Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 9:25 a.m.
As has been the case for many Americans, it's been a tough year for Eddie Money.
The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born rocker, and one-time police-officer trainee, lost "a lot of friends" who were killed in the line of duty when the World Trade Center towers came crumbling down during the Sept. 11 attacks.
"You know, everyone on Long Island and New Jersey knows somebody that was in the World Trade Center," Money said in a phone interview from a Westlake Village, Calif., golf course, where he was getting in a few rounds on a recent afternoon.
Money, who descends from a long line of law-enforcement officers, is mourning the loss of "friends in emergency services and some cops I used to know." His sister-in-law, who is also a police officer, was working near Ground Zero but avoided injury.
"I cried so much to see people (on TV) with New York accents just like mine showing pictures of their (missing) loved ones. And some of the pictures were so recent, like two weeks old, because they'd just went on vacation with them," he said.
Besides coming to grips with the nation's tragedy, Money -- who performs today through Sunday at Suncoast -- is also grappling with personal problems: After 15 years of marriage he and his wife recently separated.
"Some people fall out of love. For some reason, she just fell out of love. I have no idea what happened," the father of five candidly explains. "I'm not very good about the whole thing, but what are ya gonna do?"
Still, in the face of such adversity, Money takes solace in the fact that he still has a home on concert stages. The 50-year-old singer of such hits as 1986's "Take Me Home Tonight," "I Wanna Go Back" (1987), "Two Tickets To Paradise" and "Baby Hold on to Me" (both from 1978) performs upwards of 150 shows each year.
"I wish I was doing more, to tell you the truth," he said, recalling a recent gig in Dallas where the bill also featured '80s rock staples REO Speedwagon, Survivor, Styx and Journey.
"The shows have been really great," Money said. "People have been showing up and we're doing really good business and having a lot of fun.
"I never write a set list because, you know ... it's too mechanical. So every night I just call off a different set. I'm like a maestro up there."
Of course, Money's greatest hits are always included in the mix. He knows better than to disappoint his longtime fans, especially since he's counting on those die-hards to stop by the merchandise booth after the show, say hello to the singer and purchase one of the T-shirts he sells to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation.
Money became involved with the charity a few years ago, after reading "In the Absence of Angels," a book by the late AIDS victim Glaser, wife of "Starsky and Hutch" co-star Paul Michael Glaser.
"It really touched me," Money said of the book, "and I said if there is any way I can get involved that I was gonna do it ... Every night we raise money for the kids, and it's a good cause. I need a little good karma where I can get it, ya know what I mean?"
Especially since Money is gearing up for what could be a musical comeback. He recently landed a new record deal with a company called Left Bank, and may soon begin the process of writing and recording tunes for a new CD which he's tentatively titled "Live From the Rehab," after a "cool" song he's penned.
The CD's title is "kind of a joke," he said, since earlier in his career Money danced with the demons of drugs and alcohol.
"The only reason I really had issues was because it was free," he contends. "When you're young and coming up, they give you blow (cocaine) for nothin'. That's what happens: You can drink for nothin', you can smoke pot for nothin', you can do cocaine for nothin', and before you know it, your life isn't worth nothin'."
Money said his biggest vice these days is smoking, which he is also trying (unsuccessfully) to ditch. "I quit for 12 weeks and then I went back."
He also wants to give his carer a boost by making himself "more accessible to the public. For the last five or six years I just wasn't doing enough to help my own career out."
Money did have a small part (playing himself) in the David Spade comedy "Joe Dirt," which bombed at the box office. His 1988 hit "Walk On Water" was featured on the movie's soundtrack.
"David Spade is a good buddy of mine. He's a good kid," Money said. "And I thought the movie was really funny. I thought it was gonna do better than it did."
Money also turned up -- again, as himself -- on an episode of ABC's "The Drew Carey Show," as the long-lost husband of the sitcom's Mimi character. He said that Carey has mentioned possibly bringing Money back again for an episode next year.
"You know, I wanted to get into acting a little more, but my wife's always told me that I was famous enough," Money said, explaining why he declined to do an installment of the wildly popular VH1 music biography series "Behind the Music," as well as appear on "The Howard Stern Show."
He said he also turned an offer to shoot a pilot for a television series called "Rock 'n' Roll Dad" -- a job that would have paid him $60,000.
"It just didn't mix, the marriage," Money said. "I love her dearly, but for being a rock 'n' roller, it just didn't work."
On the other hand, he said, his career certainly hasn't been a bust.
"If you think about it, I had 23 singles in the Top 100. That's a lot of singles ... from 'Big Crash' to 'I'll Get By' to 'You've Really Got a Hold on Me' to 'She Takes My Breath Away.' We did really well, and I've had a lot of fun.
"It's great to go to shows and have people reminisce about this and that ... Of course, 'Two Tickets' was everybody's prom song. Everybody's prom song was 'Wanna Go Back.' So we have a lot of fans out there," he said.
But for now, there's only one fan Money is focused on winning over.
"I hate being single, and I'm really trying to put it back together with the wife," he said. "I really can't blame her for everything ... If I ever get back together with the wife, I'm gonna make sure I do it right."
archive
