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My guest for Episode #206 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley. He is a bass player and music director for the stars. He has performed with 52 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and counting (ranging from Elvis Costello, The Temptations, Bo Diddley, and Wynonna Judd. He's the author of the book Am I Famous Yet?: Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star — and it's also a podcast.
He’s played in 13 Broadway shows, the President Obama Inaugural Ball, many late-night shows (including Late Night with Conan O’Brien), and morning shows, including Today and Live with Regis & Kelly. Funkboy is a magna cum laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music and an inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. He has traveled to 31 countries worldwide and played to audiences of up to 82,000 people.
In this episode, Ivan shares his favorite mistake story about getting fired by a certain “disco diva” because he asked for a raise. But what did Ivan learn from that situation? What could he have done better? Does he second-guess what he should have done before any of his “epic firings”? We discuss what it's like to be a musician who travels the world playing with household names and legends. We also talk about our mutual love of the film “This is Spinal Tap.” But, hey, enough of my yakkin'… Whadaya say? Let's boogie!
Questions and Topics:
- What was the audience of 82,000 you played for?
- Did you have the full range of relationships with the big name performers? “Can’t be overly familiar with the boss…”
- Do you ever get bored playing the same music every night?
- You have a whole section on my resume/website and book called “Gigs I DIDN'T get and why.” Why do that?
- Lessons learned — it’s often not your fault
- Do you try to find out why the last guy was fired?
- Sam Moore – Conan O'Brien video with him playing
- “Am I Famous Yet?: Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star”
- Did you want to be famous?
- This is Spinal Tap??
- Favorite scenes or mistakes from that?
- Funniest “Tap” type moment that happened to you?
Scroll down to find:
- Video clips from the episode
- Quotes
- How to subscribe
- Full transcript
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Automated Transcript (Likely Contains Mistakes)
Mark Graban (1s):
Episode 206, Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley, Working Class Rockstar and Inductee in the New York Blues Hall of Fame.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (9s):
There there's been a, a number of sort of like epic firings.
Mark Graban (17s):
I'm Mark Graban. This is my favorite mistake. In this podcast, you'll hear business leaders and other really interesting people talking about their favorite mistakes because we all make mistakes. But what matters is learning from our mistakes instead of repeating them over and over again. So this is the place for honest reflection and conversation, personal growth in professional success. Visit our website at my favorite mistake podcast.com to learn more about Funkboy, his music, his book, and more. Look for links in the show notes or go to markgraban.com/mistake206. But hey, enough of my yakkin'…
Mark Graban (57s):
What do you say? Let's boogie. Well, hi everybody. Welcome back to My Favorite Mistake. I'm Mark Graban. Our guest today is Ivan Bodley, aka Funkboy. He is a bass player. He describes himself as music director for the stars because he has performed with, and this point the number might be higher, but at least 52 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inductees and counting. This is ranged from performers like Elvis Costello, the Temptations, Bo Didley and Winona Judd. So there's quite a range there. He's played in 13 Broadway shows. He played a President Obama Inaugural Ball. He's been on many late shows, including Late Night with Conan O'Brien and morning shows, including Today and Live with Regis and Kelly.
Mark Graban (1m 42s):
So, before I tell you more, Ivan, welcome to the podcast. How are you?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (1m 46s):
I, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. It's great to be here. Great to talk to you.
Mark Graban (1m 50s):
Yeah. Well, I'm excited to hear your story and there's a a lot of fun things to talk about. You know, people might look at you and say, Hey, rock and roll, but you've, you've got range. You play jazz, you play, you do it all. Right.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (2m 2s):
Yeah, I, my sort of standard joke is I, I'll work for whoever will hire me. I'm a musical prostitute. I'll do anything for money. That said, I do have a very large range of stuff that I like genre wise, you know, that I actually actively engage with. So, and also in keeping a diverse portfolio as a professional freelancer. Yeah, you gotta be able to jump any direction at any time. So yeah, it's ranged from country to rock to r and b to sold bluegrass, whatever, classical, whatever they'll pay me for. I'll do it.
Mark Graban (2m 38s):
It sounds like you can and that you do it well. So Ivan is a, a Magna CMA graduate of the acclaimed Berkeley College of Music in Boston. He's an inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. Another genre, if you hadn't mentioned that one. And he is author of the book, Am I Famous Yet? Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star. He also has a podcast. Ivan has traveled to 31 countries and he is played the audiences as large as 82,000 people. What, what was that audience? That sounds like a Super Bowl halftime or
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (3m 8s):
Something. It, it, it, it was a football game halftime. It was the Jets/Bengals game, Thanksgiving Day and sold out Jets Stadium. When I looked up the capacity online, it was like 82,566. I'm like, yep, we were there and it was place was full of people I was playing, I was performing with the cast of the Broadway show, Rock of Ages. So we did the halftime show and yeah, yeah, it was seen by everybody was in the room and nobody on television, and it was great fun.
