Your Iconic Image : Rockin' with Icons
b'
Whether he\\u2019s producing a tour, assembling an All-Starr band with Ringo Starr, or writing a best-selling book, there\\u2019s one thing David Fishof is always doing: dreaming. Hailed as one of the most creative and innovative entertainment producers in the world, David has been responsible for some of the most original, successful, and exciting live shows ever brought to the stage. But of all the shows he\\u2019s put on over his 40-plus year career, there\\u2019s one production that stands out from all the rest: Rock \\u2018n\\u2019 Roll Fantasy Camp.\\xa0
A!er years of good fortune working with veteran rockers like Roger Daltrey, Ringo Starr, The Monkees, Levon Helm, Joe Walsh, Jack Bruce and Peter Frampton, David decided it was time to share his experiences with rock fans around the world. And so, in 1997, he debuted the rock camp\\u2014a place where people from all walks of life can reconnect with their passion for music alongside the most famous names in the business.\\xa0
Click Here to View the Rock Camp: The Movie Trailer\\xa0
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5TO_UJoq8w&ab_channel=RockCampTheMovie)\\xa0
Click Here to Check Out My Top Selling Book - "Rock Your Business: What You and Your Company Can Learn from the Business of Rock and Roll" (https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Your-Business-Company-Learn/dp/1936661454)\\xa0
http://rockcampmasterclasses.com (http://rockcampmasterclasses.com)\\xa0
Website
http://rockcamp.com (http://rockcamp.com)\\xa0
Website #2
http://rockcampthemovie.com (http://rockcampthemovie.com)\\xa0
Website #3
http://rockcampmasterclasses.com (http://rockcampmasterclasses.com)\\xa0
LinkedIn URL
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfishof (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfishof)
Facebook URL https://www.facebook.com/RockFantasyCamp\\xa0
(https://www.facebook.com/RockFantasyCamp)\\xa0
Twitter URL
https://twitter.com/dfishof?lang=en (https://twitter.com/dfishof?lang=en)\\xa0
YouTube URL https://www.youtube.com/c/rockfantasycamp/videos\\xa0
(https://www.youtube.com/c/rockfantasycamp/videos)\\xa0
Instagram\\xa0
https://www.instagram.com/rockfantasycamp (https://www.instagram.com/rockfantasycamp)\\xa0
www.marlanasemenza.com
Audio : Ariza Music Productions
Transcription : Vision In Word
Marlana: Whether he\'s producing a tour, assembling an all-star band with Ringo Starr, or writing a bestselling book, there\'s one thing David Fishof is always doing dreaming. Hailed as one of the most creative and innovative entertainment producers in the world, David has been responsible for some of the most original successful and exciting live shows ever brought to the stage. But of all the shows he\'s produced over his 40 years plus career, there\'s one production that stands out from all the rest, Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. Welcome, David!
David: Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. \\xa0 You know, I think we were talking in the beginning about bucket list. \\xa0 That\\u2019s all I do all day is I get people their bucket lists. Go to Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. It\'s the ultimate bucket list. You can jam with, Slash, Roger Daltrey, you name it\\u2026so I\'m giving everyone their bucket list. And I\'m trying to think in the last two seconds, what would be my bucket list? \\xa0 The irony is that people think they know what\'s on my bucket list. So, guy invited me to, he was so thankful to go to Rock Roll fantasy camp. He\'s been a friend for many years, I want to take you to Michael Jordan fantasy camp. Wouldn\'t that be cool David and give me your fantasy? They know I love basketball. And I said, I\'m not going on Michael Jordan fantasy basketball camp, and they said why? I\'m not going to look like an idiot. Try to beat him one on one or with these two other guys. And I realized that as much as people have their bucket list, people are scared for the bucket list. Because yeah, I have that a rock and roll events, again, people, initially, the wife buys it for the husband. And then the husband gets really nervous. She knows that his whole life, he\\u2019s a guitarist, like, he wants to play with Joe Perry. He\'s dreaming of it. Now all of a sudden actually gets the opportunity to do it. And she calls up a week before for him. His mother has cancer, his father has cancer. His guitar has cancer, you know. I mean, they throw that word around, it\'s terrible\\u2026let me talk to him. And then you talk them off the ledge, and they come through this rock camp. And they get more than their bucket list\\u2026a bucket list is something you do once, and The Rock Roll fans can come again. So, it\'s more of a, you do it once but then now you\\u2019re addicted, you want to start playing in a band, you start writing music, you want to start doing this and you\'re able to climb that mountain. So, it\'s just interesting for our opening conversation in the light that you explained to me. And I guess we\'ll save it to the end. But yeah, that\\u2019ll give me a good half hour to think about what my bucket list would be. Because I have bucket lists. I do. I don\'t stop. I do them.
