Hal

Nov

2019

Brett Perkins

Not Just One More Joe

Today’s guest is Brett Perkins. When I first met Brett, he was just another singer songwriter like me, a member of NAS – The National Academy of Songwriters who showed to the pitches and the open mics. There was one song in particular he used to play that still stands out in my mind called

One More Joe. A reflective, pensive sentimental ballad that still gets stuck in my head once in a while.

It’s on his Last Bus Home CD released in 2000

On the other hand, Brett is an energetic, outwardly bubbly, positive guy who has a Paul McCartneyish vibe and his songs run the gamut of styles and emotions. He plays as a solo, as a duet with his lovely french lady named Magali Michaut, or his band the Pawnshop Preachers. He’s also often joined on stage by his daughter, 10-year-old Liva.

Several years ago, Brett started a FundMe campaign so he could bring his little girl to visit the U.S. We talk about the trip which he finally did take .

A lot of our conversation centered around the workshops and songwriter retreats Brett organizes all over the World such as his celebrated Listening Room Retreats. Below are links to some of Brett’s music videos as well as Brett Perkin’s Listening Room Retreats and other events that he’s organized. Whether you just want to attend as an audience member

and appreciator of original music, or you want to be participating performer, be sure to get yourself to one if one comes to your town.

I’m going to leads in with One More Joe as I reconnect with my old friend Brett Perkins

Brett Perkins Website

One More Joe on Youtube

More Brett Perkins Videos at:
Brett Perkins Reverbnation

Song: Ma Petite Chanson Parisienne
Magali Michaut with Brett Perkins

I Just Feel Good For No Particular Reason
from – Put A Fork In Me (I’m Done)

EVENTS

Listening Room Retreats Website

Oct

2019

Jodi Krangle

There’s Always a Silver Lining

This episode’s intro was recorded by today’s guest, voice actor, singer songwriter and podcaster … Jodi Krangle. Jodi is a different kind of road warrior and I know her from traveling an entirely different kind of road… the Information Super Highway. Cyberspace, The Internet… Jodi Krangle, like me was an early adapter and like me, created and published one of the earlier online resources for songwriters.

While I was performing open mics and showcases in Los Angeles and working on my website, Li’l Hank’s Guide For Songwriters, Jodi was performing at open mics and showcases in Canada while building and maintaining her website, the Muses Muse. It featured advice, educational articles and tips for songwriters, and a popular discussion board, and as she told me during our conversation… that message board still exists. She also published a newsletter for 18 straight years, finally hanging that up to pursue her current career in voiceovers and vocals.

In fact, if you go to voiceoversandvocals.com – you’ll find samples of her work.

In 2015, she released an album of mostly original songs called time will tell which we also talk about in this episode.

BTW, you can also get to Jodi’s website by using the alternate URL: JodiKrangle.com

Talking points on today’s episode:

The Muses Muse

Message boards, trolls and hackers

Other early popular songwriter website – Jeff Mallett, Seth Jackson – IUMA (Internet Underground Music Archives), Kalaidospace (Jeannie Novak And Pete Markiewicz)

Brian Austin Whitney – Just Plain Folk

Taxi Road Rally

Real Audio

Filk

Jodi’s Podcast, – Silver Linings

3 and four minute bits of life advice and an occasional interview

Album

Time Will Tell (2015)

Collaborators Chris Conway and Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Dr. Demento

I Met Santa On the Internet

Michael Ian Black

Podcast Movement 2019

Meeting Dave Jackson and Steve Stewart

Photography is not a lost art

Honorable mentions: photographers Anne Leibowitz, Henry Diltz and Paul Zollo

Oct

2019

Reflecting on Don Rickles

Reflections on the Philly Podfest Episode

So, I’ve been reflecting on last weeks episode, the live show from the Tattoed Mom with Dan May, Lizanne Knott and Ciara Grace. Well, a friend of mine used to always say, you’re only a good as your last performance. And y’know – I thought I could have done a lot better, but you see, it was my first time doing a live panel discussion, and I probably could have been a lot more prepared, but you know what? My guests still brought it! So, it still turned out all right.

One thing that really stood out to me was the fact that Dan and Lizanne both told me they don’t change their own guitar strings. I had just assumed that all guitar players change their own strings. So, what does Dan do if he’s home practicing and he breaks a string? He just picks up another guitar and has an assistant change it for him at the next gig. But it got me to thinking… there are probably a lot of people who don’t change their own strings. In fact, I didn’t learn the correct way to change strings myself until I was in my 30’s. I had to take my guitar in for repairs one day in the 1990’s. The guy who fixed it was an 80 year old luthier named Branko. BTW – a luthier is someone who builds guitars from scratch. It is a very special skill and finding a good luthier is rare. So, if you ever buy a new guitar, especially if it’d an expensive one, find yourself a good luthier right away and have him set it up for you and walk you through some of the basics of guitar maintenance.

Anyway, Branko noticed I had put the strings on all wrong, so he introduced me to the string winder and how to use it. Not only did I learn how to do it right, it also took me 20 minutes to do what used o take me an hour! So I took that misstep during the podcast as an opportunity to post a video on the show notes page. The links are posted again below for the benefit of anyone who wants to know how to use a string winder to change their own guitar strings. I’ve also included links to Amazon in case you want to grab a string winder or musician survival kit for yourself or a musically inclined family member or friend.

Okay! So, today is the first day of the rest of this podcast! Recently, I made a few changes that I thought you might find helpful! Firstly, you may have noticed that I no longer use my full name which is Hal Aaron Cohen. Why? Well, it suddenly dawned on me that my username in a lot of online forums and discussion groups has been halinphilly for years. My email address is hainphilly@gmail.com – and has been for years. So now, I own the domain name. From now on, instead of trying to remember Tales of the Road Warriors dot com (man that’s a lot to type, isn’t it?) – you can get there by typing HALINPHILLY.COM All one word. All you have to remember is Hal (that’s ME) and I’m in Philly!

halinphilly dot com

If you want to send me message, just email me at halinphilly@gmail.com – – – Easy-peazy!

BTW, I encourage you to send me your thoughts on the show. Who should I talk to? What should I ask them? What do you want to know? Should I have a co-host? Do YOU want to be a cohost? There’s also a comment section at the bottom of every page. And a Tales of the Road Warriors Facebook Group where you can add your own stories! So please! Get interactive. Get on the email list. I send out maybe one newsletter month, so you don’t have to worry about me clogging up your inbox.

Now here’s where, if I had a sponsor, I’d be telling you all about them. Great guitar accessories, a great pizza place, best place to go for live music in in Philly or L.A. – Jump in early and grow with me!

If you’d like to directly support the podcast and help defray some of the costs – use the good ol’ Tip Jar. Anything you’d like to contribute would be most helpful and appreciated. I’m also thinking about doing some merch. What would you like to see? Coffee mugs? T-shirts? Hoodies? Just let me know and I’ll get it going.

And now for one of my own Tales of the Road Warriors…

A Don Rickles Encounter

I often talk about how musicians invented the gig economy. The word GIG used to apply pretty much to musicians and comics or others in the entertainment biz. But the word gig is used for uber driving, pet sitting, food delivery. Even some professional contractors refer to a job as a gig these days. As a musician I’ve worked quite a variety of gigs. I was working an interesting side hustle when I had one of my many celebrity encounters…

A old friend of mine is a party planner. He used to send me out on a gig every once in a while years ago back when I lived in L.A.

One day he called to ask me to help him out for a children’s birthday party [Read the original article here] Continue reading →

Oct

2019

Philly Podfest

Dan May, Lizanne Knott, and Ciara Grace

Live at the Tattoed Mom at 535 South Street in Philadelphia

Photo by Carolyn Miller

Welcome to TotRW live – presented by the Philadelphia Podcast Festival at the Tattooed Mom (535 South Street in Philadelphia PA)

Guests Dan May, Lizanne Knott and her daughter Ciara Grace. Congratulations to Lizanne who just released her brand new album “Bones and Gravity” and it’s already getting stellar reviews.

Daughter Ciara is working on her debut album and the buzz is crazy good. Dan’s starting work on a new music project, too, but even more exciting, he’s also putting the finishing touches on his new book, a sequel to his best seller, Adventures In Grocery Shopping.

Topics we talk about include,

Tattooed Mom’s Poutine Fries

Cheese curds

Changing guitar strings (or not)

Changing strings on a lute

Pets and gigs

Staying hydrated.

Billy Eilish

Cds, streaming, and vinyl

How we listen to albums now vs then

What to include in a musician’s survival kit?

Favorite places to perform.

cell phones at concerts

Dan’s book

James Taylor’s Fire and Rain Update

Parking issues

There’s a whole lot of me talking too much and it was about the 5th day in a row of a heat wave (about 102 degrees that day. I had never done a podcast with more than one other person before, so I apologize in advance for the looseness of this episode. Still, we did get some good stuff out of this little panel discussion.

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT

Dan with Lizanne and Ciara – “Imagine” at Sellersville Theater July 5th, 2019

DAN MAY

Beacon

Dan’s Previous Conversation with Hal on Tales of the Road Warriors

Dan’s book: Adventures in Grocery Shopping

LIZANNE KNOTT

Lizanne’s Website

Lizanne’s Music Video
Be Careful With My Heart

Lizanne Knott Video
Miss You

CIARA GRACE

Ciara live Songwriter Circle on Youtube
This Is The End I Swear

Overrated

James Taylor – “Fire and Rain” Updated Version

HOW TO VIDEOS

Tuning a Guitar with a String Winder

Stringing a Lute

Tuning a Lute

Get the D’Addario String Winder $10.99

D’Addario String Winder/Wire Cutter/Pin Puller

<br />

GIG MATE Guitar Care and Tool Kit $33.95

Carbon steel String Cutters, 2-in-l Screwdriver (Philips/Flat), Led Flashlight and 2 AAA Batteries
5 Allen Wrenches. Made in USA: 0.050inch for Fender USA saddles -1.5mm for MIM Fender & most import saddles – 2.5mm & 3mm for Floyd Rose. Plus 5mm long Ball End Acoustic Truss Rod Wrench (Takamine, Martin and most Asian truss rods and more)
6 Pockets for string storage, Pick Pocket for picks, gauge and business cards etc.
Stainless Steel String Action/Set Up Gauge. String Winder with bridge pin remover. Trem Poker. Strings/picks are not included. Ships by USPS
The reviews of the GIGmate Guitar Tool Kit are not paid for in any way with discounts for reviews – unlike other similar products.

