Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. It's the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. Hey, everybody, it's Ray the Roadie.

And this is Hollywood Mike. How's it going? I'm doing good. How are you doing today? You know, it's it feels like a Monday.

That's for sure. It sure does feel like a Monday. A long Monday.

Very Monday. Oh, yeah. I had a long weekend.

Yeah. Late Friday. Late Saturday.

Late Sunday. I saw you Friday. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I was going to try and see you on Saturday, but something came up, so we are unable to make it.

Well, that's OK. We're here now. That's all that counts.

That's right. You know what? I'm a little disappointed, though, because our our favorite place next door isn't open on Mondays. I know.

I know. And until they start sponsoring us, I'm not saying who it is. Yeah, absolutely.

But I mean, you know, it's it's like a tradition. We do a podcast. We go next door.

We celebrate with a bourbon. And well, we're back here Wednesday. No.

Well, there we go. There we go. So we'll have to make up for Monday.

Yeah. Yeah. Or we have to find someplace else around.

That's true. That's true. Absolutely.

Something around here. So already joining us this week are three gentlemen from the band Two Beer Tommy. How you guys doing? Well, thank you.

Great. Thanks for having us. Well, I'm going to play a little.

It's your first day in class in third grade. And we're going to go around to everybody's desk and tell us your name and what you do. All right.

Well, my name's Rich. I'm a Sagittarius. And I'm a guitar player in the Two Beer Tommy band.

I'm Tim. I'm the drummer. And my name's Nick.

I am a new guitar player joining the group. Yeah. He's the sparkle man.

Yeah. Sparkle. The arm candy or the eye candy or whatever it is.

You could look at it that way, too. So where's Tommy from Two Beer Tommy's? Well, Tom's got a condition, a medical condition. We're not going to get into it.

OK. It's called hip hop. It is part of his hip hop.

That's why they got an issue. All right. So is he I mean, is the band named after him or does it just happen to be that his name is Tommy? No, that that is.

It's named after him. OK. There is a story.

I don't know if you want to hear it. No. That's what we're here for.

Of course. Well, I'll tell you, way back in the day, Tom is a mechanic by trade and he would go out for lunch and, you know, have a few to wash down his sandwich with. And when he would come back, he was a little full of himself and he'd know what was best for the boss and best for the business and be telling everybody so, you know.

So when he would come back from lunch, he would, you know, the other guys in the shop would be like, oh, here comes Two Beer Tommy. So he told us this story and we thought it was so funny that we thought we'd call the band that. But what we do is we use it as a cautionary tale.

We tell people that Two Beer Tommy is pretty good, but Three Beer Tommy is not so much. So that kind of leads into who manages your social media? I have to ask that right away. Oh, that's me.

That's you. Yeah. I read every single one of the posts that you put out on social media because they're absolutely hysterical.

Great. Thank you very much. Absolutely.

A lot of fun. What was the one that I saw today? It was somebody, somebody put Two Beer Tommy. It says got and it's scratched out and it says is a big dick.

It's great. It doesn't say that. It says dig, dig, dick.

But if you want to read it quickly, that's the whole idea, read it quickly. But it has little, it had other little blurbs at the end of it that said, you just read that wrong. So you go back and you read it again and it said, you just read that wrong.

And before you know it, you've read a little advertisement for Two Beer Tommy like four times. Yeah, that's right. And that's how we try to do it.

We want to get the name out there. And that's why we're here. We appreciate that you guys invited us here and, you know, get a little more Two Beer Tommy out there.

Yeah, absolutely. No, it's absolutely hysterical. I think your social media ideas are absolutely brilliant.

I don't think I've missed one. Oh, thank you. And there's a lot of people that will tell us that they don't follow the band.

And they won't come and see us, but they love to get online and see posts of that day. I mean, they suck live with their posts, they're awesome. So who are the other guys that are missing? Well, here we got the heart, the beat of the band right here.

Tim, go ahead. Say a little bit, Tim. Uh, well, I'm just the drummer in the band.

I've been with these guys for almost two years, about two years now. And I'm just loving it, having a good time, enjoying the camaraderie and get to play some cool songs and just digging it. Yeah.

Where'd you come from? How'd you become a drummer? And what immediately led you to Two-Beer Tommy? Oh, you want to start at the beginning or? Yeah. Okay. I was a young boy that went out to Las Vegas as a young boy with my sister and my mother and her friend.

