We’re starting Season 3 with a bang. 

Peter McDade is here to talk about his novel ‘Songs by Honeybird’, a story that features a fictional integrated rock band from 1960s Macon, Georgia, that fell off the musical map after a fire killed the lead singer and guitarist and also . . . possibly, the band’s African American drummer. To put it more succinctly, ‘Songs by Honeybird’ is about a band, a romantic break-up, a Ph.D candidate in History’s research, secrets, fathers, racism, Atlanta, the sixties and the repercussions the South still feels from that period, and . . . a talking dog.

In the last segment of the episode Alan Light joins me to talk about musician, civil rights activist, and my fellow native-North Carolinian Nina Simone. The reason I’ve roped Alan into popping in is because one of the two main characters in ‘Songs by Honeybird’, the piano-playing Nina, is named after the legendary artist. Alan is a rock critic, journalist, former editor-in-chief of ‘Spin’ and ‘Vibe’ magazines, a former senior writer at ‘Rolling Stone’, and author of the book ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’, a biography of Nina Simone inspired by the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary of the same title. You won’t want to miss our convo.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel, @ChristyHallberg, to catch the upcoming YouTube-only full interview with Alan Light about Nina Simone.

MUSIC AND MEDIA IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

LINKS:

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451 

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Peter McDade’s website: www.peterjmcdade.com

Peter McDade on Twitter: @PeterJMcDade

Peter McDade on Instagram: @peterjmc33

‘The Weight of Sound’ soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://wampusretrospectives.bandcamp.com/album/the-weight-of-sound-original-soundtrack

‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://wampusretrospectives.bandcamp.com/album/songs-by-honeybird-original-soundtrack

Peter McDade on Season 1 EP15 of Rock is Lit (talking about his novel ‘The Weight of Sound’): https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/petermcdade

Alan Light on Aevitas Creative page: https://www.aevitascreative.com/client/alan-light

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram & YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

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If you’ve ever had an interest in the paranormal, spirituality in general, or wondered if there’s life after death, if our consciousness does not end when our bodies do; if you’ve ever lost someone dear to you, felt the weight of grief, ached to connect with that person again and asked yourself . . . is there a chance—any chance at all—that I could reconnect with my loved one: What would you do to find out? How open would you be to embarking on a quest for the bigger picture?

Yardbirds drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jim McCarty made such a quest and wrote about it in his 2021 book ‘She Walks in Beauty’, a fascinating account of his endearing and enduring relationship with his beloved late wife, Lizzie, and his lifelong interest in the paranormal. He continues those themes in his brand new song, “Breath of the Wind,” from The Yardbirds’ UK label, Demon Music.

Join us for a candid, poignant discussion about the personal and spiritual dimensions of Jim’s life and his relationship with Lizzie—before and after her death of cancer in 2020.

I also invite you to listen to my first interview with Jim wherever you get your podcasts or watch the video version on YouTube (links below). In that interview, we explore his upbringing and musical development and his incredible musical career, including his tenure with The Yardbirds and beyond.

EPISODE PLAYLIST:

All songs by Jim McCarty

“Mountain Song”—played on episode intro and all transitions except where “Breath of the Wind” is referenced

“Breath of the Wind”—played on two transitions, in the outro, and a longer clip near the middle of the episode

“Walking in the Wild Land”

“Changing Times”

“Soft in a Hard Place”

“Charmed”

LINKS:

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Jim McCarty’s website: http://www.jamesmccarty.com/

Jim McCarty’s new song “Breath of the Wind”: https://jimmcarty.lnk.to/wind?fbclid=IwAR0WiPW3STBvLZ_GInH8MadOwEaRFao9MU0OcOYyumlrqX2QtIA61u6ql2s

Jim’s 2018 album ‘Walking in the Wild Land’ on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Ic5T5ATtPPT4M4BxryUYi

Jim’s 2018 album ‘Walking in the Wild Land’ on Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/jim-mccarty/walking-in-the-wild-land/ALl3KgfJZ4ltgbw

*Purchase Jim’s books and albums at his website

*All of Jim’s social media links can be found on his website

Listen to my first interview with Jim on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngxA8cH3_t4&t=211s

Listen to my first interview with Jim on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/yardbirds-drummer-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/id1642987350?i=1000611052496

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com 

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This bonus episode is an addendum to Episode 6 on Zachary Lazar’s rock novel ‘Sway’, a story that brings together the early Rolling Stones, members of the Manson Family, and avant-garde filmmaker and occultist Kenneth Anger. In the last segment of that episode, Zeena Schreck shares her memories of her godfather Kenneth Anger and gives her insight into some of his work. This bonus episode features Zeena’s segment in isolation.

