FRANK RENDO'S INTERVIEW WITH PAUL RICHARDS WHLI RADIO
ABOUT FRANK's NEW CD
DELIVER ME
10-06-09 Well, hello fans and friends of outstanding recording artist, Frank Rendo. I'm delighted today to be bringing you this radio interview that Frank did with WHLI's own Paul Richards. Paul has interviewed Frank before, regarding his REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS CD, and now, this great interview regarding DELIVER ME.
I've done my best to capture the entire interview here, for you. So, read on, and enjoy this chat between Paul Richards of WHLI, and my very talented friend, Frank Rendo as they discuss Frank's fabulous new album called DELIVER ME. This interview took place Tuesday, October 6, 2009. (pictured: Frank Rendo - photo & artwork by Dominick Avento III)
PR= Paul Richards
FR= Frank Rendo
PR - My very special, in-studio guest this morning is the incomparable, the one and only Mr. Frank Rendo. Good morning Frank - it is great to see you.
FR: Good Morning.
PR: How are you, my friend?
FR: I'm doing well today, how 'bout yourself?
PR: I'm doing great - I'm as fine as the day! A little bit too busy, uh...I could use a couple of extra arms today - like an octopus....there's so much going on - I could use 8 arms
FR: (laughs)
PR: ....touch this, do that, run here, get this....talk to this one, interview an artist! (laughs)
FR: Well, thank you for making time for me today.
PR: Ah, it's no problem at all - it's always a pleasure to welcome you in.
FR: Thank you!
PR: So, a lot going on in your life? It's been - as the people know, cause we play a lot of Frank Rendo here on WHLI....
FR: I HEAR that!
PR: ....As I've been eluding to - it's kind of been a very, uh....how should we say - bittersweet month and a half for you?
FR: Absolutely - VERY bittersweet.
PR: The release of DELIVER ME has gotta be a thrill because it's great!
FR: It IS thrilling, but um...you know Palma Pascale, whom I collaborated on
with this project, died two days later.
PR: Yes.
FR: So she wasn't with me the day of the opening - I knew what was coming.
PR: Yeah.
FR: Ah...but, you know - here we are, and the music seems sweeter.
PR: I know - life goes on - it's just very, very profound. Some of the lyrics on the album and even some of the things that she wrote on albums of hers that are years old....
FR: Yes
PR: All of a sudden are coming back and saying....ah, you know - I could have been written yesterday!
FR: Yes - always fresh!
PR: Very, very haunting - the music is beautiful. The music goes on, and she left us, like the title of the song says - "I'll Leave You The Music" she left the music, for sure.
FR: And we have four projects of hers coming out in a month.
PR: Really?
FR? Yes.
PR: Let's hear about those.
FR: Well, the two pop CD's that you have - we're going to release them, you know, world-wide - and a Worship CD that she did, and a new project like THE BROKEN CUP is also gonna be finished.
PR: Really?
FR: So, we're working hard on that.
PR: Keep me informed, as always.
FR: I sure will.
PR: And another thing we're very happy to report, as we have been reporting for, uh, I guess about the better part of a week, now - http://www.CDBaby.com/Artist/FrankRendo
FR: YES!
PR: ...and they have DELIVER ME available....
FR: YES! (laughs)
PR: What was the story? Was it lost in the basement?
FR: Yeah - I think they got the package and it got put somewhere behind a bunch of boxes and a table....
PR: Right..
FR: You know - it's one of those Hollywood stories!
PR: Yep!
FR: We've had to call them and find out where it is and they found it!
PR: UmHm....Because we had that wonderful CD release party at Samantha's Li'l Bit of Heaven a while ago, and I'm thinking I can't wait to get to work after the weekend because then we can tell people to head on over to cdbaby, we had the party and sure enough, the weeks went by and I kept checking every single day - it got frustrating and finally.....we uncovered it.
FR: Yeah, it was about a 3-week delay in the opening, unfortunately, but...
PR: But it IS available, ladies and gentleman, at http://www.CDBaby.com/Artist/FrankRendo DELIVER ME, the very latest album from Frank Rendo.
FR: And the downloads, too!
PR: Exactly!
FR: You can get it as a download, as well.
PR: Exactly - and you can download either the entire album...or individual tracks if you choose...
FR: Right - and it'll be on iTunes, shortly.
PR: Okay.
FR: It kicks-in a little bit later to do the world-wide distribution of all that....
PR: Right, okay. We're gonna hear something from DELIVER ME right now - this is the single that you actually....you gave me the pleasure and privilege of breaking....
FR: Yes -
PR: ....a long, long time before the album actually came out!
FR: I think it was early May.
PR: Yeah, and we've had tremendous response on this song.
FR: I'm so glad!
