it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teels you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com check us out on instagram at pinball profile and please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher we need another steve Let's go to the world-famous Rock Fantasy. Stephen Keeler joins us right now. Hey, Steve, how are you? I'm doing well. I'm actually in transit myself. We were just talking about your trip home in the bad Carl Weathers. I've driven about four hours on the road to go pick up the Jurassic Park Premium for Rock Fantasy, and we're going to be doing a launch party on the 16th. Originally, we had it scheduled for the beginning of October, and we ended up doing it with the pro. You always get the greatest games. It doesn't matter. If it's a new game, if it's something like, if it's a rock title, you're going to get it. That's what you can always expect at the World Famous Rock Fantasy. We try. We try. I mean, I'm getting to the point now where everybody's like, where's Elvira? I'm like, well, you know, those games are just coming out so fast. And, you know, it used to be you'd get a couple games a year and you could save up and maneuver games around to get new ones. It just seems like there's such a big market now for pinball machines. At the moment, I don't see myself jumping into the Elvira one. We just got the Black Knight Premium. We just got the Jurassic Park Premium. This year, we've got Munsters. We've got Alice Cooper from Spooky. I'm not in the store looking at them right now, so I might forget a couple. But it seems like our budget for pinball for new games has been over the top in 2019. I wouldn't want to even look at the total I know my wife knows it you realize how much money you spend on pinball, I mean it's a labor of love it's great to have them and have them part of my record shop and my smoke shop everybody's expecting me to get the latest game every time and I have with Stern at least I have gotten every Stern game since maybe Mustang or WWE which I didn't get since then I've been on board with every release But Elvira, I think I'm going to have them. Maybe down the road we'll get one, but not at the moment. You can't do everything. But, you know, when you talk about releases and your parties that you have, these launch parties, you've done them for even older games, too. You've done them for Six Billion Dollar Man, for Knight Rider. We do little fun parties in the Orange County Pinball Club. You know, that's our club here in not Orange County, California, but Orange County, New York. You know, we're about 60 miles northwest of Manhattan, in Orange County, New York. And we do, once in a while, we'll do something like that. You know, a barbecue or something laid back. Let's call this a, we'll get an old game, we'll call it a $6 million launch party. You see us on the Internet, I guess. Well, I've seen a lot of footage. In fact, I think you filmed the Tim Sexton Star Wars tutorial from Rock Fantasy. We did, and then we did a little thing where we went over to the Orange County Fair across town, and I think we filmed a little bit of a skit where he went into a Star Wars themed amusement ride. I believe that's the same one, isn't it? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. And, I mean, Tim was great when he was on board, you know, before he left for Chicago for, of course, his great new job. I mean, he was one of our guys that held, you know, ran tournaments for us and very enthusiastic with pinball. I'm so glad that he got the job with Stern and all he's got to do. Being a pinball head and being able to work in a field that he enjoys, it's the best thing. So many people enjoy not only from the Orange County area, but going to Rock Fantasy, whether they're from New York or not. And I know that Tim Sexton certainly misses his time at the Rock Fantasy. Pavarelli goes there and Stephanie Guy to the Pinball Princess. They are all huge fans of Rock Fantasy. You have not just one place, but you've got like kind of two sheds full of pins, don't you? Well, Rock Fantasy is our retail spot, and that's where the public can come and play. At my house, my collection of pinballs is over 100. I'm not sure of exact numbers right now, but at my house, in my private collection, there are a lot of the older titles, like a lot of late 70s, early 80s titles at my house. And, of course, I have downtown here. you know i just pulled into the parking lot when i was talking to you i'm at in the store parking lot now i have games on location downtown we have games at taps which we do a lot of our uh that's right next door to my shop and it's a craft beer restaurant and we do a lot of the tournaments where if we're doing something at my store we'll do a runoff with there and then we'll do like an after party also a place called quinn's pins we have pinballs downtown which is a bowling Alley Entertainment Center. We've gotten our games in there about a year now. And we do tournaments there also And we also have a game in the Equilibrium Brewery which is a pretty famous brewery that opened up next to my store and they going to be moving a couple blocks up around the holidays And we've already looked at we're probably going to have three or four pinball machines located at the brewery. So I'm trying to just kind of make Middletown pinball famous