<br />

Philly Podfest – Full Show Transcript

Hal InPhilly 0:00
Hey, how’s it going? It’s Hal in Philly, and this is the live episode that I’ve been promoting for so long. It was recorded back in July, as part of the Philadelphia Podcast Festival at the Tattooed Mom on South Street in Philadelphia. I had like a little panel discussion with Dan May, Lizanne Knott and her Daughter, Sierra grace. And oh, by the way, congratulations to Lizanne. She just released her brand new album. It’s called Bones and Gravity. It’s already getting stellar reviews. Her daughter Ciara is working on her debut album and the buzz is crazy good. Dan’s starting work on a new music project, but even more exciting. he’s also putting the finishing touches on his new book. As usual on the show notes page, there’s links to all the stuff we talked about… the music, the videos. There’s a whole lot of me talking too much and not doing a very good job of moderating It was about the fifth day in a row of a heatwave. It was about 102 degrees that day. I had never done a podcast with more than one other person before, and it’s usually over the phone. So I apologize in advance for the looseness of this episode. But you know what, we still got a lot of really good stuff on this episode. So let’s just jump right in. Today on Tales of the Road Warriors.

Hal InPhilly 1:30
N ow, I would like to welcome everyone to Tales of the Road Warriors. This is the live edition and it’s presented by Philadelphia Podcast Festival at phillypodfest.com. I’m Hal Aaron Cohen, your host, and my special guests are Dan May, Lizanne Knott and her beautiful daughter Ciara Grace. All three are songwriters and performers in their own right. Want to tell us how you guys all know each other?

Dan 1:58
I think I met Lizanne when I was recording my first recording studio – Morning Star which is her studio. And she sang on it that CD and Ciara was in diapers probably. I think it was 2011

Lizanne 2:13
Yeah, we know

Dan 2:18
each other a pretty long time.

Dan 2:19
We have, Ciara sang on my song, Magpie, the pie shop down the street the closed. I’ve known them quite a while.

Hal InPhilly 2:29
Yeah, I almost put up little tasty cake pies in the bag, there.

Dan 2:33
And we just did a show together two weeks ago, the three of us at Sellerssville Theater which is great. It feels like it’s like having family on stage. So it’s very cool.

Hal InPhilly 2:42
The Dan May Family Singers.

Dan 2:45
I’m in the Morning Star Family.

Hal InPhilly 2:46
Oh, okay, gotta get that straight… The Morning Star Family. Okay. Oh, I want to give a shout out just before I walked in here, I noticed that Lizanne posted on Facebook — Congratulations to her daughter Melanie and Brad. So, they got engaged. Congratulations!

Lizanne 3:07
exciting Yeah!

Hal InPhilly 3:09
Okay, so let’s get right to the talking points… I gave you each a survival kit. This is the first time I’m just saying this and I only did this to make all my past guests jealous. But I want to tell you if I ever get a sponsor that will help me put together a bag like this. I’m going to send retro actively everybody who’s ever been on my podcast, a little something something.

Hal InPhilly 3:30
So what I did was I got these little gift bags like you get at Walmart or, or Kmart. And then I filled them up with some goodies, yeah. And it’s what I call the the musicians survival kit. Or in this case, it’s a guitar player survival kit. It’s comprised anybody want to like take out one at a time we’ll go over what I put out there?

Dan 3:52
Well, look tthe towel you put in is going to come in very handy today.

Hal InPhilly 3:56
Yeah, it’s a micro fiber towel. Every guitarist should have one of those. I didn’t know what kind of picks you play with, and Ciara, I noticed on your video, you were finger picking so I don’t even know if you use a pick

Ciara Grace 4:09
Yeah I feel like my nails are sufficient. I don’t know… I, I don’t know

Unknown Speaker 4:13
If you ever decided you know get better at flatpicking you got a whole selection. I put a variety in there. Because, I like a particular kind, but I didn’t want to force my favorite – on you guys.

Unknown Speaker 4:25
So I put a variety pack. Then, a string winder…

Lizanne 4:30
Is that was that is?

Hal InPhilly 4:31
Yeah

Dan 4:31
I never seen one of these before.

Lizanne 4:33
They look like toenail clippers

Hal InPhilly 4:35
No, but, you ever to go to change your strings…

Lizanne 4:39
No. I do not change my own strings. I’m tellin you

Hal InPhilly 4:41
Really?

Dan 4:42
I don’t either.

Lizanne 4:44
I got always get somebody to do it for me.

Hal InPhilly 4:45
Well, then gift it to your roadie or whoever changes your strings. Just gift it to…

Lizanne 4:50
These are great!

Ciara Grace 4:51
It does look like a toenail clippers.

Hal InPhilly 4:53
Yeah, the kind of do. But I’ll tell you what, that clipper thing on the end. That comes in very handy. Because I used to use a string winder. And then a wire cutter. But always misplace my wire cutter. So I saw that I’m like

Lizanne 5:06
All in one Yeah, that’ a good idea. all in one

Hal InPhilly 5:08
And also, you know those little pins on the end of the guitars? You can’t pull those pull They’re difficult to pull out when you’re changing your strings…

Lizanne 5:20
yeah, okay, well that’s good then

Dan 5:22
If you find one for lute, let me know my my grandson just got a lute. And so he brought it over for me to string I had

Lizanne 5:31
Might be the same thing

Dan 5:33
..for that maybe but I had to take it to a specialist difficult string. I went to tune it yesterday after restringing it. I snap the string on the first…

Hal InPhilly 5:43
How many strings there’s a loop have

Dan 5:45
It has seven – One single string and then six that are doubled the octave playing the same note. So but it’s it’s got that bent neck. Yeah, but there’s really only one guy in the area that does that. So.

Hal InPhilly 6:00
Wow! Well if there’s any lute players, please go to the show notes page and in the comment section tell us everything you know about changing loot strings. Wow. Do you perform on it or does he?

Dan 6:15
The lute? No. No, it doesn’t put up much volume and you can’t amp it in any way you’d like it, plug it into a fuzz pedal or wah-wah?

Dan 6:24
Nah, you can’t plug it in. Anyway, the lute got me sidetracked

Hal InPhilly 6:30
Now we have bottles of water I put a bottle of water in each bag. ’cause as you know you get very thirsty on these gigs. So it’s always good to have that and

Lizanne 6:39
It’s kind of wicksy in there

Hal InPhilly 6:40
Oh, yeah, and I put put a couple throat lozenges in there on the bottom of your bag too. I don’t know if you saw those.

Lizanne 6:46
Thank you

Hal InPhilly 6:46
Now here’s the question. If you were putting together a survival kit for musicians or guitarists, such as your self, what else would you include?

Dan 6:55
Good question. Definitely to set lists and not one. Yeah, I knew this I always have to. I can’t it’s not a survival kit but you gotta have a stool to set your water bottle on so… I don’t know if you can fit a stool in there but some of those claps ones other than that I think you covered it.

Ciara Grace 7:17
You don’t need much besides like an instrument sometimes. Right?

Lizanne 7:21
I forgot guitar straps before…

Lizanne 7:23
You just make it work.

Lizanne 7:24
I’ve forgot ten – I do

Ciara Grace 7:26
You do make it work.

Hal InPhilly 7:27
I read somewhere online. Somebody said extra guitar straps.

Lizanne 7:30
Yeah, I forgot.

Hal InPhilly 7:32
Flashlight. And batteries.

Lizanne 7:35
I do Batteries. Actually, guitar batteries; yeah.

Hal InPhilly 7:38
Did you have that little light go on a battery low on your guitar pickup.

Lizanne 7:42
Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 7:42
And you’re nowhere near the store to get another battery.

Lizanne 7:45
Yeah, that’s the worst.

Hal InPhilly 7:46
So yeah,

Lizanne 7:47
That actually – That’s a good one. And then you know… a shot of whiskey or somethin’

Ciara Grace 7:52
Drugs!.

Hal InPhilly 7:54
Sorry, I didn’t put a setlist (To Dan) – I know you said bring two and I didn’t even give you a one. You’re responsible for your own setlist. Oh, I know what else… a cord! Like a guitar cord to plug in? a patch cord?

Dan 8:07
Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 8:08
A quarter inch? Because if you get a bad cord and you don’t have an Extra? That’s not good either.

Lizanne 8:14
That’s a big problem. Yeah,

Hal InPhilly 8:16
Maybe even an extra mic.

Dan 8:17
My bass players a sound guy so he always comes prepared.

Dan 8:21
So, he’s the guy I should be asking this question

Dan 8:24
Yep,

Hal InPhilly 8:24
Let’s call him!

Dan 8:27
He’s doing a show today is Doesn’t Scott Sax play Sellerseville tonight?

Lizanne 8:33
Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 8:34
So, you guys all got out of a Sunday gig to do this, huh?

Lizanne 8:38
We did. This was special. This is a great room, actually!

Ciara Grace 8:42
This is so cool.

Lizanne 8:43
I want to do a gig here!

Hal InPhilly 8:45
Yeah, this is my first time at the Tattooed Mom, too.

Lizanne 8:48
Yes, this is great.

Hal InPhilly 8:49
Yeah, I just ate downstairs with my sister and brother-in-law.

Lizanne 8:52
Do they have vegan? Vegan food here?

Hal InPhilly 8:54
They have vegan food and they also have carnivore food here too. And, uh, they have something I didn’t even know they had in Philly. I guess they’re getting popular. My sister said they’re popular here now, but they used to just be in Wisconsin, and now they’re everywhere. Poutine fries?

Dan 9:09
Oh, yeah. It’s a Canadian…

Ciara Grace 9:10
That’s like the Canada stuff. Yeah.

Dan 9:11
Canada – Gravy on fries.

Lizanne 9:12
Are they allowed to sell it?

Ciara Grace 9:14
What do you mean… are they allowed to sell it?

Hal InPhilly 9:16
(Laughter) The French fries with grilled cheese. Cheese curds? Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 9:23
They should just call it melted cheese because cheese curds just sounds like…

Dan 9:28
Cheese curds are great. Wisconsin has fried cheese curds. We didn’t show up there couple years ago and got hooked on those things. They are really good. Hard to find them here though.

