My Weekly Mixtape: Music Discovery & Nostalgia

There are moments in life that feel too strange to be real — the kind you replay just to make sure they actually happened. This is one of those stories . On Saturday, June 17, 2000 , during Poison’s Power to the People tour at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ , I went from the crowd… to on stage with Poison . One minute I’m watching a rock concert. The next, I’ve got Bret Michaels’ micropho...

This week, we're revisiting my feature-length interview with Tom Keifer , legendary Cinderella frontman, as he reflects on the band's enduring legacy , his acclaimed solo career , and the challenges that nearly ended it . In this in-depth conversation, Tom shares the stories behind his critically acclaimed solo albums The Way Life Goes (2013) and Rise (2019), offering insight into his songwriting...

There’s a moment every parent (or anyone who’s been around kids long enough ) recognizes — a song that gets played over and over again … and somehow doesn’t wear out its welcome . That space — where something clicks for kids and doesn’t lose the room for the adults — is harder to pull off than it sounds. And it’s exactly where Laurie Berkner has lived for decades . This week, she joins me to talk...

Most people remember their first concert. I’ve talked about mine more than a few times — David Lee Roth and Poison on the 1988 Skyscraper tour. But the second one hits differently for a lot of people. For me, it was Aerosmith and Skid Row on the Pump tour in 1990 . I was 12 , standing there completely wide-eyed, when Skid Row tore into “Piece of Me” and something just clicked — that bass line . Th...

Upbeat dance classics, pop anthems and heavier rock songs give you one feeling — but what happens when you slow them down , strip them back , and see what lies beneath the surface ? This week on My Weekly Mixtape, I explore why slow cover songs often hit harder than the originals, taking familiar pop , rock , and dance hits and reshaping them into something far more intimate . Across 10 mellow cov...

Can you narrow 25 years of dance classics into 10 songs? Nice try if you say it's easy! This week, Jay Sweet joins me to dive into the tracks that kept crowds moving from the early 2000s straight through today — ten songs that shaped twenty-five years of parties , playlists , wedding receptions , late-night drives , and every moment in between . We’re looking at the hooks , the beats , and the cul...

Is there such a thing as a Rush deep cut ? To the diehards, absolutely not — but that shouldn’t stop us from trying! As the band gears up for their long-anticipated Fifty Something anniversary tour, I am throwing back to an episode where I was the guest , and joined Steve & Gerry on the Something For Nothing: A Rush Fancast . In this discussion, we set out to celebrate the overlooked corners o...

Few artists soundtrack the open road quite like Tom Petty. From radio-dominant anthems to overlooked gems hiding deeper in the catalog, his songs feel engineered for long stretches of highway , glowing dashboards , and miles that slip by unnoticed . This 10-song Tom Petty road trip playlist brings together the familiar hits you instinctively reach for and the lesser-known tracks that hit just as h...

Thirty years after Ledbetter Heights first introduced Kenny Wayne Shepherd to the world, we circle back — not just to revisit the songs , but to understand what happens when you’ve lived with them for decades . From the raw instinct of a 17-year-old finding his voice to the perspective that only time , touring , and life can bring, this conversation digs into how those early recordings hold up — a...

Working in network radio in the early 2000s was a nonstop rollercoaster — long , unpredictable hours , the constant pressure of a 24/7 operation , and a news cycle that could reshape your entire life in an instant . But on the flip side , it also meant crossing paths with the biggest names in music, movies, and television as they moved through studios to appear on stations across the country . Thi...

It’s been a few years since Amanda Lyberg of Eva Under Fire last stopped by — and this time, the stakes feel different . This week, we dig into Villinous , a record that doesn’t just evolve the band’s sound , but reframes it — leaning hard into identity , perception , and what it really means to take back labels that were never meant to empower . A big part of that conversation centers around the...

This week, I’m joined by Chris Crabb of The Strike — and we get into how a band built on ’80s new wave , synth pop , and yes, saxophone , turned “The Getaway” into a song that’s taken on a life of its own . From multiple versions on A Dream Through Open Eyes to a stripped-down take that’s now showing up in wedding first dances , we talk about how the same song can evolve — and what those reinterpr...

