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 I forgot my name Yeah, we're back again after a month-long hiatus It has been a long highest but it's been a welcome hiatus because we were very very busy Yes, we have been very very busy and I went to I went to see my guru Out in India and hung out with him and stuff. Oh, did you really? Yeah.

Yeah. So did you meet Paul McCartney? And I met Paul McCartney was there George Harrison and John Lennon George George Harrison and John Lennon were there. They were there Yeah, you were smoking some good Pretty cool.

That was an exciting hookah. Yeah Yeah, I don't even think I ever left home We've had some interesting stuff happened while we weren't here Even though we weren't here some stuff's happening because now we are on road to rock radio We are on road or out rock radio every Monday and Thursday. Yeah.

Yeah We did maybe we should take up more often because cool things happen when we're not here. You're right You're right. We stick around too long people realize we're just fooling everybody.

That's right. Yeah, that's right So you ready to get back to it? What we're so famously known to do. Yeah, let's do it.

All righty Well joining us tonight are two members of the stingrays And they brought girls with them. They did check them out. All right, how you guys doing? Okay, ladies, that's enough Really? They're crazy for I know you can't stop him now.

I just live with it. Yeah, right stop. I've seen it.

Okay Yeah, you got the control Yeah, that's right. So once you introduce yourselves tell everybody. Oh, what it is you guys doing the band? Well, I'm Frank I'm the bass player and I drive the van So the guy who drives the van runs the band, I guess that's true.

That's how we got the gig He had a van Bring the mic. Um, yeah. Yeah bring it right right into that baby.

All right, you want to have that sexy radio voice, right? And Who's this guy next to me? My name is Greg and I'm with the band with then Frank's being a little modest He is really the one who runs the band. It does just about everything. So I am as a humble employee Yep, and no and I play guitar sometimes keyboards and sing.

Okay, excellent. Excellent. Don't forget the tambourine Oh, well, you know acoustic or electric Tambourine acoustic.

Okay. All right. All right.

So how long has the band been together? The band's been together since 1996 Yeah, we started out. We started out as the Nighthawks for the first year and Another Nighthawks came by Okay, and they were playing over it I think buddy guys and we called them up and said hey Do you care if we use the name the Nighthawks here? Right and they said well, we've had 12 albums How many do you have? So what we did was we made an appointment we went Harold Washington library had just been bill So we went there and we met with this really cool librarian a tall thin guy with long hair He looked like a rock star himself. And he said, okay He says we're gonna find out whether or not the name you chose the stingrays is good You know, so he's used something that nobody ever heard of at the time.

It was called the Internet. Oh Yeah, and he looked it up and he came out after half an hour. He says you're clear There's no other stingrays anywhere no America, no, no bands.

Well, I'm sure there's you know stingrays been used I mean, yeah car, you know and stuff like that, but not there was bands in the 60s or something Yeah, but he held the the patent or the trace. Yeah, right, right So we ran right over to the state of Illinois and filled out the paperwork and the rest is history, right? Right, right. Yeah, so how did it all come about take us take us down that road? Well, we all met in another band called the heartbeats and That split up in New Year's Eve of 95 and Then we just decided to go out the four of us.

It was a keyboard player named alf drummer Ron and Me and a guitarist named Joe Joanna Carrie and we just we went out for the first year and we just decided we were going to Play the greatest rock and roll. We were gonna be a tribute to an era not to any one group, right? and and just play everything as Authentically as we could and with as much passion as we could because you can play the same song, you know You can play it every night and it can start to sound old at some point But if you put yourself in the right mindset that you know that this is an exciting thing that you're doing Right, you can play it with passion every time. So that's the goal of the band, right before I ask you another question I'm gonna move this because I feel like I'm Staring at you know, you're like you're having dinner with someone and you're staring at him through a bouquet of flowers So I'm gonna move that right there a little bit and kind of position that so we're not All right, and so we're not kind of looking around the mechanism here It's up to you doctor.

Yeah, right, right, right. So tell our listeners. What is that era? What is that? Genre we played the early stuff all the way through the mid-70s early stuff like Gregorian chant Some Renaissance stuff and everything yeah, yeah late 50s to early 70s, right? Yeah, yeah the stuff that you know, most of the stuff you listen to now came from that Mm-hmm, and everybody was influenced by a Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis and everyone else You can think of a man.

