L is for Liberace. And Larry Dallas.

One of the very first people I interviewed on this blog was Richard Kline. At the time he was just beginning preparation for his new role of Liberace in "All That Glitters". Now, it's about to start! Richard played the character of Larry Dallas, the sleazy used car salesman and best friend of Jack Tripper (John Ritter) on my favourite sitcom, Three's Company, and when I heard he is about to star in a Broadway production of All That Glitters, about Liberace, I fired off an email asking him for an interview. I was overjoyed when he replied to say I may send him questions - many people don't bother to reply - and was even more happy when I actually did get answers to my questions. I have decided to republish the interview in honour of this. 

PS: You are about to star in All That Glitters,  the story of Liberace, as Liberace! Liberace was a flamboyant character and the role will involve singing and playing the piano – how are you enjoying this multifaceted role?

RK: The role contains some wonderful ballads and a bit of piano playing. The script is at times hilarious and dramatic--especially in the second act where I play Liberace at the end of his life

PS: How did this role come about and how are preparations going?

DAVID GRESHAM

I bet not many people can get to say that they've walked into DAVID GRESHAM RECORDS and interviewed DAVID GRESHAM. 

I have!!

It's hard to Keep Your Feet on the Ground and Reach for The Stars when you're in the same room as David Gresham, a childhood hero - who brought the world of music to me in my house every day. 

David Gresham started his radio career on LM Radio in the mid 60s. He then went on present his own radio show on Springbok Radio - the 4.30 Special which became the David Gresham Show which aired daily each afternoon. A few years later he took over the SA Top 20 on Friday nights and SA Hits Of The Week.  David presented the variety show Sunshine 30 on test TV in 1975 and in 1976 was the first ever DJ with a Pop TV show "POP SHOP" 

A Chat with Nathan Moore

We were so lucky back in the 80s. We had so MANY class acts to choose from. I mean if you look at Wikipedia's article about 1988, we can see that among many others, albums were released by the likes of David Crosby, Lou Reed, Simply Red, Depeche Mode, Madonna, Deacon Blue.. we were spoiled for choice!  I often feel sorry for today's kids. It seems it's either Justin or Miley (twerk) 


One of the fabulous talents of the day and one of my pinup heroes (I am so privileged to be able to chat one on one to someone who helped make it amazing to be a teenager in the late 80s), first as a member of Brother Beyond, then in Worlds Apart, is Nathan Moore.  With hits like The Harder I Try and He Ain't No Competition, Nathan was a big part of a soundtrack to a fun and carefree life. Back in 1988 South Africa behind the 'wall of apartheid', it was inconceivable that one day I could be talking to my heroes. (I love the internet!)

 Have you always been interested in music and what got you started?

It was my sister Teeda who first got me interested in music, she was fronting a reggae band called The Palm Tree Club, she was 19 at the time and I was 16 and I would give a lifts to her practise sessions,then one day they asked me to join in. After they just said wow you and Teeda really work well together why don't you join the band, we did the pub circuit in Hertfordshire for 3 years until I got spotted by a chap called David White who said he was putting a pop band together with a writer called Carl Fysh.

What inspires you to do your particular brand of music?

I like all kinds of music, but I think at 19 I just looked like a sort of pop star whatever that is! and that is why I was asked to front Brother Beyond, (Nathan Moore,
David Ben White, Eg White Carl Fysh, Steve Alexander) so really my visual attributes pushed me down that road, I enjoy pop but If you don't look like Lemmy from Motorhead you are not going to be a rocker, and I was in handsome front man category! (PS - err we agree :-) ). No complaints as I'm still performing in France and the UK for Worlds Apart and Brother Beyond and I am sure my looks play their part!

Where does the name Brother Beyond come from?

There were two brothers in the original line up, David White & Egg White, David just blurted it out one day and we said yes that sounds good, so I'm sure having his brother in the band did play its part!

A headline from a magazine from back in those days always stuck in
my head – Music is now a SAW point. I adored all the acts from SAW. You guys
won an EMI contest to work with Stock Aitken and Waterman. What was it like
working with The Hit Factory and specifically with Pete Waterman?

