by Chris Frantz
David stopped taking our phone calls and all communication from him ceased. Tina tried calling his office and his secretary said he was out of town even though we knew he wasn’t and Tina could plainly hear his voice in the background. This was a sad time for us and our fans. As sometimes happens in a divorce, people take sides, even though they don’t really know the whole story. I asked Gary Kurfirst if there was anything we had done to cause this divide with David and he said no, that we were the best friends David ever had. Then a few days later David fired Gary after insisting that he should manage only him and drop the rest of us. Gary told him that, as a manager, it was his job to keep the band together. David reneged on paying Gary his commission for his solo deal, too. Our lawyers asked, “Why does David treat you like he hates you? What did you do to him?” Then they were fired, too. David was cleaning house of all the people who had done right by him.
EMI sued Talking Heads because David told them we never intended to honor our contract. Warner did not sue because they knew better. David even signed a deal with EMI giving them full ownership of our back catalog. Why? Tina said no way she was signing that and so did Jerry and I. It was a very terrible time.
Tina and I had to do something. So, you know what we did? We built a great recording studio of our own and started making and producing records again. We spent more time with our family and friends. We became more active in our community. In 1990, as Tom Tom Club we toured with Jerry Harrison, Debbie Harry, and the Ramones on the Escape from New York tour all over North America. Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction saw the tour at the Greek Theater in LA and later told Gary it gave him the idea to create Lollapalooza.
We’ve had a number of different Tom Tom Club lineups until we finally arrived at a great one. Victoria Clamp Palagy is our most loyal and beloved vocalist who stuck with us for thirty years. She received a degree in psychology after studying and writing papers in the back of a tour bus. Bruce Martin on percussion and keyboards has also been a real champion. We originally hired him in 1990 as a percussionist and he was superb. Then one day he said, “You know, I can play keyboards, too.” We gave him a shot and found out that he was a fantastic keyboard player who understood and appreciated our deceptively simple musical approach. Robby Aceto, Fuzz Sangiovanni, and Pablo Martin have each in turn rocked the guitar for us with uniquely impressive skills. All are wonderful guys. We were very fortunate to have Steve Scales and Abdou M’Boup on percussion. They both knew how to make each show a funky celebration. Mystic Bowie, a real Maroon tribesman from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, sang additional vocals for us with tremendous joie de vivre. Together we have toured the world playing every type of venue, from tiny clubs to enormous festivals.
* * *
In the autumn of 2001, Tina and I got a call from Gary that Talking Heads was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with our old friends the Ramones. Both bands were being inducted in their first year of eligibility. You can say what you will about the legitimacy of the organization and the people who run it, but I can tell you as a musician, when you get the call that you’re being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it is good news. In other good news, David Byrne and Jerry Harrison had agreed to perform with us at the induction ceremony. Talking Heads, at least for one performance, were reuniting after not performing live together for eighteen years.
We rehearsed at a small rehearsal studio in midtown Manhattan. It felt a little weird to be in the same room with David. He had not spoken to us for ages—all of our business was conducted with intermediaries—but things went well. Tina and I had been touring the world with Tom Tom Club so we were in good performing shape. Likewise, Jerry and David were on point. We asked Steve Scales and Bernie Worrell to join us, too. They never failed to rock the party.
We decided we would play “Psycho Killer,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Burning Down the House.” Then we would play in an All-Star Jam of “Take Me to the River” with Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the M.G.’s and Sam Moore of Sam & Dave. We rehearsed for three afternoons and it was almost like old times. Everyone got along fine and we had fun together. Our faithful accountant, Bert Padell, brought us a bottle of Dom Perignon and we toasted one another as bandmates. I said, “We should do this more often!”
On the day of our induction at the Waldorf Astoria Ballroom we set up our gear, sound checked and went to our rooms to get dressed for the evening. I did my best to remain calm. I was sporting some fine black leather trousers I bought for the occasion at The Leather Man on Christopher Street. Tina looked fabulous in a sheer black-silk T-shirt and a pair of pants she’d bought in New York when she was eighteen years old. Her jacket was a hand-me-down her sister-in-law Lally Weymouth had given her in 1969. We were ready to party.