I'm right right and my big influence was the Beatles. So I always said the Beatles. They're all you need you know, so That that was kind of the way we set the band up to be kind of like that with four members all of them could sing all of them took a turn at entertaining and supporting each other so Yeah, that's would you say that would you say that the setlist then is okay? Beatle songs and then let's fill in is is well, is it really Beatles bass? I actually have a little list here I put together.

I thought you might ask this. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, see and it's just like me It's getting you know, because if you wouldn't have brought that you wouldn't have been able to think of one song No, but I've got a list of Beatles Rolling Stones Creedence Clearwater the doors Jerry Lee Lewis little Richard Ricky Nelson Hermann's Hermann's D under Moochie Chuck Berry the grassroots can't eat kinks I'd some margin it goes on Elvis and it's a little bit of everything but Essentially, it's enjoyable danceable fun music that everybody knows the licks to when the chorus is to from the late 50s Through the early 70s, but it's always even if it's a early 70s song It'll be something like the grassroots or Bachman Turner overdrive. That's got the same kind of 60s rock That's What we focus on and we try to stay within those limits, right? So it doesn't become one of these bands where oh, we just play what we feel like we don't do that, right? Yeah, you gotta have some continuity. You have to have it.

So people know what they're gonna get when they come. All right, right exactly Exactly. So when you started this band and you put together this concept, I mean, we're going back a few years, right? About how old are you? 13 yeah, I was about 14 and a half.

Yeah I've got some years on you see. Yeah. Well, I can't do the math.

Okay. Okay All right, because I wanted you you were younger guys. And so what makes Younger guys decide, you know what instead of going for it.

Let's see. This was 95 96 Oh, yeah, we're not gonna play Guns and Roses or poison or anything like that. We're gonna go for Chuck Berry well, you know, okay, so I'm in my 30s and I grew up with My cousin is is a good 10 years older than I am So I just grew up listening to his music coming out of the bedroom I actually got accused of we used to put on meet the Beatles, right? And so whenever they weren't home I'd run up and I'd put meet the Beatles on the record and I'd play it and then I got accused of scratching the record Okay, and it was on bum bum bum.

Yeah, which which song was that? The George Harrison song don't bother me. Don't bother me. Yeah So so I got turned into my aunt and I scratched the record Well that record the first pressing had a scratch right and built right into it.

Mm-hmm So it wasn't me, but I got accused of it So all of a sudden they they wouldn't let me play that record anymore. It's probably a safe move It probably was just that record. I mean that one record or whatever had Yeah, no, no all of them Oh, they put out a yeah Capitol put out a mistake and I'm don't bother me It was like a minute into the song Okay, and it skipped on everybody's record and everyone they accused us of doing Of doing it weren't even playing that song.

We'd always put on little child Okay, cuz we thought that was written for us. I see it's we put on little child and dance around in the living room So right. Yeah, well, that's what made us that's that's what kind of hooked me on that type of music Yeah was just growing up listening to it from relatives play it.

Mm-hmm you know that makes me wonder because of the comeback of a Vinyl nowadays everybody's looking to press something on vinyl. Yeah, it makes me wonder if that particular No, but it makes me wonder but it makes me wonder if that album is actually worth a lot of money I think it probably is Surely fixed it eventually Well, of course, of course they did but if you were lucky enough to have a first pressing that had that skim built into it It's probably valuable Especially if you especially if you heard about it and then went out and bought one and never opened the cellophane. Oh, yeah That's probably worth that's planning.

Yeah, that's a lot of planning Let's hang out. Let's let's hang out with the vinyl thing for a second. I'm gonna I'm gonna give a shout-out to to a Gosh it sounds terrible.

I used to go to this place all the time I used to travel a lot and you know prior to kovat and there is a bar I want to say it's called Hudson's it's in like the downtown area of Columbus Ohio, okay, and you walk in the place and it sounds like a place you guys should go in If you're ever in Columbus, Ohio, you have to go there You walk in and the entire decor looks like mid 60s complete with like a surfboard leaning in the corner and old velour Couches and everything, you know all the all the 60s colors and you know flowers painted on the wall and all this stuff, right? well this place has a Record collection like you've never seen and the bartender has control of a turntable behind the bar There's no jukebox in the whole place. There's no sound system. You just ask the bartender Hey, can I look through the records and is yeah? Sure, you pull out a record and a bartender puts the record on for you It was just the coolest place that I never I'd ever found It sounds like do you do you have a record do either one if you have a record collection? I've got tons of mine.