Zeena Schreck (formerly LaVey) is an artist, musician, and Tibetan Buddhist yogini, as well as former High Priestess of the Church of Satan (founded by her late father Anton LaVey).

Topics Zeena and I cover in this bonus episode include how her father made Kenneth Anger her godfather; her personal and working relationship with Kenneth; his interest in Aleister Crowley; the making of and background on some of his iconic films, especially the 1969 film ‘Invocation of My Demon Brother’ (a movie that figures large in Zachary Lazar’s novel ‘Sway’); Kenneth’s relationship with Anita Pallenberg and her influence on the Rolling Stones; Bobby Beausoleil; how Kenneth’s work influenced MTV and music videos; and more.

MUSIC PLAYED IN THIS EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

LINKS

For news of Zeena's current public activities and releases, subscribe to the e-newsletter at https://www.zeenaschreck.com/subscribe.html

Zeena’s website: www.ZeenaSchreck.com

Zeena on Bandcamp: https://zeenaschreck.bandcamp.com/releases

Zeena, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeenaschreck_art/

Zeena, YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeenaSchreckOfficial

Zeena, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZEENA.Official.ZeenaSchreck

Episode 6 of Rock is Lit featuring Zachary Lazar, Tony Sokol, Zeena Schreck: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/zacharylazar/tonysokol/zeenaschreck

Bonus Episode of Rock is Lit featuring Scott Michaels on the Manson Murders on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzpLvUN0_2E

Bonus Episode of Rock is Lit featuring Scott Michaels on the Manson Murders audio-only podcast: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/scottmichaels

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg, Instagram/Twitter, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Link to Christy Alexander Hallberg’s essay on the Manson Family, “Shifting Phantasmagoria”: http://storysouth.com/stories/shifting-phantasmagoria/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, this is it: the Season 2 finale! What could be better than having a great novelist AND musician as my last guest for the summer. Enter Franz Nicolay.

Franz is here to talk about his rock novel ‘Someone Should Pay For Your Pain’, a story that follows singer-songwriter Rudy, his conflicted relationship with a successful former protégé named Ryan, and Rudy’s young niece, Lily, who wants to travel with him and whose surprise appearance forces a reckoning with himself and his past.

‘Buzzfeed’ named it one of its “42 Great Books To Read” for spring 2021, stating, “Starting at the midlife crisis of an early-aughts indie rock never-was, Franz Nicolay delivers a tight-fisted gut punch of a novel, weaving a road-weary world with a lyricist's skill for evocation, emotion, and economy. . . . A knockout fiction debut from a longtime troubadour.” 

In addition to records under his own name, Franz Nicolay was a member of cabaret-punk orchestra World Inferno Friendship Society and is still a member of The Hold Steady, which ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine called “one of the all-time great New York bands.” Franz has also recorded or performed with dozens of other acts.

His first book, the nonfiction ‘The Humorless Ladies of Border Control’, was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by ‘The New York Times’. His second book, the novel ‘Someone Should Pay For Your Pain’, was named one of ‘Rolling Stone’s “Best Music Books of 2021.”

His writing has appeared in ‘The New York Times’, ‘Slate’, ‘The Paris Review Daily’, ‘The Kenyon Review Online’, ‘Ploughshares’, the ‘Los Angeles Review of Books’, ‘Threepenny Review’, and elsewhere. He has taught at UC–Berkeley and is currently a faculty member in music and written arts at Bard College and in Columbia University’s MFA fiction program.

MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

LINKS:

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Franz Nicolay’s website: https://franznicolay.com/

Franz Nicolay on Twitter, Instagram: @FranzNicolay

The Hold Steady’s website: https://theholdsteady.net/

The World Inferno Friendship Society’s website: https://www.worldinferno.com/

Documentary on World Inferno Friendship Society (Infernite version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iADNLE7H5qE

Book trailer for Salman Rushdie’s novel ‘Luka and the Fire of Life’ (Franz is in the trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1IpnC4bImo

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we’re going back in time to talk about Ford Fairlane, a character created by Rex Weiner for a series of stories published in the late ‘70s in the now-defunct ‘New York Rocker’ and a second series published in the early ‘80s in the ‘LA Weekly’.

The 1990 movie ‘The Adventures of Ford Fairlane’ starring Andrew Dice Clay is loosely based on the character Rex created.

It wasn’t until 2018 that the New York and LA stories were finally published in their entirety in book form, entitled ‘The (Original) Adventures of Ford Fairlane’, and I’m jazzed that I get to chat with Rex about his book.

MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

LINKS:

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Rex Weiner’s website: https://rexweiner.com/

Rex Weiner on Twitter: @RexWeiner and @FordFairlanePI

Rex Weiner on Instagram: @RexWeiner

Rex Weiner on Facebook: @TheOriginalAdventuresofFordFairlane

Tex Mex Rex Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xNSCzJJAdsGLr1v58B2h5

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Jason Warburg joins me to talk about his rock novel ‘Believe in Me’, a story in which young political operative Tim Green finds himself in the orbit of a super famous rock ‘n roll band. Jason and I talk about his experience working in politics and as a music journalist, the relationship between politics and music, Jason’s family background and the loss of his parents and stepfather and how that impacted him as a person and as a writer, and more.

MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

LINKS: 

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Jason Warburg’s website: https://www.jasonwarburg.com/

Jason on Twitter: @JasonWarburg

Jason on Instagram: @jasonburg3

Wampus Multimedia website: https://wampus.com/

Richard Fulco episode of Rock is Lit

Peter McDade episode of Rock is Lit

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Arzate is in the cyber house to talk about his short novel ‘Music Is Over’, published by Malarkey Books in 2022. Malarkey describes ‘Music Is Over’ as “a picaresque surreal horror novel” that “imagines the lost years of musician Juntaro Yamanouchi [of the Japanese Noise band The Gerogerigegege]. It is weird, bizarre, violent, and surprisingly sweet.”

If you’re into Japanese Noise, trains that lead to nowhere, industrial wasteland cities filled with strange doctors, mysterious foreigners, psychotic policemen, and unfriendly residents, this is the book and episode for you.

If you don’t know much about this kind of music, not to worry. In the last segment of the episode, David Novak, author of the award-winning book ‘Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation’, drops by to talk with me about it.

MEDIA AND MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

LINKS: 

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Trio banned video of “Da Da Da”: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x43dxly

Ben Arzate on Twitter: @BenArz13

Ben Arzate’s blog: https://dripdropdripdropdripdrop.blogspot.com/

Purchase a paperback copy of Ben’s novel ‘Music is Over’: https://malarkeybooks.com/music-is-over

Purchase the ebook of Ben’s novel: https://godless.com/products/music-is-over-by-ben-arzate?_pos=1&_sid=9c00e6f1d&_ss=r

Ben’s work on Substack: https://benarzate.substack.com/

Read David Novak’s book ‘Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation’ for free and find out more about him: https://www.japanoise.com//

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If your jam is Bluegrass music, revolutionaries, political rants, and the Wild West of the Internet (otherwise known as the Deep Web), you’re gonna love this episode. Daniel Torday is here to talk about his novel ‘Boomer1’, a story that follows Bluegrass musician, underemployed millennial, and now PhD in English, Mark Brumfeld, who channels his desperation by posting a series of online video monologues that critique Baby Boomers and their powerful hold on the job market. When the videos go viral, Mark loses control of what he began—with consequences that ensnare him in a matter of national security.

Later, mandolin player for the Bluegrass band Unspoken Tradition and music marketing director for Crossroads Studios near Asheville, North Carolina, Ty Gilpin joins me to give a crash course on Bluegrass.

MEDIA AND MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE: 

LINKS:

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Daniel Torday’s website: http://www.danieltorday.com/

Daniel Torday on Twitter: @DanielTorday

Daniel Torday on Instagram: @dtorday 

Walls of Time Podcast website: https://wallsoftimepodcast.podbean.com/

Unspoken Tradition’s website: https://unspokentradition.com/

Unspoken Tradition on Instagram: @unspokentraditionbluegrass

Unspoken Tradition on Facebook: @unspokentradition

Ty Gilpin on Instagram: @tygilpinavl

Ty Gilpin on Facebook: @TyGilpin 

Crossroads Studios: https://crossroadsrecordingstudios.com/

‘Crooked Hollows’ by Ty Gilpin on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/am/album/crooked-hollows/548623407

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bonus episode (which is really an addendum to Season 1 Episode 6, featuring Zachary Lazar’s rock novel ‘Sway’, a story that brings together the early Rolling Stones, the films of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and members of the Manson Family in a fictional setting) Scott Michaels joins me to talk about Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders and what it was like working with Quentin Tarantino on his film ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’.

Scott Michaels is Hollywood’s original authority on celebrity deaths, including the Manson Murders, and a former tour guide for LA’s now-defunct Dearly Departed Tours. Quentin Tarantino hired Scott to be a consultant on ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, which reimagines the murders of Sharon Tate, Voytek Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and Abigail Folger at the hands of the Manson Family in early August 1969.

