Sheri Miller was born into a musical household on Long Island, New York; and music was a part of her life from the start. Her mother, an opera singer and pianist, and a recording engineer uncle helped influence Sheri to begin writing original songs as a young child.

Later as an adult in college at the University of Pennsylvania, she studied literature and poetry, sang with a local blues band and continued to write songs.

Over the course of several months Sheri would have recurring dreams of keyboards and one evening had an especially vivid dream of buying a small black, white and grey Casio keyboard.

The next morning with that image fresh in her mind she took a different route for her daily walk. She came upon a one-day church sale and to her amazement found the exact Casio keyboard from her dream. So for $20 dollars she purchased the keyboard and it became her songwriting companion from that day forward.

After college she moved back to New York, taking up residence in Brooklyn and practicing her acoustic guitar and keyboard compositions for hours in her basement apartment. The influences of poets and classical composers helped Sheri develop her own sensual musical style of bluesy American soul meets classic British melodic-pop.

She developed and polished her live performances with steady rounds of open-mic nights at The Raven. Soon she was appearing on stage at well known venues such as The Bowery Ballroom, Joe’s Pub, World Cafe Live, The Bluebird Cafe, The Canal Room and The Living Room. She also has a song featured on the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Compilation, Vol. 4.

And now she has released her first independent album called “Mantra“.

Songs played:

Waste My Breath
Mantra (I’m In Love)
Devil In White
The Blade
Right Here Right Now
All He Has To Do

Visit Sheri Miller on Myspace

Podcast promos played: Ed’s Mixed Bag, The Karmynkast

This week has been especially enjoyable for me because three of my favorite musical acts were in town for live performances. I had the chance to visit with Jamie McLean and his band as they started the first show of their current tour here in Charleston. Jamie is about ready to release his new CD and he and the band sound as great as ever.

A few days later I saw a double bill with The Fire Apes and Ruby James. Ruby is fresh from her CD release parties in both L.A. and Atlanta and was joined on stage once again by her guitarist/songwriting partner Rene Reyes. She featured songs from her new CD “Desert Rose”. The Fire Apes finished the evening with another high energy show and performed many of the songs destined for a new CD to be recorded this summer.

Todays show features songs from these talented musicians, as well as other excellent tunes previously featured on The Big Break Music Podcast. Once again, today’s lineup is an eclectic mix of genres and styles and fits perfectly with the springtime mood I’m in.

Starting off the set is The Fire Apes and their most popular song Hey Kate. Rolling right after that is a song by Reverend Zen with a strong Steely Dan vibe called My Sigmund Freud.

One of the songs Jamie McLean played the other night is Woman Stay. I’ve always loved this track off his “This Time Around” CD and it’s especially good done live. Another song from a returning artist is Brother Love with Lost Weekend.

A return visit from Tim Hawkins with his infomercial styled song Kids Rock adds a comedy layer to this episode.

After a short promo for my recent interview with Ruby James we then get to hear the the title track from her latest CD Desert Rose. Another shift in musical style in this week’s episode comes in the tune Joan Of Arc by 46bliss off their album “Wish Me Away“. I continue the set with Baby I Love You by Diana Page and close it out with Southern Highway by Erik Viel.

The band Wiser Time provides a tune that reminds me somewhat of the Dave Matthews band with their song Gonna Be Sure.

I then mellow things out near the end of the show with two wonderful tracks from female artists I could listen to all day. Beth Hirsch starts off with Wholehearted and I close the show with a wonderful rendition of the old “Tbone” Walker song They Call It Stormy Monday by Christi Ana Perez.

This past month has been busy with new projects and lots of newly submitted music from great independent artists. I have been involved in live video production and getting involved in the local New Media communities. Finding time to produce an episode of The Big Break has been a challenge but my backlog of music is building so I thought it was a good time to release some of this new music out on the web.

I start off the show with a tune from a band that sent me a CD recently called Four Trips Ahead from their self-titled album due for release May 20th. The song I picked from the album is called A Moment.

Since springtime is in full bloom here in Charleston, I felt it appropriate to include the great tune from Brother Love called Summertime to remind us of the good times ahead.

The band Reverend Zen continues with another favorite of mine, reminding us that we are indeed in Dangerous Times.

The question Can You Hear Me is asked by the band Everblue next followed by a rocking blues tune from the Sean Chambers band called Love Can Find A Way. Louise Hughes follows up to remind us that there is No Telling.

With springtime here and all the pretty southern women running around in their warm weather outfits, it doesn’t help but inspire me to think about Talkin’ About Love, as perfectly expressed by the band Rebel Storm.

The Janet Lynn band asks the very important question; Do you love me and Where You Been So Long?. Sweet Suzi and the Blues Experience then tells us that Your Mama’s Talkin’. Kerry Politzer knows that love is everywhere. In fact Love Is In The Atmosphere.

I was recently in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and was reminded that Bike Week is almost upon us. Every spring thousands of bikers decend on that town for sun, fun and beautiful riding weather. “Mean” Gene Kelton and the Diehards are a legend in the biker concert arena and they show why with their rocking tune Down Low.

The Atlanta based Barry Richmand Band closes out the show with a song I can’t get enough of. He tells us that it Ain’t Nobody’s Business.

On today’s show I have music and an interview with bassist Todd Ronnin of the band King Karma.

I’m a fan of all genres of music. Being from the South, I have a longtime love of the hard rock stylings of bands like Lynyard Skynyrd, Deep Purple, and Led Zepplen. Well recently I added King Karma to that list. The band boasts a lineup of incredible mu

sicians with guitarist Markus Wolfe, Rick Fedyk on drums, powerful vocals by Shaun Williamson and bedrock strong bass guitar riffs by my guest tonight Todd Ronnin.

