Essex native and outgoing Paramount Chief Technical Officer Phil Wiser tells Nestor about his childhood friendship with the late and legendary singer of Child’s Play, Brian Jack, and his role in the band’s reunion on Saturday, May 30th at Reckless Shepherd Brewery in Columbia, Maryland with John Allen, Nicky Kay and lots of old friends from the Seagull Inn days.

Nestor Aparicio interviews Phil Wiser, former CTO of Paramount, about his return to Baltimore for a Child’s Play reunion concert honoring Brian Jack. Phil, who knew Brian since elementary school, will play bass in the band. The concert is set for Saturday, May 30, at Reckless Shepherd Brewery in Columbia. Phil discusses his transition from music to academia, founding Liquid Audio, and his current involvement in AI. He also shares his role on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board and his efforts to get Judas Priest inducted. The band will perform a mix of original songs and covers, including AC/DC’s “High Voltage.”

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Restart the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and get it back out on the road (promised by host).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Provide and publish event details for the Child’s Play / Brian Jack memorial concert and promote the show to get attendees.
• [ ] Travel from New York to attend and participate in the band’s rehearsals (pop down for rehearsals, using train or plane as needed).
• [ ] Provide or arrange Child’s Play / band merchandise for Nestor (hook him up with a band’s shirt/merch).

Child’s Play Reunion and Phil Wiser’s Background

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning his partnership with Farnham and Dermer and the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
• Nestor talks about his rock and roll hair and his band, Child’s Play, reuniting to honor Brian Jack.
• Phil Wiser joins the conversation, discussing his long-standing friendship with Brian Jack from elementary school.
• Phil shares his early days in Child’s Play, playing in various bands and eventually joining Child’s Play in high school.

Phil Wiser’s Academic and Professional Journey

• Phil explains his transition from music to academia, focusing on neuroscience and audio engineering.
• He describes his time at Stanford, where he studied at the Center for Computer Research and Music and Acoustics.
• Phil founded Liquid Audio, a company that sold music over the internet, during the rise of Napster.
• He discusses his entrepreneurial journey and his current involvement in AI and technology.

Child’s Play Reunion and Phil’s Role

• Phil talks about his return to Child’s Play in 2022, initially filling in on guitar and later moving to bass.
• He mentions the positive response to their shows and the decision to continue reuniting for tribute concerts.
• Phil shares his current involvement in producing shows and supporting the local music scene.
• Nestor and Phil discuss the legacy of hair metal and its enduring popularity, especially in South America.

Phil’s Involvement with AI and Future Plans

• Phil discusses his interest in AI and its potential impact on various industries.
• He emphasizes the importance of being AI literate and encourages everyone to engage with the technology.
• Phil shares his excitement about the future of AI and its potential to revolutionize content creation.
• He mentions his plans to spend more time in Silicon Valley, leveraging his entrepreneurial roots in AI.

Child’s Play Reunion Details and Brian Jack’s Legacy

• Nestor and Phil discuss the upcoming Child’s Play reunion at Reckless Shepherd Brewery in Columbia.
• Phil highlights the importance of honoring Brian Jack and the fun they have at their shows.
• Nestor shares a personal story about Brian Jack joining his band, Ridgemont High, to play Rebel Yell.
• Phil reflects on Brian’s unique talent and the special bond they shared throughout their lives.

Phil’s Contributions to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

• Phil talks about his role on the board of trustees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• He shares his efforts to get Judas Priest inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• Phil recounts his experience attending the induction ceremony with his friends from Child’s Play.
• He emphasizes the importance of preserving American music history and the impact of the Hall of Fame on the industry.

Phil’s Invention of Internet Music

• Phil reveals that he invented internet music through his company, Liquid Audio.
• He explains how Liquid Audio sold music over the internet before Napster exploded the market.
• Phil shares a fun fact that John Allen’s band, Star Seed Speed, was released on the internet through Liquid Audio.
• He discusses the ties between his tech startups and his roots in Baltimore music.

Phil’s Commitment to Music and Child’s Play

• Phil expresses his love for music and his admiration for the creativity of his friends in Child’s Play.
• He mentions his support for Charm City Devils and his attendance at their shows.
• Phil talks about the importance of maintaining close friendships and supporting local music.
• He reflects on the enduring legacy of Child’s Play and the joy of reuniting for tribute concerts.

Phil’s Personal Reflections and Future Plans

• Phil shares his personal reflections on his journey from Essex to Silicon Valley and back.
• He discusses the importance of hard work, loyalty, and honor in his life and career.
• Phil talks about his plans to continue supporting the music industry and exploring new opportunities in AI.
• He expresses his gratitude for the support and friendship he has received throughout his life.

Final Thoughts and Farewell

• Nestor and Phil discuss the importance of the Child’s Play reunion and the impact it has on their fans.
• Phil shares his excitement about the upcoming show and the special moments they create together.
• Nestor encourages listeners to support Child’s Play and attend their reunion at Reckless Shepherd Brewery.
• Phil thanks Nestor for the opportunity to share his story and expresses his appreciation for the support from his friends and family.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Child’s Play, Brian Jack, Phil Wiser, Baltimore, rock and roll, AI, Paramount, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Liquid Audio, music, reunions, Columbia, Reckless Shepherd Brewery, 80s music, tribute concert.

