Did anyone else “camp out” for concert tickets at Hecht Company in the 1980s?

The stories we can tell five decades later about our lifetime passion for rock and roll and chasing great music in general. Musician Ron West of The Cultivated and The Duran Band joins Nestor for their mutual Dundalk childhood memories of camping out for concert tickets at Hecht Company from Golden Ring to Reisterstown Road Mall. Seventh row at Journey. Second row at Styx. And that time at Merriweather in the front row with Ben Orr and The Cars. And the artifacts that mark the date, place, seat and every memory that we treasure in these ticket stubs we earned the hard way! Or, the fun way…

The conversation revisited Nestor and Ron’s lifelong friendship through their shared history of music, concertgoing, and performing.

Shared History

• Nestor and Ron met in Dundalk in 1979 and bonded through rock music rather than sports.
• They recalled camping overnight at Hecht Company locations as teenagers to buy concert tickets, including for Journey and Aerosmith-related shows.
• Ticket stubs, backstage passes, photographs, and musician encounters provided context for their memories.

Music Careers

• Ron discussed his work with The Cultivated, an ’80s cover band focused on new wave, alternative, goth, and deeper cuts.
• He also performs with The Duran Band, a Duran Duran tribute act, and is joining Skydivers, an original dream-pop and shoegaze group.
• The discussion emphasized how music shaped both men’s identities and sustained their friendship over decades.

• Perform with the Duran Band at Fish Head Cantina on October 2. (@Ron West)
• Perform with The Cultivated at Emerald Tavern on September 19. (@Ron West)
• Join Skydivers, an all-original local dream-pop/shoegaze band, for its performance at Main Street Tower. (@Ron West)

Dundalk Friendship

• Nestor and Ron reflected on meeting as teenagers and remaining close friends.
• Music became their primary shared interest, while sports were less central to Ron.

Concert Memories

• They reviewed decades of ticket stubs and memorabilia from concerts by Kiss, Van Halen, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Journey, Rush, The Who, Judas Priest, Duran Duran, and others.
• They remembered camping overnight at Hecht Company and Reisterstown Road locations to secure tickets.
• Stories included teenage concert trips, backstage access, musician interviews, and memorable performances.

Performing Today

• The Duran Band performs Duran Duran songs.
• The Cultivated performs less commonly heard ’80s new wave, alternative, goth, and cover material.
• Ron is also joining Skydivers, an original band influenced by dream pop and shoegaze.

Music Legacy

• Nestor and Ron discussed how artists now perform well into later life and the importance of seeing musicians at their best.
• They also remembered Doug Bennett as an early source of influential music recommendations.

Nestor Aparicio 0:00
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call the Baltimore positive. We are positively in my homeland. I’m reading here that it’s they have jazz night here on Wednesday night and beautiful Costas. There’s always music playing here, which is music to my ears. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lotteries, the Maryland Crab Cake Tour in my homeland of Dundalk, and we’re at Costas, and it’s not the first rodeo with my dude Ron West. We grew up together here in Dundalk, and of course, I’m going to get a fried crab cake just to anger up my blood a little bit for GBMC because they’re keeping me too healthy at this point, and I appreciate their sponsorship as well as our friends at Farnham and Durham are keeping us comfortable. And Ace, I I have all my ticket stubs. They’re they’re not all. These are just some. One thing. Yeah, go ahead.

Ron West 0:46
Let’s pronounce Dundak.

Nestor Aparicio 0:49
Done doc here. Dundak there. There you go. There you

Ron West 0:51
go.

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Nestor Aparicio 0:51
I brought two, Leonard. I brought another box this time. These are all the modern ones a little bit. But I brought my ticket stubs today, and Ace and I went to a lot of concerts. I’m gonna let you say whatever you’re gonna say. I know Cultivate It’s Playing. You’re in the Durand Band. He was my keyboard player in Ridgemont High. You can Google the various. Your dad shot like a great concert of ours one night, and I hope I sang most of it. Okay, AI could fix me. Maybe John could fix that up. There you go. What do you want to say about our relationship and me and you in seventh, eighth, and ninth grade at Hollybird, then junior high, and what music meant from the day I met you through Kevin Eck and Idzy, who was in Child’s Play, and John out. Like we’re all friends for life, like literally all of us. But music, you didn’t go to ball games. I mean, like the Orioles a lot, enough for with Colts, whatever. But like the music part of rock and roll

Ron West 1:45
was at the bottom. Led

Nestor Aparicio 1:46
Zeppelin, our parents with the Beatles, Elvis, Elvis, Elvis, Elvis, right? Like 1979 roller skating, disco. Right, rock and roll, heavy metals coming on. These belt buckles are at the mall. I don’t even know what to say that all these years later he’s going to Brazil to see Rush or to see the Ravens, and that’s something I would have done all my life. Baseball, the Orioles, Aparicio, all that. The fact that I loved music so much all these years later, and we could sit here and I sang in your band, and you were, you know, I was blessed enough that you let me in your band, like I’ve had so much fun with music, and music is the thing the rest of my life that I know I’m gonna love it,

Ron West 2:29
no doubt, no doubt. So

Nestor Aparicio 2:30
that’s all I got for you. But I

Ron West 2:31
unite her.

Nestor Aparicio 2:32
It brought us together, man. I guess it did. You know, if it was about you and me talking football or baseball, we wouldn’t had much in common.

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Ron West 2:38
I’m not a sportsing guy. Nah,

Nestor Aparicio 2:39
he’s not a sportsing guy. So what? is what was your? I don’t know this about you, and you’re one of my best friends in the world. Like, what was your musical thing? I tell the story. My parents, my mother and I were at the Kmart right when it was brand new at North Point Boulevard, and they had the the music in the front of the store, and I had 340 fives. I had Starland Vocal Band, Afternoon Delight, Neil Diamond, if you know what I mean, and got to get you into my life. The Beatles with Helter Skelter on the flip. My mother listened to Bobby Vinton and and and Inglebert Humperdinck and Lawrence Welk. We barely had a turntable in the house, but I loved music, and I don’t like I don’t I remember the song “123” by Len Barry.

