The Unstarving Musician

George Brandau is a super connector who regularly organizes benefit shows for his local community. In this episode George and I discuss this superpower for connecting others, and how he goes about organizing and promoting benefit gigs. George and his band Chrome Deluxe have raised thousands of dollars for the homeless, underprivileged children and fire victims. He gets into how he uses social media, email and printed posters to pull consistent crowds to these events, be they benefit shows or otherwise.

In this episode I chat with rock photographer Neil Zlozower. Neil is considered by many to be one of the best rock photographers of all time, although he refers to himself as merely a “fairly successful photographer." He’s photographed many of rock's icons including Zeppelin, The Stones, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Sheryl Crow, Guns & Roses, Eric Clapton, Pantera, and many, more. He refers to himself as a glorified fan, inspired by a Cream concert he attended in 1968; but his work is definitely world class.

Michelle Lockey is a performing singer songwriter, composer for film & TV, and creator of Licensing Songs Academy, a community of songwriters & composers that are learning how to write & license music for Film & TV. My interest in connecting with Michelle was to learn more about her as a music licensing and music business educator. As usual for the podcast, we also get into her music influences, education and musicianship. We also discuss how she got into educating others on the business of music licensing.

Robert Berry's resume includes work with The Greg Kihn Band, Ambrosia, Carl Palmer, Keith Emerson, Sammy Hagar, Jason Bonham, Steve Howe, members of Boston, and Night Ranger. He's passionate about his classic rock holiday band December People, which does community service through food bank donations. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, performer, composer, arranger, recording engineer, and producer. He’s also incredibly humble. The stories he shares are entertaining, sentimental and at times dramati

Alyssa Trahan has accomplished a great deal at age 22. She’s driven, smart, talented, very methodical and thoughtful in how she gets things done. Our conversation covers Alyssa’s work as producer and recording engineer, the GoFundMe campaign that financed her latest EP, merchandising, views on marketing, sponsorships, and lessons she's learned from the music business. She sees the business as a beautiful struggle, a triangle of talent, passion and money. She's a true music entrepreneur.

Bree's an advocate for female music entrepreneurs. She founded Women of Substance Radio, and the Female Musician Academy. After enjoying an indie career filled with life lessons, Bree decided to help others by creating WoS Radio for female music artists; and she’s created a community and education platform devoted to, you guessed it, female music entrepreneurs. In this conversation, we talk WoS Radio, podcasting, house concerts, business, marketing, working w/or w/o a band, and venues uniquely for women.

Bill Lonero fronts the Guitar Core band LoNero and founded Straptight, a company that innovated the concept of strap locks for guitar players. His band’s latest album The Defiant Machine was recently recognized by Guitar Player Magazine as one of the most noteworthy albums of the last 50 years. In this episode, we discuss Bill’s views on history, how bread-ties became the basis for a new business idea, music licensing, fan appreciation, songwriting, getting ripped off, the politics of music, and more.

Born in Denmark, Lee Oskar landed in New York at age 18 to pursue a music career . He eventually found his way to LA where where he met Eric Burdon his future bandmate in the funk rock fusion ensemble War. In the late 70’s Lee began working on what would become Lee Oskar Harmonicas, the now world class harmonica design and manufacturing company. Our conversation covers his early influences, his band War, gigs at Ronnie Scott’s famed Jazz club, jamming with Jimi Hendrix, business, and hype.

Nottingham England's up and comer Lynz Crichton has a great story. After a full time career and being a mum, she's reconnected with her love of music and songwriting, which brings us to present day. Lynz is finding her way within a new breed of artists who are establishing a presence and fan base online. In spite of living in a rural town, she’s busy performing, planning her 2nd EP, and gaining songwriting recognition. Among other things, Lynz and I talk about who's shaking up the English airwaves–bonus

A conversation with drummer, vocalist, podcaster, Mac expert, tech dude and self-proclaimed nerd, Dave Hamilton. He's a formally trained musician, who cofounded The Mac Observer, a site devoted to all things Apple AND BackBeat Media an interactive marketing biz, regularly gigs with two bands and two theater companies, hosts multiple podcasts, including Mac Geek Gab and The Small Business Show, he’s a husband, a dad… Frankly, it all makes my head spin. Please enjoy my chat with Super Dave Hamilton.

This episode of The Unstarving Musician’s Podcast features a conversation with country singer songwriter and friend Mira Goto. We became acquainted in 2014 whilst gigging around the South San Francisco Bay Area. Mira's the whole package and real deal. She's got talent, good looks and charm; and she’s lifelong singer songwriter who made a daring move from her hometown Santa Cruz California to Nashville, in order to surround herself with other songwriters and like minded music professionals.

This episode of The Unstarving Musician’s Podcast features yours truly, in solo fashion. Two noteworthy themes that have emerged from interviews I've done for this podcast, and for my book–The Importance of Networking & Helping Others Succeed In this episode I share some personal experience and more importantly, the experience of a few of my guests. My hope is that I’m not just stating the obvious, but that my rant serves as a little reminder for us all to serve others, when the opportunity arises.

A conversation with John “Kiko” Carney, versatile Panama based guitarist and original artist. He performs throughout Panama, the US and Europe, has opened for the likes of Bo Diddley, Styx, Little Richard, and Clint Black; and he’s backed such legends as Joe Cocker and Percy Sledge. John and I talk about his early doubts about being a full-time musician, the fateful day that cemented his path, music as a business, his quest for orchestration, developing a signature sound, and more.

This episode features a conversation with Gig Gab co host Paul Kent. He typically does well over 100 gigs a year, and he gets paid well doing it. His 11-piece band The Houserockers has been a SF Bay Area crowd pleaser for 17 years, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. He's is also co producer of Los Gatos Music in the Park, a South SF Bay Area event that annually boasts thousands of attendees. Needless to say, he’s knows a thing or two about business, marketing and live music performance.

This episode features another former bandmate and friend, Neil Schnell. He's a gigging, touring machine, who performs solo shows, as well as shows with Dallas Fort Worth favorites Velvet Love Box and The Lannie Flowers Band. We talk about his published work, his views selecting collaborators, how musical self-indulgence has been a good thing for his career, and how a gig for a Dallas Stars Hockey Club event changed everything for one of his bands.