In this captivating episode of Big Conversations, Little Bar, co-hosts Patrick Evans and Randy Florence delve into the fascinating legacy of Liberace with guests Bruce Fessier, a longtime culture editor and columnist at The Desert Sun, and Jere Ring, an entertainer who knew Liberace personally. Together, they explore the dazzling yet complex life of Liberace, highlighting his immense influence in entertainment and his deep ties to the Coachella Valley. The discussion touches on Liberace's overshadowed status compared to contemporaries like Frank Sinatra, his concealed sexuality, and his impact on LGBTQ+ history. Rich with personal anecdotes and intriguing stories, this episode offers an insightful tribute to a legendary figure whose cultural and historical significance continues to echo today.

On this episode, Foy Rayernet came out.

With a lot of stuff.

He said that Liberace always had the net out.

He was always looking for something new and something to take behind closed doors.

And I was quoted on a couple TV shows as saying that people got very mad at me, but he would go to clubs and things like that.

But he was hidden in the corner because if he revealed that he was Gayle, then again they would relitigate.

And that was a problem.

The coveted corner booth in a little bar at the center of the Coachella Valley universe.

Welcome to another big conversation with Patrick Evans and Randy Florence presented by the McCallum Theater.

Gentlemen.

Thank you very much, Howard.

We are back in the corner booth at Skip Page's little bar for another edition of big Conversations.

Little bar.

My name is Patrick Evans and I'm joined as I am each and every week by my dear friend, close confidant and very good buddy, John McMullen.

And Randy Florence is also here as our co host.

Thank you for inviting me.

Oh, my.

I'm glad this isn't video.

That would have looked really.

No, it wouldn't.

Well, only to me, our great co host, Randy Florence.

If you look up the word co host in the dictionary, he is listed somewhere there.

I feel certain of it.

Dictionary.

How are you, Randy?

I'm doing fantastic.

Do you have somebody that you'd like to thank for letting us be here with them today?

Skip Page.

He's one of them.

And the MacCallum Theater, our presenting sponsor, the MacCallum Theater.

And go to mccallum theater.org to get all of your tickets.

Get those season tickets before they disappear, because they will.

And our good buddy Gary Keefe over there with his hand firmly on the.

On the reins, making sure that.

What did you think?

I don't know where you were going with it.

He's on the reins.

His heads are on.

He's running the ship over there.

Somebody has to be.

Yeah, he's doing it.

Yeah.

Hey, by the way, before we move on here, this is a really special time in the desert.

Patrick Evans is now the Chief Meteorologist at KESQ.

Congratulations.

After 60, 65 years.

So I was the Chief Meteorologist at CVS for many years, but then when we merged, we were purchased by the parent company of kesq.

And so Haley was in place and she became.

And she was the chief.

And we all worked with her as the head of the weather department, but she recently left and I was promoted to chief.

What big changes can we expect?

I've made some enormous, enormous changes.

You know, Haley would.

Okay, things like 117 on October 1st, and I have firmly vetoed that.

That will not be happening again.

Now, we've made some other, you know, great changes.

We've repainted the weather department green room.

It's very nice.

You've got a green room?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I've upgraded the bar there as well.

So this has been a great show.

Yeah.

Oh, we have guests today.

Should we get to that?

Congratulations.

I really enjoyed being here.

I'm really looking forward to one of our two guests.

Go ahead.

No, we're very, very pleased to welcome back to the program Bruce Fessier.

You were one of our early guests.

Yeah.

And you've overcome that trauma and you were able to return, which is nice.

I mean, I was actually one of Randy's first guests even before you guys had a podcast.

So, you know, that was kind of like a trial.

It had been long enough, though, that he'd forgotten.

He forgot.

And we're very excited to welcome Jerry Ring to the program.

Incredible entertainer extraordinaire.

Thank you.

We have three guests.

They do indeed.

Thank you guys for coming in because we wanted to talk about Liberace.

Why is that?

So go ahead.

Oh, let's take a talk about Liberace.

Now.

You guys just hosted a fabulous event.

It was at Casa de Monte Vista.

And you weren't there.

I knew that was going to come up.

I knew that was going to come up.

No one confirmed with me.

Oh, here we go.

Is that what happened?

Yeah, I.

No, Deanne passed along, but it was.

Anyway.

Randy was nice enough to tell us that his wife was in a serious car accident, so.

Yeah, but that was a lot of trouble to go to just to get out of that event.

You couldn't have told them that my wife was with your wife at the time.

That would have solved all of this great event.

Does Johnny know that?

Yeah, pretty much.

Okay.

It was for Amy's purpose to raise money specifically for scholarships for vet techs.

Yeah, veterinary assistants, actually.

But basically to get them involved in veterinary services and hopefully nurture them into becoming vet techs and ultimately veterinarians.

So because of the dearth of that.

There really is a crisis and a lack of veterinarians in this area.

And so Amy's purpose is trying to answer need by offering scholarships and paying the full ride for the.

For the veterinary assistant program.

Yeah, it's a $3,200 scholarship.

You know, who's going to pay that for a $17 an hour job?

Right.

It takes a long time to pay that back.

Yeah.

And it's a tough, tough road, veterinary school.

It really is.

Yeah.

But this event was fabulous.

Francesca Mari performed and Jerry Ring, I heard, also performed.

Ron Pass was there.

Ron Pass, the pianist?

Yes.

Yeah.

And then you brought in arguably the world's greatest Liberace tribute artist.

Yeah.

David Mayorka.

He came in from the East Coast.

Yeah, yeah.

He's my friend.

I got him there.

Me.

It's all about me.

Jerry takes all the credit.

What can you tell us about him?

Jerry?

