Comedy
He's all about the bass. And, keys, who knew? Carmine Rojas has dug the groove on so much iconic music of our time. Not sure I've ever seen more gold and platinum records in one room. I’ve been circling Carmine’s orbit since the streets of Bleecker and the Club of China. There were jams, loads of mutual friends, attempts to get him on this show, A Bowie Celebration show at his invitation, some Facebook messages, but this is the first time we’ve had an extended conversation in all these years. Now that we’ve chatted, it seems there were more than a few concerts we both attended a gazillion years ago growing up in NY, too. A long time coming, Carmine was worth the wait. What a glorious and gracious human. We had a most animated conversation about his rock through his ages. He’s cross-genre’d all over the place, and we touched on much of it. Touched on, because, with a playlist like Carmine’s, long and deep (that’s what she said), it could take days. We started with the kid from Brooklyn Heights, who picked up a bass at 13, self-taught to play and read, went from his teenage band to opening for The Who with LaBelle at 19. Not bad. We talked those early days, touring with Nona Hendrix, and then Europe with Nektar. Keyboards with Sam Moore, hello, to the wonder of stadium touring with Bowie. Does it get any better than that for a bassist from Brooklyn? Well, it sure stayed great. Amidst his years with the icon, there was a year touring with our friend, John Waite, at the height of it all, with Missing You, and Julian Lennon’s debut albums and tours, as bassist and Musical Director, landing for about 15 years doing the same double duty for Rod Stewart. How many rock icons does it take to screw in a lightbulb? I don’t know but I bet Carmine’s playing bass for them. Years with Joe Bonamassa on his rise to fame was next, to A Bowie Celebration which was so rudely interrupted by the pandemic. Sprinkled throughout we got stories about playing with Keith, and Mick, separately. Dear Charlie, which did not include playing, but very cool nonetheless. Brushes with McCartney and Beck (first brush that is), also separately, which took our heroes’ breath away. Tina Turner, Ron Wood, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Herbie Hancock, lots of Nile Rogers, Peter Frampton, Steve Winwood, Carole King, Billy Gibbons, Peter Gabriel, Phil Ramone, Ian Hunter… damn! That’s just we what covered… there’s so much more. Hmmm… Part 2? I had such a relaxed, fun, good time in Carmine’s most excellent company. He introduced us to his four best girls, gave us a look around, opening his studio, his mind, and his heart. I have great admiration and adoration. COVID cautious (he’s one of us!) I can’t wait for this to blow over and catch ABC’s next tour. Days like today remind me how lucky I am to do what I do… almost as lucky as when I got to do it in person. Soonish again, for all of us, I hope. Carmine Rojas Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson Wed, 8/25/21, 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET Streamed Live on my Facebook Replay here: https://bit.ly/3mvpCa1 All BROADcasts, as podcasts, also available on iTunes apple.co/2dj8ld3 Stitcher bit.ly/2h3R1fla tunein bit.ly/2gGeItj Also on iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Voox, OwlTail, Backtracks, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Podchaser, and Listen Notes Thanks to Rick Smolke of Quik Impressions, the best printers, printing, the best people people-ing. quikimpressions.com Nicole Venables of Ruby Begonia Hair Studio Beauty and Products, for tresses like the stars she coifs, and regular people, like me. I love my hair, and I love Nicole. http://www.rubybegoniahairstudio.com/ Blue Microphones and Kevin Walt