The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

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Good morning, and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan. I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me. Here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics, and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started.

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Good morning, Las Vegas and welcome to another issue or an edition of the scoop with me, Tanya Flanagan, here on 91.5k u and v jazz and more public radio. so delighted that you got up this morning and decided to tune in and listen to the show. As you know from time to time, if you've been here before, I like to do a man on the street segment. So this morning, we're having one of those segments a man on the street segment and it's designed to introduce you to interesting people who live right here in the valley with you that you might otherwise not have the opportunity to get to know. So this morning, I'd like to welcome to the show. My friend and neighbor, John Taggart. Good morning, John.

Unknown Speaker 1:27
Good morning.

Unknown Speaker 1:28
Thank you for getting up so early on a Sunday morning. And now it's it's beautiful. We're getting into that season of spring to enjoy the weather and the the nice mornings the beautiful sunrises. So I want to say thank you for grabbing a cup of coffee and hanging out with me.

Unknown Speaker 1:43
No worries.

Unknown Speaker 1:46
Well, I'm delighted to have you with me today. And for those who have no faith, some may know you some may not. But the reason why I'm so excited to have you on is I've always been in awe. You recently retired, but I've always been in awe of your career. It just always seems so cool. Delighted to say you're my neighbor. And I would look him from time to time you would be gone because you would be on tour with the phenomenal the infamous the world renowned, the revered Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac, and you were in the music industry. And so I was how did that happen? How does a person end up doing that for a career? And how do you make it a career?

Unknown Speaker 2:33
Um, well, quite frankly, it started in junior high school. I had was lucky enough to have some friends that were in a band and I just hung out with him and started getting into instrument repair. So they were always, you know, calling me and and that went on all the way through high school. And then I kind of got away with it way from it for a few years and decided I was going to start a repair shop. And one thing led to another and I had known this gentleman named Jerry Lopez who was in a band called Santa Fe still is and he had a friend who was a manager of Bette Midler. And they were looking for a local guitar tech because she was looking for she was doing a residency there at Caesars when they gave me a call and asked if I was interested and of course I said yes. And that led on to I ended up doing the share residency there at Caesars as well. And Marty bets manager was also Stevie Nicks his manager. And he asked me if I wanted to go out and do a few gigs makeup gigs. And I said yes. And one thing led to another and I worked with CB for about a year I think. And all of a sudden Fleetwood Mac was looking for a guitar tech and and I just moved right into the position then stayed with Stevie the whole time. I've been a Stevie for 14 years now. And so yeah, it worked out pretty smooth. So it's in the right place at the right time really it's

Unknown Speaker 4:35
just so cool. So do you so when you say tech you make sure everything is working Do you ever like actually cat to perform to

Unknown Speaker 4:45
um I did perform one time was share but only on one song but no, basically I have a my guitar check. I mean, my guitar player, why do you watch hill I missed sponsible for his gear, to make sure it gets gets off the truck gets on stage, all up and running for the show and gets back off stage and back into the truck. So yeah, loaders at every gig. Stevie normally travels with with about Around 40 people, whether they're lighting, video rigging, stuff like that. And then they have what's called backline, which is about four or five people that are in charge of each person in the band and their gear. So yeah, it's it's the Stevie Nicks gig is like, a dream gig really. It's a great camp, and just awesome. Fun times. That

Unknown Speaker 5:57
says, I mean, it's so cool. You've traveled all over the world, because you said you've worked with Stevie for like 14 years. So you've been a part of her. Her entertainment traveling family for over a decade. What's one of the most interesting cities or places you guys if you've ever traveled to, to support her?

Unknown Speaker 6:23
Oh, boy, that's a tough question. I really, I really like England. Although it's a tad expensive. I've been to Switzerland. That's, that's a beautiful country. I love Amsterdam. All the waterways and the boats and the houseboats and Berlin, I mean, boy, there's so many places I've been to that. Each one of them has its own little quirk, whether it be food or the view, France, Romain, cons France, great place. But a lot of times where it's a hit and run gag where you're, you fly in and fly out. Or you are fortunate enough to stay there for a few days and enjoy the sights. It all depends on what What if she's doing a one off, or Stevie does a lot of one offs for lack of a better term, the rich and famous will do like backyard parties, which are like super fun, very low keyed. I mean, normally, we're doing a gig where there's like, you know, anywhere from 10 to 15,000 people. And, you know, when you're playing a backyard party, where there's like, 100 people, it's just, it's a blast.

Unknown Speaker 7:52
That reminds me when I used to hear we hear the stories about Prince and I don't know if you ever liked his heard the stories being so close to the industry, that he would just show up to places and play like the small clubs, wherever he might be, and he would play like for hours.

Unknown Speaker 8:10
That is true.

