Hey, this is John Gordon with Positive You. And today my guess is Mark Rivera. Mark, how

you doing?

Very well, John and yourself doing great. So you wrote a book called Side Man and it's a

really cool looking book, an incredible concept. Everyone always talks about being the leader

of being the man. You're talking about the side man. Why did you write this book?

Well, first of all, it was my COVID vacation. It took place throughout. We came back from

Mexico City on March 7th of 2020. And I think within five days, the whole industry was shut

down. And within 10 days, my wife and I got COVID. And we got high octane COVID. We got

the real deal before there was any any vaccination. And we weren't even able to get tested. That's

how early we got it. So I met with a woman who was a speaking engagement or speakers agent.

And I was back and forth. And she said, you know, it would really be great if you had

a book to really push this along. I said, ah, to my thinking was, you're right, a book

is about to fall off the stage and you no longer relevant. So I took it upon myself. I met

with a gentleman named my punts, if you co-writer. And we would speak for about two hours a day,

maybe once or twice a week. And it was it became I felt as though I was speaking to my therapist

because it's a cathartic thing to look back and forth. And the book takes place. It's in the

contemporary. And then back in the past from from a childhood to the first band that I was in

in high school performing arts. So it's it was very it was a deep look back. And sometimes it's not

the musicians don't always like to look back. But this was a really healthy and helpful moment for me.

I love it. So in terms of side man, there's a special performer that you worked with, talk about

who you worked with and how you got started working with them in the first place. Oh, well, it goes

back to if I'm allowed to give the whole backstory. I was in a band called Tycoon. And we had done

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