SPEAKERS

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Phil Wiser, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore Positive. A happy summer to everybody celebrating. I’m wearing a sweatshirt right now from our partners at Farnham and Dermer. We will be getting the Maryland Crab Cake Tour back out on the road, I promise. I’ve had a lot of crab cakes this month. Uh, it’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. I’ll have the Maryland Treasures. The favorite by far is the Ocean City motif, which on a 57 degree Memorial Day weekend I need some beach. We’ll be doing some Mako later on in August. Also, our friends at GBMC, keeping me alive and well, trying to cut down on the fried foods. I’m telling my doctor that I tell you, I’m cutting down on the beer too, but I have friends that get together and I let my rock and roll hair fly like Rick Oska told me to do back in the day, and my guys at Child’s Play are getting back together again to honor Brian Jack Saturday night, and if you miss it, I hope there’ll be another one. There’s like one a year, and everybody knows of me, knows of my deep, long relationship with John Allen rocker, writer of 1985 and purveyor of great stone horses music. He’s putting the band back together to honor Brian Jack. Nick will be there, obviously, in putting this thing together, there’s a whole litany of Larry’s and older folks from the Essex group, and I’ve gotten to know this guy just a little bit as he exits his big time CTO job at Paramount. He has left Essex and went his way in the world, and I’m going to learn about Phil Weiser here momentarily, but Phil will be playing the role of bass player, and also John told me, and I don’t know if this is accurate or not, that were you Brian Jack’s original friend out of all the people in this group that you knew, maybe knew Brian longer than anyone,

Phil Wiser  01:55

that is true. And thanks, Nestor, for having me on. This is, this is awesome. I love talking about my Baltimore days, and you know, the old days and the new days, but yeah, the old days, you know, Brian and I went to elementary school together, so I moved over to the school with him, I think it was the fifth grade, and this is

Nestor Aparicio  02:18

late 70s, right?

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Phil Wiser  02:20

Yeah, late 70s, and, and, and, yeah, he was, he was, he was Brian, then, amazingly, like, you know, he stood out, had that same positive energy, super interesting, but we were not friends, I was a nerd, so I was not at all a cool kid, I was, you know, deep into the books and playing trumpet and playing the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. I was not rocking at that point in my life, but I,

Nestor Aparicio  02:53

you were in child’s play originally, correct?

Phil Wiser  02:56

Yeah, so you know this, I was in a lot of bands intertwined with Brian in that East Baltimore scene, leading into being asked by Brian to come and play with this group of guys that turned into child’s play, and that was, I think, about my senior year of high school.

Nestor Aparicio  03:15

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This is not, you were not grown-ups doing any of this, right? I mean, the Seagull was going, the Capricorn was going, you’re even playing a club, you were sort of under rain, you know, like it was a lot of hokey pokey going on the late 70s when everybody wanted to shake their ass and beat Led Zeppelin, or in your case, maybe kicks, or maybe, maybe even like a crack the sky, or maybe a paper cup, huh?

Phil Wiser  03:37

No, we definitely admired the kicks, so, so I grew up in a part of Essex where the Seagull Inn, which is a big rock club from the 70s and 80s, existed, and I would go over and sit on the loading dock when I knew Kicks was playing, and we would just sit there and look at them, like, wow, and we’d sit sitting out there waiting to get a moment to talk to, generally, the road crew, but that led to its infatuation with the local music scene, and fortunately we became a staple of the local music scene. So it’s quite a bit of a dream come true very early in my life.

Nestor Aparicio  04:11

Bill Weiser is my guest. He is in child’s play, I should say, and they’re reuniting. They’re playing down at Columbia this week at the brewery. It’s right behind Wegmans, I’ll, you know, I give you all the details and get everybody there, but it’s on Saturday night down in Columbia. That did say that right? I said Saturday night, right?

Phil Wiser  04:29

Saturday, may 30.

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Nestor Aparicio  04:30

Make sure I’m getting that right. Make sure I’m not getting the Fridays and Saturdays mixed up, because we’re all getting older here. Your relationship to the band, and I want to get to the Paramount thing for anybody that’s tuning in for the executive version of Phil Weiser, who’s leaving Paramount. I mean, look, man, I could do a whole lifetime just on your nerd them and where you took your life that wasn’t on stage with rock and roll, and how much fun this is to actually get on stage and play, but the band itself, and I’m always interested in. For perspectives, because I come at this really weird. I’ve known John all my life, I’ve known Nick all my life, I knew Itzy all my life. I did not know Brian, I never knew Brian well. So, anyone that would ask me about Brian, I have less to say, because he was the pals in the band were all the other guys, and Brian was the star of the band, no offense, John or it’s or Nick, but, but when they were the band on Chrysalis and touring and doing their thing, and on Rat Race and on Headbangers Ball, and all of that, Brian was always the one the girls wanted to get at, he was always the one that everybody wanted to take away, and I was always the guy who just hung out, knew Nick Ids and John, and I was just their friend, hanging out from childhood, not necessarily a fan, but I was the music critic at the Evening Sun, and I did have, man, I found an old clip about Donald Trump and Brian’s girlfriend, and your Roanne, absolutely, I wrote a piece that was the front of the Sun. I mean, Child’s Play was a big deal at that time to be a signed band. I don’t know where you were in your journey at that point in your executive moves to watch your buddies get this band signed, and you know, and run out and do all the things that they did, but my perspective is different in Jack Dean and trying to get them signed in Steel Town and Hammer Jacks and all of the bands and writing about it from a polling for my friends, but documenting their journey as they got a producer for their second album and they were trying to make it and Bon Jovi was breaking and Poison was breaking and and all of that. Where were you at that period of time? Because that was a really exciting time in life to be in your young 20s, and I know you were in a different direction, but these guys were on stage doing what maybe you were dreaming of doing back at the Seagull.

Phil Wiser  06:55

Yeah, yeah, I was in a completely different world. I was at that point into academia, so I went really deep into research, and I was doing neuroscience research, studying how the brain works and how the brain actually processes sound, because my love for music and audio never went away. I just directed it toward engineering, neuroscience, started publishing articles, ended up, you know, coming down to where I am now, in DC College Park, did my, my undergraduate degree, and published three papers at that point. Then I got a full ride to Stanford and went to Stanford to do my PhD in engineering, but I studied at the Center for Computer Research and Music and Acoustics, so I went as deep as you can go into understanding how music works, why we love it so much, and applying mathematics and building systems to manipulate that. So I got really good at writing computer software that would manipulate sound and audio, and that ultimately led me to start my first company, called Liquid Audio, in the mid 90s, so while these guys were out there banging their heads and doing all this fun stuff, I had my nose squarely in the books and was doing it, was fascinating in its own way, a very different type of way, but I loved

Nestor Aparicio  08:12

it. So you leave Stanford and you go on this life journey, which we will get to, I promise.

