Bill Murphy Show

After a brief recap of the Button South Reunion I rewind my interview with the great Mitch Ryder. Mitch thoroughly “gets” the Rock and R&B industries and has lived and thrived through all of the great eras! We dabble a bit in the drama of the business as  well as the magic in the studio. In an added segment at the end we get an update on what Mitch has been up to since this chat including some upcoming show dates!

TOUR DATES ON MR’S WEBSITE

Luke, Toto’s singer and songwriter gets into detail about studio sessions, Jeff Porcaro’s unmatched groove and meter, today’s music scene,  the accuracy of Wikipedia and way more! Three music tracks highlight this one hour episode, two of them from his 2011 solo effort. He’s quite humble about his stature as one of rock history’s most influential guitarists and brings a great deal of his witty sarcasm, humor and music insight to the conversation.

Steve’s Website

photo by Larry DiMarzio

By deciding to make an entire album using only an iPhone to record it, Chris Price forced himself to be creative. Using authentic instruments in resonant locations and clever mic placement, the resulting collection, Homesick has an organic yet polished feel, both in its sound and message. It’s a set of heartfelt songs with twists and turns. The conversation gets specific about the idea, the process, influences and the business. And, we take a close listen to three of Homesick’s gems. thisischrisprice.com

photo by Kyle Safieh

Dennis DeYoung, the iconic Classic Rock voice opens up about his days with Styx and addresses some of the rumors that got out about the split up 17 years ago. In between the laughs, we get into technology, Progressive Rock, writing hits, traveling, caring for the vocal chords and we take a close listen to a couple of his solo tracks. This is a timeless encore of one of our greatest moments from 2010. Talent.

Insight. Knowledge. Grace. Dry sarcasm. He brings all of it. We close with an updated segment on Dennis, who’s still going strong!

In a Rock n Roll Radio Reunion of sorts, a fellow 97 GTR Rock n Roll Animal co-hosts a preview of the upcoming Button South Class Reunion in September in Ft. Lauderdale. We chat by phone with Tommy Vincent from Heartless and Markus Allen from Race, two of the ten bands reuniting this year. We share all of the details on the two-night event, plus some music clips and a ton of memories of an unforgettable South Florida music era. Gettin’ the bands back together for a special Music Friday episode. (mildly explicit content)

Shep Hyken says all the things we’ve been saying about the state of Customer Service.  But he says it to a big audience. He spreads his “do the right thing” ideal with high profile consultation, bestselling books, keynote speeches and corporate training. We discuss the impact that social media has in our efforts to hold companies and services accountable. Shep talks about his music experiences and we tie that in with a quick listen to the classic “United Breaks Guitars” by Dave Carroll.

Thanks for listening and have a great day!

In Part Two of the experiment, I again try to remain neutral and let Scott have the chance  to let his opinions out and express some anger. As expected, there’s a fair share of Hillary bashing and frustration, but there’s also a slight degree of mellowing with age apparent in Scott’s tone. Nonetheless, there are some strong feelings here and I do my best to egg him on with some high-profile “Liberal talking heads” soundbites and a clip of a guy called The Liberal Redneck. Hi-fives to both Scott and Erik for being brave and honestly letting it all out!

In these next two episodes, I try to remain neutral and listen to the things that are making both sides mad in the political circus. First up, it’s Erik calling from Chicago. He’s not shy at all about pointing out the hypocrisies in Washington politics and brings a modest dose of anger mixed with some concern for his own “side”. I use some soundbites to prod him and he uses some humor to make some thought provoking points. Here’s just one example of the many opinions coming from the Left. Tomorrow we’ll get it from the Right.

Music and Photography come together in a special fashion in the documentary Rock Prophecies. Our guest, RMN is the focal point of the movie, as he recalls stories of his connections to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and countless others. In this candid conversation he goes into even more detail about his skills at gaining access and the resulting lifelong friendships he’s made.       RobertMKnight.net

Our coverage of the Convention in Cleveland came full circle with Roger running into Jesse Waters after mentioning him several times during the week! Our final installment covers the final evening of the Dog and Pony Show and Roger talks with a few more folks on the street and in the arena. He was dressed for the occasion on his visit to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall Of Fame and we hear about the highlights. It’s a been a fun week from Cleveland and we thank Roger for his enthusiastic participation.