Our Chief Digital Officer Mike Rosenfeld reports back to Nestor on the Detroit scene for NFL Draft and what Baltimore could be as a potential host for the biggest event of the offseason. How do we lure an event with a massive scale and size that needs to be experienced to be appreciated?
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
detroit, people, baltimore, chief digital officer, eddie van halen, called, mike, live, years, alex, play, work, draft, messina, picture, documentary, week, auburn hills, games, tickets
SPEAKERS
Mike Rosenfeld, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home we are W n s t, Towson Baltimore. And we never stop talking Baltimore positive. We’re gonna be taking the Maryland crabcake tour. Back out on the road. I’m wearing my Costa shirt. I was overcast this last week. We talked so much about the bridge going down everything going on. I’m in the mood for crabs. I mean, I haven’t had a crab in like six months. So I gotta get over there. Get some crabs. We’re gonna be fade Lee’s I’m not gonna have crabs there because I’m my hands and I’m going to the game and the Diamondbacks are in this Friday. Then next Friday, we’re back again two to five. Luke Jones joins me we have the PacMan scratch offs to give away while they last. They have this new cash pop game, we’re not gonna be given those away but off scratch offs to give away. Also our friends at Liberty pure solutions, keeping my water crystal clear for my drinking, and my sanity, as well as Jiffy Lube multi care, which is keeping my car clear on these 95 degree days where I invite people like our Chief Digital Officer, Mike Rosenfeld, down to Oriole Park for an ass beating of the New York Yankees and he couldn’t because he’s like busy running web connection and being a Chief Digital Officer to people like me and like my documentary and getting more traffic and this and that and building a business and and more than that, dude, it’s been a minute for you and me because we get together about the launch of the new website, which is coming next week. Thank you Jessica vallas at heart for designs. We have so many cool people that power us up on these wise conversations. But you went to that Woodstock thing in Detroit two weeks ago, right, like you were the poppy seed in the bakery of the Greek town, downtown Detroit. draft a THON. How did that go, Mike Rosenfeld?
Mike Rosenfeld 01:48
Well, imagine getting a ticket to Woodstock and arriving and not realizing that Woodstock was as grand as Woodstock was. That’s exactly what happened. My son lives in Detroit for for now for work. And I was like, Hey, this is probably the only time I’d go to an NFL draft and let’s do it. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:11
he lived downtown and what I would know is downtown and that little square where like the Greektown casino in near the stadiums is
Mike Rosenfeld 02:18
office is right there. Like when you saw all the aerial footage, he would he
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:24
doesn’t live in that because they were doing a very serious you know this with Kilburn work, live, play all the things we’re trying to do in Baltimore that, you know, you’ve been out there witnessing, I’m wondering how it would be the difference between saying, Yeah, people live like Chris pica lives down by digital Harper in South Baltimore. But the difference would be two people now live in the skyscrapers at light and Pratt, right, where I lived. And Detroit was missing that element after the sort of the burn down of the motor industry, which really was never in downtown Detroit. Anyway, downtown Detroit had been long forgotten from the rights 68 and all that. But like, I saw the aerial shots and all that. And I really wonder cuz it’s been a few years. I wonder what’s there when it’s when that’s not going on? What what that space looks like?
Mike Rosenfeld 03:15
Well, I’m glad you asked the question, because I know you are. You often talk about sports, but but there was definitely a vibe in Detroit. And just for background, my wife is from the Detroit suburbs. And when I started going there in the 90s the downtown was literally no one was there. I kind of used to say Baltimore City was 10 or 15 years ahead of where Detroit was, believe it or not, with all some of the issues where we have well
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:48
in the 80s and 90s. We rebounded very quickly after all, the amazing part of the documentary was like I was born like in a really bad time and 68 and it didn’t feel like a bad time and 81 and 82 and 84 When I’m working at the paper downtown and harbor places Coleman and then Camden Yards that like but we I mean as a city, we’ve had the we lost the football team. We lost an NBA team here, right? Like it took us 50 years to get the arena fix a whack and go see Janet Jackson. So excuse me hard and cheap trick next week. Thank you curio wellness. But like all of this Detroit’s had real problems with arenas where the pistons fought with the Redwings forever, and they built one in Auburn Hills. And it’s Silverdome was out in like Owings Mills, you know, in Pontiac, and so like their sports thing was up, they abandoned Detroit in the 70s and 80s. And moved everything out of the city.