Ron West 3:22
Okay,

Nestor Aparicio 3:23
1960, sort of a Frankie Valli kind of a bebop, you know, swing sound like you know thing. And that’s you’re 16, you’re beautiful, you’re mine. Ringo Starr had that. This is 1970 234, I’m four years old, five years old, and from disco on, my dad took me to the mall every Tuesday when he got his paycheck at Soundways and Harmony HUD, and would buy me a 45, two or three if he worked overtime at the point, had a couple extra dollars. So I had to like I loved music before I met you, but I met you in September 1979.

Ron West 3:56
Yes, you did. Yes, you did. My earliest music memories sitting in the kitchen kitchen with my mom, her listening to Johnny Dark on WCAO, singing every song, that got me in the music around ’74. My first 240-fives I bought were Sky High, Jigsaw, and Fly Robin Fly.

Nestor Aparicio 4:19
Oh right, pre disco. I like that. Yes, yes. And

Ron West 4:23
around 76, a friend of mine played me Firehouse, and that’s all she wrote. Firehouse. Yep. That was your first Kiss entree. My first taste of Kiss. Yeah.

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Nestor Aparicio 4:36
So Kiss is going to be number 28 on my countdown, and I have been. I included them. I mean, here’s

Ron West 4:43
where it all started. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio 4:43
dude, dude, can I touch

Ron West 4:45
it? You can touch

Nestor Aparicio 4:46
it. All right, this is december 20, 1977. This is the concert I couldn’t go to. My parents didn’t drive. I am my first unbelievably jealous of the fact the Alive Two that you went to the Alive Two to. I mean that’s

Ron West 5:00
Peter Chris’s birthday,

Nestor Aparicio 5:02
december 20, 1977. Section 106, row K. Pretty good seat. Pretty good seat. Decent, decent, decent, real decent.

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Ron West 5:09
Me, Kevin, his mom, and her friend.

Nestor Aparicio 5:11
$8. God, who drove Shirley?

Ron West 5:14
Shirley drove.

Nestor Aparicio 5:14
Shirley, ha ha ha! I love Shirley. Shirley song and Piper opened this show. Piper opened. Billy Squier opened. Billy Squire

Ron West 5:22
on no shoes.

Nestor Aparicio 5:24
I love you, Ace, but you know that already.

Ron West 5:28
And by the way, this is the the show that they recorded for the HBO special.

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Nestor Aparicio 5:33
Really?

Ron West 5:34
Yes, it is. And I don’t know if you know, but Pro

Nestor Aparicio 5:36
Shot at the Capitol. Pro Shot. There’s a

Ron West 5:38
lot of Pro Shot videos on YouTube from the Capitol Center. I’ve

Nestor Aparicio 5:42
seen those.

Ron West 5:43
The Van Halen show, Stick Show. I own a couple of those on DVD. Yeah, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio 5:48
really bad Van Halen. You know, David Lee showing off just how good he wasn’t. Quite frankly, at that point, a showman and all that. Did you saw Van Halen at the Cap Center? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay.

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Ron West 6:00
Keep going. I want to see your

Nestor Aparicio 6:01
tickets, man. Let’s have let’s have some fun here. There it is.

Ron West 6:03
Matter of fact, sorry. All right, too much coffee. Van Halen,

Nestor Aparicio 6:07
July 2919, 81. There it is at the Capitol Center. Let’s see how. That’s a decent seat. Front row and the all the way in the back. All the way back to back left corner. Straight on view. So yeah. So you were on Eddie’s side, actually Michael Anthony’s side. I’m like back at the arena, row A, right underneath of the sky boxes in the back of the Capitol Center. So that was Diver Down, right? Yep, Diver Down tour. All right, Pub. Oh, now you and I were at this show together. I got to find my ticket. We had a whole car full of people. Yeah, we had a whole car full of people for this one. You want to talk about this one, Ace? I got to find the A’s. I don’t know where my A’s are. That’s

Ron West 6:44
another one that was recorded at the Capitol Center. This one

Nestor Aparicio 6:47
you can Google right now and see Hell’s Bells and see Angus. The whole deal. The

Ron West 6:51
interesting thing is, it was recorded. What was it? December? What

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Nestor Aparicio 6:54
Christmas? It was december 21, 1981. Back

Ron West 6:57
in those days, the bell came down. Angus was always hanging on it, dong dong dong. This year he came down in a in a Santa suit. Santa suit. He had a he had

Nestor Aparicio 7:05
he had out. Yeah, the whole thing on. That’s right.

Ron West 7:07
And later on in the show, they had the deer running running across fake deer running across the show. Yeah, across the stage. They just Christmased it. Christmased it up. That’s a word.

Nestor Aparicio 7:18
Christmased it up. All right. I’m looking for this the other ticket that goes with this because I have it. Hold on a second here, I’m gonna find it right here. I got my AC/DC bag. This I’ll pull this out. I saw AC/DC in Santiago, Chile. They’re playing in Philly a week from now. You want to go on Tuesday night? They’re playing. Oh really? Tuesday the 29th. They’re playing. I’m going in Philly. They’re playing the football station. Singing.

Ron West 7:39
Brian. He’s back. Killing it. Oh wow, killing

Nestor Aparicio 7:43
it.

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Ron West 7:44
Okay,

Nestor Aparicio 7:44
no, they’re great, dude. I saw them in D.c2. summers ago. John Allen went. My wife and I went last minute, and we were blown away by how good it was. And then I went to Chile to see them. I saw them in a field about six months ago, and they’re in America again. I caught this dollar bill. This is a money talk dollar bill that fell from the ceiling at the Capitol Center back during the money talk store. That’s the alarm. Hold on. I have the other ticket. I have the matching ticket here. Hold on. No, that’s Aerosmith. That was a fifth row ticket. Fourth row Aerosmith, 1982. Dude, I had a better seat than you. Why? How is mine in Section 105? What did I do?

Ron West 8:21
How are we not sitting together?

Nestor Aparicio 8:23
105. You. How do I have that ticket? Same night. Hold on. I have no idea. But there. Hold on. Let me find some more tickets here. This is yours. This is mine. We’re mixing up tickets now. Stop. Aerosmith. Aerosmith and Ted Nugent. I got that one there. That was 86. More Air. I got a lot of Aerosmith here. Aerosmith, Air Supply, Fly on the Wall. Look at this. What else you got? You got. By the way,

Ron West 8:47
check out these. You went

Nestor Aparicio 8:47
to Jay Giles. Give me that ticket. Hold on. Let me see that. Hold on. Don’t mix the tickets up, Ace.

Ron West 8:54
Dude, put them away. Put them away.

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Nestor Aparicio 8:55
All right, Jay Giles band. Tell me this one because I don’t. I didn’t go to this one.

Ron West 9:00
I don’t think so. I didn’t

Nestor Aparicio 9:01
go to Jacob. I just went on to them.

Ron West 9:02
Never really been into them. It was the Centerfold tour.

Nestor Aparicio 9:06
Give it up. Yeah, yeah, I love that. All right, cool. What else we got? Black Sabbath. I definitely have this ticket. We definitely went to this show together. Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio at the Civic Center, this was when Ozzy was doing Blizzard of Oz. Like right away, this is right after um, this is right around when Randy Rhoads died.

Ron West 9:28
Okay,

Nestor Aparicio 9:28
march 3, 1982. Randy Rhodes died within weeks of this show. Oh, absolutely, yeah, yeah. You know

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Ron West 9:35
this one.

Nestor Aparicio 9:35
Now the cars. We definitely went to this show together. This was a shake it up tour. Yep, it’s the first time we are march 22, 1982. We didn’t camp out for these tickets, but we went out to the heck company at

Ron West 9:49
no no no. We didn’t

Nestor Aparicio 9:50
camp out for these because these seats were no good. These seats are like center, but this was when they opened with Sentigon and David Robinson played in the corner.

Ron West 9:58
Yep,

Nestor Aparicio 9:59
right exactly. Exactly. Yeah, Ario. We camped out for this one, dude. Mike, your ticket’s in so much better shape than mine, dude. september 1, 1982. This was literally our first week of high school.

Ron West 10:17
That sounds so. In the

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Nestor Aparicio 10:18
summer of 10th grade, between ninth and 10th grade, you and I camped out at the Reiserstown Road Heck Company.

Ron West 10:27
And again, what the hell were our parents thinking? We were the first

Nestor Aparicio 10:30
ones in line, and we wound up getting seats in row T, which really wasn’t. It was a good, really good seat, but it wasn’t like a front row seat. We were disappointed, as I remember. Yeah, but this was a good trouble tour. Do you have anything you want to say about your mother or my mother and and dropping us off at a heck company with lawn chairs?

Ron West 10:52
They were the ones that dropped us off. I was wondering who drove us.

Nestor Aparicio 10:55
Who the hell picked us up?

Ron West 10:56
I don’t know, dude. We were 13. The only thing I, dude, I was

Nestor Aparicio 10:59
13. I mean, yeah, summer 1982.

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Ron West 11:04
I was 15.

Nestor Aparicio 11:05
I was 13. Yeah, like, and I know. I mean, I totally remember camping out with you. The

Ron West 11:10
only thing I remember about is being there.

Nestor Aparicio 11:13
Do you have anything you want to say about camping out for concert tickets that’s romantic or how much fun it was? Because we were really

Ron West 11:19
well. See, since it was you and me, I don’t think there was any romance. No, but like there was. I remember one of the shows we. We weren’t the

Nestor Aparicio 11:26
only ones out there. That’s my point. My point. It was we brought the

Ron West 11:29
lawn chairs, the folding lawn chairs, where we lay down in front of the doors, and I remember there was one show we were talking with some guys. You fell asleep, and he and me and this guy picked up your chair, carried you out into the parking lot. I remember

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Nestor Aparicio 11:45
this

Ron West 11:46
carried you out. I woke up

Nestor Aparicio 11:47
in the middle of the parking lot at four, and they carried me out. It was like it was like a meatball thing. Remember when they meatballs? They put the guy in the lane, and you

Ron West 11:53
slept through it.

Nestor Aparicio 11:55
This really happened. I swear to God, it happened. I don’t remember it, but he remembers it now. Do you remember the Chinese food over across the street? The little Chinese joint, Dimitri’s little Greek joint over there.

Ron West 12:07
No,

Nestor Aparicio 12:08
little diner, Racist Town Road. Go check it out. Leonard, you were at this show. This was the Who’s final show. Swear to God. Swear to God.

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Ron West 12:15
It was the first show or their final tour.

Nestor Aparicio 12:18
The Who? Well, they taped Eminence Front this day.

Ron West 12:21
They

Nestor Aparicio 12:22
taped Eminence Front, so if you see Eminence Front video for you kids out there, it is not a put on. This is legitimate. This was the Who’s last tour, 1982. They were never going to play again. This was the first month of high school. We went to that show with the guys that were in the band Apricot Wine, right, or Apricot Brandy. Brandy.

Ron West 12:39
Yeah, they used to play the prompts. I was going to ask you who who we went with because I just we

Nestor Aparicio 12:43
went with they they were old enough to drive, dude. We were freaking 13, and I remember we couldn’t drive Leonard

Ron West 12:48
in the back seat. Where were you to drive me then? Doritos.

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Nestor Aparicio 12:52
Those guys had Doritos and beer. Cool Ranch Doritos were brand new then. You can look it up. First time I had a Cool Ranch Dorito in my life. I was 13. Cool Ranch Doritos and beer in the back seat on 295. God, how did we not go to prison? How did how did how did this happen? Oh, you were at this one, Leonard Judas Priest. I already held my ticket out, right? I had a way better seat than you, dude. I was on the floor. Where the hell were you? 23 mid. You were way in the back. Oh my God! Terrible ticket. You sure you saw Judas Priest that night in Maiden? I don’t know, man. Maiden probably could see the motorcycle from back there. What did you love about Priest?

Ron West 13:29
Oh, everything. My favorite album is Screaming for Vengeance. Screaming for Vengeance. Just recently finished Rob Halford’s book Confessions Confess.

Nestor Aparicio 13:42
I had him on when he wrote the book, maybe 678, It was before the plague.

Ron West 13:46
Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 13:46
we weren’t videoing then, so I didn’t look at him. He called in. Okay, but we did a lot. I mean, there’s a 35 minute interview with me with Rob Halford recently, and I was going to tell him Rob Halford. The it wasn’t that show, and I and I lost the damn tickets somehow. I didn’t lose them. I have them. I just have to find them. Priest played the arena on the Turbo Tour, and when they played the arena on that, and I have a big ass, huge backstage pass from it. It’s this big yellow thing and a photo thing. I think I put it in another bag.

