The Felix Cavaliere Interview

My guest today is a lover, leader and life giver of music. The decisions that he makes correlate to art and relationships because you must have intimate relationships with cats to make real music.

Cats like Dino Danelli who came up playing swing music with the likes of Lionel Hampton. My guest was part of The Rascals. A rock quarter that produced jukebox hits that the ladies could bob their heads too. The group was deeper then their pop hits. The messages within their music spoke of justice for all, seeing black musicians and Latin musicians being treated poorly, demanding integration at their concerts, knowing their limitations and winding up in some Orgy following a late set @ the Port Chester Theatre.

After the calliopes have left the circus you are left with your own island of real. Not the kind of island you see on TV. Commercials rather one where the animals walk freely amongst the bush and a swirling Hammond organ drum bands are burning there way from Las Vegas to Bearsville.

My guest has collaborated with the most visceral musicians on the planet. Play from your guts, leave it out in a dream with Steve Cropper or Chuck Rainey, Alice Coltrane and Buzzy Fieton. My guest understood the value of the accompanist and the session cats in order for the rascals to play world music.

I thought Blue Eyed Soul came from Boz Scaggs but in fact it was this group that fostered the name. A dainty polite way to say that these cats were most influenced by race records, African Roots Music and The Shea Stadium Scoreboard. They were not interested in competing with the British Invaders original material but rather leaned on their own experiences which are rooted in rhythm and blues and northern soul with a blend of symphonic

My guest adapted to changing times in both personnel and within the industry knowing the cats who could help the group sound full. He also took on the burgeoning use of technology using the moog and Arp to create cosmic waves of consciousness within the ears of the listener.

My guest channeled his intensity through meditation which most likely saved him from the webs of stardom. He knows its easy to kick a rock down 26 flights of stairs then to walk a boulder up from the bottom. To look yourself in the mirror and detest what you see but instead of wallowing in self pity you find little creases and crevices and family and soul to improve yourself and make that mirror become a Peaceful World.