Mike Rosenfeld 04:41
Really. So So basically my my oldest son who’s now 30, just to put an age on it, went to college at University of Michigan, so I started going to Michigan much more often than I would have otherwise. And I set up an office there
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:55
so you know, Detroit airport better than you know, BWI like you know, Detroit I’ve flown into Detroit three times in my life. I’ve been to Detroit eight times in my life, you know, like, which is a lot for anybody to say you’ve been there a lot, but I don’t feel like I mean, I know we’re Royal Oak. I’ve been to Grosse Pointe. I’ve been to weddings there. You know, I’ve been to all the arenas I party that picture me and Eddie Van Halen that you love, where he’s got the cigarette and just kind of hanging out backstage. That’s from underneath the palace at Auburn Hills. Don’t tell anybody. It’s when Jerry Sharon was singing in the band. There weren’t a lot of people there that night. That’s why Eddie gave me special time. But like I spent time in Detroit but I when I go in and out I think of it as a place that is definitely in better shape than it was when I when I found it. I went to the Lyndale AC Are you familiar with the Linda lac? I’m not Google that Li N D E L L AC Athletic Club Lyndale. AC wasn’t an athletic club was a bar. And but there’s a very famous 60s 70s bar where all the ballplayers hung out was sort of an after hours place from what I understand. It’s where the Oriole celebrated. The 69 pen and I believe booth Powell famously pictures all that it’s really Martin probably got in a fight there one night like it’s that kind of, like legendary place. But I went there at the end of the end with with my wife and maybe 2002 or three before the new stadium came online. And it like it was a warzone. I mean, it was like whatever people would say awful about Baltimore. And the worst of the worst of the worst. I felt like I had, I went to this place looking for like, this treasure and was like, Oh my God, what happened here? And then they rip Tiger Stadium down and like, yeah, yeah, I mean, their city’s been through it. So when you see it on display like this, it is a night for all of us to dream of new harbor, fixing up the baseball so that you know like we can, we can have nice things Mike right.
Mike Rosenfeld 06:54
Well put in perspective, when I got went there with my first time in like 1990. My not yet father in law took me on a drive into Detroit. And people our age will remember the public service announcement with a Native American crying a tear because he’s looking at, he’s looking at people who litter. That’s what my father in law was. He would say this used to be the Paris of the United States and, and it was pointing to buildings that were boarded up with graffiti. There was no one on the streets. Imagine driving at three in the afternoon on Lombard Street. And you being the only car there like a ghost town. That’s literally what Detroit was so so that’s what I
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:37
found that when the Linda Lacey when I went in there to get a hotdog and a beer to sort of be in the space where Boog Powell and like, it was like, Oh, my You know, and I so I hear you loud and clear on that.
Mike Rosenfeld 07:50
So fast forward to 2013 When my son’s at University of Michigan, and I’m starting to go to Michigan on Detroit on a regular basis. I do I get an office space equivalent to like a we work to work at and I start befriending people and I start seeing vibe and buzz and young people moving downtown and, and young people buying mansions for $20,000. But they put putting money in fixing it up and and my son took an internship with a commercial developer one summer so he stayed out there. And he rehabbed a skyscraper that is now one of the most common you asked to people live down there. Yes. It’s called the Albert. And it was empty. And it was one of the places that were boarded up, which is now a coveted place where young people live downtown. So fast forward to the draft. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:48
got to come to Detroit. Let’s go see the Tigers in New York. Let’s go can you
Mike Rosenfeld 08:52
talk to your our mutual friend Bill Cole about our trips to Detroit and, and I’ve taken him along for the ride. And literally within the last two weeks, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about Detroit’s comeback and it’s on its way but let’s just talk about the draft because we’re going to tie all these things together. Because I go there not I have this vision of being underneath that big awning. And I’m gonna go we’re gonna go and I’m going to be under the big this big awning and it’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:18
only for the first 5000 People that are under the awning right? That you
Mike Rosenfeld 09:23
have to be invited to be under the awning every all the rest of us. It’s just in to see it. It’s like being in the infield of Preakness. You know, I didn’t anticipate that but it was
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:33
no there there. It’s just you just stand like literally, it was just it just poured into the street that they were their vendors in the streets.
