Reprinted, in honor of Eddie’s recent passing. This interview took place in the summer of 2017, when Eddie was in a good place healthwise…
Shakin’ With the Money Man
Eddie Money is a legendary performer who ruled rock music airwaves for long stretches of the 70’s and 80’s. Despite some well known struggles with addiction, he’s stood the test of time and is doing better than ever. Simply put, Eddie has got his act together. He’s happy, he feels great and he still has that iconic voice. Orlando rock fans are the beneficiaries, as he’s headed to The City Beautiful for this week’s Velvet Sessions.
Our conversation was like reconnecting with an old friend. Eddie Money is a caring, funny guy who loves his family, is proud of his accomplishments and relishes his fans, as you’ll see in the interview below.
Velvet Sessions
Eddie Money: Oh yeah, I’ve done that before. It’s a lot of fun. It’s really fantastic. I’ve done two or three (Velvet Sessions) and the people are great and the turnout is fantastic. That’s the venue where there are free drinks served before the show.
Pets for Vets
Eddie Money: We’ll be selling T-shirts for the (Pets For Vets) charity. You’ve seen the ASPCA commercials where the dogs are chained up, freezing in the cold and not being paid any attention to? This group rescues those dogs and teaches them how to take care of wounded Veterans. It’s really an amazing program.
This is a true story. I met a guy in a wheelchair about six months ago and he told his little beagle “Toby go get me my cell phone.” That little dog goes about thirty feet away and pulls a cell phone out of his wife’s purse and brought he cell phone back and I said “This is amazing.”
He took the dog by the cheeks and looked him in the eye and said “Toby, this is the wrong cell phone, I need my cell phone.” And, the dog brought the cell phone back to the wife’s purse, put it back and pulled out his cell phone.
So we support Pets for Vets, it’s a great organization. We sell the t-shirts and raise a lot of money, and help out the Vets and the pets. And we’ll be doing that Thursday at Velvet Sessions.
His Florida Connection
I have a lot of friends from Orlando. I had a summer place in Palm Coast right on the Intracoastal. It was gorgeous. I sold it but we have a lot of friends from that area; Daytona Beach to Orlando, so we’ll have a lot of friends at the show. And we have a lot of friends at that big radio station, WMMO.
Setlist
Playing at an intimate venue like this, do you switch up your set at all?
Eddie Money: We’ll be plugged in so we’ll play our normal songs. I’ll start with “Baby Hold On,” and then a song for all of the ladies from the 80’s, “Endless Nights,” and then we play “Walk On Water.” Then we do a song I wrote called “One More Soldier Coming Home,” which I send to all of the Vets. We play about 14 songs…
His Health
I haven’t had a drink in nine years and haven’t touched a cigarette in four years. When you’re raising kids, you want to try to set a good example… I feel great, I still have all of my hair and my voice sounds good, and I got my weight down.
Playing Sax
I still play it on stage. And I feel like I’m actually getting better. You’ll hear it on “Wanna Be a Rock ‘n Roll Star,” on “Trinidad” and “I Wanna Go Back.”
Touring Band
Who will be traveling out to Florida with you for this show?
Eddie Money: The original Eddie Money Band is coming out with me. Tommy Girvin is an amazing guitar player, Lee Beverly who has played bass with me for 20 years, and my keyboard player is Chris Grove, who played with Survivor a long time.
Take Me Home Tonight
So, there’s no woman in the band Thursday night. Who sings Ronnie’s part?
Eddie Money: Usually my daughter Jessica comes out and sings it with me, but she won’t be there, so the audience will need to sing it. They love it, and the girls love to sing “Be my little baby.”
Emotional Music
Eddie Money: About two weeks ago, I was playing a show and this really attractive young lady is in the front row,right below my feet, I look down and she’s crying her eyes out with her eye make-up running down her cheeks. I was singing and couldn’t talk to her, but then the guitar solo came around and I bent down to talk to her, and she said “You…you’re standing on my fingers.”
rimshot…
Covers of his music
Eddie Money: I’m really proud of “Gimme Some Water” because it was actually in Johnny Cash’s set before he passed away. Isn’t that amazing, or what? I wish I could have heard him play it, that would have been fantastic. That’s a real honor having Johnny Cash play one of your songs.
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is a big Eddie Money fan. He used to play “Baby Hold On” in his set. So did Cher. That’s surreal. It’s a compliment. It’s really great.
Mount Rushmore of NY Rock
If we were commissioning a Mount Rushmore for rock ‘n roll singers from New York, who would be the fourth person after you, Lou Gramm and Billy Joel?
Eddie Money: Laura Branigan. Or how about the Young Rascals? Felix Cavaliere. When I was a kid growing up in New York, we loved the Young Rascals; “Good Lovin’,” “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” and “Mustang Sally.” That was really good rock ‘n roll. Then you’ve got Dee Snider from Twisted Sister. He’s a good guy, a good kid.
What about Lou Reed?
He was a New Yorker, but I didn’t like his songs like “Heroin” which put people in the wrong direction. It was darkstuff when he was in the Velvet Underground.
The Music Business
Eddie Money: They say video killed the radio star, but it should be the internet killed the recording star. If you look at Taylor Swift, she should be selling so many more records than she does. All of the big record stores have closed. Today you need to have a good live show. I feel sorry for these young acts.
Are you excited that you have kids who have gravitated to the music business?
Eddie Money: Yes and No. I’m glad they’re into music, but it’s really a heart-breaking business. I started playing when I was in high school, but I didn’t get a record deal until I was 27 years old. And these days, even if the kids get a record deal, they’re really not going to sell a lot of records.
Bill Graham
Eddie Money: He was my manager and If I was getting high, he’d kick the shit out of me. He ran the Fillmore East and Fillmore West. He died in a helicopter crash flying home after a Huey Lewis concert. He managed the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Santana and Montrose.
His hey day
Eddie Money: In the late 70’s, I was making $1,000 a minute for a 75-minute show. I would do a show with Steve Miller in St. Louis and then take a Leer jet to Kansas City to open for Fleetwood Mac. I was working for Bill Graham, it was really fantastic. But I think the days of the rich recording stars are pretty much over.
Crazed Fans
Eddie Money: Back in the early 80’s there was this schizophrenic kid who thought he was my brother. I was living in the Bay Area, and he was coming out to the Bay Area to kill me. He had flew out of Kennedy (in NYC) and when he was landing in San Francisco, I was just arriving back at Kennedy. He could have saved himself a lot of money and just stayed there. He ended up in a psych ward and I actually met him and taught him how to play dominoes.