We had two tables. David and Jerry sat at one table with their wives, Bonnie and Carol, Jerry’s children, and David’s manager at the time. Tina and I sat with our longtime manager, Gary Kurfirst, and his wife Phyllis, along with Bernie and Steve, Dee Dee Ramone, and our sons Robin and Egan. Robin and Egan were thrilled to sit with Dee Dee, who leaned over to Robin and said, “Ya know, your father is a real man.”
Isaac Hayes kicked off the night with a tremendous version of his “Theme from Shaft” and then he was inducted. Brenda Lee, Gene Pitney, Chet Atkins and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were also inducted that night.
Because Joey had recently died of cancer, the Ramones could not perform but Green Day played some pitch-perfect versions of Ramones’ songs. Robin and Egan ran to the front of the stage to pogo, pump their fists, and sing along. Tina and I felt very proud of our friends the Ramones. Eddie Vedder inducted them and pointed out that while the Ramones had never had a top ten record, their copycats had sold in the millions.
Then finally it was our turn. It was not our choice to be inducted by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but he did a good job of it. His speech was hilarious. He said, “Talking Heads made me feel smart. Then I wanted to have sex with a lot of librarians.” When we marched up to the stage, in order to show our gratitude, we brought Hilly Kristal with us. This was Tina’s idea and it was a good one. Without Hilly and his bar CBGB, where we could play our original songs and learn our craft, there may not have been any Talking Heads. Everybody made a short acceptance speech. Mine was the shortest. I said, “I’d like to thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for giving this band a happy ending.”
We made our way over to our instruments and played the first song we had ever written. If you think it’s easy to rock a crowd of music business executives dressed up in tuxedos, think again. But we got them going with “Psycho Killer.” By the end of the song, I looked out at the smiling faces of Gary Kurfirst, Seymour Stein, Chris Blackwell, and our longtime agent Frank Barsalona. There was a wonderful feeling in the room.
We didn’t know it but some unwitting stagehand had pulled the plug on our analog synthesizers after the sound check, so when Jerry and Bernie launched into “Burning Down the House,” the keyboards were wildly out of tune and they had to tune them on the fly. There’s always something, even when you’re being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, but what was really fantastic is that our children finally got to see us perform together live.
After we took our bows, we were ushered into a press conference. We posed together for some photos and answered a few questions, and then it was time for the real party to begin. Upstairs in the Waldorf Astoria all the record companies had big parties going on. Being on Sire, which was owned by Warner, we went to the Warner’s party. There was champagne, and ice sculptures chilling caviar, shrimp, and lobster. There was a beautiful array of decadent sweets and cognacs. The Ramones, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Talking Heads were finally enjoying the fruits of our labors. Yes, we were a long way from CBGB. As I was reflecting on the evening, Bonnie Byrne came up to me and asked, “Chris, have you seen David?” I told her, “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. We were just doing a press conf
erence together. He’ll be here soon.”
Dee Dee Ramone, looking fit and well in his purple silk suit, gave his award statue to Gary in appreciation. He also gave the black tie he wore that night to our son Egan. Two months later, Dee Dee was found dead of a heroin overdose alone in his Los Angeles apartment. Johnny Ramone died of cancer not long after that. Finally, Tommy Ramone, one of my favorite drummers of all time, perished from cancer as well. I wrote a tribute to him in Rolling Stone. I’m so glad they had this night of recognition before they died. I wish Joey had been there, too, but surely he was there in spirit.
Tina and I mingled, arm in arm, sipping champagne and basking in the afterglow of a very long week when Bonnie Byrne came up to us again. She said, “I still can’t find David anywhere. He isn’t answering his phone.” I tried to call him on my phone, but it went straight to voicemail. I left a message that Bonnie was worried about him. Bonnie decided to leave so I walked her downstairs and put her into a cab. I told her I was sure he’d turn up, but this was a puzzling situation.
Tina remains in love.
When I finally reached David the following afternoon, I told him that Bonnie was terribly worried about him. Was he at home? He said he would not be going home. He said he was leaving her. He had chosen the night we were inducted into the Hall of Fame to leave his wife. When I asked him why, he told me, “It’s time to move on.”
Tina and I continue to have a wonderfully romantic life together. We’ve been married for forty-two years. We treat each other with real love and we have many good friends who have shown us their love, too. Both of our sons have made us proud and have become artists in their own right—Robin in music production and Egan as a painter and sculptor. Both of them are really good at what they do and have developed hard-earned followings of their own. Tina and I have taught them to be honest, loving, and kind. Tina told them the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is selfishness.