Mike Rosenfeld 09:41
So here’s how
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:42
it goes. It’s Detroit like probably underground. My
Mike Rosenfeld 09:45
son office building is the tall building right next to that. He’s got a park He works there. He’s got a parking pass just like we’re set. We’re covered. I got parking, we’re gonna get in. We’re gonna get out. And when we start arriving, imagine going to On 83, to the very end where, where it dumps you into the city proper, and everything’s closed and all the police are there and they’re saying you can’t go here and you can’t go there. And he’s to his credit, being aggressive and trying these side streets to get to his coveted parking spot, not happening. So we parked in another garage, we had to go all the way up to the top. And then basically, the, it’s caged in the draft is caged in. So we went to some of the local establishments. We actually went to a bar called the Baltimore, and we didn’t we it just happened to be there. And there were a bunch of people there. I was wearing a vintage ravens jacket that people were like that jacket is the sickest jackets, a starter jacket. It’s got. Oops, I get all excited. I’m knocking microphones that
10:49
ditch the old flying bee. Yeah, it’s got the elite, the
Mike Rosenfeld 10:54
trademark face of the Raven. They work yeah. on it. So we grab a couple beers. And then we go into the draft. And yes, to your point, there’s spotter potties.
11:07
Did you pay to get in? No, it’s a it was a free
Mike Rosenfeld 11:11
thing free?
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:12
No, I’m just trying to see if it was $10 across the line to go to get the $15 beers. The perimeter is what I have to use their their terminology because I I’ve been to one NFL Draft. I told Luke this two weeks ago I was I was sitting next to John Ogden when he was drafted the first ever draft pick. I was sitting with Ed Carroll was me and vetoes. Delena are the only two reporters from Baltimore that were there. And I you know, I have to hat off of Jonathan’s head that they had that didn’t have the logo, I own that. There was a boxer only 10 of those hats made it Carol had them. And so but that’s the only, it just didn’t appeal to me. I mean, we threw lots of parties, and we had parties at the barn and draft parties. And we did all of that for years and years and years. We were on to the draft way before anybody else was on to the draft, but to see what it’s becoming for you to attend it. I have no doubt it would just be an incredibly spectacular thing for Baltimore.
Mike Rosenfeld 12:09
Well, here’s here’s the bottom line, I you walk through the metal detectors, to a sea of madness. The to the right is more of Spotify does that I’ve ever seen grouped together, that was the only place you could go the bathroom. To the left is all of the vendors, which the lines were ridiculous. I’m glad we drank before we got in there. And then you walk in and you see the that you see the shell, the shell, that shell but we were equivalent to being in the endzone upper deck two rows from the top is really where we were, except it was 275,000 people instead of 55,000 75,000 people. So we worked our way. When we went in Big Sean who my son is a fan of was playing he played like 10 songs. And we were we were digging that and we started working our way to the sides of the sides of the side. And I was probably within a baseball throw of the edge of the shell. But I was to the side couldn’t see the stage. So bottom line is we had the watch the
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:17
dress you boo when everybody else broke it down. Did you dispute it do it that we had
Mike Rosenfeld 13:21
two things that we said we have to stay for booing of Goodell. And I wanted to stay for the first five picks to see if there’s any drama for trading up to get a quarterback after the fifth pick in the first round. I’m like let’s let’s roll. And we were back at his place for pick 11 through the end of the first round. But but really say
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:42
two hours. See you weren’t you’re not okay. Three and a half hours. You didn’t do any marching, no stage diving. None of that. Okay. Those days for me are Googling this Baltimore place now in Detroit and feel like I got to go there and get a beer. Yeah,
Mike Rosenfeld 13:57
it’s just it’s like a Baltimore type spot. It was like a little row like where pickles is. But here’s the Baltimore guy. I own it. I have no idea. Then. I’m googling
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:06
it. Go ahead. You carry on. Microphones is our guests. Chief Digital Officer here, WN St. Baltimore positive as well as web connection. Yeah,
Mike Rosenfeld 14:14
sorry, you can’t tell that I’m excited about my experience. But bottom line is that 95% of the people were from Detroit, and they’re finally proud of their lions as they should be. Imagine the feeling remember the feeling that we had when we finally was a 2014 when we finally went back to the playoffs after the you know such a drought. I googled Wayne Fontes was the last coach of the lions that I remember having a team that was relevant that made the playoffs. I think it was in 1996. So their team was one win just like we were away from the Super Bowl. So their their their their people and their fans were fired up and you could feel it and they were proud of their city because their city was in the spot. I’d like there’s tremendous pride of what was going on.
