Episode 184: Death / Wild Adriatic

Hello friends! i hope this episode finds you well. this episode was supposed to come out last friday, 6/28, but i had solo gigs, skyrocket gigs, podcast interviews, slow hotel internet connections and general insanity. sorry we're late, but we have an awesome show for you today! also, a quick heads-up, i'll be participating in a live podcast called, "the soundtrack series" at the long center in austin, tx this saturday, july 6th. check it out. it's really cool and i'm very honored to have been asked to be a part of it. here's a link: www.soundtrackseries.com
we have a big show about rock and roll for you today. my guests for episode 184 are the band, death and new york's, wild adriatic! first up is death. death has an incredible story. so incredible that they have had a documentary made about them that opened last friday, 6/28. the documentary tells the story of three brothers in the early 70's in detroit, playing a style of music way ahead of it's time. a style of music we would come to know as PUNK. my friend bevis, who works with the band, invited me out last week to see a special screening of the documentary and watch a special performance by the band. the movie is amazing, their performance was awesome and i got to hang out with them and they're great guys going through an exceptionally unique situation and experience. i got to sit down with the guys the day before the movie opened i think you're really going them. here's a link to the trailer and the story. you should go see this movie... http://abandcalleddeath.com/
also on the show, upstate new york rock and roll trio, wild adriatic. i first heard them last year when a friend of mine started working with them. i love their raw rock and roll and their energy. i was really excited when i found out they had time to stop by for a chat while they were on a u.s. tour earlier this month. we talked about their evolution and journey, small town in upstate new york, going from quartet to trio, making albums, touring and much more. i loved getting to hang out with these guys and i enjoyed our conversation. i'm sure you will too. they're great band made-up of sweet guys. check out their music and videos here, http://www.wildadriatic.com/
ciao! -jg

Episode 179: Chris Frenchie Smith

hello my friends! i hope you're all doing well and your life is going along as planned. i had a little wrinkle in my plan this weekend... skyrocket has a slow june so i booked 3 sunday brunch gigs that paid pretty well. check out the story on today's show. i want to remind you that next wednesday, june 19th at 7pm at strange brew in austin, texas, we have a live "how did i get here?" recording!!!! my guests will be nakia, jazz mills, aj vallejo and the boxing lesson (who's latest album was produced by today's guest,  frenchie smith).  there is no cover! we'll be giving away some gifts! and... the we'll be taking some questions from the audience. come out. let's get down!
my guest for episode 179 is producer/guitar hero, chris "frenchie" smith! you might know frenchie from the bands he's been in, sixteen deluxe and you heart attack. you might also know him from one of the 200 albums he's produced including, and you will now us by the trail of dead, the toadies, the meat puppets, built to spill, jet and many, many more. i've been friends with frenchie since 1991 when were both employees at whole foods, so it was great to sit down and talk to him about everything including growing up in oklahoma, moving to austin, glaze, producing, sixteen deluxe, young heart attack,the bubble, frenchie smith records, shopping with justin from the darkness and much, much more. i had a great time catching up with him. i bet you will too.
ciao! -jg

Episode 175: Les RAV

hello friends! i hope this episode finds you well. i'm doing well. i just got back from seeing my friend todd wolfson's monthly monkey nest show. it was really good. i had never seen some of the people play. the best part was my friend georgia getting up and singing. also, emily gimble and katie holmes were amazing! i also saw star trek 3d. it was good. i played the rest of the weekend. what did you do with your memorial day weekend?
hey austin friends! i'll be playing a solo acoustic show at the saxon pub THIS wednesday, may 29th at 9 pm. click here for info https://www.facebook.com/events/550503158326310/ if you're in austin, come on out! i'd love to see you.
my guest for episode 175 is lauren bruno from the band, les rav. i saw les rav like a year ago. i thought they were really good and best of all, really different, dramatic and epic. i got to talk to lauren that night and we really hit it off. anyway, now they're about to go into the studio to start recording an album. they've got and indie gogo going until june 12th. you can donate some money and help them realize their dream by going to http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-les-rav-spread-the-light-and-record-the-debut-album . anyway, lauren came by and we talked about her journey, her music, her time at berklee college of music, living with illness and staying strong. i hope you enjoy my conversation with lauren. i did.
ciao! - jg

