Category: Interview

The Latest

On 06/17/2025

My Patreon page.

For personal reasons, my blog is on hiatus until further notice, but I’m not going away. If you’d like to read the latest on me, Como Audio, Internet radio, etc., you’ll find a lot of answers here which is also reproduced below.

If you’re a Como Audio customer, or you love Internet radio, consider joining my Patreon service.

If you love vintage music and audio gear, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

And if you want to listen to something different, fluff your duck.

Thank you for all of your support.

Enjoy the music,

Peter Skiera

What gave you the idea to write about Internet radio stations?

Peter: At the audio company I worked for prior to Como Audio, we had 5 or 6 people in the radio/music industry each pick a standout Internet radio station every month to recommend to our customers. The thinking was, there were so many Internet stations, this would steer customers to some great listening that they might not otherwise discover on their own. These people weren’t paid but we did have to “donate” an Internet radio to each of them. Part of my job was managing that team.

Soon after I joined Como Audio and was asked by our Marketing Manager to write for the website blog, I decided to include my own recommendations for great Internet radio stations. But instead of recommending one station every month, I recommended six stations every six months. According to the analytics, these articles became the most read on Como’s Tech Rap blog. Readers emailed me complaining that they didn’t want to have to wait 6 months to find out about new stations and asked me to recommend stations on a monthly basis. There was no way I could come up with six standout Internet stations every month.

When Como Audio’s sales began to decline and my salary was cut multiple times, I stopped writing for the blog and started writing one Recommended Station and one Hitchhiker Station (a strange station) on Patreon for $1/month hoping it would help make up for the lost income. It didn’t, but I kept it going anyway because I really enjoyed doing it and I liked the challenge.

How do you find your Recommended and Hitchhiker Stations?

Peter: It’s not easy! There are certainly plenty of Internet stations out there, but quantity shouldn’t be confused with quality. It requires sampling lots of stations on an almost daily basis. But it doesn’t end there. Once I find a potential candidate, I listen for weeks if not months to be sure the station is reliable and the programming is consistent.

Hitchhiker Stations are more difficult…like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s exciting when I discover one, and despite all of the weird stations I’ve uncovered over the years, I’m always surprised at what I find.

It’s a lot of pressure to deliver one Recommended Station and now two Hitchhiker Stations every month. I always worry that at some point I won’t have one. So far, that hasn’t happened, but it will probably happen one day.

Has AI changed the way you write your articles?

Peter: No. I don’t use AI for my articles. I did, however, use it to help me create some songs which I’ve posted on Bandcamp (link at the end).

What’s the most frustrating part of what you do?

Peter: Without a doubt, it’s trying to get Internet stations to respond to my Story Behind the Station questions. I’m very aggressive at trying get the answers because I think hearing directly from the stations themselves enhance the listening experience. You would think stations would embrace free promotion. In a lot of cases, my gmails get marked as spam and as a result, the stations never see my questions. In other cases, the stations think it’s a scam or that I want money in return for endorsing their station, neither of which is true, but I guess that’s the age we live in today.

The other very frustrating thing is when non-Patreon members email me for help with their Como music system. I help them out and then ask that they join my Patreon for a couple of months in return. They don’t. So, I won’t be doing that anymore. I can’t afford to work for free, and honestly, I don’t think I should have to.

What’s the best thing about what you do?

Peter: Getting an email from a member thanking me for turning them on to a great station.

*My rare WBACH bumper sticker- one of the stations I worked at.*

Do you think your experience in radio broadcasting and consumer audio is helpful?

Peter: Definitely. I worked in radio. I sold radios. I helped manufacture radios. I own many radios. And of course, I listen to radio. This affords me a deeper insight and a unique perspective. Despite 100,000+ Internet stations and millions of Internet radio users, I’m the only person who does this, which is just fine by me.

Are you doing anything new for 2025?

Peter: Yes! This year I decided to shake things up a bit and try to put more of an emphasis on genres I normally don’t focus on, but without going off the rails. I’ll still feature more conventional genres here and there, but I wanted to take myself out of my comfort zone more often than I usually do.

The other new thing is that I officially launched a brand-new Internet radio station! I’ve been wanting to do this for the last 15 months but life got in the way. I’m very excited about it which is unusual for me because I normally have to take a pill to get excited. It’s called Fluffing a Duck Radio and it’s a very unique, mostly instrumental music station. I recently uploaded new jingles and more music so there’s now almost 800 tracks in the library. Please give it a listen (link at the end).

