Zig At The Gig podcast

Robin Hyperius Blake Returns

Robin Hyperius Blake of Hyperius Blake and The Sound Experiment 

Talk about operation DOOMSday a tribute show to the legendary MF DOOM 

 

Event description 

Friday November 8th Hyperius Blake and The Sound Experiment joined by local MC's Maddstarr being one of them.  Hit the stage at The Crobar A3244 St Clair Ave, Cleveland, OH, United States, 44114   

To pay tribute to the legendary MF DOOM !!!

Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper

 Interview with Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper 2024

 

Launched roughly two decades ago in Portland, OR, Blitzen Trapper garnered early attention with a series of self-released albums before breaking out internationally with a pair of critically acclaimed LPs (2007’s Wild Mountain Nation and 2008’s Furr) that would cement their status at the forefront of the modern indie folk revival. Rolling Stone hailed the band’s “hazy, psychedelic Americana,” while NPR praised their “explosive live performances and infectious roots-rock swagger,” and The New York Times compared their songs to Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Neil Young. Dates with Fleet Foxes, Wilco, and Dawes followed, as did festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, and Coachella, among others. In the years to come, the band would go on to release six more similarly lauded studio albums, culminating with 2020’s Holy Smokes Future Jokes, which Mojo proclaimed “sound[s] like the Beatles at Big Pink.”

There are numbers so vast they exceed the scope of human reckoning, concepts so immeasurable they surpass our capacity to understand. On their radiant new album, 100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions, Blitzen Trapper make peace with the unknowable, surrendering themselves to forces beyond their control as they explore the infinite with a broad mind and an open heart.

Inspired by singer/songwriter Eric Earley’s fascination with Buddhist texts and meditation (the title comes from a phrase that appears over and over in the Mahayana sutras), the album offers a captivating take on rebirth and transcendence, and the circularity of existence, navigating its way through the space beyond dreams and reality, beyond gods and mortals, beyond life and death. The songs here are as sincere as they are surreal, rooted in rich character studies and deep reflection, and unfolding like a riddle-filled journey that asks many questions and offers no answers. The production is intoxicating to match, blending lo-fi intimacy and trippy psychedelia into a mesmerizing swirl of analog and electronic sounds. Add it all together and the result is a gorgeous, sprawling collection wrapped in lush layers of synthesizers and washed out electric guitars–a poignant, expansive exploration of perception and purpose that manages to look both forwards and backwards all at once.

Grog Shop Show Info  NOV-4-24
https://grogshop.gs/tm-event/blitzen-trapper/

Blitzen Trapper Info 

https://www.blitzentrapper.net/

Chris Greene

Interview with saxophonist Chris Greene

For saxophonist Chris Greene, turning 50 was a double milestone. It inspired him to look back on his career and the strides he has made as an independent jazz artist. It also inspired him to reflect on his life as a husband, father and family man. Little did he know how happily those two worlds would collide.  

Greene was working at home on music for his excellent new album, Conversance, when his attentive 12-year-old son Alex, a talented pianist and drummer and major Star Wars fan, played a melody for him inspired by one of the tunes his old man was playing. The elder Greene liked it so much, he decided to use it as the A section of the song, a six-measure blues in 6/4 time with a bridge. "It was a perfect fit," he says. "It really made the tune." 

Dad properly gave his son a co-writing credit and called the song "The Emperor Strikes Back," also a nod back to Chris' earlier composition, "Future Emperor of Evanston." There are numerous high points on Conversance, but none as high as this one for the older half of this rare father-son collaboration.

Greene, the pride of Evanston, Illinois, has been one of the Midwest's most popular jazz artists since his quartet in 2005. The group, featuring pianist Damian Espinosa, bassist Marc Piane and drummer Steve Corley, was voted best jazz band in Chicago in a poll by the alternative weekly, the Chicago Reader. A fan friendly artist with strong ties to the community, Greene has gifted his followers with a trio of mixtapes by the group that were recorded live various clubs and jazz festivals. Those recordings, dubbed Playtime I, II and III serve as sidebars to his regular efforts, as do a pair of subsequent albums released under the tag PlaySPACE.

Following the single "Beyhive Traffic Blues," featuring emcee D2G, Conversance is the first-ever jazz release for Pravda Records, a prized indie of eclectic leanings that has been releasing recordings since 1984. It is the Chris Green Quartet's first studio album in seven years.