And we went and saw Elvis Presley twice. And I sat right in front of the drummer. And all I did was stare at that drummer the whole time.

And then when we came back home, I told my dad and he went out and bought me a drum set. And that was 56, 57 years ago. And I haven't stopped playing since.

Right. Right. I played in many different bands.

I've been to Nashville. I've done albums in Nashville, um, played with a lot of different types of groups, different scenarios, been all around with concert bands and jazz band or not jazz bands, but, uh, other bands in high school and stuff. A lot of interesting things.

It's been fun. It's been a great time. So, I mean, between the two of you guys, you guys have a musical pedigree because you were talking about you doing some touring as well.

Yeah. I've toured my whole life for 40 years. I'm just off the road now.

And this is what's got me anchored home, if you will, and uses that part of my brain because I toured. In fact, REO Speedwagon, that high infidelity, that was my first tour on the road nationally, actually. So, and I started with the boys actually locally here, went to LA with them, with the B's, jumped off that, Ozzy Osbourne, Diary of a Madman tour.

But you know, tour after tour after tour, that's all I've done my whole life. Wow. So when I got off the road a few years ago, um, I put this little band together and, uh, that's what's been keeping me home and having a good time on the weekends.

But really fortunate to have a guy like Tim, uh, to play in the band, Right Size, uh, it's phenomenal. He, he gets it. And we, with Mike, who you talked about, our bass player, these are some pocket playing guys who, you know, it's a rhythm section as opposed to two guys just playing their instruments.

And when he says Right Size, he means short drummer. Yeah. Short drummer.

We always ask him to stand up, take a bow, and he's like, I am, you know, right, right, right, right, right. Yeah. No, I, I've known Mike for a few years because as you know, his, his nephew or nephew in law, uh, plays in my own band, but I, I have yet to get out to see you guys play.

So I keep hearing that Mike's a really good bass player, but I haven't had a chance to actually play. He's probably the best. He's the best in the band.

Actually. You know, you got to come on. Yeah.

We may have, we may have jammed together at a jam night or something like that a few years ago, but normally there's alcohol involved in that, you know, you don't really remember too much. But by the way, please continue to name drop because I just had a very interesting conversation a couple of days ago with people that listen to the podcast pretty regularly. And they say, well, it's, it's great to, uh, to hear about local musicians.

And I don't think that people who you would encounter on a daily basis really understand the extent to which the musicians in the Chicagoland area have taken their musicianship. They just look at us all like a bunch of neighborhood guys that play guitar, but they don't understand who you might actually be, you know, going to see every, every weekend. So please continue to name drop and tell everybody about their experience, about your experiences because they have been loving that stuff on the show.

I mean, just real fast, you know, as you guys know, and why this place is here is that Chicago is a pocket of enthusiasm and musicality for, well, God knows how long, right? And there's just so many people here, the circles here are incredible, but this is a great place to be in the play because there's so much opportunity and music and musicians and I mean, I, Chicago is where it's at, even though I've toured my whole life. Um, this, this is home and I can't tell you how grateful I am to be here and to be playing around here. It's just, uh, I don't know.

It's wide open. It's great. My sentiment exactly.

Yeah, it really is. Well, that's why we're here too. Um, but let's talk to sparkle boy over here.

You know, your name is going to be sparkles from now on. Oh, great. So, uh, tell us about yourself.

Uh, well, my name is Nick. Um, I've been playing guitar for the almost 20 years now. It doesn't feel like that.

Yeah. And you're only 17 years old. So now I'm turning 30 this year.

It's weird. But, um, I'm new to two-beard Tommy. I've been, uh, like I said, I've been playing for about 20 years.

Uh, I've played with a lot of different local groups, including, uh, seven in for a few Cadillac groove gigs. I was just, what, two months ago now it was, uh, uh, it was, it was, uh, yeah. Ballydole Ballydole where Mike and I are sharing the stage and having a fun time.

Right. But yeah, uh, through a local friend, mutual friend between rich and myself, they gave my contact info out and, uh, we reached out, gave me a list of a whole bunch of music, learned it all. And, uh, here I am now.

It's fun. That was music solutions, by the way, uh, down the street and bowling brook that, uh, in front of ours, Steve Dollinger, uh, turned. Cause I always put out a message.

We, we run a deep bench cause we play too many shows. Right. So we always have backup guys and always need people.

