Original subtitles

♪

That was the start of the band actually going

somewhere.

We were in the fast lane real quick.

And they were just crumbling audiences.

They had the twin guitars.

They had the two voices and third harmony.

And then the crowds got way larger.

The crowds got more animated.

So there wasn't anything this band could not play.

♪

We were on the road all the time.

And if we weren't on the road we were in the

studio.

They were the number one band in America when that

record was released.

And then Tommy got sick.

That was like a huge, a very unsettling time for

the label and for us.

I didn't think that the band would survive.

As it turned out,

Michael McDonald stepped up.

Warner's did not think that the band was going to

make it when we had the change from Tom to

Michael.

That was a huge musical change.

The band was changing direction and exploring

even more different avenues.

It was just one by one you know the original guys are

sort of drifting away.

And at some point I just couldn't keep them

together anymore.

I always tried to keep them you know, come on you

know we can figure a way through it.

We can do it.

But at a certain point they just said really

that's it.

♪

♪

The 40 year part for the Doobie Brothers is mind

boggling to me because my first question is where

the hell did it go.

♪ Down around the corner ♪

♪ A half a mile from here ♪

♪ You see them old trains ♪

♪ runnin' And you watch ♪

♪ them disappear ♪

♪ Without love ♪

♪ Where would you be now ♪

♪ Without love ♪

♪ You know I saw Miss ♪

♪ Lucy ♪

♪ Down along the tracks ♪

♪ She lost her home and ♪

♪ her family And she won't ♪

♪ be comin' back Without ♪

♪ love ♪

♪ Where would you be ♪

♪ right now ♪

♪ Without love ♪

♪ Well the Illinois Central ♪

♪ And the Southern Central ♪

♪ Freight Gotta keep on ♪

♪ pushin' Mama 'Cause you ♪

♪ know they're runnin' ♪

♪ late ♪

♪ Without love ♪

♪ Where would you be now ♪

♪ - now, now, now ♪

♪ Without love ♪

San Jose is where the Doobie brothers came

together, that's...

That's how it all started.

Myself and a friend of mine were doing a show in

San Jose at a place called The Gas Lighter Theater.

It was an old movie theater.

John and I were playing one night at a club over

there and Pat just happen to be on the bill.

And we didn't know Pat at the time.

Tom sang a couple of songs.

I thought man, this guy can play and really sing.

And here's a guy, he's an incredible finger picker.

He's playing with a guy named Peter Grant who was

a banjo player.

And they were doing a duo.

It was really cool.

Tom said he really enjoyed what we did and I said the

same thing, loved what they were doing.

And they invited me to come over and jam some

time at the house but they were still in the process

of like trying to put a little band together and

maybe I would be interested in at least

coming and hanging out and jamming.

And we really hit it off.

Before you know if he was you know, we were part of

the band.

He was part of the band I mean.

San Francisco was the center of the pop music

universe.

The Doobie Brothers came right into what turned out

to be this sort of tail end of that extensive run,

that string of bands.

We started getting gigs because we showed up on

time.

It was a nice sound you know kind of a mix between

Tom and Pat.

You know Pat was a finger picker in those days and

did a lot of you know that sort of music.

And Tommy was more of the rhythm you know

chunka-chunka.

And so there was a found there you know that was

forming in that band already even at that early

stage.

Pat, myself and, at that time, Dave Shogren and

later to be Tiran Porter but we had the three-part

harmony going on which was a big part of what we've

always done.

And then I was doing the chunka-chunka rhythm thing

that I sort of invented and a lot of that I give

credit to people like Bo Diddly back in the day

giving me ideas for that.

But also trying to play drums on the guitar while

playing guitar.

That's basically where that kind of comes from.

So I'd be playing a song and a way to get the drums

going was to put a lot of percussion in how you

played the rhythm.

And then Pat would put a finger picking part over

the top of that and we would have the three-part

harmonies and that's kind of what made the sound of

the band.

We actually got a really good gig, which was the

Chateau, which was kind of the, the signature gig

around the area, to play that place.

The Château Liberte was a famous outpost of

decadence and wild behavior.

It was a biker bar on the top of the Fulton Grade in

the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Château Liberte was a pretty rowdy place and you

had a combination of mountain people, hippies,

bikers, all descend on the place whenever there was

something going on.

And it's amazing to me how many people played that

place.

We figured you know being local guys if we could get

ourselves in there and start playing regularly

maybe we would get a regular gig which we did

eventually.

It was actually very cool place to you know have a

band start in an initial audience awareness of the

band because then they go tell all their friends in

Santa Cruz and wherever else they came from, all

over the place.

We played any place that we could play in those

days.

It was fun to get up there and play.

I mean you were accepted no matter what.

So it was, it was good from the morale

standpoint.

It was also something to, watching the crowd was

very entertaining, very entertaining.

We did a regular gig at Keystone San Francisco.

I think we played there on one dollar night and all

you can drink.

We started playing gigs with Dave Shogren playing

bass.

And that of course leads to how did you get the

name?

Of course they didn't have the name the Doobie's at

that, you know they were just forming.

The band didn't have a name.

We didn't really have a name so were sitting

around you know getting stoned as usual trying to

come up with a name.

We had all these stupid names.

The guy who was in the very back bedroom

initially was Keith Rosen.

And he said you know what.

Oh, you guys smoke so much pot you should call

yourselves the Doobie Brothers.

And we all went, yeah, right.

That's, that's really good.

Everybody's going "Ah, it's a stupid name".

But we'll use it.

We don't have another one.

We knew it was a stupid name to begin with but by

the time we knew how stupid it really was it

was too late.

They cut a demo and sent it to Warner Bros,

and they wanted to send a talent scout up to hear

them play live.

Well, the guys were playing like, they were a

favorite Hells Angels band you know and they played

beer fests and [ inaudible ] beer kegs and you know

it was one of those wild deals.

And they play all kinds of local, small gigs.

In San Jose State they'd play in the student union.

They'd play at [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

high school at the gymnasium.

So we had a choice between a Hells Angel party or a

Ricardo's Pizza Parlor to take this talent scout.

We got him over to the pizza place and he liked

the band.

Went back I guess it told, at that time Lenny

Waronker, was the head of A&R.

He said they're good.

Lenny kind of saw us as being a little bit more of

a roots kind of acoustic style band.

Kind of like a Crosby, Stills Nash with leather

jackets.

Lenny came up to produce the record at Pacific.

My brother engineered it,

and brought this fledgling new kid that

was learning how to produce,

Ted Templeman.

I didn't do justice to the record,

but then I,

I just didn't know how to produce enough

yet you know.

I had been an artist but I hadn't been behind the

board that long.

