- 2 days ago
Eric Nadel, the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame broadcaster, joined the K&C Masterpiece, previewed his 75th birthday benefit concert at the Longhorn Ballroom, opened up about his personal journey with depression, shared his process for discovering new music, talked some Rangers baseball, and more.
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00:00K&C Masterpiece back here on 105 for the Fan. Right now in studio we have the man who made
00:05that call, Texas Rangers broadcaster and legendary philanthropist, Eric Daydell. Good afternoon, sir.
00:13How are you guys doing?
00:14We're good. So we're, what, 30 hours-ish away from the birthday concert tomorrow, Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas.
00:27And I know you were talking about this the other day. Does the milestone birthday help bring a little bit
00:34even more specialness to all of this?
00:36For sure. Because it's my 75th, we convinced the charity, the Grant Halliburton Foundation, the beneficiary of the event, to
00:44blow out the budget a little bit and bring in two bands that I love who aren't really well-known
00:49in Texas.
00:50One from San Francisco, Chuck Proffitt, and his Cumbia Shoes. They do a brand of Latin music called Cumbia, which
00:57comes from Colombia.
00:59And he's a rock legend in the Bay Area, and he's basically just working on this new project.
01:04And then from Brooklyn, New York, my hometown, Sammy Ray and the Friends. It's a big band with a very
01:09charismatic female singer named Sammy Ray.
01:11They have horns. They have backup singers. Both of them are high-energy bands. People will be dancing. It will
01:17be more of a festive event than it's been in the past.
01:20And I know I've asked you this before, but we get new listeners all of the time.
01:25What was it that got you involved with Halliburton or mental health and just that entire scope of helping people?
01:32When I was a kid, my mom used to work for an organization in New York that helped kids.
01:38Back then, they referred to them as emotionally disturbed, but they were basically kids with various mental health issues.
01:46So I was aware of the fact that mental health can be a problem and something that should be dealt
01:52with, not something that should be hidden.
01:53And then within my family, there's a history of depression.
01:57And then when I started going through it in the early 2000s, I really decided that it was important to
02:03do what I could to erase the stigma around mental illness and support organizations that work in that direction.
02:10And the Grant Halliburton Foundation provides programs in schools that do suicide prevention programs and mental health education programs, both
02:20for parents and the students, and even the teachers.
02:24They have programs for the teachers, too.
02:26And this event raises a good chunk of money for them and allows them to be in more and more
02:31schools with their really valuable programs.
02:34I'm not going to ask you to unload the whole toolbox here, but one of the things we talk about
02:38a lot is when we talk about mental health a lot on the show anyway.
02:43Both of us have our own experiences.
02:44They're uniquely different.
02:46We have, I think, I was talking to my kids about this, having other strategies, having other ways to cope
02:53with things or battle back at something.
02:56What is the thing that you say, I'm going to go with this one first when it comes to something
03:01like that?
03:01Because always, for me, it's go outside.
03:04Get outside, see if I can get some sun, and then we'll go to step number two.
03:08I didn't know if you had a plan or a strategy like that that you like to go to.
03:11Yeah.
03:11One of the things is try to do the things that bring you joy.
03:15And some of them can be even the simplest things.
03:18You know, when I was going through what I called the black hole, you know, a friend of mine who
03:22had been through it said,
03:23really enjoy the things that you take for granted, like a hot shower, where, you know, a significant percentage of
03:29the world can't take a hot shower.
03:31Yeah.
03:32You know, enjoy that.
03:33Enjoy getting into clean sheets at night on a soft bed that a lot of people can't do.
03:39You know, appreciate those little things and feel the gratitude.
03:43And, you know, that can help.
03:44Obviously, it's not going to help everybody.
03:46It's not going to solve all the problems.
03:48Talking about it is the big step, I think.
03:51You know, you talk with your friends, first of all.
03:54You talk with your parents.
03:55You talk with your teachers.
03:56You talk to a mental health professional eventually because talk therapy for a lot of people is all they really
04:02need to help come out of depression and deal with anxiety.
04:06In a lot of cases, it's not.
04:07It's worth trying medications, you know, antidepressants, that sort of thing.
04:12Then there's breathing exercises, relaxation, meditation, you know, all sorts of things.
04:18But until you talk about it with someone, you don't necessarily even know what all the options are.