I mean, it's amazing how many people we've had play with us, you know, great musicians, you know, so. Yeah. You have to, you absolutely have to.

Um, yeah, the, uh, the first time I met Nick was at a jam as we need to meet a lot of people. And I had the opportunity to watch him as a fledgling young guitarist. And when I say fledgling, I mean, he's, you know, he's years above his, his, you know, his talent, I guess is the best way to his best way to put it.

So you guys had a good, and he's young and nimble and he still sparkles sparkles sparkles and he's new. So he's the one hauling all the guitar amps up. You got it.

Yeah. He doesn't know all that yet. So who are we missing? We're missing Mike.

Yeah. Somebody talk about Mike a little bit. Mike's a principal.

We kind of, you know, Tom is the namesake. You know, I'm the one, as you talked about, does all the marketing and the booking and all that kind of stuff. And then Tom, Tom, Tom, forget about him.

Mike, Mike is the quiet one as you, you know, Mike, but, um, he, uh, he kind of holds down the equipment side of things and as a pragmatic, uh, uh, guy, and, uh, just really brings a lot to the band, not, not an over player, uh, you know, great pocket playing guy and just really awesome. The Rock of Gibraltar, but all the new guys that come in think, uh, that Mike hates him for some reason. So we have to tell, don't worry if he looks at you sideways, he likes you.

I didn't get that vibe. I got the look of, Hey, we're about to do this. Yeah.

So do it. Yeah. Okay.

All right. So when did the band get together originally? 2019, uh, pre COVID just before everything went, uh, haywire, uh, we got together and different guys, a different drummer back then. Uh, Jeff Chemek was his name.

Great guy from a band called Omega three. And then, um, uh, guitar player was Leo, uh, Leo Roth, who was with Hillbilly rock stars. Now he got poached, uh, from us.

But, uh, yeah, we started up, uh, playing then. And, uh, you know, we'd been with too many bands. All of us have played our whole life around the city and around Chicago, you know, and we've been with a lot of bands that were in the basement for eight months and then it would break up before you got out.

So we did this one the opposite way. We went out and just started playing, but then, um, COVID hit and, um, you know, everything shut down. Nobody knew what they were going to do.

And we're kind of, kind of a country kind of base band country, classic rock, Southern rock kind of thing. But, you know, uh, line dancing has a, uh, a natural separation in it. And a lot of the bigger clubs were like, you know, we're only going to have 20% of the people in here.

We got a big stage, but can you come in as a small unit? So Mike would play upright. I would play acoustic and we, we made a suitcase kit and we'd play it in a lot of places. Uh, and the managers would say, Hey, we like what you're doing.

Uh, we'd like to have you back as the full band. You know, and we started, we kept pretty busy through the COVID time. And then after that happened, some personnel changes.

And then, you know, we were able to book and we keep pretty busy. We've done, I think like 80 shows a year for the past couple of years, which is. Yeah.

I get all of the invites to all your shows. Unfortunately, I play so much that I haven't been able to get out there, but you play a lot of the same places. Oh yeah, right.

Well, we invite everybody. We don't know any of the people. We apologize to all of you.

Well, you have to have a guy like, you know, like that. We have, we have our own Tommy and our band and anybody that walks up and shakes his hand, he friends them on Facebook. Exactly.

So we get people showing up through, you know, Hey, who's this Tommy guy that keeps sending me emails and all that, but you have to do it. You know, you have to get your name out there. You have to do it.

And the bar owners appreciate that and the whole bit. Yeah, exactly right. So tell us about the music.

Who kind of chooses the music? Do you have like a director in that regard? Well, the original concept was a total rip off, you know, I had just gotten off the road as I was telling you, I was with Paul Simon at the time for God, like, like 15 years. Right. And so I'm like, I'm not going to be on the road anymore.

And I wasn't really a country player per se, but because of, you know, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, I've sat out front. I've also I've toured with many, many bands for 40 years, but I've sat out front and listened to a lot of great players. And a guy asked me to audition for a Nashville guy called Matt Boone.

He was up here from Nashville. He was down in Nashville, got a record deal, and he was doing a showcase at Loretta Lynn's house. And during the showcase, a girl came up and kissed him and his wife got up and beat the hell out of it.

Oh, he lost his record deal. Wow. And he came up here and shacked up with some girl in Wheaton.

