way, but in a manner that makes them more, well, human, more relatable. Almost everybody has some kind of hobby, a distraction, a passion that they call all their own. And sometimes a person's hobby will tell you something about them that surprises us. So I've put together a list of more than 60 rock stars and their hobbies. There's a lot of information coming your way, all delivered without judgment. And here we go. Starting with knitting. Yes, knitting. Knitting is an age old pastime that not only results in socks, sweaters and scarves, but it can also be very relaxing. Plus it's good for finger dexterity, which is helpful for virtually every musician. Kelly Deal of the Breeders is really good at it. She actually has an online store where she sells scarves. All are one of a kind, handmade by her and signed. Some are knitted, while others are made from recycled felt and wool sweaters. They run about 100 bucks each. Lily Allen, the British singer, not only knits, but is deep into embroidery. Her stuff can be found all over Pinterest. This is a bit of a detour, but Jazz Domino Holly, the daughter of the Clash's Joe Strummer, is very crafty. Not only is she a knitter, but she makes duvets, cooks, and is an avid gardener. She even put out a handbook on those subjects. And Rivers Cuomo of Weezer was a knitter. Things began when he got into meditation in the mid aughts. That led to doing clay sculptures, whittling and then knitting. It was something to do in bed while his wife read Sherlock Holmes mysteries. He says he doesn't have much time for it anymore because he's always working, but there must be some interesting stuff around the house. You can see how martial arts might be of interest to certain types of musicians. Dave Mustaine of Megadeth is really deep into this. His passion is jiu jitsu. In January 2021, he earned a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the age of 58, which puts him in the middle of the pack. Next up is a brown belt. He's working on that, followed by various degrees of black. Suffice it to say that he can kick just about anyone's ass, and I guess we can segue from that into professional wrestling. This is where we find Billy Corgan. His involvement started in 2001 when he went to an ECW card and got to hit one of the wrestlers in the head with a guitar after being insulted. Ten years later, he founded his own pro league called Pro Resistance Wrestling. That evolved into work with Non Stop action wrestling in 2015. In fact, he became the president there, Vince McMahon in 2016, and then he left that league and bought the National Wrestling alliance in 2017, where he also serves as president. That's one of the oldest pro wrestling leagues in the world, having been around since 1948. So Billy basically brought the NWA back from the dead. And if you're not into the wwe, it's a pretty good alternative. Here are a few more non musical passions of musicians. Bob Dylan is into sculpting. One of his favorite mediums is metal, so he's a pretty fair welder. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden was so into airplanes that he's now a fully qualified airline pilot rated to fly 747s. In fact, he also runs his own aircraft maintenance and pilot Training facility called Cardiff Aviation. Gary Neumann also wanted to be a professional pilot, but he says that music got in the way, at least at first. He's now both a stunt and test pilot. Aerobatics, flight formations, flying vintage World War II planes. He did give it up for a while though, because he lost some friends to accidents, crashes. And this brings me to Dexter Holland of the Offspring. He has a lot of outside interests. First, he has a PhD in microbiology. His 2017 thesis was on HIV research and his paper was called this takes a big breath. Discovery of mature micronal sequences within the protein coding regions of global HIV1 genomes. Predictions of novel mechanisms for viral infection and pathogenicity. So you want to know why the Offspring went so long between albums. There you go. He was working on his PhD. Dexter is also a connoisseur of hot sauces. He has a line called Guingo Bandido, which is actually pretty good. But back to aviation, he's rated to fly executive jets. He got his Pilot's license in 1996 and he always had this thing about flying around the world. So in late 2004, he did it. He took a twin engine Cessna Citation solo around the world 25,000 miles in 10 days. Existing on, he says, Doritos and beef jerky. At one point Dexter owned three planes, but two got repossessed and he was sued over payment arrears for another. But then he sold off some of the Offspring's publishing money, which took care of all that debt. And now he's free to fly wherever he wants, moving on to more non musical passions of rock stars. Slash of Guns