Phil Wiser  08:18

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Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  08:18

I would have shaved if I know we were going executive here, but now you’ve resigned, you know. I let my rock and roll hair out as well. I caught you on stage in recent years. It’s performing with the band, now you’re taking that role on in the base role for When Child’s Play Reunites, and I saw you and Clean Cut Dude, and I know who you are because of John, and Nick’s son is now a part of the band over, just unbelievable. I love that, and I, you know, I love Nick and his wife and her sister and their family, and you know, but seeing you up there and knowing a little bit of your background, I had to ask John at some point, I’m like, all right, How did this happen, and like, here is this CTO executive from Paramount from Essex, who went on this nerd trail of academia and Stanford, and all of this stuff, get put back into his boyhood band because his buddy died to do a tribute to his friend, and then you picked up a bass guitar, I guess, and put down the trumpet, or the trombone, or whatever you’re playing, you know, and rejoined a band as a grown-up, right? I mean, this is a couple of years ago, you got back into child’s play, right?

Phil Wiser  09:33

Yeah, it was well, and to be clear, John, Nick, our families have been incredibly close throughout, so this wasn’t sort of out of the blue. I got dropped in, but we decided to do that show in 2022 to help Brian’s family, and the response was just so incredible. We said, “Look, we just should do more of this. This is really fun, and people are having a good time. But I did come in at that point. Eight in 2022 I actually filled in on guitar because you know I played, continue to play music, but I’ve ended up wandering across every instrument you can think of, so we got it together and it was there, like, well, it’s he’s on bass, like I’ll just slot into rhythm guitar, and had a blast, and learned all the songs with six strings now, and had a great time, and then, and then, about two years ago, maybe I slotted back over to base, and Michaela came in on rhythm.

Nestor Aparicio  10:28

Well,

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Phil Wiser  10:29

great. Then we’re flexible.

Nestor Aparicio  10:31

Were you ever in a band again, like when you went on to your nerd them in your tech world, and all I mean, life’s pretty complicated for a big time, you know, executive, and where you took your career to even have weekends to pluck around with whatever instrument of choice you have, that would be a hobby, right? I mean,

Phil Wiser  10:52

well, I actually play every day, so, and I’ve maintained that discipline, you know, pretty well.

Nestor Aparicio  10:58

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I see that you’re behind you, you got a bass behind, you want to catch,

Phil Wiser  11:02

yeah. Well, I’m practicing. I’m at a hotel in DC. My son just graduated from College Park, and I’m down here. So, I brought my bass guitar, but I also brought a weird guitar called a tele-olin. It’s a double neck guitar that’s a mandolin and a Telecaster, because after the Child’s Play show, I’m doing a country show, and I’ll be playing mandolin and acoustic guitar at that show. So

Nestor Aparicio  11:24

you’re in a couple of outfits, then you’ve been,

Phil Wiser  11:26

yeah,

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Nestor Aparicio  11:27

you’ve been playing an instrument and getting out and doing this work as a hobby, right? Is it as a hustle, side hustle, right?

Phil Wiser  11:35

Yeah, yeah, it’s been great. And I produce shows up in New York, put together quite a few rock festivals to pull in local talent, because they just want to support the local music scene. So, yeah, I’ve been doing that as well, so playing, producing, and just helping out musicians wherever I can.

Nestor Aparicio  11:52

What is the legacy of Hair Metal? As my hair, yeah, I could let it out and have a good time with it, but I’m fascinated. I just got back from South America, and I know you sell a lot of product, probably there as well. But the power.. I was there 20 years ago to see the stones, and I saw you two in Brazil and in Argentina, and I went back last month, and Guns N’ Roses, and Metallica, and everything of the tree, everything from Pantera, Motorhead, I mean, the low Iron Maiden, a priest, all ubiquitous everywhere, everywhere I went, every city I went to, in big cities, lots and lots of people wearing the gear, I heard Iron Maiden on the streets. I mean, just I would get in and Uber and someone be playing AC/DC. I find that to be a fascinating little case study that I had in two weeks in South America to talk about the staying power of the music. And then, you know, m3 which you got a chance to perform and be on stage at Merriweather, and the band did as well. And I loved it. Was a little too loud. I told John that, but I love the tribute to Brian and the White. I told John that as well. But you know, for me, with the music, it feels like music’s changing. I’m watching all these artists sort of age out, or my God, die or retire. I’m seeing Triumph this week, you know. I’m seeing, I’m

Phil Wiser  13:21

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dying to go see that, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  13:23

Thursday night, Philly. Let’s go, man, Camden. I got a plus one. Let’s do it. But that music of the era that we grew up with, and what the future of it is. Sometimes I feel like rock and rolls dead, Hammer Jacks is gone, it’s never coming back. And then I go to South America, and everybody’s wearing a Motorhead shirt and a Ramones shirt, and I’m saying, I, you know, I’m confused by it a little bit, and the music palette for America, and where it is, but there is something about rock and roll music, and that era that has sustained me for 40 years, Phil,

Phil Wiser  13:53

that’s incredible, right? And I notice it even here when I go to a sporting event, and all of the music, generally, that’s getting you going is our music, and I think about this exact question, like, how is this endured that Metallica is what’s being played between innings, or AC, DC, and like this

Nestor Aparicio  14:14

is, or Walker’s

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Phil Wiser  14:15

jumping into, yeah, exactly, it’s incredible, but I do, I do have a side story, since you brought up Triumph, so the first concert, the first real concert I ever went to, was at Towson State University, and it was Triumph,

Nestor Aparicio  14:29

yeah,

Phil Wiser  14:30

Saxon opened, incredible show burned into my brain, and and I got hooked on playing on a big stage after that show, it’s like, you know, I think I could do that. I think I could pull that off. Well, the

