Tales of the Road Warriors

On Tales of the Road Warriors, Hal in Philly explores the world through conversations with entertainers and musicians … guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, managers, roadies, recording engineers and people who spend a lot of time traveling to and from gigs.

Michael Winslow 11/26/2020

Michael Winslow Michael Winslow Show Notes Talking Points: Twitter handle @Noizey_Man Grew up on several Air Force bases Moved around a lot as a kid. Killed the boredom by imitating the sounds of machinery around the military bases. Including typewriters. Take this video for example… 32 Typewriters??? I couldn’t tell the difference between a Remington Noiseless Portable or a IBM Executive Model 42 or a Smith Corona Word processor Books: Whack to the Side of the Head Kick to the Seat of the Pants Lesson learned - there’s more than one right answer Tik Tok Jimi Hendrix Comics stealing jokes. Robin Williams Multiple languages Cheech and Chong no longer PC? But what makes your impressions so unique are the facial expressions. You seem to be listening to the headphones, where i imagine someone is feeding you the recording for reference The afterwards, you look at the two mics as if you’re trying to decide which one to eat first. Did your parents ever try to discourage you/ I mean, making all those sounds around the house s a little kid, didn’t yell, Hey Mikey, cut it out, I’m trying to watch Star Trek here, and you’d be making laser gun sounds. At what point did your mom or dad say, Hey now — THERE’S a career! Looks like you won’t be needing college, son. List of noises: ’Scuse me while I kiss this guy - attribution. Michael was the first that I know of to use that line. Matre D’ at the Great American and Poppy’s Star (along with Alan "Walk This Way" Feinman as Groucho, and Billy Scudder as Charlie Chaplain) Dupars after Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie Sky Trails Open Mic My Sharona Just What I Needed by the Cars Michael Winslow and folk pop-musician Odd Nordstoga performed Norwegian talkshow Senkveld - with Thomas og Harald The Russia Story Slight incident while filming Police Academy: Mission to Moscow in Russia Completely unexpected. It was a total delight seeing you pop up in a cameo! My rating went up a star. Mention on THE GOLDBERGS… Dana: I don't get it. This is part 5. Shouldn't they have graduated the Academy after the first one?Adam: I think the problem is you're focusing on logic, not the lovable cast of characters. Dana: Okay, in what world would an officer of the law stop a jewel thief by making weird mouth noises?Adam: That's Michael Winslow. He's a national treasure.Dana: They're LAPD. They wouldn't have any jurisdiction in Miami. Referenced on other shows: Ellen, Family Guy, Robot Chicken (Police Academy: X-Men) You’ve done sound fx for many tv and movies. What are some of the things where we are actually hearing your voices? Do you have any favorites? The very best of the 60s. 80s Voice insured by Lloyd’s of London with Mary Hart’s legs Eddie Van Halen and Michael jamming too loud at the Namm Show Recently Live on Twitch Sound Effects in Video games Phasmaphoria Among Us Links /episode/index/show/talesoftheroadwarriors/id/16968467

Smokey Miles 11/20/2020

Smokey Miles Today my guest is Robert Smokey Miles... He knows Bob Dylan personally and even used to be his house sitter as a teenager Around 1987 he began hosting open mics and acoustic music showcases at the Breakaway Gardens in Venice, CA, much like I did in the San Fernando Valley several years later. Although I had been to the Breakaway, on many occasions before I left Venice, I don’t recall having ever met Smokey, although in retrospect, I must have. While editing this episode, I determined it would have been almost impossible for me not to have crossed paths wit this guy! As Count Smokula, a quirky vampire sporting a fez and playing accordion, he was a male counterpart to Elvira, MIstress of the Dark. Although Elvira had a more massive following, Smokula has a pretty fair cult following of his own. He continues to perform in the Annual Pasadena Doo Dah Parade with The Radioactive Chicken Heads. He’s worked in some bizarre cult films such as “Magics”, about a very unique magician who entertains sick and injured Palestinian and Jewish kids thoughout Israel's pediatric hospitals. Original music performed by bob as Count Smokula on his accordion Appears in several Troma Films from Troma Entertainment which is an independent film company that produces low-budget independent films. Mostly flicks that pay homage to the 1950’s horror films - lots of farcical parodies with gratuitous fake blood, guts and gore. These include: Trasharella with Rena Riffel; and he even did a couple of songs with Ron Jeremy, the porn star for TromaDance Festival one year. For links to my Smokey’s website and Youtube videos, go to www.talesoftheroadwarriors.com/smokey-miles where you’ll find them right under the show notes! So yeah, Smokey’s done his fair share of hosting music showcases, playing his guitar and the accordion, doing sketch comedy in the persona of the immortal Count Smokula, and cameo appearances in movies and music videos with the likes of Bob Dylan, himself. So, ‘nuff said… Here he is to talk about it - Robert “Smokey” Miles! Links to some of Smokey’s stuff (right under the Show Notes, where I said they’d be): Smokey plays a smoking’ accordion solo in this vid! /episode/index/show/talesoftheroadwarriors/id/16892984

