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the right things comes along,

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maybe I'll jump in and

1:16

do it. Who knows? Hey

1:30

everybody, welcome to Literally. It's

1:33

always a great day when

1:35

I get my beloved, beloved

1:37

buddy, Gary Siniz, back for

1:40

his second appearance on Literally.

1:42

He lost his son Mac

1:44

recently to a heroic cancer

1:47

battle and discovered this amazing

1:49

music that he had been

1:51

composing and has released an

1:53

album of his son's music

1:56

that is going to support

1:58

the Gary Siniz Foundation, which

2:00

is the leading foundation. for

2:03

our wounded warrior heroes and

2:05

their families. So Gary is

2:07

always doing God's work and

2:10

he's obviously an amazing actor

2:12

and just a great dude

2:14

and always has a

2:17

great perspective on life

2:19

and happy to have him

2:21

back here on literally. Gary,

2:26

it's so good to see you,

2:28

my brother. Love you so much,

2:31

man. You know, I'm, great to

2:33

see you as well. I'm sending

2:35

you hugs over Zoom. Bro, Max

2:37

Music, is it, it's in

2:40

that video? is bananas.

2:42

Which one did you see, bud? The

2:44

one that I saw is the one

2:46

with a full orchestra. And you guys

2:48

are recording it and he's there for

2:51

the recording of it. Yeah, that's a

2:53

piece called Arctic Circles. Is that the

2:55

one? Yeah, Arctic Circles. That is,

2:57

I mean, we have so much to unpack

2:59

here. First of all, I'm so sorry, you

3:02

know, for your loss and what a

3:04

heroic struggle. he had and you

3:06

had as a family going through

3:08

that kind of rare cancer good

3:11

lord. Oh it's yeah it was

3:13

it was a tough it's been

3:15

a tough six years you know

3:18

hard hard one to to deal

3:20

with it's a very very

3:22

rare cancer called Cordoma

3:24

and it really affects

3:27

maybe 300 people in the

3:29

US per year I mean

3:31

that that's very rare and

3:33

Of course, they're not developing

3:35

any drugs to fight it

3:38

because it's so few people

3:40

get it. And what Mac had, the

3:42

metastatic cordoma, that's even

3:44

more rare because quite

3:46

often this starts in

3:48

the spine and they

3:50

can remove the tumor and

3:52

they can cure it, you know, about

3:54

70% of the time, but 30% of

3:57

the time it comes back and

3:59

it's spread. and that's under

4:01

100 people per year, have

4:03

to deal with that. And

4:05

so there's no pharmaceutical companies

4:08

that are developing any drugs

4:10

for it. You just throw what

4:12

you can at it. He

4:14

had surgeries and radiation and

4:16

25 different drugs over a

4:18

four year period. And it was just

4:21

a, you know, we. We just dealt

4:23

with it as best we

4:25

could just I I stopped

4:27

acting in in 2019 and

4:29

just focused on On the fight

4:31

and trying to help him

4:33

and and Thankfully, you know

4:35

some good success over the

4:38

years allowed me to to

4:40

take that time off and

4:42

and just focus on Mac

4:44

well and and the way

4:46

to remember him with this

4:48

album is just an it's

4:51

very very beautiful and what

4:53

a talent holy smokes and

4:55

I mean in Arctic the the song

4:57

that I heard he wrote in USC

4:59

is that right? Well yeah I

5:02

mean he started it he wrote

5:04

it he went to USC Music

5:06

School the Thornton School of Music

5:09

he was in the pop program

5:11

they had like a pop program

5:14

there where it was just songwriters

5:16

playing recording rock tunes and and

5:18

you know learning the composition

5:21

and all of that. And he was

5:23

a drummer. He went in as

5:25

a drummer and just a fantastic

5:28

drummer. But he wanted to do

5:30

more, Rob. He wanted to write

5:32

songs. He wanted to compose for

5:35

film. He had a lot in

5:37

his toolbox and he started writing

5:39

this piece. He wrote a piece

5:42

called Waltz for Addicts, which is

5:44

on that YouTube channel that you

5:46

saw Arctic Circle was on. and

5:49

that was the first sort of

5:51

big piece he wrote in college

5:53

and then after that he wrote

5:56

started writing Arctic circles and

5:58

never finished it. And then

6:00

last year, you know, he's in the

6:03

throes of cancer. The cancer

6:05

had disabled him. He was

6:07

paralyzed from the chest down.