And Marty our engineer was not technically a very

good engineer.

I mean he wasn't even a trained engineer.

So it's kind of like you know.

The first album came out and it was just called the

Doobie Brothers.

And the cover shot was the Château, us standing in

front of the Château.

And it really didn't represent what we were

like live at all.

Live, we weren't like that.

We were pretty loud.

And we were, even though we used all those

elements, they were used really loudly.

When they were ascendant, when they were on the rise

through the ranks, they were just pummeling

audiences.

They had the twin guitars.

They had the two voices and the third harmony.

They were stacked up to rhythmically affect these

audiences.

There were no ballads in the Doobie Brothers set.

During the recording they got word from Warner Bros.

that they were going to go out on a national tour

with Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth.

It was going to be called the Mother's Brother's

Tour.

We went on the road with the band, Mother Earth,

and toured with them for a good part of the summer in

1971.

We had never been on the road so this was--.

♪

They had never been out of San Jose.

I mean they had just done local gigs and they needed

help.

They had no crew or you know anybody to help them

go on a tour.

So my brother and I decided we would go.

I did lights.

I had never done lights but we did them.

Marty did the sound mixing, you know, live.

We got back and Tower Records had the record in

the recycle bin already when we got home.

It was a rude reality that it's not that easy.

We felt like we hadn't really hit it on the first

record and that we would maybe have a little more

luck achieving our goal if we were to produce it

ourselves.

Big mistake.

We regrouped a little bit after the first record.

My brother started the second record.

So we went in the studio and I mean we must cut 20

songs.

Out of all those 20 songs and there was one complete

song and then one that had been a song that ended up

being just vocals and one guitar.

That kind of didn't work out real well with Warner.

They didn't kind of like the demos they heard,

the product.

And told us to hold up a little bit and let's

rethink this thing.

They were trying to kind of produce themselves

which is,

I don't know, it's the hardest thing in the

world to produce yourself.

I know because I was an artist,

and I couldn't do it.

Needless to say Warner Bros. was not thrilled

with the results.

And so we took a few steps back and at that point we

were getting a little kind of falling out with our

bass player.

We changed some members in the band at that time.

It was a four piece and Dave Shogren left and we

got Tiran Porter,

to come up.

He was a friend of Pat's from LA, to play bass.

I guess Dave Shogren decided to split and I was

the only other bass player they knew that sang.

So Patrick calls me up and says Ty, want to jam?

Sure, because I was starving at the time.

I needed some dough.

Okay, a working band, open contract, no problem.

Tiran was a real pro.

I mean studio quality player.

I had cut some tracks with him years before but when

he got in with the Doobie Brothers it was like a

whole new thing.

And we added a second drummer, Michael Hossack.

We became a two drummer band.

One night we were playing the Château, I think it

was soon after Tiran had first joined the band and

Mike Hossack was there with his band.

And at one point John came up to the rest of us and

said hey you mind if Mike sits in with us and plays

this next set?

We kind of looked at each other going well, that's

interesting.

He goes yeah well you know, just something

to do.

Just something different.

And so we said okay, it'll be cool.

So Mike got in and play drums and he was such a

great drummer to play with.

We knew it immediately what a talent.

And to have this extra drummer they are was like

suddenly, it had, the drums were suddenly as big

as these three guitar players.

We incorporated Mike Hossack on drums and he

became part of the band.

That's when we became a two drummer band, which is

something that John always wanted to have happen,

John Hartman.

Went back to Warner's and asked them if we could do

another record, you know keep going.

And they said well if we found a producer that they

approve of that they would put us back in the studio.

They asked me if I wanted to, they came and said do

you want to produce this?

And I said sure.

The first album wasn't really a dog.

They just didn't record them properly.

Lenny didn't know what to do with the band.

When Ted took over he knew more what to do with the

band.

Second out but we had Michael Hossack and Tiran

and you might as well like I said, I had Russ Conkle

and Willie Weeks because they were just as good as

the studio cats.

So it's like a producer's dream.

The whole record came together really well.

Ted became the sole producer, number one.

I think he had, I'm going to say he had an idea of

what he thought the band should be.

At that time, they're writing quite a bit and

Tommy wrote the song, Listen to the Music.

Tommy had Listen to the Music on a tape already

completely finished.

Listen to the Music was the first single that we

put out and that's when the album took off.

We didn't have to do anything to that thing

except just lay it down and then Pat had all these

ideas to put layer upon layer upon layer of

guitars on Listen to the Music and like Layla or

something like that.

The playing was better.

The singing was better.

The whole concept was better.

And having Ted as the producer really helped you

know much more guidance for the band I think, for

the second time around.

Even though we had it the first time around the

direction the second time around I think was much

more applicable to what the band was really about.

And also it was more sellable product than the

first one.

I wanted to bring Pat's voice in and get a lead

vocal in there.

It was the only time ever I think that I knew about

where there was the main singer and then all of a

sudden something else, like a lazy fool.

And I thought it was really neat.

We got two singers in there and that was sort of

a way to introduce that there's more than one

singer in this band that sings lead you know.

♪

♪

The Doobie Brothers just exploded behind Listen to

the Music.

That was one of those records of that era that

came out and was instantly inundating the radio and

the culture and you just heard everywhere

immediately.

That was a song we broke before it was a hit.

We were playing it as if it was a hit.

We were sitting around and I hear this voice, Pat,

Pat, come down here right now.

And it was Bruce and like I go downstairs and he

goes listen to that.

And it was Listen to the Music on the radio and it

was like the first time I had heard it on the radio.

And it was like wow.

I was driving up 280 on my way to San Francisco for

some reason.

I don't remember why.

And Listen to Music came on the radio and I had to

pull my car over to the side to keep from

wrecking, and just go, that's me on the radio.

The first time I heard Listen to the Music on the

radio I was driving in my Volkswagen,

and it came on the radio, and I went...

"Jesus...

that's us".

And I pulled over and I stopped and I just

listened to it because it was like it blew me away

that we were on, what I considered a big deal

radio station.

It was a big deal radio station for San Jose.

The record became a hit and, but we had no idea

that time.

We just figured oh well we're getting a lot of

radio play but we got radio play on the last

record.

We'll see how long this lasts.

A great song to start the second album with.

It was late, it was, it was a real thrill to hear

yourself on the radio like that and getting regular

airplay.

That was the other big thrill of it.

Toulouse Street, which came out in '72 sold at

the initial time, 2.3 million from 10,000 on the

first album.

So we were in the fast lane real quick after

that.

That was the start of the band actually going

somewhere and actually making a name somewhere

besides San Jose.

It was also now going nationwide, which was a

big deal.

Jesus Is Just All Right also went off that album.

Rocking Down the Highway was on the album.

