Yanni tells Nestor it’s all Greek to him at Houston Super Bowl in January 2004

You never know who will appear on Radio Row at the Super Bowl as Nestor has learned over the years. Yanni was there for the fun and had a great sense of humor…

Nestor Aparicio interviews Yanni, an entertainer, in Houston during Super Bowl 38. Yanni discusses his role in a symphony event for Jim Nance, highlighting his Greek heritage and swimming background, including breaking a national record in Greece. He shares insights on learning English and the pride Greeks feel about the upcoming Olympics in Athens. Yanni mentions his extensive touring history and the global use of his music in various sports events. He humorously recounts fan interactions, including throwing items on stage. Yanni promotes his upcoming concert in Baltimore, emphasizing the international talent in his orchestra.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Super Bowl 38, Yanni interview, Greek heritage, Jim Nance party, Olympic swimming, grueling training, learning English, Athens Olympics, Greek pride, Baltimore concert, ethnicity tour, sports events, music use, fan stories, stalker incidents

SPEAKERS

Yanni, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

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Music. Welcome back. We are the buiser sports forum, and we are live in Houston. It is Super Bowl 38 it’s all brought to you by Toyota, and we have a very unique guest. A couple years ago, CBS had the game. I got David Copperfield out of the deal, and now I have entertainer Yanni. What’s going on? How

Yanni  00:18

are you it’s great to be here. I

Nestor Aparicio  00:19

don’t get a lot of Greek guys on the show. I don’t get Greek girls on the show, man, but my wife and I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding a couple weeks ago. Do we qualify or No, yeah, that’s close enough. Now, you’re here doing lots of different stuff. Monday night, Jim Nance to an unbelievable party, and I’ve had a chance to talk to some of the Houston athletes that were part of that, because they’ve been rolling through here onto the show. Tell me what that was. You did the music. It was a symphony for Monday night Jim Nance put together, because it’s his hometown, this incredible salute every significant Houston athlete was there, and you were the backdrop. And the music for this, because you’re friends with

Yanni  00:54

Jim. It was pretty awesome to be part of this ceremony and watching all these great athletes just appear at the same time and at the same place, it was just, I was getting goosebumps. I think a lot of people were getting goosebumps. Some people

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Nestor Aparicio  01:05

don’t know this. Now, the production staff at CBS has told me that you were a very good swimmer back in the day. Yes, when I

Yanni  01:10

was 14 years old, I broke the national record in Greece. Really, a lot of people swim in Greece. Was a lot of swimmers. I mean, Greece is a peninsula, beaches

Nestor Aparicio  01:19

in Mykonos and all that, but they’re not swimming down there. Are they there?

Yanni  01:23

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They’re not well, they’re swimming. And there’s been a swimmer. It’s Mykonos and stuff is enjoyable. But being in an Olympic swimming pool is a whole other situation. Five hours a day of training I went through for a few years of that. We

Nestor Aparicio  01:37

have a lot of champion swimmers in Baltimore. There’s a North Baltimore Aquatic Club. A lot of girls champions, the gold medalist from the last 1015, years are from Baltimore. So I’ve seen that four o’clock in the morning, they swim all day, then they go to school. You were a kid, right?

Yanni  01:49

The same thing, yeah, you swim from six to eight or 530 to 730 and then you make it to school at eight, 830 and then you break you still work out four to five, and then six to eight at night, you swim again, go to bed by 930 it’s pretty grueling training. Yanni,

Nestor Aparicio  02:05

I want to have some fun with you now, kids here, I had a lot of Greek friends in my neighborhood, and I think My Big Fat Greek Wedding got it right. All the Greek kids I knew had to go to Greek school. They had to learn Greek. You grew up in Greece. How did you learn English? I

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Yanni  02:17

learned it, most of it. I learned something in Greece. But I when I came to America, I was 18 years old, I barely spoke English. But English is pretty quick language to learn, particularly if you speak Greek. We

Nestor Aparicio  02:30

have a saying, it’s all Greek to me, that’s right. So I would know Greek. Let me

Yanni  02:33

tell you something that I think it’s funny. You know what they say in Greece? That’s equivalent to that. They say it’s all Chinese. To me, oh, it’s all Chinese. The Greeks pass it over to China.

