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High-brow conversations with movers n’ shakers in the music industry, and beyond. Exploring diverse realms of sound art and festival culture, with a decided focus on inspiration and human resilience. Hosted by music journalist B.Getz
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 28, 2018
Wednesday Nov 28, 2018
Episode 006 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* is proud to welcome Random Rab to the show for what is an enlightening conversation, a free exchange of ideas cutting a wide swath over his magical journey and meteoric career. But first, shout-outs to scene stalwarts JamBase and Silverback Music Management, a look toward New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, before we kick things off. A rundown of what's on the horizon for Upful LIFE coverage in December, including DJ Williams/Shots Fired, Dimond Saints, Thriftworks, the annual Favorite Albums listicle, and much more. We take a moment to discuss how people can get involved, donate and help out with the devastating Camp Fire in Northern California. Snap-judgements/hot-takes on Anderson .Paak's highly-anticipated third full-length LP Oxnard, as we examine the oft-putting casual misogyny that runs throughout the record. We discuss and have a listen to .Paak's "Cheers" (featuring Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest), a touching eulogy-in-song to dearly departed emcees Mac Miller and Phife Dawg.
Photo by Zipporah Lomax
List of organizations to donate to help victims of the Camp Fire.
We met up with Random Rab in early November in his "White Whale", an old-school Sprinter van that he uses as a trusty mobile-dwelling on the road, this was the cozy confines for our dance down memory lane. Rab was in the midst of a Fall tour up the West Coast, and was teaming with longtime pals Dirtwire for a sold-out engagement at the Cornerstone in Berkeley CA. As such, the host caught Rab for about 30 minutes before the show, and another half-hour as Dirtwire was finishing up. Before diving in to the hour-long dialogue, I take a minute to recite my own 2017 artist bio of Random Rab, to further familiarize listeners with our very special guest. (SHAMELESS PLUG: Need an artist bio? HMU! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com )
Random Rab segment begins at 30:30, Interview starts at 36:00
In this heart-filling interview, Rab brings us back to his humble beginnings in Fort Wayne, Indiana as a classical-music student on the trumpet, and his heavy metal adolescence on guitar, before taking us on a cross-country jaunt that relocates him on the West Coast after a brief stint in Mexico. Most notably, he breaks down the origins of the seminal El Circo troupe, and Rab spends several minutes beautifully eulogizing his friend, the late Tiffa Novoa, a pioneering fashion designer and matriarch in Burning Man culture who tragically passed away in 2007. Rab reflects on what Tiffa meant to him and El Circo, and on being asked to master the ceremonies at her funeral. We both explore how this avant-garde collective and halcyon era would sew a myriad of embryonic seeds that continue to flourish inside and out of festival culture so many years later.
Tiffa Novoa 1975-2007 (photo: social-creature.com)
Random Rab at El Circo camp, Burning Man 2009
Click HERE for Upful LIFE's RANDOM RAB Playlist
From there, Rab and I touch a number of topics and tales from his lengthy career : seminal songs and records, his masterful mining of sorrow for authentic artistic expression, harnessing other emotions as he's both become a father and matured as a musician. About his 20-year consecutive Burning Man streak, how his legendary sunrise sets were born on the Playa, and how they have grown to otherworldly levels of grandeur for eight consecutive blissed-out years at Envision Festival in Costa Rica. (At one point, Dirtwire's David Satori knocked on the door of the van so we took a minute to chat with him off air. We also break so Rab can perform to a sold-out room, before Dirtwire takes the stage.)
To break up the split in the interview I play my favorite Random Rab song "Kloud Kings" (1:02:10) from ARose, then we return to the conversation (1:07:00). Rab recalls how a fan once proposed to his partner at a sunrise set (I was present for this magic), and how that same benevolent man gave Rab maybe the greatest personalized gift he's ever received. We talk about how Rab's music has fundamentally changed from 2000's Epicycle to 2017's Formless Edge, and how he's approaching songcraft, guitar playing (and instrumentation in general) in 2018. Rab explains why when recording with fellow musicians, it's essential for him to actually get in the studio in person, and how friendship and collective conviction are at the root of nearly all of his numerous collaborations. All of that jazz and a whole lot MOUR in this candid and open-hearted pow-wow with the whimsical wizard Random Rab.
After we wrap up with Rab, (1:37:00) I felt compelled to share some personal reflections regarding my guest's ever-looming influence in my own life. This powerful interview led me to open up considerably, with regard to when Rab and I first met outside the Fractal Planet sound camp at Burning Man 2013, and how that fateful morning interaction and his eventual co-sign (of a festival media application) steered me (and JamBase) towards Symbiosis Gathering 2013, which were the first pages of the next chapters of my musical life, and career as a journalist. From there I was driven to dig even deeper, and unpack something we touched on in the interview, this time in far greater and more intimate detail.
