Today I'm going to talk about a few different things, so I'm calling this my potpourri episode. I couldn't really decide what the theme was. I was watching a video interview on YouTube today, and YouTube is really such a rabbit hole, isn't it? You start looking for one thing, or looking at one thing, and before you know it you've gone down different roads to so many other options. There's so many videos. I feel like you'd never be able to watch everything that you want to watch.

Anyway, I found this interview with Kip Winger, who you might know. He was, and still is, the lead singer of the band Winger, which in the 80s was a heavy metal not too heavy though band, and he's gone on to do a lot of different things musically. He's composed symphonies, different classical pieces, with much success. He's a well-rounded guy. He's also studied ballet. If you can believe that, kip Winger has led a rather interesting and tragic life as well. He was married in the 90s and in 1996, his wife was killed in a car accident. Suddenly, he was in the middle of finishing an album when that happened and the remainder of the songs that he wrote dealt with that level of grief, which grief is something I can always relate to. Anyway, I found the interview interesting for several reasons. He was talking about his journey with music and how he got into transforming himself from being a heavy metal singer to writing classical music and everything in between. And everything in between. He said at one point that he decided that he was going to write just for himself and he felt like that. Since there's 9 billion people in the world, maybe someone else would like it too. And I thought about my podcast here and that there are listeners from all over the world and how much I appreciate you. So, even though my podcast might not be for everyone, I know that there are some of you out there that appreciate hearing about my journey and how it can relate to your own life. So thanks again. I have my own Kip Winger story. I've taken grief for this from people, or at least one person over the years. They saw him as just a heavy metal singer. But Kip Winger has really an amazing voice and he worked up an acoustical version of many of his songs and in the early 2000s, my then boyfriend Bill soon to be husband, and his brother and my friend Gina, who's since passed on those of you who are regular listeners will have heard about her.

We all traipsed out to the west part of the San Fernando Valley to a club called the Country Club, an infamous club. Back in the 80s and the 90s we saw Kip Winger perform an acoustical show just him and his acoustical guitar on stage. It was really one of the most pure evenings of music I've ever experienced. It was, I mean not to be trite, but it was like music from the gods. He had such a clear, strong, wonderful voice and he sang all the songs that he made famous with his band, but they took on a different sound and a different meaning because they were acoustic versions and you could see how talented he really was A strong singer, a good singer, a talented singer. My friend, gina at the time well, she liked to go backstage and meet people and so she used her influence as a music promoter and Gina and I went backstage and we talked to him briefly, which really was the cherry on top of the evening for me. I remember later Bill asked where did you guys go to? We had snuck away, we had snuck away. Anyway, I appreciated his comment and I thought that that was just a nice way to put it of when you want to stretch out your wings and try different things, but you're not sure if people will accept you for what you're doing. You're not sure if people will accept you for what you're doing, so I'll put a link to the interview in the show notes so if you're interested in watching the interview, you can do so.

The other thing that happened this week was that Jack Russell, who was the singer for Great White, his band, passed away. Jack was 63, and he had been recently diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and another neurological disease which escapes me at the moment. Jack was well, he was also a great singer. He had a really wonderful voice that was recognized by many people as great, as phenomenal. And his band, Great White, well, it tookuntled members who set out on their own. So there was Great White and then there was also Jack Russell's Great White. Two different bands, two different versions. Bill and I had seen the non-Jack Russell version and even though it did have, I think, at least one of the original members in it, the lead singer was just well, nothing to write home about. But the thing about Jack Russell was that back in the early days of Gina again my friend Gina's that back in the early days of Gina again, my friend Gina's music promotion here in the Los Angeles area. She became acquainted and did shows with Great White and she had a special soft spot in her heart for them because, well, they were one of the bands that she got to know early on and she really liked them. She loved them and every time she talked about Great White, and especially Jack, she would end up crying, Not because she was sad, just because she loved them so much.

Jack Russell and Great White were also involved in a very tragic, tragic incident at a club where a fire broke out and over 100 people died within 60 seconds. Jack was one of the people that was found responsible for the fire and he served time in jail for that for the fire, and he served time in jail for that. I can't even imagine the psychological trauma that such an event would cast over your life and how you would, you know, articulate that or deal with that and put that to rest to go on to live. But I did just receive yesterday it was delivered the book that's his biography autobiography. It was written with someone else but I'm looking forward to reading and finding out more about him.

But right after Gina died, about 10 days later he did a show here in Pasadena, which was Gina's town, and her mother and her sister and about a dozen of us or so went to the show and I did get to go backstage and meet Jack briefly and he was a very kind man. Obviously he had been through a lot in his life and I think I was always surprised how much he had aged, considering how old he was. He looked much older than his years but I think it's understandable given what he had been through. So with that it closes another chapter definitely in the music scene and music history, especially here in Los Angeles. He was a local boy, born in Southern California, but it's another part of my friend Gina's life and I did a lot of reminiscing of Jack and Gina did a lot of thinking about Gina this week because of his passing. So that's the way life goes on right.

On a better note, I wanted to say that I believe we're going to start season three next week it's hard to imagine, but it's true week it's hard to imagine, but it's true Season three of the Only Child Diaries. And I've just been really so busy with work not the podcast, but work, work that I haven't had much of a chance to do anything. I've struggled really to find time to even go through the mail and send out our bills and keep track of watering the plants in the extreme heat that we've had, so I haven't been able to organize much that I wanted to do around the podcast, including another interview, but I'm going to get there, I promise, and I look forward to the next year very much so and sharing more stories with you, and I think that's all I've got for today, so next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me.

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