Nicholas
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319. - Richard Marx

Nicholas

Richard Marx is a Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter with over 30 million records sold worldwide. We chat about signing your text messages, Ryan Seacrest and Howard Stern still have to wake up at 3 am for work, Marx is back on the road and loving his crowd work, his crib in Miami, the music business is mostly about business, being a king of 80s hair despite not doing cocaine, Daisy Fuentes cooking him vegan Cuban sandwiches, Martinis are like tits, singing one song a night without a microphone, Richard works blue on stage, running into Rick Rubin at Pavillions just how Diplo does, his fitness routine, the evolution of his boots, learning how to manage ridicule from Nickleback, his own podcast based on tequila drinking, what to do when you see a fellow celeb in public, and his first apartments in LA as a teenager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Published Mar 27, 2022
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Uploaded Jun 5, 2026
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0:00-2:09

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcasts. or watch on YouTube. What's up, Chief? This is Bank Week. We're banking a lot of episodes. We had a lot of special guests this week. Bro, we don't bank. That's City National. Don't use that around me or Brinks, whichever one. Okay, you're right. Okay. So we are not banking any episodes. We're just continuing to podcast at a breakneck speed. There we go. Nothing is different. Nothing has changed. And how do we still have stuff to talk about? God only knows. It's crazy. What is it, getting juice out of a rock? Is that what they call it? I don't know. You're the guy that likes a little stupid turn of phrase, so I kind of expect you to know the answer to those kind of questions. I speak very formally and directly. So I speak in stupid turns of phrases. Chris, what are some of the more high-minded subjects that you kind of speak about? I wouldn't say the subjects are high-minded. I would say the language and delivery is high-minded. It's more of an approach. You've probably heard about this in the fashion space, but mixing high and low. Oh. Oh, okay. So is your version of high using like formal grammar and punctuation marks? Yeah, I love punctuating text. That's pretty high on the list, but then I'll be talking about, you know. Chris, at what age do you think you're going to be when you start having to look down on your transition lens glasses?

2:09-4:14

before you sign your text messages oh that could happen in the next five years i mean that could happen that could happen i mean i'm aging reverse in some ways but i think signing text messages is pretty cool what if you're in like a a half an hour long text thread communication do you sign off every single one and also are you going to be the guy who writes cb or are you going to write chris out I think CB is how I assign my communication now. Doesn't Seacrest say Seacrest out? Are you going to have your own version of that? If I'm as rich as Ryan Seacrest, then yes, I will have my own version of that. Looking right now at the financials, I'm not there yet, but I do have a good foot on him. You're not rich enough to say blackout. No, I'm definitely not. Definitely not. The legal fees alone. Yeah, it could be tough for me. But, yeah, I think super sexy Ryan Seacrest is, in a lot of ways, not only my tooth goals, like he's got a beautiful set of veneers, but also my money goals as well. Mouth and checking account are both on fleek, and you're envious of them. Yeah, Seacrest mouth game is crazy, bro. It had better be. I mean, I don't even know. I really want to know what went down for him to lose the Kardashians to Hulu. I think it was just time. I don't know, man. I mean, that either something – it probably was just money is the reality. I think that's all anybody cares about in that situation. But what a blow. But doesn't he get bought out as like a founding producer? Maybe. I mean, no. He might still be involved. He might still be involved. He might still be involved. That's a good point. I mean, I think that the – I'm sure it was more of just the contract was up and they – you know, went where the most money was. Yeah, when Seinfeld bounces from TBS to Netflix to whatever, you know, Larry's still getting the taste. Did you see where Britney Spears says she didn't know who Pete Davidson was? Who asks her that? I don't know, but I think someone's probably trying to have like a, you know.

4:14-6:31

talk with her about what's if i had the chance to talk to britney spears in 2022 i'm not gonna ask her what she thinks about back to ryan seacrest i he's a dream guest he's a dream guest for me is he though he's the kind of guy who wakes up at 4 a.m to record like radio even though he has 250 million dollars like it's it doesn't like guys who do 4 a.m radio when they're that rich like that's some other shit you're on another level of like yeah i i am a type a motherfucker i think about About that sometimes with like Howard Stern, where he's, you know, he makes so much money doing his radio show. And I wonder if he looks, you know, for so many years, those morning radio people. They're like, yeah, my life is a nightmare. I go to bed at 6 p.m. every day and I wake up at 3 a.m. every day. I'm doing that for I'm doing that for fucking free. So Sirius XM bang my line. But you're you're not showing up to an office building at 350 a.m. to start your job. And that was it was just like, well, I'm a million. You know, I make tens of millions of dollars every year. And as a result of that, my life has been flipped, turned upside down, complete 180 of what normalcy is. And you turn into, you know, it must, it feels very lonely and it must affect your social life and your relationships and your family. But you're like, well, I'm a famous multimillionaire person. And then Howard Stern's sitting there, you know, reading the newspaper and he's like. Oh, the podcast? They just record it whenever they want. They record it whenever they want, and then they just put it out whenever they want. You're saying Jake Gyllenhaal went on a restaurant in London's podcast, and they recorded that whenever and then posted it whenever they felt like it? Joe Rogan made $200 million plus bonuses, and he just shows up at 4 in the afternoon. Smokes a cigar with some fucking Republican and then eats a bison steak and then goes out all night. Every episode of Joe Rogan's podcast is like him smoking a cigar with a Republican. That's a really good description of what's going on. Hey, Cat Power, you like cigars? But I don't know if...

