Tales of the Road Warriors
Music Podcasts
On Tales of the Road Warriors, Hal in Philly explores the world through conversations with entertainers and musicians … guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, managers, roadies, recording engineers and people who spend a lot of time traveling to and from gigs.
Location:
United States
Description:
On Tales of the Road Warriors, Hal in Philly explores the world through conversations with entertainers and musicians … guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, managers, roadies, recording engineers and people who spend a lot of time traveling to and from gigs.
Twitter:
@TalesWarriors
Language:
English
Contact:
8187303600
Episodes
Michael Winslow
11/26/2020
Michael Winslow Show Notes
Talking Points:
Twitter handle @Noizey_Man
Grew up on several Air Force bases
Moved around a lot as a kid.
Killed the boredom by imitating the sounds of machinery around the military bases.
Including typewriters. Take this video for example…
32 Typewriters
32 Typewriters??? I couldn’t tell the difference between a Remington Noiseless Portable or a IBM Executive Model 42 or a Smith Corona Word processor
Books:
Whack to the Side of the Head
Kick to the Seat of the Pants
Lesson learned - there’s more than one right answer
Tik Tok
Jimi Hendrix
Comics stealing jokes.
Robin Williams
Multiple languages
Cheech and Chong no longer PC?
But what makes your impressions so unique are the facial expressions. You seem to be listening to the headphones, where i imagine someone is feeding you the recording for reference
The afterwards, you look at the two mics as if you’re trying to decide which one to eat first.
Did your parents ever try to discourage you/ I mean, making all those sounds around the house s a little kid, didn’t yell, Hey Mikey, cut it out, I’m trying to watch Star Trek here, and you’d be making laser gun sounds. At what point did your mom or dad say, Hey now — THERE’S a career! Looks like you won’t be needing college, son.
List of noises:
’Scuse me while I kiss this guy - attribution. Michael was the first that I know of to use that line.
Matre D’ at the Great American and Poppy’s Star (along with Alan "Walk This Way" Feinman as Groucho, and Billy Scudder as Charlie Chaplain)
Dupars after Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie
Sky Trails Open Mic
My Sharona
Just What I Needed by the Cars
Michael Winslow and folk pop-musician Odd Nordstoga performed Whole Lotta Love on the Norwegian talkshow Senkveld - with Thomas og Harald
The Russia Story
Slight incident while filming Police Academy: Mission to Moscow in Russia
Killing Hasselhoff
Completely unexpected. It was a total delight seeing you pop up in a cameo! My rating went up a star.
Mention on THE GOLDBERGS…
Dana: I don't get it. This is part 5. Shouldn't they have graduated the Academy after the first one?
Adam: I think the problem is you're focusing on logic, not the lovable cast of characters.
Dana: Okay, in what world would an officer of the law stop a jewel thief by making weird mouth noises?
Adam: That's Michael Winslow. He's a national treasure.
Dana: They're LAPD. They wouldn't have any jurisdiction in Miami.
Referenced on other shows: Ellen, Family Guy, Robot Chicken (Police Academy: X-Men)
You’ve done sound fx for many tv and movies. What are some of the things where we are actually hearing your voices? Do you have any favorites?
The very best of the 60s. 80s
Voice insured by Lloyd’s of London with Mary Hart’s legs
Eddie Van Halen and Michael jamming too loud at the Namm Show
Recently Live on Twitch
Sound Effects in Video games
Phasmaphoria
Among Us
Links
Michael Winslow Media
Michael Winslow Youtube Channel
Michael Winslow on Facebook
Michael Winslow on Instagram
Nico Is - Brazilian Rapper - Agua
Tales of the Road Warriors Website
Duration:00:53:47
Smokey Miles
11/20/2020
Today my guest is Robert Smokey Miles...
He knows Bob Dylan personally and even used to be his house sitter as a teenager
Around 1987 he began hosting open mics and acoustic music showcases at the Breakaway Gardens in Venice, CA, much like I did in the San Fernando Valley several years later. Although I had been to the Breakaway, on many occasions before I left Venice, I don’t recall having ever met Smokey, although in retrospect, I must have. While editing this episode, I determined it would have been almost impossible for me not to have crossed paths wit this guy!