About David?

Nothing.

I don't even know.

They were terrific together.

I mean, that was what was an amazing part.

They had such wonderful chemistry that it was a really delightful show.

I had met him on one occasion.

The Liberace Gallo.

The first one, I think was five years ago at the Liberace mansion in Las Vegas.

And he was there and I had never met him, but he was up and performing and had his costuming and all that, and he was just rattled like this.

So I said, what if I did a duet?

He didn't know me.

I ran up on stage and we banged one out.

And then you played the piano.

Oh, wow.

I heard that.

Nobody's supposed to know that.

Sorry.

You jealous or something?

A little.

Actually.

A lot.

Any.

But then we.

A couple of times.

And then I called him and he came in and we did.

We glued it together.

We have an incredible friendship now.

It was just really great.

Well, this was a great event for Amy's purpose.

But Bruce and I were talking.

And you were talking a little bit about how Liberace's legacy is a little bit unsigned.

He's overshadowed by the other names that we bandy about here in the desert.

Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope.

But Liberace.

I mean, first of all, they shot the movie.

The Michael Douglas film.

Yes.

What was the Candelabra?

Yeah.

Steven Soderbergh directed the film.

Jerry Weintraub produced it and Matt Damon co starred in.

It was a very big film.

It was Michael Douglas.

Yeah, Michael Douglas as Liberace.

And it was shot at that Casa de Monte Vista.

Joe Luisi's.

You were married there, right?

I was, yes.

Wow.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Andrea and I got married at that time.

I wasn't invited to that either, was I?

You were.

You.

You were.

Yeah.

I were not.

That's what I'm leaving.

I was, but my wife was in a car Accident.

Wow.

What's my excuse?

She's been in so many car accidents.

So many.

You should probably talk to her about that.

But now you actually knew Liberace in Las Vegas.

Do we dare say you were a protege?

Yes.

Of Liberace.

I know that that is a loaded term.

Yes.

In certain circles.

In certain circles, I've been referred to.

As a discovery, if you will, that he discovered me.

I didn't know that.

Actually, I set it all up because I wanted to become a.

I wanted to work with Liberace because I knew his influence and his endorsement could really twing.

So I read about him and I met, actually met Ray Arnett, his stage director, in West Hollywood.

And he belonged to the Sports Connection, and I joined the Sports Connection.

I never worked out, but I joined it twice, and I only went once.

That's true, too.

I don't even speak to people named Jim.

What are you talking about?

Anyway, but I met Ray Arnett, and he said, lee is performing in Las Vegas.

You should come see.

He said, yes.

I said, this is my dance.

So anyway, I said, can I go backstage and meet him?

And they said, yeah, long story made sideways.

I went to the library and brought a microfish.

Is that what they were called?

Yeah, they were microfiche.

I read about, you know, this kind of food.

He liked everything about his travel, his homes, everything I could.

So when I would meet him, I could deliver a couple lines and maybe catch his attention, and it worked.

So when I met him, you know, the first time, I was backstage after the show, and he turned around and I said, I'm going to go home and practice my little fingers off.

And he said, oh, you play piano, too, do you?

Yep.

And anyway, another line I said recently, I was sitting at the bar with him in the dressing room, and another line I delivered, and this is one that got him.

I said, I read all of your books, and my favorite was when you talked about being on the decks of the Queen Mary when you were sailing over to do a command performance.

Oh.

And that's when I got his attention.

And then he said, I'd like to hear you play sometime.

So then that happened, and I flew over the following Tuesday.

That was on a Saturday night.

And I flew over the following Tuesday, and I was going to play for him, which I did.

And then he invited me to stay for dinner, but he was doing a show at the MGM grand.

So I sat down, was going to have dinner.

The regular pianist came in, Paul Balfour, and he went over to the piano, and he came Back and sat down.

He didn't know who I was.

He said he was a black man.

He said, man, I don't feel like playing tonight.

I met with my wife last night.

I'm bone hungover.

So I said, well, you shouldn't play.

He said, but I don't want to.

Tell the manager.

He'll get all pissed off at me.

He's really mean.

So I said, well, you can go out that door over there and I'll tell him that you had to go home.

Well, he did.

And then they came back and they said, where's Paul?

He's supposed to start.

And I said, well, he wasn't feeling well.

He had to go home.

So they said, oh, my God, what are we going to do?

We have Joan Rivers coming in tonight.

Faye McKay.

Buffet McKay.

She was this heavy comedian.

She's just hilarious.

Wayne Newton was coming in that night.

Said they were going to have all that going on.

I said, I'll play.

And they said, well, there's music in the piano bench.

I said, I don't read music.

I don't need that.

I play by ear.

So I went over and sat down at the piano and I started to play.

And celebrities were coming in.

All the press came in and the people came in and they called Lee at the.

When he finished his show at the MGM Grand.

They said, you gotta get over here and see this, see what's going on.

The place was packed, and I had him rocking.

He came in, he came up to the piano and he said, let's play a duet.

And it's one of the ones.

So we played.

I Got Rhythm.

He sat down with me and did that.

And after we finished, it's yay, yay.

With applause, applause, applause.

And he said, come over.

I want to talk to you.

We sat down at the table.

He said, would you like to work for me?

And I said, yes.

That day worked out pretty well for you, didn't?

Yes, exactly.

So that's how that came together.

And I set a date and I came in.

What year was that, roughly?

Circa 18.

I look good for my age.

Okay.

It's really remarkable.

That's crazy.

Yeah, it was all.

You know, I'm very much into creative visualization and synchronicity and all the metaphysical stuff that goes on.

The universe brings us into situations, and it was just.

It was just unbelievable.

And, you know, the thing is, it still is.

