Hey, this is Paul Martin. And Ray the Roadie. For the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

How are you today, Ray? I'm wonderful. I'm standing out here in Centerfield at beautiful Comiskey Park. You are? No, not really.

Wish I was, though. Baseball season started. Yes, it is.

Yes, it is. And I'm a Saks fan. You know that.

That's right. And so am I. That's why I was at Comiskey Park. Ah, I see.

Comiskey. Not that other name. Yeah.

Guaranteed rate. Yeah, whatever it is. I just call it Saks Park now.

That's right. It's Saks Park. Yeah.

In the shadows of the Sears building. Well, speaking of ballgames. Yeah.

We're talking today with Johnny Ballgame. I don't know if that's his real name. We'll find out, I guess.

We will. Yeah, we probably will. Yeah.

But Johnny Ballgame has put together a movie about, what's it about? It's about his need for the fix of rock and roll in Chicago. He used to go out and see a lot of bands, and obviously during COVID, he could not. So he decided to put a movie together to talk about what he went through and what the bands have gone through.

And it sounds like it's going to be a fun movie, and it's going to be premiering April 20th at the AMC Theaters in Oak Brook. That's right. It's called Cover 21 Ignite Chicago.

He took a bleak time in his life without music and decided to do something about it. What started out as a little documentary turned into a full-blown movie about what he needed and what he did about it. I'm surprised he put it together so quickly.

Yeah, he's done a great job. I'm looking forward to seeing it. Movies usually take a long time to put together, but he's been hustling.

Yes, he has. He's put all his own money behind it, but let's let him tell the story and find out from Johnny Ballgame himself about his movie called Cover 21 Ignite Chicago. Let's talk to Johnny now.

Here's Johnny. Hey, welcome to the show, everyone. Today we're speaking with Johnny Ballgame, a guy who just is in need of a fix for his rock and roll, and he's got a movie coming out.

But how are you doing, first of all, Johnny? Great. Great. Yeah.

Thanks for having me on here to talk about this. No problem. No problem.

So tell us a little bit about yourself first and how you got to this point. My name is Johnny. I've been going by Johnny Ballgame since high school.

It was a nickname, but I've run car dealerships my whole life, and the hours in that business are pretty brutal and relentless. I've been doing it for 20 straight years, 21 straight years, and then COVID came around and got laid off. But my therapy that I've always had in my life is going out in Chicago and seeing live music, a lot of the local bands, cover bands, tribute bands, original bands.

And that's basically what I do for fun. And I've met all my friends that way, and the people I hang out with do the same thing. And then it got canceled.

We had a cancellation year, canceled cancellation season of 2020. And I did fall into a bit of a depression, which I never really thought was real before. But it's definitely real, definitely went through it.

And I wanted to break out of a funk. And one thing, my girlfriend asked me, what have you always wanted to do now that you have the time? I said, well, I've always wanted to be in a band. So I made some calls to all my friends in the bands, Seventh Heaven and Elevation and Maggie Speaks and Hairbanger's Ball and all the big names there in Chicago.

And I just started getting interested in what was going on in the world this time last year. And live streaming has become a thing, and these virtual tip jars are up there for these guys to make money. And it was really just interesting.

So I went around and wanted to hang out and jam and just kind of interview them. And I brought a camera with me, and it turned into something more, just a little documentary about what these bands were going through during COVID season. But then I got the itch to, you know, after talking with all this great talent, to re-record a song myself with a lot of the talent in Chicago, and I ended up pulling it off.

And it went from a little documentary into a full-blown movie on how I could write a song, record a song, redo a song, and then jam with some big names in Chicago. But why a movie? I mean, why did you want to do a movie or a documentary as it started out, I guess? But as opposed to just going and visiting these people, just like everyone else, I guess. Right.

Well, it did start that way. And then the idea of, you know, trying to pull off something that's nearly impossible during COVID season, you know, these bands can't even play with their own bands, let alone start a new band and play to somebody or something like that. But I noticed a lot of bands were doing collaborations.

