Episode 243: Jesse Sublett / Sphynx checks in from the road

hello my friends! i hope you're all doing well. i'm good. i think i'm going for a run this morning... i haven't run since it's been so cold. i hate running in the cold. after my run, i'm heading out to houston to play at the house of blues with skyrocket tonight. i went to a fun party last night and i got to see my dear, old friend, will play. the health alliance for austin musicians (HAAM) was honoring my friend shane matt for all of his work with the organization both raising money and through his dental practice. i want to remind you that i will be playing the mccormack family benefit next thursday, february 6th at strange brew in austin, tx. the event is from 6pm to midnight. special guests include, alejandro escovedo, kacy crowley, bill carter me and many, many more. if you're in austin, come out. here's a link http://holdmyticket.com/event/159592my guest for episode 243 is musician, author, painter and all-around artist, jesse sublett. jesse is one of those guys i've been around a few times over the last 20 years, but i've never really gotten to know him at all. i knew he was in the 70's punk band, the skunks along with jon dee graham and i knew he was an artist and had survived cancer. i had no idea that he wrote documentaries for the history channel or that he had written so many books or that in the 70's his girlfriend had been murdered in their home while he was playing a gig. he is easily one of the coolest people i have ever met. this episode is just part 1 of our conversations. i'm reading his memoir/true crime book, "never the same again" and it's absolutely fascinating. i hope you enjoy my conversation with jesse. i did.ciao! -jg

Episode 241: Steve Bernal

Hello my friends. if you normally listen to this show the day it comes out, i'm sorry it's late. i was coming home from a gig in dallas (i talk about the gig in the intro) with some friends on thursday evening when we hit a full-on texas winter snow and ice storm. it took us 7 hours to get 100 miles so we stopped in temple, texas and got the last two hotel rooms and waited out the storm. it was pretty hairy before we got the rooms. parts of the highway were just a sheet of ice. cars were sliding into each other. it was chaos in a winter wonderland. anyway, my friend darin was at the wheel and we made it home safe and sound yesterday afternoon. thanks darin. i was gonna put this out when i got home but i fell asleep and when i woke up in the evening i just ate some dinner and went back to sleep. i guess i needed it. my guest for episode 241 is bass player/cellist and my dear old friend, steve bernal! steve has an extremely interesting story about his journey into rock and roll as a bass player then learning a new instrument in the middle of his career. the cello. he actually went to school for it, joined an orchestra, toured with bands and has made a few albums. his latest is called, portals. it's an album of just bass, cello and drums. steve plays the bass and cello and the drums are played by the legendary barry "frosty" smith. steve and i talk about his colorful musical history, learning world beat and reggae on the road, playing with joe rockhead and a young bob schneider, being a sideman bass player, the billy white trio, learning cello as an adult, his new album, portals and much, much more. i hope you enjoy our conversation as much as i did. ciao! -jg

Episode 240: The Black and White Years

hello friends! i hope you are all doing well. i'm good. i'm actually getting ready to go see THREE movies today! my friend has some screeners and i'm really getting to catch up on the oscar nominees. thank you friend! hopefully this year when i watch the academy awards, i will have seen at least all of he movies up for "best picture". i am also getting my act together to go to dallas tomorrow with my friends, darin, einar and rusty to be the band and co writers at this corporate team-building/songwriting thing in dallas. i know it sounds weird. it's hard to explain, but i'll explain on friday's show. my guests for episode 240 are the black and white years! their new album, strange figurines is out today! (1/21/14) i've heard and seen their name for years, but i had never actually heard them until a few weeks ago. i saw a link to some new music of theirs on a facebook post. i clicked on it and i am so happy i did. i reached out to them through the guy that produced strange figurines, danny reisch and they came on. we had a great talk about, learning to get along, dancing in drum circles with david byrne, working in the studio with jerry harrison, coming together and making their best album yet and much, much more. i hope you enjoy getting to know the black and white years. i sure did. ciao! -jg