Mark Graban (3m 37s):
No, I bet that was a large television audience there. And you know, this, this is maybe putting it on the spot before we get to the favorite mistake question, do you have a favorite Broadway show of the ones that you've played in
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (3m 49s):
It? Probably rock of ages, not only because of what the nature of the show was, but because I did it so long, I subbed on that show. I was never, never the principal basis on it, but I was, I subbed on it for probably 300 performances over the course of five and a half years. So it got to be, you know, a a group of old friends that became a really familiar sort of thing. And it was like giving a rock concert for a thousand people every night. He went on stage. It was a lot of fun. It was a blast to play. Yeah,
Mark Graban (4m 18s):
That's great. That's great. So, gosh, I I I'm, I'm sure there's gonna be a good story here or there's, there's stories of all the different things that you've done musically and, and, and professionally might not be easy. It's not a guest always say, it's not easy to decide. But I'm gonna ask you what, what, what is a favorite mistake or what, what, what is your favorite mistake?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (4m 39s):
Well, there's so many. I've made so many mistakes. You know, for me it's, it's, it kind of comes down to, and I talk about this in the book a little bit. Like there's been a, a number of sort of like epic firings, you know, like gigs that I was, are really big gigs, gigs that I was really into, really wanted to keep. And then you are relieved of your employment for reasons that may or may not be apparent reasons that may or may not have anything to do with you. And then you go back and you try to second guess, well, if I'd done this X, Y, or Z, would it have avoided this, you know, career altering, firing? And it it, it's impossible to really say sometimes, you know, like there's only one of them.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (5m 22s):
I can kind of say for sure that I probably should have done something a little different. But it, it, it's, again, it's, it's really hard to second guess because very often you don't have all of the information, you know, and the decisions kind of get made arbitrarily because the budget changed or the style of music changed. Or in this one case that I'm thinking about that I'll, I'll tell you about more, you know, it could be the, the singer's shoes didn't fit right. You know, so the one I'm sort of thinking of, I I, I was a, I was touring with a, a, a certain disco diva who, who shall remain nameless just because I do love her as a human being and as an artist.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (6m 10s):
But you know, the incident was, I was her music director, conductor, bassist put, put it together, young new band for her. And this is, this is back in the nineties. And they were getting, you know, because cause we were young and hungry, you know, they were getting us pretty cheap and we were flying literally halfway around the world. Like we went to Singapore and that kind of stuff for way nowhere near enough money for what it took, you know, cuz you go to Singapore, even if you're there for 24 hours, you know, it's four days of your life traveling, you know. And so they were getting us for cheap, they were getting us for cheap, but we were enjoying the experience. We were enjoying the, you know, the adventure, the whole thing.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (6m 52s):
It got to a point, however we were set to, to travel to Europe for again, way too low money. And the band was starting to grumble. All the people that I had hired were saying, listen, this is not enough money. It really, it's, it's too light. Like we need more money. We need more money. And I could sense like this, this mutiny sort of growing underneath me. So I went to the manager who at the time was also the, the spouse, which is a difficult sort of relationship that I've experienced in other situations. And it's something that can be, you know, delicate to, to, to negotiate at best. You know. So I just told the, the spouse manager, I said, listen, we really need like a $50 person, sort of a very modest kind of increase to, to go to Europe for a weekend kind of thing.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (7m 46s):
And it, it was just such, it is such a weird situation like, cuz I was never in touch with the manager directly. I was in touch with the manager's nephew who was the one answering the phone. So we never had a direct conversation. And there was also like a, I was gonna have like a face-to-face meeting with him when we were literally in Singapore and he had gotten intoxicated and fallen off the stage and broken his foot. So he was like in the hospital when I was gonna have this big, you know, face-to-face, heart to heart about the, the money and thing. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. He was like, he was going, it was going badly. So I kind of said, listen, we just need, we need like a modest increase cuz the band's getting antsy.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (8m 28s):
It's not too much to ask us. It's a fair price. And, and he said, okay, I'll, I'll get back to you. We were to leave on a Friday, you know, and this plane tickets are involved, like we're traveling internationally. We're going like, I think to Germany on a Friday. I got a call on a Wednesday that said, okay, you're all fired. And we're, you know, we have abandoned Europe that we're gonna use and thank you very much, you know, sort of unceremoniously fired. I got a call from one of the, the horn players. I said, listen, the weekends ruin we're all fired. They called the horn players independently and said, would you guys mind going fill in? Cuz they had like a rhythm section in Europe, but they wanted to take the American horns.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (9m 8s):
And I said, you have my blessing. Go do it. You know, thank you for the call. I understand, you know, go make the money. I don't regret anyone. What happened, the next gig after that was the entire band got hired out from under me at the same old money. And they all went and I was like, okay, wait a minute. So that my mistake there was sort of not gauging the situation both in terms of, you know, how severe the mutiny was. You know, cuz they all took the same job for the same money, you know, without me involved. And then also sort of not understanding the communication factors with the manager spouse and how I was going to be, you know, rebuked.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (9m 53s):
So, you know, so completely without warning, you know, two days before we to leave on an international trip. So there were some things I definitely could have done better, but then there was some other things that I know that were way out of my control because they had some, some very peculiar ways of doing business. And I learned never to sort of like be ready to lay down and die on a gig, you know, on behalf of a, a side person. If I didn't really sort of either share their complete, you know, convictions about their, their issue or, or just, you know, be able to go back to 'em and say, listen, this gig pays what this gig pays.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (10m 38s):
You don't have to take it. It's fine. You know, I understand completely. If you don't want to do, you know, flight of Singapore for X amount of dollars, say no, it's okay. You know, I'll, I'll find somebody to do it, you know, and maybe they won't get the best band, whatever, you know, but I'll find, you know, somebody, somebody wants to work for that kind of money. So I didn't have that sort of negotiating skill obviously. I just sort of felt like, oh, the whole band wants to, so therefore I need to step up and say something. And we all got fired and then they all took the gig again without me. Yeah.