Essra Mohawk 11/03/2020

Ben Vaughn Part 2 08/13/2020

Ben Vaughn Part 1 07/30/2020

Dave Kanyan 07/07/2020

Henry Phillips 05/16/2020

Kendal Conrad 04/13/2020

Andrea Nardello 03/25/2020

Toby Lightman Pt 1 03/13/2020

George Bunnell 03/02/2020

Cowboy Mach Bell 02/21/2020

Tales of the Road Warriors - Best of 2019 02/16/2020

Discovering-David-Bowie 01/23/2020

Dan Navarro 12/24/2019

Steve Schalchlin Part 2 12/12/2019

Steve Schalchlin Pt 1 12/06/2019

Ronstadt Brothers 11/22/2019

Lyra Project 11/15/2019

James Lee Stanley 11/10/2019

Brett Perkins 11/01/2019

Jodi Krangle 10/24/2019

Reflections and Don Rickles 10/20/2019

Philly Podfest 10/06/2019

Decompressed 09/26/2019

Ghost of Marilyn Monroe 08/08/2019

Ghost of Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe, Jamie Sheriff and Me Hi, this is Hal Aaron Cohen and welcome to my podcast Tales of the Road Warriors No guest, today. Just me, Hal Aaron and I’ll be driving solo. You still get a great story , though. One of my own Tales of the Road Warriors. Fun times! Today, I want to share what’s ahead for the Tales of the Road Warriors podcast, but first, let me tell you a little about what’s been going on, as well as what’s going on right now. First, I want to thank all of you for listening, especially those of you who follow and share the show with your friends and on social media. I also want to thank everyone who has been a guest on the show, and thanks in advance to those who will be joining me on future episodes. Oh, and lest I forget – I’d like to give a big shoutout to my old friend Joe Walla for allowing me to use his instrumental, PLAYA DEL SPAIN, featuring his fretboard virtuosity and signature, Hola Gente! – as the opening theme music. By the way, “Hola Gente” is Spanish for “Hello, People” A couple of weeks ago, I recorded a live episode of TotRW with Lizanne Knott, her daughter Ciara and Philly folk-rock music icon and author, Dan May. It was a sweltering 102 degree day and I can’t thank them enough for participating. It was recorded live by Kev Gallagher at the Tattoed Mom on 5th & South Street in Philadelphia as part of the Philadelphia Podcast Festival. Kev is the host of a podcast called, and is the co-host of . Kev also writes for and is working on a science fiction series and probably more projects I’m not privy to. He’s ALSO a dad to two kids. Despite all the stuff he’s got going on in his life, Kev volunteered to record all of the podcasts at the Tatooed Mom during the week of the Philly Pod Fest. So a HUGE thanks to Kev . Also a big thank you to Nathan and Taegan Kuruna the organizers of – for including a new, still-in-the-baby-stages Tales of the Road Warriors. I am grateful for the opportunity, even if I did choke a little and probably squandered my opportunity a little bit. Tell you what… I’m blaming the heat. In the meantime, Dan, Lizanne and Ciara were the perfect guests. I haven’t edited that show yet and I apologize for getting behind, but, I got a healthy dose of last minute music gigs, and that combined with trying to get ready for the live podcast and a big event in Orlando, Florida, I’ve just been short on time. I try to get an episode out every Thursday, but, as you know – Life happens. Being the Chief, Cook and Head Bottle Washer, I can’t always be as consistent as I’d like right now, but I’m working on solutions. Hopefully, I can find a collaborator or possibly build a small team to keep the show running a little more efficiently. So what’s next? Well, I’m going to take a brief hiatus because I’m heading for another Podcast event. This one is the big one. It’s called Podcast Movement 2019 and they’re expecting about 3,000 podcasters from all over the world, all converging in Orlando, Florida. My goal is to learn all I can about the podcasting industry; meet some movers and shakers, check out new opportunities in podcasting, maybe acquire a sponsor or two, some new gear and ultimately make Tales of the Road Warriors better than ever. I’m still in the process of tweaking the show, the format, curating great guests and stories and honing my own skills as a host. I know I have a long way to go, but as my old Pappy used to say, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts”. So now that you’re all caught up, it’s time for a Tale from Uncle Hal… I call it Me, Jamie Sheriff, and the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe If you’ve been listening to past Tales of the Road Warriors, then you already know I was a singing waiter for about six years. SO, this happened at the Great American Food and Beverage Company. Now, at the GA, we had two dining main dining areas – the Piano Room and the Green Room. Piano players couldn’t work in the green room because well, there was no piano in there. In the Piano Room, however , there was an old spinet which actually sounded pretty great considering the pounding it took night after night and