It still is ongoing because the Liberace legacy goes on.

Like, I was at the Liberace mansion Week ago Monday.

And David and I played over there.

So people.

That's right.

You were back in Vegas for the fan club.

Oh, these people are not right.

They are just.

Oh, my gosh.

They are just over the top.

They all.

You know the piano ring he wore here?

Yeah, they all, they, they have one.

All of them.

They all have the same ring.

It's rhinestones.

You know, it's right here.

You know, they all have one and they're all blinged out.

This one gal came in and I said, my God, you are picking up HBO girl.

She was so proud of it.

She didn't.

I didn't like the outfit necessarily.

You're talking to a gay man here.

I know what's going on.

So how old were you when you started becoming a fan of Liberace?

Well, I was 8 years old when my Aunt Thelma took me to Starlight Musicals in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was playing.

And you're from Indianapolis?

Yeah, I was born and raised there.

So we went to Starlight Musicals and I was just like, wow, this is really.

I could do that because I was playing.

I was 8 and I was playing.

I picking up everything by ear.

Never read music.

No.

And so I thought.

I decided right then that someday, someday I'm gonna meet this man and I'm gonna do what he's doing.

So.

So I'm fascinated by that moment where you're sitting at the piano playing something for him after all of that 8 year old growing up to that point.

What was.

Oh, you mean when I played in Las Vegas for him?

It was.

Yeah, it was stellar.

It was surreal.

Yeah.

And the song that I played that got him was one that Michael Feinstein taught me is I Love a Piano, Irving Berlin.

And when I didn't, I didn't put anything together to audition.

I never organized.

Well, this one had a tough time getting the song set list out of me.

Beating me.

That's right.

Bruce, you served as the producer of the Event.

Yes.

Did you ever get a set?

Yeah, I did, actually.

Remarkable.

I was trying to tell some.

Are you going to be upstage or are you going to be downstage?

What is all this technical stuff?

How then.

Hell do I know?

And then David Mayako said, we are audience inspired.

That's it.

And I'm going with it.

Bruce, talk a little bit about Liberace's intersection with the Coachella Valley.

Well, that's the thing.

And he never gave a public performance all during that time, but he gave his first public performance in Palm Springs.

And.

And the woman who booked him originally the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas was Mousey Powell's sister.

You remember Mousie Powell?

Yeah, she was like.

They named a hamburger after her at the Racquet Club.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right, right.

And so Maxine Lewis booked her into.

Booked him into the Frontier, and she was also booking the Chi Chi.

So when she.

When he came, she booked him into the Chi Chi.

And it was bigger than when Franklin Sinatra ever played.

He never was.

He was huge there.

But Sinatra used to come in all the time.

Yeah, he loved the Chi Chi.

I mean, it was.

It was.

It was such a small venue.

This guy played over for audiences over 100,000 people.

Not many people realize that today.

And David Mayoko said, you know, I play all the gay hotspots, and he is not a gay icon.

You know, why is that?

You know, he came from a different, peculiar.

Yeah, he came from a different era.

He was.

He was.

He never was out, but he was certainly the most famous gay performer, gay celebrity that Palm Springs has ever had.

And, you know, it was part.

It was part of my mission, actually, to say that he belongs on the Palm Springs celebrity, Mount Rushmore with Sonny Bono, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra.

Liberace deserves to be there.

And that was sort of my mission was to.

And I got to write a story for the Gay Desert Guide, cv, Independent, and a lot of other publications.

He was never out officially, but it was sort of a wink and a nod, wasn't it?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

While he was filing lawsuits against people that were saying he was gay.

Yeah, the one in London, which he won.

Right.

And once you win that, it's kind of hard to say I was kidding.

That's why through all the years that he did not make flamboyant, other than the outfits that he wore on stage, like, flew through the air in red, white and blue hot pants.

You know, stuff like that.

But who hasn't?

I'm sorry, that was last week.

Oh, my.

Does he have to be here?

We ask that question every week.

You know, you were talking about Liberace.

He was the Palm Springs premier dog lover.

He was.

I mean, that was another thing that really convinced me that this is a guy that we need to pay tribute to as a fundraiser for Amy's purpose.

You know, I.

I just Just a year ago, I happened to see a video of him with all his dogs, and he was talking about how he got these dogs.

A lot of his fans couldn't afford to take care of their.

Their pets anymore, and they would give them to Liberace, and, you know, Liberace would adopt these dogs.

And he had over two dozen dogs at any one time.

That's unbelievable.

It really is.

Yeah.

When I first met him at the MGM grand, when I was going up after the show and I was all rattled like this, and we were in the.

In a very large elevator.

It's a freight elevator.

And all of a sudden, doors went, oh, wait, wait, wait.

Open the doors.

They brought in four dogs unleashed.

They were taking the dogs up to the dressing room to be with him.

Oh, yeah.

And just any kind of dog.

Like, did he.

Well, they were.

These were cute, like bichon Frise.

They were little fru.

FRU Dogs because he wasn't gay, you.

Know, but he had dogs, too.

He had standard.

Oh, yeah.

And he had Afghans.

Afghans, right.

Giant.

Oh, they're beautiful dogs.

Yeah.

And they brought those in, and it was fun.

And they just let him loosen the dressing room.

So after this incredible evening where Lee says to you, would you like to work for me?

So what was.

What did you do and how long did you do?

I was at the Tivoli Gardens, basically.

And I.

That's Ligarachi's restaurant for those who don't know.

And it was inspired because he was very fond of the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen.

Yeah.

He went there.

He took the kids there.

Oh, we.

We had a stopover coming back from Lithuania.

Oh, yeah, I saw that.

