Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with actor Adrian Martinez about his role in Universal’s Dracula film, Renfield, which is in theaters and available digitally now.

Martinez, who is a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company, discusses how he prepared for the role in Renfield, where he plays a New Orleans policeman, by asking for advice from NOLA locals. He also talks about his relationship with the film’s star Nicholas Cage, as well as working with the film's other stars Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina. New Orleans is also where Martinez filmed a good portion of the 2015 film Focus, which starred Will Smith and Margot Robbie and for which he was the third lead.

He also discusses his directorial debut, iGilbert, which is available now on digital and streaming and his upcoming role in a Netflix film about the creation of the infamous breakfast treat, Pop-Tarts.

“Some people walk into a room and you know they’re a star. And that’s me.”

Renfield is on digital and in theaters now.

Links:

Adrian Martinez

Renfield

iGilbert

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with actor John Hoogenakker about his role as Branch Davidian member Clive Doyle, the only member of the group to not be convicted in the wake of the events that transpired in Waco, TX in 1993.

Hoogenakker discusses how he got the role and what research he did to prepare for his role. He also touches on his connection to Waco: The Aftermatch star Michael Shannon, who he replaced in a stage version of Tracey Letts' Killer Joe and knew from actor circles while living in Chicago. Hoogenakker talks about his time in Chicago and how he got into DePaul University.

Waco: The Aftermath is streaming now on Paramount+.

Links:

John Hoogenakker

Waco: The Aftermath

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with filmmaker Tim Bogart (Spinning Gold). Tim is the son of Casablanca Records co-founder Neil Bogart and Spinning Gold tells his father’s bold and wild story in the music business, warts and all. Casablanca was home to Donna Summers, KISS, Parliament-Funkadelic and the Village People to name a few of the hugely successful artists on the label.

Tim discusses staying true to who his father was, even if that meant tackling his legacy accurately - good or bad. Spinning Gold was originally going to be a Broadway show, but shifted to a film that, at one point, was going to star Justin Timberlake as Neil. He also touches on working with his siblings to get the film to the screen.

Spinning Gold is in theaters now.

Links:

Spinning Gold

Tim Bogart

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with actor David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, All Creatures Here Below, Dune, Blade Runner 2049, Prisoners, the Ant-Man series, Animals, The Dark Knight) about his most currently-in-release projects. Those would be his role in 20th Century Studios’ Boston Strangler, available now on Hulu. As well as the second volume in his Count Crowley graphic novel series.

Dastmalchian discusses his love of all things horror and how he displays his horror artwork across his home with the help of his wife, Eve. Additionally, he gives some insight into his role in Boston Strangler as the lead suspect Albert Salvo.

He also dives into how important the city of Chicago played in his life. From going to DePaul University to his time at the Shattered Globe Theatre (which he’s hoping to collaborate with again soon), to his beginning in acting. Specifically, he discusses his pivotal role as one of the Joker’s thugs in Chrisopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. It’s one of the most indelible short appearance by an actor I have ever seen and Dastmalchian’s performance in it has led to a lot of interest from other major filmmakers such as James Gunn and Denis Villeneuve.

He reunites with Nolan in this summer’s Oppenheimer. Additionally, he’s working on a third volume of Count Crowley, as well as making appearances in the Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman this summer and Last Voyage of the Demeter, which draws its inspiration on the Transylvania to England voyage of Dracula.

Count Crowley is available at your local comic book store and Boston Strangler is currently available on Hulu.

Photo of David Dastmalchian by Nicholas Chalmers

Links:

David Dastmalchian Instagram

Count Crowley from Dark Horse Comics

Boston Strangler on Hulu

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with actor Roman Zaragoza about his role on the hit CBS sitcom, Ghosts.

Zaragoza discusses his role as the deceased Native American Sasappis, and how his own Native American ancestry comes into play in the role. He also talks about the difficult road he has had being someone multi-cultural and how he always wants to not play a stereo-typical ethnicity and his work with charitable organizations such as Outlast Arts & Education.

Ghosts airs on CBS every Thursday at 8:30 EST / 7:30 CST. Episodes can also be viewed on Paramount+.

Links:

Roman Zaragoza Instagram

CBS’ Ghosts

Outlast Arts & Education

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with actor Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan, Dazed and Confused) about his role on CBS’ The Equalizer starring Queen Latifah. On the show, a remake of the 80s hit series (which begat two successful films starring Denzel Washington), Goldberg stars as Harry Keshegian, a computer hacker working with Latifah’s character Robyn McCall to help people in desperate situations.

Goldberg, who is also a musician, photographer and filmmaker, discusses taking on the role and having to make a snap decision about moving to New York for filming during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. He gets into who Harry is and how he’s been able to work with the role since joining the series.

