Episode 15

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Published on:

11th Nov 2024

Jere Ring & Bruce Fessier | Dueling Pianos & Hidden Truths: A Tribute to Liberace

In this captivating episode of Big Conversations, Little Bar, co-hosts Patrick Evans and Randy Florence delve into the fascinating legacy of Liberace with guests Bruce Fessier, a longtime culture editor and columnist at The Desert Sun, and Jere Ring, an entertainer who knew Liberace personally. Together, they explore the dazzling yet complex life of Liberace, highlighting his immense influence in entertainment and his deep ties to the Coachella Valley. The discussion touches on Liberace's overshadowed status compared to contemporaries like Frank Sinatra, his concealed sexuality, and his impact on LGBTQ+ history. Rich with personal anecdotes and intriguing stories, this episode offers an insightful tribute to a legendary figure whose cultural and historical significance continues to echo today.

Transcript
Patrick Evans:

On this episode, Foy Rayernet came out.

Randy Florence:

With a lot of stuff.

Randy Florence:

He said that Liberace always had the net out.

Randy Florence:

He was always looking for something new and something to take behind closed doors.

Randy Florence:

And I was quoted on a couple TV shows as saying that people got very mad at me, but he would go to clubs and things like that.

Randy Florence:

But he was hidden in the corner because if he revealed that he was Gayle, then again they would relitigate.

Randy Florence:

And that was a problem.

Patrick Evans:

The coveted corner booth in a little bar at the center of the Coachella Valley universe.

Patrick Evans:

Welcome to another big conversation with Patrick Evans and Randy Florence presented by the McCallum Theater.

Patrick Evans:

-:

Patrick Evans:

Gentlemen.

John McMullen:

Thank you very much, Howard.

John McMullen:

We are back in the corner booth at Skip Page's little bar for another edition of big Conversations.

John McMullen:

Little bar.

John McMullen:

My name is Patrick Evans and I'm joined as I am each and every week by my dear friend, close confidant and very good buddy, John McMullen.

John McMullen:

And Randy Florence is also here as our co host.

Jerry Ring:

Thank you for inviting me.

Randy Florence:

Oh, my.

Jerry Ring:

I'm glad this isn't video.

Jerry Ring:

That would have looked really.

Randy Florence:

No, it wouldn't.

John McMullen:

Well, only to me, our great co host, Randy Florence.

John McMullen:

If you look up the word co host in the dictionary, he is listed somewhere there.

Jerry Ring:

I feel certain of it.

Bruce Fessier:

Dictionary.

John McMullen:

How are you, Randy?

Jerry Ring:

I'm doing fantastic.

Jerry Ring:

Do you have somebody that you'd like to thank for letting us be here with them today?

John McMullen:

Skip Page.

Jerry Ring:

He's one of them.

John McMullen:

And the MacCallum Theater, our presenting sponsor, the MacCallum Theater.

John McMullen:

And go to mccallum theater.org to get all of your tickets.

John McMullen:

Get those season tickets before they disappear, because they will.

John McMullen:

And our good buddy Gary Keefe over there with his hand firmly on the.

John McMullen:

On the reins, making sure that.

John McMullen:

What did you think?

Jerry Ring:

I don't know where you were going with it.

Jerry Ring:

He's on the reins.

John McMullen:

His heads are on.

John McMullen:

He's running the ship over there.

Jerry Ring:

Somebody has to be.

John McMullen:

Yeah, he's doing it.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Jerry Ring:

Hey, by the way, before we move on here, this is a really special time in the desert.

Jerry Ring:

Patrick Evans is now the Chief Meteorologist at KESQ.

Jerry Ring:

Congratulations.

Jerry Ring:

After 60, 65 years.

John McMullen:

So I was the Chief Meteorologist at CVS for many years, but then when we merged, we were purchased by the parent company of kesq.

John McMullen:

And so Haley was in place and she became.

John McMullen:

And she was the chief.

John McMullen:

And we all worked with her as the head of the weather department, but she recently left and I was promoted to chief.

Jerry Ring:

What big changes can we expect?

John McMullen:

I've made some enormous, enormous changes.

John McMullen:

You know, Haley would.

John McMullen:

Okay, things like 117 on October 1st, and I have firmly vetoed that.

John McMullen:

That will not be happening again.

John McMullen:

Now, we've made some other, you know, great changes.

John McMullen:

We've repainted the weather department green room.

John McMullen:

It's very nice.

Jerry Ring:

You've got a green room?

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

Oh, yeah.

John McMullen:

I've upgraded the bar there as well.

Bruce Fessier:

So this has been a great show.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

Oh, we have guests today.

John McMullen:

Should we get to that?

Jerry Ring:

Congratulations.

Jerry Ring:

I really enjoyed being here.

Jerry Ring:

I'm really looking forward to one of our two guests.

Jerry Ring:

Go ahead.

John McMullen:

No, we're very, very pleased to welcome back to the program Bruce Fessier.

John McMullen:

You were one of our early guests.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

And you've overcome that trauma and you were able to return, which is nice.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, I was actually one of Randy's first guests even before you guys had a podcast.

Bruce Fessier:

So, you know, that was kind of like a trial.

Jerry Ring:

It had been long enough, though, that he'd forgotten.

Bruce Fessier:

He forgot.

John McMullen:

And we're very excited to welcome Jerry Ring to the program.

John McMullen:

Incredible entertainer extraordinaire.

Randy Florence:

Thank you.

Jerry Ring:

We have three guests.

John McMullen:

They do indeed.

John McMullen:

Thank you guys for coming in because we wanted to talk about Liberace.

Bruce Fessier:

Why is that?

John McMullen:

So go ahead.

Jerry Ring:

Oh, let's take a talk about Liberace.

Jerry Ring:

Now.

John McMullen:

You guys just hosted a fabulous event.

John McMullen:

It was at Casa de Monte Vista.

Randy Florence:

And you weren't there.

John McMullen:

I knew that was going to come up.

John McMullen:

I knew that was going to come up.

John McMullen:

No one confirmed with me.

Randy Florence:

Oh, here we go.

Jerry Ring:

Is that what happened?

John McMullen:

Yeah, I.

John McMullen:

No, Deanne passed along, but it was.

John McMullen:

Anyway.

Bruce Fessier:

Randy was nice enough to tell us that his wife was in a serious car accident, so.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah, but that was a lot of trouble to go to just to get out of that event.

John McMullen:

You couldn't have told them that my wife was with your wife at the time.

John McMullen:

That would have solved all of this great event.

John McMullen:

Does Johnny know that?

Randy Florence:

Yeah, pretty much.

Randy Florence:

Okay.

John McMullen:

It was for Amy's purpose to raise money specifically for scholarships for vet techs.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, veterinary assistants, actually.

Bruce Fessier:

But basically to get them involved in veterinary services and hopefully nurture them into becoming vet techs and ultimately veterinarians.

Jerry Ring:

So because of the dearth of that.

Bruce Fessier:

There really is a crisis and a lack of veterinarians in this area.

John McMullen:

And so Amy's purpose is trying to answer need by offering scholarships and paying the full ride for the.

John McMullen:

For the veterinary assistant program.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, it's a $3,200 scholarship.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, who's going to pay that for a $17 an hour job?

John McMullen:

Right.

John McMullen:

It takes a long time to pay that back.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

And it's a tough, tough road, veterinary school.

Bruce Fessier:

It really is.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

But this event was fabulous.

John McMullen:

Francesca Mari performed and Jerry Ring, I heard, also performed.

Randy Florence:

Ron Pass was there.

Randy Florence:

Ron Pass, the pianist?

John McMullen:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

And then you brought in arguably the world's greatest Liberace tribute artist.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

David Mayorka.

Randy Florence:

He came in from the East Coast.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

He's my friend.

Randy Florence:

I got him there.

Randy Florence:

Me.

Randy Florence:

It's all about me.

John McMullen:

Jerry takes all the credit.

Jerry Ring:

What can you tell us about him?

Jerry Ring:

Jerry?

Randy Florence:

About David?

Randy Florence:

Nothing.

Randy Florence:

I don't even know.

Bruce Fessier:

They were terrific together.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, that was what was an amazing part.

Bruce Fessier:

They had such wonderful chemistry that it was a really delightful show.

Randy Florence:

I had met him on one occasion.

Randy Florence:

The Liberace Gallo.

Randy Florence:

The first one, I think was five years ago at the Liberace mansion in Las Vegas.

Randy Florence:

And he was there and I had never met him, but he was up and performing and had his costuming and all that, and he was just rattled like this.

Randy Florence:

So I said, what if I did a duet?

Randy Florence:

He didn't know me.

Randy Florence:

I ran up on stage and we banged one out.

Randy Florence:

And then you played the piano.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, wow.

Bruce Fessier:

I heard that.

Randy Florence:

Nobody's supposed to know that.

Randy Florence:

Sorry.

Randy Florence:

You jealous or something?

John McMullen:

A little.

Jerry Ring:

Actually.

John McMullen:

A lot.

Randy Florence:

Any.

Randy Florence:

But then we.

Randy Florence:

A couple of times.

Randy Florence:

And then I called him and he came in and we did.

Randy Florence:

We glued it together.

Randy Florence:

We have an incredible friendship now.

Randy Florence:

It was just really great.

John McMullen:

Well, this was a great event for Amy's purpose.

John McMullen:

But Bruce and I were talking.

John McMullen:

And you were talking a little bit about how Liberace's legacy is a little bit unsigned.

John McMullen:

He's overshadowed by the other names that we bandy about here in the desert.

John McMullen:

Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope.

John McMullen:

But Liberace.

John McMullen:

I mean, first of all, they shot the movie.

John McMullen:

The Michael Douglas film.

Bruce Fessier:

Yes.

John McMullen:

What was the Candelabra?

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Steven Soderbergh directed the film.

Bruce Fessier:

Jerry Weintraub produced it and Matt Damon co starred in.

Bruce Fessier:

It was a very big film.

Randy Florence:

It was Michael Douglas.

John McMullen:

Yeah, Michael Douglas as Liberace.

John McMullen:

And it was shot at that Casa de Monte Vista.

John McMullen:

Joe Luisi's.

John McMullen:

You were married there, right?