It was a very exciting time to be walking through the Hit Factory doors, they were in their Halcyon days and every song they wrote was a hit, there were no dud tunes, you would always see someone like Rick Astley or Pete Burns or Mandy Smith when recording so the place had a real buzz to it, and yes that auction where EMI bid for their services was our lucky break, had that not happened I am certain we never would have!

Some people felt like although SAW launched their careers, they also put them in a box when it came to music – that they were always producing
songs that sounded the same. How do you feel – did you have any creative say
in your music at the time?

  

SAW crafted a song they felt suited you, I think it was always best to let them do what they were best at, Banarama co wrote with them so they were open to collaboration but I think they were happy with the set up they had,and if Kylie is someone that got stuck in a box then 20 odd top ten hits aint a bad box to get stuck in! 

But people can't write hits forever, times move on and eventually even writers sort of get saddled with / stuck in a certain decade! We only did two tunes with them, both top ten hits, of course I wish we had done more!

Do you still keep in contact with the other guys from Brother Beyond?

Yes on Facebook I see what Carl Fysh and Steve Alexander are doing, Steve was our drummer and he replaced Egg White, Egg went on to write Leave Right Now for Will Young and win an Ivor Novello award for it! Carl is in PR, Steve is top session drummer and David is now a painter.

Musicians, artists, actors and others in the public eye have the ability to tweak the golden thread of humanity which runs through all generations, races, and ages, and can really make a difference in the world. What are your thoughts on that and do you know of any particular instances where your music has made a difference to someone?

Having had huge success in France in the mid nineties I often find myself back there performing our big hits. It's there that I get told so much how I helped fans of ours get through their adolescence, so many of them tell us how our music comforted them and got them through a difficult period, 16 years on and lots of those girls are now mothers and the number 1 most popular name given to baby boys last year was Nathan! So I take that as a bit of a compliment. We are certainly not U2 when it comes to how we affect people but the teenage years for girls are often difficult and they told us that having the band there was the friend / boyfriend that was missing at that time in their lives!

After Brother Beyond you joined a band called Worlds Apart  with hits such as "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel" who still perform to this day particularly in France where you’ve been very successful. What was it like to play in another boy band after Brother Beyond?

  

We actually had bigger success than BB, it was weird fronting another boy band at 29 and I cant think of any other singer who has done that in the boy band sphere, we had 5 great years where as BB was more like 18 months of success, whilst in BB I met everyone from Princess Diana to Madonna, and with WA I got to meet French royalty like Alain Delon and Bardot so I am grateful for the interesting career path I was given.

Chat about singing French songs and being successful in France.

  

I love to sing in French, people are always impressed in the UK when you tell them what kind of work you were doing at the weekend, Je TeDonne was our biggest tune and all French people know this as it was written many years before we recorded it by one of their biggest stars Jean Jaque Goldman. Singing is easy, the more challenging thing is to speak in French. I am getting there.

It must be fun to perform with the Hit Factory Acts. In December you performed with Kylie, Jason, Rick Astley,Steps, Bananarama  Brother Beyond, Dead or Alive, Sinitta, Hazel Dean. I’ve seen a Rewind gig myself when they came to South Africa. What’s the vibe like performing with these guys and what is this experience like?

Performing at the 02 with Kylie & Jason was amazing, the venue was incredible and at this stage of my career in the UK I wouldn't be getting many opportunities to perform at the 02 so it was special.  There is no rivalry any more so it's quite enjoyable backstage with all the artists bringing their kids along. Jason Donovan was next door to me and he invited my sister and my niece & nephew in to have pictures taken with him. He is a lovely chap so it's always a pleasure to be on these types of shows here in the UK.

Do you have any upcoming performances you’d like to tell us about?

In the UK this summer I'll be at Let's Rock Leeds, Bristol, Southampton, The Penn Festival & The Lytham Prom. These are all very big retro festivals. All my dates can be found on my website, as for outside the UK, its all France with Worlds Apart so nothing further afield as yet. There are always hints of a SAW tour outside the UK but lets see if that becomes real! (PS - I would die of excitement if there was a SAW tour to South Africa!) 

You’ve also done some film making, acting, TV presenting and music management. You’re a diverse person, are you still involved in any of these? What lies in store for Nathan Moore in the future?

