Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's up Ray? Oh, I don't know. I'm getting my rhythm on.

Your rhythm? I got rhythm. Yep. I put the banjo away.

Yeah. You were doing your bluegrass. Yeah, I was.

You were getting your bluegrass on last week, right? Yeah, I was. It's been, now I'm getting my rhythm on. Oh, okay.

I'm very rhythmic. Are you? Yeah. And I'm way too cool for some people though.

Oh, really? I am. I am. So, I figured I just got, that's why I get my rhythm on.

Well, don't fool yourself. No. No.

I try not to fool myself. Oh boy. We got to stop with these puns.

These puns are bad. Puns? Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, isn't that something from Popiel? Popiel. Ponomatic. The Packet Fisherman? Packet Fisherman.

Yeah. Mr. Microphone. The Vegematic.

Yeah. Well, no, a pun, I think everybody knows what a pun is. Of course.

And, but we're talking today with the Way Cool Rhythm Fools. That's right. If you remember the Way Cool Rhythm Fools from the 80s, by the 80s and 90s, even the 2000s, then you're going to enjoy the show because we talked with Jeff Sysmelik and Bill Poore, and Jim Corsolini, and Russ Robb, Robby, Robby.

That's right. And they were, and they are way cool. Yes, they are.

Yes, they are. It was a lot of fun talking to them, reminiscing about the band and the Way Cool Rhythm Fools. Yes.

And they definitely are not a joke that exploits the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike, but have different meanings. That's correct. Yes.

Okay. That's a pun. I get it.

I get it. All right. Well, let's find out what the Way Cool Rhythm Fools is all about and, and let's join them right now.

Let's have some fun. Fun. Yeah.

There you go. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the show.

Today, we're speaking with the guys, some of the guys from, from one of my favorite old bands. Oh, I shouldn't say old. I don't mean to call you guys old.

No, I didn't. But I mean, back from the day, the Way Cool Rhythm Fools. How are you guys doing? Hey, guys.

Good. We're doing good. Thanks, Paul.

We're talking to Jeff Sussmalik and Bill Pure and James Corsolini and Russ Lobb, right? Lobby. Lobby. Lobby.

Okay. All right. One other word.

You had to get that extra E in there, right? So that's a professional name, you know, Tony, Tony, Tony Dorset used to be Tony Dorset. Then he changed to Tony Dorset when he got good. There you go.

A little bit of useless knowledge. Don't mind me. Yeah.

It's called Bear, right? Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

Well, so thanks for joining us today, guys. And so tell us a little bit about the Way Cool Rhythm Fools. I know you guys went through a couple of stages, a couple of on and off periods.

But when did it all get started? We were texting about this amongst ourselves before doing this, because we don't really remember. I mean, I think I met Jim. We worked together.

Right. And that was like 86. Right, Jim? Roughly.

Yeah, 86. We were both video editors, and your band, Face to Face, had broken up some point previous to that. I don't know how long it had been.

Yeah. Right about that. And you said, well, I'm looking for a guitar player and a bass player and a keyboard player.

And you had the rest. And I said, well, I know a keyboard player and a bass player. And yeah, I was a guitar player.

So we got a rehearsal going, and that was it. Yeah, exactly. Because we had the remnants of the band, Face to Face, which was two horn players, Bill Poore on guitar, and then John LaFave, our drummer, who was with us from all the way through as well.

So yeah, about 86, I'd say we started. That was a great band, too. I wasn't in that band.

But all you guys were, and that was a great band. I don't remember, but thanks, Jim. Was that when you joined in, Russ? Were you new to the band, Russ, at that time? Or did you come in? No, I was in the band, Face to Face, with Jeff and Bill, and our trombone player, Steve, and the drummer, John.

Those were like, what, five of us? Yeah. And then Jim, like Jim said, Jim on guitar, Jim Gaynor on keyboard. And Jeff Keane on bass, or bass, I would say.

And then Jim was playing with Jeff, right? You guys had played in like, you were doing like disco lounge bands and stuff, weren't you? Well, we went to college together. We were playing in a wedding band for like two years, and I was like losing my mind, you know? The Fools came along at just the right time. Right.

Or just the wrong time. We just messed you up from that point on. Yeah.

From the classical training, right out the window. After years of playing, I remember Jeff saying one time, you know, I could have got a law degree by now. I'm kidding.

