WEBVTT 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:11.519 Hey guys, welcome back to Good News York. We 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:15.859 are here at the Syracuse Winter Fair. First day 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.399 of the fair and it's already hopping. There's 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:20.100 people coming through here. The rides are already 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:23.100 going crazy. I have not yet dipped into the fair 00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.019 food, which is probably for the best. I gotta 00:00:27.019 --> 00:00:29.559 pace myself. It's a long weekend, you know. You 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:31.760 know, there's a nice whiskey booth over here. 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:34.090 You know, it's a good start to the weekend. I 00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:35.789 usually go for the wine slushies, believe it 00:00:35.789 --> 00:00:39.049 or not. That's my ultimate fare food, but we'll 00:00:39.049 --> 00:00:42.670 see what we can do on that. Anyway, you might 00:00:42.670 --> 00:00:45.450 notice this gentleman here sitting next to me 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:48.170 is not my co -host. We've got this incredible 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:50.710 guest. Sir, I'd love you to just go ahead and 00:00:50.710 --> 00:00:54.289 introduce yourself. Sure. I'm Todd Hoban. I have 00:00:54.289 --> 00:00:56.710 played Winterfair a few times. I did play the 00:00:56.710 --> 00:01:00.109 first one, and it's always been a pleasure to 00:01:00.109 --> 00:01:02.840 work with Steve Becker. I've known him for years. 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:06.099 I'm very, very lucky. You were telling me a little 00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:09.799 bit beforehand that you are quite a performer. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.680 You've played with some incredible big names 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:14.760 all over the world, right? Oh, indeed, yeah. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.200 I'm very lucky. I got to tour with a lot of wonderful 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.920 people. I was on tour with the Kinks, you know, 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:24.159 the America Tour and the Beach Boys, all the 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:27.180 early rockers. Some of the later ones, you know, 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:30.090 Hall & Oates and... I'm a big fan of the Allman 00:01:30.090 --> 00:01:32.230 Brothers and got to play with them. That's incredible. 00:01:32.510 --> 00:01:34.769 And I'm just very lucky. I've had a really long 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:39.049 career. Lately, I've been writing film scores. 00:01:39.469 --> 00:01:43.530 Oh, wow. And we just finished a two -year run 00:01:43.530 --> 00:01:46.689 with a film that I do with Bill Mitch, who's 00:01:46.689 --> 00:01:51.569 this wonderful director, producer. And he, I 00:01:51.569 --> 00:01:55.579 lucked out. He asked me to... for that film, 00:01:55.819 --> 00:01:58.120 which was The Artist and the Astronaut. Oh, wow. 00:01:58.459 --> 00:02:01.620 And it's been internationally very, very successful. 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:05.840 We've won many awards, been to Iceland, all over 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:12.240 Europe, Australia, you know, and certainly a 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:14.039 lot of places in America, and we've done a lot 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.669 of film festivals. So that's been incredible. 00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:20.389 And now I'm working on him with another film. 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:23.849 I'm just thrilled. And basically I'm a rock rocker. 00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:25.789 I've been playing rock and roll for about 60 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:29.250 years. What's it like? What's the difference 00:02:29.250 --> 00:02:32.069 between writing a film score versus maybe writing 00:02:32.069 --> 00:02:34.330 an album or writing some songs to perform on 00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:37.330 the road? Matt, that's a great question because 00:02:37.330 --> 00:02:41.389 I sort of asked myself that question. He used 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:44.050 a couple of my songs in one of his films, right? 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:48.180 Gotcha. And then I got the whole score. Okay, 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:52.099 well I've done a few, you know, scores and a 00:02:52.099 --> 00:02:54.580 lot of times it was more like, well we'd like 00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:57.360 to use this piece of music or here we need 30 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.800 minutes, 30 seconds here, right? Sure. When you 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.580 score a full film, you know, you really have 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:07.080 to first of all really know the film, start to 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:10.439 finish. And then each individual scene, there's 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.680 75 different music drops. Wow. And each one is 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.259 different. because of this particular film, The 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:18.520 Artist and the Astronaut, very, very interesting 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:22.199 film. And so for me as a musician, I've always 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:25.599 been a musician, and I get a vibe about what 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.860 is supposed to happen. This particular film takes 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:31.699 place over the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, and the 00:03:31.699 --> 00:03:35.180 90s, and right up to current times. So the music, 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:38.520 when you're seeing on screen something. It's 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:39.960 got to be even more challenging, right? Going 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:42.900 from all those periods in one spot? You've got 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:45.840 to match it up. I can't have a contemporary piece 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:51.060 in 1964. I just don't fly. So fortunately I lived 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:53.340 through all those times, so I got a pretty good 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:57.740 idea. And so it's really kind of a challenge, 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.479 but it's kind of a good challenge. It's a fun 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.180 challenge. And I've got a really good team. My 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:06.840 son, Brad Hoban's Hoban Studios, and we go in 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:09.860 there and just crank it out. I bring in incredible 00:04:09.860 --> 00:04:14.110 musicians. to do the score and play the parts. 