The band had the opportunity to work with legendary music producer Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy was a member of Aretha Franklin’s band and later when on to produce albums for Lynyrd Skynrd, Blackfoot, The Rossington Band, Bob Segar and Paul Simon. He was also part of the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, otherwise known as the Swampers.

In our interview you’ll get to hear about the recording process, inspiration for many of the songs on the album, as well as stories of working with Paul Rogers of Bad Company and playing at the infamous Sturgis motorcycle biker rally.

All songs from their self titled album “King Karma”

Midnight Sun
Breath
Devil’s Road
Into The Everlast
Heavin’s Burning
I’m Listening
Shake My Bones
Blue Monday
Twilight Child

The weather outside today is absolutely gorgeous and it’s almost a shame to be inside recording a podcast. However one of the things I love better than the springtime weather in Charleston is listening to great blues and independent artist music. The past few episodes have been devoted to interviews and feature length content of a single artist. So today I felt like mixing it up once again with new and old songs. Like I’ve said may times, the blues make me happy so today’s lineup is blues heavy along with some alternative rock and funk.

An artist that I love to open the show with is Brad Wilson and his song Something Goin’ On from his album “Rocking The Blues“. Reverend Zen then laments the fact that they’re the victim of having a Bad Attitude.

My good friend and tremendous session drummer Bill Ray sent me the new album from Ernest Lane. Both Ernest and Bill were members of Ike Turner’s band for many years and I always like hearing what Bill has been doing. So I spin up a two-fer featuring Bill, first with What Kind Of Love from Ernest Lane’s upcoming album “Born With The Blues“. I then play a track from a recent project of Bill’s with Sheila Sondergard and the title track from her new album called Spoke Too Loud.

Another of my favorite artists is Sarah Ayers and her song Get It From Me from “3am Epiphany“, followed by the Kelly Richey Band and Nothing To Do With Love. The Josh Kirkland band gives a good electric-blues tune called Hard Time Blues.

“Mean” Gene Kelton and the Diehards does a fine rendition of Poke Salad Annie, a tune originated by Tony Joe White and later made famous Elvis Presley. After that I was still hungry so I pulled into Fat Eddie’s Diner by The Bluescasters.

Struttin’ around the old hen house is a favorite theme of blues artists and a fine example comes to this week from The Phantom Blues Band with their song Barnyard Blues. Patty Reese tells us all about her Man Boy, which is another great tune from her making it’s first appearance on The Big Break.

Another pop-jazz tune from Kerry Politzer off her album ‘You Took Me In” called Always helps lead into the close of this week’s show with the funky stylings from The Band That Saved The World as they take us on for a ride on the Funk Bus.

Promos: Karmynkast, Lovespirals Remix Contest

Here is a copy of the message that Mark Kerr left this morning on Myspace

Hello friends and fans,

It deeply saddens me to inform all of you, that my best friend Les Lewellyn, passed away in his sleep Tuesday March 11, 2008.

Les was the DJ for the #1 online blues radio show called “The Road Rash Blues Show.
Les also had other online radio shows such as,

1. The Hot Sheet Mon Show - #1 Rock Radio Show online.
2. Chill Pill Show
3. Pirate Radio Hard Rock Show
4. Pirate Radio Soft Rock Show
5. Road Rash Blues Show - #1 Blues Radio Show online
6. No Mans Land - All female artists
7. The Eclectic Podcast
8. Instrumental Madness

Les touched many lives through his shows.
He marketed, featured and promoted indie bands and artists of all genres’.
That otherwise, may have never been given a chance to have their music aired.

I don’t know of another person that was behind the indie movement more than Les.
And he did it all for free.
Les’s fan-base was absolutely enormous.
And well deserved !

Les was a good man with a big heart and beautiful soul.

Les played a big role in the marketing of my music, the building of my website, and the launching of the #2 online blues-rock radio show, “Mark Kerr’s Blues Nation.”
Knowing that I would become his competition, he did these things for me anyway.
He undoubtedly was a great friend.

I miss talking to him online and on the phone so much, that I can’t put it into words.

Les’s brother Bob, is going to keep his website up and running.
And I will be taking over The Road Rash Blues Show, by permission of Les’s family.
It will be more than a honor for me to do this for my best friend.

Les, you will be missed by the thousands of people that you touched on a daily basis.
And aside from your family, I will miss you most of all.
I will never forget you.

You can visit Les’s site here

This week I again get the opportunity to revisit a previous featured artist on The Big Break Music Podcast with music and an interview with Los Angeles based solo artist Shane Alexander.

Shane has a brand new CD titled “The Sky Below” and I caught up with him right after he had the official album release party at the Troubadour Club in Hollywood, CA. In this episode we get to hear some fascinating stories of how several of the songs came into being.

Songs from The Sky Below

Amsterdam
Difference Of Opinion
Outside The Lines
Coffee Kiss
The Sky Below
Feels Like The End
Homesick

We close out the show with a song from recent interview guest Ruby James. This time it’s an excellent cover of the Chris Isaak’s song Wicked Game off Ruby’s new CD “Desert Rose“.

Promo played: Chillin’ With Lovespirals

The response has been very positive on my last show featuring Ruby James. Additional video footage of her live acoustic set is starting to show up on Ruby’s Myspace page and on YouTube. I’m in the process of editing several more songs from the performance.  Be sure to keep up to date on her website and her Myspace page.