Nestor Aparicio  14:44

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craziest thing that night is they taped it, and it became the MTV Midnight Show that was from that show at the Towson Center. So every time they would show Magic Power or lay it on the line live, it was, and I had a camera that night, so I had. Pictures that I took on, you know, Kodak of that night as well, and John Allen was at that show too. I promise you that. So it was Kevin Eck, because we went together. Phil Weiser is my guest. He is a long time executive of all things Music. He’s just that you stepped down from Paramount this week, correct? I look back like six days ago. This is a monumental time in your life. I mean, you’re celebrating your, your son’s graduation, you’re getting on stage with your childhood buddies at Child’s Play on Saturday down in Columbia at the brewery, and um, and you’re about to go through a change of life, right? Move foundation or moving what you’re doing a little bit,

Phil Wiser  15:40

yeah, yeah. And I haven’t fully disclosed what I’m doing, but you know people that have worked with me know that, you know, my Silicon Valley entrepreneurial roots are very strong, so in this moment of AI, you know, someone like me, you know, sees this as a massive opportunity to do new and very interesting things, so I’m definitely, you know, spending more time connected with my buddies back in Silicon Valley.

Nestor Aparicio  16:05

Well, I got into AI in November. I took a class, and I’ve called it a Wonka Vader. And when people that don’t use it are people that are scared to death of it, which is a lot of people, I mean, I’m blown away. Like, I mean, I remember showing my phone to people 20 years ago, my kid sending me my first text, and me telling him I will never text you, call me. You know, I was the old guy, and that was my 30s then. I’m smarter than that now, with all of this technology stuff, and buddies like you, that when something comes along, like the internet was, or you know, just things, and I’m an old AM. I own an AM radio, I’m in business with Trump, and this crook, Brendan Carr, right? Like, so I’m.. I have an FCC license, so I mean, I.. I come at it in a lot of different ways to say, how can I be better than AM radio and make my movies work and use YouTube and use technology? The AI thing has.. I’m 57 Phil. It’s blown me away in six months from what I’ve learned. I’m literally this weekend as we sit here and it rains in Baltimore, I’m doing Claude code all weekend, like I’m I’m getting down and dirty and it rolling my sleeves up because I see where this could be going, but I don’t even know, I just know what it’s done for me the first six months and it’s really powerful. Where do you see AI? What? How would you explain it to your grandmother, and how would you explain it to your grandchild?

Phil Wiser  17:29

Well, look, I think just looking at the way to engage with it to get started, you’re doing the right thing. Like, I think the key to understanding the power of this new technology is to use it right, so I encourage everyone, from you know, people that are deeply technical to, you know, people I, you know, in my family, say just go in and use this, talk to it, understand it, and then what it can do for you will reveal itself to some extent. So glad that you’re engaged, I’m glad you’re spending time with it, because look, this is along with the internet, and you know other core technologies like electricity, one of them, you know, the most fundamental technological shifts we’re going to experience, and you know where it goes, you know, stop trying to predict exactly how things play out, but it will be as impactful as the internet was in changing the way we live and changing the way that business is done in the way products are delivered to us and I think there will be a moment where particularly in this you’re saying in the content industry where we’re going to have some hits that break through. There’s going to be a hit movie that’s kind of like when Pixar put out Toy Story that fundamentally changed the way movies were made using technology. There’s going to be a hit movie, a hit song that’s really going to show people the potential of the technology, but as I’ve spoken about recently, certainly as it relates to art, the spark of human creativity, is the center of this. It’s not going to replace the creative soul that we all love, whether it’s with music or other types of art. And you know, I’ve been advocating for the last several years that we have to really make sure that technology serves the artist, not replace the artist, so I think that fear that was stoked up for, I think, a lot of the wrong reasons over the last couple years need to put that fear not completely aside. We have to be sensible, but man, you just got to lean in and use it, you know, get, you know, get the ideas in your head out into the world, you know. And AI tools could help you do that, potentially.

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Nestor Aparicio  19:41

Well, stoking the fear is the weirdest part for me in the early going with the internet, and with, I mean, I remember having a conversation with Steve Beschotti about texting, and he’s like, I don’t know how to type, like literally he wasn’t a typer, so that became an issue for a billionaire 20 years ago, and the internet was also. A, how do I get on, and remember the little discs they would send us, copy serve and AOL, you know, like, and it was just sort of an ease of use, this AI thing, it’s on every device we have, and then you have the choice to touch it and use it, or to ignore that little right column that says, hey, how can I help you, and it’s amazing, the first time you say, how can I help you, and it actually does. You think maybe a little differently about it now. I think the data centers, and you know, the environment, and the jobs, and all of these, and I get into this on Baltimore Positive all the time with the deepest thinkers I can find, just about what the bad things would be, I it’s not that I’m not focused on that, I’m just sort of overwhelmed by people sort of our age that are going to lose their jobs or get passed by or get overlooked because they don’t, AI is not going to take the job, somebody learns AI better is going to take the job, and I’m blown away by how people have repelled it ideologically, including, you know, my kid, right? You know what I mean, like anytime I’ve brought it up with people, and it’s sort of like a religion or a band, I’ll let you hear it once or twice, but I’m not going to knock on that door again. The people that have quit on AI for me, I’m just going to like not even mention it anymore. It’s just sort of like, okay, we’ll go like talking about Trump with people who still believe. I just can’t talk about that. I think the AI thing, when I see their eyes roll back, or I see some sort of skepticism or anger about the environment, or they’re taking our jobs, or any of those things, I just, all right, it’s not for you. And then I pray for them, because I think, like, holy shit, this is powerful. Every time I touch it, I want Phil. I’ve giggled like a little girl, and I’ve gone into my wife, I’m like, he won’t believe what this thing just did. I mean, I mean, I have those sort of Willy Wonka breakthrough moments, but