Hal InPhilly 9:39
They’re downstairs if you ever wanna get

Dan 9:40
Cheese curds?

Hal InPhilly 9:41
Yeah, they come with the poutine fries. It’s french fries, gravy and cheese curds. So, I wanted to talk about pets and traveling and what do you do with your like, what do you do? You’re married. So Coop is kind of covered if you have to go on the road or if I take my wife with me… boredom. But I just found this new thing called PAWS online where you put them in people’s homes.

Lizanne 10:05
I would take Coop.

Dan 10:06
Really?

Unknown Speaker 10:07
Yeah.

Dan 10:09
Coop loves the studio. It’s his absolute favorite place when I go to record there. When it’s time to go. He runs the other way because he doesn’t want to leave. I don’t know what it is. I think it’s the vibe that she loves animals so much and he used to have a girlfriend there. A boxer. She was a boxer wasn’t she?

Lizanne 10:31
American Bulldog.

Dan 10:32
Bulldog! Phoebe. But I’ve taken him took him to a show we didn’t Florida which was cool. He sat at the just sat at the base of the microphone so… But, I don’t know what… (to Lizanne) Glenn’s usually there to watch the dogs if you’re on the road, right?

Lizanne 10:48
Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 10:50
So now when you in the studio with the dog, or even just practicing, doest your dog sit and listen to you?

Lizanne 10:57
Yeah, they do. Coop listens

Hal InPhilly 10:59
I see Coop does

Dan 11:00
Coop does. in the studio,

Lizanne 11:02
They’re all very interested in it.

Dan 11:05
Seeing that there’s a new video where there’s monkeys playing the piano plays with his feet. But then he climbs up and he’s looking, he’s trying to figure out, he can see that pressing that and the music’s coming out there, and he gets up and he’s looking inside and that’s when the video stops. Yeah, that’s like the most important thing when he’s making that connection.

Lizanne 11:28
I saw that.

Hal InPhilly 11:29
I didn’t see that

Dan 11:30
It’s a good one. Yeah.

Lizanne 11:32
Animals love music. Do

Hal InPhilly 11:35
I had a dog named Cooper, too. He was a little Cavalier. Yeah, he would sit and watch me play and listen. Yeah, yeah. My current dog’s not like that. He could take it or leave it. Yeah.

Ciara Grace 11:48
I guess it kind of like people. Some people don’t like music.

Hal InPhilly 11:51
You have a dog Ciara?

Ciara Grace 11:52
Yeah. Oh my, we have so many animals.

Lizanne 11:55
She ha her own my

Dan 11:56
She has a horse, too

Unknown Speaker 11:58
He’s the hardest to leave, like – We’re going on um, my mom’s going on tour next October. And we had to get like a special, like dog place to put him in because he’s huge. He’s like, Great Dane size.

Lizanne 12:10
Osh Kosh

Ciara Grace 12:12
some kind of Kalizu is like a skinny Great Dane.

Lizanne 12:15
Yeah, really tall dog. We have

Dan 12:17
You have horses too, dontcha?

Lizanne 12:19
Yeah, they just stay at the barn though.

Lizanne 12:21
Yeah, we’ve got a little Menagerie.

Hal InPhilly 12:24
Musical Menagerie

Lizanne 12:25
musical Menagerie.

Hal InPhilly 12:26
Yeah, that’s funny.

Lizanne 12:28
I need my animals. Yeah,

Hal InPhilly 12:31
For me, I found during the course of my life, that I it kept me from touring I’ve always had but I haven’t always had a wife or a girlfriend or anything right or kids to watch my pet. So it’s kept me oftentimes from just traveling or touring or anything. So I always take gigs that are I could come home from great maybe a couple hours away the most.

Lizanne 12:53
I just drove my kids with me when they were young. They all they came with me no matter where they didn’t have a choice. But um my dogs I’ve taken with me on the road my lab came back and forth to Nashville with me when I had a little little publishers room there. I just took them back and forth with me, I mean, I just take them.

Hal InPhilly 13:12
What about what you got? Because I’m talking to Liz and by the way lizanne spent to like Australia, Europe, Australia, you haven’t been Australian in the UK, Spain UK.

Lizanne 13:23
Australia is next.

Ciara Grace 13:26
Australia I know one of my friends tours there though.

Lizanne 13:29
I have daughters so my daughters take you know,stay at the house the house and take care of them. Yeah,

Hal InPhilly 13:34
There’s something to be said for having you know, having kids

Dan 13:38
There’s really no other reason to have kids (laughter)

Lizanne 13:40
Yeah, I know!

Ciara Grace 13:42
So – to watch the dogs

Unknown Speaker 13:44
I’ve never like, it never stopped me from anything. I mean, I feel guilty leaving the dogs

Ciara Grace 13:50
We leave the TV on for them.

Hal InPhilly 13:52
What’s their favorite show?

Dan 13:56
I leave at HDTV for Coop

Unknown Speaker 13:59
Yeah. So is

Dan 14:01
Because there’s not… There’s barely dogs barking…

Ciara Grace 14:04
Right.

Lizanne 14:04
Right

Dan 14:04
So but then, you know one day we came back, and he had redone the powder room

Hal InPhilly 14:13
That’s sounds like something Coop would do.

Hal InPhilly 14:17
Since you are so well traveled Do you have like a favorite country or favorite

Lizanne 14:22
Definitely. Scotland is probably my favorite country, my favorite or although I love Spain and I’m returning to Sala BBK, a big venue that I played a few years back that having me back and that is probably my favorite venue. Only because nobody there speaks English they speak Basque and Oh, wow. And it’s a cross between Spanish and French. So and I speak neither language so I’m I totally but so. I don’t know why they booked me because nobody knows what the hell I’m saying or saying.

Hal InPhilly 14:56
I guess they like they sing along with you like phonetically or

Lizanne 15:00
Just they know they have my CDs. They know my songs, but the I can’t even talk to the sound people so they always they have these like they have a strobe light going and dry ice and I’m just playing solo, with my guitar my little songs and there’s dry ice

Hal InPhilly 15:18
blasting a heavy metal band and here there

Unknown Speaker 15:21
he is. There’s no you know, I’m laughing trying to tell them no, don’t do that. They didn’t know. So it’s it was it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great venue. So I’m gonna enjoy going back there again. But Scotland is beautiful.

Ciara Grace 15:34
Especially like Edinburgh.Yeah. I like so cool.

Lizanne 15:39
I like Island. She likes the cities but yeah, it’s beautiful. You should go anybody ever been? Oh, the Isle of Sky, like some of those places up there are just, There’s a place to go. It’s definitely – people are extremely friendly and there’s so many places to stay like you don’t you don’t have to plan it. You can just go. I recommend it.

Dan 16:02
I think I my favorite venue I did a between the time I started out as a as an opera singer for 12 years. And between that period of time and becoming a singer songwriter, I was a contemporary dancer if you can believe that. I did a contemporary ballet and Russia at St. Petersburg at the Alexandrian Street theater, which was it was just unbelievable. It’s like we’re Checkov premiered all his plays. And it was the show I was in was about the it’s about a convoy that sunk during World War Two the choreographers father was on this convoy. And so, this the ballet was about, it was a half submerged ship. That was a set. And then the orchestra was round it. But when I was working for a company in Montreal, their choreography their Coleman Lemieux Dance Company, and when they Asked we have a special requests when we get to Russia and I said like I can only ride in a van. A van because I had screws in my spine, so it’s difficult to ride in a sedan. So they said, “We got to covered.”

Dan 17:12
So we landed at the airport and walked out and the guy meets us and he had a van and it was like a cargo van with lawn chairs in the back. There were no – They weren’t attached to anything. You knw and they’d turn corners… But they did what I asked. They got a van, but that was that was an amazing something

Hal InPhilly 17:18
An amusement park ride on the way there.

Lizanne 17:38
Well look at these seats. Is that a roller coaster?

Hal InPhilly 17:40
Yeah

Dan 17:41
That’s what that is. Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 17:44
We’re talking about the seats here in the Tattooed Mom. They look like little roller coaster chairs and that’s probably

Lizanne 17:50
Authentic ones!

Hal InPhilly 17:51
…from an old amusement park I guess. Oh, Ciara, I got a question for you. Actually. I was watching your video this morning. You were doing, “Overrated”.

Ciara Grace 18:02
Oh, man. Great. Yeah.

Hal InPhilly 18:04
And my… What are you, 16?

Ciara Grace 18:07
Yeah

Hal InPhilly 18:07
She’s 16, and the lyrics are… Her songs are so sophisticated…

Lizanne 18:13
They are

Lizanne 18:13
This is like from a girl who sounds like she’s seen the world. Lyrics like… she sounds like she’s lived a lifetime. So I just want to… How do you come up with this stuff?

Ciara Grace 18:23
I mean, there’s a special kind of poet you find inside yourself and someone really pisses you off. And I don’t you just you just got to think like oh my god, what would I say to this person? It happens all the time when you guys feel like you’re friends with someone when you’re younger and like, all kids are like, nice, like, no one starts out mean and then they just like make friends with people that are mean and just like “Ohhhh! Why do you have to say things like that? Why do you have to do things like that? You know?

Unknown Speaker 18:49
Yeah,

Hal InPhilly 18:50
And if you want to know the rest of the story just gonna have to listen to the song. There will be a link to that on the show notes page

Lizanne 18:58
prolific

Hal InPhilly 18:59
So all three of our guests are working on projects. Lizanne and Ciara are working on…

Lizanne 19:04
I just finished one. Ciara’s going to be next.

Ciara Grace 19:07
Man. I’m trying.

Hal InPhilly 19:08
And then Dan’s got a CD in the works. And he just finished his book. So we’ll go down the line so they could talk about their projects. I’m sure ladies first. Lizanne, you want to start?

Lizanne 19:21
Yeah, I just finished my, I guess, my sixth official CD that’s been on a proper label that I’m on and you’re in the UK called Proper Records. And it’s an Americana record, set, you know, singer songwriter Americana. And I wrote I’m really happy with the songs that I wrote on it. Dan’son it. Ciara sang most of the harmonies

Hal InPhilly 19:45
Anything upbeat on there,

Hal InPhilly 19:47
There is! It’s about killing somebody, but it’s progress. I mean, I write really depressing songs. I write really dark, dark depressing things just what comes out.