Episode 236: Sphynx Returns

hello friends! i hope you're getting back to a normal life after the holidays. i've started booking interviews for sxsw. i know. it seems early, but this year, i'm gonna have it all booked before it shows up this year. i think you'll all be very happy with the results. i'm still not smoking. seven days... pretty good right? i'm still nuts, but i'm one week in. is there a chip for that?my guests for episode 236 are making their second appearance on the show, they're one of my favorite bands, sphynx! i heard sphynx for the first time about a year ago and i was sold. i had them on the show last march and since their last appearance, they've toured the u.s. a few time and and made a new album. they're about to head out on a u.s. tour from jan. 21st - feb 8th hitting the pacific northwest, idaho, colorado, new mexico, arizona, wyoming, el paso and marfa. it all starts in austin with a free show at the mohawk on thursday, jan 9th. i'll be there. find out more about their tour and new album (they let us play a piece of a new song before the interview) at sphynxmusic.com. i really love this band and i love hanging out with them. i 'm sure you will too. welcome back my friends, sphynx.ciao! -jg

Episode 231: BettySoo

quick heads up. itunes will no be uploading podcasts from 12/21/13-12/27/13. that means that if you get this podcast through an itunes subscription, next week's shows will not be available until sat. 12/28/13. so, if you need to get your "how did i get here?" jones quenched during the christmas week, you'll need to go to howdidigethere.podbean.com and download it directly from the site. sorry for the inconvenience. now, let's get down!happy holidays everyone! if you're listening when this comes out, i'm sure you're in some sort of holiday freak out. maybe you're traveling. airports are awful nowadays. christmas just makes travel miserable. maybe you're driving. that's a little more calming unless you're in the world's worst holiday traffic. maybe you haven't done all of your shopping like me. i need to finish mine today or i will be paying the price for my procrastination. what's the price? shopping the weekend before christmas. which i can only compare to being repeatedly punched in the face. i'll be out there with all of the other panicking procrastinators. everyone agitated to the max because we're all mad at ourselves. instead of being at home watching the game, or going to see "anchorman 2" with all of your friends, you're standing in the longest line you've ever been in, buying anything for your uncle jim who you never see anyway. shit! you don't even really like him! sorry. anyway, i hope you're ready. my guest for episode 231 is talented and entertaining singer/songwriter, bettysoo! i had never met bettysoo, but i've known about her and heard her music for a while, so i was really excited to get to sit down and get to know her. we had a very entertaining conversation about everything, spring, tx, leaving school to follow music, radio music, touring, church, stephen doster, gurf morlix, folks festivals, writing songs, covering songs and much, much more. i hope you enjoy getting to know bettsoo. i sure did. ciao! -jg

Episode 230: Craig Marshall

hello my friends! i hope you're all doing well. things are good here. i'm going to do some christmas shopping today. going to the local record stores and buying music for family members. i'll be getting music that's in their taste range but something they haven't heard or heard of. i hope i can find something that my grandparents will like. it's kind of exciting to do this. i'll let you know how it goes. oh! if you're in austin this friday, december 20th, i'll be playing a solo show at the one-2-one bar from 6-7pm. it's an early show for your friday night. i hope to see you there!my guest for episode 230 is the great singer/songwriter, craig marshall. i've known craig since the 90's when i would see his band, the lucky strikes. the lucky strikes are still out there playing and doing it, but in the early 2000's craig asserted himself as a songwriter and started a solo career to coincide with the lucky strikes. what followed was a series of great solo records that found his songs covered by all kinds of people and started his reputation as a songwriter's songwriter. his latest album, hiding in the doorway was produced by robert harrison (cotton mather, future clouds and radar) and brings in more of a country flavor. anyway, craig came over a while back and we sat down and got into it. it's a great conversation and i hope you enjoy it as much as i did. ciao! -jg

