The Joe Jackson Interviews

June Juanico remembers Elvis 1956 as a lover. The good, the bad, and the heartbreak. "He wanted to conquer as many women as possible."

In her wonderfully written and highly evocative 1997 memoir, 'Elvis: In the Twilight of Memory,' June Juanico recalls her love affair in 1956 with the man she calls "my Elvis." She says he was as 'the first true love" of her life, "perfect." But when we did an interview that year June and I also talked about the fact that their sexual relationship was never fully consummated,  because of Gladys Presley interrupting their lovemaking, and about how June reconciled the Elvis she knew with the seemingly sexually licentious Elvis who, she says "wanted to conquest as many women as possible." 

Shay Healy. A Tribute. "A bit of stardust in another dimension."

Today I learned of the death of one of my peers, and a person I interviewed no less than five times and got to know during a 12-day road trip across America, Shay Healy. In this clip from an interview we did in 2004, Shay says that when he dies he will become "a bit of stardust in another dimension." amen to that. This is my tribute to the man

Eamon Dunphy 1996. "When you cross U2 you get black marks. The full weight of the U2 machine fell on me. They tried to mincemeat me." Never told until now, the story behind 'Unforgettable Fire.'

In 1996 when my apparently legendary Eamon Dunphy interview was published in an Irish magazine, inexplicably missing was the section in which Dunphy talked about his experience with U2 after he wrote his biography of the band, Unforgettable Fire. In my recent eBook, Conversations with a Loudmouth: The Eamon Dunphy Interviews, I included the part that was meant to be published in 1996. Here, kin this podcast is the full exchange we had. It has never been heard before and I want it in the public domain. 

Joe Jackson's Personal Tribute to John Prine. Prine remembers working and writing songs with the patently demented if not psychotic Phil Spector.

If you, like me, grew up loving many recordings Phil Spector produced, you may also be morally torn admitting that fact given that, in the end, he turned out to be a murderer. Either way, here, as my tribute to the late John Prine, is a part of an interview we did during the 1990s, in which we discussed Prine's experiences with Spector. 

Gene Pitney talks about playing on The Rolling Stones first LP, and recording his classic single 'I'm Gonna Be Strong.' A Joe Jackson Singles podcast

Maybe, like me, you have to be a child in the '60s, who saw Pitney on TV sing I'm Gonna Be Strong, and who saw on the back of the cover of the Stones first LP, that he played the piano on the track, Little by Little, to get how priceless this little exchange is, that I had with Gene Pitney in 2004. Either way, this is rock history.

Dennis Hopper 1995, Rebel Without a Cause Revisited. "James Dean? 'The human ashtray'? Give me a break!"

As a guy who, like many of my g-g-g generation, was hugely influenced by Easy Rider, it sure was a pure delight for me in 1995 to sit and talk with Dennis Hopper, about that movie and a movie that similarly influenced me, Rebel Without a Cause. If like me, you love movies, this podcast is priceless. I shall upload the full interview at a later date. 

Neil Diamond, "Lessons I learned from a near-death experience in 1979." A Joe Jackson 'Singles' Podcast

This is a short clip - hence the "singles" tag becuase it lasts less than five minutes - from my podcast, The Neil Diamond Story Part Three. But what he says is good information for more than just fans of Neil Diamond.  

"The night Elvis sang to me in the shower." Tom Jones remembers! A fun 'single' podcast

Just a bit of fun from my most recent Tom Jones podcast. Here he recalls the night Elvis sang to him in the shower and seemed to be checking him out!

Neil Diamond 2001 Part Three. His most revealing interview ever. Neil talks about his son Jesse, divorce, a near-death experience and his concept of God.

I am delighted to see that this interview with Neil - particularly the visualised version on YouTube - is so popular among fellow Neil Diamond fans. It makes all this work on podcasts, worthwhile. Here, in the third and final part of our 2001 interview, Neil talks about his son Jesse growing up in his shadow, a song they wrote together, working with Gilbert Becaud, 20th-century lyricists he loves, divorce,  his concept of God, a near-death experience in 19789 and a message for after he is "gone." This is, arguably, the most revealing interview ever given by the great Neil Diamond. 

Paula Yates 1993 Soul Searching and Uncensored Part Two. "This is like being in therapy." Paula as you never heard her during an interview.

"It's like being in therapy," Paula Yates said to me at one point during this, the second of three podcasts based on an interview we did in Dublin in 1993.  She then went on to say "I don't usually talk to people about..." before falling silent. My belief that she was going to say something like "what I truly feel" is fired, in. part, by what Paula then said. "This is bizarre. This is the first interview where I talk about anything!" Either way, this conversation proves to me that Bob Geldof was talking bullshit when he said, angrily, during an interview we did in 2000 after I asked why he mocked Paula in a song from his latest album "you don't know anything about Paula and me apart from the guff you read in newspapers." Am I right to say this? You decide.