Musicians Reveal welcomes New York City funk music legend Milo Z, who shares his insights on the vibrant music scene and his journey through the industry. Milo discusses his latest single, “Stand Up,” which addresses the current political climate and the importance of unity in a divided America. He reflects on his early experiences in music, including his mischievous beginnings and formative moments playing live at iconic venues. Throughout the conversation, Milo reveals the influence of great artists like Al Green and Marvin Gaye on his work, as well as the mentorship he received from notable musicians such as Mo Holmes. With upcoming gigs and collaborations on the horizon, Milo emphasizes the healing power of music and the joy of live performances, encouraging listeners to engage with the music community.

Milo Z, a renowned figure in the New York City funk scene, shares his vibrant journey through music, reflecting on both his early experiences and ongoing projects. The conversation begins with humorous anecdotes from Milo's childhood, where mischief and music intertwined—like the time he and his friends stumbled upon a set of practice pads that ignited his passion for drumming. As Milo recounts his formative years in the East Village, he emphasizes the importance of persistence and dedication in pursuing music, revealing how a promise to take drum lessons led to his first real drum set. Joe Kelley and Milo delve into the rich tapestry of live music in New York during the late 70s and 80s, highlighting key venues where Milo honed his craft and the vibrant community of musicians that shaped his career.

The discussion takes a poignant turn as Milo pays tribute to influential musicians, including the late Jaco Pastorius and the legendary Al Green, whose emotional performances have left an indelible mark on his artistry. Milo's recollections of collaborating with icons like Biz Markie and the Holmes Brothers provide insight into the interconnectedness of the music community, while he also reflects on the importance of mentorship in his life, particularly his relationship with the late Mo Holmes. As they explore the current musical landscape, Milo discusses his recent singles, including 'Stand Up,' a politically charged anthem that resonates with the current socio-political climate, emphasizing the need for unity and understanding amidst division.

Milo's ongoing projects, including a reunion concert with his former band, Joey Miserable and the Worms, showcase his unwavering commitment to live performance and community engagement. The episode is a celebration of the healing power of music, as Milo articulates how the industry has transformed over the decades and the importance of supporting live music venues. This conversation not only highlights Milo Z's illustrious career but also serves as a reminder of the vital role music plays in shaping our collective experiences, encouraging listeners to come together through the universal language of rhythm and melody.

Takeaways:

• Milo Z shares his journey into music, starting from mischievous childhood antics in New York.
• He reflects on the vibrant live music scene of New York City in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Milo discusses his collaborations with notable musicians like Biz Markie and Toots Thielemans.
• The conversation touches on the importance of music as a healing force in people's lives.
• Milo's new single, 'Stand Up', addresses the division in America today and urges unity.
• He emphasizes the significance of live performances, stating they bring joy and fulfillment.

Links referenced in this episode:

• www.reverbnation.com/miloz
• www.youtube.com
• www.apple.com
• www.spotify.com
• www.towerrecords.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• U Haul
• MTV
• Today Show
• CD Baby
• Amazon
• Reverb Nation
• Empire Casino
• Resorts World Casino
• Nightingales
• Chung King Studios
• Alligator Records
• Terra Blues
• The Bitter End
• The Red Lion
• The Cutting Room

Funny thing happened while, during that concert Jaco Pastorius walked on stage and he started going up to the different musicians and trying to like, hey, can I play?

Like when it was a bass player, bass player was like, no.

He went up to the piano players like they were not letting him.

He was just, he just bum rushed the stage and he was kind of bugging at the end.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Short, short, spectacular life for him.

Yeah.

I just watched a video with him and Toots fieldsman tooth, the chromatic harp player.

Beautiful.

My next guest here on musicians reveal is a long time friend, an incredible musician, Carson Daley of the Today show and also of MTV dubbed him, I think, a New York musical institution.

And he definitely is.

We've seen him live several times, had him on the show numerous times.

He has new music.

He's always out doing gigs.

We welcome Milo.

Milo Z.

How you doing, brother?

All right.

Great, man.

Great to see you.

Great to see you.

And you're out in Manhattan.

We were talking born and raised and still living in New York City.

Right.

Still here.

Lower east side, right?

East Village rather.

Okay.

But yeah, still, still doing the East Village.

So, so what is, what has changed from when you first, let's go back to when you first got into music?

It was in the seventies, right?

Yeah, in the seventies when I was about, I guess late seventies.

I was about twelve and I was a mischief, mischievously kid and me and my friends were always getting into little shenanigans and there was a U Haul lot behind my house and we used to sneak into u Haul a lot and we were, we would get into the cabs of the trucks and we would try to get the radios out of the, out of the cabs of the trucks of, you know, with a screwdriver and try to sell them down on canal street.

Okay.

Never had any luck but uh, we got a couple rated.

Well, one time we opened the back of a truck and there was a whole set of practice pads.

It was a drum, not a drum set, but like, you know, the pads.

Oh yeah.

We each like grabbed a pad and some sticks and blah, blah, blah.

And I brought it home and moms was like, where did you get that?

You know, we found it in the trash in the alley, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Oh really?

I don't think so.

You know, that kind of thing.

And I was like.

And so I started banging on the pads and after a little while I said, mom, can you get me a drum set?

Hell no.

Because I know you.

It'll just sit in the corner collecting dust.

Right.

I was adamant.

I was like, please, please, please.

She said, I'll tell you what.

If you take lessons for a year, that'll prove to me that you really want to stick with it.

And it was a great thing because.

So I took lessons for a year at third street music school, which is still located now.

It's on 11th street.

It was on Third street and moved to 11th street, but kept the name third street music school.

And I forget who the teacher was, but forget his name, but I did it for a year.

And true to her words, she got me this drum set from this guy in my junior high school, was selling a set of drums, a dia deluxe, sparkle blue, um, like a four piece.

There was no hi hat, but it was like snare bass drum, one tom, floor tom, and like a symbol mounted symbol on the bass drum that sounded like, you know, ping.

Yeah.

Um, and then that.