Episode 229: Kalu James

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. things are all good here in johnny world. hey! if you're in austin next friday, december 20th, i'll be playing a solo show at the one-2-one bar from 6-7pm. a happy hour holiday solo show! come out and say ho! i've been booking a lot of guests for 2014 already. looking to the festivals to see what kind of cool guests i can get for the show. do you have any ideas for guests? let us know at the "how did i get here?" facebook page. my guest for episode 229 is nigerian born singer/songwriter, kalu james. i had met kalu over the years, but never really sat down and talked to him. well, a couple of weeks ago he came over and we had a great conversation. we talked about growing up in nigeria, finding bootleg steely dan cassettes in nigerian  market places, moving to new york for college, playing around in the open mic scene, fela kuti, treacherous restaurant gigs and much, much more. it's a great conversation. kalu is a fun and interesting guy to talk to. enjoy!ciao! -jg

Episode 225: Kyle Ellison

hello my friends! i hope you all had a great thanksgiving and were able to be with loved ones. i was. so i'm thankful for that. sorry this episode is coming out a couple of days late. i got some kind of stomach virus on tuesday and then thanksgiving came up. i was out of town for a few days and when i got back yesterday, i slept for 14 hours. i feel much better today. it's warm outside and i'm going to hang out with my dogs for a bit and catch up on some more rest. happy sunday!my guest for episode 225 is musician/producer/visual artist and now record label owner, kyle ellison. kyle and i have known each other since about 1990 when he was in pariah and i was in panjandrum. in the years that have passed, he's played with the butthole surfers, the meat puppets, rocky erickson and many more. he's made documentaries for rocky, the arc angels and many more. he's produced records for ainjel emme, popular culture, tristan rudat and is currently working on an album for laura scarborough. he's also just started a label. we have a great conversation about his journey through this business, getting through the loss of his brother, staying open to opportunities and much, much more. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did.ciao! -jg

Episode 224: Wendy Colonna Returns!

hello friends! first off, i hope you all have a great thanksgiving. i have a lot to be thankful for... one of those things is this podcast, my guests and most of all, YOU! thank you so much for listening to this show. i couldn't do it without you guys. anyway, i'm going to houston to spend thanksgiving with my family. i'll also be playing there friday with SKYROCKET! at the house of blues. if you're in houston for thanksgiving, come out and spend "black friday night" with us!my guest for episode 224 is singer/songwriter, wendy colonna! wendy makes her second appearance on the show after an exciting year and a half loaded full of travel, writing and ending up with her recording and releasing a new album, "nectar". wendy tells us how she paired up with mark addison to make "nectar", her travels around the u.s. writing and playing gigs, working on the third "HAAM JAM" christmas album and much, much more. i love hanging out with wendy. it always makes me feels more grounded. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did. ciao! -jg

Episode 223: Little Brave

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. today we add another chapter to my rat saga. i woke up to the faint stench of death in my kitchen. i went to the office of my apartments and told them and they sent someone over right away and they found the departed rat fink under the dishwasher. i'm glad they got it. hopefully, it's the last one. anyway, i'm getting my shit together to go to san antonio today (friday, 11/22/13) SKYROCKET! is playing at sam's burger joint music hall tonight. should be a good time. i'll be seeing former guest, chris taylor and he's bringing me a new painting he did of me. i'm looking forward to seeing that! san antonio, here we come!my guest for episode 223 is extremely talented, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter stephanie briggs a.k.a, little brave! she's currently working on her third album as little brave and has a kickstarter campaign that goes until december 4th.here's a link, little brave kickstarter. if you like what you hear, you should kick her some cash and help her see her vision through. anyway, i reached out to stephanie because i liked what i heard of her music and what i saw of her performances. she came by and we talked about looping instruments live, having hits in qatar, playing all of the instruments yourself while recording, working with matt novesky, her her journey as a solo artist and much, much more! i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did. and remember, if you like what you hear, give her some money to finish her album. she's definitely deserving of it.ciao! -jg