And as I mentioned, I’ve also released some custom music on Bandcamp which you can download for free.

The last new thing is a slight change. My bi-annual Station Directory which lists all of my Recommended Stations, will be available only to my Elite and Super Elite supporters going forward.

What Internet radio stations do you listen to regularly?

Peter: This may come across as shameful self-promotion, but if I answer honestly, I listen to my own Internet stations, Wind Chime Radio and Fluffing a Duck Radio. I listen to beautiful music station The Elegant Sound which I perform volunteer (i.e. non-paying) voice work for. And I also rotate amongst many of my Recommended Stations.

What’s one change you would make to the Internet radio menu if you could?

Peter:I’ve asked the radio station aggregator more than once to please add a “High quality” category to the Stations menu. For example, if you were to search under “Jazz” in this High-quality category, only those jazz stations that streamed above 128 kbps would be listed. For those listeners wanting the ultimate sound quality, it would make finding such stations much easier.

What was the first Internet radio model you managed as a Product Manager?

Peter: That would be NetWorks. It sounded very good but the display was pretty awful and the controls were on the back except for a multifunction wheel on the top. This resulted in a nice, clean design, but forced the user to use the remote control (there were no apps back then) unless they wanted to be driven insane by blindly working the controls on the rear while looking at the display on the front. I didn’t design it; I just managed the development. It was also stupid expensive. For all the development work we put into it, it wasn’t a strong seller due to the price and because a lot of consumers didn’t understand the technology back then.

*Our original staff from our first office in Boston, MA circa 2016. That’s CEO DeVesto on the right in black. I’m behind him in the blue denim shirt. Photo by Brian Walsh.*

What do you miss most about your job at Como Audio?

Peter: I miss many things, like the interaction with our office staff. We had a very small staff, but we got along well and it was a pleasure to work with everyone. I’m sad that we didn’t stay in touch, though I occasionally speak with the former CEO, the former Marketing Manager, and our former IT guy. I’m not an outgoing person and I don’t make friends easily so I tend to value the few relationships I make along the way. It’s unfortunate that you can work so closely with people for 7 years and then never hear from them again, but that’s the way it’s been with every job I’ve had. People move on with you or without you, but mostly without you, at least that’s been my experience.

I also miss working on new products. I miss communicating daily with our customers and our suppliers. Believe it or not, I even miss arriving on cold, snowy mornings to open our office in MA and make sure our parking lot was cleared and the entrance was salted and sanded.

“Despite 100,000+ Internet stations and millions of Internet radio users, I’m the only person who does this, which is just fine by me.”

Did you ever have any negative interactions with customers?
Peter: The vast majority of our customers were and are wonderful people. I have one customer who purchased a new Amico battery pack from Como’s going out of business sale. He said the new battery was dead when he received it. The company was gone at that point so there wasn’t anything we could do. He emails me every now and again out of the blue to remind me he got screwed. I’m not sure what he expects me to do but if his angry emails make him feel better then I’ll be his whipping boy. Of course, this citizen didn’t contribute to the GoFundMe campaign for the Frontier-Airable transition so he got his Internet radio and podcast service for free, but I guess in his mind that doesn’t count for anything.

*One of Como Audio’s Press invitations.*

However, my scariest experience wasn’t with a customer. There was a guy who, unbeknownst to us, posed as a journalist and crashed a couple of Como’s annual press events in New York which I was always present for. The PR firm we hired got wise to him and banned him from all future events. He sent us an angry email saying he was going to have to “teach us a lesson”. I remember those chilling words as if they were written yesterday. I had nightmares of him showing up at one of the conferences with an automatic weapon. Thank goodness, nothing ever happened, but it traumatized me for as long as we held those events.

What’s the latest regarding Como Audio’s Internet radio and podcast service?

Peter: We’re paid up with the station aggregator through October 2026. In about 15 months, give or take, I’ll post an update on Patreon for all Elite and Super Elite members about whatever the plan will be for the balance due for year #3 and any information I have about what happens after that. If you never contributed to the GoFundMe campaign and have been enjoying your service for free, it’s not too late to show your appreciation for my efforts via a contribution (links at the end).

Have you ever thought of starting your own company and designing your own audio products?