That's.

That's how I got into music.

And then I just kept at it.

Yep.

So do you ever make it over to Washington Square park and, you know, jam jam out there?

I never did.

I never did know.

Uh, recently.

And I brought a.

I didn't bring drums, but I brought a cajon.

You know, it's like the box.

Actually, my computer is sitting on it right now, so it's, you know.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, so I brought that out.

I brought that out on the street.

My bass player had an amp that was bat.

You could charge, battery charge, and guitar player ran through it, and a keyboard player with a.

He played the keytar, and that had batteries.

So we did some gigs.

So that was the only time I.

No, that I'm lying.

That's not the only time I ever bused.

When I was about 21, I used to play on the street with this.

This guy, Simon Chartier, guitar player, up by Central park, by the Plaza Hotel there.

Yeah, I'm going back to.

I was.

I was laughing in my head about the story.

You were, you know, breaking into the car, stealing radios.

Yeah.

For music wise, I.

And I told my mother in later years this.

I went into her pocketbook and took $20 out and went and bought Elton John fan magazines and mirrored sunglasses and came home and same thing your mom said.

Where did you get that?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So they know.

Yeah, they knew.

They knew.

Yeah.

But, you know, you know, it's not it's just what it was.

But, you know, that little delinquency led me to a good place, led me to.

Led me to music.

And.

And, you know, I focused more on that than in.

And it kept me out of trouble.

Kept me out of trouble.

Now, you came up in a great time for live music.

You know, everybody was playing instruments and you guys, all over the city, some great venues.

What was your first introduction into the live music scene?

Because you're phenomenal on stage.

Let's talk about that.

And it was on Second Avenue between 13th and 14th street.

And they had a Sunday jam.

And I was just walking by one day and the door opened and I heard this great sound coming out.

And it was.

It was the blues.

And I went in and I.

And I sat, and I didn't sit in that day, but I watched.

And I watched this drummer, honey, honey boy Otis, great drummer from New Orleans.

He was so in the pocket, and he was playing with this band, and I was just like, wow, amazing scene.

And they let me in as long as I didn't drink and, you know, I drank Coca Cola, but, yeah, yeah.

And then I think the next week, I went back there with my sticks and sat in and got in the jam.

And that was kind of my introduction to playing live in front of people.

You know, up until that point, I was just playing in my room, trying to play along to the radio, occasionally doing jams in studios with some of my friends, you know.

You know, renting a couple hours, two, 3 hours.

What was the studio called?

I think it was called.

It was called the Matrix.

Matrix.

Somewhere like around 27th street.

6th avenue.

Yeah, yeah.

But that hustle.

But it must have been a great time.

It was, it was.

And that was such a great experience, you know, just being able to sit in, have.

Having.

Having a venue like that, you know, to play in front of people, to try to just groove.

And then, you know, I'd have, uh, these older guys say, you know, they give me the thumbs up or they say, hey, man, you're slowing down.

You're slowing down.

It's like, oh, let me, let me.

Let me work on that.

Yeah.

So you're definitely in Manhattan.

I could hear some sirens, too.

Oh, yeah.

I don't even hear them anymore.

Yeah, I know is when I'm on the street and they're still loud to me, I still have to, like, cover my ears.

Okay, so, yeah, let's hearing yet?

Yeah, yeah, you still, it can irritate you, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You've released recently two great singles.

The first one, some great, as you described, I think you told me some great baby making music.

Give it chance, baby.

Just one chance to show you.

That's right.

The slow jam, grown folk, baby making music.

Yeah.

Tell, tell us about recording this one.

And kind of goes back to the feel of the quiet storm, funky side of it.

It's definitely, I think it's kind of got maybe a nineties r amp, b feel, you know, with, with also, like, nineties production wise, I would say.

But, like, with that Al Green vibe, it's a slow jam.

It's a, it's a, it's a sexy slow jam, you know, reminiscing on a relationship that no longer.

And it's called show you just one chance.

Now, I recorded this song on a live album called Live and Bumping at Tramps in New York City, 99.

But I never did a studio recording of it.

So, so it's, so Shoya is on that album.

It's called live and bumping.

But I always wanted to do a studio recording, and I felt, I felt, yeah, that live version was cool.

I think I'm a much better singer than I was back then.

So I really wanted to do it the way I hear it, heard it, you know.

Right.

And I think it came out great.

It's really slow.

It's got that vibe that's sexy.

It's baby making music.

This is grown folk baby making music.

That's all right.

So, so where, where can our viewers and listeners pick up?

It's out digitally on all platforms.

You can, you can, you can stream it.

You can download it, you know, Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, it's on YouTube, wherever, wherever you, you know.

I know not too many people are even downloading music anymore, but if you are, buy the song.

If not, whatever.

Right?

Did, did CD Baby make a comeback?

Because something came up in my feed, like CD baby.

I don't know if they're still here.

I don't think they ever left.

I mean, I did release this through CD Baby, and then, and then they, they shoot it out to all the, all the platforms, the digital platforms that, what they stopped doing, which was unfortunate, is they stopped selling the actual discs.

Oh, they used to have that, and that was great because sometimes people still want, want the discs, you know, cds.

So you have to go to, like, for that Amazon and stuff, you know?

Right, right.

But not too many people are buying cd discs anymore, although I still have some.

And I still sell them at my shows, but, like, show you, that's a single, you know?

So.

There is.

Yeah.

So when you were growing up, late seventies, early eighties, or all through the eighties, I mean, you're probably like me.

New York City had so much to offer, vinyl wise and great music stores.

I remember going, uh, jelly Bean Bonitas was in the.

There was a, like, a dj store in Grenada, the West Village.

Uh huh.

The name forgets me right over there, but no sounds.

Maybe.

Yeah, I think that was it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Was that maybe on, like, Thompson Street?

I think so.

It wasn't too far from Washington Square park.

Right, right.

And, um, the second coming for bootlegs.

I don't know if you remember that place.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Definitely miss those times.

Yeah.

There's record stores around here.