 

 

 

Chris Greene's Info 

chrisgreenejazz.com

instagram.com/chrisgreenejazz
facebook.com/chrisgreenejazzthreads.com/chrisgreenejazz
youtube.com/@chrisgreenejazz

Dave Trumfio of PULSARS

 

PULSARS mark the end of that era. Leader Dave Trumfio (vocals, guitar, synths production and
most anything else) and his younger brother Harry (drums) grew up playing music in a suburban Chicago basement.  While still in his teens, Dave abandoned college-level music production and engineering studies to focus on songwriting and artist endeavors; his native talents soon found him an apprenticeship at Seagrape Studios working with talents as disparate as house music pioneer Mr Fingers, British first-wave stalwarts The Pretty Things and dub plate sessions with the legendary reggae producer / musician Niney The Observer . . . all within months of his first real go behind the mixing desk. Chicago's past musical glories felt far in the past then, replaced
by a sea of skinny tie power pop bands, poofy hair metal combos of some timidity and a few
rough-hewn exponents of sub-Buzzcocks punk and Fiorucci-ready new wave.  Ignoring it all,
Dave ran a small studio in a shared house he rented with friends before taking the risky - and
expensive - plunge into opening a 'real' studio on the northwest corner of Wicker Park, soon to burst into a degree of infamy due to a small contingent of cult heroes who lived there for cheap rent and cheaper bars - Liz Phair, Eleventh Dream Day, Big Black, Urge Overkill, Tortoise
et al.
Daves role in all of this was minimal by nature; he preferred to record acts from farther afield -
Billy Bragg, then-recent Chicago transplants Wilco, The Mekons, Young Marble Giants guitarist
and songwriter Stuart Moxham, Barbara Manning, Captain Beefhearts main man Gary Lucas, an
array of other acts from Iceland, Australia and all corners of the UK.  Business was good, and it
grew. 
A quick writer of odd pop ditties, one day Dave called in his brother Harry and recorded - in a
single afternoon session - a set of nine demos known.  The story's been related countless times, but within weeks the band was opening for Oasis and found itself being courted by a dozen labels. Their few local shows were undefinable. Dave played guitar and sang, Harry drummed triggered a reel of additional music, often with video backing . . . which dazzled spectators in that pre-laptop era.  After months of negotiations, the band signed a multi-million deal with Almo Sounds, a new label begun by A&M founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss and distributed by Geffen.  It was - and likely still is - the largest deal ever offered to an emerging Chicago musical act. The band engaged in numerous tours to support their self-titled debut, playing with Sean Lennon & Cibo Matto, Blur, Supergrass, and many others, as well as seemingly infinite jaunts to Japan, where Dave and Harry were hailed as heroes of subversive minimalist pop - the ecstatic screams of young fans at the first few notes of Submission To The Master& at first bewildering the brothers.  Suddenly, the Almo Sounds deal with Geffen fell apart at the start of a tour supporting then-current sensations Weezer.  Promotion was pulled; radio support for the first single from the album collapsed in a mere moment. Due to contractual vagaries, the band was allowed to complete a second (unreleased) album just before the label folded.  And that was it, until the news of the 2021 release of Pulsar
Transmissions", a collection of unheard songs and versions that the band recorded before and during their short-term deal.  Rolling Stone offered their self titled debut ;Pulsars as one of the 40 greatest albums ever recorded by an act with one real album:

 

 

PULSARS's Info

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/pulsarsband/?hl=en

X / Twitter:  https://x.com/PulsarsBand

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pulsarsofficial/

 

Dave Hill

Dave Hill is a comedian, writer, musician, actor, radio host, and man-about-town originally from Cleveland, Ohio but now living in New York City in a totally sweet apartment with a party deck and everything. Hot chicks come over to hang out and eat cheese plates and stuff with him all the time and it’s awesome.

 

Anyway, on the show business front, Dave has appeared on Netflix’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Adult Swim's Joe Pera Talks with You Amazon’s The Tick, Peacock TV's Girls5Eva, Comedy Central’s @midnightand Inside Amy Schumer programs, TBS' Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, TV Land's The Jim Gaffigan Show, and TruTV's Comedy Knockout among a bunch of others. He is a frequent on-air host for HBO and Cinemax and has been on channels like MTV, VH1, BBC-America, and the Sundance Channel a whole bunch too. Dave also starred in his own television program The King of Miami on the Mojo Network, which was cancelled even though Dave really liked it. The show also aired in the United Kingdom on Sky TV’s Film24 Channel. And you can still watch The King of Miami on Hulu too, which Dave is super pumped about. Oh, and Dave was a correspondent on Hoppus on Music starring Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus on the Fuse channel, which ruled. Dave has been on other shows and in obscure movies too but let’s keep moving for now.

