← Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Buzz Knight and Spencer Proffer Discuss Music Evolution and Billy Thorpe's Iconic Reissue on Takin' a Walk
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- [00:01]
Buzz Knight
Taking a Walk I'm Buzz Knight and this is the Taking a Walk podcast. Now, when you think about the architects of rock and roll history, the people behind the glass who shape the sound of generations, my next guest belongs in that conversation without question. Spencer Proffer was born in Munich, Germany and came to America as a child growing up in Los Angeles. By the time he was 19 years old, he had already co written a song recorded by Gary Lewis and the playboys. And by 21 he 18 songs recorded as a songwriter. But he didn't stop there. He earned a degree in political science from UCLA with honors. Then a law degree with honors, passing the California bar exam as one of the youngest people to do so. At the time, most people would have chosen one path. Spencer chose music. His accomplishments go back to when he was just 26 years old, putting Tina Turner into the feature adaptation of the who's Tommy and producing and playing guitar on her acclaimed Acid Queen solo album. That's how you announce yourself to the world. In 1978, he designed and built the Pasha Music House, two State of the art recording studios in Hollywood that became a home base for his productions for the next 12 years. Out of those rooms came an extraordinary roster. Cheap Trick, Heart, the Little River Band, Eddie Money, the Beach Boys, Vanilla Fudge, Ian Hunter, and many more. Then came a moment, and that changed rock history. Spencer produced Metal Health by Quiet Riot, the first heavy metal record ever to reach number one on the pop charts, selling 6 million albums. That's not just a hit record, that's a cultural milestone. His work has never been confined to music alone. He was a co executive producer on the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning film Gods and Monsters, worked with Stevie Wonder on Pinocchio, earned Tony nominations for the Broadway production It Ain't Nothing but the Blues and produced Chasing Train, the John Coltrane documentary featuring the voice of Denzel Washington. And of course, you've heard Spencer previously on Taking a Walk. He joins us to talk about the 1968 Elvis comeback special, a project he brought to theaters around the world. That conversation was unforgettable. Now he's back because one of the most visionary productions is finally getting its moment. His Children of the sun collaboration with Billy Thorpe was the first rock record to spawn a computer animated laser choreography shown in planetariums across America. And now, decades later, after its release, Children of the sun is finally getting an authorized reissue that American fans have never had. Coming up next, Spencer Proffer on Taking a Walk.
- [02:59]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [03:03]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
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- [04:08]
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- [04:39]
Buzz Knight (Host)
Taking a Walk A returning Guest alert Spencer Proffer is back on the Taking a Walk podcast. Welcome back, Spencer.
- [04:47]
Spencer Proffer
Well Buzz, if it weren't for you giving me the buzz, I wouldn't be here. Thank you.
- [04:52]
Buzz Knight (Host)
It's an honor having you on. The first time that you came on, we talked about your great documentary Chasing Train, the John Coltrane Story, which was just a fantastic documentary, one of my favorites of all time. The second time you came on, we talked specifically about Reinventing Elvis, the great project that you work with Steve Binder on, which was wonderful to get behind the scenes with you and talk about that on the Taking a Walk podcast. It's amazing. Every time I talk to you, there's a new project or two or three or four coming down the pike for you. We're here to talk specifically about a project near and dear to you about Billy Thorpe, the Children of the sun project. But before we get to that, what have you been up to? I haven't talked to you in a while. Tell me what you have been up to.
