The Hustle

The Porcaro family is rock royalty. They made everything they touched better from their incredible session work to the many Toto hits and Grammys. Steve Porcaro has recently released a new solo album called The Very Day that shows him cleaning house. Most of these songs have been sitting around unfinished for decades so he finally committed to perfecting them (with help from friends like Michael McDonald and Jason Scheff) and getting them out in the world. Steve joins us this week to discuss the process of completing this album, as well as stories from his long session career. There's working with Quincy Jones and David Foster, there's working with Earth Wind and Fire and the Brothers Johnson, and there's his feelings on the many afterlives of "Human Nature" which he wrote and appeared on Thriller. I wish we could have talked for hours! 

Steve Porcaro

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Author Bill Kopp returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book, What's the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums. The great thing about Bill's writing is that he often shines a light on music that is underappreciated. These 30 albums aren't the obvious ones, but completely worthy creations that deserve a spot in your collection. We also get into why artists choose to make them, whether they're fun or work, why they're often long, and what went into him selecting these particular options. Bill was on a couple years ago to discuss his book on San Francisco's 415 record label. We love him around here. Enjoy and prepare to take notes! 

What's the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums - new book by BILL KOPP - from HoZac Books

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Percussionist Lenny Castro has made a career out of being an ingredient that makes everything he touches better. He's been one of the most in-demand musicians of the last 50 years and was even an official member of Toto for many decades. Would classics like "Africa" and "Rosanna" be what they are without him? Doubtful. He's also the best thing about Christopher Cross's "Ride Like the Wind" and ONJ's "Physical". We also discuss a bunch of his session work with people like Stevie Wonder, Robert Palmer, and Fleetwood Mac. He's "mostly" retired now but keeps getting pulled in because he's so good and even just completed a tour with John Mayer. He's the best and we're lucky to hear from him. Enjoy! 

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The musical mind of Barry Adamson was so cinematic he created soundtracks for movies that didn't exist. Until they did. He starts out with the essential post-punk band Magazine, who released some of the best albums the genre had to offer. He was restless though and after time in Visage and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, he committed the music in his head to tape with the solo album, Moss Side Story and never stopped. Barry's music has always had a heavy cinematic quality which lead to him eventually scoring films, of course. Last week he released his new album, SCALA!, which is the soundtrack to the new documentary on the legendary art-house cinema in London which was a gathering place for him and artsy people like him for decades. We get to hear stories about all the stops along the way in his musical journey, working with people like Nick Cave and Midge Ure, growing up bi-racial, and more. Enjoy! 

Barry Adamson

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By running Boston's Fort Apache studio with partner Sean Slade, Paul positioned himself at the forefront of the underground, indie sound that was suddenly above ground. His resume includes all time classics like Radiohead's Pablo Honey (featuring "Creep") and Hole's Live Through This, but also well-respected benchmarks by Buffalo Tom, Morphine, Pixies, Uncle Tupelo, Dinosaur Jr., and the Lemonheads. There are even fascinating outliers like Joe Jackson and Warren Zevon. We get into all of this and a ton more. He's still at it today too. Paul helped shape the sound of that pivotal time in rock history. We're lucky to hear from him! 

Paul Q. Kolderie | Music Producer, Engineer and Mixer

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Britta Phillips has maintained two very different careers for decades - one is all kitsch and the other has a ton of street cred. She starred in that kinda fun, but mostly bad 1988 Justine Bateman movie Satisfaction and was the singing voice for Jem in the Jem and the Holograms cartoon. She also maintained a career in indie rock bands that got a big leg up when she joined Luna in the early 2000s. She and front man Dean Wareham eventually married and the two have been releasing excellent Dean & Britta music while also scoring films and reuniting with Luna occasionally. She joins us this week to discuss all of it. We get pretty deep on her success with cover songs and her approach. She's wonderful! 

Producer Paul O'Duffy may not have been the actual architect of the sophistopop movement in the UK in the late 80s, but he had a hand in popularizing it. The man helped shape the sound of five of the major players within the genre - Hipsway, Breathe, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Danny Wilson, and Swing Out Sister, which he was practically the unofficial third member of for many years. Along the way he brought his expertise to artists like Dusty Springfield and Culture Club as well as groups outside the genre like Pretenders and House of Love. Paul regales us with stories this week of all of this and more. It's a great way to close out 2025! 

Around the year 2000, keyboardist Jai Winding decided he didn't want to be a hugely successful musician anymore and traded in his rock star life for real estate. He made the right move for him, but boy was it fun while it lasted. Some of the collaborations we discuss this week include the Pointer Sisters, George Benson, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Olivia Newton-John, Howard Jones, and more. Unfortunately, Jai's home, and the homes of many of his clients, were destroyed in the fires in the Pacific Palisades earlier this year and he lost everything including his entire community. Jai fills us in on both sides of his life in this fascinating conversation. Enjoy and Merry Christmas! Be grateful for what you have! 

Few yacht rock hits of the 70s have endured as well as Player's 1977 classic "Baby Come Back." While they had a few other hits, they've been completely overshadowed by this monolith. What you may not be as aware of is the vast songwriting career of frontman Peter Beckett. Remember "Twist of Fate" by Olivia Newton-John? That was Peter. Or "Dare to Fall in Love" by Brent Bourgeois? Also Peter. There's also been the Temptations, Commodores, Survivor, Heart. Grace Slick, and Janet and Jermaine Jackson. There was even a stint in Little River Band. These days he's embracing the yacht rock life for all it's worth and tells us stories about all of it including seeing the Beatles at the Cavern! It's stories galore this week! Enjoy! 

Bill Janovitz returns to the Hustle, this time as an author instead of a rocker. The Buffalo Tom frontman has recently published a master work - the definitive story of The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told. Bill effectively tells the band's story from beginning to end with all the detours in between. Each band member's personality comes to life and the inner tensions become very real, but so does the wonderful music they made. Bill and I discuss the guys, how he went about writing the book, and our thoughts on the music especially the earlier albums versus the later ones. The book is great, check it out! 

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Bill Janovitz – billjanovitz.com