As Count Smokula, a quirky vampire sporting a fez and playing accordion, he was a male counterpart to Elvira, MIstress of the Dark. Although Elvira had a more massive following, Smokula has a pretty fair cult following of his own. He continues to perform in the Annual Pasadena Doo Dah Parade with The Radioactive Chicken Heads.
He’s worked in some bizarre cult films such as “Magics”, about a very unique magician who entertains sick and injured Palestinian and Jewish kids thoughout Israel's pediatric hospitals. Original music performed by bob as Count Smokula on his accordion
Appears in several Troma Films from Troma Entertainment which is an independent film company that produces low-budget independent films. Mostly flicks that pay homage to the 1950’s horror films - lots of farcical parodies with gratuitous fake blood, guts and gore.
These include: Trasharella with Rena Riffel; and he even did a couple of songs with Ron Jeremy, the porn star for TromaDance Festival one year.
For links to my Smokey’s website and Youtube videos, go to www.talesoftheroadwarriors.com/smokey-miles where you’ll find them right under the show notes!
So yeah, Smokey’s done his fair share of hosting music showcases, playing his guitar and the accordion, doing sketch comedy in the persona of the immortal Count Smokula, and cameo appearances in movies and music videos with the likes of Bob Dylan, himself. So, ‘nuff said… Here he is to talk about it - Robert “Smokey” Miles!
Links to some of Smokey’s stuff (right under the Show Notes, where I said they’d be):
Smokey Miles Official Website
The Social Distance Dance
Bob Dylan’s "Must Be Santa" Official Video
Smokey plays a smoking’ accordion solo in this vid!
Duration:01:08:43
Essra Mohawk
11/2/2020
ESSRA MOHAWK Pt. 1 Show Notes
Essra Mohawk has had a very long and storied career. To describe her music as eclectic is a gross understatement. Her songs run the gamut from pop to avant garden, and in between she covers a lot of bases including rock, folk, folk rock, motown, jazz, tv jingles, rhythm and blues, and beautiful, heartfelt ballads about love and lust.
Born Sandra Elayne Hurvitz, her earlier influences were her parents, Anne and Henry. Through them she grew up listening to an eclectic list of artists such as Judy Garland, Nina Simone, The Coasters, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Thelonius Monk, Erik Satie, Billy Holiday, Otis Redding, The Beatles, The Stones, Ravi Shankar among others/
In 1964 she released a single as Jamie Carter titled “The Boy With the Way” which I personally think is a really cool song. It pronbably could have been a hit hat it received proper publicity and marketing. Essra sounded a little peeved talking about it. I don’t blame her, and it would turn out not to be the first time here career hit a snag or detour.
Essra was also the first female member of the Mothers of Invention. In fact, she spent about a year in a relationship with Frank Zappa who thanks to band member Ray Collins suggestion for a rock star name, dubbed her, Uncle Meat. When I first met Uncle Meat, she was in Philly on hiatus, and I had no idea who Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were at the time. I would shortly discover them through Philadelphia DJ Michael Tearson, and eventually make the connection. But, I was happy to finally talk to her again so I could tell her the story of my first Essra Mohawk encounter. At this point, I should probably apologize for hijacking the conversation, for which I was duly busted by Essra.
As I mentioned, her career is multifaceted, so the Show Notes page at talesoftheroadwarriors-slash-Essra-Mohawk includes some Essra Mohawk Career Highlights, discography ands links to some of the songs we talked about in this conversation. In my conversation, BTW, I barely scratched the surface of her career, so this is really just a little slice of life in which I hopefully captured some of her essence and got a couple pretty good stories from her.
Due to technical difficulties, I just couldn’t get good enough audio, so I’ll just tell you some things that were to garbled to include in the podcast.
I did manage to capture a little about her “crazy courage” as a Philly girl, and her propensity to stick up for others against bullies - and her mom.
The main story I was hoping to have her retell was how she was scheduled to be one of the performers at Woodstock, but her manager missed the turn, causing Essra to miss her debut on the most well known world stage of all time.
