You know we all have friends, but I don’t know if I could say who is my “best” friend. Would it be a couple of my Army buddies? There’s “Whitey”, half American Indian and half Mexican (you would want to give him plenty of space when he starts on the “fire water”) or maybe “Jancula” the pied piping pollack from Pittsburg. Or maybe Tom who lives here in my hometown of Auburn AL. We’ve known each other for 30 years, I went to his wedding and divorce, we’ve been physically thrown out of nearly every bar in the southeast, dozens in the Carribean, several in Europe, and I once watched 6 bouncers carry him out of Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas (Of course, as they carried him out, I continued playing my game of craps and figured I’d find him the next day).
Once the wild days passed, Tom set his mind out to make money. And boy did he!!!!!! Let’s just say, if he had children, which he doesn’t, none of them or their children would ever have to work a day in their lives if they didn’t want to.
He loves the Rev. Bubba music and gets excited about the band and quite often goes on the road with us just for fun. When I do appearances by myself, he often flies the two of us in his private plane. We’re close, we know everything there is to know about each other and many of the things we know will have to go to the grave with us.
As a very small part of his financial empire, Tom owns 7 radio stations. You would think, as close as we are as friends , the new Bubba record would be spinning like crazy at most of those stations. There are radio stations all around the country, who have never met us, that are playing our record, but not Tom’s radio stations.
He did offer to play “Let The Eagle Fly” every night at midnight. He was very serious. I told him to kiss my ass. Two of the stations are rock stations, one plays new rock and the other a mixture of new and old. He could easily tell the music directors to give us some good spins of Ain’t No American Idol, the Jody Grind, or Let My Peoples Dance, but noooooo! There’s a country station that could play “Happy Hour”. He has one that he calls “Kate FM” that’s targeted toward women. Don’t you think Didn’t We Love, That’s What You Do, or Mo Better would appeal to women? Apparently Tom doesn’t!
I never got a straight answer from him as to why his stations refuse to play our record. Even though he owns the stations outright, no partners, I think he doesn’t want to show his authority and possibly upset the musical integrity of the pompas music directors and DJ’s. What’s the line in the good book about a prophet not being recognized in his hometown?
Tom, let me give you a clue. This is not New York, LA, or even Birmingham. Auburn is a small, fairly insignificant market when it comes to the big scheme of things. Madison Avenue advertising agencies are not beating your doors down trying to buy airtime. If I owned 7 stations and you farted on a record for three minutes, I’d put it in heavy rotation! Rev. Bubba D. Liverance PS: As my boycott of your stations, I just ordered Sirius!