6:31-8:46

Yeah, I mean, I think that the thing is, I think if you've been doing it as long as Howard or super sexy Ryan Seacrest, that you've kind of been like you respect the medium in a way that others don't. They must think that like that's part of it. And like I have, you know, clearly this has worked well for me in the past. So why change it? Yeah, like it's also they're making a shitload of money. It's just, you know, it's like Charlamagne Tha God still does the breakfast club, even though he definitely does not need to. Like there's no reason he should get up at 5 a.m. and have his driver take him from, you know, Montclair, New Jersey to Tribeca to record that. Yeah, I mean, it's also like that's, you know, that put me here. So there's like a little bit of respect. Yeah. Like, I couldn't do this podcast. I wouldn't have all these TV shows if I didn't do this. And like, I have to pay respect to the gang. But those people are, they get to be on that cusp. They're probably the last radio personalities in the world who are going to, maybe not, maybe not. No, me and you, when we take over for Kevin and Bean. I don't think that's going to happen. K-Rock, bang our line. You know who to. call brand new puddle of mud coming up after the hour go see those guys at the ice house oh i would never want to do that because you can't say anything you want to say you can't say bad words i would kill i would kill to do it and if we get the offer you're doing it with me So just know that. I've done clean radio before. They chew you up. They spit you out. I don't think I could work clean. But you do get to meet a lot of celebrities very quickly. It's one of those things. It's a cockroach. It's going to be around forever. And it still matters. And even though people we know think it doesn't, it does. And it's like the reach is much, much further. than what we're doing. I guess Dippo was talking about that too. He's like, people tell me the radio stuff still matters and I go and do this interview. on this radio station in fucking Denver or Tallahassee, and I'm just like, what am I doing here? To be fair to radio and to Diplo, I don't know if his business house tracks are really radio-friendly. I think more of the Justin Bieber, what-do-you-mean era, it made a little more sense for him to be working the circuit. Yeah, they only have those people on there just so when they're done with their seven-minute interview about absolutely nothing, they can be like, hey, Justin, can we get you this to say?

8:46-11:05

Hip-hop lives only on power106.com. And they're just going to play that. Hey, it's Diplo. Well past the point where Bieber overdoses on fentanyl. 50 years from now, they're still going to be playing, Hey, guys, it's me. Yeah, of course. And you're listening to the only home of hip-hop 98. The fact that we're not getting our guests to do station IDs on how long gone is actually stupid. I know. I only have one DJ drop, and it's from the game. I knew you had that. I need to start doing one. He goes like this. That's it. That's just him saying. It could be anyone, really. Speaking of morning radio, our guest today has probably done a shitload of acoustic versions of hit songs at six in the morning. That's not something I wish on my worst enemy. Richard Marks is a legendary singer-songwriter. He's written songs for everyone from Luther Vandross to NSYNC, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, Keith Urban, one of our favorites here. And he's got a new book out called Stories to Tell. It's his memoir. I'm sure he's a legendary stick man. We'll see if we can get him to talk about that. Currently married to MTV personality Daisy Fuentes. Which we all grew up with, Daisy. I had a personal relationship with her when I was a youngster. I bet it was personal. It was called parasocial and personal. But, you know, I'm glad that you at least know who she is. She's on my radar. But Richard also has come to prominence lately because he's a Twitter fingers power user, much like myself. The man can't stop tweeting, just like you. He can't stop fucking tweeting. So let's give Dick Marks a buzz and see what's going on. Ask your doctor if you have Dick Marks. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone. It was brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need a fucking something put together, a cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And, I mean, how it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture.

11:05-13:23

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13:23-15:33

That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web, sort of our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues, maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world. writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly. A website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools. So those future graduates can find me and, you know, I'm able to accept, quote unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new, you know, 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. You know, show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early and we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional. as your competition, if not more. Head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. How are you guys? We're great, man. We're great. We've had a pretty crazy week of podcasting just because of some schedule shifting. people coming out of the woodwork, you know what I mean? So we're rolling with the punches. How are you? I'm good. I'm in the middle of doing shows again, which has just been like heaven. You're back on stage. You're back where you belong. What city are you in right now, Richard? Oh, I'm off. I've got two days off, and I played in Clearwater, Florida, and last night in a little place called Anna Maria Island, which is about four hours from Miami. So we have a place in Miami. Oh, yeah. Beautiful there. I drove.

15:33-17:54

Back to hang out for two days with my wife here in Miami at our place here. And then I'm off to Kentucky and then Nashville next week and then back to L.A. for a break. So you guys normally live in L.A., but you got a crib in Miami? Yeah, it doesn't suck. And you're like, yay, I get to go to Kentucky. Yeah, I get to go to Lexington, but they're paying me, so it could be worse. I was just in Miami, and I was talking about how fucking insane it is now. I don't know. Maybe on Star Island it's different, but where I was, it was really lit, man. It was really extreme. Oh, no, no. It's super lit, but we're not in Miami Beach. Are you a Key Biscayne guy? Are you a Key Biscayne guy? No, not in Key Biscayne, but we're kind of like same, like equidistant to Key Biscayne, just in a another little community, another area. Okay. Super quiet and chill. And it's like, it's Island living, you know, it's like, it's really, it's kind of, it's a whole different, um, kind of awesome than LA. Yeah. It's just a different world. And we're here mainly because Daisy, my wife's family's here and, uh, her parents are getting up there. So we want to spend more time with them and her sister and brother-in-law and nephews live here. So it's a family, it's always a great family hang when we're here. And then we go back to that shithole known as Malfaboo. Yeah. So you're a real ocean worshiper, huh? Yeah. Do you love the water or do you just love expensive neighborhoods? Richard, you're an air sign, Richard. I have a feeling. Am I what? Are you an air sign? I'm a Virgo. My wife is a Scorpio, so she needs to be near the water. So you just do what you're told. We're Virgos as well. It's a Virgo forward podcast. Us Virgos, we like fiery women, don't we? We do. You know, the Virgo Scorpio compatibility is off the charts. I don't even know what my life partner's astrological symbol is, but whatever it is, it's working. We've actually, it's weird. We've had musical guests on this week. We had Diplo. who lives in Malibu. We just did a podcast with Cat Power, who lives in Miami. I feel like there's a real connection between the three of you people other than just doing this beautiful podcast. What do you think? Are you fans of either of those musicians? Yeah, I mean, I know Diplo's stuff more, and I'm certainly a fan. Two of my sons kind of turned me on to...

17:54-20:07

electronic music a long time ago so that i have my favorites and yeah i try to keep up that's the only reason to have kids that i can find yeah pretty much they force you to stay plugged in and even if you hate it at least you know about it yeah i ended up loving most of it like um we should we still share music with each other which is really cool so they've turned me on to beautiful you know a lot of uh electronic music that i ended up loving and then i turned them on to people like toe flow and and they're like they didn't really know toe flow and and this girl mimi webb who i'm a huge fan of and um so it's kind of cool like my sons are 28 29 and 31 so they're not oh these guys are adults jesus christ okay okay all right so they're what so they think you're cool now they they're over the phase of like of of thinking you don't know what you're talking about well i mean in fairness they have especially since they've been adults, they at least pretend to make me think that they think I'm cool because there's a will. You're like, Chris, I've been fairly successful and these guys aren't dumb. They're not dumb. They're like, Dad, you're so cool. You're so timeless and ageless. Okay. So it feels better when people say that to you who are not in your last will and testament. Then it's really authentic. It feels a little more authentic. That's all I'm going to say. I can understand that. I can understand that. I mean, thank God for them that dad was making music in the 80s and 90s when that was that last moment before. And I don't think you were the type of person who would blow that cash. I feel like you were pretty smart with your money back then. No, I was. Smart with it. Mainly, you know, I credit my father, who was like maybe the most talented musician I ever knew. Well, I taught me when I was old enough to grasp the concept. So maybe like 11 or 12. He taught me that there is a reason it's called the music business. And he said, you know, a lot of people only focus on the first of those two words. And I need you to focus on both. And so.

