DJ Pixie

RMR had such a positive reaction from the listeners to our interview with El and Mike Wheeler that that we invited them again to this show with a twist. We weren't going to interview them, but instead let them take over the show and play DJ for the whole four hours.

You heard us listeners, El and Mike will be spinning tunes that influenced them or they ones they really like.

RMR: Welcome guys, before we get started, we wanted to let you know that Rock Music Radio will be launching a TV channel with the clever title of Rock Music TV. And of course 11 has a standing invitation to be on the show. Especially the very first broadcast.

EW: Done. We are there. [she gives Mike the prettiest smile I'm sure he's ever seen]

RMR: Because this is radio we don't really talk about competing media, but now that RMTV is going to happen, the producers of that channel wanted me to ask you why you guys don't do regular videos? All the 11 videos to date have been concert videos. Any particular reason for that? I'm sure rock video directors would love to direct you guys in a video.

EW: [rolls her eyes and air quotes] "Rock Video Directors" What a crock of shit. [she immediately slaps her hand to her mouth, turns very red] I'm sorry, can you bleep that?

RMR: We could be we aren't going to. We'll pay FCC fine.

EW: You get these guys… who want to be movie directors and they take a song, and try to make a mini-movie about something the song is not even about. It's BS. 11 is not going to do them. Ninety-nine percent of our fans are never going to get to see us live. So we give them concert videos of our songs. The idea actually came from the president and founder of our fan club Eleventeen [she waves and says into the microphone] Hi, Holly, sweetie thank you. It appealed to me and to the rest of the band. And I include our engineer Lucas Sinclair in that too. He's just as much a part of our sound. We never give him enough credit.

RMR: A lot of older sound engineers think he's too young to know as much as he does, but you take look at Bowie's, Bolan's, and Strawbs, the list goes on, but Tony Visconti was in his early twenties when he first started producing albums for famous groups. Lucas knows your sound, sounds like he kind of manages the band too.

EW: [laughs] 11 would be lost without him.

RMR: Ok so let's get this rolling, you've told us you wanted to approach this by year, so we are going to start with 1970.

EW: Ok first up I'm Your Captain by Grand Funk Railroad. The lead that comes in near the end sounds like a bass lead, which is why I like this song. There's still a backing bass line, but that lead was the first time I heard a sliding note, and you'll notice I use that a lot. [song plays, El closes her eyes and smiles during the bass lead when it starts.]

EW: It's no secret that I came from the pop world, two of the first songs that I heard and paid attention to were Come and Get It by Badfinger, and Mr. Monday, by The Original Caste. I thought Badfinger sounded a lot like the Beatles, and The Original Caste is Canadian, there's a lot of good music coming from from our neighbours to the north.

EW: I'll close out 1970 with The Beatles. Let It Be [this song brings tears to El Wheeler]

MW: While my Pixie takes a bit of a break I'll start off 1971 with The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys by Traffic. It's probably a song you've heard but never knew what the name of it was or who the artist was.

MW: seventy-one was a great year for pop, I'm not much for working the audience like El I'll just play our favourite songs from the year one after another.

[The following list is the songs that Mike cues up:

Sweet Mary - Wadsworth Mansion

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep - Middle of the Road

Bring the Boys Home - Freda Payne

Sweet City Woman - The Stampeders

It Don't Come Easy - Ringo Starr

She's a Lady - Tom Jones

Signs - Five Man Electrical Band

Knock Three Times -Dawn

Maggie May - Rod Stewart]

MW: I could easily spend all our time here in this year, but I'll start off 1972 with a song I know is very special to my wife… Jim Croce's Don't Mess Around With Jim.

[The song is followed by I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing by The Hillside Singers.

EW: Of course you'll recognize that song from the Coke commercial. Sorry listeners, certain songs make me very emotional and you guys already know I cry a lot [laughs] A lot.

MW: Prettiest crier you will ever see people.

[In the studio the RMR DJ watches the couple:

El smiles at Mike. When I see that smile I can tell those two will be together forever. It's almost too hard to watch. I've never seen love like that between two rock stars.]

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"We should do that again sometime" El told Mike, "that was a lot of fun."

"You ok Pixie? I don't think your fans know how much music means to you. Not only your music, but stuff you were influenced by."

"My emotions are on display for everyone. It's been more intense since we got together. You bring out all the love in me Mike." Mike leaned in to kiss her.

"Hmm. yes."

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The music world has been shaken to the core. For those of you just tuning in, a crazed fan jumped on stage and attacked El Wheeler with a knife. It looks like he cut her throat. At this point we don't know if she survived the attack. We'll keep you updated as we get more information.

[heard on the newly launched CNN cable channel]

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The doctor came out and headed toward Mike.

Mike tried to gauge what he was going to say by the look on his face. He got nothing.

"She'll live Mr. Wheeler. And she will still have a voice. But... I don't think she'll ever sing again. My staff is aware of her talent and believe me we did everything we could."

Mike was silent. He nodded and said, "thanks, can I see her?"

"Of course. She won't be awake till sometime tomorrow morning. You need to prepare yourself for the way she looks."

The doctor led Mike to El's intensive care room.

Oh no! There were tubes and wires everywhere. El's eyes were closed. Mike couldn't see all the bruising around her neck, he could only see evidence of it creeping out at the edges of her bandages. She looked so fragile. Mike sat on the edge of the bed.

He looked at the doctor. "Can I…?" The doctor nodded and Mike turned back to El.

"I'm here Pixie. I'm staying with you all night. You will not wake up alone."