I’ve also confirmed my interview with Shane Alexander to talk about his new CD The Sky Below and will be featuring his music and words on an upcoming show.

Today’s show has a variety of music styles, which reflects the mood I’ve had most of the week. The theme leans more towards Jazz, R&B and Soul. It is another of my “Oreo” style shows, where the mood takes on distinct layers going from upbeat and fun, to soulful and unique, then finishing with a chill-out and reflective vibe.

We start off strong with Kelly Mueller and her song Real Love. This woman sings as beautiful as she looks. This lays a good foundation for the debut of a new artist to The Big Break this week, and that is Kerry Politzer. From her 2007 CD titled You Took Me In we get to hear Love Is In The Atmosphere.

I’ve always been a fan of Martha Redbone, even before my interview with her way back on show # 14. The first track I heard of hers is still one of my favorites which is Hard Livin’. I continue my re-visit with past interview guests by playing Heaven Knows by Dahlia Wakefield (show # 17). That song always reminds me of 70’s vintage Olivia Newton John. We follow that up with Love The Beat by Stefanie Seskin and Blue Number Nine. Stefanie holds a special place in my heart as she was my first interview guest (show # 4). Finally I bring that set to a close with Crazy by Whitney Steele (show # 41)

I received a new CD in the mail from Mick Wainman from Digital Music Marketing this week featuring the band Sky Cries Mary. This Seattle based band gets inspiration for their name from the song “The Wind Cries Mary”, made famous by another Seattle rocker named James Marshal Hendrix. Their music has been featured in film (Bourne Supremacy) and on TV. From their brand new album release Small Town, we hear Five Train.

My R&B/Soul layer for the show comes from Ola Onabule off his album In Emergency, Break Silence and it’s called Parallel Universe. Robin Stine continues the jazz theme from the warmer climates of Florida with her song Never Say Goodbye. Another great tune from Joan Osborne off her album Pretty Little Stranger is called Who Divided.

Nearing the end I build the foundation for the final musical layer of this week show with Beth Hirsch and her song Wholehearted. An episode of The Big Break Music Podcast featuring smooth jazz would not be complete with another of my favorite songs from the lovely and talented Karmyn Tyler called Drifting.

I established a presence on Facebook a while back and have slowly been building my network of friends and contacts. One thing that bothers me about Facebook is the increasing and overwhelming number of application plug-ins that keep being created. Lately almost every interaction with people requires me to “join” some new application.

I’ve been to Facebook pages where the owner has added what surely seems to be every single “latest and greatest” plug-in. In the beginning they had a relatively short profile page. Now I have to scroll down through an endless stream of widgets, lists, plants, drinks, stuffed animals, etc. Some are so packed with this stuff that I am starting to miss the old days of static HTML pages for websites.

The result of all this Facebook clutter has forced me to reject or ignore a lot of those requests, even from those who I consider close and special friends. Call me an old fart, but I still think using plain old messages and those features that are part of the core Facebook profile works just fine for me.

It’s always great to check back in with artists and bands that I’ve had the pleasure of featuring on The Big Break Music Podcast. Back in November 2006 I was told about singer/songwriter Ruby James and shortly thereafter got to interview and feature songs from her first EP called Sweet As Sin (episode # 49). At that time she talked about a new album she was working on with Will and Charlie Sexton in Austin, Texas.

Recently I was contacted by Ruby’s manager to review her new album and was surprised to find that this CD is the result of an entirely new project. She and band member/songwriter Rene Reyes put together an entire album’s worth of material over a three day period and quickly hit the studio to record what would soon become her first full-length album called Desert Rose.

So on today’s episode I have an interview that was recorded just before she was scheduled to fly back to California to film a music video for the new album.

Tracks from Desert Rose featured:
Suicide Serenade
Desert Rose
Oh Mama
Everything Good Goes Away
When I’m Gone
Mistress Of The Devil

I also produced Ruby James’ first live internet video performance of the new album on Ustream.tv. Click here to visit view a portion of the live show.

Another artist that is represented by Ruby’s management is Shane Alexander, whom has also been interviewed and featured on this podcast (episode # 57). Shane’s new album The Sky Below is slated for release on February 2oth, with a CD release party to be held at the famous Troubadour club in Hollywood, CA. The first track from that album is called Amsterdam.

Find Ruby James here and on Myspace
Find Shane Alexander here and on Myspace

I’m calling New and Familiar because I have a great mix of both new music being featured for the first time on the show along with songs from artists that you’ve been listening to for years.

There are lots of reasons why someone decides to become a musician. Maybe it’s the lure of fame and fortune or the thrill of performing in front of others. It could be that music is in their blood and drives their desire to work long hours for little money just for enjoyment that only music can provide.

I’m going to kick the show off today with a track from the band King Karma that reminds us of one of the many reasons why guys like to be in a band, and that’s the chance to hook up with an enthusiastic fan after the show; just looking for someone to Shake My Bones. A selection from Mark Kerr’s killer album “One Drink Away From The Blues” that I haven’t played for some time is Thinkin’ and Drinkin’.

I then offer up a two-fer of sorts with songs featuring Ann Wilson. First up is a live version of Crazy On You by Ann and Nancy Wilson with their band Heart. Then we get to hear Ann once again, this time from her solo album “Hope and Glory” with the song Where To Now St. Peter (with a little backup vocal help from Elton John).

I always love getting to feature new artists on The Big Break, and this week I bring you a fun tune from Patty Reese called She’s So Happy (Just To Have A Bo Like You). We then get “funky” with Way To Funky by the Funky Blues Messiahs. Did I mention we get funky?