Right. And the guy says to me, hey, there's this country guy here. I go, ah, I'm not a country guy.

Everybody around here is a classic rock guy for the most part. Right, right. So he goes, no, no, no, really, you should audition.

You could do it. I'm like, okay, well, give me a half a dozen songs. And the guy talked me into it and I played and I got the gig.

So, all right. Well, Leo also had auditioned, but they're like, you're the guy. But I've been talking to Leo for six months, the other guitar player.

And I asked, I said, well, get Leo. He'll be the sparkle player. I'll hold down the basics.

So I don't really know these songs by, you know, like, they're not a part of my soul, if you will. Right, right, right. But I don't really listen to him on the radio or whatever.

Um, anyway, but we went around all with this guy. Pub City, Nico's, played a lot of great places. Everybody's dancing, having fun.

And I had the time of my life. So this guy goes back to Nashville and I'm like, well, I got a set list. I've learned all these songs.

So I put an ad in and Tommy, Two Beer Tommy, answered the ad for vocals. I still had Leo and put a rhythm section together. Mike and I had played together for many years.

So, um, we just kept it going, you know, and then, uh, two, uh, um, Matt Boone had come up from Nashville and was with his girlfriend at a bar, came to see us once. And I told him, hey, fair and square, brother. I said, yeah, no problem.

He came up and sang a few songs with us. Oh, yeah, even slow. It was great.

Oh, that's great. Yeah, no, that's good. That's so that kind of kicked it off.

And, but Tom's background comes from a band called State Line and they didn't like a country kind of vibe. And they've been around for a long time. He was also what? Easy Louise.

I think before that. Right. And, uh, you played with a lot of country.

Well, I've known Tom since the mid and early nineties. Okay. Cause he played with State Line, Easy Louise.

I played with a band called a couple of non bands. We played the same circuit all the time. So we were always running into each other.

Right. Right. So, but of course, when I knew him, then he had hair on his head.

So I didn't recognize him when he came to play in the band the first time. Like, I think I know this guy, but I'm not quite sure. So sure enough, it's Tom.

So yeah, that's the way it works sometimes. But it's been fun. It's been a blast.

Now, who have you toured with? You said you did some touring as well. I played with Cumberland mountain band. We had, we did two albums in Nashville.

We were assigned to an indie label down in Nashville. Right, right, right, right. Some regional touring with that, but that's about as far as we got with it.

Okay. Before the personality started to conflict and things kind of went south, but it was fun for a while. Cumberland mountain band.

What was, I'm, I'm familiar. Yeah. I'm drawing a blank.

I'm trying to think of what like the biggest hit would have been. Well, our number one hit. We had a three number one hits on an independent charts with dancing fools.

Oh boy. I can't think of the name of the song. That's not the one I was thinking of though.

Jeez. I wish I could, I wish I could think of it. Wouldn't it be great if we had something in our hip pocket or something where we could look it up and find out what it was.

Yeah. Like a smartphone or something like that. That was before social media and all that stuff, you know, really nineties.

So, right, right, right. And the last album that we did down in Nashville, we recorded that in Clint Black's studio. Okay.

Our producer was Jeff Huskins, who was the fiddle player for Clint Black. Oh, wow. Yeah.

We did a showcase down there and he approached us about doing an album. So we did the album and we shot the album, got a deal. So we, we talked to curb, we talked to Warner brothers, got a couple offers them, them, but the offers weren't that great.

So everybody wanted the publishing right off the bat. Okay. I already had the publishing set up, so I wasn't giving it away.

Right. Right. But as far as that got, once it got to that point and you got to that point where you're just going to be touring full time or trying to hold on a job and that's where things got complicated.

It's true. Right. Exactly.

Exactly. But it was fun. It was a good time.

So what about you, Nick? Who have you toured with? That's mean. You got to pick on the youngster in the room. No one yet.

I'm seeing the sparkle start to fade. Well, you're going to tour with a two-beard Tommy this there you go. You got a long schedule.

It's lined up. Yeah. So, so, okay.

So maybe you haven't toured with guys like these guys have, which not many people have actually. So what's what's your favorite gig that you've ever played? Ooh, that's a tough one. The air conditioning turned off as you asked the question.

Everybody quiet. Yeah. Oh, wait.

What am I thinking about having the AC on when it's, I mean, it's actually warm today. It's like 40 something out, which was nice. Hey, don't avoid the question.