N Roses really likes his vintage pinball games. He collects them. Trenton Reznor is into something similar vintage arcade games. Model trains are big passion. Neil Young, Rod Stewart and get this, Frank Sinatra all love their model trains. Fishing is relaxing. Dean Wein of the band Wein is into that, while Roger Daltrey of the who has taken it one step further. He's a trout farmer in his spare time. What about ping pong? Well, I can tell you that Prince was really into ping pong. He could destroy just about anyone. I would have loved to see him play Blur's Damon Albarn. He's a ping pong fanatic too. And speaking of Blur, bass player Alex James has achieved international acclaim as a cheese maker. After Blur started making big money, he moved to the countryside, bought himself a farmhouse on 200 acres covered in hundreds of sheep and cows, and turned the whole thing into a cheesemaking operation. It's really good stuff. Too. It's won all kinds of awards, it's in all kinds of British supermarkets, and one of the most popular is called Blue Monday, which is named after the New Order song. It's a creamy Shropshire blue cheese. There are also varieties with names like Queen Maude, Rotten Bastard and Mad Bitch. Alex is so good at cheese that he has been a judge in cheese competitions. He wrote a couple of books on cheese, including one called All Cheeses Great and Small, and even the Royal Family is said to enjoy the products of his farm in the Cotswolds. Before we leave Blur, it's worth mentioning that everybody in the band is is into space exploration. In 2003, the band composed a call sign for a Martian probe called Beagle 2. When the probe landed, it was supposed to broadcast a special instrumental composed by Blur to tell everyone back on Earth that things were safe and sound and operational. It was a nine note composition loosely based on the Fibonacci sequence. But unfortunately something went wrong and Beagle 2 was lost. We never heard that Little did he from Blur, but later it was speculated that Beagle 2 did survive the landing and did play the Blur song, but because it was so damaged, the antenna was pointed in the wrong direction and no one back home got to hear it. If they did, it would have sounded something like this. It's called Far Out. Oh, Poor Beagle too. Finally, to wrap this up, Blur drummer David Rountree has his own telescope and he spends hours looking up at the night sky. Oh wait, I should mention this too. Queen guitarist Brian May is a full blown astrophysicist. His PhD was entitled A Survey of Radio Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust cloud. It runs 256 pages. In case you want to read it, here's a list of more rock star hobbies. Geddy Lee is a baseball fanatic. For a while he collected autographed baseballs from the old Negro League. He had more than 200 before he donated them to the Negro Baseball League. Musician in Kansas City Taylor Swift makes her own snow globes. Wynn Butler of Arcade Fire is well known for his basketball abilities. Brody Dahl of the Distillers and the ex Mrs. Josh Homme once told me that she was a junkie for anything to do with the Kennedy assassination. So we had lots to talk about. Courtney Love collects dolls with an emphasis on Mattel's Little Kiddies. Meanwhile, Kurt Cobain used to collect old medical appliances. Bit weird, but okay, whatever. When she's not making music, Erykah Badu works as a midwife super producer Brian Eno has been very upfront about his collection of vintage porn. And how about chess? Well, you would figure that with so much time spent on the road, many artists would get into chess as a distraction, a way to pass the time. That was certainly the case with David Bowie. Bono likes to play, Madonna is a chess fan, and you might find this as something of a surprise. Another guy deep into playing chess is Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and he is good. Back in about 2011, he faced off against a recognized chess master, a Norwegian world champion, who went unnamed and apparently acquitted himself very, very well. Someone had called him a rook star standing in line to see the show tonight, and there's a light on more of our explanation of rockstar hobbies coming up.
- [14:09]
Alan Cross
This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Feeling lost?
- [14:13]
Co-host or Announcer
Stressed out?
- [14:14]
Alan Cross
Anxious? Welcome to the club. The 24 hour news cycle and doom scrolling and the constant bombardment of information from all directions affect all of us.
- [14:23]
Co-host or Announcer
Yet we're expected to hold it all together.
- [14:25]
Alan Cross
Something that's easier said than done. Men have this thing too, that we're supposed to be strong and steady performers and providers. And you know what a lot of us do?