Peter: Absolutely! I have many audio product ideas swirling around in my brain. But one thing I learned at Como is that it takes a lot of money to run a company which is something I’ve been short of since being laid off. Como Audio’s CEO once told me- if you’re a billionaire and you’d rather be a millionaire, start your own audio company. What would be ideal is to be hired by an audio company to design products for them.

What’s the status of your petition on Change.org to promote Internet radio?
Peter: As of this writing, I have 809 “signatures”. I’m shooting for 1,000, so I have quite a way to go yet. If you’ve yet to sign, I hope you will (link at the bottom). There’s no cost and it’s easy to do. If you’ve already signed, thank you, and please pass the word on.

*With Alice and young Jason (and Mrs. Voorhees’ head) at Camp Blood.*

Besides Internet radio, another of your interests is horror films?

Peter: Yes. I love horror movies. The Shining with Jack Nicholson is one of my all-time favorites, but I especially enjoy classic slasher films like Halloween, Black Christmas, My Bloody Valentine, Friday the 13^th, etc. I’ve visited the actual camp where 80% of Friday the 13^th was filmed and I’ve met several of the actors and the director. I’m not into especially violent horror films like Terrifier. A good horror film shouldn’t aim for shock value. I watch horror films to be scared not to toss my cookies.

*Back to the 1970s: Meeting David (“Jack Delroy“) was so freakin’ COOL!*

What horror films have you seen recently?

Peter: The last horror film I saw in an actual movie theater was Clown In A Cornfield, which I saw last month. I liked it but the very end was disappointing. The most recent horror film I saw on cable TV was Late Night With The Devil which blew my mind. I recently had the great pleasure of meeting the star of the film, David Dastmalchian, who couldn’t have been nicer.

*Me with the lovely Baylee Roberts (covered in fake blood) who played Carrie White.*

Last month I also saw Carrie the Musical. Yes, they made a musical from the Steven King horror novel. It was actually really good. Bullies beware.

You’ve started your own YouTube channel. How’s that going?

Peter: I was very reluctant to get into it at first because I’m not a video or social media person and I don’t look like George Clooney. My videos are starting to get a little bit of traction but I have a very long way to go. I think my videos take my subjects (mostly vintage audio) to a new level and at the same time, they let me have a little fun. I think it also demonstrates my passion for audio and brings out my personality and sense of humor. Please check them out (link at the end), and most importantly, subscribe and share them. I’m also hoping my videos will help promote my service on Patreon as well as encourage BuyMeACoffee and PayPal donations so I can keep going.

How has the job hunt been going since Como Audio closed?

Peter: Sixteen months ago, I became my elderly father’s full-time caregiver and that’s become my full-time job. It’s a lot of work and very stressful. I have newfound respect for all caregivers. I don’t have any siblings and all of his siblings have passed away, so I’m alone on this journey. I’ve done a little (emphasis on “little”) independent contract work and hope to do more, but it’s not something steady I can rely on.

If there’s one thing you could ask people reading this, what would it be?

Peter: To please spread the word about my Patreon campaign, especially to Como Audio customers. It’s very difficult trying to grow my base.

Any final thoughts?
Peter: I’m so grateful for my Patreon subscribers, and for that matter, my YouTube subscribers. They give me a reason to get up every day when I can find many reasons not to. It’s a gift in my life. I hope everyone gets as much out of it as I do.

Trivia: I interned at legendary Boston rock station WBCN-FM and my first full time radio job was at WPRO-AM in Providence, R.I. I also worked at WHDH-AM in Boston, The Talk America Radio Network in Marlboro, MA, WBACH-FM/WQEZ-FM in Kennebunkport, Maine, The Peak in Norh Conway, NH, and WLNH-FM/WBHG-FM/WEMJ-AM in Gilford, New Hampshire, just to name a few. Some of those stations no longer exist or have changed format (not my fault!).

Links:

Fluffing a Duck Radio: https://fluffingaduckradio.com/

Wind Chime Radio: https://soloist.ai/windchimeradio

RS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RecommendedStations

RS on Bandcamp: https://stationsguy.bandcamp.com

BuyMeACoffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/StationsGuy

PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=45U6HE8HF4MHU

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RecommendedStations/membership

Change.org: https://chng.it/R9rFYRjp69

Schematics: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=como+audio+musica+schematics&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313

Album Spotlight: Truth, Part 2

By Peter Skiera

On 08/01/2024

In Album review, Interview, Music

Part 1 of last month’s Album Spotlight covered the fascinating details behind the 1970 album Truth. In this, Part 2 of my interview with Truth’s Michael DeGreve, we cover life in the late 1960s, DeGreve’s Gypsy’s Lament solo album, and what he’s up to today.

