CLASSIC The Howard Stern Show - may 23rd -2001

-- Wednesday May 23, 2001 --
Various Stuff. 5/23/01. 6:05am
Howard complained about the miserable weather they're having in New York lately. It's been raining and Robin said the forecast is for rain through at least Saturday.
Howard had a new guest in this morning. Morning man Vinnie Penn from New Haven, Connecticut came in to hang out. Howard figured he'd give a radio guy a shot on the show instead of a comedian. Robin immediately commented on his odd looking blonde hair. Vinnie is thinning a little bit and he's dyed his hair blond. They goofed on that for a short time until Robin told her latest Jackie story.

Robin said she went down to the garage to leave yesterday and the garage attendants told her that Jackie was there telling them that he misses them and he thought of that place like his home. Howard guesses Jackie is now negotiating with garage attendants to get his job back. Howard said he had a cushy job and he blew it.

Howard was still amazed that Suzanne Somers has her own jet. He found that out when she came in yesterday. Everyone was talking about how she owns the rights to that Thigh Master thing and they sold millions of them at $20 a pop. Howard said he loved having use of a private jet when they went out to Las Vegas a couple of months back.

REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin Calls In. 5/23/01. 6:35am
Howard recently read a newspaper article that said a concert featuring REO Speedwagon, Kansas and Steppenwolf was canceled because it only sold 400 tickets. Howard ended up playing songs by the bands and goofed on them quite a bit. Kevin Cronin, the lead singer of REO Speedwagon, heard about it and decided to call in to straighten Howard out about what actually happened.
Kevin told Howard he heard about it from someone who told him it was better that he didn't hear it himself. Kevin told Howard that REO Speedwagon has been doing great lately selling a lot of tickets when they perform alone. Then when they were hooked up with Kansas and Steppenwolf, 400 tickets sell. Howard guessed that Kevin is basically saying that Kansas and Steppenwolf dragged them down. Kevin did joke about putting the blame on the other bands.

Howard and Robin said that they really like Kevin but the story was too funny not to goof on. Howard spent a couple of minutes talking to Kevin before ending the call. Kevin said that REO Speedwagon has to sell more than 400 tickets because he lives down the street from Richie Sambora and Wil Smith among others. If the band doesn't sell more then he wouldn't be able to live there. Kevin also said that the promotor for the concert was the one who spread the story about the 400 ticket thing.

Kevin told Howard he has friends in Styx and Journey and it make him look bad to them when a story like this comes out. Howard spent a minute talking about what a prick Steven Perry formerly of Journey was to him years ago. Howard said he got back stage and Perry just treated him like a douche.

Howard took a couple of phone calls for the guy but the listeners were just goofing on him. Kevin didn't seem to mind it though. He took it like a man. As he was getting off the phone he told Howard their concert was actually a free concert where they gave away 40,000 tickets. He didn't know what happened the two other nights of the concert.

After the call Howard talked about how radio stations always hold these concerts. Even his station K-Rock is having their Dysfunctional Family Picnic on June 22. Stuttering John came in and gave Howard the run down on the bands that would be playing. Blink 182 was one and Staind is going to be there.Stuttering John said that their program director had booked The Ramones, Van Halen and even Guns 'N' Roses but they all had to back out because of various problems including the death of Joey Ramone. Howard didn't know much about this band Staind so he played a couple of clips from their latest album Break the Cycle. Howard also checked out Linkin Park for a few seconds as well as Disturbed.

Crazy Cabbie called in to talk about how great this DFP concert is going to be but he ended up getting into a verbal fight with Stuttering John. They're still calling each other names and Cabbie says he's still willing to beat the crap out of John. John sounds like he's backing out of a fight though. He keeps saying that Cabbie just wants air time but Cabbie says he'll fight him at a gym with no cameras watching them. John's not going to do it though. He keeps saying that he's not looking to fight the guy but if he comes down to the station and starts something there, he'll fight him. That won't happen because Cabbie doesn't want to lose his job for fighting at the station. Howard said he could have listened to them fight all morning but he had to take a break.

More Various Time Killers. 5/23/01. 7:40am
Howard played a little bit of a Bob Schimmel comedy bit because Bob will be on the show tomorrow. After that Howard spent some time talking about diets and how Suzanne Somers basically told him that eating fruit is bad for him. He doesn't believe it and thinks that there's just so many diet books out there that people have to come up with new ideas for diets.
Howard talked to guest Vinnie Penn and his hair loss. The guy is only 33 years old and he's losing quite a bit of his hair according to Howard. He feels bad for guys like that.

Gary came in and told a story about how his cell phone was turned off by his phone company for some reason. He said he spent hours and hours on the phone with them trying to get it turned back on. It was all a mistake and it was like pulling teeth to get the thing turned back on. KC came in and talked about how the DMV is using prisoners to answer customer calls in New York. Howard doesn't think they should trust any prisoners with a computer that has DMV information on it.