- [14:35]
Co-host or Announcer
We just push it down into that.
- [14:36]
Alan Cross
Black ball inside of us because, well.
- [14:39]
Co-host or Announcer
That'S what guys do. We're tough, right?
- [14:41]
Alan Cross
But that leads to depression and burnout and other, shall we say, unhealthy activities.
- [14:46]
Co-host or Announcer
As we try to cope. Here's the truth.
- [14:49]
Alan Cross
It's okay to admit that you're struggling and that you need someone to talk to. Doing something about your mental health takes strength. And once you begin to open up and admit all the burdens that you're carrying around, you can work on being the best you can be for yourself, your loved ones, and everyone around you.
- [15:05]
Co-host or Announcer
Now, trust me on this.
- [15:06]
Alan Cross
Once you start talking about the things stuffed into your black ball, the whole universe begins to open up. BetterHelp is there for you. With more than 35,000 therapists available, BetterHelp is the largest online therapy platform. It has an App store rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on 1.7 million reviews from clients all over the world. It's so easy.
- [15:26]
Co-host or Announcer
And convenient, too.
- [15:27]
Alan Cross
An online session starts with the click of a button at any time of day or night so you can fit therapy into your busy schedule, learn how to set boundaries, deal with anxiety, and learn positive coping skills. And you can switch therapists anytime. There should never be any stigma around mental health. You take care of your physical health, right? So why should your mental health be any different as the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of experience. Guys, talk it out with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com ongoing today and get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com ongoing. This program is sponsored by BetterHelp. When it comes to offering advice, everyone seems to have an opinion on everything.
- [16:16]
Co-host or Announcer
Need a better start to the day?
- [16:18]
Alan Cross
Dunk your face in a bowl of.
- [16:19]
Co-host or Announcer
Ice cubes at 4am Eat this, don't.
- [16:21]
Alan Cross
Eat that, walk more. Start a journal.
- [16:23]
Co-host or Announcer
Digital detoxes Everyone seems to have the.
- [16:26]
Alan Cross
Answer to better mental health and wellness. Okay, fine. But what will really work for you? Where can you turn to get personalized information and assistance when it comes to you? This can be confusing unless you turn to BetterHelp. There is nothing like being able to talk to a real person about your challenges. Someone who can help you organize your thoughts so you can start making positive changes in your life. Therapy still carries a stigma with some people, but it shouldn't. Look, you take care of your physical health right? Your mental health requires the same attention when it comes to things like learning positive coping skills, how to set boundaries.
- [17:04]
Co-host or Announcer
And how to be a better you for you.
- [17:08]
Alan Cross
With over 30,000 therapists worldwide, BetterHelp is the planet's largest online therapy platform. 5 million people have signed on. There are 1.7 million online reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5. It's super convenient too. Start a session with a click anytime, anywhere and you can switch therapists anytime. BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a wide and diverse range of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com ongoing today to get 10% off your first month.
- [17:40]
Co-host or Announcer
That's BetterHelp.
- [17:42]
Alan Cross
H E-L-P.com ongoing the Disney Plus Hulu.
- [17:47]
Disney Plus Hulu Announcer
HBO Max bundle plan starting at just $16.99 a month.
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No one will ever break us apart.
- [17:52]
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- [17:55]
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You can't escape the past.
- [17:57]
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- [18:04]
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Death Is Coming for Our Family the.
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Disney Hulu HBO Max Bundle plans starting at $16.99 a month. All these and more streaming soon. Visit Disneyplush huluhbomaxbundle.com for details.