20:07-22:19

You know, I was smart. First of all, I'm just not I think my personality is not has never been like I need the fucking red Lamborghini or to make up makeup for my tiny penis or any of that stuff. It's like. You didn't have DJ Khaled syndrome, as they say. I did not. Not suffering from your neighbor. To quote another jet ski-owning Miami resident. Yeah, and there are many differences between me and DJ Khaled, and one of them is that I enjoy pleasuring a woman. I really enjoy it. God, I'm glad we have a clean take of that. Yeah, that's good. I was pretty smart about it. I also probably learned from, and I won't name names, but when I was starting out in L.A., I worked with a couple of really, really famous, successful people who taught me how to not do it. ten thousand dollars they spent twenty thousand dollars and then they were always scrambling i was i would watch them like sort of freak out a little bit and i thought that's just not that's just not inherently who i am it's not like how i was raised and so um i've never been reckless but i also i feel like i enjoy my wealth in a responsible way i told my kids you know i want to be able to want to be one of those old men who's who's one of my last statement should be, may my last check bounce. That's what I want. Yeah, I like that. If I had daughters, it would be a different thing, but you're men, so you're going to have to fend to yourselves because I'm spending all this shit. What do these guys do for a living? Are they dating celebrity offspring or have they dated celebrity offspring? That's a question I've never been asked. No, they're all involved. One of them is married to a really cool young woman who is not in the entertainment business. She's a graphic artist and does some other stuff. And one of them is in a two-year relationship with, I would call her an influencer.

22:19-24:39

And I tease her about it all the time. I'm like, oh my God, you're such an influencer. But she's doing well. She's working that game. She knows exactly what she's doing. And then the other one is in a committed relationship with a really talented singer-songwriter. And her name is Lydia Cassetta. I'll plug her because she has an Instagram and her music is out and she's really, really talented. But one of them did, for a couple of years, date. The granddaughter of Julie Andrews. Yeah, that's some L.A. shit. That's some L.A. shit, right? That's some L.A. shit. Yeah, that's some L.A. shit. Basically what happens is you go from Malibu to NYU. You date Julie Andrews' granddaughter and you come back to L.A. and you get a job at William Morris if that's the way you want to do it. That's a pretty good life in my opinion. I don't see a problem with that. You're going to experience different relationships. Why not have one with the granddaughter of Julie Andrews? Exactly. No, that's an elevated way of thinking. I enjoy the sound of music as much as the next fellow. And my son has stories. And they parted very amicably a few years ago. And he has the stories to go, yeah, Julie Andrews made me dinner one night. I mean, that's a great story to tell people. That is a great story to tell. He's one-upping you on that one. Yeah. You ain't even got that. Yeah, your little NSYNC stories ain't doing much at dinner these days. Exactly. Exactly. Pales in comparison. I mean. I think it's so interesting to talk to – we talk about this sometimes on the show because I love my parents, but they're not cool in any way. They didn't put me on to any music. We have a great relationship, but it was never – I know people that have had that, and it's a very different way of being released. So I feel like you kind of have one step ahead depending on what you want to do with your life. Yeah. Well, when it comes to my offspring or my spawn, as I call them, I can kibitz with you and joke here on the podcast, but the truth is I have this extraordinary friendship with all three of them. They're my best friends. They are a big part of our life, like our weekly life. We hang out. We have family dinners together.

24:39-26:48

formed a bond with my wife um and they're still close to their mom but they it has been a seamless transition over the last eight years of me divorcing their mom and then remarrying and you know sometimes that can be a little awkward or take some time in our case it was just so fluid and It speaks to Daisy, my wife, and it speaks a lot to them because they see that their dad's like really, really happy. And that's that matters to them. And now we're all we just we're like best friends. We vacation together. We hang out all the time together. And beautiful. I'm a lucky guy. I love that for you. How many times have you been married, Richard? 84 times. Only twice? Twice. Twice. Okay. You just lived a lot of life. You know what I mean? So I didn't know. I lived a lot of life, and I had a really, really long first marriage. I mean, I had an extraordinary over 25 years, and I think the world of my ex-wife. It's not acrimonious. It's just people come to a crossroads in their lives where they want different things, and it happened after our kids were grown, and it's fine. It's all good. I don't know, man. You sound like you've got to figure it out in some ways. I'm sure you've got problems. Oh, yeah. But a mean ex-wife isn't one of them. That's a gift. I just feel like you do have some knowledge to bestow on us young bucks since you've been through the ringer a few times. I feel like you're a little bit of a relationship or a love expert. Not a guru. Why not a guru? You don't have a beard. I could. Give me two days. You can grow a good beard, Richard? Oh, yeah. I had a super heavy beard. It's just that it's become mostly white now, so I keep it close. The five o'clock shadow is a little whiter than you'd like it to be. It's way more salt than pepper now. Did you have a beard phase in the 80s? Yeah, I do Google it. I posted it once in a while because it's hilarious because I had a beard for...

