Hall Watchers

We're celebrating 6 years of podcasting and 150 episodes! Join us as we talk about the highs and lows of podcasting, then pivot to a variety of music topics such as our reviews of the Phish and X shows, David Lee Roth's triumphant return at M3 and Robbie Williams' latest album.

Join us for a fun, casual music chat with our friend Greg Peurach! We discuss everything from the first albums we ever bought, critical moments in our music fandom and what Rock Hall classes we'd pick for 2026.

Join us for a rollercoaster of a reaction to the Rock Hall Class of 2025!

Our special guest this week is Michael "Ace" Baker, a Parnelli Award-nominated live sound engineer. What's that guy doing at the soundboard? Ace explains all, and shares his experiences as a Front of House mixer for such artists as Sammy Hagar, Dream Theater, and Aretha Franklin.

Join us as we recap our weekend spent at the Rock Hall with Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee Holly Knight! We talk about her Q&A and book signing event, as well as our thoughts on the Rock Hall's '1984' and 'Revolutionary Women In Music' exhibits.

Join us for a review of the daring Robbie Williams biopic 'Better Man'! We discuss why the film ultimately succeeds, as well as Robbie's music, life story, fame and the perils of fame.

Join us for our traditional early morning reaction to the 2025 Rock Hall nominees!

Join us as we react to the recent Vulture interview with Rock Hall chairman John Sykes. We discuss the battle over what is "rock", the category mess, corporate interference and inconsistent messaging from the Hall.

Join us for our final episode of 2024! We take a look back on the year, talk about some of our favorite moments, and what we're planning for 2025. Naturally we lament about the Rock Hall and the changes we'd like to see them make, as well as go off on the tangents you know and love, including the Buffalo Bills' NFL season and Insane Clown Posse. A sincere, heartfelt thank you to all of our listeners for hanging with us. We appreciate you!  

Join us as we discuss our recent experience meeting pop culture icon and cult movie legend Tommy Wiseau. We talk about our fascination with him, the phenomenon of 'The Room', and our thoughts on his latest film, 'Big Shark'. What a story!

Join us as we discuss the Rock Hall's baffling treatment of Lou Gramm and Foreigner during their induction, and whether it's really music's highest honor if an inductee isn't allowed to sing. 

Join us as we talk about nothing and everything. Phil Lesh, Alex Van Halen's book, the potential Lita Ford and Cherie Currie reunion, our thoughts on 'Saturday Night' and the state of movies now, gardening failures...you name it, we talk about it!

Join us as we review the Rock Hall 2024 ceremony and discuss what we felt worked, what didn't, how to curb long speeches and of course, eviscerate the Rock Hall about hard rock and heavy metal.

Join us as we each pick 8 performers and 3 picks per category for our ideal Rock Hall 2025 class. Also discussed is the future of the Hall Watchers podcast, and why you should never click if Tommy Lee is trending.

Join us for a casual episode where we review the three biggest shows we saw this summer: Dead & Company, Alanis Morissette and Sammy Hagar. Also discussed are the passing of Great White's Jack Russell, Aerosmith's retirement and Mary's bafflement that no one other than rock fans seems excited to be at concerts anymore.

Join us as we dust off our mics to review the Bon Jovi documentary 'Thank You, Goodnight' and the Lollapalooza documentary 'LOLLA: The Story of Lollapalooza'. We discuss what we enjoyed about the documentaries, what didn't work, and Eric shares his experience attending the first Lollapalooza tour.

Rock Hall 2024 left us asking, "What's real and what's for sale?" We go back to our roots and talk about the foundational issues continuing to plague classes, such as category mismanagement, cruelty to the dearly departed, and a murky identity.

The Rock Hall announcing the 2024 class this Sunday on American Idol was just too much for us to resist! 

Join us for an important announcement about the future of the Hall Watchers podcast.

Join us for our reaction to the 2024 Rock Hall ballot.

Join us as we continue Rock Hall January and discuss 14 artists we want to see chosen for the Influence category at the Rock Hall.

Join us as we kick the year off by listing 20 performers we want to see on the 2024 Rock Hall ballot.

Join us for the last episode of 2023, where we talk about our life, our upcoming schedule, the Rock Hall and the future of the podcast.

Join us as we chat with Voyage's Hugo Valenti (Valentine, Open Skyz) and Robby Hoffman (In The Pink) to talk about their new album 'Inception'. We discuss Journey, songwriting, saxophone, the psychology of song fadeouts, AOR and so much more!

Happy Halloween - and, surprise! We're putting on a "podcast costume." This episode only, we become "Deck Watchers," talking all things 'Below Deck," Bravo's reality franchise that has haunted us since the summer. Yachties, captains, and rich charter guests, oh my!

Join us for a very honest and sometimes vulnerable conversation about the Jann Wenner interview/Rock Hall fallout this past week. 

R&B princess Aaliyah Haughton left an undeniable impact on music, film and fashion that can still be felt today. Join us as we chat with Albert Tsibu of the Induct Aaliyah campaign and discuss her incredible accomplishments, legacy, influence and why she deserves to be in the Rock Hall.

Join us for an overdue discussion where we talk about the current state of the Rock Hall, including their strange silence on social media, The Spinners blunder, ceremony ticket sales and the state of the community. 

Join us for a recap of our experience seeing Extreme on their "Thicker Than Blood" tour with iconic opener Living Colour! We discuss the setlists, and break down our favorite moments. 