I could have been a lawyer. Wasting his time with rock and roll. Right.

So when you guys got together, where did you start out playing at? We were based in Oak Lawn. I mean, that was, I think the first rehearsals took place at John, the drummer, John LaFave's house. He was, you know, living with his parents still at the time, and his parents let him use like this back porch kind of area that he had in his house.

Right. And I think that's where it built from there. You know, I mean.

I moved into Jeff's house. There's folks in the basement, and we played at, practiced at Jim's a few times, too. Jeff Keen's house, too, for a while.

Yeah. I mean, it kind of moved around. Jim's.

But I remember the first, like, at LaFave's house. So we're all like early 20s or something like that, and none of us are married, and we're partying a lot. And we would rehearse at like 8.39 in the morning on a Saturday morning.

Weekend. And play all day. And drink all day.

Yeah. Well, that's what it was all about. Yeah.

It was, you know. I mean, you really, not only can build a band, but you can build great friendships when you drink all day. You know? I mean, it's kind of.

Here we are. I mean, you know. 40 years later.

Wake up the next morning, forget about what you talked about, and talk about it again. Exactly. While we still like each other.

Yeah. What song did we learn again? Yeah. Oh, Club Wives.

Where did you guys start playing originally? Bill, you. Bill can answer this probably a little better. Or Russ, to you.

You guys got better memories about this than I do. Oh, if I don't get confused with. And Bill can jump in.

I mean, Face to Face. I know some of those local bars we played. It was the one on 111th.

Was that still us? Or was that Face to Face? Bill. What do you think about the. You think about the old bowl market? Yeah.

Was it? Did that cross over to us? That was Face to Face. I can't remember the first couple of places we played that were smaller places with the Fools. I don't even remember those.

But, you know, once we. Deluxury was the big, you know, step for us into the better clubs. Yeah.

Opened up a couple of times with them. They were good friends of ours. And once we opened up, you know, those couple of times with them, we were able to get into Flaherty's and all the better clubs.

And once, you know, once that happened, we're playing a lot of the same place that Paul played in the noodles. You know, we kind of were. Right.

Same circuit. All the nicer clubs doing the same jobs. The ones that don't exist anymore.

I don't know if there's one bar that we played that's still open. I don't. There might be, but I don't know.

It's that's a pretty tough one. Yeah. Plenty of parking.

Yeah. Look at some of the old Johnny's 84, Rush Hour, The Point, DJ Flaherty's, McGregor's, Michelle's over on. Was that like a hundred? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And Cicero. Yeah.

All the local south suburb bars and occasionally a couple downtown. Yeah. Well, I mean, we we hooked up with, you know, just like anybody, you know, you hook up with some agents once you get your feet under you.

And then we started playing all over, really. I mean, it was like, I remember Mundelein and out in the western. Yeah.

Fests and. Yeah. Yeah.

Joey DeMarco started booking us a lot then. Yeah. So he threw a lot of stuff our way.

Yeah. I mean, all those guys, you know. Yeah.

I mean, you know, our our big thing back then was, you know, how do we not be the dancing noodles? I mean, you know, I mean, there's an ad, I think, that Russ shared with us, and that's we played at the Willowbrook Ballroom, you know, and on that. A couple of times. Yeah.

And then that month of entertainment, there's the there's us in the dancing noodles, you know, and the luxury was and the luxury to. Yeah. So as horn bands went, I mean, it was cool.

It was cool back in the day then, because horn bands were it hit a lull in the 90s. But in the 80s, you know, horn bands were still a thing, you know. None of them.

None of them were as none of them were as big as the noodles. So we were just trying to, you know, be different enough, you know, as big as we were physically. You guys definitely set the bar.

Yeah. Oh, you guys. That was a. It was a fun band, I'll tell you that.

You are. Sorry for stepping away, guys. I just had something going on here.

I heard you yell. I thought you yelled spider and took off. Oh, no.

I apologize. So what did I miss? We're just talking about clubs they played in. Yeah.

We needed you to run through some of those clubs before we were. Well, you guys, you worked with the luxury quite a bit. I heard you mentioned the luxury.

You worked with the luxury quite a bit, right? Yeah, they were nice enough. Bill was pretty good friends with them and some of the guys in there and they let us open for a few times. That helped us.