26:48-29:05

I like the better part of one tour in 1990, and that's when my hair was the size of a house anyway. Oh, man, I'm looking at it right now. I just looked like a gigantic piece of hair. I looked like Cousin It from the Addams Family. But that time, I remember you're a little older than we are, but I remember being a youngster in the 80s when people would have this haircut, and that was the epitome. of the sexiest, best-looking hair a guy could have and just, like, teased out poofy bangs, full business in the front, parting the back mullet, hairspray, blow dryers, the whole thing. And that has aged so poorly over the years. When you look at those old 80s movies, People just, I mean, you look good, of course. Of course. But most folks with that haircut, you're like, what was going on through everyone's mind? Other than cocaine, what made everyone do this? I can't even blame it on blow. I didn't do blow. You didn't, hold on, you didn't do coke? No, I've never done coke to this day. Wow. In fact, I never, in fact, I never, ever. smoked a joint until I was 50 years old. Who made you smoke a joint? Who convinced you? Which one of your sons rolled the joint for you? Let's put it this way. My pot education was definitely cultivated by two-thirds of my spawn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would guess that. I found that it's not my thing. Smoking pot is not my thing. done it enough times to know that yeah like i i i'm cool with the buzz of it but i don't like the the physical effect of it maybe it's that i'm so paranoid as a singer i don't i just i've never smoked a cigarette to this day in my life man you're okay well i mean you you got you still got honey in your voice and you look amazing for your age so obviously uh this is this has paid off well i mean despite a passionate love of vodka and tequila yeah i was just going to say after perusing your instagram page more photos than not are you saluting the camera with a martini yeah i'm a big martini guy as well what's your favorite martini in la well anywhere my favorite martini is a belvedere straight up no vermouth twist of lemon

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I'll do olives. Belvedere straight up with a twist. Yeah, no vermouth. What kind of Belvedere deal do you have? That came too quick. Are they paying you, or is this just a true love affair? No, but if I keep mentioning it, maybe he's stunned at me. That's our trick as well. We like to do that, so I understand. Please continue. Please continue. You know, when you have even the most modest following on social media, like on Facebook, and I never – I mean, I never personally really interact too much on Facebook. I just post on it, and I don't really interact. The devil's playground. But it's like over a million people. But I will absolutely and have maybe half a dozen times over the last few years tagged Belvedere thinking. Because, like I was saying, if you have even a modest following, you get companies that were like, oh, we saw that you liked our team. You don't have to tell us. We have a modest following. We're exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, so I think something in myself. Well, this Belvedere thing is a slam dunk because I got so many great pictures of me with a bottle of Belvedere and with the martini and looking like James Bond in some of these pictures. And they could give zero bucks. They can't say no to the marksman. They just leave you on red. They don't even give you a double tap. No, nothing. That's pretty funny. Belvedere, we're coming for you. By the time this episode comes out, Richard, there'll be a case waiting in your doorstep. Actually, you know what? In fairness, they did. I actually forgot about this. About six weeks ago, they sent me a box of two very special editions. So that's something. That was a nice gesture. So maybe it's like a first date. Maybe it's like a first date. No, they're flirting, but you want to consummate. And they need to send, it's more like a six bottle a month. kind of, you know, delivery. Belvedere, he's ready to fuck. Let's just stick it in. Seriously, yeah. I mean, I'm so easy. Like, you have no idea how quickly they could get into my pants. She's waiting for it. Okay, well, I'm a big martini guy. We're going to a dinner tonight with a couple musicians, and I'm wondering how many... I've never met these people before, so I want to kind of keep the words coming out of my mouth a little bit.

31:24-33:32

reined in what is your um what is your martini count for a casual dinner amongst friends generally speaking my wife has the perfect analogy for this okay and i wish she were here because for her to say it is much more appropriate, but this is not me saying it. All right, I'm closing my eyes and picturing the beautiful Daisy Fuentes right now. This is me repeating Daisy Fuentes, and sometimes we'll be out with people, and this kind of topic will come up, and I'll go, Daisy, what's the rule about martinis and tequilas? She says martinis and tequilas are like tits. One is not enough, and three is too many. Daisy's got a little side career in stand-up, I can tell. That's a classic martini-ism. I've heard a very similar one, but there's an addendum on it. One martini, not enough. Two martinis, just right. Three martinis, too much. Four martinis, and you've got a party. That's when you've got two sets of tits. You know what I'm saying, Richard? Yeah. Just the other night, I was on stage. I always have a martini on stage. Um, the other night in Clearwater, I was toasting the audience. We were having the greatest time and, and I riffed, it occurred to me that, and I love that I did it on the mic and now I'm going to keep it in my show because I said, you know, it just occurred to me, you guys, I can, I can sort of apply song titles to numbers of martinis. So my song title, so like one martini don't mean nothing. Two martinis, satisfied. Three martinis, should have known better. There you go. Wow, wow, that is good. And that's off the dome. That is good. I'm sure the crowd in Clearwater appreciated that. They did. I realized four martinis, hazard. I can keep going. He doesn't even have a set list in front of him. This is just off the dome. You've written so many songs that you can kind of create your own language now at this point. Well, I think I realize subliminally now that that's the only reason I kept writing all these songs is that I'd have this list of, Martini ratio metaphors. That's the only reason I got into songwriting. It really wasn't to get laid. It was really just so that someday.

33:32-35:34

I could make this joke about my song titles and marketing stage banter is tough, you know, so if you can, and that's, that's one of the harder things to achieve. You know, a lot of guys can write hits, but when they get on stage, they clam up. Yeah. I think, I think Richard is kind of connected to the comedy community though. So I think his little crowd work in between songs is probably hitting better than most musicians on stage. I'm assuming. I will say humbly that the greatest compliment I get on a regular basis is people going. I had no idea you were so funny. I laughed so hard throughout the show. And I do feel like it's become a thing where, and maybe it is testament to my friendships with a handful of comedians who I have great respect for. I think my show now is a mix between music and comedy. I wouldn't shy away from that description at this point. And did that happen organically or is that something that you set out to do? Completely organically in that I never, came up with a bit. It all happened organically, but then I would recognize that, wow, that killed, like people are laughing their asses out. I'm going to try it again tomorrow night. So before you get like a little polite giggle and now people are kind of belly laughing and doubling over in their seats in Clearwater. I would love to hear an example of some. Well, first of all, you know, the audience is. If they've never seen me in concert before, the one thing that's surprising to them is that I work blue, as they say. I know I'm Mr. Romantic Right Here Waiting Guy, but on stage I say fuck like every other word. He works blue. Mark, so rest in peace, Bob Saget, but you've got a little bit of Saget in you, is what you're saying. Yeah, totally. He was my pal. I loved him. And the dichotomy between Bob's favorite TV dad character and who he really was and what he talked about was interesting to me. And I think that that exists in me, too. I mean, for me, the more dark and dirtier the humor, the better. I like it.

