Three Song Stories

Jonathan Lawrence is a classically trained jazz violinist and fiddle player who began studying violin when he was 9. He utilizes his skills as an electric violinist, guitarist, vocalist, pianist, and loop station artist to perform both original songs and new takes on Americana covers. His album is called The Lonely Warrior which is available on most streaming platforms.  He also teaches general mu...

Mia Borders is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who's become a perennial figure in the uptown New Orleans music scene. She's performed at House of Blues New Orleans, Essence Festival, Brazil’s Bourbon Street Music Festival, Santa Cruz Blues Fest, Chattanooga’s NightFall, Voice of the Wetlands, Memphis’s Levitt Shell, Long’s Park Amphitheater, and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Her cata...

Phil Roy has written songs for some of the greats, including Ray Charles, Aaron Neville, and Joe Cocker, and Mavis Staples, and songs for two Academy Award-winning films: Leaving Las Vegas and As Good As It Gets . He co-wrote one of his songs, Melt , with his long-time friend, Nicolas Cage. Phil was born and raised in Philadelphia, and attended Berklee College of Music as a guitar major. It was ar...

Scott Carter is Co-creator and Executive Producer Love & Respect with Killer Mike  on PBS, and was a writer for Politically Incorrect hosted by Bill Maher on Comedy Central, and then writer and producer for Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO for its first 16 seasons. Scott’s podcast Ye Gods! with Scott Carter launched in February of 2023. On it, he discusses personal faith and ethics with a dive...

Dr. Jonathan Harrison obtained his PhD in Sociology from the University of Leicester in the UK in 2006 and then migrated to Florida that same year. He has taught as an adjunct instructor since 2012 at FGCU, Florida Southwestern State University, and Hodges University. Jonathan has written extensively about segregation in Fort Myers and contributed to the WGCU documentary With a Made Up Mind , whic...

James Priestner is the frontman of the Canadian band Rare Americans . They’ve released four albums and an EP and their songs, each paired with narrative-driven animated video, have garnered them a Billboard 100 album, a JUNO award for their most listened to track to date, “Brittle Bones Nicky,” more than 500 million streams, and more than 875K YouTube subscribers.  The band just released the first...

David Oquendo worked in business and retail management more than a decade, and decided decided to turn his passion for film and television in his actual job. Since then, has worked on productions for CMT, PBS, Oxygen, the Travel Channel, and the El Rey Networks, and is now at the helm of WGCU’s video productions for TV and web. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Kealing is a journalist who spent most of his three decade long career at WESH-TV in Orlando. He’s won four Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow award, and has appeared on Dateline NBC , the Today Show , CBS This Morning , and has appeared as a guest on NPR, CNN, MSNBC, NBC and C-SPAN. The author of four non-fiction books, Bob’s research led to the establishment of the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando,...

John Donvan has been host and moderator of Open to Debate (recently changed from Intelligence Squared US ) since 2008. John is also an author and four-time Emmy Award winning journalist who during his career reported for ABC, CNN, and PBS, including multi-year postings in Moscow, London, Jerusalem, and Amman, and he spent one term as chief White House correspondent for ABC News. His 2016 book, "In...

Tim Morrison is a lifelong musician and singer, but he says he still took the safe path and made sure to go to college. A Journalism degree later and a move to New York City led him to a unique career and life that wound up in anti-counterfeiting in the fashion world.  Deaths in the family lead to a move to Naples in 2005 and a return to music. His self-written/performed/engineered/produced/promot...

Dr. Eric Otto plays guitar for the Immokalee Road Band with his FGCU colleagues Miles Mancini and Mike Kennedy, and since 2019 he has also been the guitarist for the Gulf Coast Big Band, which raises scholarship money to support jazz education in Southwest Florida. For his day job, Eric is Professor of Environmental Humanities, Director of General Education, and Interim Chair of the Department of...