Ron West 14:19
Yeah, I was at that show also.

Nestor Aparicio 14:20
That show I had interviewed. Did Twisted Sister open that show?

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Ron West 14:26
I think I saw them twice with priests with Maiden opening. Oh

Nestor Aparicio 14:31
man, okay. They opened for Maiden. Twisted Sister opened for Maiden. Either way, that show at the arena was a summer. I want to say it was ’86, the Turbo Tour, maybe ’87, and I was a young critic, and the band invited me to the hotel to interview Rob after the show. And dude, I don’t need to tell you, 1986. I’m 18 years old. We had been going to Priest and Major. John Allen thought it was. Big deal that I was having dinner with Rob Halford, right? Rob Halford had me in the penthouse of his suite, and we sat at at the little table in the Tremont overlooking the Mercy Hospital, in the top of the Tremont, and we sat there for 45 minutes, and he was like one of the nicest men I’d ever met. He was just so nice to me during that period of time, and the Vulcan comes

Ron West 15:23
across. That’s very cool.

Nestor Aparicio 15:24
And I like I had that experience. I had that with Paul Stanley too. I’m gonna that that’s part of my my history is leaving our pal Kevin Eck down in the lobby because Paul wouldn’t have him up. I think Kevin’s still pissed at me about it, to be honest with you. But we went to see Kiss on that on on the before they put the makeup on, hot in the shade, they were playing Patriot Center, and Paul Stanley. I had a little bit of a relationship with him at that point. He was supposed to do an interview with me before the show, and Kevin kind of wanted to meet him, and Kevin has met him a bunch of times, I think, since then. This is 1987, 8889, 90, somewhere in there, and Paul Stanley. I called him on the payphone next to the ticket office at the Patriot Center in Virginia. I knew his hotel. He answered the phone. He said, “Nestor, I’m going to get there early, but look, look. Why don’t we plan you come back after the show? I’ll give you all the time you need. Come back to the hotel. We’ll do this the right way, and that’s what he did. And he made Kevin sit in the lobby. So Kevin sat in the lobby of the Hyatt at at the Dulles Airport, the Dulles Hyatt in Reston, wherever it is. And I went up to Paul’s suite, and Paul ordered me chicken, rice, and broccoli because he was really healthy guy, and he signed like a diet Pepsi for for Kevin. He signed like one of the ones that had that that styrofoam around you know around the 16 ounce bottles. Ask Kevin if he’s got. I mean, I’m telling you, Paul Stanley felt bad, but he just didn’t want anybody else up in the suite,

Ron West 17:01
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 17:01
and I’m up in the suite. the The interview lives online. You can go listen to it. Thank you, Greg Landry, for restoring it because I had a tape recorder that I had on the table. Paul sat here, and I sat here, and we had chicken here and Pepsi, and he was in a white bathrobe, the Hyatt bathrobe, with his hair out and no makeup on, nothing, and he sat there and talked to me for like a half an hour, and would have stayed all night, but there were women banging on the door.

Ron West 17:28
Was that the first time you saw him without makeup?

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Nestor Aparicio 17:31
No, no, no, no, no, because of Animal Eyes and all that. I had interviewed him on Animal Eyes and all that.

Ron West 17:38
Must have been interesting for the first time seeing him without makeup,

Nestor Aparicio 17:43
I don’t know. I was I wasn’t starstruck at that point in my life because I was sitting with Robert Plant one day and David Bowie’s called like literally

Ron West 17:51
starstruck just because of the different look. It

Nestor Aparicio 17:54
was super cool. Don’t get me wrong.

Ron West 17:56
You got to see something that most people didn’t.

Nestor Aparicio 17:58
Here’s a neat thing about the 28th anniversary part of this. This is really really cool. Is that when I’ve put these memories in and the interviews are there and they live in the AI world online? And this is swear to God, my clone and the AI world knows everything I’ve ever said to Paul Stanley, and that interview apparently I really pressed him hard on being older and being in a rock band and having women banging on the door with a journalist. I kind of talked him about that, and it’s amazing that the Stones are touring at 80, right? You know what I mean. I’m out seeing Sammy Hagar. Rush is doing it in their mid 70s. That to a 19 or 20-year-old kid with Paul Stanley in 1989, I pressed him about putting the makeup on, and he gave me the greatest quote. It was about some about cartoons, cartoons. People, people don’t people die. Cartoons don’t. He said something really poignant about it, and now later in life, I look at it and say, God, he was 42 years old. Why was anybody trying to take his vocation away? I mean, you’re you’re older than that, and you’re playing next weekend. We cultivate it over. We don’t think about it that way. But as a 20-year-old in 1989, it felt like Kiss couldn’t last forever, right? Like literally, right?

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Ron West 19:16
Of course. And they’ve

Nestor Aparicio 19:17
lasted beyond forever, right? I think

Ron West 19:19
as a kid, the musicians didn’t go as long as they do now. Now it’s just like they’re milking it for all they can. I saw

Nestor Aparicio 19:27
Barry Manilow four weeks ago, dude.

Ron West 19:28
I wanted to go see that at that Civic Center. It

Nestor Aparicio 19:32
had its moments of glory, and it had its moments of oh,

Ron West 19:36
that’s what I was. I

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Nestor Aparicio 19:36
saw Sinatra one night in my life at Merriweather, out on the lawn with my girlfriend Erin, we followed him back. I I met Sinatra like I was five feet from Sinatra. He waved to me, you know, it was just me and him in the in the where I wound up living in the courtyard of the Harbor Court. He was getting out of his limo. We realized we were behind his motorcade, leaving Merriweather, coming back, and I’m like, that’s. Frank Sinatra, we’re going to follow him wherever he goes. We pulled up right in front of the Harvard Court, and Frank Sinatra waved me, signed an autograph. I knew his PR woman a little bit because she was the PR person for Neil Diamond, so she knew me, Sherry Levy. So like, but that night he forgot words. But there was moments where he was singing Summer Wind, or you know, it was Frank, but there were moments where you’re like he was forgetting more. You know, he he was at the end. I don’t think he played five more shows. I mean, he literally was. I saw Frank Sinatra at the end of the end, but like there is a part of that where I don’t, I don’t want to see any more of that. I don’t need Motley Crue. Don’t need

Ron West 20:36
it.