35:34-37:43

This is music to my ears, Richard, I got to say. You have to find nuance because I do realize that sometimes there are little kids in the audience or older people who might be offended by it. So I try to walk the line a little bit. But generally, if I err, I err on the side of saying fuck a lot. I was going to ask what the – if we pull up to the – if Jason and I gas up the How Long Gone Jet and we head to Kentucky to catch the show. You know, what is the crowd looking like? Like, what is the archetypal fan in your mind when you're staring out after a couple martinis? I would say it's a really good question, but I would say it's the same archetypical fan 25, 30 years later and then bringing their husbands. And so it's mostly couples. Back 20 years ago or 25 years ago, it was like 80% female, which was not a bad thing. That was great. Chicks only, baby. I can imagine. Yeah, it was almost like a freaking Chippendales show. And you're the only dancer. I was the only dancer in Chaps. Because we went on tour and we did like 10 or 11 shows. And I think the biggest thing for us was realizing who our crowd was and who it wasn't. Because you think you know, and then you get out there and you see who's actually buying tickets and buying T-shirts and shit, and you realize who it is. We may have been doing smaller venues than you are doing, so we might have a little bit of a better look at the crowd. I mean, it depends. If I'm playing a band show, I'm playing a bigger place. But when I'm doing these shows that I'm doing right now, these solo acoustic shows, it's just me on stage. And so I'm playing anywhere from, I don't know, 700 seats to... no more than 2000. So it's somewhere in that range. Like in Nashville, the end of next week, I'm playing this really small place that I think is only 400 teams, but I'm playing three nights in a row. So it's, I mean, I do a song every night completely unplugged where I just stand on the edge of the stage with no mic and sing and play. And you can't do that in a bigger venue. And I can tell you that it never fails to kill because

37:43-39:59

You just don't really see that anymore, you know? No, you really don't. Why did you start doing that? Because I can. I was about to say, because you can fucking sing. And there's so many people that cannot sing, that make a lot of money as singers. Well, I mean, you can sing, but to have that kind of physically belting out something that can fill a room, not everyone has that. I'll tell you exactly where it came from. When I was a kid, I think I was like 12 or 13, my parents took me. I mean, they took me to a lot of great concerts and concerts I wanted to go to. But they, as I say, they dragged me to a Tony Bennett concert when I was 12. And I was the only 12-year-old there, and I was fucking pissed. I did not want to be a Tony Bennett. No, not a 12. Not a 12. No. That's a lot. But I had already started thinking about being a professional singer. I was dabbling in songwriting already. I was like the people I really admired, Paul Simon and Elton John. So I approached it like, OK, I'm going to be open to the music, even though it's this old American songbook that I don't really get. Right. Well, it took about three songs for me to realize I was witnessing the greatest singer I'd ever heard. And he was and I've seen him 10 times. I saw him a couple of years ago, like at 91. And he still blew my mind. And but in the middle of the show, when I was 12, you guys check this out. It was at this place outside of Chicago called Ravinia, and it's where I grew up going to concerts. And it's a semi-outdoor pavilion. It holds about 6,000 or 7,000 people. I've played it many, many times. It's a beautiful place. And he walked to the edge of the stage without his microphone, and his piano player played and he sang one song. And I just remember thinking, even at 12, I remember thinking, if I'm ever lucky enough to be a professional entertainer, performer, I'm going to do that shit. And it took me a long time to, like, figure out the timing and the means to do it. But I started doing it about 10 years ago at as many shows as I can, whenever it's appropriate. And it's a real moment between me and the audience. It's like it's really you're seeing the man behind a curtain, you know. And if you don't have the goods, you're going to you're going to.

39:59-42:05

Show everybody you don't have the good. You're going out there on the tightrope with no safety nets. Yeah, there's no hiding from that. When you do these solo shows, what's the touring party looking like? Tour manager sound guy? How many people we got? Guess what? My tour manager is my sound guy. Oh, damn. Richard's playing 4D chess with us, Jason. We're not splitting out that money. That's how the rich get richer. I see what you're doing. First of all, I would do it anyway because it's just I love playing with my band and I love playing a rock and roll show and like sort of just running around and sweating and doing that thing. It's really fun. It's nothing like it. But as a communicator and as a storyteller, the solo shows are like the greatest gift I ever gave myself. And I've been doing them now for about 10 years. And it also just turns out that because I found. And he's the guy I'm with now that I work with now, Sam, is like a goldmine. He's an incredibly talented guy and he's a great guy. We love hanging out together. But I had somebody before him in that same role. So I just determined that I don't need a crew. We can pick up local guys. I'm not. High maintenance on the road. Yeah, you're not high maintenance. You just take the private plane. He takes Delta Comfort Plus. It's no big deal. It's not crazy. All I'm saying is it's just a very profitable. Yeah, streamlined. No, I mean that's how we run our business as well, and it's a beautiful thing because it's tough to make a living in this biz nowadays, especially when you've got to divvy that check up eight times. Yeah, yeah. Are you still keeping a vegan diet, Richard? Yeah. Yeah, I don't see it ever going back. How long are we talking? How deep in are we? Seven years in. I've known Brian Adams for a long time. Brian Adams has been vegan for 30 years. The last time I talked to him a couple years ago, he was giving me a pat on the back for being vegan. I said, dude, what did you eat back then? He went, fucking potatoes.

42:05-44:10

We talk about that a lot because I was vegan in high school. I think Jason was too. Why were you vegan in high school? We went to punk and hardcore shows and veganism was like a big part of that community. Right. Have you ever heard of straight edge before, Richard? Sure, sure. Of course. Yeah, we grew up kind of straight edge. So a big part of that was, you know, being poison free. Yeah, right. And the poison included drugs as well as animal products. My son, my youngest son, took his first drink on his 21st birthday. He was completely straight edge in high school. And I admired him for it. And it wasn't like a big. you know soapbox he was on he was just sort of like quietly like no i'm doing my thing you guys can do your thing it's fine but i'm not doing that we were on more of a large soapbox in my case um yeah it was more look at me i'm not drinking yeah it was more fuck you i mean even though there even though you you're that young, but being vegan in high school in Atlanta where I grew up was, yeah, I mean, I stand with Brian. I ate a lot of potatoes. My waistline reflected that. And how much nicer is it now because veganism is so popular that when you're on tour in Kentucky or whatever, you can actually get something beyond a bag of potato chips or something like that in your hospitality rider? That's what I was getting at. I don't see any reason to go back. First of all, it was an easier transition for me than it was for Daisy because I was a vegetarian. I haven't eaten red meat since I was 18. And I phased out poultry probably 15 years ago. And that's tough coming out of Chicago. Yeah, it was. It was. But I left home when I was 18 and moved to L.A., so it was a little, you know. You were at the Source Cafe? Yeah, of course. Of course. We'll get into that later. Don't worry. Sorry, go ahead. The hesitation I had at all was eggs because I really loved a scramble in the morning for protein and for flavor and everything. And then they came out with Just Egg, and that's my jam. It's pretty good. So Just Egg, if you're listening right now.

