Boston Harold Podcast

Hello and welcome to the Boston Harold Video Podcast .  My very special guest today is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jorma Kaukonen, best known as a founding member of both Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.  JORMA KAUKONEN INTERVIEW via Zoom  (April 1, 2021) (Coarse language) It was an honor to speak with Mr. Kaukonen, someone whom I've admired since the early 1970s. When Jorma appeared on my Zoom feed for the interview, he immediately put me at ease. This was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've ever conducted.  (Fur Peace Ranch Records) Jorma was up for anything, so not only did we discuss some of his current projects (The new album The River Flows with John Hurlbut, the Fur Peace Ranch, his Quarantine Concert Series on You Tube, and his Psylodelic Gallery), but we also took a deep dive into the past. Jorma talked about the Airplane, Tuna, jamming with Little Richard and Carlos Santana, hanging with Paul McCartney c. 1966, playing a rooftop gig jus...

Hello, and welcome to the Boston Harold Video Podcast. Today's special guest is musician and music journalist Michael Simmons, here for a return visit.  Simmons is first and foremost a singer-songwriter. He was also an editor of the National Lampoon , and I first saw Michael, with his band Slewfoot, as part of a National Lampoon r evue in 1977.  He has collaborated with, among others, Kinky Friedman, Steve Goodman, Mountain's  Corky Laing,  and Bob Dylan sidemen  Tony Garnier, Howie Wyeth, Rob Stoner and Larry Campbell.  Simmons can be seen in a documentary  about Larry and his wife, Teresa Williams, titled It Was The Music .  Boston Harold Video Podcast via Zoom, March 10, 2021 As a music journalist, Michael has written for Mojo magazine, the Huffington Post , and L.A. Weekly . He has also penned the liner notes for albums by Michael Bloomfield, Kris Kristofferson, Kinky Friedman, a tribute to Mose Allison, the U.K. compila...

On today's Boston Harold Podcast , my special guest is musician Scarlet Rivera . Ms Rivera is most well known as Bob Dylan's violinist in 1975-6. She collaborated with him in the studio for the Desire sessions, on stage as a member of the Rolling Thunder Revue, on television for the Hard Rain primetime special, and on film for the movies Renaldo & Clara and Martin Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue - A Bob Dylan Story ,  streaming on Netflix, and now available for purchase as a DVD or Blu-Ray. That's not to mention her appearances on the numerous live Rolling Thunder Revue releases. Scarlet Rivera interview via Zoom, January 13, 2021 During our conversation, we discussed her rebellious childhood, early musical leanings, playing with Dylan - and only Dylan - in the Rolling Thunder Revue, jamming with Muddy Waters, then visiting Victoria Spivey in Brooklyn (one of the rare factual events depicted in the film), Scarlet's inspirational Rolling Thunder makeup, her t...

Credit: Louie Kemp ( Westrose Press) On today's Boston Harold Video Podcast , my special guest is Louie Kemp, the head of the Louis Kemp Seafood Company, and lifelong friend of Bobby Zimmerman.  Louie Kemp interview via Zoom, January 12, 2021 When Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan, went back on tour with The Band in 1974 after an almost 8-year hiatus, Louie sat on stage every night. The following year, Dylan asked Louie to promote his legendary Rolling Thunder Revue tours of the mid-1970s.  In 2019, Mr. Kemp published his memoir, Dylan & Me - 50 Years of Adventures . He can also be seen in the Martin Scorsese film, Rolling Thunder Revue - A Bob Dylan Story , now streaming on Netflix, and also available for purchase as a Criterion Blu-Ray and DVD.  Credit: Criterion  In my interview with Mr. Kemp, we discussed what is was like growing up in Minnesota in the 1940s and 50s, the Jewish summer camp where Bobby and Louie met, seeing one of Buddy Holly's last eve...

Author Elizabeth Thomson on her new Joan Baez biography, updating the Dylan/Shelton book, and more (Boston Harold Video Podcast) B y Harold Lepidus ©   November 5, 2020   On today’s Boston Harold Video Podcast ,  my special guest is journalist and author Elizabeth Thomson.      Ms Thomson’s accomplishments include restoring critic and mentor Robert Shelton’s original manuscript for his book, No Direction Home - The Life and Music of Bob Dylan ; compiling anthologies of writings about Dylan, John Lennon, and David Bowie; her (Covid-excluded) annual Village Trip Festival, which celebrates “ the history and heritage of New York’s Greenwich Village;” interviews and articles for numerous publications; and much more, a list of which which can be found on her website .     I first interviewed Ms Thomson in 2011 about the expanded Shelton biography of Dylan - which was included in my book, Friends and Other Strangers: Bob Dylan Examined . This ...

 BOSTON HAROLD PODCAST: Talkin' with journalist Steve Marinucci about the Beatles, Monkees, Johnny Carson, the Who, and Strat-O-Matic. By Harold Lepidus (c) 2020  On today’s Boston Harold Video Podcast , my special guest is music journalist and Beatles columnist Steve Marinucci. Mr. Marinucci inspired me to return to writing about music at the end of the last century.  In this wide ranging interview, we discuss Steve’s early authoritative Beatles website AbbeyRd , growing up in the Boston area, building his own website, how he became a journalist, interactions with people in the Beatles inner and outer circle, seeing the legendary 1973 concert by the Who at the Cow Palace when Keith Moon passed out, meeting and/or interviewing each of the individual Monkees, attending two tapings of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on his honeymoon, surviving a San Francisco earthquake while attending a Giants game, and much more. Mr. Marinucci is a freelance writer, featured in...

G.E. Smith on Dylan, "Bob-Fest," subverting the RNC, supporting Biden, his new album, Friday's webcast, and more  (Boston Harold Video Podcast) October 28, 2020 By Harold Lepidus ©  On today’s Boston Harold Video Podcast , I welcome guitarist G.E. Smith, who first came to prominence as the lead guitarist in the Hall & Oates band from 1979 to 1985, when they were churning out hits like “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go For That,” and “Maneater.”  From 1985 to 1995, he was the musical director for Saturday Night Live . He’s collaborated with David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, and Roger Waters, among many others, played at Live-Aid , and was the musical director for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concer t. Most people reading this, however, know him as Bob Dylan’s guitarist from 1988 to 1990, at the beginning of the so-called “never-ending tour.” Smith was also the musical director for Dylan’s legendary 30th Anniversary Concert ...