Exploring the Energy with Anzo & Friends

Similar to Season 2, Episode 1 when I sat down with Doug “Pops” Smith, who I like to refer to as a “Wise Old Owl”, in this episode I have the pleasure of connecting with a friend that I consider in the same first-class league, Mr. Tom White.   Tom and I met when I first called on the five-generation Italian food products company, Pastene & Co, soliciting their label business back in the early...

I don’t always subscribe to the notion that “everything happens for a reason,” but as the universe would have it, the recent loss of a mutual friend, Rainer “TITAN” Jenss, has reconnected me with a gentleman that I am now proud to call one of my closest friends and confidants, Tim “Tmac” McGuire.   Among many of his distinguished designations, Tmac is the youngest of 8 children, a Villanova Wildca...

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, show the ones you love just how much they mean to you, and share your appreciation and gratitude for the gift of life, the gift of love, and the gift of energy that we all share. Thank you ALL for the gift of YOUR love and our collective friendship. Nobody embodies the mindset of gratitude more so than my friend, John Macario. Though John and I have yet to meet in pe...

To those that know him, the man needs no introduction.  For those that don’t, his name is Beau Carino and he’s the founder of one of Long Island’s hottest live music venues, Beau’s Bar, in the village of Greenlawn.  For nearly 20 years, Beau has attracted some of the finest talent in the area, ranging from young guns like Dog In A Pile to veteran guitar virtuosos like Jeff Matson, lead singer and...

With the exception of a select few cameo appearances by my previous guests’ significant others, this is the first episode where I sit down start-to-finish with a young couple, none other than my daughter, Ms. Hope Staib, and her significant other, Mr. Austin Koerner.  Hope and Austin share their story, and their musical tastes and interests, and they reveal what’s on the horizon as Austin aims to...

S3, E6 begins with the story of the Mandelbaum family in the late 1930’s and 40’s, and includes the harrowing tale of those family members who miraculously survived the holocaust, and the tragedy of those family members who didn’t.  He describes the day his Aunt Regina saved his mother from certain death during the Nazi “selection process” in 1942 and how that one single act of courage ultimately...

To complete the “Campion Brothers Trifecta”, I was beyond stoked to host Mr. Billy Campion, otherwise known as Young & Tender Willoughby, or The Captain, and in later years, Vic Thrill.  For those that know Billy, founding member and front man for The Bogmen, you’re in for a real treat in this episode.  For those that don’t know The Bogmen, or Vic Thrill, you’re in for a real treat in this epi...

On S3, E4 of Grateful Dad & Friends, I’m proud to host a friend who could easily have a career in radio, one of my closest music, golfing, and paddle tennis wingmen, Mr. Mark Hamer.   Mark takes us back to his Texan roots and shares how and when he discovered his love of “music with an edge”, including The Clash, Traffic, Talking Heads, Mott the Hoople, and of course, the good ol’ Grateful Dea...

On the final day of Dead & Company’s 30-show residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas, I was honored to sit down with  Huntington natives and fellow Deadheads, brothers John and Tommy Peer and Tommy’s son Thomas Peer.  We spent our time together reminiscing about the multigenerational Peer + Staib family bond, the Huntington shenanigans that we shared together and a few war stories of old.   Tommy...

In my second trip of the summer to catch Dead & Company at Sphere in Las Vegas, I was honored to host my friend of 40+ years, fellow Canterbury “Saint” (term used loosely), avid Deadhead, and all around amazing human being, my cohort Paco “Pac” Keville.  By the grace of God, Pac has recovered from a near-death car accident only a few short weeks prior and was firing on all cylinders when we sa...

To kick off Season 3, I’m joined by lifelong friend and fellow Deadhead, Tommy Mills, with a special cameo by his better half, Ms Karin Mills.  Karin proved to be an integral part of my conversation with her husband in that she served as “fact checker” for the tales being told, and I’m proud to report that Karin confirmed that all but one of the reported antics were, in fact, accurate.  Well done...

BIG thanks to all my guests on Season 2, it was an honor and a privilege to have hosted each of you!  I loved my field trips to record the remote interviews in Charlotte, Hilton Head, and Las Vegas as well.  Special shoutout to the Citizens of Sound team behind the scenes that help me create each episode of Grateful Dad & Friends - Will & Charis Retherford, and Leslie Dinsmore.  You all RO...

In the closing episode of Season 2, I have the privilege of hosting fellow Huntington native and fellow Deadhead (and the only friend I know that calls me “Enzo”:), Mr. John Buckholtz, who I call Johnny B.  Together we cover our glory days in the early ‘80’s at the The Bay Club on the shores of Huntington Bay and we share how we’ve stay connected over the years through our mutual love of the Grate...

On Day 2 of my recent pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the Dead & Company shows at Sphere, I sit down with the person that I have proudly seen the most concerts with over the years, fellow Canterbury School alum and lifelong Deadhead, Mr. Andrew “Garv” Hammer.  Garv and I take a walk down memory lane revisiting life at boarding school, exploring the bonds that the class of ‘86 (my crew) and the cla...

Somehow, it took 8 months and 23 episodes of Grateful Dad & Friends before I was succesful in securing an interview with a Canterbury prep school friend.  In Season 2, Episode 10, I have the pleasure of sitting down with the first friend I met at Canterbury back in the fall of 1983, lifelong Deadhead and all around amazing human being, Mr Geoff “Shafe” Shaffer.  Me having entered Canterbury in...

The man needs no introduction, but for the few that don’t have the pleasure of knowing him, I’ll go out on a limb and introduce my friend.  On Season 2, Episode 9, I proudly host Mr. Christopher John Campion, aka Campy, aka Old Sea Dog, aka Lights, aka America’s Guest, aka Marketing Genius, aka Jermaine Jackson.  For any Huntington native, the Campion name is widely known and for good reason.  Chr...

After a little nudging to get her past her hesitation to be on a guest on my admitedly music-centric podcast, I was honored to host none other than my mother, Ms. Edie Staib.  Mom shares her story of how Al Staib swept her off her feet back in 1960 despite her being engaged to her high school sweetheart at the time, and how they were married less than a year, and went on to live a love story lasti...

I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Mike “Comfort” O’Rourke to the world on Episode 7 of GD&F.  Back in the early 1980’s, I was “Kathy and Tom’s little brother, Anzo” to Comfort but over the years he and I began to forge our own connection through our mutual friends, a shared love of music, and the occasional paddle tennis game.  Comfort takes us back to the early days when Southern Rock wa...

Hailing from Greensboro, North Carolina, these two gentlemen have become my newest wingmen, and although we’ve yet to meet in person we’re quickly bonding through our comradary and our shared love of music.  Listen as Dave Dulaney takes us back to his first show in ‘74 and shares his recollections of the Grateful Dead’s legendary Wall of Sound, and describes his “BD” Before Dead and “AD” After Dea...

I was fortunate to share some very special quality time with my gracious and beautiful niece, Ms Carly Marie Staib.  Carly recalls her recollections of “Loud Music Fridays” with the family, her first concert seeing “Uncle Billy” Joel, a Taylor Swift concert with Dad, and later Dead & Company.  She explains how she faced and CONQUERED an unexpected and debilitating auto-immune condition called...

Join my BFAM Chris Kline aka Dudley and I as we share war stories from back in the day, including “Black Wednesday” in 1983, summers “dragging hose” the late ‘80’s, backpacking through Europe in late 1990, discovering “The Meadows” in the early ‘90’s, and recapping a few of the countless laughs we had along the way.  Dudley reveals that in addition to his love of The Rolling Stones, he’s also a cl...

Fellow avid golfer and devoted music lover, Bobby Rogan, joins me in the studio and recalls how the music of the 70’s shaped his musical tastes before he evolved into a Deadhead.  We touch on the “glory days” on the golf course and we highlight how golf and music connects us through thick and thin.  Bobby explains how he is facing a recent and unexpected health challenge that is making him truly a...

There are few Huntington families that are as musically gifted and universally loved as the Campion family.  In Episode 2, I’m privileged to sit down with Kevin Campion, lifelong Deadhead and current lead singer for Huntington’s own Soghat.   Kevin takes us back to the late 70’s when he got on the bus, and explains how today he pays tribute to his late brother, “Hollywood Bob”, by sitting in as th...

Season 2, Episode 1 of Grateful Dad & Friends kicks off with a conversation with a gentleman who is a true treasure to me, and who reminds me of my own father,  His name is Doug Smith.  To those who know him best, his real nickname is Pops, but for the sake of adding context to the conversation, I consider him as wise as they come and therefore will also refer to him as a gentle, yet Wise Old...

Before I recap Season 1 of Grateful Dad & Friends and provide a brief glimpse of Season 2, it may prudent to share why I launched this podcast in the first place. The purpose of GD&F is to be a gift.  A gift to my guests, and a gift to their friends and family.  Let me explain…. A few years back, on my way to Lake Champlain, I was driving with my parents and I had an opportunity to “interv...