how did i get here?

Episode 408: David Pulkingham / Utopiafest

hello friends! i hope you're all handling the insane stock market fluctuations with a cool hand like e.f. hutton. things are good here. i've been practicing with pal amy edwards and yates hagen for a show we have at the gibson showroom for the austin film society in a couple of weeks. it's been fun working on songs and changing them up to accommodate our stripped down band. speaking of a coupe of weeks... we have a live podcast coming up on wednesday, sept. 9th at the townsend from 8-10 pm. my guests will be kathy valentine, miles zuniga, emily bell and amy edwards. these live shows are really fun and there is no cover. come out and say hi. my guest for episode 408 is one of austin's most "in demand" guitar players, david pulkingham. you might know david through his work as a sideman with such notable artists as, alejandro escovedo, robert plant, patty griffin and many more. well, david has stepped out of his sideman role for his gorgeous new album, little pearl. just released last friday, little pearl features patty griffin, lloyd maines, the tosca string quartet and many more. david stopped by a couple of weeks ago and we had a great talk about growing up in a commune, music school, taking part in the latin explosion, learning rock and roll from alejandro escovedo, playing with robert plant and much, much more. i've always liked david. he's an exceptional musician and great hang. also, travis sutherland from utopiafest (sept. 4th0 sept. 6th) stops and tells what to expect at the 7th annual utopiafest this labor day weekend. more info on utopiafest at utopiafest.com. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 407: Penelope Spheeris & Anna Fox / The Peterson Brothers

hello friends! i hope you're all finding yourselves enjoying your summer. i am. it just cooled off a bit which is nice. i have a great show for you guys today! a double-header, if you will. fist up i have legendary director, penelope spheeris and her daughter/ business partner, anna fox. you might know penelope from the big hollywood movies like "wayne's world" and "black sheep", but you might also know her from her "decline of western civilization" parts 1-3 documentaries. i came up watching part 1: the punk years and part 2: the metal years and loved them. the austin film society is presenting a ver special screening of all three parts plus, penelope's 1983 film, "suburbia" at the marchesa theater on friday, august 28th and saturday, august 29th. penelope and anna will be on hand for a "q & a" after the movies. tickets and more info on the event are available at https://www.austinfilm.org/decline so we have a great phone conversation where we find out what happened to the bands, odin and london from part 2: the metal years, why paul stanley was in bed with three girls during his interview and much more. if you want to own the new decline of western civilization box set, go here shout! factory.my second guests for episode 407 are austin's new generation of blues musicians, the peterson brothers! glenn and alex peterson stopped by to talk to me about their debut, self-titled album that came out earlier this month, being professional working musicians by night and high-school students by day, keeping their weekly continental club residency (mondays @ 6:30 fresh), where they want to take the blues and much, much more. i really enjoyed getting to know these fine, young, talented gentlemen. i'm sure you will too. find out more about the peterson brothers at petersonbrothersband.com let's get down!ciao! -jg  

Episode 406: Mike Flanigin Returns!

hello friends! i hope this episode of "how did i get here?" finds you happy, healthy and sexually active. things are good here. i'm putting out 3 shows this week. this is the 2nd of the week. i've also been doing a lot of podcasts... i've already done 2 today. anyway, i wanted to let you guys know that if you live in austin, my band, skyrocket! will be playing at the one-2-one bar on friday, august 21st at 10 pm. it's a good time. come out and say hello. i also want to remind you that we're doing a live podcast recording on wednesday, september, 9th from 8-10 pm at the townsend right here in austin. my guests will be, kathy valentine, miles zuniga (fastball), amy edwards and emily bell. here's a link to the facebook event page. come out and get involved!my guest for episode 406 is one of my favorite musicians around, the amazing, mike flanigin! mike has spent the last couple of years touring and playing with the likes of jimmie vaughan, billy gibbons and playing with his own organ trio almost every weekend at the continental club gallery. the whole time he was doing that, he was also making an album, the drifter, (available friday 8/21) where he wrote the songs and found an awesome cast of artists to collaborate with including gary clark jr., billy gibbons, jimmie vaughan, kat edmonson, stephen barber, alejandro escovedo, dominique davalos, clem burke and more! since each song tells it's own story and has a different collaborator, i decided to go through the album song-by-song with mike and have him tell us how each song and collaboration came about. the drifter is an amazing musical statement and mike is a truly talented man. i had a blast hanging out and talking to him about this brilliant album. i'm sure you will too. his release show is at the paramount theater in austinand features special guests, kat edmonson, billy gibbons and more. get your tickets here! let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 405: Emily Wolfe Returns!

hello friends! i hope you're all staying cool in the dog days of summer. i'm enjoying a slow and relaxing sunday morning. i've been playing the last three nights with skyrocket. they were all great shows. we had a drummer subbing for our drummer and he did a great job. our how in houston at house of blues on friday was sold out. that was good. hey! we have a live podcast recording coming up on wednesday, september 9th from 8-10 pm at the townsend right here in austin, tx. my guests will be kathy valentine, miles zuniga (fastball), amy edwards and emily bell! if you're in austin and would like to come, check out our facebook event page.my guest for episode is the amazingly talented, emily wolfe! emily was on the show a couple of years ago and since her last appearance her life has changed drastically and we get into it. she has a new single, "cigarette burns" and is currently working on a new album. anyway, we met up at the werd company podcast studio and had a great conversation about recovery, staying sober, writing music, working with the great mike mccarthy, her plans for the next year and much, much more. emily is such a great talent and i want to thank her for being so brutally honest with me about what she's been going through lately. that stuff is never easy. i hope you enjoy our conversation as much as i did. let's get down! ciao! -jg

Episode 404: Girl Pilot

hello friends! i hope you're managing out there in this insane heat. maybe you're in a body of water or just inside with the air conditioning running. either way, i hope you're staying cool. i'm writing this the day before it comes out and i'm about to go play a show outside... ick. i'm thinking about playing shows like this in my bathing suit. is that unprofessional? 104 degrees is too hot. i'm going to stop by target and get myself a fan. if you;re in houston tonight, friday august 14th skyrocket will be playing at the house of blues bronze peacock room. come out and say hi. also, if you;re in austin tomorrow, saturday 8/15 skyrocket is doing an extremely rare show at the hole in the wall. i'm sure there will be a low cover. come out and see us where we started out. my guests for episode 404 are austin's own, girl pilot! you might know their leader, sahara smith. she put out an album a few years ago called myth of the heart that was executive produced by t-bone burnett and she ended up making appearances on tv shows including david letterman. anyway, after that experience, sahara went back to the drawing board and realized she wanted a band and that band is girl pilot. so i met lauren mike and sahara from the band at the werd company podcast studio and we had a fantastic conversation about where they've been and where they're headed. i hope you enjoy getting to know girl pilot. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 403: Ocean Of Stars

hello friends! i hope you're all braving the extreme heat that is upon us. i'm doing well. just working on some music, booking a live podcast for sept. 9th (details coming soon), prepping for 3 podcasts i'm doing tomorrow etc. so, i listened to the american top 50 chart on spotify this morning while i was running. i probably heard about 15 to 20 songs on shuffle. i wasn't very moved by anything which made me kind of sad. then i realized that there is so much non-mainstream music out there, so much of it comes through this show. i'm really lucky to be in the position to have so much music coming through and getting turned on to so much stuff. it gives me hope. go find some new music. it feels good.my guest for episode 403 is ocean of stars leader, danny grochow! this is danny's second time on the show. he was on a couple of years ago talking about some solo material he was releasing and now he's back with with a new e.p. from his band, ocean of stars. danny is a great guy who is out there playing bass and guitar as a sideman but still makes the time to write, record and perform his original instrumental-prog-rock. we have a great conversation about four track cassette recording, the rpm challenge, finding musicians, writing complex instrumental music, answering want ads and much, much more. i i hope you enjoy our conversation. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 402: Jamie Wellwarth

hello friends! i hope you're all enjoying the this last month of summer. i am. it's really, really hot here in austin. over 100 every day. that gets a little old... but i'll make it! i got to moderate an austin music foundation panel last night on sustaining a career in music. all of the panelists, the amf folks, the one-2-one folks and the audience were all really nice. i had a great time and met a lot of really nice people. i'm looking forward to doing more. my guest for episode 402 is continental club (austin) production manager, member of the nomad sound team and front of house soundman for jane's addiction, jamie wellwarth! people have been hitting me up for a long time about getting jamie on the show. people said we would be total friends and it would be a great conversation. well, that was an understatement. jamie and i had an amazing conversation, running sound for your idols, being a survivor, the continental club, microphones, living sober and much, much more! i really loved getting to know jamie. i'm sure you will too. let's get down! ciao! -jg

Episode 401: Continental Drift

hello friends!  hope you're all doing well and taking the last weeks of summer in stride. i'm trying to. i'm getting my shit together after a couple of whirlwind weeks of podcasts, shows, the beach, new york, connecticut and the 400th podcast... whew! i had a great time doing everything, but it was utterly exhausting. hey! if you live in austin or not, i'll be on 93.7 KLBJ tonight at 11. i'll be on "local licks" with loris lowe talking about the podcast and stuff. check it out at www.klbjfm.com. also, tomorrow, wednesday, august 5th, i will be moderating a panel for the austin music foundation's, "the music business is dead" panel. we'll be discussing the implications of the austin music census findings with a great panel of musicians and music business folks. you can find out more and rsvp here http://austinmusicfoundation.org/. come out and find out where this community is headed and what you can do to sustain a career in this day and age.my guests for episode 401 are jedidiah and david from the ten piece, afro beat/psych band, continental drift. these guys are about to release their debut ep in a few weeks. i had the pleasure of sitting down with these cats yesterday and chatting about west african music, what is psychedelic music, maintaining order in a 10-peice band, recording live, working out songs at shows and much, much more. these guys are amazing musicians with a great vision and i really enjoyed getting to know them. i'm sure you will too. let's get down!ciao! jg

Episode 400: Live at The Townsend! With Suzanna Choffel, Justin Elliott, Nakia, A.J. Vallejo and Jazz Mills

hello friends! welcome to episode 400 recorded live at the townsend in austin, tx. my guests for this show are suzanna choffel, justin elliott, nakia, a.j. vallejo and jazz mills! i would like to thank all of my guests, the townsend for hosting us so graciously, the werd company for coming out and recording it so beautifully and most of all the crowd that came out and made it so fun. this is a great show! we talk about periscope, amazing cocktails including one called, "how did i get here?", aj asks me to smell his finger, french trips, more cocktails and much, much more. i hope you enjoy it as much as we did. thank you for listening to this show. i feel like the last 400 episodes have been life-changing for me. i can't wait to see what the next 400 episodes hold. thanks again for listening. it makes me happy. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 399: Songs From The Podcast

hello friends! i hope you're all enjoyeing summer. when this comes out i'll be getting ready to leave galveston and return to austin for our live recording of episode 400 tomorrow, wednesday, july 29th from 8-10pm at the townsend! my guests will be, aj vallejo, jazz mills, suzanna choffel, nakia and justin elliott! come celebrate 400 episodes with us!welcome to episode 399: songs from the podcast. over the last year i've had well over 100 guests come by the apartment, talk to me at festival, meet me at werd podcast studios and even meeting at undisclosed locations, to talk about where they're at with their music life and music career. often times, these people are coming by during their "press assaults" promoting their latest album or single. sometimes i end up getting turned on to a new band, artist, album or song. in fact, it happens all the time. i love when a podcast is over and the artist's music stays with me and i become a fan. with well over 100 artists on the show over the last year, i got turned on a bunch of music. in this episode i included 15 songs that i loved. there so many more, that i started a playlist on spotify titled, "episode 399: songs from the podcast" you can find a link to it on our facebook page check it out there are a lot of songs on there. so, i get to play d.j. and spin tunes from shivery shakes, little brave, quiet company, billy harvey, migrant kids, the blue bonnets, bob schneider, phranchyze, dwight twilley, t.a.p.e.s., skinny lister, cautiontape, the wind + the wave, LEV and wild adriatic! hopefully, this mix sparks your interest in some of these bands and makes you check out the spotify playlist where you can check out even more music from the podcast. i hope you enjoy listening to this as much as i enjoyed making it. let's get down!ciao! -jg