Unknown Speaker 8:13
Is it anything like that? Is it because it makes me think of this really intimate? concert setting where I mean, I cannot imagine what it would be like to see Stevie Nicks. With 100 people, it's like, she's so close, you could touch her from almost any spot in the room. I saw Fleetwood Mac concert, once it was some years ago was a memorial day weekend here. And they were playing the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Phenomenal show. And when I used to work in gaming, at the hotel, you'd walk the hallways of the management offices and all of the they frame the pictures of the concerts that have taken place. And one of the the billboards that's framed is is Fleetwood Mac is Stevie Nicks for one of the shows. And so it was just super cool to see all of the things that go into entertainment here. But to talk to you to kind of get a feel for what goes on behind the scenes. How How long does it take to really prepare because when you see the shows the stages are elaborate. People emerge from underneath the stage or they dropped down from the sky.

Unknown Speaker 9:27
Well, there again, it depends on what what group or artists you're seeing on a typical Stevie show. If you're doing a TV show, say like, Good Morning America or today. The call time is usually around two o'clock in the in the morning. And in the show, usually the downbeat usually about six o'clock in the morning and your your out there, an hour and a half later, on a regular show day. Like the the rigging guys, they show up anywhere between six and eight o'clock in the morning. And then the backline guys have the best gig really, as far as I'm concerned. You're, you're the last in in the first out. So we would typically show up anywhere between nine and 11 o'clock in the morning. So are you considered backline? Or is that considered backline? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 10:33
okay, so so your gig was like, the better gig of all of it when you're getting a band situated to do a show? Well,

Unknown Speaker 10:41
there's, trust me, when you when you have people hanging hundreds of things over your head. Your trust is for fully in them, because it's, you know, there's a lot of respect for those guys, they. And there's a lot of responsibility for those guys as well. You know, you have you have all kinds of stuff hanging over your head for hours during the day, and you definitely don't want it coming down. But as far as the backline goes, it's it's a pretty smooth operation. I mean, you're basically just in charge of one person's band gear, you know, you have a drum tech and a keyboard tack and there's a lot of Shokan in messing around during the day. But you know, when it comes to show time, it's it's serious. And you know, during the day is when you want all the problems to occur. You definitely don't want them happening during the show. Right? What has happened?

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What's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you?

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While trying power outage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

Unknown Speaker 11:55
Okay, so was it like, did the room go dark? Was it just like, everybody?

Unknown Speaker 12:00
No, just just just the bear and

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just the band. So does she sing acapella?

Unknown Speaker 12:08
No, we didn't, we didn't do anything, we had to wait for them to get back together. The problem was, is that happened like two or three times during the show. Very, very stressful to say the least, I can't even because you know, your your job is to is to

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make sure nothing happens and everything's supposed to go off without a hitch, you probably

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want to walk on stage being just into music. They don't want to be thinking about any thing other than music. So your job is to make sure their day is smooth sailing.

Unknown Speaker 12:48
I can't even imagine when you see people perform. And all of the lyrics, I actually watched that about a week ago or whatever it was the country music, I guess it was the country music, TV awards or something, I don't know fans awards or something. But big little town performed and they did this sort of remake of Phil Collins take me home. And it was phenomenal. And now that I'm listening to you talk about what goes into putting a show together on stage and making sure the sound is where it needs to be. The instruments are ready to go. It was about six to eight people in this band all singing their different parts, and the band playing you know, their respective parts on the instruments. I think it's just a newfound respect because I don't know if I ever thought about it before all that goes into making that happen. People just put on a pretty outfit or something comfortable whatever they feel good in and sew up at a concert and expect everything to be amazing.

Unknown Speaker 13:51
Exactly, you know, we were talking about setting up you know, you're you talk about somebody like Beyonce or Taylor Swift or even Metallica, you know, it takes sometimes up to a week to set their their show up. And they have what they call a B rig. So they're while they're playing say in Las Vegas, there's a whole nother crew already in the next city starting to set up the show for the for the next show. Before the band even hits the stage at the other show. It's it can get really detailed. And you're talking about, you know, you want things to move smoothly because you're talking about millions of dollars on the line there and you don't want any mishaps.

Unknown Speaker 14:53
I never knew I mean, I don't think I've ever knew that. It would take that long but I will Look at the dynamics of a stage and certain people have really phenomenal stage productions, especially with the residencies that we have here now. So as we move into the space we're in now, where performances where you have the residencies like I went and saw John Legend at the Zappos theater over at Planet Hollywood, I want to say back in October, or similar last year, somewhere recently, but it was such a production, I mean, he had all these changes. All of the stage stuff, the costumes, background singers, the musicians. I never thought about what it must really take to keep that going. And for people who do phenomenal, who do phenomenal, one time performances that are very elaborate and extremely entertaining.

