Chasing the dream — Leo Rossi and the possibility of freedom
Leo Rossi and the Possibility of Freedom
San Pedro native Leo Rossi is on a mission to help people. He spent his early life touring as a road crew member with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan and many other iconic bands of the classic rock era. He moved up through the ranks and when Fleetwood Mac was at its height and needed its own crew, Rossi stepped up, becoming tour director.
For himself and his crew, Rossi said this work became about what they could do to make the bands reach their next pinnacle and help them go higher.
“Put them in the right hotels ... in the right situation where they could be creative. Not work them too hard where mentally when there’s a day off they can’t function. It was never about greed or money, or getting over on somebody,” he said. “It was about honing your craft to make a difference in a changing world.” Molded from the highs of these experiences over two decades with people who became his second family, and then coming through his own loss, Rossi says he has learned a thing or two.
He said primarily, he relearned the possibility of freedom, during his talk last month at The Artistry Lounge and Gallery in San Pedro.
Rossi’s aim is to help people through his presentations, which he said are more like one act non-fiction plays. His Knights of Rock interactive shows include multimedia with original, rare photos of his tours, including videos and music and concludes with a Q&A session.
Either on his own or sometimes with the group of men he toured with, Rossi narrates his experiences and the lessons he learned while working on the road with these huge bands and their crews.
It’s no small feat moving a tour
— a literal city, Rossi said — on the road from town to town across the country. In Rossi’s estimation, he became known as the go-to-guy to fix things — a problem solver.
He said he did this while watching the magic these groups brought to stages nightly, in front of thousands, knowing everything worked because everyone worked together as a family.
Rossi noted that it’s no secret that humanity needs unity. His solution: Teach through hope and not through fear. He posited that many people have become so numb that they can’t feel pain.
Rossi spoke to RLn about 20K Watts and how he began giving his presentations, which are based on his 2019 book, Knights of Rock. It’s a life story about growing up in San Pedro, “literally tripping into the world of music.”
All the donations Rossi receives from his presentations go to his deceased son Ryan’s charity, 20K Watts, which owns the book. Rossi doesn’t believe in charging, saying it’s like music, his talks are made to be heard. Ryan was the eldest of five children. His mission, which his father promised he would carry on, was to help children in extreme poverty and orphans.
Ryan, who was a songwriter, died of cancer in 2011 at 27 years old.
A Young Knight’s Start
Rossi’s tale started at San Pedro High School. His stage production class took a field trip to the Long Beach Convention Center. Curious, Rossi snuck backstage, was caught and as punishment had to work a couple weeks as a stagehand. His efforts were rewarded with a job and he never looked back.
“It was all circumstance, destiny and fate,” Rossi said. “When those things hit me I went with it because it felt good. For years I took my past for granted. It wasn’t entitlement, conceitedness, or arrogance. It was because it was the only life I really knew.”
As Rossi matured, he realized just how amazing his past was. He had always written his memoirs with the idea of someday writing a book. But he just hung on to the writings.
During this time, after his tour life ended, Rossi started a business. He leased casino cruise ships that were going to sail out of Long Beach for two to three-day cruises with
bands. But it fell apart in 2016, Rossi noted, because of corporate greed. He didn’t want to elaborate. He spent a couple years trying to figure out why that happened, then COVID-19 happened and Rossi witnessed what that did to the cruise industry.
“I realized that I had an angel on my shoulder because it saved me not only financially but it saved me mentally, physically,” he said “During all that I kept writing all the Knights of Rock project.”
The basis, he explained, was that all the guys from the crews that he toured with for these big bands would get together and share their stories and try to help people. In 2018, Rossi gathered the original 1975-1976 road crew for Fleetwood Mac for a surprise reunion and filmed it.
He wanted to make a documentary. So, he also invited Larry Heimgartner, director of the theater department at Harbor College to watch this Knights of Rock roundtable discussion, in order to have the director help him write a script.
Heimgartner happened to be working on a project called Our World, writing one act episodes based on subjects like AIDS, poverty, drug addiction, depression and women’s empowerment. He wrote more than 30 episodes including one with San Pedro guitarist Chuck Alvarez. He also approached Rossi about doing one.
Originally uninterested, Rossi thought it was “grandiose” and didn’t want to brag. But Heimgartner said it wasn’t about that. He told Rossi that he had a tremendous story, coming out of San Pedro, raising his children, losing a son and then his 20K Watts charity. After more persuading, including a script reading by an actor conveniently resembling Rossi, Rossi was sold. For six months they worked. In 2017, Alvarez and Rossi presented their talks at a Port of Los Angeles High School writing class.
“It was so funny, when it ended nobody applauded,” Rossi said. “I thought it didn’t work. But I found out they were just so enamored by what the story was about. When the Q&A happened, we got a phone call from one of the teachers who said the kids asked if I could come into the classroom and meet one-on-one.”
Rossi said he was amazed at the students’ brilliance. He realized then how much he could offer by helping just one of them make it to the next level.
The Music
“This is about changing the world through youth,” he said. “There’s a reason it’s called classic rock. Classic rock is not just music history, it’s history itself. The bands [of that era] were impactful through their lyrics and their communication skills. … The bands [of that era] were impactful through their lyrics and their communication skills.
They were the Internet before the Internet. If those rock stars said don’t vote for a politician, [they wouldn’t] get elected. We found our voice and we had power. No matter what people say about the band, there was always a crew and a group of people behind these bands that were really influencing them and driving the ship.”
Rossi tells why the music was classic and why it became so impactful. He pointed to Fleetwood Mac, saying Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks wrote music about their personal lives. Not only did they write about it, they had the same songs written about them.
Later in life — when the old crews gathered, recalling their past — they realized, Rossi said, that these artists were empowering women to stand up for their rights.
“Stevie Nicks would write a song about Lindsay Buckingham or he would write a song about her,” Rossi said. “Landslide is a piece that will be played forever. It’s a song about her saying no to him. Don’t Stop is about Christine telling John McVie, stop, we’re divorced, don’t think about yesterday. “Yesterday’s gone.”
You saw these changes ... bands were coming up with remedies for social injustice. People would read the lyrics and hold the album cover and whatever was happening [personally], they relat[ed] to it. That would empower them to make the change that they were listening to.”
Rossi isn’t trying to save the world but said if he can touch that one person that can, then he’s done his part.
In one instance after a presentation on a cruise ship, the following day a woman approached Rossi and told him that his performance really got to her — that it actually made her “really angry,” Rossi said.
She told him, I’m in that horrible club like you — meaning that she had lost a child. She said, “Your son didn’t want to die, your son had a will to live.” She divulged that her son took his own life in an overdose.
When Rossi told her that she “can’t go there,” the woman said that’s not the point. She explained, Rossi gave her insight that she never thought she’d find — a new mission in life.
As Rossi recounted, the woman said, “I need to go out and make sure no mother ever feels the way I did after my son passed. I need to help mothers with addicted children.”
“It’s been really rewarding to see the impact of what I’m doing and to see people make changes in their own lives …” Rossi said.
“We were just normal guys that fell into an extraordinary situation and made the best of it.” He closed his talk with a mantra of sorts: When you chase your dreams you learn dedication ... you learn persistence ... you learn passion ... you learn purpose. When you chase your dreams you leave the world better than you found it.
Details: www.20kwatts.org