Phil Wiser  22:01

yeah, but the one thing that to realize, like what it did was amplify you. The reason you’re excited is because you had an idea, and you could see that idea realized in a time frame that you never imagined, and now you’re doing things that you never thought you could do, because you’ve got these tools to enable it, so you kind of bring it back to yourself, man. It’s not about AI’s off doing this stuff, you’re doing this stuff because you’re asking it to do things for you, right? So, I think we got to keep that in mind, and I think you framed it well, like the people that are just resistant to understanding or engaging, I worry about them, because this is like the, you know, doing the old days, like if you were not computer literate, it really set you in a different course in your life, in your career. Think being AI literate is just going to be table stakes going forward. So, I do encourage everyone to just, just go and try

Nestor Aparicio  23:01

it. Phil Weiser is our guest. He is the former, soon to be former CTO of Paramount. He is an Essex native, a Marylander, and he’ll be shaking it and baking it with the boys from the East Side, the good old boys, celebrating the life of Brian Jack. A memorial concert and reunion is Saturday night. I got to get the brewery right, Reckless Shepherd Brewery. It’s got a little German Shepherd on it. It’s right behind the Wegmans in Columbia, right off of Snowden, and right off of 175 between 175 Hey, if you can find Merryweather, and you can find the mall down in Columbia, you can certainly find Reckless Shepherd Brewery. You could Google it, ad, it’s 25 bucks, it’s 8o’clock The boys are all coming back together down at Columbia. There’s ice cold beer at a reasonable price, and rehearsed, you rehearsing, Phil.

Phil Wiser  23:49

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Yeah, we look, we take this seriously, and I think it’s shown in the performances. I’ve been really proud of what we’ve, we’ve put on the stage over the last couple years, and this one will be right, right there. But I have to say, like, we did this show in September at the Wrecker Theater, and that was just a party, like, it, like, sure,

Nestor Aparicio  24:09

there,

Phil Wiser  24:09

we, we put on a good show, it was awesome, but the pre-show, and hanging out with our friends, and our fans, and our family, like, it felt like a real party, and, and I’m hoping that this is another, another one of those, like it’s, and that’s why we keep doing it. We say, look, we’re having fun, the people there are having a great time, so let’s just keep, keep it going.

Nestor Aparicio  24:32

Phil Wise is my guess. So, I, you know, I don’t know Phil very well, for the audience out there. He is a miss, you’re a mystery to me. I mean, I had never, I don’t know that I’ve met you, or like we’ve shaken a hand, I’ve seen you on stage, and all of that. So this is this is really kind of a thrill for me in a general sense, but but when I’ve seen you play and knowing what you’ve done for a living and what you’ve done with your life, I’ve said to John, I’m like, this guy gets on a train or like drives down here and like shakes his ass in the basement with. You to rehearse to learn these songs, then comes that this must mean a lot to Phil, you know, like without knowing you, and more than that. And let me kiss all of your backsides here, not just Nick’s kid, who I enjoyed seeing, and John, who knows of my affinity for him personally and professionally, and with his new song, Make a Living on Stone Horses, go download it, and like, and click on, and do all those things. Algorithm, he let me listen to it in his car. We went to see, like, we go to shows together all the time. We went to see The Cult, I think it was at the Warner Theater. And on the way home, he’s like, ‘Hey, man, I want to, I want you to listen to the new song, tell me what you think. And I’m like, ‘What am I going to tell you? I don’t even know what to say when he does this. I’m flattered I’m there. We’re buddies. It’s great. And then I actually see the video and see what he’s done with all of it, and I’m like, man, you, you got a gift, you know, is what I think to him. So I, my wife had never seen John play the drums, because we’ve been married 23 years. She thinks of him as a singer. I’ve dragged him out, seen him shake his rock and roll ass with the SR 70 ones in the Charge City, all that she didn’t know he had played. She never saw him play drums till like m3 Meriwether, maybe that you know what I mean. Yeah, like literally, and had known him 20 years without knowing that. I just want to say this to Nick, if he catches this, or if he doesn’t, Jen watches whatever. Every time I see the reunions, and this goes back to it’s being in the band, and John, just in a general sense, what the band is and what it was for Brian. I’m always, I always stand in admiration how good Nick is at playing a guitar, and how he picks it up, because I know what he does for a living, has very little to play in the guitar, and, and he has to kind of like re get his chops again in a way, and I’m just, I every time you guys reunite, I’m like, oh my god, he still can shred, and it’s there’s a thing about that that I know how hard that is to do, callous is picking up all of that stuff, so hats off to Nick as much as everyone else, because he is the weekend warrior in the band at this point,

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Phil Wiser  27:05

for sure. And it is, it is a process that we go through, you know, and we rehearse, you know, generally a couple months leading up to a show,

Nestor Aparicio  27:16

one show

Nestor Aparicio  27:16

a couple of months, right? Literally, yeah,

Phil Wiser  27:18

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yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I’ll pop down, as you said, I’ll pop down from New York for those rehearsals. I’ll some some days I’ll just jump on the train, take the train down, do the rehearsal, train back at night. I am a pilot, so I fly a plane, so sometimes I fly my plane down, which is really fun. The pop in, pop in, we

Nestor Aparicio  27:36

know, I’ll fly back with that, get you some pizza, we get back up there. I got some,

Phil Wiser  27:39

there you go, we can do that. Yeah, but it’s, but seeing the progression, and we work it, I mean, and we work a lot on the vocals as well, because you know, John’s really, you know, a top-notch music director, and you know, make sure that we get, get our act together. So, I love it. What