Unknown Speaker 15:54
Well, yeah, you have to consider to like, a typical rehearsal before the tour even starts. For Stevie and say, Fleetwood Mac, we're talking, you know, anywhere from four to seven, eight weeks of just rehearsal, before we even hit the road. So yeah, there's a lot of planning, flushing things out, that could be a possible issue, whatever. And that's when you know, my job, that index my job during rehearsal, is to fix anything that's broken or could break your it's never 100%. But if you do your job and rehearsal fingers crossed the show's go on, like clockwork, and it's just, it makes your job a lot easier.

Unknown Speaker 16:53
I have to tip my hat. What's the most? Do you find people are different from one city to the next, though and how they received the band or receive you guys? Different parts of the country? Do you just notice different things because you've done this for so long, and you get to see you get to see the country through a different lens.

Unknown Speaker 17:17
You know, quite frankly, in any city, the audience just shows up to, to see the artist. It's pretty, pretty normal everywhere. They just they want to see Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac or whoever you're working with. And it's not really, you know, there's a lot of people that dress up in costume if you will. But no, I don't really notice a huge difference from city to city. Just simply I just noticed that they're, you know, they're they came to see the music and they're hoping for a good show. Fingers crossed,

Unknown Speaker 18:06
right, because I think the most important thing to me for a show is sound. I've gotten the show sometimes where the the sound is just the acoustics are horrible and certain venues are better than others. But sometimes I think you just feel like some places have amazing sound and it makes you want to go and see someone like a pants down the perform the theater at point of Hollywood, I think is one of the most phenomenal venues here to see a show and I've done I love to go to live performances. So understanding and hearing what goes on behind the scenes. It's really quite fascinating. I mean, I've seen George Benson and Chaka Khan staying at Caesars Phil Collins and his last tour. Stevia fleet was absolutely that is a beautiful venue. The Colosseum is a beautiful, beautiful venue. Sound was amazing. We saw Steen during his residency. It was a phenomenal show. Phenomenal show. Phil Collins last performance was great too. And it was the T mobile arena but his son Nick did him proud on the drum solo and air tonight. So

Unknown Speaker 19:17
you know I've been to T Mobile a few times. That's a big show in the room. You know, another gig we were talking earlier. Another gig that's obviously a classic. In they have all those pictures backstage that you were describing earlier of artists that had been there is the Hollywood Bowl. I mean that places.

Unknown Speaker 19:39
Yes. Would you say that's one of the most amazing places you've ever gone with her to perform this?

Unknown Speaker 19:51
Well, one of the most beautiful, nondescript rooms that I can think of is, is its It's, it's in Chicago, and it's just this brick building. On the outside, you would never even know what's on the inside unless you walk in. It's kind of has a Beacon Theater vibe, it's very Art Deco II and oh my gosh, it was just gorgeous. Like, if you were walking down the street, you would never know that that beautiful room was inside there. And it sounds great. And it's a small room as well, just like the beach. And

Unknown Speaker 20:32
I think one of the many. And is I think one of the coolest places I've ever actually seen a performance. Well, the Hollywood Bowl was definitely ranks at the top of my list. But we had the pleasure of seeing. I want to say it was John Legend, actually, I think it was him perform at the Kennedy Center. And one of the theater rooms at the Kennedy Center in Washington. And that was it was just such a treat to Yes, go to a performance the hill there was a private show for a conference that I was attending a leadership conference, but it was a treat to see him perform in that space.

Unknown Speaker 21:16
Yeah, I actually did the Kennedy Center a couple of times one time we played a gig with baby stage there. But yeah, I totally agree with what you're saying. It's kind of a, a room on its own. It's, it's a special room, if you will, because a lot of a lot of impressive shows go on there, whether they be you know, conferences, or are seeing a group there or there's like, oh, gosh, there's just a bunch of like, what was his name, Michael Milken, he was doing a thing for his charity there. You know, they have a lot of those type of events. They're powerful.

