Secret Famous

In a day and age when everyone is a photographer, Manish Gosalia is a real photographer: a true lover of the still image. His personal style captures the beauty and mayhem of live music and professional football with equal grace. I've had the privilege of even being his assistant on shoots--watching the hunt, the stillness, composure and experience it takes to know the exact moment when the smile,...

Delightedly, there is no one more down to earth than Australian DIVA Kelly Wolfgramm. She's hilarious, universally loved by all and will show up to your Halloween party as Wayne Campbell and dance and sing like Michael Jackson.  She's sang/played with: Jon Batiste, The Weeknd, INXS, Rob Thomas, Jermaine Jackson, Sharon Jones, Rick Springfield, Men At Work, Katrina and the Waves, Irene Cara...etc.,...

Kyle Duke of Kyle Duke and the Brown Bag Boys, does everything a rock star needs to do: shreds songs, guitars, vocals, production and business. Look out for him and check out the new single: "Sheena Doesn't Mind"

Guitarist/old soul Nicky Barbato is releasing his first full length album, Every Day is a Bad Hair Day, produced by saxlord Jon Irabagon. Nicky is a monster musician, the sweetest possible hang and a dear friend...he shares some stories behind the new record, what it's like to shred the Telecaster at an unsane level and why he goes to the library for Kurt Vonnegut books. His new record is hotter t...

Adam Gould--though he wore a cabbie hat during this podcast, hiding his beautiful lion's mane--figuratively wears many hats: from beer drinkin'/meat smashin'/hard chargin' rock guitarist who will rip yer head off with a smile on stage to a delicate soul who thinks and feels deeply, wears his heart on his sleeve, and writes solo acoustic ballads that showcase his Buckley-esque voice. Seven years ag...

Teddy Kumpel is a guitar god and his list of credits would make any seasoned pro blush (NIN, Rickie Lee Jones, Feist, the films Anchorman and Talladega Nights (!)), but that's all small potatoes compared to his amazing original songs: 'I'd grow a mustache for you' is always on loop in my head. He's currently preparing to go out on the road with THE Joe Jackson.  We sit down and get the T.KUMPS sco...

Joelle Lurie makes a claim that she is one of many in the NYC/International scene but after a few moments with this sassy ginger with the voice the size of a house and a personality like some palatial compound in the comforts of the tropicals (easy to hang with), you see how special she is. I promised to get her tea--she showed up with coffees, champagne and all the components for a mimosa.  Joell...

Singer, Songwriter, Pianist Nicholas Wells is a Renaissance man: what began as a desire to write and sing songs, has evolved into a full sonic and visual in-production house, where Nicholas performs every skill for every role at every position. He cooks up ambitious ideas and then does all the work needed to make them happen. He’s invested in making himself the modern artist on the web by developi...

B'ski aka Brain Collazo defines the word SMOOTH, in every way my mind knows how to break that concept down: being sonically, aesthetically, verbally, spiritually and social-situationally hip. ..while doing little to no work to appear this bad ass. You can be smooth like a duck, doing all the paddling underneath the water, but a real smooth cat is a swan: effortless chilling.  Damn it, you know smo...

WORLD PREMIERE OF THE NEW CALEB HAWLEY JOINT "JUST WANT TO BE LOVED." TUNE IN JUST TO BUMP THIS JAM. AGAIN AND AGAIN. A first in the tiny history of Secret Famous, we get a one day advance on this banger! Caleb Hawley is a Pop Star. He writes, sings, produces, dances, looks cooler than a Euro soccer star AND can straight cold shred guitars AND keys. On top of his historic skills in music, he is an...

Trained dancer, singer and actor (see: triple threat aka monster talent) Anthony Palencsar graced the international stages for years before transferring his skills of improvisation and charisma into becoming one of NYC's premier concierges. His charm, wit and ability to entertain are all on full display as we get some NYC hot tips and what it feels like to be big in Japan, while hanging out at Sha...

In a world that smashes people's dreams, it's refreshing to hear some stories from a human who's had their dreams come to fruition. Seth Ondracek lives the dream (by working his ass off), having arrived in New York six years ago from Omaha, Nebraska with nothing but a P Bass and the desire to make his living.  His stories of personal transformation are that of legend and all in the commitment of s...