Konstantinos Vranishti is a 35-year old student at Florida Gulf Coast University who was born in Albania but spent most of his life in Greece before moving to the United States in 2019. His family first landed in Maryland, but then moved to Fort Myers during the early days of the pandemic. He started off as a journalism student at FGCU because he worked as a journalist in Greece, but recently chan...

Dayna Harpster is a journalist, writer, and Communications Specialist at WGCU. She started teaching journalism classes at Florida Gulf Coast University last year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Craig Pittman is the author of Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country which made the New York Times bestseller list; Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther, which earned him the Rachel Carson Award from the national Sierra Club; and his latest The State You’re In: Florida Men, Florida Women, and Other Wildlife , and he co-hosts the podcas...

Rada Angelova is known for her work in theater in New York City. She started as the actor, writer & producer of her own solo show that was presented at the Midtown International Theater Festival, and then she stepped behind the curtain to represent some of the world’s longest-running musicals including “Chicago” and “Cats” while they were on tour in the U.S.  Rada is originally from Bulgaria w...

Greg Longenhagen is an accomplished actor, director, producer, teacher, and coach. Greg’s career spans over 30 years in professional theatre, radio, television, and film, and he's a member of the original founding company of Florida Repertory Theatre in downtown Fort Myers, and is in his third decade with the organization, now serving as its Artistic Director.  Greg has been involved with 64 produ...

Brian Schreck is a music therapist at the Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky and has been professionally serving people with a wide range of illnesses since 2004. He pioneered music therapy services at St. Vincent’s Catholic Hospital Medical Center in Manhattan, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and the Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville.  Part of Brian's work involves...

Karyn Parsons is probably best known for playing Hilary on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Her character was, and is, truly beloved by fans around the U.S. and beyond. What her fans didn't know until 2005 was that Parsons was also a writer who spent quite a bit of time writing short fiction, and learning about history - particularly inspiring and empowering stories of African American achievement. On...

John McKenney is a bassist who has played in bands like “The Tropics”, “The HiTones”, and “The Painted Faces” which was one of Ft. Myers most well known bands. They played all over Florida and opened for a number of big names including Roy Orbinson and Neil Diamond. They were written up in BillBoard magazine and were listed as one of the top Florida garage bands of the 60s. John is currently playi...

Jennifer Rowley is a soprano who is acclaimed worldwide for her voice and stage presence, and for her wide variety of roles that have spanned many of opera’s greatest heroines. She has appeared at The Metropolitan Opera in lead roles including in Cyrano de Bergerac, Tosca, Il Trovatore and La Boheme. Throughout her career she has also performed at Opernhaus Zurich, Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, M...

Robert Van Winkle is Community Outreach Ambassador for the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, but is still often recognized as the former Chief Meteorologist for NBC-2 in Fort Myers. He’s also a U.S. Navy Veteran and worked as a meteorologist on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.  After a 31-year career on television Robert “retired” and moved to Arizona to take care of his Mom when she was diagn...

Kristen Noble is a 17-year-old Senior at Cypress Lake High School. As a musician, Kristen released her original debut album, “Lyrical Therapy” in October of 2022. It’s on all streaming platforms and as of this recording it has accumulated more than 400,000 streams on Spotify.  She's also participated in many music ensembles and groups, including "The A Cappella Group," at Cypress with whom she rec...

Dan Bern is a singer-songwriter whose songs have appeared in numerous films and TV shows, including original songs for the film “Walk Hard — The Dewey Cox Story”. He's released 30 albums and EPs, and played thousands of shows across North America and Europe over the course of his life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike, Richard, Tara, and Jared gather to reminisce about the last two years of guests, songs, and stories in our (usually) annual review! Join us for 9 song stories, a Dungeons and Dragons montage, and an encore of "Rock Talk" - Mike's Rock tumbling podcast".     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robin Young is host NPR's Here & Now . Robin is a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker who has also reported for NBC, CBS, and ABC television and for several years was substitute host and correspondent for The Today Show. Robin has received several Emmy Awards for her television work, as well as cable's Ace award, the Religious Public Relations Council's Wilbur Award and the National Co...