a little bit, I guess. Oh, you're doing a great job. I think I first saw you on the old special one lit documentary, which I'm sure, you know, when you watch that now, what do you think? You know, I haven't watched it in a long time, but my good friend Howard Levine, you know Howard, I'm sure. He told me one time, he goes, now you're pinball famous. Well, that movie needs to be, they need to do a new documentary where showing what's happened, because that was a pretty sad documentary, because it was like pinball was dying when that was done. and it was hanging on by a thread. You know, you got your Stern fans, you got your Stern haters, but it wasn't for Gary Stern then. It wouldn't have been anything, right, in that time period, the 2000s. I have to agree. Yeah. You know, quite a few interesting individuals that were also on that film, needless to say. You get mistaken once in a while, and there's even a picture at Rock Fantasy for J-Pop. John Papadiuk. And, you know, at one time I thought that was a good thing. And now I've got to use people's money. I mean, I might want to have a bodyguard walking around with me. But I've also been mistaken for the gentleman that runs the Las Vegas pinball off-hand. Yes, that's true, yeah. As I've gotten older, you know. And, of course, everyone thinks I'm Garth from Wayne's World. You've got a few doppelgangers, but there is only one. Yeah, that's all. But the Papa Do thing, yeah, I remember setting up at Allentown several years ago at the Pin Fest, of course, and people going off on the pin side. I had a girl working for me as a good friend of mine from Philadelphia, and she was decked out like a rock and roll girl. And they're like, how does he have the nerve to walk around this show like this? And I had to write on, I'm not J-Pop. Listen, I'm looking forward to his next game. I didn't send him any money. I feel sorry for those that did, but I know that Deep Root looked after all those people, which they didn't have to do, by the way. True, true. And you know what? The guy makes great games. He does. Yeah, he does. And a weird situation was how I met him. I met him through Eddie Kramer. Yeah, okay. I was laid up after an accident I was in about five years ago. I was struck by a car, and I was out of work for months, and Eddie Kramer stopped by my house one day, and I got surprised, and he brought J-Pop to my house, and that picture was actually taken in my living room and found some of my pinballs at the house. Some of the quirky things that you would find at Rock Fantasy. You'll have to explain the Rat Fink paper mache. That was given to us as a gift from someone that was in our pinball club years ago, and it was on a Craigslist, a free pickup in a couple towns over, a Rat Fink. And I think because, you know, initial to the store, our RF, the guy thought, wow, you know, you'd probably like this. So he picked it up and he brought it over and he dropped it off at my house. And eventually we hung it from the ceiling. Yeah. I guess it was part of a biker club thing or something at one time. We really don't know the history of it. But it's one of the cool artifacts that I've picked up for the shop. Maybe the biggest artifact that people certainly want to get their hands on, but you have to earn it, is the famous rock fantasy Hulk head. Yes. We just had Halloween, and I used to have a little Hulk basket when I was a kid going around and putting my candies in, something like that. But this is a little more prestigious. It is the same thing that you're talking about, though. This was sold as a Halloween bucket back in the 70s. They made a Spider-Man one. There was a Hulk. There was a Casper the Ghost. and maybe another cartoon character. And I don't know how it really was hanging around at my house years ago. And I think we said, somebody said, hey, that's a good trophy. And, of course, it just stuck on. And I even have the incredible Hulk pinball machine at my house. And, of course, we have the Avengers. So, I mean, Hulk finally did get his own pinball machine. But, yeah, it stuck. And it's kind of an odd trophy. But we roll with it still. A lot of the guys that come in really want to hold the Hulk head. I mean, it's kind of silly, but it's cool. Oh, it's an honor for sure. Trust me, when Stephanie... Maybe one day you'll come down and win a tournament and hold it. Well, I'll definitely come down. Winning the tournament, that could be a little difficult. There's a lot of good players there in Orange County, but... Oh, definitely, especially when we have some of the big opens, when you get, you know, the Pommarellis and the Levees and all those guys coming in from New York and whatnot. I mean, we used to have Steven Bowden before he went to Texas and Sexton, but we still have some pretty heavy hitters. Frank Romero and Jerry Sapp, Bernard, are still our locals. It's tough to beat Frank Romero and Jerry here at Rock Fantasy sometimes. You mentioned Jerry Sapp Bernard a big Sabbath fan like you are You a huge heavy metal fan is that the one game that needs to be made Black Sabbath or is it Led Zeppelin You know you would almost as you going down the list of what they made so far and what they haven't made, Black Sabbath has to be somewhere on the radar just because of the licensing and the sales and everything else. But I don't know. I heard a strong