Click HERE for RANDOM RAB'S MOURNING MIX
My father Lloyd Getz passed away in April 2015, at a time when I was incarcerated, and I revisit how Random Rab's music reached me in my darkest hour of need, even there in the custody of the State of California. My story then takes us back to Black Rock City, to the Temple at Burning Man in 2016, when I finally had the chance to honor my father's death on my own terms. Again, Rab organically and cosmically becomes embedded into this narrative, and I only chose to reveal this extremely personal reflection because it's so closely interwoven with my guest; I hope that both Rab and I can serve to bring others a measure of comfort and inspiration if they are going through similarly dark times.
The Temple burns at Burning Man 2016
We conclude with the Vibe Junkie JAM of the Week, "Cloaked" by Tipper, (2:35:00) a ebullient and emotive piece of music Dave Tipper composed and released on the day of his own father's death in 2017. I thought it appropriate to include this mystical track at the tail end of Episode 006 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast*.
Rest in Power Lloyd L. Getz,
~bg~
The Upful LIFE Podcast is available on iTunes!
Theme Song: Mazel Tov by CALVIN VALENTINE
Tuesday Nov 13, 2018
Tuesday Nov 13, 2018
Episode 005 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes New Orleans artist/activist/parade-maker KATRINA BREES to the show for a lengthy convo that takes a long, winding, interesting path in a plethora of colorful and emotional directions. I first met Katrina Brees in the early 2000s when I first started going to Jazz Fest, long before she'd taken that moniker, back when she was partner to a dear friend of mine in NOLA. Even though we were a bunch of "hippie bros" in that era, I was most definitely attuned to the kaleidoscopic vibration that was emanating from Karina way back then. We shared a few conversations that stuck with me through the years, and in that time I've paid attention as she's evolved into a tremendous artist and inspiring activist. Hers is a story that is at once entertaining, engaging, hilarious, and at times gut-wrenching. As such, I was sure to include some lighthearted music discussion at the front end of this episode.
Katrina Brees segment begins at 50:00mins, Interview at 55:00
But before we go deep with Ms. Brees, the host runs thru a few community thank yous, I take about 15 minutes to detail the past couple of weeks musical adventures, including Kruder & Dorfmeister's 25th Anniversary Tour stop at the MidwaySF. Then we circle back to noted Delaware Valley Phishtorian J.A. who checks in from Philadelphia, PA for the second time (25:00). Thanks to The Phish from VT and their ever-evolving tradition, Jason recently returned from yet another Halloween celebration in Las Vegas. This year's prank, which saw Phish performing I Rokk, an album from (a fictional!) Scandinavian band Kasvot Växt, was one for the ages. Usually pretty jaded regarding modern Phish, I really love the material performed in costume this year, and wanted to hear more from J.A. on the shenanigans in Sin City.
Katrina Brees has spent 15 years co-producing over 200 parades. In 2003, she introduced New Orleans to the Mardi Bra,™ her first of hundreds of eco-conscious, parade art pieces as seen in films, commercials, television, events, and parades. Brees was motivated to found The Bearded Oysters Parade Club in 2004. The women’s parade club is now the largest in the country with a current membership of over 850 women.
Moved by the BP Deepwater Horizon tragedy, Brees used her powers of parading to affect change. In 2012, Brees founded the Greening of the Gras conference, a platform to connect Louisiana residents with solutions to the devastating impact that petroleum-based Mardi Gras beads are having on the ecology, economy, health, culture and global community. Brees founded I Heart Louisiana as the sustainable future of Mardi Gras and works with Carnival producers to source local throws, costumes, floats, and live entertainment. Brees continues to expand The KOLOSSOS Bike Zoo, an interactive visual and performance experience featuring her unique, kinetic sculpture collection of eco-friendly art-bike animals that showcases the majesty of animals without their exploitation. Brees also was a major cog in Fantastic Casket, where she created fabric caskets made with soft upcycled materials that she quilts and sews to form the coffin.
Photo: NOLA.com
Katrina and I detail her long path in NOLA from fledgling fashion designer to DIY artist, careening through her colorful career and all the aforementioned endeavors, and much more. Towards the end of our lengthy and engaging chat, the topic turns tragic.
The remainder of this interview contains some disturbing and emotional content. Please proceed with sensitivity.
On June 26th of this year, Katrina's mother Donna Nathan, who'd suffered from mental illness for her entire life, decided to end hers suddenly one day without warning. In addition to mourning her mother, setting up funeral arrangements, and surrounding herself with family and loved ones, Katrina was tasked with accepting the gun back from the police department after the case was officially closed. In the aftermath of Donna Nathan's suicide, her courageous daughter Karina is working hard to see that it the laws are changed to reflect this short-sighted legislative judgement.