John McMullen:

I was, yes.

Randy Florence:

Wow.

Randy Florence:

I didn't know that.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

Andrea and I got married at that time.

Randy Florence:

I wasn't invited to that either, was I?

Randy Florence:

You were.

John McMullen:

You.

Jerry Ring:

You were.

John McMullen:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

I were not.

Randy Florence:

That's what I'm leaving.

Jerry Ring:

I was, but my wife was in a car Accident.

Randy Florence:

Wow.

Bruce Fessier:

What's my excuse?

Jerry Ring:

She's been in so many car accidents.

John McMullen:

So many.

John McMullen:

You should probably talk to her about that.

John McMullen:

But now you actually knew Liberace in Las Vegas.

John McMullen:

Do we dare say you were a protege?

Randy Florence:

Yes.

John McMullen:

Of Liberace.

John McMullen:

I know that that is a loaded term.

Randy Florence:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

In certain circles.

Bruce Fessier:

In certain circles, I've been referred to.

Randy Florence:

As a discovery, if you will, that he discovered me.

Randy Florence:

I didn't know that.

Randy Florence:

Actually, I set it all up because I wanted to become a.

Randy Florence:

I wanted to work with Liberace because I knew his influence and his endorsement could really twing.

Randy Florence:

So I read about him and I met, actually met Ray Arnett, his stage director, in West Hollywood.

Randy Florence:

And he belonged to the Sports Connection, and I joined the Sports Connection.

Randy Florence:

I never worked out, but I joined it twice, and I only went once.

Randy Florence:

That's true, too.

Randy Florence:

I don't even speak to people named Jim.

Randy Florence:

What are you talking about?

Randy Florence:

Anyway, but I met Ray Arnett, and he said, lee is performing in Las Vegas.

Randy Florence:

You should come see.

Randy Florence:

He said, yes.

Randy Florence:

I said, this is my dance.

Randy Florence:

So anyway, I said, can I go backstage and meet him?

Randy Florence:

And they said, yeah, long story made sideways.

Randy Florence:

I went to the library and brought a microfish.

Randy Florence:

Is that what they were called?

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, they were microfiche.

Randy Florence:

I read about, you know, this kind of food.

Randy Florence:

He liked everything about his travel, his homes, everything I could.

Randy Florence:

So when I would meet him, I could deliver a couple lines and maybe catch his attention, and it worked.

Randy Florence:

So when I met him, you know, the first time, I was backstage after the show, and he turned around and I said, I'm going to go home and practice my little fingers off.

Randy Florence:

And he said, oh, you play piano, too, do you?

Randy Florence:

Yep.

Randy Florence:

And anyway, another line I said recently, I was sitting at the bar with him in the dressing room, and another line I delivered, and this is one that got him.

Randy Florence:

I said, I read all of your books, and my favorite was when you talked about being on the decks of the Queen Mary when you were sailing over to do a command performance.

Randy Florence:

Oh.

Randy Florence:

And that's when I got his attention.

Randy Florence:

And then he said, I'd like to hear you play sometime.

Randy Florence:

So then that happened, and I flew over the following Tuesday.

Randy Florence:

That was on a Saturday night.

Randy Florence:

And I flew over the following Tuesday, and I was going to play for him, which I did.

Randy Florence:

And then he invited me to stay for dinner, but he was doing a show at the MGM grand.

Randy Florence:

So I sat down, was going to have dinner.

Randy Florence:

The regular pianist came in, Paul Balfour, and he went over to the piano, and he came Back and sat down.

Randy Florence:

He didn't know who I was.

Randy Florence:

He said he was a black man.

Randy Florence:

He said, man, I don't feel like playing tonight.

Randy Florence:

I met with my wife last night.

Randy Florence:

I'm bone hungover.

Randy Florence:

So I said, well, you shouldn't play.

Randy Florence:

He said, but I don't want to.

Randy Florence:

Tell the manager.

Randy Florence:

He'll get all pissed off at me.

Randy Florence:

He's really mean.

Randy Florence:

So I said, well, you can go out that door over there and I'll tell him that you had to go home.

Randy Florence:

Well, he did.

Randy Florence:

And then they came back and they said, where's Paul?

Randy Florence:

He's supposed to start.

Randy Florence:

And I said, well, he wasn't feeling well.

Randy Florence:

He had to go home.

Randy Florence:

So they said, oh, my God, what are we going to do?

Randy Florence:

We have Joan Rivers coming in tonight.

Randy Florence:

Faye McKay.

Randy Florence:

Buffet McKay.

Randy Florence:

She was this heavy comedian.

Randy Florence:

She's just hilarious.

Randy Florence:

Wayne Newton was coming in that night.

Randy Florence:

Said they were going to have all that going on.

Randy Florence:

I said, I'll play.

Randy Florence:

And they said, well, there's music in the piano bench.

Randy Florence:

I said, I don't read music.

Randy Florence:

I don't need that.

Randy Florence:

I play by ear.

Randy Florence:

So I went over and sat down at the piano and I started to play.

Randy Florence:

And celebrities were coming in.

Randy Florence:

All the press came in and the people came in and they called Lee at the.

Randy Florence:

When he finished his show at the MGM Grand.

Randy Florence:

They said, you gotta get over here and see this, see what's going on.

Randy Florence:

The place was packed, and I had him rocking.

Randy Florence:

He came in, he came up to the piano and he said, let's play a duet.

Randy Florence:

And it's one of the ones.

Randy Florence:

So we played.

Randy Florence:

I Got Rhythm.

Randy Florence:

He sat down with me and did that.

Randy Florence:

And after we finished, it's yay, yay.

Randy Florence:

With applause, applause, applause.

Randy Florence:

And he said, come over.

Randy Florence:

I want to talk to you.

Randy Florence:

We sat down at the table.

Randy Florence:

He said, would you like to work for me?

Randy Florence:

And I said, yes.

Jerry Ring:

That day worked out pretty well for you, didn't?

Randy Florence:

Yes, exactly.

Randy Florence:

So that's how that came together.

Randy Florence:

And I set a date and I came in.

John McMullen:

What year was that, roughly?

Randy Florence:

Circa 18.

Randy Florence:

I look good for my age.

Randy Florence:

No, it was:

John McMullen:

Okay.

Bruce Fessier:

It's really remarkable.

John McMullen:

That's crazy.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, it was all.

Randy Florence:

You know, I'm very much into creative visualization and synchronicity and all the metaphysical stuff that goes on.

Randy Florence:

The universe brings us into situations, and it was just.

Randy Florence:

It was just unbelievable.

Randy Florence:

And, you know, the thing is, it still is.

Randy Florence:

It still is ongoing because the Liberace legacy goes on.

Randy Florence:

Like, I was at the Liberace mansion Week ago Monday.

Randy Florence:

And David and I played over there.

Randy Florence:

So people.

John McMullen:

That's right.

Randy Florence:

You were back in Vegas for the fan club.

Randy Florence:

Oh, these people are not right.

Randy Florence:

They are just.

Randy Florence:

Oh, my gosh.

Randy Florence:

They are just over the top.

Randy Florence:

They all.

Randy Florence:

You know the piano ring he wore here?

Randy Florence:

Yeah, they all, they, they have one.

Randy Florence:

All of them.

Randy Florence:

They all have the same ring.

Randy Florence:

It's rhinestones.

Randy Florence:

You know, it's right here.

Randy Florence:

You know, they all have one and they're all blinged out.

Randy Florence:

This one gal came in and I said, my God, you are picking up HBO girl.

Randy Florence:

She was so proud of it.

Randy Florence:

She didn't.

Randy Florence:

I didn't like the outfit necessarily.

Randy Florence:

You're talking to a gay man here.

Randy Florence:

I know what's going on.

Jerry Ring:

So how old were you when you started becoming a fan of Liberace?

Randy Florence:

Well, I was 8 years old when my Aunt Thelma took me to Starlight Musicals in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was playing.

Jerry Ring:

And you're from Indianapolis?

Randy Florence:

Yeah, I was born and raised there.

Randy Florence:

So we went to Starlight Musicals and I was just like, wow, this is really.

Randy Florence:

I could do that because I was playing.

Randy Florence:

I was 8 and I was playing.

Randy Florence:

I picking up everything by ear.

Jerry Ring:

Never read music.

Randy Florence:

No.

Randy Florence:

And so I thought.

Randy Florence:

I decided right then that someday, someday I'm gonna meet this man and I'm gonna do what he's doing.

Randy Florence:

So.

Jerry Ring:

So I'm fascinated by that moment where you're sitting at the piano playing something for him after all of that 8 year old growing up to that point.

Randy Florence:

What was.

Randy Florence:

Oh, you mean when I played in Las Vegas for him?

Randy Florence:

It was.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, it was stellar.

Randy Florence:

It was surreal.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

And the song that I played that got him was one that Michael Feinstein taught me is I Love a Piano, Irving Berlin.

Randy Florence:

And when I didn't, I didn't put anything together to audition.

Randy Florence:

I never organized.

Randy Florence:

Well, this one had a tough time getting the song set list out of me.

Randy Florence:

Beating me.

Randy Florence:

That's right.

John McMullen:

Bruce, you served as the producer of the Event.

John McMullen:

Yes.

John McMullen:

Did you ever get a set?

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, I did, actually.

Bruce Fessier:

Remarkable.

Bruce Fessier:

I was trying to tell some.

Bruce Fessier:

Are you going to be upstage or are you going to be downstage?

Bruce Fessier:

What is all this technical stuff?

Jerry Ring:

How then.

Randy Florence:

Hell do I know?

Randy Florence:

And then David Mayako said, we are audience inspired.

Randy Florence:

That's it.

Randy Florence:

And I'm going with it.

John McMullen:

Bruce, talk a little bit about Liberace's intersection with the Coachella Valley.

Bruce Fessier:

Well, that's the thing.

Bruce Fessier:

working for newspapers since:

Bruce Fessier:

And he never gave a public performance all during that time, but he gave his first public performance in Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

I'm talking about in:

Bruce Fessier:

And.

Bruce Fessier:

And the woman who booked him originally the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas was Mousey Powell's sister.

Bruce Fessier:

You remember Mousie Powell?

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, she was like.

