Rossaround Backstage Podcast

Here is a truly amazing story of a guy that has lived so many exciting and challenging times in his life. I really enjoyed interviewing Duke Mollner and enjoyed it again when I was preparing the audio for you. Duke is my Brother-In-Law. He is married to my sister Ginnie Pallone Mollner (https://rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com/rpb-with-ginnie-pallone-mollner-s2e-2/) who I interviewed the day before I did this one.

Duke started out doing High School and College Plays and Musicals. He then went on to become a Marine Helicopter Pilot during the Viet Nam era. Fortunately, he never had to go to Viet Nam. He was inspired early on by the dancing in West Side Story and decided he wanted to become a Jazz Dancer. There's great story in this interview that tells about the time his Marine buddies found out he was taking Jazz Dancing lessons. You can imagine the ribbing he must have taken but you'll have to listen to find out the stunt they pulled on him.

After his 6 years in the Marines, he pursued his dancing career and intertwined in that part of his life he learned to deal Craps and Baccarat in Las Vegas which started another interesting chapter to his life. Duke had a very successful career as a Dancer and Singer in some of the biggest shows in Las Vegas. Duke still deals Baccarat at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas where he holds title to the only "Singing Baccarat Dealer" in the world.

He eventually went on to create one of the greatest and scariest Halloween Haunted House business's in the USA and the world. https://www.freaklingbros.com

Duke no longer dances but he still deals Baccarat at the Bellagio Hotel and owns the great Freakling Brothers Halloween Haunted Houses. Duke tells us all about this business in the interview.

Ginnie Pallone Mollner is my sister. She started singing at very early age in Pittsburgh and always new she wanted to be a professional singer. My parents moved us to California because of the weather but also to help Ginny get a start in the music business. She went through all the usual stuff that singers at that time went through. She got a record deal and released a few songs but her career really peaked being a live performer in Las Vegas. She worked in the biggest shows in Vegas and rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in show biz.

Ginny has a beautiful voice reminiscent of Karen Carpenter. Her career and life story is very interesting, I hope you will enjoy her story. I learned a lot of things that I never knew about her doing this interview. Both my sisters and I are very close and I am so very grateful of our relationship.

It's a new year and after taking a bit of a hiatus in December and January, I am excited to get season 2 of the RBP off the ground. After biting of more than I could chew last year, I have decided I will publish 2 episodes per month instead of one every week.. I published 42 episodes last year and I am proud of that work but it was very stressful.

S2,E1 is just me ringing in this new season. Episode 2 is an interview that I did with my sister who was a professional singer all her life and she was partly responsible for my musical aspirations.

Many of you know that I was the FOH/PM for Alan Parsons for the last 6 years but I had to move on from that position as I had the opportunity to go to work for Chris Isaak and I could not do both. My decision to make the change was a very difficult and complicated one as I really loved mixing for Alan and love my AP family. A big factor for me was that I was very burnt out on having the "Manager" tag on my name. I spent about 10 years working as a FOH Mixer & Tour Manager and or Production Manager and it was nothing that I ever really desired to do. My position with CI is exactly what I want to do. I mix FOH and have no managerial duties. The show is great. The people are great and the organization is top notch.

Advancing shows as a PM or TM is very time consuming and I am enjoying spending more time mixing records at my home studio. I am getting more new clients now and I am very happy doing this kind of work.

I hope you will all enjoy my upcoming interviews. I would very much appreciate it if you would click the "LIKE" button and subscribe to my podcast.

Have a great new year, Ross

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Michael Stever and I worked together for several years on the Brian Culbertson tours. He is a great trumpet player who has done well for himself because of all his hard work and education. In Michael's interview you will learn how he has worked his way up the ladder to get the big sessions, playing in horn sections with the greatest horn players in the world.

He works the big sessions and teaches at USC here in California.

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Yet another member of the Classic Rock group, Ambrosia. Mary has been playing with Ambrosia for several years now, giving the band a female voice and a second keyboard player to play along with Christopher North. Mary is a classically trained pianist but concentrates her efforts in the rock and pop world. Mary is a songwriter, sings beautifully and teaches private piano and voice lessons.