So there were three songs that got airplay, Listen

to Music getting the bulk of the airplay.

We started doing a better class of gigs I guess you

would say.

We started working our way up from Oakland are two

special guests and then up to headlining finally.

It was a cool time for us to be no actually having

some success.

To be honest with you we hadn't really got to the

total Coliseum and Festival stage yet.

But we started playing better shows.

We were still in the, I want to say we were still

in the Winnebago stage.

And then we moved on.

This all gets real fuzzy as to when all these

things happened.

But between '72 and '73 we went from the Winnebago

stage to the public airline stage and by '74

we had the Doobieliner.

So it all morphed into each other and I can't

tell you exactly when it happened from one year to

the next.

But it did.

Bruce came to the band and said I had this idea that

we're going to lease a plane and fly to the gigs.

And we go that sounds expensive.

He goes no, I got it figured out.

Everybody will fly together on the plane so

instead of buying tickets for everybody crew, the

band, we'll be on the plane together.

So we'll save a lot of money there.

Sometimes we'll, we'll fly in, play and then we'll

fly on to the next gig so we'll save ourselves a

hotel room.

We don't have to have a hotel there.

We'll just go, we can find out that night after the

gig rather than waiting around till the next

morning.

So he had all these concepts about how to save

money.

Well it worked out.

In those days we put on a hell of a big show and we

had 38 guys on the road at one point which in those

days was a lot.

Now it's you know a lot of big tours out, but you

know we had two airplanes and four semi's and a lot

of guys read and I was like 23 years old managing

the whole thing.

There's all these great things that came out of it

not to mention party on the plane every day, every

night, you know.

It's like you know those are the days before

screenings anyway at the airport.

But on our plane we would do anything we wanted.

You know we could smoke weed.

We had a bar you know, we, you know, it was just

pretty much a free-for-all.

We wanted to bring people along.

We could bring friends, you know,

guys would meet some girl and she would-- we'd have

girls that, you know, on the plane from, that would

join us and I mean it was just this crazy you know

Hugh Hefner continuous party going on.

You know I mean we're trying to figure out how

we could get a hot tub on the plane.

It was like--

Everybody came up with a lot of ideas on their own

because the road to me was just all-consuming.

If you weren't playing you are trying to you know,

get some sleep or whatever.

And, and hanging around the pool with the guys or

you know we were a little nutty back then sometimes.

TVs went flying out windows and guys would drive

go-carts in the swimming pool or what have you,

but um...

It just wasn't conducive to writing.

So I did all my writing at home and I wasn't at home

a lot so some period in there the stuff got done.

Some of the tunes that I wrote actually, some of

them got written before we got to the album.

So I would carry them with me.

China Grove was one of those.

China Grove that was where they really found this

chunky that straight ahead rock 'n roll groove that

totally, and a lot of it had to do with Tom's

songwriting.

Like a lot of tunes it was written in that little

bedroom I was in and usually I would call Teddy

up at three in the morning, nine times out of

10 and say you've got to hear this.

And I would just bang away at on the guitar into the

phone and that's how that happened.

So it was a very, very powerful young band.

China Grove falling on Listen to the Music and

Long Train Running these are classic rock songs and

they really capture a kind of spirit of this emerging

art form of rock music.

Tom Johnston,

one of the most underrated white soul

singers in the history of pop music, just

brilliant performances on those records.

There was a song going back to a rift that I love

called Osborne.

It was on their first tape.

[ Singing ]

And he had this one little thing and he would sing

Without Love.

And then he had this down, Ms. Lucy down along the

track.

She lost her home in her family and won't be coming

back.

And that was it.

And, Tommy goes I don't know what to do.

I said well down on the track make it about a

train and he just went, wheels keep on turning

round, boom, within like honestly in a few minutes,

an hour he wrote all of that.

♪

♪

Tommy's going... [MAKING MUSIC SOUNDS]

And Pat's going... [MAKING MUSIC SOUNDS]

little counter melody, which makes it work.

And that's the magic of that band.

♪

By the time The Captain and Me came out the Doobie

Brothers weren't effectively anymore a part

of the San Francisco scene.

And pretty soon we were on the road all the time.

And if we weren't on the road we were in the

studio.

So we made one studio, one studio album a year and

the rest of the time we did over 200 shows a year.

And then the crowds got way larger.

The crowds got more animated.

And it got more grueling you know because we were

just constantly go, go, go, go.

Stay up all night, you know, kind of a crazy

lifestyle.

♪

♪

What transform them into something more magnificent

in the public's mind was the kind of fluke hit of Black

Water.

It surprised everybody and it finally showed the

other part of the talent in the band, that picking

thing that Pat does so well you know.

And he is an amazing guitar player.

It was the first number one single we had which

was a big deal.

That was just stumbled out of the album unexpectedly

to the label and the band and was a huge radio

record completely unexpected from this meat

and potatoes rock band.

Having a hit record like Black Water, I think more

than anything gave the producer more confidence.

I think I always had the confidence that I was

writing great songs you know, but...

Pat always had all these orchestrating ideas and I

would just sit back and let him go.

And it so expanded the idea of who the Doobie

Brothers were in the public mind that it

vaulted them into the absolute forefront of

American rock bands of the day.

That started getting play on a small radio station

in Roanoke Virginia.

Somehow somebody heard about it in Minneapolis or

something like this, if I remember the story

correctly, and they started playing it and

then other stations started playing it because

in those days the DJ had control of what was being

played.

So, yeah, that was a number-one hit.

I mean it just broke through any kind of

barrier.

It was not, it was not a cliché rock hit.

It was just great music.

I always thought of Black Water as sort of

a throwaway tune.

It's a good song but it wasn't Another Park,

Another Sunday which was what the original A side

was supposed to have been.

We toured with Steely Dan part of it and we got

along famously with those guys, especially Jeff.

Jeff would sit in and jam with us whenever he got

the chance.

Steely Dan was opening for the Doobie Brothers on

tour.

Being around Steely Dan, he had a wide knowledge of

you know different types of courts that the

Doobie's normally would not use and, in so it was

refreshing and interesting hearing he would try to

push those guys to try to stretch out a little bit.

Michael Hossack and I struck up a friendship and

he asked me if I would like to sit in with the

band for a couple of songs and I said sure that would

be great.

He eventually got fired from Steely Dan and when

he did he was out on the road with us and we said

stay.

Stay.

Come with us.

And he went sure no problem.

What I brought to the band was a very different

approach to playing the guitar.

We were in the middle of rehearsals at Kabookie

theatre in Japan town San Francisco and Michael was

getting a bit perturbed about some things that

were going on in the band and he split in the middle

of rehearsals.