 

Dave performs live comedy over the world and has appeared at such festivals as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, SXSW, San Francisco Sketchfest, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Sasquatch Festival, Bumbershoot, Bonnaroo, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, the Crap Comedy Festival in Oslo, Outside Lands in San Francisco, and then some other ones too. He has also performed comedy at Sing Sing Correctional Facility twice and even ripped some guitar solos inside a Mexican prison a couple times too. In 2007, Variety magazine named Dave one of their “10 Comedians to Watch,” something he still won’t shut up about. Some things are hard to let go of.

Dave hosted his own radio show The Goddamn Dave Hill Show on WFMU in Jersey City, New Jersey every Monday night from 9pm to midnight for years and now hosts the podcast Dave Hill's Podcasting Incident, which is also broadcast on the UK's Fubar Radio, So...You're Canadian with Dave Hill, and History Fluffer, on which he is joined by Jim Biederman, Jodi Lennon, and Chris Gersbeck. Dave is also a frequent contributor to public radio’s Live from Here with Chris Thile and  This American Life. He has also appeared on podcasts like WTF with Marc Maron, The Adam Carolla Show, The Nerdist, and then roughly 78 other ones besides those.

Dave is the author of four books, including his brand new book The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey, in addition to Parking the Moose (Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House 2019), Tasteful Nudes (St. Martins Press, 2012) and Dave Hill Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Blue Rider Press 2016). He has also written for the New York Times, GQ, Salon, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, New York Observer, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, VICE, Guitar World, and a bunch of other places too. Comedy legend Dick Cavett called Dave “a major figure among American comic writers, past and present,” which is pretty much the coolest thing that has ever happened as far as Dave is concerned.

Dave is also a musician who currently sings and plays guitar in the power pop band Valley Lodge, whose song “Go” is the theme song to HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and the psych/garage rock band Painted Doll. He was also a member of Cleveland rock bands Sons of Elvis and Cobra Verde as well as Diamondsnake, a heavy metal band with Moby. Additionally, Dave has played guitar for Walter Schreifels and muscle metal band Thor and bass for Lucy Wainwright Roche and former Faith No More singer Chuck Mosley. He also contributed musical scores to films such as Dirty Deeds, Shoot First and Pray You Live, and then some other ones besides those two.

Dave's Info 

https://www.davehillonline.com

 

The Frans

The Frans are a public transit-inspired rock band from Cleveland, USA. Their self-titled record was released on March 2nd, 2024. For more information and to become a "Franiac", check us out on social media and other instruments of addiction: https://linktr.ee/thefrans

 

SEP 19TH Gabriel Xavier & The Neon Saints (Album Release Show) Cleveland OH
Link https://www.facebook.com/share/yTKk1L6V2Zuid2Zm/ 

C-Level Frans cross over track link (To Be Here when finished )

Evan Taylor ( Bernie Worrell Orchestra bandleader )

Interview with Evan Taylor  Bernie Worrell Orchestra bandleader.

Evan Taylor whose latest production is the posthumous Bernie Worrell: Wave From The WOOniverse about this release and some of his other diverse musical endeavors.

 

Bernie Worrell: Wave From The WOOniverse is a double album concocted in fourteen cities, issued on 12” LP vinyl a day after Bernie's birthday, (April 19) on Record Store Day 2024 by Org Music in conjunction with Loantaka Records as a Record Store Day “exclusive.” As of June 28 it’s also available via streaming platforms. The release will be accompanied by a bound-to-be viral video of the title track directed by Los Angeles-based dancer, Madeline Riley.

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor has remained behind the scenes for most of his career. He worked in various capacities with Worrell, mike watt, Money Mark, Theresa Wayman (Warpaint), King Tuff, The Chapin Sisters, and Jimmy Destri of Blondie. He has made 1960's country-influenced records with members of Black Flag, participated in eclectic recording projects and performed with practically every member of Talking Heads. Evan’s also released a string of critically acclaimed singles as part of the Art-Rock duo Purple Witch of Culver. 

Evan has never identified with the archetype of “cosmic Funkateer.” He grew up with diverse tastes that ran from The Beach Boys to Prince. As a producer his brand has been “staying off-brand.” In 2022, Taylor was presented with a unique opportunity he felt he had been preparing for his entire career.

Bernie Worrell: Wave From The WOOniverse addresses the abundance of unfinished work Bernie Worrell, a prolific writer and visionary, left behind when he passed away in 2016. These compositions remained untouched for a period of decades, collecting dust on reels of two-inch analog tape. 