Really? Yeah original or I go back that far. I'm a little older than him So when I was a kid, I was listening to I remember things like The lion sleeps tonight and my boyfriend's back in the Wanderer and things like that You know candy girl by the seasons I I was a little kid with I loved those songs when I was a kid, right and I love the atmosphere of those records and But then I didn't really get totally interested in it I used to watch I want a TV with there's a lot of live music TV when I was a kid, right? So you would see things like Jimmy Dean had a show He'd all the Nashville guys on their plan or Roger Miller had a show Tom Jones had a show Johnny Cash I used to love that era Glenn Campbell was the guy for me I watch him every week and just think this guy can sing like a bird and I can't believe how he plays, you know It's a male. It's like nothing.

It's amazing that you said that because there was Just was it Sunday? Yeah, I think it was Sunday morning. I like to wake up after a week I had a long gig on Saturday Turn on the television cuz lay in bed for a little bit right and I went right to YouTube and the feature video on Sunday Was an interview with Alice Cooper hmm I think the interview happened just a day or two after Glenn Campbell passed away and Didn't even know that those two guys were best friends Yeah, you would never put Glenn Campbell and Alice Cooper together, but they were golfing buddies You know that would make sense because they both yeah their their kids grew up together I mean, you know when Alice Cooper or Glenn Campbell wanted to go and grab a beer and watch the football game You know at the local pub or whatever. They called each other I'm as I you would and you would have never put those two guys together The thing that's easy to forget about Alice's it was totally a show for him.

Oh, it was the most normal guy He wasn't living it at all. It was all part of the show. He's like a scratch golfer.

Yeah, Greg He loved golfing, you know, but he's the kind of guy that you know, he moves in in your neighborhood to be like, oh, no Oh, yeah But but but he's not like that. No, he's in your right like that. Yeah, it's all the facade Yeah, I missed him.

I missed seeing him I don't know if I would have even gotten a chance to meet him, but I missed seeing him many years ago I and I was in my early 20s and I was asked to work sound With the sound company that was that was like providing the stage and the audio and everything for the pro-am tournament That was going on I think it was like at Cog Hill and I remember guys like Greg Norman were there and stuff and he was there and I Missed seeing Alice Cooper by about five minutes Golfing or singing? Yeah, I'm just seeing him walking around the club See, I mean not singing or playing just being able to live in Chicagoland area for a while. Oh, yeah for a number of years Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he sure did.

He sure did Wow amazing. But anyways get back to your record collection So he's I mean you listen in to him all the time. Sure.

Yeah, sure I mean and I gotta say I'm not one of these people who says boy vinyls got this great incredible Sound to it that that You know electronic music, you know CDs don't or whatever you want to call it and it's to me I don't hear that much difference, but I grew up buying vinyl and in the 70s I had kind of a Because catharsis because I was listening to current music and playing as a kid and stuff And so I met a couple of guys who are really into collecting old stuff Yeah, and I'd lived through it, but I didn't pay a ton of attention when I was a kid You know, I was more interested in the beetle wigs and the beetle trading cards on the music aspect of it Sure, and then I went the cartoon So when I went back and now he said they started to play all these things from this great pop music and soul music in The 60s. I kind of went. Oh, this is tremendous.

I miss all this So that's when I started really collect a lot of vinyl, right? So for me, I mean it's different for we have different backgrounds But for me, that's where I really got the interest in it, you know and So and I didn't always play Oldies I was I did the the tuxedo wedding band thing for about 20 years, right? Which ain't you know, so I was playing Lionel Richie and Billy Ocean and all that stuff, right and enjoying it but then when that kind of came to an end for me about 20 years ago, I Started to look into doing oldies a little bit more again, and I ran into these guys They're playing a club that we were gonna play the next day And that's when I first saw these guys and sat in and did a song. I said so I met you But it was a scuttlebutt, you know, so like that was about 2006. It's been quite a while, but I didn't join the band at that time Okay.