Heavy bands are known for distortion , volume , and power — but every so often, they make a screeching pivot , turning the amps down and letting something quieter speak louder . This week, I dig into 10 moments where bands best known for crushing riffs, intense vocals, or sheer sonic force take a sharp left turn , stepping into mellow , stripped-down , or unexpectedly introspective territory . The...

Discover your next favorite band on this week’s episode as I’m joined by Patreon Mixtaper Chad Lamasa to shine a light on 10 underrated artists who deserve way more attention . We’re digging into the kind of bands you stumble across and immediately start telling friends about — the ones flying just under the mainstream radar but making music that resonates as much, if not more , than artists that...

What's your goto post-black album Metallica track? Fans love to debate the band’s evolution, but one thing’s for sure: the post–Black Album era is packed with powerful , creative , and unfairly overlooked tunes. In this week’s episode, Zack Derby of The Neatcast joins me to dig deep into Metallica’s modern catalog —everything from the Load era through today—to spotlight 10 tracks that prove the ba...

This week, I’m joined by Dryden Mitchell of Alien Ant Farm to trace the band’s journey: from the early $100 EP and Love Songs recordings—when tracks like “S.S. Recognize” and “Wishing” were still finding their final form—to the tongue-in-cheek Greatest Hits release that arrived before the band had even broken nationally. From there, we dig into the era that launched the band worldwide: ANThology ,...

There are certain artists who become part of the soundtrack to your life — and if you’re lucky, sometimes you get to sit down with the people responsible for it. This week, I’m joined by the man who has been keeping the beat behind “ Weird Al” Yankovic for more than four decades: drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz . From a chance meeting through the legendary Dr. Demento show and playing drums on an a...

This week, I’m joined by American Idol Top 20 contestant and New Jersey artist Jake Thistle to talk about his experience performing on one of television’s biggest music stages . Jake shares what it’s really like behind the scenes of American Idol — from the strategy behind song choices (including his audition take on Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” ) to the pressure of performing original m...

This week, I’m joined by Weakened Friends’ Sonia Sturino to dig into Feels Like Hell , the band’s 2025 release that captures the emotional whiplash of modern life with biting honesty and melodic grit . We talk about the mindset behind the album , how exhaustion , anxiety , and self-reflection shaped the songwriting, and why Feels Like Hell feels like both a breaking point and a breakthrough . From...

Ever judge an album by its cover? This week on My Weekly Mixtape, Jay Sweet joins me as we flip through some virtual record crates to curate a playlist inspired by the most iconic album covers of all time . From legendary imagery to unforgettable records , we’re turning that visual inspiration into a killer mix of songs — and exploring what makes album art just as timeless , meaningful , and memor...

Welcome to the launch of a new kind of bonus episode I’m calling Mixtape Moments — short stories sparked by a recent news item or an anecdote I haven’t yet found a place for in a full-length episode. There’s no set timetable for how often these will appear, but the format opens the door to new ways of experiencing My Weekly Mixtape — including quick hitters when the moment calls for it, whether it...

This week, I’m sitting down with the legendary Warren Haynes to revisit Tales of Ordinary Madness — his debut solo album , now newly remixed and remastered more than thirty years after its original release . It’s a record that’s lived a long life with a lot of us, and hearing it again with fresh ears raises a bigger question: what happens when you return to deeply personal songs after decades of l...

This week, Outlier’s Joey Arena joins me to break down “(Rock) Superstar,” the band’s collaboration with Sen Dog and Hyro The Hero , reimagining one of the defining crossover tracks of the early 2000s . Long before “genre-fluid” became a buzzword, the original version proved that hip-hop , rock , and metal didn’t just coexist — they could thrive together . This new take taps into that same spirit,...

This week, we’re digging into one of the most important collision points in modern music history — the moment when rock and hip-hop first slammed into each other and changed the landscape forever . Using When Rock Met Hip-Hop as a guiding lens , I’m joined by legendary music journalist Stephen Blush to explore the artists , scenes , and cultural flashpoints that brought distorted guitars and break...

Power ballads didn’t disappear when the lighters went away — they just continued to evolve . This week, I’m joined by Terrie Carr of Carr Stereo to explore 10 power ballads released after 2000 — songs that still build slow , hit hard , and aim straight for the chest , even if the glow in the crowd looks a little different now. From massive choruses to emotional gut-punches , these are the songs th...