This past April, Scott gave me a once-in-a-lifetime, one-on-one, all-day tour of major Manson Family points of interest in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, which we talk about in this bonus episode. We also talk about common misconceptions about the murders, Scott’s experience working with Quentin Tarantino on ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, Scott’s favorite nonfiction books about the murders, people related to the case he’s known, and little-known tidbits about the murders, like what book Abigail Folger was reading when she was killed.

So, cue up The Beatles’ ‘White Album’, slip into your favorite retro threads, kick back and join Scott Michaels and me as we time travel back to 1969 Southern California to revisit the true crime that brought an end to the free lovin’ groovy ‘60s.

Afterward, I invite you to check out Season 1 Episode 6 to hear my conversation with Zachary Lazar about his novel ‘Sway’ and Tony Sokol’s thoughts on the Stones and the occult and Zeena Schreck’s memories of her godfather Kenneth Anger.

*Listen to the episode, then watch the condensed video version of my interview with Scott Michaels. This version includes photos and videos I shot during my Manson Murders tour with Scott in April 2023.

MEDIA AND MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

LINKS:

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Scott Michaels’ documentary on the Manson Murders, ‘The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZELGmN_4hc&t=3461s

Scott Michaels’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DearlyDepartedTours

Scott Michaels on Facebook: @ScottMichaels 

Scott Michaels on Instagram: @iamscottmichaels 

Scott Michaels on Twitter: @ImScottMichaels 

David Oman’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@davidoman 

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Season 1 Episode 6 of Rock is Lit: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/zacharylazar/tonysokol/zeenaschreck

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This offering is an outtake from Episode 22, on Rob Errera’s horror rock novel ‘Hangman’s Jam’, a story about a haunted song that beguiles an up-and-coming rock band. In the last segment of that episode, my friend Zeena Schreck joined me to talk about the power certain songs have in spiritual and magical practices, to add real-world context to Rob’s novel.

Zeena has been on the podcast a few times, and each time our conversation tends to branch out and take on a life of its own, which means I always have some bits that don’t make it into the regular episodes, many of which wind up as stand-alone mini-episodes, like this one.

For those of you who are not familiar with Zeena and her work, here’s a short introduction: Zeena Schreck, formerly LaVey, was raised within the Church of Satan. She came to international prominence early in life as the organization's High Priestess and first public spokesperson, defending the Church in the 1980s during the infamous media-fueled U.S. Satanic Panic. She resigned her position in 1990, severed ties with her father, Anton LaVey, and renounced Satanism and Western occultism to pursue her own religious path, which led to her becoming a practitioner and lineage holder of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Zeena is also an interdisciplinary visual and musical artist based in Berlin, Germany.

Her latest solo album, ‘Transcend’, was just released and is available on Bandcamp. You can find the link below.

So much of Zeena’s art converges with her spiritual practice. This is definitely true of ‘Transcend’. To celebrate the release of this amazing album, have a listen to this outtake from my interview with her from Episode 22, in which we talk about the use and power of Medicine Buddha mantra for spiritual and physical healing, energy transference and mantras as a means for energy transference, approaching Medicine Buddha in the spirit of receptivity and experimentation, the importance of having compassion—even for negative forces—and more. You’ll also hear clips from two tracks from ‘Transcend’: “Ascent” and “Parting Clouds.”

Music used in this interview is by Zeena Schreck and used with her approval and cannot be reproduced without her permission:

Links:

Zeena’s new album ‘Transcend’ on Bandcamp: https://zeenaschreck.bandcamp.com/album/transcend

For news of Zeena's current public activities and releases, subscribe to the e-newsletter at https://www.zeenaschreck.com/subscribe.html

Zeena’s website: www.ZeenaSchreck.com

Zeena’s blog: https://www.zeenaschreck.com/blog

Zeena, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeenaschreck_art/

Zeena, YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeenaSchreckOfficial

Zeena, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZEENA.Official.ZeenaSchreck

Episode 22 of Rock is Lit: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/roberreraandzeenaschreck

Episode 6 of Rock is Lit: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/zacharylazar/tonysokol/zeenaschreck

Rock is Lit Bonus: Zeena on Her Spiritual Path: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/podcast-vault-feed/zeenaschreckandspirituality

Rock is Lit Bonus: Zeena on Her Godfather Kenneth Anger: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/podcast-vault-feed/zeenaschreck

Leave a rating and comment on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350

Leave a rating and comment on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @ChristyHallberg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices