Vato Gonzalez

Listen to "rBeatz Music Update Vato Gonzalez On Dirty House" on Spreaker. I'm sure I'll be challenged by this but at no other time in music history has there be so much exploration. Without the need for overbearing big business labels a new age of producers have risen from the inspirations and influences of where music has been since the age of technology becoming affordable for everybody. Vato Gonzalez calls his dot on the map Dirty House. His latest release on rBeatz Radio is Bassline Riddim.

Chris Whipple

Listen to "Chris Whipple The Gatekeepers" on Spreaker. What do Dick Cheney and Rahm Emanuel have in common? Aside from polarizing personalities, both served as chief of staff to the president of the United States—as did Donald Rumsfeld, Leon Panetta, and a relative handful of others. The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers," wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and—most crucially—enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Each chief can make or break an administration, and each president reveals himself by the chief he picks. Through extensive, intimate interviews with all seventeen living chiefs and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, showing us how James Baker’s expert managing of the White House, the press, and Capitol Hill paved the way for the Reagan Revolution—and, conversely, how Watergate, the Iraq War, and even the bungled Obamacare rollout might have been prevented by a more effective chief. Filled with shrewd analysis and never-before-reported details, The Gatekeepers offers an essential portrait of the toughest job in Washington. This book couldn’t be more timely: As Whipple argues, from the beginning Donald Trump’s presidency has been a textbook case of how NOT to run a government. From botched executive orders to internecine warfare among the senior White House staff, the Trump administration has been marked by dysfunction and disarray. As White House chief of staff, it is Reince Priebus’s responsibility to communicate the president’s message clearly – it is not the press secretary’s or the director of communications (a job still unfilled in the Trump White House) or anyone else’s. It is also Priebus’s job to make sure that the president, the Defense Secretary and Secretary of State are on the same page. So far it’s not happening. In The Gatekeepers, Whipple explains how every president needs an empowered chief of staff in order to govern effectively. This is especially true for an outsider president like Trump, with no governing experience. As Whipple’s book shows, modern history is littered with the wreckage of presidencies who failed to understand this lesson. By contrast, every successful president has understood the importance of a strong chief (Ronald Reagan knew that he needed a consummate Washington insider, James Baker, in order to get things done). From Watergate to the Iran-contra affair to the Iraq War to the bungled roll-out of Obamacare, Whipple brings fresh insights that he can discuss in an interview could not be more important or timely right now.

Clive Standen

Listen to "Clive Standen From NBC's Taken" on Spreaker. Clive Standen stars as Bryan Mills, a former Green Beret who deals with a personal tragedy that shakes his world, in NBC’s upcoming action thriller series “Taken.” Standen has created a strong foothold in Hollywood, starring in several critically acclaimed television series. He currently stars in History’s break-out scripted series “Vikings” as Rollo, a fearsome warrior with a wild impulsive streak and brother of Ragnar. Standen’s next film project is “Patient Zero,” co-starring Matt Smith, Natalie Dormer and Stanley Tucci. Set for release in 2017, this drama takes place after an unprecedented global pandemic has turned the majority of humankind into violent Infected, and a man gifted with the ability to speak the Infected’s new language leads the last survivors on a hunt for Patient Zero and a cure. Standen is well known for his portrayal of Sir Gawain in the Starz original series “Camelot,” alongside Joseph Fiennes and Eva Green, and his starring role in the BBC America series “Robin Hood.” Prior to that he played Private Carl Harris in the award-winning sci-fi BBC series “Doctor Who” and starred in the drama “Operation Barras” about the infamous SAS mission in Sierra Leon. In film, Standen most recently starred in “Everest,” opposite Kiera Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright and Josh Brolin, and in “Hammer of the Gods.” Trained as an actor at the National Youth Theatre, National Youth Music Theatre and London Academy of Dramatic Art, Standen appeared in theatrical roles at the Royal Albert Hall and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, as well as in the critically acclaimed revival of Tom Stoppard’s “The Invention of Love.” Born on a British Army base in Northern Ireland, Standen moved to England at the age of 5. He discovered stunt work and sword fighting, and by his teens was working as part of a professional stunt team, mastering skills such as horse riding, jousting and swordplay. A keen martial artist, he also studied Muay Thai boxing and quickly became the undefeated national champion. He currently resides in London with his wife and three children. ABOUT TAKEN, MONDAYS AT 10/9 ON NBC From Executive Producer Luc Besson ("Taken," "The Fifth Element") comes a modern-day, edge-of-your-seat thriller that follows the origin story of younger, hungrier former Green Beret Bryan Mills (Clive Standen, "Vikings") as he deals with a personal tragedy that shakes his world. As he fights to overcome the trauma of the incident and exact revenge, Mills is pulled into a career as a deadly CIA operative, a job that awakens his very particular, and very dangerous, set of skills. In 30 years, this character is destined to become the Bryan Mills that we've come to love from the "Taken" films. The cast includes Jennifer Beals, Gaius Charles, Brooklyn Sudano, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Michael Irby, James Landry Hébert and Jose Pablo Cantillo. Alexander Cary serves as writer and executive producer. Luc Besson, Matthew Gross, Edouard de Vésinne, Thomas Anargyros and director Alex Graves also executive produce.

