What Else? The Podcast

Marcos Luis Jose Sueiro Bal visits What Else and talks about hoping to be a rock star, coming to America, and visiting happy places. 

Jon Tatooles visits What Else and talks about bicycling, White House audio gear, and focusing on the here and now. Recorded 08 March 2021.

Thania St. John comes to What Else to talk about writing, knitting, and not caring about what people think about what you think. Recorded 06 September 2020.

Angela Nijhawan comes to What Else to talk about not overthinking it, embracing change, and looking forward to happiness. Shout-out to Mr. Workman.Recorded 07 August 2020.

Paru Shah comes to What Else to talk about politics, the freedom of childhood, agreeing to disagree, and more.

Anthony J.W. Benson comes to What Else to talk about a life facilitating the arts, living in L.A. in the 80s, overcoming addiction, and more.Recorded 23 July 2020.

MacArthur Antigua visits What Else to talk about talking to people, working together as a society, being a music fan, and more.

Scott Robbin brings good vibes and interesting thoughts to What Else. He talks about changing habits, a passion for learning, music, travel, and not needing to know all the answers. Recorded 14 August 2019.

Victor Salazar :: Episode 021 Victor Salazar visits What Else to talk about drums as art objects, growing up with music in his house, and his enthusiasm for playing and listening. Recorded 22 July 2019.

Brian Black came to What Else to share stories and thoughts about immersing in a pursuit, competition, childhood anxiety, mellowing with age, and the magic of music. Recorded 26 June 2019.

What Else: Wacky Backe shares stories of family, talks about checking things off her list, and laughs it up. She’s great.

David Singer makes it to What Else, talking about the love of playing music, competition, and writing. Recorded 07 May 2019.

Nick Miller came to What Else HQ to talk about his enthusiasm for music, some of the workings of concert promotion, travel, siblings, and more. Recorded 23 April 2019.

Christopher Lozier comes to What Else to talk about playing music, adventures on a nuclear submarine, homesickness, decision-making, and more. Recorded 10 April 2019.

David Rubin comes to What Else to talk about caring for people through the practice of medicine, struggles in the American healthcare system, the soothing power of music, and more. Recorded 31 March 2018.

Doug visits What Else to talk about travel, family, happiness, and music, among other things. He's interesting and funny and insightful. We could have talked for hours, but we got hungry.

Meet the wonderful Donna Sue Van Cleaf Fish. DS talks about making art, propagating kindness, and navigating showbiz. Pragmatic and optimistic, she's a pleasure to talk to.

This episode features Jennifer Oosterbaan. She tells us about her love of stories, why she prefers being a lawyer to being an actress, and how she does creative writing via text message. We barely scratch the surface, but she's great.

The wonderful Ella Myers talks about having hippie parents, doing academic research, and plucking the cashews from Larry King's cashew chicken, among other things. Recorded in Chicago.

What Else returns with Terry Peppers, who talks about the story of his name, learning to play the guitar, The Bunny Hutch, and more. Recorded in Chicago.

Nic Porta does a jigsaw puzzle and chews a little gum whilst discussing moving to different countries as a child, dealing with life and death at work, and why he hates Van Morrison's music.

Eva Yusa comes to What Else headquarters to talk about finding a job that fits, acting, and more.

Part 2 (of 2) of my interview with Ken Simon, aka Gold Masta (or Gold Master). A terrific friend, and a thoughtful and interesting guy. He talks about working, drumming, anxiety, and being a human. Recorded outdoors on the deck at The Hitmaker World Headquarters in Uptown, Chicago.

An interview with Ken Simon, aka Gold Masta (or Gold Master). A terrific friend, and a thoughtful and interesting guy. He talks about the passage of time, growing up in another family's house, the appeal of athletics, and music. Recorded outdoors on the deck at The Hitmaker World Headquarters in Uptown, Chicago. This is Part 1 of 2.

Part 2 of the interview with BA. He talks about books, what happens after we die, and political awareness, among other topics.

In this episode, Mark “Biche” Schwarz talks about how pop-music criticism isn’t really about music, and how that does a disservice to the art form and creates a lack of historical knowledge; his love of Larry Graham’s bass playing; the ephemeral nature of the self; and more. This episode is a bit more of a chat than an interview, in part because of the subject matter and the setting, but also because it was a now-rare opportunity to spend time talking with my beloved best-friend-since-childhood Biche, so it was easy to get excited and fall into “conversational” mode rather than “interview” mode. Recorded live outdoors in Uptown, Chicago, in the summertime. Enjoy Biche!

In this episode you'll hear from BA Rosenblum. He talks about listening to music from an early age, quitting high school, serving in the Army, re-learning a musical instrument, and the album that saved his life.BA and I have been close since we were about 6 years old, and it's always interesting for me to hear his thoughts--I learned some new things in this interview, and I hope you'll enjoy it.The interview is being broken into two episodes--this is the first half of the discussion; the second half will be posted in the near future.

In this episode, Mark “Biche” Schwarz talks about going to law school in his 40s, talking a classmate into quitting law school, maintaining focus on work, running a recording studio, and the inaccessibility of past versions of ourselves. He also muses about music he likes/liked, including The Who, Van Morrison, and The Police—and the unique sonic character of Ghost in the Machine. And he talks about having/developing a musical ear. In this episode, you’ll hear a little more chatter from me than I’d like, in part because of the setting, but also because it was a now-rare opportunity to spend time talking with Biche, and we’ve been close since we were little kids, so it’s easy to get excited and fall into “conversational” mode rather than “interview” mode. There’s a second part of this conversation that will be released later. Recorded outdoors in scenic Uptown, Chicago. Enjoy Biche! 

In the debut episode, we talk with Michael Simons: traveler, founder of the nonprofit Intonation Music Workshop, musician, and all-around wonderful guy. He talks about living in Sweden, his distaste for Steppenwolf, running a travel-tour business, and following his intuition in life decisions.