Mark Graban (11m 6s):
I I mean I
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (11m 8s):
Immediately after
Mark Graban (11m 9s):
I, I'm, I'm not surprised that they fired you or tried to replace the band. I am surprised that part of the story of like, well, everybody came back and I mean, I, it's probably just sort of, I back to your your point about you, you choose what you do. They wanted more money. They needed more money, but I guess there wasn't a better alternative at the time
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (11m 32s):
For them. Yeah. Well also they didn't really, really, really need more money. They, they just wanted more money and Fair enough. Yeah. But again, when it came down to push comes to shove, they took the same money. I was like, okay. And then, because I said the mention, the, the the one horn player who called me, that's the only person that I've remained friends with to this day. Everybody else, like, not that I'm holding a, a grudge for 30 years, but I'm kind of of, you know, it's like, you know, like we can't work together again. If you're gonna sort of pull that kind of stunt and then not have the courtesy to sort of say, listen, they've offered me this money, do you mind? You know? Right. Which, and, and I don't mind.
Mark Graban (12m 6s):
Yeah. Or the courtesy of Thank you for going to bat for us, even though it didn't get worked, it didn't work
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (12m 12s):
And how and, and, and hiring them all in the first place. I hired all of them. Right. You know, and I got, yeah, I got one phone call and I was like, okay, I know who my friend, my friend is in that band and, alright. So interestingly enough, fast forward 15 years from that incident, I get a call from a buddy of mine that says, Hey, I'm putting together a new band for this certain disco diva. And I was like, and do you wanna play bass in it? I was like, I said, is the husband still the manager? He said, Nope. I said, I'm in.
Mark Graban (12m 44s):
So you did.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (12m 45s):
So I took the job and, but I said, understand something, we're all going to be fired. I said to this, to the new band, I said, you have to understand we're all gonna be fired. And they all are like, no, no, we, we know we're very competent. We know what we're doing. You know, we're gonna be a great band for it. We're not gonna get fired. I said, mark, mark my words, I know how this person operates. We're all going to be fired. And eventually they were all, I think all but one of them, they've all been fired. They've all been fired. Yeah. You know, just because that's the way, like I said, the shoes are too tight. Fire the trumpet player, the catering's not right. Fire the bass player. Like that's kind of the, the mo of that, of that organization.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (13m 25s):
And I recognize it from way back.
Mark Graban (13m 28s):
Yeah. I
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (13m 30s):
Go ahead going, going into the first gig, you know, this, after this 15 year hiatus, I said to the band leader, I said, don't, don't tell her it's me. Like let's get, like, I, I don't want to, I don't want to have anything, any preconceived notions, any, you know, I, you know, we were, we're doing a gig in I think Virginia Beach or something. So we, and we hadn't met the star yet. We're like, we had, the band was together, we had all the charges, we knew what we were doing. I said, don't tell her it's me. Like let me get there and do the gig first before we sort of go into the ancient history of the thing. Cuz I, I in estimated in my mind that one of four things could happen.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (14m 10s):
Either she did remember me or she didn't remember me, and this was either a good thing or either a bad thing.
Mark Graban (14m 16s):
Sure.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (14m 17s):
And I thought, you know, at least 50 to 75% of those scenarios would be fine. They're work in my favor and I'll be fine, but there's a 25% chance she could just like, you know, hit the roof and I'm outta my tail, you know? Yeah. So when I got to the gig, I said, I'm, I'm, I, I reme the person I said, I used to play for you a long time ago. And she said, where are you from? I said, New York. She said, okay. Like, nothing, no memory. I was like, great.
