DreamPath Podcast

Kylie Rothfield is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After honing her craft in Nashville where she wrote songs and sold out premier venues singing original, soulful, blues-infused pop, she moved to Los Angeles, where she has been featured on NBC's The Voice (picked by Alicia Keys to coach throughout the season), and Songland (collaborating with Ben Platt on her original song Ghost). Her recent singles include Newport and Too Late.

What you will learn:

• What guitars Kylie prefers to play and why, and what these guitars mean to her as a performer; how she became sponsored by Epiphone Guitars. [0:00-6:42]
• How Kylie began songwriting at the age of 12, and how her childhood love of music and dreams still influences her today; Why she believes it's imperative to write from a place of honesty, and why recognizing and showing vulnerability can be a powerful way to connect with an audience. [6:42-15:12]
• How Kylie taught herself guitar at age 11 and how she motivates her guitar students to continue learning; how attending Berkeley College of Music motivated and encouraged her to learn more about music she may have otherwise ignored. [15:12-22:04]
• The importance of community and having a support group in the music industry; how co-writing royalties are calculated in Nashville vs. Los Angeles. [22:04-29:30]
• How Kylie grapples with stage fright and what coping mechanisms she uses to push past that fear; lessons she took away from her experiences on The Voice and Songland; what it was like working with Alicia Keys and Ben Platt, respectively, on those shows. [29:30-36:43]
• What Kylie does to balance the need to stay creative as a songwriter and performer while maintaining her mental health in a pandemic; what new technical and creative skills she's working on to become a producer, and how she was encouraged by Alicia Keys regarding her skills as a producer. [36:43-42:55]
• How Kylie feels working around her music idols, and why she is not normally starstruck, with a few notable exceptions; ways fans can support musicians and venues struggling to survive under COVID restrictions; advice Kylie has for aspiring musicians. [42:55-53:42]

Resources:

• Kylie Rothfield's: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Bryan and Jason discuss takeaways from last week's amazing chat with legendary rock photographer Neal Preston, review the Netflix documentary Grass Is Greener and Dave Letterman's second season of My Next Guest, and preview next week's interview with Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Kylie Rothfied.

Bryan talks about getting out the vote and making sure it counts.

Neal Preston is the photographer behind many of the most iconic photos in rock history. He has worked (and toured) with Queen, Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston, and Bob Dylan to name just a few. His book Neal Preston: Exhilarated and Exhausted is a retrospective of his career. His latest book, Queen: The Neal Preston Photographs, released this week, provides glimpses of life backstage, live performances, and outtakes, accompanied by anecdotes from Preston with forewords by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.

What you will learn:

• How he met and became best friends with Camron Crowe, who hired Neal to shoot still photography for films such as Vanilla Sky and Almost Famous; why Neal admires the way Crowe interacts with fans. [0:00-10:15]
• Why Neal published his book Neal Preston: Exhilarated and Exhausted; how the lights, stage performances, and emotion of Broadway inspired him as a child; what it was like working with Led Zeppelin. [10:15-17:32]
• Neal's account of an infamous encounter with John Bonham after a concert; the importance of being invisible when working amongst celebrities; Neal's thoughts on the business of being a photographer on tour with a band. [17:32-25:54]
• Why Neal almost went to college but decided against it; what has changed about photography over the years, and how COVID has altered it even more. [25:54-32:40]
• Why Neal turned down a gig shooting The Rolling Stones on tour. [31:13-32:39]
• The importance of live performance photography; how Neal's keen instincts are crucial to his success as a photographer, and how these instincts came in handy during a shoot with Stevie Nicks. [32:40-40:16]
• The reason Neal mainly shoots in digital; Neal's insightful answers to listener questions, from photo lens preference to his favorite/most iconic images, including a famous shot of Freddie Mercury. [40:16-49:30]
• Why Neal dislikes punk, loves English blues bands, and hates The Grateful Dead. [49:30-56:36]
• Some wild stories involving Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, and even one where he was fired by Barbra Streisand. [56:36-1:03:26]
• How photography can transform the mortal to the immortal; and Neal's recollection of meeting Bryan's dad, Greg Smith, on tour with the band Heart. [1:03:26-1:14:54]

Resources:

• Neal Preston Photography
• Neal Preston's: Facebook & Instagram
• Neal Preston: Exhilarated and Exhausted
• Queen: The Neal Preston Photographs

Bryan and Jason discuss highlights from Bryan's interview with Seattle-based, Cuban-American artist Hugo Moro, mourn the loss of his guitar hero, Eddie Van Halen, review the documentary My Octopus Teacher (Bryan's favorite documentary from 2020, now streaming on Netflix), and discuss next week's interview with iconic rock photographer Neal Preston.

Rayka Zehtabchi and Sam Davis are Los Angeles-based filmmakers. Their documentary Period. End of Sentence won an Academy Award for best documentary short in 2019. After their success at the Oscars, Rayka directed and Sam filmed and edited A Woman's Place which is now streaming on Hulu. A Woman's Place captures the stories of three chefs, their careers, and their shared experience as women in the culinary industry facing and overcoming institutionalized sexism.