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:03
When I’m putting a lot of January football games around there. You don’t I mean, like, in real terms, you know exactly. And you got there in the 90s. You got you must admit your if your wife’s from there and all of that. hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, even on the backside of the bad boys if you’ve been going there since the early 90s. But it was hockey town, right? Like, literally, that’s what they call it. Yeah, yeah. hockey town. Right. So, you know, but they’ve always had this passion for the football team, when Jim Schwartz covered was the coach of the team. I remember hanging out with him that summer, he got the job. And he told me that like when he met with the newspapers and the people there, they were all very succinct that the lions were the most popular team. They’re not just because the NFL rules or whatever. But for clicks for websites for interest for all of that. The Lions are the hearts of Detroit, even though they’ve they’ve never won. They’re sort of like the Chicago Cubs before they won, or the Indians before they went, you know, just the lovable losers. Plimpton pay. I mean, when you think of irrelevant, I mean, never been a Super Bowl like we put let that settle in. If
Mike Rosenfeld 16:09
you if you feel if you go beyond sports, to the human experience of sports, you remember the guy. The picture of the video of the guy crying the lions game when they won their playoff game against Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:22
yeah. I mean, I felt Yeah,
Mike Rosenfeld 16:26
I felt that because I’ve experienced Well, look, we
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:30
been like, I feel that if I get my press credential back after 18 years, believe me? Well, Bill
Mike Rosenfeld 16:35
Cole and I have been taking some people over the last couple years to Detroit. They’re a much larger market, there’s much more wealth. There’s more billionaires there, but they are blue collar town just like us. They’re the brunt of jokes just like us, I feel a affinity towards towards the people and their Midwest. So they got that, that charm and kindness about them. So I wrote I wrote for them. I did not want to play them in the Super Bowl, however, because that would have been World War Three between me and my family forever. Whoever lost that would have had bragging rights forever.
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:11
But I guess you just put the old Eric Hipple jerseys on I don’t like that they were their pajamas. You know, like, I love the Honolulu blue. It’s a great look. Go go back to the Plimpton lions, you know, look, look the way you’re supposed to look, look, look the way you know, Barry Sanders. Look, do you know what I mean? Right. And
Mike Rosenfeld 17:27
I’ve gone to plenty of Thanksgiving games, which, you know, we could debate whether they’re entitled to have a lock on the Thanksgiving games, but that’s a big deal. And that’s always fun. When I’m there for Thanksgiving, but bottom line, it was a great experience. Yes, we were there for a short amount of time, but it was more than enough to soak it in and to get the vibe of what was going on. I love the billing of Goodell I loved Eminem coming out. You know, I mean, people were just fired. Fired up as they should have been.
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:57
We didn’t miss him was Madonna was Bob Seger there. I hope he was, you know,
Mike Rosenfeld 18:00
oh, yeah, he came out.