Nestor Aparicio  02:42

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Hey, we got Olympics in Athens. And I’m like, I’m reading mixed reports. I mean, the media has been kind of tough on it, saying buildings aren’t built, things aren’t done. I can’t imagine that you won’t want to be a part of that over there. And I mean, every Greek person ever met very, very proud of the heritage, very, very proud of being from Greece. And this is Greece on display for the world in a way that in my lifetime, probably your lifetime, it’s never been before, exactly.

Yanni  03:04

I The whole country is very proud of it. I know it’s not only the media around the world, but the Greek media has been very critical. And I think it’s a very I think the Greeks will pull together in the end, and it will pull it off a few things, maybe last minute. But you know, that’s something to be expected of that culture. They tend to be a little more laid back, and I’m not sure that’s really wrong, a wrong way to be. It’s just they’re slightly laid back, but they’re so proud of it. And I think everybody recognizes that the whole national pride is a stake here. The whole world is going to focus on looking at the Greece, Greece, and I think that we’ll pull together, and they will do it very well.

Nestor Aparicio  03:41

Yanni is joining us here on the Bucha sports forum. Will be in Baltimore, April 8, at the first Mariner arena. They’ve fixed that up now, not the inside, but the outside. We got lights. Looks like Times Square. Well, I

Yanni  03:51

hope the inside is fixed. You

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Nestor Aparicio  03:53

played the lyric last year, correct in Baltimore. I mean, you’ve been on tour a ton, right?

Yanni  03:57

For a while. Yeah. This is a continuation of the ethnicity tour, which started last year, and the Baltimore area has been very supportive, and it’s great fans. I’m glad to be coming back. How

Nestor Aparicio  04:06

many years in America have you been doing big tours like this? Oh

Yanni  04:10

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god, that’s a trick question. It’s been at least 15 years. Or really, what would you consider

Nestor Aparicio  04:16

to be your big break in making it big? I mean, I started hearing about you obviously, because your hair and the mustache, and your love life. I mean, you know the girls all, I’ve never been compared to you, by the way. I mean, I had the other things people listen to me on merit. But for you

Yanni  04:32

folks, for all of you out there, he looks kind of like me, different hair. I

Nestor Aparicio  04:37

could probably do my hair. How old are you now? Don’t lie to me, 49 when I’m 49 probably have to do my hair that way to kind of hide things a little.

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Yanni  04:43

I’m just happy I still have hair right now. Do

Nestor Aparicio  04:45

you have any association with sports me? Have you done Super Bowls, all star games world? Have you done big events with your music or national anthem?

Yanni  04:51

Well, my music has been used quite often for the Olympics, for football games, and CBS uses it for golf, right? Quite a lot. Yeah. And they also used to use it for the US Open Tennis Tournament. There a lot, a lot of events, athletic events. People just, you know, you don’t get credit for it. So it’s not apparent. So people don’t realize it. They’re listening to my stuff. I’m a rock

Nestor Aparicio  05:11

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and roll guy, Yanni, but I’m gonna come to the show April 8, just to see all the women. You know, I’m figuring if that place there is gonna be a nice night,

Yanni  05:17

you may come for all the women, but I think you might enjoy the musicians in the orchestra. They come from 16 different countries. They’re virtuoso performers. They you’ve never seen anything like it.

Nestor Aparicio  05:26

Give me one funny story about women throwing themselves just give me one really weird stalker. Funny story make my audience laugh.

Yanni  05:33

Stalker. It’s not nice. Stalkers are not nice. That’s not a good one.

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Nestor Aparicio  05:38

If you had anybody faint or anything like that, or do anything crazy, not also

Yanni  05:41

they throw underwear on stage, you know. How about hotel room keys?

05:46

It’s good to be you.

Yanni  05:48

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You said, I

Nestor Aparicio  05:49

want something to rub off, man, to shake my hand. It’s been a pleasure to visit with my pleasure, and I hope that Greece shows itself off to the world in just a big way.

Yanni  05:57

Thank you very much. All

Nestor Aparicio  05:58

right, Yanni, very, very cool to hang out with. Yanni, my wife’s going to get a picture with you too, because I think her mom’s a fan. You’re listening to the Bucha sports forum. It’s all brought to you by Toyota. We’re live in Houston, and you never know what’s going to happen here on this program when Yanni shows. Never know you.