Bruce Fessier:

They named a hamburger after her at the Racquet Club.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Right, right.

Bruce Fessier:

And so Maxine Lewis booked her into.

Bruce Fessier:

Booked him into the Frontier, and she was also booking the Chi Chi.

Bruce Fessier:

So when she.

Bruce Fessier:

When he came, she booked him into the Chi Chi.

Bruce Fessier:

And it was bigger than when Franklin Sinatra ever played.

Bruce Fessier:

He never was.

Bruce Fessier:

He was huge there.

Bruce Fessier:

But Sinatra used to come in all the time.

John McMullen:

Yeah, he loved the Chi Chi.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, it was.

Bruce Fessier:

It was.

Bruce Fessier:

It was such a small venue.

Bruce Fessier:

This guy played over for audiences over 100,000 people.

Bruce Fessier:

Not many people realize that today.

Bruce Fessier:

And David Mayoko said, you know, I play all the gay hotspots, and he is not a gay icon.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, why is that?

Bruce Fessier:

You know, he came from a different, peculiar.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, he came from a different era.

Bruce Fessier:

He was.

Bruce Fessier:

He was.

Bruce Fessier:

He never was out, but he was certainly the most famous gay performer, gay celebrity that Palm Springs has ever had.

Bruce Fessier:

And, you know, it was part.

Bruce Fessier:

It was part of my mission, actually, to say that he belongs on the Palm Springs celebrity, Mount Rushmore with Sonny Bono, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra.

Bruce Fessier:

Liberace deserves to be there.

Bruce Fessier:

And that was sort of my mission was to.

Bruce Fessier:

And I got to write a story for the Gay Desert Guide, cv, Independent, and a lot of other publications.

John McMullen:

He was never out officially, but it was sort of a wink and a nod, wasn't it?

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Jerry Ring:

While he was filing lawsuits against people that were saying he was gay.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, the one in London, which he won.

Jerry Ring:

Right.

Jerry Ring:

And once you win that, it's kind of hard to say I was kidding.

Randy Florence:

That's why through all the years that he did not make flamboyant, other than the outfits that he wore on stage, like, flew through the air in red, white and blue hot pants.

Randy Florence:

You know, stuff like that.

Jerry Ring:

But who hasn't?

Jerry Ring:

I'm sorry, that was last week.

Randy Florence:

Oh, my.

Randy Florence:

Does he have to be here?

John McMullen:

We ask that question every week.

Randy Florence:

You know, you were talking about Liberace.

Randy Florence:

He was the Palm Springs premier dog lover.

Bruce Fessier:

He was.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, that was another thing that really convinced me that this is a guy that we need to pay tribute to as a fundraiser for Amy's purpose.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, I.

Bruce Fessier:

I just Just a year ago, I happened to see a video of him with all his dogs, and he was talking about how he got these dogs.

Bruce Fessier:

A lot of his fans couldn't afford to take care of their.

Bruce Fessier:

Their pets anymore, and they would give them to Liberace, and, you know, Liberace would adopt these dogs.

Bruce Fessier:

And he had over two dozen dogs at any one time.

John McMullen:

That's unbelievable.

Bruce Fessier:

It really is.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

When I first met him at the MGM grand, when I was going up after the show and I was all rattled like this, and we were in the.

Randy Florence:

In a very large elevator.

Randy Florence:

It's a freight elevator.

Randy Florence:

And all of a sudden, doors went, oh, wait, wait, wait.

Randy Florence:

Open the doors.

Randy Florence:

They brought in four dogs unleashed.

Randy Florence:

They were taking the dogs up to the dressing room to be with him.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

John McMullen:

And just any kind of dog.

John McMullen:

Like, did he.

Randy Florence:

Well, they were.

Randy Florence:

These were cute, like bichon Frise.

Randy Florence:

They were little fru.

Randy Florence:

FRU Dogs because he wasn't gay, you.

Bruce Fessier:

Know, but he had dogs, too.

Bruce Fessier:

He had standard.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Randy Florence:

And he had Afghans.

Bruce Fessier:

Afghans, right.

Randy Florence:

Giant.

John McMullen:

Oh, they're beautiful dogs.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

And they brought those in, and it was fun.

Randy Florence:

And they just let him loosen the dressing room.

John McMullen:

So after this incredible evening where Lee says to you, would you like to work for me?

John McMullen:

So what was.

John McMullen:

What did you do and how long did you do?

Randy Florence:

I was at the Tivoli Gardens, basically.

Randy Florence:

And I.

Bruce Fessier:

That's Ligarachi's restaurant for those who don't know.

Randy Florence:

And it was inspired because he was very fond of the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

John McMullen:

Copenhagen.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

He went there.

John McMullen:

He took the kids there.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, we.

John McMullen:

We had a stopover coming back from Lithuania.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah, I saw that.

John McMullen:

And we should go to Tivoli Gardens.

Randy Florence:

I'm like, it was brand new back then, so it was sparkling.

Randy Florence:

You know, it was just fabulous.

Randy Florence:

But he did the restaurant.

Randy Florence:

He did all the.

Randy Florence:

He got.

Randy Florence:

Put it in a shopping center.

Randy Florence:

And each room was.

Randy Florence:

Had a different theme.

Randy Florence:

There was the Wedgwood theme, and then there was another one that Delft.

Randy Florence:

There was another one that's Crystal Room.

Randy Florence:

So every.

Randy Florence:

Had everything.

Randy Florence:

All his.

Randy Florence:

All his collections.

Randy Florence:

And he had an antique store next door.

Randy Florence:

He did, yeah.

Randy Florence:

Because his collection was so big that he just stuffed it all in there.

Randy Florence:

As a matter of fact, the candelabra that I put on the piano for our performance was one that I actually purchased from the antique store, the crystal candelabrum.

Randy Florence:

So, in essence, he owned the candelabra.

Randy Florence:

It was on the piano.

Bruce Fessier:

Wow.

John McMullen:

Wow.

Bruce Fessier:

But the home that he had, he had Four homes at any one time in Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

But the, but the big one that he had on Bordeaux, he spent every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, Christmas and every Halloween there.

Bruce Fessier:

And all these kids who grew up in Palm Springs all knew Liberace is the guy who gave the best candy.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, Steve Polz had a great story about how when he realized Steve Pulp is a.

Bruce Fessier:

Is a great performer if you don't know him, but.

Bruce Fessier:

And he grew up in Palm Springs and he's.

Bruce Fessier:

He would go trick or treating at Liberace's house and then he would get this big candy.

Bruce Fessier:

Then he would go away, change costumes and come back and he had a doorbell that would dun, dun, dun, dun.

Randy Florence:

He would give the odd silver dollar too.

Jerry Ring:

Oh, and I've heard that.

Randy Florence:

Sneak them in there.

John McMullen:

That's very.

Jerry Ring:

Was there anything that he was doing that was keeping him from taking this role in the desert?

Bruce Fessier:

He was very selective about the media that he did.

Bruce Fessier:

I never got to do an interview with him.

Bruce Fessier:

He did interviews with our society editor.

Bruce Fessier:

He had a friend who was the divorced wife of his old producer, Tito Minor.

Bruce Fessier:

You knew Tito, who was a great promoter of Liberace.

Bruce Fessier:

And she was very close friends with our society under Aline Arthur.

Bruce Fessier:

So Aline would get a tour of the Liberace house and he would do these tours for select charities.

Bruce Fessier:

And that would be doing in lieu of performances.

Bruce Fessier:

But just before he died, he did two weeks at Radio City Music hall that broke records.

Randy Florence:

Sold out.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Two weeks of sold out shows.

Randy Florence:

Most tickets ever sold at Radio City.

Bruce Fessier:

And then.

Bruce Fessier:

And from there to this day.

Bruce Fessier:

And from there he went to Palm Springs and was checked into Eisenhower Hospital.

Bruce Fessier:

And it was a rapid deterioration.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, no one could have had any idea at Radio City Music hall that he was ill, but he had the HIV virus.

Bruce Fessier:

And that was one of the other reasons that he was so significant.

Bruce Fessier:

And I was kind of involved in that.

Bruce Fessier:

I was at the Desert Sun.

Bruce Fessier:

I was an editor of the Desert sun at the time, entertainment editor.

Bruce Fessier:

And we had all this national press coming to camp out at Liberace's house.

Bruce Fessier:

And we were competing with all these other newspapers and tv.

Bruce Fessier:

And so we had to have people who were there not 24 hours, but certainly till midnight at night.

Bruce Fessier:

We were putting clerks, people who were working as clerks at the Desert sun and having them camp out at night when we didn't have reporters there.

John McMullen:

And did he pass away here?

Bruce Fessier:

He passed away here, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

And Jerry actually got in to see him just, just before he died.

Jerry Ring:

Really?

Randy Florence:

Well, I was low on the Totem pole.

Randy Florence:

So I went in the side and everybody, all the family and everybody saw it.

Randy Florence:

And then I got in it just before.

Randy Florence:

And then I heard on the news on the way back that they said, News 98 your world in 22 minutes or whatever it was famed, the pianist Liberace has died.

Jerry Ring:

So were you able to say goodbye?

Randy Florence:

Well, he was incoherent, he was comatose.

Randy Florence:

And of course Ray Arnett called me as stage director.

Randy Florence:

He said, if you want to see Lee, get over here now because it's not long for this world.

Randy Florence:

So I went over.

Randy Florence:

So it was a.

Randy Florence:

Oh, it was just crazy.

Bruce Fessier:

He had, he, he had a PR person in New York who was trying to manage the press from New York.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, originally Seymour Heller, his manager, was there and said, no, he does not have aids.

Bruce Fessier:

He does not have aids.

Bruce Fessier:

So it became a big deal because it was right after Rock Hudson had acknowledged that he was gay and had aids.

Bruce Fessier:

And everybody was hoping that Liberace would do the same thing.

Randy Florence:

He acknowledged that, but he never did.

Bruce Fessier:

He never did, never did say anything.

Bruce Fessier:

And the really weird thing is that my family doctor was the one who said that he died and signed the death certificate saying he did not have aids.

Bruce Fessier:

And that, that became very, very controversial.

Bruce Fessier:

The coroner was going to sue him.

Bruce Fessier:

And, and in actuality, if you look at it, you don't die of aids.

