Bartlemania Speaks!

After working with the legendary Procol Harum for five albums, Robin Trower departed to embark on a stellar solo career. Today, I speak with Robin about things like  his days with Procol Harum, influences (like James Brown) and his latest tour (info at http://trowerpower,com).

Jim Kweskin plays old-time music the way it was played back in the twenties, thirties and forties, though he is quick to point out that his band was not and is not a "revival" or nostalgia act. Today, we talk with Jim about, among other things, how he got his first musical instrument, his first record contract, his musical mission, and the intentional community of which he is still a member.

The Ventures were the best-known and most successful rock instrumental band ever. Few are those who don't know the theme from Hawaii Five-O by heart, to say nothing of chart slammers like Walk, Don't Run and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. Some say The Ventures invented surf-rock! Today, I speak with founding member of the band, Don Wilson. And he's got a lot to say!

Buffy Sainte-Marie has held a solid following over the last 5 decades despite having her records banned from airplay at the behest of none other than Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Seems that some of this articulate, talented and politically-astute singer-songwriter's output offended certain people in power! In our brief interview, Buffy and I discuss among other things, her previous work, her current album, Power in the Blood, and her 5-year run on Sesame Street.

You've probably never heard of her, but if you listen to the music of the sixties, or watch TV programs like Mission:Impossible, you've definitely heard her work. Today I speak with LA's number one session bassist with over 10,000 sessions to her credit, everyone from Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass to Sonny & Cher ("The Beat Goes On") to The Doors ("Light My Fire").

Tom Paxton has written everything from dog food commercials ("My Dog's Bigger Than Your Dog") to acoustic standards ("The Last Thing On My Mind"). Said the late Pete Seeger of Paxton's songs: “Tom’s songs have a way of sneaking up on you. You find yourself humming them, whistling them, and singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of Woody Guthrie, they’re becoming part of America.” Mr. Paxton and I go over his storied half-century-long career.

Doug Lubahn, bassist for the band Clear Light, also played bass for the Doors on three of their albums, Strange Days, Waiting For The Sun, and Soft Parade. On stage, the Doors didn't use a bassist. Keyboard wizard Ray Manzarek would provide the bass line using the lower register of his Vox Continental organ. In the studio however, the Doors relied on several session bassists. Doug was one of them. In fact, Doug was once offered a permanent position as the Doors' bassist.In this interview, we talk with Doug about his early days in the music business, his first major-league band, Clear Light, that band's glimpse of fame as they played a cameo role in the motion picture, The President's Analyst, and his day-to-day experiences working with the Doors, including his relationship with Jim Morrisson.

Rat Scabies was the drummer for the seminal English punk band, The Damned. Indeed, they were the first English punk band to put out first a single (New Rose, 1976) and then an album (Damned Damned Damned, 1977) on an enterprising little independent record label called Stiff Records. Here, we discuss the formation of the Damned, the appearance of members of The Clash on the Damned's third LP, Machine Gun Etiquette, his career with The Damned and his current projects, one of which is the documentary, The Damned – Don't You Wish That We Were Dead?

Singer-songwriter Matt Venuti plays with his band, The Venusians as well as solo. He plays two unique percussion instruments, the Hang and the Gubal. This interview took place the week of a splendid solo performance at Vishnu's Couch yoga studio in Binghamton, NY.

Woodstock veterans Canned Heat were not just another blues/boogie band. They had some top talent on their team - to name just a few, frontman and major-league blues record collector Bob Hite, musicologist, harpist and bottleneck guitar player Alan Wilson (one John Lee Hooker once remarked that Wilson played his own music better than he himself did!), and a gifted drummer who'd begun his career in the mid-1950s playing with Mexico's top pop acts.It is with this drummer, Fito De La Parra, that I speak this time. We discuss his career before and with Canned Heat, for whom he still plays.

In the fifties, he was known for his covers of R&B tunes. But there's much more to “Mr. White Bucks” than that. By his early twenties, he was a college student (Columbia), a happily-married father, a television personality and a best-selling pop singer. He has starred in over 20 films, not to mention emceeing television variety and talk shows in the 1950s and 60s, one of which showcased a then-new band from England called Pink Floyd. He's appeared in TV programs like Rod Serling's “Night Gallery”. We discuss the storied career of the star who started out as the emcee of a teen talent show in Nashville.

