About June 1998 I visit my parents home briefly during the whirlwind that was The Way...
Dad: I was going through a copy of Billboard the other day...
Me: What in thee hell were you doing with a copy of Billboard?!
Dad: I like to see how "the single" is doing.
Me: You mean The Way? So how's it doing?
Dad: Well, it looks like Closing Time is closing in on The Way!
...and so it was that Semisonic's wonderful ode to the American Tavern became number 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart! That was quite a while ago.
Posted on 02/13/2007
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Posted on 11/04/2007
My Trusted MOGs
Cool!
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"The Way" has always been one of my favorite songs! It has some great memories attached in my heart, like back in my college youth driving down a congested street in suck ass Southern California with an ex-boyfriend and my best buddy Davey all of us windows down harmonizing to that great diddy. Good times, good times.
Thanks for the memories!
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i believe i was still on "my island" during this time.....bummer
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I think I bought both of those albums at Best Buy, haha.
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I bought both of those when they came out and love both those albums.
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I remember that summer well.
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Whoa! When i saw this post I had to go up and get my "All The Pain Money Can Buy" album because it still had the receipt in it (i'm weird) because i had a sneaking suspicion...and i was right. June 1998 was when i bout that album. Also on the receipt is Revolver and The Kids Are Alright...and a pack of gum. :D
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I might have that conversation on video. One of the most surreal moments I witnessed during FB's time on the Top 10 was when they played at the Viper Room. I remember sitting in a booth with our Dad, Mr.Rob Cavallo (head of Hollywood Records, and Italian so he was alright with dad), Poe's brother, and Fabrice of Milli Vanilli who had mini-dreadlocks. I wish the Viper Room management hadn't ordered me to put my camera back in the car. I would have LOVED to have had a picture of all of us sitting there.
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Bob Cavallo, president of Hollywood Records, we don't talk much these days. Rob is the son of Bob and was a VP for Hollywood at the time. Bob was manager of The Lovin' Spoonful in the 60's, Prince in the 80's, Goo Goo Dolls in the 90's that's just the tip. It was a delight for me to sit those two down together. Dad couldn't have known really who Bob Cavallo was. I think he thought he was my boss. I just left it at that. That night Mark McGrath, whom I had known from Costa Mesa days, walked in the back door as I passed by and asked me, "Hey Tony, sellin' out feels good, doesn't it?". Then it began...
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You say Bob - Rob, oh, whatever...yes, it was Bob, the Elder Cavallo. If Dad didn't know who Bob was then he sure as hell didn't know who Fab was... I don't think you sold out. At least you didn't have to make two songs out of "Are You Ready for the Fallout" like that exec suggested...."Yah, you can have a whole other song called 'SOON!'"
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That's another great story! That 'exec' was then Hollywood pres Bob Pfeiffer. He's in jail now, I believe. The Cavallos came in after he was fired, leaving the Hollywood helm unmanned, thereby giving us free reign over our record, All The Pain Money Can Buy. By the time The Way and Out Of My Head were in the can, Hollywood was restaffed with about 80% new people ready to work the album. That's just what they did. After that crazy run Fastball's interesting-ness began to wain among industry types. We've been as lucky as we've been unlucky in this crazy music career!
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Who's FAB? The guy from the Strokes or the guy from Milli Vanilli?
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Fab is short for Fabrice...he's the guy from Milli Vanilli. :)