Dan 20:03
It’s dark, that song, but it’s, I like it because it’s proactive.

Unknown Speaker 20:08
Yeah,

Dan 20:09
it’s this

Dan 20:10
She’s offed her husband becasue he has been abused in some way. You can dance to it, too.

Lizanne 20:19
Yeah,

Ciara Grace 20:21
Do the one about cocaine

Lizanne 20:28
You have to stop and clap

Audience member 20:31
Start us off.

Lizanne 20:32
It goes something like

Hal InPhilly 20:48
All right.You’re gonna you’re gonna have to buy this

Lizanne 20:52
[Unintellible off mic]… but I curse the day he was born. So… But it’s a stomp clap song. Yeah,

Hal InPhilly 21:01
Lizanne was saying one of her earlier videos, hell, she doesn’t really have that much in the way of like uplifting songs. And so, one day when I was feeling like my absolute worst, I made it a point, I said, I’m gonna write a funny, upbeat song just because I feel just the opposite right now. And that’s where – I have a song called, I Musta Hadda Great Time Last Night, and that’s where that came from. This horrible. My parents had left me on my own. And the next day, somebody had friends from the wrong side of the tracks, just like in the movies, they came to the house, they trashed my parents house. And it was like, I was horrified. And, but, I got that song out of it.

Lizanne 21:44
It’s funny my Glen Baron is my producer, at one point said to me a few CDs For God’s sake, write a happy. I can’t listen these depressing songs anymore. So I says it, okay. So I, I wrote this really upbeat, you know, hands clapping for tapping song. And he goes yeah he is and melodies really upbeat but the CD it’s about suicide depression and adultery and alcoholism adding some alcoholism in there. It’s going great.

Ciara Grace 22:11
My favorite is when he’s mixing it he tries to add like all these harmonies and make it really pretty and she’s like no get it off. I don’t like it.

Lizanne 22:17
I just like really died. I mean it’s my step pattern now, kind of a very dark dark music but I mean it’s what I do.

Hal InPhilly 22:24
Yeah why break your pattern,now?

Lizanne 22:25
Why break it? I haven’t? Yeah, the UK loves it they’re very depressing

Hal InPhilly 22:33
How about you Ciara? Oh, you got something?

Ciara Grace 22:36
I’ve got a few. My whole issue is that like I write songs I write a lot of songs and then I hate all that immediately afterward and I like seeing them my parents like I’ll go downstairs my guitar I’d be like I wrote something new. And they think and my dad is always like, yeah, it’s really good. Let’s go record it now and I’m like, No, I don’t really like the lyrics. I don’t really like the melody

Unknown Speaker 22:55
can’t commit to

Hal InPhilly 22:56
Yeah. Are you inspired by things that your mom listen to? Or you got your whole other.

Ciara Grace 23:01
No, we both know no, no, no – we both write really depressing songs. Yeah.

Ciara Grace 23:06
But you have a whole nother genre that although I like what you listen to like Billy Eilish Yeah, she’s so cool. Um, she’s a little bit more… She’s got more of like a hip hop schtick.

Hal InPhilly 23:17
Dan, and you?

Dan 23:19
I got a working on the latest album. That’ll be my seventh record. And right now I’m just going through the songs and, because I’m sure like Lizanne does when you cut you have to trim through all the songs to try to figure out what’s going to make the cut. CD’s using about great 13 songs. Thank you. But it’s a you know, it’s it’s tremendous. Right now I’m trimming and trying to find a cohesive thing where there’s like some sort of theme that ties everything together; a thread that yeah, that’s the tricky part and, and then you do things in the studio where you’re considering things like how this song sounds in front of this song, and you’ll get a flow for the CD, but nobody listens to CDs in their entirety anymore.

Hal InPhilly 24:06
in a linear fashion, and you know

Dan 24:10
But I still write that. I mean, I still put it together that way. I’m sure you do, too. I do too. But, you know, the average listener, I think that’s all about the song. Yeah,

Ciara Grace 24:21
I mean, not entirely. I don’t like

Lizanne 24:22
that. You’re not a normal?

Ciara Grace 24:23
No, no, no, no, it’s not not even just may I just like know,of singers like this generation. Like, we’ll just use Billy Eilish for an example again, whatever. Um, her CD I know like she specifically said buy the entire thing because it needs to be listened to in order. So it’s not like I’m talking like people. But I mean, people still like that thought in their head and they’re making music like

Dan 24:46
Absolutely, we both do that we put them together. We listen to an order, but

Unknown Speaker 24:53
people don’t listen to all them in order.

Hal InPhilly 24:55
You think that like the rock opera, Tommy would make sense to today? Do you think they’d ever We’re even trying that. I don’t know.

Unknown Speaker 25:03
There’s been performing it or

Lizanne 25:05
even somebody writing it, they’re writing it. I mean, there’s a rock opera singer songwriters out on Broadway. Yeah, there’s there’s stuff on Broadway that some singer songwriters that are put out there. And I like the same type of thing

Dan 25:19
with that, for example, that particular thing. You know, if you pull people off the street right now, a lot of them would have heard Pinball Wizard maybe, but they haven’t heard Uncle Ernie’s song or something like that. So, you know, it’s just again, you’re taking segments out?

Hal InPhilly 25:36
Yeah, right. They just they cherry pick their favorite songs on the album.

Dan 25:41
Right. But

Hal InPhilly 25:42
I think there are those that still like to listen to everything all the way through at least once.

Dan 25:48
Yeah, I think our generation does, it’s just

Lizanne 25:53
coming back I mean, a little bit ya know, a lot. Yeah. Yeah. They’re like the big

Ciara Grace 26:01
I think it was dad that was telling me that you don’t really get like all the music when you listen to something like on a like on your phone you only get here like 2% of it very compressed. Yeah

Hal InPhilly 26:11
But here’s what I think about albums. Yeah, I don’t think they sound any better than CDs or streaming because the digital is a much better quality…

Unknown Speaker 26:19
digital is better quality but the albums are actually

Hal InPhilly 26:22
I like the album art and the line Yeah, you can hold it in your hand and just

Hal InPhilly 26:29
they that’s what I miss it

Lizanne 26:30
they they still have they’re still coming off of the same format though. So they’re just as records fade that now downs that are being pressed now or not less than then your digital CDs because of that same format that’s being recorded in that large format. It’s a much bigger disc, it’s just

Hal InPhilly 26:49
Yeah, the other thing is the album’s they’re putting out now come in like really beautiful colors like

Lizanne 26:55
I know

Hal InPhilly 26:55
licorice. Yes, the whole

Dan 26:58
You’re talking about the record itself?

Hal InPhilly 26:59
Yeah the record itself

Dan 26:59
Yeah, it’s one of those things. It’s a very niche kind of thing that the average American isn’t buying. I think audio files musicians are buying them. But does anybody here buy records? I mean, albums, CDs, CDs, you know, buy vinyl. Nobody owns a record. I mean, I don’t want to say nobody but

Hal InPhilly 27:22
Well, they have record players that have a USB. They do you know, so. So you wouldn’t consider putting out a vinyl record, then?

Dan 27:29
No,

Lizanne 27:30
I would. I propers asked me to I would

Dan 27:33
it’s just it’s not for me person is not cost effective. I mean, right to low expense, to lug ’em around to shows. I mean, I love the sound of vinyl, but it’s just not practical.

Hal InPhilly 27:46
So any thoughts? You want to talk about anything? I thought I’d leave it Oh,

Dan 27:53
Thank you. I put out a book couple years ago called adventures in grocery shopping. And I was really surprised with it started out from posts on Facebook. I was making a daily post and then some a woman that runs a she come and read. It’s a reading room in north town artists come in our authors come in and read excerpts from the book. And she asked me, would you come and do some readings? I was like, well, I’ve never done that. But sure, and so I went, it was a great turnout. So people said you should put it in a book form. So I did, and published it. I got a publisher for it. And then it made the Philadelphia Inquirer his book of best books of 2016, which is like, caught me totally by surprise. So it’s been three years since and so now I’ve compiled the second. Again, it’s all posts from Facebook, but these are little snippets of my life or my childhood or relationships, or whatever…

Lizanne 28:50
It’s great

Dan 28:51
So it’s and there’s a little slices of life, little slices of life. So anyway, the next one will be out in the next couple months.

Lizanne 28:58
It’s profound and funny, it’s

Hal InPhilly 29:02
really great because we want to see those books like forever.

Unknown Speaker 29:05
Yeah, yeah, he’s a good one. It’s

Dan 29:08
It’s fun y’know, People would kiss and comment to me like, I’ll put a post on Facebook and they’ll say, you have too much time on your hand.

Dan 29:20
Apparently not. I mean, a book that very lucrative.

Dan 29:26
title again is the first one is Adventures In Grocery Shopping, but I’m not sure that I call that one. Because I have I have encounters in grocery stores all the time. I don’t know whether that’s me or I think it is. I tend to engage people and in conversation and so it started off with little once a week I do an adventure and grocery shopping. So, that’s where the title came from.

Hal InPhilly 29:51
Yeah, that’s why I thought you were just calling it Aventures In Grocery Shopping – Volume Two.

Hal InPhilly 29:56
I just thought there’s going to be more of this You know,

Dan 30:00
Well the title is somewhat misleading though because I think people think it’s just about that. And it’s just a small section of the book. But anyway, so that’s what I got going on the new record the and a new book.

Hal InPhilly 30:14
We’re all looking forward to it and we’re looking forward to the work coming from Ciara Grace.

Ciara Grace 30:22
Yeah.

Dan 30:23
I gotta say this… Listening to Ciara’s stuff is just… to think about where she’s gonna be in three or four years from now. Yeah, that was fun. We did the show together. And I want to come out and see one of our shows, which is myself, but she has a she’s very comfortable engaging the audience as is Lizanne. But that’s the fun part of performing live is that – that energy between the performer and the audience.