Randy Florence:

AIDS is a synth related.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean you, it's so it, it, it created some, it stimulated some thought about the nature of aids.

Bruce Fessier:

And, and for that reason alone, I think that it's.

Bruce Fessier:

That he's a valuable asset to Coachella Valley legacy.

Randy Florence:

He would not admit that he had AIDS or acknowledged the health issue stems back to the lawsuit in London.

Randy Florence:

Because he won that lawsuit and he was afraid that anybody ever found out that he was gay.

Randy Florence:

Well, then they would relitigate.

Randy Florence:

Right?

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

But Ray Arnett.

Randy Florence:

I have a cassette tape which I think I recently located.

Randy Florence:

Remember, Joe Hyams was married.

Randy Florence:

He was a best selling author.

Randy Florence:

He was married to Elkie Summer.

John McMullen:

Oh yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

He was an inspiration for the book I wrote.

Randy Florence:

And Joe Hyams.

Randy Florence:

I wanted to meet Ray Arnett, so I introduced the two of them and I sat, I recorded the interview between the two of them.

Randy Florence:

Boy, Ray Arnett came out with some, a lot of stuff.

Randy Florence:

He said that Liberace always had the net out.

Randy Florence:

He was always looking for something new and something to take behind closed doors.

Randy Florence:

And I was quoted on a couple TV shows as saying that people got very mad at me, but he's he's was.

Randy Florence:

But he would go to clubs and things like that.

Randy Florence:

But he was hidden in the corner because if he revealed that he was Gail, then again they would relitigate and that was a problem.

Jerry Ring:

How was he.

John McMullen:

It was also about his fan base too, though.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

What do you mean?

John McMullen:

Well, his family, you know, that middle America who loved Liberace.

Randy Florence:

Oh, I still, when I performed, like.

John McMullen:

Would look completely the other way.

John McMullen:

Like.

John McMullen:

No, he's not.

John McMullen:

He's just a.

John McMullen:

He's just a very flamboyant entertainer.

Randy Florence:

How does that happen?

Randy Florence:

They don't look at me like that.

Randy Florence:

They see you, big sissy Lala.

Jerry Ring:

Sit here.

John McMullen:

I have never heard anybody call you that, ever.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, you haven't been hanging around me enough.

John McMullen:

I'm sorry.

John McMullen:

I'm in my.

Bruce Fessier:

Other than Bruce Wayne before I say that.

Jerry Ring:

So, Jerry, Jerry, what was the.

Randy Florence:

Let me finish this thought.

Randy Florence:

When I was performing on cruise ships, which I did for 36 years, and it, you know, they always.

Randy Florence:

Liberace discovery, Jerry Ring appearing tonight kind of people.

Randy Florence:

These women would come up to me on the tottering up and say, was real did live ratching.

Randy Florence:

The best one I ever delivered.

Randy Florence:

She said, he didn't like men.

Randy Florence:

Did he really like men?

Randy Florence:

I said, no, he was actually into small goats and sheep.

Randy Florence:

She turned and walked away from.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah, I bet.

John McMullen:

Cards and letters to Jerry Ring.

Jerry Ring:

I wish we had been able to follow her to her table to hear the rest of that stuff.

Randy Florence:

Well, she didn't go to her table.

Randy Florence:

She went over the side.

John McMullen:

She just.

John McMullen:

Yes.

John McMullen:

Oh.

Jerry Ring:

So what was the.

Jerry Ring:

How was the.

Jerry Ring:

The gay community feeling about Liberace that he wouldn't come out?

Randy Florence:

Oh, they were not happy.

Bruce Fessier:

But at the same time, there was so many closeted gays at that time.

Randy Florence:

You know, in the 80s, it was.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

And he was, he was.

Bruce Fessier:

He had his own little community of friends.

Bruce Fessier:

He did, you know, I.

Bruce Fessier:

Do you remember George Allardyce, by any chance?

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

George Allardyce was the guy who created the.

Bruce Fessier:

Created.

Bruce Fessier:

It was a gold book here, but it was the society book.

Bruce Fessier:

He was a guy who always had these openings that were big society events and he knew all the society ladies, so he put them in a book and he also gave the idea for the walk of Stars.

Bruce Fessier:

And he was friends with Liberace.

Bruce Fessier:

He set him up with this guy who robbed Liberace.

Bruce Fessier:

And George was going, you have to call the police.

Randy Florence:

It's.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, no, no, no, we can't do that.

Bruce Fessier:

You know.

John McMullen:

Right.

Bruce Fessier:

So that's.

Bruce Fessier:

That was the.

Bruce Fessier:

That Was the way it was back then.

John McMullen:

Break open the secret.

Bruce Fessier:

Right.

John McMullen:

We have to take a very quick break to acknowledge our presenting sponsor, the McCallum Theater.

John McMullen:

You can go to McCallum Theater.org get your tickets.

John McMullen:

They're great supporters of big conversation little bar.

John McMullen:

They are the reason that we're having this conversation.

Patrick Evans:

The McCallum Theater's:

Patrick Evans:

The world's top artists, from jazz, pop, classical and comedy to the best of Broadway, only at the valley's favorite place for great entertainment.

Patrick Evans:

Tickets are on sale now at the McCallum Theater box office by phone or online at mccallumtheater.org Tickets sell quickly, so order yours today.

Patrick Evans:

A new exciting season only at the McCallum.

Patrick Evans:

The McCallum Theater's:

John McMullen:

Once again, our thanks to the McCallum Theater.

John McMullen:

Gary Keefe and his entire crew over there.

John McMullen:

They do a great job.

John McMullen:

We're gearing up for season.

John McMullen:

It's going to be an exciting signing one.

John McMullen:

Randy's got tickets to virtually every show.

Jerry Ring:

Burton Cummings.

John McMullen:

I know Burton.

Jerry Ring:

I may be the only one in the theater.

Jerry Ring:

People have heard me say it so many times.

Jerry Ring:

I think it's sold out.

John McMullen:

I feel certain it's gonna sell out because, you know, he's doing the whole show.

John McMullen:

Burton comings and goings.

Jerry Ring:

That's so speaking of Gary Keefe, that was another gentleman who spent a large part of his career doing music on cruises.

Jerry Ring:

Didn't Gary kind of invent that?

John McMullen:

No.

Jerry Ring:

Musicals, Musicals.

John McMullen:

Musicals on the.

John McMullen:

On cruise ships.

Randy Florence:

Really?

Jerry Ring:

Which sometimes perform music, I'm told.

John McMullen:

But there was music like Jerry Ring, the gentleman.

John McMullen:

He invented music on cruise ships.

Bruce Fessier:

I heard George Washington had a pianist as he was crossing the Delaware.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

And I was rowing.

John McMullen:

You were playing.

Randy Florence:

Damn it.

John McMullen:

That seems wrong.

Jerry Ring:

Was it always going to be a musical path for you as you were growing up?

Randy Florence:

Well, I really didn't know.

Randy Florence:

I don't take my music seriously because I don't read.

Randy Florence:

And it's like some people are desperate to be on stage.

Randy Florence:

You know, I love the attention.

Randy Florence:

I really do.

Randy Florence:

And I love doing the shows.

John McMullen:

This is.

John McMullen:

See, I am.

John McMullen:

I wouldn't characterize you as a musician.

John McMullen:

No, you're an entertainer.

Randy Florence:

Yes.

John McMullen:

Jerry is a pure entertainer.

John McMullen:

And you were talking about Amore restaurant in La Quinta.

John McMullen:

I mean, those were wonderful nights.

John McMullen:

If you walked in.

John McMullen:

Because it wasn't.

John McMullen:

You're right.

John McMullen:

It's not about the music for you.

John McMullen:

It's because you interact with the audience.

John McMullen:

Everybody becomes a part of the show.

Randy Florence:

Absolutely.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

I pick on people.

John McMullen:

Well, and that.

John McMullen:

That is what led you to stop doing the cruise ship thing, because people got.

John McMullen:

Oh, they did a little persnickety about it.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

John McMullen:

Tell that story.

Randy Florence:

Oh, do I have to?

John McMullen:

Not if you don't want to, but I think it's.

John McMullen:

I think it's kind of telling because.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, there's a group of women that came on board.

Randy Florence:

This is on the grand princess in 19.

Randy Florence:

No, 20, 18.

Randy Florence:

And they had friends from Trilogy Senior Living up by San Francisco.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, these women all came to.

Randy Florence:

Oh, we're friends.

Randy Florence:

And your friends.

Randy Florence:

Let's take a picture.

Randy Florence:

So they got around the piano.

Randy Florence:

Well, they were all these women, you know, that had.

Randy Florence:

Very expensive.

Randy Florence:

Are those real?

Randy Florence:

Yeah, real expensive.

Randy Florence:

All pushed up around their ears and bleach blonde hair.

Randy Florence:

You.

Randy Florence:

Some of them around here on occasion.

John McMullen:

Sounds like my first wife.

Randy Florence:

There you go.

Randy Florence:

I think it was.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, they all came up and then they went over to the bar and.

John McMullen:

She had a lot of things pushed up around her.

Bruce Fessier:

What?

Jerry Ring:

What did you say that?

John McMullen:

I did not.

John McMullen:

I did not.

Randy Florence:

Excuse me.

Randy Florence:

I'm telling you, the owner.

Bruce Fessier:

I'm sorry.

John McMullen:

You tell a story.

Randy Florence:

These women all went over to the bar and they were standing with elbows like this.

Randy Florence:

And they were out back like this, and standing like.

Randy Florence:

Oh, they look like the cast of Chicago or Sweet Charity or something like that.

Randy Florence:

So I referred to them and I said, ladies and gentlemen, we have the trilogy, Hookers.

Randy Florence:

It didn't go over so well.

Randy Florence:

And this one bitch.

Randy Florence:

I mean, this one woman.

Bruce Fessier:

No, no, no, no.

Randy Florence:

Came at me and what was her name?

John McMullen:

No, no, no, no.

Bruce Fessier:

There was a kitty cat.

Bruce Fessier:

Come on.

Randy Florence:

I forget.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, it was a kitty cat.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, so she.

Randy Florence:

She.

Randy Florence:

I heard the next day that she was not happy about that.

