Jay Gruska on The David Cassidy Connections Podcast

What can I say. Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes, because  3 days ago in conversation with someone on the site I wrote - ' I'd love to ask him (Jay Gruska) about the songs they co-wrote, maybe there were more, how the work on Hard Times  looked like, why the shorter version was chosen, were they friends and met outside the studio, and about music for Ruby. Maybe Louise Poynton will talk with him for the podcast...' Great minds..Amazing. I wonder what Jay Gruska thought when he'd got my email..That DC still had a lot of fans..Yes, of course.

Before I write what I think about that conversation, let's listen to one of the songs Jay Gruska has talked about on the podcast, co-wrote by him in the 80s. The country version of that hit. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV6SI14KwpE

Of course Louise  asked much more interesting questions than I could have thought about . She is a very experienced journalist, did a lot of interviews, and she is always very well prepeared and has such a gift, I don't know how to call it.. she  asks that kind of questions which make her guests think. When I was a guest on her podcast, her questions helped me to understand a lot of things..She is a great host.

 Jay Gruska. He  has a very pleasant timbre of voice, mature and warm, and he chooses his words carefully, thinks about them, he often says..'in my experience or in my opinion', so it's been a pleasure listening to him and I haven't got any difficulties with understanding.  Very interesting part about creativity, and how to create music for  tv or film industry , it's a whole process. He was given just a week to compose a main theme for 'Lois & Clark :The New Adventures of Superman' and during the first 2 days he didn't write anything, because..of the long shadow of John Williams, who wrote the iconic music score for the original first Superman movie in 1978. That was exciting story. Here is Jay Gruska's soundtrack (only the main theme, there is more of course) from that tv series. He got an Emmy nomination for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkSTDtkQSw

Louise asked JG about music which inspired and moved him, and why he chose being a music composer and music producer, not a recording and touring artist ( he recorded some solo albums in the 70s).. That was very interesting part of that conversation. John Williams, Tchaikovsky and writing songs for Chicago or Michael Jackson...

 And of course there were questions about David. And Jay Gruska has told us a lot..how they met, about work on 'Gettin' It In The Street' in Colorado, that 'I Never Saw You Coming' had 4 co-writers, what he loved about DC's voice, and that they wanted to write a full song for 'Man Undercover', and I loved the story how David came to his house and how fast they wrote that song together. And about those other opportunities when he met David in the late 80s, and in the 90s..And every time David was very warm and the same.. but on the set of Ruby he met different David, still smiling but..lost. Jay Gruska said 'I felt the struggle.'. And why they didn't write more music together. Louise and Jay also talked about  fame and being a teen idol , Jay was on a tour with Shaun at the peak of his fame, and later they became very close friends..Still they are. .Louise asked him how he'd liked to remember David Cassidy and how we fans, should remember DC..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJjBUtbL74g

It's just a short review of that one hour conversation. And I can tell you that this hour has passed very quickly, and now I have  so many things to think about after listening to it,  and I will definitely return to Louise and Jay's conversation more than once again. It was a  great pleasure spending an hour in their company.

.Here is the link to the podcast :

https://thedavidcassidyconnections.libsyn.com/jay-gruska