My Favorite Mistake: Business Lessons from Failures and Success Working Class Rock Star Ivan Bodley Was Fired by a Disco Diva; Reflecting on Other Epic Firings
My guest for Episode #206 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley. He is a bass player and music director for the stars. He has performed with 52 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and counting (ranging from Elvis Costello, The Temptations, Bo Diddley, and Wynonna Judd. He's the author of the book Am I Famous Yet?: Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star — and it's also a podcast.
He’s played in 13 Broadway shows, the President Obama Inaugural Ball, many late-night shows (including Late Night with Conan O’Brien), and morning shows, including Today and Live with Regis & Kelly. Funkboy is a magna cum laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music and an inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. He has traveled to 31 countries worldwide and played to audiences of up to 82,000 people.
In this episode, Ivan shares his favorite mistake story about getting fired by a certain “disco diva” because he asked for a raise. But what did Ivan learn from that situation? What could he have done better? Does he second-guess what he should have done before any of his “epic firings”? We discuss what it's like to be a musician who travels the world playing with household names and legends. We also talk about our mutual love of the film “This is Spinal Tap.” But, hey, enough of my yakkin'… Whadaya say? Let's boogie!
Questions and Topics:
- What was the audience of 82,000 you played for?
- Did you have the full range of relationships with the big name performers? “Can’t be overly familiar with the boss…”
- Do you ever get bored playing the same music every night?
- You have a whole section on my resume/website and book called “Gigs I DIDN'T get and why.” Why do that?
- Lessons learned — it’s often not your fault
- Do you try to find out why the last guy was fired?
- Sam Moore – Conan O'Brien video with him playing
- “Am I Famous Yet?: Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star”
- Did you want to be famous?
- This is Spinal Tap??
- Favorite scenes or mistakes from that?
- Funniest “Tap” type moment that happened to you?