04:23And, Kevin, that's one of the reasons, like, this morning when we kind of started the show, I was like,
04:27you know, a lot of people not talking is because of fear.
04:30Yes.
04:31Of a variety of things, but because of multiple different types of fear that exist out there.
04:36And that's why I appreciate you talking and being open about it and us doing what we do because it
04:41gives people the, oh, yeah, I can do that, too, hopefully.
04:44Like, that's the hope with all that.
04:47I am kind of curious, though, like you say the things that you love, music, where did music become a
04:54big part of your life?
04:57It was always on in the background in our house when I was a kid.
05:00My parents listened to show tunes.
05:02Back then, it was South Pacific, Oklahoma, The King and I, Sound of Music.
05:09And they would listen a lot to Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, those sorts of performers.
05:16But my sister was three years older, and she was more interested in Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.
05:22And so in the late 50s, when I was maybe six or seven years old, she started bringing home those
05:29records.
05:29And that was a game changer for me.
05:32And we wore out those Elvis Presley records.
05:35We had a 78 RPM record.
05:39The thing was like a dinner plate, you know, even in the thickness.
05:43And it had Hound Dog on one side and Don't Be Cruel on the other side.
05:47Yeah.
05:47We wore out the grooves on that.
05:49I remember her bringing home Love Me Tender, Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock.
05:55Those were the songs that I remember we had on 78 records.
05:59And then Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
06:01That was the first album that we owned.
06:03I think it was called Meet the Crickets or The Chirping Crickets.
06:07I think that's what it was called.
06:08And then eventually she started moving into the folk world, and she would bring home Bob Dylan records and Joan
06:15Baez, other people like that.
06:17And then the Beatles and the Rolling Stones came, the British Invasion.
06:22Yeah.
06:22And we were really hooked at that point when those guys came and started doing what they do.
06:28That's the, like, when Adrian and I were running around Deep Ellum, it was always fun to, you know, find
06:35bands that we liked.
06:36And when we go out of town, you know, we get lucky to stumble into a bar and be like,
06:40ah, this band is awesome.
06:41I imagine that's kind of, I know you've got baseball games to do, but whenever you travel, do you get
06:47those opportunities to kind of swing through and that's how you find those?
06:50Every chance I get, you know, there's an app called Bands in Town that gives you a listing of just
06:56about everybody who's playing in a given city on a specific date.
07:01You can look at today's date or you can look at any date in the future, and whatever shows have
07:05already been booked will pop up on there.
07:07And that's what I use to figure out what I'm going to do on an off night or after a
07:124 o'clock game in Seattle or, you know, something like that.
07:15But I catch a lot of music on the road and make a lot of musical discoveries there by just
07:20going to venues that I like without even knowing who the bands are, knowing that whoever they book is going
07:25to be good.
07:26So, and it's a little bit your fault.
07:28I got distracted during one of your answers because I was looking at your silent auction page because in addition,
07:35Corey, to going to the concert, man, you get lost in this silent auction page, including a lunch with you
07:43and I at Lockhart.
07:46Let's go.
07:47And so, well, I mean, you'll be there.
07:49Yeah.
07:49So I don't necessarily need you to bid.
07:51I will go.
07:51But if other people could bid as well, how, you know, how cool is it to be able to grab
07:59so many experiences from people that you've gotten to know and work with over the years?
08:05Because you're looking at this.
08:06It is a murderer's row of personalities and DFW personalities.
08:11Plus, I was thinking of, could I buy the cruise without my wife getting mad at me?
08:15So there's a whole lot of options going on here.
08:18I think we have 25 of these celebrity dinners this year.
08:23Brian Broaddus is doing one.
08:25We've got Ross Fenstermaker, the Rangers general manager.
08:30Neil Liebman, the managing partner, is going to do one at Al Bernays.
08:34Skip Schumacher is doing one.
08:36Mike is doing one.
08:37Mike Bassick, too.
08:39Mike Bassick is doing one.
08:40Elvis Andrews and Jared are doing one at Choloso.
08:45And you can bid on these, and it's usually, in most cases, it's lunch or dinner for four.
08:50You know, we have Mark Folliwell and Chuck Cooperstein doing them.
08:54We have Brent Severin and Brian Ray, the stars pre- and post-game and intermission hosts.
08:59That's our buddy.