The conversation also turns into a look at his filmmaking and music career, before diving into his roles in Dazed and Confused and Saving Private Ryan. Goldberg gives an in-depth look into filming his agonizing death scene in Saving Private Ryan as well as the recent passing of Tom Sizemore, his co-star in the film.

The most recent episode of The Equalizer (season 3, episode 11) features Goldberg in a larger role as he deals with being a Jewish man amid a series of anti-Semitic attacks that the team is investigating. He stated the following on Instagram about this episode: “As you know, my day job doesn’t often make the grid. But tonight on @theequalizercbs I punch a Nazi—not for the first time in the public realm, but perhaps most relevantly. No longer the stuff of WWII movies and evil Santas, you only need to google hate crime stats to discover that the antisemitic variety is second only to those perpetrated against gay men in the United States.”

The Equalizer airs on CBS on Sundays at 8 PM EST/7 PM CST, and on Paramount+ the day after.

Links:

Adam Goldberg 

The Equalizer 

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with filmmaker Jamie Winterstern, the director behind Supercell, a film about storm chasers and a young man’s pursuit of connecting to his deceased father. Supercell opens in theaters across the country and via video on demand Friday, March 17th.

Winterstern discusses the genesis of the idea behind Supercell, writing the script with Anna Elizabeth James, how a limited budget made him think outside of the box in order to show the full power of a tornado and why the film looks so damn good.

Supercell, which stars Daniel Diemer, the late Anne Heche, Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich, is in theaters and video on demand beginning Friday, March 17th.

Links:

Jamie Winterstern 

Supercell 

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with filmmaker Balin Schneider about his film (his first), Out of Time: The Material Issue Story, about the Chicago power-pop band Material Issue’s career.

Schneider, who is in his 20s, discusses how he “discovered” Material Issue and what led him to focus on the band for a short documentary for a film school project and how that snowballed into a feature length film. The Ghost and Schneider also focus on the emotional aspects of the film, particularly friends and family members’ interviews concerning the suicide of the band’s founder, lead singer, guitarist and lyricist Jim Ellison.

Out of Time: The Material Issue Story is currently on a tour across America (check the link below for a list of cities and dates) and will makes it debut on video and streaming services later in 2023.

Links:

Out of Time: The Material Issue Story

Material Issue

Balin Schneider

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with actor James Badge Dale about his role as John Dutton Sr. on the hit Paramount Plus series 1923 from creator Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, The Mayor of Kingstown), as well as his career which dates back to his appearance in 1990’s Lord of the Flies adaptation.

Dale, who resides in New York City, but spent a good deal of his youth in California, discusses the reasons for both wanting to become an actor, as well as why he didn’t work as an actor after Lord of the Flies for a decade until he grew up.

The conversation also takes a look at some of his more memorable roles and films, including his role in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed opposite Matt Damon, the NBC series The Black Donnellys, HBO’s WWII mini-series The Pacific, Joe Carnahan’s The Grey - where he recounts a story about the cast and crew passing bottles of liquor on the flight to Smithers, British Columbia, and his experience working on Michael Bay’s 13 Hours and Gore Verbinshi’s The Lone Ranger, which ties into 1923 as he dealt with some of the same stunt people on both.

He also previews his work in the upcoming film Balestra, from filmmaker Nicole Dorsey (Black Conflux) and how important family is to him as he’s gotten older.

The first season of 1923 is available to stream now on Paramount Plus.

Links:

James Badge Dale

1923 

Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with celebrity chef Tiffani Faison (Partner/Chef in Boston’s Big Heart Hospitality which includes Sweet Cheeks Q, Tenderoni’s, Bubble Bath, Dive Bar and Fool’s Errand, as well as the runner up on the very first season of Top Chef and the winner of Food Network’s Tournament of Champions III).

Faison discusses the changes she and her company have had to make in the wake of the Covid pandemic, including closing a couple of restaurants (Tiger Mama and Orfano’s) and opening three concepts in the food hall at High Street Place in Boston (Tenderoni’s, Dive Bar and Bubble Bath) and the difficulty of the changes coupled with her divorce during the same period of time.

She also talks about her beginnings - not only as an Army brat jumping from base to base with her family and how she got her start in the restaurant business (note: she never went to culinary school, unlike the false information that keeps following her), and how she learned what not to do from terrible restaurant environments.

The conversation also wades into the topic of LGBTQ concerns, a subject that Faison, who identifies as queer, holds close to her heart. She works hard to break down barriers on women and LGBTQ people in the food world, including on food TV. As shown in my introduction, I’m not as eloquent as I expected myself to be, but Faison indicates that at least we’re having the conversation, which is important for everyone to be doing in order to move things forward.

You can see Faison competing to retain her Tournament of Champions title every Sunday on Food Network.

Links:

Tiffani Faison

Big Heart Hospitality

Tournament of Champions IV