 

Eventually, the tapes were re-examined to analyze Bernie’s nuanced and creative method. After a period of deep reflection, the Bernie Worrell estate decided it was time to complete his vision. With a series of Bernie's collaborators, contemporaries, and friends including Bootsy Collins, Sean Ono Lennon, Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), Fred Schneider (B52s), Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Steve Scales, Marc Ribot, Fred Wesley (James Brown, Parliament), Marco Benevento, Stanton Moore (Galactic), Steven Bernstein, Daru Jones (Jack White), Will Calhoun (Living Colour, mike watt, Norwood Fisher (Fishbone), Jared Samuel Elioseff, Kyp Malone and Jaleel Bunton (TV on the Radio),  Binky Griptite (Dap Kings), Nick Montoya, Paul Dooely, Alecia Chakour, Smokey Hormel, Ana Becker, Eric McFadden (Sgt. Splendor), Sarah La Puerta, Michael Rueben and many more innovators his initiative was completed with dedication to preserving the integrity of the magic which makes Bernie a beloved extraordinary soul. Also included on the album is a previously unreleased Funkadelic track, “Contusion,” which showcases Bernie’s masterful work with the group.

 

https://loantaka-records.com/ .

http://evantaylormusic.com.

Sammy Kay The Kilograms

Hailing from New Jersey, singer/songwriter SAMMY KAY has lived the kind of romantic life that can only be found in song. With the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows, KAY returned to his home state after years in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, as well as traveling the world playing in and working for a myriad of bands (Gaslight Anthem and Bouncing Souls among them).

 

The Kilograms 

Joe Gittleman of The Mighty Might Boss tones and  Sammy Kay have formed a new band together called The Kilograms. The band has released their first song called “Who Am I”. The song is off the Black Sand Relief: A Benefit for Michelle Ska and the People of Mauicompilation album. The Kilograms will be releasing a full album soon.

 

Tickets to The Kilograms with C-Level and Rubik's Groove at Mahalls Lakewood OH Sep 4th 

https://mahalls20lanes.com/event/the-kilograms/

Sammy Kay's and The Kilograms info

sammykaynj

july-1960

https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Kilograms-61552101741122/

https://thekilograms.bandcamp.com/album/ep

 

 

Pamela McNeill

Pamela McNeill knew from an early age that music would be her life. She joined her first rock band at 16 and learned quickly how to connect with her audience.

A native of Winona, Minnesota, Pamela resides in Minneapolis. Her career has taken her all over the world including four years in the UK as a backing singer for Rick Astley, performing with him at Royal Albert Hall and The London Palladium for the Royal Family and appearing on many television shows such as BBC’s “Top of the Pops”.

As a prolific songwriter, she wrote her first song at 15 and has written for and with a wide range of other artists including Wynonna Judd, Jim Peterik and Yanni, and has co-written tracks with fellow songwriters such as Pam Tillis and Bobby E. Boyd.

Pamela began releasing albums in 1999 and to date has released seven studio albums. She has headlined theaters and festivals across the country in support of her music and has opened for artists including Etta James, Little River Band, Atlanta Rhythm Section and BTO, to name a few.

Pamela is excited to release "Wave After Wave," her eighth original studio recording on Farm to Label Record, July 26th (color vinyl) and August 2nd (digital). In 2024, she was honored by being inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

 

Pam's Info

https://www.pamelamcneill.com

 

 

Fresh Out Of The Box

Interview with Fresh Out Of The Box a NYC based comedy group. Featuring Abigail Stories, Gene Morgan, Igor Reyes, Josh Sorell, and Matt Leazer. Fresh Out Of The Box is playing in Cleveland at Imposters Theater Aug 12th 7:30PM.

 

SHOW INFO:

https://www.thisiscleveland.com/locations/imposters-theater

Fresh Out Of The Box INFO

https://freshouttheboxcomedy.wordpress.com

https://www.instagram.com/freshouttheboxcomedy/?locale=bz-hans&hl=am-et

 

Fresh out the Box has one of the highest scores on showscore.com for sketch comedy shows on Off-Broadway, Fresh out the Box is one of the most critically acclaimed sketch comedy shows in New York City. Going on tour for the first time, Fresh out the Box will make audiences laugh with its original sketches and great characters. Family friendly entertainment for everyone, FOTB: Always funny, Always Fresh, Same Box. Cast: Gene Morgan, Chrissy Taylor, Josh Sorell, Igor Reyes, Matt Leazer, Olivia Casper, Leah Jansen, Abigail Schories, Shanon Lindsey