09:00Doing one.
09:00Evan Grant is on there doing one.
09:03Norm.
09:04Norm.
09:04Yeah.
09:05Norman and Mary at Bob's Steak and Chop House.
09:07I'm doing one at Neighborhood Services.
09:09You can do one at Hurtado with Matt and Jared and me.
09:14And Laura Stickles and I are doing one at Chamberlain's.
09:17Those are the big ones that we make most of the money off.
09:22But also, how about Dale Hanson?
09:23He is having six people to his house.
09:26And picking you up in a limo.
09:27And picking you up in a limo to take you to Waxahachie, where he lives.
09:31And then these experiences, I convinced the Rangers this year, it's the first time we've done it,
09:37to let me auction off the opportunity to be one of the dots in the dot race.
09:42Awesome.
09:43That is cool.
09:44That is cool.
09:44We've always talked about that.
09:46That's already up over $1,000.
09:48And the auction goes until 9.30 tomorrow night.
09:51You don't have to be present to win in the auction.
09:54And you can enter right now by texting ENBB, as in Eric Nadel, birthday benefit, lowercase letters, ENBB.
10:03And you text that to 44834.
10:07I remember it as 44, Hank Aaron.
10:10Yeah.
10:11Yogi Berra.
10:1234, Nolan Ryan.
10:14That's the way Colby does.
10:16That would do those as well.
10:17It is.
10:17Text ENBB to 44834, and you can get in on the bidding now.
10:22And the cruise that you're talking about, I went on last year, and I will go on that cruise again
10:27next year.
10:27It's the David Foster Hitman Cruise.
10:29Michael McDonald's good, yeah.
10:31He still has his fastball, man.
10:34It was outrageous.
10:35And on the cruise, there's a variety of fantastic female singers, including Morgan James, who's one of my favorite performers.
10:43She's singing as the backup singer to Michael McDonald on this cruise.
10:48Awesome.
10:48And it was one of the most magical musical experiences that I've ever had.
10:53Do you think if we went on the cruise, we could get him to go, it's the K&C masterpiece?
10:58Probably so.
10:59Okay.
10:59Just while you're walking around on the cruise.
11:01Who needs him to do it?
11:02Yeah.
11:03Oh, that's a good point.
11:05We do have an idea, and maybe you can steal this or snag this or talk to the Rangers for
11:09us in the future on this one,
11:11of auctioning off the ability to be the person that opens the roof, either pushing the button or whatever the
11:16crank is.
11:17I don't know what it is.
11:18There's no way they just hand crank the roof open.
11:20But it's very rare, so I think this would go for a lot.
11:23Like, this is not going to get a lot out of those opportunities.
11:25You only have three or four opportunities a year, generally.
11:28You know, I thought maybe you were referring to last night.
11:30The roof was slow last night.
11:31Yeah.
11:32Because the game had already, like, was starting when it was still going, right?
11:35It was still moving.
11:36I don't know what's going on.
11:38I'll try and get some sort of report on that when I get there tonight.
11:42But it hadn't been used for over a month.
11:45But there are times it hadn't been used for months and months, and it runs just fine.
11:48Does that kind of bum you out at all?
11:51I realize the dew point and all of that, but...
11:54I wish it was open more, but apparently it's a safety issue when there's condensation on the walkways.
12:00You don't want anybody getting hurt.
12:01You don't want people slipping on the concourse.
12:03And, you know, it's too bad because, you know, there have been nights where it's been in the upper 70s,
12:08and they haven't been able to open the roof because it's too humid and there's condensation on the concourse.
12:13My suggestion is get the leaf blower guy from Arizona.
12:16I'm surprised to just come out there and blow everything dry.
12:19It'll be all right.
12:20Our idea was like a giveaway, and all these people have little backpacks with little leaf blowers on them.
12:26So we worked on that.
12:27Now, I know, obviously, we're raising money for charity, and that is the most important part.
12:33For just for a personal aspect, you talk about bands you like.
12:36How much fun is this night for you?
12:38It's the best.
12:39I look forward to it all year.
12:40I'm actually already working on next year's.
12:42Wow.
12:42We've got offers out to a couple of artists for next year's show, and I just love it.
12:48You know, think about it.