A return visit by Amy B with Each Thing You Do continues our middle set followed by one my favorite live tracks from Matthew Ebel’s album “Beer and Coffee” called Single Man’s Lament. Laura Clapp (now Laura Davidson) rocks us out with Hey, Hey, Sister.

Another new artist featured today is Alvin Jett and The Phat noIz Blues Band with their song Boogie To The Blues. The always talented Daddy Mack Blues Band brings us Giving You My Money followed by Cold Blooded Lover by W.C. Clark.

For a little post “Fat Tuesday” vibe I bring the Irene Sage Band from Louisiana with her song Dig Down Low. And we close out the show with the title track from Joan Osborne’s 2006 album Pretty Little Stranger.

Don’t miss next week’s show where I feature an interview and new music from Ruby James’s new album Desert Rose.

We may be still in the middle of winter for most of the country but music-wise it’s already springtime. My mailbox has seen a bunch of new CDs arrive from artists that have not been featured on The Big Break before now. I’m also excited about the new CD coming out from Ruby James. Ruby was an interview guest back on episode #49 and I got to sit down with her recently to talk about her new release. That interview and many of the new tracks will be on an upcoming show.

More former “major label” artists are migrating over to the podsafe water’s edge and this week I start the show off with a tune from the Black Crowes called Goodbye Daughters Of The Revolution. The band Soul Summit returns with a new song called Cold Snap

Ruby James has followed up her previous EP “Sweet As Sin” with a brand new CD that will be available in a week or so called “Desert Rose“. I play the first track off the album called The Words Goodbye.

A number of new artists get airplay on this week’s show, the first of which is B. J. Allen and Blue Voodoo with a funky-blues tune called Your Blues Is My Blues Now. I received the album “On A Dime” by Aaron Netsell which is packed with great blues music and strong message on how quickly events can result in a complete change in someone’s life. The first track from the CD is Things Change.

The John Earl Walker Band provides us with good up-tempo blues song called Little Girl, followed by another artist that sent in his CD; this time it’s Gary Segal and his song Cartwheels. We continue this set with Dirt Road by Ron Rutherford found on “Lone Wolf” CD. I always enjoy playing music from talented female blues artists and this week I get the chance to highlight the song I’ve Earned The Right To Sing The Blues by JoAnne Redding.

Since way back on The Big Break, episode # 14 I’ve had the pleasure of playing the excellent music of Martha Redbone. One of the many songs that I can listen to all day long is Talk About It.

Another band that I’ve not played in a while is Stone Blue and this time I’ve selected She’s My Baby. An artist that I’ve added to my collection courtesy of the Radio Submit music service is I Underestimated You by Tom Hunter and the song we close out the show with from Ed Stallman called Stevie Ray.

Promo: KarmynKast

One of the many reasons why I like to produce a music podcast is it gives me the chance to put together a mix of music that makes me happy. In the early 70’s I got to hang out with a DJ of a local radio station and enjoyed helping her pick out the music she played on her show. Going through the list of songs for today’s episode reminded me of those times and when I finished I had more songs that could possibly fit in a single show.

I kick the show off with a tune from the “Rock Goddess” Sophia Ramos called Torn. I had the pleasure of interviewing early in my podcast career back on The Big Break # 7. From there we move right into the Rusty Wright Blues band with Hell On My Heels. Sean Chambers definitely brings up a strong Stevie Ray Vaughn feel with his song Strong Temptation. I close out the first set with Walter Trout and his song Workin’ Overtime that also features Jeff Healey.

David Gerald has released his second single called How I Feel from his upcoming album “Hell and Back“. A new artist to the show is Dave Hole and his song Rough Diamond Child. After a short comedy bit called “Blondstar” we get right back into the music with Can’t Keep Me Down by the band Helium Soul. Another debut song from the Glenn Kaiser Band called Save Me From Myself follows.

For fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd I get to play one of three tracks from Skynyrd founding member Allen Collins (and writer of Freebird) that was sent to me. In the song Chapter One from the Allen Collins Band album “Here There And Back Again” you really hear the voice and talent that Allen Collins contributed to the Lynyrd Skynyrd sound. I follow that up with a song in the same music style called Takin’ All I Can by the band Rebel Storm. We bring that set to a close with My Baby Says from the Laurie Morvan Band.

There are quite a few songs in my play list that I can set on auto-repeat and listen to all day. One of my favorites is the old “T-bone” Walker song called They Call It Stormy Monday beautifully done by Christi Ana Perez that I play to close out the show.

Podcast Promo: Logical Loss Podcast

It seems that for the better part of January I’ve been fighting some form of respiratory bug or other malady that’s kept me from producing new episodes. Either my energy level was low or my voice was so bad that I’d only get a few sentences out before triggering a hacking cough. But now my system has recovered quite a bit and I’m getting back into the swing of things.

As I was going through my music playlist, I found some tracks that I’ve not played in some time along with some great new songs recently sent to me. So this episode is a mix of tracks you may not have heard in a while and great new music.

Baby Hates Me by Danko Jones
Letting Go by Retrograde
Hard Stuff by George Thorogood
Automatic Woman by Christina Vierra
Maybe I’m Amazed by Blake Morgan
Booty Voodoo by Lee Coulter
That’s All She Left Me by The Bluescasters
Get Your Own Coffee by the Janet Lynn Band
Controlled by the Julie Schrieber Band
What A Man by Soul Summit
Walk Away by Katy Pfaffl
Sticking Around by Jarah Jane
Free and Easy by Lovespirals

Promos: Journeys Inside My Mind 100th Episode Special, Chillin with Lovespirals

The ECPB is an 8 piece band that plays beach music, cover tunes from the 60’s-80’s and other music appropriate for weddings, outdoor festivals, corporate parties, etc. They have a tight, well polished sound with a killer brass and rhythm section. Various members of the band have been together for over 30 years. I even went to high school with their bass player.