And Bruce, knowing Keith, called a Keith who was in

another band that he was, that Bruce was managing.

With Keith, he was kind of like a kindred spirit to

Tommy.

They were really, really good friends and he was a

really good drummer and Keith played soulfully

Keith came in, rehearsed the tunes, did the tour.

Keith brought with him a little more exuberance

than Michael.

Now they had the full Mobey Grape line up,

with the three guitars and three voices and

that's the edition of the Doobie Brothers that cut

Stampede.

They were the number one band in America when that

record was released.

And then Tommy got sick.

That was like a huge, a very unsettling time for

the label and for us.

Tommy to me was the Doobie Brothers.

It was about to go on hiatus because we were in

jeopardy.

I had a bleeding ulcer.

I had it in high school but it just never was as

bad as it got to be later on with the touring and

rock 'n roll lifestyle.

We were out promoting Stampede and Tommy didn't

show up for the gig in Chicago.

So we didn't know what to do.

And we almost canceled the gig.

Some folks in the band were not quite sure what

to do.

And it took some conversation to say okay,

let's, we can do this.

Without Pat the Doobie Brothers would have been

over.

I didn't think that the band would survive and it

was really Jeff Baxter and some of the other guys,

Jeff and Tiran it really said hey look, you know

we're the Doobie Brothers and it's not just one

person you know.

We need to pull together and you know make it

the audience if they wanted a show and what the

situation was.

Tommy was gone.

The band's here but no Tom Johnston.

What do you think?

And people said play.

He was very, very ill.

The illness was result of many things including

malfeasance on his own part.

And there was a lot of support for him as a

collapsed important member.

We get a few more shows and then finally I said

you know it would be nice to have somebody else to

come and sing some background vocals because

of that point it was really Tiran and I.

Jeff sang but not that much.

Tom was having some serious medical problems.

You can't, you can't tour like that.

The Doobie Brothers played everywhere where there was

an electrical outlet.

And sometimes it's just too much.

And at least at that particular time it seemed

like you know Tommy needed to take some time to get

his health back.

Tommy had some good stuff but when he started to age

his way out of the band, the, the chord

progressions started sounding all alike, the

same you know.

There wasn't any spark there.

So to me the Stampede album was a transitional

album.

It just didn't work because I really didn't

like many of the songs.

We really needed another, another voice.

And Jeff says well I know this guy that sings

background for Steely Dan, Michael McDonald.

He's great, he's a great singer and he plays the

piano too so will have another instrument.

So we all said hey, sure why not.

So I got on the phone and called Michael McDonald

and said I'm sending you a one-way ticket.

You've got to get your ass out here and I think

you're going to like this.

What happened was that Tommy took a hiatus due to

health reasons and, in the tour was booked and so

rather than cancel the tour they just thought

they'd get somebody to fill in.

Mike was brought in as a backup guy vocally and

keyboard's to add, you know fill out the sound.

So we brought Michael out to New Orleans in early

1975, heard him sing three notes and we went,

that's the guy!

He came in and started singing backgrounds and

then I said hey how about you singing you know, your

pretty soulful guy, how about singing Take Me in

Your Arms.

So he goes okay.

So he started singing Take Me in Your Arms which was

our single at that time.

And he blew the roof off.

I mean he, he blew our minds to begin with and

then of course then he went out and sang it for

the audience and it was like, who is this Ray

Charles, Joe Cocker guy?

No one knew who he was and he blew everybody's mind.

Bringing Michael in allowed us to finish the

tour and gave us a creative spark because we

went well if we got this guy with this voice, does

he write?

Warner's did not think that the band was gonna

make it when we had that change from Tom to

Michael.

We were kind of sitting around and Ted goes well

what are we going to do here you know.

I'm not sure about Tommy.

I've been trying to get him in but he's not

responding.

And I said well, you know Mike got some songs.

He goes, oh, no I don't know, you know about

bringing in another singer at this point.

And I go well he's got a pretty good voice Ted.

You ought to take a listen.

And he goes, well he does, whatever, you know.

You know I'm not, I don't feel good about having

another voice.

He said if, if Tommy can't do it I'd rather you

sang all the songs.

And I go well, you ought to just maybe take a

listen you know because I think he's really got a

very special voice.

And he's got some great songs.

Pat, once again said Ted you've got to hear this

guy.

You're not going to believe this guy.

He's amazing.

So Mike came in and most unassuming, sweetest

person on the planet.

So I sent Mike play something maybe play

something for Ted.

And so Mike said oh, he's all nervous you know.

He sits down at the keyboard and he goes well

I got this one song I've been working on.

It's not really written yet but you know I'll play

it so Mike sits down at the keyboard and starts

playing Taking It to the Streets.

[MAKES MUSIC SOUNDS]

And he played, and I have a demo of it, of Taking It

to the Streets and he sings the same verse twice

because he hadn't written more than one verse and it

was just him and his Fender Rhodes.

Ted goes, oh, you know I look at that face and he's

like oh that sounds pretty good.

So you know all of a sudden you know, take this

message to my brother.

And Ted's eyes go Bung.

He was the most amazing talent, one of the most

amazing guys I've ever been in the studio with.

He hears his voice you know and I'm looking at

Ted's face.

He's on the other side of Mike and I'm looking at

Ted and Ted's looking at me going--

[MOUTHING WORDS]

We were off tour.

I brought him over here.

I had a studio and still have a studio down in my

basement.

And we cut a few tunes that Mike did, Mike had

written.

And I brought the tapes to Ted and went listen to

this guy.

I had made a demo with Tiran at his house of a

song, the most unlikely Doobie Brothers song I

could imagine you know.

And Ted Templeman liked it and said let's, we should

cut that.

It's something different.

Mike also added a new dimension in terms of all

types of musicality and chord changes and

everything else.

And it became a keyboard band but it's really hard

to come back with a, have a hit record when you

know, with a new singer.

And and he definitely had the goods.

So Teddy calls.

I'm sitting here one night.

He says where the blank did you find this guy?

And I said great voice, huh?

I mean I knew we had a great voice.

My parents were singers and I, you know, I know a

great voice when I hear one.

And he said great voice yeah, but have you heard

the songs he writes?

I said no I didn't even know he wrote songs.

You know we just met him not that long ago.

And he said well listen to this one I just recorded.

He played me Taking It to the Streets over the

telephone.

And I said we are going to be okay.

And as they got to the next album which was,

Taking It to the Streets lo and behold Mike had

this treasure trove of songs, and incredible

songs.

Luckily it became a hit record and we transcended

that big change and went on to have another great

six more years.

I remember going down to Warner Bros.

Square there in Burbank you know it was this

billboard that Warner Bros had and it had the Doobie

Brothers album up there, Taking into the Streets

was the title of the album.

