The Upful LIFE Podcast

Episode 023 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes the one-and-only REUBEN SADOWSKY, ceabador with Guayaki Yerba Mate , close friend/former tour manager to Rising Appalachia, awe-inspiring action sportsman, festival fixture and 11-year Burner. We caught up with him for nearly an hour during Planet Home, a 3-day solutionary conference that took place in San Francisco in early September; Reuben was th...

Episode 022 of *The Upful Life Podcast* w/s/g Smasheltooth  is live and direkt! This celebrated, colorful, & outspoken West Coast selectah looks back on a decade in the DJ game, but of course we dig deeper into myriad topics. Ever since I first came upon her at the Haven in Nevada City, CA opening for Mad Zach in 2016, I've been intrigued by this dynamic persona. Began following her on social medi...

Featured guests NIKKI GLASPIE and NICK CASSARINO of THE NTH POWER, as well as an introspective chat with Oregon-based artist/entrepreneur CLAY McCABE (of ZIPPER RESCUE). I am lucky and honored to call each of these inspiring human beings my dear friends in real life. The music of The Nth Power often reaches me with an emotional impact that is unrivaled in the culture today, and in that resonant re...

Episode 020 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* returns in its new every-third-week scheduling, back in the saddle with a revealing interview with very special guest Ms. Anna Moss , one half of the quirky, funky, folky, jazzy, and downright intoxicating musical duo Handmade Moments . The group, whom I've worked with a couple of times in the past few years, were coming through the Bay Area for an exquisite...

Episode 019 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes our good friend LUKE QUARANTA to the show for another long and winding discussion, the last interview I conducted over two weeks in NOLA during Jazz Fest 50. I first encountered Luke and his band TOUBAB KREWE at Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival , at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, around 2008 or 2009. Ever since, I've been a big fan of his percussi...

Episode 018 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* returns with very special guest JON PHILLIPS, founder of Silverback Music , a management company based in Southern California. Jon is the former manager of Sublime- going back to the early 90's - and currently works with George Porter Jr., Fishbone, Dumpstaphunk, The Grouch and Eligh, Slightly Stoopid, among other successful contemporary artists. Jon and I h...

  Episode 017 of *The  Upful Life  Podcast* gets Big Easy-busy with two crucial members of the Crescent City committee, as I sit down with NOLA-based rock n’roll troubadour  Billy Iuso  (BIRN) for a lengthy powwow, and chase that with 40 minutes of pure, uncut  Eric Benny Bloom  (of  Lettuce .) Super stoked to continue riding high on N’awlinz and Jazz Fest with these two fascinating pals.   BILLY...

Episode 016 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* features a thoughtful conversation with stalwart keyboardist ROBERT WALTER , founding member of The Greyboy Allstars , leader of his own Robert Walter's 20th Congress (RW20) , and of late, Mike Gordon. I was lucky to track down Robert at his rented crib in the Lower Garden District in NOLA, during the comparatively mellow 'daze between' Jazz Fest weekends. T...

Episode 015 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* features the one and only EDDIE ROBERTS, guitarist/founder of New Mastersounds, and more recently, of Matador! Soul Sounds. Eddie is also one of four men at the helm of Color Red , a record label/brand based out of Denver, Colorado. For well over 20 years, Eddie has been an omnipresent force in the jazz/jam/funk scenes from the UK to the Bay Area and all poi...

Episode 014 of *The  Upful Life  Podcast* welcomes the incredible  Adam "Shmeeans" Smirnoff  (guitarist, co-founder of  Lettuce ) to the show for an hour-long chat that I am quite proud of. It’s no secret that Lettuce is my favorite band and has been for some time; naturally I was stoked AF to host a member on the podcast. We linked up at the phenomenal  Barbarycoastcollective  dab lounge for a sw...

Episode 013 of *The  Upful Life  Podcast* welcomes very special guest  Shira Elias  of  Turkuaz  ! We caught up with the vixen vocalist on a SF tour stop in early February. Despite being the "newest member" of the band, Shira was among the first in the KUAZ clan that I connected with off the stage, and we'd been eyeing a proper long form powwow ever since I first interviewed her for L4LM a couple...