LINKS:
Essra’s Facebook Page
ESSRA MOHAWK MUSIC VIDEOS
Essra Mohawk as Jamie Carter “The Boy With The Way"
Raindance
I Am The Breeze (from Primordial Lovers album)
19th Amendment School House Rock
From Hemifran MusicWebsite:
DISCOGRAPHY
Though you can stream most of Essra's Music on Spotify, iTunes, PAndora, etc., it is important to support your favorite artists as often as you can - by purchasing their albums. Purchase Essra Mohawk albums directly from her using this PDF.
You can also order some from the Tales of the Road Warriors website by clicking on one of my affiliate links. Buying through these links will help keep the site AND Essra healthy!
•1968 Sandy’s Album is Here at Last (as Sandy Hurvitz) produced by Frank Zappa
•1970 Primordial Lovers
•1974 Essra Mohawk
•1976 Essra
•1982 Burnin’ Shinin’ (released without knowledge of the artist)
•1985 E-Turn
•1995 Raindance
•1999 Essie Mae Hawk Meets the KillerGrooveBand (My personal favorite. Killer band and killer grooves. This album was appropriately named!)
•2003 You’re Not Alone
•2006 Love is Still The Answer
•2007 Revelations of the Secret Diva
Info below from Essra’s bio both Hemifran Website
Her...
Duration:00:53:29
Ben Vaughn Part 2
8/13/2020
Ben Vaughn Part 2 - Show Notes
Hey, howzit going everybody? Had enough of this lockdown yet? I know, I know, there’s nothing funny about it and you’re running out of ideas. Well, at least you have me to keep you entertained for a little while. I’m Hal in Philly and this is my podcast. Welcome to it. In case you forgot , it’s called… TALES OF THE ROAD WARRIORS!
If you listened to the last episode, my conversation with Ben Vaughn - Part 1 then you know I ended it wth a kind of a cliff hanger. Ben was telling me that his father would not allow him to have a guitar i the house if he couldn’t get his grades up in school. Well, Ben had a hard time getting better grades, Instead choosing to be a juvenile delinquent. A rebel with an axe to grind, but he couldn’t bring his axe home with him. So, in part two, Ben goes on to tell us how he got around the Vaughn house rules…
Talking Points
No guitar allowed…
E.J. Korvettes
Silvertone guitars
The Relay Shack
The Rambler Revisited
My Essra Mohawk story
The Hippie scene in Philly, 20th and Sansom Street, The Plain Dealer - free underground newspaper
Sugar Cane Harvest in Cuba
Venceremos Brigade
Songs we thought we had only imagined
Underground Radio, The Marconi Experiment with Dave Herman
John Sebastian was a bad influence on me
Ben and I preach against smoking (Sorry, smokers)
Norristown and the Zep
The Delaware Valley
More on The Geeter
The Mojave Desert
Santa Monica, Rent control, Ocean Park
The Blue Lagune Saloon
Kenn Kweder live shows on Facebook
Music scene in Philly - Past and present, the next generation
Charlie Gracie
World Cafe Live
Coronavirus effect on gigs
____________________________
TIP JAR
Duration:00:33:37
Ben Vaughn Part 1
7/29/2020
Ben Vaughn, rock and roll star and DJ.. known throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware Tri-state area and parts of New York. A fixture around these parts for a very long time. Listeners of NPR radio stations across the country can listen to his show, The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn”
Musical influences include Kenn Kweder and Jerry Blavat aka The Geeter with the Heater, the Big Boss with the Hot Sauce.
Duration:00:41:15
Dave Kanyan
7/6/2020
Hal in Philly talks with truck driver and podcaster, Dave Kanyan, host of Dumbing it Down With Dave, about driving a truck, podcasting at 85 mph, milk, comedy and some music.
Episode Links and Resources
Dave's Podcast
Dumbing it Down With Dave
Stream or Download - I'm Going For A Drive
Tales of the Road Warriors Coffee Mug
I'm Goin' For A Drive Travel Mug
Duration:00:47:10
Henry Phillips
5/16/2020
Hal in Philly interviews Henry Phillips on Tales of the Road Warriors. He is a comedic singer/songwriter, actor and filmmaker. He has released comedy albums of his music, and has produced several series including The Loner for IFC, a cooking show on Patreon called Henry's Kitchen. Also on Patreon for 2020, a comedy series, The Highway Man.
----------------------------
Talking Points
Sorry, wrong number
Discovering Henry - Music reviewer Jonathan Widran
Chimneysweep
Jerry’s Deli Stories - Marlon Brando
Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider
John Ritter, Amy Yasbeck
Mark Cohen
The Devil and Donny Most
The Loser on IFC
Henry’s Kitchen
Jose Suicidio
Hecklers
New Show The Highway Man
Singer songwriter Eric Schwartz
Doug Stanhope
Misogonistic lyrics
John on Silicon Valley
Mike Judge
Links:
Henry Phillip’s Official Website
http://henryphillips.com/
Song: End of the World
Henry Phillips Youtube Channel
Henry’s Kitchen
The Highway Man
_______________________________
The Devil and Donny Most https://easywhenyouknowhal.weebly.com/ep-22-devil-and-donny-most.html
Duration:00:51:45
Kendal Conrad
4/13/2020
Kendal Conrad is a country singer/songwriter/recording artist from outside of Philadelphia Pennsylvania.She has shared the stage and opened for the likes of Blake Shelton, Charlie Daniels Band, Chris Lane, Trace Adkins, Phil Vassar and many others and even sang a duet live onstage with Keith Urban. READ MORE
Duration:00:47:06
Andrea Nardello
3/24/2020
Philly's Andrea Nardello has been compared to Melissa Etheridge, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlisle.
Influences in folk, rock & pop. Nardello recently won a contest and sang with Brandi Carlile at Carlile’s all women’s festival in Mexico. Also won Philadelphia Songwriter's Project Contest and the Tri-State Indie's "Acoustic Artist Of The Year."
She has toured extensively opening for Colbie Caillat, Brandi Carlile, Gabe Dixon, Emerson Hart of Tonic Fame, Toby Lightman, Tim Reynolds of The Dave Matthews Band and Ron Pope.
ANDREA NARDELLO FULL SHOW NOTES & LINKS
Duration:00:37:26
Toby Lightman Pt 1
3/13/2020
Today is the first of three episodes in a row featuring Women Road Warriors in honor of International Women’s Month on Tales of the Road Warriors. My guest is Toby Lightman. In our brief talk we touched on another problem men never experience, the struggle to have a child. Though a man can share some of the emotional weight of this struggle, we can never know the physical and internal anguish that a woman experiences. Toby recently captured this in her song ‘Begin Again”. I had no idea what the song was about going into this conversation, so you’ll hear me getting woke in real time.
Go To Show Notes Page
Duration:00:19:29
George Bunnell
3/2/2020
Talking Points
Band history and foundation of Strawberry Alarm Clock
How they arrived at the name.
Oingo Boingo connection
Venice Beach
Writers of Incense and Peppermints getting “jacked”
Bad practices in the music businesses by music biz types.
More personnel swaps and other Alarm Clock stories
Similarity to the Doors. Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger.
Comparisons with other bands.
Other songs - Curse of the Witches and World on Fire
The Unjust Drug Bust
Ontario Motor Speedway gig with Ben Balloon
Other names that came up: Frankie Avalon,Connie Stevens, John Walmsley, Richard Marx and Madonna.
Remaking Incense and Peppermints, Licensing woes
Roger Ebert, Valley of the Dolls
The Seeds Tribute to Sky Saxon
Playing unplugged
Links to Strawberry Alarm Clock Website, Videos and Other Resources
Full Transcripts (Scroll down some)
Duration:00:57:30
Cowboy Mach Bell
2/21/2020
This is the first full-length interview of 2020 and my guest is Cowboy Mach Bell. Since this is a longish episode, I’ll just give you a brief rundown about who I’m talking to, and the rest, you’ll discover during our conversation.