- [05:44]
Spencer Proffer
Spencer Proffer Loving my family, building my business, looking at models that have inspired me for a long time, from MGM to Vince Lombardi to looking at people who built businesses like Richard Branson, who built Virgin into a really significant company with his big heart of charitable activities. I'm very much enamored with the DreamWorks model on how Steven Spielberg has now been able to he's always controlled the narrative of his projects. Now he's going to own them a little more than he did thanks to the brilliance of David Geffen when they put DreamWorks together. And now as I'm a ripe old guy crossing the 70 yard line in my life, what I want to do is I want to leave legacy for my family. I have one grandkid who's three years old now, Caspian, who's the product of my oldest son's sterling proffer, who helped build Vice Media into a formidable company. And my other younger son, Morgan informed me recently when he was graduated up to being a pilot for United Airlines, a captain. He was a pilot all along, but now he's actually master of the destiny of all of his flights. And he told me, I will be a grandfather of a baby girl come this October. So those have been the biggest highlights. Plus my love for my wife Judy. We celebrated our 25th year wedding anniversary, which is cool, but business wise, I'm hitting it out of the park with the things that we're developing, but they deal with courage and social justice and how media and how songs play a part making a difference in pop culture. Not only did I do it with the Elvis the American Pie project, but with a number of things like a Sly in the Family Stone feature and some other docs that I'm doing with some former partners, I'm actually digging in to doing what I could have and should have been doing 30, 40 years ago. But I was busy just producing records. Now I'm producing media where music plays an important component. That's what I've been doing.
- [07:59]
Buzz Knight (Host)
That sounds amazing. Congratulations on all of it. You know, we also did talk on a podcast about your Standby Me project. Can you update us on that one? That is a fascinating one.
- [08:10]
Spencer Proffer
Well, we do stand, in the words of Fleshstone, we stand together. And I had spoken at length to Mike and Peter Stoller, Mike Stoller having written a song with Jerry Lieber and Benny King about my vision of it is more than a love song. It's about standing next to your brother. Black and white, straight and gay, you know, in the foxhole, you stand next to your brother. Whether the bullets flying have donkeys or elephants on them, you stand together. So where we are is we're still Building the house. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have now come as executive producers. Next to me on it, we will do a new version of Stand By Me custom for our doc with a major artist that they will arrange and produce a song. We have yet to start production. We will start production in probably a month or so. I plan to screen it at the United nations in New York because it speaks to us standing together and that's what nations are supposed to do. That's what people are supposed to do. But that's later. Today we're celebrating my 50 year anniversary of the release of Children of the sun, which was a record that I produced and arranged and mixed back in 1978. And that's actually I met you when we morphed that into a laser computer animated laser show. And I spoke at when I was, I think in my 20s at the Burkhardt Abrams convention in San Diego at the Ruben E. Fleet Space Theater where we premiered our laser show. And there was Buz night young buzz with at the Lee Abrams convention meeting, Spencer saying, hey, maybe we'll see you again someday. So we're taking a walk. 50 years later.
- [10:00]
Buzz Knight (Host)
I love it, how it's come full circle. And I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember also having my senses completely aroused from the experience. It was the first time seeing something like that in a theater synced to music. This would sort of become a new model in recent years, of course, with how the sphere has become a big popular destination for music and media. How does that make you feel when you think about how the sphere has become such a piece of entertainment culture and how you sort of started that back with that project initially back in San Diego?
- [10:43]
Spencer Proffer
Well, it actually started in Los Angeles at the Griffith Park Planetarium. But immersive entertainment is something that hit my DNA way back to when I actually produced the Teenager Ace of Queen album a couple years earlier. Putting music against visual. Pete Townsend was brilliant when he created Tommy. And when I was running the creative division of United Artists and I inherited Ike and Tina, I thought how cool would it be for Tina to be cast in the movie and make an Acid Queen album? Which I did, which I produced and arranged and mixed, played guitar on it also. Man, I was like 26 years old. This was two years before my Billy Thorpe record. But immersive entertainment, to hit your point, as now promulgated by the sphere, I think is the future of mankind, where you integrate all the elements. That's pretty much where the media business has come to now, where the streaming has, you know, it involves audio, it involves visual. We're doing a verbal podcast in the spirit of Orson Welles in the 30s when he did just verbal on War the Worlds. But now we can actually put images next to the verbal, which is pretty cool, which is a podcast. And I commend both SiriusXM and iHeart, especially those two companies, for having the vision with iHeart. Pittman was the guy, Bob Pittman, who started with John sykes. They began MTV and MTV was probably in the early 80s, thanks to Tom Frest, Bob Pittman, the brainchild of mirroring audio and visual. So here we are now in 20, 26, 27, doing it again. So I'm kind of honored that you saw that as I saw that in my 20s, 50 years ago. So here we are. So take me back.