There's one on 6th street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

What's.

What's that one called?

I don't know.

There's a few.

It's, um.

And.

And there's.

There's those stores that sell vinyl, strictly vinyl.

So.

Yeah.

Which has made a comeback, which.

Which is.

It's just weird to me.

But that's cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We waited outside for, like, 8 hours to meet prince at Tower Records in the village.

Wow.

Yeah.

So that was a good time.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Hey, you mentioned Al Green.

I know.

Uh, he's a huge influence.

And you're a big fan of Al Green?

I believe so.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I had the.

I'm sorry.

No, I'm saying what appeals to Al.

I mean, we know he's great singer, everything.

But what really got into you?

Al Green?

I was just.

I was actually just watching some.

Some videos of him a few days ago, and, uh, I mean, well, his voice and the way he just.

The way he just displayed emotion through his singing and, I mean, so sensual, you know?

No wonder the women went crazy for him.

You know, he was just.

He had that thing, and you can.

And then he became the Reverend Al Green.

And you can kind of see that, you know, because, like, even when he was singing, he.

His mutant not, you know, secular music.

You know, he had that.

That thing right out of the church.

His music is about the sexiest, as sexy as it gets.

Right.

Marvin Gaye, Al Green, prince.

I had the pleasure of opening up for him one time in.

What was it?

I think it was Knoxville, Tennessee.

And it was amazing.

It was amazing.

He had an all white suit on.

I remember it.

And.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Interesting guy.

Interesting guy, right?

He.

Oh, yeah.

When he had that incident where that terrible incident where some woman threw hot grits on him and burned him.

Yeah.

He's taking a bath or something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think she committed suicide.

He left the room or something.

Suicide.

And then, you know, then he.

Maybe that that affected him.

Definitely affected him, you know?

Right, right.

How could it not?

Yeah.

So.

So, uh, Marvin Gaye, you mentioned.

I know what's going on is right up there for you.

Right.

I think that's the best for me.

That's, like, one of the best albums of all time.

I had Leon ware on the show a few years back.

Great guy.

Yeah.

Passed away, but he did a lot of stuff with.

With Marvin Gaye.

Wow.

Yeah, great.

Did you get a chance to see Marvin Gaye live?

Never did.

Yeah, I just.

The videos.

Yeah, yeah.

She.

Lee used to play in his band.

Really?

Oh, percussion.

Right.

She's.

Wow.

Yeah.

So I think that.

Yeah, right, so.

So, Milo, we'll have things flashing up when we releases, but where can people go to find out about the gigs and your.

Your music?

My main site for posting gigs.

Well, you can go to the website, but it's.

It's.

Hasn't been really updated in a minute, so it looks old.

My website.

I like my reverb nation page, so it's reverb Nation.

Milo Z.com.

Milo Z, right.

Yeah.

And, you know, I post up my latest videos of shows and update my calendar for gigs, blogs.

The music is out there on the streaming platform, so.

Yeah.

Show you is out there.

We'll talk about stand up in a little bit.

Talking about gigs, I saw some pictures.

You played the blue note, tray.

Oh, man, that was amazing.

Tell us about tray Donia and your collaboration.

Yes.

So.

So trademark.

Um, I I.

What I used to call it tradeonia.

I thought Caldonia.

Tradeonia.

Oh, yeah.

We crossed paths.

Like, I think in the nineties.

She had a band called Sample this, and then she had another band she was in called Slaying Suckers with logic.

Ssl.

Okay.

Groovy, funky rockin and so we crossed paths.

I think we did some double some bills together.

And then recently, about a year ago, online, I think, through Facebook or Instagram, we just started communicating and said we should do some collab.

And it was a great.

It was a great, great union.

So Tradeania has since recorded a few tracks with me now, stand up, the one you just mentioned.

She's on that.

And then we have some other stuff coming out in the next few months.

A song called Gone Away, which is basically real bluesy rocky, but it's like.

It's like blues, rock, funk, and it's.

It's one of those, like, it's.

It's a duet, so.

So it's like.

It's like the words are like, why should I call tonight when all I'm going to feel is lonely?

Why should I call tonight when you're just going to put that hurting on me?

And then she answers me, like, why should.

Why should I come around just because it's a lonely Sunday?

Why should I play the clown when you just leave me with a stormy Monday?

And so we're going back and forth, and then we're like, the love is gone and it's real cool.

I've never done a track like that, a song like that.

And it's kind of, like, reminiscent and at the end of the songs, kind of reminiscent of, like, I don't know.

I wouldn't say Marvin Gaye.

Tammy Terrell.

She's more of a Tammy Terrell.

I'll never compare myself to Marvin Gaye, but, you know.

Or maybe Otis Redding.

And you know that song tramp?

Yeah, yeah.

Nothing but a tramp.

You know that at the end, I forget who is the.

The vocalist, but I'm a lover.

Yeah, I forget.

I forget what it's called.

Tramp.

And it's got that, like, interplay.

Yeah.

This track has that same kind of thing.

At the end, we start, like, ragging on each other, so I'm real excited about that track.

And then we have another track we're gonna put out.

It's called Ghetto Beatdown, which is.

Which Trey sings the chorus, and she sings the bridge, and I hit the verses, and it's.

It's another great collaboration, so it's.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to putting these.

Out and reverb nation.

Yeah, yeah.

And I'll hit you up with them, of course.

Yeah.

They're not out yet.

Soon.

Soon.

But we've been playing them live at the shows.

We.

We.

Like you said, I just played the blue Note.

That was amazing to be on.

On that net.

Legendary space with so many legends that have graced the stage.

It was just an honor to be there.

And we.

We did.

They were doing a jazz brunch thing on Saturday.

I think they're still running it, and.

But, of course, with me, it was a funk brunch.

Right.

Gotta bring the funk.

Gotta bring the funk.

And we had a nice turnout, and we'll be back.

We'll be back in the new year, maybe beginning of the year.

Definitely keep you posted on it.

Yeah, yeah.

My.

