You know who had a whole boatload of hits?
Brooklyn singer/songwriter Eddie Money had a whole boatload of hits.
Throughout the '80s the cop-turned-rockstar was unstoppable: "Baby Hold On," "Two Tickets to Paradise," "Take Me Home Tonight," "Shaking," and more. He had the New Wave thing down, putting him square on the pop charts, but underneath the synths and chorusing guitars was a solid blue-collar rock 'n' roll core.
This weekend, Money joins up with the Boys & Girls Club of America for the PLAY All Night event, pairing his hits with food from Davanti Enoteca, Fogo de Chao, Salty Senorita, The Grind, and more, with all proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Club.
We caught up with Money to talk about his work, and the 2011 cinematic flop sporting a Money song title.
Up on the Sun: How did you come to work with the Boys and Girls Club?
Eddie Money: I've done a lot of work with the Boys and Girls Club. I worked with the Boys Club when I was younger. I was a "pin boy." You know what a pin boy was? We had a bowling alley in Queens, and we'd set the pins up. I'm pretty partial to the Boys Club.
We're doing the gig because I think it's a great organization, and they asked us to do the show. I think it's going to be entertaining because I had a lot of hits. When you think about it, I had 14 songs in the top 100. That's when Sony Records was really big and really happening. But I've got a great band. My guitarist, Tommy Girvin, he's great, and he's been playing with me forever. The drummer, Glenn Symmonds, he's been playing with me since 1974. We do everything to sound like the record. We're not like one of these bands that disappoints people because they don't sound anything like the record. We've got an awful lot of fans in Phoenix. My parents [and grandparents] used to live in Sun City, if you can believe it.
I can.
I've got a lot of friends there. The promoter's saying, "Who's this guy Eddie Money? He's got a bigger guest list than The Rolling Stones." [Laughs] I'm looking forward to it. We open with "Baby Hold On," and we're doing a new song I'm very partial to called "One More Soldier Coming Home." All the money from the t-shirt goes to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which is set up for these kids coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq with these serious head trauma injuries, and it's a very wonderful organization. I'm also still supporting the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric Aids, for kids that are born HIV positive. I've got a lot of friends in Phoenix.
You know, the movie named after your song, Take Me Home Tonight, was filmed here in Phoenix.
You know, I thought that movie was going to do better. I thought it was very funny.
I've got to be honest, I haven't seen it. I've had some friends tell me they liked it, and I've had some friends tell me they didn't like it.
I thought it was funny as hell.
Did they ask for permission to name the movie after the song?
No, but they asked for permission to use the song. But I thought the movie was really, really funny. It was a lot of fun. But yeah, Phoenix is great. You've got some really great Mexican restaurants in that town. Phoenix was a cool town; I sold a lot of records in Phoenix back in the '80s. It was one of my biggest markets. I spent a lot of time there, too. When I was drinking a lot, I used to go down to Sun City and just relax and not drink for four or five days. I'd be sitting there next to my grandpa watching the Price is Right, with the a TV tray and my grandma used to come out in feed me. Remember those TV trays they'd put out in front of you? [Laughs]
What are the chances you're going to crank out a new album at this point? You know what? I've got a lot of great material, but let me tell you the truth, once they buy your greatest hits, they don't give a shit whether you live or die. I don't know what's going on, but I'll be putting out a new record within the next year. I've got a lot of material, and I think it'll be fun.
Eddie Money is scheduled to perform Saturday, November 10, at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale.