The band carries all the equipment to do an entire show in a 26′ International truck. It’s slightly smaller than the largest Ryder truck you could rent. It’s painted with full color murals on both sides featuring the band members and acts like a giant billboard when out in public. It has a hydraulic lift gate on the back which is an absolute necessary.

We travel with a four man road crew. Our sound engineer arrives an hour or two after load-in starts. The band arrives shortly before show time. Only the four man crew is left after the gig to break down and load out.

The ideal setup is where we can back the truck up to the venue close to the stage location. Corporate gigs are usually held at a hotel, resort, country club, auditorium, etc. utilizing a loading dock and many times involve a freight elevator.

Larger events require more of the equipment but the basic setup remains the same for each show. Here’s a list of what we set up.

Staging - We do not provide actual staging as the venues often have a built-in stage or rent it. We do however bring and utilize risers for the PA gear and musicians.

A large central carpet is first placed center stage and then the risers form an inverted U shape. The two (or more) PA risers are positioned as wings to stage left and stage right.

The right side of the U is the drum riser (stage left). Jerry, the drummer, is also a lead vocalist so he plays to the right side of the stage from the audience’s perspective.

Musical Equipment - The drums consist of a six piece kit, five cymbals, hi-hat and double bass pedals. All drums are individually mic’d and mounted on a drum rack. We also add overhead and hi-hat mics.

On the left side of the U we set up a double keyboard stand and two electric piano keyboards. David wears a wireless head mic.

The back part of the U gets another double keyboard stand for a piano keyboard and organ. Jason also plays saxophone so he gets instrument stands and a wired mic.

Just to his left is the bass players position where we place Jack’s bass speaker cabinet angled upward and sideways directly at his head. He also gets a wired mic and stand.

To the right of Jason we set Mike’s guitar amp, angled in a similar manner. Positioning the amps in such a way reduces the volume each member needs to hear themselves and helps the sound engineer control the mix.

The open part of the U gets wireless hand-held microphones for Joel (lead vocal and trumpet) and Mark (lead vocal and sax). Beverly (backup vocal) gets a wireless head-worn mic. Next to Beverly we set up congas, chimes and other rhythm instruments with wired mics.

All brass instruments have their own wireless clamp-on mics. This give the musicians freedom to move around stage and even go into the audience to play.

Stage Monitoring - All the musicians utilize in-ear monitors. This allows the sound engineer to reduce the amount of actual sound coming from the stage and makes it easier to mix the band. Each band member has their own 8 channel monitor unit that their “ears” are plugged into that allows them to custom mix what they want to hear for themselves. This eliminates the traditional need for a separate “monitor tech” on stage. All this is controlled via a large monitor rack on stage that handles the feed for the “ears” and the hand-held or head-worn mics. Jack’s bass guitar amp and the wireless mic receiver rack goes on top of the monitor rack.

Lighting - A standard show consists of elevated light stands supporting an eight light “tree” of standard PAR56 can lights with dimmer pack at each front corner of the stage (two trees of eight lights). We set up two pairs of “intelligent” lights, which are motorized reflector units that can be remotely controlled for lighting position, color, gobo effects, etc. For a full show we run a 20′ aluminum truss with lights along the back of the stage and attach four more of these intelligent light units to the back lighting truss as well.

For additional visual effect a hazer (fog machine) is run during the show. When required, we also utilize a high intensity “follow spot” light that can be used to highlight individual musicians.

Power - Our setup requires a dedicated 70-100 amp 230 volt power source. Many times we do a direct tap into the main circuit panel which is fed to our own dedicated power distribution panel on-stage. This panel in turn feeds the amplifier racks, stage power for instruments, power for the front-of-house equipment and two separate sub-panel power drops for the lighting. This setup ensures that we have a stable power source, free of hums and other audio related issues. On occasion, venue power is provided by a diesel powered 70KW generator from a local rental company.

P.A. - All sound is controlled through an Allen-Heath GL4 48-channel analog mixing console. Three additional equipment racks containing effects processing gear and console power supplies are placed 75 to 100 feet from the stage and connected via audio and power cable snakes. An additional 100 feet of snake is available to enable routing of the cable to keep it out of the way as needed. The remote lighting controller console is run from here also.

Speakers - We set up one to three “stacks” of speakers on each side of the stage depending on the venue size and acoustics. A stack consists of a JBL 4732 mid/high range speaker cabinet on top of a JBL 4719 sub-woofer cabinet. Each stack is powered by a dedicated amplifier rack (4 amplifiers/rack) with a maximum power rating of 8400 watts. For large outdoor events we have the capability of providing over 22,000 watts of sound.

So the bottom line is, excluding travel time, it takes 3-5 hours for load in/setup and around 2 hours for breakdown / load out. I also provide backup sound/lighting support during the show so a typical day for me is around 12-14 hours.

On this last episode of 2007 I decided to play some of my favorite tunes from this year that gives the show a high energy level. Once I got it all together I thought the show would make a good workout episode. So this one will be on my iPod when I’m at the gym.