Mary toured and sang with Jimmy Buffet for several years, and has worked with other very talented artists such as Warren Zevon, Bill Champlin, Helen Reddy, Stewart Copeland, Stanley Clarke, Carole King, John Ford Coley and Animal Logic. She even sang for a Pink Floyd live video doing vocal sweetening. Mary has accomplished all this while raising two children with Burleigh Drummond.

I am happy to get to work with Mary and Ambrosia on many of their live shows. It's always a pleasure.

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

"Frame By Frame" is a Ventura County based three piece band that I had the pleasure to record and mix a few months ago. The project was supposed to be a no-frills recording that truly represents this band as you would hear them live. The band did not want to make it a highly produced record. We went into Hybrid Studios in Orange County California for one day where we recorded the five songs, then finished up the vocals at my studio and finally mixed and mastered at Rossaround Studio in Thousand Oaks, CA by yours truly. Thanks to Tom Brooks for helping us get the studio time at Hybrid Studios.

Nick Jerrems is a great songwriter and he plays the guitar and sings lead. Matt Riddle plays bass and sings backgrounds. Bryan Lawrence plays drums and synth. They all collaborate on the arrangements and work together asa band.

This is the first time for me interviewing a whole band at once so it make it a very different episode. Hope you enjoy it and please go out and order the EP, it's only $6. You can find "Fast Days Fast Nights" on all the usual outlets.

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

You might think that a guy that has had so much success and is in such demand might be kinda stuck up, but not Kenny Aronoff. We became friends very quickly when we worked together on two shows with David Pack one a weekend. Great guy that really likes to help people get ahead and reach their goals. Kenny does not believe in trophy's for everyone. He believes that everyone must work for their success just as he did. My interview with Kenny was fun and enlightening. Kenny's success and talent did not come easily, nobody did it for him. When he got smacked down, he pulled himself up and refused to accept anything but the very best from himself. This is truly a success story created by hard work and determination.

Kenny has played with some the best people in the music business such as John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Smashing Pumpkins, Rod Stewart and way too many to name here. Just listen to my interview and you will understand what a super talented drummer he is and what an amazing career he has had. He is far from done with his accomplishments. He has also started working as motivational speaker behind his first book, "Sex, Drugs, Rock'N'Roll" to be followed up buy a second book to be released later.

I am so happy that I was able to get this interview. I know he has a lot of fans that will love hearing his story.

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

We have known about each other for many years but never met in person. Steve Sykes is a cool guy that has done a lot of different things during his career. He taught himself to play guitar good enough to be a successful studio musician. Taught himself to play the drums good enough to be a working drummer and finally taught himself to be a recording engineer working with many high profile clients while making a decent living. I call that a success story!

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Dan Tracey is a extremely talented Singer, Songwriter, Musician and Producer. I met Dan when he was the Stage Manager for the Alan Parsons band. He is now a band member. Dan also had a stint playing for Bad Company.

Dan works all the time in Nashville singing, writing and producing at the same time he has a very successful corporate band called "Lipstick Blonde" with his wife Sheryl. His latest project, "Save The World" is a great showcase for his singing and songwriting. I have used some of the S.T.W. music in this episode. If you would like to hear more and buy the album go to http://savetheworldband.com or get it through iTunes.

I always love working with Dan, he's is truly a good guy and a good friend.

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com

I've met and worked with a lot of people in the music business and Tim Heintz has been a truly great friend to me for over 30 years. We met when he started working with Michael McDonald as his keyboard player. Tim and I have remained friends all these years and have worked on countless recording projects together.

Some of his credits include, Chaka Kahn, George Benson, Tom Scott, John Tesh, Al Jarreau and Bob James.

Not only is Tim super talented but he is really a good human and anyone would be proud to know such a great guy. As you will hear in this episode, Tim has worked with many great artists over the years and done some very interesting projects. He also tells the story of how he, his wife and three young daughters left their very comfortable life here in California to travel to South Africa to live in a poverty stricken community for a year and a half to help orphans of the Aids epidemic and help the community with a variety of problems. Truly a good person.

Tim now mostly composes music for theme parks and Disney is his biggest client. So, next time your at a Disney park and hear the music that is in the parades and shows, it might very well be Tims music.

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment. Thanks for listening

Rossaroundbackstagepodcast.com