Lizanne 30:52
It’s kind of half the show

Dan 30:53
It is! Somebody, I’ll put a clip up on you tube where they’re playing in a club or a bar or whatever. And you can’t hear him, people are talking so loud, and I’m like, “Why are you there?” You know, especially if it’s a listening room. It’s like, “Why have you paid money to see this artist?” I went to see Earth Wind and Fire two weeks ago in Massachusetts, and there’s this woman in front of us who had she was trying to film the whole thing. And the guy that not bouncer but the security kept telling her, you got it turn that off. The artists have asked, No they’ve announced it and the artists have requested you don’t use your cell phones during the and you know, but they were just they’re doing it and it’s like the people you’re paying to see requested that you did not do that. And yet you’re doing and… that sort of thing. It’s just they don’t the audience, some people don’t realize that you’re part of the performance. Everything you’re doing is motivating the people on stage to give more or you know, don’t you find I mean, yeah, it’s just, we’re fortunate that

Lizanne 31:58
We do I’m really thankful for my audience. Yeah. I mean, I have fun with ’em.

Dan 32:02
Or wherethe guys playing and there’s this TV behind them.

Lizanne 32:04
Yeah, yeah.

Hal InPhilly 32:07
I could just do a whole show about people with their cell phones, I just encountered one recently when we went to see the NPR – we went to see the live version of Wait, Wait. Don’t Tell Me at the Mann Theater. Yeah, a guy right in front of me doing it,

Lizanne 32:22
Really?!

Hal InPhilly 32:22
But, uhh…

Ciara Grace 32:23
It doesn’t bother me if I’m performing and people because I just I don’t know. It just doesn’t bother me

Hal InPhilly 32:28
I was gonna take it out of his hand and throw it!

Dan 32:30
I don’t mind if someone said

Lizanne 32:35
to me, if somebody is doing it in front of me.

Ciara Grace 32:39
It doesn’t bother me not doing nothing. Nothing bothers me.

Hal InPhilly 32:42
Real quick. I have a tip for you guys. You reminded me when you said the word “Fire”. I was watching before I came here this morning. Stephen Colbert had James Taylor on, and he rewrote Fire and Rain.

Lizanne 32:54
Really?

Hal InPhilly 32:54
Yeah, he says, “I see a lot of things since then. Oh, And I see rain, like seen a lot of other stuff since then”. So he had some verses. And it was very,very funny. They were trading off the verses. It’s on YouTube. You have to check it out. James Taylor and Stephen Colber – very funny funny.

Lizanne 33:23
Okay. Very funny. Yeah. Excellent.

Dan 33:25
He teaches a songwriting course online too, James Taylor

Lizanne 33:28
Yeah, he does…

Dan 33:29
These artists, it’s an amazing thing about about the internet. Yeah, you know that they’re like Ron Howard’s on there teaching young directors how to direct. James Taylor’s teaching is an amazing source of information we didn’t have as kids. The same with podcasts and so many great sources of information out there.

Unknown Speaker 33:49
Yeah, you’re doing a cool thing. There’s nothing like this happening. Yeah,

Hal InPhilly 33:52
well, I gotta admit, I’m a little nervous that you can probably tell I’m like a deer in the headlights today.

Lizanne 33:58
No, it’s fine. Nice. W,ell the one before us was pretty exciting it was

Ciara Grace 34:03
Oh my god.

Lizanne 34:04
Gay pornography.

Dan 34:05
I thought that was our topic (laughter)

Unknown Speaker 34:13
I don’t know, but I felt inept to getting up here after them.

Hal InPhilly 34:16
They were were very entertaining

Lizanne 34:17
…they had candies and all kinds of thing they were handing out we have nothing they had

Hal InPhilly 34:20
I had a couple throat lozenges in the bag there, but they’re not shaped like people doing it. And they don’t taste like ass!

Lizanne 34:30
That show is pretty benign! Yeah, this has been great.

Dan 34:35
Yeah, thanks for having us, Hal,

Hal InPhilly 34:37
Oh, thank you for coming and doing this with me. I had a blast

Ciara Grace 34:41
This is great.

Dan 34:43
Nice outside, you know, walk here with

Hal InPhilly 34:47
How far away did you park?

Dan 34:48
Half a block.

Hal InPhilly 34:50
That’s not too bad. I parked like three blocks. Two blocks up that way and then two blocks down now because I don’t trust those signs that say two hour three hour parking. I didn’t know how long I was gonna be here.

Dan 35:02
Sunday, is pretty much unlimited. Isn’t it?

Unknown Speaker 35:06
It maxes out at like 4:30.

Dan 35:09
Yeah. Did you put money in the meter?

Hal InPhilly 35:11
me? Yeah,

Dan 35:12
yeah. I don’t think you have to put money in the meter on Sunday. Do you?

Ciara Grace 35:15
Yeah

Dan 35:15
Uh. Oh,

Hal InPhilly 35:19
Ah, man. So I found a spot in a municipal lot. And then I walked over here the three four blocks it was and then realized I forgot my Tales of the Road Warriors business cards, walked all the way back to the car

Unknown Speaker 35:32
as a badge and we

Unknown Speaker 35:34
it was just last week. Yeah, we were we went to New York, and we were on the train. We were we pulled in at Trenton and we were on the train and my mom goes, did we pay the like the parking meter? I was like, I don’t think so. I guess we’ll find out what you

Unknown Speaker 35:49
ever seen this sign your car will be towed. You don’t pay. It wasn’t a

Dan 35:55
parking issue. I didn’t realize.

Hal InPhilly 35:58
Anyway, it looks like we’re wrapping it up here, so – I want to thank Dan May and Ciara grace and Lizane Knott for joining me here at

Lizanne 36:06
Thank everybody for hanging out.

Hal InPhilly 36:08
Yeah, that’s at The Tattooed Mom as part of the Philadelphia Podcast Festival, PhillyPodFest.com all the gifts are yours to keep. And thank you. [Applause]

Hal InPhilly 36:23
Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? Alright, this is Hal In Philly… I want to thank you for joining me and, and I will see you next week and tell your friends please share, subscribe, you know – all that good stuff. Look for my little goofy audiograms on social media, maybe get an email letter out this week, too. All right. I’m going for a drive!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Sep

2019

Decompressed

Philly Podfest, Podcast Movement 2019, Woodstock 50th

Well, I’ve finally decompressed after a much longer than anticipated hiatus. In late July, I participated in the Philadelphia Podcast Festival or Philly Podfest for short. I recorded a live show at the Tattooed Mom on South Street. The locals call it TMom’s.

At Philly Podfest with (L to R): Hal Aaron Cohen, Dan May, Lizanne Knott and Ciara Grace

Podcast Movement 19 in Orlando

A few weeks after the Philly Podfest, along comes PM19 – Podcast Movement 2019 in Orlando Florida. What an ordeal.

Hal (that’s me!) standing at the entrance to the Great Hall before the commencement of Podcast Movement 2019

First Day of PM19

Registration time for PM19. Stay calm. Form six single file lines!

Met some of the biggest names on podcasting including Jared Easley,, Dan Frank, Steve Stewart, Dave Jackson, Jim Collison and Chris Curran.

IM19 Week

Over the course of the next few days, I attended seminars, classes and workshops. But, mostly I just wandered from booth to booth, meeting other podcasters and picking brains.

Join me as I recount some of the highlights of my week at PM19 in Orlando, Florida.

FNU Intern, Hal Aaron Cohen (me again), Perennial at the fake News Update booth

Hal Aaron with Dave Kanyan from Dumbing It Down With Dave

Response to Email

I responded to a reader about the Lisa Nemzo episode. Shoutout to Martin H. Samuel – thank you for writing!@

————————————————————

Woodstock and The Atlantic City Pop Festival

When most of us think of rock festivals in 1969, only one usually comes to mind – Woodstock! And no wonder… a half million people, that’s five hundred thousand! 500,000 showed up for three days of peace, love and music! Folk, rock, hard rock, acid rock, jazz rock and genres still being invented at the time.

I didn’t attend Woodstock. I had already purchased tickets to another event that was scheduled for about two weeks prior to the one on Yasgur’s farm. I’m talking about the Atlantic City Pop Festival at the AC Racetrack in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

While there were some minor issues with off and on rain (I don’t remember it ruining any performance), the theft of some merchandise and a few did try to climb the fences, but for the most part this was a very well organized event. Perhaps you have to be totally disorganized to get real attention. Woodstock was certainly a mess compared to the AC Pop Festival.

The promoter was Larry Magid from Philly’s famous Electric Factory. And most of the acts that were at Woodstock, played the AC Pop Festival first.

Friday’s linup: Chicago, The Chambers Brothers (who ended the night with people dancing to “The Time has Come today”, Iron Butterfly, Joni Mitchell (who ran off stage in tears after in the middle of “a Morning”), Procol Harum , Mother Earth (with Tracy Nelson), AUM, Booker T & The MG’s and Lothar & The Hand People.

Saturday: The Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, B B King, Tim Buckley, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Byrds, Lighthouse, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Hugh Masakela, and The American Dream (from Philly!)

Sunday: Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Canned Heat, 3 Dog Night, Santana, Buddy Miles Express, Dr. John (in his night tripper persona spread his gris-gris magic dust all over the audience), Joe Cocker, Buddy Rich, Sir Douglas Quintet (Leader Doug Sahm called the AC POP Festival the best festival he ever played) and Little Richard.

Now here’s the kicker… (and I have never heard anyone else mention this!) David Peel and the Lower East Side!

Please COMMENT in the comment section below the transcript! Or email me at halinphilly@gmail.com. I love to get feedback. And 5-star ratings on Apple Podcasts 🙂

Resources and Links Talked From This Episode

Steve Stewart – Learn to Edit Podcasts With Audacity

Dave Jackson & Jim Collison – Ask the Podcast Coach

Dave Kanyan – Dumbing it Down With Dave
Be sure to comment. Dave loves comments (and so do I!!)

For the full account of the rarely discussed Atlantic City Pop Festival, here is the full…
Jonathan Takiff article from The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Full Show Transcript

Road Warriors Come out to Playayyy…

(Hey, you ever notice how Philly people always have to shorten everything or give it a nickname? I can do a whole rant about that. Actually, I think I’ll save that for a rainy day.)

For the live show, I tried something completely different. I thought I’d try a panel discussion with three singer songwriters including local folk rocker Dan May, and his close friends Lizanne Knott and her daughter Ciara Grace. Lizanne is a well known singer songwriter, too. She just released a brand new album, and Ciara is recording one now. There’s a lot of buzz surrounding Ciara’s project, so I’ll keep you posted. See the show notes on the Tales of the Warriors website for links to all of this music as it unfolds!