And apparently they didn't mind it either. More people at the jobs. But that was nice.

So how many were in the original band? Eight. Eight. Okay.

There was a trumpet. Russell Albee. Trombone.

Steve Learley. Jim Corsolini. Bill Poore.

Both on guitars. Jeff Keen on bass. John LaFave on drums.

And me singing. Were you just singing or playing keys this time too? I was just singing. And Gator.

We forgot Gator. Oh, I forgot Jim Gator. Yeah, our keyboard player.

He's a forgettable guy. Big swing in Oregon. Yeah.

Depending on what tune it was, you did some keys. Yeah. I mostly sang back then.

So now you went through three stints of the band, right? And you guys were all in the original, right? The original first. Right. From what years was that? 86 to what? 93-ish? No, it was like mid-90s.

Mid-90s. Yeah, we got a few. Okay.

But almost 10 years with that first run. And were any of you part of it or not part of the second run? And the third run? The second run was basically all of us as well, but with a new bass player. Yeah.

Because Jeff had moved, right? Right. We played with Tommy Strollia, came in on bass at that time. And that was a short stint.

That was like a couple years maybe we did that. Yeah. And I decided to move.

Yeah. Bill moved to California after that. It's the only way Bill could get out of the band was to move out of the station.

Miles away. You can't leave. You were looking for the big time, were you, Bill? Yeah.

I was just looking to get away from these guys. You're back now, right? Once a fool, always a fool, buddy. I know.

Then you started version three in like 2000 or something. Yeah. It was like, it was, yeah, 2000, 2001.

I want to, yeah. It was, it was probably 2000. Yeah.

Probably before that. Cause it was, I started playing some rhythm guitar at that point. We had a guitar player named Saul Gillis and then Tom Strollia on bass.

And that was it. So it was the original four guys plus those, those guys. So five guys, whatever it was.

And I know I worked with you, with that band one time. Yeah. At Casino.

But I saw your name was on the list to come in. I was like excited that you guys are coming. Yeah.

It wasn't the band you remembered though, right? Well, no, no, but you guys are still good. Still did a great job. So now, now Jeff, you play with, you play with Strung Out.

Right. And, and, and the other guys doing anything or working or playing with anybody? I am not just playing at all. I was playing in a bluegrass band for about five or six years playing banjo.

And then, and then just doing jazz, pick up gigs with some people I met through old town downtown. So you went from bluegrass banjo or to playing jazz stuff. Yeah.

Actually I played banjo on a couple of fool's tunes. We worked that in. That's right.

That's what I like about the band. We always kind of did. Whatever.

If you need a new strings for your banjo, I'd recommend GHS strings. That's right. They're a sponsor.

They're sponsoring a podcast right here. Fabulous. Oh, good.

I've been using their guitar strings for 30 years. So I wasn't getting any money though. 40 years.

Yikes. Well, that was, that was the interesting thing is that, you know, when, when, when Jim and Jeff keen, who has sadly passed away, departed, we miss Jeff. And we always think about him, but when he, when they joined the band, you know, they were like the real musicians.

You know, we were, we were a bunch of Oakland guys who used to hang out and just, you know, learn music off records. And we, you know, we did everything by ear kind of thing. And then we, when we met Jim and Jeff for sure, you know, they, they, they kind of honed the band into a little more of a tighter professional, you know, musically speaking unit, but they were still, you know, as demented as we were.

So that was always kind of fun, but it was, but it was really, it was really when, you know, Jim's a great music. I'm going to, I'm going to blow your horn. Jim, Jim's a great musician.

I mean, Jim plays guitar, banjo plays a little piano. You're not even talking about your songwriting, which you used, which you were doing for a while too. And, you know, so it's, it's just, it was just a really nice group of guys to get together with.

And, you know, and we honed what the fools turned out turned into really just because of all those different influences, I think that came together, you know, it was like, we, we, we kind of learned what it meant to be pros and Jim and, and Jeff certainly had a lot of experience and that's kind of what I think really sharpened us into something. It's funny how, when you get together with somebody who really knows how to play, how well you become, right? It's true. It's true.

Yeah. So Jeff, Jeff, you touched on the fact that we were all friends and it was fun to play together. And that, that definitely was the cement with the fools.

