The Rhino Podcast Pays Tribute to Adam Schlesinger

Adam Schlesinger
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Kimberly Butler/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images

This week on the Rhino Podcast, host Rich Mahan and executive producer John Hughes honor the powerhouse songwriter and producer Adam Schlesinger by inviting close collaborators and friends of the irreplaceable musician. Listen to the full episode below.

READ MORE: Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger Dies of Coronavirus at 52

This episode features guests Steven Gold (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Jody Porter (Fountains of Wayne), Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live, TV Funhouse), lifelong friends Jonathan Small and Jeremy Freeman, David Bar Katz (House of Buggin’, FREAK), Steve Yegelwel (A&R/Atlantic Records) and acclaimed musician Mike Viola (That Thing You Do) discuss their memories of Schlesinger in Part One of this podcast tribute. 

ON THE SPAN OF SCHLESINGER'S DYNAMIC CAREER:

HUGHES: "You've got everything from Fountains of Wayne, obviously his work as the musical supervisor on [TV show] Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Which, you know, he wrote over 150 songs with his songwriting. I mean, just a massive task."

"A personal favorite of mine - his work with his other band Ivy, really a moody, evocative indie rock."

ON THE FIRST TIME HUGHES MET SCHLESINGER:

HUGHES: "He was a close friend of mine. We met doing the The Monkees' two albums, Good Times and Christmas Party. We hired him for that as a producer, and those albums were fantastic."

"It was just a testament to his talent and The Monkees as well, and we just kind of connected instantly on a personal level and kept up a relationship, a friendship since then."

"And this COVID-19 was just this kind of thing like, 'Oh wow, this is weird and strange.' And then to find out a friend of mine passed away from, it was a real gut punch. It was, it's tough. I still don't think he's gone. I keep looking at my phone waiting to get a text back from him, and that I just know in, my heart, it's not coming."

ON SCHLESINGER'S FORAY INTO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: 

HUGHES: "I think a significant person in his personal and professional life, it has to be Steven Gold. They met, as you'll hear, and they started doing music together for commercials for a TV as well."

GOLD: "I was running a little jingle company, or you call it a jingle house. It was on 22nd street and a friend of mine introduced me to Adam saying, 'You got to meet this guy. I don't know what he can do for you, but he's in music. You're in music.'They didn't know the difference between like rock and roll and TV and jangle."

"They just said, 'This guy's a great musician!' We set up an appointment. He showed up to my studio. He was very impressed because I had a receptionist and two studios, and this is back in the day, like '92-'93. And he was coming to kind of expand his stuff. He was already playing with two different bands."

"He even did a local commercial, but he wanted to get into the jingle or whatever the business was. But he also brought in his friend who introduced us as David Bar Katz, and he actually brought a TV show that they, David was developing with John Leguizamo and he goes like, 'Oh, you're in TV...why don't we work on this together?"

"He was kind of insecure to get totally into the TV without knowing the technical side of it or whatever. We ended up working on that Fox TV show House of Buggin' and that brought us to do other sketch shows like The Dana Carvey Show."

"And then we just just started working together. And 28 years later, you know, we've been working for 28 years, very closely."

Listen to the full podcast here

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