What you will learn:

• How branded content has evolved over the years.
• How Rayka and Sam were able to take branded content to a new level by approaching the "A Woman's Place" assignment as they do with all of their documentaries - by focusing on the story and the characters.
• Why Sam and Rayka are excited about the branded content space and the opportunities it offers filmmakers.
• How the limitations on their days on location required them to exhaustively plan their shoot in advance of their arrival.
• Why they chose a visually darker look cinematically for many of the scenes in A Woman's Place.
• How they were able to tell the stories of three women in the restaurant industry in less than 30 minutes of screen time through the use of dramatization, metaphors, and creative approaches to interviews of the subjects.
• What projects they are working on currently, including a narrative short called Are You Still Here?

Resources:

• Rayka's Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
• Sam's Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Seattle-based Cuban-American studio artist Hugo Moro draws from his childhood experiences in Cuba, his artistic awakening in New York City, and his work as a professor, graphic designer, and art director in Miami, to create unique, eclectic installations, as well as gallery pieces. At Project-106 in Pioneer Square, Hugo currently uses a wide range of media, including mixed media on panels, mixed media on chromogenic-print, found objects on panels, and even "burned chairs" to evoke emotion and create a sense of wonder.

What you will learn:

• What it's like to live and work in an art-centered neighborhood; how he is able to keep creating despite pandemic-related restrictions; the hustle required to promote and sell artwork, as well as make connections with galleries. [0:00-14:16]
• What it was like immigrating from Cuba to New York when he was 12; how the New York art scene influenced his career trajectory; what early artistic influences shaped his artistic vision. [14:16-20:46]
• How his experience at the Pratt Institute and Fashion Institute of Technology helped him understand what he didn't want to do just as much as what he wanted to do artistically; what it was like crossing paths with Andy Warhol in New York City; how his experience feeling like an outsider as an openly gay Cuban immigrant shaped his artistic choices aesthetically. [20:46-27:34]
• How collective trauma can influence political views and what process Hugo followed to forge his own path as an artist. [27:34-38:16]
• The advice Hugo would give to young people wishing to pursue a career in art. [38:16-44:02]
• The personal joys and challenges he has faced, and what upcoming projects he's looking forward to in late 2020 and throughout 2021. [44:02-52:10]

Resources

• Hugo Moro's: Website, Facebook, LinkedIn

Bryan and Jason discuss takeaways from the Andrew Cohn interview, review the Hulu Original series Pen15, discuss some exciting projects planned for 2021, and preview next week's interview with Seattle-based artist Hugo Moro.

Andrew Cohn is an Emmy-Award winning filmmaker, screenwriter, and founder of Seven34Films. His feature documentaries include Medora (executive-produced by Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci), and Warriors of Liberty City (executive-produced by Lebron James). His first narrative feature, The Last Shift, executive-produced by Alexander Payne and starring Richard Jenkins, Shane Paul McGuie, and Ed O'Neill, premiered at Sundance this year and was released in theaters on September 25.

What you will learn:

• The importance of a good production designer, and why Adri Siriwatt was such an asset to The Last Shift; also the importance of letting a film speak for itself. [0:00-10:07]
• What first sparked Andrew's interest in documentary films and why he focuses on the characters and the world they inhabit, as opposed to using those characters to make a pre-determined point. [10:07-20:20]
• How understanding characters in an authentic way was handled in the documentary Medora, and how Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci got involved. [20:20-29:03]
• How Andrew's professional ambitions turned from teaching to filmmaking, and how he became a filmmaker without film school or formal education or training in film; also, what made him choose to move on from documentary films to writing and eventually directing a narrative film. [29:03-39:50]
• How a phone call from screenwriter, director, and producer Alexander Payne opened doors to working with an amazing cast and crew on his first feature film, The Last Shift. [39:50-48:06]
• How the controlled balance of comedy and drama and be a vehicle for finding truth in stories, and how Andrew was able to come in under budget by limiting the number of locations and characters in his screenplay for The Last shift. [48:06-56:30]
• Why he enjoys shooting films in Chicago, where he found the brilliant crew behind the new season of Fargo to help him film The Last Shift. Also, how Andrew chooses which festivals to enter after completing a film, and why film festivals are so important for filmmakers. [56:30-1:03:52]

Resources:

• Andrew Cohn's: Twitter, Instagram, IMDb, Website (Seven43Films)

In Episode 68 Bryan and Jason discuss takeaways from the interview with film director Tommy Avallone, mourn the loss of legal giant Ruth Bader Ginsberg, talk about Bryan's love for Zombie movies (including his recent favorite Train to Busan), and preview next week's interview with director Andrew Cohn, whose film The Last Shift, starring Richard Jenkins, Shane Paul McGuie, and Ed O'Neil, hits theaters on September 25.