And a few members were mixing with another couple other members from different bands and redoing songs. And it was really neat and really experimental. Something that without COVID, wouldn't be able to do just because of everybody's busy.

And now, you know, people have the time and started doing this. And I really kind of got jealous, you know, I'm like, I can play guitar a little bit and I'm friends with these guys. I want a piece of that.

I want to do something creative. Then it became bigger, because I was talking to all these bands, I want all these bands to help me out with it. So that was a big uphill battle.

And I just thought it would be fun to document it. And it turned out to be a great story. And I thought, hey, this could make a movie.

And it sure did. Did you ever have this idea ahead of time, I mean, before COVID hit, or did it not come to you? No, it came to me. I did not have the idea.

It just, when COVID did hit, and you know, all the bands were at home, you know, doing these collaborations and just online stuff, it got me interested, you know. So that's when I got the idea, I never would have thought any of this would have came out if I didn't have the time to be at home, and when, you know, quarantine was heavy, and come up with this idea. So it just came to me, you know, while I was sitting at home during quarantine.

Very good. And now you put your own money into this? Absolutely, absolutely. It's all my own money.

Yes, I've spent all of my savings, all of my earnings, basically took out a loan, and bought some cameras, hired some editors, got a camera guy to follow me around all summer. And it was a really great experience, you know, doing all this, it kept me focused, it kept me out of my own head. And out of the, you know, the manic state of depression where, you know, there was really no finish line to it.

So it kept me in a bubble that was full of positivity. The cameras you bought, are they like large cameras? So if need be, you can live in their box? Yes, I don't know about that. But they're pretty big cameras, you know, shooting 8k, you know, cost me a few grand each.

And, you know, it started off with, you know, one and then came to two and then got a better one because it started, I started really believing in it and I wanted to do it right instead of just, you know, this kind of little thing just for myself, I wanted to be for everybody. So it needs to be a little bit better in production. You didn't shoot it on an iPhone or anything? Some of it.

Yeah. Just a couple little clips of some of the bands performing, you know, up close. But these phones are, these phones are great now, they shoot 8k as well.

So your car dealership or anything didn't support you on this? No, I kept it completely separate. Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't want to mix, mix those two worlds. Get a car dealership out of them or something, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't want to mix those worlds. Did you try to get any sponsorships or you just wanted to get this over and done with? Oh, it's not really over and done with, I just kind of was doing it as a passion project for myself. And, you know, as long as you do it as a passion project for yourself and it's something you could be proud of, you can't really fail.

So if I set it up to be something bigger and ended up failing or, you know, not going through, I don't know, you know, what I would have done with myself at that time. So I just took it step by step. Are you planning on making any money off of this? Not yet.

No, not yet. I hope to. You know, the viewing on 420 in Oak Brook is basically not the finish line.

It's the starting line. You can't really sell something nobody's seen yet. So we're just going to show it to all the bands in Chicago.

We're going to go to this thing and, you know, get some radio stations out there and some people of some importance to view it and, you know, we'll see what happens then. Have you thought about doing it in any clubs? Yes. Yes.

Actually, you know, 115 Bourbon Street is a part of the movie. I go visit it when it's at its lowest point last summer when it was shut down and just being rebuilt. And it was just kind of brutal to see.

But now it's back. Bourbon Street's like one of the best clubs out there, in my opinion, anyway. So I'm going to do a showing there and then maybe like up at Dirty Nelly's, maybe CD and me right here in Frankfurt.

But that would be, you know, come May, June. You said right here in Frankfurt, you're from the South Suburbs. Yeah.

New Lennox. I'm from. OK.

And I know Ray's from Frankfurt as well. Right. That's right.

Yeah. So I could walk to CD and me. Yeah.

That place is great. So hopefully I'm just want to get this the first showing out of the way on 420 and see what people think about it and just take it from there. And that's an Oak Brook, right? What's that? It's an Oak Brook at the Oak Brook.