Missed Out by Jag Star
Dance by Candy Dulfer
Move Your Body by The Failures (no web info available)
Oh Face by Beau Hall
Soccergirl by Brother Love
Say I Love You by Ruby James
Fat Eddie’s Diner by The Bluescasters
Toppy by Rusty Wright Blues band
Too Much Of Anything by Jamie McLean
Guess She’s Right by Sonny Combs and the Kitty Kat Rodeo
Low Down Dirty Shame by Mark Kerr
Love Tornado by Lisa Dames
If We’re Too Loud, You’re Too Old by Angela Hurt and the Pain Killaz
Bad Religion by Jimmie Bratcher
Wholehearted by Beth Hirsch

Podcast promo for Lovely Ladies

Fighting the mobs of people at the shops and malls has me worn down a bit. One of the things I’m not a fan of is the playing of holiday music so far in advance of Christmas. By this time of the month, I’m already tired of the traditional tunes and so I decided to ward off the holiday blues by offering my own “Holiday Blues”.

Rock N Roll by Wiser Time
Catch Me Before I Go by The Blues Experience with Cash McCall
Don’t Try to Tell Me by Reverend Zen
Clouds On The Horizon (feat. Joe Bonamassa) by Walter Trout
Get It From Me by Sarah Ayers Band
So Glad I Found You by Bobby Parker
Ballad of John Lee by Brad Wilson
In The River by Laurie Morvan Band
Santa Fe by The Bluescasters
What The Blues Is All About by Chick Willis

Promos played are: eMailOurMilitary, LogicalLoss and The Chillcast with Anji Bee

Changes are underway with the sound of The Big Break Music Podcast. I’m working on new show opener/closing segments and other content for the show. New submissions of CDs and MP3s from bands and artists arrive in my mail almost every day now and I continue to find excellent independent music all across the Internet.

Todays show features only a few tunes that have been played on the show before. Most music in this episode comes from new artists or tracks from returning bands not yet aired.

As usual we start off rocking with a song by Trey Sansom called King Of My Hill. Brother Love has a new album out and we play the title track Turn It Up. A great piano boogie follows with Tommy Keys playing Rum Boogie Woogie. We close out the first set with the song I Had Me A Woman from the Mike Goudreau Band.

I start off the second set with an energetic Southern/Rock tune from the band Rebel Storm called Takin All I Can. We are getting rain here for the first time in quite awhile, so I felt like playing Hurricane by the Scott Weis Band. Another new artist I found on Myspace this week is the Janet Lynn Band and her song Where You Been So Long. Following that track we hear Joe Bonamassa sing his song Asking Around For You from his 2006 CD “You and Me“.

The third set kicks off with the Jamie McLean band with the song Woman Stay. I make it a point to catch Jamie’s show whenever he’s town. We roll right into the song Mean Evil Woman by the Jackie Payne/Steve Edmonson Band from their CD “Master Of The Game“. I add a little country flair to the mix with Baby I Love You by Diana Page. And we close out the show with Strange Voodoo by Robert Waugneux (one-you).

We also hear a message from Ron Stroope of the Zip71101 podcast asking for our support for Karmyn Tyler’s sister Diane who lost everything recently in a house fire. Donations can be made via PayPal by clicking here.

Promos played: eMailOurMilitary.com

My weekend job being part of the road crew for a regional cover band has kept me busy. Just got off from a 14 hour day and will be doing it all over again tomorrow. I’m tired and a little sore but still in the mood for some great independent music.

We start off with a excellent song by the Scotty Meyer Band called Pay The Price. A new band that I found on the Podsafe Music Network called Sister Hazel brings us a blues-rock track called Shame that I liked the first time I heard it .

Ron Rutherford raises his Freak Flag high from the Lone Wolf CD. The Reverend Jimmie Bratcher tells us all about Beautiful People and Deacon Jones tells the story of having Nothin But The Blues.

Friendship with your next-door neighbor is the theme told by Mark LaForme with Good Morning Mrs. Johnson. I get to play another great track from the Five Dimes CD by The Bluescasters called Spin Club. Mean Gene Kelton and The Diehards plays a fine rendition of Polk Salad Annie. Fine blues and harmonica fill out the tune Gulf Port Strut by The Smokin’ Mojo Kings.

Dan Lawson with Outway St. brings us back from our break, followed by Come Up And See Me Sometime by Teresa James and The Rhythm Tramps off their album Oh Yeah.

The beautiful and talented Whitney Steele has just released a brand new video for her album Storm Warning. From down-under we next hear the fabulous voice of Brisbane, Australia’s own Melissa Forbes with Blackheart Blues from her CD No More Mondays. We close out the show a song from Martha Redbone’s album Skin Talk called Hard Living.

This week has been very busy as I’ve been doing a significant re-model of our studio. My new Macbook Pro arrived and I decided to change my equipment layout used for recording the show. So this weeks show has more of a slower pace than usual. You get to hear a number of different styles and genres. I think this episode and last week’s one as well provide a look into my musical soul.

I start off the show with music from a new band to The Big Break called The Bluescasters. The song is called Fat Eddie’s Diner off their “Five Dimes” CD. Following that tune we have the Reverend Jimmy Bratcher with Three Chords from “Red”.

The music from Heart’s Ann Wilson solo album “Hope & Glory” is highlighted with her song Where To Now St. Peter, which features background vocals by Sir Elton John. The band Red Letter brings us a favorite song of mine called You Don’t Change from their 2006 CD “Wishbone“.

The latest release from the beautiful and talented Whitney Steele is up next with Where Did You Go. Chris Church’s song Oh So Gone is next. Be sure to check out the interview with Chris Church I featured on The Big Break # 62.

Sara Spade makes a return visit with her song All You Want from her 2004 CD of the same name. The beautiful voice of Beth Hirsch singing Indelibly You always puts me in a smooth jazz-like vibe everytime I hear it.

