The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

It’s Grammy season which is a perfect time for a reminder that the entertainment industry is - after all - a business that operates behind velvet curtains and closed dressing room doors. All of the biopics, books and exposes still won’t quite be able to communicate the industry’s mysteries to media consumers. The business’ financial side is one such curious corner ripe for exploration. Often we ar...

Some musicians just can’t help but be inspired by everything! Everywhere they look, they see a little something that triggers musical thoughts, every song they hear pushes them to pick up a guitar or sit down at that piano and craft something of their own. Steve Lewis is one of those guys and - a few times during this interview - you’ll hear me compare his latest release, Exit to Mystery , with th...

There is a subgenre of jazz that remains a bit of a mystery. On one hand, it’s incredibly popular as a sound that you’ve heard throughout film, television, and marketing for many years. On the other, there might not be many records in your collection that represent this style. It is, however, endlessly exciting and features musicians who play at a breathtaking level. If you love jazz, and you’d li...

How many different sides of you are there? Who are you when you’re alone, and how is that person different from who you are in front of others? We all have different sides to us and the world rarely sees the whole version of ourselves. But music and art can help to peel back the layers and provide a glimpse of the threads that make us who we are. Stacey Kent has a long musical career under her bel...

It’s the end of another calendar year at The Vinyl District’s Radar podcast and to all of our listeners - and readers - we wish you the happiest of holidays and a very wonderful new year in 2024. Thank you - also - to all of the fabulous guests who took time out of their busy schedules to join us here for a chat. Frank Sinatra was born on December 12th, 1915 in Hoboken, NJ and his voice is often h...

The arts have always served as an effective way to tackle difficult feelings. Mental health has become a very hot topic in the last few years for two reasons: the first is that mental health challenges have continued to become destigmatized, and the second is the continued realization that - believe it, or not - someone that you know, most likely several of the people you know, grapple with a ment...

There was an exciting time during the early 1980s where there was a true fusion of a few different musical styles which led to a hybrid of rock and reggae in a radio-friendly pop-package that was especially popular in the UK. The English Beat and General Public were two bands at the forefront who captured the ears of that generation. Coincidentally, both groups had two band members in common: Dave...

We all make boo boos. Usually, however, when the boo boos happen, we more or less move on, apologize if necessary, and try to watch out for similar situations in the future. Sometimes, however, as we’re bobbling that thing that we’re about to break, we manage to tap-dance our way into some sort of a solution; even if it doesn’t look pretty. I’d been hoping to interview Graham Parker for many years...

There’s something to be said about longevity, especially in an industry as cruel and fickle as music and entertainment. But there are those who have been able to maintain a career through all of the ups, downs, ins and outs; those who have stood the test of time no matter what curveballs have been thrown at them. Originally hailed by the Village Voice as “the new Dylan'', Steve Forbert n...

On this program, we usually focus on folks who create the music that we love listening to, but what about paying homage to those who are in charge of sharing the music with us? We don’t all have a friend who can hip us to the latest and greatest, so we all must subscribe to a trusted voice we can rely on that is equipped with careful curation skills and discriminating taste. Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy...

We grapple a lot with genre here on Radar , and this week’s episode is no different. Genre is a funny thing when it’s applied to nearly any field. On one hand, there’s nothing wrong with an artist being aligned with - or, being seen as representative of a certain genre - even if it’s a point of frustration for the artist. On the other hand, music listeners should allow artists the latitude to adju...

We all know that crime doesn’t pay, but that doesn’t stop the world’s fascination with it. What is it about the seedy underbelly of our social structures that makes it such an intriguing topic? And there are no shortage of types of criminal activities to explore: white-collar crime, violent crimes, crimes of passion,cyber crime, and even crimes of the heart. How can we think about these things wit...

If you love vinyl, there’s only one place to be this weekend (9/26-10/1) and that is Haarlem, Netherlands. There won’t be just one gathering dedicated to vinyl either: the town will host a conference and a festival who have made the wise decision to co-locate in the capital of North Holland. A few months ago on this program we spoke with Larry Jaffee and Bryan Ekus about the Making Vinyl conferenc...