Yes. It's at Oak Brook 12 and Oak Brook 4. It's playing on 14 theaters. There's 7 o'clock shows, 730 shows and 8 o'clock shows in Oak Brook 12 and 4. So it's on 14 of the 16 screens that night.

I see. How about how are you dealing with covid and filling the seats? Well, it's a limited capacity. It's only 50 people per theater or 40 percent, whichever is greater.

So there's going to be plenty of room in each theater to spread out. It's a big, huge lobby. There'll be an area for the people that don't really want to talk and mingle to come in and take the carpeted route right to the theater.

So there is precautions in place for distancing for people that feel more strongly about it than others. How did you get tied up with AMC and Oak Brook? How did they get on board with this? Oh, man, it's just really not who you are, it's who you know, you know, and just a friend of a friend that I used to work with, new general manager at a couple of these AMC theaters who I met, you know, through them. And I'm like, hey, what about, you know, doing a large scale rental, you know, like 14 theaters at once? And we were able to work it out.

And they did think that the project was a super cool project. So they were really willing to, you know, step up and help out and be involved. That's very cool.

Very cool. Yeah, man. Good for them.

How did you go about picking all the bands that are listed in the movie? That's a good question because they're saying, well, how come this band's not in there? How come, you know, Lounge Puppets aren't in there? And, you know, some of the bands have been around forever that are staples in Chicago. Well, it's really my personal story. The bands that are in there, I have personal relationships with and stories with.

They were the ones to, you know, reach back out to me when I reached out to them and say, hey, you know, you've always been there over the 20 years supporting me. What can I do to support you? And you know, just being friends and having that prior relationship with these bands is how these particular ones got involved. Nothing to any of the bands that aren't involved.

They're great. And I love going out and seeing a lot of those other bands that aren't in here as well. It's just that, you know, these are the particular ones that I have something in common with them and a history with.

So tell us about some of the music that's going to be in there. OK. I'm glad you mentioned that.

That's probably the biggest happy spot for me is the music part of it. The interviews are great. You learn a lot of stuff.

You laugh. There's a lot of funny stuff in there. But the music, especially towards the end of the movie, there's three full videos.

There is a video of a guy named Pino Farina. He does an original song named Station, which we made a video for him, and he's over the moon excited about how good it turned out and can't wait to share this particular song with the world. It's an original song.

It's kind of like having, you know, a really moving, powerful song that you know is just over the top. Great. It's like hearing Black by Pearl Jam before it comes out and knowing that that song is going to be in your movie and people haven't heard it yet.

But you know what kind of song that is. I feel the same way about his song called Station. So that's one of them.

Is he a band? Pino Farina band. That's his name. P-I-N-O.

Pino Farina. He has an unbelievable talent. And this summer, hopefully he'll be out and about all over the place and just a very, very compelling guy and band.

Have you seen his band? Yes, I have. A few times. Very good.

Very good. They do a lot of covers and originals. I'm not familiar with him.

I should look him up. He's fucking fantastic. But the other two songs that are full on videos that I'm very excited about is the remake I did of Instant Karma by John Lennon.

I redid the song with a few guys spread out through Chicago like Polly Pants, Jennifer from Hairbangers Ball plays keys on it. And Chris Bobrowski put together the Sea of Voices and sings on it along with myself and like eight or nine other singers. And Dave Ambrose plays drums.

He's the drummer for Elevation, the U2 Tribute and currently the Boy Band Night. And Jet plays bass on it. He's in Super Unknown.

He was in FNR for six years and he plays bass and he mixed the song. And Sam Varma from Maggie Speaks, the guitar player, did the three guitar solos that I was very particular about as far as how I wanted the solos to go. So there's three measures of three different solos in the song, which in the original song, there's no guitar solos.

So I kind of really, you know, redid it in my own creative way and I'm super proud of it. And I think it's the best version of that particular song that anybody's ever covered. You play guitar, correct? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I play guitar.

I play a lot of acoustic, like Tom Petty, Dave Matthews sort of stuff. I like to do most. Do you play any shows out? I don't have time because I was playing with, I played with Elevation, the U2 Tribute.