Nestor Aparicio  27:55

is it about us Eastside guys that make us such.. and this is my word for it. You may have never heard this. I’ve made it up. I make words up. Perfectionist, you know, I’m a prick until it’s perfect. And I think next time I see mr. Statham, and I can’t use that language in them, but I will anyway. He was my seventh, eighth, and ninth grade music teacher. He, and all of us who love him, he taught 59 years in Baltimore County, 59 years, and yeah, I mean, African American man from Turner’s, who was brought to Dundalk to teach in the 60s, or he says placed and made a life educating all of us. He, I never forget the look on his face and the seriousness as an 11 year old child. If I didn’t hit the chorus right, and you know, whatever we were singing, sentimental journey, whatever it happened to be. I just think there’s a being the East Side, we all had parents that had to do things the right way, like I don’t know, man, for all of us who ever did anything with our lives, we all had such good parents, and we all had neighbors that looked out for us, and teachers that were all of that, but it was about you said something amazing to me, like the first word you used as this person, you’re like, I’m practicing, you’re like I’m practicing my instrument, even though I’ve been playing it 50 years, and if you would have told me I was eight years old that I’d still have to practice to be any good at something, be like practice is no fun, it’s life, right? Like, literally, it’s life. Life is a big practice, right? It

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Phil Wiser  29:26

sure is. Well, look, I think you asked about the East Baltimore thing, and I think there’s a couple elements to that. Like, we’ve got an edge, right? We’ve got grit, because we needed to have an edge and have grit, because we, you know, we had to work through some things coming out of Essex and Dundalk to smell, yeah, yeah, and at the end, as I recall, it, we had a lot of people that were working at the steel plants, working at GM, and they took their work very seriously, like they, they were. Proud of the work, right, and I think that sort of transcends into whatever you’re doing for work. Be proud of the work you want, you want to make sure that you’re delivering for whoever your customer is, in whatever form that takes. I took that with me. My father was a carpenter at Armco Steel on Urban Avenue, and he carried a lot of pride in everything he built, so I take that with me, and that’s why I really like the Child’s Play group, because we, we go in and we’re serious, like we’re serious, we want to deliver the show, and that’s just how I’ve always lived my life. So, yeah, little Essex Dundalk there,

Nestor Aparicio  30:34

you talked me into coming, Reckless Brewery, Reckless Shepherd Brewery in Columbia on Saturday night, Child’s Play, getting the band, putting the boys back together in the rat race to do the good old boys and my bottle, and you know every time I talk to John about who wrote what song and who wrote what line, I’m always wrong about it. It’s only been 40 years. You can go to Reckless shepherd.com you can find it there, you can find it on John Allen’s Facebook page as well. Phil Weiser is my guest. Nick will be there. John will be there. I will be there. We’ll all be there. The All of Essex will be coming down to Howard County on Saturday night. And everybody that loves the band or ever loved Brian, anything you want to say about Brian and his legacy? I always tell the story about when I had my little band, Ridgemont High, with Paul Lamantia and Ron West, we played a gig at the Stone Cellar in Ellicott City, and Brian was there, and I told you I didn’t know Brian well, like I cannot tell you that I ever had a real conversation with Brian, where he and I were in the corner, because it was always after a gig, and there was always a girl, or a fan, or, you know, he just wanted to be left alone, or whatever it was. I just didn’t know him in the, in the well way, but he saw me, and he was feeling himself that evening, late in the evening, and he said he wanted to get up and play a song with us, and I can’t say that in the band, we five years, we played together, nobody ever got up on stage with us and did anything, we were all 80s, we did all like mid 80s MTV Music, Richmond High. Okay, so it is what it is, right? And he looks at our set list, he’s like, oh man, I love Billy Idol, man, I want to do Rebel Yell with you guys, I do Rebel Yell with you guys. I’m like, well, we sort of do that encore first song, he’s like, I’m in, I’m in, and Paul like got a guitar for him, and, like, dude, I got the hell out of the way, and he was all lit up, and it was in the basement there, and it was maw, ma, ma, you know, and I was looking, and I’m like, and all I could think of that night was like, before we had video cameras or something, I’m like, John would shit if he knew this, and I like wanted to take a picture, and I didn’t have any, and I’m like, Ryan Jack just hijacked my band to do Rebel Yell, and all these years later I was in a band for five years. It’s probably the moment I remember the most about Brian, and I wish I knew him better through everyone else’s experiences with him. I mean, I knew him, but I didn’t know him well enough to talk about him the way you knew him, you know.

Phil Wiser  33:01

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, look, he was always special in terms of the way he just moved through the world. His art was always unique and ever present.

Nestor Aparicio  33:14

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He was a real artist too. John told our story about seeing his art artwork from school, right?

Phil Wiser  33:20

Yeah, yeah, and he had that talent when I, you know, at first met him in elementary school, and as we moved through junior high school, etc. and you know, became very, very dear friends with him, and you know, we would, we would talk about the music, the art, but also he just had this perspective on life where he was going to change things, like he had this, as we talked about that Essex Drive, that he was going to express himself, that he was completely irreverent in everything that he did. I think anyone has known him as has seen that, and we did many things together. We were rabid skateboarders, so we would go down to Fisherman’s Wharf, and we were one of the first people skating the big vert ramps down a fisherman’s wharf, and when we went on tour with Child’s Play, we skated every town we went through. The first thing we did when we got into town is like, “Where’s there a ramp? Let’s find a ramp, so you know we just busted stuff up wherever we went, but you know, he, you know, when I got, you know, I left the band and was on my other life. I stayed in touch with him, and he actually flew to Jamaica, where for my wedding, and it was only 25 people there, and he was one of them, and he actually got up and played at my reception in the villa, and we were having this great time, he and Monty Montfort, so Monty was our, you know, sound engineer in those early days, and you know, we all just stayed very close and got together and vacationed in Southern Maryland almost every year together, so he maintained that connection. It’s really special.

