Rex-A-Vision:The Podcast

After a torturous couple years, the show...like the music scene itself...is back! And we aren't gonna waste anytime!  Paul Janeway is the gospel tinged lead singer of the southern Gothic soul funk band St. Paul & The Broken Bones, stops in for an extended chat about the band's epic fourth album The Alien Coast! It's a fun look into a dark psychedelic direction that sees the band stretching to new, incredible dynamics.  For the second half of the show we talk with Andrew O'Brien from Live For Live Music about the hard work it takes keeping a music site going in the midst of a world wide music shut down and how happy he is that, once again, the music he lives for is playing!

We welcome the esteemed Mayor of moe.down Frank Robbins (Guitar tech for moe. & Hall & Oates) back to the podcast for a little advice on surviving the pandemic lock down, how he's staying productive, what it was like seeing moe. his night off and much much more! We tried to have us a lil fun as we are trapped in our houses scrolling through our NetFlix choices. Dig it!

Our hosts Freekbass & Rex-A-Vision talk about the state of super-hero movies, get hyped for The Batman and the lack of hype for the recent Birds Of Prey flick. They also talk a bit about the realities of the global interruption in the production process and the fun still yet to come. Dig it!

For our "Season 3" debut bassist Ben Kaufmann of Yonder Mountain String Band and I celebrate our tenth interview over the last decade with a wide ranging discussion covering everything from new mandolin player Nick Piccininni, (Formerly of Floodwood) The role of musicians and live music events in politics, the upcoming gathering of stars at the always gorgeous Northwest String Summit and the perils of hundred year old sewage drains. And I say some goofy stuff because that is what I do! So glad to be back!

This week our hosts Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision run through the impressive slate of DC films scheduled over the next three years. From Birds Of Prey to Wonder Woman, The Batman, Suicide Squad 2, Black Adam, Shazam 2 and The Flash we'll talk about the excellent live action agenda they have put together, as well as some of their animated offerings. Dig it!

This week our hosts dive deep into the trio of awesome trailers that dropped for Gal Gadot's incredible looking Wonder Woman 1984, Amazon Prime's returning series of super hero scumbaggery The Boys and a creepy looking return for the Ghostbusters franchise with the always likable Paul Rudd! Our resident comic geek Rex-A-Vision breaks down who some of the characters in the WW trailer are, with some predictions on story direction. Freekbass gives well earned props to Todd Phillips and the Joker movie Golden Globes nods. All that and a discussion of whether we are in a golden age of story telling (Spoiler alert: We are!) Dig it!

This week our hosts Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision deep dive into the new Marvel Cinematic Universe Scarlett Johansson Black Widow trailer as Rex goes full comic geek to discuss some potential plot points suggested by the characters in the clip, they discuss the Watchmen HBO show's controversial episode from Sunday, laugh at Robert Pattinson's thoughts on whether Batman is a super hero, Henry Cavill's Superman future and more! Dig it!

This week we look at the launch of Disney+, the new Star Wars universe based series The Mandalorian, The Rock announcing the new Black Adam movie and their hopes for that franchise, Henry Caville saying he has more Superman left in him and more!

Today's guest is the inspiring Hilary Gleason! She and the other co-founders of Backline decided to take her sadness from recent tragedies in the music scene and channel it into Backline.cares. Backline is an initiative aimed at helping touring musicians, road crews, tour managers and their respective families deal with the stress of life on the road while dealing with mental health issues. Joined by co-founders Kendall Deflin Corso and Tory Pitarelli she called together an all-star team of music industry workers to act as a brain trust in launching this new initiative. It was my distinct pleasure to talk with her about Backline and I hope you find our chat as inspiring as I did! You can reach Backline at their site, https://backline.care/ Please...if you are having trouble dealing with any issues and are fighting despair reach out to them or any of the public health lines like the Suicide Prevention Hotline. You are loved and needed. Call 1-800-273-8255 Available 24 hours everyday

This week our hosts Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision look at The Batman casting announcements and rumors, the just announced Green Lantern and Adam Strange/Strange Adventures shows on the way on HBO Max, Marvel's ramping up of their movie release schedule, the start of Falcon and Winter Soldier filming, Rex gets grumpy about Martin Scorsese getting grumpy and much much more! Dig it!