00:04:14.610 --> 00:04:18.769 So it's kind of a fun thing to do. And now Bill 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:21.089 has got another film that we're filming and he's 00:04:21.089 --> 00:04:23.529 asked me to come out and shoot it with him. So 00:04:23.529 --> 00:04:26.310 we are shooting, we got back from Mississippi, 00:04:26.670 --> 00:04:30.209 the Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma, filmed an Irish 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:36.990 band and then we've been in Ireland. We shot 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:40.629 Mary Robinson, the president of the country. 00:04:40.939 --> 00:04:43.399 And I think we're going to Italy next. So it's 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:50.000 been a really fun thing. I like doing film touring 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.959 as opposed to rock and roll touring. When you're 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:54.079 touring rock and roll, it's, well, you get a 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.339 nut and then you pack up and you drive and go 00:04:57.339 --> 00:04:59.980 to the next city. But this one is a little bit 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:03.839 better. That's pretty incredible. Let me take 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:06.579 you back to when you started. There's lots of 00:05:06.579 --> 00:05:08.699 musicians, lots of incredibly talented folks, 00:05:08.779 --> 00:05:11.069 but they don't always get all these opportunities 00:05:11.069 --> 00:05:13.550 and these gigs that you're talking about here. 00:05:14.069 --> 00:05:15.810 How did you do that in the beginning? How did 00:05:15.810 --> 00:05:18.629 you go from an aspiring musician to, you know, 00:05:18.709 --> 00:05:21.870 on tour with all these massive bands and everything 00:05:21.870 --> 00:05:24.569 that you've accomplished at this point? Yeah, 00:05:24.589 --> 00:05:30.490 you know, I'm a college professor. So I teach 00:05:30.490 --> 00:05:33.230 20 -year -olds, 19 -year -olds. And they always 00:05:33.230 --> 00:05:35.850 ask that question. We do this. You know, we want 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:38.959 to get to the next level. It's hard. Yeah. It 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:43.019 was hard then, it's even harder now. So back 00:05:43.019 --> 00:05:47.000 then I was very lucky. I did get a degree in 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:52.519 music. So those four years away from rock and 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:54.279 roll, I was playing in a band, by the way, the 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:58.180 band that I played with in college has some really 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:01.060 famous people in the band. Oh really? Yeah. And 00:06:01.060 --> 00:06:03.879 again, we weren't famous then. Sure. We were 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:06.680 just college kids. College kids like to play 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:10.009 music. Yep. Gary Hodges, conductor in New York. 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:12.569 Dave Maswick is playing with a real good country 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:16.870 band now. And then of course Chuck Lorre, he's 00:06:16.870 --> 00:06:19.050 probably one of the most famous people in film 00:06:19.050 --> 00:06:22.290 and television for sure. Chuck Lorre, he and 00:06:22.290 --> 00:06:26.889 I were writing songs back in the early 70s. He 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:32.350 calls it, it was my learning curve on how to 00:06:32.350 --> 00:06:34.610 write. comedies, you know, the Big Bang Theory 00:06:34.610 --> 00:06:36.569 or whatever. That's funny. I know. It's crazy. 00:06:37.050 --> 00:06:41.129 So I was just lucky, right? But I think what 00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:44.009 sort of happened was having really great players 00:06:44.009 --> 00:06:46.410 around me. The people that I played with were 00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:48.610 unbelievably great. Doug Macri, unbelievable 00:06:48.610 --> 00:06:51.529 talent, right? I always had good management. 00:06:52.209 --> 00:06:54.370 And that's the other thing. There used to be 00:06:54.370 --> 00:06:57.089 some really good managers out there. Not so much 00:06:57.089 --> 00:07:01.319 anymore. You know, the big agencies. And, you 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:03.420 know, working for the big agencies, that's how 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:07.579 I got the tours. You know, it's hard to get in. 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:10.879 It's a hard business to break. Sure. I should 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:13.699 ask you, what instruments do you play? Or have 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:14.980 you played different parts of these different 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:18.839 bands? Interesting. In college, I was a composition 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.379 major. Part of the curriculum was, well, you 00:07:21.379 --> 00:07:23.120 better learn how to play every instrument if 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:24.879 you're going to write for them. So I do play 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:29.300 all the instruments. Mainly guitar, mainly keyboards. 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:32.980 Even my guitar students, I say, okay, we're gonna 00:07:32.980 --> 00:07:35.980 sit down and learn how to play piano. That's 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:39.120 pretty neat actually. It's important. You gotta 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:42.699 be an expert. And the other thing is you gotta 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:46.980 work at it. It's like the guys that are still 00:07:46.980 --> 00:07:50.620 in the business still doing it, we actually practice 00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:54.300 every day. That's how you get to Carnegie Hall, 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:56.199 right? Isn't that what they say? That's what 00:07:56.199 --> 00:08:00.899 they say, 100 % true. Oh, man. Todd, what else 00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:02.399 is going on? You're talking about, it sounds 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:03.740 like you're going on tour. You're doing some 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:05.240 more things, recording and things like that. 