Another past interview guest on The Big Break is Dahlia Wakefield, and this week’s selection is from her 2006 CD “Down This Road” and is the title track Down This Road. Laura Hughes brings us her song Full Of Grace.

Once again I play music from an interview guest. This time Ruby James offers up her song Passengers from her EP “Sweet As Sin“. Ron Rutherford brings us Lone Wolf, the title track off his latest CD. I close out this episode with the incomparable vocal talents of Karmyn Tyler and her song Drifting.

This week has been very busy with the rollout of the new website design and of course getting overstuffed from Thanksgiving dinners. This year I had the opportunity to go to other’s homes, eat and not have to deal with a week’s worth of leftovers.

I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on friends and family and what lies ahead for me. So as I was putting together tonight’s show I was in such a good mood that I decided another fun upbeat episode was in order. Like many other past episodes, we will be taking a roller coaster ride with a good mix of up-tempo and slower numbers.

My mood is put in words and music perfectly with our first song of the night by Mean Gene Kelton & The Diehards and his song I Love My Job. We roll right into another tune that reflects the party atmosphere I experienced all week. This time it’s Drinkin’ Wine by the Chicago Blues Reunion.

I have an artist that I haven’t played on the show yet, and that is Phillip Sayce with a tune that reminds me a lot of something you would hear from Lenny Kravitz and he calls the song Powerful Thing. Returning to The Big Break this week is Allison Thrash with a smooth and slow blues track called Put That Toy Down.

I decided to do a “two-fer” today with another tune from Mean Gene Kelton called Steamroller Blues, but this one comes from his new CD “Going Back To Memphis: A Biker Band Tribute to Elvis“. Gene, in cooperation with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., recorded this CD “live and raw” at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis; the same studio where Elvis recorded many of his greatest hits. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this CD are being donated to B.A.C.A. (Bikers Against Child Abuse) and to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis.

I received just prior to recording the show a CD in the mail from the Iowa based blues band The Smokin’ Mojo Kings and took an immediate liking to the first track off the album called Shut Yo’ Yap. In a slight departure from the general theme of the night I bring you another great tune from Reverend Zen called My Sigmund Freud, which could easily be mistaken for a Steely Dan track. It just proves my point that excellent music is being made all the time and all it takes is for podcasters and others to make it available for everyone to enjoy.

If Janis Joplin was alive today she would probably be putting out exactly what we hear on my next track. This time I bring to you another new artist by the name of Christina Vierra and her song Kiss The Blues Goodbye. And it is no coincidence that she sounds like Janice. She has released a previous CD of Janis Joplin songs under the name Mama Rose.

Friday night I was visiting a local blues venue and got the opportunity to hear a young guitarist named Sarah Cole that is making a name for herself. There’s no shortage of great female blues guitarists and I feature them on The Big Break as often as possible. Like the Laurie Morvan Band and a great instrumental track from her “Cures What Ails Ya” CD called Wiggle Room.

We slow things down again with an excellent track from Smiling Jack Smith called This Blue Before. I pick things back up with another tune from Tyler Guthrie called As Long As I Have You. I end the show with a song that once again is a departure from tonight theme. The song is called Joan of Arc by the band 46bliss and it’s off their new album “Wish Me Away“. When I first head it I was drawn to the haunting musical vibe and lyrics and once again made me think it would make a good transition for the Journeys With Rebecca show which follows immediately after The Big Break on Kansas City Online Radio (KCOR) each Saturday evening.

Promos played include: The Chillcast with Anji Bee, eMail Our Military, and The Daddycast

In this episode I get the chance to touch base with Cyclone Records President Brad Trew.  We get to hear more background information concerning my past interview with Holly Woods.  Brad tells us about new acts he is working with and we get to hear from a couple of the bands he is working with in the studio.

Got The Feeling by Brad Wilson
Run Up Quick by Mama’s Cooking
Bad Attitude by Reverend Zen
Better Off Dead by Mission Blues
Only For The Moment by Holly Woods
Remote Radio by Eternal Infidels
Transmission by Twelve34
Lost Weekend by Brother Love
Freak Flag by Ron Rutherford
I Have Seen The Future by Id Guinness

Promos played include: eMailOurMilitary.com, Audio Gumshoe podcast and The Caffination Podcast

My good friend and session drummer Bill Ray calls in this evening and we get to chat about what he has been up to lately. My longtime listeners may recall that I first met Bill during our interview of the band Tubby way back on episode #9. Since that time he has been on tour with Ike Turner and in the studio with Sheila Sondergard.

Friday Night by Los Lonely Boys
Hard To Be Good In Texas by Candy Coburn
The Boston Shakedown by Reverend Zen
Comedy bit - “Dahlia Wakefield’s Automatic Phone Companion”
How Close You Came by Lisa Dames
Spoke Too Loud by Sheila Sondergard
Automatico by Playground Slap
Wholehearted by Beth Hirsch
No Telling by Louise Hughes
They Call It Stormy Monday by Christi Ana Perez

Chillcast/Beth Hirsch feature promo

On this episode I feature a lot of up-beat music and some comedy bits to keep you smiling.

Into The Everlast by King Karma
Toppy by Rusty Wright Blues band
Randy Newman’s Theme from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by Paul and Storm
Crazy On You by Heart
Kids Rock by Tim Hawkins
Hoodoo Ya by Chainsaw Dupont
Wandering Blues by Erik Viel
Ed’s Mixed Bag podcast promo
Woman Stay by the Jamie McLean Band
Love The Beat by Blue Number Nine
Anji Bee’s Chillcast podcast promo
Nothing To Do With Love by the Kelly Richie Band
Superwonderful by Wil Deynes
Journeys Inside My Mind podcast promo
Back Home by Caren Kennedy
KarmynKast podcast promo
I Won’t Never Go by J . T. Coldfire

I will update my comments about the show shortly. In the meantime, here is the set list and links for the artists played in this episode.