I mean, we all just got along great and, and it was just fun, you know? So Jim, you did some writing, right? Not for the band. We never played any originals in the school. We did, we did a couple, we did a couple of originals, but they were few and far between.

That one that you wrote, Jeff. Yeah. That one that we worked on and brought in to rehearsal time and Jim and, and Jeff Keene kind of turned that up a little bit for us and it turned into something.

I can't remember the name of it, but I remember the song. Oh, Jim wrote for Jonathan Brandmeier. That's what Jim did.

Yeah. He's the prune, damn it. What did you write for him? That's the leading song, wasn't it? Well, the first tune I wrote was I'm turning into a prune in the shower.

And it was just a little 30 seconds. I'm turning into a prune in the shower. Hey prune.

Hey prune. I'm turning into a prune in the shower. Hey prune.

Prune. Oh Johnny D in the morning, you know he's the best that he can be. It was on Brandmeier like every morning I'd hear it.

I'm like, Oh Jesus Christ, you're a show host lady again. Did you get some royalty credits for that Jim? No. I mentioned my name a couple of times.

But that was true of anyone who submitted music for that show. He used it for a commercial one time. Remember Jeff? We were at Polycom and you and the graphic designer heard it on the radio.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was on a promo, right? Or something like that. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I should have socked him for that one.

You should have. I don't know. Jim just got a huge head about it though, you know.

Because it was like during sound check, he'd stomp his feet. I'm the prune, damn it. I missed where you guys were playing at.

Now, obviously, you did a lot of horn oriented stuff. Run us through some of your songs on your set list. You did some Motown as well, right? We did.

But like I said, because I'm being totally honest, the noodles had Motown sewn up. So we did not want to just be another Motown band. We did some though.

I mean, you can't have horns and not do it. We did everything from we were playing like Nicholas Tremulous and songs from the Tubes and the Subdudes. And we would just sort of dig deep into.

Joe Cocker, Southside Johnny. Southside Johnny was a big one. Yeah.

I mean, not everything was completely recognizable to an audience. But it all kind of had a good groove. And I think we got people, you know, enough liked it.

So that was good. But yeah. We went all the time.

So yeah. About 25 or 64, maybe one or two others. It's kind of, you know, the minute you say you're a horn band, they expect that vehicle and all that kind of stuff.

But we did Blood, Sweat and Tears and a few others. Trying to hone our own little sound there. I don't know.

There were a couple of times, like the Johnny Tunes, some people would ask, who is that? Did we write that? And, you know, it'd be nice to say yes, but we didn't. When I get home from my job I turn on my TV But I can't keep my mind on the show When I lay down at night I can't get more sleep So I turn on the radio But the only sound I hear Is you whispering in my ear The words that you used to say When my love grows longer And my heart grows stronger When I leave her for a girl Russ did a great introduction to I Feel Good. James Brown.

It's on YouTube, right? You've got to watch. You've got to see that. Well, I was going to ask if we could catch some of your stuff on YouTube, right? Actually, I'll blow Jeff's horn a little bit.

Just recently, well, maybe a year or so ago, he put out there a way cool Rhythm Fool's Memory Lane. Just kind of for everyone that wanted to look back at some of the videos, some of the songs, some of the flyers and bars we played, which is kind of fun. The only problem is none of them are around anymore.

Yeah, it's a Facebook group. And anyone, if you want to check us out on there, you can find us there. It's Way Cool Rhythm Fool's Memory Vault, I think it's called.

Yeah, that's a Facebook group. So, yeah, you know, Russ did a lot of work with our flyers. We used to do flyers and mailers like everyone did back in the day.

We had to mail to your audience and hopefully they come see you. Right. Like straight out of Mad Magazine.

The flyers were hilarious. So, yeah, there's all kinds of stuff in that Facebook group. So how many gigs were you playing a year? Or a month? No, there was a stretch.

Summers were pretty good. I'm thinking of the flyers. I mean, if there was, send that thing out, maybe two months worth.

And if we had four, five, maybe six jobs. And then there's other ones, a couple of jobs a month. What was tough was getting everybody to be able to be available.

For the most part, that worked out. The second tier, that was tougher. These guys right here, Paul, they were always available.

That last group, that's Saul Gillis. But he lived in Michigan. That was a little tough to get him to commit to practice and everything.

