I want to know, bicycle for Christmas. And they gave me guitars and Christmas me off. You played on so many records and you work with so many artists in such a wide variety. There are a lot of cats who just want to knock you over with a boatload of Hemi-Semi-Demi-Quaver and knock you out with super chops. Going back, listen to those records.

I mean, it's phenomenal production, phenomenal performance, phenomenal songs. I mean, it's like really is a piano. Quite hot moment. The main component that I would try to reject into anything I do is draw. You look like you're having a good time. I always have a good time. If I can play the guitar, I'm having a good time. Jeff Skunk Baxter, thank you for being on my podcast. You honor me in being here. Pleasures won and the honors won, so thank you. Okay. I have a child. You just met my children out there. At least you saw them in the corner playing an iPad.

But getting them to play music at an early age, you know, any kid. But I was surprised that you started studying at a very young age. I think five is the number I remember. Is that something you want to do? Is that something a parent asked you? I asked my mom, I said I want to take care of lessons. What was it about music that was so attractive to you at such a young age?

Well, it was always a piano in the house. It was my mom played piano. Okay. Was she a good pianist? Not great. But that whole generation, everybody played something on some level somehow. You know, it been a professional quality, but back in those days, families got together and had different people play sang and play somebody play piano. So, I had the bang on the things that I can remember. And finally, I just really want to learn to play this. Because I did listen to my mom plan. I thought it was really cool. How was your piano playing? How's my piano playing? Yeah. Wasn't bad. Wasn't bad. Wasn't great. But if you're going to study an instrument, if you have, if your first instrument is piano, which is really a sort of basis of Western music, if you have that under your belt, that's tremendous advantage. Yeah. Yeah, I learned piano later, and I wish I'd learned it earlier. Well, there's so much connected to it. You know, you study trumpet and I study trumpet too, but you study trumpet and you re-loan the reading, you know, to a little bit about melody, but you study the piano and you're studying harmony, counterpoint, a little bit of composition. I mean, you get, it's this full trip bag of stuff. So how does this family end up going to Mexico City? That seems to be something I couldn't find. Other than you just end up in Mexico City. Well, did you ever see Mad Men? I don't know. I don't know. Those people doesn't watch a lot of things. I know the show, but I... Okay. Well, my dad was a senior executive vice president of J. Walter Thompson, which was at the time, the biggest advertising in the world. So you lived in Mad Men. And they built, I did, and they sent my dad down to run a lot in America. Wow, okay. So age, what age do you go to Mexico City? Oh, it's like nine or 10. And guitar shows up around what age? Shows up around 10. I wanted a bicycle for Christmas. And they gave me a guitar and it pissed me off. So I hung out on the wall. And then a friend of mine in the apartment downstairs got in Kurt Bundy, came came up that hang out one day and he said,

oh, do you play guitar?

And I go, no.

And he said, well, I'm taking guitar lessons

and if I show you some chords, maybe, you know,

I can have somebody play with us and, yeah, all right.

And then I don't know, somehow or other,

I got the cosmic bolt from wherever that place is.

Yeah.

And fell in love.

Yeah. from wherever that place is and fell in love. Yeah, still in love, right? Oh, I adore it. Yeah, yeah, beautiful. King Thunder and the Lightning bolts. This is your surf band. Well, sort of surf band. Actually, my surf band was a band called the Tarantulas.

Okay, good name.

There's a wonderful musician based player named Abraham Laborio who's like one of the top studio

players on the planet. And even I grew up together in Mexico City.

Wow, okay.

And we formed a band called the Tarantulas, which was just the two of us playing guitar.

But we didn't think that was out of the ordinary because the original ventures were only two guitar players. Oh, okay. And it was only later on. Did they just go and cut with studio guys when they would cut their records? Is that the thing? Well, they weren't even really studio guys. They were just playing gigs the two of them. Oh, I didn't know. And then when they went in and walked on run, they they got a drone. So one of those guys I have every venture cell I've ever made, I love the ventures. That band. So cool, man. And I actually wrote Bob Bogel a letter when I was 11 and said, that I wanna, I wanna play like like you guys. What do I do? And he said we'll go buy fender jazz Mr Now in Mexico City a jazz master was like 800 bucks. So that that wasn't gonna happen. I eventually got one but Came full circle where I started to play with them produce records records with them, do some touring with them. And then one day Bob Bogal came into the studio and we were doing, I guess, his wallet again to the album and he brought the letter with him. And I thought, oh my goodness, I wonder if he still had the letter. And that's such an amazing story. It just, I think it's rare that people get to meet the people, but they look up to and that they respect. So this comes full circle. And now I'm playing and producing with guys that inspired me. Yeah. That's great. And I love those guys. I thought Wilson was the last one. He passed away a few years ago, but I spent a lot of time with those guys. I love that band. Amazing band. Amazing. Yeah. They had this concept called play the melody. What a concept. Well, as a guitar player likes to so I don't know anything about melody, but... Well, this is as you go through their records and you learn to play the melodies of the songs later on when I started doing casuals, you know, weddings and bar Our Misfits and Stumpers 12 and 13, and had a stack of fake books this high. I realized that many of the songs in the fake books were songs of the vessels of the book. I see. Cherry Blossom, Pinkham Apple Blossom, and all the standard stuff. Yeah. Well, melody, and once you understand and are comfortable with melody, I don't know a lot of guitar players that have had that experience. Many of my friends have, because they're like you, they're big ventures fans, but the whole generation of folks that are even really... Yeah, what I love about the ventures is like, as you go through their catalog and music taste change, well, they just kind of go with the time so you can their take on psychedelia

Mm-hmm. And like their psychedelic records are amazing. Oh, yeah great stuff

Because the guitar playing in that band. Yeah, I mean Bob Bogol was a great guitar player again

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