Yeah, there were times I would sit in with you, right? But we had different things going on at the same time. All right. So are you the newest member of the band? What would you say um No Quinn Quinn joined in 2016 yeah, I mean I did a whole summer at almost a whole year in 2013 Yeah in 2013, but I wasn't an official member of the band.

I was filling in because they were between members, right? You know and then just you know paths cross and eventually when kovat came He lost a couple of players who didn't want to really work and that's what I'm like in my band Was breaking up whatever come disintegrating and I thought you know, I want to play right and I know it's like and I know Most of the tunes can I just you know fill in for you and then when the band finally did break up I said, I'll do it all the time So that's what you know What band was that that last man was the meteors the media Johnny star and the meteors they had a man from the 70s and Johnny and That went all the way from the 70s up to that point and then I think around 2006 or something It's a long story, but Jay Reinke who was the lead singer and the head of the band? Was a big fan of Jane and the Americans he sounds just like them, right? You know, he does Orbison and Jane American stuff and he put a bid in to buy the name So the original guys wanted to find out who this was that would spend this kind of money, right? And they wound up loving them and taking them on as the new J Wow So he's been with the Americans for almost 20 years now and then they had to fill them and the guys were running the band Had to pick up people and my band was breaking up at that point So they knew me, you know, cuz guys we do this we all kind of know each other Yeah, you know, we all can intermingle and know each other So, you know, I am the first day I put an ad out there like Greg's available Let's see. Let's call up and him come over. So and I know that worked out So we did that for six years or so and then there were some illnesses and stuff and the band kind of disintegrated So that's what I'm trying to do.

Right, right, right. So who are the other members of the band? Well, we've got Heath Chapel and Ron trip on drums Mm-hmm, and we've got Ed Boyles and John Quinn on keys, right? That's career Because so do these guys interchange? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, there's so many so many gigs that we have to all right Let me all right. Let me see that We got a list here. Let's see what we got Wow.

Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. It's hard for one guy to do it Great, but Frank and I are always there.

That's us We're the core so I'm looking at some of the play while you're playing out and You're playing Woodhaven out in sublet. Yes, my band plays that every single year. We absolutely love that gig Cadillac roof.

Oh, yeah We love going out the sublet. That's one. That's one of our favorite one of our favorite gigs My family had a place in Woodhaven from 1975 on we just sold it.

Oh, no kids So yeah, I've Woodhaven and was a very important part of my life for years and years Yeah, yeah, we got rained out. We got rained out last year, but yeah, they just they just penciled this in for this year For the same date, so we're gonna be so we'll be playing it again. But yeah, we absolutely absolutely love it so so yeah, it's just like whoever's available is the person that you have and It's almost like you never know Some nights on the guitar or some nights on the keyboardist it just depends.

So if you're not the guitarist then who's the guitarist? well, it depends who's Playing, you know, it depends who the sub might happen to be. We adjust but you're always on bass. Oh, yeah So it sounds like you guys are really running this Almost more like the old Orchestras of days of old like, you know, they didn't call you guys They wouldn't have called you guys a band back in the 50s.

They would have called you the orchestra or whatever The stingray orchestra. Yeah, but the people that work with us know the material cold. Sure.

Sure So I'm assuming they may be played with other bands that are you know Within the same vein and you all kind of know each other. Um, yeah the drummer Heath plays with everybody you can think of Ron primarily I we started the band together Ron and I so he came back just recently and after Seven years off. Yeah.

Yeah, and Heath had been in a band called the new invaders were really right good Okay, I did a lot of late 60s early 70s psychedelic kind of stuff right now. He plays with everybody's really He's a good player really solid Pro Right or not the keyboard player the keyboard player does other types of music solo stuff John John Quinn and then Ed plays in well the hat guys guys I know them electro retro. He's been with them for a long time, but I know him going back When he was in the center line, I played with him 12 or 20 years ago, right? So a lot of people, you know, sometimes you cycle back and find people.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well you guys It's kind of a new experience for the for the program because you know, we we interview a lot of hard rock You know some country a lot of Chicago blues style and in the whole bit This is slightly different in the fact that it's it's a whole other knit, you know Is that the word niche Musicians where you've you've got this group of people that you kind of pull from it kind of reminds me of Like back when Karl Perkins played with Elvis he played with Johnny Cash for 20 years Then he was his own recording artist and yet little Walter who was on his own recording artist who also played You know harmonica for Muddy Waters, right, you know, the good guys know where the good guys are, you know Everybody knows where the the a chorale is when you when you need a when you need a fill-in. Yeah, that's right Yeah, excellent. You guys getting together and actually doing rehearsals or is it not we play so darn much that There's a little bit of that.