Mark Graban (14m 46s):
It could have been a mistake to bring that up, but it didn't, clearly didn't.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (14m 50s):
Well, you know, I didn't wanna pretend that I, we'd never met ever, you know, but I never went into the old details about, you know, what happened in, in ancient history time. Well,
Mark Graban (14m 59s):
Well, I would, I would imagine, I mean, Adiva is probably focused mainly on the diva there on herself. I mean, I I was gonna ask a general question. When you are playing in the backing band for a huge named performer, you're not the band, but you're, you're playing with them. I mean, like how much to a fault do they view the backing? The backup band is like interchangeable cogs almost to a point where like, it might be disrespectful of like, oh, I can find another bass player, no problem.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (15m 32s):
Well, that it varies wildly person to person. And to some extent that's accurate. That's true. You know, it, and you, you have to look at the way they sort of run a Broadway pit. You know, if we have a a 16 piece orchestra, you know, we need somebody sitting in the base chair who can read those notes and play those, those parts faithfully. It doesn't have to be the same person, you know, and it has to be the same music so that the people upstairs can act and sing and dance, you know? And, and, and that's fine. You know, like, you know, there that, that way they allow people to, to to, to sub out, to have other lives and other careers along with their Broadway sort of thing.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (16m 15s):
And I know people that run bands kind of the same way. Like, you know, you're the first call, we'd prefer you to be there, but if you can't for any reason, as long as you send a competent sub who can read music and, and cut the gig and do everything we need to do, it's fine. But there, there are definitely people who are sort of like, you know, and, and this aforementioned diva was one of them sort of like, you know, everybody was expendable. Everybody was interchangeable. And I think honestly, the way that she got conditioned into doing that is because the former husband, former spouse, former manager and, and an effort to sort of control access to her.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (16m 58s):
Like when anytime anybody would sort of, you know, get close to her, they would get fired. Like he was trying to sort of maintain, kind of control over the situation. So I think after 40 years of doing that, that just became her mo It's like, oh yeah, you just, you know, replace this person, replaced that person and became a, a manner of, of doing business kind of, kind of thing. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
Mark Graban (17m 20s):
So I mean, I imagine there's a range of personalities and working relationships. If you're touring with someone, are they getting to know you? Are you becoming friends? Do they even, or do, do they even not really know your name and you're just like, Hey, hey, bass? Or like, I mean, what do do, do you get the whole range of that? When
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (17m 42s):
I've range a
Mark Graban (17m 43s):
Transactional, sorry,
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (17m 44s):
I I've had every range of that. Yeah. Yeah. The, the full range of it. And you have to be a little cautious too, because you can't be overly familiar with somebody that you don't really know. I mean, if somebody happens to be famous, you feel like you know them better than you really do because you just haven't spent that much time in a room with them. And also you have to sort of keep in mind this is the same, this is true of any, any employment situation. Like, you can't be overly, overly, overly familiar with the boss. Like, you have to understand who's signing the paychecks and why. And then sort of not, not to sort of keep your place, but sort of maintain a perspective over what your, your actual relationship is.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (18m 25s):
There is a certain transactional element to it. Famously, Duke Ellington was asked, you know, how do you keep this, you know, large orchestra together over so many years? He said, I have a very secret plan. I I I pay them money.
Mark Graban (18m 39s):
Sure.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (18m 40s):
Like, yeah, okay, got it. You know, but he also was loyal to people. Like he was, he's famously a band leader who would keep band members for decades, you know, and I know other people that work in bands that, you know, have been in the same gig for 25, 30 years. You know, that's, that's a, a personality type of a certain artist type, you know, not universal. I think Neil Diamond was kind of famously that way. He had the same people for 30 years. I think Jimmy Buffett's band is that way. I think, you know, I don't know for a fact, but I think some of those people have been there for decades. You know, so it just, it depends. It depends on the employer, it depends on the situation also depends how much they work.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (19m 21s):
You know, like a lot of acts go out and they'll do a month or two in the summer, and that's their year. That's what they do. So, you know, so you don't have a 365 day exclusive contract with them. You can't, cuz they don't pay all of the, all of the mortgage or the rent or whatever you're doing, you know? Yeah. I mean, it depends
Mark Graban (19m 41s):
What, and it probably depends on the performer. I mean, as a freelancer, do you, I mean, you, you've had a lot of variety and there's a question of, well, do you like the variety or do, do you ever get bored playing the same music every night?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (19m 55s):
I, I don't. I don't. But part of the reason that I don't is because I do so many different types of gigs. Again, going back to the Broadway thing, what the Broadway people want, they want repetition. They want it to be pretty much almost exactly the same night after night after night. And that becomes a challenge to sort of stay focused, keep it fresh, keep it energetic, you know, especially if you're doing eight shows a week, it's really hard to keep your, your focus, keep your head about you. You know, we have this kind of a funny term that they, some of the Broadway people usually call it going to the white room in terms of like, in the middle of the show.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (20m 35s):
You just like, suddenly you just, you blank. You're like, I have no idea what the next note is. I don't know what the next court is. I don't know where I am. I don't know what day it is. You know, you just kind of like your, your eyes crossed. And I can't tell you how many times I've that's happened, especially on Rock of ages. The whole band was on stage too. My hand would just give me a gift. My hand for the muscle memory would just go, like, it would just hit a g. I'm like, yes, that's it. The hand saved me. You know, I'm like, you know, it's very funny, but it's a real challenge to sort of keep the focus. But it's not been a problem. I, I enjoyed it. Even, even when you have these mini strokes on the
Mark Graban (21m 15s):
Stage, or maybe it's just, you're, you're in the zone and, you know, I mean, the, the only comparable thing I can think of, and I occasionally I get to wave a pair of drumsticks at, at, at a guest. Like, I'm doing nice here. You know, I played pit orchestras in high school and a couple of times in college just, you know, obviously very amateur. And like, the run of a show would only be a long weekend. Right. And I always remember feeling like, you kinda get to the point of like, all right, we're finally nailing this.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (21m 44s):
We got it right now you got it.