6:10

He couldn't play drums

6:12

anymore and, you know, picked

6:14

up a harmonica because he

6:16

could still hold it. But he

6:18

said to me that he wanted

6:20

to try to finish this piece

6:22

of music from USC. And

6:25

I... You know he asked if I thought

6:27

some of my band members would help

6:29

him flesh it out a little bit

6:32

so he teamed up with them then

6:34

connected with a buddy from college

6:36

named Oliver Schne and he Oliver

6:38

is a composer as well and

6:41

they they went to work to

6:43

finish Arctic circles and he went

6:45

into the studio July of 2023

6:47

Rob I had not heard anything that

6:50

they were working on. He hadn't played

6:52

the piece for me at all. I

6:54

didn't know what I was going to

6:56

hear. I wheeled him in in

6:58

the wheelchair. We sat down in

7:00

the studio, the orchestra was there,

7:02

and all of a sudden they

7:05

started playing that piece. And I was

7:07

knocked out. It's such an emotional

7:09

and beautiful piece. It was

7:11

just, I'm glad they caught

7:13

it on camera, because it's

7:15

nice to have that video

7:17

of the moment. I highly

7:19

recommend anybody listening, go

7:21

and look this up, because the

7:23

piece of music is, it's so

7:26

great and it sticks with

7:28

you. I mean, it's a real,

7:30

it's amazing, and your reaction is

7:32

a father, and it's just,

7:34

it's a really beautiful three

7:37

and a half minute, four

7:39

minutes that you can spend,

7:41

very, very inspirational,

7:43

and the new album is

7:45

cold. Maxinees Resurrection and Revival

7:47

Part 2. All of the

7:50

proceeds going to your amazing

7:52

foundation, which I've loved forever,

7:54

the Gary Seine's Foundation. You

7:56

guys are at 300 million

7:58

for wounded warriors. veterans,

8:00

first responders, families.

8:02

You've served over a million meals?

8:05

Yeah. It's insane, man, but you've

8:07

been doing it a long time.

8:09

You've been at this a very

8:11

long time. Remember that event that

8:13

you came to at Paramount? That

8:15

was over 10 years ago. It's

8:17

insane. For your listeners, I had

8:19

an event where we called it

8:21

Hollywood Salutes Heroes and we brought

8:23

in about 55 to 60. Wounded

8:25

folks and we took them to

8:27

Disneyland and we took them over

8:29

to Paramount and Rob came yeah,

8:31

you were there and all all the

8:34

Hollywood, you know, I wanted Hollywood to

8:36

show up to salute. salute the heroes

8:38

and that that was a great great

8:40

event early on in my foundation. Let's

8:42

do that again. Let's do another one.

8:44

We're doing them all the time. I

8:46

mean all over the country. But eventually

8:49

I'll get back, you know, I moved

8:51

to Nashville. So eventually I'll get back

8:53

and we'll do another one in California

8:55

where we bring everybody in. We do

8:57

them in, you know, a little small

8:59

events where we're bringing folks in and

9:02

Mac. worked for the foundation. He went

9:04

to work for the foundation in 2017.

9:06

One of the things I asked him

9:08

to do was to write some music

9:10

for some of our videos. We

9:12

have a lot of videos that we

9:14

produce to show our programs in action

9:17

and show the people that were helping

9:19

and all that kind of thing. And

9:21

they always need music. So I asked

9:24

him to write some music for

9:26

it. So after he died, Rob,

9:28

he had just finished resurrection and

9:30

revival part one. He designed the

9:32

front cover and the back cover.

9:35

He designed everything for the vinyl.

9:37

And he never got to actually

9:39

see it. It went to press the week

9:42

that he died. But after he died,

9:44

I started searching his laptop

9:46

and I found all this other

9:48

music, including some of the music

9:50

that he wrote for some of

9:52

these videos. But then I found

9:54

all this other stuff that he'd

9:57

written that is just stunning and

9:59

beautiful. And stuff going all

10:01

the way back to USC, I

10:03

mean, there's a lot. So I

10:05

decided to produce another record for

10:07

him, Resurrection and Revival Part 2.

10:09

And that's the one that's on

10:12

our Gary Sinese Foundation website right

10:14

now. Some of the videos are

10:16

on Max and East YouTube where

10:18

you saw Arctic Circles. And I'm

10:20

just trying to get the word out.

10:23

It's really a very, very special gift

10:25

that he left to us. And

10:27

I'm trying to share it with

10:29

folks because He was an exceptional

10:31

musician so the music is great

10:33

and you know I'm not just

10:35

a dad who's proud of his

10:37

son for writing some songs. I

10:40

mean I'm a player as well

10:42

and I know good music so

10:44

I'm happy and thrilled to be

10:46

able to share this music with

10:48

everybody. Oh it's stunning it's I

10:50

was blown away. I mean, listen,

10:52

I'm predisposed to love you and

10:55

Mac and I was like, I

10:57

was down down to begin with,

10:59

but then I heard I was like,

11:01

whoa, my God, this is

11:03

fantastic. So, I mean, Lieutenant

11:05

Dan Band, I mean, you've been

11:08

playing in that band now

11:10

for... It's got to be at

11:12

least 10 years. How many years

11:14

is Lieutenant Dan Band been touring?

11:16

Oh, it's over 20 now. It's,

11:19

yeah, we started, the first concerts

11:21

I did for the troops were

11:23

back, was back in 2003. And

11:25

then I started doing regular tours

11:27

in 2004 and now we've played.

11:30

I don't know, over

11:32

575 concerts over the

11:34

years on military bases

11:36

and hospitals and you

11:38

name it, I mean,

11:41

play it everywhere. Do

11:43

you have a particular

11:45

concert or a particular

11:48

venue or a particular

11:50

country that you, that

11:52

stands out like, man

11:54

in Afghanistan, there's people,

11:57

they really get down.

11:59

I said there's 570 some

12:01

concerts over the years. It's hard

12:04

to remember all of them, but

12:06

there are, yeah, there are standouts.

