15 episodes done, more to come!
Hello there!! I hope you are all doing well today. It’s been a while since I blogged (is that a word?).
Been home with the family after a pretty hectic early July. I had some crazy travel days, but it was worth it. Red Rocks, as always, was an amazing experience. My whole family, except for my wife and kids were there. It is always great to have my parents at a show, especially on that scale.
I took a little break from producing episodes for a minute. With the travel and constant work to put out episodes and bonus content, I just needed a minute to breath. My partners, Brothers Lazaroff, thought it would be fun to put out a mini-episode with me as the guest and they were right. I really enjoyed it.
It was nice to reflect back on the 15 episodes that we had released so far. It gave me a chance to think back on all the wonderful guests that I have had. Everyone of them has been gracious with their time, and forthcoming in expressing their feelings about this music. IF I had to pick my favorite episodes to date they would be, (in no particular order)
Jorma Kaukonen- Amazing to hear first hand stories from someone who was around during the Dead’s formative years. I also found it unbelievable that he said he would never have started playing electric guitar if it wasn’t for Garcia talking him into it.
Larry Campbell and Teresa WIlliams- for many reasons. It was the first time I used video for an interview and the first time I interviewed two people at the same time. Both new challenges for me. I had also never met either of them and didn’t really know what to expect. They were both AMAZING, kind, genuine people who were truly happy to have the opportunity to talk about what the Dead means to them. I found it very interesting to hear how different their paths to the Grateful Dead were. I’m a huge Dylan fan, as well, so to hear what effect the Dead had on Dylan was so enlightening. I was surprised by how open Larry was talking about Dylan and his time with the band.
Rob Barraco- Maybe because it was the conversation that turned this idea into reality- maybe because I realized that even if I already know someone really well, there is always more to learn about them and from them. I don’t know, but this still sticks in my head.
Speaking of learning, that has been my biggest take away from this. Learning more about my guests. Learning more about peoples perspective on this music. Learning how to produce an episode. I knew nothing coming into this and now I can piece together and edit all of the segments, make movies for the bonus content, a little bit of web admin, etc. All kinds of new skills for me that I know will be useful moving forward on my journey.
Lastly on the learning front is the Black Music Moment. Of course I know many of these artists by name and music but to really dig in and research them has been incredible. I have learned so much about each of them as individuals, but also so much about the evolution of the blues and American music in general. So many of their stories, especially the blues players, have similar parallels and this really has been a music history lesson for me.
SO, this has been an amazing journey so far. It is fun, interesting, hard work and it doesn’t get any easier now that I am back on the road and so are my guests. We are going keep plugging away though, and see if we can build it even bigger and better.
To everyone of you reading this, I THANK YOU for your interest. I hope you are all finding it entertaining and educational. PLEASE feel free to drop me line and let me know how you like it and what could make it even better for you. I would love suggestions on people you would like to me to interview for future episodes and any other feedback you may have.
Thanks again-TALK SOON!!