But it worked out. Yeah. I want to say probably in our busiest time, we were playing maybe 30 to 40 shows a year, maybe.

Does that sound about right? I mean, well, when phase one was at it. Because we were probably playing like two to three times a month, plus maybe a little more. I don't know.

I mean, we weren't trying to play, you know, every weekend. We like playing every other weekend, you know, a couple of things like that. We get busy, like you say, during the summer, you know, some festivals and stuff like that.

So it would build up a little more, but. Yeah. Maybe 30, 30 shows a year, something like that.

Yeah. I mean, besides the band, we all hung out together too. So we pretty much did everything together.

Yeah. We're going out to see you guys follow the noodle. We're going out to see Fairweather, the luxury.

We're going out to see everybody all the time. Big twist. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. That's true though. Yeah.

We weren't sometimes we would be out at the bar Friday, seeing some band and then we're supposed to play Saturday. That doesn't happen too much anymore. Does it? Once in a while.

Recovery time is much longer. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah. But so I missed some of the clubs that you guys were talking about. I remember, I remember brew bakers.

Just play brew breakers. Oh, no, that was, that was face to face. There was a, there was a band that stemmed the fools, but yeah.

Brew bakers. Yeah. Yeah.

We were almost like a, like the house band there for a while. We were there. Jeez.

Yeah. At least every other weekend. It seemed like.

Yeah. Do you remember that bar that had the. Polls and the acrobats.

It was a new kind of a new bar. I want to say like around Carol stream or something. But.

Wasn't that totos. Maybe. You know, they had their own sound, man.

And that guy. Was great. I mean, maybe the best sound man we ever had, but.

I don't think they lasted real long. Probably because they were hiring us. We close more bars in the health department.

And a couple downtown would have the tracks. Slugger at the tracks. And the tracks was fun.

Yeah. You ever played limit up. Yeah.

Yeah. Wait, wait. War at the limit up.

We opened up for war and then they had a second gig that night. And they actually, we kind of finished off for them. We played before and after.

Yeah, they had to get going. They were playing off of House of Blues or somewhere. They were playing and they left their drums and stuff.

So that way we get to say that they opened for us. And you open for yourself. Exactly.

That throws a damper in it. Yeah, they used to get some pretty good bands there on the river. Yeah, that was a fun place.

I remember that was fun. A lot of fun, especially play like a five o'clock in the afternoon right when everybody's at four or five o'clock, when everybody's getting off of work. Let's take a time out here for a second.

Hey, Ray, Ray, what are you doing? I'm getting my bluegrass on. I'm playing my banjo, except there seems to be something wrong with the strings. Well, you know, Ray, GHS makes strings for all types of instruments, electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, ukulele and even banjo.

Then I'm getting new GHS strings and my banjo will sound better. I don't think it's the strings, Ray. GHS are easy to play with rich, full, balanced tone available in many different gauges.

Great for all musical styles. So if you play, play with the best, play GHS strings. So now tell me about Face to Face.

Face to Face was the band that preceded the Waco Rhythm Pools. First of all, how'd you come up with the name Waco Rhythm Pools? That's that's a that's a that's a Russ Lowby invention there, I think. Regrettably, probably.

And Lierly was in on that, too. Probably. A little too worried.

He blurted it out one day and was like, OK, it works. I mean, I love the name. It's great.

Yeah, there was obviously beer there when we came up with the name. Should be beer there all the time, right? Right. Yeah, we ran into, you know, some guy wanted to put your name on the marquee and then you give him the name.

He's like, I can't, I can't put that up there. Just the pools, that's it. It's a pool.

They spell rhythm wrong all the time. Yeah. Yeah.

No one can spell rhythm. Yeah. Yeah.

One time that I had to look it up. Ray Cool and the Rhythm Pools. Yeah, Ray Cool.

On the marquee, Ray Cool. That's funny. Yeah.

But tell me about Face to Face. The noodles was kind of in that vein. I mean, that just struck up, you know, sounds like you're fun right off the bat.

I think you want to go. Yeah. You want to go face to face? Yeah.

Well, face to face was I mean, I joined it was Bill and our drummer, John, and a couple other guys had just kind of a startup band. And a friend of mine was a friend of John's. And they're like, hey, they're looking for a singer.

