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April 9, 2010 segment of Connections on WPKN with Eric Cocks, featuring an in depth interview with Neil Innes. It's a wide ranging conversation with great stories about The Rutles, The Bonzo Dog Band, Monty Python and Neil's upcoming solo tour, along with insights on his good friend George Harrison and much more.

Find out the relationship between The Rutles and tennis, Bonzos and The Beatles and the part that London's Portobello Road played in musical history. Lots of great laughs in this one. As Neil says at one point:

"Laughter is something you can't put into words"

There are also insights on Magical Mystery Tour (featuring The Bonzos doing Death Cab For Cutie and how that came about), the role of art schools in music, Apollo C Vermouth as producer of The Urban Spaceman (a top five hit for The Bonzos) and the Pre-Python Pythons. He reflects on the two key factors of what made The Rutles songs work, along with The Beatles viewpoints on The Rutles and how the whole concept came to pass.

Neil also discusses fame and an idea for a tv show called "Desperate Celebrities", joking at one point, "What can you do with someone like me, who's a complete disappointment to fans everywhere because he's not interested in fame?" And yet it's clear that he totally enjoys the intimacy of playing small venues and directly relating to everyone in the audience, as on his upcoming U.S. tour starting April 11.

At one point, he suggests that there could be government warnings: "Beware of people who are cheerful for a living", later observing that "the music business has never been noted for it's grasp of reality".

In discussing his long time friendship with George Harrison, Neil gets serious at times, while also embracing the humor that the two shared so thoroughly. We also talk about the garden that Neil created in honor of George, working with his wife Yvonne and Olivia Harrison. The Queen of England loved it. You can see photos (including the queen) at http://neilinnes.org/georgegarden.htm. Absolutely beautiful and tremendously moving!

We also discuss the EgoWarrior movement, laughter, comedy and dealing with audio glitches.

It is clear to me that Neil's brilliant work as a musician, songwriter and actor is exceeded by his wonderful spirit as a warm human being.

Btw, you can hear the entire April 9, 2010 episode of Connections, included a wide range of eclectic music at:

http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/listen/7076

Stay tuned for future episodes. Feel free to join the new low key FaceBook page for updates, info, occasional videos and inexplicable happenings: Connections on WPKN

Connections... with Eric Cocks

Explores the connections between songs, songwriters, musicians, producers and people... often in surprising ways.

Vital, intelligent music with true artistic vision.

Includes extended features on specific artists such as Bob Dylan, The Kinks, The Beatles and far more. Also comedy by Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Eddie Izzard, Paul Krassner and others with a rock and roll renegade attitude. In depth explorations of early electronic music (and how it relates to current music). Vital new music that deserves to be heard. Surf music. Garage bands. British invasion. Rock and Roll. John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Jimi Hendrix, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, The Blues Magoos, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Dr Fiorella Terenzi, Beethoven, Bo Diddley, The Rolling Stones, Alex Chilton, Tom Petty, The Pretenders, Blondie and far more may be part of any given show. Also live interviews of performers, writers, producers, engineers, session musicians and people behind the scenes. Plus unexpected surprises...

Previous in depth interviews include Sam Phillips, Peppy Castro of The Blues Magoos, author/comedian Paul Krassner, Chris Frantz, Neil Innes, Tommy James, legendary session musician Carol Kaye and more. All are available in archives. Stay tuned for future interviews and special features.

The show will keep changing over time.

Tune in every 2nd and 4th Monday of each month from 9 am to noon eastern. Also special editions at other times. Available live at http://wpkn.org or listen later in archives.

For further info and special features, please check the new FaceBook site: Connections on WPKN