#gratefuldead

Rich Nesin

Rich Nesin

Like so many of my guests, Rich Nesin started his career with a passion for music and a desire to learn everything he could about the industry. But as we know all too well, a successful career also comes down to right place, right time.  

After starting out as a bass player in local New York bands, Rich quickly found himself working at S.I.R studios in midtown Manhattan, servicing clients like Todd Rundgren, The Dictators, Jim Carroll, and Blue Oyster Cult. His big break came at the start of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, where Nesin got his first real taste of life as a touring professional, making $250 a week as the tour's backline tech. 


Jay Blakesberg

Jay Blakesberg

For close to thirty years, Jay Blakesberg has photographed and befriended the most incredible roster of artists, musicians, tech giants, hippies, rockers, punkers, and concert-goers. He’s published close to 15 books, runs his own publishing company, gives back to his community, and generally leads a pretty cool life.

Aron Michalski

Aron Michalski

This week’s guest is guitar/bass tech Aron Michalski, a New England native who has toured the world a few times over with the likes of Paul Simon, Metallica, the Indigo Girls, Norah Jones, Babyface, Bruce Springsteen, Weezer, and Little Feat, just to name a few.

I caught up with Aron via Skype, while he was on a short break a few weeks ago in-between runs with the Indigo girls. Given the depth of his resume, you can only imagine how deep his story runs, and I’m very excited to share it with you.

Toni Fishman

Toni Fishman

One could argue that if it were not for an unfortunate mishap at Joni Mitchell's home studio, Toni Fishman may never have had the opportunity to re-launch the Telefunken brand. By reverse-engineering the guts of a badly burned microphone from Mitchell's home studio, Toni was able to not only bring the mic back to life, but realized there was a market for people who owned the same microphones and needed them serviced. It all came down to one small plastic switch. 

Jeff Slate

Jeff Slate

Singer-songwriter Jeff Slate is an internationally recognized recording artist and music journalist. He co-founded the band the Mindless Thinkers, founded The Badge and has performed and worked with countless other rock luminaries, including Pete Townshend of The Who, Sheryl Crow and others. His band with David Bowie sideman Earl Slick, and his current band Jeff Slate & Friends, are both mainstays of the Northeast music scene.

Robert Compton

Robert Compton

Robert Compton is no stranger to life-changing events. As you'll hear in our interview, he's had quite a few. In fact, Compton's knack for surviving a few of those events is what's led him to focus his passion and channel his creativity into building guitars out of his home in New Jersey. 

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