rumor that Led Zeppelin is in the works right now. I think a few of us have heard that rumor. Yeah, we've heard that. So Zeppelin, I mean, Zeppelin, of course, much bigger than Sabbath at the license, I think. I mean, Sabbath is very popular, but more heavy metal or the Zeppelin's a little more mainstream, a la, you know, Rolling Stones or, I'm not going to put them in with Beatles, but, you know, but The Who or something like that, Zeppelin right there. I think it was another one that was hard to get a license for. But Black Sabbath is definitely something, of course, I'd have to spend money on. I kind of hope they make something else is said right now, because I was really scared what's coming next, just to keep up. Because I don't have a giant barcade or anything. We've got a small record shop and a head shop with some pinballs, and we are doing well with them on location in Middletown, but I haven't caught on some other parts of the country and bigger city ups. Well, when one game comes in like your new Jurassic Park premium that you're getting, One has to go out, and if it's not on location, I know some people that have bought some games for you. When you buy a game from Steve Keeler, it's something special. Chuck Webster said, you know, I love my Nugent game. It plays great, but it smells of incense and candies. Yeah, it's funny to say because I had a Bally Twin one that's been sitting apart in my store for a few years. And Howard Levine just picked that up, and he goes, you know, you can smell the incense from that game still. You know, he's out at the house a couple weeks now. He's setting up, trying to get it operating. One part was in the restroom for six, seven years, and the head was on top of a case being at this decoration. But, yeah, you're right. The incense definitely seeps into some of the games. The fact that Ted Nugent was in the regular record store part, not over in the pinball room. so yeah and actually we've gotten to the point now if i i mean for a long time i was just picking up games and keeping games but i'm at the point now where i really need to sell something to get something right now and it's always a tough decision you know why do you get rid of you know we're at the point now where if something cool comes out i don't know if anything's coming out before christmas but if something else comes out we have to get them you start you have to start looking at the collection and some games that are still doing well that are earning like you know Star Wars or Iron Man or some of those that I have out there, what do I sell? I just sold Transformers, and I just sold Iron Maiden Pro to pick up a couple of games. To get the Jurassic Park, I sold the Iron Maiden. I have Iron Maiden Premium already, so I didn't have to have two Iron Maidens, but it was nice to have two. So, Stephen, is that the factor for you, what earns well or what is more closer to your heart? as far as these lot themes. There's a lot of both of that in there. I mean, there's games I will not sell because I like. And, of course, earning is quite a bit, too. I'd say at the game, I really wish I liked Star Wars a lot more than I do. But Star Wars does well when it's out. Not as much in my store as it does when it's out at the brewery or at the craft beer restaurant or something like that or at the bowling alley because it's just the licensing of it. People say that Star Wars and they're a cat. They're not a pinball head like me or you or a competitive player. Oh, look, Star Wars. You know what game that I can tell you a story about? NBA Stern I had one of those years ago. And that was like the most popular game in my store because of the kids that would come in. They'd relate with that game and they'd put money in it. And it wasn't a very spectacular game to play at being a pinhead, but it all depends on the licensing somehow sometimes. What's the one license you think would be perfect right now to sell that would just attract so many different people? I mean, is there one out there that hasn't been done? Now, this Jurassic Park, I think, is a real strong title. I think this is going to be something that's a great player because Keith did it. And, you know, it's just a very strong license that anyone will pretty much play. Everybody knows Jurassic Park. I like the dinosaurs. I don't know what else. You know, I heard some rumors of, like, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I mean, of course, now you're going to start seeing games that are based on people that grew up as being kids in the 80s, I think. You would think. I mean, of course, we just got ones from the 60s. We had Monsters and Beatles. And it was, I guess, as Cousin Brucey says, it's 1964 all over again. And I thought that was unique because I actually went to the Beatles' launch down in New York City at Modern. I was a guest of, yeah, Steve Dollar. And I thought it was open to the public. And Steve goes, oh, no, you can come down. I talked to sir and it was really cool that we were there and you know cousin Bruce He was there cousin Bruce used to be have a radio station here in Middletown So we were talking a lot about the old days Middletown and where I work and before I had the store in the 70s and when he had the radio station It was a good time and we ended up bringing one of the Beatles games home from there and it