44:10-46:10

Do like Belvedere and start sending over some pallets to the house. Just Egg has treated us very nicely. Just Egg did back up the truck to the house in Miami. So it was tougher for Daisy because she grew up more. She's Cuban. Yeah, yeah. Cubans don't. They don't understand. She's got the pork belly and the plantains. Yeah. I mean, Cuban raised in Jersey. Oh, yeah, raised in Jersey. Who's cooking at home, though? Besides, if you give the chef tonight off, is it you or her? There's no chef. It's Daisy. Daisy is... Really? My joke, which is not a joke, is I go, Daisy Fuentes is the most magnificent cook, and she doesn't even fucking have to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's Daisy Fuentes. Gilding the lily. So she's cooking it up. She loves to cook. She loves to experiment. And what she's been doing the last seven years is she'll take her favorite, recipes and veganize them. So, you know, I'll sit down to lunch and there'll be this like vegan Cubano sandwich that's like otherworldly. It's like unbelievable. She makes a vegan bolognese. She makes vegan pizzas. She makes, you know, and then she gets kind of once in a while, she'll do like some really cool bowls that are. that are more experimental and she's it's remarkable so i'm lucky i'm lucky that i'm also lucky that i'm not you know 285 pounds well i was gonna say you are you are quite trim and we we talk a lot about fitness on this show so i would love to get some Yeah. You know, what are what are you doing? What's the daily routine looking like, especially when you're in the road? Because, you know, that that becomes a different challenge. There's not an equinox in every city is the problem. So, yeah. How do you how do you keep it tight, Richard? But there's if you you know, for me, the whole key is variation. And I've learned that over the I was a gym rat for a long time and I was addicted to, you know, 50 minutes on the elliptical and then, you know, like a circuit of weights and stuff like that. And I at that time, maybe this is.

46:10-48:24

Up until maybe seven years ago, I was maybe a little too thin. Doctor said you're a little underweight. I was underweight. I'm 5'10". I'm not a big guy. I'm 5'10", and I was like 145. It was crazy. Oh, yeah. That's small. That's small. That's Chris's goal weight, but yeah, that's unhealthy. But it looked good on stage. There we go. There we go. You didn't have any bad angles. You look at Mick. It's like Mick looks great on stage. Probably severely underweight, but he looked fucking great on stage. Yeah. And then over the last few years, I got out of the gym and I hike as much as I hike. When we're in L.A., I hike at least five days a week. I'm like at least three to four miles, sometimes six. And I just need to be outside. So you're just up in the Malibu hills checking out the ocean? All over the place. Malibu, Hidden Hills, all over. We have all these state parks near us in L.A. There's always trails to go to, and so there's that. And then we do have a really nice gym in our house, so we supplement with that. But my cardio, like the days of getting on a hamster wheel and pumping out 45 minutes of cardio, that's just so boring for me. I do it in a hotel if I have to, but I would much rather, if the weather permits, I don't care what town I'm in, I just get outside and we'll walk. It's a challenge. The elliptical, the treadmill, I mean, I was rehabbing an ankle injury. I could finally run outside again. And it's like, I feel so much better after like, you know, a couple of weeks even. And the other thing that's changed my body in the last two years is. Menopause? Menopause for sure. Manipause. My wife is a long time Pilates devotee. She would say to me, baby, you've got to try Pilates. I was like, I'm not fucking doing Pilates. It's for girls. I was such a sexist prick about it. I was like, I need a real workout. She was like, you don't understand. You couldn't do Pilates. Jason's really tall. He's 6'9", so some of these workouts are a little extra challenging for him. But I've been in the same position where it's like...

48:24-50:24

oh, you're going to do your little workout? You're going to roll around on the floor? And she's like, all right, bitch, come with me. And then I'm literally like the teacher is laughing at me. Now I've improved, but it is a humbling workout. Dude, I'm addicted to it now. I love it so much. And I've never, I don't think there's any other exercise or process, physical process that has so quickly changed my physique where I've gotten leaner and I've just toned up. And when I do Pilates regularly, it's fun because then I can eat a little bit more of what I love, you know. You can have a little more, have a corn chips and guap. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I'm a huge, huge fan of Pilates now. And also when you do that kind of stuff where it's like strength and mobility, you just kind of feel better just walking around. Well, dude, I mean, I'm 58 years old. I'm not going to be pulling Matthew McConaughey anytime soon, I don't think. But it is, yeah, you're right. It's just sort of like I want to live. I'm really happy in my life. I want to live as healthily and long as I can in that state. And so I know that there's a price, and I have to do what I've got to do. You want to be hiking Malibu with Daisy Fuentes? Especially because I love martinis and tequila, so I've got to balance it. You've got to do it. What kind of shoes are you wearing on stage, Richard? and on the trails i usually go for lately i've been dressing it up a little bit more i've been wearing uh a sport jacket and a dress shirt and like i don't usually wear dress pants i wear jeans but like black jeans that are form-fitting and so i've got a really pretty cool pair of uh wingtips and i got a nice pair of dress boots i took you for a boot man that's why i was asking i feel like the nothing looks better on stage than a boot yeah i mean i used to wear cowboy boots all the time and jeans that was my thing but now um if i wear a boot which is probably half the time on stage they're the they're just sort of like faux these faux leather uh black half boots that

50:24-52:39

Or dressy. They go with a suit. They go with jeans, whatever. But it doesn't give you any ankle problems or any calf issues or anything. That's why I was asking. No, but I think it's because I'm hiking all the time. What's the hiking footwear? What color hokas do you have? Always like a dark brown or a black. I don't like colored old footwear on the trail or working out. My sneakers in the gym, black. or white i've been doing hiking shoes for years and i just graduated to a pair of hiking boots and so far i'm kind of digging the ankle stability changes the changes things exactly dodge some of that chaparral on the ankles yeah so you're drinking martinis and and tequilas all the time i feel like you you might have a good hangover regimen for a person of your age who's you know zipping around from town to town it beats me up and i uh I am younger than you, so I want to know some tips from you for hangover relief. I don't have any because I don't get hangovers, man. I'm really, really lucky. I think part of it is that I drink so clean. I don't do mixed drinks, and I never combine alcohol. Even on the rare occasion when I'll overindulge, I'm going to have three or three and a half martinis or tequilas, but it's pure. It's clean. suffers a little bit sometimes but when i wake up even if i'm hammered when i go to sleep i wake up ready to hike i don't ever have a hangover you got a you got a sauna you got a sauna in the crib i got a sauna yeah we have an infrared sauna oh baby i knew it jason just got one and he's really living a infrared lifestyle now awesome dream come true it's really awesome the the clean the clean drinking part really does help i think if i drink two vodka martinis I will feel better than if I have, you know, two glasses of wine. Yeah, totally. I agree. I get sleepy with wine. I love wine, but it makes me sleepy. And tequila is fun because, you know, it's the only upper. It's the only booth that's an upper. Stimulant. I'll tell you who you could ask for the best hangover remedy is Chad Kruger from Nickelback. He will tell you. Really? Chad's the doctor I need to go see. I thought you were going to say a Sammy Hagar or something like that. No. But Chad, look.