I'd go up and play with them a lot over the past 20 years. Just a few songs here and there, but I've never had the time to be in a full band. And that's kind of another reason why I thought this idea would be great because now I have the time to get a band together and record and play.

And it was great. So you put this, you put the, you put together the song Instinct Karma, or you rearranged it in your own, in your own version, correct? I did. I did.

Yes. And I, I, I like spelled it out, you know, for the guys, you know, for the bass player, the guitar player, here's what I want on there. And they followed, followed suit and did exactly how I wanted it.

So I played a little acoustic guitar on it and some, some main vocals and some backing vocals and then there's like seven or eight other vocalists on that as well. But I can't wait for you to hear that song. It's amazing.

So hopefully you'll, you'll, you'll hear it that night on at 420 cause you guys are coming. Yep. Yep.

Cool. Yeah. Right on.

And then the, the other song, the, the biggest song, which is the closer is a Marty Casey's new song. Marty Casey from the love hammers. He is releasing a new tune.

It was originally called hometown, but after, you know, working with me in this movie for several months, he renamed the song to wicked heart at my request, which he's never ever done for anybody before. So I feel truly blessed and like appreciative over the moon to have the song renamed and have me come play guitar and sing on his song. And wait, did he have to change some words or something too, or he really didn't change the words, just change the name of the song.

I mean, those words are in the song, but so his hometown, but he just thought it worked better for the narrative of the movie. And it blew me away when he told me that he was changing the name of the song for me. I'm like, wow.

And then he, uh, let me, uh, come in, we, uh, chips enough from enough's enough. He came in and put on a, a, a new bag, a bass track on it. And I came in and played some guitar on it and, uh, did backing vocals.

So wicked heart is debuting, uh, Marty Casey's new song in the movie as well. So those two songs are coming up, coming out in the movie and that's probably the biggest excitement I've got is to have everybody hear those songs. So did you go into the studio and do that? Yep.

Yep. Stonecutter records in Chicago. A producer named Chris Steinmetz, who's done a lot of, uh, a lot of big names.

He's did the revenge record from kiss. He's got the gold record up on his wall. He's done work with like Jay-Z and Madonna and, uh, he did the love hammers, he did trees from Marty Casey and the guy's a genius and I'm a very, very blessed to be working with that guy.

Were you a little intimidated the first time you went in there? Absolutely. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Oh my God.

Yes. But, uh, you know, having Marty in there with me who I've known forever, um, you know, and a chip was very, very cool and laid back and total rock star made me feel real comfortable and at home. And it was a great, great experience.

Yeah. Chip is a chip is laid back to say the least. Oh, he's the best.

He's hilarious. Loud mouth soup. He likes to talk about, uh, just going, getting back a little bit.

I, uh, back to instant karma where, uh, did you have to get the rights, uh, to the song to use it? I did. And that's a great story in itself. Uh, like May, April, May of last year, when I was trying to get ahold of downtown music publishing out of New York, who owns the rights to instant karma, uh, I couldn't get ahold of them.

And, uh, I reached out to a friend to help me out getting drew Drew Fortier, who, uh, has done, um, a bang tango movie and he's done some other stuff or wrote a book, but he helped me out to reach somebody. And I talked to this girl, Sarah, and she wanted to know, you know, all the details of why I wanted to purchase the rights to instant karma, you know, to get a mechanical license to rerecord it. And I said, I was making this movie with all these bands in Chicago and she asked me to name a couple.

And I said, 16 candles and Mike and Joe and, uh, uh, you know, seventh heaven and hair bangers ball. And she's like, I love all those bands. I'm from Chicago.

I moved out here two years ago. So she really went to bat for me and, uh, and got it done. And she got it to me, you know, pretty, pretty cheap from what, uh, from what I would think of when you need to buy a Beatles song, um, you know, so, uh, so it all just kind of fell in line, you know, God was looking out for me and this whole ride, you know, every kind of hurdle that I've come across, you know, there was a way through it or around it.