Nestor Aparicio 20:36
I don’t want to see anything that’s bad or anything that’s fake. You know, really fake. We saw Kiss It Hershey, and they were lip sync. I mean, it was a tape. It was a tape. You know, it just was. And I, I love Paul. I love. I don’t want to despair. I don’t want to see them not at their best. You know, I mean, Getty talked about Neil like not wanting to do it because he couldn’t do it anymore. And there’s something to be said for that, right?

Ron West 20:57
Who was it recently that they were talking about elder abuse. Was it Frankie Valli? He’s like 90 years old, and they’re like supposedly forcing him on stage, and he’s like defending. No, no, I want to be here. Well, we’ve talked

Nestor Aparicio 21:11
about aging. We were just talking about yeah. I mean, that makes me sad, man. I think

Ron West 21:15
it’s you’re

Nestor Aparicio 21:15
holding an absolute artifact in your hands because I don’t think I have mine.

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Ron West 21:24
Oh boy,

Nestor Aparicio 21:25
Leonard, I think I’m missing the Adamant ticket. Tell tell this story. It’s College Park, Richie Coliseum, Richie Coliseum, College Park, right here. Look at that ticket, Ticketron. Can you tell the audience how much I loved Adamant.

Ron West 21:42
Oh, you loved Adamant. We all did. Kevin and I came to your Halloween party dressed as not as Adam, but we came as ants.

Nestor Aparicio 21:50
I had. I found the picture of me dressed as Adam Ant on Halloween. I have. I found the picture. You were Adam,

Ron West 21:54
and Kevin and I were ants.

Nestor Aparicio 21:56
I definitely was Adam or an ant. I was something. I had little things in my hair, nice

Nestor Aparicio 22:01
dog eat dog.

8

Ron West 22:03
Interesting story behind this.

Nestor Aparicio 22:04
Oh, I did not attend this concert. This was a really tough concert. It was a it was a really tough ticket. Darryl Hall and John Oates at the Baltimore Civic Center, february 10, 1983. That’s one of the ones I missed. I was not at this show.

Ron West 22:17
I went with my mom and stepdad, and I bought them two tickets for their anniversary, which was February. Dude, this is a

Nestor Aparicio 22:23
great seat.

Ron West 22:24
February 45th

Nestor Aparicio 22:25
row. Wow, you had a great seat, dude. That’s a nice ticket there. Canada Dry and Ginger Ale. There’s your sponsorship. Aerosmith at the Baltimore Civic Center, february 16, 1983. I was at this show. Yes. Now this was Dufay and Crespo.

Ron West 22:42
I have no idea. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Never that. Perry was not back

8

Nestor Aparicio 22:46
in the band then. That was the Dufay and Crespo era. Now this is a story.

Ron West 22:51
Yes.

Nestor Aparicio 22:52
Journey on the Frontiers tour, may 2, 1983, in the seventh row, dead center. Ace and I camped out at Reisterstown Road Plaza to get they were the biggest band in the world right

Ron West 23:04
absolutely I

Nestor Aparicio 23:04
mean they were the biggest band in the world two nights sold out Frontiers tour Seventh Row Center I had my Pentex camera that I had in that night I have a reel of pictures from that night I have them taking a final curtain call bow I have Steve Perry doing like faithfully, like doing some ballad in the middle. I have Neil doing like guitars. I mean, I I have good pictures from that show. Do

Ron West 23:29
you remember somebody up in the front row throwing a really nice leather jack, decorated leather jacket, up on stage? Neil shown picking picking it up was totally like, wow, somebody is giving me this, and Steve Perry going up to the mic and like acknowledging

Nestor Aparicio 23:45
it. I don’t remember. You don’t remember

8

Ron West 23:46
that? You always got

Nestor Aparicio 23:47
a memory like an elephant. You think my memory’s good? Aces. Rob West is here. Tell me about your band, dude. Because cultivate two bands, cultivated and Duran band. I want to get that word out, but I haven’t seen Duran Band yet, so I’m I’m embarrassed. I almost came out the day you sweat your ass off over lunacy, but I didn’t. I thought about it, but it just was a hot day. I didn’t want to melt. It was a hot day. Yeah, I

Ron West 24:06
was panting. I would have been thinking

Nestor Aparicio 24:07
about Rio out on the water, and her name is Rio, and I’d be like, sweltering here. Well, the

Ron West 24:13
Durand Band is obviously a Duran Duran tribute band, kind of rhymes. We’re playing at Fish Head Cantina on

Nestor Aparicio 24:20
when? Hold on, get that in my calendar.

Ron West 24:23
october 2.

8

Nestor Aparicio 24:24
october 2. All right. october 2. Is that your night? No, it’s the third. It’s Friday night. Been Friday night.

Ron West 24:29
It’s a Friday. All

Nestor Aparicio 24:30
right.

Ron West 24:30
And the Cultivated is a cover band doing ’80s covers that you normally don’t hear. I have

Nestor Aparicio 24:39
performed with the Cultivated when when invited, I have I have performed

Ron West 24:43
new wave alternative goth deep cuts deep cuts we do stuff like the cult at Adamant actually. What Adamant

Nestor Aparicio 24:50
song you doing?

8

Ron West 24:51
I’m drawing a blank. That’s right. Musician the cult. Adamant Billy Idol, Bauhaus, the alarm smithereens, the alarm, smithereens, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 25:06
Cure,

Ron West 25:07
cure, lots of cure, lots

Nestor Aparicio 25:08
of cure,

Ron West 25:08
lots of cure, lots of cure. All right, you know this one.

Nestor Aparicio 25:12
Sticks, Kilroy was here. Tour the biggest mistake the band ever made. Second row, dead center. Ace and I were there. I caught Tommy Shaw’s pick that night. I didn’t catch it in the air. I grabbed it off the ground. Different, but I have Tommy Shaw’s pick from that night. This is one of the great nights of my young life here-the Kilroy tour, right? Like unique to rock opera, I guess. Never sort of done again in that way. No

Ron West 25:38
opening act. No opening act. Their opening act was a movie.