12:08

I mean, you mentioned Afghanistan. We

12:11

were at in Kandahar. So in

12:13

Kandahar, there's this big military base

12:16

there, we had a military base

12:18

there, and they built this sort

12:20

of boardwalk in the center of

12:23

the base. Where they had all

12:25

these fast food restaurants like Tim

12:27

Hortons and subway and no way

12:29

you know all the all these

12:31

fast food Yeah, you know like we

12:34

were shipping fast food over there

12:36

and they had all these little

12:38

Little restaurants And on the boardwalk

12:41

we could set up the ban and

12:43

so we set up the ban

12:45

on the boardwalk Surrounded by all

12:47

these fast food restaurants and all

12:49

the troops came out that were

12:52

serving in that in Canada are

12:54

And that was a great show.

12:56

There was another one over there

12:59

that we played at a place

13:01

called Camp Leatherneck. And it was

13:03

the dustiest, dirtiest kind of marine

13:05

base, you know, that you can

13:08

imagine. The dust was really thick.

13:10

And we set up on the

13:12

back of this, like the bed of

13:14

these two trailers that they put

13:17

together. And we just set up

13:19

on there. And everybody, you know,

13:21

all the Marines came out there

13:23

and we were rock and form

13:25

and all that. That was a

13:27

great tour back in 2009. What

13:29

is your set list with Lieutenant

13:32

Dan? Is it originals, covers, mixes?

13:34

You know, the only originals in

13:36

the set are two songs that

13:38

Mac wrote. No way. After I

13:40

discovered all this music, I found

13:42

one beautiful instrumental piece that he

13:44

wrote in college called Angel's theme

13:47

that features violin. solo and we

13:49

have a violent great violin player

13:51

in the band so it's a

13:53

beautiful song and so we're doing

13:55

that one now and then the

13:57

last song he wrote is actually on

13:59

that YouTube channel Maxinees YouTube.

14:01

It's called Quasi Love.

14:04

And he wrote it in

14:06

his hospital bed. And he was

14:08

fleshing it out with my violin

14:11

player. And after he died, I

14:13

didn't know anything about it that

14:15

he was working on it at

14:18

all. I found it, I found

14:20

some charts, I found the lyrics,

14:22

I found a voice memo that

14:24

Mac had sang the chorus of

14:26

the song into his phone. to

14:29

kind of flesh while

14:31

he was fleshing it out

14:33

and working on it. So

14:35

I found all that and

14:37

I asked my violin player,

14:39

what is this? You know,

14:41

were you guys working on

14:43

something? He said, yeah, Mac

14:45

had this idea, he was

14:47

fleshing it out, I was trying

14:49

to help him. I said, well,

14:51

finish the song, we're going to

14:54

put it on the record. And

14:56

that I found, I put it.

14:58

on the recording. It starts the

15:00

recording and ends the recording. So

15:03

you can hear Max singing into

15:05

his phone and then the band

15:07

jumps in and starts pounding the

15:10

song and it's a really great

15:12

like rock tune. It's really fun.

15:14

And what's cool about the video

15:16

that you'll see on his YouTube

15:19

channel is he had, you know,

15:21

as I said, he went to music

15:23

school at USC and he had three

15:25

drumming roommates. They were four drummers. in

15:28

an apartment together. And then two

15:30

guitar players that he played with

15:32

way back, I flew them all

15:34

out to Nashville and asked them

15:37

to play on this last song

15:39

that Mac wrote. So they're all

15:41

featured in the video. And it's

15:44

really, it was beautiful to have

15:46

them. You know, I mean, just, you

15:48

know, and so my band is playing

15:50

that song as well. Those are the

15:52

only originals we play. And then the

15:55

rest are. covers of, you know,

15:57

anywhere from Springsteen to Stevie Wandered.

15:59

to Sean Mendez. Yeah, I

16:02

mean, we're all over

16:04

the map with contemporary

16:06

and classics and pop,

16:08

rock, blues, country, you

16:10

know, it's all over

16:12

the place. In the

16:15

pantheon of movie star

16:17

centric bands, Lieutenant Dan

16:19

Band is in its

16:21

own level. But let's

16:23

talk who who else I

16:25

saw costner's band play by

16:27

the way since we've last

16:29

spoken did you I did

16:31

he play his he and

16:33

his band played a a

16:35

charity for our first responders

16:37

in Santa Barbara, you know,

16:39

we had these terrible mudslides

16:42

and fire terrible. Yeah, and

16:44

like 23 people died and

16:46

So it was for the

16:48

eight oh eight oh five

16:50

foundation when it said that's

16:52

Santa Barbara and they they

16:54

support the first responders so

16:56

he got blessed Kevin he

16:58

did a great job his

17:00

band was great they were

17:02

great I think we need

17:04

to get you guys on

17:06

a double bill tour and

17:09

we'll get quaid we'll get

17:11

Dennis quaid to rock it

17:13

yes and and and the

17:15

Bacon brothers all the old

17:17

hippies are now playing rock

17:19

music and by the way

17:21

Jeff Bridges also played yeah

17:23

dude I can't be the

17:25

first person to think of

17:27

this movie stars only Festival.