And you know, I just kind of put my faith out there and say, he's going to take me on this ride. And, uh, just like meeting this girl, Sarah at downtown music publishing to get me this song, you know, it just kind of fell, everything just kind of keeps falling into place. And here we are at the finish line.

I heard that, uh, you actually had to get Yoko to sign off on it. Yes, yes, yes. Finally, when it goes through, um, the final stages of it, um, she only comes in once every so often.

So about a month and a half went by and finally I got the, got the call saying, yep, your contract is done. It's all been signed and, uh, you know, we'll ship it out to you. So yeah, Yoko, Yoko signed the agreement.

Yes. It's pretty neat. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. She's on the board. They have to sign off on it.

So, uh, yeah, that's pretty neat. You're not the first one to redo Instant Karma though. No, no, no.

I think, you know, you two redid it and a couple other bands redid it and I've heard all their versions and you know, my hand to God, I think this version is the best version that's ever been redone of it. That's cool. If you're going to redo a song, you might as well go straight to the top.

The Beatles. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. I was telling you with Chip too, because Chip and I have been become friends now and his project right now, he's putting out a record of all Beatles songs in heavy metal.

Wow. Yeah. Like a metal version of a like 10, 12 Beatles songs.

So that's what he's been working on too. So yeah. Let's redo the Beatles stuff.

Now you have to pay rights to ASCAP and BMI too, don't you? No, he might, but not for my one song. Oh, okay. All right.

Why did you pick Instant Karma? I mean, why? Well, that's, that's a good question too. I wanted to redo a song, a classic song and I, there's like four and halfway through the movie and when I'm asking these band folk to do a move, to redo a song with me, they said, well, what song do you want to do? I'm like, I don't know yet. It hasn't hit me, but coming home from one of these interviews, driving, it was a beautiful night.

I had the windows open. I remember it clearly. And the song came on the radio, the original John Lennon version.

And I was just singing, it's the top of my lungs with the windows down and the lyrics and the vibe of the song was like perfect. You know, we all shine on and you know, better get yourself together because soon you're going to be dead. Right.

It's like, it like fit perfectly. And I was singing at the top of my lungs and I said, this is it. And it hit me like a fist to the jaw.

I said, this is it. This is the one I want to do. So I knew it's going to come to me.

It's going to come to me. And there it was. It came to me.

This is Paul Martin. And Ray the roadie. And we're here to talk to you about GHS strings.

That's right, Ray. Whether you play electric guitar, acoustic, or bass, or even banjo, mandolin, or ukulele, the GHS has the strings for you. GHS strings are easy to play with a rich, full balance tone available in many different gauges.

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Who are some of the people that you've interviewed in this, in this? Um, uh, the, I interviewed, uh, Mike Notaro and Aaron Strike from Mike and Joe and Adam Blair and Nick Cox and Richie Hoffer from 7th Heaven and Brian Durbin and Jen Remus from Hairbanger's Ball and Sam Varma and Dave Calzareta from Maggie Speaks and, uh, Dano and Dave Ambrose from Elevation, um, Joey Carr from Broken Roots, who got second place on America's Got Talent this year, who was a friend of mine before he even tried out. Uh, so there's a, there's a good handful of names right there. Yeah.

Yeah. Adam Blair's from dot, dot, dot. Yeah.

Dot, dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot, dot. He's with 7th Heaven now.

Yes. Yes. He was with dot, dot, dot.

And before that, he's with the Fabulous Janes. Way back when he played drums for them. That's when I met Adam in 20 plus years ago.

Right. And so now you had said that you recorded, uh, uh, who, who have you recorded, who recorded on this song? Um, on Instacarma? Yeah. Yeah.

Dave Ambrose played drums, Jen Remus played keys, Jet plays bass, um, Sam Varma from Maggie Speaks plays guitar, electric, and I played acoustic. I see. I see.

You did say that. I'm sorry. No problem.

So, so the movie's coming out April 20th and, uh, it's, it's called COVID-21. Cover 21. Cover 21.

I'm sorry. Yeah. It's a playoff of COVID-19.

