Secret Famous

SF 008 - SOLO SHRED, Weed/Rose´/Europe

In this super special episode I hang out with...myself, trying to make YOU laugh talking about the funny parts of marriage, a failed system of paying bills and my list of 13 things europeans do better/cooler/smarter/sexier than those of us in the new world...then release a new song coming out this Thursday April 19, 2018 called: Weed and Rosé. Go towards energy and vibrate with me. 

SF 007 - Charlie Lagond, Saxophonist/Educator

Charlie Lagond has touched the lives of innumerable people by creating a gold standard of music education--and a music community--with his creation of the Lagond Music School, the place to hang, shed, vogue and generally improve yourself as a person in Westchester, NY. The tragedy of all this wonderful stuff is I have to explain to all the students that, even if they start working hard right now, there’s a 98% chance they’ll never be as cool as Charlie Lagond. It’s a fact of life. We are not all created equal. But it’s a tough job and someone has to do it. Charlie’s got stories for days. I could stand to make this a 100 part series.  In this hang, I get a little obsessed with the working musicians scene in the 70s, which was blowing my mind. He's played with and knows...everyone. Dig!

SF 006 - David Heilman, Drummer/Gentleman

When you are hanging out with David Heilman, it often feels like you are a co-star in a movie that would be entitled How to Be Cool. Though I realize my prose is generally humor-filled, I wrote this in the most serious tone: Dave is the epitome of cool, defining the word in his every move, action, thought and groove that he lays down. Spending half his year in Norway, where the native people gave him a nickname, Herremannen, that translates to ‘the gentleman’ (in a country filled with gentlemen) speaks for itself. Here, he tells his inspiring journey from being a road dog with Jupiter One to suddenly becoming Regina Spektor’s drummer, which led to his long and fortuitous relationship with Sondre Lerche and other wonderful Norwegian musicians. He is a natural storyteller, and ends with some life improvement tips.

SF 005 - Rebecca Haviland/Chris Anderson, Whiskey Heart

When the individually excellent musicians Rebecca Haviland and Chris Anderson come together, they morph into one and smash everybody: thankfully they’re married.  In fact, the month they got married, they boarded a pop rocket as the backing band for a rising star.  Here, they discuss how they use a timer to achieve “the division of business time and pleasure time” in their relationship, why they never have to rehearse, and how Rebecca losing her voice was a blessing in disguise for their songwriting. The real highlight is the playful interactions between the two of them--they share a lot of love, and jokes.  They are currently opening for iconic folk titan Martin Sexton and releasing a new album this spring.

SF 004 - Ric Molina, Guitarist/Legend

One of the secret passwords among professional guitarists in NYC is Ric Molina. After invoking his name, a mandatory 20 minute geek out/worship session is required. Ric is a master musician, storyteller, and motivator who also teaches ‘for fun.’ He has had an incredible career in NYC: book one guitarist in the broadway juggernaut Wicked, writing music for The Electric Company, and backing up artists like Andrea Boccelli, Mariah Carey, Marc Anthony, to name a few. Here, he tells some stories of funny interactions with idols like Santana and Joe Pass, road stories of when he MD’ed 98 degrees in the heyday of the boy band era and the definition of ‘show chops.’

SF 003 - Greg Mayo, Musical Genius/Movie Nerd

Greg Mayo is rock'n'roll royalty--from sitting in with Hall and Oates at age 8 on drums at Jones Beach to his current gig of being Bon Jovi's guitarist. Son of the late, great Bob Mayo, he grew up inside of the music. Here he tells stories of explaining to his mom that she was wasting her time getting him piano lessons because he was going to be a baseball player and the struggles of tremendous personal tragedies he's had to work though to become the ultimate "old school meets modern" musician.

SF 002 - Pete Francis, Rock Star/Poet

Pete Francis can take a 10 mintue guitar solo in front of 30,000 people, then seamlessly sing/write an intimate love and loss ballad AND THEN produce/conceptualize/art direct whole new movements of media consumption. To try and use words to explain his visions seems fruitless, he's on some next level shit. He is also a great human, who is always up for a new adventure OR someone I can call at 12:30am to geek out about the newest record/pedal/book/between two ferns video. We sit down, with acoustic guitars to check in on current projects, songwriting ideas, look back at some early dispatch stories and play a brand new tune 'Electric Heart' and revisit the first song he played for Brad and Chad. 

SF 001 - Jason Wexler, Keyboard Player/Producer

Paul Maddison sits down with super musician/rad dude Jason Wexler in his home studio in Staten Island, NY and we discuss what made him choose music, how to shred, his cool gigs with Alice Tan Ridley, Kate Merrill, Stolar and his children’s music project, Jason Amazing.