Nestor Aparicio  34:57

Well, Brian Jack left us a number. Years ago, he will be remembered. His songs, their songs, Child’s Play. It’s Brian Jack Memorial Concert. It happens 8o’clock on Saturday night. It’s down in Columbia. It is at Reckless Shepherd Brewery. Phil Weiser is my guest. If you want to check John out, check him out over Baltimore Positive. He came out to.. and I know I’m gonna break your heart in saying this. He joined me at Pizza Johns in Essex Phillips, and I know I’m talking. Hey, you can ship it, dude. It’s a click away, go to Pizza John’s. You can, you can have it anytime you want, anywhere you want. They do ship it now. And hey, and I appreciate your work. And I will say this on the way out, I’m appreciative of the Rock Hall story. I shared it with John a couple weeks ago. It has an AI bent to, because you asked me for provenance or whatever on these crazy belt buckles that I have, and I cheated. I used AI, but it was my art that prompted the AI to give a reading of what these crazy things are. You have anything you want to say about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Because I find that to be a fascinating little thing, too. The kid from Essex, is you’re on the board, or what are you on exactly?

Phil Wiser  36:06

That’s right, I’m on the board of trustees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’ve been on for about 10 years, and I just love supporting that institution’s incredible museum. Make it to Cleveland, go check it out. We actually just did a major expansion that’s opening up, I think, at the end of this year, and it’s just.. it’s just a great place to spend the day, but I got involved because I wanted to support the cause of keeping, as we had discussed earlier, keeping American music alive, the history of American music, and it really is.. I think of it now as an American music history museum, if you will, but it’s just fun, like, just it’s fun to go in there and get immersed in the experiences that they have there. So, yeah, we go to the induction ceremonies every year, and it’s a hoot. Actually, just this past year, I took John, Nick, Mitch, Allen, so all of the East Baltimore boys were out in Los Angeles for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony this year, and we just had a great time.

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Nestor Aparicio  37:04

Honor among Essex is what I would say, and well, Phil Weiser’s are well, you know, the Rock Hall. When I would do my trips, my Raven trips out for the Browns, when the Browns came back into the league in 99 we would always do the football hall and the rock hall, as part of going out to Cleveland, being a part of, in the rock hall, sits right downtown next to the stadium. If you haven’t been, my God, like I, I would say I was underwhelmed by it 30 years ago when I first went there. I think I went back like four years ago, three or four years ago, and I was like, I’m, I could spend a week there now, like I mean, in the beginning I felt like it was thinner. I feel like it’s come along. I still, I love the letters with Jan Wenner, back and forth with Mick Jagger. Those are that’s my favorite part, you know. There’s where that is, there’s a whole like radio broadcast area. I’ve never broadcast from there, but I remember, like maybe 20 or 30 years ago, I wrote a note, or whatever, to maybe do a show from there, or whatever, in their little booth, which would have been kind of cool, but I love the rock hall, and it’s time to put sticks in, but that I’m not gonna lob you, you know, you know,

Phil Wiser  38:13

well, you know, the one thing I will say, that I’ve represented our genre of music, of that that 80s heavy metal, hard rock, like I lobbied so hard for Judas Priest to get in there. I was like, how could you not have Judas Priest in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? I’m not going to say I made it happen, but they got in, you know? I

Nestor Aparicio  38:32

gave it a nudge, you gave it a little Essex elbow grease, is what you did.

Phil Wiser  38:36

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I hope, I hope that it helped in some small way, but that was amazing, because I got to just hang out with K.K. Downing at these little parties that we have before the induction ceremony. Like, I’m sitting here with K.K. Downing, and I look over and, like, there’s two drummers on there. Is that Les Banks? Les Banks was one of the iconic Judas Priest drummers. Sure enough, it was him. I think I’m the only one that knew it’s Les Binks, and I’m the only one. Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m talking to Les Binks right now. He loved it. It was a blast.

Nestor Aparicio  39:04

Well, you know, I love watching the ceremonies. Only been the one I went to, the one at the Barclay Center, when, and it was an amazing night, because the cure went in, and they were unbelievable. Stevie Nicks did leather and lace with Don Henley that night, which was amazing, and Def Leppard did a very, very all the young dudes very late, and it was a little messy by the time I think that there was some champagne flowing down on the floor in Brooklyn that night. Phil Weiser is here, he sits on the Rock Hall, he is the former CTO of Paramount, just freshly, this is his first interview since leaving the company. He’ll be back with Child’s Play on Saturday night at Reckless Shepherd Brewery. He is an Essex native, a Maryland dude, and about to go shake up the AI world in Silicon Valley. Did I get it all right, Phil? Did I get it all in here? I think I did. All right,

Phil Wiser  39:55

I think you got it right. The one thing we didn’t talk about, which would be good to cover. A minute is the fact that I did invent internet music, so we were talking about my days at Stanford, the company that I started. Liquid audio was the first company to sell music over the internet, and

Nestor Aparicio  40:12

is this before or after my kids stole Little Napster? I need to know

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Phil Wiser  40:15

it was same time, so we started that company. We started it right before Napster, and then Napster helped explode the market, and we rode that wave, and that was really a blast. But the fun fact there is that John was spinning up his first band post child’s play, Star Seed Speed, and it was released on the internet through my company, Liquid Audio, so the ties to Child’s Play. Even when I was out in Silicon Valley doing my tech startups, I always pulled back into my roots in Baltimore Music and made it happen. So, fun fact,

Nestor Aparicio  40:51

you know, the other thing about the East Side guys, how about working hard? You know, my dad worked at the Point in the Rod Mill, the whole deal. Your dad is a carpenter, you know, over in Urban Avenue, um, loyalty, right? I mean, there’s a loyalty and a code and an honor that’s like mafia-esque and old school and OG and old world that

Phil Wiser  41:11

is true.

Nestor Aparicio  41:11

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I don’t know that in Essex, right now, there’s a bunch of 1415, year old kids getting together that 40 years later would still have the bonds that bands write about, you know what I mean, your brotherhood and friendship, and a life of that, and a lifelong, you know, that’s that’s that’s powerful stuff, Phil. It really is.

