Episodes
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In the wake of a failed congressional race and divorce, Andrew began climbing mountains, and started a journey that would literally take him to the top of the world, Mount Everest. Andrew has completed the seven summits, six of the seven volcanic summits, and the South Pole. He and his climbing partner look to be the 11th and 12th explorers in history to climb the seven summits, the seven volcanic summits, and be on the North and South poles (the "Explorer’s Grand Slam"). In this provocative and moving interview, Andrew talks about the emotion not only of reaching these great heights, but the lessons learned from both failed attempts at summits and returning to daily life in Seattle after Everest. This is an interview you don’t want to skip.
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LA Weekly dubbed Fernando Perdomo as “The millennial answer to Todd Rundgren.” A scene veteran at 37, he has made a name for himself as an in-demand producer, singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is a featured guitarist in the Netflix documentary "Echo In The Canyon" where his is seen backing up Jakob Dylan, Fiona Apple, Brian Wilson, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, Cat Power, and Jade Castrinos. Dave Kerzner is a popular solo artist in the progressive rock scene, a co-founder of the former band Sound of Contact, and as one of the founders of Sonic Reality - which has provided samples and programs to artists worldwide, including Genesis, Beyonce, Madonna, and The Rolling Stones. Perdomo and Kerzner have toured together with Perdomo playing guitar in Kerzner's bands - and both share a long term connection to Brian through the South Florida music scene. In this episode, Brian talks about their origins in South Florida, their influences, their notable collaborations - the process of recording, and generally, how awesome Fernando is.
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Long before Daxx Nielsen joined his dad's band, Cheap Trick, Daxx was paying his dues playing drums with Brandie Carlile, Dick Dale, Smashing Pumpkins, working as a session player in Los Angeles, and touring with his brother Miles in Harmony Riley. Now, 10 years since joining Cheap Trick, he’s recorded multiple albums, and performed all over the world. Brian Franklin talks with Daxx about his life growing up with Rick as his dad, touring with Carlile and Dale, and what it’s like to be in a band with guys in their 70s!
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Brendan Buckley’s career as a drummer has taken him around the world, performing and/or recording with greats such as Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction, founder of Lollapalooza), Shakira, Miley Cyrus, Mellisa Ethridge, Julio Iglesias, DMX, Gloria Estefan, and many more. From his beginnings in NJ, to his route through the rock and latin scenes of Miami, we discuss the evolution of his drumming, his dream gigs, large stages and small stages, preparing for big gigs, the differences between sequenced shows and unsequenced shows, what makes a good drummer, Jiu Jitsu, balancing music and family, life in LA, and how he picks instruments
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Shelby Young is a Los Angeles-based actor with an extensive background in voice over, motion capture and on-camera and has over 1.8 million followers on TikTok, with over 48 million likes. She’s best known for her work on Disney Channel's Star Wars Forces of Destiny, where she voices both Princess Leia Organa and Princess Kneesaa the Ewok; as well her work as Soph Blazkowicz, whom she brought to life through both voice and movement via MoCap, in Wolfenstein: Youngblood as one of the first-ever playable female characters in the long-standing franchise. In this interview we talk about how she learned how to do impressions, the difference between having a good voice and being a voice actor, and learn the perils of discussing Siri around other devices.
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Oz Fritz’s long list of credits include engineering albums for Tom Waits’s Grammy Award winning Mule Variations (as well as Blood Money, Orphans: Bawlers, Brawlers, & Bastards), Oysterhead (where he was the subject of the song “Oz is Ever Floating”), Primus, Meat Loaf, Elvis Costello, Bill Laswell, John Hammond, Jr., Iggy Pop, White Zombie, Raul Malo, Praxis, Buckethead, and so much more. Even, back in the day, Brian Franklin. In this episode we talk about the long road of his career in music, Mule Variations, setting up mics for Stuart Copland, analog vs. digital, and the future of recording.
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Ambassador Kirk Wagar ran the American Embassy in Singapore between 2013-2017. In this episode, we talk about his time years as a fundraiser for Senator John Kerry and later then Senator Barack Obama, the process of becoming an Ambassador, what it was like to work with the diplomats of the embassy, his childhood in Perth, Ontario, the challenges of working on his wife, Crystal’s campaign, and his love of fashion.
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There are few modern day political consultants as successful and as well regarded as Joe Slade White. From decades of working with the Bidens (including Beau Biden’s campaigns), to his start working in the inner circle of George McGovern’s presidential campaign—Joe has more stories and lessons than most of us put together. He has helped start and/or mentored the careers of dozens of highly successful campaign consultants, and generously provided counsel and friendship to many more. In this episode, we talk about the growth of the political consulting industry, how tech has changed creative approaches, the “ad agency” vs. traditional political consulting model, the superiority of cocktail hours over panels, how he spends his spare time, and why simple creative matters.