- [12:37]
Buzz Knight (Host)
How did Children of the sun as the initial project come together and what drew you then to Billy Thorpe as an artist?
- [12:46]
Spencer Proffer
Good question. Well, it came about because I was always a fan of extraterrestrial exploration. I had read Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Little did I know that the biggest artist maybe in the history of Australia, the Springsteen, Justin Timberlake of actually he's a harder rocker. The Springsteen of Australia. Billy Thorpe is cut from similar cloth. He was fascinated by outer space. And when I met him at a party for that Fleetwood Mac who had blown up were the special guests of by their lawyer, Mickey Shapiro. Billy Thorpe was there to meet with Alan Parsons about making a record, coming to America. And Billy, I was a single guy, Billy was single, real good looking guy, would come to America and he actually wasn't single. But there weren't enough pretty girls at the party. So Billy and I said, let's get out of here and let's go see. There was a movie that just came out I couldn't wait to see called Close Encounters of the Third Kind by one of my heroes, Steven Spielberg. So Billy and I went and we saw the movie instead of hanging out at the party. And we looked at each other at the end and said, hey, aliens made contact with Earth. What happened afterwards? So I said to Billy, because I was a guitar player, not as good as Billy, who was fantastic, let's go up to my house in Benedict Canyon and let's jam it. Let's talk about it. So we did and we made it. It took probably five hours, bottle of Courvoisier and some pretty good smoke to come up with a fictional story called Children of the sun, which we wrote together. And it dealt with the. At the time, the Americans, the Afghanistan had teamed up and The Russians were threatening kind of to blow up the world. This was down 1977. And Billy and I said to each other, well, what if, thinking of Carl Sagan and Cosmos and Close Encounters, the Americans would unite with another galaxy from another planet and leave planet Earth and go to another galaxy and start a new civilization? Billy said, right on, mate, that's a real good idea. So we started jamming and stuff and as I said about many hours later, as the sun was coming up, we created a seven minute song. Actually 653 was the record called Children of the sun and I. Then three days later, Billy and I, we became friends and I was very much into surreal outer worldly stuff. Billy called me, said, I think I can create a whole record around our concept. Why don't we do it? I said, well, maybe we'll do it as a half an album and see if it works and if so, we can morph it into something else. Which was the sequel, 21st Century Man. So the Children of the sun record came together. I engaged two players that I thought were fantastic musicians. Billy being a brilliant, brilliant shredder and guitar player. Alvin Taylor, who had played with George Harrison, was playing with Eric Borden at the Whiskey. I saw him play, he's an African American drummer, was about the best drummer I had ever seen. And Lilith Sklar was somebody bass player I was friendly with. And James Taylor, he was James's bass player. Crosby Stills and Nash's bass player on the road. And both of those acts weren't on the road. So Leland was free. So I called him up and I told him about the vision of this. He said, where do I sign? I'd like to meet this guy Thorpe. So the three of us met at the same time with my engineer at my side, Larry Brown, who built my recording studio. And we talked about it and these guys said it, let's do it. Little did they know what they were signing up for. Took me 11 months to make the record, the three of us and Larry as the engineer. And lo and behold, when we finished it, it was out of this world, right? I couldn't get arrested, Buzz. I went shopping to every record company because I had started to build a name as a producer, especially after the Tina album and everyone, even though Clive Davis, God Rest Assault, who was my mentor and my first boss, I was class assistant when I graduated law school back when I was 23 years old. Clive Ahmed Erdogan, Joe Smith, all these brilliant record guys passed on the record so I couldn't get arrested and Here I was having made the record at my studio that Larry Brown had designed and built. Long story on how it came out, but we ultimately got it released through Capricorn Records, which was a southern rock label helmed by Phil Walden and Frank Fenner. They had the Dixie Dregs and the Allman brothers and Delbert McClintock, a lot of cool acts. They wound up at my studio and we turned the lights down, I lit some incense, I took off my shoes, my hair was down to my shoulders, and we played the record and blasted it so loud. And these guys got off on it big time. And they made a record deal with me through distribution through Polydore Records. At the time, little did I know that the Amman Brothers would sue them when the record was number one, having sold nearly a million copies. And I never got paid on it. But I still got to make the record. I still got the goosebump. And that's a memory that I wound up, you know, morphing it. Electra was my next label. When we did the follow up record, that's when we did the show that premiered at the Reuben Fleet Space Theater. Didn't premiere. We actually developed it at Griffith park, the planetarium. But we premiered the whole thing at the Burkhardt Abrams Convention, which, if you remember, I had a big mouth and I spoke a lot then. I'm still doing it, even though I'm older. But I really love that record. I love Billy a lot. We wound up making four albums together. And to hear that it was now going to be reissued as an anniversary record with massive pre orders, it made a lot of sense for me to spend a lot of time with the guy who wrote the liner notes, Ralph Chapman, to talk to me about the evolution of it. Getting pictures of me as a young guy in my 20s. And I just. I'm thrilled about it. So I'm glad that I met you in that context. And here we are talking about it. We'll be right back with more of the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [19:22]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [19:43]
Ben Ndef Hafrey
Thirty years ago, an island off Manhattan almost brought down New York City.