It's like COVID-19 crumbles and the cover 21 appears. How'd you come up with that name? Uh, again, it's just something that came to me. I didn't know what to name the movie and I, you know, it has to do with the whole thing is COVID-19.

But go ahead. Right. It's COVID-19, but it's turned to cover 21, right? Exactly.

Which obviously refers to 2021 as a correct. Right. And the cover, you know, play off of COVID, um, you know, it's for the cover bands, you know? So it's cover 21, Ignite Chicago and, and, uh, and why, why Ignite Chicago? Um, Ignite means light a fire, you know, and we've all missed live music so much.

And there's a lot of people out there just like me who, you know, not only miss it and want it, but need it. Um, that's what I've done my whole life and it's got taken away from me. And there's so many other people like that.

So it's to raise awareness, um, that there is a drug out there in the form of live music in the city of Chicago that has a true healing power. And that's the message I want everybody to take away from it. So Ignite Chicago, you know, um, the summer of 2021 is right around the corner.

So, you know, take your medicine, light a fire under your ass, right? Light a fire under your ass, get out there and, uh, be aware that, uh, that, that, uh, there's these bands out there, uh, make you feel good. So you're literally leave happier. Um, and, uh, you forget about your troubles for a while.

So as a public service announcement, I just want to say that Ignite Chicago has nothing to do with Mrs. O'Leary's cow. And it has nothing to do with, uh, protesting or lighting anything on fire either. No, it's just a figure of speech, figure of speech, Chicago podcast does not condone burning down the city of Chicago.

Yes. Neither does my movie. It has nothing to do with it.

So while you got it, it's coming out the 20th, so it's about a week away. So it's done, right? It's in the can. You're done.

It's ready to go. Just about, we had some audio problems, uh, playing it last week on the big screen, just a little bit. So it's gotta be remixed in the 5.1 surround, uh, which Mr. Steinmetz is taking care of right now.

Um, the guy is in the trenches right now, um, mastering all of the, uh, the sound for theater ready, you know, and, um, we're going in a couple of days, actually tomorrow night to, to retest the, uh, the, the songs, instant karma and wicked hearts. We're going to test out tomorrow night and I can't, I'm really excited to hear the new mix on the big screen. Is that at the theater you're doing that? Yeah.

Oh, I see. Yeah. Uh, so, so what are your plans after it shows on the 20th with, with, uh, with the movie? Um, I've got options as far as distribution.

Um, I might have another couple of showings at different AMC theaters around, uh, the state, you know, up in Barrington down here in new Lennox, um, one in the city by Navy pier. Um, we'll see how this goes. You know, I'm just going to take it step by step.

This next week is going to tell me a lot of, you know, and there's like all these bands are going and, uh, trying to get some more important people going. So we're going to just see how that goes, see what the feel of it is when everybody sees it and then, uh, kind of go from there and, uh, figure out distribution. It'll eventually stream, um, after the theater experience is gone, but it'll eventually stream, um, over the summer.

Have you talked to Netflix or Amazon or anyone like that? Not yet. It's a little too expensive to get on Netflix. Um, but, uh, sky's the limit as far as, uh, you know, after it's been reviewed and it's been seen and the songs are out and it's been heard, um, I'm just going to kind of put my options on the back burner until four 20, and then we'll take it from there and see what happens.

Have you written your speech for the Oscars yet or no, no, I haven't gotten that far yet. Um, but, uh, but I appreciate that and curious minds may need your help with that when it comes time. So tell us a little bit about how the movie, um, um, what the movie is actually, I mean, we know it's about, about bands and about Chicago bands and going to see the bands, but is there a story behind it? Yeah.

It's, uh, it's my little story. It's, it's my story of coming out of depression and having these bands, you know, say yes to me as far as, uh, you know, wanting to redo this song, make this song, you know, it's my idea and, uh, my creation and to get these people of such high caliber talent to help me out. It kind of like seems like an, almost an impossible task considering the surroundings that we're in with COVID and quarantine and all that.