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:02
I’m only I’m asking. I mean, it was Detroit. Oh,
Mike Rosenfeld 18:05
I didn’t know if it was you know, what’s when you’re there. You don’t know what’s on the commercial break. And
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:10
I was watching the Orioles at different points, too. So like, Yeah, Bob
Mike Rosenfeld 18:13
Seger was there may have been during the commercial the worst was the to the man, the woman from maybe the NFL Network that were riffing during the commercials just to kill time. And the band it’s just like, the pic is in just tells you the pickets you know it’s when you’re they’re brutal.
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:32
You’re there for the pic is in and like something over cheese dip that you do. It wasn’t cold that wasn’t in Detroit. It
Mike Rosenfeld 18:41
was low 50s
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:42
All right. I mean, like, I’ve looked this place up Baltimore bar and grill on Randolph Street. They almost sounds like a fake address. You ready? It’s 1234 Where do you live? Officer officer says where do you live? I live at 1234 Randolph Street. Sure you do sure you’re right. 1234 Randolph Street, Detroit Michigan. It is a Baltimore bar and grill it says comfy hang out with low key tavern vibe serving basic pub food plus Pool Bar games and a jukebox
Mike Rosenfeld 19:17
it was a dive it was awesome. And they were first
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:19
thing it says is dive bar that’s what it’s listed as dive bar. And
Mike Rosenfeld 19:23
they make it’s an apologetic and it’s in a row so there was a bar next to it and a bar next to and a bar next to it but but that’s just
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:32
number one review your grilled cheese out of this world. Oh baby that
Mike Rosenfeld 19:38
didn’t seek it out. It just fortuitous was the one we’ve landed at and and actually my son and I took a picture in front of it. Which is which is awesome. Oh, it’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:48
gonna be the first place I go. When I come to Detroit. Mike Rossi Feld is here he attended the NFL Draft. He is our Chief Digital Officer of all things of Baltimore positive and he can be Your Chief Digital Officer, you tell him he would a fraction olaleye. The chief told me what you do, because what you do around here is we’re launching a new website next week trying to keep us sort of in the lanes between you and Chris pica and Jessica valus Harford designs I have, dare I say I have a team. It’s almost like a sports franchise.
Mike Rosenfeld 20:18
Yeah, well, as you should, I mean, you’re not playing games and you want to, you want to win digitally. But what we do is we work large companies who are serious about their their digital presence, their website, their apps, their social media presence, they hire Chief Digital Officers, they’re full time executives, but small to middle sized businesses aren’t able to compete. So what we do a web connection, we provide a executive level Chief Digital Officer service on a fractional basis to small to midsize companies who really want to win one line and can’t afford a full time Chief Digital Officer. So we have a model that’s affordable for almost any small midsize business, including just startups to help them win.
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:10
Even little am radio stations and visionaries and entrepreneurs and sort of the Moxie and the passion that I’ve shown here over 40 years. So when did you find what me and what I do? I remember meeting you 20 years ago at networking things, like feels like 20 years ago, I feel like I met you in the arts somewhere when I went into wn st dotnet 2005 678, somewhere in there. When I found the late Matt Goddard, we just lost Matt recently, he was one of the guys on the original team, maybe in Oh 708 Where I was looking, quite frankly, for guy like you then you were building website. So I know I’ve known you since then I don’t know that you’ve listened to the radio show or any of that stuff. So this documentary where you’ve been with me for a long time as my chief digital officer, what have you learned from this thing? Because everybody’s come up to me and said something like, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know you did that. And everybody except Jolina Jolina. I saw him at the accelerant event at the Maryland Zoo. And he said I knew every bit of it. And I’m like, All right, man, you were my mother’s funeral dude. So like, yeah, I guess you did know every you know, like, there’s certain people that are on the inside of the inside. But there’s very few people that and I met Enoch at gators pub in 1993. He would come up to me as a fan of mine, and asked me trivia questions about baseball to see how much I knew. While I DJ trying to chase girls off loyal and NDP, not NDP and Notre Dom, the college, Towson. Yeah, that too. Dude, I don’t know what you know what you don’t know. But I’m guessing you found out some things. Maybe John Denver, starting with that? Yeah, well, look,