Losing Our Soundtracks

Listen to "Losing Our Soundtracks" on Spreaker. As of late. Many of us have shared one thing in common. Though the news headlines are cracked. The price of food and medicines continue to grow and the world feels like it's tilting. The one thing as a community that we are having a difficult time dealing with is the loss of our soundtracks. We grasp the concept of birth, living then passing. But what we didn't prepare for is the large number of musicians, actors, authors and other people of fame that helped shape us are moving to the next level. As a kid we'd laugh about death coming in threes. I honestly don't think that's true anymore. I paged through my daily writing and came across something written in January of 2016. A year has gone by. I still feel the impact of hearing the news about Glenn Frey of the Eagles soaring off to another mountain top. I may have written about it to help heal the moment in 2016. But a year later I see it as maybe more of us should be documenting the days of why the artists that became our soundtrack had such an impact. There'll be a day when you'll want to remember but because you didn't write it down. It's gone forever.

Jessica Shattuck

Listen to "Jessicsa Shattuck The Women In The Castle" on Spreaker. Set in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE is the Nazi resisters behind the failed plot to assassinate Hitler, are executed. As the fighting concludes, the women and their children must band together and form a makeshift family to survive the devastating aftermath of the war and attempt to rebuild Germany. Author JESSICA SHATTUCK's previous novels have been hailed across mainstream media, winning accolades from The New York Times Book Review (“witty and promising”), the Los Angeles Times (“pitch-perfect”), People (“stylish storytelling and sharp social commentary”), NPR (“sharp . . . lively . . . wry”), and many other outlets. With THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE, she stretches her already impressive narrative talents to create her boldest and most ambitious novel to date—one that is propulsive, provocative, panoramic, and richly peopled. Partly inspired by Shattuck's own family’s history – THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE grapples with big ideas: good vs. evil; the power of propaganda and divisive rhetoric; issues of moral accountability and political resistance; and, ultimately, whether redemption is ever really possible. Building on the great tradition of beloved World War II stories, such as Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader, while combining the moral complexity and evocative prose of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See with the female focus and tick-tock narrative of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, this new book is a mesmerizing, important book during these times of great political upheaval and polarization, and the moral questions at the heart of it feel more relevant (and necessary) than ever. Stretching back to the 1920s and the beginning of the Nazi era, Shattuck’s story moves through the rise of Hitler, the war years, the immediate postwar period, and into the 1990s (when her three main characters all have American descendants) to address a fundamental moral question: who saw clearly what was happening and who didn’t—or chose not to see—and what, if anything, did they do to resist? With meticulously researched, authentic detail, Shattuck connects us viscerally to the people of this tumultuous time, allowing us to feel its echoes in our own, as only the best historical and literary fiction can do. Epic yet intimate, THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE is, in part, based on the lives of Shattuck’s German grandparents, who were both early supporters of the Nazis but claimed not to know about the Holocaust and other atrocities until the end of the war. Her character Ania, in fact, is loosely based on her grandmother. In addition, Shattuck drew on the experiences of several real-life widows of resisters whom were longtime family friends. The single incident that moved Shattuck to undertake her new novel, more than any other, was stumbling across a picture of her grandfather in Nazi uniform. Although she had known of his past, seeing this visual confirmation jolted her emotionally. Like millions of other ordinary Germans, Shattuck’s grandparents were drawn to what she calls the “perverse idealism” of Nazism in its early years, before the complete extent of its viciousness and depravity became known. Yet, as is evident in her novel, Shattuck believes that in many ways it would have been impossible not to have a full grasp on what was happening by the latter years of the war.

Felicia Day

Listen to "Felicia Day From Mystery Science Theater" on Spreaker. Felicia Day is a professional actress who has appeared in numerous mainstream television shows and films, currently recurring on the CW show "Supernatural", and recently completing a two-season arc on the SyFy series "Eureka". However, Felicia is best known for her work in the web video world, behind and in front of the camera. She co-starred in Joss Whedon’s Internet musical “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” which was ranked in the “Top 10 Best TV of 2008” by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine and won an Emmy in 2009. She also created and starred in the hit web series “The Guild,” which has won numerous awards for web video excellence, most recently garnering a PGA nomination for best web series in 2011. She has expanded the brand into numerous merchandizing opportunities, including a hit comic book series with Dark Horse Comics. Her production company Knights of Good produced the innovative web series “Dragon Age” in conjunction with EA/Bioware in 2011 and in 2012 she launched a funded YouTube channel called Geek & Sundry. Since launching in April 2012, the channel has garnered over one million subscribers and over 200 million views. In 2014, the company was sold to Legendary Entertainment. She continues to write, produce and appear in web content of all types. ABOUT THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 2000, 14 EPISODES PREMIERING APRIL 14TH ON NETFLIX Kinga Forrester and her loyal henchman, Max, have revived the infamous experiment started by Kinga’s father twenty-nine years earlier: How many bad movies does it take to drive a person mad? In this latest reiteration of the show, her test subject is Jonah Heston, a space pilot for Gizmonic Institute, who gets trapped responding to a distress call from the dark side of the moon. Confined aboard the Satellite of Love, Jonah lives with his robot friends, Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot. Confronted with Kinga’s choices in torturous films, they band together and ward off lunacy by continuously riffing on the movies in rapid-fire succession.

Yellow Claw

Listen to "rBeatz Music Update Yellow Claw Keeps It On Humble" on Spreaker. All those large lights, hard bass beats and music starving fans. Then what? Rarely do we get the backstage pass to see the festival DJ's and performers evolve back into their real selves. Yellow Claw takes us there. Their latest release on rBeatz Radio is Good Day.