Yeah We play especially during summer. There's no need to rehearse because I mean it's Three four times a week, which doesn't mean we're not rehearsing at home on our own. Of course We're always going over the material know what we need to do, but sometimes usually it's when you're learning new material, right? You know, you want to add some things, right? That's usually get together Hey, it's Ray and Mike and we got some great information for you Yeah We just wanted to remind you about the fundraiser for the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 Which is taking place on October 27th at the Renaissance Center in downtown Juliet you'll be able to get tickets at Cadillac groove shows if you see Mike or myself somewhere we'll have tickets You can get them at the museum They're only $5 also at Cadillac groove calm You will be able to purchase them online as well.

Very good. They're gonna cost you $5 a ticket There's gonna be a $10 cover charge to get in the day of the event and for your $10 We will give you two more additional tickets as well as some Cadillac groove swag and the lucky grand prize winner will win the band Cadillac groove and winner must be present to win and so remember that and Cadillac groove will play for Whatever event it is that you would like for us to play for you know conditions do apply. That's true We do get out there and get your tickets right away Kind of a I don't know I Think I kind of know the answer to the question.

I'm gonna ask anyway Original music. Have you ever put anything? Original that still has that sound or is it all you know covers we we recorded two albums about 15 years ago, and there were original songs on that and We occasionally plate put him in our live shows But um, we really haven't done that lately, but Greg has a whole yeah I've got four original albums online career. Oh, really? Yeah, which is I've been doing the last 10 years I've got four original ems The I do I recorded the fella named Dave Feltenberger who lives out and bought on Bartlett He's in a band called this end up Okay, and we've been pals for a long long time and the girl that sings with me You probably know her name is Christy L. Sip and she is in she does the Crawford's daughter of a time crime.

Oh, yeah Christian I worked together for 20 years. Okay, or different bands five different and now she's a now she does budding actress She is she was on Chicago PD. Yeah bless her.

She did. She is a go-getter. Yeah, he really isn't She's a talented girl and I call her a kid.

She's not a kid anymore But to me she is yeah, and she sings harmony. We sing all the stuff that I write She comes out and sings with me on the stuff. So it's our voices blended together again and And then like I said, we were played together for a long long time in various different kinds of a to cut these albums with Her yes, you know what? I wouldn't it's these are things that I write all the songs and I put all the music down and stuff I usually play the bass and the keys and the guitars and stuff and I work with with with Dave and then when I'm Ready, I call her and she comes and I give her a parts and she nails them You know her vocal parts and these Albums are available for purchase.

Yeah, I didn't want to come in here talk too much about that We want to talk about the stingrays, but they absolutely There's four albums. I won't there's no such thing as a shameless plug. That's Four different albums of original material.

Look up my name Greg Favada and you can find them on Amazon and every other place you could possibly buy The music individually or as albums. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, very I'm very proud of the stuff. It's it's it's all pop It's not this particularly this style It's all it's various types of pop music that I like you because I have a lot of different influence I listen to jazz and swing and all that. So it's a little bit of everything.

Yeah. Yeah, you're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast I'm Christy from crime cave podcast I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons have snapped back in the mid 90s I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time With each episode under 20 minutes, I shine a light on some of the most bizarre cases in the last 50 years Join me in the crime cave Hi, I'm Rick Anthony I'd like to thank my radio brothers Ray the roadie and Hollywood Mike for allowing me to tell you about my podcast The someone you should know podcast We spotlight musicians authors and interesting people and we like to say we're making a difference one artist at a time The podcast is heard twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays and you could check it out on your favorite streaming platforms and on the Web at someone you should know podcast.com That's the someone you should know podcast with me Rick Anthony making a difference one artist at a time Have you guys ever done any shows where you might? You know hire a horn section we Did a few shows up in Wisconsin where the the promoter insisted that we have a horn player So I would just contact a local guy. Okay to come and play with us and then they also wanted dancers Yeah, so I had to contact dancers and ask him to like Swing dance in front of us and stuff like that.