17:29

There you go. We can

17:31

raise money for the Garrison

17:33

East Foundation. I love it.

17:36

I mean, that would be

17:38

kind of sick. That would

17:40

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to change. Do you have any

20:12

plan desire to come back to

20:14

acting on any level? You know

20:16

what it... It all depends. I

20:18

mean, I'm very, very busy with

20:21

the mission of the foundation. We're

20:23

operating all over the place. You

20:25

mentioned an amount of money that

20:27

we've raised. It's actually over $500

20:30

million in the last 14 years.

20:32

Oh my God. 500 million. Yeah,

20:34

we've deployed that all over. We

20:37

have multiple programs at the foundation.

20:39

I'm still doing quite a few

20:41

concerts on military basis here and

20:43

there and events and that kind

20:46

of thing. The mission of the

20:48

foundation is very broad and we're

20:50

doing a lot of great stuff.

20:52

We're just about to take over

20:55

a thousand children down to Disney

20:57

World in Orlando where we do

20:59

an annual event there every year

21:01

for the children of our fallen

21:04

heroes. We now, we take military

21:06

kids there, over a thousand kids,

21:08

so that's about 650 families. We

21:10

take over a hotel at Disney

21:13

World. hundreds and hundreds of volunteers,

21:15

many corporate sponsors come in, we

21:17

have all kinds of things going,

21:19

and we do that for military

21:22

kids, and then the following week,

21:24

we bring in children of our

21:26

fallen first responders and do an

21:28

event for them. My band plays,

21:31

and those are usually the last

21:33

concerts of the year for me.

21:35

So I'm quite busy with the

21:37

foundation. It doesn't mean that I

21:40

won't go back to... to acting

21:42

in something if the right thing

21:44

comes along. But you know, I,

21:47

you know, we both, both been

21:49

blessed, Rob, with great success in

21:51

the business. and it's allowed us

21:53

to do a lot of great

21:56

things. And it certainly allowed me

21:58

to, you know, it allowed me

22:00

to take the time off to

22:02

help Mac and to try to

22:05

fight the cancer alongside him. It's

22:07

helped me to serve a lot

22:09

of folks out there who need

22:11

help. And so I have great,

22:14

you know, great affection for the

22:16

business for sure, because it gave

22:18

me a lot, a lot of

22:20

opportunities. If the right things comes

22:23

along, maybe I'll jump in and

22:25

do it. Who knows? Because you're

22:27

so damn talented both as a

22:29

writer, director, and actor, I hope

22:32

that you do, but I love

22:34

what you're doing. It's got to

22:36

be, I don't want to say,

22:38

is it more fulfilling for you

22:41

or is that just too easy

22:43

to say? It's fulfilling in a

22:45

different way. Yeah, it's fulfilling in

22:47

a different way. And it wouldn't

22:50

exist, had I not had a

22:52

good career in the movie and

22:54

TV business. You know, I was

22:57

able to take resources from... from

22:59

the success in the business and

23:01

deploy them all over the place

23:03

and build a foundation. If I

23:06

was plugging away in the theater

23:08

world and everything like that, I

23:10

may not have been able to

23:12

have the success at building a

23:15

foundation that I've had. So I'm

23:17

grateful for all that success in

23:19

the business. I had a lot

23:21

of great opportunities. One was with

23:24

you. I really enjoyed our time

23:26

on the stand all those years

23:28

ago and so many great opportunities

23:30

along the way that I've had.

23:33

And to be able to take

23:35

that success and kind of turn

23:37

it into something that's making a

23:39

difference in people's lives, you know,

23:42

who serve our country and protect

23:44

and defend us, that's a great

23:46

reward. It's just a gives life.

23:48

extra purpose for sure, you know.

23:51

I always like to ask people

23:53

who have had a big body

23:55

of work and a diverse body

23:57

of work like yours. What,

24:00

A, two things, A, when people

24:02

recognize you on the street, what

24:04

is the project they usually recognize

24:06

you from, I'm guessing it's CSI,

24:09

the other would be of all

24:11

of your things, what is the

24:13

one you are not our most

24:15

proud of, because that's too broad,

24:18

but like, is there one? that

24:20

maybe got missed that you wished

24:22

people would go back and revisit.

24:24

Because that's an easy one for

24:26

me. Like I go, not a

24:29

lot of people saw, whatever. What

24:31

do you think? Yeah. You know,

24:33

one project that I poured my

24:35

heart and soul into, directing, producing,

24:37

and acting was Steinbacks of Mice

24:40

and Men. And I did that.

24:42

It's so good. I did that

24:44

one and that that was 1991.

24:46

We shot it. It came out

24:48

in 92. So it's quite a

24:51

quite a few years ago that

24:53

we did it. It didn't do

24:55

all that well in the theater.