- [19:49]
Buzz Knight (Host)
Who will you trust?
- [19:50]
Spencer Proffer
Your friends and neighbors? Who will you trust?
- [19:52]
Buzz Knight (Host)
The people five miles overseas.
- [19:54]
Ben Ndef Hafrey
This is a story about neighbors turning on each other and what happens when a forgotten place decides it's had enough?
- [20:03]
Spencer Proffer
We reached for a feeling that exists in this city, but we're not stopping, are we?
- [20:12]
Ben Ndef Hafrey
I'm Ben Ndef Hafrey, and for my new series on revisionist history, I took a deep dive into Staten Island's attempt to secede from New York city in the 1990s and what it all has to do with the politics of resentment that dominate America today. Listen to revisionist the Staten island problem on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [20:43]
Unknown Historian
The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered, you know, sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it.
- [20:55]
Rebecca Nagle
Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it?
- [21:05]
Unknown Historian
Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself.
- [21:16]
Rebecca Nagle
I'm Rebecca Nagle. Gohin Tawadon Jalecayatli Gay la citizen of Cherokee Nation.
- [21:22]
Carrie Brownstein
Are you guys big Chiefs fans?
- [21:24]
Spencer Proffer
Hell yeah.
- [21:25]
Rebecca Nagle
This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [21:42]
Spencer Proffer
We've all been there.
- [21:44]
Gary Valenciano
We've had seasons that have shaken everything. The question is, what remains when the shaking stops? Hi, I'm Gary Valenciano and on my podcast Unshaken with Gary Vee, I sit down with amazing personalities and we talk about the seasons that nearly broke them, the lows that carried them to their highs. Listen to Unshaken with Gary Vee on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [22:19]
Spencer Proffer
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [22:22]
Buzz Knight (Host)
What was so cool about that Ride record back then was as programmers of radio stations, this was nothing we had really heard before. A song like this, you know, children of the sun. And that's what made it even more special. That's what drew. I know people like Lee Abrams and the whole consultancy of the Superstars group, you know, towards it, because then album oriented rock was beginning to take shape. Lee had the Superstars format, which was really built on all different types of
- [22:54]
Buzz Knight
sounds, the symphonic rock, the headphone music,
- [22:58]
Buzz Knight (Host)
like Children of the Sun. So it was so unique at that point, which is why programmers gravitated towards it, because it was unlike anything really we had heard. And that's what made it really very Special. And then, of course, Lee would promote it further on, you know, hundreds of radio stations. And as they say, the rest is history. What happened with the rights to that over time, to the release, did that become complicated?
