The Stereo Image

For thirty years, if something happened on a Las Vegas stage, John Katsilometes was probably in the room. The entertainment columnist behind "The Kats Report" at the Las Vegas Review-Journal joins host Mike Jones for a conversation about a career built without a journalism degree. From covering the Tyson–Holyfield "bite night" as a young sports writer to becoming the last man standing in a beat that used to belong to Norm Clark and Robin Leach, Johnny Kats has seen it all.

Kats traces the whole arc: an 18-year-old stringer in Chico, getting sober in 2001, launching the column that made him ubiquitous, and learning to appreciate everything from Rush to Baby Keem because covering an artist means getting educated fast. He and Mike get into live music in Vegas, Penn's late-blooming bass playing, and why he still answers the phone like a gentleman.

Kats Entertainment

John Katsilometes at the Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mark Masters writes for the kind of jazz ensemble that barely exists anymore... and most of the time, the finished music ends up in a box in his garage. A composer and arranger on the Capri label alongside host Mike Jones, Masters has spent decades building ambitious large-group records around the voices he loves: Steely Dan reimagined, tributes to Sam Rivers and Billy Harper, a date with Art Baron, the last trombonist Duke Ellington ever hired.

He and Jones get into honoring musicians mostly after they're gone - a Lee Konitz centennial project, a new chamber album for bassist Putter Smith - and what it meant to be among the last players to study with the masters firsthand. Along the way: growing up in Gary, Indiana, the studio scene that dried up in both LA and New York, the best advice he ever got ("never fall in love with anything you write"), and why he still arranges in pencil with an old war movie running on VHS. 

Mark Masters Music

The man who won Lenny Bruce a pardon four decades after his death turns out to be a tuba player who came to jazz through Dave Brubeck. Robert Corn-Revere has spent more than 40 years as a First Amendment attorney, and on this episode he and Mike Jones trade the law for the record store: classic rock, the ritual of dropping eight bucks on an album, and why the music of that era still fills the same bar he drank in back in college.

Then the cases. Bob walks through the posthumous pardon of Lenny Bruce, the FBI's year-and-a-half hunt for dirty words in "Louie Louie," the Tipper Gore "porn rock" hearings where Frank Zappa stole the show, and the eight-year fight over Janet Jackson's nine-sixteenths of a second at the Super Bowl. Subscribe and find the rest at TheStereoImage.com.

FIRE - Robert Corn-Revere

Robert's book: The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder

Violinist, violist, composer, producer, and world's first LED string ensemble founder Michelle Jones joins The Stereo Image for a wide-ranging conversation about a remarkable career built on versatility and relationships. Michelle shares the story behind her orchestration work on Maluma's "Botero" (recorded under NDA on Halloween, now with over 4 million streams), the debut of the Robert Kerr Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, and Violectric - the group she founded that plays rock and pop on light-up, wirelessly DMX-controlled instruments.

She also opens up about a legal battle that changed U.S. copyright law for content creators, her 26 years as a Disney seasonal solo musician (one of only seven in the world with that status), a Grammy nomination for a children's album featuring Alice Cooper and Slash, and what it's like recording in her home studio just three miles from the Magic Kingdom - fireworks and all.

Violectric & Cosplay Records

Robert Kerr Ensemble

This week we explore the journey of Rob Zabrecky.  From indie music and the 90's LA scene to magic to his unique performance style.  Mike and Rob discuss his latest project, the Zabrecky Hour, and the thought and creativity that went into it.

Check out his special, The Zabrecky Hour, on Amazon.

On this episode of The Stereo Image, Sarah Lowe - performer and resident director with Spiegel World - shares her journey from Mamma Mia and Jersey Boys to starring in Absinthe and directing The Party. She talks about choreographing Showgirls, co-creating the Apple Sisters, and life on the Las Vegas Strip.

Sarah also reflects on her Hollywood lineage as Ruby Keeler's granddaughter, balancing a busy performing career with family life, and the creative projects she’s developing now.

This episode of The Stereo Image features world-renowned pianist Olga Kern discussing her musical upbringing, life on tour, and teaching at the Manhattan School of Music.

Olga shares stories about winning major competitions, her family’s musical lineage, a vivid dream of Rachmaninoff, and why studying a composer’s life matters. She also talks about the power of live performance and her upcoming concert schedule.

Host Mike talks with composer Jeff Beal about his wide-ranging career — from jazz trumpet and early breakthrough with Pollock to TV and film work like House of Cards and Monk. They discuss Beal’s current projects, including his piano etudes, a new choral work premiered by the LA Master Chorale, a Rod Serling documentary score, and his upcoming world premiere of a new score for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

The conversation also explores Beal’s creative process, the influence of jazz, his move back to New York, how the pandemic reshaped his priorities, and his experience living with multiple sclerosis — with music playing a central role in both his artistry and wellness.

Learn more about Jeff:

Jeff Beal.com

Jeff on YouTube

This week we are so excited to have the phenomenal conductor, Leonard Slatkin!  Leonard is an icon of the classical music world but he grew up surrounded by jazz giants and Hollywood legends.  Not many people can say that Frank Sinatra tucked him in as a child!

This episode marks 1 year of The Stereo Image!  To celebrate, we recorded this in person at Mike's Las Vegas home.

Learn more about Leonard:

Leonard Slatkin.com

Las Vegas Philharmonic

Nashville Symphony

Leonard Slatkin on YouTube

Glenn Alai joins the Stereo Image to trace his lifelong love of variety entertainment — from growing up on TV specials and Atlantic City shows to studying casino entertainment at UNLV and building the Penn & Teller organization into a Las Vegas mainstay.

He shares backstage stories, career-defining moments, and how he helped bring vintage performers and modern magicians like Piff into the mainstream, reflecting on decades of change in show business and the resilience of live performance.