Do you want to check these guys out there in Oklahoma? I'm like, sure. So I went and that's where I met Bill. And that's where we met John.

And John fired the guitar player, the other guitar player, who was his best friend. Right. Luckily, somebody knew Gerard.

So, yeah. So I mean, but the Fools are just basically literally. I mean, it was a neighborhood.

We didn't play in the garage, but we should have. I mean, it was a garage band, really. It was just a bunch of guys who got together to play.

And we were doing everything from, you know, ACDC and Led Zeppelin at that time to, you know, there was no plan on being a horn band. And then we played we got. You know, when you start off, you play it.

You know, I think I was I was like 19 or 20 years old when I met you guys. Bill wasn't at a party at the. Yeah, I was in college.

And then there was a party and then Bill knew Russ or something like that. And then we're playing ACDC. And all of a sudden I hear no, no, no, no.

I hear horns playing. I'm like, what is that? It was Russ and Steve who had come there, pulled their horns out and were just playing along. And that's kind of how it started.

I mean, so that band was, you know, I even think that at the beginning, we were like doing half and half. We're doing like rock songs. And then we bring the horns on for another half of the show.

And then and then we were doing a Blues Brothers tribute. We did an entire set of Blues Brothers music, hats, the whole thing. The costumes.

That's like 1982. You know, he wasn't even dead yet, I don't think. And we were doing that, you know, so, you know, I mean, it was like, yeah.

Well, they don't have to be dead in order to play their music, you know. Sometimes it helps. Yeah.

So you had a sax player in that band, too, right? We we had one. We had a couple. We had a we had a guy named Bob Zellick was the first sax player.

And then a buddy of mine from high school, Bob Mirrlees, came in and played sax, too. Yeah. But at that time, like I said, we were all in college.

Rush was still going to school down at ISU. I was in college, you know, and it just kind of things just kind of stopped after people graduated, got jobs, things like that. And that's kind of why the band dissolved.

But there are a few of us who still wanted to still play. And that's kind of what led to the. It was in your blood, huh? Yeah.

Hard to stop, right, Paul? It's hard to quit, you know. Yes, it is. It's too much fun.

I'm getting out of this as you guys started as a rock and roll band. Then you got a horny. Exactly.

Okay. I got it now. That's perfect, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Face to face was a good lead in, though. We played some colleges and parties and like brewmakers and that I kind of set the tone thinking we could do it.

Once Jim came on board with Jeff, definitely improved our sound and made it, you know, figure we could do this. Let's give it a shot. Oh, yeah.

But kind of like the noodles, it never got too serious. You want to play well and sound good and people appreciate you. But the whole thing was just getting together, having some fun.

And I was fortunate enough to be very fortunate to be in that band and still am very fortunate to be in a band in that band. But but back then, it was just it was it was a thing that Roman and Eddie were putting together. And they asked Terry and and Brian to be part of it, obviously.

And then and then they said, well, we need to round it out with somebody else. And and I had just left Eminor. I was out of Eminor for not even six months.

And with the noodles. So, yeah. Yeah, because you were going to take a little time off.

And because I was I think your last gig with Eminor was out at Fest and Stager, because I think I was there. And you announced it that night that you were that this was your last gig. No, my actually my last gig, I have to play after that.

Yeah, we played in Juliet in the mall, not in Juliet mall, but in the place on Jefferson where the where the O.T.B. is now or where the O.T.B. was there. The name of that place. Yeah, you probably announced it that night then that you were going to be leaving.

Yeah, yeah. And I had no plans to do nothing. And yeah, and then you were playing right away.

Yeah. Look at me now. Yeah, yeah, man.

You got both going. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah.

Now you're doing both. Yeah, yeah. Well, I podcast and exactly the podcast.

So that's a cool. Well, how did Bill used to roadie for a minute, right? Used to for a little while. Yeah, I was going to say, Paul, you know, I've known you for 45 years now.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's how long I've known you.

The only guy I know longer here is Russ because we went to school together. But yeah, I mean. Yeah, my wife asked me who I had an interview with.

And I said, said the way cool rhythm fools. And she kind of gave me a weird look. And and I said, this is Bill Porter.