- [23:30]
Spencer Proffer
Yes, very complicated. When Capricorn went bankrupt, their distributor ultimately succumbed to getting the rights to put it out. We put it out again on Polydor about a year later, but we lost the moment. That's when I had the rights to my vision because I wrote the song, I had the publishing, Billy had his end of the publishing, and we just took ourselves over to. We got into a bidding war because it was such a big deal at rock radio. Actually, before, when Abrams got behind it, there were a couple of stations that blew it out. KROQ in la, KTXQ in Dallas, KMOD in Tulsa, and kt, and let me see, it was KISS in San Antonio. They had the balls to put it on the air. And every station that played that seven minute track, which actually was influenced by a Don McLean song called American Pie, which was also seven minutes, which was something funny enough. Fifty Years Comes Forward there. I made Don stock on American Pie through Paramount plus, but that's another conversation. These stations played it, it went to number one, the kids called in and all of a sudden it spread like wildfire. Before you knew it, the thing was skyrocketing up the charts. What happened with the rights? Capricorn filed a bankruptcy. It all went to Polydor. But under the terms of the deal that I had made with Capricorn, all rights would revert to me after 10 years. Well, 10 years later, it all came back to my company called Morling Manor Music, named after my children, Morgan and Sterling. And we put out a reissue of it, which I remixed in 1988 on my record company label, Pasha. But. But it didn't get a lot of marketing and promotion. To be perfectly frank, Sony at the time was more interested in promoting my Quiet Riot records and some other records that I had done. So that reverted back to me. I knew a showrunner who had written and directed a show called Fargo, and it was a big hit. It had gotten, I think 18 or 19 Emmy awards. I don't remember exactly what the year was, but I got contacted by the distributor, who's mgm, who was putting up the money to make the Fargo episodes. And Noah actually wanted to do a call with me, which we did, and we talked about me licensing the song because I have a little bit of a business orientation being able to turn down all licenses to use that song again because it was so precious, it had to be used in its original context. Couldn't be covered. I wouldn't license it out to anyone. So I didn't. But when Noah said he would premiere season two using four minutes of my original record without any dialogue from the actors on Fargo, I said, bingo, I gotta do it. So I got a hold of Lynn Thorpe in Australia. This was after Billy had passed because I had to honor his marriage to Lynn. They became my friends, Billy's kids and Lynn all. And I said, I want to do this and I will give you 50% of every dime I get. Do I have your bl do it? She said, you do. So I did. So we made a bunch of money on the license because it wasn't just Fargo who gave me the money to. To borrow the song. It was mgm and they had a few dollars. So I did that. I got the dollar. I gave Lynn 50 cents. And season two, episode one, it opens with four minutes of music with no dialogue. First time ever on Fargo. And that was the last time that song went out to the world. SiriusXM and continues to play it through deep tracks. And it's one of the most requested oldie songs of all time. And I found out last year it was now coming back out to the world in its anniversary. And here we are doing this podcast. That's a long winded answer to a short question. Yeah, Billy did pass away, God rest his soul. He was a great guy. He became very dear to me as a friend and as a collaborator.
- [27:45]
Buzz Knight (Host)
He passed away in 2007.
- [27:47]
Buzz Knight
What do you think Billy would make
- [27:49]
Buzz Knight (Host)
of this moment today with this being reissued?
- [27:54]
Spencer Proffer
I think he'd be proud. I think he'd be proud that it finally caught up to the vision he had and that I had back in 1977. 78. The fact that we just had a great space mission, the fact that we're integrating the mediums, the fact that this was something that was audio and visual way back before it was cool to do that. I think Billy would be infinitely proud. And he would be happy. Happy. And I would be proud to be his partner and his collaborator. And as I am still today. And that's why I'm doing this podcast with you, Buzz.
- [28:33]
Buzz Knight (Host)
So tell me, when you think of other reissues that you might like to get back into the world, are there other ones that tickle your. Your fancy?