Join us for a casual episode before we go on summer break! We talk about a variety of topics including whether we're going to the Rock Hall ceremony, Motley Crue vs Mick Mars, Ozzy bowing out of the Power Trip festival, Sheila E.'s recent Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony and much more!

What vocalists do we wish we sounded like? What songs by fictional bands are our favorites? Just why the hell DO we follow the Rock Hall? Join us for a fun, laid-back episode with friend and frequent guest Greg Peurach where we blindly ask each other 5 music related questions!

In 2002 the Rock Hall inducted Stax co-founder Jim Stewart, but excluded his sister Estelle Axton, the other Stax co-founder. Today we discuss her life and impact at Stax, why the label couldn't have succeeded without her and why her exclusion is a mistake that needs to be corrected. We also give a brief history of the Ahmet Ertegun award, discuss the ugly allegations against him and once again implore the Rock Hall to change the category name.

With a career spanning over 60 years and 10,000 session recordings, including the Mission Impossible theme and the Pet Sounds album, Wrecking Crew member Carol Kaye may just be the bassist whose work you've heard the most. So why isn't she inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Join us as Mary gives an overview of Carol's career, the Musical Excellence category, and the Rock Hall's continued appalling treatment of women.

This week we're chatting with musician, songwriter, producer, author and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Holly Knight, a woman who helped shape the MTV era with hits like "Love Is A Battlefield", "Obsession" and "I Am The Warrior". We talk about her life and career, including her memoir, her memories of Tina Turner and the appalling lack of women in both the Rock Hall and Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Today we're honored to welcome Extreme's lead singer, Gary Cherone, to talk about Extreme's new, long-anticipated album 'SIX'. Mary and Gary go track by track to discuss several of the lyrical themes, including social media behavior, human connection, spirituality, mental health, cynicism, and the drawbacks of fame.     

With new energy and a killer setlist, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and company bid an epic goodbye to Los Angeles at the Forum May 20. Join us as Eric recaps the show!

Join us as we recap our weekend at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, Maryland! We discuss our favorite acts of the weekend, what we thought of the festival overall and most importantly, Ted Poley.

It's that time of year again! Join us as Mary surprises Eric with the Rock Hall 2023 class. Lots to unpack here, including our hurt feelings that Warren Zevon was snubbed, and pure joy that Link Wray finally is being honored!

Join us for a relatively casual episode before we go on hiatus! We talk about a grab bag of topics, including the Rock Hall vs Courtney Love situation, a recap of the Los Lobos show, the Power Trip festival and mini-reviews of the shows we're watching. 

How informed should a voter for the Rock Hall be, and are some voters just plain unqualified? Prompted by a recent Vulture piece, we ask those very questions, push back against the ageism in the piece and discuss what the qualifications for a Rock Hall voter should be. Also covered is an update on Dorothy Carvello, her lawsuit against the Ahmet Ertegun estate, and what this should mean for the Rock Hall.

This week, we're thrilled to welcome Jordan Zevon, award-winning singer-songwriter and son of music legend Warren Zevon. We discuss his dad's overdue Rock Hall nomination, David Letterman, modern artists Warren admired, and Jordan's involvement with the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.

Tune in for a fun (and sometimes emotional) conversation with our longtime friend Steve Hanna. We review the recent Bruce Springsteen show, discuss Steve's fandom of Elvis Costello, what he thinks about the Rock Hall and that time he got Sebastian Bach to text Axl Rose. 

We just wanted to take a very quick moment to help promote our friend Courtney E. Smith's new podcast, Songs My Ex Ruined. Join Courtney and her co-host Melissa as they interview guests about the one song they just can't listen to anymore because it got ruined by an ex. If your vibe on Valentine's Day is "Love Stinks", then don't worry, Courtney and Melissa have your back!

Last year we got a lawyer, this year we finally got the guns and money! Join us for a live reaction to the Rock Hall 2023 ballot where Eric surprises Mary with the nominees.

Join us for a light-hearted episode where Mary and Eric surprise each other with 10 music related questions, often with hilarious answers. It's a fun time where you learn just how far Eric is willing to go for the sake of world peace, and why Mary loves 80's hard rock so much.

Today we're joined by our friend Greg Peurach to discuss the Early Influence, Ahmet Ertegun, and Musical Excellence categories at the Rock Hall. We talk about some of the history with categories, discuss what we would change, and then pick 5 artists we'd love to see inducted for each category.

"Get in the van" and join us for our last show of the year where we name 23 acts that should be potential nominees for Rock Hall 2023. From a sardonic singer songwriter, to a goth queen to a badly behaved "Crüe", there's something for everyone here. 

Join us as we recap the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony! We talk about the excitement in the air the day before, and then discuss each inductee and what we thought of their performances. 

We're back by popular demand to analyze Extreme's album 'III Sides To Every Story', an ambitious work beloved by fans. Mary discusses how the album's themes of war, racism, self reflection, personal growth and spirituality still very much resonate today.

Today we review the documentary 'Dio: Dreamers Never Die' about the late Ronnie James Dio, then segue into a conversation about why Ronnie needs to be inducted into the Rock Hall under Musical Excellence in 2023.

Today we recap what it was like seeing Grace Jones at the Hollywood Bowl, and then segue into a conversation about why she should be inducted under Musical Excellence for the Rock Hall next year.