We are devoted to our two beagles, Poppy and Kiki, and we take them with us to Tina’s family home in France. Each year we stay a little bit longer. Poppy has crossed the Atlantic twenty-two times and Kiki is right behind her. They love Paris and the French countryside—who doesn’t? They adore a friendly French café. If only they were allowed in museums.
Tina and I have had so many good adventures together and for that I am ever thankful. When people say, “It’s time to move on,” I am not down with that. When speaking about my family, my friends, and my band, I am not a person who “moves on.” I remain—and I remain in love.
PHOTO CREDITS
Here: © Akiko Watanabe
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Here: © GODLIS
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Here: © Bobby Grossman
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INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abrahams, Fer
AC/DC
Aceto, Robby
Achenbach, Karen
Acker, Kathy
Aerosmith
“Air”
Albarn, Damon
Albertine, Viv
Allen, Gordy
Allen, Jeff
Allen, Jim
Allen, “Pappy”
Allen, Ruth
Allen, Thomas Robert, Jr.
Altman, Billy
American Bandstand
Anderson, David
Anderson, Laurie
Andrews, Barry
Angel and the Snake
“Animals”
Antonino’s Pizza Parlor, Pittsburgh
Architecture Machine Group, MIT
Ardito, Ronnie
Armbrister, Benji
Arnheim, Dan
Arnoldi, Charles, “Chuck”
the Artistics
“Artists Only”
“As Above So Below”
Asada, Hiroshi
A Space Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Aspinwall Junior High School, Pittsburgh
Athens, Talking Heads in
Atkins, Chet
Axis Studios, New York City
Ayers, Galen
Ayers, Kevin
Aykroyd, Dan
B-52s
as friends of Talking Heads
Badarou, Wally
Bagby, Betty
Baker, Brad
Balet, Mark
Ball, Hugo
Balm, Trixie A.
Bangs, Lester
Barbarella’s, Birmingham, England
Barrell, Bill
Barsalona, Frank
Bassey, Shirley
Le Bataclan, Paris
Bators, Stiv
Battleship (painting)
Bayer, Ray
Bayley, Roberta
The Bayou Club, Washington, D.C.
Beach Boys
the Beatles
Beatty, Warren
Beefsteak Charlie’s, Scarsdale, New York
Belew, Adrian
Belushi, John
Belzer, Richard
Bender, Walter
Bengston, Billy Al
Bennett, Keith
Berg, Karen
Berkowitz, David (Son of Sam)
Berlin, Rick
Bernfeld, Ellen
Berry, Mark “Bez”
Berserkley Records
Bertolucci, Bernardo
B’Ginnings, Schaumberg
Bicknell, Ed
Bier, Jenny
Big Audio Dynamite
The Big Figure (drummer)
Big Youth
“Bill”
Bingenheimer, Rodney
Binghamton University
Birkin, Jane
Bizot, Jean-Francois
Black Uhuru
Blackwell, Chris
Tom Tom Club and
Blake, Leigh
Blake, Peter
Blank Generation (film)
Blank Tapes, New York City
“Blind”
Blitz, Johnny
Blondie
Bodega, San Jose
Bomp! Records, Los Angeles
&
nbsp; Bongiovi, Tony
Booker T and the MGs
“The Book I Read”
Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom (Tom Tom Club)
production of
shows for
Boomtown Rats
“Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)”
Borodin, Alexander
Borus, Ronnie
Bottom Line, New York City
Bowie, David
backstage visit by
Braga, Sonia
Branson, Richard
Brazier, Benita
Brilleaux, Lee
Britannia Row, Long Island City
Britton, David
Bronson, A. A.
Brooks, Ernie
The Brotherhood
Browning, Lex
Browning Manufacturing, Kentucky
Brown, James
at Compass Point
Brown, Monte
Buck, Dave
Budapest, Talking Heads in
Buffalo State College, Buffalo
Burchill, Julie
Burke, Clem
Burnett, T Bone
“Burning Down the House”
conception/production of
at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction
video for
Byars, James Lee
Byrd, Bobby
the Byrds
Byrne, Bonnie
Byrne, David. See also Talking Heads
in the Artistics
B-52s production by
band relations and
birth/childhood of