- [28:44]
Spencer Proffer
My favorite records. I think there are two that I would like to see reissued. One, funny enough, was on Polygor. It was called Framed. It was by Dave Lambert, who was the lead guitarist of an English band called the Strops. And I had put a band together, funny enough. I met John Entwistle in the context of the Tina Turner, Tommy, you know, connectivity. And John was the bass player for the who and a damn good one. And. And he actually. They were on a hiatus on a tour, so he flew over to la. He played bass on. He was a big fan of the Strops. Dave Lambert played guitar. Denny Seiwell, who was Paul McCartney's drummer in Wings, played drums. And Tom Hensley, who just passed the other day, was Neil Diamond's arranger and keyboard player, played keyboards. And Larry Brown was my engineer on the Thorpe record, engineered my framed album. I think that should come back out. I co wrote the album with Lambert and one song was a tribute to my father called so Lucky about coming to America. The first thing we saw as we took the boat over to Ellis island was the Statue of Liberty. That song reflected the spirit of my heart then and still does now because my father's memory is forever perpetual in my soul. And cut one side one was called Take A Little Bit of My Life. Out of All Funny Things, I'm giving you a lot of rock history that will. Will probably wind up in my memoir at some point. Eddie Money had just had a number one song with two tickets to paradise and I got a call from another Jewish Polish gentleman named Bill Graham who was managing Eddie and he said Eddie would like to record and co write the song. I said it's already written by me and Dave. I'll give him a license, but only I can produce it and arrange it. So if you go back to 1981 onto the Eddie Money no Control album, which a brilliant producer who's now, now with us, Tom Dowden produced. There are three tracks on it produced by me, one of which is Take A Little Bit of My Life, which you can look it up on YouTube. It's kind of. I copied my arrangement for my Lambert album that didn't come out that big a deal in America because his management company got into a lawsuit with Polidor over another artist. So my. I got screwed again. Like the Thorpe album, that album got stalled in its tracks, but I'd like to see that reissued.
- [31:22]
Buzz Knight (Host)
To answer your question, that's a great one I loved. I was a big fan of the Straubs. That sound was just so signature and so unique and hearing it to this day, it just really makes me smile, you know, thinking about it and thinking about that story.
- [31:38]
Spencer Proffer
If you go onto YouTube and you put in Take A Little Bit of My Life, which was the first single co won by Dave Lambert. If you put in the song so Lucky, which felt like it came off a McCartney record, which is pretty cool, people would analogize it. You can put in Dave Lambert Framed. You'll hear a bunch of the songs today. But I would like to have that album reissued again on the heels of this sort thing. And I made a record with a guy named John Butcher that Glenn Ballard worked on with me way back in the late 80s. And every time it's on Capitol Records and every time we released a single, they changed precedents. So John, who was a black guitar player, who was fantastic in the spirit of Hendrix, never saw his day in court. I would like that first record that I made for Capitol with John called Wishes to get Reissued, because I think it's great and I'm very proud of that. I'd love to hear a new version, have Alan Parsons mix a new version of Dark side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, because that was my favorite record for many, many years, as it was the. And I am going to be working, I hope, with Alan Parsons making his doc next year. So. How ironic. And through him I'll get to meet David Gilmore, who I consider one of the greatest guitar players of all time. Even though I have had the good fortune to work with Jeff Beck and Dave Lambert and Brian May. I would certainly love to meet Dave Gilmour. I'd certainly like to hear Dark side of the Moon reissued. And I'd really like to see Alan Parsons remix it because he did a great job on that way back in the 70s. How's that for a long answer to another short question.
- [33:21]
Buzz Knight (Host)
That's awesome. And by the way, shout out to John Butcher, a man down the road from where I am here in Massachusetts. So great, really great history. And I know he's still out and about, so I love that you're talking about John Butcher. He was very special to the music scene and in this part of the country in particular, he well loved. So. And a great guitar player, to your point.
- [33:45]
Spencer Proffer
Point, Yeah. I actually wound up becoming friends with John. We made. Let me see, 1, 2, 3. We made three albums together that I arranged. And the last album I co produced with a guy named Glenn Ballard was actually writing Alanis Morissette's album. But Glenn actually worked with me on that album too. Glenn, his son went to school with my son Sterling. And Glenn was a brilliant talent. He actually wrote man in the Mirror with Saida Garrett for Michael Jackson and It's called kind of like I'm a repository of older artifacts, of people who really made a difference in the music business. Now that I'm an old guy, all I'm doing is reflecting back on all this while I'm trying to bring the music of my era to kids of today in a new suit of clothes. That's what I'm doing with the docs that I'm producing. That's why I'm teamed up with people like Jimmy Jam, really talented people who are brilliant, who can actually arrange and produce classic stuff and bring it to another generation. That's what I'm trying to do do.