PR: Tremendous response on the song. This is the single - you all know it cause we play it a lot here at WHLI; from DELIVER ME, Frank Rendo....."Don't Laugh At Me."
PLAYS --"DON'T LAUGH AT ME"
PR: The single from DELIVER ME - "Don't Laugh At Me." That still some song and it still gets some reaction in your concerts. It's just a wonderful piece
of music and I'll never, ever forget till the day I die, the honor I had back in May when, at one of your shows you had a copy for me and you just simply presented it to me....
FR: Right!
PR: Within two days we had it on the air, here that was an honor.
FR: Right - that was a very exciting time - yes.
PR: Yep, and a number of stations across the country are playing it...
FR: Yes.
PR: And it's on DELIVER ME, which is available at http://www.CDBaby.com/Artist/FrankRendo you were talkin' about iTunes...now, how they either have some right now, or....what's the story? (pictured: Frank Rendo - Photo by Dominick Avento III)
FR: Well, I know they have the single, "Don't Laugh At Me" because when I gave it to you, I also went ahead and had that song arranged for digital distribution - the album wasn't done yet - for about another two months or so. So, you know, with digital distribution it takes a while to kick-in - around the world is all different - well, it's not just iTunes, it's all the different web hosts that do digital distribution and they all get it at their own time.
PR: Alright, well - we'll keep checkin' iTunes, too, so we can let the people know, but at least right now, we know they can go to http://www.CDBaby.com/Artist/FrankRendo
FR: Right - that's correct.
PR: And get either the physical copy of the album, download the entire album, or download individual tracks - three nice options.
FR: That's right - yes.
PR: So, you were a busy little boy this past weekend, eh? A couple of performances - how'd they go?
FR: Yeah, they went really well. We sold out at Samantha's Li'l Bit of Heaven on Saturday night.
PR: Right....
FR: And we sold - gosh, hundreds of tickets for the benefit for St. John's.
PR: Which was the following afternoon?
FR: Yes, at St. John's University.
PR: That's great!
FR: Yeah, great times.
PR: The more the merrier, actually. And now, you're back to your monthly excursion.
FR: (chuckles)
PR: At Samantha's Li'l Bit of Heaven - That was my first time there, at the CD release party - what a wonderful place to relax - have a cup of coffee and a pastry, watch a great show in a non-pressure situation...
FR: Yes....
PR: The intermission is nice and long and leisurely - you know, you're not rushed - the lights are not blinking - you know 'GET BACK TO YOUR SEATS...THE PERFORMANCE IS ABOUT..." you know - everybody's casual and....
FR: and chatting, and....
PR: It's a beautifully decorated place - I love what she's done to the place, as they say.
FR: (laughs) - I'll be there again on November 7th.
PR: Alright! And we'll talk about that. We'll take a break and be back - Frank
Rendo, our special guest here at WHLI.
BREAK
PR: Back with our very special guest, Frank Rendo, here this Tuesday morning at WHLI - this next song from DELIVER ME was written by Palma.
FR: Yes.
PR: And, uh, I wanna talk a little bit about the "team" because you know, uh, this team you work with - they are top notch! Fred and I have met a couple of times, but there's more - why not talk about these ladies and gentlemen a little bit, and the hard work they put in to make this project sound so wonderful.
FR: Thanks. Well, Fred Guarino sort of brought all these elements together for this particular album because there are so many songs I had recorded through the years, but hadn't released, so this was - ah, just opening the vaults and getting everything out there.
PR: Okay...
FR: And he blended it all. He's the engineer of TIKI Recording Studios - he's a producer, and he's also a musician. He played drums and he played some things on the CD, too, but...a brilliant guy and a really great guy. Real supportive of me. And, I met him through Palma Pascale. (pictured: Frank Rendo & Fred Guarino)
PR: Okay....
FR: Palma came to a program that I had done for Jesus Alive at the Westbury Music Fair in 2005. We, that is - I hosted an event there. And she kind of followed me around after that and made a phone call to me, and we chit-chatted for a long time, and I think that started a friendship.
PR: Yep...
FR: And, ah, we eventually started to work together and REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS, my CD, was the first thing that we did together.
PR: Ah! What a great Christmas album.
FR: She had written for the Carpenters, and she had written for Streisand, and for James Ingram, and oh, a lot of people. And just a brilliant musician herself.
PR: Yeah, and she plays a billion instruments!!!!
FR: Yes, she does!
PR: Is there an instrument she can't play? A lot of times, you look at the back of your albums and 99% of the instruments on this album have been played by Palma Pascale. (pictured: Palma Pascale & Frank Rendo)
FR: (laughs) - I think I did write that once, yes.
PR: Unbelievable!
FR: Yes, I was very fortunate.