52:39-54:41

Chad is living the ultimate rock star existence. Okay. As everyone else has sort of graduated into Pilates and veganism, Chad is still a fucking rock dog. Okay. Damn, that makes me... I like that. I like that. That's cool. He's still pedal to the metal. I love him. I think he's incredibly underrated as a singer and really underrated as a songwriter. I've written songs with him. He's a fucking badass songwriter. Songwriting, yeah. And a great hang. We've had some fun times together. Yeah, he seems like the kind of guy who's also low-key done very, very well for himself. Really done well. When you become mocked at that level... Yeah. Like that is when I know you're rich. Well, tell me about it. In a situation like he's like, that's right, baby. I'm talking. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, I think that like that is I don't think the general public understands that like it's like when you get made fun of on Saturday Night Live, like you've graduated to a new level of fame. That is just like, you know, that that hopefully equals money to you if it's if it's becoming. It's like when haters on social media will go, nobody plays your music anymore. I always go, well, my accountant disagrees. Yeah, bro. Yeah, we're all good. That's all. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think if you're able to kind of weather that storm as an art, you know, so what time or what time period do you think you receive the most ridicule for your career? I think the worst of it was that when it shifted. And I think, you know, Nickelback is another good example. And like Nickelback was the biggest selling band in the world for a couple of years. And and it was like they could do no wrong. And then something just shifted. In my case, I think it was a vibe shift. It was that I had broken my career at rock radio with a song called Don't Mean Nothing and then followed it up with another rock song should know better. And so I was I really started my career at rock radio.

54:41-56:48

My record company, they weren't that interested in anything except profit. And so if you look at the history of rock bands and rock artists, for the most part, if they've recorded or released a ballad, it's the ballads that are like, look at Journey, look at Bryan Adams, look at even Kiss. Beth is like one of their biggest songs, you know? Scorpions. Scorpions. When it became clear that I had a knack for writing ballads, Even though there were only one or two ballads on every album, that's what the record company pushed. And so all of a sudden I became this balladeer, this sort of, you know, romantic and that you're just waiting for the onslaught of haters. And it just shifted. And then it became a thing where, you know, the critics just decided to really go after me. And I think over time, you know, especially when you've broken out in a way where you have a big female audience. And you're looked at as being maybe less serious a musician or less serious a performer because you're cute or you have hair or whatever it is. It sort of perpetuates a desire for people to just beat you up. you know it hurts for a minute and then i just was like fuck it whatever you know i'm having well i think it's no i mean i think it's a it's a story of resilience i really do because i think i mean it was also probably a little bit before the internet was the monster that it is now yeah you know so it's like a little easier to escape but i mean i think that the this is what i say all the time it's like If people come shit on us, I'm like, well, this is annoying because I'm not making enough fucking money. If people are shitting on you but you got the bread, it's like, all right, man, well, I won. So I don't really care what you think about it. The shows are sold out. Everything's going well for me. If you don't like it, you don't have to listen to it. You know what I mean? It's all good. Look, there are plenty of artists. There are plenty of artists who I can't stand. I just don't ever talk about it. I would never publicly rag on another artist ever.

56:48-58:57

performers and and creative people should not do like there's no excuse i mean unless you're responding to someone if someone goes after you then sure all bets are off i wish i wish i had that kind of self-control richard yeah i don't unfortunately i don't i don't consider myself to be an artist yeah so i think that's that's helpful when people ask me like who do you not like next question like i'm not there are plenty of people i'm not gonna who cares well it's more fun to talk about what you do like especially like when it's musician on musician yeah that's what i'd love to do is i love to just sort of praise and and highlight the shit that i love and i don't bash the shit that i hate you know you shouldn't start a podcast then richard yeah do not start a podcast i'm sure they've tried but but don't don't don't do it trust me i don't care if you have a home studio well i have i have a podcast with my wife we do a we do a weekly podcast called tequila talk and we've been doing it for about a year and uh we talk about all kinds of stuff but we don't ever get into those kind of conversations it's mostly um lifestyle and relationship and the shit that's pissing us off for but it's never attacking people it's just not it's not our thing how much tequila you're drinking on tequila talk is that the main the main theme is you guys get a little twisted and start start gabbing it up yeah that's how it started we did a uh during the pandemic we did one night we just did our She went on her Instagram live because she's got a really big following on social media, too. And we I put my camera on and she put her camera. So we were both live on our Instagram pages and we had a tequila or two or three and just talk for like half an hour. And it blew up like people really, really loved it. And so then somebody came out to us and said, how about doing a podcast for us? And so we do it. We were doing it pretty regularly, but now with the touring, it's a little bit more sporadic. But it's fun. We do it on a weeknight, right before dinner, right after dinner, pour tequila, talk about whatever topics we've been talking about. Cool vibe. I love it, too. I'm starting to understand, Jason, that we need to make more money. Just from this quick conversation, I'm just feeling like...