Peter: In 1969 you were around 20. What was it like growing up in the 60’s in California as a young man? Was it really peace and love and all that?

Michael: “Yes, (laughs) it was.”

*DeGreve during his hippie days. Photo courtesy of Michael DeGreve.*

Peter: You know what they say- If you can remember the 60s, you weren’t really there.

Michael: “I know. I was going to slip one of those lines in…Yeah, there was a lot of that going on. I always tell this story and the younger people look at me like I’m from Mars. Yeah, I did get drunk with Janis Joplin in the studio. I did drop LSD with Jimi Hendrix at The Whiskey [a Go Go]. I was an all-American basketball player in high school. My last semester I started going to The Whiskey. I would see bands like The Doors when they were the opening act.

*Bob Smith’s legendary The Visit double LP.*

“I was working at the LA Times on the editorial staff, a glorified copy boy, but I did some rock reviews. I was kind of like in both worlds and this opportunity came up to quit my job at the LA Times, not go back to college, and join a rock n’ roll band called The Lid. My poor mom (laughs). The next thing you know, things started happening. The Lid didn’t stay together. The guy I was in the band with, his name was Bob Smith, and if you go up to YouTube or whatever, there’s an album called The Visit…Daryl Dragon from The Captain and Tennille’s on it, Don Preston from Frank Zappa’s band [The Mothers of Invention]. That album is a double psychedelic album and it’s got wings. If you can find that one out there it’s quite a bit of money to get it…the back cover, me in a hat. We were all pretty high for some of those sessions. Yeah, it was just those days.”

*Yogananda. Photo from Self-Realization Fellowship’s Facebook page.*

Peter: You were a real hippie back in the 60s.

Michael: “I was. I was. You know, I was always a hippie with some governors on me, Peter…I had a brief psychedelic era until I got into eastern philosophy and [Paramahansa] Yogananda. Every hippie worth his salt had a copy of an autobiography of a yogi. I was peripheral…but that’s what it was. Yeah, we all smoked pot and preached love and free love. All that stuff’s true until crazy Charlie Manson made everybody afraid of hippies. It was a glorious couple of years.”

*DeGreve with Neil Young. Photo from DeGreve’s website.*

Peter: I was born in the late 60s so I missed all of that. Maybe I was a result of it.

Michael: “My lady’s quite a bit younger than I am. When I do my shows…and it surprises me, Peter, how many young people, when I do all these Eagles or Neil Young [songs]. Neil and I, we did a big benefit together at Cheyenne after a terrible flood. The Governor asked me to put on a show and I called Neil. But how much those days mean something. Bob Dylan’s kid, Jacob, just did a thing I saw on HBO called Echo’s from The Canyon which is all songs by The Byrds, The Turtles, Buffalo Springfield, and in that two-episode thing from Laurel Canyon, there’s a real nostalgia, a real interest in that era of LA rock ‘n’ roll. Which I think [that’s] how Truth got to Jay’s attention because that’s kind of what [Sundazed Records does], lost things from that era. I was shocked beyond belief when all this started in November [2023] (laughs).

Peter: If I get too personal, just tell me to shut up, but since we’re talking about that period, did you burn your draft card or go to Canada?

Michael: “No worries. No, no…That seed had already been planted, Peter…I’m an asthmatic. I have pretty bad asthma. Not being in college, I went back and went to work for the LA Times. My number came up and I went down to the draft board. I can’t remember, 1Y, or what the designation was, but there but for fortune, I would’ve gone over and done that.

“I’ll tell you one quick story: On the new record that I’ve just started, it’s an old song now because I wrote it in Cheyenne. I just haven’t recorded all these songs yet, but I’m starting now. Cheyenne got around to dedicating a memorial in a park to all the guys who served in Vietnam and the Vietnam Vets motorcycle club asked me if I would write a song for them. I said, ‘Guys, I’d be more than flattered, but it’s my era, it’s my war, but I wasn’t there. They said, ‘Michael, we know, but we trust you’. The day of the dedication, the TV and all that stuff, and the mayor, and I played the song, and 200 brothers on Harleys showed up. A guy I knew pretty well named Big John walked straight up to me and…I thought, “Oh God, I’m going to get killed’, and he started crying and started hugging me. I had 200 bikers kissing me. [The song’s] called ‘American Soldier’. There’s a lot of songs with similar titles. I wrote this way before Toby Keith’s… I have absolute respect for everyone that serves this great country and I just hate war. There you go.”