I said, I've known Bill for probably 40 plus years. So I was too far off. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Long time. I mean, going back to that, we had a lot of fun then, you know? Oh, yeah. I mean, I learned a lot.

Just I learned everything from just watching you guys being able to hang out with you guys back then. It'll be a backstage and I getting, you know, getting a chance to roadie for a while and all of that. So, you know, that's where I kind of learned everything.

God bless you. You still survived. Yeah.

Hopefully you wake up tomorrow, right? Exactly. So is there any any inkling of a reunion? Jim, what do I my my daughter? OK, so when we were practicing in my house for a couple of years, my daughter, Jordan, was three or four, and she'd come down to the basement and and hang out with us. And she told me years ago, if I ever get married, I want the fools to play at my wedding.

And so she's getting married next year. And so I think I've told all you guys this, right? Yeah. You know about that? Yeah.

So hopefully that'll be some kind of a reunion. But yeah, well, even if you just get up, play a few songs or something, right? Sure. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. I mean, you'll have to change the, you know, the trumpet from a lamp back to a trumpet.

You know, it's a lamp now, so and on lamp. Russ, yeah. The other one's going to be an ashtray for cigars.

And Steve will be playing a Gillespie horn. He said it was at Emmett Stone. He went to see Emmett Stone.

Oh, I remember that band. Yeah. You remember that name, Paul? Where was it, Bill? It was way out southwest.

It wasn't. You saw them. So RBK's in Shorewood.

Well, well, we were we were playing. And those guys came. They came to see us.

That's right. A lot of time I came to see us. Yeah, that might that might have been at isn't it or something.

But we get done with the set and our trombone player, Steve, who's a character. But, you know, sometimes he's just a little aloof. One of the horn players from Emmett Stone comes up and asks him, you know, been watching him play trombone the whole set.

They ask him, hey, what kind of horn do you play? Like what model or something? Steve just looks down at his horn and goes, Trombone. So again, there might have been alcohol involved. Yeah, yeah.

Might have. Yeah. I remember I remember a guy coming up and pointing at my guitar and he's going, What year is this? What year is this? I said, it's 1976.

This guy's really messed up. You know, here it is. And he's like, I don't know what year it is.

Oh, that's awesome. Same idea, though, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So he played a Gillespie, right? Well, that's what it ended up looking like. Was it Gillespie horn? Oh, his son tossed it out the window. So it's like, yeah, there's a lucky any of the instruments survived.

Yeah, I think Steve had a couple of guys go to the bathroom in his case, too. If I didn't see this happen, I'd have never believed it. But all the stories they could tell, right? Yeah, man.

Oh, man. A guy taking a leak in the guy's trombone case. I mean, I could it happened twice, too.

I wasn't. It happens. I don't know the second guy must have smelt it.

It's like a dog before. Yeah, like a dog. Anyway, hey, I can't say we didn't have fun.

That's for sure. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

The black and you never know. There can always be a threat that we could be out there again. That's right.

Well, let's let's hope it goes. Let's hope you play for Jim's daughter's wedding. And at least at least get up there and do a few songs.

And maybe that'll give you the itch. You know, I mean, that happened. It happened to me.

And we played after a golf outing and and we're all all the drunk. And that's what started the whole thing over again. So, you know, but you never know.

So, yeah, absolutely. Well, I I wouldn't complain. I mean, like I said, that the cool the cool thing about music and certainly this band in general is that, you know, it's these guys are my closest friends.

We've been around for a long time and friends for a long time. Yeah, he's one of my best friends. Upstown's whatever music started it.

And, you know, we're still doing it as friends. So that's that's a lot of fun, you know. Very cool.

And we can find you on Facebook, right? And be sure and check out the way cool Rhythm Fools memory vault, right? It's a Facebook group, right, that we started about a year ago. And it was sort of just as a clearinghouse. You know, we have friends still go like, what about the Fools? What about the Fools? And I think I just got tired of saying, I don't know, you know.

So we so we just just started sharing. You know, we have some video recordings from back in the day. Audio recordings, a lot of photo.

You know, it's just a place for people to kind of reminisce, share things. And, you know, it's been a lot of fun that we, you know. And is there anyone can it's you know, there's you don't have to join it, just go there and like it.

Is there a YouTube page for the videos or. It's it's on my personal YouTube page. Gemini Jeff is the name of the site.