there were some pretty good keyboard players working there. There’s Chuck Francour, who still entertains around the Florida area and now calls himself Sweet Charlie, David Bloom, entertains American tourists in Mexico at a beautiful resort, Joe Turano, who worked with Ricki Lee Jones, Michael Bolton and was musical director for Al Jarraeu for 17 years. There were a few others, but most noteably – Jamie Sheriff. Jamie went on to become an 80’s solo artist. His album, No Heroes was engineered by the legendary producer, Ken Scott – most noted for his work with David Bowie. To this day, we’re all still in touch on Facebook. I still talk to Jamie pretty regularly. Now, I played mostly guitar, but occasionally switched to piano for a song or two. I’m no virtuoso, but I play well enough to accompany myself on piano for some songs. One of those songs was Candle in the Wind by Elton John. But, if Jamie had time between customers, he would offer to accompany me on the piano while I played guitar. One night Jamie suggested something novel… He asked me if I ever thought about just singing the song without the guitar while he accompanied me on the piano, so I could concentrate on the vocal. I felt completely naked an totally insecure if I wasn’t holding a guitar while performing, but I’d seen others, who didn’t know how to play an instrument, get up and sing, so I thought why not, and agreed to give it a shot. Now, hanging on the wall, just to the right of the piano were these mirrors. Painted onto the mirrors were silhouettes of famous -people, these mirrors were very popular in the sixties and 70’s. One had Elvis. There was one each of all four Beatles (I think – Maybe just John Lennon)… and then the one closest to the piano was Marilyn Monroe. So Jamie starts playing the Candle In The Wind, I’m just standing there like a poor man’s Wayne Newton or some lounge lizard, feeling completely stupid. So , then, I just jumped right into the first verse. Hey, you know what? It wasn’t horrible. Once I started, I felt a little more comfortable. While, in the midst of singing, that Marilyn mirror caught my eye. So I quickly thought, “Hey, here’s an idea… I’ll take the mirror off the wall during the instrumental and then during the third verse, I’ll hold it up to the crowd and that’ll be really cool!” But Marilyn had an even grander idea… I removed the mirror from the wall easily enough. I didn’t drop it. Everything was going as planned. As Jamie’s piano solo was concluding, I set the mirror at my feet, planning to pick it up as I sang, “Goodbye Norma Jean, from the young man in the 22nd row…” But before that happened, I noticed a few people staring at the ceiling and murmuring, so I looked up to see what they were looking at… The mirror was sitting at my feet at such an angle that when the light above the piano hit it, it projected a blue, ghostly image of Marilyn Monroe, smiling down at the people dining at the table in front of me. Not everyone in the room saw it until I got to that part of the song. SO I milked it for all it was worth. I dropped to my knees and gazed into Marilyn’s haunting eyes as I sang the last verse. A quiet reverence took hold of the room and when the song ended, the crowd just sat there stunned for a second or two, then burst into a huge applause. It couldn’t have been better if we had planned it. Of course, from then on, Jamie and I made that song a permanent part of the evening, whenever we worked together. I like to think that Marilyn herself was smiling at me with approval that night. I hope you enjoyed my little story. Please add Tales of the Road Warriors to your favorite podcast app. If you’re on an iPhone, you can listen on Apple Podcasts. For Android, there are several options. My favorite is Himalaya. If you go the Tales of the Road Warriors home page, there are links to several of the most popular apps for podcasts. Oh! Hey!! The reminds me. It’s come to my attention that there are still plenty of people who don’t listen to podcasts. Not this one, not any. I’ve come to discover that some of you haven’t discovered podcasts, don’t know how to listen to them, don’t understand the advantage of having podcasts in their life. So, I’m working on a “how-to” video, to demonstrate the different ways to listen to podcasts in order to make it easier to get into them. I’ll let you know when it’s ready, so this e of you who already enjoy podcasts can finally share the experience with friends. All right, I think I’m done here. Mission accomplished! So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going for a drive! Listen to Tales of the Road Warriors on Please listen, share and comment below. There’s also a Tales of the Road Warriors Facebook Group if you want to start or contribute to the conversation there. Anyway, let me know what’s on your mind, one way or another. Thanks ! /episode/index/show/talesoftheroadwarriors/id/10825892