Mark Graban (21m 45s):
And then it's, it's over. Like, oh, if we could have done a second week of shows, like those would've been even better. But
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (21m 53s):
I feel that way with, with most of the artists I work with. You know, they're, they're limited engagements. They're limited runs. Like, we're going out, we're doing a long weekend. And you're right by the third show, the band's blazing and thank you. We're done. You know,
Mark Graban (22m 6s):
Great. But you move on. And I was gonna ask you, Ivan, you, you, you point out how you, how you have a section on your website with not just your, your your resume, but a list of gigs I didn't get and why, I mean, so it's interesting like people in, you know, tech industry and other settings have been posting their quote unquote failure resumes. It's almost kind of a trendy thing, but like, tell, tell, tell us about why, why you've done that on your
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (22m 31s):
Website. Well, not to buck the trends, but I've had that up there for a long time. Yeah. It's been up there at least 20 years. I've had that on there. I just find it sort of interesting cuz I think that people tend to try to paint a picture like it's been all success all the time. And that's, you know, you're, you, you're supposed to write a resume or curriculum bk that just shows like, you're just climbing, climbing, everything is up, up, up, up, up. And in the performing arts especially, it's just not. So that's just not the way it happens. You know, I, I, I also mentioned in the books, I came to realization at some point, I don't know how many years in maybe a decade or two, and it's like, I've been fired to almost as many times as I've been hired to replace the guy who's been fired.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (23m 16s):
You know, like, it kind of goes, it goes around in a circle so much. I got a phone call yesterday about a, a, a thing that was like, you know, this isn't gonna work out anymore. We're gonna have to stop doing this. And I was like, okay. You know, like, it didn't even phase me. I'm like, you know, it's not, it doesn't feel like some career long rebuke, you know, that they've made about your personal artistic integrity. It's just the nature of the business and especially the music field, which is kind of, you know, quote unquote glamor profession. And there's all, all these people sort of waiting around out the door to take your job for less money. You know, these are sort of highly coveted kind of positions and, and employers know that, so they can get you sort of initially at least for, for quite cheap.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (23m 59s):
So, you know, it, it's a, it's a long sort of process to, to kind of keep gain and keep that perspective. And the gigs that I didn't get, you know, and why are just sort of like, it's, it becomes anecdotal at a certain point. You know, like there's a couple of auditions that I blew. There's a lot of situations where the scheduling just didn't work out. Like I've been called, you know, hired to do something and something else preempted it. A few things were like, we had something scheduled, you know, like, you know, be at the studio on Monday, you're gonna record with Keith Richards for, in a matter. As a matter of fact, it was a Hubert Sumlin record, you know, like the bass track wasn't working and they wanna replace it.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (24m 42s):
And Keith's on the track and you're gonna be playing with Keith and Hubert at least on tape, you know, if not in the room. I'm like, great, that's great. I'll yeah, let me do that. You know, I don't care how much it pays, I'll do it for free just to have the experience. And, you know, Sunday night they said, they called back and said, yeah, you know, we're just gonna leave it the way it is. You know, it seems like it's fine. I was like, okay.
Mark Graban (25m 6s):
Yeah.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (25m 6s):
But there's nothing that I did, you know, it just, the, the gig came and went without me doing anything. And that's, that's happened a bunch of times, you know? Yeah.
Mark Graban (25m 15s):
But I mean, if you, if you're being brought in to replace somebody who was fired, did they ever tell you why that person was fired? Do you ever try to find out so that you can avoid being the next one fired, or?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (25m 27s):
I got hired in recent memory, and the basic reason that I got was the, the bass player before me had worn a pink shirt.