Mike Rosenfeld 22:58
I don’t think it’s a secret for people who listen to you that a lot of people love you. And a lot of people love to hate you. And what your film does is it allows people to understand you a bit more. And that’s one thing that you asked how long I mean, it’s a small, Baltimore’s a small city, those people who are who are hustling and I mean that in a good way, trying to work and trying to grow their businesses get out and about and when you get out and about you meet people, and you either know people directly or you know someone who knows them. So yeah, it was probably I started my company in 1995 moved down to Canada in 1997 was across the hall from Matt Goddard and Dave Taleb, who, at the time their company was called Impreza Did
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:47
you have a storefront on the square in Canton? In an office off the square with a front door? I was in that when were you there? Because I promise you I I remember visiting you there. When was that? So
Mike Rosenfeld 24:03
I had two places in Canada. The first place in 1997 was above what was the highs which is now dangerously delicious pies. We were right above there. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:14
feel you on the other side of the square on the Clodagh side. Now beware Helens garden was near near between Clodagh and and loonies. You’re close across the street from Nacho mom. It’s like if I was at Nacho Mama’s where Elvis Elvis is I was looking at your office somehow. Is that true? So then
Mike Rosenfeld 24:35
I bought the building across the street. That was between speakeasy Okay, and the TV guy on the other corner. So So
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:45
you weren’t but you were more where the firehouse on that side? Yes,
Mike Rosenfeld 24:49
I was looking out my window. Kenwood, Lynwood, Lynwood. Yeah. Lynwood, in Donnell. Right. Baltimore
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:56
my whole life the documentary tell you that I know most of you So that was that was
Mike Rosenfeld 25:02
that was nine the really tooth out that was 2002. Two, I just sold the building during the rhony. Okay,
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:10
so when I met you, that’s where you were. So it hadn’t been sometime in the fall.
Mike Rosenfeld 25:14
That’s when we formally met. But I’ve been
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:19
on radio 1314 years by then, right? I mean, like, I’ve been in the paper before that, and like, whatever. There was a lot of ways to sort of engage in some way. But you were like, in a nerdier, computery, I was very intimidated by computers at that point. And I sort of hated the internet in the beginning, because it was a place where people did really awful things with no accountability, like on the son message boards, a son message boards, were sort of the first unreleased toilet of, of, of being a B list celebrity in Baltimore.
Mike Rosenfeld 25:52
Well, I will remember I remember when we met, you have gone through what was that? That period of times iteration of your movie, it was a, it was a polished presentation of who you were. And I remember it wasn’t you didn’t come to me looking for advice or or counsel, you took that opportunity to explain who you were, which I appreciated, and it was more PowerPoint based. The video is more of a documentary. It’s more story of how you came about. And all the people you you’ve touched, and I will tell you this because this is what I wanted to talk about today. But the Detroit thing was definitely better. Last. I am not a guy who has a bunch of idols, sports idols, music idols, I only had one. And I’m envious of you because you met him twice. You mentioned him once today, which was Eddie Van Halen. And just last night, my wife agreed to sit with me there’s a documentary on Paramount plus for Wolfgang Van Halen. But really, it’s about his growing up in the challenges of being the son of Eddie and, and the struggles. And it’s another document so
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:13
the son of Valerie Burton only two, by the way, so yeah, absolutely. And she’s
Mike Rosenfeld 27:17
very present in the documentary, but just the struggles that he had and, and, and, and, and as much as I knew him, I went to every tour every year from 1984 I wish I would have learned to love them a couple years earlier, but that’s when it started. But every tour multiples it just like you, you know, never met him. Idol from afar. But the documentary was was very sad. Very sad and,