Marlana: \\xa0 And here\'s the thing. When I was first starting in my photography career, there are only two places that I wanted to work. One of them was Rolling Stone. And instead of Rolling Stone, I climbed on a tour bus with professional wrestling. So, tell me what I missed by not climbing on the rock\'n\'roll tour bus. What was that like?
David: You missed a lot of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. So, you really didn\'t miss much. You probably have a family now like, no, let me tell you. So, I didn\'t go through that. I\'m 10 years younger than and Ringo is 81, I\'m 65. So, even the guys from the Turtles and The Grassroots and The Monkeys., they\'re on the radios now the 79-80s. So, I was 15 years younger. I didn\'t live that life with them. I met most of these rock stars when they were clean and sober, so, I didn\'t, and I never lived on the bus. I tried; I couldn\'t sleep on the bus. But there was heavy partying, I\'m reading the Led Zeppelin book because I wanna learn what I missed. But I gotta tell you, I am a father to five amazing kids, I have eight grandchildren, I have a lovely wife, and I gotta tell you, my kids, they go from ages 14, 15 Now to 42 So, you know, with different wives. But I have to tell you that in the end, I love what I have versus people who went on the road and thinks they had. They had a party life, but I think they missed a family. So, I had to get off the road. \\xa0 I love doing home work now. In the first time I was younger on the road with Ringo, and even when I wasn\'t on the road, I was always thinking about my artists, my client, my athletes. So, I was trying to manage them. They were having lunch and we\'re talking about\\u2026 you know, I say I\'m home now, I\'m available. He says you\'re right; he says you know the years we were home even though we were home, we will still be worrying that we\'re getting a phone call from the artist or the athlete. You know, I\\u2019m here in *Iowa*, I\'m in North Raleigh, North Carolina, there\'s no catering, what I\\u2019m dressing. Oh, you\\u2019re always waiting for that call. And so, you really weren\'t there. So, when your kid came over to you and said something to you? Yeah, sure! Sure! Sure! Sure! Yeah, I\'ll do it. Don\'t worry. But now I\'m present that was the word\\u2026present. Now I\'m present. My grandson calls the other day and says, Can you help me with my homework? I said, Sure. \\xa0 Be glad to. Send it over. Let\'s go over it. And then last night, I went to a basketball game, and we\'re studying in the car. This is the things that by going on the road and being involved in the rock\'n\'roll world, and 24/7, you didn\'t miss much. I will tell you; I think I need the rockers that are living today, look back at those days and say, You know what? I was stupid. But yeah, here\'s the other side, how many amazing songs were written under the influence of all those drugs, trade off, and on tour buses, those experiences, and whether it\'s Grand Funk, \\u2018We\'re an American Band\', that talking about Sweet Connie, and they\\u2019ve been on the road, so the road was great material to write all these amazing songs. And so, I tell you, the ones who are alive today, they\'re alive to tell the stories of what happened. God bless them, to see McCartney at 80 and Jagger, 80 and Ringo, 80 and they\'re still touring and working. So, it\\u2019s conflicted.\\xa0 I can go on and on, because it\'s a great subject.
Marlana: Yeah. So how did you start to make all these connections?