And we should go to Tivoli Gardens.

I'm like, it was brand new back then, so it was sparkling.

You know, it was just fabulous.

But he did the restaurant.

He did all the.

He got.

Put it in a shopping center.

And each room was.

Had a different theme.

There was the Wedgwood theme, and then there was another one that Delft.

There was another one that's Crystal Room.

So every.

Had everything.

All his.

All his collections.

And he had an antique store next door.

He did, yeah.

Because his collection was so big that he just stuffed it all in there.

As a matter of fact, the candelabra that I put on the piano for our performance was one that I actually purchased from the antique store, the crystal candelabrum.

So, in essence, he owned the candelabra.

It was on the piano.

Wow.

Wow.

But the home that he had, he had Four homes at any one time in Palm Springs.

But the, but the big one that he had on Bordeaux, he spent every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, Christmas and every Halloween there.

And all these kids who grew up in Palm Springs all knew Liberace is the guy who gave the best candy.

You know, Steve Polz had a great story about how when he realized Steve Pulp is a.

Is a great performer if you don't know him, but.

And he grew up in Palm Springs and he's.

He would go trick or treating at Liberace's house and then he would get this big candy.

Then he would go away, change costumes and come back and he had a doorbell that would dun, dun, dun, dun.

He would give the odd silver dollar too.

Oh, and I've heard that.

Sneak them in there.

That's very.

Was there anything that he was doing that was keeping him from taking this role in the desert?

He was very selective about the media that he did.

I never got to do an interview with him.

He did interviews with our society editor.

He had a friend who was the divorced wife of his old producer, Tito Minor.

You knew Tito, who was a great promoter of Liberace.

And she was very close friends with our society under Aline Arthur.

So Aline would get a tour of the Liberace house and he would do these tours for select charities.

And that would be doing in lieu of performances.

But just before he died, he did two weeks at Radio City Music hall that broke records.

Sold out.

Yeah.

Two weeks of sold out shows.

Most tickets ever sold at Radio City.

And then.

And from there to this day.

And from there he went to Palm Springs and was checked into Eisenhower Hospital.

And it was a rapid deterioration.

I mean, no one could have had any idea at Radio City Music hall that he was ill, but he had the HIV virus.

And that was one of the other reasons that he was so significant.

And I was kind of involved in that.

I was at the Desert Sun.

I was an editor of the Desert sun at the time, entertainment editor.

And we had all this national press coming to camp out at Liberace's house.

And we were competing with all these other newspapers and tv.

And so we had to have people who were there not 24 hours, but certainly till midnight at night.

We were putting clerks, people who were working as clerks at the Desert sun and having them camp out at night when we didn't have reporters there.

And did he pass away here?

He passed away here, yeah.

Yeah.

And Jerry actually got in to see him just, just before he died.

Really?

Well, I was low on the Totem pole.

So I went in the side and everybody, all the family and everybody saw it.

And then I got in it just before.

And then I heard on the news on the way back that they said, News 98 your world in 22 minutes or whatever it was famed, the pianist Liberace has died.

So were you able to say goodbye?

Well, he was incoherent, he was comatose.

And of course Ray Arnett called me as stage director.

He said, if you want to see Lee, get over here now because it's not long for this world.

So I went over.

So it was a.

Oh, it was just crazy.

He had, he, he had a PR person in New York who was trying to manage the press from New York.

I mean, originally Seymour Heller, his manager, was there and said, no, he does not have aids.

He does not have aids.

So it became a big deal because it was right after Rock Hudson had acknowledged that he was gay and had aids.

And everybody was hoping that Liberace would do the same thing.

He acknowledged that, but he never did.

He never did, never did say anything.

And the really weird thing is that my family doctor was the one who said that he died and signed the death certificate saying he did not have aids.

And that, that became very, very controversial.

The coroner was going to sue him.

And, and in actuality, if you look at it, you don't die of aids.

AIDS is a synth related.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean you, it's so it, it, it created some, it stimulated some thought about the nature of aids.

And, and for that reason alone, I think that it's.

That he's a valuable asset to Coachella Valley legacy.

He would not admit that he had AIDS or acknowledged the health issue stems back to the lawsuit in London.

Because he won that lawsuit and he was afraid that anybody ever found out that he was gay.

Well, then they would relitigate.

Right?

Yeah.

But Ray Arnett.

I have a cassette tape which I think I recently located.

Remember, Joe Hyams was married.

He was a best selling author.

He was married to Elkie Summer.

Oh yeah, yeah.

He was an inspiration for the book I wrote.

And Joe Hyams.

I wanted to meet Ray Arnett, so I introduced the two of them and I sat, I recorded the interview between the two of them.

Boy, Ray Arnett came out with some, a lot of stuff.

He said that Liberace always had the net out.

He was always looking for something new and something to take behind closed doors.

And I was quoted on a couple TV shows as saying that people got very mad at me, but he's he's was.

But he would go to clubs and things like that.

But he was hidden in the corner because if he revealed that he was Gail, then again they would relitigate and that was a problem.

How was he.

It was also about his fan base too, though.

Yeah, yeah.

What do you mean?

Well, his family, you know, that middle America who loved Liberace.

Oh, I still, when I performed, like.

Would look completely the other way.

Like.

No, he's not.

He's just a.

He's just a very flamboyant entertainer.

How does that happen?

They don't look at me like that.

They see you, big sissy Lala.

Sit here.

I have never heard anybody call you that, ever.

Oh, you haven't been hanging around me enough.

I'm sorry.

I'm in my.

Other than Bruce Wayne before I say that.

So, Jerry, Jerry, what was the.

Let me finish this thought.

When I was performing on cruise ships, which I did for 36 years, and it, you know, they always.