*Good times: Graham Nash, Susan Sennett, and Michael DeGreve. Photo from DeGreve’s website.*

Peter: Staying with the personal questions, your ex-wife became an actress. How did you meet her?

Michael: “My ex-wife, Susan, I met her…I never told this story. When the Truth album came out, we did a concert [at the Hollywood Palladium] with a bunch of the bands from that time [Blue Cheer, Flash Cadillac, The Continental Kids]. We did a TV show in Palm Springs called The Visual Girls. It was just a…teenage girls, fashion and all that. That was Susan…17-year-old Susan Sennett. She went on to do some movies. She did one called Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickenson and William Shatner, the cover of 17 [Magazine], did a bunch of national commercials. We split up [after] about 4 or 5 years and she met [Graham] Nash and they were together 38 years.”

Peter: Didn’t I hear somewhere that Susan called you up while Graham Nash was in her bathtub?

Michael: “That’s exactly the truth (laughs). It was my Birthday. I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she called. We almost got back together, but I went on the road and I’ve got these gigs I’m doing. She called and said, ‘Mike, I just want to wish you a happy Birthday. There’s actually someone in the bathtub that would like’…I said, ‘Okay.’ It was the house we lived in. I said, ‘I’m game.’ We weren’t together anymore. It’s not my business. He said, ‘Hey, Michael, it’s Graham.’ I went, ‘Nash’ (laughs)? He said, ‘Yeah, man, I’m just letting you know Suze and I are seeing each other. When will you be coming in to LA?’ He picked me up at the airport. He’s just a consummate English gentleman. We’ve always been friends. A great friend.

*DeGreve (right) with Graham Nash in Nash’s home studio. Photo from DeGreve’s website.*

“When I went to visit the two of them in Hawaii in the mid-80s which was when my Gypsy’s Lament album started, I played him a couple of songs. He said, ‘Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to go golfing or do you want to go in the studio?’ There’s a picture on my website of he and I in shorts around his recording equipment when we started it. He’s just a great friend. I love him.

“When I was in high school, he was in The Hollies. They wrote songs like [sings] Hey, Carrie Anne, and ‘Bus Stop’ was a big hit. He’s in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame twice, so it was really fun for me to get to record with him. Just a great time.“

Peter: You’ve mentioned your Gypsy’s Lament CD several times. Tell me more about it.

Michael: “I did an album about 30 years ago. It was my first solo album. The only person I think on it that’s not in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is me (Peter laughs). Graham Nash is on it. Randy Meisner, bass player in The Eagles…Jackson Browne’s band, great bass player, Leeland Sklar, and David Milley. It’s never had a national release…it’s never been on all the [streaming] services, and now I think Jay at Sundazed [Records] wants to do it. But to my mind, it’s the record I’m known for.

“[Jay] got a hold of me yesterday. He said, ‘Hey, I’ve been working on Gypsy’s Lament.’ He said, ‘Boy, the recording doesn’t need much.’ I said, ‘I know’. It was done in the best studio in LA [Soundcastle Studios] with Graham Nash’s producer. I’m really hoping he’s going to do that, get it on all the [streaming] services. I’ve got a lot of people that’ve got their fingers crossed. “When we did Gypsy’s Lament in Graham’s House in Hawaii, that picture of us in shorts, it was such a great afternoon. He was my harmony hero. You know, it’s just weird he was married to my ex-wife. He’s always been one of my favorite musicians ever. I was feeling so saucy by the time we got done recording, I think I actually asked him to produce my record. He said, ‘No, Michael, it’s not what I do…but I’ll tell you who will and who is going to.’ The next thing I knew, Don Gooch flew out, set me up a bedroom studio, I cut demos, and Don, and one guy who ended up being a [arranger] on that was named Jeff Boydston. I literally had to take time off my Hitching Post gig in spurts to get out and do the sessions. It wasn’t like I was in LA.