Randy Florence:

The audience caught onto it and they loved it.

Randy Florence:

Every time this group of women would walk through, they said, jerry, they're the hookers.

Randy Florence:

She got all her friends and everybody to write a letter to the Captain.

Randy Florence:

I had 36 years, 72 ships, different cruise ships, hundreds of contracts, stellar reviews, and they left my ass in San Francisco.

Randy Florence:

They put me off the ship.

Randy Florence:

That was it.

Randy Florence:

Done.

Jerry Ring:

Wow.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, because she said, oh, and here's the fun part.

Randy Florence:

She came to me one night.

Randy Florence:

She was screaming at me, I think you're rude.

Randy Florence:

And she said.

Randy Florence:

I said something else, and she turned around and she screamed, fuck you.

Randy Florence:

I said, that's what I want to hear in my audience.

Randy Florence:

You're talking about me.

Randy Florence:

She said, my husband is an attorney and I'm going to sue you.

Randy Florence:

Sort of like you know, get an expensive attorney.

Randy Florence:

A really expensive attorney.

John McMullen:

So my wife is a really expensive attorney.

Randy Florence:

I heard that's not all.

Randy Florence:

So.

Bruce Fessier:

Whoa.

Randy Florence:

Speaking of trilogy hookers.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, now, come on.

John McMullen:

That was the first wife.

Jerry Ring:

Thank God our wife.

Randy Florence:

Turns out.

Randy Florence:

Listen, catch this.

Randy Florence:

Turns out her husband Johnny, my partner, did some research on.

Randy Florence:

He's a retired detective.

Randy Florence:

So what goes better together than a retired detective and a hooker?

Randy Florence:

So I pushed her button and she looked like one.

Randy Florence:

That was the end of that.

Randy Florence:

It was right in the middle of the me too stuff.

Randy Florence:

I'm not gonna take this anymore.

Randy Florence:

Get away from my piano and my organ.

Jerry Ring:

So you were.

Jerry Ring:

You were canceled by the cruise?

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Jerry Ring:

And my organ.

Randy Florence:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

Speaking of organs, I can tell you one line that Liberace would use at a party.

Randy Florence:

He would never say it on stage, but he'd say, you know, I play a great piano, but I suck on the organs.

Randy Florence:

I used that line last week.

Randy Florence:

I did a comedy show in Los Angeles last Thursday.

Randy Florence:

That was the line that brought the house down.

Randy Florence:

Yay, me.

John McMullen:

Oh, my God.

Randy Florence:

All right.

John McMullen:

There was a story about Marine story that you were going to tell.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

John McMullen:

At Bruce's urging.

Randy Florence:

At Bruce's urging.

Randy Florence:

Well, there was a whole clan of us.

Randy Florence:

That's when Lee had the limousine with the piano keys down the side.

Randy Florence:

He had a broad, usually in Las Vegas, but it was over, you know, Palm Springs.

Randy Florence:

And there was a crew of us that wanted to go up to.

Randy Florence:

There was a guy named Jerry Kennedy who had married a very wealthy woman.

Randy Florence:

He was a little light in the loafers, but he married this woman.

Randy Florence:

She lived in La Hoya, and she died, and she left a massive fortune to this guy.

Randy Florence:

So he's.

Randy Florence:

He used to wear.

Randy Florence:

He drove a little red Ferrari and had these little Ferragamo slippers and tipped down around all.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, he went up.

John McMullen:

So it worked out for him.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah.

Randy Florence:

He had.

Randy Florence:

He was seeing a.

Randy Florence:

A Marine up in 29 palms.

Randy Florence:

So he went up to see this guy checked into a hotel.

Randy Florence:

So, well, while he was up there, he said, oh, I kind of like this bar.

Randy Florence:

He walked in, how much do you want for this bar?

Randy Florence:

And they said, what?

Randy Florence:

He brought his checkbook.

Randy Florence:

How much do you want for the bar?

Randy Florence:

So he wrote a check and he bought the bar.

Randy Florence:

So then he started redoing all that.

Randy Florence:

And then he went over and he found a disco club.

Randy Florence:

It was called.

Randy Florence:

It was a cowboy bar.

Randy Florence:

It was a dance bar.

Randy Florence:

He went over, how much you want for this?

Randy Florence:

So he bought that, and he turned the name of it into the Jumping Cholla.

Randy Florence:

Well, he was a friend of Lee's and Lee wanted to see.

Randy Florence:

I want to go and see Jerry Kennedy.

Randy Florence:

And he bought a little cracker box house and he kept expanding it and it was like the Winchester house.

Randy Florence:

They kept building on and on.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

An Olympic sized swimming pool.

Randy Florence:

And we went up there.

Randy Florence:

He.

Randy Florence:

It ended up they had eight bedrooms, so we all weren't going to stay overnight, but the eight bedrooms were occupied by Marines.

Randy Florence:

Went up there and I walked in the backyard.

Randy Florence:

It's like, oh, girls, let's do this.

Randy Florence:

And all the marines were in speedos sitting around the pool and said, I think I'll stay.

Randy Florence:

We were all piled in that limousine.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, we went over to see the Jumping Joya.

Randy Florence:

And then after that we were driving back to the desert and this young guy came up.

Randy Florence:

I mean, he was big, big shoulders, big guy, like, you know.

Randy Florence:

And he walked over.

Randy Florence:

Mr.

Randy Florence:

Liberace.

Randy Florence:

My mom, she's like 25 years old and we have tongues around our ankles.

John McMullen:

And I love your straight guy voice, by the way.

John McMullen:

That's.

John McMullen:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

Wait, I'll have to pop another butch still.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, wildly irritating.

Randy Florence:

Mr.

Randy Florence:

Liberace, my mom and my grandmom really, really liked you.

Randy Florence:

Could you sign an autograph?

Randy Florence:

So do you remember the autograph?

Randy Florence:

He would.

Randy Florence:

The pen would go.

Randy Florence:

He would draw the piano with the candelabra and the tip.

Randy Florence:

The keys, and he would sign it.

Randy Florence:

While he was doing that, this guy said, Mr.

Randy Florence:

Liberace, were you ever in the marines?

Randy Florence:

We're all like, oh, yeah, get this.

Randy Florence:

And lead.

Randy Florence:

Just a wit like this.

Randy Florence:

He looked up, he said, oh, I've been in quite a few of them.

Jerry Ring:

What's the saying?

Jerry Ring:

Looking for a few good men.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Jerry Ring:

Heads of the Marines.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, I.

Bruce Fessier:

I interviewed Jerry for Coach Independent.

Bruce Fessier:

And, you know, he told me that story, but I couldn't use it.

Bruce Fessier:

So I was just dying for him to tell.

Bruce Fessier:

Tell the public this.

Bruce Fessier:

And I'm so glad that you're so open to this type of humor.

Randy Florence:

He had a wit.

Randy Florence:

He had a wicked, wicked wit.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

And I have a little bit of that.

Randy Florence:

So he and I got along very well on that.

Bruce Fessier:

We're gonna.

Bruce Fessier:

This.

Bruce Fessier:

This show could rival Renovus.

Bruce Fessier:

What's the guy from Renova?

John McMullen:

Oh, Vince.

John McMullen:

Vince.

Bruce Fessier:

Battalion.

Bruce Fessier:

Yes, yes, yes.

John McMullen:

Well, that was the inaugural F bomb.

John McMullen:

And then multiple F bombs.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah.

Jerry Ring:

But Michael Holmes, I think he might hold the record.

John McMullen:

Michael Holmes does.

John McMullen:

Yes, yes.

Bruce Fessier:

Well, him, that's.

Jerry Ring:

And that was Bruce.

Randy Florence:

I went to the Purple Room last week to see Lucy Arnaz.

Randy Florence:

And Michael came over to the table, and I was talking to Patrick Harrington as we were sitting, and I asked Michael, I said, michael, I don't.

Randy Florence:

I'm not trying to be rude or anything.

Randy Florence:

How old are you?

Randy Florence:

He said, I'm 17.

Randy Florence:

And how dare you ask that question of me?

John McMullen:

Oh, my God.

Jerry Ring:

So, Bruce, you've.

Jerry Ring:

You've written all these articles, you've put on these events.

Jerry Ring:

Is the needle moving at all?

Jerry Ring:

Do you feel like you're gaining some traction?

Bruce Fessier:

Well, it's so hard to say.

Bruce Fessier:

It hasn't been that long.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, I don't know when this is going to air, but from the time we're talking, it was just two weeks ago, and there has been a lot of conversation.

Bruce Fessier:

I was really thrilled to have a story in the Gay Desert Guide.

Bruce Fessier:

Brad Furr said, this is really an important story for us.

Bruce Fessier:

So it met the audience, and those are the people who were going to make someone a gay icon.

Bruce Fessier:

So hopefully.

Bruce Fessier:

But.

John McMullen:

All right, but that's.

John McMullen:

By the way, Brad's a great guy, and I work for him.

John McMullen:

On:

Randy Florence:

Yay.

John McMullen:

Timeless and memorable favorites.

John McMullen:

Had to get the plug it.

Jerry Ring:

And I'm just taking money.

Jerry Ring:

Anybody wants to hand me cash, I'll take that.

Jerry Ring:

Go ahead.

John McMullen:

Which.

John McMullen:

Which exchange are you working at this week?

Jerry Ring:

I just want money.

John McMullen:

He's just out there panhanded.

John McMullen:

But it is.

John McMullen:

It's something to overcome, because Liberace never and couldn't, as you pointed out after.

Randy Florence:

The lawsuit, he didn't.

Randy Florence:

It was weird.

John McMullen:

And so how do you create a gay icon for a man who never.

Bruce Fessier:

Would admit it publicly to make people understand the times?

Bruce Fessier:

It's all about context.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, history is all about context.

Bruce Fessier:

And we're always reevaluating and redoing stories that have been already told because we have a new context.

Bruce Fessier:

We have a new understanding.

Randy Florence:

That's right.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, Palm Springs is an LGBTQ capital of the world today, and Liberace was one of the great entertainers in Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

Why shouldn't we acknowledge him among today's audience?

John McMullen:

Well, here's my question is how do you get the LGBTQ community to embrace Liberace when he refused to embrace the.