12:50Have two bands that you just love playing for you on your birthday with as many of your closest friends
12:56as you can round up,
12:58and people who are fans of the bands or fans of the Rangers, fans of the radio broadcast, wanting to
13:05come out and just be a part of it.
13:06And, you know, we'll have somewhere between 500 and 700 people there at the Longhorn Ballroom tomorrow night.
13:13Well, we could still do better, though.
13:15GrantHalliburton.org slash Eric Nadell.
13:17We could get more people there.
13:18We can.
13:19You can walk up and buy tickets.
13:20And this is not like some benefit gala where the tickets are hundreds of dollars.
13:24They start at $25.
13:25So you can get in.
13:27The tickets run $25 to $70, I think.
13:29And you can walk up tomorrow night and buy a ticket if you'd like.
13:32The first band, Chuck Profitt, will go on at $7.30.
13:35And the second band will go on at $9.30, Sammy Ray and the Friends.
13:39In between, we have our live auction.
13:42And in the live auction, we are auctioning off a dinner with Chris Young at Nick and Sam's.
13:48Wow.
13:49A home plate suite, you know, the suite behind a home plate where the owners sit, where, you know, you
13:54can have people watch you eat popcorn all game if you're sitting in the suite.
13:59We have a weekend in Houston to see the Rangers and have a VIP treatment and visit to the booth
14:06and dinner with the broadcasters.
14:08We have Chad Hauser of Cafe Momentum, the award-winning chef, will come to your house and prepare dinner for
14:15$10.
14:16Wow.
14:16And then we have a weekend in Napa with a variety of wine tastings.
14:21Those are our live auction items.
14:22And you have to be present to bid on those.
14:25But all of the online auctions, all the celebrity meals we were talking about and the experiences, you do not
14:30have to be there tomorrow.
14:31You just have to text EMBB to 44834.
14:36Kevin, how much would you pay to beat Chris Young down with trade opportunities?
14:42Man.
14:42And also get to eat an amazing dinner.
14:44See, and also I could be like, hey, this is for Eric's charity.
14:48You have to be nice to me.
14:49All right.
14:50But, yeah, I was already thinking.
14:51I was like, maybe the cruise, my wife would be like, well, that's nice for us both.
14:56And so I have to figure out some ways to slide a little money to the side.
15:00That is incredible.
15:02Anything else you want us to know or we need to know about the event?
15:06I mean, obviously, it already sounds amazing.
15:08People have been asking what the dress code is.
15:09There's no dress code.
15:10Yeah.
15:10As in most things I'm involved with.
15:12Wear whatever you want.
15:13You want to wear a T-shirt and shorts, that's fine.
15:15You want to wear a three-piece suit, that's fine, too.
15:17Most people will be comfortable because there will be some dancing.
15:21These are bands that will have you up out of your seat.
15:23Are you a dancer?
15:24I'm a bouncer.
15:25I kind of stand around and bounce up and down.
15:28I know no dance steps.
15:29Okay.
15:30I remember supposedly having to learn how to dance for dancing the first dance at your wedding.
15:38All I can do is try and bluff my way through.
15:40I have no idea how to dance.
15:42But I bounce up and down.
15:43I like to stand and bounce up and down and move around.
15:45I don't usually stay in one place at concerts.
15:49You know, when I go to some shows, I like to be standing in the pit as close to the
15:54band as I can.
15:55Okay.
15:55And, you know, I'm dancing, but I'm not doing anything that anybody else would recognize as dancing.
16:01Right.
16:02It's just kind of bopping up and down.
16:04I guess that's how I would put it.
16:05I'm a bopper.
16:06That's a little less fun than when you said you're the bouncer.
16:09And I was like, oh, man.
16:11Neat.
16:11He's at the door.
16:12Where the hell's your ticket?
16:13You see that ID here.
16:15I love it.
16:16All right.
16:16Thank you so, so much for jumping on and for raising all the money and awareness through
16:21Grant Halliburton and so many different causes with mental health stuff.
16:25That's freaking cool, man.
16:26Thank you guys so much for having me and for doing the celebrity lunch.
16:29You guys will have a great time.
16:30Of course.
16:31And also, there might be rival radio shows that have other things up for bid, and we want
16:37to beat them.
16:38Yeah, we want to defeat them.
16:39Yeah.
16:39For charity.
16:40Exactly.
16:40For charity.
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