*DeGreve performing live in Russia. Photo from DeGreve’s website.*

“I don’t know if you saw any of this, but the Gypsy’s album…when it came out, I didn’t have a label, and it was big regionally, but I sold them all off stage and everything…Wyoming’s a big oil and gas place. These guys from Russia were coming in all the time. It was 1991 and the Soviet Union had just broken up and the wall was coming down. They said (imitating a Russian accent), ‘Misha, you must come, you must come to Moscow. You play the Opera House. We’re going to do a film and you’ll be one of the first Americans ever to play the big festival in Belarus for all of eastern Europe and Russia.’ So, my lawyer looked at the contracts and the next thing I knew I was on a plane to Moscow and it was everything he said. I got off the plane and my songs off Gypsy were on the radio with Garth Brooks and Madonna…It’s all centralized there, Peter…All the radio and TV is like in one place, so I was going from one show to the other show to the other show. They did a TV thing and they did a film which I’ve got a VHS [tape] of and I’m thinking about trying to get, just for my friends that might care, putting it on a DVD. What an adventure that was. I’m old enough to have lived through Kennedy and Khrushchev and when we all had these things pointed at each other and I went over there and drank all their Vodka and made love to all their women and had a pretty good summer.” (laughs) That’s one of the craziest things that happened with the Gypsy’s album. It took me to Russia. I’m so thankful to have had that experience. It was just incredible.”

“…I did get drunk with Janis Joplin in the studio. I did drop LSD with Jimi Hendrix at The Whiskey [a Go Go].”

Peter: And you’re in Vegas now?

Michael: “I was.”

*Nevada’s Mt. Charleston Lodge circa 1969. Photo from Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.*

Peter: Oh, okay. You’re tough to keep up with! Where are you now?

Michael: “I’m in Grants Pass, Oregon [in] a little house just north of the California border. My wonderful lady, Kris, now we’re a duo, when we’re ready to do this, I’m about ready to launch a YouTube channel. I went out to Vegas after the whole Hitch [Hitching Post] thing collapsed. Two years back in Wisconsin up in lake country. It was too cold for me. I was done. Went to Vegas…I was 60-years old or whatever. What am I going to do? I’ll be darned. I got a house gig at a really cool place about 30-40 minutes from the strip up in the mountains called the Mt. Charleston Lodge. It was a place where everybody went in the summer because it was cool and beautiful, and everybody went in the winter because there’s all this snow and everybody would go and do all their stuff. I packed the place three nights a week the last 8 or 9 years I was there. Then I’d come down off the mountain and we’d go by the strip and all that stuff. Kris would try to drive around Vegas. ‘Michael, I hate it, I just hate Vegas, I hate it.’ And I love her, and boy was it hard for me to give up that house gig in Vegas, but I did. The guy I had worked for…good friend. I worked for him at The Pioneer…and he lives in Grants Pass. He was trying to get me up here for 4 years. He said, ‘Michael…what are you doing? Come up and visit. It’s all wineries…you’re going to love it’, la, dah, dah, dah. And I got up here and COVID shut everything down.

“Then, only going to a doctor once in fifty years caught me. I have prostate cancer and I was pretty sick. For a year I couldn’t even play guitar once, not once. Now I’m back at it. Starting to record a little bit. We’re rehearsing everyday getting ready for this show, and somehow, angels like you are just coming out of the cosmos to light fires under me to say, ‘Come on, man, you’ve got another chapter to do here.’ And if I have a gift, Peter, it’s putting love in the air when I do a show. I won’t do politics; I won’t do any of that stuff. I’ll sing ‘Imagine’ and ‘Peace Train’…and live shows are my gift. To have people come up and say, ‘Michael, you just made our night. You made our wedding.’ Whatever. It was such great magic and they’d come back. I’ve built a 30-year audience, but it’s what I love to do, and just getting back to that. So, I’m excited about it.”

Peter: You do what you love and you get paid for it. I mean, you can’t beat that.

Michael: “No. No, that’s that old thing…I used to do a lot of career days and things in Cheyenne, and I’m not the first to say it, but pick something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Peter: Do what you love and love what you do.

Michael: “That’s right, my brother.”

Peter: I’ve seen a few videos of your live stuff and your toasts (Michael laughs) and you’re definitely having fun and building a connection with your audience.

Michael: “Yeah, they’re all wearing that t-shirt with a toast on it (laughs). I saw that recently.”

