One of the two key members of The Turtles has published an autobiography which to say the least is quite entertaining. In today's interview, Howard tells the amazing story of how his band's signature song, "Happy Together", came to be. He also regales us with recollections of his years with Frank Zappa, his involvement in a landmark court case, his band's gig at the White House (yes, that White House), his forays into live, personality radio and more.
Since 1970, Ray Benson has been on the road with one of the most popular and prolific bands in country music. Born in Philadelphia, Benson now bases himself and his band in Austin, Texas where he relocated to in 1973 at the advice of his friend, Willie Nelson. Over 80 world-class musicians have played with Asleep at the Wheel over the years. Van Morrison is the fan who indirectly helped Ray's band get their first record deal.
Today we talk about his tour, his band's history, his big break, his solo efforts and side projects like Big Guitars from Texas, and we even spend a minute talking about his well-devloped cooking talents.
Julian Keith Levene was one of the founding members of The Clash and the creator of Public Image Ltd. His musicianship has also been featured, sometimes without credit, on a slew of releases on Adrian Sherwood's legendary On-U Sound label. Today, we talk about the old days and his new multimedia project, Search 4 Absolute Zero.
John Densmore is best known as the drummer for the Doors. He's currently on tour promoting his new book, The Doors: Unhinged (Jim Morrison's Legacy Goes on Trial). In it, he details the forces which ultimately drove him and the remaining members of the doors apart. One prominent bone of contention was an offer of a considerable sum by General Motors for the use of "Break On Through" in a Cadillac advertisement, and Densmore's objections to it. John and I talk about the book and other things, like alternative energy.
His tour will take him to among other places, Record archive in Rochester, NY on Monday, April 22nd at 5PM.
Don't call him "Joey Shithead" anymore. The once and present front man of D.O.A. is not only still grinding it out onstage, he's got his own record label (Sudden Death Records) and he's branched out into politics. We talk about these things and more in the ensuing 15 minutes.
My exclusive interview with the greatest singer-songwriter you never heard of, Essra Mohawk. Her credits include a hit tune for Cyndi Lauper, Schoolhouse Rock and many cult-favorite albums, at least one of which has sold out every time it's been reissued. Essra and I discuss her music, the business of music, her brief stint with Frank Zappa, and Buddhism.
Today I interview soul legend Lester Chambers from the Chambers Brothers. Here, he talks about the old days, playing with the likes of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and getting stiffed by a very important man at Columbia Records. He's currently recording a new album, which he financed with a Kickstarter campaign, with his new band, The Mudstompers.
This version of my interview is roughly 15 minutes longer than the version I aired on March 6th, 2013.
Mr. Hoskyns recently collected an oral history of everybody's favorite band, Led Zeppelin, in a book titled Led Zeppelin: The Oral History of the World's Greatest Rock Band (in the UK it's called Trampled Underfoot: The Power And Excess of Led Zeppelin). He's also authored many a tome on subjects ranging from American soul music, the sixties LA music scene, and even a brief history of the mullet haircut! He has written for Melody Maker, NME and was US editor of Mojo magazine in the mid 90s. He currently is co-founder and editorial director of Rock's Backpages, an online repository of pretty much any piece of journalism that ever was on any rocker you can think of (a search for "Frank Zappa" yielded over 600 hits!).
Today I interview the former Minutemen, fIREHOSE and current Stooges bassist. Watt is rightly regarded as one of the best bassists in the business, and has his own record label, Clenchedwrench.
Apart from his gigs with the Stooges, he currently has a hand in other interesting projects such as a recently-released concept album by an Italian band.
Mike talks about many things, including that project, his first band The Reactionaries, and how The Minutemen got their name.
Today I interview singer-songwriter, civil-rights-movement troubador, sixties NY art/music scene veteran and Andy Warhol associate Eric Andersen, who is still creating some of the most tuneful and sensitive music out there.
He wrote dozens of pop tunes including many familiar hits. He was the first Vice President of Rock Music at Capitol Records (or any label). On top of all that, he's been called "The Pied Piper of Woodstock [1969]" for being that event's sole promoter.
I speak with Artie about Woodstock, the music business and politics, touching briefly on some deep personal losses which he's suffered.
Once again I interview Greg Ginn, SST Records founder, former Black Flag guitarist (whom Rolling Stone dubbed the 99th best guitarist of the 100 best of all time) and electronic music fan.
Here we discuss his latest album, We Are Amused.
Older interviews are being moved to Archive.org to make room for new ones. You can find them by going to http://archive.org. Type in "doctor B" in the search box at the upper left corner of the page (WITH the quote marks) and select "community audio" from the pull-down menu to the immediate right of the search box. That should get you a clickable list of all of the interviews I've moved to archive.org. Enjoy!
Today I interview world-class drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Beck and many others). He's currently working on a new album by his band, King Kobra. Carmine and I talk about it, how he was inspired by icons such as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich (whom he knew personally), the Internet and how it's influenced the music business for better and worse, his early career with Vanilla Fudge and his studio gig with Pink Floyd.
Remember Wouldn't It Be Nice, I Get Around, Good Vibrations. and God Only Knows? Of course you do!
My latest guest, Al Jardine is currently playing on the 50th Anniversary tour of the band he's a founding member of, The Beach Boys. He's also got a new solo album out, Postcard from California. We discuss those things, along with environmentalism and alternative energy, two of Al's other passions.

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