24:57

You know, I'll tell you what

24:59

happened. Redford's River one runs through

25:02

it came out the following week

25:04

and Brad Pitt of course was

25:06

stealing all the oxygen out of

25:08

everything back then and still is

25:10

still is he got he got

25:13

you know there was a lot

25:15

of attention going to that movie

25:17

kind of a not not a

25:19

similar story but it was a

25:21

you know a country story and

25:24

all all that kind of thing

25:26

of mice and men was produced

25:28

by MGM MGM did it and

25:30

They, you know, they had kind

25:33

of, here's how much we're going

25:35

to spend on marketing, and then

25:37

we're not going to do any

25:39

more. And, and the river runs

25:41

through it was getting, I think

25:44

that was Columbia, and Columbia was

25:46

dumping all kinds of money into

25:48

that. And so mice and men

25:50

didn't do all that well at

25:52

the box office, but because it's

25:55

a classic, you know, it's a

25:57

classic and they read it in

25:59

high schools, I've, you know, for

26:01

years I've gotten letters from high

26:03

school kids who have seen it

26:06

and all of that. So I'm,

26:08

look, that, that was a, I

26:10

got to take that to the

26:12

con film festival. It got a

26:14

massive. standing ovation. Like for 15

26:17

minutes, they were screaming and yelling

26:19

and my producing partner turned to

26:21

me during that ovation and he

26:23

said, I think we just made

26:25

a French fill. I said, well,

26:28

that's okay. You know, they're loving

26:30

it. And it was great. Alan

26:32

Lad Jr. was there for that

26:34

screening and It was just a

26:36

great, great moment. I had some

26:39

great moments with that and it

26:41

caught the attention of the producers

26:43

of Forrest Gump. And so they

26:45

asked me to come in an

26:48

audition for the for for Gump

26:50

about a year after that movie

26:52

came out. So it was a

26:54

great calling card, you know, and

26:56

that one, you know, I wish

26:59

a lot more people had had

27:01

seen it, but I'm glad I

27:03

asked you this. I'm glad because

27:05

I've seen it multiple times and

27:07

it's fantastic fan. And of course,

27:10

John Malkovich is in it with

27:12

you. You guys go way, way

27:14

back to Steppenwolf. Yeah, we actually

27:16

did it on stage together. We

27:18

did we did the play of

27:21

that. I feel like did you

27:23

do it in New York ever?

27:25

No, we didn't do that, but

27:27

we did the grapes of wrath.

27:29

That was a great experience because

27:32

I got to be very good

27:34

friends with Elaine Steinbeck who was

27:36

John Steinbeck she was married to

27:38

John Steinbeck and she controlled all

27:40

the rights to all his all

27:43

his And so we had to

27:45

get the rights from her for

27:47

the Grapes of Rath to turn

27:49

that into a play. We got

27:51

the rights in about 85. We

27:54

put it up in 88 in

27:56

Chicago. Then we put it up

27:58

again in 89. Reworked it put

28:00

it up at the La Jolla

28:02

Playhouse and San La Jolla. And

28:05

then we went to London with

28:07

it in 89. Then we went

28:09

to Broadway with it in 1990

28:11

and it won the Tony Award.

28:14

So it was a big, big

28:16

success. and I got during that

28:18

whole thing I got to be

28:20

very close with her and she

28:22

was and I remember standing on

28:25

the stage we the grapes of

28:27

wrath ran six months on Broadway

28:29

it won the Tony but it

28:31

was so expensive and you know

28:33

that that that in our contracts

28:36

were up at the end of

28:38

six months they didn't want to

28:40

you know recast it and do

28:42

that whole thing so we closed

28:44

it and then PBS came in

28:47

with cameras and set them up

28:49

in the theater in the theater.

28:51

and we shot it for PBS.

28:53

And when I was standing backstage

28:55

with a lane, you know, we

28:58

were going to be over with

29:00

this grapes of wrath experience in

29:02

the next couple of days. We're

29:04

going to shoot that. And then

29:06

everybody go home. I was living

29:09

in California. And I said to

29:11

her backstage, I said, would you

29:13

give me the rights to of

29:15

mice and men to try to

29:17

make a movie of it? Ladies

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35:21

you seen Bob Z's movie? I

35:23

haven't seen it yet. The one

35:26

with Bob Semecasie work with on

35:28

Forrest Gump. Bob Z is another

35:30

genius and he's got the movie

35:32

with Tom out now. It's it's

35:34

all in one angle, right? You

35:36

know this is all in one

35:38

angle? Is it? What do you

35:40

mean? It's it so it's the

35:42

story of a house, right? It's

35:44

one angle. For the entire is

35:46

that just sound like I just

35:49

think we should do it and

35:51

just like how about if we

35:53

save ourselves some time and just

35:55

set the camera It's fun. I

35:57

love working with people like that

35:59

I get to do I did

36:01

like a week on contact with

36:03

them, which is I think an

36:05

really underrated movie. And when people

36:07

talk about what they think the

36:09

universe might be and what space

36:12

travel is really like, when you

36:14

talk to the real scientists, they

36:16

will point to two movies that

36:18

they say got it right. One

36:20

is interstellar and the other is

36:22

contact. It's funny these directors who

36:24

are also as interested as they

36:26

are in story. They're also as

36:28

interested and sometimes more interested in

36:30

finding technologies to tell the stories

36:33

that have never been used before.