Podcast Movement 19 in Orlando

A few weeks after the Philly Podfest, along comes PM19 – Podcast Movement 2019 in Orlando Florida. What an ordeal. They were expecting over 3,000 podcasters to attend workshops, presentations, classes, network events, vendors showing of the latest technology and products for podcasters and the biggest, wildest parties, the biggest one sponsored by iHeart radio on the last night. Just a crazy crazy cry cray intense time. I had been anticipating this for months! I arranged for a nice room through AirB&B, secured my tickets to all three days of the event, booked my flight and arranged for a rental car. My neighbor agreed to watch my dog, which was perfect, because his dog and mine are besties. So no worries. Still, I don’t really like to travel that much, and I hadn’t flown to another city in years or attended a big convention like this – so this was a huge deal to me. So just a few days after the Philly Podfest thing, I get an email form AirB&B informing me that the person that was renting me the room?

Cancelled… I mean WAIT! WHAT???

Yes, for whatever reason, they decided not to rent the room and now here I was with everything ready to except a place to stay when I got there. BTW, just so you know what kind of great deal I had, the Rosen Shingle Creek, where the convention was being held would could over $500 per night. Theplace I got through AirB&B was about 20 minutes away and would only have cost $48 dollars a night. So where in hell was I going to find another deal this close to the date of the event!? Believe it or not, Craigslist! I had immediately put out the word in a couple Podcasters Groups Facebook, on my profile page and on Craigslist – which I fully expected someone would attempt to scam me out of my life savings… which ain’t much, so no worries there. I even made a few phone calls to people I though might have some Florida connections, nope. Nothin. Nada. Zero, Zip.

Next day I get an email from Craigslist, from a guy who offered me a room in his condo. A half-million dollar condo in Winter Park, Florida about 40 minutes from the Rosen Shingle Creek. $49 bucks a night – only a dollar more than the AirB&B deal. TO make a long story short – it turned out to be completely legit. The guy, his name is Alan Peck, is a real estate guy, he owns a little 13 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Bell. She looked a lot like my Cooper, my late Cavalier who I still miss a lot. I knew this guy was cool because I had gone to his Facebook page and his LinkedIn account and found he was pretty well respected. Turns out he used to do AirB&B himself, but his condo association frowned on it so he stopped taking in strangers. But he saw I was in trouble and reached out! So, thank you Alan! I owe you one! And please – give little Bella a hug for me.

The Elusive Heineken

PM19 didn’t begin until Tuesday, but I wanted a day to take in the surrounding and familiarize myself with the neighborhood. So okay, I arrived in Orlando on Sunday night. Got to the condo about 11:30 and figured I’d find a local bar and get a Heineken. Now, I hadn’t had a beer in about 3 months, because I just don’t really drink very much these days, but I thought I’d treat myself to a nightcap since this was a special occassion. Alan directed me out to Park Avenue and I figured whether I made a left or a right, I’d hit a bar or restaurant that was still open. So I made a left. Should have made a right. Of course I didn’t learn that until I had chased that Heineken till every last bar and closed. The first place I came to had just closed 5 minutes before I got there, but they told me there was a place about 20 minutes away that was open until 2. So I found it. But it was Sunday night, and they had decided to close early as well. When I got there, all of the employees were milling around the parking lot saying goodnight to each other. They told me there was a place close to where I had started from, also open late on Sundays. So I head back tow where I started. Then I come to an intersection where the light was broken, but being from out of town, I didn’t know that. I just thought it was an unusually long traffic signal. By the time I figured out that light was never going to change and made California turn (That’s where you turn right and swing back around and make another right since you couldn’t rum the red light)… I had given up all hope on that beer. And as it turns out, I never did have that Heineken until a week later, after I got back to Philly. And then I had two.

The next morning, I checked Facebook and saw that a member of the Podcast Movement Group, named Dave, had arrived at his Air B&B Sunday night, just like me. And he had posted a picture of a little college dorm-sized fridge that he had stocked full of Miller High Life! I think I commented below the picture something like – I wish I knew you were there last night. I would have helped you drink them. He probably though I was some gay guy coming on to him.

First Day of PM19

I got to PM19 early the next day. Coffee in my hand. When I entered the building I found myself at the end of a massive hall. It was as big as the inside of a convention center. I don’ know, You might even fit a Convention center inside the hall of the Rosen Shingle Creek. Okay, I get the name Rosen. Old man Rosen probably named the hotel after himself. SO it was owned by the Rosen family I guess. But who named the place Shingle Creek. That’s not very appealing, really. Was there creek there at one time where people got shingles from going in the water? I think they should rethink that. Just call it the Rosen Universal. You don’t see people lining up for Disney World, Shingle Creek, do you? Okay, Maybe it’s just me – rant over.

So, as I was saying, it’s the first morning, but Tuesday was more of a meet and greet networking kind of day. The main event was actually Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So I was just wandering around taking in the grandeur of the place. It was only about 9:45, and who should I see sitting by himself with no one around to either him yet was one of the biggest names in podcasting, David Jackson. He invited me to sit and chat, so I did. As far as I’m concerned, I got my money’s worth right then and there on the very first morning of the very first day. He was very gracious and we had nice conversation. I tried not to pick his brain too much, …just let him know I enjoyed his podcast School of Podcasting podcast and his show, Ask the Podcast Coach on Youtube, – which is true. I was hoping to meet his cohost Jim Collison, but Dave didn’t know where he was. That’s okay, though it was only Tuesday. I had lil Friday.

About 10 minutes later, I see Steve Stewart! Steve is also one of the people I had hoped to meet . He teaches a free introductory audio editing course online… and for only 50 bucks, you get access to the full course on how to edit a podcast using Audacity which is a free audio editing program for Mac or Windows, and considering the fact that there is no charge to download – it is a fairly robust and dependable program. The learning curve is NOT terribly steep and Steve Stewart’s course covers everything you need to know and then some! There is a link to it in the show notes in case you’re interested in learning how to edit audio. Even you’re not interested in podcasting, if you want to record music, it is a good way to learn how it works.

https://2692d2l8sbu5qwacypsidk5s7f.hop.clickbank.net/

IM19 Week

Over the course of the next few days, I attended seminars, classes and workshops. But, mostly I just wandered from booth to booth, meeting other podcasters and picking brains.

During one of the keynote events, This guy is a contestant on a game similar to Shark Tank where you pick your idea for your podcast. I think they called it Goldfish Tank. Anyway, this guy is big heavyset guy with a New York accent pitching a show called Dumbing It Down With Dave. I recognized him instantly. It was the same guy who posted the picture of himself in from of the fridge full of Miller beers. After he sat back down, I made my way over to the table to meet introduce myself. I had to meet this guy. So, I told him about my ordeal chasing down that elusive Heineken that never materialized. I’ve since listened to his show, too. It’s called Dumbing It Down With Dave. His name is Dave Kanyan and he’s a true road warrior – a truck driver and a comic. He does his show, the world’d fastest podcast every week while in his car at speeds up to 80 mph (maybe more) driving to pick up his truck. At the end of the week, he does another podcast, exhausted from a week of driving and

occasionally running over these bumpy things in the road that help keep you awake. He talks about whatever is on his mind. He’s very spontaneous and usually pretty funny. You’ll find a link in the Show Notes, so you can check out his podcast on Spreaker or Stitcher or whatever app you use to you get your podcasts.

I met a guy that calls himself Perennial (his real name is Isaac Young). He is the wild, crazy and manic host of a podcast called the Fake News Update.

In the meantime, I continued to wander around checking out mics and mixers, picking brains, and picking up puppies at Luminary’s Puppies and Free Beer booth. That’s right, this podcast company need Luminary actually brought live puppies and gave away free beer to attract new customers. Talk about marketing genius. Well, I don’t know how successful they were, but they were the cutest puppies and there booth was constantly crowded, so I’m sure that got some people signing up.

EMAIL LIST

Shoutout to Dave Cunningham from AWeber… a fellow musician from the Philly area and an expert in email newsletters. So I’m going to get out to see him gig soon with the Go Ham, his popular party band, and hopefully he’ll help me get my email campaign on the right track. Speaking of which, I am really trying to build my email list so sign up on the Tales of the Road Warriors site and don’t miss an issue. I promise I’ll only send news that’s relevant and fun — nothing spammy.

Eating for Free

I almost forgot to tell you – somehow, I managed to eat for free the entire first day of the show. Alan, the guy who let me stay at his condo treated me to a Krispy Kreme donut, which I enjoyed with my coffee before I left for PM19 that Tuesday. While talking to Steve Stewart, I somehow got invited along for breakfast at the Rosen Shingle Buffet where were joined by another big name in podcasting and podcast editing – Carrie Caulfield Arick. I may have been slightly out of my league. I have no idea! Steve picked ups the tab for breakfast, which by the way, Steve Stewart if you’re listening – thank you, again.

————————————————————

Woodstock 50th Anniversary/AC Pop Festival

While most people are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, I actually have a much more vivid memory of The Atlantic City Pop Festival which took place a couple weeks earlier on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Atlantic City Racetrack. For a very thorough accounting of this amazing three-day event, there is an article by Jonathan Takiff, of the Philadelphia. Updated: July 28, 2019. He tried to contact me at the beginning of the summer through my Stuff For Baby Boomers site, to reminisce about the AC Pop Festival. But, I had been devoting so much time to this podcast, I didn’t see his message until recently. So, I deeply apologize for not getting back to you, Jonathan!

Now here’s the kicker. (and I have never heard anyone else mention this Heading back to my car, I saw an acoustic band in the parking lot. with a pretty good size crowd clapping and chanting along. As i got closer, I realized it was David Peel and the Lower East Side. I guess since they didn’t get booked officially, they decided to make an appearance anyway.

Hey! I just realized, some today is my 67th birthday, this all happened when I was 16 going on 17. Also the year I lost my virginity. Thank you, Lisa 😉

Atlantic City Pop Festival Lineup

Friday:
Chicago, The Chambers Brothers, Iron Butterfly, Joni Mitchell, Procol Harum, AUM. Booker T & The MG’s and Lothar & The Hand People.

