Rock 'n Roll Ghost

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with current James Beard nominee Jenner Tomaska chef and co-owner of Micheline starred restaurant Esme in Chicago.

Tomaska, who got his start working under notable chefs like Erick Williams, Dave Beran and Grant Achatz, opened Esme with his wife Katrina Bravo during the pandemic and has gone on to receive immense critical acclaim.

He discusses Esme's fusion of food and art (the restaurant collaborates with local artists to shape their menus), where he came from and how he got to where he is now.

Links:

Esme

Jenner Tomaska

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with filmmaker Michael John Warren about his new Paramount+ docuseries Lolla: The Story of Lollpalooza which chronicles the creation and evolution of the music festival created by Perry Farrell.

Warren discusses his history of going to that first groundbreaking Lollapalooza, which included Jane's Addiction, Ice-T, Siouxsie & the Banshees and Nine Inch Nails. He also talks about the unique pleasure of interviewing artists he has revered for decades. Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza is airing now on Paramount+

Links:

Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza

Michael John Warren

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with Bear McCreary about his new concept album, graphic novel and future tour (with a preview performance at the Fonda Theatre on May 12th), The Singularity.

McCreary, who you may know for his scoring work on The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Foundation and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, started work on The Singularity all the way back when he was a teenager.

The Singularity features a wide variety of guests including Rufus Wainwright, Slash (Guns 'n Roses), Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Joe Satriani, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) as well as his brother Brendan McCreary on vocals across the album.

Actors Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead) and Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead, Black Panther) provide spoken word pieces as well.

McCreary also discusses how he was connected with the late, great composer Elmer Bernstein as a young musician just starting out and disucsses becoming Bernstein's protege.

The Singularity is out Friday, May 03rd digitally and on May 10th on CD & vinyl. The graphic novel is out via Image Comics on May 08th. See The Singularity performed live on May 12th at the Fonda Theatre (links for all below).

Bear McCreary Site

Purchase The Singularity on CD & vinyl

Purchase / Listen to The Singularity digitally

See Bear McCreary and guests perform The Singularity on May 12th at the Fonda Theatre

Purchase The Singularity graphic novel via Image Comics

Benson talks about the making of the film, from the writing stage to filming during Covid and getting it released. He also takes time to discuss his work on Marvel's Black Widow and what his experience was.

The Greatest Hits is streaming now on Hulu.

Links:

Ned Benson Instagram

The Greatest Hits on Hulu

Manion talks about how Brasero came to be and what diners can expect when visiting. The restaurant has strong ties to South American cuisine, cocktails and wines. Manion lived in South American as a child and has always had strong ties to the cuisine across his years as a chef.

Links:

Brasero - https://www.braserochicago.com/

El Che Steakhouse & Bar - https://www.elchechicago.com/

John Manion Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/juanmanjuan/

Brasero Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/braserochicago/?hl=en

El Che Steakhouse & Bar Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/elchechicago/

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with musician Shannon Larkin, drummer for the hard rock band Godsmack.

Larkin discusses the band's upcoming Vibez Tour, which is making a stop at the Hard Rock Casino in Gary, IN (in addition to many other venues) and how this tour is different from the band's last coast-to-coast trek through America. The band will be performing acoustically and lead singer Sully Erna will tell some stories about the band and the songs played.

Things take a bit of a political turn as Larkin and the Ghost discuss situations going on in the country. And, despite disagreeing on some issues, they prove that people can respectfully disagree on these issues.

Check out this interesting interview and look in the links section for how to find out more about Godsmack and their tour.

Links:

Godsmack Official

Godsmack Vibez Tour

Shannon Larkin Instagram

Shannon Larkin X

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with James Beard award-winning chef Jonathon Sawyer of Chicago restaurant Kindling.

Along with discussing Kindling, Chef Sawyer talks about his career cooking with such luminaries as Charlie Palmer and Michael Symon (even appearing along Iron Chef Symon on numerous episodes of Food Network's Iron Chef America). He also goes into the issues he had with substance abuse and maintaining his sobriety.

Links:

Chef Jonathon Sawyer Instagram

Kindling Chicago

Links:

Stella Rose

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with filmmaker Mel Eslyn about her new film Biosphere starring Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass, which is available in theaters and on video now.

Eslyn talks about working with Mark and Jay Duplass' production company, co-writing the film with Mark and working with both him and Brown in this unique film centering on possibly the last two men on Earth.

Links:

Biosphere - https://www.biosphere.movie/

Mel Eslyn - https://www.instagram.com/meleslyn/?hl=en

Welcome back to the Rock ‘n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with musician Peyton Bighorse of rock band Skating Polly about the band’s new album, Chaos County Line, out today, June 23rd, via El Camino Records.

Peyton talks about the new album, their tour (which stops in Chicago on June 24th at Beat Kitchen), the band’s move from Oklahoma to Tacoma, WA, as well as the multitude of luminaries that have sung the band’s praises since their inception (including Calvin Johnson, Exene Cervenka, Shirley Manson, Courtney Love and Viggo Mortensen).

Links:

Skating Polly

Purchase Chaos County Line