Liberace discovery, Jerry Ring appearing tonight kind of people.

These women would come up to me on the tottering up and say, was real did live ratching.

The best one I ever delivered.

She said, he didn't like men.

Did he really like men?

I said, no, he was actually into small goats and sheep.

She turned and walked away from.

Yeah, I bet.

Cards and letters to Jerry Ring.

I wish we had been able to follow her to her table to hear the rest of that stuff.

Well, she didn't go to her table.

She went over the side.

She just.

Yes.

Oh.

So what was the.

How was the.

The gay community feeling about Liberace that he wouldn't come out?

Oh, they were not happy.

But at the same time, there was so many closeted gays at that time.

You know, in the 80s, it was.

Oh, yeah.

And he was, he was.

He had his own little community of friends.

He did, you know, I.

Do you remember George Allardyce, by any chance?

Oh, yeah.

George Allardyce was the guy who created the.

Created.

It was a gold book here, but it was the society book.

He was a guy who always had these openings that were big society events and he knew all the society ladies, so he put them in a book and he also gave the idea for the walk of Stars.

And he was friends with Liberace.

He set him up with this guy who robbed Liberace.

And George was going, you have to call the police.

It's.

Oh, no, no, no, we can't do that.

You know.

Right.

So that's.

That was the.

That Was the way it was back then.

Break open the secret.

Right.

We have to take a very quick break to acknowledge our presenting sponsor, the McCallum Theater.

You can go to McCallum Theater.org get your tickets.

They're great supporters of big conversation little bar.

They are the reason that we're having this conversation.

The world's top artists, from jazz, pop, classical and comedy to the best of Broadway, only at the valley's favorite place for great entertainment.

Tickets are on sale now at the McCallum Theater box office by phone or online at mccallumtheater.org Tickets sell quickly, so order yours today.

A new exciting season only at the McCallum.

Once again, our thanks to the McCallum Theater.

Gary Keefe and his entire crew over there.

They do a great job.

We're gearing up for season.

It's going to be an exciting signing one.

Randy's got tickets to virtually every show.

Burton Cummings.

I know Burton.

I may be the only one in the theater.

People have heard me say it so many times.

I think it's sold out.

I feel certain it's gonna sell out because, you know, he's doing the whole show.

Burton comings and goings.

That's so speaking of Gary Keefe, that was another gentleman who spent a large part of his career doing music on cruises.

Didn't Gary kind of invent that?

No.

Musicals, Musicals.

Musicals on the.

On cruise ships.

Really?

Which sometimes perform music, I'm told.

But there was music like Jerry Ring, the gentleman.

He invented music on cruise ships.

I heard George Washington had a pianist as he was crossing the Delaware.

Yeah.

And I was rowing.

You were playing.

Damn it.

That seems wrong.

Was it always going to be a musical path for you as you were growing up?

Well, I really didn't know.

I don't take my music seriously because I don't read.

And it's like some people are desperate to be on stage.

You know, I love the attention.

I really do.

And I love doing the shows.

This is.

See, I am.

I wouldn't characterize you as a musician.

No, you're an entertainer.

Yes.

Jerry is a pure entertainer.

And you were talking about Amore restaurant in La Quinta.

I mean, those were wonderful nights.

If you walked in.

Because it wasn't.

You're right.

It's not about the music for you.

It's because you interact with the audience.

Everybody becomes a part of the show.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I pick on people.

Well, and that.

That is what led you to stop doing the cruise ship thing, because people got.

Oh, they did a little persnickety about it.

Oh, yeah.

Tell that story.

Oh, do I have to?

Not if you don't want to, but I think it's.

I think it's kind of telling because.

Yeah, there's a group of women that came on board.

This is on the grand princess in 19.

No, 20, 18.

And they had friends from Trilogy Senior Living up by San Francisco.

Anyway, these women all came to.

Oh, we're friends.

And your friends.

Let's take a picture.

So they got around the piano.

Well, they were all these women, you know, that had.

Very expensive.

Are those real?

Yeah, real expensive.

All pushed up around their ears and bleach blonde hair.

You.

Some of them around here on occasion.

Sounds like my first wife.

There you go.

I think it was.

Anyway, they all came up and then they went over to the bar and.

She had a lot of things pushed up around her.

What?

What did you say that?

I did not.

I did not.

Excuse me.

I'm telling you, the owner.

I'm sorry.

You tell a story.

These women all went over to the bar and they were standing with elbows like this.

And they were out back like this, and standing like.

Oh, they look like the cast of Chicago or Sweet Charity or something like that.

So I referred to them and I said, ladies and gentlemen, we have the trilogy, Hookers.

It didn't go over so well.

And this one bitch.

I mean, this one woman.

No, no, no, no.

Came at me and what was her name?

No, no, no, no.

There was a kitty cat.

Come on.

I forget.

Yeah, it was a kitty cat.

Anyway, so she.

She.

I heard the next day that she was not happy about that.

The audience caught onto it and they loved it.

Every time this group of women would walk through, they said, jerry, they're the hookers.

She got all her friends and everybody to write a letter to the Captain.

I had 36 years, 72 ships, different cruise ships, hundreds of contracts, stellar reviews, and they left my ass in San Francisco.

They put me off the ship.

That was it.

Done.

Wow.

Yeah, because she said, oh, and here's the fun part.

She came to me one night.

She was screaming at me, I think you're rude.

And she said.

I said something else, and she turned around and she screamed, fuck you.

I said, that's what I want to hear in my audience.

You're talking about me.

She said, my husband is an attorney and I'm going to sue you.

Sort of like you know, get an expensive attorney.

A really expensive attorney.