8

Nestor Aparicio 25:42
Well, and they had like it was there was acting involved. That’s what I mean. Yeah, yeah. It was

Ron West 25:46
a performance.

Nestor Aparicio 25:47
Yeah, it was it was like a theater performance. You can go check that out. Not at all. I was just talking to John Allen about this the other day. Def Leppard and Crocus on the Pyromania tour

Ron West 25:59
in the round June

Nestor Aparicio 26:00
3

Ron West 26:01
in the round,

Nestor Aparicio 26:02
1983. This was not in the round. The round came later, dude. This was straight up. This was not in the round.

8

Ron West 26:07
No, they were out in like the middle of the arena.

Nestor Aparicio 26:10
If you say so, he remembers that wrong. That’s wrong. Okay, june 3, 19. Don’t tell my clone the wrong things. Trust me, because I was in the 10th row for this show with KF Peck, my buddy. We were late. We got there right at the end of Crocus, and when they did Rock Rock to, you drop and the curtain went, whoo! That was on fire. They were the biggest band on that tour that I’m mixing. It was it was the next tour. It was it was the next tour. They did play in the round. I got the ticket stubs for that one too. Oh, the fix at the Smith Center. I didn’t go to this show.

Ron West 26:39
No, no, the headliner

Nestor Aparicio 26:41
flock of Seagulls and the Fix. I did. I remember this show. I did not go to the show. Flock of Seagulls doing Iran and the Fix is the opening band. This must have been like 1981, 80 or 80. Was very early on,

Ron West 26:53
very

Nestor Aparicio 26:54
early on. Ticketron. I don’t. I did not do this show. And

Ron West 26:57
no kidding, that was one of the loudest shows I’ve ever. Loverboy,

8

Nestor Aparicio 26:59
I went to this show with you for sure, Loverboy ’83. I have that ticket stub right there. We were there. This wasn’t Get Lucky. That was the next one. Durand. Oh, dude, this was the night of the national championship. I think this is the night Villanova won the national title. Google that for me, Leonard. April 2, 1984. It was. I didn’t go to this concert because a it was really sold out and really hard to get tickets for. This was a really really tough ticket. Duran Duran at the Capitol Center in 1984. Trust me when I’m telling you, you had two tickets for this, and you. I wouldn’t have taken you. I would have taken. I would have taken like Lisa Deemer. I would have taken a girl. I would not have taken you.

Ron West 27:41
Me and Amy Wolf. Amy Wolf,

Nestor Aparicio 27:43
you went with Amy Wolf. Yeah, she’s the biggest Duran Duran fan I’ve ever met in my life.

Ron West 27:46
We went to the Reisterstown Hex to get the tickets, figuring there’d be no line. She drove. No one

Nestor Aparicio 27:51
loved Duran Duran like Amy Wolf. If you went with Amy Wolf, then you went with royalty. That’s what I’m saying. Coming

Ron West 27:56
back on the Beltway, her car broke down. She had to get her brother. We got in so much trouble because we cut class.

Nestor Aparicio 28:01
Look, I got to look through these real quick because I I want I want to I want to like figure out which ones. Kiss at the Baltimore Civic Center, 1984. That was animalized.

8

Ron West 28:14
Yes.

Nestor Aparicio 28:14
Yeah. This is when I interviewed Paul the first time. Okay. Rick Springfield Toys for Tots. I’ve got that ticket. My child might have been conceived that night. The car, dude. Come on now, you got to tell this story.

Ron West 28:28
Front row, front row, right in front of Ben.

Nestor Aparicio 28:30
Front row in front of Ben. I wore a tuxedo to the show that night. It was 148 degrees. We were in the front row for the Heartbeat City tour with the cars in

Ron West 28:41
front of Ben.

Nestor Aparicio 28:41
Not this is a really special ticket too. This was the first show that I ever went to Merriweather. My first ever concert at Merriweather

Ron West 28:50
might have been mine was july

8

Nestor Aparicio 28:52
25, 1984. We camped out for these big time too. Oh, absolutely. We we got front row pit seats for the cars, which is why I wore my cars belt buckle for you today, Ace. My wife knew what was up. Priest at the Arena, 1984. Oh, hold on here. Rush at the Capitol Center on the Signals tour, September 27th, 1984. We definitely sat together for that one. I remember that seat up top. I I had my camera at that one. I have some pictures again. This is when they wore the floppy hair. Alex had the the bi level. Did the new wave look? Rod Stewart. This was two days before my son was born there.

Nestor Aparicio 29:33
I have the backstage passes. I have the tick. I have pictures of Rod in five different outfits that night sweating.

Ron West 29:39
You had pit passes.

Nestor Aparicio 29:42
I sat in the front row for this thing, like literally in the pit, taking pictures. Rod Stewart two nights before my son was born. This was the camouflage tour. Oh man, hot rod! Jesus, this is so much fun. I did not go to this show. This was a tough ticket, dude. Prince. And the revolution on the Purple Rain tour, 1984, November 29th. I did not go to this show. I liked there was like five shows. By the way, talk about something. They did. I would die for you that night. The videos were shot at the Capitol Center, so a lot of the videos from the Purple Rain tour were from this show. I think we had an alternate ticket for this kiss here. You got an autograph here. What is that,

Ron West 30:23
dude? You got me that autograph. Tell the story. Is it? This is

Nestor Aparicio 30:27
one of the most painful nights of my life, right here. This was just such a terrible night to Ace. Love Sy Kern and Sy Kernan gave me beer that night. I was 16. Go ahead. Just turned 16.

Ron West 30:42
You and I went together. You you went backstage, interviewed him. I waited out front. You came back with an autograph on my ticket

8

Nestor Aparicio 30:49
and a beer.

Ron West 30:51
I don’t know. Not for me. That’s

Nestor Aparicio 30:52
all you remember about this night.

Ron West 30:55
I I remember your story later about what you missed.