Oh no. I'm trying to buy myself time while I think about the cool, my favorite gig. Isn't that belly Doyle you were telling me about? Wasn't it? Yeah.

He was playing with a really cool band. I was pretty good. The singer was amazing.

Absolutely. Yeah. An asshole, but I mean, he's a pretty good singer.

Um, I'd say the most fun gig I ever played. I was playing in an original group, um, where I was like writing and singing most of the stuff. And we played down at the bottom lounge and it was like our first gig where we brought in a really good amount of people.

And the audience was receptive and all the other bands that we were playing with were all super chill. And we're just chilling backstage. We're listening to each other's sets.

And that would probably be my favorite gig that I've ever played because it was original music and it was just, it was wild. Right. Oh, great.

Great. That's good. We all have one of those.

So who was the, who was, I guess, um, who was your favorite artist that you toured with? Well, listen, I got two sides of this thing. There's so many great artists that I've worked with, right. You know, so, um, but there's so many great shows that I've been to.

And if I only, um, thought about artists like, oh, I like this guy or whatever like that. Cause a lot of times I'll tell people, well, who are you on the road with? I'm with, uh, you know, Joe Blow or whatever this band, they're like, ah, how can you stand that? But I'll tell you any artist or band that you're with and you get into venue and there's 50 or 500 or 5,000 or 50,000 people. And that band is moving those people.

I've got mad respect for them. Whether I like the music or by the record or they get it all. I mean, there's been so many magic moments like that with the band that I wouldn't say that I cared for, but man, they can kick ass, you know, they're got a groove and they're doing the whole thing.

I'm like, okay, I get it. You know, um, well, I heard one today cause I hear him on the radio all the time. I can't remember the guy's name, but, um, um, but Sting would be one that I spent many years with and really enjoyed.

He's a, he's a rare cat because, you know, I've got this weird theory that God gives you two of three things in the music industry and that's either looks, personality or talent, you know, but you don't get all three, right? But Sting is one of the few that has all three. I mean, he's got the look, he's got the talent and he's just the nicest guy in the world. So I've been on and off 25 years around the world, you know, so many times with the guy and he's got a photogenic memory.

So I'll bump into him somewhere like Radio City Music Hall and he'll tap me on the shoulder. Hey, Rich, don't I owe you money? The answer to that is yes, always. It's always yes.

Yes. Always take the money. He'll be like, uh, you know, while we were here, Amsterdam and blah, blah, blah.

And, uh, you know, I, I, I'm shocked he remembers my name. And then he'll talk about something that we did at some point, you know, and do that testing. What years would that have been? The first tour I did was 1990 with him.

And that was the Soulcages record. And then we did 18 months, uh, you know, um, around the world, maybe 30 countries. And then took a little break, did a few things in between.

I think Emerson Lake and Palmer and somebody else I was with. And then did the next record, which was 10 Summoners Tales. And that was another, you know, year and a half, uh, around the world, uh, kind of venture.

Excellent. Excellent. No, it was fantastic.

But, you know, Sting, David Foster is another guy I toured with who is another guy. Not everybody knows who he is, but they call him the hit maker. You know, he's a great record producer, as many people in the music industry know.

But that guy also has got the look, the talent, and really nice guy, you know, but other, everybody else is one or the other, you know, uh, um, uh, Bob Dylan, great artist, ain't great looking. But incredible guy. No offense, Bob, if you're listening to this podcast.

That's right. That's right. No offense.

Bob, yeah. Uh, uh, Paul Simon. And, uh, I spent many years with Mellencamp for 70 years and all the rest of them are, are kind of, uh, Lindsey Buckingham, another guy, uh, um, not easy to deal with, you know, so.

Did you just tour with these guys or did you, or? A lighting director too, as not as a musician, I'd like to quantify that, you know. Okay. Okay.

I've been a lighting director, a board operator for many years. In fact, I still do it not as a director, but I work in a company called Upstaging in Sycamore. Okay.

And I'm a lighting rep. So right now working on John Mayer, trying to put that together. Right.

So always working on tours. And so in between all the bands that I'm working with, uh, I'm always working on Two Beer Tommy stuff too. And it looks like I'm just doing my regular job, but I'm kind of, oh yeah, no, I'm booking this show.

Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha.

TVT. No, you know, I have a good, I have a good friend. I've known him for most of my life.

