Paul Rodgers

One quiet afternoon, not too terribly long ago, I had the opportunity to interview Paul Rodgers.  Many know his name.  For others, the name oughta ring a bell. It really oughta.

Beyond his many solo projects, he was the front man for (in order) Free, Bad Company, & The Firm.  He recently (circa 2006) toured with Queen providing lead vocals.  Mind you, they made a point of labeling it as Queen WITH Paul Rodgers, as opposed to trying to replace Freddy Mercury.  It was a concert of classic Queen, along with big songs from Rodgers' previous bands.  Nobody but the audience sang We Are the Champions – giving us one of those Freebird type "nobody else sings this one" kinda moments.  In 2008, Queen and Rodgers finished wrote and recorded all original material for a follow-up QPR (Queen + Paul Rodgers). We broadcast the first concert at KVCR. I have yet to see or hear any of the follow-up stuff.

Paul appeared Saturday at the Fender Center in Corona, CA for a very special concert.  It was to honor the 10^th anniversary of the Kids Rock Free program.  This is a musical mentoring/tutoring program implemented to help counter the fact that SO MANY middle and high schools have lost funding for music and arts.  A similar project is the Rodgers Rock Pack, which includes Queen's Brian May, and many others.  There were many honors exchanged that day and night, including a Congressman's official thank you presentation to Paul, and, what I thought was really cool, a framed, really large F (shaped like the F in Fender).  The F was made up of an incredible number of guitar picks – all signed by folks like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Steve Miller, etc etc etc.

The concert opened with a performance by the (at the time) current version of The Fender Benders.  This is a group representing some of the young men and women going through, or who have gone through, the Kids Rock Free program.  They performed several 80's rock covers, and one original.  When Rodgers hit the stage, the song lineup included, of course, Bad Company tunes, a killer take on Little Wing, and closed with Free's, Alright Now.  There were also plenty of Rodgers originals, an acoustic set, some hardcore blues, and even a Coasters cover – Youngblood.

I interviewed Paul a couple hours before the concert.  One of primary things I got out this was what a down to earth, REAL person he is.  Someone I was able to joke with – and crack up. In addition to some info about current projects, I asked him about some advice he had gotten some time in his 35 plus year career - something from someone who influenced him, or that he looked up to.  Paul told me of Joe Bradley, who helped to manage a group he was in "...in the early days..." in his home town of Middlesbourgh.  The man gave Paul, what he said were, the four basic tenets of surviving in the business.  These were:

                        (1) Get there early.

                        (2) Do a good show.

                        (3) Get Paid.

                        (4) Try to get home safely.

I was expecting (and so was he) something more akin to Taoist philosophy.  In a way, it is.  This is what Paul has lived by.  Whatever we do for a living, we should all follow this.

Much and many thanks to Deb - at the Fender, Paul's Manager – Chris Crawford, and his publicist – Paki Newell...  Many thanks also to KVCR's Peter Park, running cameras, driving to the event (I still owe him gas money), getting set up quickly, and then hanging out while we played hurry up and wait.