Some guy called in from Ecco Entertainment to book Howard's band The Losers on a tour. Howard told the guy that he could book it himself if he actually wants to do a tour. The guy said that he could do all of the promotion and stuff like that but Howard said he can do that himself also. He basically turned the guy down but said if he does need his help he can't think of anyone better to do it.

Howard is going to take on the band that he played on the show yesterday. The guy who played ''Screech'' on ''Saved by the Bell'' plays bass in some band and Howard wants to have a Battle of the Bands with The Losers and Screeches band. Howard was trying to figure out what song they'll perform but he never came up with a good one.

Vegas Trip Giveaway And Night Terror. 5/23/01. 8:10am
Howard was going to give away a trip to Las Vegas by playing a game. He had a trip for 2 to some special Star Trek Voyager thing. Howard had KC come in with some choices for games. Howard ended up playing ''Hitler True or False'' by himself for a few minutes. KC gave him a few of the questions and Howard played. He never did get a player on the phone though. He got sidetracked talking about Hitler and KC.
Apparently KC has been passing bad checks to parking garages and other places lately. He said he stopped parking in one place because he owed them money. He tried another place but when he went to get his car they told him they owned the other garage and they were holding his car. Gary said that KC didn't even know that passing bad checks could get him arrested.

Gary also told Howard that Craig Gass spent the night at Benjy's apartment on Sunday night and Benjy has night terrors. He just starts yelling out in his sleep. Howard said that he's been hearing that he does that himself. He said his wife used to tell him that and now his girlfriend says he yells and curses while he's sleeping. Howard said it really pisses him off because he talks so much on the radio that he shouldn't have anything left to say when he's sleeping. He said he hasn't bothered to tell his shrink about it because he doesn't know that he's doing it, he just hears about it from his women. Howard thinks that Benjy's night terrors are just to get attention on the show. Benjy said they've been happening since he was a kid but everyone else thinks that he just does it around people who are on the show so they'll talk about him.

Later in the show Howard got around to giving away the trip. This guy Mike who calls in and makes jokes about Howard's ex-wife Alison called in and begged to play. He told Howard that if he just gets the chance to play he'll never mention Alison's name again. Howard let him give it a try. Gary came in with a Game Show Theme song game. The guy was supposed to guess 2 out of the 3 correct to win. He only ended up getting one after Howard gave it away though. Howard gave him the trip anyway. They played theme songs from The Match Game, Wheel of Fortune and The Gong Show. He only got The Gong Show after Howard coughed out the name of it for him. Mike told Howard that his last name was Hock... Mike Hock. So he was joking right down to the end.

Lester Auctioning Off Bonny Lee Bakley Record. 5/23/01. 8:35am
This guy Lester used to own a recording studio back in the '70's. He claims that Robert Blake's late wife Bonny Lee Bakley recorded a couple of songs in his studio and he still has the record. Howard had the songs there with him but there were bleeps in them so no one would have the whole song because Lester is auctioning off the record on eBay.com. Lester claims that he recognized a picture of this woman in the paper and remembered that she made this recording back in 1975 or so. The song was awful. Howard played a bit of the song called ''Just a Fan'' in which she talks about chasing down celebrities. After Howard heard a little bit of it he jokingly said ''Somebody should have shot her then!'' Her voice was awful and the whole song was really bad. Lester played bass on the song but he said he'd rather forget that part. There's also a flip side of the record and that song was even worse. Someone said she makes Yoko Ono sound talented. Howard said that Bonny Lee, known as Lee Bonny back then, had zero talent.
Lester said he's trying to get $1000 or so for the record. Howard said he might pay that much just to have the awful songs. Lester suggested doing a search for 'Robert Blake' on eBay.com to bring up his auction.

Gary Garver Interviews Joe Pesci. 5/23/01. 9:10am
Howard played a tape of Gary Garver interviewing Joe Pesci out at some event in California. Gary asked Joe something like ''Can you believe the luck of Brenden Fraser? (Return of the Mummy)'' Joe says that he's a nice kid and a good actor. Gary continues with a couple of other questions about medical marijuana, Robert Blake and Tom Cruise. Joe starts getting pulled away because his people know it's for Howard's show. Joe comes back to the microphone and says ''Howard Stern is the luckiest man in the world... not Brenden Fraser.'' Insulting Howard. Howard made fun of Joe a little bit but after Fred played the scene from ''Good Fellas'' that they play once in a while he said he likes some of the stuff the guy is in.
''The Sopranos'' Actor Joseph Gannascoli Calls In. 5/23/01. 9:25am
Joseph Gannascoli, the actor who played the guy who whacked Jackie Jr. on ''The Sopranos'' called in real quick this morning. Howard said he doesn't think anyone really cares that this guy is on the show but he let him call in anyway. Joseph and Howard talked about the mob and how there may be some real mob guys on the show. Joseph grew up in Brooklyn so he knew some mobsters himself. He just wanted to tell everyone that he owns a restaurant in Bayridge Brooklyn called Soup is Art and a couple of the actors from the show will be signing autographs there today at noon and 3pm. The restaurant is on Third Ave.