Gaming Today/Gary Puckett by Michele LaFong

May 30, 2013 6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & Web

Gary Puckett and The Union Gap at South Point Showroom May 31-June 2 at 7:30pm

I interviewed Gary Puckett was on my radio show.  He was plugging his dates at The South Point Showroom May 31-June 2.

“After this engagement at The South Point, I’m going on tour doing fifty-two shows, from June 8-Sept.1 all over the US.

We did it last year.  “Back in day…we didn’t spend a lot of time working in Las Vegas, but I remember working The International Hotel which became The Hilton, and now it’s the Las Vegas Hotel…and I remember working with Elvis there. He was in the “big room,” which sat two to three thousand people, and I was in their smaller theatre.  I remember working at the same time, and we alternated shows with Ike and Tina Turner, and Redd Foxx, who of course was Las Vegas’ bluest Comedian.

We are traveling a lot, especially this summer.  Last year, we were on a tour called “Happy Together.”  It included The Buckinghams, The Grassroots, Myself, Mickey Dolenz, and The Turtles.  It was a very, popular show, it was their third year in a row, and they decided to do it again this year, so they asked me to come back…so it will be me, and The Turtles, along with Gary Lewis and The Playboys, Mark Lindsey from Paul Revere and The Raiders, and Chuck Negron, from Three Dog Night.  It’s two and a half hours or more of solid hit recordings.  We use one band to back everybody up, the show is very well rehearsed and played, it just moves along, and lots of fun to do.  So we’ll do fifty-two shows this year, from June 8- Sept. 1, all over the US.

We get along great.  I know all those guys…we’ve traveled and worked together before, I had worked with The Grassroots for years and years, and certainly, I’ve worked with Mark, and Howard from The Turtles for many years, and I had worked with The Monkees on occasion, in fact in 1986, I was chosen to  be on The Monkees 20 Year Reunion Tour, which included all of The Monkees except for Mike Nesmith, and he came out on a few of the dates that we did, like The Greek Theatre, and I think The Las Vegas Hilton.

I’ve always been a fan of The Monkees’ music.  I just love their recordings.

“I was on The Ed Sullivan Show three times.”  When I asked if he remembered who he was on the show with, the only act that came to his instant memory was Topo Gigio!   “My Guest appearances on Hollywood Squares were more recent…within the last fifteen years.  I was on with Whoopi Goldberg, and others…and that was a lot of fun to do.”  Gary was answering my questions in very nice, but generic way.  I had to remind him that he was being interviewed on Las Vegas “Backstage Talk,” therefore we expect the real “behind the scenes” goings-on… for example: Did Hollywood Squares prep the celebrities? Were the celebs given the questions ahead of time?  You know…that sort of thing!”  Puckett finally “sang like a bird!”  “Well…you get the questions, and they give you some suggestions… but they want you to make up your own answers.” Did they tell you guys what to say?   “ the show prepped us some.  There was a little coaching, but not a lot.  They just didn’t want any of us to be dumb-founded on any of the questions.”

“You mean you weren’t wearing little head-sets in your ears, whispering the answer to you?”  “Haha… No, it wasn’t the $64,000 Question, nothing like that!”

Playing The Catskills was a big part of our early days.  The Concord Hotel was where we rehearsed The Monkee Tour in 1986.  One thing I really remember that sticks out from working those hotels especially the very first time, the audience didn’t applaud with their hands, they used their knockers.  They were like little wooden lolly-pops that they would bang on the tables…it was a riot…

Because this is the show where we get “Personal with the Stars,” I have to ask… You sound way normal now, but was there a time in your life when you were wild and “running amuck?”  “Haha…you’re asking me if I ever was a drug addict I think…and the answer is no… I did my share of partying, but I never did the hard drugs…I admit to smoking some local weed…

Gary Puckett admits to having his fair share of issues regarding creative control in his career.

Jerry Fuller was our Producer, and I called him “The Iron Fisted,” my way or the highway, producer.  I respect him all these years later certainly because he brought us a lot of success, but he and I had differences about what we would record, especially at some point after the initial successes of “Woman Woman,” “Young Girl,” “Lady Will Power,” and “Over You.”   One song that had really become an issue between us was “Don’t Give into Him,” and strangely enough…that song has become one of my favorites over the years because it’s got some kind of odd, chord changes in it, and I just think it’s a cool song.  The issue is that we disagreed…and when we disagreed, the balance of power was always in his corner because he was given control by the record company. I was always trying to get control and I couldn’t!

“In retrospect, I wish I had been a little easier to work with because I know had I not pushed for that so hard,  I would have done better…in the long run…However, getting to where I have gotten in my life, and having a wonderful family, and a beautiful place to live in the Florida area, and having all the fans that I have out there…the old shoulda, woulda, coulda…goes by the wayside, and I know that there’s some good stuff left in me, and we’re talking about doing some recording projects and things that will become my “later in life” accomplishments…I’m speaking to someone right now about doing some recording that I really think would be a lot of fun, and “I’ve really taken the time to become a better and better guitar player and to have more knowledge of it, so I hope to do that with songs that are not necessarily written by me, but songs that might even be classics, going back to my parents era…and it even sounds a little redundant, because so many artist have done it…but I’ve found some great songs that they haven’t done.

Will also be featured in Michele LaFong’s Syndicated “Las Vegas Backstage Talk “Column in Casino Player Magazine.