The Upful LIFE Podcast upful LIFE

The Du-Rites' JAY MUMFORD, formerly known as the producer/emcee J-Zone, has worn many hats throughout his career—rapper, beat-maker, DJ, author/journalist, and finally drummer. J-Zone developed an underground rap following during the early 2000s indie hip-hop explosion. As he got older, Mumford grew increasingly jaded with the rap industry, before bottoming out. Sitting on the throne of a drum set, Jay would rediscover his passion for the funk music that first inspired him as a teenager.
The major transition began to take shape in 2011, when J-Zone attempted to quit rap, write a hip-hop memoir, and start over as “Jay Mumford on drums” in his mid-30’s. An unlikely story, but one definitively his own. On Episode 065, with no holds barred Jay Mumford takes us through this roller-coaster journey, career highlights, lowlights, battles between his ears, and a-ha moments along the way.
2:30 - Thanks to Discovery 2023, Bicycle Day, Electric KoolAid for sponsoring ep.065
6:30 - The Upful Update 
9:45 - Introducing JAY MUMFORD (fka J-Zone)
13:30 - INTERVIEW w/ Jay (119 mins)
Currently, Jay Mumford holds down the drumkit in a few bands, his main gig is The Du-Rites, a garage-funk duo with Tom Tom Club guitarist Pablo Martin. Mumford has been working with Adrian Quesada’s solo projects, including a performance on Austin City Limits with an 18-piece ensemble, an evening Jay refers to as the best experience of his 25 year career.
Mumford remains renowned for his ‘Royalty Free Drum Breaks’ drum packs, ideal for sample-based producers to mine meticulously-crafted breakbeats laid down in his late grandparents’ basement. For a few years, he moonlit as a music journalist, blogging nuanced topics in hip-hop and drummer culture. Jay hosted the phenomenal ‘Give The Drummer Some,’ - an illuminating interview series for now-defunct Red Bull Music Academy. The talk radio-style program highlighted the songs, lessons, and legacies of underground/unsung heroes from the ‘60s and ‘70s. 
***Deep Bow*** to Jay for this thoughtful, personal, inspiring conversation. Stay up on all things Jay Mumford/The Du Rites HERE
 
Vibe Junkie JAM
"Funk Monk" - The Du-Rites feat. Money Mark
 
DISCOVERY SESSIONS Psychedelics Conference SF 4/18-19 
BICYCLE DAY Concert 4/19 - SF
ELECTRIC KOOL AID Block Party SF 4/23
 
Upful LIFE 2022: Favorite Records & More! 22+ album reviews, 22 more records recommended, 22 singles/EPs, 22+ DJ sets/mixes, plus 2022 live releases. 6th annual B.Getz compendium w/ playlists
 
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Theme Song: "Mazel Tov"- CALVIN VALENTINE

Welcome KATHY IANDOLI to The Upful LIFE Podcast! Ever since I tore thru her Aaliyah book last year, I've been patiently-yet-anxiously awaiting an opportunity to speak with Kathy on this show. Ms. Iandoli is a media professional whom I've admired for some time, there's a lot to glean from how she moves thru music/media industries, and I aspire to the levels she's already climbed time and again. An Okayplayer OG, Iandoli has projects and relationships with movers n' shakers all over the map, in hip-hop, punk, fashion, and more.
Topics of conversation include - Women coming of age in hip-hop since the golden era, stanning Lauryn Hill, the book on Aaliyah's life, co-authoring Lii' Kim's forthcoming memoir The Queen Bee, the groundbreaking God Save the Queens book, Iandoli's book and friendship with the late Prodigy of Mobb Deep, memories of Okayplayer/Black Lily, her NYU course focused on Lana Del Rey, and Kathy's own personal reflections/stories/perspectives.
5:30 - The Upful Update
12:15 - Introducing KATHY IANDOLI
22:00 - INTERVIEW w/ Kathy
2:18:45 - Reflections + Vibe Junkie JAMZ



Kathy Iandoli is a critically acclaimed journalist, author, podcaster, media coach, and documentarian. She has nearly 25 years  experience working in the music industry—from media, to publicity, radio, and artist management. Her first book, God Save The Queens: The Essential History of Women In Hip-Hop (2019, Dey Street Books / HarperCollins) was named an NPR Best Book Of the Year. She is the author of the biography Baby Girl: Better Known As Aaliyah (2021, Atria Books / Simon & Schuster), as well as the co-author of rapper, Lil’ Kim’s upcoming memoir, The Queen Bee (2022, Hachette Books). Kathy has written about music and gender for two decades, with bylines in VIBE, The Source, XXL, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pitchfork, BUST, Teen Vogue, PAPER, Playboy, i-D, Cosmopolitan, Maxim, The Guardian, VICE, and many others. Kathy was a professor-in-residence of Music Business at NYU for 7 years as well as an alum of Steinhardt's Music Business Graduate Program and has served as a pundit (television, radio, and panels) for discussions on hip-hop and gender.
Follow all things KATHY IANDOLI here!