My wife and I were talking earlier today about when we saw you at a place in South Norwalk, Connecticut, a club.

And we both couldn't.

We used to go there all the time, like, Sunday night, but we, both of us forgot the name of the club.

But when we saw you, I think I told you the story, but we started, like, two rows in front of where you were performing the stage.

And with it, by the second song, the crowd was so hype and moving, I was almost outside the door, like, from where I answered.

I mean, you had the crowd going.

Yeah.

Was that the Globe Theater?

No, it wasn't Globe theater.

It was south.

No, it wasn't far from the Globe Theater, but it was, uh, like a nightclub on smaller.

Yes.

Venue.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I think I know what you're talking.

You were like.

You were, like, right up.

The bands are, like, right up with the audience.

Yeah, I think that was a club that, um, Ashford and Simpson owned.

I might be wrong, but.

Yeah, I'm not sure.

I mean, they're, they're, uh.

I don't know.

Valerie still there?

Yeah, yeah.

You know, funny story.

In 82, I met Nick Ashford at seaside park in Bridgeport, and he was driving a mustard colored Rolls Royce.

Wow.

So I went up and introduced myself.

I work in radio, and we had a chat 25 years later or so, maybe.

Maybe 20 years later, I see Nick Ashford, a mustard color Rolls Royce, just a newer version.

And we started talking about radio, and he signed his business card.

Solid.

Nice, right?

Solid as a rock.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So where we used to do the show in Fairfield, Connecticut, they were, I think they live maybe 510 minutes away.

There's a lot of musicians over there.

Yeah.

Uh huh.

Uh huh.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that was the venue.

I think that was the venue.

Yeah, yeah.

Our friend Mystic Bowie used to perform, like, a free form jam with his band on Sunday nights there, which was cool.

Yeah, we.

And I remember seeing Nick there at the venue, so.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you've been around a long time when referencing, like, you know, Nick Ashford.

And all that, and, and, um, uh, valerie, I think she, they, she still owns.

There's a place called the sugar bar on, like, I want to say west 75th something.

It's a music venue restaurant.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Talk about great songwriters and love couple and everything like that.

Yeah.

So another, you know, I mean, we referenced some of the village, but another place, you know, a few places out in the village, you.

You made your mark there.

Red lion, the bitter end.

What.

What are special about.

I saw you get you might have been guessing what days of wild at the bitter end once.

Um.

Yeah, I've sat in with them a couple of times.

I know these, uh, guy Osha and.

Yeah.

And other drummer musicians.

Yeah, the drummer and.

Yeah.

Oh, well, for a while when we did the thing at the red line.

I mean, I'm still doing that.

I'm playing here this Tuesday.

So I'm still doing my funky thing at the red line.

But I would do from.

And I still am doing from like ten to one.

And then days of wild would play after.

Okay.

Natural.

Yeah, I'm hanging out.

Let me sit in.

I would either sing, rap or play.

Play drums.

Yeah, that days of wild, I mean, really great band.

Very loose.

I think they might have played the Red lion and wanted me to come up on stage and sing a prince song with them.

Uh huh.

I believe it.

Yeah, they did the prince and James Slystone.

Very, very into sly stone.

Yep.

Yeah.

Swang is in the family stone, right?

Oh, right.

Yeah, yeah.

He's singing and playing keys.

Yeah, yeah.

How's Gaiosius doing?

I haven't talked to him in a while.

I haven't either.

I haven't either.

I opened up for the family stone.

Swang wasn't in it at the time, but it was a few years ago at NJPAC.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, that was cool.

Right, right.

And another place I was mentioning before because we live just outside Saratoga Springs, Cirros, which is like you walk like 50ft and you're tracking a couple of times.

Right, during track season.

Right, right.

Yeah.

So, so let me ask you, a guy who has been influential and he's no longer here, God rest his soul.

Mo homes, Mo was a mentor.

Yours and you know, brother Mo, tell us about this great guy.

So mo, I met, I mentioned Dan Lynch's, the place where I started playing drums.

The blues bar.

That's where I met Mo.

Mo.

Mo was singing with the Holmes brothers and great, great group blues, you know, gospel influenced.

And he just turned out to be just the greatest guy and, and kind of like a mentor.

And we became good friends and he taught me a lot about singing harmony.

And then he started like just coming to all my gigs and we'd let him sit in and he would do like whatever, Mustang Sally or something.

And then we started doing what's going on, Marvin Gaye.

And then he just started singing harmony and he kind of like became a member of the group.

So he was in the group like different times.

He was in and out of the group, but just a beautiful cat.

Beautiful soul, beautiful voice.

Talk about a guy who was definitely influenced by Marvin Gaye.

He had one of those angelic voices, but he also had a kind of, like.

He also kind of had maybe that Otis Redding tone, too, a little bit.

Just.

Just a wonderful cat.

A lot of presence.

Stage presence.

You know, what can I say?

Just a great, great guy.

I took him to Greece with me.

That's right.

Yeah.

Did a live album out there.

Live album.

There he was.

No, I did two live albums with.

He was on both of them.

He was on the.

The one I recorded at tramps called Live and Bumping, which had the show you on the original version, and he killed it.

If you want to hear him singing beautifully, there's a song called start all over when the morning comes that I.

I used to do.

And we did the live version at that.

That live in bumping cd.

He just sounds so beautiful at the end.

He sounds like Marvin at times.

And.

Yeah, and then.

And then I took him to Greece and we recorded a live album there.

And I think he sang can't get next to you.

He was featured on that.

And just a beautiful cat.

Beautiful cat.

Miss him.

So.

So when did mo pass away?

Okay.

Yeah, we went.

And.

Yeah, he had a steady gig at Terra Blues every Sunday.

Mohones and the Pioneers.

Okay.

And I remember going there.

I think it was like February something.

It was winter time.

It was.

I don't.

I don't remember exactly, but I went there.

He didn't show up one night, and I was like, what happened?

Well, he wasn't feeling well.

Then I heard from his son that he had an embolism in his leg.