That wasn't you know And back in the day when I was doing the wedding thing I was running a wedding orchestra So we had horns that and girl singers. Yeah, but and that's what we a lot of fun But you know, we like I like the scale down four-piece thing. I do there's more room to play.

There's more space, you know, right? Yeah, really, you know because sometimes you'll just hear things when you've got seven eight people up there You don't know what that what they're doing or where you fit in You know, you can find your own, you know part of the groove when you've just got four people, right? I like I enjoy it. No, I would agree with you on that one. I'm still trying to imagine having to Alright, we need to find dancers because who the heck's got the time You know because you're not gonna have time to audition them and you know for all, you know, they show up in the mosh pit You know, you don't know what you're getting boy that it'd be interesting I mean skirts and white go-go boots.

Yes, they dressed up like in poodle skirts and everything. Oh, that's good I'm real lucky with these guys. So yeah, and that was a while ago.

You said yeah, okay It's not like something that happens recently because I I have a line on dancers for you if you ever need that again Yeah, we've actually we've actually had a couple of people on the on the show where they actually have a swing dancing school or Instruction at the at the Roxy theater here in Lockport. Oh, yeah Schomburg last year where they were doing a dancing instruction. Remember that? Yeah getting Schomburg.

Oh, yeah We got the Arthur Murray. Yeah, they Arthur Murray. Oh nice.

Yeah Yeah, well that had been pretty good and we weren't involved in it But I mean we were the band but they were running it at the simultaneously, right? It's a Lockport swing though. The Lockport's dancing. That's exactly what it is Yes, we played the um, we played the car show and they showed up and I didn't know we have twist Contests and everything in our show and of course they win the twist It's like wow you guys are really good they are really good.

Thanks. Yeah. No, they are they are really good I host I host a jam on Sunday nights at a place right across the street from there Yeah, and when they finish there with their thing on Sunday night and they come over and they push all the tables out of the Way and next thing, you know, you have these swing dancers in the middle of this place.

Everybody goes cuz yeah, because they're actually very talented They're actually very good. You play better to watch So you guys playing pretty much around Chicagoland or you tour around the Midwest or We used to we used to stretch out from Ohio to Iowa and But at this point, it's mostly northern, Illinois, northern, Illinois Okay, so I mean the furthest I think we're going is Mount Carroll. Oh, it's pretty good ride Almost Iowa Yeah, it's called Timberlake Timberlake resorts.

Oh, I know where that is kind of on the way to go, you know Yeah, I think I may have even played there today boy. Yeah for sure. Wow.

Okay, and we did Sublet's got to be a hall for you though. Yeah sublets a couple hours Cuz where'd you guys come in from? I'm in the city. Oh, you are.

Okay. Yeah, I'm in Chicago Yeah, and I'm in Mount Prospect. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, so you guys are up there. Yeah, where's the favorite place to play? What do well your home base? Well, yeah, I'd have to say Manhattan.

That's that's that's the stingray I'm a foreigner. Yeah Manhattan's is in Carroll stream and Cooper's Corner is in Winfield, right and we play those two clubs once a month Okay, so that's that's really our home base. Yeah, I'm ashamed to say I don't think I've ever been to Manhattan's Drink a man.

Yeah, I drank a man. We don't drink many men. Yeah, they are available Asked for the loaded burger the loaded burger.

Yeah, you'll never have another burger anybody from Manhattan's is listening We are always looking for sponsors. We'd love to you know sponsor your Establishment just give us a call right? Yeah, so who's doing all your social media and stuff Is that all thrown on your shoulders as well? Yeah, that's me, too That's me too. And as you know, Facebook makes it a full-time job because every time you go on they change something.

Yeah So it's like well, how do I invite people this week? I don't know. Yeah, yes look around But it but it is still Facebook is still one of the most important social media Platforms, you know, you can't yeah, you can't you can't send out the invites and stuff like that through Twitter You know, you can't do that. You can't do stuff like that.