signed by Cousin Brucie So that right in the store And that was my claim to fame I won that launch tournament last December somehow. Pinch me. I don't usually win too many tournaments. I'll win some of the ones where just the local crew were like on a Thursday night here and there. But that was my claim to fame, winning the Beatles launch. So I said, well, I guess I was kind of like not going to keep the game, maybe bring it back to automated and just use it for the launch or something. But after winning, I got to have the Beatles. It's right in the front of the shop by the record department and everything. It's a great theme. It's a great revitalization of the old Sea Witch game. And Cousin Brucey, being a radio guy for 25 years, he means a lot to me and especially to you who, you know, he once broadcast in your town there. So that makes sense. Hey, Cousins. We're all cousins, man. Do you still have an obsession with clowns? I don't know if it was an obsession, but I guess it would be if you look from the outside in, because there's a bunch of them around here, isn't there? My obsession with the clown thing was more of the carnival atmosphere. When I was a kid, I'm 59 now, and when I was a kid, and I mean, I figure you might ask this question, how did I get into all this? In the 60s, when you went to the Jersey Shore, and you went to the arcade, or you went to the bumper car ride or the amusement area, there'd always be these fiberglass clowns and things. And it meant happy. Now a clown means it's going to butcher you up or something. You know, wow, it's turned. Or the demise. You know, because I grew up around circuses, and I grew up around, you know, the carnivals and the fair in Middletown. I used to work, and we'd go to Lake George with my parents. You know, at Lake George, there probably wasn't as much clown stuff there, but that's how I got into the pinball, like going to the arcades. I remember the big ones down in Wildwood in the 70s and even in the 60s in Atlantic City. But everything was that. And that's why I kind of got a lot of clown stuff. And, of course, with the demise of the circus and Ringling Brothers going out of business, there's a whole group of a generation that's going to know the clown only as a Steven King movie. You know what I mean? Yeah. There is a clown obsession, actually. Kevin McHugh was just down in York and found two garbage bale heads for me. and those are getting delivered in a week or two, I think, from Al. The New York City has got a guy going up to Jeff the Junkman's up in Scranton to pick them up. So I've got more. We're pretty excited. I'm supposed to be getting more space in Rock Fantasy. There's actually another maybe quarter of Rock Fantasy with a pinball room. We're supposed to be getting soon. The building is being held up with some legal stuff about that right now. But it looks like all things are gone, but we're just in a waiting pattern for it. That'd be great, Stephen, if you could expand, because I know you've got everything packed in there right now. And even if you get another room, you're still going to pack stuff in there. Well, eventually it'll be nice in the beginning, at least. We can spread the games out a little bit. I've already got ideas for posters and everything else to make it. And we'll have our own restroom on the pinball side if this happens. We thought it was happening strongly a month or two ago, and it's been kind of tied up between the building and what's going on with that. But anyhow. I'm sure it'll happen, and we look forward to that. You know, you mentioned a bunch of great people that play at Rock Fantasy, and you talked about Eddie Kramer and stuff, and as we look at the calendar, it's been a year since we lost Dahlia Rowan, and I know she was a big part there. What did she mean to you? Dahlia was great. I mean, I found Dahlia, and Eddie found me as fans of the movie special, where it did make me kind of pinball famous, obviously. and it was a good thing for meeting people like that and Dahlia's heart was always so big and she helped keep a lot of the pinball together too either she was always I mean she worked at Modern too for Valor and she was just part of the whole New York City pinball crew and then they moved up here to Monroe or Nettie and they were always so supportive of me they treated me like I was a rock star they wanted pictures of me and stuff like that and it was so sad Dahlia I mean she fought so strongly. So missed, you know. Yeah, a lot of people miss her, and I love that the New York City Pinball Championships have a tournament in her honor, which I think is really cool. Yeah, well, that's the last time I saw you. I think we were at the New York City Pinball Tournament. You are right. Steven, it's been a pleasure to talk to you. Check out the world-famous Rock Fantasy. It is something to see. Soon to expand, but you're going to see the greatest games there. Hopefully. Even if it doesn't, it's already amazing But you bring in the great games there And have a great atmosphere Orange County Strong, thank you very much Stephen Thank you for thinking of me And rock and roll Rock and roll Rock on like David Essex This has been your Pinball Profile You can find our group on Facebook We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and find us on Instagram at pinballprofile. I'm Jeff Teolis.