Okay, Tara blues.

Right next to the bitter end.

Right next to the bitter end, yeah, yeah.

He had a lot of health problems.

What was.

The Holmes brothers were on alligator records at one time, right?

Yeah, yeah, the Holmes brothers.

They were one of those groups that were, like, all.

They were grandfathers playing Dan Lynch's every.

Every Saturday.

They'd had that Saturday slot, but they also, like, sometimes hosted the jam on Sundays and they just got signed.

They were all, like, in their fifties, maybe 60.

And then they had a good run.

Unfortunately, Mo didn't go with them because Mo had recently had a fallen out with them.

So Mo didn't get on those records, unfortunately.

Yeah, but those records are great.

And I think Joan Osborne produced one of their records, one of their later records.

Since then, a couple of them have passed away.

Wendell passed away.

And so did Popsy Holmes talk about a singing drummer with great vocals?

I mean, his falsetto was just amazing, but I think Sherman is still.

Still with us.

And.

Yeah, big ups to Sherman Holmes.

Yeah.

Great group.

Great group.

Soul.

Just the real stuff, you know, country.

So you've played with so many different styles of musicians in your live show.

Course, you always bring the funk, but you had a collaboration with another guy who's not with us any, any longer.

Biz marquis or one of your earliest records?

Yeah, nobody beats the biz.

How'd you guys get together?

So, so.

First off, I was a fan of biz marquee before I met him.

When I first got into hip hop, my, my.

The tapes I had, I would buy rakim, definitely.

Ll cool.

Jdeheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh who's amazing?

This guy just came out with an album.

I mean, he's.

He's the goat.

He just came out with.

He's, like, the only rapper who's.

Who's charted in five.

Wait a minute.

I'm gonna get this right.

In five decades, he charted in the eighties.

He charted it in the nineties.

And now he's charted again.

The only rapper.

Yeah, I saw him on the today show performing live.

Yeah, yeah, big one with eminem.

I'm still a fan of ll.

I'd love to meet him one day, but bit so.

So is Rakim.

Ll cool j, KRS one.

And then for laughs and goofs and.

And because he was funky.

Biz marquee, just the best.

Nobody beats the biz.

The diabolical one.

Yeah, I got the tapes, like, right around here.

Just loved them.

And so when I was making my first record, I went into my manager's office one day, and I saw a bismarcky tape, like, on his desk.

And I said, oh, you know, Bismarck?

He said, you know, bizarre.

Yeah, no, Bismarck.

And I was like.

Like a big fan.

He's like, you want to meet him?

Blah, blah, blah.

Like hell.

Yeah.

So I think the next time I came in, biz Markey came in the door, and he was just like.

He had heard the roughs of the.

Of the record we were about to put out.

He was like, man, I dig.

Dig your shit.

And he said.

He said, I sound like Joe Williams, the jet jazz singer.

Jim.

Yeah, yeah, right.

And I was like, oh, wow, I thank you.

And he said, I'd love to, you know, get on something.

I was like, really great.

So he got on the track, get on up, and we went to Chung King Studios.

Which was the famous studio in Chinatown where.

Where, like, ll cool J recorded, like, everybody recorded.

It was, it was the Beastie Boys recorded.

It was that, that famous, like, hip hop studio chunking studios, and Biz Marquis came down.

He did a couple of different takes.

We chose one, and that's the one that ended up getting on the, uh, on the record.

Yeah.

What a character.

Yeah.

Great, great dude.

Great dude.

Um, I only had a few interactions with him.

One was in my manager's office to, I think the second one, I was in the bank with my brother Jojo, and we were opening up our first bank accounts at age, like, 30 because.

That was under the.

Under the mattress.

Right.

Table and everything, you know.

Yeah.

No bars.

So, so, but I got my first check from Mercury, and, you know, so my manager said, you got to go to this bank and open up an account.

So, so it's like.

So we went and we were filling stuff out, me and Joe, and the teller said, oh, you take this and go fill it out.

So we went to a desk and we started filling out whatever, and Biz Markey was there, and we started chatting and stuff.

And then me and Joe got back on the end of the line.

I don't know, there's a few people.

And Miss Marquis, like, no, you don't have to do that.

You go right up.

You go right up.

You know, I was like, oh, cool.

And we went right up.

And we skipped, like, this line of ten people.

And so I appreciate, I appreciated Bismarcky helping us out and directing us.

So we went up to the line, opened our first bank account, and then the next time I saw him was at the video shoot.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

And he showed up with a blonde wig.

Hey, it's me, Z off.

Richard the V R Z.

M A R a I E with the Milo Z.

Now I like to get on down with the sound and, you know, I'm the talk of the town now we get it down with.

If you watch the video, it's.

Yeah, yeah.

And he killed it.

He killed it.

But he had forgotten.

He had forgotten all his word, his lyrics to the rap.

He did not remember this.

So, so when we get up and you do that, he's doing a rap, he's just going like that.

So it's like he didn't remember what he had rapped.

Right.

You know?

Yeah.

He wasn't, he wasn't back home, you know, he was hurting before.

He wasn't.

He wasn't.

He had totally forgotten.

But, but it's cool.

But it still worked and the video came out great.

It's still up on YouTube.

Yeah.

Milo Z.

Get on up with biz Markey.

So it's just an honor.

Honor to do, to have him on it, man.

Yeah.

That was amazing.

You know, a somewhat recent collaboration was your friend Frank Ocasio, right?

Yes.

Ocasio, huh?

Frank Ocasio, right?

Yep.

Frank Ocasio.

He's great, dude.

Great guitar player.

Actually, we just rehearsed last night.

Big ups, Frank.

We rehearsed last night because he's on a gig with me next Saturday at this place called Carmine's Deli in Elmsford.

Elmsford, New York.

And he's playing guitar.

He's playing guitar.

And I am going to be playing drums on that gig.

I'm going to be singing as well, but I'm playing the drums and he's on guitar and Trey Donia is on it.

So it's a, it's going to be a little different.

This should be interesting.