Nestor Aparicio 31:01
december 5, 1984. I am three months. I’m 16. I just turned 16. I’m three months into my music critic career at the News American. I had interviewed at this point Getty Lee, Tom Hamilton, George Thorogood. I have the whole list: Triumph, Chicago, Walt Parazader, bunch of these bands. At that point, there was a band called YouTube that was playing at D.A.R. Constitution Hall on December 5, 1984, and they were on IRS Records, upstart, hardworking, and they knew what the News American was, and they offered the edge to me in an interview. And Scott Labarre, this is true. I hope you know about this. Scott’s the executive editor of Sacramento Bee has been for a million years. He was the one that put me up to this. He told me not to take the interview because the fix was playing in Towson. He’s like, “Do the fix. They’ve got the standard fall. They’ve got the song. Do them. And I’m like, “But but but but but but but but Doug Bennett says you too is going to be the biggest band in the world. But Doug Bennett says this, and if Doug Bennett said it, it’s got to be true. Well, Doug Bennett and Mike Doherty and I think Poole was with them. Jumped in the car. I think they got in an accident on two nights. It snowed like hell that night, december 5, 1984. It snowed. Trust me. Look it up. I remember almost going down to Luskins Hill, like almost crashing out going to Towson Center that night. We went together. I went to see the fix at the Towson Center and had a beer with Sy Kernan instead of going to see you two and interviewing The Edge. Ask me how many times I’ve interviewed The Edge since then. Yeah, I might go see The Fix tomorrow night at Warner Theater. By the way, they’re playing to DC tomorrow night.

Ron West 32:51
They’re still good.

Nestor Aparicio 32:52
That autograph’s great too, though, dude. Look at that man. I’m so glad I have you here, Ace. I love you, Ace. Howard Jones. I was not at that show at Merriweather.

8

Ron West 32:59
Animotion open.

Nestor Aparicio 33:00
Animotion. You too. There we go. Woo! Capitol Center, Unforgettable Fire. We we I camped out at the Towson Center for that with Richard Abrahams. I think I don’t think I camped out for you with that one. We did Towson for that

Ron West 33:15
during the come on down part. He literally told people in this. Everybody came down. Everybody came down. I mean, it was

Nestor Aparicio 33:22
Saga at Hammerjacks, 1985, very early Inter Harbor Concert Hall ticket. There, look at that. Ah, tonight we’re on the loose. We went to this show together. Barry Manilow at Merriweather, 1985 or six. Yeah,

Ron West 33:43
they cut off the date. Left

Nestor Aparicio 33:46
center really. By the way, can I say something about ripping concert tickets back in the day? Pissed me off. Those sobs at the Spectrum gave me the short stub. Getty Lee signed a ticket that doesn’t say Rush on it. It says number one five, whatever it’s got. I hate that they busted up the airline. Barry Manilow ticket, crack the sky at Hammerjacks, 1986. Surf City, here come the sharks. I like that.

Ron West 34:13
Was my second concert, Painter’s Mill, 1980, the White Music Tour,

8

Nestor Aparicio 34:17
930 club. What is that?

Ron West 34:19
You don’t know 9353.

Nestor Aparicio 34:20
Okay, rush rush rush. Kiss kiss kiss. Monkeys.

Ron West 34:26
Speaking of, you want a monkey

Nestor Aparicio 34:27
story?

Ron West 34:27
Speaking of kiss.

Nestor Aparicio 34:28
Oh, you got a you got a pick? What? Oh, where’d you get the Gene Simmons pick? What show? Where’d you get that?

8

Ron West 34:34
Was late 80s. I forget what tour it was. But

Nestor Aparicio 34:38
you caught this. You you got this.

Ron West 34:39
No, we actually met Bruce Kulik. Oh, Bruce gave it to you. Okay, in the parking lot.

Nestor Aparicio 34:43
Oh, that’s even a better story. Yeah. By the way,

Ron West 34:46
Bruce giving out Gene Kicks,

Nestor Aparicio 34:48
Monkeys, Monkeys ticket, fourth row center, Pier Six, first reunion ever. Monkeys, Hermans, Hermits. Yep. And Gary Puckett in the Union gap.

Ron West 35:00
Yep,

8

Nestor Aparicio 35:00
I’m backstage with John Wright, a very young Jason Wright.

Ron West 35:04
Which one was it? On the pier.

Nestor Aparicio 35:05
Well, this was October and all. This is August. This is the one. This was the most sold out thing ever. There were 10,000 people hanging out trying to listen to the monkeys, and I’m backstage. Gary Puckett, I have the autograph. Gary Puckett sat and did an interview with me. Couldn’t have been nicer. Herman, Herman, Herman, Peter Noon shook my hand. Very nice to me. The monkeys all had their backstage doors with stars on it. It was just like the TV show, right? Like totally. Davy Jones walked by me, the late great Davy Jones, who sang with with Marcia, right? So like Davy Jones was special to me because he sang, “Girl, look what you’ve done to me. So I wanted to meet Davy Jones, who was this big, and I went up to Davy Jones backstage, hanging out all night because John Wright would just let me hang out like I did with Air Supply when they told me to go to Australia, and I went up to Davy Jones, and I’m like, mr. Jones, I’m Nestor Aparicio. I’m a music critic for The Evening Sun, and I’m here. Can I have a few words with you? And he said, Shaw, hello, and goodbye.

Ron West 36:16
Oh man, that’s what Davy Jones

Nestor Aparicio 36:21
said to me.

Ron West 36:22
Okay, he said

Nestor Aparicio 36:23
hello and goodbye. One

8

Ron West 36:24
of those tours, Kevin and his Kevin and his mom were out front, and the news-I forget what news station was there. They interviewed both of them. Kevin and Shirley were on the news for

Nestor Aparicio 36:35
the monkeys,

Ron West 36:35
talking about the monkeys.

Nestor Aparicio 36:36
Well, they hadn’t played together, and like there was a big, big, big deal. That that show was, this was a really tough ticket, and you had a really great seat, and they were all live. I mean,

Ron West 36:47
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 36:47
yeah. I mean, I nothing again. I’m I’m pro monkey, but until I met him, oh, this is a good one. Oh, this is a good show here. Story

Ron West 36:55
about that when you’re ready.

8

Nestor Aparicio 36:56
Ooh, go! I I had a better seat than you this night. You had a really good seat. I was in the pit for this show. I took Alicia Lewis to this show, july 20, 1986, in excess. This would have been

Ron West 37:10
listen like thieves.

Nestor Aparicio 37:11
Listen like thieves. Thank you very much. Falling down the mountain. That absolutely. Go ahead. You got a story. Give it to the

Ron West 37:16
first time I saw them during that tour that was at Ritchie Coliseum, College Park.