Bruce Fessier:

Community by again creating the context in which he refused to talk about his sexuality?

Bruce Fessier:

And doesn't.

Bruce Fessier:

We're not denying his sexuality because he had to.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, I think that there's a.

Bruce Fessier:

We're finding out a lot of great attributes and some negative attributes about people in history.

Bruce Fessier:

Andrew Jackson was A guy who was put on the $20 bill because they thought he was this great populist.

Bruce Fessier:

Now we know that he was a guy who massacred, you know, a race of people.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, when history evolves, you come in with a different understanding of historical figures, and we have a different understanding of Liberace today.

Bruce Fessier:

And he should be acknowledged as a great human being.

Bruce Fessier:

Everybody who knew him talked about his humanity.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, that's.

Bruce Fessier:

He was a really nice guy.

Randy Florence:

Very much so.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Right.

Bruce Fessier:

So that's what we want to get across.

Randy Florence:

That was a different day, too.

Randy Florence:

I don't think that people, when they think of Liberace, they think of the image and the flamboyance and the fabulousness.

Randy Florence:

Like all these people that were at this gala.

Randy Florence:

We could go Monday in Las Vegas.

Randy Florence:

You know, a lot of these people don't.

Randy Florence:

They don't acknowledge his sexuality or his gay.

Randy Florence:

It's just the enormity of his presence.

John McMullen:

And that, you know, in many ways, it doesn't matter.

Randy Florence:

No, it doesn't.

John McMullen:

In terms of what he did on stage, it doesn't matter.

John McMullen:

And I look also.

John McMullen:

I mean, younger generations.

John McMullen:

Coming up, we have these conversations with my daughters who are 19 and 16.

John McMullen:

And at one point, I remember my wife.

John McMullen:

Someone said, oh, you know, one of our daughters has a crush on someone.

John McMullen:

And my wife was like, is the boy or a girl?

Randy Florence:

Right.

John McMullen:

But I don't think our kids.

John McMullen:

I don't think that generation thinks of sexuality the way that we grew up thinking of it in.

John McMullen:

Certainly not, you know, putting people in silos.

John McMullen:

Like, I think it matters far less to them.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

So, you know.

Jerry Ring:

Well, that would be a really good thing if that.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah, I hope that's the case, because I see the same thing.

Jerry Ring:

Even if my granddaughters.

Jerry Ring:

At 13, things seem to be a little bit more undefined.

Bruce Fessier:

But in a lot of ways, I.

John McMullen:

Think, you know, I don't know that they are undefined.

John McMullen:

I think the definition definitions matter less.

John McMullen:

Like, for my daughters, certainly, the definitions matter less.

John McMullen:

They just don't care.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

Like, it's okay.

John McMullen:

You.

Jerry Ring:

You are.

John McMullen:

Whomever you happen to be.

John McMullen:

Yeah, that's great.

John McMullen:

Well, let's go to the Americana and hang out.

Jerry Ring:

That's.

John McMullen:

That's.

John McMullen:

That's really.

Jerry Ring:

Look at me say that's.

Jerry Ring:

That's not the reason we don't like you.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, that's right.

John McMullen:

We like you.

John McMullen:

We dislike you for a number of reasons.

John McMullen:

Your sexuality is not that.

Randy Florence:

Another issue that comes up now is a lot of people don't know who Liberace was.

Randy Florence:

I went when we were looking for the piano that we were going to use for the performance for the concert, I went to Palm Desert Piano.

Randy Florence:

And I walked in with my book, and I opened it, the page with Liberace.

Randy Florence:

And the guy that was standing there, he's the piano salesman.

Randy Florence:

He's the manager of the store.

Randy Florence:

And I showed him the book.

Randy Florence:

I said, you know, like, check this out, dude.

Randy Florence:

Or check this out, dude.

Randy Florence:

No, I said it like this, Check this out, dude.

Randy Florence:

So.

Randy Florence:

But I showed him the picture.

Randy Florence:

He didn't know who Liberace was, and he is a piano salesman at home.

Randy Florence:

I said, what?

Bruce Fessier:

Or how about the KESQ producer said, are you here to talk about Liberace?

John McMullen:

One of our traditions.

Randy Florence:

Liberus.

Randy Florence:

Liberus.

Randy Florence:

Oh, Liberus.

John McMullen:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

I said, no.

John McMullen:

You know, there are generation gaps.

Randy Florence:

Yes.

John McMullen:

And, you know, I see stuff on Instagram.

John McMullen:

There was this great clip I saw today of Liberace, and he was doing Feeling Groovy.

Randy Florence:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

Oh, so many people have sent that to me.

Randy Florence:

If person, oh, I'm gonna send it.

John McMullen:

To you right now.

John McMullen:

I mean, it's.

John McMullen:

But it's hilarious.

John McMullen:

But it's such a slice of history.

Randy Florence:

One of the biggest.

Randy Florence:

One of the biggest fans in our Liberace fan base is a guy named David Fratero from Boston.

Randy Florence:

And the.

Randy Florence:

Maria brought her three children, two of which are autistic.

Randy Florence:

And Gabe Fratero, I think he knows you.

Randy Florence:

He does the Sinatra club thing.

Randy Florence:

And.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

You know who he is.

John McMullen:

Yes.

Bruce Fessier:

Everybody who Summer sings Summer Wind knows each other.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, Right.

John McMullen:

It's a smaller club than the Liberace Club, but we all do.

John McMullen:

We.

John McMullen:

We all know each other.

John McMullen:

We have a meeting.

Randy Florence:

This boy is 32 years old, and he would never have the chance to see.

Randy Florence:

You know, he was long, but he is a huge fan.

Randy Florence:

And they brought him over to the.

Randy Florence:

The gala in Las Vegas.

Jerry Ring:

Did Liberace have any hits?

Bruce Fessier:

You know, that's the other thing is that he was an entertainer.

Jerry Ring:

Right.

Bruce Fessier:

And he.

Bruce Fessier:

And he was deprecated because he wasn't the serious artist.

Bruce Fessier:

He wasn't a composer.

Randy Florence:

That's right.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

And, you know, the classical musicians deprecated him for being an entertainer.

Bruce Fessier:

And, you know, that.

Bruce Fessier:

That was, again, ahead of his time.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, today, you know, you're encouraged to.

Randy Florence:

Well, he had a certain style.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

It was a style in the presence.

Randy Florence:

As a matter of fact, I mentioned Phyllis Diller that gifted me with that bowl that I took over.

Randy Florence:

Oh, you weren't there for that.

Bruce Fessier:

And people don't remember that she was a classical pianist.

Randy Florence:

Yes, she was.

John McMullen:

Phyllis Diller was.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

No, she had a Crimson Steinway grand, a concert grand in her living room.

John McMullen:

I did not.

John McMullen:

Not remember that.

John McMullen:

I never knew that.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, she was brilliant.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

But she mentioned about Liberace, also the Cuff one time that he was a studio musician, you know, because his piano, he wasn't classic.

Randy Florence:

He didn't play a lot of choirs.

Randy Florence:

There's something that wasn't studio musician, but it's close to that.

Randy Florence:

People say, who does she think she is?

Randy Florence:

Phyllis Stellar.

Jerry Ring:

Was he ever trying to do something musically before he became the Liberace?

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, he started off as a classical pianist, but, you know, like.

Bruce Fessier:

Like, Like a lot of people, like my friend Paul Krasner, you know, when you.

Bruce Fessier:

When you get people to laugh at you on stage, you know, that's pretty infectious.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

And I think that's why he catch.

John McMullen:

For the right reasons, Randy.

John McMullen:

Oh, the right reasons.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

He did the three little f.

Bruce Fessier:

Can I just go back to.

Bruce Fessier:

To.

Bruce Fessier:

You're talking about the heritage.

Bruce Fessier:

I think it's really important to remember.

Bruce Fessier:

You know what I mean?

Bruce Fessier:

I shouldn't.

Bruce Fessier:

I.

Bruce Fessier:

Maybe I have no right to be the guy who's making this argument, but I think about Oscar Wilde being sentenced to manual labor for being homosexual.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, I think it's important that we remember the history of the LGBTQ movement, you know, and Liberace was an extension of that.

Bruce Fessier:

And he was an extension of that to Elvis Presley.

Bruce Fessier:

Elvis Presley and he were close friends.

Bruce Fessier:

He's the one who told Elvis that he had to wear costumes.

Bruce Fessier:

And they were actually neighbors in Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, they had.

Bruce Fessier:

They barbecued together.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, I did an interview with Gladys Lucky, who was Liberace housekeeper, and she cooked, and she was there for, like, 30.

Bruce Fessier:

Over 30 years.

Bruce Fessier:

And they exchanged flowers and gifts at every special occasion he would.

Bruce Fessier:

And Colonel Parker told me, too, that, you know, Colonel Parker went over to Liberace's house and played Santa Claus for.

Bruce Fessier:

At his Christmas parties.

Bruce Fessier:

Colonel Parker says that we are a family of entertainers here in Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

And he did that for Sinatra, too.

Bruce Fessier:

Colonel Parker went to Sinatra's house and played Santa Claus.

John McMullen:

I would kill to be at a barbecue with Elvis and Lip Barach.

John McMullen:

Exactly.

John McMullen:

That probably would be the pinnacle of entertainment.

John McMullen:

That would be amazing.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

I think you're not the wrong guy to take up the mantle.

John McMullen:

I think anybody, as an ally, it's okay to take up that mantle.

John McMullen:

And because we're all just.

Bruce Fessier:

Well, I'VE grown, too.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, I've had.

Bruce Fessier:

I've had people who tell me that, you know, you're not growing fast enough.

Bruce Fessier:

But I, but I've.

Bruce Fessier:

I've been told that.

Bruce Fessier:

And, and I.

Bruce Fessier:

If I could get in one other change that he made to Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

ork Mayor Jimmy Walker in, in:

John McMullen:

Spiro Agnew.

Bruce Fessier:

Spiro Agnew, really?

Randy Florence:

Wow.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

Spiro was Patty.

John McMullen:

Buddies with Patty Hearst.

Bruce Fessier:

Patty Hearst, when she was on trial, she came down here.

Bruce Fessier:

It stayed with her aunt, you know, aunt and uncle here.