So my wife is a really expensive attorney.

I heard that's not all.

So.

Whoa.

Speaking of trilogy hookers.

Oh, now, come on.

That was the first wife.

Thank God our wife.

Turns out.

Listen, catch this.

Turns out her husband Johnny, my partner, did some research on.

He's a retired detective.

So what goes better together than a retired detective and a hooker?

So I pushed her button and she looked like one.

That was the end of that.

It was right in the middle of the me too stuff.

I'm not gonna take this anymore.

Get away from my piano and my organ.

So you were.

You were canceled by the cruise?

Yeah.

And my organ.

Yes.

Speaking of organs, I can tell you one line that Liberace would use at a party.

He would never say it on stage, but he'd say, you know, I play a great piano, but I suck on the organs.

I used that line last week.

I did a comedy show in Los Angeles last Thursday.

That was the line that brought the house down.

Yay, me.

Oh, my God.

All right.

There was a story about Marine story that you were going to tell.

Oh, yeah.

At Bruce's urging.

At Bruce's urging.

Well, there was a whole clan of us.

That's when Lee had the limousine with the piano keys down the side.

He had a broad, usually in Las Vegas, but it was over, you know, Palm Springs.

And there was a crew of us that wanted to go up to.

There was a guy named Jerry Kennedy who had married a very wealthy woman.

He was a little light in the loafers, but he married this woman.

She lived in La Hoya, and she died, and she left a massive fortune to this guy.

So he's.

He used to wear.

He drove a little red Ferrari and had these little Ferragamo slippers and tipped down around all.

Anyway, he went up.

So it worked out for him.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

He had.

He was seeing a.

A Marine up in 29 palms.

So he went up to see this guy checked into a hotel.

So, well, while he was up there, he said, oh, I kind of like this bar.

He walked in, how much do you want for this bar?

And they said, what?

He brought his checkbook.

How much do you want for the bar?

So he wrote a check and he bought the bar.

So then he started redoing all that.

And then he went over and he found a disco club.

It was called.

It was a cowboy bar.

It was a dance bar.

He went over, how much you want for this?

So he bought that, and he turned the name of it into the Jumping Cholla.

Well, he was a friend of Lee's and Lee wanted to see.

I want to go and see Jerry Kennedy.

And he bought a little cracker box house and he kept expanding it and it was like the Winchester house.

They kept building on and on.

Yeah.

An Olympic sized swimming pool.

And we went up there.

He.

It ended up they had eight bedrooms, so we all weren't going to stay overnight, but the eight bedrooms were occupied by Marines.

Went up there and I walked in the backyard.

It's like, oh, girls, let's do this.

And all the marines were in speedos sitting around the pool and said, I think I'll stay.

We were all piled in that limousine.

Anyway, we went over to see the Jumping Joya.

And then after that we were driving back to the desert and this young guy came up.

I mean, he was big, big shoulders, big guy, like, you know.

And he walked over.

Mr.

Liberace.

My mom, she's like 25 years old and we have tongues around our ankles.

And I love your straight guy voice, by the way.

That's.

Yes.

Wait, I'll have to pop another butch still.

Anyway, wildly irritating.

Mr.

Liberace, my mom and my grandmom really, really liked you.

Could you sign an autograph?

So do you remember the autograph?

He would.

The pen would go.

He would draw the piano with the candelabra and the tip.

The keys, and he would sign it.

While he was doing that, this guy said, Mr.

Liberace, were you ever in the marines?

We're all like, oh, yeah, get this.

And lead.

Just a wit like this.

He looked up, he said, oh, I've been in quite a few of them.

What's the saying?

Looking for a few good men.

Yeah.

Heads of the Marines.

You know, I.

I interviewed Jerry for Coach Independent.

And, you know, he told me that story, but I couldn't use it.

So I was just dying for him to tell.

Tell the public this.

And I'm so glad that you're so open to this type of humor.

He had a wit.

He had a wicked, wicked wit.

Yeah.

And I have a little bit of that.

So he and I got along very well on that.

We're gonna.

This.

This show could rival Renovus.

What's the guy from Renova?

Oh, Vince.

Vince.

Battalion.

Yes, yes, yes.

Well, that was the inaugural F bomb.

And then multiple F bombs.

Yeah.

But Michael Holmes, I think he might hold the record.

Michael Holmes does.

Yes, yes.

Well, him, that's.

And that was Bruce.

I went to the Purple Room last week to see Lucy Arnaz.

And Michael came over to the table, and I was talking to Patrick Harrington as we were sitting, and I asked Michael, I said, michael, I don't.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything.

How old are you?

He said, I'm 17.

And how dare you ask that question of me?

Oh, my God.

So, Bruce, you've.

You've written all these articles, you've put on these events.

Is the needle moving at all?

Do you feel like you're gaining some traction?

Well, it's so hard to say.

It hasn't been that long.

I mean, I don't know when this is going to air, but from the time we're talking, it was just two weeks ago, and there has been a lot of conversation.

I was really thrilled to have a story in the Gay Desert Guide.

Brad Furr said, this is really an important story for us.

So it met the audience, and those are the people who were going to make someone a gay icon.

So hopefully.

But.

All right, but that's.

By the way, Brad's a great guy, and I work for him.

Yay.

Timeless and memorable favorites.

Had to get the plug it.

And I'm just taking money.

Anybody wants to hand me cash, I'll take that.

Go ahead.

Which.

Which exchange are you working at this week?

I just want money.

He's just out there panhanded.

But it is.

It's something to overcome, because Liberace never and couldn't, as you pointed out after.

The lawsuit, he didn't.

It was weird.

And so how do you create a gay icon for a man who never.