Keller Williams is the festival scene's Renaissance man and court jester rolled into one smiling package! As a multi-instrumentalist of the highest order he is equally at home on the guitar, bass, sequencing pedals and the always entertaining "Making horn noises with your mouth" thing. When you factor those skills in with his ability to effortlessly leapfrog from genre to genre Keller Williams is the perfect act to play at any festival. Whether with his funk band More Than A Little, his bluegrass partnership with recent Rex-A-Vision guests Larry & Jenny Keel, his willingness to work with anyone named Andy to occasionally fronting the entirety of the String Cheese Incident Keller Williams is a Swiss Army knife of awesome! On a personal note, Keller is one of the original reasons I fell into the Jam scene and my love for his quirky personality and positive energy knows no bounds! This is, to date, my favorite chat just out of sheer love for the subject! Enjoy! Nov. 2 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony (solo) Nov. 4 – Broomfield, CO – 1st Bank Center (Jeff Austin Benefit) Nov. 7 – Edmonds, WA – Edmonds Center for the Arts (solo and PettyGrass ft. the Hillbenders) Nov. 8 – Bremerton, WA – Admiral Theatre (PettyGrass ft. the Hillbenders) Nov. 9 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom (PettyGrass ft. the Hillbenders) Nov. 10 – Bend, OR – Tower Theatre (PettyGrass ft. the Hillbenders) Nov. 14 – Pawtucket, RI – The Met (solo) Nov. 15 – South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground Ballroom (solo) Nov. 16 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club (solo) Nov. 22 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf (solo) Nov. 23 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre (Keller & The Keels, Grateful Grass) Nov. 29 – Richmond, VA – The National (Thanksforgrassgiving ft. Keller & the Keels) Nov. 30 – Washington, DC – The Hamilton (Thanksforgrassgiving ft. Keller & the Keels) Dec. 5 – Brevard, NC – 185 King Street (Keller Williams Trio ft. Jeff Sipe and Gibb Droll) Dec. 6 – Carrboro, NC – The Arts Center (solo) Dec. 7 – Lynchburg, VA – Joy & Lynch Christian Warehouse Theatre (solo) Dec. 13 – Keystone, CO – Warren Station (“rock it” w/Keith Moseley, Gibb Droll & Jeff Sipe) Dec. 14 – Keystone, CO – Warren Station (“funk it” w/More Than A Little) Dec. 17 – Savannah, GA – Southbound Brewing (solo) Dec. 28 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West (solo) Dec. 30 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House (Keller & the Keels) Dec. 30 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House (Grateful Grass)  

Larry & Jenny Keel have been on my guest wish list since before I even started the podcast and this fun and funny episode shows why I knew they would be awesome guests! They're a fiercely talented husband and wife jamgrass team that has left music fans shell shocked for more than a decade and there is no stopping them. Their new album, One, is a truly impressive disc and we have the title track embedded in the episode so you can see why you should buy it right now! Larry is one of the finest flat pickers alive and Jenny literally beams loving energy as she play and it is a true pleasure for them to stop by for a short chat on their way to my home, the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park for a weekend of musical insanity at the Suwannee Roots Revival!

Joker was finally released to a psychotic clown starved audience and our hosts (Especially Freekbass!) couldn't be more excited to go all in with a SPOILER filled review. To help our hosts break down this amazing film the recruited Zaki Hasan, noted film reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and co-host of the exception MovieFilm podcast to give them a lil boost of their bonafides! Joaquin Phoenix  gives an award worthy performance as the fabled title character and that, plus the rest of this challenging, gorgeously shot film, is given a thorough dissection in this excellent new episode! Dig it!

We return from hiatus with a returning guest, Andrew McConathy of The Drunken Hearts, as well as promoter of the awesome Yarmony Music Festival! Since we last spoke with him this years festival kicked all the ass and his band's new record, Wheels Of The City, is all ready to drop on October 18th worldwide on LoHi Records. We even have a track, "Unrest," for you to check out and a really uplifting story in the outro to boot! Dig it!  

This episode ours hosts Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision react to the news the Disney and Sony fixed their Spider-Man sharing issues, the new Birds of Prey trailer that dropped, look at the news and rumors on the upcoming Marvel and DC movies and Rex shares a few thoughts on the series finale of Preacher. Dig it! 

Today Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision go through the casting and plot rumors around the upcoming Matt Reeves directed Robert Pattinson starring Batman movie before going on a deep dive into the Disney + Marvel live action shows like Falcon & The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, She Hulk, Moon Knight and more! Lots of fun theories and hopes for the future of this bold step in the MCU! Dig it!

In this issue our fearless hosts Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision talk some of the Marvel rumors like Robert Downey Jr. maybe not being done as Tony Stark & the Silver Surfer movie, the cast of the James Gunn written and directed Suicide Squad sequel and more before diving into the mess between Disney & Sony over Spider-Man and the social media blow back on the much anticipated Joker film! 

Today we're gonna talk with Dr. Charlie Kautz, a guy who specializes in keeping touring musicians and crew healthy and functional. Playing instruments and lifting gear, combined with all the perils of travel like cramped conditions, poor food choices and the ever present lack of water can wear the body down and make these folks waaaay more subject to stress and injuries so his work is ever so important. We chat about his move and new shingle in Nashville, his best tips for good health and the ever popular question for me..."How did we meet?" Dig it!  

Today's guest, guitar playing living lightning bolt Jon Stickley leads the bluegrass/jazz/rock improvisational band The Jon Stickley Trio along with previous guest and fiddler extraordinaire Lyndsay Pruett and beat master Hunter Deacon through a wild array of songs and styles as they tour the country. We chatted about the power of trios, the definition of flat picking, his love for Suwannee and even manage to slip his band's latest single, Animate Object, into the episode! Dig it!  

Our hosts Freekbass and Rex-A-Vision pop of the week long hiatus for a special emergency podcast to discuss the just released epic Joaquin Phoenix Joker trailer! The guys go deep as they breakdown almost every scene, chat about the Zazie Beetz, Marc Maron and the living legend Robert Deniro character reveals from the new clip. Check out the discussion as Freek finally gets the epic trailer he has been dying for and Rex delights in Thomas Wayne finally manning up! Dig it!