Peter: So, what did I not ask you that I should have, or anything you want to say that we didn’t cover.

Michael: “Let me think for a minute. To be honest with you, my friend, I’ve really enjoyed this.”

Peter: Well, I’m sure you’ve been asked a lot of these questions a million times and you must get sick of it, but for me it’s fun.

Michael: “I honestly don’t. If people take the time like you to care enough about it, and it also gives me a chance to go back there in my mind with some of these things…

“Kris (yells)! Come out and say hi to Peter! I live with an angel. She sings like an angel. I’ve always been a solo. She plays nice guitar. We’ve got great two-part Crosby-Nash harmony kind of stuff…I’ve been working a lot of her songs even before mine.”

Peter: I think I’ve seen her in a couple of pictures.

Michael: “Yeah, beautiful long, blonde hair…Peter, this is my lady, Kris.”

Peter: Hi, Kris. Nice to meet you by phone!

Kris: “Hi, Peter. Nice to meet you by phone.”

Peter: You’ve got a Birthday coming up, Michael. How do you feel about that?

Michael: “Fine. Age doesn’t mean anything. It’s kind of funny. My sister said, ‘Your hair looks just like it did in ’68.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s a little thicker.’ She said, ‘I’ll betcha I know why. Because this cancer drug you’re taking, it’s a hormone suppressant thing (laughs).’ I get hot flashes and everything (laughs). I feel fine, Peter….I feel fine about being 76…the only thing I’m asking for, if it’s in God’s graces, to give me a little time to do some of this stuff and hang out with my puppies and my lady.”

Peter: What keeps you going? You’ve been doing this a long time. Obviously, you love it. I’m assuming you don’t have to do it. So, what keeps you going?

Michael: “Well, Mick & Keith, The Stones (Peter laughs), they are in their 80s and they’re on tour. Graham Nash, my friend, now living in New York. Graham’s on tour and he’s in his 80s. You know, if you’re blessed enough to do what we do, I’ve never taken it for granted, my friend, and I’m the happiest. I am…I love it. I love it. I’m not sure about not having to do it. I have a gorgeous home that’s paid for and a guitar collection that’s beyond my belief (laughs). I’ve never saved much, you know…but I love it. I’m excited right now. I’ve got all these songs and I’m trying to learn computer-based recording now. Us old analog hippie guys trying to learn some new tricks. I resisted it for a long time. But the truth of it is, that toys have gotten so good, I’ve got to learn. They’re wonderful, incredible. I get up in the morning and watch YouTube and I’ve got everything I need downstairs in my recording studio. You know, I can watch as many Dodgers and Lakers games up there, but does it make me as happy as music? No. Well, sometimes. When my Lakers are winning (laughs). The short answer is, I think if you’re blessed enough like I have been to do it for your life’s work and your living, what’s better? I love it. I love it.”

If you want the original vinyl pressing of Truth on People Records, it will cost you, especially if you want a sealed copy or one in mint condition. On the other hand, the Sundazed CD reissue costs $16.99 while the LP is $26.99 (link at the end). Unfortunately, there are no bonus tracks and the vinyl isn’t colored. In the spirit of the time, it would’ve been cool to have included a bonus track of one of the songs played backwards. It also would’ve been a great opportunity to press a limited edition, psychedelic-colored vinyl edition. Sundazed, if you’re paying attention, I’m available.

There are still hippies today even if they don’t dress the part, but the music and musical experimentation from that era is no longer practiced. I’m sure there are a lot of people who don’t even know what a sitar is. Truth is an entertaining snapshot of hippie philosophy and music. As the back of the album cover proclaims, “Truth is…Love…Beauty…Honesty…”, which we can all use a little of even 50 years on, and that’s the truth.

My eternal thanks to Michael DeGreve for being so generous with his time answering my questions. If you missed Part 1, read it here.

Trivia (from Wikipedia): Hippies: ”…originally a youth movement that began in the United States during or around 1964 and spread to different countries around the world. The word hippie came from hipster and was used to describe beatniks who moved into New York City’s Greenwich Village, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, and Chicago’s Old Town community. The term hippie was used in print by San Francisco writer Michael Fallon, helping popularize use of the term in the media, although the tag was seen elsewhere earlier.”

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Michael DeGreve’s website: https://www.michaeldegreve.com/index.php

Sundazed: https://sundazed.com/truth.aspx