58:57-1:01:01

Richard has enlightened us on a few things. I feel like he's really got it worked out, but I do think it takes some age. I think it takes a little bit of perspective, which I think we're starting to gain as we dip into our 40s. I think some people consider Richard Rubin to be a musical guru, but I say Marx is my guru. Both of you guys can grow a beard. Both of you guys live in Malibu, but you are the true Zen master. Do you have a relationship with Rick Rubin? Do you ever see him over at Pavilions? I do. That's exactly where I see him. I've seen him there a half a dozen times. I heard that we just had Diplo on earlier in the week, and he said that he recently took a carnivore diet on the guidance of Rick Rubin. Did you know that he was a carnivore now? I did not know that, but I don't care. You don't care. I really cannot tell you how much I don't care. Okay, so you and Ruben have beef? Is that what it feels like? Not to use a carnivore pun. No, no, no, no. He's made some... Great records. The Wildflowers album for me is one of my favorites. Oh, baby. Don't get me started on that one. Jason loves when we talk about the real white boy shit. I only watched the first episode, but I really liked his show with McCartney, the conversation with McCartney. No, I have nothing but respect for Rick Rimm. We'll go, how are you doing? I'm good, man. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I feel like you probably a great person to ask about the celebrity. You know, you always say what's up to each other because there's like an understanding, even if you don't know each other personally. You know what I mean? Like this is it's kind of what you're describing to me. Like you both know who each other are and you have to say something because it'd be weird not to. Yeah. I mean, for the most part, I don't know. There's a I would say that 90 percent of the time that's true. But I am I won't.

1:01:01-1:03:12

generally go up to someone if they see me or they acknowledge me i'll always respond or yeah if we just sort of like pass each other and look at each other and i recognize who they are i'll nod or whatever but yeah i don't know i mean then there are times when you can be the only two public people in a room and if you don't really have anything in common you don't have that That's the only thing you have in common. When you're sitting next to Scott Disick at Nobu in Malibu, you guys just keep it moving. You don't need to dap him up. It's all good. Two legends recognize each other's presence, but that's about where it stops. It's two big dicks, one room. It's better just to stay apart. You don't want to challenge the room like that. No need. There's no need for that. There's no need. Violence in Malibu is never the answer. Richard, you said you moved out to L.A. What, 87, something like that? No, 82. Oh, okay, 82. Okay, so walk us through what it was like when you came to L.A. What was the vibe? Like the Miami Vice days. That was like just pre-Miami Vice and all that kind of excess. So were you out hitting the clubs even though you weren't? No, no, no. What were you doing? I went out to L.A. When I moved to L.A., I was 18. My first job was singing. background vocals on lionel richie's first solo album he left the commodores and so it was baptism by fire i was you know my first job was on a hit album and then he recommended me to kenny rogers who i sang for him and then i ended up writing songs for him and then i became i was always trying to get my own record deal but it took four or five years of that and in the meantime i was making a good living as a as a background singer i sang on Everybody's record you can imagine, from The Tubes, Chicago, to Madonna, to Whitney Houston, to Rod Stewart, you name it. So you're just a studio rat. I was a studio rat, but I was in my spare time, where all my friends were out at the clubs and partying. I was in my shitty apartment writing songs, writing songs, writing songs, writing songs. I finally made enough money to buy a little 8-track recorder.

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And so then I started to cut tracks in my apartment, and I was somewhat of a recluse when it came to social life. I would go out with this girl or that girl once in a while, but my whole mission was success. My whole thing was I want to become a successful performer, songwriter, producer, and that was my focus. That's my Virgo king right there. I'm with you. So you weren't antisocial. You had a mission. You're going to make hay while the sun is shining. You're here. Now's the time. Yeah. I can go out, hit the clubs when I'm older. Yeah. And in retrospect, I probably could have balanced it better than I did. But I'm glad that I did what I did rather than the other. I didn't waste any time in that short amount of time. So by the time I had my first hit song as a singer, I was still only 23. Damn, damn, damn. That's amazing. Well, where was your shitty apartment in L.A.? in encino you know why do you know why i was in encino do you know why because in 1982 in encino i got a three-bedroom apartment for 600 bucks a month that's why and one of the rooms was a guest room and the other room was my studio and so i lived there for two and a half years and then wrote a couple of hit songs and then started to like come into more And then I moved to Westwood, which was so badass. What was badass about Westwood? Oh, my God, it was great because I was 20. And I was in Westwood, the heart of UCLA, and, like, hot girls everywhere. Like, Encino, I was living next door to 80-year-old people. Like, no hang, no vibe. So you got a grandma telling you, you should eat some more of your skin and bones, and then you leave, and now you're with every 19-year-old brewing. Get too skinny. Eat some soup. What a time. Well, I mean, Westwood just became – it was, like, much more fun to live in Westwood.

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And I lived there for a couple of years. And then that's when I got my record deal and started touring. And so I was hardly ever home. What's your relationship to New York? What hotels do you like? Over the years, I found the hotel that I like the best. which definitely needs some rehabbing. This is going to be good. This is going to be good. We're in between renovations right now. Every hotel does it. I'll tell you what I love. I love the New York Palace. Oh, baby. Okay. All right. That tracks for you. The location is great, and it's one of the only hotels, I mean very few hotels in New York, where you can still get a big room, where the rooms are not little closets. Yeah. They take good care of us when we go there, but the hotel definitely needs. some management overhaul and like there's it could be so great like it was so great when we it's legendary yeah it's legendary yeah it's a great location and it's easy for me because i'm usually if i'm in new york i'm there to work and to do tv and stuff and so it's i can get wherever i need to get pretty quickly into some good restaurants around the corner maybe the the third the third act of the of marx's career will be hotelier we're gonna buy the palace we're gonna re-juge it Get it back to where it used to be. We can talk to Andy, get you a little reality show, you know, the family reality show you guys rehab in the hotel. That could be very profitable. There you go. Very profitable. We'll get Ian Schrager on the horn. Yeah, we'll get Schrager. Even if it's just free corner suite for life, I'll take it. Okay. I like that. Yeah, New York really needs. I mean, that's the one problem with any hotel in New York is just like great room, amazing service, food's amazing, the lighting is so good, and it's the size of my fucking closet. Yeah, it's like the Baccarat Hotel is just gorgeous, and I've had dinner there. Beautiful bar, beautiful bar. Beautiful bar, and I stayed there once, and it was like, but it's really, those rooms are really small. You can't stick your arms out without hitting a wall. I can't deal with that. I don't, yeah, I can't either, and we're big guys, you know what I mean? We need to spread out. I bring a lot of clothes with me.

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Richard, it's been a pleasure. Thank you for joining us. It's my pleasure. Anytime you guys want to catch up again, we'll do it. We'll come down to Malibu. I eat vegan. It's no problem. We'll have you back on the show whenever you want, Richard. Always a treat and a real honor to speak with you. Truly one of the greats, one of the pros. Well done. Thank you, guys. We love a pro. Thanks, man. We'll talk to you soon. Have a good one. See you, guys. Be good. Waiting for you.

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