David: What happened was, I started the capsules. And I\'m just now reading Bill Graham\'s book because he was my idol. And I decided I\'m going to reread it and, I didn\'t realize how many similarities that him and I had. He was an actual Holocaust survivor. He didn\'t go through the concentration camps. But Graham, little background for your listeners is, was the number one rock and roll promoter who started the Fillmore East and the Fillmore West. He opened up the doors for all these bands to perform, moved out to San Francisco, created Bill Graham Presents, built the original amphitheaters, the theaters, the clubs, and he controlled that market. And then he put the Rolling Stones on the road, Grateful Dead. And so, he was our big promoter unfortunately passed away. He was going from gig to gig, and you can\'t just go in a car, you\'re going to helicopter, and the helicopter crashed. And so sorry! You lost a great man. He did a lot of benefits, a lot of charities. Not only was he into promoting concerts and building a business, but he did a lot of charity work, a lot of those charity concerts, Live Aid. That was Bill Graham. And if he found the cause he would get everybody together and say, Hey, we\'re a business, we take money from the public, we got to give back. And so, I\'m reading his book. And similarly, he was a waiter in the Catskills like I was, but I knew he was, but I didn\'t realize to the extent in the book, but I started in the Catskills and what happened was that you\'re a waiter in the Catskills. That\'s what you did, and the Catskills is a very interesting place. Many of you have seen Dirty Dancing.\\xa0
Marlana: I\\u2019m just gonna say when I first heard this part of your story, I remember thinking to myself, Oh my gosh! He\'s Dirty Dancing!
David: It\'s Dirty Dancing. That\'s what it is. But let me give a little background. The hotels were places that were two hours out of New York City, and they were so many people in that area who would go up to vacation the summer, for a week, two weeks, three weeks, a weekend? And you went to these hotels, hundreds of hotels were there. And for, I don\'t know, let\'s say today\'s market less than $100 a day. They fed you three meals a day. And these are big meals, and I was aware of that, so you wanted to stuff your people - Hey, try this, eat this, this is putting food in front of you. Like they hated when they said don\'t sell the food. I\'d sell the food all the time. Why? Because they would check in on Sunday, the following Sunday to check out. I really waited\\u2026and we worked on tips. So, I\'d want them to give me a big tip. It was a great way there. \\xa0 The average tip is $5 a week..let\\u2019s give this guy it\\u2026 $10 He took great care of us. He got us to steak when it was rare. You know, he took care of us, so we\\u2019re selling the food now, do you three meals a day now. On top of three meals a day you have a tea room, so, if in case you woke up early and you\'re hungry, you wanted a Danish and a cup of coffee, you would go to the tea room and then you went to breakfast and you know anything on the menu was there, but afterwards you\'d see people walking out of the dining room with napkins, with a bread in it and the cakes and it was called for later food because in case they got a little hungry before lunch, they\'d have food for later. And then after for later food, they didn\'t realize that tearoom was open again after breakfast, so, if you\'re hungry, get more fresh Danish and more cakes and then you had lunch. Lunch was you get everything was on the menu at junior\'s lunch, but in case you didn\'t feel too hungry before dinner, then the tearoom was always open again. And then you would go to dinner and these people would go to dinner and they would order dinner. They would order food like a side. You know I don\'t want a whole chicken\\u2026 just give me a side of chicken and give me a side of roast beef, a side of lamb. Take the hamburger I don\'t need the fries, and everything was a side, and let\'s say bring it on a side of a cow. \\xa0 Just put the cow on the table and don\'t start eating. I mean, these people ate. Now they have to go to the show, they were given a comic and they were given a singer every night at 10:30. The singer got up there to perform, the comic got up there to perform. Now you can imagine it\'s one thing to sing songs, but can you imagine if you have to entertain these people as a comedian\\u2026first of all, they\'re afraid to laugh. They got all the food in them. They didn\'t pay for the show, that\'s a big thing, they didn\'t pay. So, they\'re sitting behind and looking up at us. Okay, I dare you to make me laugh\\u2026.so now these comics had to come out. And they had to come out with a funniest stuff that crushed it. So that\'s why the greatest comics came out of the Catskills. Whether it was David Brenner, or whether it was Richard Beltzer, or any young man or Jan Murray and Chuck Carter, and you name it, they all started. All these great comics started in the Catskills because