287: Steven Greenberg (Lipps, Inc.)
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Steven Greenberg, the creative force behind the hit "Funkytown," on crafting one of the most enduring dance tracks of all time, bridging the transition from disco to synth-driven pop, and the discipline required to bring musical ideas to life in an era before digital shortcuts. Intro Magic Mind Interview Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/LEOJAN #magicmind #mentalwealth #mentalperformance
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286: Makaya McCraven
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Drummer, producer, and composer Makaya McCraven, whose work bridges improvisation, production, and cultural synthesis, on rhythm, time, and the balance of tradition and innovation, plus his creative journey, from his roots in Northampton, Massachusetts, to his innovative projects like In The Moment and In These Times. This hybrid episode spanning interviews from 2022 and 2025 offers a deep dive into the mind of a true beat scientist. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/LEOJAN #magicmind #mentalwealth #mentalperformance
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Mary Sweeney (from 2018)
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Throwback from 2018. Mary Sweeney needs some air. “There has to be a flow of fast and slow, and a pause to allow the listener or the spectator to digest and to project their own thoughts.” She thinks I should leave more space in my podcasts, to let it breathe. She tells me this as we sit in the screened in porch behind her summer house in Madison, Wisconsin. As she tells me this, cicadas chirp loudly, as if to underscore her point: “Today’s episode will not be edited! You will not remove us from this moment!” Mary Sweeney should know. She spent much of her career as a film...
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285: Jacob Collier's First Interview
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
In 2013, after having posted a series of videos recorded in his family home in North London of himself singing a cappella arrangements of classic - yet sometimes obscure - songs on YouTube, a critical mass began to form around Jacob Collier. His videos of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Don’t You Worry Bout A Thing” were passed around by musicians and music enthusiasts and by 2014 he was being managed by Quincy Jones and traveling around the world. He was one of the first career artists to emerge on YouTube. Jacob’s journey since then has been nothing short of...
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284: Aaron Parks and Marta Sanchez
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Pianists Aaron Parks and Marta Sanchez on how music has helped them navigate life's complexities. Aaron talks about his move to Portugal, the release of his latest album Little Big III, and how addressing mental health shaped his journey. Marta reflects on leaving Madrid for New York and the deeply personal inspiration behind her album Perpetual Void.
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283: Samora Pinderhughes and Jack DeBoe
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Composer, pianist, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes and drummer/producer Jack DeBoe on their long standing collaborative relationship, what happens when art confronts life’s heaviest themes, but the creators meet it with laughter, lightness, and trust. Captured at Winter Jazzfest in early 2024, Samora and Jack talk about the album Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears, the transformative Healing Project, mental health, and how laughter becomes a tool of resilience in the face of struggle. It’s serious, it’s playful, and it’s deeply human.
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282: Allan Tannenbaum
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Allan Tannenbaum's career reads like a tapestry woven with history, art, and an extraordinary eye for the moment. From his serendipitous epiphany outside a post office in 1964 to becoming one of the most iconic photographers of his time. Starting with a handful of frames of Jimi Hendrix in the late 60s, Allan went on to chronicle the cultural pulse of 1970s New York as chief photographer for the SoHo Weekly News. He captured unforgettable images—Sid Vicious in handcuffs, Andy Warhol at Studio 54, Patti Smith, the Rolling Stones, John and Yoko, and many more. In the 80s and 90s, he...
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281: Maria Schneider
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Grammy-winning composer and NEA Jazz Master Maria Schneider on 30 years of the Maria Schneider Orchestra, her life and career, from her small-town Minnesota roots to her groundbreaking collaboration with David Bowie and her fight for artists’ rights. Here she talks about how her music channels the wonder, mystery, and tension of her life experiences, her poetic creative process, her acclaimed album Data Lords, and her reflections on what’s next as she looks back on a remarkable journey.
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280: Ben Sidran | The Election
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Just like we did after the and elections, I spoke with my dad Ben Sidran this week about the latest presidential election. True to form, it is a conversation that appears to be about one thing but is in fact about many things. What begins as a somber acknowledgement of the election results turns quickly to a sprawling discussion of everything from Will and Ariel Durant’s massive 11-volume work, The Story of Civilization, Seinfeld, The First Council of Nicaea, Irving Berlin, Jack Kerouac, what separates humankind from the rest of the animal kingdom, bottle service at "the...
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279: Andrew Bird
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Andrew Bird has been on a quest for meaning in sound since childhood, starting with the violin at age four and earning a degree in violin performance from Northwestern University. His journey has taken him from classical and folk roots to the vibrant Chicago swing scene, to creative isolation in a barn in Western Illinois, and eventually to become a genre defying artist and composer with a unique voice. Andrew’s lyrics are both confessional and impressionist, often leading listeners on a journey through evocative imagery. With just a looping pedal, he reinvented his sound, blending...
info_outlineAni DiFranco began recording and self-releasing her music as a 20 year old in Buffalo, New York in 1990. 34 years later she is widely considered to be a feminist icon. But in many ways she emerged iconic, fully formed and fearless.
A facile lyricist with a biting honesty, she played guitar with a virtuosic, rhythmic style. And she was ahead of her time as an independent artist who owned all her own masters and controlled most of the major aspects of her career. She’s sometimes called the mother of the DIY movement.
DiFranco has released all of her albums (over twenty) on her Righteous Babe record label. The label has also put out projects for other distinguished singer songwriters including Andrew Bird, Utah Phillips, Arto Lindsay, and Anaïs Mitchell whose own Hadestown project was first released as an album on Righteous Babe before being transformed into the Broadway hit that it is today.
Ani Difranco’s most recent studio album Revolutionary Love came out in 2021. In 2022 she published a picture book for children called The Knowing which she described as “an Ani DiFranco-style lullaby, inviting young readers to ponder the distinction between outer forms of identity and the inner light of consciousness.” And she will join the cast of Hadestown on Broadway in February, playing the role of Persephone, a part she sang on Anais Mitchell’s original Righteous Babe recording in 2010. So it’s both her broadway debut and a fill circle moment.
In recent years Righteous Babe has released anniversary editions of Ani’s early recordings. In 2022 she revisited the 1998 album Little Plastic Castle, sharing anecdotes and memories of the making of it on social media, and playing some of the songs live. Her memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, was published in 2019.
Here she talks about how she sees her work today (“my job is connecting with people”), her early career (“it was relentless”), avoiding being labeled or boxed in (“I feel like a survivor of labels”), her idea of success (“successful artists are not necessarily the best selling”), raising children in an era of performative identity, practicing revolutionary love and why it’s easier to tell the truth than to hide yourself.
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0:00 Intro
12:00 Interview