 

Vibe Junkie JAMZ
"The Sweetest Thing" Lauryn Hill (live in Japan 1999)
"More Than A Woman" - Aaliyah (last live performance, July 2001)
 
Upful LIFE 2022: Favorite Records & More! 22+ album reviews, 22 more records recommended, 22 singles/EPs, 22+ DJ sets/mixes, plus 2022 live releases. 6th annual B.Getz compendium w/ playlists
 
EMAIL the SHOW! 
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW on Apple Podcasts!
Listen on Spotify !
Theme Song: "Mazel Tov"- CALVIN VALENTINE

Season's Greetings n' Upful vibrations! Please welcome back to the show Dave from Dopey Podcast - now going by his gov't: David Manheim. After 5 years of my dedicated listening/contributing to Dopey, plus his epic, record-holding May 2020 appearance on Upful Life ep.033, and much correspondence between us in the interim, the man they call "Dopey Dave" and yours truly finally met in person, live n' direct at Park City Song Summit in Utah, Sept.2022. A cosmic convergence in stunningly beautiful environs where we were both there in our respective official capacities: as podcast hosts and journalists. We dropped in pretty deep on the last evening of the 4-day event. The revealing - at times intensely-personal - conversation was recorded from the cozy confines of my palatial suite at a high-falutin' ski lodge I really had no business staying.
2:30- Upful Update: Give Thanks n' Gratitude in 2022
10:30 - Introducing DAVID MANHEIM of Dopey Podcast, + a personal message why I feel called to produce programming on wellness/addiction/recovery.
22:00 - INTERVIEW w/ DOPEY DAVE (100min)
2:03:30 - Reflections on Dave + Vibe Junkie JAM
Dopey Podcast is a unicorn program - a dark comedy on drug addiction and recovery, plus all the dumb sh*t that happens in between. (check out the profile on This American Life). In addition to holding down 2 full-time jobs (executive for Katz's Deli in NYC, father to two young daughters) - plus numerous losses and unfathomable grief - Dave has not missed a Friday night episode since he started the show with his late friend Chris over six years ago. Dopey recently celebrated it's 8 MILLIONTH DOWNLOAD, and has a legion of fiercely-loyal, dedicated listeners around the world, known colloquially as the Dopey Nation.. 
On Upful Life ep.033 in May 2020, for nearly 2 hours Dave meticulously and painstaking recounted his journey through heroin addiction of nearly 2 decades. We covered the nascent beginnings of Dopey pod, his relationship with Chris and his friend(s) sudden death, the tragedy and resurgence of Dopey in the wake of their passings, losing his family due to his addictions - then reuniting with them thru sobriety, and a whole lot more. (It's somewhat essential listening before tapping into ep.063, a  reconvergence 30 months on down the number line.)
For Episode 063, we pick up where things left off, digging into the evolution of Dopey, embracing the transition to David Manheim, the legitimization of Dopey Podcast into professional wellness/recovery spaces, the concept of survivor's guilt, why Dave is a habitual line-stepper, and beyond. 
After unpacking his magical interview with Carolyn 'Mountain Girl' Garcia, former wife of the late Jerry Garcia, we hear about his relationship with Seth Ferranti, renowned chronicler of outlaw/drug/psychedelic cultures. As we delve deeper beneath the surface, Dave and I chop it up on some real sh*t: more polarizing topics/Dopey guests like "Fentanyl Jay" and divisive shock-rapper Tom MacDonald. From there, things get a bit serious - and personal. The dialogue detours into family politics and our divergent approaches to conversations on the culture wars. Fret not, as friends we certainly course-correct for a properly warm n' fuzzy landing.
 
Thanks to David Manheim of Dopey Podcast for always bringing the Upful vibes! Shoutout to the Dopey Nation - WE SEE YOU!! If any Upful LIFE listeners would like to know more about the Dopey podcast, Dopey Nation, Dopey Zoom meetings, or link w/ Dave, send me an email or DM! Happy to connect, been doin' it for YEARS!
 
