Angles with John Richmond

John Richmond
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Business

Angles is a podcast about learning from the paths of interesting and successful people. Hosted by John Richmond, Co-Founder and CEO of Richmond Vona, the show features conversations with entrepreneurs, professionals, and leaders from Buffalo and beyond. By exploring their stories from different angles, each episode uncovers the moments, mindset, and moves that helped them grow and offers insights you can use in your own life and career.

  1. 1d ago

    Ep65: Jim Sandoro - Building the Pierce Arrow Museum

    John sits down with Jim Sandoro, founder of the Pierce Arrow Museum in Buffalo, for a conversation that spans nearly seven decades of collecting cars, buildings, and history. Jim traces his obsession back to age three, when he pulled back a tarp in his neighbor's garage and found a Pierce Arrow up on blocks. That moment sent him on a path from restoring Model A Fords as a teenager to running one of the largest personal collections of automotive history in the world, with more than a million pieces now cataloged at the museum.  Jim also talks about his decades as an expert witness for the IRS, US Customs, and courts around the world, appraising cars in high stakes divorce cases and fraud investigations, including a case that took a 400 million dollar tax assessment against the Imperial Palace casino down to three million. He walks through the story of tracking down the original Frank Lloyd Wright filling station plans, his 56 year marriage to Marianne, and the museum's plans to nearly double in size over the next five years. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  2. Aug 19

    Ep64: Jonathan Borden - Music, Juilliard, and the BPO

    John sits down with Jonathan Borden, double bassist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and a Juilliard trained musician who chose to build his career in Buffalo. Jonathan walks through growing up in a musical family, the teacher who changed his path at 16, and the leap of faith that sent him to Juilliard instead of Northwestern. He also breaks down what it actually takes to survive an orchestra audition, including the professional audition he bombed with the Boston Symphony before landing the BPO job eight days before his 21st birthday.   The conversation covers JoAnn Falletta's collaborative conducting style, the BPO's efforts to shed classical music's elitist stigma through events like Up Close concerts and Musicians' Nightcaps, and the backstage ping pong games that happen minutes before a Mahler symphony. Jonathan also talks about teaching private lessons and why he believes everyone is more musical than they think, whether they ever picked up an instrument or not. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  3. Aug 12

    Ep63: Christen Civiletto - Thundering Waters, Niagara’s Toxic Legacy, and What’s Happening Right Now

    John sits down with Christen Civiletto, Niagara Falls-born environmental attorney and author of Thundering Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Niagara County, published by Princeton University Press. Christen has spent 23 years researching the 89-plus documented hazardous waste sites in Niagara Falls after her father was diagnosed with a rare ionizing radiation-related cancer. The conversation is timely: recorded in early August 2026 as radioactive contamination is being confirmed in homes across the Town of Niagara in real time. Christen walks through the full arc of how Niagara Falls became one of the most contaminated places in the country: the industrial visionaries who turned cheap hydroelectric power and salt deposits into a chemical manufacturing hub, the companies that knew their workers were getting sick and kept producing anyway, the 21,800 tons of hazardous waste dumped into Love Canal, the liner that is now in year 42 of a 20-year warranty, and the waiver residents in the Town of Niagara were handed before anyone would test their yards. She also gives practical guidance for anyone living in the area right now: what to look for in your basement, who to call, and how to use her interactive map to understand what is buried near your home. MAP LINK https://c-mcshane.github.io/Thundering-Waters/web/map.html FIELD NARRATIVE LINK https://c-mcshane.github.io/Thundering-Waters/Niagara_Site_Narratives_updated.html Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  4. Aug 5

    Ep62: Beth Machnica - Food as Medicine, Blue Zones, and Fixing Buffalo’s Health

    John sits down with Beth Machnica, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and registered dietitian whose big hairy audacious goal is to make Buffalo a blue zone. Beth grew up in Cheektowaga on pizza, wings, and Hamburger Helper, started a cooking blog at 16 after a high school nutrition class exposed how badly she was eating, and has spent the decade since bringing $1 million in grant funding to Buffalo’s East Side, building a coalition of 180 organizations, and running a Food as Medicine symposium that has made Buffalo a nationally recognized model. The conversation covers the 13-to-20-year life expectancy gap between Buffalo zip codes, the difference between a food desert and a food apartheid, what the 40 Days to Wellness program actually did for 108 chronically sick East Side residents, and why the number one cause of death and disability in America is food - before smoking, before genetics, before anything else. Beth also shares her unfiltered take on GLP-1s, the sugar industry’s manipulation of decades of research, why the tobacco industry now owns most of the food supply, and what food as medicine actually looks like when it’s being practiced in health systems today. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  5. Jul 29