Full Show Notes:
https://talesoftheroadwarriors.com/cowboy-mach-bell/
Duration:00:59:50
Tales of the Road Warriors - Best of 2019
2/15/2020
Best excerpts from Tales of the Road Warriors podcast episodes from January through December of 2019. Guests include:
Chad Watson, James Lee Stanley, Chad Watson, Liz Miller, Kenn Kweder, Jon Michaels, Jay David, Dan May, Lee Totten
and Laura Cheadle,
Duration:00:45:16
Discovering-David-Bowie
1/23/2020
Hal Aaron Cohen aka Hal in Philly recalls the time he discovered the album Man Who Sold The World by an unknown recording artist named David Bowie in the 99 cent bin of a record store i Center City Philladelphia in the early '70s
Duration:00:09:08
Dan Navarro
12/24/2019
Dan Navarro best known for being in the super duo Lowen and Navarro - writers of We Belong, the mega hit for Pat Benetar. It has since been recorded by several others and featured in many movies, tv shows and including Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Pitch Perfect 2, Deadpool 2, and the season one finale of Dynasty and In the season 3 Finale of Santa Clarita Diet and just recently in a new Pepsi commercial.
Unfortunately, we lost Eric Lowen in 2012 to ALS otherwise known as Lou Gerhigs Disease. It was a terrible blow the songwriting community. But Dan Navarro continues to soldier on. He is a true road warrior in every sense. In fact, when I talked with Dan, he was in his car on the way from a gig the night before in Lancaster, Pennsylvania - to Baltimore, 45 miles.
Full Show Notes, Liks and transcript:
https://talesoftheroadwarriors.com/dan-navarro/
Duration:00:55:25
Steve Schalchlin Part 2
12/12/2019
In Part Two, Steve Talks about his miraculous recovery. Then, going on to write his internet diary, Living in the Bonus Round - and then, his award winning, long-running Off Broadway play, The Last Session.
Later, he learns how to compose and write a Mass under the tutelage of Mark Janas, plays John Lennon's "Imagine" piano and then, shares a secret to attaining true success.
Full show notes and transcripts here
Duration:00:34:44
Steve Schalchlin Pt 1
12/6/2019
Steve Schalchlin is a singer/songwriter, a playwright, composer, a survivor of one of the worst epidemics to hit mankind since the plague... AIDS.
Steve went on write the music and lyrics to the multi-award winning musical ,The Last Session with his lifetime partner and husband,Jim Brochu with additional lyrics by John Bettis and Marie Cain. The musical is about a singer/songwriter who has decided to commit suicide to end his battle with AIDS, but only after one last recording session in the studio. It first debuted off-Broadway in 1997.
Full show notes and transcripts here
Duration:00:40:31
Ronstadt Brothers
11/22/2019
Talking Points
$40,000 dollar bow
Aunt Linda Ronstadt
Sound of My Voice Documentary
Ronstadt Generations
Growing up in the Ronstadt Family
Travelling with a cello
Tales of the Road
Songwriting
What's next? Current Projects
Links to Ronstadt Brothers Websites
Official Ronstadt Brothers Facebook Page
Michael Ronstadt Website
PD (Peter Dalton) Ronstadt
The Foolish Fox Video
Duration:00:37:26
Lyra Project
11/15/2019
Rick and Deb - Zero Emissions Musicians
[caption id="attachment_768" align="alignright" width="248"] Debra Lee and Rick Denzien of Lyra Project[/caption]
Lyra Project is a music duo fronted by Debra Lee with husband and music partner Rick Denzien, since 2001. They have collaborated together and with others, create & perform music with a universal humanitarian and spiritual message of compassion, peace, forgiveness, tolerance and inner transformation. Themes have expanded to include social and environmental issues.
Full Show Notes
Lyra Project Links
Lyra Project Music
bäh-fō Studio
World class recording engineer, Rick Denzien,
P.O. Box 567 • Ambler, PA 19002
DenLee Studio
DenLee Music Studio is affiliated with Bah-fo Recording Studio,
a professional-fully commercial production recording facility, located in the same building.
Duration:00:40:41
James Lee Stanley
11/10/2019
This was recorded just days before James was scheduled to have a Squamous Cell Carcinoma removed from the base of his tongue along with some surrounding nodes. He's resting uncomfortably and trying to sleep sitting up with a tube down his throat according to a recent post he wrote on his Facebook page. You can help him out by purchasing James Lee Stanley CDs and merch. Links are below to his website.
Full Show Notes
Links
James Lee Stanley Website - News, Links, News, The Man, The Music, Store, etc.
DATAMUSICATA - The JLS Blog
All Wood and Stones CD
All Wood and Doors CD
Duration:00:56:14