And I just parked and stared at it for like an

hour you know.

I think I went back about three or four times and it

took my sister back to take pictures of it.

Because it was like 0 to 60 you know.

All of a sudden here I am you know, my song is on a

billboard you know, the Doobie Brothers new

release you know.

It was...

it was just almost overwhelming really you

know.

The Doobie Brothers had probably played out their

string of Doobie Brothers chugging guitar hits.

Stampede was probably the last moment for that.

He was going to be on the other side of the bell

curve.

And to have this new sound, this

transformation, new singer, new material but

suddenly same band on the charts again, no question

extended the life of the Doobie Brothers and raised

them an entire other notch in popularity.

The band was changing direction and exploring

even more different avenues.

And so that's when the band switched sound.

I had one song on that album.

And I came back to tour with them for the spring

tour of Taking to the Streets.

And we started doing that song and a couple others

off the album.

That was a huge musical change.

Michael is hugely talented, Tommy hugely

talented.

Pat was able to transform from one style to the

other with Michael and contribute you know and

write and co-write and do songs with both.

I think the Doobie Brothers are about Pat

and Tommy.

And that the Michael McDonald era

is a kind of, of...

digression.

Although of course it was responsible for their

biggest sales and their greatest acclaim in

their biggest audiences.

However, that success occurred from a platform

that went from 0 to 100.

It may have gone from 100 to 150 but that he wrote

to 100, that platform that Tommy and Pat placed the

band at was the base, the core audience.

Pardon me, the real Doobie Brothers.

To me it wasn't an either or.

Again one of the things about the Doobie Brothers

as a band, as a musical unit, and a musical entity

that I found enjoyable, it's probably too light a

word, that I found it deeply satisfying was that

there didn't seem to be any area in music where

that band couldn't go.

Tom just wasn't able to come back and I don't

really think he had the desire.

I think he was looking to do something different.

I sensed that he wasn't necessarily happy with the

direction of the band at that point you know.

I think he was tired of being in a band.

He wanted to try you know, to stretch out a little

bit.

And I stayed with the band until 1977 at which point

I said you know what, I'm burnt out on this.

I've got to get away from it for a while.

And I did.

You know I remember having a conversation with him

and he said you know, you guys go on to do whatever

you're going to do.

He said I really think I need to take some time off

and try to figure, figure things out for myself.

We toured some more and came back into Living on

the Fault Line.

We pretty much recorded that album all ourselves.

Mike and myself, we wrote all the songs.

Patrick also wrote, Living on the Fault Line, which

was a totally different thing that he was used to

writing.

The Doobie Brothers began to develop all these

incredible capabilities.

So there wasn't anything that band could not play.

And to me, that meant that there was no limits.

This was a grand opportunity to do anything

and I think the Living on the Fault Line album was a

reflection of fearlessness.

Let's try it all.

Bands back then tended to want to kind of stretch

their influences and bring as many influences to bear

as they could you know on any given record that they

did.

It was kind of the style of times.

Mike and I were smoking a little weed and listening

to Marvin Gaye one night and we decided to do

Little Darling I Love You.

We went in.

We cut the track and one of those things just

worked.

And when I got finished, we cut the thing and we

put some vocals on it and we all went to a Mexican

dinner and had beer and stuff.

And we were so happy.

It was a moment that I'll never forget.

At the time another guy who kind of was plucked

from obscurity along with me by the Doobie Brothers

was Bobby LaKind.

Bobby, we kind of pulled him up on stage to play

congas on some stuff.

And so when we did Taking to the Streets we had him

play congas on the record which was kind of a little

signature part on the record you know.

And so from that point on he became a member of the

band also.

♪♪♪

The Minute by Minute album was probably the most

fraught recording experience of our career.

It was like pulling teeth because Michael had

something in his head but he couldn't communicate it to

the rest of us.

When Michael really started to come into his own I mean

he was, he was on fire and blossoming as a musician and

had the opportunity and saw the opportunity and felt

that he did have a vision.

And he saw the music going in a particular way

especially because he was now in a lot of ways driving

the direction of the band.

And that was probably you know, the worst period for

me as far as you know stressing too much about

everything you know.

I was always so afraid that if this record wasn't better

than the last one they were going to kick me out you

know.

What a Fool Believes fifty something takes.

In any kind of a situation where leadership passes from

one person to another there is always friction.

I mean I've never had any time to be me.

It was either on the road, in the studio, on the road,

in the studio, do publicity.

Wait a minute.

I need some time to just breathe.

We did, we were just exhausted.

It was the end of the year and we had been touring our

brains out.

After Tommy left there was a bit of a void.

We, we, he was gone.

We had this new entity that people were not quite used

to yet.

But we still have the opportunities to go out

and tour so we did.

We did a lot of dates.

We were pretty road weary, pretty shell shocked,

pretty, we have been working hard you know.

You know we're out on the road six months at a time.

It was just a Japanese tour we had done.

We were all getting pretty tired and pretty burned out

and there was some infighting going on.

The tensions, and there were a lot of them, that I then

had to deal with, I think that was creative input.

We were all sick of one another and especially Mike

was sick of Jeff.

I saw things a certain way and I you know, Jeff and I

butted heads during that period more than, than

anyone else in the band.

You know I was in the middle that because, it was worse

when Michael looked at me like that because I mean

Skunk was like, might as well have been on acid with

some of the stuff he would play.

You know when you have this many guys living that close

together for so long, every band has their problems.

We ended up coming back and John Hartman and Jeff Baxter

both left to pursue other avenues.

Finally just got to the point where the band had to

make another transition and so I left and John Hartman

left.

And so the band broke up.

I thought to myself, I can breathe again.

We didn't really know what we were going to do at that

point.

We sort of, I had a talk with Mike and he said well

let's get one more shot here and see what we can come up

with.

And I get this call from Simmons, listen we got that

hit album.

Maybe we should put the band back together and do

something.

Really?

Oh no.

There was still that glue on in that molecular structure

in that band that allowed it to move forward.

As it turned out Michael McDonald stepped up.

If it wasn't the first album he recorded, the second

album certainly was chock-full of Michael

McDonald hits.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Michael, he was writing with a lot of people, singing on

lots of, he overexposed, at one point I was telling him,

you're singing with too many people.

You know you're making yourself too, too available.

But to a point it was great because it was exposing his

voice and his style.

But I think he definitely took us to another level

with the Grammy's who had album of the year, song of

the year in 1979.

Not that we couldn't have done it if Tommy had Pat you

know what I'm saying, but Michael was really I think

more, his style of music was more toward the Grammy

folks.

I felt badly that night.

And this is just a personal thing.

