Interview With Bruce Flohr

MJ: Bruce Flohr, thanks for joining us today.

BF: Thank you.

MJ: Tell us about RCA Records, what you do here, and what exactly does

"A&R" mean, that you're in charge of?

BF: A&R is pretty much an outdated term these days. It stands for Artist

and Repertoire, and it goes back to the old days of rock and roll, when an

an A&R guy was in charge of finding the artist, the Elvis Presley, or the

Bruce Springsteen, or the Aretha Franklin, and then finding musicians to

put around that person, and the songs to sing. So you basically, they were

star makers, they were creators of the whole entity. And now A&R, although

we still use the term, our roles as talent scouts, as you'd say, is much

more of, I believe, facilitating people's dreams and visions. It is...At

least from my perspective, the artists I'm looking for already have the

talent to write their own songs, and sing their own songs, and play their

own instruments. All I want to do is give them the tools to make their

dreams come true, because ultimately their dreams are my dreams. And I kind

of live vicariously through all my artists, because as we all know,

everybody wanted to be a baseball player, or a football player, or a rock

star. I too wanted to be a rock star, and when I realized I didn't have

enough hair to do so, I thought I'd better be in the music business.

MJ: Can you give us a bit of history of RCA? What kind of artists have you

had over the years?

BF: Well, RCA is the oldest record company in America. We're almost

approaching our 100th year anniversary, and you know, we have the little

nipper dog, and staring into the gramophone. And it goes way back to the

classical records, but also most recently, our rock and roll history starts

with Elvis Presley. And he is the biggest selling artist in the history of

music. I mean, I think it's something like 150 million records the guy has

sold. 57 gold or platinum albums. It's phenomenal. But what RCA's tried to

do over the last ten years, but more importantly over the last five years,

is basically shed the Elvis Presley baggage, so to speak, not because Elvis

Presley's something we're ashamed of, but that's all we were known for. Now

it's time to create the new Elvis Presley's, and move forward into the

future of what music's all about. And we've been able to do that recently

with some major successes in the States at least, with an artist by the

name of the Dave Matthews Band, which here in the States, has sold over

three records, almost 12 million albums. We have a lot of contemporary new

rock bands that used to never want to be on RCA, because we were kind of

perceived as the stodgy old label. And they have put people like myself,

and other A&R guys from back in New York and Los Angeles, in charge of

going out there and finding the next generation of rock music. And that's

where RCA is at right now. We are now perceived as one of the labels on the

cutting edge.

MJ: Do you have a sense of history being the label that Elvis was once at?

How does that feel?

BF: For me personally, I was never a fan. I'd like to think I'm still a

little too young to appreciate Elvis. I barely remember the fat days, you

know. My history starts with Van Halen, and so I don't, I never looked at

RCA as an institution, but I certainly feel like, I certainly respect the

fact that here is a label that has been in one of the most difficult

industries in America, through all the transitions, and it's still there.

As opposed to a lot of these new labels that are there because they have a

lot of funding, and they're around for two years, and then they get sold,

and they fall apart and they go bankrupt. RCA comes to work every day, and

goes home every day, and moves the boat forward a little bit at a time.

MJ: Now, how many A&R people are there in this company?

BF: There's myself, and a gentleman by the name of Ron Fair here on the

west coast, just the two of us. And then there is Brian Malouf, Dave Novik,

David Bendett, Pete Robinson, and Franz Fligely in New York. I think I

counted nine, maybe seven.

MJ: Just a few of you.

BF: Yeah, and we all are basically on the same team. We look for different

things. Each one has their own specialized sense of music. Some guys are

more in the pop vein, singer-songwriters, dance acts, things like Wild

Orchid or Robyn. Some are more into the acoustic vein of music, and some

are more into the harder edged rock stuff. I kind of fall in the gray area

of anywhere between acoustic based music, like an artist I have named

Jeremy Toback, to a hard rock band that's kind of like our version of the

Smashing Pumpkins, a band called Hum. So I run the gamut. If somebody said,

"What kind of A&R person are you?" I really look for artists that I think

are going to make album after album after album. I'm not looking for one

hit wonders.. I'm looking for groups or individual artists that are going

to make great albums. I think that the industry has gotten to a point where

we are very quick to sign groups that have one or two good songs, but when

you put on the whole record, you kind of skip through a couple, most of the

songs, because there's not that depth there. I'm looking for artists that

when you pay 15 dollars in American dollars, you're getting a great album

and you want to listen to the whole thing and experience the whole record.

Groups the way R.E.M. made records, the way U2 makes records, the way The

Cure makes records, where, you know, you didn't worry about if it had a

smash, you just believed in the whole project, because you believed in the

artist.

MJ: Now, where is your desk and chair?

BF: My desk and chair are adios.

MJ: So this is actually your office right here.

BF: This is where I work, yeah. I usually sit right here, phone on the

coffee table, and I try to make it as comfortable as possible. And not

until six o'clock do I bring out the beverages.

MJ: What does this atmosphere do? How does this help you in working in this

field?

BF: For me, since I'm dealing with music, it's a very creative, obviously,

field, and I just didn't want to get, I can't get stuck behind a desk

acting like I'm pushing pencils and selling widgets. I'm dealing with

people's lives here, and I'm dealing with people's emotions. Not only my

emotions and the artist's emotions, but the public that we're trying to

reach. And I think you have to be in a mindset... I think you have to

deal... I'm, we're dealing with people's emotions, when it comes to music,

you know, that's the pulse, it makes you feel something; happy, angry, sad,

in love, out of love, and for me this environment allows me to realize that

music is part of our everyday lives. You listen to it at home, you listen

to it in your car, and I just don't want to feel like I work for a stock,

you know, broker.

MJ: What do you actually do? I mean, do you spend time at clubs, do you sit

here and listen to music, hang out with artists, or all of the above, or

give us an idea of what a day is like.

BF: Well, the average day, since I'm based in Los Angeles, and my, our

headquarters are in New York, the average day is me being awaken by a phone

call, saying, "Bruce, we need you on this conference call." So I get my

butt out of of bed, and go down to my office at my house, and pretty much

talk to my New York office, from... They're all sitting around a conference

room, and we start the day on talking about what records need marketing,

what records are in the studio. And I kind of give them an update on what's

going on out here. Then I head into the office. I have about a 30 minute

drive into the office, most of which is either spent cranking music, or on

the phone, talking to, basically, New York. And then when I get here,

there's a lot of... I see my job every day as to come in and say, "OK, I

have five acts that I deal with. What's going to go wrong with them today,

and how do I stop it before it does?" Because the industry as a whole, no

matter what label you work for, is a machine that can spiral out of control

useless you're really, you know, putting in stop-gaps of basically what is

quality control. You've got artists that are out on the road. They have no

idea what's going on with their record at a radio station, at a record

store, in a magazine. So we have to kind of come in, I've got to take a

temperature on each record, and make sure that the team, being the RCA

employees, are all thinking the same thing, because if you and I are

working on the same act, you might hear it differently than I do, but

ultimately I'm not worried if you hear it the way I hear it, I'm worried if

you hear it the way the artist hears it. So if you tell a magazine, "Hey,

I've got this great new artist, and he's really good at this, and no

problem, you could put him on the cover of your magazine dressed like an

elephant," because you're thinking, "Well, God, at least we got him on the

cover of the magazine." And I'm sitting there saying, "You stupid idiot,

no, that's not what we're all about.

MJ: No elephants.

BF: No elephants. We'll do donkeys, but we don't do elephants. That's

really my job. Then at night, probably four days out of the week, it

varies, sometimes it's seven, sometimes it's two, depending on what's going

on in the city, I hit the clubs. I go out around 8:30, and I go, I can go

to anything, from five different shows in a night, and thank God there's

valet parking, because you can get in and get out quickly. And I go in, I

see the band, nine times out of ten I know ahead of time that I'm not going

to like the band. And that... You know, a lot of people say, "Well then why

would you bother going?" You never know. You never know from the tape

whether or not the guy has got star quality, whether or not she's, even

though has a beautiful voice, if she's more amazing live. You just never

know, and you have to be able to go, catch three songs, and say, "It's not

for me."

MJ: What's payback for you? What makes you feel satisfaction in your job?

When you see a record out, or you see a video? Or...

BF: I think, I can still remember like it was yesterday, the moment, it

was... I can still remember like it was yesterday, and I forgot what it

was. It was just about a year ago, at Madison Square Garden, one of the

artists that I signed, along with a partner of mine, Peter Robinson, this

band, the Dave Matthews Band. 18,000 people, sold out, Madison Square

Garden, and you would have thought that the guy was giving a private

concert for us in our living room. The whole venue just shrunk down to

size, and it was just like 18 of your closest friends, partying to a band

that I was this much responsible for. And that made it all worth it.

MJ: Growing up, what kinds of bands did you listen to?

BF: I was, had the worst taste. Out of all my friends, they give me a lot

of crap for having really lame taste. I liked groups like the Babies, which

had John Waite in it, right? I liked groups like the Eagles, which aren't

lame, but most of my friends were really into the cutting edge stuff. I

didn't get into Led Zeppelin, I didn't get into R.E.M., I didn't get into

U2 'til late. All my stuff was the mainstream rock stuff. The long hair,

you know, dated stuff. Van Halen was a favorite of mine. Rush was a

favorite of mine. And then it wasn't until late high school that I got

turned onto what now is, I consider the quality stuff, the Cure's, the

U2's, the Smashing Pumpkins as they got popular in the late '80's, early

'90's.

MJ: What are you looking for in terms of creativity in an artist?

BF: There are specific things that I'm looking for, definitely. And you

know, I could probably make a list of you got to have these things, but I

take all that and throw it out on my first impression. All I'm looking for

is an emotional response from me. Do I feel something when I hear you

music, when I see you play live? That's what I'm looking for, because I

feel there should be no difference between myself as a record executive,

and the person on the street who's going to go buy the record tomorrow.

That's what I have to do to keep myself good. I have to stay in the same

mental state and emotional state as the general public does. I can't lose

the experience of going into a record store, browsing through, discovering

something, and paying my good money for it. Because the minute I do, I

think I lose my edge of what everybody wants. Do people, do I have my pulse

on America? Absolutely not. I don't think anybody does. Who would have

thought that Hootie and the Blowfish was going to sell as many records as

they did, OK? All I know is, I figure if I like it, then I got to be able

to find at least a million other people that do. And that's my job.

MJ: Is this the most creative part of a record company, your job here?

BF: That's a good question. I think everybody who does their job would tell

you that their job is the most creative. I will tell you that this is the

job that's on the closest front lines. This is when the recipe is just at

the chef-ing stage, and everything's laid out on the table, and it's going

to be up to you whether you add more salt and pepper, whether people like

it that night.

MJ: Now, how far ahead do you have to be thinking in terms of what is going

to be popular?

BF: I don't use a calendar or any time frame, but I do know, for instance,

I'm in the middle of making a record right now with an artist, with a group

called Agents of Good Roots. And Agents of Good Roots is a rock band that

has jazz overtones, but they're all virtuoso players. The record we would

have made two months ago is now so much different than the record we're

making. Because the band has, they've just blossomed, over about a month

period. They put together a few shows and a few songs. They took a sound

that was oh, OK, kind of predictable, and now I think they're going to be

the future. So now we're going to make a record, it's August right now,

we're going to make a record to come out next March or April, and what

we're doing is putting in things that are going to make that record fresh.

And what we're doing is we're using loops, drum loops, we're using samples,

we're rewriting songs, so that when that record comes out, not only is it

fresh for March, but it's ahead of the game for March, you know? Can we

make a record that's going to redefine rock and roll? Absolutely not. I

think records like Beck's only come along once in a while. But I do think

we can make a record where people go, "That's not what I would have

expected from these guys."

MJ: What do you see as the next trends being in music?

BF: Well, we all know that the Electronica, the Chemical Brothers, the

Prodigy's are definitely, you know, one side of the story. I think that the

next trend that's going to be, and I hope I'm right on this, because I've

banked my future on it, it's going to be about artists. It's going to be

about taking, and wanting to know what that artist looks like, where they

live, what they think, what they wear, and also what the lyrics mean, and

why did he, did they choose the album cover they choose. I think we are

going to invest so much more energy in believing in somebody or somebody as

a group as it was, as opposed to, "I like that Hanson band because I love

that song, or I like that Hanson band because they're cute." My belief is

"I like that band because this record moved me."

MJ: There have been so many bands and so many artists that have had one hit

song, and then we never heard from them again, recently, especially. Is

that our culture that's changing, or what is producing these one hit

wonders one after another?

BF: Well, I think our culture's changing. I think the labels have a lot to

do with that. I think that what we're doing is that we are so possessed by

selling a lot of records so that we can make our corporate numbers, that

when you have a hit record, not only do you hear the song on the radio, you

see the video on MTV, you read about it in Rolling Stone, then you see them

on the cover of this magazine and that magazine, and at the MTV awards, and

at the Grammies, and at the Academy Awards, and next thing you know, the

mystique of what the artist is all about is completely gone. It's... You

get sick of the person before you get sick of the music. It used to be, "I

can't listen to that any more." Now it's, "I can't look at that person

anymore."

MJ: So there needs to be sort of a gap between the artist and the fan a

little bit more?

BF:That, There also has to... Rock and roll has always been about mystery.

There needs to be that whole, "God, how do they do that?" rather than, "Oh,

I can do that." You know, what we've done, is we've taken our artists and

made them so common Joe everyday-person-like, that there's no specialness

to them anymore, you know.

MJ: No magic, no mystery.

BF: Yeah, it's like the guy next door. Yeah, big deal, so you can sit down

and have a beer with the guy. I want to stand and look at the guy on stage

in front of 20,000 people. I want to live my life. You know, I want to

fantasize that I can be that someday. I think it's a reaction, quite

honestly, from what Nirvana started, which was totally needed, where they

basically took all the hair spray and leather pants, and blew it out of the

water because the guy had on what he wore every day. And what happened was,

that made every band go, OK, no more style. No more makeup. No more good

looks. I'm just going to look like I just woke up. And everybody got kinda

tired of that. And now what we need is a little bit more larger than life I

think.

MJ: How do you see as your opportunities to be creative? What, how do you

leave your imprint on things, on bands, on music, on songs?

BF: Well, ultimately, if I'm doing my job right, I don't need to leave my

imprint, because if I need to leave my imprint, then I should just be the

artist myself. Ultimately what I need to do is remove my company's

influence on the artist so the pure music can come through to the buying

public.

MJ: And that is your imprint.

BF. That is my imprint, is basically removing all the barriers that a label

puts in place, because we're a corporation, you know. "Well, the album

cover kind of needs to look like this." And you know, "We shouldn't use

this guy for the video." If I'm signing the right artist, the artist knows

what his album cover wants to look like, because he knows what his fans

want. He knows his audience a hell of a lot better than I do, because he

has to go out there every night and play in front of ten people or 20,000

people, and after that show those people come up and say, "Hey, why the

hell were you on the cover of that magazine in an elephant outfit?" He's

the one that looks like the idiot, not RCA Records. Not Bruce Flohr.

MJ: This is a company, as you say, that has a long tradition in the music

business. Do you ever find yourself fighting sort of a little bit of

corporate culture because it has such a long tradition in the business?

BF: Yes. Yes. I'm trying to think of where this is going to be broadcast.

Yes. You fight basically... I believe that every one of my artists is the

second coming of Jesus Christ. So therefore I want everything possible for

my artists. Now, I'm not the only one signing artists here, and RCA has a

roster of what we think are all great artists, OK? So there's... Sometimes

I have to get in line. I have to wait my turn. I have to wait to get my

artist that video, or get him that money to go on tour. What I try to do in

order to combat that, because a corporation tends to move slowly, and

everybody has to feel comfortable, I basically set up plans long term for

my artists, so that if the fist single doesn't happen, I'm not over, I'm

not out of the ball game. I'm coming with a second single, and if that

doesn't happen, I'm coming with a third single. And then after that, I've

got to be the guy to look myself in the mirror, and say, "Ok, you know,

maybe we didn't get it right this time. Maybe we need to go back and try on

another record." But ultimately I try to find my artists the time they need

to write that song and that record.

MJ: Can you talk a bit about your early years, how you go into the

business, and where you grew up, and things like that?

BF: Well, I grew up in southern California, and I came from a family of

all, basically civil servants. My father was an FBI agent, my mother was a

school teacher, brother's a fireman, sister's a nurse, other brother's a

cop, I'm in the music business. I realized that I wanted to be in the music

business when I was playing football and basketball, and quickly my talents

digressed, so I figured I'd better find another avenue. And just, I always,

you know, listened to the radio and stuff, and initially I wanted to be a

disc jockey, so I went to school in San Luis Obispo, which is on the coast

of California, in between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and I picked San

Luis Obispo because they had a really great college radio station, and I

was going to go be Howard Stern.

MJ: A disc jockey.

BF: A disc jockey, exactly. So I went up there, immediately went to the

campus radio station and got on as a late night d.j., worked my way into

running the college radio station, where I was the one that determined what

we played at that radio station. And it was just at the time, this was the

late '80's, it was about '86, '87, it was just the time that bands like

R.E.M. and U2 were coming to the public's awareness through college radio,

so the labels in America would go to these college radio stations, and say,

"Hey, play this. Play this." And we would all say, "Sure, it's all for

free. We'll play whatever you want." Well, I was one of the guys going,

"Sure, no problem." And as I played more and more records, the labels

started saying, "Hey, you know, either this kid's really stupid and plays

our bad records, or he kind of knows what he's doing, we need to..." They

kept their eye on me. And at that time I also became a disc jockey and I

was on the local pop radio station in the market, and so I was doing both,

running the radio station, doing the disc jockey, and about six months

before I got my degree, RCA called and said how would you like to come work

for us as our....RCA came to me and said, "How would you like to come work

for us and call the college radio stations in America and promote them on

our stuff?" It was a great job for me, because I was already on the

receiving end of the phone, so I knew what college radio kids liked to

hear. So, my concern was that I wasn't done with my degree yet, and my mom

and dad really wanted me to get my degree. And I said, "Well, I haven't

quite, you know, I've got six months to go." They said, "Well, tell you

what. We'll hire you now, and then when you're done, come work for us." So

my last six months I was getting a full salary from this major record

company, going to college. I threw the best parties. I had the best

wardrobe. I still couldn't get a date, but I had an amazing last six months

of school, so much so that I almost flunked out and didn't get my degree,

but I ended up being able to swindle my way out of it. It's amazing what

free records will do for you.

MJ: So you went straight from there to...

BF: I graduated on Saturday, Monday morning I was at the office here at RCA

Records, calling college radio stations. I worked, I did that job for about

a year and a half, then I started calling commercial radio stations. So I

did promotion for the first five years of my career. Then I went from

promotions to artist development, all within the same company, where I was

doing, getting the records on the radio, and marketing them to, out on the

street. Then RCA said, "Come back to New York." So I said, "Great. Come to

New York." The minute I got there, I knew I hated it. I stayed there for

exactly three hundred, excuse me, 365 days, and said, "I'm getting my butt

back to California." Right about that time I came back to California, it

was time for me to do something else, and I was going to leave RCA and go

to another company. RCA offered me the opportunity to do A&R, which is a

job that I never considered, because I always felt that A&R was the most

difficult part of the record industry, because once you signed a band, you

didn't have anything to do with it. You passed it off to somebody else.

Well, fortunately, RCA allowed me to do A&R and artist development, so

after I sign my bands, I also do their marketing. So I have a lot more

contact with my act, even after the record's made, which is essential, and

it's the way it should be for every A&R person. I just happen to have that

ability here at RCA, but quite honestly, you're doing this job correctly,

you should be able to do it with or without the title. And I've been doing

A&R and artist development for the last three and half years.

MJ: How do you keep yourself creative? How do you stay creative?

BF: I think I'm motivated by fear, actually, unfortunately. I think I'm

concerned that there's somebody next door or across the street that wants

my job, and they do. And I constantly question if I think I know it all,

and I'm constantly looking for mentors out there. That's the hardest thing

in this business. It's so competitive that's it's hard to find someone who

has more knowledge than you that's willing to share that knowledge. I've

been very fortunate with colleagues that I work with like Ron Fair an

d Brian Malouf. They've been teaching me the record making side of it. What

a studio is all about. How you can get the best sounds out of a studio. And

that's really how I stay creative. I try to find people that I can just be

a sponge off of. And I think it's ultimately my responsibility to then do

the same thing to colleagues that I work for, that, you know, my assistants

and the people that scout for me, I have to pass down some of my knowledge.

Because that's really what the industry's lacking, is the farm league, if

you will, of the next generation of executives.

MJ: How do you see the music business changing over the years? We've

already changed with video becoming so important. Do you see any changes

coming up like that?

BF: Well, I think the one change that we all know is around the corner is

how people are going to buy records. I think that somehow the internet and

fiber optics are going to play a role in getting you your music. Which is

going to be a major change, because the distribution companies which most

of our labels are based upon are going to be, either have to be revamped or

be obsolete. So the ultimate role for a record executive is, I really

believe artists are always going to need people that can walk the line

between commerce and art, because the artist can't afford to get wrapped up

in the commerce of it, because they lose what makes them special. And I

think that artists are always going to need to surround themselves with

creative people that can also play executive roles. I think that the other

thing that's going to change is that music is becoming just one facet, a

smaller and smaller facet of people's everyday lives, and we are going to

have to continue try to find ways to make our music mobile. We're also

going to need to find another format of how to sell our music, because

right now we're basically just selling them on cd's, whereas in the past,

the record industry has always been able to sell the music twice; vinyl and

8-track, vinyl and cassette, cassette and cd. Now it's just cd.

MJ: You mean the real fans would buy both..used to buy both.

BF: Right, because they'll buy one for their car, and they'll buy one for

their home. We have to find something that, you know, is, whether it's the

mini-disc, or some sort of technology's going to have to reinvent the

industry.

MJ: So you're saying someday people will download their music off of the

internet.

BF: Right.

MJ: But don't people want to hold something in their hands, a lyric, an

album cover?

BF: Well, the thought process is they're going to be able to print those

graphics right off their computers.

MJ: On a piece of paper though.

BF: Yeah, yeah. But the quality is going to be there where you can

basically manufacture the disc in your house. And it's, you know, it's

scary, but it is. And people are making records in their house as it is. I

mean, most of the demo tapes that you get these days is from two 15 year

old kids in Des Moines, Iowa, with an 8-track and a drum machine, and they

sound better than the stuff I'm paying $300,000 for, you know. It's scary.

MJ: And how many tapes do you get? Do you just get, in the mail, or what?

BF: Yeah.

MJ: Hundreds of tapes?

BF: I would say probably on average there's 60 to 75 tapes or cd's a week,

and I would say there's probably 50 to... maybe 50 to 60 phone calls from

people wanting to know if I got their tape, and then if I did get their

tape, if I listened to it, and if I listened to it, did I like it, and if I

liked it, "Are you going to come see me play?" And, "Why haven't you signed

me?" and "Jesus, how busy can you possibly be?" There's no way to be

popular in this job, because you're saying "No" 99.9% of the time, and I

hate saying "No." That's why I've signed 42 acts.

MJ: What do you see as your future here in the company, just in general

with your work?

BF: I have specific goals in mind, and I think I can feel comfortable

saying it because, you know, I've let my superiors know what my ultimate

vision is. I think ultimately I want to try to become a well rounded

executive, where I know promotion, I know marketing, I know A&R, and

therefore I can possibly oversee a large part of the company. The trick is

going to be, the higher up you get, the more removed you get from the

music, and that's what I'm struggling with right now. I'm 31 years old and

I'm struggling with that do I want to take that corporate leap and be in

meetings all day, and do dinners all night, and then maybe catch a band.

Whereas right now, I'm in meetings all day, and dinners all night, but it's

with an artist, and I'm talking about music, and then I'm going to a show,

and I'm hanging back stage. It's the fun side of the record business, and I

don't know if I ever want to give that up, and I don't know if I

necessarily should have to. But I think, you know, going back to your

original question, I think at some point I'd like a chance to get a group

of people together and try to move them all in one direction towards

breaking records.

MJ: You have a new addition in your life?

BF: Yes.

MJ: Tell us about that.

BF: My biggest signing to date. Five weeks ago I had Maxwell Michael Flohr,

8 lbs. 4 oz., 21 inches long, and thank God he does not look like me. My

wife and I had our first child, and it's been been a really great

experience, but it's funny. My biggest concern was, you know, as we talked

about starting a family, was how was that going to affect my job? How can I

possibly be... I travel two weeks out of the month, I'm in clubs all the

time, and fortunately I have a very supportive wife who, you know, from the

get go has understood that you know, it's going to take the two of us to

get through this. And the minute we had the baby, it's just like,

everything just slowed down just a little bit. I tell you, I've never been

more effective with my time, since the baby's arrived, because my whole

thing is I want to get my stuff done and get home and hold him. And he's

great. He's got his crib there, and right next to his crib, he's got his

first electric guitar just waiting for him to get up there, so I can make

my millions off of him.

MJ: And will he be getting involved in music do you think?

BF: I think he's going to have that option. He's got two choices. He can be

a rock star or professional athlete. That's it.

MJ: Bruce, thanks for joining us today.

BF: OK, thank you very much. I really had a pleasure talking to you.

MJ: Thanks