- [18:15]
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We're pulling back the curtain on famous musicians to see what kinds of non musical things they like to do in their spare time. You probably won't find it much of a surprise that several performers are big into comic books, not collecting them, but creating them. When Lights released her Skin and earth album in 2017, it came from a comic book of the same name that extended over six issues. It was released in paperback form in the spring of 2018. She's a lifelong fan of comic books and had wanted to create some kind of crossover project between music and comics for a long time. Her dream is to draw for Wonder Woman one day. Claudio Sanchez is the lead singer and guitarist for Coheed and Cambria. He started in the world of comic books in 2008 with two issues of something called the Bag Online Adventures. Then he moved to graphic novels, the most popular of which is a sci fi series called the Armory Wars. This tells the story of 78 planets of heaven's fence and the key work, the energy beams that hold everything together. It's all very complex and intricate. Then we have Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. He started his first comic when he was just 16. It was called On Raven's Wings and actually had two issues published. By 2001, he was interning as a sketch artist at the Cartoon Network in New York. He pitched an animated TV series called the Breakfast Monkey, but that went nowhere. But then 911 happened and he was right there for it. The experience of living through that saw him decide to ditch the animation job and try music. And that led to the formation of My Chemical Romance, which worked out pretty well. So in 2007 he had some time and began work on a new miniseries called the Umbrella Academy. It became a big success, won some awards, and was eventually turned into a popular series on Netflix. And in between, he got a job working with the Marvel Universe on Spider Man. It was Gerard Way that created the character of Penny Parker. Pretty cool. There's something about musicians and wine. So many of them not only collect wine, but have their own vineyards. Here's a list. Dave Matthews has Blenheim Vineyards in Virginia. Les Claypool of Primus has Claypool Cellars in Sonoma County, California. Their tagline is Fancy booze for semi fancy folks. Sting has an estate winery in Italy. The place has been growing grapes since the 1500s. Gerard Casale of Divo has the 50x50 vineyard in California. And when Dave Mustaine isn't working on his Jiu Jitsu, he's supervising Mustang Vineyards, also in California. Then we have Sigurd Wangrabben, who plays in the Norwegian black metal band Satyricon. He's involved in a vineyard in Italy. I guess we can include Dan Aykroyd in here. I mean, he was part of the Blues Brothers, after all. He has Dan Aykroyd wines in Ontario. Madonna has Ciccone Vineyard and Winery in Michigan, which she set up with her father, Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, Jonathan Cain of Journey, Mick Hutnall is simply Red. Vince Neil from Motley Crue, Olivia Newton, John Bozkegs, the guys in the Band Train, the Tragically Hip and Blue Rodeo all have arrangements with vineyards. And then there's Maynard James Keenan of Toole. He owns the award winning Caduceus Cellars in Verde Valley, Arizona. I've had some of his stuff and it is very good. He also owns another vineyard called Merkin, which is also in Arizona. I had a chance to speak to Maynard about his wine obsession and he will go on and on and on and on about this stuff he really, really, really like. Let's go through some more rock star hobbies. It's well known that Eddie Vedder has a passion for surfing and almost killed him a couple of times when he encountered some riptides. David Usher of Moist is a big fan of technology. In fact, he has a second career working with artificial intelligence. Bryan Adams has turned his love of photography into. Into something that even had him take portraits of the queen. Ben Gibbert of Death Cab for Cutie had a thing for long distance running. Oh, one thing that we haven't discussed are rock stars who have used the richest to indulge in their love of cars. If I were a rich rock star, this is exactly how I would spend all my excess money. Here's a list of people who've done just that. We'll start with Brian Johnson of acdc. He's a massive car guy. I spoke to him about one in particular. One last question. This is Brian. What are you driving right now? What's your latest car today?
- [22:57]
Brian Johnson
I've been driving around in my Morgan three wheeler.
- [23:01]
Co-host or Announcer
No, you have one of those?
- [23:03]
Brian Johnson
I do have one of them. It's a lot of fun.
- [23:05]
Co-host or Announcer
And it's made of wood?
- [23:06]
Brian Johnson
Well, bits of it, yeah. Most of it. It's aluminum. Aluminium, you know, whatever word they use now. But now it's fun. I just have a bit of fun driving it with that.