You still need Facebook for that kind of kind of thing Yeah, how much easier it is than when you guys started 95 or 96, you know sticking flyers under windshield wipers and Used to we used to print out postcards and we would have you know, write up the whole list like this Yeah, and we would just have the whole band get together and you know, we have like a 2,000 person mailing and everybody's Yes, I don't even have the right self sticking stamps. They're all licking stamps and putting it on by the time we're done We're all sick. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, and we had to stop doing that because it got too expensive Yeah, you know, you know It'd be hard to get a good band off the ground nowadays because I don't think you'd find anybody Licking stamps new and what his stamps cost. Oh somewhere around 70 cents Yeah, something like that. Wow.

There's not more Wow. Yeah, I haven't written a letter or mailed anything in a long time Everything's email now Boy interesting, huh? Well, who knows so what is your website? The stingrays calm. Okay, that's right because you own it.

That's right. Oh, man. Did I get you know when Steve Irwin died? I Got hate mail for a month It's because he died because of stingray But you know stung him stung him so what would so what oh, so what would make somebody okay Crocodile crocodile hunter, you know killed by stingray stingray band.

Let's go after the band Yeah, and they were like you'd need to change your name But the good thing was my Google ranking went from like down here all the way. Yeah. Yeah, right I was getting hundreds of thousands of views somebody do that.

That's good, you know, cuz I gotta find blame for somebody Yeah, there's also here's a guy. It's thrown himself at crocodiles and every other dangerous animal out there. Then he dies.

Oh, well Yeah, there was a good chance of that, you know, cuz there's there's also a car named a stingray and there's right There's a Marvel villain named a stingray. I mean Yeah, well, that's what you just tell them. We're not the fish.

We're the car. Yeah Cuz you did name it for the fish, right? Yeah. Yeah, cuz my thought of the band.

I think is a car Yeah, yeah or the base. Yeah, we are saying the fish because we don't not want General Motors suing us Wait a minute, so you did name it after the fish. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, but I mean we're talking 1996 yeah, you know, this was a long time before that tragedy. Yeah, you know, so that was just uh, You know stingray bikes Awesome it's got a different 60s vibe to it.

Yeah Yeah Interesting that it was the fish he's just sitting around one day going although I can't I really can't say anything about it because when I was 17 years old. The first band I was ever in was called grouper So I was in a band named after a fish as well And it was the drummer in the band was older than the rest of us I'll never forget we we rehearsed at my parents house in the basement and I'm sorry not the drummer it was that he was the bass player he was a music teacher at a local Music store called Marco. I grew up over in like the Bloomingdale area by Stratford Square Mall I used to live on Marco music store was our army trail and Gary Avenue over there And he's playing bass and he shows up and I was 17 He I think at the time our bass player was like 26 or something like that He comes walking in the door.

He's got a full beard He's got his base on his back on us on some kind of Honda Motorcycle and my dad's like who the hell are you? He's like, yeah, I'm the bass player And He comes and he comes in and he says, okay the name of the band is the groupers Okay, cuz he had the PA Rehearsal space. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

You win. It could have been the carps. Yeah It could have been the car.

It's the stingrays the groupers. We could get hot tuna. We'd have all evening.

Yeah, or Or it could have been Was it the Lithuanian toothfish? Patagonian tooth Patagonian Patagonian Lithuanian That's what a Chilean sea bass actually is is a Patagonian tooth fish Yeah, but they changed the name because they didn't think people want to eat the tooth fish. Okay So I thought it was because the name was already taken. They got a cease and desist letter.

No, no, no, no But thanks for that So, how can people find you other than your website and and and Facebook? Is there if you go to Facebook? It's also another great one. It's facebook.com slash the sting okay, I got in on the ground floor there to it very very good and Other than that, how did they find us Facebook? Mm-hmm website. Mm-hmm Yeah, come out to the shows come the shows But you've got a website with all the information you got videos on YouTube and all that other good stuff where they can see you Guys do yeah, you can you can look us up on YouTube.

We have some stuff You should talk a little bit about how you can follow the audience when we play and so forth, you know Yeah, you know what? We we really don't just play when people come out and see us. There's a lot of interaction It's all about that. Yeah, it's all about getting Getting the audience excited and on your side we do trivia, right? Oh, well, okay Yeah, so and give away little gifts that are fun gag gift.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah about the winning It's about about and we do a twist contest which as a senior and a junior winner Right.

