Philadelphia’s original bad boy, Danny Bonaduce, is back in town with a morning radio show, on 94WYSP, and an upcoming marriage to local yelper, Amy R. Yelp’s own Monica S got a chance to chat with the man himself about life, love, and well, scaling a 40-foot flagpole.
Monica: Why’d you pick WYSP as your new home?
DB:
I don't think I chose them and I don't believe they chose me. I was
born in Philadelphia and I am trying as best I can to follow in my
friend, Howard Stern's, footsteps, though they may be large.
Monica: Now that you're back in Philly, what are some of the things that make you realize you are truly home?
DB: The Philadelphia Zoo lets me know I'm home. My father worked there for 20 years. Temple University makes me feel at home. My mother and father both graduated from Temple. What has changed is incredibly good news. Part of my life was very ugly. I used to score drugs in the projects. A&E did a biography on my life, so I took them to the terrible ghettos where I used to buy drugs. I couldn't find them. They had turned into lovely condominiums. Yes, I know that they are still out there somewhere, but the ugliest places I had ever been now had finely manicured lawns.
Monica: You've got a lot of vices out of your life, how you get your kicks these days?
DB: Aside from the people I love, my greatest joy comes from my job. "Find a job that you love and you'll never work another day in your life." In that case I have not worked in 20 years. My fiancée, Amy, is also incredibly exciting. She just announced on my radio show that she would like have sex with Jayson Werth. I wanted to kill her, but my phone callers were too busy calling her a hero.
Monica: How is being a “Philebrity” different from being a Hollywood celebrity?
DB: In Hollywood, I’m a B-List celebrity. In Philadelphia, I’m not fighting for a position. Philadelphia Magazine says I’m the biggest celebrity in Philadelphia. That's only true as long as the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, and Flyers all live in Jersey.
Monica: Aww! What are some of your neighborhood haunts?
DB: I eat somewhere fantastic everyday. Amada is 15 feet from my front door. Cuba Libre is about 50 feet from my house. Triumph, Mad River, Continental, are all approximately the same distance. Campo's is right at the corner and it serves one of the best cheesesteaks in town. Amy seems to prefer Sonny’s.
Monica: Speaking of which, was it love at first sight?
DB: For me, yes. If you don't believe in love at first sight, let me remind you, I married a woman 7 hours after I met her
and that marriage lasted 18 years and two beautiful children. The funny
thing is, I will be with Amy for the rest of my life, while she will
not be with me for the rest of hers. I am 23 years her senior, a chain
smoker, and a recovering druggie. I'll be lucky to live 'til Thursday.
Monica: Well the Weekly comes out on Wednesdays, so we're good. Favorite spot to check out a live show?
DB: The Spectrum.
I saw more shows there than anywhere else: Springsteen, Pearl Jam, The
Grateful Dead. Well, that's not completely true, for the Dead show, I
only made it as far as the parking lot where I ended up spending most of the night sucking on a balloon filled with some very interesting gasses.
Monica: Ahem, moving on… If you were to coordinate a Philly bachelor party what would your stops include?
DB: Penthouse Club, Delilah's, Daydreams and Christine's Cabaret. The best part is, they're sponsors, so that means I drink free.
Monica: Sucks to be you! So are your bad boy days a thing of the past?
DB:
I really never thought of myself as a bad boy, I merely got busted
doing something everybody else was doing. I will say this, last week I
was 15 minutes late for work because I was being held in the back of a
police car. I didn't get arrested, the police just wanted to know what
I was doing sitting on top of a 40-foot flagpole at five in the morning. There was a reason. Ask my boss.