Nestor Aparicio 37:21
I missed that show.

Ron West 37:22
Yeah, they were doing a lot of the Shabu Shaba. They were yeah, they were doing a lot of songs from that that album, The Swing. And by the time they got to Merryweather, Listen Like Listen Like Thieves had blown up, and they were doing like enormous. They were doing like nothing but that album. He was

Nestor Aparicio 37:38
so amazing. That’s an amazing performance. I I have the review of that. I reviewed a lot of these shows, by the way. My review of that in excess show was off the chain. Like I love, love, love that show. It made me love the band. Depeche Mode Patriot Center, 1987. You want to talk about mode? I got my mode autographs here. Do you want them? You want to see them? I have it at

8

Ron West 38:01
home. All

Nestor Aparicio 38:02
right. Well, I got it all here.

Ron West 38:03
You got us backstage. The Pesh

Nestor Aparicio 38:04
Mode is is his favorite band. This is Ron West, my keyboard player. This is going to wrap things up here because I got Johnny O coming up. We’re going to do some Congress, but what do you want to say about Mode? What you loved electronic music? Absolutely. Because you were a keyboard player and a sampler in a way that not everybody did, but I think MTV made electronic music very accessible to us in the early ’80s. Right? This is ’87. This is Violator.

Ron West 38:34
No, that’s Music for the Mass.

Nestor Aparicio 38:35
Music for the Masses. Violator was Merryweather. That’s what the show we went to. Okay, go ahead. Why do you love a mode?

Ron West 38:41
The electronic music, the originality, the programming, the sampling, their uniqueness, their unique style.

8

Nestor Aparicio 38:48
Reach out, touch face. They’ve

Ron West 38:50
gotten such an amazing Seneca. So

Nestor Aparicio 38:52
you and Leonard have absolutely nothing in common. There you go. You might not even like each other if you knew each other, but you both love Depeche Mode.

Ron West 39:01
Cool. So

Nestor Aparicio 39:02
there, there you have it. So you can have that. So I’m trying. We got

Ron West 39:06
to talk about that one.

Nestor Aparicio 39:08
I didn’t go to this show, but you can talk about it. Is this greatest show you ever saw?

8

Ron West 39:11
No, no, no. Imagine seeing Van Halen at a little club in your neighborhood that was at Miller’s Island. I think it was called Fisherman’s Inn. Chip Cowan and I and Dave Causey went to that show.

Nestor Aparicio 39:25
Dave Causey’s wife’s going to be here in about 20 minutes. Awesome,

Ron West 39:27
yeah. Dave Causey, I kind of, I

Nestor Aparicio 39:32
this is great. Ace, I got a break, man. Like, can we do more of this later on when I do the 35th next year? This is a Depeche Mode tick. One year we

Ron West 39:41
didn’t get to the concert, but backstage, I got. We got that.

Nestor Aparicio 39:44
I took you to Stix backstage. You you were backstage with me and Stix. I don’t know. I you have to tell me. I I forget. They all run together. It was why I’m doing this. It was

Ron West 39:52
one of the tours. It wasn’t an original tour. It was one of like ’90s tours.

8

Nestor Aparicio 39:57
Listen, can can I I mean this and. I don’t mean this in any weird way for your wife because I love your wife, Paul Stanley Hammerjacks. Look at these tickets, dude. I was at that show. I don’t have a ticket from that night because I I don’t have any Hammerjacks tickets because I had a backstage pass. I had an all act, so I never I don’t have any tickets at all. So I’m trying to remember every Hammerjack show I ever saw. Or dude, you saw Carlin at the Painter’s Mill. Holy hell! What a good ticket that is. Look at that. Saw George Carlin. I wasn’t smart enough, cool enough, cultivated enough. Talk about your band a little bit.

Ron West 40:32
The cultivated, like I mentioned, the music we do. We’re playing at Emerald Tavern on september 19, and another show. Did you saw

Nestor Aparicio 40:40
the cult at the 9:30 Club. Damn, you you did well, dude. You’ve had a good life, almost as good as mine, so far. We’re working on it.

Ron West 40:51
One more plug.

Nestor Aparicio 40:52
Go ahead.

Ron West 40:52
I’m going to be joining a band called Skydivers. They’re an all original local band.

Nestor Aparicio 40:56
What are they going to play?

8

Ron West 40:57
Main Street Tower on. No, what

Nestor Aparicio 40:59
kind of music?

Ron West 41:00
They do like dream pop, shoe gaze kind of stuff. Really good stuff. What

Nestor Aparicio 41:06
does that mean? What is shoe gaze? Is that the cure?

Ron West 41:09
Think of like Jesus, Mary Chain ministry. No, no, no, the chameleons stuff like that.

Nestor Aparicio 41:17
He’s always listening to more music than me. Always listened to different. Anything you would say about Doug Bennett before I go? Because whenever the name Doug Bennett comes, Doug was my roommate and my friend growing up, and every band he ever loved when we were 12 became the biggest band.

Ron West 41:32
He was the head of the. He

8

Nestor Aparicio 41:33
knew about you two. He

Ron West 41:34
knew about the Cure.

Nestor Aparicio 41:36
Here’s the craziest thing: when John Allen and I were together, John remembers him giving him white snakes, like putting him on the band, except different. Doug would turn everybody onto a band.

Ron West 41:46
Yep, he was ahead of the curve.

Nestor Aparicio 41:48
Yeah, man, we love Doug. So, and half of these concerts here, Doug was a part of, and somewhere nearly

Nestor Aparicio 41:54
still pisses me off. He went to the u2 show at D A R and I didn’t get to go. But at least we got a side kernel autograph. Ron West is in the cultivated. He’s in the Duran band. He’s been my friend since 1979. Show everybody how we when we camped out together. We we we we camped out for tickets just like this because we were we were on lookout to make sure we weren’t going to get robbed on Reisterstown Road. So it’s fun to do that again.

Ron West 42:14
What the hell were our parents thinking? We were 13.

8

Nestor Aparicio 42:16
They dropped us off to camp out for five days on the

Ron West 42:19
other side of town. I’m back for coffee. I’m

Nestor Aparicio 42:21
gonna have. I need a fried crab cake. Johnny is going to join us. Stay with us.