Phil Wiser  41:34

Yeah, it is. Look, John, Nick, Brian, I mean, Izzy joined the band after I was gone, but I still maintained a good friendship with him, because I was just hanging out in the mix there, like they’re, you know, brothers for life, and just, you know, love the band, and Jason, who’s now behind the kit for a big part of the set, he’s amazing, like just

Nestor Aparicio  41:55

Jason Hines carried my mom’s casket at her funeral, because he was working at Connolly in Essex, so did John, as my friend, but you know, Heiser also played in a drum outfit with my dear friend Ed Lauer, who’s battling back from after his heart transplant, who is my heart, everybody knows that about Ed, and I, you know, over 40 years of that, but the I think the whole notion of the band getting together and bringing this together, it brings friendships, it brings, it brings everybody back in, which is one of the reasons I wanted to have you on, which, so you’ll share it, so everybody will know your story in doing it, so maybe they’ll come out and support the band on Saturday night, because I think it’s the only, happens to be once a year, you guys don’t, you’re not going on tour with the Stones or anything like that, it is, it’s a use it or lose it kind of thing. Maybe it’ll happen again at Christmas if we ask John again. Nice, and you guys can make it all happen, but, but it is nice to see you guys, and I’m looking forward to getting together on Saturday night and seeing what you have up your sleeve. And John never lets on too much with me, he doesn’t try things that, but I know it’s important to all of you that it’s a little different than it was last time, too, right?

Phil Wiser  43:02

Yeah, we always add a little, a little bit of a new idea in there, and particularly we want to honor Brian. Like, I think it’s really important, as we did in September, you know, play a couple of his songs beforehand, and things like that. So, we’ll, we’ll figure out something interesting there. And I did want to, like, add one thing in, while we’re talking about the band, like, I have to be clear, I’m a fan, like, I was a Charm City Devils fan. I promote that band to others. When John did his first Stone Horses show in Baltimore, I drove down from New York to make sure I was there for that debut show. So, like, these are not only my dearest friends, that I love the music, and just been inspired by the creativity these guys keep pushing out, so glad that I get to be a small part of it when we get together as child’s play.

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Nestor Aparicio  43:46

All right, I’ll be there, I’ll have my hair out, I’m gonna shave up real nice, I’ll get my, you know what, I don’t own, and I got to get on John about this, and I almost bought one sound stage, whenever that reunion was, maybe two, three years ago, it was maybe the 2223 whatever, the first one, when John had put together the video, and I was watching the little video there at Sound Stage, and Mickey Coachella was there, Kirk McEwen, Brill Heart. We had a picture, like, of all of us that night, and John, like, went into the attic over in Eastwood and ripped out some old stuff, stuff he had at the bottom of the box, and there were a couple of child’s play shirts, like a couple, like five, and they were like up for bid, and I was going to bid on the one that fit me, like I was going to try to get the one that fit me, but that logo I later learned, Joyce Bucci, who’s my dear friend, art teacher, and John, they sort of worked on that and developed that in Dundalk High School, the actual logo, but I don’t own a child’s.. I mean, I have all sorts of CDs and weird stuff, but I don’t own, like, gear, so I feel bad about that. So, maybe I gotta.. I gotta work on the merch side.

Phil Wiser  44:53

We’ll hook you up, I think we can hook you up with that, even though I’m cutting down on the fried stuff, Phil. I was gonna say, yeah, getting one that fits is a thing, but look, I’ve geared up my kids their whole life, so they were little kids, and they were wearing Charm City Devils and Child’s Play shirts, and it’s just.. it’s fun, it’s a big part of the thing that surprised me and my family a little bit when we showed up at Merriweather for m3 the number of people that show rolled in with their child’s play shirts on for that midday show to open things up was, it was fantastic. It’s just, it was a blast. They

Nestor Aparicio  45:30

were, you know, what I said to my wife at that moment, I’m like, they were really smart for booking you first, because it got a lot of, I got me out of bed. I got there at lunchtime, and you know, and I wasn’t there to see Steven Piercy, or whatever, you know, I’m a quiet ride. I was there, I was there, hanging out with you guys. Phil Wise, I’ll let you go because you’re busy, your kids just graduate, you’re starting a new gig out in Silicon Valley, and rehearsing those bass lines there to get ready for Saturday night. Is it Reckless Shepherd? That’s a mouthful. It’s like Farnham and Dermer, it’s a mouthful. Reckless Shepherd, like Nestor Aparicio, Reckless Shepherd Brewery, it is in Columbia. It’s Saturday night. You can find them out there, Charm City Devils. And you know, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Charm City Devils, and aren’t familiar, I just said that again. You guys are gonna play some music and Charms, you are playing some Charm City, but you’re playing ACDC songs too, and the ACDC thing runs deep through Brian and deep through Child’s Play. I don’t know that I ever saw a Child’s Play show where they didn’t do the jack.

Phil Wiser  46:30

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Yeah, we played, and when I was in the band, we played a lot of that vintage ACDC. It was a staple that weaves through that, and that was another East Baltimore thing. I grew up on all of those ACDC tunes and bands before Child’s Play, and one of the first times I saw Brian perform was in high voltage and ACDC cover band when we were in junior high school, think it was in the eighth grade, that point

Nestor Aparicio  46:57

kids either covered ACDC or every, and, and I always give John a hard time, because I always get the band wrong, Fury, or whatever. I give him the wrong band name that he was in with Nick. I think Nick was in the rival band. This is like eighth grade. They always play Green Man, Lishi. I don’t know why everyone played Priest, dude. You know him, right?

Phil Wiser  47:16

You’re right, you’re totally right,

Nestor Aparicio  47:18

man. They gotta play Man Alicia, man, the Free Bird of Essex or something. Phil Weiser’s our guest, he is the former CTO of Paramount, he’s the bass player in the reformed reunion band honoring Brian Jack at Child’s Play. Hey, thanks, man. Fist bump to you, and love to Essex, and we will see you on Saturday night. Have a great holiday, everybody out there. I’m rocking and rolling. I am Nestor. We are Baltimore positive. Stay with

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Nestor Aparicio  47:49

us.