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 242: Kendall Beard

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. things are good here. i've been working on booking interviews for sxsw... it's gonna be nuts! i have a quick announcement to make for those of you in austin....The McCormack family home was severely damaged during the recent floods in the Onion Creek area. Help us help them recover from this loss by joining us for a special evening of music thursday, february 6th 6 pm- 12 am at strange brew in austin, tx. The McCormack Family Benefit special guests include Alajendro Escovedo, Matt McCormack & The Valley Below, Bill Carter, Stephen Doster, Randy Weeks, Phillip Gibbs, Kacy Crowley, Patricia Vonne, Rosie Flores, Matt Munhall, Johnny Goudie, Ryan Carter, Todd Wolfson. here's a link to the event http://holdmyticket.com/event/159592my guest for episode 242 is singer/songwriter and show biz veteran, kendall beard! kendall just released her first album, all around girl, a few months ago, but by the time she released it, she was already a seasoned veteran. she  started singing lessons at 10 years old, by 15 she was working with a professional singing group under the guidance of boyz 2 men in philadelphia, she made it as a semi-finalist on american idol, she started writing honest songs and working with my dear old friend, a.j. vallejo and now she's got all around girl to show where she's been. we had a great coversation. she was honest, entertaining and humble. i hope you enjoy getting to know kendall. 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 238: Carolyn Wonderland

hello friends! i hope that you are winning, or at least advancing, in your own private revolution. it's such gorgeous weather this week. it's totally inspiring. i went to kimmie rhodes' house yesterday and started writing a new song with her. i just love her. then i went saw her band, middle fanger, last night at the saxon pub. the band is kimmie, bill carter and kimmie's son, gabe. i ended up jumping on stage and playing a couple of songs with them. it was so fun and such an inspiration to play with them. i'm looking forward to more. my guest for episode 238 is the amazing carolyn wonderland! since this show started i have gotten requests from you guys to get carolyn on the show... well, here she is! i can still remember the first time i saw carolyn play in 1991 at zelda's in houston like it was yesterday. think it's because i had never seen anyone like her before. carolyn is the real deal. she has transcended learning and playing the blues to being someone who is CREATING the blues. she is an amazing guitar player, singer, songwriter and whistler. i was really glad she was able to come by and talk. we talk about everything, her husband, a. whitney brown's amazing pepper collection, the houston music/theater/comedy scene, townes van zandt, touring, europe, politics and much, much more. carolyn is not only amazingly talented, she's also an incredibly beautiful person. i hope you enjoy our conversation as much as i did. ciao! -jg

Episode 237: Elizabeth Mcqueen Returns!

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. i am. i saw some music last night. i saw dan dyer debuting some new songs at the continental club gallery. his new songs were so different than what i've come to expect from dan. great songs. i'm looking forward to seeing what he does with them. after that i went to see sphynx at the mohawk. what a great show! they played outside and the place was packed. people were all dancing a getting down. there was even a couple of dudes smoking weed behind me. when people bust out the weed, that smell somehow makes the show feel right. they put on a GREAT show and i just love them. i highly suggest checking them out while they're on tour starting next week!my guest for episode 237 is the always entertaining, elizabeth mcqueen making her second appearance on the show. i read her blog last week about playing her last shows with asleep at the wheel and releasing her new e.p., the laziest remix. i thought, with such a gigantic life change going on, maybe we should sit down and catch up. well, we did and it was well worth it. elizabeth came by and talked about everything, her last shows with "the wheel", life off the road, house cleaning, working with the brothers lazaroff, collaborating with talented women, her release show on 1/11 at lambert's in austin, not smoking and much, much more. if you don't know elizabeth before this show, you will love her after you listen to it. please enjoy my talented and entertaining friend, elizabeth mcqueen.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 233: The Roosevelts

hello friends! i hope you all had a wonderful christmas even if you DON'T celebrate it. for most, it's a day off. you can't go to the grocery store, so if you don't have someone's christmas dinner to attend, you're relegated to chinese or the 7-11 sandwich selection. my family gifts of music i bought in local record stores seemed to be a success. not in that everyone actually cared, but at least i did it. i hope they enjoy their music. i'm just glad that the family was together. that was special. also, i got a crock pot! so i'm sure you'll be hearing about my slow-cooking adventures in the weeks to come. anyway, i hope your christmas was everything you hoped for. my guests for episode 233 are james mason and jason kloess otherwise known as, the roosevelts. i didn't know them but, i saw their video online one morning a couple of weeks ago and i thought it was great. i looked them up and it turns out, i know their manager. so i wrote her that morning and by that evening they were in my apartment and we were chatting the night away. it turns out they're really great guy and we had a great talk about med school, high-finance, a grandfather who invented many things, dude ranches, riding a bike across the u.s.a., sixth street, lessons gleaned from producer dwight baker and much, much more. i really enjoyed getting to know these guys. i'm sure will too.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