    Ep61: Tom Eoannou - 44 Years of Criminal Defense, the North Park Theater, and Restoring Buffalo’s Soul

    John sits down with Tom Eoannou, one of the most celebrated criminal defense attorneys in Western New York with 44 years in practice and a reputation built on taking the cases nobody else would take, giving money back when it was the right thing to do, and caring deeply about the human beings behind the charges. Tom is also the man responsible for saving the North Park Theater, restoring the Cornell Mansion on Delaware Avenue, acquiring Ulrich’s, and currently finishing a ceramic artist’s house in Bradenton, Florida that he has been restoring for three and a half years.   The conversation is extraordinary. Tom talks about the 22-caliber killer, the Wonder Bread vice president who killed his wife and got the fee returned, the mobster who threatened him with a ball-peen hammer when asked about cooperating, the FBI hitlist that had his name second on it, and the wrongfully accused man who walked free because Tom hired an FBI agent to reinvestigate at his own expense. He also covers the seven-year community-funded restoration of the North Park, how Brokeback Mountain put the theater on the map, and why he worries deeply about the future of Buffalo’s commercial real estate market. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  6. Jul 22

    Ep60: Laura Fitzgerald - Cemetery Historian, and the Stories Carved in Stone

    John sits down with Laura Fitzgerald, cemetery historian, longtime docent at Forest Lawn, and current director at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Laura has spent over two decades learning to read the stories carved into headstones, buried in burial permits, and hidden in the lives of people most of Western New York has never heard of. This is one of those episodes where you walk away looking at something familiar in a completely different way.   Laura covers the origin of the Rural Cemetery Movement and why cemeteries were the original public parks before Central Park existed, the dentist buried at Forest Lawn who invented the electric chair, the remarkable and ultimately sad story of Annie Edson Taylor who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel at 63 to avoid dying poor, what the symbols on headstones actually mean, and what it is like to spend a career researching the dead. She also talks about Chautauqua, cemetery camp, stone preservation workshops, and why the best way to learn the history of any town is to walk through its cemetery. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  7. Jul 15

    Ep59: Brian Higgins - Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Buffalo’s Vision, and Why Place Matters

    John sits down with Brian Higgins, former U.S. Congressman and current President and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Brian is South Buffalo born and raised, the son of a bricklayer-turned-city-councilman, and a man whose grandfather helped lay the 520,000 bricks in the historic Shea’s theater itself. He spent 19 years in Congress on the Ways and Means Committee, secured the $300 million New York Power Authority settlement that still finances Buffalo’s waterfront redevelopment, and now runs the largest theater by seating capacity in New York State. This is a conversation about vision, execution, and what it actually takes to believe in a city.   Brian walks through the $34.5 million expansion currently underway at Shea’s, the Musical Fair partnership that has broken its own attendance record every single show, and the digital signage and lit art installations turning the theater district’s alleys into destinations. He talks about his father’s moment at the city council that made him fall in love with politics at age ten, the Harvard fellowship that came six months after he lost an election, and what learned helplessness does to a community. He also shares his unfiltered take on the current state of national politics, the US-Canada relationship, and what he hopes Buffalo looks like in ten years. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  8. Jul 8

    Ep58: Matt Fairburn - The Athletic, Beat Reporting, and What He Sees Inside Buffalo’s Teams

    John sits down with Matt Fairburn, staff writer at The Athletic covering the Buffalo Sabres and one of the most trusted voices in Western New York sports media. Matt has covered both the Bills and the Sabres across his career, spending years at Syracuse.com before joining The Athletic at its Buffalo launch in 2018. He’s a Boston kid who came to Buffalo for a job, met his wife here, and stayed. This conversation is not really about the state of the teams. It’s about what it actually takes to do this job at a high level.   Matt talks about building source relationships as a long game, how the Kevin Adams accountability piece came together over eight months and what it was like to sit across from Adams before it published, and what he has observed about organizational culture and leadership from years of watching two major sports franchises succeed and fail. He also covers the Sabres’ playoff run, the GM change that shifted everything, Brandon Beane and the pressure on the Bills, and where journalism is going as the written word competes with video, AI, and a fragmented media landscape.  Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Angles is a podcast about learning from the paths of interesting and successful people. Hosted by John Richmond, Co-Founder and CEO of Richmond Vona, the show features conversations with entrepreneurs, professionals, and leaders from Buffalo and beyond. By exploring their stories from different angles, each episode uncovers the moments, mindset, and moves that helped them grow and offers insights you can use in your own life and career.

Information

  • Creator
    John Richmond
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    65
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Angles with John Richmond
  • Show Website
    Angles with John Richmond

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