At the end of that powerful powwow, Episode 005 wraps up with the Vibe Junkie JAM of the Week. Check out "Wait a Minute" (2:28:00) coming to you from future superstars MZG, an electronic music producer duo destined for greatness. Formerly from Northeast Florida (Duval County to be exact), Zach and Charles Weinert have relocated to the Front Range and have set up shop in Colorado, smack dab in the middle of the current-day Mecca of stateside electronic music. The Upful LIFE has been big fans of these twinzies for nearly a decade, and wanted to throw some proper shine on the boys and end Episode 005 on an uplifting note
Episode 006 will feature the wizard himself, Random Rab!
Via Con Dias,
The Upful LIFE Podcast is available on iTunes!
Theme Song: Mazel Tov by CALVIN VALENTINE
Thursday Nov 01, 2018
Thursday Nov 01, 2018
Episode 004 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes master djembefola Weedie Braimah to the show for an enlightening chat, in the aftermath of his seismic seance at Music Box Village in NOLA this past May during Jazz Fest. The performance remains one of the most exhilarating and emotionally-connected artistic expeditions that i've ever had the privilege of experiencing. I wrote at length about Weedie Braimah & the Essence of Time in my annual Jazz Fest reflection on L4LM and thankfully FunkIt was there to capture it live on video for all to enjoy. Weedie explains his mission as an artist and a purveyor of love & light, as he details how his music seeks to Edutain, Inspire, and Spiritually Move the Crowd. We get a rundown on the narrative that his ensemble wove with ethereal riddims and melodies that have circulated the globe, how the African Diaspora, and Afro-African music has traversed into and throughout different cultures and environments, mutating into a myriad of styles that define and continue to inform contemporary and underground music. A thrilling conversation with a humble master and shamanic wonder of the drum, in anticipation of his forthcoming tour as Weedie Braimah & the Hands of Time (read more HERE)
Interview was originally intended for L4LM feature, but Weedie was simply too engaging not to release the convo in it's entirety. Hence we present it in full on The Upful LIFE Podcast, five months after it was conducted.
WEEDIE BRAIMAH segment at 29:00 and interview starts at 37:00
But first, we take a look in the rearview mirror with #SnapJudgements from last weekend's monumental Suwannee Hulaween 2018! A brief rundown of the host's favorite and most treasured moments including Jamiroquai's massive electro-funk throwdown featuring Lettuce's Shady Horns, TroyBoi detonating the the Amphitheater Stage, MZG, Justin Martin, Janelle Monae, Chris Karns, Dave Tipper, Break Science Live Band, Vulfpeck, Vlad the Inhaler, The Polish Ambassador & Diplomatic Scandal, The Fritz and much, MUCH more. And a special personalied message from yours truly for the benevolent HULA gods.
That plus the Vibe Junkie JAM of the Week, (24:00) appropriately TroyBoi "Do You" after big homie torched the Amp into Rachet Town USA at HULA on Saturday at sundown. The show ends with an EXCLUSIVE listen (1hr 07min) to the aforementioned Jamiroquai feat. Shady Horns at Suwannee Hulaween, as we unveil the two songs they collaborated on "Hey Floyd" and "Starchild".
Don't forget to email at B.Getz@upfulLIFE.com with feedback OR leave a review on iTunes please.
Big Love to Weedie Braimah, Paul Levine, and Michael Berg!
Over & Out from NOLA and Spirit of Suwannee Music Park!
~bg~
The Upful LIFE Podcast is available on iTunes!
Theme Song: Mazel Tov by CALVIN VALENTINE
Thursday Oct 18, 2018
Thursday Oct 18, 2018
Episode 003 of The Upful LIFE Podcast features drummer SCOTTY ZWANG, currently of Ghost Light. Scotty has been an enigmatic persona in the Northeast jam/jamtronica scenes for well over a decade, and is a fixture on the Philly musical landscape. The erstwhile rhythm wizard goes deep in this interview, taking us back to his humble beginnings in New York, learning the drums and joining alternative rock bands as a youth (Code Anchor). We then embark on the lengthy discussion of his entire career arc, including his stint in Sonic Spank, which is when I first encountered him at The Blockley in Philadelphia.
From there we touch on a variety of projects and endeavors, including the mentorship of KJ Sawka, Scotty joining (and leaving) Greenhouse Lounge and Dopapod, and the creation of his current project Ghost Light, which was formed by JRAD's Tom Hamilton, and includes pianist Holly Bowling, among others. We also take a lengthy and hilarious detour into his history with The Disco Biscuits and affiliated projects. Scotty's story is one of success, failure, and rebounding to bigger and better things. Scotty closes things out with his thoughts on taking a step back from the rock n'roll and EDM party scenes (and the activities that go along with them), as well as his recent choice to go Vegan.
We play a little Ghost Light jam in the intro, so Scotty's interview starts around 12:30 and lasts about seventy minutes.
This episode's Vibe Junkie JAM of the Week is a look back at the astounding collaboration between Jamiroquai's Jay Kay and the debut performance of The Fearless Flyers, a Vulfpeck side project. This magic took place late night the Sunday before Labor Day, at an official afterparty for North Coast Music Festival.
PLEASE RATE & REVIEW
PLEASE RATE & REVIEW on iTunes!
Theme Song: Mazel Tov by CALVIN VALENTINE
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
Episode 002 of The Upful LIFE Podcast, featuring a long-form interview with Chris Perella, of Philadelphia-area jam hub Ardmore Music Hall (AMH). Before assuming the reigns (and ultimately heading up a team to buy) at Ardmore Music Hall, Chris was manager and talent buyer at storied, infamous Philly club The Blockley, which operated (as CP details, by the seat of it’s pants and skin of it’s teeth) for about five years. I had the pleasure and privilege of working for Mr. Perella at The Blockley for a year and a half or so, during this time period Chris both befriended me and peeled back the curtain of the Philly music scenes/industry.
Beginning in June 2012 through August 2013, Chris Perella hired and employed me through some very dark personal times; I was not back in Philadelphia by choice, I moved back from Florida because my father had become very ill, and my mother was overwhelmed caring for him. It was during this time that I came to know CP both professionally, and personally’ and since then he’s been among the finest humans I’ve been lucky to call a friend in this life. As such, I was anxious to get him onto The Upful LIFE Podcast to discuss his career arc, as well as any number of music culture topics.
Chris Perella interview starts at 10:30 mark
CP and BG take a trip down memory lane, discussing the five years that AMH has been doing the damn thing. Chris really opens up about his former club, the infamous/legendary Philly nightspot #TheBlockley, where I had the pleasure of working for him in 2012-2013. Perella wrestles with what made The Blockley both the dream venue, and his personal nightmare, and we laugh at a few classic nights of yore (including the sold out LETTUCE show in May 2013!). Perella offers insights as to why The Blockley ultimately failed, and how he mined the lessons from that experience to find great success at AMH.
Chris also details his own path from green AF rookie band manager almost overnight to big-market talent buyer, running the hottest room in town with virtually NO experience. He talks about what he’s looking for when booking a new band, and why. We reflect on some gambles he’s taken on young bands years ago. Also sheds light on how he became co-manager of Everyone Orchestra. We get his thoughts on the legacies of Grateful Dead, New Orleans music, The Disco Biscuits and how these entities have affected and influenced Philadelphia’s vibrant music scene, of which he is a major cog. We conclude with an honest and raw exchange about loyalty in this industry. A fantastic (HOUR LONG!) powwow with CP!
Episode 002 ends with the debut segment *VIBE Junkie JAM of the Week* (1:15:25), where I will be placing a spotlight on a excessively dope piece of music every episode. Sometimes I’ll play just a song, other times I’ll discuss it at length. This week’s segment focuses on Lettuce recently busting out D’Angelo‘s “Brown Sugar” (9/20 Berkeley CA), which was a very special moment for the host, and many others. You’ll have to listen in to find out why!
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The Upful LIFE Podcast is available on iTunes!
Theme Song: Mazel Tov by CALVIN VALENTINE
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Thursday Sep 20, 2018
Pilot episode of The Upful LIFE Podcast, hosted/curated by B.Getz, a music-culture reporter and historian. We’re lucky to have our first guest TURKUAZ drummer MICHELANGELO CARUBBA for a long-form sitdown, which took place during High Sierra in NorCal back in early July. (The early part of the interview takes place while a band is playing nearby, please excuse the background blues; we eventually relocated to a quasi-suitable quarters for the majority of the convo.). Mikey talks ‘Kuazology, their live album 040717, Denny Laine and playing with heroes, his lifelong connection to Tower of Power drummer David Garibaldi. After the music nuggets, Mikey takes a turn for the serious, heartfelt, and inspiring, no-holds-barred recounting the circumstances that led to his sobriety, We spend time detailing his budding relationship with a Vermont-based singer/songwriter. Turkuaz is slated to drop Live in the City, a brand new studio LP, on September 28th.
The episode’s second half features a spirited segment with J.A., one of the host’s lifelong friends going back three decades. J.A. and B.Getz first met in the press box at a KISS show on the Hot in the Shade Tour in 1989. Turns out they both went to Bret Harte Elementary School in Cherry Hill, NJ, and have been best buddies ever since. J.A. is an authority on everything from glam metal to pro wrasslin’, as well as Springsteen and The Rolling Stones. Jason is a noted Delaware Valley Phishtorian, so for this first segment, the old friends get on the phone to chop it up about the state of the union and all things The Phish from VT.
~bg~
The Upful LIFE Podcast is available on iTunes!
Theme Song: Mazel Tov by CALVIN VALENTINE