PR: And she did write this song, and before we hear it, it is now time to, ah, as promised - cause we've been saying that we're gonna give away a personally autographed copy of DELIVER ME, and we're gonna do that right now - to the 9th ... how about the 9th caller?
FR: The 9th caller is good!
PR: The 9th caller @ 955-WHLI - dial carefully - area code 631-955-9454 will win a personally autographed - and I just saw Frank autograph it...so, I'm your witness here....
FR: It's still wet!
PR: Yeah, see? It's still drying!
FR: (laughing)
PR: A personally autographed copy of the new DELIVER ME album which contains this track written by the late Palma Pascale - 9th caller, go for it!
PLAYS: "To Keep You With Me."
PR: Alright, that's Frank Rendo from DELIVER ME, "To Keep You With Me." Palma wrote that....obviously, ah, that's one of the rare, rare songs - Frank, why don't you tell us before we even go to the phones, before we talk to Tommy ......Tommy, by the way - we are NOT gonna do history and birthdays today - well, you know what? We'll do them at 11:30 - how's that?
So, at 11:30 we'll do histories and birthdays. This hour, we're gonna listen to a winning phone call because we just ran a contest and we do have a winner - but first, Frank, what about that song that Palma wrote?
FR: "To Keep You With Me" was written for a family who had lost a daughter to suicide. So, she wrote it to, you know, bring comfort to the family, and, actually, the family came to my concert last weekend.
PR: Really?
FR: Yeah, so I got to meet all of them. Yes, and it had such a great response that I said I want to do that song and I purposely put it in the place on the album where it is, after "Don't Laugh At Me."
PR: Yep!
FR: Cause so many people who are bullied are so depressed and wind up, you know, taking their own life. I feel that the song brings hope!
PR: Alright - um...hmmm.......Alright, Tommy - since we have a few minutes, here's the winning phone call. WHLI, Hi! Who's on the phone?
CALLER: OMG! this is Bridgette.
PR: Bridgette - how ya doin'?
B: What was that?
PR: How ya doin'?
B: OMG! I can't.....this is the first....you, (SHOUTS!) "MA! GET DOWN HERE!!!!"
Paul and Frank both laugh~
B: You don't know, we have been listening to your station since 1967 this is the first time I called!
PR: First time you called and you win?
B: OMG! I just got through and this is amazing what he's playing, OMG! This song he wrote with Palma Pascale - do you remember I talked to you about that?
PR: Umm...hmmm....
B: OMG! We have been listening....my mother's down....we moved here from Brooklyn to the Jersey Shore in 1967, my father bought a restaurant, my mother wanted music - she was foolin' around with the radio and she got this WH uh......The Music of your Life!!
PR: Bridgette, wouldn't it have been great if you'd been the 9th caller?
B: Oh, I'm sorry!
PR: No, no...I'm kidding - you ARE. I'm kidding. YOU WIN!!! I have for you a personally autographed copy of the new Frank Rendo album, DELIVER ME.
B: And this guy is AMAZING!!! I just can't believe the music - I've been listening to this.
PR: Yeah, he's good!
B: OMG!
PR: Hey, congratulations to you!
B: OMG! And, I thank you Mr. Frank Rendo.
PR: You sound like you need a little coffee!
B: Oh, I do! OMG!
PR: 10:30 - where is this hour going I ask you? 22 in front of 11 o'clock on a Tuesday, early in October - Frank Rendo our special guest. We're about to play a title tune from one of Palma's albums, Frank. "I'll Leave You The Music." Something's been.....there's been a burning question ever since we've been playing this song - you know we've been playing a couple of tracks from this album.
FR: Yeah.
PR: But there is no indication on the album as to when it came out. I have to know the year that this song came out, because this could have been written just about two months ago, or maybe even less than that - and I know that's not the case.
FR: I actually don't know when the copyright is for the song.
PR: Okay....
FR: I think that the album was probably recorded a few years ago.
PR: Yep! And that's what I'm saying - a few years is usually - cause normally you can look at the back of a CD and see the date when it came out!
FR: Right.
PR: Cause people are saying....I've had more than one person saying she must have known! I'm saying but it's a couple of years old....
FR: No, she wrote that before anything about her illness.....
PR: That's what I felt.
FR: Yes!
PR: That's what I felt - but maybe she had a premonition?
FR: It's prophetic, isn't it? But I think originally she wrote the song as something that happened after a relationship ended. (pictured: Palma Pascale)
PR: That's another thought I had.
FR: That was the intention. It just has a new meaning, now.
PR: Yes, it does.
FR: Like so many things that she's written and sings.
PR: Oh, yeah....I know. With that in mind, here is the late Palma Pascale. This is the title tune from one of her brilliant albums - this is "I'll Leave You the Music" on WHLI.