Mark Graban (25m 38s):
That was it.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (25m 39s):
That was the main, that was the main, I mean, there were other factors, you know? Yeah. But the, the biggest infraction was he wore a pink shirt. I'm like, huh. All right. Note yourself. Well, fortunately I don't personally own any pink shirts. It wasn't a, it wasn't a struggle for me. You know, you see me dressed in black, because that's mostly what I have, all of what I have. But it was like, all right. So, you know, I guess the, the wardrobe is a factor in this particular gig. And it turns out it wasn't nearly the biggest factor, you know? But that was the reason they gave me, said Yeah, the pink shirt. And I was like, huh, okay, sure. No problem.
Mark Graban (26m 13s):
I mean, that's, was that a question of like insubordination or something? I mean,
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (26m 19s):
It, it, I, I don't know. Cause I wasn't there. I don't know the, I don't know the person fair enough. And I wasn't in the, but I, i, the, what I was able to glean from it, it was kind of a, a tone deafness to what the gig was and what the, the needs of it were. Like, you know, I, I don't think that, you know, I, I don't think I ever would've worn a pink shirt to that gig. It's like, it's just not, it wasn't one of those kinds of gigs, you know? It was like, it was like a, a classic rock kind of thing. Like it needs to be old school sounding, looking, that whole kind of thing. You know? And like, you, you, even the equipment that I would bring to a gig like that, like, I was sort of like, if I, especially if I, if a recording artist or something like that, you know, I'll do a little research and I'll go back to the recordings and it'll say, okay, so what kind of equipment were they using for this kind of thing?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (27m 15s):
So, you know, when I was music director for Sam Moore from Sam and Dave, I was on the road with him for 13 years. You know, initially when I started the gig, this was kind of, I met him in the nineties. In the nineties we were kind of doing like, you know, the bass guitar world was becoming very handcrafted, boutiquey looking things that looked like coffee tables or beautiful pieces of furniture. But they, you know, they weren't necessarily meat and potatoes base instruments, you know? And when you and, and I started Sam's gig, you know, wearing, playing this five string with the, the fret dot lit up, you know, had LEDs on and stuff. It was a really jazzy looking, great looking bass.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (27m 59s):
But as I got into the gig, I kind of realized like, no, all the stacks vol stuff was recorded by duck down on a fender precision base, a 1962 fender pase. And if you want that sound, you kind of gotta buy a fender, you know? And I already had one, so I was like, you all right? Like, I've kind of put down all the boutiquey five strings, and I went back to my old four stringing fender, which I'd had for years and years and years. And same thing with all the Motown stuff, all the James Js and stuff, that's all fender pea, bass, all that stuff. So if you're doing snacks and Motown gigs and you bring one of these, you know, BC rich pointy, you know, guitars like that, people are gonna look at you funny. And they should, you're kinda like, maybe you didn't do the research enough to know what gig, what instrument you should bring to the job, you know?
Mark Graban (28m 45s):
Yeah. Well that's interesting of mistakes you could make around what you wear, what your instrument is. And by, by the way, Sam Moore, there, there is an amazing, there's there's video of you playing with Sam Moore on Conan O'Brien.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (28m 59s):
Oh, right, right. That's right
Mark Graban (29m 1s):
On, on YouTube. That I enjoyed that a lot. But boy, there's, I mean, I'm sure like it, so I think it, it, it's interesting there, it seems like there's types of gigs where it's just all about the performance. You're in a pit or That's right. You're, you're recording and nobody sees you. That's, but then that's right. You think of like a, a a, a live performance is visual as much as anything like, I mean, getting, getting, getting your haircut could be a mistake that maybe gets you fired if it wasn't hundred percent line with the look of the band.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (29m 30s):
Right? That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah. I've, I've had people, I've heard of people being fired because of, you know, a hairline or something, you know, like, that's genetic. I have no control over that. But it's like, right. It's not the right pressure for the, the gig. And again, I mean, I keep harping on the Broadway thing, but you know, the Broadway shows, I've done four, four of them, the, the musicians were on stage. So when you're on stage, there's costume, there might be makeup, there's choreography, probably there's stage business you have to do, there're things, you know, that, that it's not just play the parts and play them. You know, you gotta do that on any show. Sometimes there's extensive choreography, like Ain't Too Proud.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (30m 12s):
The, the Life and Times of the Temptations, the musical on Broadway, you know, there was a big, the, the finale, this video wall went up and behind it, there was a huge reveal of 16 piece orchestra all wearing white suits, all playing white instruments, doing identical choreography that we had to learn. I had to go to band camp, you know, choreo school to like learn this routine to be able to do it. And it was like this shocking moment. The whole audience was like, you know, there was the biggest reaction of the night was when the orchestra got revealed and they realized, oh, we've been playing this stuff live all night. You know, we just thought that maybe it was prerecorded, you can't tell, you know, kind of thing.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (30m 53s):
But very much so, yeah, the, the, the look and the choreography, like, it was as much a part of the visual presentation as it was just the audio and show business kind of always been that way, but is especially been that way since the MTV era, since things got so visual. I mean, it was before, arguably before that, when you think about, you know, e l o or Kiss in the seventies with all their theatrics live Sure. The pyro and the things blowing up and the costumes, you know, but that really went into Hyperdrive for everybody starting in 1981 when suddenly video killed the radio star. Right. And, you know, it's, and it's been that way ever since. So you, you have to sort of be aware of the visual element of, of what you're doing.
