Play It Forward Episode Two Rudy Paris

Listen to "Play It Forward Episode Two Rudy Paris" on Spreaker. Hey it’s Arroe. Welcome to my new podcast series Play It Forward. A look at the unexpected changes endured by entertainers, writers, camera people and all others affected but not infected by the global invasion of the Coronavirus. The goal is to feature two different types of episodes. The individual conversations as well as a collected array of the entire picture. Modern day journalism with no rules. Real people. Real stories. The struggle to Play It Forward. Episode Two: Rudy Paris. I first crossed paths with this California raised singer songwriter in November of 2015. He was on a radio station tour pushing brand new lyrics and beats. The very second he stepped into the studio both of us knew it would be a different kind of conversation. And it’s never changed. It’s always been about answering the call. Which Rudy sees as being why we’re currently moving through some of the roughest waters ever in the world of creativity. Playing it Forward for Him is making sure he stays focused and connected to a much higher power and delivery.

Social Distance

Listen to "Social Distance" on Spreaker. Well that didn't take very long. I hear something like social distance and without a doubt the mind body and soul wants to dig in deep and locate a spiritual explanation. In doing so I begin to ask questions. Lots of them. Most of the replies have been locked into the typical, "What do you mean and where are you going with this?" Social distance is a must. We have to live with it as our present place of Now. Without it we face moments even darker than what 146 nations around the world are enduring. Your social distance cannot become a social disconnection. That's been extremely heavy on my heart since the reality of all of this set in less than a week ago. We're already the generation that doesn't mind Ghosting family and friends on the social media. What happens when social distancing evolves into the everyday pattern? Schools, businesses, restaurants, bars and other places of socializing are closed. Here sits the internet. You can't hear my vocal inflection. Your heart will paint for you an assumption as to what mood I'm in or trying to set. Which is why it's so important that human interaction has got to be physical phone conversations. Face to face time on the phone looking at each others actions and reactions is vital to our steps growing forward. On this podcast I am transparent on how important it is to not let go of whatever you believe in. Whether it's the universe, God, Buddha, Shamanism, Hinduism... Whatever you believe, each of us are now the student. We are to learn from this without hoarding the experience. Let this unexpected change in global energy serve as a place of lessons that shall be used to teach in the years and decades in front of us. And on this walk if you shall stop, stumble and begin to doubt you must have a backup plan, place, person or area in your personal life that you can retreat to so that your social distance doesn't become a social disconnection. Churches all over the world have utilized the strength of the internet by way of posting thousands of messages from other books of experience. A daily diet of learning from them will help keep your present place of Now focused on how your Now is being used. Create a blog. Build a podcast, video or other shape of communication. We can't place ourselves in a world where we don't know what's happening on the other side of each others walls of social distance.

Jason Diakite

Listen to "Jason Timbukto Diakite Releases The Book Drop Of Midnight" on Spreaker. Born to interracial American parents in Sweden, Jason Diakité grew up between worlds—part Swedish, American, black, white, Cherokee, Slovak, and German, riding a delicate cultural and racial divide. It was a no-man’s-land that left him in constant search of self. Growing up as a person of color in the 1990s amidst the relative ethnic homogeneity of Sweden led Jason to a deep-seated crisis of identity. At age 14, Jason discovered hip-hop, a musical encounter which helped him to fashion a viable Black identity in Sweden. Even after his hip-hop career took off, Jason fought to unify a complex system of family roots that branched across continents, ethnicities, classes, colors, and eras to find a sense of belonging. Jason looks at themes such as race, manhood, family ties, and rootlessness with an unusual stance and fresh, sometimes-striking voice. His writing has an ethereal, questioning quality, in sync with his background as the son of an African American man and a white American woman who moved to Sweden and then divorced. “I was never American, never Swedish, never white but never black either,” he writes. “I was a no-man’s-land in the world. I have a complex system of roots that branches across continents, ethnicities, classes, colors, and eras….Must I have just one origin?” In A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir [Amazon Crossing; 3/1/2020; hardcover] - Jason draws on conversations with his parents, personal experiences, long-lost letters, and pilgrimages to South Carolina and New York to paint a vivid picture of race, discrimination, family, and ambition. His ancestors’ origins as slaves in the antebellum South, his parents’ struggles as an interracial couple, and his own world-expanding connection to hip-hop helped him fashion a strong black identity in Sweden. What unfolds in Jason’s remarkable voyage of discovery is a complex and unflinching look at not only his own history but also that of generations affected by the trauma of the African diaspora, then and now.