Bruce Fessier:

And when Liberace came, all of a sudden, it changed.

Bruce Fessier:

You couldn't escape the limelight.

Bruce Fessier:

Everybody came around the country to hang out in front of his house.

Bruce Fessier:

And you know, what's really interesting is that just about a week before that vigil, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker bought a house in Palm Springs.

Bruce Fessier:

And a week after, a week, maybe two weeks after the vigil in front of Liberace's house, there was a vigil in front of Jim and Tammy Baker's house.

Bruce Fessier:

And we had a report.

Bruce Fessier:

John Husser, as a matter of fact.

Bruce Fessier:

You know John Husserl.

John McMullen:

I know John very well.

John McMullen:

Yes.

Bruce Fessier:

John ran into Tammy Faye Baker at a restaurant, Old World, I think it was.

Bruce Fessier:

And this woman was trying.

Bruce Fessier:

Thinking that John was trying to hound them, you know, and.

Bruce Fessier:

And John has just happened to be there, but.

Bruce Fessier:

But he sees.

Bruce Fessier:

But he knows that there's this.

Bruce Fessier:

This vigil going on.

Bruce Fessier:

So, of course he asks a question and, you know, they said Palm Springs used to be a place where you could find privacy.

Bruce Fessier:

Not anymore.

Bruce Fessier:

You could blame Liberace for that change.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, Palm Springs was not isolationist after Liberace.

Randy Florence:

Wow.

Randy Florence:

I never knew that.

Randy Florence:

Like the racquet club, the old record club.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, I played the.

Jerry Ring:

Guys, we're going to take a quick break here, and I'm going to ask you some questions.

John McMullen:

No, we're going to do both.

John McMullen:

You got to do both.

Jerry Ring:

Both.

John McMullen:

Yeah.

Jerry Ring:

Oh, yeah.

Jerry Ring:

We weren't doing it.

John McMullen:

Time for our rapid round.

Jerry Ring:

Our rapid round.

Jerry Ring:

It's time for the big conversations Little bar rapid round we have.

Jerry Ring:

We ask our guest five key questions and want them to answer.

Jerry Ring:

Not that kind of rapid round.

Randy Florence:

2 minutes.

Jerry Ring:

ne's throw from Little Bar at:

Jerry Ring:

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Jerry Ring:

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Jerry Ring:

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Jerry Ring:

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Jerry Ring:

Visit them online at Vitara.

Jerry Ring:

That's V I T A R A Wellness dot com.

Jerry Ring:

Live well.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, you've gotten better at that.

Jerry Ring:

Have I?

Bruce Fessier:

Since you had acting instructions from Jane and me.

Randy Florence:

And since your last car accident.

Jerry Ring:

It turned my life around.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah, I've never been able to read that commercial better.

Bruce Fessier:

Thank you guys for that.

Jerry Ring:

You really have dogs or cats?

Randy Florence:

Dogs.

Bruce Fessier:

Dogs.

Jerry Ring:

I knew that One of you.

Jerry Ring:

Thank you.

Jerry Ring:

We actually had somebody yesterday for the first time.

Jerry Ring:

Say Cats.

John McMullen:

Oh, no, but they meant the musical.

John McMullen:

That wasn't the question we were asking.

Randy Florence:

No.

Randy Florence:

I tell people I don't like pussy of any form.

John McMullen:

Cards and letters to Jerry Ring.

Jerry Ring:

All right, Jerry, you have somebody visiting the desert for the first time.

Jerry Ring:

Where do you want to take them?

Randy Florence:

Spencer's.

Jerry Ring:

Spencer's, Bruce?

Bruce Fessier:

La Quinta Hotel.

Jerry Ring:

La Quinta Hotel.

Randy Florence:

I change mine.

Randy Florence:

I want to go there too, so.

Jerry Ring:

You can see Bruce.

Randy Florence:

No, it has nothing to do with him.

Jerry Ring:

Bruce, you can recommend one book to a college graduate.

Jerry Ring:

What is it?

Bruce Fessier:

The Bible.

Jerry Ring:

Jerry.

Randy Florence:

My book.

Jerry Ring:

That's the perfect answer.

John McMullen:

The title.

John McMullen:

Give the title of your book.

Randy Florence:

The title of my book is if the Shoe Fits, Buy two.

Randy Florence:

And it's all about celebrities and things like that.

John McMullen:

It's available on Amazon.com.

Randy Florence:

No, not anymore.

Randy Florence:

Just find me and I'll give you one.

Jerry Ring:

Oh, wonderful.

Jerry Ring:

@ Spencer's, which show would you most likely watch?

Jerry Ring:

Friends or Cheers?

Bruce Fessier:

Cheers.

Randy Florence:

Neither.

Jerry Ring:

Didn't like the shows.

Randy Florence:

You're not watched him.

Jerry Ring:

Really?

Randy Florence:

Never saw an episode of either.

Bruce Fessier:

Wow.

John McMullen:

He does Watch News Channel 3 in the morning because he'll text me about my ties.

John McMullen:

Everyone.

Randy Florence:

I do.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, I do.

Randy Florence:

And Big Bang Theory.

John McMullen:

You.

Jerry Ring:

You like the Big Bang Theory?

Jerry Ring:

My all time favorite show.

Randy Florence:

Yay.

Jerry Ring:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

You're my new best friend.

Jerry Ring:

You.

Jerry Ring:

You can wear one color for the rest of your life.

Jerry Ring:

What is it?

Jerry Ring:

Blue, Bruce.

Jerry Ring:

Blue.

Randy Florence:

Am I blue?

Bruce Fessier:

Am I wearing blue for the rest of my life?

Bruce Fessier:

No, I'm a black guy.

Randy Florence:

I changed mine.

Randy Florence:

I want to go black too.

Randy Florence:

Cuz once you go black, you never go back.

Jerry Ring:

At the LA Hotel.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, with my cards and letters to Jerry Ring.

John McMullen:

This may be the podcast that gets censored.

Randy Florence:

Go ahead.

Bruce Fessier:

I had to.

Bruce Fessier:

I had to recommend the Bible just because I threw out that F box.

Jerry Ring:

Oh, so it was really Just fix yourself.

Bruce Fessier:

No, actually, I think I'll stick with the Bible.

Jerry Ring:

The Bible would be a good book.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Jerry Ring:

I mean, if you want to read.

John McMullen:

I think it is called the Good Book.

John McMullen:

As a matter of fact, I just.

Jerry Ring:

Came up with that.

John McMullen:

That's great.

John McMullen:

You should patent that.

John McMullen:

One more question.

Jerry Ring:

Do I have another question?

John McMullen:

Was that five?

Jerry Ring:

I think that was.

John McMullen:

Oh, well, in that case, that's this week's Rapid Round presented by Vitara Wellness in Palm desert.

John McMullen:

-:

Jerry Ring:

I.

Jerry Ring:

I wonder if I've actually ever done this the way it was supposed to be done.

John McMullen:

No, it's nice thing about the podcast, the rules are very loose, very vague.

Randy Florence:

No kidding.

Bruce Fessier:

I'm going to.

John McMullen:

As are our standards, apparently.

Randy Florence:

And entertainment.

Bruce Fessier:

I'm going to call you Rapid Randy from now on.

John McMullen:

Rapid Rand.

John McMullen:

I'm not going to.

John McMullen:

I'm not going to say it.

Jerry Ring:

Don't.

Jerry Ring:

You're not going to say that.

Jerry Ring:

My wife's been calling me that for years.

Randy Florence:

Bring that up.

Randy Florence:

In my neighborhood, you'll be very popular.

John McMullen:

You get lots of dinner invitations.

John McMullen:

Randy at Spencer's.

Jerry Ring:

Jerry, what's coming up for you next?

Randy Florence:

Oh, a lot of rest and relaxation.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

I just.

Jerry Ring:

What does that look like for you?

Jerry Ring:

What do you do to rest and relax?

Randy Florence:

I go to Spencer's.

John McMullen:

You still do a lot of traveling, though.

John McMullen:

You still love to go on cruises?

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

You don't perform on the cruise, but.

Jerry Ring:

You have to use a different name when you booked yourself on.

Randy Florence:

I go Joyce.

Randy Florence:

Now, I have a wonderful lady friend who lives in Phoenix, Donna Delpier, and she's a travel agent and she calls me up and she says, I have a screaming deal, so count me in.

Randy Florence:

So we go off here and there and everywhere and it's a lot of fun.

John McMullen:

You also go back to Indiana?

Randy Florence:

I did recently and I was Randall.

Randy Florence:

A lot of little children and, you know, snot nosed little crotch monkeys.

Randy Florence:

And I got a huge cold.

Randy Florence:

So I don't like children.

Randy Florence:

I like them less than I did before.

Randy Florence:

People say you have children.

Randy Florence:

Dogs.

Randy Florence:

I have dogs.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

No, but I'm still, you know, crotch monkeys.

Jerry Ring:

I've got to write that down.

John McMullen:

Write that one down.

John McMullen:

Crotch monkeys.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

But I still have some things, you know, lined up.

Randy Florence:

I'm doing a performance on the east coast for rather interesting family that I met years ago when I was in New Bern, North Carolina, and I was sitting in an oyster bar and these people.

Randy Florence:

So we started chatting.

Randy Florence:

Turns out Mark and Sissy Chestnut.

Randy Florence:

He's the leading attorney in the state of North Carolina.

Randy Florence:

So they've invited me to play one of their cocktail parties.

Jerry Ring:

Nice.

Randy Florence:

And they said, the only problem is we don't have a piano.

Randy Florence:

I said, you're rich.

Randy Florence:

Get one.

Randy Florence:

I'm not gonna bring one, but I'll bring my organ.

Randy Florence:

And I still don't like cats.

Jerry Ring:

Bruce, how about you?

Jerry Ring:

Besides your Facebook posts, what's coming up here?

Bruce Fessier:

I'm headed.

Bruce Fessier:

This will be past tense by the time this airs, but I'm going to New York on Friday.

Bruce Fessier:

I'm looking forward to seeing Tammy Faye on Broadway.

Bruce Fessier:

That'll.

Randy Florence:

That's cool.

Bruce Fessier:

See some Broadway shows.

