00:00I will never not be from New Jersey.
00:02Growing up in the shadow of New York City made us who we are.
00:06The idea that the greatest city in the world was right out your window
00:10gave us aspirations, and Jersey gave us perspiration.
00:16You know, it gave us a reason to sweat and to aspire to grab the Great White Way.
00:25I'd often joked and said the only thing that's ever been up my nose was my finger.
00:29I never did anything to hurt the cords.
00:33You know, I didn't have any excesses.
00:35And I'm a trained vocalist for many, many, many, many years.
00:40I'm not even what sometimes you call a stylist.
00:42I'm a vocalist.
00:43You know, I've practiced the craft.
00:46So when a doctor had to explain to me that one of the cords was literally atrophying,
00:51so if they're supposed to both look like this, I had one that looked like this.
00:55It was dying.
00:57And they had to put a plastic implant called a medialization, a Gore-Tex plastic,
01:02to get them to close simultaneously and together so that I could hold a tune and have my range back.
01:09Sounds pretty $6 million man to me, you know, but I had to go with it because that was,
01:14it was that or sound like I sounded.
01:22And in the process, the doctor said, I promise you nothing, but work hard on this idea and it will
01:32eventually get there.
01:33And I had faith in the doctor.
01:35Ever since there was thunder, there's been sheltered from the storm.
01:41Well, the work was yesterday and the work is again tomorrow.
01:45I mean, that's just literally the facts.
01:47It's not dissimilar from being an athlete and you train for a season.
01:53And in this case, when you were injured and coming back from that kind of an injury,
02:00you have to also come back at a standard that you're accustomed to and there cannot be any compromises.
02:07So the process was much slower than I had anticipated, but your vocal cords, when you really think about it,
02:15are as big as your thumbnail.
02:16So when I say it's up to God, it's up to God, you know, and you can do all the
02:20exercise that you want,
02:22but then it's out of your hands.
02:26But I was patient.
02:27I never lost faith.
02:30And although the process was slow, the progress was steady.
02:34God has been my co-pilot and in this recovery, it was longer than I had ever expected, but it
02:40had to be right.
02:41If you had asked me the question and said, when did you think you could, you know, it was there?
02:46Well, the day after the surgery, I went, it works.
02:50I thought that worked every step along the way.
02:54You know, it was just a little better, a little better, a little better.
02:57Then when I was able to start having rehearsals once a month with the band for a week,
03:02we would mark the progress and the progress and the progress.
03:05Then it was, can you do two days in a row, three days in a row, four days in a
03:09row, three hours a day?
03:11Yes.
03:12And as the process and the progress got better and I had the love of the band and my love
03:16for them has only gotten deeper,
03:18everybody said, we should go play again.
03:19Me and the boys.
03:23Getting ready to be back on the big stage.
03:26If I had just been healthy year after year and we're going about our business and you tour and you
03:31make a record and you tour and you make a record,
03:33yes, there is growth.
03:34But this forced a whole nother shedding of one's skin to become a different man, right?
03:42And while I became this different man, I could tell you who were the closest beings to me was the
03:47rest of those guys on that stage.
03:49And how that they never doubted and never looked for work or decided to retire or the sacrifices that each
03:58one of them have made to be there for me
04:02so that I could be there for us is on a whole nother level now.
04:06It's been a long time.
04:07It'll have been four years since I've been on the big stage, but I'm fully recovered.
04:13I feel great.
04:14I mean, we literally are well past 50 songs that are show ready at this point.
04:19So, you know, the thing about my shows is I changed the setup quite a bit and we're well rehearsed.
04:27And now it's just about, you know, waiting out the clock to get to the stage.
04:38I know many an entertainer who live for the applause.
04:43I don't think that was ever, ever my motivation.
04:47In the order of doing it, it was writing a song was number one.
04:51Recording it was number two to see if what you've written is worth anything.
04:54And then three was performing it.