Music is best when taken internationally. It’s easy to get looped into all of the wonderful North American offerings that are available to we listeners, but sometimes you’ve got to take the night flight to locations unknown. To close your eyes and wake up in a new culture with unfamiliar languages and customs. Our relationship with music should be an adventurous journey, it should be the tonic tha...

Some musicians get lucky enough to find a career, once; maybe even twice. But if a musician is able to have several different careers in the brutal music business over the course of their lives, it’s not about luck; it’s about talent. Peter Case has plenty of talent: he’s made his name as a great songwriter and vocalist and was also a part of the primordial punk/new wave band, The Nerves as well a...

Supporting a leader isn’t an easy job. The list of responsibilities is long: it’s necessary to pivot with that person, and go with the flow. One must have the ability to look a few yards ahead and anticipate what’s coming just around the corner. If you’ve ever watched a late night television show, watch - or, maybe more appropriately, listen -  to the bandleader: the way the music punctuates speci...

So what if it’s a nickname? When people refer to you by the name Vinyl, there’s a reason why. Of course, it also happens to rhyme with this week’s guest's legal name - which is Lionel - and you’ll find out the origin of this nomenclature by just staying tuned in.  Lionel (Vinyl) Williams is a California based musician who has created an impressive body of psychedelic work and he has just rele...

As large as it seems, the entertainment world is really pretty small. While many folks make the joke about Kevin Bacon and his six degrees of separation from anyone else in the industry, it’s quite possible because everyone in the performing arts world is really only a few steps away from anybody else. I had my own experience with this phenomenon just a few months ago when I hosted bassist Marty I...

There are some musical groups and performers whose music is as ubiquitous as having the lights on in a dark room, or water streaming from a kitchen faucet. Some music is more than just songs, it’s as though the words, phrases and messages are ingrained into our psyche. This might not even have anything to do with whether we like the music, or not! It’s just always there: on the radio, of course, b...

The Cold War was a time that those of a certain age will remember living through quite vividly and it included a terrifyingly tangible fear of global nuclear warfare. The Soviet Union was simply seen as an evil empire and the media surrounding America during those years had no problem perpetuating that narrative. In my case, during the 1980s, it was films like Rocky IV , Red Dawn or even Spies Lik...

Once one delves far enough into a hobby or an interest, they become curious about its inner workings. When it comes to records, you might enjoy those discs on a certain level before you start wondering how music comes from those grooves at all. Who is responsible for producing this material? How are the pressing machines maintained? How does the industry make all of this stuff? Enter Larry Jaffee...

Artificial Intelligence is a hot button topic of the day. Everyone wonders where the A.I. rabbit hole will lead us  and one of those areas of conversation involves music and media production. For years now, computers have been helping musicians to create their music and also to improve upon whatever it is that they’ve made. From autotune to sampled electronic versions of analog sounds, the digital...

Are there records in your collection that you love so much you might consider the possibility of never hearing them again? Such a concept is counterintuitive to a lover of music or sound. Records are made to be played, not hidden away like the dusty storage unit relics in the concluding scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark ! However, I’m sure that by scanning the items on our shelves, there are a few...

It’s a real luxury to sit for a while and chat with musicians who have been a part of your life for - well - all of your life. To actually speak with the people who made the sounds that have served as your life’s soundtrack, to ask those things you’ve always wondered about. Who gets to do that? For better, or worse, I’m one of the lucky son of a guns who is allowed to engage directly with many mus...

One never knows what might end up in a songwriter’s sketchpad. It could be random musings about the state of the world, hazy memories about family members, or maybe even inspired creations from the works of other masters. A songwriter’s sketchpad is a diary of sorts for an artist, but can also serve to shed light upon the unconscious interests and influences of the artist themself.  Sam Blasucci r...