A Conversation with Eagles’ Manager, Irving Azoff – HuffPost 7.3.14

Mike Ragogna: Hey Irving. What do you think it is about the Eagles that is so iconic that they can just keep going decade after decade?

Irving Azoff: Timeless songs, consistent live delivery and picking the right times and places to do things.

A Conversation with Terry Bozzio – HuffPost 6.30.14

Mike Ragogna: Terry, when did your devotion to percussion and drums begin and who are some of your early musical heroes?

Terry Bozzio: Surf Drum Music, Sandy Nelson etc., then The Beatles on Ed Sullivan made me beg my father for drum lessons. I’m celebrating the anniversary of 50 years since that first lesson on July 15, 2014. Then the San Francisco music scene exploded and local bands like Big Brother with Janis Joplin could be seen down the road for $2.50. Jimi Hendrix and Cream came next. Then I went to college and got into studying the great jazz drummers who played with Miles or Coltrane and classical music.

A Conversation with July Talk – HuffPost 6.30.14

Mike Ragogna: I’m sure you’ve been asked this a billion times, so here comes a billion and one. What is the history of the name “July Talk”? Peter Dreimanis: Essentially, the first song that was written for the band was called “July Talk” and we ended up switching and using it as the band name […]

A Conversation with Magic Man – HuffPost 6.30.14

Mike Ragogna: Here you are with your You Are Here EP, “Paris” being one of its featured tracks and premiered video. But enough of that. You’re a Boston act, a place from where many high-powered, iconic groups have emerged. So what is Magic Man’s superhero origin story?

Sam Lee: Well, we’re all from a mysterious alien planet where the lower gravity makes us musical geniuses.

A Conversation with TV/Film Composers Jeff Lippencott & Mark Williams (Ah2), Toby Chu, Marc & Steffan Fantini (Fantini Brothers), Tyler Traband and Geoff Zanelli – HuffPost 6.27.14

Mike Ragogna: You are basically responsible for how the viewer absorbs the emotional and sometimes subtler elements of a script and performance. Does that responsibility ever weigh particularly heavy on your shoulders? Can it also be the reverse, an invigorating challenge? Maybe both? Ah2 (Jeff Lippencott & Mark Williams): Many of our programs are not […]

A Conversation with Ron Weisner – HuffPost 6.25.14

Mike Ragogna: You’ve got a new book, Listen Out Loud: A Life In Music — Managing McCartney, Madonna, and Michael Jackson with a foreword written by Gladys Knight. You are entrenched in the history of and managed many iconic artists. So let’s start out with a basic question. What does a manager do? Ron Weisner: […]

A Conversation with Iamsu! – HuffPost 4.23.14

Mike Ragogna: Iamsu!, you founded a hip-hop label, HBK Gang. How did this come together? Iamsu!: It’s been a long time coming just me and my friends, we needed an avenue. There weren’t any labels offering what we wanted to do, so we created our own. MR: What’s the label’s mission statement? What’s the vision? […]

A Convsersation with SomeKindaWonderful’s Jordy Towers – HuffPost 6.23.14

Mike Ragogna: You all must be feeling “SomeKindaWonderful” with hit your “Reverse.”

Jordy Towers: [laughs] Oh it’s amazing, man. I was doing music for twenty years, and last night at the show, I was like, “I don’t even have to sing, I’m performing the song and the crowd is singing the chorus!” I’ve never had that feeling before. It’s pretty surreal at this point.