Reading Is Funktamental - A Pod About Books About Music

Guests: Joe Boyd, Record Producer & Author of And the Roots of Rhythm Remain Joe Boyd is a legend in music. He was the soundman when Dylan went electric at Newport, the founder of the legendary UFO club in London, and the producer of seminal works by Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, John Martyn, Fairport Convention, R.E.M., and many more. In the 1980s, Boyd pioneered global music through his label Hannibal Records, which brought the world everything from the greatest in Cuban music to Bulgarian throat singing and Afropop. Joe's experience in the 1960s was profiled in his 2007 memoir, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. Now, Joe has created a comprehensive history of world music in his new book, And the Roots of Rhythm Remain. Boyd explores centuries of fascinating backstories to these sounds in this sweeping 900-page history, compiled from more than a decade of travel, research, interviews, and deep listening. He shows how personalities, events, and politics in places such as Havana, Lagos, Budapest, Kingston, and Rio are as colorful and momentous as anything in New Orleans, Harlem, Laurel Canyon, or Liverpool. Moreover, jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll would never have happened if it weren't for the notes and rhythms emanating from over the horizon. "Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms. Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Guests: Dan Ropek, Author of Tragic Magic: The Life of Traffic's Chris WoodTraffic was the most enigmatic British band of their day. Formed in early 1967 by Chris Wood, Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Dave Mason, they rejected the bright lights of London in favor of a run-down, supposedly haunted cottage in the country - a place to live communally and write music.With Chris especially intent on channeling the vibes of England's landscape into their sound, days would be spent getting high, exploring, playing, and working in varying proportions. Against all odds, this eccentric model paid off - songs such as "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "John Barleycorn Must Die" would lift Traffic into the upper echelons of the rock world.As they brushed shoulders with Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and the Grateful Dead, and with Dave dropping in and out of the band, Traffic's music evolved from a synthesis of Steve's innate musicality, Jim's atmospheric lyrics, and Chris's special brand of congenial mysticism. Record sales boomed, and tours carried them back and forth across the Atlantic. Everything seemed to be going to plan—a dreamlike fairy tale come true.But for Chris, a toll would be exacted. Amid the clashing egos, wearing road trips, stressful break ups, and a complex personal life, he vacillated precariously between bursts of exquisite creativity and torrents of self-destruction; a paradoxical dance which continued until he died in 1983. For a man who found artistic expression everything, and for whom suffering for it was an expectation, Chris would stare fully into Medusa's face of the music industry, paying a higher price than perhaps any of his contemporaries.Author Dan Ropek provides an in-depth look into Wood's life in his book Tragic Magic. Researched and written over ten years, it offers the only definitive account of Traffic's story and Chris Wood's quietly extraordinary life, something Dan shares here in a one-hour interview."Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms. Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

New York's Greenwich Village is a compact sanctuary that has attracted a legion of visionaries and non-conformists who had an outsized influence on 20th-century culture – on alternative lifestyles, progressive politics, and the arts, especially music. Within the maze of coffeehouses, nightclubs, and watering holes on its narrow streets, the legends-to-be of folk, jazz, and rock coalesced into tight-knit communities that birthed sound innovations that continue to resonate today. Now veteran music journalist David Browne has expertly chronicled this community's sprawling history and impact in a new book, Talkin' Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America's Bohemian Capital (Hachette Books).Browne is well-equipped to take on this task and to discuss all the ins and outs in this latest episode of Reading Is Funktamental. Presently a senior writer at Rolling Stone Magazine, he is the author of acclaimed biographies of musicians including Sonic Youth, Tim and Jeff Buckley, the Grateful Dead, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.Based on 150 interviews with notables like Judy Collins, John Sebastian, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Suzanne Vega, and Terre and Suzzy Roche, Talkin' Greenwich Village lends this saga the epic scope it has long deserved. You can read my extensive review of the book for the culture site PopMatters at this link: https://www.popmatters.com/greenwich-village-david-browne-feature"Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Guests: Don Stevenson, drummer/songwriter of Moby Grape & Cam Cobb, author of Weighted Down: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence. He was one of the Holy Trinity of critically revered and maybe unjustly labeled “acid casualties” of late ‘60s/early ‘70s music. Along with Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett and the 13th Floor Elevators' Roky Erickson, Skip Spence was a star-crossed figure idolized for his all-too-brief contributions to shaping psychedelia through his work with Moby Grape and his one incredibly stark and endlessly intriguing solo album, Oar. His briefly burning creativity and agonizingly slow decline are profiled in a wonderfully comprehensive new book, Weighted Down: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence (Omnibus Press). Author Cam Cobb spoke with a multitude of Skip's family, friends, and bandmates to create the first authoritative chronicle of his artistic development and achievements and a sympathetic one of his long battle with mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. For this special edition of “Reading Is Funktamental,” we hear direct from one of the musicians who knew Spence best, Don Stevenson, the drummer and co-writer of many of Moby Grape's most popular songs, including “Hey Grandma,” “8:05” and “Murder in My Heart for the Judge.” My written review of the book can be found here at PopMatters, https://www.popmatters.com/moby-grape-skip-pence-biography "Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms. Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Guest: Aidan Levy, Author of Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins. In his new book, Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins, author Aidan Levy has created a work nearly as sprawling and monumental as the seven decades of sounds crafted by a man widely considered “jazz's greatest living improviser.”Levy devoted seven years to capturing Rollins – the musician, the myth, the civil rights activist, environmentalist, and wandering spiritualist – in a whopping 750 readable pages. The book is based on more than 200 interviews with Rollins, his family members, friends, and collaborators, as well as the artist's archive of letters, journals, photos, and press clippings accrued over a career in which he has taken a few notable sabbaticals and sharp stylistic turns. It pretty much traces every recording session and gig in which the Saxophone Colossus participated. The depth of Levy's astounding research is furthered by the more than 400 pages of footnotes available only online. You can read my earlier review of this book here: https://nysmusic.com/2023/05/09/author-aidan-levy-creates-a-new-jazz-standard-with-sonny-rollins-biography/"Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Guest: Richard Koloda, Author of Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert AylerA lawyer by trade and a jazz musicologist by passion, Richard Koloda has spent over two decades creating the most authoritative look at the life and music of free jazz pioneer Albert Ayler. His book follows Albert's life from his childhood and apprenticeship in Cleveland to his glory days in France and Scandinavia to his mysterious end via a drowning/suicide (or murder?) in the East River. My earlier print review of this fascinating book can be found at https://nysmusic.com/2023/01/07/free-jazz-giant-albert-ayler-gets-definitive-biography-with-holy-ghost/"Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other platforms.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Earth to Moon is the new critically acclaimed memoir of Moon Zappa, the eldest child of legendary rocker Frank Zappa and his wife, Gail. The book presents the often-disturbing realities of growing up in the shadow of her self-absorbed, workaholic dad (a man she idolized above all others) and her bossy mother, who vented at her eldest child due, to her father's philandering ways. The book chronicles her childhood amongst the legendary musicians of Laurel Canyon, her stints as a VJ on MTV and VH-1, her acting and writing careers, and, of course, her star-turn on her dad's biggest tune, “Valley Girl.” My print review of this book can be found here at https://nysmusic.com/2024/08/24/moon-zappa-pens-a-rock-n-roll-mommy-sorta-daddy-dearest/"Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Only You Know and I Know is not only the name of one of his biggest hits but also the title of rocker Dave Mason's new autobiography. It's a freewheeling testament, providing that Dave was one of the most Zelig of rocker. He came to fame as a co-founder of the group Traffic and the writer of their biggest and most cover hit, “Feelin' Alright.” He's also contributed to defining tracks by pals like Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Derek & the Dominoes, Delaney & Bonnie, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Dave then went on to a fruitful solo career, which continues with his Traffic Jam tour. He will be joining us to discuss his life and new memoir. My print review can be found here at NYSMusic.com"Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other platforms.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the jazz/post-rock ensemble the Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom, ambient guitar duo Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo Vapor Vespers, and the quartet Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Hosted by Sal CataldiGuest: Sid Smith, Author of In the Court of King Crimson: An Observation over 50 Years Sid Smith is a British journalist best known for In the Court of King Crimson: An Observation over Fifty Year, the definitive history of Robert Fripp and his band, King Crimson, the primary architects of progressive rock. Smith has penned hundreds of features and reviews on rock and jazz for publications including Prog Magazine, Record Collector, Mojo, Uncut, and Q, and has also written liner notes for albums by numerous notable artists and record labels. His award-winning King Crimson book was originally issued in 1999, with an expanded edition released for the band's 50th anniversary."Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo Vapor Vespers, and the quartet Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Hosted by Sal Cataldi.Guest: Joel Selvin From 1972 – 2009, Selvin was the very influential rock music columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He is also the author of more than a dozen of the best books on rock music and culture. His works have covered artists like Sly Stone, The Grateful Dead, Ricky Nelson, and Sammy Hagar and events like the Summer of Love, the birth of the Peppermint Twist, and The Rolling Stones' ill-fated concert at Altamont. In this interview, Selvin will discuss his latest, Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon, a bio of one of the most recorded and influential drummers in rock history who spent his final three decades in jail for the murder of his mother."Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Guests: Frank Mastropolo and Joshua White This month, "Reading is Funktamental" host Sal Cataldi speaks to two people who know the illustrious history of the legendary Fillmore East best. Frank Mastropolo is the author of Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock History Forever, a comprehensive history of the most famous rock hall in NYC history. He will joined by Joshua White, the man who created the Joshua Light Show which added an artsy element to the sounds made on this venerable stage."Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Hosted by Sal CataldiGuest: Phil Manzanera Phil Manzanera is a guitarist, songwriter and producer best known for his long-running association with Roxy Music, one of the leading pioneers of art-rock. Manzanera has concurrently pursued a long and fruitful career as a solo artist and a collaborator with leading names like Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt, Bob Dylan, David Gilmour and the later day Pink Floyd. His new memoir, Revolucion to Roxy, charts both his fascinating musical career and captivating chapters of his personal life including witnessing Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba as a child. He also tells how a 20-note guitar riff from one of his solo albums sampled for a Jay-Z/Kanye West collaboration earned his more than 50 years of recording and touring with Roxy Music."Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Hosted by Sal CataldiGuest: Robyn HitchcockRobyn Hitchcock is one of the true eccentrics of British music, a songwriter who has revealed the beauty in the absurdity of life for five decades. He first rose to fame with the influential art-rockers the Soft Boys in the mid-‘70s before going solo in the early ‘80s producing over two dozen acclaimed albums including Elements of Light (1981), Ole Tarantula (2006) and Storefront Hitchcock (2000), the soundtrack to a down-n-dirty concert film by Jonathan Demme. His songs have been covered by artists including R.E.M, Sparklehorse and Suzanne Vega. He has also saluted his chief songwriting inspirations, Bob Dylan and Syd Barrett, by covering their work on tribute albums and tours. Robyn will be joining us to discuss his new memoir, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. My print review of the book can be found here at PopMatters.com. "Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.