Road Dog: someone who loves every part of the more extreme, touring RockNRoll lifestyle e.g., fixing the van, slinging merchandise after the show, eating Cracker Barrel more than once in a year and sleeping on floors while all your belongings stay in your shoes as you rest so you don't lose anything (tip for beginners): this is Matt Krahula, staple of the NYC songwriting/performing/crushing scene....

Kaitlyn Rosati is a full time entertainment machine that goes to eleven: a party of ONE, world traveler, born story teller, feminist icon, force of fashion, talented musician, a hard-ass willing to cut you with a knife while simultaneously being sweet AF and willing to move mountains to help the people she loves out. She is a singular being of awesomeness. If I had to choose one human to blast int...

Paul Loren is a life expert: not only a timeless talent for his fronting, singing, songwriting, producing and entertaining, but also a well-read, interested, and interesting multi-dimensional human with great depth of character who knows what he loves. The legend of his talents are all true. You’ve seen him on Instagram listening to classic records and pouring espressos: this is also who he is IRL...

Jeff Tuohy is a dynamo of live entertainment: what most mortals can muster in a weekend, he does in a day. His songwriting fuses rock, pop, country, poetry and Bourbon Street with the voice and training of a Broadway superstar and the perception of a therapist. He is a rare breed who can be the classic front man, the singer-songwriter with a guitar, or take center stage and become Archibald Craven...

I met New Zealand native Sam Blakelock back in the pit of an off Broadway show, where he was warming up on bass, playing Charlie Parker heads at break neck speed. After some light conversation, he mentioned that he is actually a guitar player and has 800 Instagram followers. In the years since, he has built an online empire: his business page Pickup has 400k followers, PickupJazz has 100k and his...

In this super special episode I hang out with...myself, trying to make YOU laugh talking about the funny parts of marriage, a failed system of paying bills and my list of 13 things europeans do better/cooler/smarter/sexier than those of us in the new world...then release a new song coming out this Thursday April 19, 2018 called: Weed and Rosé. Go towards energy and vibrate with me. 

Charlie Lagond has touched the lives of innumerable people by creating a gold standard of music education--and a music community--with his creation of the Lagond Music School, the place to hang, shed, vogue and generally improve yourself as a person in Westchester, NY. The tragedy of all this wonderful stuff is I have to explain to all the students that, even if they start working hard right now,...

When you are hanging out with David Heilman, it often feels like you are a co-star in a movie that would be entitled How to Be Cool. Though I realize my prose is generally humor-filled, I wrote this in the most serious tone: Dave is the epitome of cool, defining the word in his every move, action, thought and groove that he lays down. Spending half his year in Norway, where the native people gave...

When the individually excellent musicians Rebecca Haviland and Chris Anderson come together, they morph into one and smash everybody: thankfully they’re married.  In fact, the month they got married, they boarded a pop rocket as the backing band for a rising star.  Here, they discuss how they use a timer to achieve “the division of business time and pleasure time” in their relationship, why they n...

One of the secret passwords among professional guitarists in NYC is Ric Molina. After invoking his name, a mandatory 20 minute geek out/worship session is required. Ric is a master musician, storyteller, and motivator who also teaches ‘for fun.’ He has had an incredible career in NYC: book one guitarist in the broadway juggernaut Wicked, writing music for The Electric Company, and backing up artis...

Greg Mayo is rock'n'roll royalty--from sitting in with Hall and Oates at age 8 on drums at Jones Beach to his current gig of being Bon Jovi's guitarist. Son of the late, great Bob Mayo, he grew up inside of the music. Here he tells stories of explaining to his mom that she was wasting her time getting him piano lessons because he was going to be a baseball player and the struggles of tremendous pe...

Pete Francis can take a 10 mintue guitar solo in front of 30,000 people, then seamlessly sing/write an intimate love and loss ballad AND THEN produce/conceptualize/art direct whole new movements of media consumption. To try and use words to explain his visions seems fruitless, he's on some next level shit. He is also a great human, who is always up for a new adventure OR someone I can call at 12:3...

Paul Maddison sits down with super musician/rad dude Jason Wexler in his home studio in Staten Island, NY and we discuss what made him choose music, how to shred, his cool gigs with Alice Tan Ridley, Kate Merrill, Stolar and his children’s music project, Jason Amazing.