October 18, 2007
Meet Danny Seraphine, drummer and founding member of the legendary band
Chicago
What’s better than Chicago? Well we think it’s
California, as in the new band California Transit
Authority. The
Three Tomatoes love great music and cute guys. So you can imagine how excited
we were this week to chat with Danny Seraphine , drummer and a founding member of the legendary group Chicago, about his new band California Transit
Authority, and their fabulous CD, Full Circle, a
vibrant, powerful fusion of jazz and rock that features several Chicago hits along with other great songs. Oh, and
Danny’s cute too.
A little background first
We really wanted to focus on what Danny’s doing today with his new band and
new CD. But to understand where Danny is today, you need to understand a bit about where he came from, including his rise to super
rock star status with Chicago, and his painful “fall” when he was dumped by the band in 1990. So for those
of you who don’t know the history, here’s the brief version.
Danny grew up in the city of Chicago, and started playing drums at an early
age. In the late 1960’s he was playing with a bunch of different bands in the Chicago area, eventually
hooking up with a few other great musicians to form a band called the Chicago Transit Authority in 1967.
The group later became known simply as Chicago, and Danny skyrocketed to the big time along with the other members of the group,
drumming to mega- hits like Saturday in the Park, I’m a Man, and Does Anybody Really Know What Time It
Is. Then one day in 1990, the band voted him out. Just like that. They say
it’s because he didn’t rehearse enough with the band, he says it was politics -- the two new lead singers wanted him out.
And P.S., he never did drugs or had alcohol problems, in case you were wondering. As he says, his only vice was
women, and we’re not faulting him for that.
So he headed to Colorado, and in between fly-fishing and skiing, he produced a
number of musical acts and then started producing and resourcing investments for Broadway shows including Bombay Dreams
and Brooklyn, and eventually moved to LA. What he wasn’t doing though was playing his
drums. As he told us, they sat in his garage gathering dust, and out of courtesy one day he covered them up with a sheet,
where they stayed covered for many moons.
Full Circle
In recent years he found his way back to his drums, and he’d occasionally sit
in on a set with a band. But he really thought people had pretty much forgotten about him, until he played a couple of
Chicago hits at a benefit one night and the crowd went wild. So fast forward to 2006, and the launch of a brand new
brand, The California Transit Authority and a new CD, appropriately called
Full Circle.
So when we chatted with Danny, he candidly and openly reflected on the past,
lessons learned, the state of the music industry today, karma, growing older, testoterone and his rekindled passion for his music.
The important lesson he says he learned along the way, is not to gauge your self- worth by what other people, or
corporations, or others outside of the people in your life who truly matter to you (like family and real friends) think of you.
And don’t judge yourself by your perceived failures either. (Clearly, Danny has done a lot of sole searching
along the way.) That led us into a discussion about people who define themselves by “what they do” as
opposed to “who they are”. So in that regard, we think Danny may be one up on a lot of us who are starting to think
about the “who am I”, when I’m no longer defined by “what I do.”
Doing it his way
We chatted about how the music industry is very different today and his
disillusionment with the business. “Greed has brought it down”, says Danny. “It’s not about the music
anymore, but about the business of the music.” So Danny went outside the “business” and
is producer and distributor of Full Circle,
doing it his way -- unencumbered with no restraints. He really feels he’s been given a second chance to do
this right, and the results are powerful. We hit the treadmill with Full Circle playing on our iPod, and before we knew it 45 minutes had flown by. The Chicago tunes
like “Make Me Smile”, “25 or 6 to 4”, are so fresh, you’ll feel like you’re hearing them for the first
time. And their lead vocalist, Larry Braggs (who is also lead vocalist for
Tower of
Power ) singing “Colour My World” and "Dreams" had the hair on our
arms standing up, it’s so awesome. And Danny does an incredible drum solo on “I’m a Man” that
proves he is the man. The other terrific musicians include Marc
Bonilla (guitar) who Danny says is one of the best guitarists in the business today, six time
Emmy winner Peter Fish (keyboards), Mick Mahan (bass) best known for providing the solid rock foundation for Pat
Benatar’s band, and Edward Harris Roth (keyboards)
whose soulful keyboard playing has made him the choice of top artists, producers and musicians worldwide.
Aside from the great music, Danny is proud that this is a CD made with honesty and
integrity. His dream for the band and the CD? To the top, which he knows may not be attainable at
this point, but he still has those expectations. So do we, so buy Full Circle today from Borders, or download it from iTunes.
The Flame Burns Brightest at the End
When we asked Danny what’s good about getting older, he said he’s a
better person today, he’s learned how success can corrupt, and he’s a much better musician. He’s also
accepted his baldness (after years of hairpieces), which in our opinion detracts not at all from his cuteness. Oh, and he’s
happily married to his second (younger) wife which he attributes to less testosterone, but in a good way -- like he’s calmer, milder, and still
loves women, but in a much more appreciative way. As we closed our conversation he said “The Flame Burns Brightest at the
End”, and we suspect Danny’s working on a really long wick.
Here’s to being who you are, good karma, and keeping those flames
burning.
‘til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes.
All rights reserved.