Would admit it publicly to make people understand the times?

It's all about context.

I mean, history is all about context.

And we're always reevaluating and redoing stories that have been already told because we have a new context.

We have a new understanding.

That's right.

I mean, Palm Springs is an LGBTQ capital of the world today, and Liberace was one of the great entertainers in Palm Springs.

Why shouldn't we acknowledge him among today's audience?

Well, here's my question is how do you get the LGBTQ community to embrace Liberace when he refused to embrace the.

Community by again creating the context in which he refused to talk about his sexuality?

And doesn't.

We're not denying his sexuality because he had to.

I mean, I think that there's a.

We're finding out a lot of great attributes and some negative attributes about people in history.

Andrew Jackson was A guy who was put on the $20 bill because they thought he was this great populist.

Now we know that he was a guy who massacred, you know, a race of people.

You know, when history evolves, you come in with a different understanding of historical figures, and we have a different understanding of Liberace today.

And he should be acknowledged as a great human being.

Everybody who knew him talked about his humanity.

I mean, that's.

He was a really nice guy.

Very much so.

Yeah.

Right.

So that's what we want to get across.

That was a different day, too.

I don't think that people, when they think of Liberace, they think of the image and the flamboyance and the fabulousness.

Like all these people that were at this gala.

We could go Monday in Las Vegas.

You know, a lot of these people don't.

They don't acknowledge his sexuality or his gay.

It's just the enormity of his presence.

And that, you know, in many ways, it doesn't matter.

No, it doesn't.

In terms of what he did on stage, it doesn't matter.

And I look also.

I mean, younger generations.

Coming up, we have these conversations with my daughters who are 19 and 16.

And at one point, I remember my wife.

Someone said, oh, you know, one of our daughters has a crush on someone.

And my wife was like, is the boy or a girl?

Right.

But I don't think our kids.

I don't think that generation thinks of sexuality the way that we grew up thinking of it in.

Certainly not, you know, putting people in silos.

Like, I think it matters far less to them.

Yeah.

So, you know.

Well, that would be a really good thing if that.

Yeah, I hope that's the case, because I see the same thing.

Even if my granddaughters.

At 13, things seem to be a little bit more undefined.

But in a lot of ways, I.

Think, you know, I don't know that they are undefined.

I think the definition definitions matter less.

Like, for my daughters, certainly, the definitions matter less.

They just don't care.

Yeah.

Like, it's okay.

You.

You are.

Whomever you happen to be.

Yeah, that's great.

Well, let's go to the Americana and hang out.

That's.

That's.

That's really.

Look at me say that's.

That's not the reason we don't like you.

Yeah, that's right.

We like you.

We dislike you for a number of reasons.

Your sexuality is not that.

Another issue that comes up now is a lot of people don't know who Liberace was.

I went when we were looking for the piano that we were going to use for the performance for the concert, I went to Palm Desert Piano.

And I walked in with my book, and I opened it, the page with Liberace.

And the guy that was standing there, he's the piano salesman.

He's the manager of the store.

And I showed him the book.

I said, you know, like, check this out, dude.

Or check this out, dude.

No, I said it like this, Check this out, dude.

So.

But I showed him the picture.

He didn't know who Liberace was, and he is a piano salesman at home.

I said, what?

Or how about the KESQ producer said, are you here to talk about Liberace?

One of our traditions.

Liberus.

Liberus.

Oh, Liberus.

Yes.

I said, no.

You know, there are generation gaps.

Yes.

And, you know, I see stuff on Instagram.

There was this great clip I saw today of Liberace, and he was doing Feeling Groovy.

Yes.

Oh, so many people have sent that to me.

If person, oh, I'm gonna send it.

To you right now.

I mean, it's.

But it's hilarious.

But it's such a slice of history.

One of the biggest.

One of the biggest fans in our Liberace fan base is a guy named David Fratero from Boston.

And the.

Maria brought her three children, two of which are autistic.

And Gabe Fratero, I think he knows you.

He does the Sinatra club thing.

And.

Yeah.

You know who he is.

Yes.

Everybody who Summer sings Summer Wind knows each other.

Yeah, Right.

It's a smaller club than the Liberace Club, but we all do.

We.

We all know each other.

We have a meeting.

This boy is 32 years old, and he would never have the chance to see.

You know, he was long, but he is a huge fan.

And they brought him over to the.

The gala in Las Vegas.

Did Liberace have any hits?

You know, that's the other thing is that he was an entertainer.

Right.

And he.

And he was deprecated because he wasn't the serious artist.

He wasn't a composer.

That's right.

Yeah.

And, you know, the classical musicians deprecated him for being an entertainer.

And, you know, that.

That was, again, ahead of his time.

I mean, today, you know, you're encouraged to.

Well, he had a certain style.

Yeah, yeah.

It was a style in the presence.

As a matter of fact, I mentioned Phyllis Diller that gifted me with that bowl that I took over.

Oh, you weren't there for that.

And people don't remember that she was a classical pianist.

Yes, she was.

Phyllis Diller was.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

No, she had a Crimson Steinway grand, a concert grand in her living room.

I did not.

Not remember that.

I never knew that.

Yeah, she was brilliant.

Yeah.

But she mentioned about Liberace, also the Cuff one time that he was a studio musician, you know, because his piano, he wasn't classic.

He didn't play a lot of choirs.

There's something that wasn't studio musician, but it's close to that.

People say, who does she think she is?

Phyllis Stellar.

Was he ever trying to do something musically before he became the Liberace?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, he started off as a classical pianist, but, you know, like.

Like, Like a lot of people, like my friend Paul Krasner, you know, when you.

When you get people to laugh at you on stage, you know, that's pretty infectious.

