Janine Dreyer (singer, music coordinator Saturday Night Live (1977 - 1980)

Janine joins me to discuss her renditions of the National Anthem and This Land is Your Land; moving to Long Island; Doc Pomus; studying historic preservation; getting a job as a receptionist in a service used by Howard Shore; Howard asks her to be his assistant; went to see Patti Smith perform; had to ask for lyrics from band for a shooting script, embarrassing her in front of Taj Mahal; trying to find Steve Jordan on show night; asked to create band space on home base; Leo Yoshimura balked because it didn't have union stamp; Howard called and it became bandstand; filed all paperwork, copyrights, and union activities; appearing in two sketches in the Mary Kay Place episode; SNL never cleared music rights; going through NBC's audio library and bringing music for writers to judge for sketches; Larry the cart guy; Hall Willner did the job muh better than she did; getting officially hired after Mardi Gras episode; Bonnie Raitt; the true story of Elvis Costello's 1977 appearance; giving a backhanded compliment to The Greatful Dead; hanging out with The Rolling Stones; having them sign a picture so that the crew members would know which Stone they were talking to; going to see a Broadway play with Frank Zappa the week after he hosted; not getting Kate Bush; having Gilda hug her when she said how sexy she was as Candy Slice; working on Gilda Live on Broadway; Desmond Child & Rouge; Milton Berle hated by crew who were there on his show thirty years earlier; Twitter's SNL hosts introduce musical guests; Gary Numan; Howard Shore would book someone the opposite of Jean Doumanian's picks; Sun Ra - master of the Walkman; Bette Midler; Linda Rondstadt and Phoebe Snow; The Roches appearance inspire their song "The Big Nothing"; Delbert McClinton; Bill Murray constantly playing The Amazing Rhythym Aces until they were booked; Jaco Pistorius eats the "prop" peanuts during a rehearsal of a Nick the Lounge Singer sketch; the backstage vibe of a party with show girls, camels, and Abe Lincoln: Eubie Blake & Gregory Hines; Steve Martin's Best Show Ever; helping Howard Shore score The Brood; Eugene Record; Michael Palin; crew bets when Jean Doumanian will "steal" Lorne's job; not liking Jean Doumanian; Jean not particularly liking television; SNL is for people who love TV; Walter Matthau; Kirk Douglas; O.J. Simpson; Michael Sarrazin; Marianne Faithfull; leaving with the original cast and having job taken over by Hal Wilner; Hal calling her to ask how things are done; becoming friends and producing shows with him starting in 1985; how Hal got her to start singing seriously; the real meaning of Save the Last Dance for Me; finding Van "Piano Man" Walls; her art.