- [23:21]
Co-host or Announcer
He has about two dozen cars in his collection, including a 1965 Lola T50 Mark 1. Only 15 of them were ever built. There's a Ferrari, a Jag, a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, including one from 1928, a big boss Mustang, couple of Range Rovers and a weird 1973 Citroen. I would Love to play in Nick Mason's garage. The Pink Floyd drummer is an expert, and I mean expert on Ferraris to the point where he's even written a book about them. Naturally. He owns one of the rarest and most valuable cars of all time, a Ferrari 250 GTO from 1962, one of those sold for over $50 million. Plus he has a Ferrari Enzo, another insanely rare car. If you want one today, expect to spend over $3 million for one. Nick has at least 40 cars in his collection, including a McLaren F1, a 1955 Jaguar D type, a Bugatti from 1927, and a 1935 Aston Martin. He drives some, races others and uses a few for just, you know, going down to the pub. The whole collection is worth well over $100 million. Guy Berryman, the bass player for Coldplay, sometimes races under an assumed name. And when it comes to road cars, his collection is a mix of vintage and new. He has a Bugatti Veyron which retails for well beyond $3 million, a Lamborghini Aventador good for about a million, a Ferrari F40, a McLaren F1, which about $25 million for one of those, and a couple of Porsches, about 25 cars in total. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is strictly a vintage guy. His collection includes a 1937 Lagonda Rapide with a V12. Only 25 were ever made by Aston Martin. He also has a Citron du Chevreux and a couple of others, but Charlie doesn't drive any of them because he never bothered to get a driver's license. And then there's Steven Morris, the drummer for Joy Division and New Order. What is it about drummers? Steven likes collecting vehicles too, but he prefers surplus military equipment. This includes a bunch of tank like vehicles. He's got something called an FV433 Abbott Self Propelled Gun. It has a 105mm gun mounted on it, something like that. Cost the British Army a million pounds when it was brand new, but when it came up for sale, Steven bought it for £4,000. And when he drives around the neighborhood again, you know, popping down to the shop for a little bit of milk, he drives a Mark 4 Ferret reconnaissance vehicle. Believe me, when he wants to emerge into traffic, he has no problem. Coming up, more hobbies of rockstars. And we're about to get a little bizarre. Yes, a little more weird than collecting tanks. Hang on.
- [26:18]
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- [26:48]
Nancy Hill Hickst
In the 70s, four young women were found dead. For nearly 50 years, their cases went cold. I'm Nancy Hill Hickst, a senior crime reporter for Global News. In the season finale of Crime Beat, I share how investigators uncovered shocking evidence of a serial killer and hear exclusive interviews with the killer's family. Listen to the full season of Crime Beat early and ad free on Amazon Music by asking Alexa to play the podcast Crime Beat.
- [27:18]
Co-host or Announcer
We're having a little fun with this episode as we look at rock stars with hobbies. And now we're we're going to get a little strange. Okay, strange maybe a harsh word. Esoteric, maybe. When the Pixies broke up, drummer David Lovering needed to find a new vocation. And he found it as a magician. Or more specifically, he rebranded himself as the Scientific Phenomenalist. His act was performing magic tricks based on science and physics. He already knew something about electrical engineering, so this was right up his alley. He joined the Magic Castle, which is a nightclub in LA that specialized in magic. After a while, he became part of a trio of performers known as the Unholy Three. And David's thing was showing how strange and wonderful science could be, often with the use of complex machines that he built. He's been back performing with the Pixies since their reunion in 2004, but he still does his magic thing. Poker is a serious hobby for a couple of guys. Sully Erna of Godsmack and Scott Ian of Anthrax both play at a very high level, where the pot reaches high into the six figures. They are genuine poker pros. Then we have Sherry Curry. She was a member of the Runaways back in the day. Her thing is now carving things out of wood using a chainsaw. Kerry King of Slayer collects snakes. Ex REM drummer Bill Berry quit the band to become a gentleman hay farmer in Georgia, still with agriculture. Jim Martin, who used to be a member of Faith no More, is one of the greatest growers of champion pumpkins in all the United States. When Lemmy of Motorhead was alive, he was known for his collection of actual Nazi memorabilia. Okay, that's not entirely accurate. He collected material from all the Axis countries of World War II. So Germany, yes, but also Hungary, Italy and so on. And then there's Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett. One of your absolute utter obsessions, which is old horror movie posters and memorabilia. How did you get into something like this?
