It’s not very rock ’n’ roll to be up before 9 a.m. and doing interviews, but at age 64, Eddie Money’s lifestyle is much more subdued than it was in the late ’70s, when he toured with the Stones and The Who. “I’d be up at about 1:30 or 2 o’clock having a few bloody marys and trying to cop,” he says. Since Money sobered up in 2001, drugs have been replaced by golf, and the Brooklyn-born singer was up early playing a round in Southern California with friends before our chat. “I just shot an eight,” he says with a laugh. “I’m miserable.”
Money, a former NYPD officer, quit the force to pursue rock stardom in California. After meeting legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, Money landed a record deal and eventually achieved a string of anthemic arena-rock hits, including “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Take Me Home Tonight.” Though he hasn’t issued an album of new material since 1999, Money’s live show is focused on his sizable catalog of hits—from his 1977 debut to the early ’90s—which, all told, yielded sales in excess of 25 million copies. Money says that playing the songs just as they sound on his albums, and as the fans remember them from the radio and MTV, is what still gets him excited about the live show. “We put ‘Endless Nights’ back in the set,” he tells me excitedly, “for all my ladies from the ’80s.”
Throughout much of his career, Money struggled with addiction, and later, ironically, money. “The government is just driving me crazy with these back taxes,” he says. “It’s a struggle, but I don’t have cancer, I don’t have diabetes. I should have saved the money,” he offers. “Who knew?” Later this month, Money will hit the high seas for the Rock Legends Cruise, alongside Blue Oyster Cult, the Doobie Brothers, and fellow golfer Alice Cooper. When I ask if there’s a chance the pair might take in a round while in port, he laughs. “He’s a great golfer,” he says. “But I play golf more like Ray Charles.” Sunday, February 9.
Snoqualmie Casino, 37500 S.E. North Bend Way, Snoqualmie, 425-888-1234, snocasino.com. 7 p.m. $15–$40. 21 and over.