And I ended up pulling it off and it becomes, uh, like a big dream that I had that has become a reality. And it's just with determination, hard work and, uh, probably the most important thing is relationships. The relationships that I've built with these bands over the 20 years and how often I've gone out and supported them.

Um, it was time for them to, you know, do the favor and return to one of their, not only friends, but biggest fans, you know, and, uh, it really shows how humble and real and spectacular these musicians are to, you know, to do this kind of thing in these circumstances. So yeah, it's a, it's like an underdog story a little bit, um, you know, coming out of a depression and the next thing, you know, I've got myself, uh, playing with Chips Enough, excuse me, Chips Enough and Marty Casey and, you know, recording an original song with these guys. So it's a dream come true basically.

And it's, uh, the world gets to see it. You speak of your depression, have, did any of the, any of the people you interviewed or the bands actually, uh, uh, talk about their depression about being able to be out there and playing? Absolutely. Yes.

They all miss it. And there's other people that, uh, you know, I tried to get ahold of and do this with who, um, you know, did say, you know, I'd love to, but it's just not the right time. I can't do it.

Like for example, uh, 16 Candles, I wanted to go play. I love those guys. They're so fun.

And I wanted to, uh, I wanted to ask Dave Enslin if he wanted to play and he's just like, I can't, he's, you know, got double D booking and he's like, I am spending all summer undoing what I've done and, uh, rescheduling, you know, and then he's got another full-time job and a family, you know? So I did run into that a lot. Um, so yeah, and you know, and nobody's happy about it and yes, were they depressed about it as well? Yes. Were you afraid of COVID at all or did you get COVID? I did not get COVID.

Um, I really did not know anybody personally. Um, a couple of people got, got it and got it bad. Like Dave Ambrose who played drums for instant karmic a few weeks after that, he caught it and he was out of commission for a month and he said he was just absolutely horrible.

Um, you know, but there, uh, the other people that I know that did get it had, you know, very mild, uh, symptoms and, um, it was okay, but I, I never got it. I was safe, you know, I keep my distance, wear the mask out and everything. But is, was, am I afraid of it really? Never was.

No. But, uh, you know, I played my part in, in being, um, you know, socially distant, wear the mask, you know, be, be safe. How long were you off of work? Uh, about two months.

Oh, so, so you, it was only about two months. So you've been working pretty much full time and doing, in doing this movie then? Correct. Yes.

Yes. It's, and I'm a single dad too. So when I have daddy daughter time, I need to take advantage of that.

So I didn't sleep much and I didn't do anything else, but it cut me out of my own head as far as what was going on in the world and staying away from watching people, uh, talk about politics and watching families get ripped apart because they're on different sides. And that's just a horrible, horrible scene. And, uh, I didn't want to get involved in any of that because it's, uh, to me, it was just, uh, uh, self-induced stress that I didn't, I didn't need.

And it's something that I don't want to argue about, you know, I just wanted to be happy and do something that made me happy, which was, you know, this movie and focusing on music. Well, that's cool. That's good.

Uh, you seem like a happy guy. Yeah, I am now. Yeah.

I, uh, about a year ago, it was a lot different. Um, but, uh, you know, with, to reconnect with a lot of these guys haven't seen in a long time and to, uh, you know, write this song, uh, redo this song and then, uh, and then learn how to play this song with, with Marty and, and do that, that whole experience. Um, it's, it's really something that, uh, I've always wanted to do.

And I did really make my, my own dream come true just by reaching out and following through. Well, let's see, it must've been pretty stressful to, uh, I mean, right now it must be pretty stressful with the, with the movie coming out in a week and. Oh yeah.

I'm nervous about it for sure. Yeah. A lot of people are going to see it, you know, um, but, uh, um, with how good it is, you know, especially these couple of songs that are coming out, um, there's no way it's going to fail.

No way. And how long is the movie? It's just over two hours. Wow.

Yeah. It's epic. Very cool.

Yeah. Very cool. Well, we wish you the best of luck.

Thank you so much. Moses. So where can we find, uh, cover 21 information? Oh yeah.