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:07.879 But anything else that we should talk to people 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.120 about that you got coming up and they should 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:13.060 be on the lookout for you here? I think, you 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:15.180 know, I always try to have my hands in a lot 00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:18.620 of different things. One of my college buddies, 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:22.439 a roommate, is a very famous composer. His name 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:26.430 is Bob Christiansen. and I put him together with 00:08:26.430 --> 00:08:29.810 one of my other wonderfully famous great buddies, 00:08:30.310 --> 00:08:33.669 Bruce Colville, who's the great author, and the 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:38.409 three of us writing a new rock opera. And I think 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:41.990 that's what Steve was talking about. We were 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:46.610 scheduled to go to Abbey Road to record part 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:50.610 of this rock opera. We're still going to be doing 00:08:50.610 --> 00:08:55.639 that, assuming that doesn't get any worse than 00:08:55.639 --> 00:09:00.639 it is. But I love working with Bob Christensen. 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:05.580 I love working with Bruce Coville and we're writing 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:10.259 and Bruce and I are writing some new songs. I 00:09:10.259 --> 00:09:13.139 think you have to constantly create in this business. 00:09:14.019 --> 00:09:17.039 It's a passion. You can't do anything else but 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:22.580 create. And that's a project that I think has 00:09:22.580 --> 00:09:25.110 been really wonderful. We're sitting in central 00:09:25.110 --> 00:09:29.350 New York, right? Yeah. Bob is New York City Central, 00:09:30.090 --> 00:09:32.750 as my career mostly has been New York City, but 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:35.590 I live in upstate New York, not far from here 00:09:35.590 --> 00:09:39.870 where we are right now. And we recorded the whole 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:44.129 opera here, the rock opera, here in Syracuse 00:09:44.129 --> 00:09:49.629 a few months ago. I used all local artists and 00:09:49.629 --> 00:09:52.350 they were spectacular. Oh, wow, that's awesome. 00:09:52.690 --> 00:09:54.450 As good as you can get. And frankly, here we 00:09:54.450 --> 00:09:58.950 are sitting at, you know, Winterfair and some 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:00.629 of the artists that are going to be playing here. 00:10:01.009 --> 00:10:03.070 Sydney Irving is going to be here tomorrow. Up 00:10:03.070 --> 00:10:05.090 and coming. Remember that name. She's going to 00:10:05.090 --> 00:10:07.690 be huge. You get to see her here. Steve's been 00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:10.590 telling me about her. She's unreal, right? Playing 00:10:10.590 --> 00:10:14.570 with Joe. Just Joe. Again, local guy. You're 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:15.570 not going to find anybody better. Yeah, we love 00:10:15.570 --> 00:10:19.840 Joe. Right? He's incredible. We're talking about 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.480 some of the greatest talent on earth. They live 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.879 here. I remember my business manager when I was 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:28.120 in New York, and I was thinking about moving 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:31.179 to Long Island. He said, why do you want to do 00:10:31.179 --> 00:10:33.360 that? So I can be closer to the office. He says, 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:35.299 how long does it take to get into the office 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:38.259 from Central New York? I take the train, about 00:10:38.259 --> 00:10:40.519 three and a half, four hours. He says, how long 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:42.139 do you think you're going to be parked on Long 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:46.159 Island Expressway getting in, right? It's a great 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.360 place to live. We're centrally located. I do 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:53.200 shows. I might be in Toronto. One of my keyboard 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.799 players, Lucia, is from Toronto. And we can play 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:01.139 in Cleveland, Pittsburgh. You can get there pretty 00:11:01.139 --> 00:11:03.740 quickly. We're in the center of the world, man. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:06.559 That's what I've always thought. So it's great 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:08.840 to hear I'm not the only one. You're not. No, 00:11:08.899 --> 00:11:12.659 this is great. Todd, this has been awesome. I 00:11:12.659 --> 00:11:14.960 would love to talk to you more and more and especially 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.240 as these other things happen. So, I'd love you 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:19.899 to come check us out. We're a podcast that talks 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:23.240 exclusively about good things. And we're based 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.360 here right in Syracuse. It's a daily show, so 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:29.720 we've got no shortage of time to talk. So, I'd 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:32.019 love to have you back. I feel like we can talk 00:11:32.019 --> 00:11:35.240 forever. Our co -host, Mike, who is not here, 00:11:35.659 --> 00:11:39.419 he'll be in tomorrow. He is a musician and he 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:41.259 will... I don't know, maybe it's better that 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:44.679 Mike's not here. You would never be able to leave 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.539 until 4 a .m. But Todd, this has been great. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:49.240 Thank you so much for joining us on the show 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:51.679 and come back anytime. I certainly would love 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:52.960 to. Thank you, sir. Thanks.