36:35

James Cameron, Bob Z. That's Bob,

36:37

yeah, right? No kidding. I remember

36:39

when he called me up with

36:41

the idea of how they were

36:43

going to take my legs off,

36:45

you know, for the film, because

36:47

Lieutenant Dan, you know. get blown

36:49

up and loses his legs. And

36:51

we had discussed that in the

36:53

like, how are we going to

36:56

do that? You know, because there

36:58

have been those other movies where

37:00

people just kind of bend their

37:02

legs underneath them and sit in

37:04

a chair, stuff like that. He

37:06

didn't want to do that. You

37:08

know, so he came up with,

37:10

hey, we're going to take them

37:12

off in the computer. We're going

37:14

to figure out that. So I

37:16

just wore blue screen socks on

37:19

my legs and they went in

37:21

and removed the blue color and

37:23

and my legs were gone It's

37:25

the earliest The earliest iteration of

37:27

doing which is now commonly done

37:29

people go. We'll lose. We'll take

37:31

it out in post. Yeah, it's

37:33

no it's no is that was

37:35

kind of the beginning I mean

37:37

Bob was really at that the

37:39

forefront of developing technologies that developed

37:42

into all the computer graphics and

37:44

all that You know, now you

37:46

can, anything you can think of

37:48

now, they can do. And Forrest

37:50

Gump putting Tom with all archive,

37:52

in the middle of very famous

37:54

archival footage. Yeah. And then on

37:56

contact he went the other way

37:58

and took a famous put person.

38:00

and put them in the movie

38:03

when they were there. You put

38:05

Bill Clinton in a movie where

38:07

we were in a scene at

38:09

the White House where we were

38:11

all talking to the president. I'll

38:13

have to revisit that. I don't

38:15

remember that. Yeah, I'm pretty, I'm

38:17

pretty sure. Listen, listen, by the

38:19

way, I'm so capable of misremembering

38:21

things now. I don't know if

38:23

it's my age or what the

38:26

like. I will literally sometimes tell

38:28

a story. But wait a minute.

38:30

Where I said Francis, I've been

38:32

telling a story for years And

38:34

you know you when it's an

38:36

old story But you've been telling

38:38

it for years you begin to

38:40

doubt that it ever happened. Yeah

38:42

I said did you I don't

38:44

mean I go I go did

38:46

I remember you directing me while

38:49

you were on the phone with

38:51

your wife who was hiding from

38:53

a process server? Who was trying

38:55

to? throw you guys

38:57

out of the winery because you'd

38:59

lost all the money on Zotrop

39:02

Studios and you were going just

39:04

hide just don't answer the gate

39:06

just oh sorry hang on one

39:09

second and action and of all

39:11

of the stories that I have

39:13

that I go that probably was

39:16

bullshit I probably miss her he

39:18

goes oh no I absolutely remember

39:20

that I was like, okay. It

39:22

was true, great. I'm not crazy.

39:25

That's a good one to retail

39:27

and retail again. Oh, it's too

39:29

good. Literally. Okay. So how's Nashville

39:32

treating it? Are you as happy

39:34

as you thought you'd be when

39:36

you pulled up stakes? Yeah. You

39:38

know, we moved September of last

39:41

year. Yeah. I moved my foundation

39:43

here. Right. In 2021. So the

39:45

foundation. came both our daughters husbands

39:48

work for the foundation so they

39:50

all ended up coming out here

39:52

much earlier than we did i

39:55

wanted i was just hesitant mac

39:57

was in The Santa Monica medical

39:59

system at St. John's working with

40:01

an oncologist there who was very

40:04

experimental and we're willing to try

40:06

anything and with a rare orphan

40:08

cancer like Mac was fighting You

40:11

need somebody who's just going to

40:13

continue to provide hope for you

40:15

and not somebody who just goes

40:17

I don't know what to do

40:20

you know, and he said to

40:22

Mac as long as you are

40:24

willing to try things, I'm I'm

40:27

willing to try to find things

40:29

to try. And so we we

40:31

stuck there and I was just

40:33

hesitant to pull Mac out of

40:36

it. But his sisters were here

40:38

and we knew we had to

40:40

get here. You know, and so

40:43

I started that ball rolling. And

40:45

it took a while to get

40:47

all the planning. I had to

40:50

get medical transport, you know, he

40:52

was, you know, he was paralyzed

40:54

from the chest down and all

40:56

of that. He couldn't travel commercially

40:59

and so I had to arrange

41:01

all that. And we finally got

41:03

here in September of last year,

41:06

2023. And our daughters had settled

41:08

in really well and everybody at

41:10

the foundation had settled in really

41:12

well and everybody was loving it.

41:15

And I have friends here in

41:17

the music business and different pals

41:19

that have moved out here. And

41:22

I've been coming here for several

41:24

years to do concerts for the

41:26

military at Fort Campbell and different

41:29

things like that. So I liked

41:31

it, but I hadn't lived here

41:33

or anything like that. Now the

41:35

last year and a half, the

41:38

first, you know, when we first

41:40

got here, Unfortunately, my wife had

41:42

to go into the hospital. Mac

41:45

was struggling. He died like three

41:47

months after we got here. And

41:49

so there were all these medical

41:51

complications that were. taking up all

41:54

the oxygen and taking up all

41:56

my time and, you know, kind

41:58

of, you know, enjoying Nashville and

42:01

enjoying living here wasn't anything I

42:03

was focused on. Sure. The past

42:05

several months I've been focused on

42:07

producing Resurrection and Revival Part Two.