You still wear, you still wear your, uh, your suits while you're playing drums?

I don't think so.

Okay.

You're gonna.

It's a little too hot for that, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Not enough room.

All tight, you know?

Right.

How about as a drummer?

How is it singing and playing drums at the same time?

Is that.

A lot of times when I'm rehearsing the bandaid, I don't have my, I rehearse in my house.

So I don't usually don't have the drummer unless I'm breaking in a drummer.

But my drummers, I got a few in the mix and they know my stuff for the most part.

And a lot of times I can just send them, if I got a new track, I just send them the new track and they'll, they'll do their homework.

And usually after a gig or two, we got it right.

So most of the time I'm playing drums at my rehearsals.

I'm rehearsing like the horns.

I'm rehearsing the guitar, bass, keys and everything.

So I'm already playing the drums at the rehearsals on the.

But, but I'm not really Karen so much if that I'm getting the vocals right as we're rehearsing because it's more about them, it's not about me.

So on the gig is, is, it is a little different.

I just did a gig up in Chester, New York, last Friday.

I'm sorry.

Chester, Vermonthe and at the country girl diner, big ups country girl diner.

Jess.

We love you, Charlie Brown.

We love you, Charlie Brown supplied the drums for me.

I played drums on that gig and he also sat in, he sounded great on drums.

But it is a little difficult because then you have to, you know, I'm doing the show and it's, you know, you have to get those lyrics across and, uh, it's not just about, you're not just rehearsing the band.

So you have to emote, you have to remember the lyrics and project and then keep the groove.

It's a little tricky, right?

A little tricky.

But I'm getting it.

And I'm getting it.

Yeah.

How, how far is, uh, Chester, Vermont, from, from Manhattan?

It's about four and a half.

Four.

Four and a half hours.

Okay.

So not that bad.

Not that bad, right.

We had a great time.

Yeah.

Right.

So Frank, great guitarist, great guitar player.

Yeah.

We rehearsed last night.

And Trey Dania, she, she's on the gig next Saturday.

She's on the next few gigs.

And we do, she sings, you know, we do this duet, she sings backup.

She sings lead.

We do a couple of like cover songs.

We do some Shaka Khan, sweet thing and she just destroys that.

And, uh, Frank, Frank, last night during the rehearsal, he did this solo where he did the, like, George Benson thing where you're singing the guitar notes.

Yeah.

That is so good.

I told him, you got to do that on the gig.

Yeah, yeah.

I saw George Benson at a Montreal jazz festival.

Yeah.

And you know who was, who was at the gig to George thoroughgood?

He was watching.

Yeah.

So, so.

Oh, you saw George?

Yeah, I saw George Benson.

Who else?

I saw George Benson, I think, and John McLaughlin.

That was the bill and that was, that was, I believe, at Irving Plaza.

And funny thing happened while, during that concert, Jacob Astorias walked on stage and he started going up to the different musicians and trying to like, hey, can I play?

Like when it was bass player, bass player was like, no, he went up to the piano player.

They were not letting him.

He was just, he just bum rushed the stage and he was kind of bugging at the end.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Short, short, spectacular life for him.

Yeah.

I just watched a video with him in Toots Fieldsmande to the harmonic chromatic harp player.

Beautiful.

Wow.

Yeah, yeah.

So many great people you've come across and you're a great performer yourself.

And James Brown and Macy O'Park are huge influences on you.

Yeah.

You met James, I think, right back in two thousands.

Who, James or Brown?

James Brown.

No, I met James.

Yes.

We did this concert in Greece, this big concert at this place called La Cavitos.

And James was playing the same theater, amphitheater, outdoor theater, like two days later.

And then a few days later in Thessaloniki, I almost got to open up for James Brown at this, this outdoor venue.

That would have been amazing.

Unfortunately, to do the gig, and in hindsight, I should have done the gig, but to do the gig, one, I wouldn't have been getting paid, which is okay, but I would have done it and my band probably would have done it, but I wasn't able to do my headlining gig in that city.

And I needed that gig.

I needed that.

And so it was the deal was, one, you could play open up for James, but you don't get paid.

Cool.

But two, you can't play your headlining gig in that city, which was like the second.

Thessaloniki is the second biggest city in Greece.

So it was like a big venue and it paid.

So didn't do it.

But I did go to the concert, James's concerte, and I was backstage and I get got to meet him and shake his hand and it was amazing.

I've been so nervous in my.

I've never been starstruck by anyone except for James Brown.

I can truly say it was Starstruck and I was very nervous, but it was great.

Yeah, right?

Yeah.

I met him in 82 or 83.

And the thing is, I was probably like 18 or 19 and I wasn't a starstruck because I wasn't as deep into his music at that age.

So I met him and Wilson Pickett backstage and James Brown was in curlers.

They did two shows.

So I covered for the Stratford, Connecticut Shakespeare Theater.

Okay.

Yeah.

So.

And Maceo had to be on the gig.

I think he was still on the band there.

And then I met Maceo.

This was really my wife, actually.

When she had her radio promotion company, she worked for Maceo son Corey.

And we went to go see Prince in Montreal.

And I was right before the concert was about to start.

I was in the lobby and Macy was there with his manager, Natasha, right on the, like the third level.

And so I introduced myself, you know, my wife works for your son.

And we were talking and all of a sudden the lights dim and he says, oh, I gotta go.

He came down from the third level of the Montreal Molson center playing saxophone.

Just him.

It was a solo.

Walking down the steps to the stage.

Nice.

On the Rainbow children tour.

That was.

That was something.

And he didn't fall.

Wow.

Because he was in Prince's band at the time.

Uh huh, uh huh.

Yeah.

Did you meet Macy.

Yeah, I met him a few times because I opened up for him a few times.

Okay.

Yeah, almost.

Let's see.

I don't know.

A few times, four times, something like that.

Tramps.

Where else?

Maybe in DC at the black cat.

Okay.

Yeah, I had to be great.

Double bill.

You pick everything you got.

Yeah, yeah.