Melissa L Williams And Matt Cedeno

Listen to "Melissa Williams Matt Cedeno From Ruthless From BET+" on Spreaker. Tyler Perry’s Ruthless is the first new original series from Tyler Perry to stream on BET+, a joint venture between BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios. Multiple episodes, of the 24-episode one-hour drama, will be available to stream with new episodes launching every Thursday. Tyler Perry’s Ruthless, a spin-off of the hit television series Tyler Perry’s The Oval, tells the riveting story of a woman named Ruth who kidnaps her young daughter to join her in the dark underworld of a fanatical religious cult. Tyler Perry’s Ruthless stars Melissa L. Williams, Matt Cedeño, Lenny D. Thomas, Yvonne Senat Jones, Baadja-Lyne Odums, Jaime Callica, Nirine S. Brown, Blue Kimble, Stephanie Charles, Hervé Clermont, Anthony Bless, and Bobbi Baker.

Play It Forward Episode One

Listen to "Play It Forward Episode One Gabriel And The Apocalypse" on Spreaker. Hey it’s Arroe. Welcome to my new podcast series Play It Forward. A look at the unexpected changes endured by entertainers, writers, camera people and all others affected but not infected by the global invasion of the Coronavirus. The goal is to feature two different types of episodes. The individual conversations as well as a collected array of the entire picture. Modern day journalism with no rules. Real people. Real stories. The struggle to Play It Forward. Episode One: Gabriel And The Apocalypse. I knew something bigger than a website headline was going on the night I caught their act in Charlotte. This thing called the Coronavirus was more mythical than real. And yet you could see the early impact of how people were beginning to stay away. The show had to go on. Gabriel and company proved their professionalism with hard hitting lyrics, drums and bass beats that immediately echoes off the nearly empty hall. It’s because of Gabriel that I started this podcast series. I reached out to the band after I heard their show in New Orleans had been cancelled. It was the first to fall in what would become an out of control domino effect. Not just for up and coming musicians but everyone connected to live events in the entertainment business. This episode features my full conversation with Gabriel whose focus couldn’t be on the empty road but rather a homecoming concert that hadn’t been pulled yet. She’s ready to Play It Forward. In the past year she’s been the creative spirit behind a makeup and merchandise line that will serve as a source of success in the months ahead.