42:10

The studios here that we recorded

42:12

in are gorgeous and wonderful and,

42:14

you know, when we got here

42:17

with Mac, September 29th. By November

42:19

5th, he was back in the

42:21

studio in Nashville, a place called

42:24

Ocean Way, which is an old

42:26

church that's been converted into a

42:28

studio. And then November 10th, on

42:30

his birthday, we were back in

42:33

the studio again, a very, very

42:35

famous studio called Blackbird, where every,

42:37

you know, every country person is

42:40

recorded in there. And then he

42:42

finished all the recording for resurrection

42:44

and revival part one. And so

42:46

that was it. And then things

42:49

started getting complicated the next month

42:51

and he ended up back in

42:53

the hospital and died six days

42:56

later. So then you've got all

42:58

the funeral stuff and you got

43:00

all the things that are going

43:03

on with grief and trying to

43:05

manage all that. So getting around

43:07

in Nashville for the first part

43:09

of this year was just I

43:12

just wasn't doing much I was

43:14

Focused on just trying to take

43:16

care of the family and get

43:19

through it But lately. I mean

43:21

last summer You know last summer

43:23

July 6th was the 30th anniversary

43:25

of forest gump opening in the

43:28

theaters and I had started to

43:30

befriend some of the folks over

43:32

the grand old opera and you

43:35

know because we send in We'll

43:37

do events here where we bring

43:39

in spouses of our fallen heroes

43:41

or children or whatever and we

43:44

do things with them here in

43:46

Nashville. We call them Nashville Adventures,

43:48

you know, kind of like what

43:51

we did with the Hollywood Salutes

43:53

Heroes where we bring people in

43:55

and do things with them. So

43:58

developed a pretty good relationship with

44:00

the Opry and I can't remember

44:02

whose idea what it was, but

44:04

you know, we started investigating like

44:07

is... Paramount going to do anything

44:09

for the 30th anniversary because the

44:11

event that you attended at Paramount

44:14

that day where we had all

44:16

the wounded folks come out that

44:18

was focused around the 30th anniversary

44:20

of the 20th anniversary of Forrest

44:23

Gump that was you know that

44:25

was the 20th anniversary year and

44:27

for the Oscars that year they

44:30

did kind of an Oscar special

44:32

that focused on the 30th the

44:34

Forest Gump anniversary and part of

44:37

it was the event that we

44:39

did at Paramount that day. So

44:41

I was wondering, like, what's Paramount

44:43

going to do for the 30th?

44:46

And they weren't going to do

44:48

anything. But the Opry, I don't

44:50

know who came up with the

44:53

idea, but the Opry said, we

44:55

want to do, the Opry celebrates

44:57

30 years of Forest Gump. And

44:59

we want the Lieutenant Dan band

45:02

to play. Amazing! All these other

45:04

artists, and they got all these

45:06

other great artists, like Gary Lavox,

45:09

who, he's the lead singer from

45:11

Rascal Flats. I know Gary and

45:13

asked him to come and sing

45:15

a few songs. Jamie Johnson came

45:18

and sang and sang. We have

45:20

the Gatlin brothers singing in on

45:22

the bill. I mean, it was

45:25

a great, it was a great

45:27

night. And then my band comes

45:29

out at the end and plays

45:32

four songs and one of the

45:34

one of the key things that

45:36

they wanted everybody to do Rob

45:38

was everybody do a song at

45:41

least one. song from the soundtrack

45:43

and Forrest Gump. Whoa. It was

45:45

this great nostalgia night, you know,

45:48

in the lobby they had shrimp

45:50

and they had chocolates and they

45:52

had the bench, the park bench

45:54

there where you could get your

45:57

picture taken and I mean they

45:59

had people were dressing up like

46:01

Forrest Gump and showing up. It

46:04

was a completely sold out show

46:06

with Gump fans and Opry fans

46:08

and Lieutenant Dan fans and all

46:11

that stuff and it was. Just

46:13

so much fun. I had Michael

46:15

T. Williamson who played Bubba. He

46:17

came. Wow. And he plays harmonica,

46:20

so we threw him out there

46:22

with my band and played Sweet

46:24

Home Alabama and then Wendy Finerman,

46:27

who was the producer. She came,

46:29

introduced one of the acts. The

46:31

guy, remember the young guy who

46:33

played Young Forest, who had the

46:36

braces on his legs and everything?

46:38

His name is Michael Connor Humphreys.

46:40

He came and introduced one of

46:43

the acts. So it was just

46:45

a great night. And kind of

46:47

one of the first things that

46:49

I'd actually done here, you know,

46:52

to just have some fun in

46:54

Nashville. And so I'm really enjoying

46:56

it. It's a beautiful place. We

46:59

have a nice place out in

47:01

the country and it's very, very

47:03

nice and a great place to

47:06

raise the kids. What's the opera

47:08

like? What is that, is it,

47:10

do you walk in and is

47:12

it like walking into Old Yankee

47:15

Stadium or Fenway or Wrigley? or

47:17

any of those cultural Hollywood Ball?