Saturday:
The Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival (one of the hottest groups in the world at the time), B B King, Tim Buckley, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Byrds, Lighthouse, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Hugh Masakela, and Philly’s own The American Dream.

Sunday:
Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Canned Heat, 3 Dog Night, Santana, Dr. John the Night Tripper, Joe Cocker, Buddy Rich, Sir Douglas Quintet, and Little Richard!

So, I just realized, today is my 67th birthday, and this all happened when I was 16 going on 17. Also the year I lost my virginity! Thank you, Lisa 🙂

Aug

2019

Ghost of Marilyn Monroe

Me, Jamie Sheriff, and the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe

Hi, this is Hal Aaron Cohen and welcome to my podcast Tales of the Road Warriors

No guest, today. Just me, Hal Aaron and I’ll be driving solo. You still get a great story , though. One of my own Tales of the Road Warriors. Fun times!

Today, I want to share what’s ahead for the Tales of the Road Warriors podcast, but first, let me tell you a little about what’s been going on, as well as what’s going on right now.

First, I want to thank all of you for listening, especially those of you who follow and share the show with your friends and on social media. I also want to thank everyone who has been a guest on the show, and thanks in advance to those who will be joining me on future episodes. Oh, and lest I forget – I’d like to give a big shoutout to my old friend Joe Walla for allowing me to use his instrumental, PLAYA DEL SPAIN, featuring his fretboard virtuosity and signature, Hola Gente! – as the opening theme music. By the way, “Hola Gente” is Spanish for “Hello, People”

A couple of weeks ago, I recorded a live episode of TotRW with Lizanne Knott, her daughter Ciara and Philly folk-rock music icon and author, Dan May. It was a sweltering 102 degree day and I can’t thank them enough for participating. It was recorded live by Kev Gallagher at the Tattoed Mom on 5th & South Street in Philadelphia as part of the Philadelphia Podcast Festival. Kev is the host of a podcast called, Everything is Awesome and is the co-host of The Zombcast. Kev also writes for Dark Knight News and is working on a science fiction series and probably more projects I’m not privy to. He’s ALSO a dad to two kids. Despite all the stuff he’s got going on in his life, Kev volunteered to record all of the podcasts at the Tatooed Mom during the week of the Philly Pod Fest.

So a HUGE thanks to Kev . Also a big thank you to Nathan and Taegan Kuruna the organizers of Philly Podcast Festival – for including a new, still-in-the-baby-stages Tales of the Road Warriors. I am grateful for the opportunity, even if I did choke a little and probably squandered my opportunity a little bit. Tell you what… I’m blaming the heat. In the meantime, Dan, Lizanne and Ciara were the perfect guests.

I haven’t edited that show yet and I apologize for getting behind, but, I got a healthy dose of last minute music gigs, and that combined with trying to get ready for the live podcast and a big event in Orlando, Florida, I’ve just been short on time. I try to get an episode out every Thursday, but, as you know – Life happens. Being the Chief, Cook and Head Bottle Washer, I can’t always be as consistent as I’d like right now, but I’m working on solutions. Hopefully, I can find a collaborator or possibly build a small team to keep the show running a little more efficiently.

So what’s next? Well, I’m going to take a brief hiatus because I’m heading for another Podcast event. This one is the big one. It’s called Podcast Movement 2019 and they’re expecting about 3,000 podcasters from all over the world, all converging in Orlando, Florida. My goal is to learn all I can about the podcasting industry; meet some movers and shakers, check out new opportunities in podcasting, maybe acquire a sponsor or two, some new gear and ultimately make Tales of the Road Warriors better than ever.

I’m still in the process of tweaking the show, the format, curating great guests and stories and honing my own skills as a host. I know I have a long way to go, but as my old Pappy used to say, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts”.

So now that you’re all caught up, it’s time for a Tale from Uncle Hal… I call it Me, Jamie Sheriff, and the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe

If you’ve been listening to past Tales of the Road Warriors, then you already know I was a singing waiter for about six years. SO, this happened at the Great American Food and Beverage Company. Now, at the GA, we had two dining main dining areas – the Piano Room and the Green Room. Piano players couldn’t work in the green room because well, there was no piano in there. In the Piano Room, however , there was an old spinet which actually sounded pretty great considering the pounding it took night after night and there were some pretty good keyboard players working there. There’s Chuck Francour, who still entertains around the Florida area and now calls himself Sweet Charlie, David Bloom, entertains American tourists in Mexico at a beautiful resort, Joe Turano, who worked with Ricki Lee Jones, Michael Bolton and was musical director for Al Jarraeu for 17 years. There were a few others, but most noteably – Jamie Sheriff. Jamie went on to become an 80’s solo artist. His album, No Heroes was engineered by the legendary producer, Ken Scott – most noted for his work with David Bowie. To this day, we’re all still in touch on Facebook. I still talk to Jamie pretty regularly.

Now, I played mostly guitar, but occasionally switched to piano for a song or two. I’m no virtuoso, but I play well enough to accompany myself on piano for some songs. One of those songs was Candle in the Wind by Elton John. But, if Jamie had time between customers, he would offer to accompany me on the piano while I played guitar.

One night Jamie suggested something novel… He asked me if I ever thought about just singing the song without the guitar while he accompanied me on the piano, so I could concentrate on the vocal. I felt completely naked an totally insecure if I wasn’t holding a guitar while performing, but I’d seen others, who didn’t know how to play an instrument, get up and sing, so I thought why not, and agreed to give it a shot.

Now, hanging on the wall, just to the right of the piano were these mirrors. Painted onto the mirrors were silhouettes of famous -people, these mirrors were very popular in the sixties and 70’s. One had Elvis. There was one each of all four Beatles (I think – Maybe just John Lennon)… and then the one closest to the piano was Marilyn Monroe.

So Jamie starts playing the Candle In The Wind, I’m just standing there like a poor man’s Wayne Newton or some lounge lizard, feeling completely stupid. So , then, I just jumped right into the first verse. Hey, you know what? It wasn’t horrible. Once I started, I felt a little more comfortable. While, in the midst of singing, that Marilyn mirror caught my eye. So I quickly thought, “Hey, here’s an idea… I’ll take the mirror off the wall during the instrumental and then during the third verse, I’ll hold it up to the crowd and that’ll be really cool!”

But Marilyn had an even grander idea… I removed the mirror from the wall easily enough. I didn’t drop it. Everything was going as planned. As Jamie’s piano solo was concluding, I set the mirror at my feet, planning to pick it up as I sang, “Goodbye Norma Jean, from the young man in the 22nd row…”

But before that happened, I noticed a few people staring at the ceiling and murmuring, so I looked up to see what they were looking at… The mirror was sitting at my feet at such an angle that when the light above the piano hit it, it projected a blue, ghostly image of Marilyn Monroe, smiling down at the people dining at the table in front of me. Not everyone in the room saw it until I got to that part of the song. SO I milked it for all it was worth. I dropped to my knees and gazed into Marilyn’s haunting eyes as I sang the last verse. A quiet reverence took hold of the room and when the song ended, the crowd just sat there stunned for a second or two, then burst into a huge applause. It couldn’t have been better if we had planned it.

Of course, from then on, Jamie and I made that song a permanent part of the evening, whenever we worked together. I like to think that Marilyn herself was smiling at me with approval that night.

I hope you enjoyed my little story. Please add Tales of the Road Warriors to your favorite podcast app. If you’re on an iPhone, you can listen on Apple Podcasts. For Android, there are several options. My favorite is Himalaya. If you go the Tales of the Road Warriors home page, there are links to several of the most popular apps for podcasts.

Oh! Hey!! The reminds me. It’s come to my attention that there are still plenty of people who don’t listen to podcasts. Not this one, not any. I’ve come to discover that some of you haven’t discovered podcasts, don’t know how to listen to them, don’t understand the advantage of having podcasts in their life. So, I’m working on a “how-to” video, to demonstrate the different ways to listen to podcasts in order to make it easier to get into them. I’ll let you know when it’s ready, so this e of you who already enjoy podcasts can finally share the experience with friends.

All right, I think I’m done here. Mission accomplished! So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going for a drive!

Listen to Tales of the Road Warriors on HIMALAYA

Please listen, share and comment below. There’s also a Tales of the Road Warriors Facebook Group if you want to start or contribute to the conversation there. Anyway, let me know what’s on your mind, one way or another.

Thanks !

Jul

2019

Bob Malone

On the Road With John Fogerty’s Keyboard Player

Bob Malone. In case you don’t know the name, I am happy to be the one bringing this remarkable and talented keyboard wizard into your orbit…

There are some people you encounter in life who immediately stand out in some inexplicable way. You may have heard it described as the X Factor, or that “IT” factor. An aura. Bob has that.

I still remember like it was yesterday… several members of the National Academy of Songwriters (now The Songwriters Guild) had volunteered to help repaint their offices. Bob and I were among that group and so I was on the floor placing masking tape along the wall above the molding. Malone was coming from the other direction and we met in the middle where we struck up a conversation. Turned out he was a keyboard player. A new kid in town from New Jersey who like many of us , had trekked out to L.A. to seek their fame and fortune. We immediately struck up a friendship.

Eventually, I ended up recording some demos for him (and with him) at my home studio in Venice and helped him get a steady gig at the Chimneysweep, where I was acting as entertainment coordinator. I played there on Sunday nights, myself. The Hal Show. Acoustic Sunday.

Bob eventually started making a name for himself in L.A. as a music transcriber, singer/songwriter, arranger, session musician, and music supervisor. He has performed and or recorded with living legends, and in fact he’s been touring with John Fogerty, a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revival, for the last decade. He’s opened for the Neville Brothers (recently, we said goodbye to Art Neville).

On their last tour, Bob got to share the stage with Mr. Springsteen, himself.

I wish I had more time to talk to Bob – – – When I finally caught up with him, he was on his way back from a recording session on a new project. What else is new? Mr. Malone is ALWAYS working on something new. That’s why he’s always got such good stories! So, our conversation barely touched the tip of the iceberg. Talk a bout a road warrior? He was literally in his car during the entire conversation, so the audio might have been a little funky in patches. Which is fitting, because Bob Malone really knows how to bring the funk!

Some the topics we covered include:

Old Bob Malone songs.

New Bob Malone songs.