He also tours and does lighting for people and of everybody that works on a tour for some reason, it's, it's the guys working lights that always tell me that, oh man, we had a great time. Yeah. I don't know what it is about that job, you know, but, but the people that do it, love it.

So, you know, absolutely. Right. Yeah.

Excellent. Excellent. So this is what we're going to do here.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, you know, throw Nick into this one because we played this game here where you grab a random penny, right? And there's going to be a date on the penny. But the reason why I'm not going to throw Nick into this, because the pennies go all the way back to like 1957. So there's going to be a very slight chance that Nick's going to pull, grab a penny here that, uh, that he's going to be able to talk about.

Nick, what were you doing in 1957? I think swimming. No, not even that yet. That's true.

Yeah. No, no kidding. No, I think at 57.

God, I don't even know. I'm trying to think of when my dad, what year my dad was born. There's a good chance.

My dad wasn't even born yet. 57. Because I've met your, I've met your mom and I think she's younger than me.

Yes. You look old, Mike. You've got to be older than her.

Oh, what are we supposed to do? Just grab one of each of you pick a penny. I'm going to grab one that looks shiny. Okay.

Now tell us the date on there. Well, I don't have glasses. All right.

This one says, Oh, see, this is the one that Nick should have gotten. This says 2000. It does.

It does. So what were you doing in 2000? Man, that's a great question. That's many years ago.

It seems, you know, musically that is. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Okay. So, um, you know, music wise, it was a Mellencamp years because from 97 to 2004, I was touring with Mellencamp. 97 to 2004 with Mellencamp.

Wow. It's a long time on the road with it. Yeah.

And it was really funny because a lot of people that I would work with, like, I remember I, they flew me out to Fogarty's house to sit down and meet with John Fogarty right about the tour. Right, right, right. And the manager, tour manager, everybody's there.

And they're looking at my resume and they're like, okay, sting, you know, 10 years, you know, this guy, 10 years. And they go, you know, he hasn't worked with a lot of bands, but the other guy goes, but look at him. He's loyal.

He's, you know what I mean? Once he's there, you know, right. I'm like barely doing a good job. I'm like old luggage, you know what I mean? He's around for a while.

Why is he still here? Right, right, right. To be with Mellencamp for two centuries. Yeah.

Yeah. How about that? Yeah. Yeah.

Pretty amazing. That must've gone through several name changes too. I was for all that.

Yeah. Cougar. John Cougar to John Cougar Mellencamp.

It was a bipolar time for him. And he was a tough character also to deal with. I got to tell you, I had a lot of them.

I think I got the gigs because nobody else would work with a lot of these people. They're at the bottom of the barrel. Get rich.

He'll do it. All right. Well, I'm sure my age, I can't read the data on this one.

Hope you didn't like that date. He dropped it. Don't know what it is.

This one's 1989. Oh, 1989. That was the start of Cumberland Mountain Band actually.

Okay. My band that I actually managed myself. Not that I wanted to, but nobody else wanted to do it.

Right, right. But that's when we first started up. I was divorced probably two, three years, four years prior to that.

And I started getting together with some friends and kind of building the band. And my brother came into the band and we were just having fun. It was the whole thing was just built for fun.

Right. That was it. And it started happening.

Next thing I knew, I started booking gigs. I started getting a following. The whole shebang.

Of course, we didn't have social media back then. You couldn't Facebook where you're playing. This was all done through flyers and mailing lists and everything else.

Right, right. But that's how it started out. And then one of the guys started writing songs in the band.

And next thing you know, we're doing albums and pitching stuff to Nashville and got a manager and chasing the dream and seeing how far it would go. And it was fun. It was my time.

What was the first gig? First gig. I think we played a place down in Romeoville. I don't know if the bar is still there.

I can't remember the name of the bar. It was right on the road near the river. Boy, I wish I could remember the name of the place because I guarantee it looked like a double wide trailer.

Is that the place I'm thinking of? Of course, we played Johnny's 83. That was a popular spot back then. We're starting out and that was down in Archer and 83 there.

Right, right, right. So we played there a few times and that was fun. And then we just started branching out and playing different places going from there.

You know, if it's the place that I'm thinking of, it's still there, but it's been a couple of different things since then. I want to say it's Sidekicks or something like that. It was called or... I think it was.