Jerry Yester was playing with the Lovin' Spoonful even before he stepped in to replace Zal Yanovsky. We discuss his career on the LA coffehouse folk music circuit before the Lovin' Spoonful, his eventual involvement in it while still in the Modern Folk Quartet, his role in replacing departing Spoonful member Zal Yanovsky, and his plans for the future. We also talk about his brief relationship with Frank Zappa and his "Straight" record label.

Best known for her signature songs, "Brand New Key" and the anthemic "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)", Melanie got her big break at the original Woodstock festival. To say she was performing 'without a net' would be putting it midly, but our lady pulled it off spectacularly. In this interview, we talk about her Woodstock experience, as well as the stories behind her hit songs and her musical career, which began when she went to the wrong Brill Building audition studio!

Poet Michael C. Ford was a friend of the late Ray Manzarek, as well as one James Douglas Morrison. They met at film school in the early 1960s. He was once considered for the position of bass player in The Doors. Here we discuss his brand new album, Look Each Other In The Ears, which not only features his latest poems but the last-ever musical back-up tracks by all three remaining members of The Doors. We also discuss, among other things, how he learned poetry under the great beat poet, Kenneth Patchen, his first-ever public reading in 1969, and his first appearance on vinyl on SST Records in the mid-80s.

The lead guitarist of the Jefferson Airplane and co-founder of Hot Tuna talks about his band's recent tour of Japan and his music school/performance space, Fur Peace Ranch as well as his unique “Psylodelic” sixties culture museum. We also talk about how he got involved with The Jefferson Airplane and how Hot Tuna got formed and named!

Ben Fong-Torres got his start as a professional journalist in 1968 working as a reporter for a fledgling publication called Rolling Stone. He was later made senior editor of that bi-weekly. His profiles of and interviews with Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Ray Charles and Linda Ronstadt to name just a few are required reading for music fans and students of music journalism. He currently has a book out about the band Little Feat called Willin'.Mr. Fong-Torres and I talk about his new book, the early days at Rolling Stone, his experiences covering Bob Dylan's Planet Waves tour, his interview with Jim Morrison (only weeks before Jim's passing) and his broadcast career, begun in the heyday of free-form radio.

John Densmore is best known as the drummer for the Doors. He's currently on tour promoting his new book, The Doors: Unhinged (Jim Morrison's Legacy Goes on Trial). In it, he details the forces which ultimately drove him and the remaining members of the doors apart. One prominent bone of contention was an  offer of a considerable sum by General Motors for the use of "Break On Through" in a Cadillac advertisement, and Densmore's objections to it. John and I talk about the book and other things, like alternative energy. His tour will take him to among other places, Record archive in Rochester, NY on Monday, April 22nd at 5PM.

Remember Wouldn't It Be Nice, I Get Around, Good Vibrations. and God Only Knows? Of course you do! My latest guest, Al Jardine is currently playing on the 50th Anniversary tour of the band he's a founding member of, The Beach Boys. He's also got a new solo album out, Postcard from California. We discuss those things, along with environmentalism and alternative energy, two of Al's other passions.

Frank Zappa's second child and oldest son has had quite a career of his own, ranging from accompanying his dad on stage to voicing cartoon characters to playing on one album after another, sometimes with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Carmine Appice. Today, Dweezil tours the world with a top-shelf band to introduce his late father's music to a new generation. As he is quick to point out, Zappa Plays Zappa is not an oldies band or a nostalgia act. While Frank Zappa's touring and recording alumni do occasionally grace the stage, the band is assembled from the current crop of musicians. I spoke with Dweezil earlier this month about his tour, his career, his upcoming CD release and groovy things in general! (Photo from united-mutations.com. All rights of the original photographer reserved.)

[Please note - the picture is from 1995, shot by yours truly. The interview is from March 14, 2012!] This week, I spoke with Henry Rollins, former Black Flag front man, author, columnist, photographer and probably the best speaker America has produced since Jean Shepherd or Will Rogers (with a bit of Lenny Bruce tossed in for good measure). Henry took some time out of his jaw-dropping tour schedule to speak with yours truly.