Episode 155: SXSW 2013 Part 2 - Howard Kremer, A Fragile Tomorrow, No Way Josie, The Attic Ends

another sxsw has come and gone. i miss having parties to go to at noon.
hello friends! i hope you're well. if you were at sxsw 2013, i hope your life has gone back to normal by now. it's taken on a "las vegas on spring break" sort of intensity. walking down one of the closed off streets feels like walking through a tunnel full of white noise, sunshine and bearded dudes in skinny jeans. it's a lot of days. it used to start on wednesday and end on saturday with a softball game on sunday... now it goes for a week and a half and i swear i saw a band playing a showcase at my 7-11. it's huge. it's just gonna get bigger and longer and add more things. by 2020,  it'll be "the 2020 sxsw music/film/interactive/television/comedy/comic con/podcast/cable news/audiobook/cell phone/music business reenactment/youtube/facebook/pintrest/ mustache - festival"... it just means more parties. is that good, bad or is it just change?
episode 155 is another sxsw mash-up with some of the festival's hottest tickets! up first is comedian/musician/rapper/host of the very popular podcast, "who charted", howard kremer a.k.a. dragon boy suede. i am a huge fan and i was glad he took some time to sit down and chat with me with me. we talk about podcasting, "austin stories", the new dragon boy suede album, "douche minutiae" and much, much more... our second guests are south carolina power pop band, a fragile tomorrow. i just walked in to a show, saw them playing and i was blown away. i had them come outside and talk to me and we talked about having their album produced by the great, mitch easter, some of the album's special guests are, the bangles, susan cowsill and amy ray! great band and great guys... our third guests are brooklyn dance/pop duo, no way josie! andrew and kym rode their bikes to my apartment and we talked about music, life, health, dancing and we laugh our asses off. i just love these guys so much. i had a blast chatting with them... last up, i got to catch-up with new york band, the attic ends. i finally got to see them play and it was fantastic. we had some cocktails and ducked into the driskill hotel bar and talked about their recent album and tour, songwriting, sxsw, being tall and much much more. there is also a lot of laughter on this one. i hope you enjoy these conversations. i really did. sxsw is gone, but i think i kept a little of the vibe on these two mash-up episodes. for pictures and updates, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/How-Did-I-Get-Here/255200761176138
ciao! -jg

Episode 106: The Couch / Carolyn Schwarz (Health Alliance for Austin Musicians)

welcome to the pleasure dome!
hey everyone! i hope you're well. i'd like to let you know that i will be playing a solo show this week at hotel vegas in austin, tx. i'll be playing with my old friend, john lefler from dashboard confessional. the show is from 8-10. check out this link for more info. http://www.facebook.com/events/494510857226133/ i hope to see you there!
on this show we get a special visit from carolyn schwarz from the health alliance for austin musicians (haam). they're having their annual haam benefit day on tuesday october 2, 2012. there will be music from 6 am to well after midnight with over 240 local businesses donating 5% of their earnings that day to haam. carolyn also explains what haam does and how it works. please got to www.myhaam.org for more information on all things haam.
my guests for episode 106 are taylor wilkins and sara houser form the band, the couch. sara and taylor came by a couple of weeks ago and we sat down and talked about their musical journey and how it brought the band together. i really like the band and i really like sara and taylor, they're really lovely people and i'm sure you'll love them and their music too. find out more about them at http://thecouchmusic.blogspot.com/
ciao! -jg

Episode 94: Ulrich Ellison

someone please stop the clown!
hey everyone! my voice has been messed up for the last couple of days. i think i just sang a lot, talked too much and didn't sleep enough. anyway, it's back. i'm back. i missed all kinds of pool parties and such on sunday. i'm going to have to make up for it this weekend. what's going on out there? i'm wearing my bathing suit...
my guest for episode 94 is austrian guitar viruoso, ulrich ellison. i just ulrich about a month ago and i've seen him play with my friend, nakia. anyway, i didn't really know anything about ulrich until he came over and we got to sit down and have a conversation. well, it turns out he's a classically trained musician who studied in the music conservatory in vienna then came to texas on a fulbright scholarship and got his masters in jazz guitar at the university of texas. his journey is an interesting one and i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did.
ciao! -jg

Episode 75: The Boxing Lesson

hey everyone! it's friday. i'm slowly waking up today. i played a solo show last night at the scoot inn here in austin. i had a great time playing. i feel like i need to spend more time playing my own music. that's my mid-year resolution. it's june 1st. that's the january 1st of the summer. i should be having some people that i ran into at the show last night on the podcast soon. i'm not going to name names yet until they're actually done... i just don't want to jinx myself by speaking too soon. what are you doing this weekend?
my guests for episode 75 are jaylinn davidson and paul waclawsky from the boxing lesson. i talked to paul a little bit on one of the sxsw specials we did, but i saw they were going on a midwest/east coast tour to work their way up to toronto to play a showcase at nxne. do any of you go to that festival? sounds cool. anyway, i was glad that both jaylinn and paul came over because they have great energy together. almost like an old vaudville team that plays kick-ass, rockin', space jams. i really love the boxing lesson and i recommend that you see them while they're on this tour here is the link to their dates http://theboxinglesson.wordpress.com/ i really enjoyed my conversation with them. i hope you do too.
ciao! -jg

Episode 62: Lauren Gurgiolo: Okkervil River, The Dead Left, The Dialtones

"how did i get here?", along with over 5,000 other podcasts, is available on stitcher smart radio. check stitcher.com or look for stitcher in your app store.
my guest for episode 62 is guitar player, lauren gurgiolo from okkervil river, the dead left and the dialtones. i had never met lauren until she came to my apartment yesterday for the interview. i had heard about her from a few of my friends and they say she's a bad ass and so did jessica when she booked her. of course, neal kassanoff from the dead left sang her praises when he was a guest on episode 49 of this podcast. anyway, i spent time listening to her and watching some stuff on youtube and i realized everyone was right. lauren gurgiolo is a bad ass! i was glad she was able to come by the apartment and talk to me, (even though i was feeling pretty shitty and exhausted) and we talked about growing up in dallas, discovering jazz and embarking on a musical journey that would bring her to austin and get even more into jazz, country and eventually, rock. she has her own band the she fronts called, the dialtones and they are about to embark on a gigantic musical journey of their own. you can see lauren play with the dead left on thursday, april 19th at 10pm at hotel vegas in austin, tx. i really enjoyed meeting and talking to lauren. i hope you do too!
ciao! -jg

Episode 59: Bevis Griffin

today's episode is sponsored by: urban squared realty
i'm coming to you from houston today. isn't that exciting? i'm here with SKYROCKET! playing some private events. it seems like we come here a lot... mostly because we come here a lot. somehow we have plugged into the private party/fund raising/wedding scene, which is awesome because those are the best paying shows. last night we played a grits-themed gourmet food party cancer fund-raiser called, "kiss my grits". sunday, april, 8th, i'll be playing a solo show in austin at hotel vegas. i play at 7 pm and i'm opening for danny malone, who plays at 8. oh! hey! if you like this podcast and you'll be in austin on sunday april 29th at 7 pm, come to hotel vegas for a live recording of "how did i get here?"! my guest will be danny malone. we'll know next week if there will be any other guests.... why don't you just follow us on facebook .
my guest for episode 59 is an extremely interesting and talented man, mr. bevis griffin. this is the longest conversation yet. honestly, when it was going on, it didn't feel long because i was enjoying bevis and his story so much. he's lead an extremely rich life from his father's barber shop in 1960's, pre-riot, watts in los angeles which also doubled as an illegal gambling place, the shop was on the same block as the renowned R&B nightclub “The Five-Four Ballroom” (located on the corner of 54 th St. & Broadway Blvd.) where many of greatest black entertainers, such as B.B. King, Ike Turner, and Bobby Bland often played, to 70's punk rock, to hard rock and the black rock coalition to becoming an entrepreneur, nurturing other rock acts. he's been around, and a part of, a lot of rock and roll history and he is a great story teller. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did.
ciao! jg

Episode 43: L.Stadt

my guests for epsisode 43 are polish rock band, L.Stadt. i had never heard of them until jessica sent me their music and info. i loved them immediately. they're here in austin recording an e.p. of american cover songs. it's an interesting departure from their last album 2010's, El.P... anyway, the guys were nice enough to stop by during their busy time here. they were very sweet and will be coming by and using my piano for some of this new e.p.... it's a short conversation but i enjoyed it. i hope you do too. to find out more about L.Stadt go to www.lstadt.com
ciao! -jg