I am acting in a short film at the end of March called Stalemate, its about the Christmas truce of the 1st World War, I am filming it close to my home in Lancashire. (PS - I will ask Nathan to keep us updated about this as it sounds incredible!) I'd love to do more acting but we will see what opportunities come my way!

Child Star Keith Coogan

Keith in Fantasy Island (1978 age 8)

What a fun interview I have the pleasure to present right now!!

I have to say that I have had so much fun with this blog and have met so many fun and interesting people who have really contributed to my life in so many ways.  

Today - and again thank you to both Lindsay Blake and Pinky Coogan for making this happen - I have the honour of chatting to actor Keith Coogan, who you will recognise as having featured in many very popular series and movies as a child through the 1980s and late 1970s as well as continuing his career into his adulthood.

The Apple Dumpling Gang (1981)

As a child, you appeared on episodes of The Waltons, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Eight Is Enough, Knight Rider, Growing Pains, Silver Spoons, Fame, and CHiPs.  What was it like to work on those shows? It must have been so much fun working with guys like Robin Williams, Rick Schroeder, David Hasselhof, etc. Do you have any favourites and were there any actors that you took mentorship from? 






From nearly destroying Walton's Mountain, riding around in K.I.T.T., and drinking milk and Pepsi with Laverne, to chumming it up with Ponch, Ricky, and Mork, I had one of the coolest childhoods.  Not only were most of these shows ones that I watched religiously, but most of the time all of the actors and the sets were just as much fun as you would think.  Occasionally I was bummed that the Love Boat never left the soundstage at 20th Century Fox, but part of what I love about being in show business is the artifice and art that goes into bringing the show.  I always loved facades, with plaster and fiberglass standing in for brick and mortar, and I loved the technology and equipment that worked behind the scenes to bring you your favorite shows.  So, I was never really disappointed with the reality behind the scenes, rather, I was fascinated by the magic act and trickery that went into making film and television.  Sometimes there might be an actor or actress that had a big ego, but I learned early on how to "work around them". Overall, it was a rompin', stompin, funhouse that I got paid to play around in.

I is for the Internet

I have not researched this statement, but it's my guess that the internet is the thing that's had the single biggest influence on pop culture over the past 15 years. 

Take Twitter. If you think a thing, and it might have the slightest amount of controversy, maybe you'd better think twice before you post it on Twitter. PARTICULARLY if you're a celebrity. 

The internet when it started is not the animal it is today. When it started, everyone was stationed at a computer, in their office or at home and not everyone had one of those. I can remember in 1997 sneaking into my employer's company showroom, because the computer in there had the internet. I'd never been on the internet before. I kept my eye open for any witnesses while surreptitiously getting onto the internet. Can't really say the experience was overwhelming, but a few years later, I had the internet in my own living room - with a noisy, dial up modem - even then didn't really dare to do as much as I wanted to because of the ever increasing telephone bill. But by then, most people had email, and that was already an advancement. Now, instead of having to hand write a letter to your friend in America, you could type up and send an email. 

Celeb Blogger Pinky Lovejoy-Coogan!!

A little while ago I chatted to Lindsay Blake - celeb stalker. After the awesome fun interview she gave me, she referred me to Pinky Lovejoy, and I couldn't resist hauling her in for an interview!! 

Pinky Lovejoy is a celebrity enthusiast who enjoys long walks on the beach, pina coladas, and pictures of Bradley Cooper(who features in Ellen's recent, incredible selfie!!). She's rarely met a celebrity she didn't like. She is married to the love of her life, Keith Coogan, and they are currently enjoying their Happily Ever After. So stoked that she agreed to chat to me!!! 

I sense a connection between you and I. LOL. We're both celeb mad. Let's chat celeb obsession.  Have you always been mad about celebs? Do you have your own particular favourites or do you just go mad for them cos they are celebrities? (I go mad for all of them, but more mad for some than for others) and if you do have a favourite, who's your favourite?

When I was five, I had a picture of “The Fonz” from Happy Days hanging by my bed that I kissed every night before I went to sleep. 

Pinky with Henry "The Fonz" Winkler