Last Wednesday, Heard Mentality had a rambling conversation with Dusty Rhodes and the River Band's charismatic frontman, Dustin Apodaca, where talked about running for a position in the Anaheim city council. “I've always wanted to do it,” Apodaca said. “It was just a matter of time. But now that Dusty Rhodes is ending, I can do this and it will work out perfectly. I was going to run four years ago, but we were touring and we just got signed and it couldn't have happened.”
Today, he confirmed that he filed all the paperwork needed to run for office.
Originally, Apodaca said he wanted to run for mayor of Anaheim: “But I figured it would be too demanding.”
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What's Apodaca's platform, then? “I want to make sure things are done correctly,” Apodaca said. That includes making sure that the 800-mile-long, high speed rail line being built from Anaheim to San Francisco in about three hours is done right. (“I'm worried it's not going to be a Maglev, but that it'll be gnarly technology from Japan,” he said. “The Maglev's the future.”) and making sure Spanish is in the Anaheim school curiculum.
Being in a band, after all, would translate perfectly to being a politician: “I definitely think being in a band is the best qualification for politics; you have to please people, you have to make sure everyone's happy.” His other qualifications include “being a hard worker and being really worldly.”
And if he wins a city council seat, Apodaca says he can can pursue other projects and go to school.
Speaking of Dusty Rhodes ending, Apodaca clarifies that it's not a bad break-up at all. “It would be nice if we had this amazing career and were super successful and as big as Lady Gaga. Mainly we're older, Kyle (Divine) wants to start a family…we're not spring chickens anymore. But it's definitely not because we're mad at each other. We want to pursue other interests.”
Bandmate Andrea Babinski, who plays violin in Dusty Rhodes, says she couldn't be happier for Apodaca: “Maybe he needs a break from music for a little while to gather his thoughts and figure out what he wants to do. If this is it, more power to him, you know?” The band, she said, “has nothing but love for each other.”
“[Deciding to end the band] was a hard decision to make, but it wasn't paying the bills and we'd put everything into it for so long,” she said. “Sometimes you just gotta know when to fold.”