A brand new video called Good People (and I’M in it!). Yay! … for about a second.

The iconic accordion solo he before John Fogerty and the rest of the band break into Looking’ Out My Back Door

Touring Europe – Italy and Paris in particular.

Shark week and the Sparkly Shark song by Bob’s wife, Karen Nash who is also a shellologist.

Bob’s epic photos of the crowds taken from a stage-eye view

An encounter with Jackson Browne while playing keyboards for Ricki Lee Jones (who I’ve seen naked – in my worst Jon Lovitz voice). Hey, no biggie… it was the 70’s. Everyone sat in a hot tub naked back in the day.

BOB MALONE LINKS AND RESOURCES

THE OFFICIAL BOB MALONE WEBSITE – Go there. Sign up for the Bob Malone Mailing list and purchase his music and merchandise there!

BOB’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Personal Favorites:

Chinese Algebra (The full, live version of the one at the end of the interview)

I Know He’s Your Husband

Watching Over Me (Official Live Video)

This is based on a true story about how one time Bob went to Las Vegas and only had a single one dollar bill to his name. The song tells the rest of this amazing experience.

Meet Me In Manhattan – Bob wrote this for his – well I’ll let him tell you…

Bob Malone’s Blog Posts

Crawl Across Texas – a story by Bob Malone. First published in Song Talk Magazine, later one of the original Tales of the Road Warriors in the Li’l Hank’s Guide For Songwriters website. It’s still there!

Bob Malone Blog – Bob’s more current thoughts and adventures on Blogspot

Hal’s Rainy Day Rant – Gimme Shelter

Bob Malone Audiogram Episode Preview

Jul

2019

Jay David

Cover of the AARP and Other Stuff

Things we discuss in this episode:

My flooded basement apartment. Playing venues in Philadelphia…

There’s a section that got a little garbled, I guess due to a bad connection, Maybe Jay was walking through a dead zone in his house. For whatever reason, you may not be able to understand the audio. Don’t tune out, it gets clear again for the remainder of the show.

He was telling me how he started at the age of two singing on the Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour. Horn and Hardart was a “food service automat”, where all the food came out of vending machines. I remember how my mother would never let us go in. She used to tell us, you won’t like anything in there. I wasn’t crazy about eating baked beans anyway. Or a slice of pie that had been sitting inside of a vending machine of who knows how long?

Anyway, Jay went on to say how he started out banging out drumbeats on the dining room table and annoyed the hell out of people with his incessant drumming on everything. He eventually took lessons but got bored. So he learned by listening to the records, eventually giving lessons the same way he wanted to learn. Taught drums by having drum students bring him the records with the songs they wanted to learn and just teach them to play those songs. I know some music teachers who hate guys like that. If you’re not teaching the fundamentals, they look down their noses at you. Personally, I think there’s room for both teaching styles. Hey, what’s wrong with learning to play your favorite songs?

We swapped stories about his mom and Frank Sinatra’s mom

Drum Corp competitions. Reilly’s Raiders in Willow Grove, PA (Still there!)

Shelter dogs, Carnegie Hall, the Navy, Hospital Corps, Dolly Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra. Boots. Dorsey Brothers, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Brenda Lee, The Wagon Wheel, Mercury Records, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, getting signed by Clive Davis

Links to Videos, etc.

The Last Morning by Dr. Hook

Cover of The Rolling Stone by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show

Cover of the AARP – parody by Jay David (music by Shel Silverstein)

Cover of AARP Personnel

Jay David wrote and recorded based on the music of Shel Silverstein

Ooks of Hazzard played, and their drummer, Matt Tecu is the guy with the deep voice singing the 2nd verse

Janiva Magness – blues singer sang harmony. Here’s a little taste of Janiva singing Make It Rain (and doing a Tom Waits song some serious justice)

Jay’s NEW BOOK IS OUT!
DON’T BLAME THE MUSIC
The Untold Story of Dr. Hook

Jul

2019

Phil Leavitt

7Horse and Tales From the Hollywood Freeway

Show Notes and Talking Points

Las Vegas roots.

Started out on piano, went immediately to drums.

Played in a lot of bands, including a cover band that played Hawaii, followed by a rough stint in Alaska

I first met Phil at an outdoor festival. Phil was the drummer in a group called Films About Women .
I was bassist/lead singer for a band called The Fever and we were also performing that day.
Phil was an ex-grade school student of our rhythm guitarist and main songwriter, Graham Becker.

So I got to hear Films About Women then and man, I know an exceptional drummer when I hear one.

Years later, Phil joined an amazing, high energy alternative rock trio called Dada. It consisted of Joei Calio, Michael Gurley and of course, Phil Leavitt.
They had an international hit with a song called I’m Going to Diz-Knee-Land. The toured extensively, opening for Sting.

Michael Gurley left to tour with Keifer Sutherland, causing scheduling problems during their 25th reunion tour.

We talked about Darius Dehger and the Special Deluxe Combo

The team behind the videos. The image, look and attitude behind 7Horse music. (Dada was anti-image”).

A little about Phil’s dad. The Bowler Hat. Present day peacocking. The Vegas influences. Liberace and Elvis.

Tales From the Hollywood Freeway
The Bob Dylan Story
The Bill Murray Story (and their super fan, Pro Golf Champion Scott Simpson)

Phil Leavitt and 7Horse Links and Resources

7HORSE on YouTube

7Horse Facebook Page

NEW SONG: Stevie Ray Vaughn’s House is Rockin

Tour Dates:

7HORSE HOME PAGE

Phil Leavitt Audiogram Preview

Jun

2019

Lisa Nemzo

A Woman of Two Passions:
Music and Polarity Therapy

A Conversation with Lisa Nemzo

During the 80’s, I bartended at a rock club called the Blue Lagune Saloon in Marina del Rey, California. I saw a lot of great bands during my time there, the Plimsouls, Etta James, The Moore Brothers (Joe Cocker’s backup band during the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour), Billy and the Beaters, The Bus Boys; Kathy Valentine of the Go Goes celebrated her 21st birthday there to a virtual who’s who of the 80’s rock and roll elite. Yet one young lady stood out to me back then among all of these 80’s pop rockers and hard rocking’ and r&b bands. I’m talking about Lisa Nemzo. Today, on Tales of the Road Warriors!

Lisa Nemzo. She did this acoustic guitar solo during a song called Try and Run, in which she used harmonics to create an exciting instrumental break before going back into the final chorus. I was serving drinks to a thirsty audience; business as usual when she broke into that amazing solo. I stopped waiting on customers and just watched with my note open like everybody else who became an instant fan that night .

Harmonics are created by lightly touching the string and then pulling away as you pluck or strum. A lot of us use them as an accent, but I had never seen anyone take it and run with it like that before. So, that became her signature.

She has toured Europe and the U.S. in several incarnations. Read her bio here to get an idea of the full scope of this talented lady.

In her other life, Lisa works as a healer in Polarity Therapy and works to raise money for the American Polarity Therapy Association. She is also an activist and works with war veterans to make sure they are not forgotten and receive the benefits and treatment they truly deserve. Some folks talk about it. Lisa Nemzo is a doer.

Some of the things we talked about include:

Visiting the east coast.

The Weather – East Coast vs West Coast

Body surfing the Atlantic Ocean in Cape May

Boogie boarding in the Pacific Ocean

Lisa Nemzo’s dad’s secret musical life (What?!)

Lisa’s actress/singer mom/

Lisa’s first school play

Musical instruments in the family… piano, trumpet, coronet, baritone horn, clarinet, ukulele and guitar

Going to L.A. after college to pursue a jazz career, but ending up in a session with Mike Botts from Bread and starting songwriting career

Touring for ten years with no product (no album, no cassette, no cd… nothin’).

Harmonics. Getting schooled by Tom Rush and developing the Lisa Nemazo signature sound

A mentor teaches Lisa to survive as a female musical artist in a man’s world

Touring and or opening for Hall and Oates, David Crosby, BB King, David Lindley, Tim Weisberg and many others

Links and Resources

Strangers In Paradise

Listen On Youtube

SONGS

Try and Run

Harmonics

“When it Comes to Love” Track 5 on UNLOCK MY HEART

https://youtu.be/CM5Ijmw5j4Q

(Lisa Nemzo Webisode #3)

Change of Tide Around 1985)

https://youtu.be/uQWHyHDzD3o

Arlington (and related links)

https://www.facebook.com/ArlingtonThe…

https://twitter.com/ArlingtonFilm

http://www.operationwarriorwellness.org/

One Kind Word

https://youtu.be/U4eJQH8-8rA

New song…

“Wish I Had a Country to Go Home To”

https://youtu.be/5MsloRFLKF8

Mentions:

Gina Kronstadt, violinist

Bruce Michael Miller worked – with from 1985 and 2009

American Polarity Therapy Association

John Chitty

Current projects:

Lisa is looking for people to work with her on a video for One Kind Word

Not Just One More Joe

EVENTS

There’s Always a Silver Lining

Dan May, Lizanne Knott, and Ciara Grace

Live at the Tattoed Mom at 535 South Street in Philadelphia

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT

HOW TO VIDEOS

Leave A Comment

Get the D’Addario String Winder $10.99

GIG MATE Guitar Care and Tool Kit $33.95

Philly Podfest – Full Show Transcript

Philly Podfest, Podcast Movement 2019, Woodstock 50th

Woodstock and The Atlantic City Pop Festival

Resources and Links Talked From This Episode

Full Show Transcript

Me, Jamie Sheriff, and the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe

On the Road With John Fogerty’s Keyboard Player

BOB MALONE LINKS AND RESOURCES

Personal Favorites:

Bob Malone’s Blog Posts

Bob Malone Audiogram Episode Preview

Cover of the AARP and Other Stuff

Links to Videos, etc.

7Horse and Tales From the Hollywood Freeway

Phil Leavitt and 7Horse Links and Resources

Tour Dates:

Phil Leavitt Audiogram Preview

A Woman of Two Passions: Music and Polarity Therapy

A Conversation with Lisa Nemzo

Lisa Nemzo Audiogram Episode Preview

Listen to TotRW

Subscribe to the TOTRW Newsletter

Archives

Contribute to TotRW

Download the Theme Song!

Attention Songwriters

A Woman of Two Passions:
Music and Polarity Therapy