Paul Myers is one of those do-it-all guys: author of the new John Candy: A Life in Comedy, host of the Record Store Day Podcast (which he also writes, produces, engineers and composes the music for), radio and TV host, musician, and author of books about Kids in the Hall, Long John Baldry, Barenaked Ladies and the one that hooked me on his work, A Wizard, a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio. We dig into Candy’s life, an inspirational story and cautionary tale that makes you laugh and breaks your heart. We also flash back on Paul Myers’ years growing up in Toronto with his Beatles/Monty Python-loving parents from Liverpool and his brothers, including writer/performer Mike Myers. How did he wind up becoming a musician, writer and radio/TV/podcast host? What have been his biggest podcasting thrills? And what are his picks for the upcoming Record Store Day Black Friday? (Photo by Liza Algar)
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Jonathan Segel (Camper Van Beethoven)
After Camper Van Beethoven performed the final show of its recent tour in Washington, D.C.—and perhaps its last show ever—violinist/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Segel returned to Stockholm, Sweden, where he has lived for the past 13 years. Segel is well traveled as a musician and otherwise, having been born in Marseille, France, grown up in Davis, Calif., and played with Sparklehorse as well as the Øresund Space Collective and on solo projects. He was a key element, if not the sparkplug, in the classic Camper Van Beethoven lineup until, he says, frontman David Lowery dismissed him before the band recorded Key Lime Pie and then broke up altogether. Segel recalls how he found his place in a band that would shift from ska to klezmer music to crunching rock within a few measures. He describes the band's rise, his departure, how he and Lowery patched things up and whether the far-flung bandmates might record or perform together again. (Photo by Bengt Alm)
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Tom Morello
This conversation with Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist-songwriter Tom Morello took place immediately after the final preview of the new punk-metal-hip-hop musical, Revolution(s) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Little did Morello, whose music propels the show, and playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn know when they began work on Revolution(s) that it would be opening in a freshly militarized Chicago. With characteristic passion and insight, Morello reflects on his history of writing politically charged music and weighs the impact it still might have. He also digs into how he got such mind-bending sounds from a guitar and became an artist in the process; what he learned from touring and recording with Bruce Springsteen; how he spearheaded Black Sabbath’s final all-star “Back to the Beginning” show just 17 days before Ozzy Osborne died; and what happened when Morello told off Cubs ownership from a benefit concert stage in 2014.
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Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick, an author I've long admired, wrote the definitive Elvis Presley biographies Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love and has returned with The Colonel and the King. Drawing on fresh research and volumes of previously unseen letters, the author casts new light on Colonel Tom Parker, an identity-changing Dutch immigrant who became Presley’s manager for life. Guranick’s complex portrait of Colonel (not “the Colonel”) will surprise anyone who thinks of him as an all-controlling ripoff artist. Here, Guralnick discusses his own relationship with Parker and bats around questions such as how Colonel’s constant deal-making affected Elvis’s artistry. Was Colonel exploiting his client or doing what he had to do to keep the free-spending singer afloat? What roles did each of their addictions play in their professional relationship? Guralnick’s expertise and enthusiasm on these topics is unrivaled. (Photo by Mike Leahy)
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Peter Orner
I’ve been a Peter Orner fan for a long time, appreciating how—whether he’s writing short stories, novels or essays—he makes every word count. Stories and chapters are short, sentences lean, zero fat. His justly acclaimed new novel, The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter, springs from the apparent 1963 murder of Karyn “Cookie” Kupcinet, the real-life daughter of Chicago Sun-Times columnist and TV personality Irv “Kup” Kupcinet and his wife, Essie. The narrator is an author whose grandparents had been close to the Kupicinets, as Orner’s grandparents were. The Chicago Tribune’s Christopher Borelli calls The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter “the most Chicago novel I’ve ever read.” What drove Orner to blur fiction with fact in this particular past? How much is he messing with us? Has anyone reacted about the real-life figures portrayed, not always complimentarily? In this lively conversation, Orner still makes every word count. (Photo by Ricardo Siri)
There may be nothing more inspiring and entertaining than relaxed, candid conversations among creative people. Mark Caro, a relentlessly curious journalist and on-stage interviewer, loves digging into the creative process with artists and drawing out surprising stories that illuminate the work that has become part of our lives. The Caropopcast is for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the music, movies, food and culture that they love.
USA