Pod-Crashing Episode 47

Listen to "Pod-Crashing Episode 47 This Is How It Really Is" on Spreaker. Pod-Crashing Episode 47: I once had a program director that constantly reminded us to deal with Radio Reality. He’d begin every conversation saying, “Hey! This is how it really is!” Mike put so much refocus back into my career that I began watching every level of the Broadcast game. Hey! This is how it really is! Conan O’Brien’s conversation with actor Paul Ruben. The creator of Pee Wee Herman is having a difficult time trying to understand the concept of a podcast. The typical question, “What’s the difference between this and radio?” Conan jumps in to explain only to realize that after a year or so of doing podcasting he still can’t figure out why it’s called a podcast. I still remember how pouty I was about the name back in 2012. I hated the term podcast. Especially since the age of iPod listening was quickly disappearing. I had just gone through the death of AM stereo and HD Radio. So much energy put into trying to reinvent the wheel only to watch it fizzle like a firecracker on a rain soaked July 4th holiday. My good friend Nathan Richie was the first to step up and say “If you don’t like calling it a podcast then stop doing it. Start educating your listeners. It’s Listening on Demand.” Too difficult to say. It needs a dictionary definition to go with it. Besides, when I get a phone call from a promoter about doing conversations with Gordon Lightfoot and Dennis DeYoung telling them I host fourteen Listen on Demands… they literally stop. Then ask, “A what? Do you mean a podcast?” Hey! This is how it really is! Radio’s Rodeo Clowns can’t come walking up the dusty path and change the barrel racing rules. When I meet up with new people and tell them I host podcasts it’s pretty much the same act over and over, “Oh! I’ve listened to a podcast once or twice. Was never impressed.” Or the virgin podcast listener’s answer is “I can’t find the time to check into a two hour rant from Joe Rogan. Is Marc Maron really that pissed off at the world?” I’ve heard all the questions! It’s like being a podcaster turns everything into the six degrees of separation. So many listeners think we’re all in touch with each other. You know hang on the weekend. Free food at Denny’s at 3am. Then it’s back to creating new episodes on Monday. Hey! This is how it really is! I keep in touch with a lot of podcasters. Everybody needs to be swapping notes and experiences. It’s only going to raise the bar on quality. I’m not saying we should suddenly jump into a pair of Program Director shoes. Oh hell no! The art of being a great podcaster is doing it your way. I love checking in with new-be’s like Pete Kaliner who’s extremely fresh from the large tower but on fire with podcasting because its keeping his fans and followers locked in on the energy he generated while with a Talk station forced to clean house. It’s not that I’m babysitting or trying to pull off a Stock Market takeover. We need to create a stronger brother and sisterhood during these extremely early steps of digital vocal dancing. How Pete lays out his political conversations fed by a need to keep it local shouldn’t sound like my conversations with Elizabeth Chelan who’s got new research on how the military is struggling with recruiting volunteers. Texture is everything. This is how it really is! Part of growing with your podcast is knowing what to podcast. That’s an extremely tough mountain to climb for many. I mean, here it is! Your own podcast! Got the Zoom L-8, a fancy microphone, sound proofing, great set of cans and and and… so what do you wanna talk about? Just hit record and we can wing it right? Collaborations are a cool thing but know your game. A couple of great friends want to chum it up on a podcast. I’m always ready for any performance. But I’m a show prep junky. I never drop tracks unless I go into the episode fully prepared. Hey! This is how it really is! My conversation with Gordon Lightfoot yesterday needed to be an all-out conversation. To get Gordon into that emotional circle of storytelling I didn’t need to sound like I was pulling questions from thin air. Great talk begins with trust. Those receiving your questions will lower their guard when you build your relationship around the thought of a couple of people that happened to cross paths at Starbucks. Did I invent that? Oh hell no! I study the masters Stern, Rogan, Maron, Ronan Farrow, Bill Burr and the calmest of the smooth talkers Bob Pittman from Math and Magic and iHeart Media. Hey! This is how it really is! In this age of free form thinking and speaking the squeaky wheel isn’t always going to be the bird that gets the first worm. Part of growing your podcast is know what to podcast. Knowing arrives from experiencing. Not stealing ideas but using your own skills to bring forward a sound inspired or influenced by. Conan O’Brien does a brilliant job with long form famous people talk. What kind of nightmare did he go through developing that style? He’s a television guy who was barely given six to eight minutes with his guys. Now he’s getting over and hour with Pee Wee Herman? I’d love to see how Stern would handle a conversation after the producer on the other side says, “You’re out time is 10:09.” And the clock in front of you says its 10:06. I’ve only turned down one interview during a moment like that. I honestly said, “I love and respect this actor so much that being with him for only three minutes shows a disrespect for his presence as an artist. The universe will unite us again a different day.” I’ve done my fair share of itty bitty teeny weanie talks and had to rely on my producing skills to create an episode that wouldn’t make the listener feel like I just wasted their time. I’m not Entertainment Tonight where they billboard that coming up next so and so and he and she and when the story lands it was only 30 seconds in length. Hey! This is how it really is! Alright it’s time for me to reach out to Dennis DeYoung. He’s teamed up with Julian Lennon and Jim Peterik both of whom are huge conversationalists with a solid value at bringing forward the story and experience. Two days of prep has gone into this project. My friend Allan asked if I’d go anywhere near the history of Styx. No… No need. There’s a lot more to talk about than living in the past. So what’s the moral of the story? There’s no greater feeling then watching your analytics grow. When advertisers start researching your episodes the process gets even more exciting. Building an episode is like creating a craft beer. If you ain’t making what the bar can sell… that stack of BBQ’ed ribs are gonna sit on that grill all night. I learned that from a club owner in the 1990’s. He told me to stop playing love songs. It doesn’t sell whiskey. Tired sweaty dancers buy it up.

Catherine Bybee

Listen to "Catherine Bybee Release The Book My Way To You" on Spreaker. When a wildfire nearly destroys Parker Sinclair’s family home, it’s just one more disaster to add to her growing list. For the past two years, she has shouldered the responsibility of raising her younger brother and sister after their parents’ untimely deaths. After leaving college, Parker manages her family property, which consumes every aspect of her life. Now winter is coming and the forecast looks grim. The last thing Parker needs is a mudslide destroying everything she has worked so hard to maintain.