yogi wrote:Sterling,
With all the research that you have done I am sure that there is quite a bit of information that just didnt for some reason fit into the context of your book.
So my question is, what interesting information or interviews were left on the cutting room floor??
The only time I left out actual information that would have been of any great interest was if it didn't pass my litmus test. You know, this is a rock band, and there really are some things that went on - particularly in the Seventies - that I felt were inappropriate content if they did not affect the music. My book is not 'Hammer of the Gods', with band members doing strange things with an octopus or something. That doesn't mean that nothing like that ever happened . . . after all, these guys were rock superstars at the height of the sexual revolution. I kinda felt like the band members' sex lives were not fair game. Now in one instance, Tommy Shaw went on Mary Turner's national radio show and told her about an extramarital affair of his (during his first marriage) that inspired the song "Never Say Never", so I used that. But it was something that Tommy put out there himself. Mostly I stayed well away from stuff like that.
Other times I might have more than one person saying essentially the same thing about the same topic, so I would choose between them and edit one out to avoid boring repetition.
There were also a few interviews, as there always are, that just didn't come out well for various reasons and I ended up not using anything from them. I interviewed both Brian Stanley and Steve Holley from Tommy's solo band, and their points of view were almost exactly the same, but Brian was a lot more succint, so I used his quotes rather than Steve's for the sake of brevity. I also interviewed Richie Cannata, and that interview just didn't come off. Richie was cordial to me, and a nice enough guy, but he was also one of the most unconsciously arrogant people I have ever interviewed. I was, obviously, looking for stories about Tommy and the GWG/What If era, while Richie's interview ended up being about Richie Cannata and how wonderful he is. It was like that no matter how hard I tried to lead the questions back on topic. So I ended up not using any of that. I also interviewed Tommy's first wife and decided not to use any of that, because it was really more personal observations about Tommy, rather than insights into his music, and a lot of it could not be substantiated through other sources. She was great, but it just wasn't right for my focus.
Perhaps the funniest interview I have ever conducted was with actor Robert Romanus, the guy from Fast Times at Ridgemont High who played Tommy's sidekick in the KILROY short film. If you've seen him, he kinda does a similar character over and over, with that strange stoner voice. I figured it was a character, but that's how the guy really is, LOL. The voice is real and everything. It was nice of him to agree to the interview, and he tried to help me, but almost every single question I asked, his answer was a variation on "I don't remember." He should have a reality show on VH1 called 'I DON'T Remember the Eighties', LOL. And when he DID remember, his answers were extremely short. ME: "What was it like working with director Brian Gibson?" ROBERT: "Great." LOL. He meant well, but I wound up not using a word of it.
Interesting question! Thanks. I hope all is well.
Sterling
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:00 pm
