The Third Story with Leo Sidran

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87: Theo Katzman Nov 15, 2017

Show notes

Theo Katzman is many things. An only child. The youngest of four. An earnest singer songwriter with a deep love of classic rock and a great turn of phrase. A groove machine in one of the most talked about funk-soul bands around (Vulfpeck). A west coaster. A midwestern cheerleader. A long island native.

Most of his fans likely discovered him through his work with Vulfpeck, singing, playing drums and guitar. But in this conversation he's definitely got some surprises that you might not be expecting. Like his deep ties to a generation of jazz musicians who most of us can only hear about second or third hand.

Here he lays out both a deep and broad set of questions, ideas, experiences. Always with his heart on his sleeve and his mind actively searching. Plus he sings a ridiculously high note in the middle of the interview.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on iTunes and consider supporting the podcast on Patreon!

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86: Jack Stratton (Vulfpeck) Nov 08, 2017

Show notes

Jack Stratton has a 20th-century heart and a 21st-century mind. As the leader of the band Vulfpeck, he excites, incites and inspires the YouTube generation to get funky. His video channel is a view into his brain, featuring in studio recording sessions, instructional tutorials, mashups of his favorite musicians, and a series of fugue state hallucinations ranging from dancing in public to funky salad making. (#maindishnotasidedish)

In this rare extended conversation recorded in his childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, Jack talks about growing up playing in a Klezmer band, creating Vulf, and why no one's looking up.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on iTunes and consider supporting the podcast on Patreon!

www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast

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85: Settling the Underscore Vol. 4 Nov 01, 2017

Show notes

The fourth and final episode in the Settling the Underscore series, exploring music for advertising. Finally, after weeks of talking to composers, producers, and editors, we hear from the musicians who made the glory days of the jingle business what they were. Bassist Will Lee, keyboard player Rob Mounsey, and guitar player Steve Khan. All three were part of a generation of players on the New York session scene in the 1970s and 1980s, sometimes playing on multiple projects every day.

I've been eager to share these little mementos, because the deeper I got into the swamp of music for advertising, interviewing composers, music houses, editors, agency folks, the more the conversations centered around business. How is the business set up? How does one get paid? Is it fair?

But of course, we don't become musicians, or composers, editors, or even advertising executives by aspiring to be in business. We do it because of a creative compulsion. And these musicians are perhaps the purest expression of that intention.

If you're a very long time listener, you may recognize some of these moments. But some things just bear repeating. Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on iTunes and consider supporting the podcast on Patreon!

www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast

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84: Settling the Underscore Vol. 3 Oct 24, 2017

Show notes

Imagine walking into a restaurant, ordering a meal, eating the meal, giving the chef a hard time, giving the waiter a little bit of an attitude, and then deciding not to pay for the meal at the end of the night. In many ways, that's how the business of writing music for advertising is set up. Why is that? Who set it up that way? Is it possible the music creators, the composers, and music houses are responsible for giving away too much for too little?

In this third installment in a series of episodes about music in advertising former advertising executive Ken Yagoda, commercial music producer Mike Boris, and editor Maury Loeb layout the business from the advertising agency and editorial point of view, and explain who influences the music that gets chosen, how the business has changed and what the future holds.

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83 Bonus - Alex Weinstein Oct 20, 2017

Show notes

Part of the Settling the Underscore series of episodes that explores music for advertising, this interview with composer Alex Weinstein explores an alternate reality in which the composer works in a direct and collaborative way with the director and the client from the very start of the process!

My mind is blown. My heart is open. Whole world turned upside down. Hope restored.

This bonus episode is brought to you by the patronage of listeners like you. Patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast

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83: Settling the Underscore Vol.2_ls_rev1b Oct 17, 2017

Show notes

In this, the second of a series that explores music in commercials, we talk to three freelance commercial composers. These are the often invisible, uncredited creators of music for advertising. How does one enter the business of writing music for advertising? Who are the people who thrive in that world? What skills are required? What is the lifestyle of the creative composer? How much rejection can one person stand? What is it like to be a woman in a boys club?

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82: Settling the Underscore - Vol. 1 Oct 10, 2017

Show notes

Behind every television commercial, there's an entire economy dedicated to selecting, providing, creating and sourcing music. What was once considered the "jingle" business has now become one of the last sources of real income in recorded music. Today, publishers, bands, composers, production libraries, artists and labels are all vying for a piece of the pie.

In this first of a series of episodes dedicated to the world of commercial music, I talk to two composer / entrepreneurs who have each put in their time on both the creative and business end of things. John "Scrapper" Sneider of Storefront Music, and Wendell Hanes of "Volition Sound".

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81: Jonatha Brooke Oct 03, 2017

Show notes

Jonatha Brooke has been one of my favorite singer songwriters since the first moment I heard her, 25 years ago. Her haunting, unique sound with the band The Story sent me reeling, and in many ways I've still never recovered. Since then, she's recorded nearly a dozen albums under her own name. The most recent, "Midnight Hallelujah" came out earlier this year.

Can songwriting be taught? What is the future for independent songwriters? How do artists monetize access? How much personal information is too much to share on social media? How has her personal journey changed her sound throughout the years? Why is she so self critical? What is it like to write songs with Katy Perry? It's all here and MORE!

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And this week for the first time, you can support the podcast at www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast - get involved!

80: Mob Town Tour Vol. 4 - Art is what happened Sep 26, 2017

Show notes

On this final installment of the Mob Town Tour series, we visit Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo.

In our first Mob Town episode we talked to Irv Williams, who at 98 years old, is still performing every week in his community. In our second, we talked to Dave Jemilo, the club owner from Chicago who has helped to shape the jazz scene in town. In our third chapter, we looked at jazz as regional music through the lens of Milwaukee. And today, we look at how the arts are the appetite for life, and how life on the road can change people.

From the art deco elegance of Detroit's Cliff Bells club, to the neighborhood charm of Cleveland's Nighttown, to the pop up art collective Collingwood Art Center in Toledo (a converted convent), each city has its own unique arts community.

Particularly in Detroit and Toledo, two cities that have been hit hard economically, the arts showed some of the first signs of renaissance. Music and art grow up through the cracks in the concrete, like wild flowers.

In Cleveland we connected with saxophonist Richie Cole, a lifelong road warrior, who at 70 years old is finally tired of traveling. "I'm the luckiest guy I know," he says.

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79: Mob Town Tour Vol. 3 - Is jazz still regional Sep 19, 2017

Show notes

On this third installment of the Mob Town Tour series of episodes, we explore the Milwaukee jazz scene. I've always been interested in the Milwaukee players and sound, going back to when I was a young musician coming up in Madison.

Here I talk to pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Jeff Hamann and pianist Mark Davis, and my father Ben, about the history of jazz in Milwaukee. We're also exploring the idea of regional dialects when it comes to jazz, and music in general.

What does it mean to have a bunch of creative people leaning in the same direction, or speaking in the same accent, and what brings that on? Particularly today, is it still possible retain local flavor and speak a regional dialect in a global world? Today all musicians have access to the same information - and that's all the information. But do they still have access to their scene?

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