- [34:49]
Buzz Knight (Host)
Well, Spencer, since we do call this podcast Taking a Walk, I do have to close out with what we call our Dream Walk questions. Since you have last done the show, we have added that as a little signature piece, the Dream Walk question. Who would you take a walk with? Spencer Proffer, living or dead?
- [35:09]
Spencer Proffer
Well, I would love to have met Irving Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer, who built this company called mgm, which is kind of a model that I like to emulate, where you control the narrative, but you use your same team of people. But sometimes one player can work on this project and then he works on this project, and that's kind of how the MGM of a student of old Hollywood. I'd like to take a walk and talk to those guys. Thalberg first, creativity in creative, and Louis B. Mayer for his creativity in building a business.
- [35:43]
Buzz Knight (Host)
I love it.
- [35:43]
Buzz Knight
Spencer.
- [35:44]
Buzz Knight (Host)
Spencer, so great to be on with you on Taking a Walk. I know you'll be back on because you'll always have something to talk about, to promote. And we love the projects that you work on. They make a difference in the world. Spencer Proffer, thanks for being on Taking a Walk and congrats on the reissue of Children of the Sun.
- [36:03]
Spencer Proffer
Thanks for inviting me. Thanks for having me. And guess what? You don't even look. Maybe you look a day older than when I met you 50 years ago, but maybe, maybe two days also, but not more.
- [36:15]
Buzz Knight (Host)
You're so kind.
- [36:16]
Ben Ndef Hafrey
Thank you, Spencer.
- [36:19]
Buzz Knight
I'm Buzz Knight. And thanks for listening to the Taking a Walk podcast. Now please check out our companion podcasts produced by Buzz Night Media Productions with your host, Lynn Hoffman. Music Save Me. Showcasing the healing power of music and comedy. Save Me. Shining a light on how laughter is the best movie. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are part of the I Heart Podcast network.
- [36:49]
Carrie Brownstein
Hey, Portlandia fans, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.
- [36:52]
Jake Brennan
The dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form.
- [36:55]
Carrie Brownstein
We're launching Podlandia AO Rewatch our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made.
- [37:07]
Jake Brennan
And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life, guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Krisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.
- [37:19]
Carrie Brownstein
Kyle is going for it. Here you fully improvised, not just words, but a song about.
- [37:24]
Buzz Knight (Host)
Well, I thought you were all gonna write a song.
- [37:26]
Carrie Brownstein
I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia Aao Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [37:36]
What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers.
- [37:38]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
Hey, what's up, y'?
- [37:39]
Buzz Knight (Host)
All?
- [37:39]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
It's your girl, Sam J.
- [37:40]
Carrie Brownstein
And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I heart women's sports.
- [37:45]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
We're breaking down the biggest headlines.
- [37:47]
Carrie Brownstein
Naomi Osaka showing out shout outs to you, Naomi. The viral moments.
- [37:51]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
I've been obsessed with Krishan Rock's boxing journey.
- [37:54]
Buzz Knight (Host)
She looks good.
- [37:55]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
Her combos are swift.
- [37:56]
Carrie Brownstein
And the stories everyone's talking about across
- [37:58]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
women's sports because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone watches women's Sports on
- [38:03]
Carrie Brownstein
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
- [38:05]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
you get your podcast.
- [38:06]
Jake Brennan
I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast, Disgraceland, I tell the stories behind music's biggest names, like how the story of the Foo Fighters isn't just about music. It's about grief, shock, and the moment everything changed. Imagine that you're in the biggest band on the planet as Dave Grohl was in 1994 in Nirvana. And the phone rings and you learn that your singer, your friend, the reluctant voice of a generation, Kurt Cobain is dead. Listen to Disgraceland on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [38:41]
Grainger Announcer
This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week the news gets worse, the world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem.
- [38:51]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
Do you know I just found out who Sydney Sweeney was? If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to youo're the Problem with yamaneika on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts?