Exploring the Energy with Anzo & Friends

Well, it doesn’t get much better than wrapping up the first season of Grateful Dad & Friends by sitting down with the four most special women in my life - Margs, Hannah, Hope and Lilly.  The ladies share their earliest recollections of music, and my daughters reveal some secrets about how they really felt about Grateful Dead music way back when.  We challenge Margs by testing her uncanny abili...

In Episode 11 of GD&F, lifelong music-lover Richard Sutton gives us a firsthand peek into the buildup to the Grateful Dead’s August 27th 1972 benefit concert in Veneta, Oregon to help save the nearly bankrupt Springfield Creamery.  In what would turn out to be one of the Dead’s most legendary performances, Richard was behind-the-scenes working with the Kesey family & friends in the swelter...

What a treat to have Long Island native and longtime keyboardist for Dark Star Orchestra, Rob Barraco, join me on Episode 10 of Grateful Dad & Friends!  We cover when Rob “got on the bus” in ‘72, through his musical collaborations with among others, Freddie Jackson, The Zen Tricksters, Phil & Friends, The Other Ones, The Dead, and Dark Star Orchestra.  He shares his insights into his long...

In Episode 9, I sit down with two of my closest confidants - my nephew and DWS wingman, TJ Staib, and our COO and friend, John Gulino.  We explore the backstory of how in less than five years TJ evolved to become the president and 5th-generation in our family’s 159-year legacy, DWS Printing & Packaging.  We retrace John’s lifelong love of music and do a deep dive into when and why he took a ma...

In Episode 8, I had the extremely privilege of having the true definition of “friends + family” join me in the studio, namely my friend Rainer Jenss aka TITAN, and my sister Kathy Staib.  Learn about TITAN’s year-long trip around the world with his family, his insights into what makes music the common bond among friends and family, his battle against what he calls an “unfriendly disease” and how h...

Hosting my two guests on Episode 7 of GD&F was a HUGE treat for me, and those guests are brothers, Brendan and Billy Ryan.  I grew up only a pitching wedge away from the Ryan family and have known them my entire life.  I admire Brendan & Billy on many levels, but mostly because they are simply amazing human beings.  The musical talents that they explore in the band they formed with Bill Ca...

My guest on Episode 6, Ted Bahr, is in many ways to me a true inspiration on how to follow your vision and create the life of your dreams.  After working in corporate America for more than a decade, then building (and selling) two start-up companies, Ted decided it was time to start a new chapter and weave his passion for music and his appreciation for art into one reality.  Introducing…The Bahr G...

I like calling my closest friends by their nickname and my guest on Episode 5, Rob Diestel, is no exception.  Rob and I share many bonds, and one of them is a LOVE of the Rolling Stones and Monkey Man from the Stones’ 1969 release, Let It Bleed.  Rob isn’t just “Rob” to me, he’ll always be Monkey Man.  But there’s more to the story than that.  Find out what some of MM’s other interests and talents...

Technically, this gentleman is my cousin-in-law, but to me he’ll always be more a brother than a distant relative.  Sit back and enjoy our conversation as we uncover Cornell’s many interests, talents, and his unique musical tastes.  Talents that include being a skilled handyman, an automobile aficionado, a defense attorney, real estate expert, and lead singer of Long Island’s own Beach Drive.  And...

In our third episode of GD&F, we’re joined by Deadhead and Dallas native, David McQuaid.  By a simple twist of fate, my daughter, Hannah, and I had the good fortune to meet David and his family tailgating outside their psychedelically painted tour bus, Sugaree.  David paints a vivid picture of how he, his wife, and grown children tour the country on Sugaree taking in the sights and sounds alon...

In the second episode of GD&F I connect with my friend of 25+ years, Cary Crane.  A lifelong Deadhead, devoted family man, and wildly successful businessman, Cary is a true mensch.  He brings us back to his early days seeing the band at the closing of the Fillmore West and Summer Jam at Watkins Glen.  He recounts his career in his family’s juice business that he ran with his brother for 40 yea...

 In the first episode of GD&F, I’m honored and proud to welcome my friend, fellow Deadhead, and all around amazing human being, Fred Weiss.  Join us as Fred takes us back to the early 70’s when he got on the bus.  He shares his memories of a firsthand encounter with promotor, Bill Graham.  He brings us inside Winterland in the Fall of ‘78 with the Dead in a post-Egypt groove, and describes Jer...

Welcome to Grateful Dad & Friends!  GD&F is a series of conversations with host and lifelong Deadhead, Andy Staib, and his friends and family touching on the common threads that bond them together - namely their shared love of music, family, friends, life, and the Grateful Dead. The show was born from the notion that music helps keep us all connected throughout our collective long strange...