Bob Malone 07/19/2019

Bob Malone Bob Malone. In case you don’t know the name, I am happy to be the one bringing this remarkable and talented keyboard wizard into your orbit… There are some people you encounter in life who immediately stand out in some inexplicable way. You may have heard it described as the X Factor, or that “IT” factor. An aura. Bob has that. I still remember like it was yesterday… several members of the National Academy of Songwriters (now The Songwriters Guild) had volunteered to help repaint their offices. Bob and I were among that group and so I was on the floor placing masking tape along the wall above the molding. Malone was coming from the other direction and we met in the middle where we struck up a conversation. Turned out he was a keyboard player. A new kid in town from New Jersey who like many of us , had trekked out to L.A. to seek their fame and fortune. We immediately struck up a friendship. Eventually, I ended up recording some demos for him (and with him) at my home studio in Venice and helped him get a steady gig at the Chimneysweep, where I was acting as entertainment coordinator. I played there on Sunday nights, myself. The Hal Show. Acoustic Sunday. Bob eventually started making a name for himself in L.A. as a music transcriber, singer/songwriter, arranger, session musician, and music supervisor. He has performed and or recorded with living legends, and in fact he’s been touring with John Fogerty, a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revival, for the last decade. He’s opened for the Neville Brothers (recently, we said goodbye to Art Neville). On their last tour, Bob got to share the stage with Mr. Springsteen, himself. I wish I had more time to talk to Bob – – – When I finally caught up with him, he was on his way back from a recording session on a new project. What else is new? Mr. Malone is ALWAYS working on something new. That’s why he’s always got such good stories! So, our conversation barely touched the tip of the iceberg. Talk a bout a road warrior? He was literally in his car during the entire conversation, so the audio might have been a little funky in patches. Which is fitting, because Bob Malone really knows how to bring the funk! Some the topics we covered include: Old Bob Malone songs. New Bob Malone songs. A brand new video called Good People (and I’M in it!). Yay! … for about a second. The iconic accordion solo he before John Fogarty and the rest of the band break into Looking’ Out My Back Door Touring Europe - Italy and Paris in particular. Shark week and the Sparkly Shark song by Bob’s wife, Karen Nash who is also a shellologist. Bob’s epic photos of the crowds taken from a stage-eye view An encounter with Jackson Browne while playing keyboards for Ricki Lee Jones (who I’ve seen naked - in my worst Jon Lovitz voice). Hey, no biggie… it was the 70’s. Everyone sat in a hot tub naked back in the day. BOB MALONE LINKS AND RESOURCES - Go there. Sign up for the Bob Malone Mailing list and purchase his music and merchandise there! Personal Favorites: (The full, live version of the one at the end of the interview) (Official Live Video) This is based on a true story about how one time Bob went to Las Vegas and only had a single one dollar bill to his name. The song tells the rest of this amazing experience. - Bob wrote this for his - well I’ll let him tell you… Bob Malone's Blog Posts - a story by Bob Malone. First published in Song Talk Magazine, later one of the original Tales of the Road Warriors in the Li’l Hank’s Guide For Songwriters website. It’s still there! - Bob’s more current thoughts and adventures on Blogspot /episode/index/show/talesoftheroadwarriors/id/10579616

Jay David 07/12/2019

Jay David Jay David Cover of the AARP and Other Stuff Things we discuss in this episode: My flooded basement apartment. Playing venues in Philadelphia… There’s a section that got a little garbled, I guess due to a bad connection, Maybe Jay was walking through a dead zone in his house. For whatever reason, you may not be able to understand the audio. Don’t tune out, it gets clear again for the remainder of the show. He was telling me how he started at the age of two singing not the Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour. Horn and Hardart was a “food service automat”, where all the food came out of vending machines. I remember how my mother would never let us go in. She used to tell us, you won’t like anything in there. I wasn’t crazy about eating baked beans anyway. Or a slice of pie that had been sitting inside of a vending machine of who knows how long? Anyway, Jay went on to say how he started out banging out drumbeats on the dining room table and annoyed the hell out of people with his incessant drumming on everything. He eventually took lessons but got bored. So he learned by listening to the records, eventually giving lessons the same way he wanted to learn. Taught drums by having drum students bring him the records with the songs they wanted to learn and just teach them to play those songs. I know some music teachers who hate guys like that. If you’re not teaching the fundamentals, they look down their noses at you. Personally, I think there’s room for both teaching styles. Hey, what’s wrong with learning to play your favorite songs? We swapped stories about his mom and Frank Sinatra’s mom Drum Corp competitions. in Willow Grove, PA (Still there!) Shelter dogs, Carnegie Hall, the Navy, Hospital Corps, Dolly Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra. Boots. Dorsey Brothers, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Brenda Lee, The Wagon Wheel, Mercury Records, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, getting signed by Clive Davis Links to Videos, etc. by Dr. Hook by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show – parody by Jay David (music by Shel Silverstein) Cover of AARP Personnel Jay David wrote and recorded based on the music of Shel Silverstein played, and their drummer, Matt Tecu is the guy with the deep voice singing the 2nd verse Janiva Magness – blues singer sang harmony. Here’s a little taste of Janiva singing (and doing a Tom Waits song some serious justice) /episode/index/show/talesoftheroadwarriors/id/10493876

Phil Leavitt 07/04/2019

Tales of the Road Warriors

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