It's that Tommy wasn't there because it had been, I would

have not been there had it not been for Tommy Johnston.

I would've never been on the stage getting a Grammy.

One Minute by Minute hit it was massive.

I can remember coming out of a concert in San Antonio

Texas and we got into this a motor home that we were

traveling back and forth between the venue and the

hotel with and we got mobbed coming out of the back of

the venue.

We couldn't move for 45 minutes because we were

literally surrounded by screaming girls.

And we looked at each other and went this is great.

This is also horrible.

We did some, tried out some of the musicians and ended

up with Cornelius Bumpus who was an old friend of mine

playing saxophone and keyboard.

Chet McCracken who was an old friend of Mike's playing

drums and John McFee who was an old friend of Keith's

ended up playing the guitar.

It was really funny because my wife was talking to Keith

Knudsen's wife, said yeah, there's the Doobie's are

looking for a new guitar player.

And I went down to the bands rehearsal house in Montera

and with Keith and auditioned and you know they

made a slip up and hired me.

McFee is a tremendous musician and in the studio

he is an amazing talent.

We recorded as a band in the studio.

It was all the drums, all the basses, all the guitars

and keyboards all at once.

The only thing that was overdubbed was the vocals.

The Doobie Brothers always been about versatility and

pushing boundaries and you know incorporating different

kinds of music, you know and each other's style.

So I think doing all, you know working with a lot of

different people sure are prepared me for that.

One step closer.

First live album ever.

It was a great sounding band.

We did really good but I was burnt.

I was toastied.

And I was starting to do cocaine in order to just get

through the freaking tours.

And by the time we got into doing One Step Closer, I was

really seriously thinking about quitting.

And right, but arranging the music for One Step Closer

was a joyous experience.

It was great music.

The right in the middle of the recording, Bruce books

another tour and I went no, I ain't going.

Tiran Porter left the Doobie Brothers because he was sick

of the hard work and had lost touch with the joy of

playing music.

Tiran left after we finished One Step Closer.

He was tired of the road and you know just one by one the

original guys were, were drifting away.

The drafting of a professional session

musicians like Willie weeks to replace Tiran Porter

makes sense from that kind of military-industrial

standpoint.

It might have been me that was always pushing to kind

of keep the band working.

And I just kind of felt at that point and that maybe it

was time to give people a break.

For me when it really came to an end you know, Pat

called me.

I got on the phone with him and you know we talked and

it was a really you know pleasant conversation

albeit, you know sad in some respects.

But he was just saying you know Mike I just wanted to

tell you personally he goes you know I've been thinking

about this a lot.

I've really been doing some soul-searching and I, I just

don't think-- I can't go on with this anymore.

You know the band has kind of changed so much.

It's almost become more of a LA band than the band we

started up here in the Bay Area.

And you know we're kind of, it just feels like we've

lost our way.

And I couldn't disagree with anything he was saying you

know.

And I said well Pat I totally understand you know.

He said I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to

be bowing out of this.

I don't feel like I can consciously be a part of it

at this point and feel you know like it's the direction

I want to go you know.

You know I think a lot of it has to do with the endless

touring and recording cycles.

And at some point I just couldn't keep them together

anymore.

I always tried to keep them you know, come on you know

we can figure a way through it.

We can do it.

But at a certain point we just said that's it.

We were, we were done.

So I suggested we do this farewell tour and go say

goodbye to the audience and you know we had built for

over all the years and not just leave it cold enough.

The band continued to grind out everything they could

and play the biggest dates and get the most money.

And when everybody was finally just had it and sick

of it all they did the farewell tour.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

The Doobie did their farewell tour in 1982.

I came there to see the band from the audience for the

first time.

What was amazing was how they were able to maintain

this quality and believability and success

really I mean through all those errors and changes in

musical style.

Most groups you know it gets locked into a particular

style.

But the Doobie's never, never you know kind of

barricaded themselves in like that.

Was really difficult.

Those last couple of shows were really hard to get

through emotionally for us and for me especially.

It was the end of an era.

I only played on the very last one in Berkeley.

I only played on the very last one in Berkeley.

It was a little bit bittersweet of course

because we knew it was the end.

But at the same time I think there was a kind of a relief

for all of us that we were going to really take a

little break from all this.

You could feel that it was not just a farewell show.

It was a second tired show.

And this is about the last time we're going to have to

do this and we don't really care if we ever do it again.

Even though the band didn't work for those

years once a year we'd get together and play in the

cafeteria for the kids at Ronald McDonald House and

then at Stanford Children's Hospital for

kids with cancer and leukemia.

We did that like every year for years and years.

And whoever could make it.

It wasn't like we had a set group of guys that

always get it.

Sometimes it would be certain people and

sometimes it would be other people.

It was usually four guys that would show up.

And we would play acoustically for the

parents and the kids that were well enough to come

out and listen.

And then we would go back and talk to the kids who

couldn't come out.

You know it was really fun and it was a great time to

get together with one another you know, to sort

of rekindle the bonds.

We did that for a while.

They built a wing named after us at the hospital.

And they would come together at that time once

a year.

After that that was it you know.

That was all they saw each other.

And then Keith, our late drummer, Knudsen, came to

me one day and said he wanted to do, he read a

book about the vets.

Around 1987 Keith Knudsen called us all up and said

would you guys be interested in doing a

benefit show for the veterans organization I've

become you know involved with.

And that led, that's what led to getting the band

back together really.

1987 Keith Knudsen called everybody that he could

find in the band and asked us if we would like to get

together to do a benefit for the Vietnam vets.

And I said of course immediately.

I then who else you got?

And he goes well I got you.

And I talked to Tommy and so I got the three of us.

And I said well I'm sure that some of the other

guys will do it.

And I said you know if you need me to make any calls.

So we all started you know communicating and

everybody stepped right up you know.

I think everybody was happy about the

opportunity to get back and play some music

together and then to generate some funds for

such a worthy cause.

The '87 reunion was a blessed event.

I booked the Hollywood bowl.

It sold out I think in like an hour or two hours.

The fastest sellout they said since the Beatles had

played there.

And I called the guys and I said no one wants to

hear from you, huh?

If you look at what the Doobie Brothers did first

of all it was Keith Knudsen's interest in

veteran charities that caused them to get back

together and play the Hollywood bowl and then

realize for themselves hey, this is a hell of a

lot of fun.

This beats everything we've been doing since we

broke up the band.

Why don't, what are we thinking?

Everybody who had been in the band with the

exception of Dave Shogren came out and played.

Four drummers, one percussionist, for guitar

players, two keyboard players and moi.

To pull it all together, to rehearse, get all these

guys together and flights and so on was going to be

a little more costly.

