That’s rock ’n’ roll.
But I’ll say, my opinion, the only real thing was Lita Ford and she had no hope, havin’ a vagina and a guitar. But if you asked me, hair bands shoulda meant women rockers because there were some chicks who could seriously play that no one knows now, you know?
Lita is one of them.
But us, back then?
We’d been together awhile. We had Preach and his looks and his guitar, his voice, his songs. We had Dave, and that man was mean with a backbeat, guy had Bonham-style licks, and first thing he did was set himself up a cowbell. Now that’s rock ’n’ roll. [Smirks] Tim gettin’ older, comin’ into his own. Nick had that Italian stallion thing goin’ on, that is, he had it if you asked him.
And I could play bass. Nothin’ to look at, but, I mean, now people talk about Flea. Back then it was Geddy Lee, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, and of course, McCartney.
And there’s me.
I could play, I was in a rock band, I didn’t have to be good-lookin’. Rock’s all about that.
Mick Jagger?
Point made.
So, you know, we’re good to go. Toss off those graduation robes and hit the fuckin’ road, Springsteen-style.
Then…
[Trails off]
It’s not a surprise, or at least I thought at first it wasn’t a surprise, how Mom and my sisters took to Preacher.
He had it.
For women, they couldn’t fight it, he was that guy.
He banged Heidi’s ballbuster sister the whole time since I met him to when we hit the road.
And anyone he wanted whenever, wherever.
And I heard Heidi’s sister lost it when he took off and left her behind.
But my sisters? My mom?
Especially my mom.
Not like that, of course.
It was later, when it went down, I realized how different it was.
It took Preacher a while to share with me, yeah? I mean, you could listen to his music and know he did not grow up with the Nelsons. But he didn’t share at first.
But my mom was a mom.
She knew without him having to say dick.
Preach started havin’ dinner with us after practice and before he’d take a girl out on a date because no one said no to my mom, but also because she needed to do that, you know?
Be a mother to a motherless son.
Instant she knew he was adrift, she dragged him in.
And Preach was also that guy. Especially with certain women.
He knew she needed it way more than he needed it.
So, he gave it to her.
I’ll tell you something about Preacher McCade you might not know.
If you were a woman, and you meant something to him, he’d twist himself into knots to give you what you needed.
My mom needed to be a mom.
Last place he wanted to be, sitting at our table, eating my mom’s lasagna, and not because Mom didn’t make kickass lasagna. She did.
It was just…
[Pause]
There were a lot of things that made Preacher McCade.
Doing that for my mom was one of them.
Doing what he did for Penny was another.
My sisters, both of them, had crushes on him. But it was candyland stuff. He was too old, he was in the band, he thought of me as a brother even when I didn’t know he thought of me that way, and they got that vibe. Chicks, they get those vibes.
So, they were his little sisters too.
So, when Nicky knocked up my sister Penny.
Yeah, that was not gonna go well for Nick.
Not with me.
Not with Preach.
No fuckin’ way.
[Off tape]
Nick Pileggi alleges McCade put him in the hospital.
No clue. Preach messed him up, all right. Asshole should have gone to the hospital, but don’t know if he did. After that, never saw the guy again, and I thank God for that.
You were there.
Fuck yeah, I was. Guy knocked up my fifteen-year-old sister.
He’s in my band, and he’s sneakin’ my little sister out of her bedroom window at night, takin’ her somewhere and bangin’ her?
[Shakes head]
Penny told me before she told Mom and Dad.
I sat there, holding her hand when she told Mom and Dad.
But Penny told me something she didn’t tell Mom and Dad, and that was that she told Nick she wanted him to use a rubber and he said he wouldn’t, and if she didn’t, he’d find someone else who would, without a prophylactic.
And she was into him. She really liked him. Convinced herself she was in love with him.
But he told her a guy couldn’t get off if he had to wear a rubber. Told her he needed it wet.
I’m serious about this shit.
She was fifteen, she believed his ass. Part, I figure, because she’d do anything to keep him. Part, I figure, because she was fifteen and hormones fuck you right up.
Nick told her, he pulled out, it’d all be good.
No problems.
Told her that’s the way everyone did it.
Yeah.
Nick.
A real peach.
He didn’t share that shit wide either.
[Shakes head]
And you got folks who don’t want sex education in schools.
[Scoffs]
[Quietly] Fuckin’ lunacy.
She told me, we told our folks, then I took off and told Preacher.
And we found Nick.
I knew what Preacher would do, that’s why I found him.
[Smiles]
Preach, he grew up down South, you know? He can be a gentleman.
He let me get my licks in before he took over.
Pileggi contends Preacher McCade broke all the fingers on both of his hands and this is why he can no longer play guitar.
Got no comment on that.
But you don’t deny you and McCade sought him out to assault him.
He knocked up my little sister.
Pileggi’s later lawsuits were dropped. He says he dropped them because Tommy Mancosa and Preacher McCade himself found him, threatened him, and he was forced to back down.
Got no comment on that either.
Pileggi—
[Leans forward]
Listen, I was there. I’m not even sure you were born yet. But I was there.
I know, when we hit it, Pileggi did everything he could to take his piece of flesh. I know it ’cause it was my flesh he was stripping.
They made her have him, or Mom did. Penny wanted to get an abortion. Mom made her have it and give it up. She wasn’t raisin’ another kid.
Big fight, no surprise. Dad was for an abortion, and if not, helpin’ Penny raise it. He wanted what Penny wanted, however that was.
Mom said no. Adoption.
And what Mom said went.
So, Penny had him, and gave him up.
Nick didn’t care about any of that shit.
No.
He wasn’t involved in that. He had nothing to say about that. After Preacher and me got done with him and shit got real, couldn’t get the fucker on the phone. Went to his house, he was with “cousins” in Texas.
He was a ghost.
His old band starts making massive cake, suddenly, he’s there.
Got lots to say.
I’ll tell you this, and that’s the last we’ll talk about Ricky and Nicky fuckin’ Pileggi.
A week ago, just a week ago, I’m sittin’ next to my sister at dinner, and she’s off her head, yeah?
It started back then, you know?