Yeah.

And I think that's why he catch.

For the right reasons, Randy.

Oh, the right reasons.

Yeah.

He did the three little f.

Can I just go back to.

To.

You're talking about the heritage.

I think it's really important to remember.

You know what I mean?

I shouldn't.

I.

Maybe I have no right to be the guy who's making this argument, but I think about Oscar Wilde being sentenced to manual labor for being homosexual.

You know, I think it's important that we remember the history of the LGBTQ movement, you know, and Liberace was an extension of that.

And he was an extension of that to Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley and he were close friends.

He's the one who told Elvis that he had to wear costumes.

And they were actually neighbors in Palm Springs.

You know, they had.

They barbecued together.

I mean, I did an interview with Gladys Lucky, who was Liberace housekeeper, and she cooked, and she was there for, like, 30.

Over 30 years.

And they exchanged flowers and gifts at every special occasion he would.

And Colonel Parker told me, too, that, you know, Colonel Parker went over to Liberace's house and played Santa Claus for.

At his Christmas parties.

Colonel Parker says that we are a family of entertainers here in Palm Springs.

And he did that for Sinatra, too.

Colonel Parker went to Sinatra's house and played Santa Claus.

I would kill to be at a barbecue with Elvis and Lip Barach.

Exactly.

That probably would be the pinnacle of entertainment.

That would be amazing.

Yeah.

I think you're not the wrong guy to take up the mantle.

I think anybody, as an ally, it's okay to take up that mantle.

And because we're all just.

Well, I'VE grown, too.

You know, I've had.

I've had people who tell me that, you know, you're not growing fast enough.

But I, but I've.

I've been told that.

And, and I.

If I could get in one other change that he made to Palm Springs.

Spiro Agnew.

Spiro Agnew, really?

Wow.

Yeah.

Spiro was Patty.

Buddies with Patty Hearst.

Patty Hearst, when she was on trial, she came down here.

It stayed with her aunt, you know, aunt and uncle here.

And when Liberace came, all of a sudden, it changed.

You couldn't escape the limelight.

Everybody came around the country to hang out in front of his house.

And you know, what's really interesting is that just about a week before that vigil, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker bought a house in Palm Springs.

And a week after, a week, maybe two weeks after the vigil in front of Liberace's house, there was a vigil in front of Jim and Tammy Baker's house.

And we had a report.

John Husser, as a matter of fact.

You know John Husserl.

I know John very well.

Yes.

John ran into Tammy Faye Baker at a restaurant, Old World, I think it was.

And this woman was trying.

Thinking that John was trying to hound them, you know, and.

And John has just happened to be there, but.

But he sees.

But he knows that there's this.

This vigil going on.

So, of course he asks a question and, you know, they said Palm Springs used to be a place where you could find privacy.

Not anymore.

You could blame Liberace for that change.

You know, Palm Springs was not isolationist after Liberace.

Wow.

I never knew that.

Like the racquet club, the old record club.

Yeah.

I mean, I played the.

Guys, we're going to take a quick break here, and I'm going to ask you some questions.

No, we're going to do both.

You got to do both.

Both.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

We weren't doing it.

Time for our rapid round.

Our rapid round.

It's time for the big conversations Little bar rapid round we have.

We ask our guest five key questions and want them to answer.

Not that kind of rapid round.

2 minutes.

Vitara Wellness is Your path to lasting weight loss success.

Open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5.30pm Vitara Wellness offers medical weight loss services.

IV vitamin and hydration therapy, hormone replacement therapy and regenerative cell therapy.

Transform your health, transform your life.

Visit them online at Vitara.

That's V I T A R A Wellness dot com.

Live well.

You know, you've gotten better at that.

Have I?

Since you had acting instructions from Jane and me.

And since your last car accident.

It turned my life around.

Yeah, I've never been able to read that commercial better.

Thank you guys for that.

You really have dogs or cats?

Dogs.

Dogs.

I knew that One of you.

Thank you.

We actually had somebody yesterday for the first time.

Say Cats.

Oh, no, but they meant the musical.

That wasn't the question we were asking.

No.

I tell people I don't like pussy of any form.

Cards and letters to Jerry Ring.

All right, Jerry, you have somebody visiting the desert for the first time.

Where do you want to take them?

Spencer's.

Spencer's, Bruce?

La Quinta Hotel.

La Quinta Hotel.

I change mine.

I want to go there too, so.

You can see Bruce.

No, it has nothing to do with him.

Bruce, you can recommend one book to a college graduate.

What is it?

The Bible.

Jerry.

My book.

That's the perfect answer.

The title.

Give the title of your book.

The title of my book is if the Shoe Fits, Buy two.

And it's all about celebrities and things like that.

It's available on Amazon.com.

No, not anymore.

Just find me and I'll give you one.

Oh, wonderful.

@ Spencer's, which show would you most likely watch?

Friends or Cheers?

Cheers.

Neither.

Didn't like the shows.

You're not watched him.

Really?

Never saw an episode of either.

Wow.

He does Watch News Channel 3 in the morning because he'll text me about my ties.

Everyone.

I do.

Yeah.

Yeah, I do.

And Big Bang Theory.

You.

You like the Big Bang Theory?

My all time favorite show.

Yay.

Yeah.

You're my new best friend.

You.

You can wear one color for the rest of your life.

What is it?

Blue, Bruce.

Blue.

Am I blue?

Am I wearing blue for the rest of my life?

No, I'm a black guy.

I changed mine.

I want to go black too.

Cuz once you go black, you never go back.

At the LA Hotel.

Yeah, with my cards and letters to Jerry Ring.

This may be the podcast that gets censored.

Go ahead.

I had to.