they had to entertain an audience. It didn\'t pay for it. If you got a comedy store, you\'re expecting comedy. You go to a show and to go to see a comic comedian in the theatre. You paid a ticket, you\'re gonna laugh at everything he says, Hey, you\'re not Shadow. These guys said, so \\xa0 a guy would come out and say, I had a really tough day today. I went to the dentist, and I had to take a tooth out. And all of a sudden you hear five Chiclets gonna come out of his mouth, I really just do funny stuff\\u2026.that\\u2019s how I started in the caskets. What I learned in the Catskills was a lot, I went to work for a booking agency, and the booking agency used to go to the comedians. They would say to them, and a singer say, Listen, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, we\'re going to give you a guarantee of 50 shows, we might book you at a bar mitzvah, we might book you what a bundle\\u2026might book you to be the headlining act that the Concorde hotel, you\'re gonna get 50 shows unless you\'re going to work at a beach club, whatever it is, and they control the talent. And then they will go sell the talent to these different places. And then you have to worry call up are you available? not available? They know. They have the schedule. So, when I learned that part of the business is packaging, how you buy the talent, and you package. So, years later, when I created my Happy Together Tour, my Ringo Starr and The All-Star Band tour, and Dirty Dancing and Beta Go Live tour, and I did a lot of back to back, I really took that out of the Catskill model. The other thing I took out of the Catskill model was, you have to entertain people, and you can only give hit songs. \\u2026I hate going to a concert and seeing artists. \\u2018Oh, here\'s a new song for my album just coming out next week.\' I tell every artist that\'s the bathroom break. Yeah, no, no, don\'t use live\\u2026 \\xa0 I followed artists; I\\u2019m going to close the show with a song I love. I may not. You got to close with a hit so we can sell merchandise, people got to walk out in their feelings. \\xa0 and I learned that in the mountains. So, there\'s a lot of lessons that I was able to pick up by booking act in the Catskills and, packaging I would say\\u2026
Marlana: So, then how did the whole idea of rock and roll fantasy camp, where did that stem from?
David: Here I was in the Catskills, and I went on to represent baseball players and I started records. I met ballplayers and as you\'ll see in the movie, I pick up a bunch of athletes, and from there, I came up with the idea to do a baseball camp and Lou Piniella, and I went to camp. As a kid, every Jewish kid in the east coast was sent to camp. You came, I won. Goodbye, kid, you\'re gone for eight weeks, we\'ll see you it\'s time for mom and dad to travel. \\xa0 You\'ve got to camp. Oh, we need a break too. And it\'s so funny because I send my kids to camp\\u2026and they love it. By the way, they can\'t wait to go. But I really didn\'t want to go, I don\'t want to be separated my parents, I hated it. My brother worked the kitchen, so, I was able to run in there every five minutes and get something from him. And don\'t worry, Mom\'s gonna be okay, that\'s okay. Just go have fun. So, I got to like camp, and I was on tour with Ringo, and all-star band. And as you see in the movie, they played this crazy joke on me. After the fourth show, and Joe was to leave on him pull a prank on me and get the movie, you\'ll see it. It\'s funny. I was able to have the privilege to travel with all these incredible rock stars. And I saw how much fun they were having, it\\u2019s different when they\'re on tour with their bands, because then it\\u2019s competition within the band. That one musician doesn\'t like another musician because they didn\'t get \\xa0 you stole half my song, I didn\'t get credit for it, used to date my ex-girlfriend, there\\u2019s normal stuff he stole from me, whatever it is this, right? This tour with Ringo,\\u2026was unbelievable, because it was something people said will never happen. But you took band leaders from the band, from the Eagles, and you put all these people on one plane. And you said get along, and now they get along. It was incredible. They became artistic, they were able to go on tour and just enjoy themselves and come back to their friends and not worry that the other musician was\\u2026 It was really an unbelievable feeling, and I said to myself, if I could give this feeling that we\'re having here to the average Joe, and fan, and musician, and\\xa0 experience it, it was incredible, and I have to tell you, it is incredible. I mean, going to rock romance again, it\'s just\\u2026 I hear it every day. I mean, it\'s just unbelievable email, a comment for somebody to change lives. And why am I so enthusiastic, still 65 and loving working and don\'t want to quit? I\'m changing lives every day to the power of music, and people are just getting an experience that they can\'t get anywhere else in the world. Yeah, people try to replicate it. But my goal is,
'