Episode 012 of *The  Upful Life  Podcast* welcomes the lovely and talented  Jasmine Fraser , a West Coast DJ best known as  Naughty Princess . Jasmine is a rising star in the bass music underground, and we were lucky to get her on the show for fascinating conversation that lasts just under an hour. This took place the day after her huge set at Resonate in Oakland, and Jasmine was a really good spo...

Episode 011 of * The Upful LIFE Podcast * welcomes JEFF FRANCA, drummer of Thievery Corporation  and founder of Congo Sanchez and Natural Selectah, to the show for an informative and emotional powwow. Jeff is a rising star in the Denver music scene, and traces his musical and personal roots back to the District of Columbia. We took a solid ninety minutes to chop it up about a number of salient top...

  Episode 010 of *The Upful Life Podcast* welcomes a very special guest in  Jeffrey Dupuis , longtime music/concert photographer, and professional Addiction Counselor. A spirited convo with an old friend, inspirational human, & someone who is a treasure to several communities.     As the host of this show, I am proud to unveil an episode with a focus on Addiction/Recovery, including some honest an...

  Episode 009 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* is back with Brooklyn, NY-based Mayteana Morales, singer/percussionist with Pimps of Joytime, and leading an exciting new project Walk Talk. Ms. Morales has been wowing audiences with the Pimps for many years, and it’s been a joy to observe her blossoming as a singer, on the congas, and now as a songwriter in her new endeavor. Mayteana was out in NorCal pu...

Episode 008 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes Community Organizer/Permaculture Educator RYAN RISING of Permaculture Action Network to the show for a profoundly informative chat on a gang of salient topics. Ryan was kind enough to invite me over to his beautiful Berkeley backyard garden, where we linked up and sat down for a lengthy conversation. For several years, Ryan has been a force of natur...

Episode 007 of *The  Upful Life  Podcast* comin' atcha with special guest  Derrick Smoker , NOLA's own drummer/emcee/singer-songwriter/jazz-cat/lightning rod. Back in late October, the man they call D-Free was kind enough to meet me midday, somewhere near the Bywater, for a colorful stroll thru his career & journey. Embarking from Houston to NOLA in 1992, to study Jazz at UNO, we revisit all the p...

  Episode 006 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* is proud to welcome Random Rab to the show for what is an enlightening conversation, a free exchange of ideas cutting a wide swath over his magical journey and meteoric career. But first, shout-outs to scene stalwarts JamBase and Silverback Music Management , a look toward New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival , before we kick things off. A rundown of what'...

  Episode 005 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes New Orleans artist/activist/parade-maker KATRINA BREES to the show for a lengthy convo that takes a long, winding, interesting path in a plethora of colorful and emotional directions. I first met Katrina Brees in the early 2000s when I first started going to Jazz Fest, long before she'd taken that moniker, back when she was partner to a dear frien...

Episode 004 of *The Upful LIFE Podcast* welcomes master djembefola Weedie Braimah to the show for an enlightening chat, in the aftermath of his seismic seance at Music Box Village in NOLA this past May during Jazz Fest. The performance remains one of the most exhilarating and emotionally-connected artistic expeditions that i've ever had the privilege of experiencing. I wrote at length about Weedie...

Episode 003 of The Upful LIFE Podcast features drummer SCOTTY ZWANG, currently of Ghost Light. Scotty has been an enigmatic persona in the Northeast jam/jamtronica scenes for well over a decade, and is a fixture on the Philly musical landscape. The erstwhile rhythm wizard goes deep in this interview, taking us back to his humble beginnings in New York, learning the drums and joining alternative ro...

Episode 002 of The Upful LIFE Podcast, featuring a long-form interview with Chris Perella, of Philadelphia-area jam hub  Ardmore Music Hall (AMH) . Before assuming the reigns (and ultimately heading up a team to buy) at Ardmore Music Hall, Chris was manager and talent buyer at storied, infamous Philly club The Blockley, which operated (as CP details, by the seat of it’s pants and skin of it’s teet...

Pilot episode of  The Upful LIFE Podcast , hosted/curated by  B.Getz , a music-culture reporter and historian. We’re lucky to have our first guest  TURKUAZ  drummer  MICHELANGELO CARUBBA  for a long-form sitdown, which took place during High Sierra in NorCal back in early July. (The early part of the interview takes place while a band is playing nearby, please excuse the background blues; we event...