Mark Graban (31m 38s):
Yeah. So I want, and so again, our guest is Funkboy, Ivan Boley. His book is, Am I Famous Yet? Memoir of a Working-Class Rockstar. And you, you say in the notes there about the book, something about being a rockstar without the annoying fame. Don't hard to ask you, I mean, like how, how important was that to you? Did you want to be famous or did you just wanna play music?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (32m 2s):
Right, exactly. That's the, that's the question. That's the question I spent the entire book sort of, of, of exploring. You know, it starts out, you know, a lot of, a lot of us got into this cuz you know, we were sort of like awkward kids in high school and wanted to be with the cool kids and sort of playing music sort of felt like you were with the cool kids. And it got you recognition and adoration from people who would, wouldn't ordinarily speak to you in the hallway of the, of the, of the school. You know. So when I first experienced that, I was like, oh, wait a minute. That's something I can do. You know, like in get a, a gymnasium full of 600 people applauding wildly for what I'm doing, like that never happened to me before.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (32m 44s):
So that level of attention or notoriety feels like that's something you, you need to chase after somewhere, you know, in the performing arts or whatever it is, you know. And then as you go through it, Again, with Rock of Ages, the band was on stage for the full two and a half hour performance. And when you came out the stage door of Rock of Ages, there would be people there behind a barricade, and they were waitingdvia
to get autographs from like, whoever the star was. Constantine, Merus or Dee Snider did the show for three months, you know, that kind of thing. But, you know, as, as the, as the bass player, you'd get a little collateral damage. You'd get like, you know, a couple of autographs, maybe a, a selfie with some people in line. And so when you came out the stage door, there'd be like, people would go like, yay.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (33m 26s):
You know, so you were famous until you turned the corner on Seventh Avenue. Like you were famous for half a block. And then as soon as you got past the corner, you were right back into obscurity, you know, immediately. So it became, it become, it's become a lifelong sort of point of interest to me to sort of see fame is a tenuous thing and it affects people in different ways, but also there are just wildly divergent levels of fame. You know, there's only a few Michael Jackson's in the world, you know, people who just uber famous, just can't go out in public ever. Most people are kind of like famous with a certain subset of people. And one of the, I, this is kind of an antiquated reference, but I keep using like, you know, I usually say Janet Jackson, but maybe I could say like Rihanna now, like, you know, she sold 10 million records or something like that.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (34m 17s):
That means in this country alone, they're like 310 million people who don't know who she is and doesn't care. You know, like my parents wouldn't have known, you know, that kind of thing. So wildly famous, and yet there are still people who don't know you kind of thing. So it, it's a, it's a tenuous thing. It's, it's related to a period in time too. Like, you can be wildly famous in the eighties and be, you know, obscurity by the next decade kind of thing. So I, you know, I had to sort of temper my own quest for fame and figure out what part of it was something that I enjoyed and what part of it really had no meaning on my life, where it's just me trying to patch a, an emotional hole that was still there from, you know, something else.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (35m 1s):
Hmm. And it's an ongoing process. I, when I get the full answer, I'll write that book and let you know.
Mark Graban (35m 7s):
Yeah. We'll, hope people will check out the book and, okay, you've brought up a couple of things. You knew I was gonna bring up a movie that's certainly my favorite. And it's, it's, if it's not your absolute favorite, I know it's one of your favorites. This is Spinal Tap.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (35m 22s):
I have the set of three collectible action figures in the box on top of my, my dresser. I see them every morning when I wake up. I quote that movie probably every day of my life. And every time I go on the road with a band, I feel like, you know, we constantly saying Hello Cleveland. Right? Like it's, it's, it's so true to life. It's really hard to not reference it
Mark Graban (35m 45s):
Constantly. I mean, you may, I mean, even thinking of the action figures, I can imagine, I'm thinking of the scene, Nigel Tuff Knoll, you'd be bringing me through, you know, like, look, still got the old Tiger on it, on the, then I'd start to to point at it. You no, don't,
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (35m 59s):
Don't, don't, don't even, don't even point at it's right. Don't point, don't even look
Mark Graban (36m 3s):
At it. But you're talking about the, the fleeting fame. I was rewatch, I've been rewatching the movie. I've seen it more hundred times. I don't know. But they, there were so many mistakes made by the band, the manager, the record label throughout the course of it and kind of log them. But one, I was rewatching last night and there's a scene where they, they get called in, like, look, one of our old songs from the sixties is on the radio and they're enjoying the end. And then the DJ says they later changed their name to Spinal Depth, currently residing in the, where are they now?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (36m 33s):
Where are they now? That's right, that's right. Which
Mark Graban (36m 36s):
Looked soul crushing.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (36m 38s):
Here's how, what a crazy fan I am of that movie. There, there was a DVD package that I have like the deluxe edition DVD that has about 90 minutes of deleted scenes cuz they improvised the whole movie. Yeah, right, right. So I've watched that so many times. Like I don't fully remember what was all in the original cut and what's like Bruno Kirby standing on the, on the top of the coffee table singing Sinatra into a breadstick. You know, I can't remember how much of its from delete scenes
Mark Graban (37m 3s):
That, that, that wasn't, that was a deleted scene.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (37m 6s):
Right, exactly. I'm, I'm, I'm pretty sure of that. And then also it had like, the DVD used to have like a commentary track. Yep. So they, they did the entire commentary track in character. Right. Just the three of them in character commenting on the whole movie. So it's almost like three full different movies on that DVD package. And I've enjoyed them all immensely. It's, it's a great, great piece of art. Very indicative of our weird music business. Yeah.