Plays "I'll Leave You The Music"
PR: That is SOME piece of music, Frank!
FR: Beautiful!
PR: Yep! The title track from one of Palma's great, great pop albums...I'LL LEAVE YOU THE MUSIC. It's the same album that contains this next, ah....was she channeling Gloria Estefan with this thing, or what?
FR: (laughs) That is a real hot number, isn't it?
PR: It is - it's a great Latin tune, you know? It's a great number on this same album - from the album I'LL LEAVE YOU THE MUSIC again, the late Palma Pascale, and "Nowhere To Go." If you feel like dancin', and you've been sitting around listening to Frank and I, which is nice, you have a cup of coffee at the table - you sit and relax, but now you gotta get up, those creaky joints.....and we'll talk about those creaky joints in the next hour as well - but right now, this'll help! This is Palma - "Nowhere To Go," it's called.
PLAYS "Nowhere To Go"
PR: "Nowhere To Go" - that's Palma Pascale.
FR: She's singing everything on there.
PR: Amazing - she is just (was) just amazing. I can see how this had to be such a hardship for everybody. Ans she was very, very young, too. She would have been 58 or 59 in November?
FR: Well, she would be 59 on November 1st.
PR: November 1st - yeah, she left us all too soon, but there's plenty of music left behind.
FR: Right!
PR: WOW!!! Where'd this hour go? Look at this -
FR: I dunno - air-time is not real time, is it?
PR: No - nope! We might as well be in the twilight zone.
FR: We have a lot of fun here at WHLI.
PR: We really do - we really do, and we enjoy playing your music and, uh, you know - we enjoy coming out and seeing your live concerts....
FR: Thank you so much.
PR: Yeah, right now, I'm lost for words because you're such a unique artist - you're not your average run-of-the-mill artist - you're a very, very special artist who does very, very special music.
FR: Thank you.
PR: You really are and this new album - congratulations on a fine album!
FR: Thank you very much!
PR: Which will be made available at and we'll keep you posted as to itunes. What, after all the different songs that are on there, all of a sudden, the old Louie Armstrong chestnut shows up.
FR: (laughs)
PR: ....which we're gonna end this interview with right now. How did this come about?
FR: I started doing it in my shows the last few years and it just seemed right to be put on this project. So, I did, and Palma did really beautiful things with the music.
PR: It sounds right! The first time we played it, we played it on the Joe Satta show when DELIVER ME first arrived and I said "Joe, this is the track you're gonna get" cause I had already played a couple of tracks on the morning show.
FR: Right...yes.
PR: So Joe's show started at noon - he's on from noon to five, and he goes "what do I get from DELIVER ME?" I said, "you get this!" So, halfway through the song, he turns to me and goes "I already like it better than Louie" he said.
FR: Oh, no!
PR: Oh, yeah!
(both laugh)
PR: And, we love Louie around here! We simply love Louie - but Joe turned to me and I was standing right over there and said "I already like it better than Louie's."
FR: Wow! That's something.
PR: It is! Frank, all the best to you again with http://www.CDBaby.com/Artist/FrankRendo the album. It's a party today. So Frank, all the best to you. We'll see you real soon.
FR: Yes.
PR: Sell a lot of copies of DELIVER ME and, by the way folks, you heard that we gave away a copy on the air? Well, Frank threw me a curve ball - a surprise. He brought four extra copies....FIVE extra? Wow! So, in the coming days, whether it's this show or Joe's show, you'll have another chance and you signed those too?
FR: I did! I'm about to sign the last one.
PR: Alright! We have more, personally autographed copies of Frank Rendo's new DELIVER ME album and in the days to come here at WHLI, we'll be giving those away. We end the interview, we wish the best of luck to Frank, we say adios!
FR: Bye!
PR: And we leave you with this track we're talking about from DELIVER ME.
~END~
Well folks, that's the interview, and it was a fun hour, seems like to me.
You will want to have your very own DELIVER ME CD, autographed or not.....it's one beautiful compilation of music, and gifted Frank Rendo definitely "delivers" throughout the entire album. Palma's contributions are nothing short of stellar, either. And Fred Guarino knows how to put a CD together and make it sound like the best it possibly can. He does that for Frank here, as he has always in the past.
I encourage you to download DELIVER ME, or go to http://www.CDBaby.com/Artist/FrankRendo for your own copy. You will be blessed, and you will be thrilled, I assure you.
All the best to each of you,
~Tim
FRANK RENDO: (website links)
ShoutLife: http://www.ShoutLife.com/FrankRendo
TIKI Recording Studios: http://www.tikirecording.com/
Samantha's Li'l Bit of Heaven: www.SamanthasLilBitofHeaven.org
PALMA PASCALE: http://www.palmapascale.com
Photos courtesy Frank Rendo
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