- [29:19]
Alan Cross
Because your collection is one of the.
- [29:21]
Co-host or Announcer
Most comprehensive in the world, I understand.
- [29:23]
Kirk Hammett
Yes, yes. Well, it was something that I've been into horror movies. And the horror movie genre is something I've been into ever since I was a child, Ever since I was like 5 or 6 years old. And it was something that I was attracted to initially because it was just so different and had a different sort of feel and atmosphere to a lot of the culture I was getting at the time. As a five or six year old, you know, that would have entailed like a lot of like Disney movies and cartoons. And so this is the 60s, right? This is like late 60s early. And so when I saw the first, my first horror movie, I thought, wow, this is a different type of movie, a different type of story. I really, really latched onto it and kind of pursued more of that kind of story. And it was through comic books and magazines and movies and books and just anything that had that kind of like, horror affiliation. I was, you know, I was attract. And it never really died out.
- [30:35]
Co-host or Announcer
Do you remember that first horror movie?
- [30:36]
Kirk Hammett
Yeah, it was a movie called Day of the triffids.
- [30:39]
Co-host or Announcer
Oh, from 56.
- [30:41]
Kirk Hammett
I'm not sure what year it is from. Yeah, probably late 50s or early 60s. Yeah.
- [30:47]
Co-host or Announcer
Kirk's collection is so special that it tours museums around the world. It is spectacular and very valuable. And tonight, take my hand. We're not quite done with our list of rock star hobbies. Here's one last blast. If you know anything about Jack White, you'll know that he loves to upholster furniture. In fact, he was an apprentice upholsterer before he broke into the music business. He was even in a band with his boss. You know what they were called? The Upholsterers. They even recorded an album. Jack has also taken up taxidermy, which I guess is a little bit of a leap from upholstery, or maybe not. So if you want to get that squirrel stuffed, you know where to go. We know about ex Blink 182 guitarist Tom DeLonge and his UFO obsession. In fact, part of the reason he quit the band was so he could pursue this full time. And what you may not know is that the British singer Robbie Williams is also very much into UFO research. And I'd like to finish this list with rock stars who love animals. Sure. We could mention Freddie Mercury, who is nuts about his cats. He'd often phone home from the road just to talk to them seriously. But I'd rather talk about guitarist Steve Vai. He's a beekeeper. It's not terribly well known, but Matt Bellamy of Mews is really into sheep farming. He has nearly 200 sheep, so, yeah, he's a shepherd. Terminator X of Public Enemy has an ostrich farm in rural North Carolina. And finally, when he's not doing soundtracks or being with Radiohead, Johnny Greenwood breeds chickens. Again. Like I said at the beginning, it's important to have a hobby. You need something outside of work and all your other obligations, something that's just for you, Something that stimulates or soothes you in a different way. Hobbies help you recharge and discover different types of joy. It's just that when you're a rock star, you might have a little more money to indulge in those pursuits. And, hey, why not? You work for it, right? If you're looking for music news and information on a daily basis, please Try my website, ajournalofmusicalthings.com, it's updated all the time. There's a free newsletter that goes with it. You should sign up. We can meet up on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I'm always doing things there. And finally, all these shows are available as podcasts. They're all free and very bingeable. Get as many as you can from whatever podcast platform you choose. Technical production for all this is by Rob Johnston. Well, talk to you next time. I'm Alan Cross. You've been listening to the ongoing History of new Music podcast with Alan Cross. Subscribe to the podcast through itunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and everywhere you find your favorite podcasts. They come from Survivor, they come from Big Brother. They know what they're doing. These vets wrote the playbook, and they have all had to earn their stripes. How did you win Survivor? Manipulating people. Same thing I'm gonna do here and now. New threats will enter the game, hungry to forge a new legacy. Once we train them, it's gonna be hard to contain.
- [33:56]
Nancy Hill Hickst
This really, truly is the most even matchup that I've seen in a long time.
- [34:00]
Co-host or Announcer
The challenge vets and new threats, all new Wednesday on Slice and Stream on Stack tv.