Mark Graban (37m 33s):
Yeah. I've, and I've seen the band in concert twice. One was in Oh, fabulous. The nineties when they put out a new album break like the wind
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (37m 43s):
Break. Like the Wind. Yes, please.
Mark Graban (37m 44s):
And I saw them in a indoor theater in Chicago and then a big outdoor amphitheater in Detroit over
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (37m 49s):
The summer. Did the Folkman open for them? Yes.
Mark Graban (37m 52s):
In so the same actors. That's right. Different musician.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (37m 55s):
Because they would, in early tours, they've, they, they got booed stage several times as the Folkman people, people not realizing it was the same three guys.
Mark Graban (38m 5s):
But you know, there's different things you've mentioned, you know, having a spouse come in as manager that happens during the movie.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (38m 13s):
That's right. That's right.
Mark Graban (38m 15s):
Ian quits, Jeanine, you know, David St. Hubbins, wife, girlfriend, whatever the bleep she is, I think so. Becomes manager and she tries putting 'em in.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (38m 25s):
Yeah. The new concept. She wants to show the band the costumes
Mark Graban (38m 28s):
Once to put 'em in costumes. But do you, do you have, I was gonna ask you two questions, you know, here about the movie is, is there a particular favorite scene or favorite mistake that, that you just enjoyed the most from, from the film,
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (38m 43s):
From the, oh, I mean, there's so many shoes. I think my, my favorite thing and, and again this has happened to me, some version of this on stage is when they come out and they're all in the pods on stage and the pods all open except for
Mark Graban (38m 59s):
Bass player.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (38m 60s):
Yeah. The, his pod is stuck closed and they do the, you know, they spend the entire number, he's in the pod playing and he is trying to get the road's attention. And they're using hammers and saws and Low Torch. Low Torch is trying to get the thing open and they finally get it open at right as the song is ending. And he comes out at the wrong time, has to go back in and gets one arm caught in the thing. And he is like, ah. Yeah, unbelievable. And I, I've, yeah, I've had
Mark Graban (39m 24s):
Things. So you've had prop mishaps?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (39m 26s):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Big ones on stage in front of a thousand people. Oh, sorry. Well, what are you gonna do?
Mark Graban (39m 35s):
Go back and try again the next show, I guess.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (39m 37s):
Hi again.
Mark Graban (39m 40s):
Yeah, well thank you Funkboy for, for, for being here today. His book again is, Am I Famous Yet? Memoir of a Working Class Rockstar. You can find his website funkboy.net. I'll put links in the show notes. And really, really boy, thank you for sharing your stories and for, for being a guest. Maybe we can, we, maybe we can do, I'm gonna, I don't know, maybe this is a mistake to ask you publicly. Maybe we can do another episode. Just geeking out on Spinal Tap and the Mistakes.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (40m 13s):
Oh, any time I can talk for hours about that band. No worries. That's, that's a done deal right there.
Mark Graban (40m 18s):
Well, that would be great. So thank you, thank you again for, for being a guest. Thanks for telling, you know, great stories and, and lessons learned. This has been a lot of fun.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (40m 28s):
Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate you connecting me with your audience. I look forward to hear from everybody.
Mark Graban (40m 34s):
Thanks again to Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley for being our guest today. For more about him links to his music videos, his book, and more look in the show notes or go to markgraban.com/mistake206. As always, I want to thank you for listening. I hope this podcast inspires you to reflect on your own mistakes, how you can learn from them or turn them into a positive. I've had listeners tell me they started being more open and honest about mistakes and their work, and they're trying to create a workplace culture where it's safe to speak up about problems because that leads to more improvement and better business results. If you have feedback or a story to share, you can email me myfavoritemistakepodcast@gmail.com.
Mark Graban (41m 15s):
And again, our website is myfavoritemistakepodcast.com.