Randy Florence:

I want to hear about that.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

You know, ever since the concert.

Randy Florence:

Don't say anything to Jane, but Bruce and I are secretly dating, so we're going to take a ronda.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

In fact, I was going to say I'm going to see Marilyn May at the.

Bruce Fessier:

At the Purple Room.

Bruce Fessier:

She's coming around Thanksgiving, but she'll be here after.

Bruce Fessier:

She's remarkable in December, too.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

We ought to go.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

Randy Florence:

I'm.

Randy Florence:

That's one thing I'm doing.

Randy Florence:

Rudoligh is celebrating her 90th birthday.

Randy Florence:

May 30th of next year.

Randy Florence:

I opened for.

Jerry Ring:

That's crazy.

Randy Florence:

I opened for her this past May at the Vibrato Herb Alberts Club in.

Randy Florence:

In Los Angeles.

Randy Florence:

So she's asked me to be a part of that.

Bruce Fessier:

Marilyn May is 96.

John McMullen:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

Marilyn May say, I saw Rudoligh.

John McMullen:

My wife and I saw her the day after her show because she was doing an autograph show in la.

Randy Florence:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randy Florence:

We were the Hollywood something or another.

John McMullen:

And we walked in, the first thing she says, you should have been there last night.

John McMullen:

So, damn it, we missed it.

Randy Florence:

Isn't that funny?

Randy Florence:

We said the same thing.

John McMullen:

Yeah, I don't want to get back into that.

Bruce Fessier:

I want to say that they.

Bruce Fessier:

David Mayelco is returning to Palm Springs on March 20 at Piazza de Liberace.

Bruce Fessier:

So this is a benefit for the Palm Springs International Piano Competition.

Bruce Fessier:

You can check his website that.

Bruce Fessier:

Their website out for ticket details.

Bruce Fessier:

I know I'm not supposed to promote things on the show, but that's not a rule either.

John McMullen:

Amyspurpose.net you've been heavily involved in that.

John McMullen:

I serve on the advisory committee.

John McMullen:

But you're very involved.

John McMullen:

Amyspurpose.net and they're doing really great work and founded that out of true love and loss.

John McMullen:

But they're doing great work because we have an enormous shortage of vets and Veterinary staff in this valley.

John McMullen:

And people always ask, why is veterinary care so expensive?

John McMullen:

It's because it's really hard to hire.

John McMullen:

That's at this point.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

Bruce Fessier:

And we're.

Bruce Fessier:

One of the things that we did with that dinner is we put together a lot of different animal activists with.

Bruce Fessier:

We had a veterinarian at every table at our dinner.

Bruce Fessier:

You know, you would have gotten to know.

Bruce Fessier:

I can't remember.

Randy Florence:

But you weren't there, were you?

John McMullen:

No, I couldn't be there because Randy's wife was in a car accident.

John McMullen:

Rushed right over.

Jerry Ring:

Everybody who knew me was just beside themselves that night.

Bruce Fessier:

But my point is, you know, we're making inroads on things like the overcrowding of the animal shelters and the fact that we have the highest euthanasia rate in.

Bruce Fessier:

Of any county in the United States here.

Bruce Fessier:

Yes.

Randy Florence:

Oh, my God.

John McMullen:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

No, it's.

John McMullen:

It's been a point of kind.

John McMullen:

I serve on the board of Animal Samaritans, and it's something we try to address because we're a full service veterinary clinic as well.

John McMullen:

And it's.

John McMullen:

It's an enormous problem here.

Bruce Fessier:

We had supervisor Manuel Perez at our dinner, and he's formed an ad hoc committee to study this.

Bruce Fessier:

And the guy who was heading up that ad hoc committee is Joel Solomon of Bighorn Golf Club.

Bruce Fessier:

And we're, you know, we started the conversation there and we're hopefully that's going to yield some results that'll make a big difference in the Coachella Valley.

Jerry Ring:

That's a really good thing.

Jerry Ring:

Thank you.

John McMullen:

Love what you guys are doing.

Randy Florence:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

That's huge.

John McMullen:

And this has been phenomenal.

Jerry Ring:

This is, this is what I was hoping it was going to be.

Randy Florence:

Did I miss something?

John McMullen:

This actually exceeded my expectation.

John McMullen:

So our thanks to Jerry Ring and Bruce Fessier.

John McMullen:

And by the way, before we finish, we just lost one of the greats of the Coachella Valley.

John McMullen:

An incredible singer.

John McMullen:

Jack Jones, passed away.

John McMullen:

You spent a lot of time with Jack.

Bruce Fessier:

Yeah.

John McMullen:

I just think we should acknowledge what a singular talent he was.

Randy Florence:

He gave me one of the greatest compliments I ever received, and that was at Carol Channing's birthday party when she turned 95 at the McCallum.

Randy Florence:

And I came into the foyer and I was standing.

Randy Florence:

They were all standing in the circle.

Randy Florence:

And I went up and put my hand on his arm like this.

Randy Florence:

I said, hi, Jack.

Randy Florence:

And he turned around, he said, oh, folks, this guy has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard.

Randy Florence:

And I say, wow.

Randy Florence:

I was just amazed at that.

Randy Florence:

I said, oh, my gosh, that's it.

Randy Florence:

Well, you're not too bad either.

Randy Florence:

I never forget that, you know.

Jerry Ring:

That's cool.

Bruce Fessier:

He's one of those few guys that, you know, you can become friends with because I criticized him early on.

Bruce Fessier:

He got really upset with me, wrote a letter to the editor about it.

Bruce Fessier:

And then later on, he acknowledged that, you know, I had a point.

Bruce Fessier:

And.

Bruce Fessier:

And I recognize that he was.

Bruce Fessier:

He changed.

Bruce Fessier:

He changed.

Bruce Fessier:

He became a jazz singer in the 90s.

Bruce Fessier:

I mean, he was a great pop singer in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Bruce Fessier:

But then he decided that he was going to go a different direction.

Randy Florence:

He always loved jazz.

Bruce Fessier:

Always loved jazz.

Bruce Fessier:

And we put on the.

Bruce Fessier:

My wife was the director of this jazz celebrity golf and jam session, which had all these incredible musicians.

Bruce Fessier:

And he came and he sang there.

Bruce Fessier:

And because of the fact that we overcame the fact that I criticized him and that we were angry, he was angry at me.

Bruce Fessier:

And then he respected me enough so that I knew that I had the freedom to criticize him again if I wanted to.

Bruce Fessier:

And he knew that I wasn't just being vicious.

Bruce Fessier:

I was just trying to be constructive.

Bruce Fessier:

And when you have that kind of relationship, then you can be friends with someone you can't otherwise.

Randy Florence:

Can I tell one quick story on Bruce?

Randy Florence:

Yeah, I don't think, you know, I think only one I'm gonna tell.

Randy Florence:

e reviewed me was in the year:

Randy Florence:

It's when whatever the guy was.

Randy Florence:

I can't remember his name now.

Randy Florence:

Anyway, he bought the club, and he's putting it all.

Randy Florence:

Bruce did this wonderful review.

Randy Florence:

And this is before cell phones, we had landlines, you know, so he put, for reservation and information, call this number.

Randy Florence:

He mistakenly put my home phone number in.

John McMullen:

Oh, that's hilarious.

Randy Florence:

The phone to bring the.

Randy Florence:

Hello?

Randy Florence:

Yeah, we'd like to get a table for four for Friday nights.

Jerry Ring:

Like, excuse me.

Randy Florence:

What?

Bruce Fessier:

What makes you think that was a mistake?

Randy Florence:

No.

Bruce Fessier:

Oh, man.

Randy Florence:

Okay.

Randy Florence:

Instead of Patrick, I'm going to beat up on you now.

Randy Florence:

That's it.

Randy Florence:

We're no longer dating.

Randy Florence:

I'm done.

Bruce Fessier:

Wow.

John McMullen:

Don't break up on our podcast.

Randy Florence:

That was great.

Randy Florence:

I never forget that.

Jerry Ring:

I love that.

John McMullen:

Jerry, ring.

John McMullen:

Bruce Fessy.

John McMullen:

You guys were phenomenal, and we appreciate you shedding light on Liberace's legacy.

John McMullen:

And I don't think people know just how much time he spent here.

John McMullen:

And I think he loved it here.

Randy Florence:

Loved it.

John McMullen:

Well, this has been a phenomenal podcast.

John McMullen:

Thank you guys for this.

Randy Florence:

All right.

John McMullen:

Haven't left this hard in a very long time.

John McMullen:

Randy, thank you very much.

Jerry Ring:

This was a blast.

John McMullen:

Always a pleasure.

John McMullen:

John McMullen, our producer.

John McMullen:

And you can find this podcast wherever you take your podcast.

John McMullen:

But we invite you to go to big conversations little bar.com and subscribe, because then you'll never miss an episode.

John McMullen:

You certainly don't want to miss this one.

John McMullen:

You can listen to it over and over.

Randy Florence:

I will.

John McMullen:

You guys are hilarious.

John McMullen:

We should take this act on the road.

Randy Florence:

No, let's do it.

Randy Florence:

You're only saying that because it's true.

Bruce Fessier:

They want to get rid of us.

Bruce Fessier:

No, not at all.

John McMullen:

No.

John McMullen:

I'm going.

John McMullen:

Go play in traffic is what I meant to say.

Randy Florence:

No.

John McMullen:

Thank you very much.

John McMullen:

I'm Patrick Evans.

John McMullen:

On behalf of all of our crew here at Big Conversations Little Bar, thank you so much for listening, and we'll have another episode real soon.

Patrick Evans:

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Big Conversations Little Bar, recorded on location at Skip Page's Little Bar in Palm Desert, California, the center of the Coachella Valley universe, and Presented by the McCallum Theater online at mccallumtheater.org this program is a production of the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Patrick Evans:

All episodes are available from Big ConversationsLittleBar.com and most major podcast portals, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify.

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About the Podcast

Big Conversations, Little Bar
Hosted by Patrick Evans and Randy Florence, get up close and personal with fascinating people who live in and visit the Coachella Valley and have made an impact on the region's economy, culture and global appeal as a leading tourism destination. You'll also learn how specific music has made an impact in the lives of each guest.

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