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:46
and he was so nice to me every time I ever met him. And I met him three times. I’m just trying to play this through my mind. Oh, Robin in the first time I met him was at the spectrum on the 5150 tour. Because I had interviewed Alex, Alex called my house, I was living with my parents. So this is 86 I’m 17 years old. Yeah, I was seven teams August of 86. And I’ll never forget he called early. Right? She called early my mother. Like she pissed me off. She picked the phone up. I’m like, don’t answer the phone. Geddy Lee’s calling. Don’t answer the phone. Mom. I don’t want it to sound like I live with my mother. Right? Don’t screw this up. For me. It’s not like girls, it’s Eddie Van Halen, or Alex van Hill. So Alex Van Halen called I grabbed the phone, I did the interview. And in those days, on the back of the phone, we put a little coupler that had an earpiece that connected to so I could hear the second take the interview, right. So I taped the this is before this is at six through this is before I even had like a RadioShack recorder to give me a little mini tapes. So this is the way I was recording in the early part of my and I lost those tapes through don’t get me started, but I had the tape right of all of it. And Alex, I mean, we’re talking 1986 Year 5150 within days of that very famous concert that was taped at the Dunkin Donuts center up in Providence. It was within that week period of time. They saw everything you saw it’s what they look like it’s what they felt like people were throwing the bras up on stage the Dave suck signs, Dave who every night Sammy is unfurling these blankets of bio for David Lee Roth, right. And they’re killing it because the songs mean 5150 still. It’s not the greatest album. I mean, all you David Lee Roth people have added but like 5150 By far, earth shattering album for me still to this day. It’s my party album, summer nights. Why can’t all 5150 The song is probably my favorite Van Halen song But he called, I did the interview. And and they were playing at the Capitol center, like down the line. And they were playing at the spectrum that night. And he’s and like in our conversation, he said, Are you coming to the show? And I’m like, Well, I’m coming next week. He’s like, Well, you’re in Baltimore. We’re in Philly tonight. You want to come up tonight? Alex says this to me. I’m like, yeah, he’s like, I’ll leave you tickets come up, there’ll be waiting for you. And that’s why I gotta jump in the shower. Then if we’re gonna just like two in the afternoon. He did the interview with me. You know what I mean? Because he’s a rock star. He’s not awake at 10 in the morning, right? So 230 I’m like, Ah, let’s go, you know, so I jump in the shower. And the craziest thing is, he called back and my mother answers the phone. Now I’m at my mom’s house. And my mother’s you know, you met my mom. My mother was my mother. But this is my mother when she’s 6570 years old. In Dundalk. Hello.
30:59
Hey, Alex.
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:03
You know, like so now I’m in the shower. Right? You’re, you’re embarrassed. You’re banging your head. You’re like your face is red for me, right? Yeah, like, so. I’m in the shower. My mother. Hey, Alex is on the phone for you. Mom, hang on, like, what’s a closing? Right? Hey, I’m soaking wet. Hi. Hey, to get your ass up here. I just left you tickets. Thanks. He couldn’t send me an email was 1986 He could tax me he was reconfirming that it was okay for me to drive 100 miles and he didn’t know I was 17. He didn’t know he didn’t know. So I get up there. I got backstage passes the whole deal. It’s 536 o’clock. I get my tickets, which wasn’t all that unusual. I’ve been using credit for two years. So let’s not, you know, I had already hung out backstage with Aerosmith and Geddy Lee, and I’d kiss and like, on and on and on and on. So this was just another ban, but it’s still Van Halen not not a small thing. But nonetheless, I’m not starstruck. I had been underneath the spectrum as a hockey reporter at that point. So I was not intimidated by any of that. But I got there and it was a party. I mean, behind the kids everywhere. I’ll never forget that. Everybody was hammered. And it was six o’clock. And then they went on a plane. Right, right. So I get there he Alex. Hey, your net. Hey, man, come on up giving me beer. Like, like, here, they autographed all my stuff. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have a camera. Well, I mean, you could take a camera. It was 1986. So I just had the autographs on the blue backstage passes that are the 5150 tour. So that’s the first time the second time was at Merriweather, where you see the pictures of me with all band that was in the backstage trailer with Mike Messina. And Eddie was really like famous for being stoned at this point in his life. He was very mellow. And he didn’t know anything about baseball. Nothing did not know who Mike Mussina was. Now Michael Anthony baseball fan, Michael Anthony. That’s Mike Messina. He just pitched in the All Star game. So and Mike was hurt was after the hassle Man fight if you go back and Google it. So Mike, and that’s how you got a ticket for a rolling red that night with Messina in the backseat. Oh, Jesus. Howard County Court 1994 You can look it up. So that night, it really was about Messina was into Eddie Messina was starstruck by Eddie right. And Mark will point this out. And we have pictures of all of this, because we had cameras and like all that stuff. Messina had a baseball that he wanted Eddie to sign. And Eddie, like, was holding the baseball with Mike. And he’s like, and how do you throw that thing? You throw this 100 miles an hour. Like he was all mellow. Stoner ready? And he’s with Mike and Mike’s like, it might just Mike at this point. 1994 Yeah, Mike hadn’t had a contract. You know, Mike’s an all star, but we’re all 25 years old. You know what I mean? We’re starstruck. Right. And Mike’s like, dude, how do you play the guitar like that? You know, like it became so they exchanged numbers, and Mike was supposed to go golfing with Eddie in LA, when he went in with the angels. And Mark will tell you this story. Eddie called the hotel looking for Mike. And Mike wasn’t there to play golf. This is in an era where he didn’t have self like barely cellphones, right? Like he had people and this and that and whatever. And Mike did not get to play golf with Eddie Van Halen as I know it. But Eddie called and Mike told me this when I mean this is 9090 He’s like you’ll never believe what happened. I was out to lunch with pool or whatever. We went to Disney Land or whatever the hell we did that day and I got back to the hotel to Anaheim Marriott. And it was a message from Eddie Van Halen. And he’s like, you want to call if he’s like I’m pitching them or I can’t golf. So I don’t know that they ever golf. But like so I’m giving you these stories because I know you want them and the other one was the other time was because of my dear dear friend, Jason Wright, who is vice president of Live Nation in Chicago these days, and was running the palace at Auburn Hills, as well as the Fox Theater in Detroit for Nederlander before it became Live Nation and like all of that. He worked in Detroit at this time. Whenever the Gary Sharon era was so you told me when that was 96 Seven, in that rage, it is featured. It is featured in the documentary in the nasty newsletter section, where you see nasty parties in Detroit. There’s a picture of me and Jim Edmonds and Tiger Stadium. And there’s there’s individual pictures of me with Michael Anthony Carey, Sharon, Alex Edie, all four of them individually. I did not get a group picture. I was kind of hanging in the hallway. And it wasn’t like I wasn’t supposed to be there. But I was literally just Jason’s buddy. Guest. I wasn’t music critic King. I wasn’t on a junket. I was literally there for soundcheck. I mean, I was there at like, 330 in the afternoon because it was Jason’s event. He was the promoter. And I was just like, stay out of the way. I said, I know Alex a little bit and there was no and I knew their manager Bob Leffler, not Bob Lutz, Ed Leffler. I knew him. So I mean, I had some warm introductions, and I took pictures and just it was hey, and obviously, that was a rough time for the band they had sold. I mean, my guy was the promoter. He’s like, we sold 3500 tickets. We’re playing a 21,000 seat basket and like it was upper deck was closed. You know, it was really it was bad that Jerry Gary Sharon air, but so but every time I met them, they were just the greatest guys ever. Like it was a party. It was all that you. It was all the almost famous Cameron Crowe stuff. You want me to tell you. You know what I mean? It was like,
Mike Rosenfeld 37:08
so I’m so envious of you. What I’d have to pay to play 18 rounds of golf with Eddie Van Halen.
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:19
I don’t know the machine every day. But if I ever get Mike on the show, and he’s like, Mike doesn’t do anything he doesn’t like if he ever comes on I hope he does to promote something good. We could do that. Microsoft was our chief digital officer. He is web connection. He loves Van Halen. So I bored you. I hope I bored you with those doors.
Mike Rosenfeld 37:36
I love it. Thank you. See you.
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:38
I went to Detroit once a party. Ah back for more. We’re Baltimore positive