Actually, I think that was the name of it. Yeah, yeah. Because it started, I think the front of it, when you pull up to the place, kind of looks like a double wide trailer, kind of looked like a steel corrugated type kind of a shed.

There's an addition on the back of it where now if bands play there, it's like in a back room, which is huge, but it's not right in the bar area anymore. But it's still there. And I can't think of what it's called right now.

It was fun. It was good. It was a fun crowd.

And we played that. And then a couple of weeks later, they had us back to open up for Johnny Patrick. Oh, no kidding.

Wow. And that was quite the adventure. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Johnny Patrick, you get stoned walking into the dressing room, but it was a good time. All right. Well, moment of truth here, Nick.

All right. I grabbed the shiniest penny I could see on the light. I got 2019, so I am definitely alive.

That is easy. And I have to point out that he's the only one that was able to read the date on the penny. That's right.

2019. Yeah. So 2019, it was actually a pretty good year.

Now I'm thinking about it. I quickly pulled up my Facebook like, what was going on in 2019? Was I in this original group or did I already transition to another group? So I was in a group that went under several different names before we set up on, I think Johnny Personne, because we wanted to go by Johnny Nobody. I remember that.

We wanted to go by Johnny Nobody, but that's already been taken. And our drummer at the time had the smart idea. Why don't you just put nobody into different languages and see what that sounds? So Personne was obviously nobody in French, according to Google Translate.

Right, right, right, right. So I was playing guitar, writing stuff with them, which was a lot of fun. I was primarily teaching as my main source of income.

I think I was around like 30 students around that time. So teaching, directing different groups at a local business that I will not be saying their name. Since I have moved on from that.

But yeah, just a lot of playing like your small local venues with a few other local bands. I'm trying to think if we did anything really, really cool in 2019. I remember I got everybody in the band mad at me because I'm like, I booked just a cover gig because I'm like, I'd like to make some money at one of these gigs, driving out two hours and getting paid like $10 and splitting up between five people.

Right. So I don't know. They all kind of were a little bit of something.

I'm like, well, we're going to get paid like $500. So there's $100 a head for the night. Yeah.

And they were mad at you for bringing money into their pockets. Well, they weren't mad at me about the money. They were mad about us learning like 50 tunes and trying to figure out what 50 tunes to play.

Yeah. You sold out, became a commercial. That's what you did.

That's what you did. I sold out, man. He's young.

He doesn't know better. Who are the who are the other guys in that band? Because I know I've seen you guys. Um, the other members of the group in 2019, it would have been she goes by Zell Savage on stage.

She was our singer slash rhythm guitar player. We had our drummer who goes by Aaron. Our bass player, his name is Brian.

And then we had a keyboard player who also would sub in for rhythm guitar when our when Zell didn't want to sing, who went by Kit. Okay. Good group of people.

We all worked at the majority of us. And besides the bass player, all worked at the same music school teaching kids. So the school I was at had a rehearsal space upstairs.

So on Friday nights, we would rehearse up there. Nice. Nice.

Nice. Yeah. I remember because that was about the same time that we didn't just meet, but it was around that time.

It was pre-COVID and stuff. Yeah. I think you started subbing in for Cadillac Groover around that time, too.

Yeah. That's, I think that's right on the money. I want to say it was either like 2018 or 2019 where I really started subbing in.

Right. But Scott never calls off. Right.

Yeah. Which is fine. But who knows? He's in a new position and has a new day job and he's doing some traveling now.

So we'll see what happens. You mentioned some originals. You guys do any originals? Yeah.

Well, we've got one that we put out called Don't Drive My Truck, but it was written by Mario Massi, who's a great record, a guitar player and a producer in Elgin. And so we've kind of taken that one under our wing and, you know, rearranged it and put our words to it. But here's the original letter of the song.

Well, when I hopped inside, there was something wrong. The seats jacked forward and the radio was on. She's done it again, pushing her luck.

I love you, honey, but don't drive my truck. You guys do any writing? Nope. Nope.

Nope. There's so many good, so much good music out there. We just like to try it.

We could call it giving it the TBT treatment, you know what I mean? We just kind of give it our vibe and, you know, play it. So, you know, it's just endless. Tell me what's up, man.

Oh, you're going to be impressed, man. Oh, really? I know. Just like everything else.

Those old crazy dreams just kind of came and went. Oh, boy. I love that.

He's never going to live that down. He's sparkle from now on. Yeah, I haven't played an official gig yet, and I already got a nickname.

