Ralph Covert (Ralph’s World, Bad Examples) jumps in my car to eat goat tacos from Taqueria Atontonilco in Pilsen (1637 S Blue Island Ave). Ralph’s an incredibly talented songwriter, and we cover a lot of ground:
- The early days of Bad Examples and the DIY foundation the band was built on
- Condoms-as-band-marketing
- The Chicago music scene of the 1990s
- The impact of grunge on Bad Examples’ momentum
- How Ralph’s World came to be (“let’s approach it like an indie rock thing”)
- Ralph’s decades of circling around Billy Corgan, and vice versa
- How Ralph reacted when he learned he was nominated for a Grammy award
- How Ralph measures success
- A heart rending story about a listener touched by Ralph’s World’s music
- The first single from the next Ralph Covert album, “Amen Alex Chilton is Sleeping” (Stick around until the end to hear it! Thanks to Ralph Covert for allowing it to be included in this episode!)
- The upside of creative crowdsourcing
- Ralph’s talented daughter, Fiona Grey interrupts the podcast about 30 minutes in and Ralph promises to bring her a goat taco
- The Boost Mobile social media messages of the week come from listeners Rebecca P., Will K., Rachel G. and Lala
- Ralph distracts me while I’m reading the social media messages