My grandson is one twice. Now. He's he was He just he loves the bad.

It's like and then I the third time after he won the first two times I told Frank you can't let him win every time. He's got to learn not to win and boy. I've still never heard of the engine Why didn't I win the third time? Well, I'm sorry man, but yeah other people have to win occasionally He still talks about it the first two were honest the first First two were honest you got to give the disclaimer of you know friends and family of you know Band members are not eligible to win.

You have to give the whole thing. There's a valuable gifts for giving boy, right? Yeah, right, right. We have a fabulous stingray first prize medal for you It's here for Madeline don't run too far Madeline we're gonna need you in a second So, let's take a look at this at this schedule that you have here Let's see.

What do we have coming up for like would it be October? October Today's October 1st. Yeah. Okay.

So what do we have here in October? We've got October the 11th senior hayride Halloween right and Lockport that isn't Lockport. Oh, wow. Nice.

Okay Doing that that sounds we're excited to do it. Yeah, it's a hayride and a Halloween show For the senior center or whatever, right, right, right. Yeah, it should be a lot of fun It's look I'm after a very busy summer.

I took a guy man. You guys rocked at the Roselle cruise night That was awesome. I grew up in Roselle.

That was a great show Thank you. Yeah, I shouldn't and I want to mention to them that I've been here before and I Actually, I'm a current member of the new colony six. Oh, okay So I actually was at the induction ceremony and so forth and just love this and we know Ron Romero very well nice You know, we've played with him known him for many years.

So, okay, so it's uh, you know, it's nice to be back here They've just done a great job with this. It looks beautiful. It's getting really better and better It is it is it is getting there and you know, we should and we should probably you know every episode we should probably just keep reminding people that the only Way that this thing gets built and the way this thing gets opened is by people donating their time donating their money It really is a community effort.

I mean everything the paint on the walls carpet on the floors. Everything that you see here is local trades people are You know treating this as a side job or they're coming in on Saturdays and Sundays to help get this thing going It really is a really is a community effort. So yeah, great.

Thanks for being involved in that. That's awesome. Yeah Well, alrighty guys, thanks a lot for coming out.

This is a lot of fun. Thanks for having us. It was our pleasure for sure Thank you Stingrays Well, there you have it the stingrays and I don't mean the car and it's actually the fish the fish It's really good.

I tell you though. That's got to be one valuable name though, you know for him to own that name Yeah, I mean the stingray me Anybody who wants to name their band or anything the stingrays? I mean in a world hurt, right? Yeah, he owns the whole name got to be very very valuable. But yeah, it's gonna interesting We haven't really done anybody from the oldies vein Fun stuff.

Absolutely. It's so fun. I love doing that.

Yeah. Yeah, you know whenever whenever we're you know looking okay What are we gonna play now with you know, people want to dance? What are we gonna play? Well, let's whip out blue suede shoes great balls of fire or something from the 50s and 60s. Everybody loves that stuff Yeah, you know back then you could actually understood the the lyrics Yeah, the lyrics were what was the main objective the music was just in the background, right? Although I wonder what Jerry Lee meant by great balls of fire.

I don't know. He may have Me I don't know. Maybe he didn't use his monkey butt stuff.

Yeah. Yeah, he's on a motorcycle That's right Before it gets really bad, but yeah, don't forget we got tickets on sale to win Cadillac groove if you see Mike or myself anywhere around ask us for a ticket by us They're only four by us by the ticket. It's only five bucks So we'll see you guys next week as we do every Tuesday with another exciting episode of the rock and roll Chicago podcast.

See ya Hey everybody, it's Ray the roadie and this is Hollywood Mike of the rock and roll Chicago podcast If you've been joining our weekly program, we have great news for you Just tune in to road to rock radio on Mondays at 7 p.m Central time and you can hear a rebroadcast of one of our past episodes then again on Thursdays at 7 p.m You can hear our most current episode brought to you by the Illinois rock and roll Museum on Route 66 So go to road to rock org scroll down and click on radio station That'll bring you to the road to rock radio a station committed entirely to the great music from Illinois From Chicago blues born on Maxwell Street to today's rock and roll and everything in between 24-7 all music with its roots in, Illinois The rock and roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin theme song courtesy of M&R 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