Please go on, uh, cover 21 Chicago.com. You can see three trailers. Um, the third trailer's got a little glimpse of instant karma and a wicked heart in it. And, uh, you could buy tickets to the, uh, to the party.

I don't even call it the movie anymore. It's a party. So there's still tickets available to the party on four 20, uh, at Oakbrook theaters, uh, Oakbrook 12 and Oakbrook four in Oakbrook mall and four 20 at seven o'clock.

And you could get tickets on cover 21 Chicago.com. Well, if you say it's going to be a party, is there going to be alcohol there too? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a bar in each lobby that's wide open. And I, uh, told the general manager over at AMC, I said, you're going to need more bartenders. Yeah.

So they'll be, uh, uh, stocked the bars, stocked up and ready to go. Yes, sir. Well, of course it's part of rock and roll, isn't it? That's right.

Yeah. That's right. That's right.

It's going to be a good time. Yes, it is. It'll be a good time.

I'll see you gentlemen there. Huh? Yeah. We'll be there.

Cheers. I'm working, working on being there. So, um, so, uh, continue success and, uh, and good luck with the movie and wish you the best of luck with it.

Awesome. Thank you very much guys. Thanks for joining us.

Yeah. All right. I'll see you on a four 20.

Huh? Yeah. Sounds good. I can roll.

So that was a swing and a home run right there. I think, uh, with Johnny ballgame, I think he hit one out of the park. Yes, he did.

Hey, Holy cow. Holy cow. Holy cow.

Steve. Give me that. That was good.

Yes, it was. Yes, it was. It was fun talking to Johnny and finding out about this movie that I'm kind of anxious to go.

Me too. Me too. I can't wait to see it.

There's going to be a, it's going to be a good show. It's going to be a lot of great people there. Yeah.

We'll be having to have it with the stars. Well, you know what? We're kind of stars. Are we? Maybe to some people.

Yes. No religions in our own mind. Yeah.

My, my mom thinks I'm a star. Yeah. No.

Yeah. Well, she might be right. That's right.

That's right. But yes, that's going to be a good time. That's four 20, April 20th at the AMC theaters in Oak Brook.

14 different screens. So that's awesome. So be sure and go get tickets.

Be sure and go get tickets. That's right. Get, go to the website, get your tickets, get out there.

You'll be able, you'll be able to hobnob with, with some people that you probably never even talked to. You just see them on stage. That's right.

That's right. And that's kind of what we like to do is bring a, we keep the music alive and find out, get, get behind the scenes, you know? That's right. So that's what.

We bring the people to you. That's what you can do by going and getting tickets to see this movie and find out about, about Hairbanger's Ball and 7th Heaven and all the other bands that are in there. And all the other, all the other musicians, the great music, a lot of great musicians in this.

That's right. And if you're there and you see us hanging out by the bar, stop by and say hello. Yes, please do.

So, so go ahead and get your tickets and support, support this movie because Johnny put a lot of, a lot of time and a lot of money into it. And we hope to see you there. That's right.

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears does not appear in the movie. No, they don't appear in the movie. No, no.

That was apropos, I thought. So don't forget to, while you're, while you're getting your tickets at cover21chicago.com, as soon as you pay for your tickets, hop on over to RoadToRock.org, which is the website for the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. Check it out.

Hopefully they'll be open this summer. And while you're there, sign up to be a charter member. You get all kinds of cool benefits, including like discounts at local restaurants and stuff.

It's, it's worth your while. And if this movie inspires you to so be a guitar player yourself, be sure and put some GHS strings on those guitars. That's right.

I mean, it made my banjo sound great. Yes. I don't know about your playing, but, well, but it's okay.

Your banjo sounds much better. It does sound better. Yeah.

And it, and it appreciates it. It appreciates a good set of strings. Yes, it does.

So until next time. Yes, indeed. Thanks for listening, everybody.

See you next week. Bye-bye. The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music that's played on this podcast.

The music is used to promote the band or musicians that are interviewed.