So, so go ahead.

No, you go ahead.

And Fred Wesley.

I opened up for Fred Wesley.

Oh, yeah, Fred, Fred's been on the show.

Yeah, yeah, Fred, uh, he's still tours.

He's still out there.

Yeah, yeah.

Tramps.

Tramps, yeah.

Why did it close down?

It was great.

We, I'm not sure what happened.

It was such a great venue.

Yeah, yeah.

I, I went to the strangest show there I ever went.

I went to see Sheila ethere and we had, we were closer to stage.

They made us sit on the floor like kindergarten children because the people in the back had tables and they were screaming during the show.

So we're sitting during our set like, like in a lotus position.

That's crazy.

It was weirdest place I've ever seen a show.

I mean, that.

Yeah, they had tables in tramps, like.

Like in the back, on the side, the perimeter, and they had like, open, open floor.

So we're, we're closer to the stage in there.

Yeah.

And sit down, sit down.

That sucks because, you know, people want to dance.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's not like she has all, it's uplifting, you know, latin funk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I believe I saw her at tramps.

I'm not sure.

I can't remember.

I saw, I saw Morris day.

I I think I opened up for Morris day in the time at tramps.

Yeah, that's where we used to go there.

So you may be the first time I saw you over there.

Yeah.

And one time when I was opening up for Chuck Brown, I opened up for him at least a half a dozen times there.

And in DC, the 930 club in DC.

That's right.

And tramps.

And, and Prince was there.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, we passed each other, him and my top mighty.

Yeah.

Might a Garcia.

Yeah.

That was his first wife.

Yeah.

Uh huh.

And, uh, yeah, I don't know if he's caught.

I don't know if he caught us.

I don't know if he saw us.

But he was there for Chuck.

Sure.

Right.

Yeah.

He used to go and watch other bands and be amidst.

Yeah.

Like a mystery guy.

Yeah.

Great loss too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you have never shied away from speaking your mind and getting the pulse on political and cultural things that are happening.

A lot going on in New York City.

And also, your.

Your latest single, it just came out.

We played it here on a radio show.

Stand up videos out there as well.

And let's talk about this song and how it applies to what's going on now.

Yeah, so, uh, basically, uh, it's.

It's about America right now and how divided we are.

Crazy divided is people.

You know, they say there's gonna be a new next civil war, and blah, blah, blah.

I don't think there's gonna be.

It's another civil war.

I mean, how would that.

How would that work?

And we're not talking anymore.

We're in our own.

We're in our own little bubbles.

Some are in a bubble that.

That has no basis in reality.

That's my opinion.

I just felt it was time, and I wanted to get it out before the election because I think it's poignant right now.

It's rocking.

It's funkin tray.

Donia's on it.

She's killing it.

The lyrics are really good.

Some of the lyrics.

The politics are decided, so we don't speak anymore.

The powder keg is ignited.

They're talking about civil war, you know, but can we pause for a minute before we all lose our mind?

You best be sure that you're committed.

It's your ass on the line, you know?

So it.

It's right on point with what's going on right now.

Check it out.

Check it out.

It's.

You know, the message of it is, is that we're all Americans in the end, and we need to, you know, there's not.

We.

They can't.

We can't continue like this, you know, so.

Exactly.

We can't like this because it's just not good.

So we'll see what happens.

We'll see what happens come November 5.

Yeah, big things are a lot of question marks, so.

Yeah, I know that.

You know, I make no quant qualms.

I'm.

I'm not a trumpy.

I'm for Harris.

So, you know, we'll see what happens.

Uh.

We'Ll see what happens.

We'll see what happens.

Um, I don't understand how, you know, people can support him after everything, when.

I mean, people like Dick Cheney.

The most Republican Republican there is, Darth Vader, basically came out and said he's going to vote for Harris.

So, see, now I'm speaking too much, but, like, when a Republican, like Dick Cheney, says, not only can I not support this guy, but I'm going to cast my vote for the democratic ticket, you have to ask yourself, are you still a Republican?

Or, or are you just like, we'll follow this guy to the ends of the earth.

And did you see Kamala's speech yesterday with Liz Cheney?

I saw parts of it, yeah.

Yeah.

I thought that was very powerful.

It's just the screen of them two together.

I mean, that's just, um, I mean, it's not about left or right.

It's not about red or blue at this point.

It's really, you know, about America and do we believe in the system?

Do we believe in the democratic system?

Do we believe in the election results?

Do we believe in democracy?

You know, so it's a weird time.

It's a scary time.

And I hope we survived another day.

I hope, I hope that this experiment called democracy continues.

Who said it?

Somebody said something like, is democracy great?

No, it's just the best thing there is.

Yeah.

Right now.

So, you know, let's try to preserve it and hopefully we'll survive another day and then we can get back to, we can get back to, like, hopefully the Republican Party can have a rebirth because.

Cause we need two parties, at least, and they can have a rebirth and come into Jesus moment and be like, okay, let's rebuild.

Let's get rid of this, the racism, let's get rid of the divisiveness, and let's start pushing trickle down economics again, which doesn't work.

And it could be about issues and just different things as far, instead of name calling and, you know, and look, look, I've met and I know people who support Trump and, and some of them are good people.

They're just good people.

I know, like, I didn't, you know, at time, I think, oh, they're all this and that.

They're not, they're not.

They're just good people.

They just happen to have fallen for it, for him, hook, line and sinker.

And I, for some reason, they're dug in.

They're dug in.

Yeah.

It's like, yeah, but that's, yeah, we're.

Not going to convince them and they're not going to convince us to jump.

You know, I feel like, though, they might, they might, they might come around years from now.

Yeah.

You know, I had another musician on the show who's been involved politically in years past.

And the last interview, we didn't talk politics, but he said, oh, yeah, when I was growing up, politics were, weren't they, wasn't it supposed to be boring politics?

It's turned into this.

So I watched the vice president debate the other night on Tuesday.

Vance and waltz.

Tim Walls.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they were so polite to each other.

