Back in March of 2010, Skinny Molly received an offer to play our newly recorded and decidedly politically song "Mr President" on the FOX News Channel program "Huckabee". Huckabee is a popular political/talk/opinion show hosted by former presidential candidate/Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. | |
"I don't get on a plane without it" | I consider myself to be a "shade tree" political pundit, as politics is a hobby of mine. It's something I no doubt inherited from my dad, who is a very knowledgeable cat on this subject. For me, the government (or lack thereof) is a very important issue. Now, most of us in the band were already fans of the former Governor of Arkansas; we felt that he was one of very few (if not the only) nationally known politicians that actually said what he meant and meant what he said. Personally, I find him to be the consummate non-bullshitter, a person who is more than exceedingly rare in the world of politics these days. Agree with him or not, you at least know where he stands on any given issue, and that stance is not likely to change.This probably accounts for him being "my guy" in the extremely important 2008 presidential election. The Gov also loves music, and is a great bass player. In person, he has the demeanor of "just one of the pickers" when you hang out with him, which only adds to his appeal. The entire band was really happy to appear on the show, all the while cognizant of the fact that such an endeavor could mean that the we might, for some folks, be thought of as a "politically motivated" band, or even (for "vast right wing conspiracy" theorists) something that FOX itself cooked up just to drag a cut across the current sitting president of the United States. Since nothing could be further from the truth, it was an opportunity we wanted to take advantage of. Though It's a fact that since our humble beginnings as a group in 2004 we were in a position to play (and have many times) good gigs and tour internationally, six years after that we all felt that Skinny Molly could use a big |
push to get us out in front of more people in the States that were like minded. Not politically, but musically. As an unapologetic FOX news watcher, (I watch ALL the cable news channels, except MSLSD) I thought it would be great. I thought "We're gonna get to play on a cat's show that I really respect and reach a bunch of new fans in the process". I felt then, as I do now, that FOX News Channel had gotten a bad rap from the left. After all, every dyed in the wool liberal friend of mine that whines about the channel has probably never watched more than 15 minutes since It's beginning in '96. I think they are probably just pissed off about FOX because it's the only news channel available that doesn't fawn over every move the current sitting president makes. It really upsets them that there is ONE channel out there that doesn't lean left. While there's no doubt that the opinion programs that air on FOX in the evening lean to the right, at least it's something they are not trying to hide, unlike EVERY other news channel out there. And, at least they will have guests on these shows that have opposing views, which is something you wouldn't have found on, say, CNN until recently. So, the left had and still have no idea how to deal with the FOX News machine. They simply spew hate, and make up stupid names for the channel…I guess that somehow that makes them feel better about it, since it's something they do with great regularity. But you won't hear a peep out of them when it comes to MSNBC. |
Great. Now everybody will want one. Pic from the mag stand at LaGuardia Airport |
The great Andy Levy and yours truly | Politically, I consider myself to be a libertarian, and have for the last 6 years or so. I probably lean that way a little more every day, although true libertarians would probably consider me to be a LINO; I still have some GOP left in me, though not a ton. I used to be a party line GOP guy, but left that thinking behind in 2008, after all the bank bailouts and the bonuses paid to the very people that were part of the problem that nearly tanked the economy. I can't and never will line up with that, no matter what party endorses it. But the Huckabee appearance led to Skinny Molly being on the radar of Greg Gutfeld, the host of FOX's late night beacon of all that is whacky, Red Eye. To me, Greg, along with his cohorts, are the smartest people on TV. Red Eye was (and is) by far my favorite current TV program. Naturally, I was stoked to be invited to go on the show a few weeks later as a "musical guest", which was something they were beginning to experiment with. My segment was taped with Greg and Bill Shulz separately, and was completely off the cuff. All I knew beforehand was that I was going to play and sing the Red Eye theme I'd written, and answer some questions. I stopped by the Gibson Guitar showroom in NYC and they loaned me a beautiful guitar to use... I had written the aforementioned Red Eye theme in about a minute and a half, and recorded it the same night with the band at our own studio. I sent the recording to Greg and the song was played on the show at the beginning of my segment. We had a great time, and everybody involved said to me that they would like me to come back any time I was in town. I stayed in touch and became friends with Greg, and co hosts Andy Levy and Bill Shulz, who has since left the show for other endeavors. (I was really sad to see him go). |
Bill has been replaced by one Jo Ann Nosuchinsky, and I met her the night of my most recent appearance. I instantly became friends with Miss Jo. She's great, and is no different in person than she is on the show; smart and charming with quick humor. One can't help but like and respect her; she has some big shoes to fill and does so with aplomb, and with her own style. One reason she's great on the show is she has her own take on almost every subject and left me thinking "Yeah. I get that. Good point" on more than one occasion. It was hard to believe, but it had been four years since I'd been on and I was really glad to be going on as a panelist this time. I am honored that they thought I could cut it; One must swim in the deep end comedically and intellectually to be of any consequence on Red Eye. My only regret about my appearance was that Greg had to pull out at the last minute due to personal reasons I won't go into. I totally understood, and figured I would still have a good time as my buddy Andy would be there, and because Tom Shillue, a guy whose intellect and sense of humor is hard to surpass, would be standing in for Greg. There are very few people that could host this show without totally embarrassing themselves, but Tom is one of them. I got to NYC at 5 pm, was picked up by a car that FOX hired and whisked off to my hotel in Manhattan. During the drive, I checked my email and got the "show map"; which the list of the subjects that would be talked about during the show. I did the required reading/watching in the car, and was asked to please send my "talking points" back ASAP. I'm pretty sure the show's producers wanted to make sure at the last minute I would have something halfway intelligent/witty to say. |
"Because, sometimes it's the only thing that will do" | I only had 30 minutes to go over the material and send in my responses. I got to my hotel, changed clothes, and walked to the FOX studios. I was met by Miss Nora, one of the shows coordinators. She and I had "met" through email, and she turned out to be completely awesome and nice, and I can tell she will go far in this business. She was really easy to be around, and we hung out and talked for a few minutes and I learned she is a huge live music fan. I was surprised at this, as she is probably in her mid to late 20's, so it gave me some hope for the future of my long ago chosen vocation. I met the other guests and got my hair and makeup done. I guess they realized there wasn't much they could do in the hair and make up area, as the whole process took like 2 minutes. I went over my notes a bit with Jo and got hooked up with the mic and ear piece and it was showtime. I wasn't really nervous; I've done some TV and lots of radio. I had a great time and the other guests were awesome. These people are true pro's at what they do. After about an hour of taping, and some after show BSing, I said my goodbyes and walked back to my hotel. It was a cold NYC evening, and I went out to Times Square to have a look around and have a drink. The first spot I walked into had my favorite beer which is something that is really rare to find, and some of the best chicken wings I've ever had. The bartender obviously could tell that I wasn't from around there, and he gave me a 20% discount. I did an interview for a magazine that will come out this summer, and by the time the interview was finished it was after midnight. I wanted to hook up with some friends but it was going to have to wait until next time. I walked back to my hotel and called it a night. The more I go to NYC, the more I like it. Everybody there was very friendly. In some ways it's more like a big city in Europe than some European cites are. I Heart NYC, and all my Red Eye friends. :) |