So on that page, you'll see, you know, and a lot of a lot of stuff. But there's some cool stuff on there, too. A lot of it, a lot of it is shared on that Facebook page as well.

So a little bit of a story with Jimmy Hood that kind of trails on that same page, doesn't it? Yeah. Strung out on there. Yeah.

I mean, it's all it's whenever I get something with me in it, I throw it out there. Did you guys ever do any recording and go in a studio and do anything? We did. We did.

Yeah, we did a demo and I think we did a live. Thanks so hard. Actually, Jim had a lot to do with a couple of buddies came into the video.

Was that the Blue Notes? It was the Blue Notes. Yeah. In what town was that? Oak Forest.

Yeah, I think we have two, one or two live things that Jeff and our keyboard player, Jim, I think we put them on CD and a couple copies of that. And one was a demo strictly just that we recorded our own demo at the gym. And I used to work at the same television production company and we had a audio studio in there and we recorded our our first demo in there on our own.

But we never did like a second demo, right? We never did a second demo recording. No, we never did. We just kind of once we started going, we just yeah.

You know, we did that one for face to face and John Soleski for six. Right. Record.

We went to the studio. He did that for us. Yeah.

That came out pretty nice. There's a page for Jan to on Facebook. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I just got invited to that a few days ago.

I joined. I've been on it for about a year, but yeah, it's it's pretty cool. Some pretty cool stuff.

He was a good guy. That was that was actually a lot of fun. We went there for it was like two weekends or something, right? To do that or a couple of couple sessions.

Yeah, we had a we had a ball with him. Yeah. Yeah, he was in a thing.

And he was like, I walked in and he remembered me from seeing you guys, Paul. Oh, really? Well, you look familiar. I know you from somewhere.

I was like, where would you know me from? I mean, I'd been out to see him when he was doing Spread Eagle. I like that, you know, and talking to him. But I was like thinking about that.

I was like, am I a rush? He's like, that's it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was a good guy.

We had fun with him. Yeah. Well, thanks, guys.

I appreciate you joining us today and reminiscing a little bit about the way cool room fools. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you, Paul. Yeah. I mean, pleasure.

Let's hope this pandemic ends soon and we can actually play some real music again. Yeah. Yeah.

Or at least drink beer together. You know? Yeah, I tell you, it's a terrible thing. You know, I got my first shot, though.

So, yeah. Yeah. All right.

Good. Yeah. Thanks.

Thanks again, guys. Appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

All right. Let's get the way cool rhythm fools back together. All right.

We'll work on it. Well, we can do that. Big bar tab.

Big bar tab. That's from here. That's right.

So that was the way cool rhythm fools. Yes, it was. And they were fantastic.

Well, fantastic. Yes. Yes, they were.

It was a lot of fun talking with them and reminiscing about the the some of the old clubs they used to play on the south and southwest side. Yeah, that really amazed me when we started talking about that, because I could I cannot think of a single club that's still open from back then. But, you know, you're right.

You're probably right. I was I kept thinking different areas of the city, the suburbs. There's nothing.

Well, the times change. And so do the clubs and they move on and you move to a different club. That's true.

And then they you know, they move to different genres of music. I mean, you had your disco craze. So you had all these discos.

There was no live music. And so but yeah, it's kind of interesting to talk about these old places. I forgot a number of them.

Yep. Well, well, they they had they they played them. Yes, they did.

Many of them and had a lot of fun doing it, I guess. Yeah, they had a problem with that one hanging noodle band or something like that. That's yeah.

Well, they had a problem. I think they had a drinking problem is what they had. Yeah, I think so.

That too. That too. But yeah, because of those hanging noodles, they couldn't.

Yeah, they couldn't do any Motown. No. Well, they did some.

Oh, I'm sure they did a little bit. But that wasn't their schtick. I saw the band a couple of times and I loved them.

And and it's maybe they'll get back together and do something again. Maybe they will. There's a a nuptial coming up.

Maybe something will come of that. Yes. All right.

Well, thanks for listening, everybody. Thanks to GHS Strings for sponsoring this podcast. And thanks to the Rock and Roll Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois.

And be sure and sign up, go there to sign up and be a charter member. I'd like to thank Miriam Webster for helping me find the definition of a pun. OK, see you all next week.

Thanks for listening. 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.