Well, you had mentioned you guys some originals. Do you do any writing or? Um, yeah, I do some. I've been this year.

Actually, I was like trying to write a song, like at least one song every month. And I'm at two songs and we're in February. So very good.

Made that work. All right. That's good.

What genre? Um, the thing with me is I have what I would call musical ADD. So the first two songs that I have, like, written and fully fleshed out, they're more like a songwriter. Um, yeah, like a singer songwriter kind of thing.

But I have like two or three songs in the brain with like lyrics and whatnot. They're like ones like a James Brown kind of thing. And I've got a couple of blues tunes I've written before.

And in the past, I've done like punk and almost indie rock kind of stuff, too. Okay. How about you, Timmy? You've got.

I don't do much in your writing. I wrote one song once. I'll say that.

But I have a rewriter's license, so I can take a song, steal it and rewrite it a little bit. Okay, there you go. So where can people find you on social media wise? Well, that would be Two Beer Tommy Band on Facebook.

And then we've got twobeertommy.rocks on your www, you know, and and then local venue near you. We're playing No Bar Too Far, No Hall Too Small. We hit them all.

All right. And he says he doesn't write. I mean, he just rhymed that pretty easily.

Yeah. But I want to back up about the social media when you talk about it. I didn't have it back then, but we all had the Illinois Exaggerator, didn't we? We sure did.

The Illinois Exaggerator. That's great. That's where we went to see who was doing what, where.

And I always noticed that TBA was playing everywhere. I always wanted to get a band together and call a TBA and then just show up. We're TBA.

We're TBA. Yeah, we're TBA. Oh, yeah.

First of the month, you had to get that magazine, see who's playing where, what's going on. And that's exactly right. But and then to back up a little bit more, you know, I told you the first tour I did was REO Speedwagon High Fidelity Tour, right? Right.

It's cool to see that. And I was working with the boys before that. But before that, I played in a local band before I was old enough to shave like you, right? And it was called Freeway.

And we were playing all the bars. And that's when the clubs were going back and forth between 18, 21, 19, you know, back and forth who could get in. So Rock Garden and Elmhurst all around the Risk area with Joey DeMarco and stuff like that.

That was our haunt back then. So I started in the clubs and then went out on the road. And now I feel like I've gone full circle.

Yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah, not a lot of people can say that. That's true.

That's great. All right, you guys. Well, thanks a lot for coming out.

We really appreciate having you. Thanks for having us. Thank you.

I really want a great, great meeting you guys finally in person. I know so much about your band. So yeah, thanks for coming.

Thank you. Thanks for bringing Sparkle. Yeah, that's what he's here for.

You gotta have it. I had to wear my sunglasses. No, I think he needs to wear a rainbow bright costume on stage.

I think that's what he needs to do. Oh, we're gonna have to get to a show and see what he's got to have. Come on out.

Bring all your friends and neighbors and, you know. Yep. We'll do.

Okay. Thanks a lot. Great.

Thank you. Thank you. So that was Two Beer Tommy featuring Sparkle.

I can't wait to see Nick out in a club someplace and call him Sparkle in front of all his friends. Yeah, and that solo was by Sparkle. Yeah.

Oh, he's gonna love that. Yeah, I think he's on their way. They're all heading home now and he's just cussing them up and down like crazy.

That's exactly what he's doing. Yeah, he's been with the band. He hasn't even played his first official gig with them yet.

And he's got a name. He's got the nickname Sparkle. Wow.

And man, I can't believe the people that they've toured with. Oh my God. Yeah.

I mean, Mellencamp and Paul Simon. Paul Simon, Ariel Speedwagon. Ariel Speedwagon.

I mean, he's been, like you said, all over the world. He comes home, he's home for a little while, off for another year and a half. That's craziness.

We could have kept Rich here probably for several hours just talking about stories. Oh, yeah. Wow.

Amazing. Maybe we should have him back one day and you can just talk about days on the road. You know? That might be pretty cool.

That might be pretty cool. Alrighty. Well, that was Two Beer Tommy.

We didn't have any beer with any of them. So I think we got to get out of here so we can go have a beer. Yep.

And otherwise, we'll see you guys next Tuesday for your next episode of the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. See you then. The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin.

Theme song courtesy of MNR Rush. The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music heard on the show. The music is used to promote the guests that are featured.