So we better do a few more dates to cover our overhead.

So we did some more shows and it's been asked we're

doing these shows we thought well, we're you

know, to put all this together is, it's so much

work and a lot of trouble maybe we should do some

shows and generate some funds for some other

charities as well.

The first show happened to be the sports arena in San

Diego and I brought Teddy because I want to Teddy to

see them play.

And when they walked out on stage they got like a

five minute standing applause before they

played and then they knew that people were still

around you know.

They still had an audience.

And that led, those few shows we did actually lead

to Teddy wanting, him saying let's put the band

back together.

But he said let's put the original band back together.

Then I went to the third encore and sat down with

them and told them I'd like to do something about

the band like it originally was.

And we started to rehearse and I got dragged out and

dragged out.

And I wanted to do the original Doobie's like

rock 'n roll stuff you know, and with Tommy and

the original band.

He said you know have you guys ever thought about

reforming the band.

And I go well I said Tommy and I actually are doing

some demos for a project of our own right now.

He goes well I'm thinking the original guys that

recorded Toulouse Street.

Everybody as I said wasn't doing anything of any

major consequence musically.

We were all playing with somebody or doing something.

But none of that was taking the world by storm.

And we said sure why not.

Now many years later for a variety of reasons much of

the original core group comes back together and

starts playing Doobie Brothers music.

And we got John Hartman and Tiran and Michael

Hossack and Tommy and Pat.

We got together and we rehearsed and we had some

new material and it sounded great you know,

with the players as we had them in the early days.

And then we talked to Ted and he said well I'm too

busy right now to work with you guys.

He does maybe next year or something.

And I don't well then I don't think the guys are

going to want to wait around for a year if we

don't have a gig.

Probably everybody is just going to you know, if we

don't have an opportunity I think everybody's just

going to want to go home.

I didn't really want to do it.

It was going back to the Tommy era and I was bored

with that.

You know but you guys wanted to do it so I did it.

With me in the band it was not really the real to be

brothers as they were in the beginning you know

kind of guitar driven group and stuff.

It was a departure that worked for a while now

and, but when the band reformed the kind of

reformed as the original band you know.

A few days later we get a call from Joe Smith over

at Capitol Records and he says I hear you guys are

putting the band back together.

And Joe had originally signed us to Warner Bros.

when, when Ted was working there.

And he goes I'd like first right of refusal you know.

He said I'll match whatever Warner Bros.

will do you know.

You guys come over to Capital Records.

And we go well you know, we've got this opportunity

to work with Ted.

He goes oh, well yeah, I see where that's at.

But, so we called Ted and we said Joe Smith wants to

sign us.

And he goes you should.

He said because I don't know how long it's going

to take me to get it together.

He said if you have an opportunity go for it.

I got them a record deal with Capitol records to do

to records.

It was like being at Warner Bros.

because Joe was there and because a lot of business

in the music business is about your relationships

and who you know.

We put out the first album and '89 which was Cycles.

It wasn't on Warner's.

It wasn't with Ted.

It was on Capital.

And they make a really good record to start

things off.

And there is enthusiasm and excitement within the

group about being back together.

That was a fairly successful record for us.

That was a great way to come back in after being

off for a long time.

I remember that there was some electricity to the

performance just the joy of being the Doobie

Brothers again and being the real Doobie's, being

the Doobie's that they always were, not the

Doobie's that they became.

And then everybody quit at Capitol records.

Joe Smith left, the CEO left, the head of promotions.

So then a whole new crew of people came in.

So then we, we did another album, Brotherhood.

And we have nobody there to promote it for us.

Nobody even cared about who we were.

I think the word was from the head of promotion, the

Doobie Brothers, they're history.

Both of those albums came and went and we have since

that period of time, which is 1989, been on the

road ever since.

After our experience at Capitol records we were

not anxious to even sign with another label.

We figured you know why do we beat ourselves up, work

our hearts out, write, try really hard, go out there

and promote a record that has no backing from a label.

So screw it.

We're not going to knock ourselves out.

I was just sick of doing the same thing.

Tour, record, tour, record.

It's back to the same shit, different decade.

So 10 years went by and we were approached by a guy

with an independent label at the time.

We said okay well let's take another chance.

We put out Sibling Rivalry.

I ended up contributing as a writer technically on

the album.

I tried not to because we didn't have a producer

that would be good to have at least one of us kind

of, if you're saying hey I think you know, I should

rewrite the bridge on a song or make, whatever

kind of suggestions are being made could not

possibly be construed as jockeying to get one of my

own songs.

I remember seeing demand in 05 watching from the

wings with Bruce Cohn just seriously impressed at how

thunderous and powerful the performance was and

how the material had held up in hell Tommy's voice

was so rich and deep.

And the Harmony stacked up, no, the band is, has

gotten better and better and the material has

deepened, has gained a patina over these years, a

sort of lustrous patina.

There was quite a gap between the, you know, the

release of Sibling Rivalry and the release of World

Gone Crazy.

I think it's pretty good for what it is though I

mean there's good writing there just like always.

This one is called World Gone Crazy.

Again, a great record.

We were all very proud of the work on this album.

It's the best album we've done since Stampede before.

It really is, musically speaking it's the best

album we've done.

Best songs, best lyrics, best production, just

everything about it is great.

One single that already been out and that was Nobody.

We got two singles out at the same time right now.

One of them being the album track, World Gone Crazy.

The other one is Far from Home.

We're still plugging away on this record.

This is our focus right now.

This is pretty much what we're all about.

People are always coming to me and saying you're

looking for a manager.

Do you know anybody that you could help me out with?

And I, and I go you got anybody, any friends?

You got anybody with high school with or somebody

that you trust?

You got a brother?

And they look at you like well yeah but you know

they're not the music business.

And I go you don't have to be in the music business.

When we started out nobody knew what was going on

including Bruce.

I had no idea I was going to be here 40 years later

in a managing these guys.

For the Doobie Brothers he was the perfect fit.

The Doobie have had the same manager basically

since day one, Bruce Cohn.

And Bruce is still you know, still there at the helm.

And I think a lot of the reason he's still there is

he's, he is like part of the band or basically he's

like one of the gang.

He was the guy that helped us haul our amplifiers to

the gig.

He was the guy that sat out by the door all night

long and took the money as people came in the door.

He was the guy that mixed, mixed the sound.

When it was time for the band to go on stage he was

out there mixing the sound.

He's the guy that drove us to the gig when we didn't

have you know our cars were broke and we

couldn't, or it was too far away and my car, I

didn't have gas to get there.

He'd come and pick me up and take me to the gig.

He's just as you know was our, my friend you know,

our friend.

And that's how he became our manager.