47:19

Yeah, the old, the old operas

47:22

are the Rhyman Theater. The Rhyman

47:24

is about 2,500 seats and then

47:26

they built the new Opry quite

47:28

a while ago. I mean, it's

47:31

been around long and it's got

47:33

over 4,000 seats in there. So

47:35

it's a pretty big venue. But

47:38

you know what? Even as big

47:40

as it is, it feels very

47:42

intimate in there when you're on

47:45

stage. Like the audience is close

47:47

to you in the balconies and

47:49

everything. You feel like the audience

47:51

is right up there with. you

47:54

and just being on the legendary

47:56

Opry stage where so many just

47:58

amazing artists have played was just

48:01

the biggest thrill I gotta tell

48:03

you we only we played four

48:05

songs and that's basically you know

48:07

the Opry shows are like that

48:10

they have like eight artists on

48:12

the bill they each played two

48:14

or three songs and and then

48:17

the next one comes on the

48:19

next one and everything. I mean,

48:21

resurrection and revival, baby, part two,

48:23

go out and buy it if

48:26

you're listening and support Gary and

48:28

his foundation and Max memory. Right

48:30

now, resurrection and revival, part two,

48:33

is available on vinyl. For part

48:35

one, Mac. Wanted to make some

48:37

vinyls amazing good. I just got

48:40

I this is even better because

48:42

I am way into vinyl right

48:44

now That's my my thing so

48:46

that's great. You know what go

48:49

to the Gary Sinese Foundation website

48:51

There's a deluxe package of part

48:53

one and part two and you

48:56

can you can buy the vinyl

48:58

the first record part one is

49:00

is out on digital on Spotify

49:02

and iTunes and all of that

49:05

the second one will be out

49:07

on digital after the first of

49:09

the year All the proceeds from

49:12

the vinyl, as Mac wanted, go

49:14

to the Gary Sinese Foundation to

49:16

help us with our mission at

49:19

the Foundation. He loved the Foundation.

49:21

And you can go to Max

49:23

Sinese, YouTube, to see some of

49:25

the videos from both the first

49:28

album and the second album. And

49:30

we're also going to be watching

49:32

of Mice and Men, if we

49:35

haven't seen it. which I have.

49:37

And the outsiders. And the outsiders.

49:39

Oh, and that was the other

49:41

thing, just really quickly, because I

49:44

famously got cut out of the

49:46

movie that came out. And so

49:48

all these years, I've been wondering,

49:51

like, why did they do that?

49:53

Like, like, like, the original movie

49:55

has nothing to do with the

49:57

book. And without even any prompt.

50:00

Francis was, you know, I just

50:02

didn't understand certain plot elements and

50:04

I, so I cut out of

50:07

the movie and I made a

50:09

horrible mistake and I was like,

50:11

thank you. Thank you. At least

50:14

he fessed up. Yeah, and he

50:16

said, that's why the new version

50:18

is, he kept saying, it is

50:20

the official version. I've never heard

50:23

of the official version, but the

50:25

outside is the official version. Mr.

50:27

Sinise, love you and this was

50:30

great. It was great having you

50:32

as always. Thanks so much for

50:34

having me around and thanks for

50:36

helping to get the word out

50:39

on Max album and the music.

50:41

It's beautiful stuff and it's helping

50:43

our veterans for sure. He's still

50:46

helping us with the mission. Love

50:48

it. Eternal. Appreciate you man. God

50:50

bless you bud. Thank you. Love

50:53

you buddy. Bye. Oh,

51:01

thank you guys so much. Always feels

51:04

so good spending time with Gary. Just

51:06

always fills my heart and I'm glad

51:08

you guys were here for it. Next

51:10

week we've got more interesting stuff going

51:13

on here. Don't forget, we're on YouTube

51:15

now. Hopefully you're watching as well as

51:17

listening and subscribing and spread the word

51:20

and I'll see you next week here

51:22

on Literally. You've been listening

51:24

to, literally, with Rob Lo, produced

51:27

by me, Sean Doherty, with help

51:29

from associate producers, Sarah Bogar, and

51:31

research by Elissa Groul. Engineering and

51:34

Mixing by Joanna Samuel. Our executive

51:36

producers are Rob Lo for Low

51:38

Profile, Nick Leo Adam Sachs and

51:41

Jeff Ross for Team Coco, and

51:43

Colin Anderson for Stitcher, booking by

51:46

Deirdre Dodd, music by Devin Bryant.

51:48

Special thanks to Hidden City Studios.

51:50

Thanks for listening. We'll see you

51:53

next time. On, literally. on,

52:00

Get get a little out there

52:02

into the big of Nevada where you

52:04

can go off -road and off off

52:06

the map, on on lakes or on on horseback.

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Dip into hot springs and dive

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into deserts, climb a mountain or

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make your best effort. see See thousands

52:14

of stars in some of the

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darkest skies, skies, out haunted hotels. Can

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you make it to sunrise? to sunrise?

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always something new to see new to

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we've got plenty of space to

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just be. Plan your trip at

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trip at.com. Reese's

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peanut Cups are the greatest, but

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let me play but here. Let's

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see, so, advocate here. a good

52:36

thing. so... No, that's a good thing. definitely

52:38

not a problem. not a problem. you

52:40

did it. You stumped this

52:42

charming devil. devil!