05:03A lot of these songs have lived in the zeitgeist of people's, you know, lives now for four plus decades.
05:11So, wow.
05:13You know, you want to number three because number one worked so well.
05:17You know, and you go out there and you sing those songs and people just go, yeah, that's my song.
05:22Why wouldn't I want to have that joy again?
05:24There will never be another 240 show tour.
05:27There's no reason for that.
05:30But I think that the idea of going with a well-paced, experienced band on the road tour can really
05:39be a rebirth.
05:41I think this tour could be the best thing we've ever done because I think of it as a rebirth.
05:48My kids, no one warns you about these chapters in life because then they have their own schedules in the
05:54process and you're no longer the boss of anything.
05:56But you get them together when you can and we have, you know, as much time whenever, wherever we can.
06:02So, yeah, it's cool.
06:05But they're all grown now.
06:06Romeo graduates next month.
06:08He's done with college.
06:10And that's the end of it.
06:13Yeah.
06:13Blink of an eye.
06:14Quickest four years ever.
06:16That's it.
06:16They're all in the real world now.
06:18Jake and Millie were here today with the baby.
06:21Jesse and Jesse were here two weeks ago with the baby.
06:24And Papa's a giddy, goofy grandfather.
06:26It's awesome.
06:28See my bracelet?
06:30It says, Papa John.
06:31I'm like the pizzeria.
06:37It's awesome.
06:38It's absolutely awesome.
06:40No one prepares you for those things.
06:42And then you see it and it's an extension of you and then them with their spouses.
06:48And then it becomes a whole nother part of a family.
06:52And then the magic of a baby and, you know, just wanting the best for them.
06:57You know, praying for their health, praying for their future and hoping for the best.
07:09My wife, Darcia, I got it right the first time, buddy.
07:12I'm so lucky.
07:14It'll be 37 years now this month and together 46.
07:22It's a long time.
07:24It's awesome.
07:25Just great.
07:26She has just been awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Trailblazer of the Year
07:31by the James Beard Foundation for her creation of the Soul Kitchens.
07:35So we're going to Chicago and I'm taking everybody from all the restaurants
07:40and flying them out there to celebrate her because of this incredible award that she's receiving.
07:46Giving back was always important, but doing it through food,
07:49which we realized many, many years ago, you didn't need a scientist to find the cure.
07:53She created the model of the restaurants, which now we have four and we're about to do a fifth.
07:59Her great dream is that we'll go out of business, but unfortunately we never will.
08:03And it's thriving and we're expanding into different areas, you know, whether it's finding people housing or getting expungements done
08:12yesterday.
08:1345 people were expunged with their criminal records because of the Soul Kitchen.
08:17Getting them off the street in code blue nights that we pay for a warming center.
08:22You know, we've built a thousand units of affordable housing, but it's all, you know, because of the foundation,
08:27which led to the kitchens, which has led to these other incredible things.
08:31And all the kitchen and the whole second phase of it was solely Darcia.
08:36So to be able to celebrate her in this way, you know, in Chicago,
08:40is going to be a wonderful treat for her, for me to be their witness,
08:45and for all of the employees of the kitchens that I'm going to take with us.
08:52Outside of work, what brings me joy is being in the moment and realizing that the sun is shining.
09:02And it sounds a little trite, but it's not.
09:05I used to always have my nose to the grindstone, always with my head down, thinking of what tomorrow,
09:11tomorrow, never living in the today.
09:13This forced me to not only live in the today, but be appreciative for every today that's still here.
09:21So the simple joys of waking up with my granddaughter today,
09:26playing tennis with some guys that I've never met before,
09:30you know, staring at the little puffy cloud in the sky and saying,
09:33this is great.
09:35I'm not uptight about this interview.
09:37I'm not uptight about going to do the shows.
09:39I'm not uptight about this is it.
09:42This is as real as it gets.
09:44That's joy.
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