I uploaded this interview from a DVD I bought to honour the memory to Benjamin Orr and Ric Ocasek and to keep their legacy and the legacy of The Cars alive. For some reason as it was a very large file the first few seconds were cut off.
Because the purpose is to non-commercially educate and offer a critical assessment, this fan made video is being uploaded under the terms of Fair Use. No copyright infringement intended.
This interview was recorded in September for the Rhino release of the DVD of Musikladen 1979 to be included in this . From what I have read Benjamin flew right from this interview in Atlanta, Georgia, to Palmer, Alaska, for his last performance Big People concert in Alaska), playing the August 25th show at the Alaska State Fair. So the date of this interview would either have been the 23rd or 24th of August 2000 . It was first said that the final performance was September 27 but that was actually the only concert Benjamin ever had to cancel and miss. You can read all about this in the wonderful biography by Joe Milliken called Let's Go! Benjamin Orr and The Cars @ www.benorrbook.com/
This interview fills with so much respect for Benjamin for his strength and courage and I found it difficult to watch and cried at times but because of Benjamin's incredible courage and code of honour and his incredibly modesty is something to marvel at and made me want to share this. Also the way Benjamin replies at 31:17 minutes when asked by Brett Milano whether he thought of himself as the sexy one.
I pondered for a long time whether to upload this interview or not. I cried so much the first times I watched this, but I feel because this interview shows just how courageous he was, his strength when being so close to his death , he could still summon up all his charisma and charm and smile at the camera and what I feel for him was important smile at his fans one more time with his old band mates, well, I felt that needed to be shared. Also the fact that Ric has also passed away and we get to see them all one more time together.
Here are some of the highlights for me from this interview :
I love when Benjamin talks about the band at 6:30 , also another highlight to me is when Benjamin says at 2:14 about David being put on a gurney after performing in Europe for Musikladen 2:32
Also about Benjamin joking about In the good old days at 27:41 and also after this Elliot talking about Live Aid and Benjamin talks about his pedals and bass synthesizer 29:10. I love Benjamin's incredibly modesty , for me it is something to marvel at and one of the many reasons that made me want to share this final interview when Benjamin replies at 31:17 minutes when asked by Brett Milano whether he thought of himself as the sexy one. His reply is so incredible and also so very telling of this very private man.
I loved Benjamin's witty reply to Ric as they joked like old times ( about Candy-O) when Ric says he thinks he never met anyone called Candy 42:25 ( Benjamin saying to Ric " You never told me about it" and how gently Ric touched his shoulder. Also at 45:02 when Benjamin talks about after the band members were talking about what they are proudest of or what the band and time means for them, I love what Benjamin says and how he shows his whole heart in that sentence and in fact this was one of those moments when watching this that I decided I did want to honour him with a channel, Facebook page and website. There are such sweet moments in this and wonderful stories and also so much heartbreak as you can tell his old friends are very much aware this is their final time with Benjamin. Even yesterday I still was unsure about sharing this but I still feel it should be shown and every fan has the option of not to view it. I know it took me years to be able to sit down and watch it and I had to walk away. But now I mainly see how much this pays tribute to Benjamin and the fact he did this interview , he wanted this seen .
I would like to perhaps help a younger audience find out about Benjamin and become new fans :) If you like this please subscribe to this channel and please come and checks out my Facebook page by the same title as this channel @ / 8.9.1947benjaminorrele...