It was freaking boring.

And that's the way it should be.

I was like.

I was like.

Like, somebody texted me, like, this is so boring.

This is.

I'm like, that's the way it's supposed to be.

It's not supposed to be like, you know, these digs and, like, you know.

Don'T even look at the other person.

Yeah.

And just name calling and stuff like that.

That's.

That's Trump.

That's reality tv, man.

It's supposed to be boring.

Let's just talk about issues.

Now, was there some lying going on?

Maybe on both.

Maybe even on both sides?

Yes, definitely.

But.

But was it civil?

It was civil if, you know, they even agreed with each other on certain things, like.

Right.

I don't know.

So.

So that was almost like a taste of.

That's what we got to get back to.

Yeah.

Just, you know, let's stop the schoolyard freaking name calling and.

And making up this crazy crap, man, you know?

Yeah.

People eating dogs and cats.

People.

I mean, this is crazy.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah, it was.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I like Kamala Harris has the hit it and quit it way of making her speeches, you know?

2030 minutes.

Yeah.

We're out.

Yeah.

Drag out craziness.

2 hours.

Yeah.

And once again, I'm going to say it.

I got love for the people.

Even if you vote for Trump, there's good people out there.

There's some racist, definitely.

And.

And.

But.

But there's some good people out there.

They just happen to be wrong.

They just happen to be my opinion.

They're wrong.

But I wish you nothing but the best, and I hope.

I hope you get over it when he loses, because he's gonna lose.

It's gonna be a drawn out process, but still.

Yeah, yeah.

It's gonna be rough, especially days after, because they're not gonna have the results.

Alexa.

It's gonna take a few days.

And then, you know, when those results come in, you know, he's already setting it up for, you know, fraud.

Rigged.

It's rigged, you know, but, yeah.

Interesting.

That's what.

That's what stand up is about.

It's about.

It's about coming together, you.

No matter what side you're on.

Yeah.

So check it out.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Milo Z.

The Reverb Nation page.

Milo Z.

Stand up.

You can see it on YouTube.

You can go to Milo Z's Facebook page.

I Spotify.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah.

So, hey, listen, I gotta thank you, Milo coming by.

This is like the fourth or fifth time you've been on the show.

Always great to see you.

Always a good time, bro.

And if people next week, because we're going to be airing this next week, the immediate gigs, do you have any on the top of your head?

Off the top of my head?

Tuesday, October 8, we're at the red Lion.

Saturday, October 12, we're at Carmine's italian deli and cafe.

It's a really cool venue.

It's in Elmsford, New York, and it's a deli during the day, but they have a full back line.

The music setup is great.

He's a real lover of music, this guy Rob, who owns it.

And they're just a warm environment, good food, good music.

well, oh.

Saturday, October 26 will be at Arthur's tavern in the village, West Village.

And I'm doing my birthday gig there.

So that's Trey Donia is on the 12th and she's also at the Arthur's tavern gig.

And I'll be playing drums on that gig and singing.

So come check out Milo Z on his birthday funk bash.

Playing drums, singing.

Gonna be a funky good time.

You bring in the handkerchiefs, of course.

Yeah, that's, that's what else.

We'll be at Empire Casino coming in November.

That's the one in Yonkers.

And then December will be at Resorts World Casino in Queens.

So we got gigs coming up and more coming.

Oh, yeah, the resorts is right next to Aqueduct racetrack, I think.

No, yes, the quit, the one in Queensland.

Yeah, yeah, right.

Yeah, yep, yep, yeah.

Oh, before, before we bid ado, I didn't make mention of your reunion gig that you got where you guys, you're playing drums, cutting room.

Yeah, so, so I mentioned I started out as a drummer and the first band that I started really gigging a lot with and like making a living as a musician was this band called Joey Miserable and the Worms.

And they played every Friday and Saturday night at a place called Nightingales, which was on Second Avenue and 13th street.

And they were just the most fun, one of the best bar bands ever.

They played, they played some funk, they played a lot of jump blues and a lot of just cool originals, surf music, all kinds of stuff.

And they had it like pretty fanatical fan base.

And so we play there every Friday and Saturday night.

This place, Nightingales.

Well, and some great musicians in it.

When I first joined the band, we had this saxophone player, Curtis Fields, who played with Ray Charles and recorded with Ray Charles on trumpet.

We had Holly Faris, which was the trumpet player for James Brown for years before the Worms.

And then when the Worms broke up, after he went back to the Worms, played with Josh Stone, played with, got to roll with it.

Baby Stevie won.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So when I joined that band, I was like 21 years old.

I was a kid, the youngest guy in the band.

And I really learned a lot with this band.

And I, in that band.

I started songwriting and I wrote a rap called Buddy Bug.

And I got to perform it with this band.

So it was really a great learning vehicle, this band.

Great band.

So anyway, we're doing this reunion show Friday, November 1 at the cutting room.

Joey miserable and the worms.

And I'm really excited about this.

So I've been, it's good that I've been doing these little lead up gigs playing drums on my own thing, warming up for this, for this gig because this is going to be more of a chop buster and real excited about it.

So Holly's back in the mix.

Jono Manson, great musician.

Simon Chartier, who was Joey miserable, but he has his own thing.

Great guitar player, great singer, great songwriter.

Chucky Hancock, you probably, you must know Chucky Hancock.

Yeah, the name sounds very familiar.

Raven.

He goes by Raven now.

Sachs.

Who else?

Jerry Duggar.

Oh yeah, Jerry Duggar.

He's friends.

Was the bass player for the worms.

Yeah.

So, and that's, we met, I met Jerry and Dan Lynch's.

Okay.

And we were playing together in a band called the Johnny Allen Band.

Great guitar player.

Okay, you remember Johnny Allen?

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

So that's, that's, that's going to be fun.

So that's November 1.

Really excited about that.

Um, it's, that show is going to be sold out, I think.

So.

Uh, it's the Early show.

Like seven started in the 7th.

Seven to 930.

So um.

Yeah, come through if you know the worms.