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Described by NPR as an “old school troubadour”, Matt Pond has made album after album of fantastic indie-rock music, with melodies that stay in your head and lyrics that often catch you off guard. In this podcast, we talk about the writing process, his partnership with guitarist Chris Hansen (including Brian’s pitch to sub in for him when Chris isn’t available), dealing with labels, and experimenting in the studio.
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Ron Sexsmith's talents as a singer-songwriter have earned him praise from the likes of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello—and his songs have been covered by Costello, Rod Stewart, Nick Lowe, Feist, Emmy Lou Harris, K.D. Lang, and Michael Bublé. He's been produced by Steve Earle, Mitchel Froom, Daniel Lenois, and Tchad Blake, collaborated with Chris Martin and Feist, and shared the stage with Ray Davies and Leonard Cohen. In this episode, we talk about his career, starting out in the days of the Lillith Fair, his journey through different producers, writing a book, his latest album Hermitage, life in a small town in Canada, touring with Elvis, and having breakfast with McCartney.
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Sam Fogarino of Interpol discloses—for the first time publicly—the brain aneurysm he had last summer, talks about his recovery, the new material Interpol is working on, his origins in the band the Holy Terrors, our shared love of the Terrors’ founder Rob Elba’s songwriting, his near-miss with Marilyn Manson, the time he first met David Bowie, the Interpol songs he likes the most and least, the intensity of their LA and Dublin fans, and much more!
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Tim Quirk is the lead singer of Too Much Joy - a darling of indie/alternative radio in the 90s - which has just reunited to make their first album after 25 years, Mistakes Were Made. Tim is also a pioneer in the music tech circles - first with Listen.com's Rhapsody, and later Real Player, Google Play and now Zedge. We talk about the new album, the old days of getting arrested playing 2 Live Crew songs in Florida, free speech in music, and what it takes for artists to make money in today's music environment.
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Jon Macks’ career ranges from political consulting to being a writer for Jay Leno’s tonight show for 17 years - to being a writer for Chris Rock (who calls Jon "one of the greatest comedy writers of all time"), Steve Martin, Marty Short, Hugh Jackman, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and much more. We talk with him about his amazing career, what it’s like to write jokes about the people you’re working with, and the challenges of writing for comics vs. politicians.
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Tom Dowd is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his work as both an engineer and producer of some of the most important music in Rock & Roll, including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cream, Eric Clapton, Derek & the Dominos, the Allman Brothers, Rod Stewart, and many, many more. We talk with his daughter, Dana Dowd, about growing up around her dad's work, and his many accomplishments inside and outside of music.
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Adam Zimmon has shared the stage as either a band member or sideman for a long list of great artists, including Ziggy Marley, Vida Blue (w/ Page McConnell of Fish, Oteil Burbridge of The Allman Brothers Band & Dead & Company, and Russell Batiste (The Meters), Dido, Glen Campbell, Iggy Pop, The Spam All Stars, and many more. We talk with him about life as a sideman, how he got here, his time with Ziggy, Vida Blue, and Shakira, his encounters with Glen Campbell, and getting to share the stage with Iggy.
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Keith Raskin is an Emmy award winning producer and partner in Raskal Productions, and has produced shows such Key & Peele, Teachers, Big Time in Hollywood, FL, The League and many more. Most recently he is producing the upcoming NBC sitcom, Kenan - featuring Kenan Thompson. We talk about how he started, his work with Key & Peele, budgeting new scripts, and much more.
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David Thomas is a Grammy Award winning singer in Take 6, one of the most accomplished jazz and R&B a capella vocal groups in music. With 10 Grammy's David's career has taken him all over the world, and his work has led to collaborations with artists from Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, and Ray Charles - to Brian Wilson and Don Henley. This episode we talk with Dave about his career, life on the road, and recent challenges for artists.
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Ryan Arciero is one of the most accomplished off-road racers in its history. A trophy truck racer, he's won the Baja 1000, Nevada 2000, and many more over decades of racing. Son of Off-road Hall of Famer Frank Arciero, Jr., hjis family has been in auto racing for nearly 70 years and has helped launch the careers of racers like Dan Gurney, Al & Bobby Unser, Michael Andretti, Phil Hill, Max Papas, and many more. This episode we talk about his career, his family, and what it's like to drive 160 miles an hour over dirt!