Learn To Crawl by Black Lab
Jona Lee by Roomful of Blues
Nothin’ But The Blues by Deacon Jones
Superwonderful by Wil Deynes
Skimming by Mike Erico
Redemption by Kevin Reeves and Ian Baird
Bad Luck by Mike Rayburn
Cowboy Boots and Levis by Kelly Brock
Where Are The Girls With Guitars by The Laurie Morvan Band
On The Edge by Mary Bliven
Let Me Go by Tyler Guthrie
Is This Everything There Is by Ana Popovic
All You Want by Sara Spade
Hard Livin’ by Martha Redbone

I will update my comments about the show shortly. In the meantine, here is the set list and links for the artists played in this episode.

Esperenza by Sophia Ramos
Toppy by Rusty Wright
Soccergirl by Brother Love
Buffet Night by Paul and Storm
One More Night by the Brian Setzer Orchestra
Stress by Jim’s Big Ego
Booty Voodoo by Lee Coulter
Any Town USA by George Thorogood
Opening Band by Paul and Storm
Not Here For A Long Time by Renegade Rail
My Little Secret by Julie Gribble
Where Did You Go by Whitney Steele
The Other Half of Me by Laura Clapp
Accident Hash podcast promo
Fiona by Sean Patrick McGraw
Low Down Dirty Shame by Mark Kerr

This week’s show is somewhat Oreo cookie, we have hard rocking tunes on one side, a smooth creamy center with blues and jazz selections and end with more great energetic independent music.

To get the blood pumping and your engergy level up I start with the Sean Chambers Band getting into the groove with Love Can Find A Way off his 2005 CD “Humble Spirits“. But we don’t stop there but roll right into some Southern rock and roll with Red Dirt by Renegade Rail.

This week I play the title track off a CD I got in just too late to include in last week’s show. It’s the band Mission Blues from Kansas City, MO and the song is Don’t Live There Anymore off their album “I Don’t Live There Anymore“. From there I roll into a smooth blues tune called Ain’t Nobody’s Business by the Barry Richman Band from Atlanta Georgia.

I have sort of a Kevin Bacon’s “Six Degrees of Separation” moment this week in that I feature music and bands that all share a common link. They all feature the talents of Grammy™ winning session drummer Bill Ray. I first met Bill when he was with the San Diego, California band Tubby during our Big Break interview on episode #9. He has toured all over the world and was both the studio and touring drummer for Ike Turner. Ike’s latest album won a Grammy™ in which Bill played most all the tracks. I start off with a live track from Tubby called On Fire. Next you hear the track Spoke Too Loud from Sheila Sondergard’s new album of the same name which highlights Bill Ray’s different playing styles.

Continuing with the relationship angle I next play the song Normal by Cindy Alexander off her latest album “Wobble With The World“. Last year NBC.com was conducting an online band competition in which the band Tubby and Cindy Alexander were competing for a record deal with Grammy™ winning producer David Foster. Tubby came in fifth place, but Cindy won the competition. However she had already produced three albums on her own prior to winning and did not find the “record deal” to be to her liking so she turned it down.

One of the new artists to The Big Break this week goes by the name of Melinda and I play her song What If. I follow that up with another great tune by the Sarah Ayers Band called Alaska from her album “3 AM Epiphany“. As promised I round out the “Oreo” theme with a rocking blues tune by the Lara Price Band called Movin’ On which features the super talented guitarist Laura Chavez.

I’m happy to bring to you another great rocking tune from Tyler Guthrie. This time I feature her song Behind Every Good Woman. And since I have the blood pumping once again I roll right into my favorite track from the Kelly Richie Band called Sister’s Gotta Problem. A song by Allison Thrash called No Poaching follows that and we close out the show with a blues/swing tune called Something About You by the Jeff Jensen Band.

We start the show off with the great blues/rock tune All Kinds of a Fool by Brad Wilson from his CD “Rockin’ The Blues“. I then roll into my favorite song off the album “Album of the Year” called The Lost Weekend by Brother Love.

I get to feature a new artist this week Dave Sadler. He sent me several songs from his upcoming album “Fade To Blue” so I decided to play his song Rise Above, which is a medium tempo tune with a great message. This week the band Wiser Time from New Jersey makes a return visit with Rock N Roll from 2006 CD “There And Back Again“, after which we hear a quick promo from Ed Ovett of Ed’s Mixed Bag podcast.

Another new artist this week is David Gerald who sent me the first release off his upcoming album “Hell and Back” called Stay. We follow that up with a new artist Lisle Engle and his song Gonna Be Sure from “California Miles“. More returning artists fill out the middle of the podcast, starting with a good rocking tune called Whirlwind by American Catapult and the Ohio based band Gayle Force Wind with Out On My Own from their 2006 album “Storm“.

The band Everblue brings us a well produced tune called Can You Hear Me. American/Roots music veteran Ron Rutherford makes an appearance with This Is True from his 2006 release “Lone Wolf“. Well The Big Break would not be complete without a great blues tune from one of my favorite artists, the Sarah Ayers Band with Hook Me Up from her excellent 2007 album “3 AM Epiphany“. I round out the show with the smooth soulful sounds from one of the top UK artists Ola Onabule with Soul Town from his album “In Emergency, Break Silence“.