One of the first things that makes Bruce unique is

that he's the only manager we've ever had.

A lot of bands go through any number of managers.

It could be anything from two up til 10 or more than that.

I think the other thing that makes Bruce unique is

that he started out with it so he learned on the

fly just like we did.

So I think of was a growing process for

everybody from the front.

I wanted to make sure we all had some money when it

was over and not end up broke like a lot of

artists I saw not manage their money.

So I took it upon myself to get help and to find

the right people to help me, help save money and

invest money.

And I started with my family, my mom and dads

accountant who was a funny guy, Peter Weiss, who is a

CPA in Alameda.

And he knew nothing about the music business.

But he kind of worked outside the box and in

some ways he was genius in not knowing the music

business and putting us into other situations like

suggesting we do a pension and profit sharing plan.

Well no band had done that in 1972 when we did it.

People could put a portion of their earnings are way

and save it.

And we were all encouraged to save some of our money

in general.

We did end up buying property in San Rafael.

A couple of restaurants, a racquetball club.

We had a record store we built in Santa Rosa.

Bruce was involved in getting us there to do

those types of things because when you play all

the time and you're in the studio all the time

laughing the last thing you're thinking about is

fiscal responsibility.

And just nobody cared.

Having kids really changes your life a lot because

it's a lot of responsibility and you

really have to focus and stay with that if you want

to do it right.

And I really wanted to do it right.

He would go away for long periods of time.

Even when the kids were babies but that wasn't

daunting either.

It was just the way it was.

And he's always been such an incredible person that

he would call, Tom would call it 20 times a day.

I have some pretty fond memories of growing up

being on tour with them and getting the chance to

play on stage with them a lot which has been a lot

of fun.

Ever since I was a little kid you know they would

give me a guitar and throw me out on stage.

Even when I was younger and didn't know what I was

doing you know I just kind of played along with it.

It's been pretty cool and traveling on the tour bus

has always been fun with the guys.

They're all really nice.

At home he's just dad.

He's just a goofball who I like to kind of be silly with.

And he's an incredible dad so it's funny having that

because I do feel very comfortable around him and

just, you know he could be any guy.

But then I do see him get on stage and I kind of

have to step back and pinch myself a bit.

It's like yeah that's the same guy that I was you

know, doing silly voices with it this morning.

They were always included, the families and the kids.

We were on a tour bus with Keith Knudsen and he loved

the kids and loved wrestling with them and a

lot of pranks and, yeah, just opening their little

curtains in their bunks and tickling them and you

know dropping them on the floor and giving them

sodas when they weren't supposed to have sodas.

And so they loved it.

You know it was just a whole other world and I

saw myself during those years as a father more he

know more than anything you know.

The great thing about Pat and he loves kids you know

and I already had two kids when I met him and it was

like well you know I have kids.

And oh, I want to know all about them you know and I

was like, this guys you know too good to be true.

He likes my kids.

He wants to know, you know, he likes kids.

So he came about a month later, he came to visit me

and met the kids and stuff.

And he just hit it off with them right away.

And Josh just totally bonded with Pat.

And I felt bad because Pat you know Josh was just

kind of being potty trained and he would say

let Pat do it you know.

I was like oh God I'm sorry you have to take my

son to the bathroom you know.

We just kind of, he had just been hanging out you know.

And he'd say mom, Pat would be so proud of me.

You know he'd say you know stuff like that.

So he really hit it off with the kids.

He's kind of the kid guy.

He still is.

Being a very small child traveling very many places

was, was the most fun that any little kid

could ever experience.

I'm extremely proud of him and extremely proud of the

band and what it's done and how long it's been in

business and it, it does feel good to say that's my dad.

When I think of the Doobie Brothers I mean I've known

them all for what 23 years now.

I always think about the charity stuff they've done

you know, they're not trying to be like--

they're not on a big star trip.

They just want you know, they want to help and they

want to give back and I think that's really important.

And I think that's, makes me feel really proud of them.

And I had been asking Bruce to do this for a

long time.

I think he probably put the bug in my ear that hey

we should do a wine.

And I said Bruce we got to do that Doobie Brothers

wine you know.

Let's do it.

And let's, let's do it for charity.

We don't need to make money off of it.

It'll be a signature thing for us.

We can only do so many charity concerts a year

and stuff but to help raise money for charity

work, what if we took the band's name, make a wine

and call it Doobie Red and the like each of you know

will do a series of light bottles that have

different album covers you know from the band's

catalog as the labels and the proceeds will go

towards you know charities.

There is something there in our DNA that tells you

what you should give, pass it on.

So I think that's a great part of the whole thing

that the Doobie Brothers have done and, and the

annual 25 years now of the fall music Festival, the

charity event.

I built an amphitheater at the winery where we could

do this, we do two shows a year usually in late

September, early October.

It's been a great event for raising money for

charities one of which is-- was a Vietnam vet and

now encompasses all vets, not just Vietnam.

But encompasses vets from Iraq, Afghanistan.

Get our 25th anniversary of B.R.

Cohn Charity music Festival and golf classic,

celebrity golf classic.

For artists and it's not just musicians, but all

artists, if you have an opportunity to get a

continued to pursue the things that you love your

going to do it till you drop.

It's just the way it is.

There's so many guys that have been in this band

that have, have passed on.

They played you know, Keith Knudsen, Bobby

LaKind, Mike Hossack, Cornelius Bumpus, they

were all out there gigging right up until the end.

Every time we step on stage at a whole new thing

and every night it's different and to me that's

what keeps it you know fresh.

It is a quest.

You know you're never going to get to the end of

the road.

After a while its just kind of a, it's a wash you know.

It's, you have a hard time remembering where you were.

If you're out there doing it, we'll look up and

somebody in the band will say where are we right now?

And this is as you got out of town or where did we

play last night and I have no idea.

It's just, it's in your blood.

It's what you do.

It's what you love.

And it's a gift.

I realize now that you know those of us who are

musicians you never get too old to be a musician.

It's that childish part of you.

It's a you know that one thing that just doesn't

really change what your age as much as other

aspects of your life do you know.

Like I'm not going to go out and jog tomorrow or

you know.

The greatest thing about it is that we do seem to

make people really have a great time.

We played really loud.

We were like a heavy metal band with harmonies.

Tommy Johnson, Michael McDonald, they're going to

keep creating no matter what.

They don't stop.

I think we're playing better now than we've ever

played as musicians and singers.

That's just the story of our lives.

Is there anything specifically wanted to

talk about that you're going to use?

Pat's actually bald and shaves his head every day

and he has an assortment of hairpieces.

'70's, '80's, '90's.

There's usually some point in the day were somebody

walks up to me and goes woo, you don't know me but

I'm your brother.