Unknown Speaker 22:03
I think the historical factor of being at the Kennedy Center and the grand the grandness that comes with the idea and the iconic miss of the venue, is what makes it be one of the places that will always stand out in my mind, as a great place to see your show. If you're ever able to do that. I have to ask you. Most Interesting. What is your most interesting place we named the Hollywood Bowl and I have to agree with you on that. Because I've been to I had the pleasure of seeing foreplay at the Hollywood Bowl. And it's amazing how the stadium seating goes up into the mountains. And it's just open almost like a Coliseum, like back in ancient Roman times or something, and it just goes up into the mountains. And so the sky is your blanket is your ceiling. You have stars, you have the trees and everything that's around you. And then you have the sound and it comes out. It's lovely. The way they've set that up the seating. Isn't that comfortable? Because seats weren't that comfortable. No. Seats are not comfortable. I will give that just the seats are so uncomfortable. You need to bring a cushion. But it's absolutely worth the pain. I think it's worth the pain

Unknown Speaker 23:17
old school gig. It's super cool. I mean, the Beatles played there. It's ancient. They have done some updating. But still, the bottom line is this. It's an old gig. It's

Unknown Speaker 23:32
nothing like it though, I have to say if you like having music, surrounded by nature, there's nothing like that experience. How to end up staying here. Because a lot of times when we think of people in this industry, you think of California and I know that we're right next door and things are shifting. And that's another conversation as we are beginning to see the efforts to bring film here as a sec as an industry, which means all types of new work will come into focus. I hope for people here and boy,

Unknown Speaker 24:03
you know we well. We rehearsed a lot at Sony studios in Culver City. And yeah, if they could bring that same vibe here to Vegas. There there's so many great jobs in that gig. Whether it be you know, I'm sure the office stuff is just as interesting, but my my love at Sony Studios was the carpentry set design. It's just amazing. The stuff that they put up in those stages for a TV show or bands rehearse there and they got their gear all set up and but yeah, it started out basically my wife and I grew up in Los Angeles. And then we spent some time in Oregon. We've always been in a band. That's how I met my wife, I joined her band. And then she joined a show band in Las Vegas while we were still in Oregon. And she ended up talking me into moving down to Vegas. And I gotta tell you, this town has been a great fit. For me, I've, I've basically never applied for a job since I've been here. And I've been here for 27 years now. It's just been all word of mouth through the music business. That's so phenomenal. Your reputation is everything in the music business.

Unknown Speaker 25:34
It is so phenomenal story. Very few people have the privilege privilege of having a story of having a life of having a career that is based in the one thing, the very thing that you love. So adjacent to what you love the most, which is music. I know you've played with Stevie for a long time, who's your is, and maybe she is your favorite, but who's in your top five? Rotation all the time.

Unknown Speaker 26:02
For your you are a tough host. That is for me growing up. You know, I grew up in the 60s. So I love so much music. It's I don't have a favorite because it all depends. And you can probably vouch for this. It just depends on what kind of mood you're in. Okay. I mean, I mean, I grew up with so many great bands back in the day. Long before you were born young lady. Thank

Unknown Speaker 26:37
you for making me young still. I appreciate it. Especially so early. I like my youth to keep shining through.

Unknown Speaker 26:44
It always does. I mean, back in back in the day, you could pretty much go to any club.

Unknown Speaker 26:51
Got to pick one. You got to pick one. John, your band used to run that diplomatic thing,

Unknown Speaker 26:57
Alton I like

Unknown Speaker 27:01
if I gave you a genre, and I said, classic American rock, who would you say?

Unknown Speaker 27:07
Classical American rock. I mean, there's so many good bands on you can say what band you really like? I mean right now. My wife and I have been playing a lot of guitar of late and we've been doing a lot of Joni Mitchell Shawn Colvin, Carla Bong off. Linda Ronstadt. Rickie Lee Jones. I mean, it's the list can just go on and on and on,

Unknown Speaker 27:37
you probably could educate people to what they're listening to. I think that's another fun thing about having the benefit of having a friend who's who understands the technical factors of music. I had another friend and I, we're getting into the last couple of minutes of the show right now. But he played drums for Barry White and travel with the love unlimited orchestra for a while. And so we do, we do concerts together. And he's always making me cognizant of sound and how well someone's falsetto is being performed and things like that. And whether or not the music is really good, because his ear is tuned very differently. And so I would imagine that you afford you and your beautiful wife for your friends the same benefit of teaching them through experiences at shows? Well, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 28:28
I mean, you remember Lisa Fisher, I'm sure. She was singing background for Cher, for leg because she was off the road. And that woman, oh my gosh, she gifted. She is so gifted. And I'm telling you, she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Well,

Unknown Speaker 28:55
before we run out of time, I want to say thank you because we're really out of time. I want to thank you for spending some time with me this morning for sharing your knowledge. I look forward to seeing you the rest of this week because you are my neighbor. Thank you. Thank you Las Vegas for listening to John Taggart. My man on the street segment. I hope you learned something new about music. And I'll see you next time here on the scoop with Tanya Flanagan Have a great week. Keep it here 91.5k u and v jazz and more.

Unknown Speaker 29:31
Want to thank you for tuning into the scoop with me Tony Flanagan and I want to invite you to get social with me I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle ta n YAFLA na GA N You can also find me on Instagram at Tanya almond eyes Flanagan and if you have a thought and opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tonya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai