WORKING WITH A FAMOUS BIBLE THUMPER

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

This has no major relevance to anything going on now, nor is this a commemoration of some sort of anniversary. This celebrity encounter happened in the summer of 1981, still in my first year of the 21 that I would spend living in LA, but I thought of it because the other day I was looking at a list of living pop/rock stars and the man I worked with turned 91 this past June, second only in age to Frankie Valli, who is 92. However, Pat(rick Charles Eugene) Boone, unlike Valli, is not, and probably will never be, in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He actually moved on from bowdlerising Rock & Roll songs about two years into his career, but there were other issues I had with him 44 years ago and still do. I had to keep it to myself for the two hours I would spend with him. I do believe that with him still as active in politics as a 91-year-old can be, and he being an evangelical Christian and Trump supporter, I would probably turn down this gig if it were offered now. I couldn’t imagine being in the same room with him and keeping mum about how much I loathe what he represents.

Pat Boone by 1981 was a Rock footnote, but had a steady gig with the Hoffy brand of hot dogs, doing radio commercials for them for several years. A friend of mine named Ken Chandler had a mild career as a pop singer, with one chart single, “Heart,” in 1963. He was now working as a lounge singer, but also as a freelance music producer. He had this production deal with Pat Boone, and also thought my Johnny Cash voice could work in the radio ad for Hoffy that was to be played on Country music stations. So there I was in the same studio with the ersatz Rock Star who in the 1970s was better known for his TV ads plugging the virtues of milk as his favourite beverage.

Before we began recording, Pat was on the phone with his agent, complaining about the key on the song being too high for his vocal range. I thought that a bit strange. He would have only been 47 at the time, and it’s not like his voice would have been damaged by drugs and alcohol, plus to me his vocal range even in his heyday never sounded that challenging. Though he was clearly not happy, we went ahead with the session and things went reasonably smoothly.

In my lowest baritone and my best Texas drawl, and to a square dance type of music background, I emoted the lines “Hey Pat Boone! You always talkin’ Hoffy this and Hoffy that! Ah just wanna know, What’s a Hoffy?” He responded “You kiddin’?” then sang “Hoffy is a hot dog that (blah blah I can’t remember what he sang).” But after he finished singing, he asked, “Now do you know what I’m talkin about?” And I sang, “Yeah, Hoffy is a hot dog that’ll satisfy your tummy, Hoffy is a bacon that’ll make your mouth say yummy, Hoffy is a knackwurst, that’s what Hoffy is.” Then Pat gave a couple of tag lines and we were done. If I remember correctly, I got it in one take.

Not so fortunate were two Mexican kids that were hired to do a Spanish language version of the same ad. To be fair, the backing track, with a salsa feel, had some bizarre tempo changes that I would have had trouble picking up on as well. Ken Chandler was trying to coach them, but to no avail. The kids were nervous and sang off key and off tempo, to the point that one of the company reps that was there called it off after about five bad takes. Pat was actually quite calm through this episode.

I was done, got paid about $250, and was saying my goodbyes to everyone. I had brought an original 78 that I had of one of Pat’s first records, and he was impressed, autographing it with “Brian, Long Time! Pat Boone.” I thanked him, we shook hands and he was gone from my life. I would say overall he was a nice guy, but I knew back then that we were diametrically opposite on virtually every issue, even though I was still at the time a practising Christian, though not as much as I had been a few years prior.

I did manage to hear the ad on the radio a couple times, though not on any Country station, but on KRLA, which was one of a dying breed of LA AM Rock stations that were the leading stations in the 1960s. Still it was a trip to hear it the same way it sounded in the studio that day. Also, immediately after finishing the session, it was power of suggestion that I absolutely HAD to have a Hoffy hot dog, and fortunately there was the legendary Pink’s on La Brea Avenue, that’s still going 44 years later. I never enjoyed a hot dog quite so much as on that day.

October 26th, 2025



Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.