Vibe Junkie JAM 
"Mouthful of Cavaties" - Blind Melon 
LOUD: A Mac Miller Experience. bass/dubtribute mixtape by Lavier
Lab Group v.2 - Long Live the King (CharlestheFirst tribute curated by FAVREAU)
 
A Deadly Silence- Christopher O'Connor (video of late Dopey co-founder)
Please consider supporting Upful LIFE by donating. Thank You! 
Upful LIFE 2022: Favorite Records & More! 22+ album reviews, 22 more records

Welcome DAN CHARNAS! His latest book - Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm (2022) - is a New York Times Bestseller. Award-winning music and business journalist, author of four books, producer of records and television. Associate Arts Professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. In the 1980's, Dan was part of the opening team at The Source magazine, in the 1990's he worked A&R for Rick Rubin at American Recordings.
3:00 - The Upful Update
9:30 - introducing DAN CHARNAS & Dilla Time
17:45 - INTERVIEW (102min)
The product of four years of research and nearly 200 interviews, Dilla Time emerged from a course on J Dilla developed by Charnas at NYU in 2017, but its roots go back to Charnas’s time in the record business, when he first made the trip to Detroit to work with the producer then known as Jay Dee. 
A huge fan of both Dilla & this expansive book, I'd been waiting since Feb.2022 to speak with Dan about this project, his process, & the Church of Dilla. I've been through the 430-page tome twice, listened to him on numerous podcasts in preparation for this conversation, still Dan was kind enough to give me nearly 100 minutes of his time and thoughtfully answered each inquiry with intention. This topic was so wide-ranging and engrossing that we didn't have the time to get into his long, colorful career path, we stuck exclusively to Mr. Yancey.
As a music journalist and lifetime hip-hop head, Dan Charnas is nothing short of a North Star to me; as such it was an honor, privilege, and educational exercise to host him on Episode 062 of The Upful LIFE Podcast.
Funk It's Dilla Time Mixtape 2022  
33-hour J Dilla Anthology courtesy of Mista Vee
 
Vibe Junkie JAM
Oblighetto - Brother Jack McDuff (J Dilla remix)
 
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Theme Song: "Mazel Tov"- CALVIN VALENTINE

Live & direct from the Park City Song Summit with the sensational LEAH SONG ! An 80+ minute deep dive with one-half of the siren sisters Rising Appalachia. Explore the passions, pathways and pillars that built the bedrock of their unicorn sound. Unspooling Rising App fifteen years in: ambitious activism, adventurous travels, treasured traditions, and a kaleidoscopic career. Musicology and cultural anthropology. Community, collaboration, catharsis. This is powerful podcasting.
2:30 - The Mertails / The NOHM Co
6:00 - The Upful Update
10:00 introducing LEAH SONG x dedications
18:00 Conversation w/ LEAH (81 min)
1:40:00 - reflections / Vibe Junkie Jamz
Leah Song takes us back to the early days in the filthy dirty South. Coming of age with one foot in fiddle camps with Mama Appalachia, and the other kickin' Dungeon Family rhymes in the high school cafeteria. Leah's version of the heroine's journey, and the sisters' half-decade long Crescent City swoon. Coming full circle to the French Quarter for a live LP from the prestigious Preservation Hall. We unpack the improv-heavy, surprise 2020 album The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know and get a window into it's ethereal masterpiece "Silver".
Leah Song loves long and hard on her sister and their ever-loyal squad: essential contributions like Chloe's magnum opus "Resilient". The unique skillsets of multi-instrumentalists David Brown, Biko Casini, Duncan Wickel, Arouna Diarra, plus longtime Bayou collaborators Aurora Nealand and Brandon Lewis. Get hip to brand-new girl-band Starling Arrow, a celestial acapella quintet featuring Leah, Chloe, Tina Malia, Marya Stark, and Ayla Nereo.
Rising Appalachia has always been proudlly - and defiantly- an activist band. Leah discusses retreating from front line justice work, she ruminates on softening the storytelling with regard to protest music in a post-pandemic landscape. With her band hitting the road again, dealing hopeful global soul in search of community and spreading catharsis, the veteran songwriter reflects on the effects of the epic pause.
One of the more profound programs this podcast has produced, a proud day from Atlanta G-A all the way to the East Bay. Big Up Leah Song and Rising Appalachia.
Give Thanks! Yes, indeedy.
Stream / Download links
Vibe Junkie JAMZ
"Downtown" - Soul Visions
Rising Appalachia/The Human Experience
 
"Novels of Acquaintance"
Rising Appalachia - live in Switzerland, 
14 Sept 2018
 
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Listen to Upful LIFE on Spotify !
Theme Song: "Mazel Tov"- CALVIN VALENTINE

Checking in from the Asking For A Friend Tour, Umphrey's McGee keyboardist/co-founder JOEL CUMMINS saddles up for an insightful chat. I was lucky to run right into Joel at Sacred Rose outside of Chicago at the end of August, where UM headlined with two sets on Saturday night. Turns out the multi-faceted artist was keen to come on this show! I'm a bit less familiar with this band's catalog than many of the guests who bless up these podwaves, yet I've always been friendly with Joel over the past decade or so. I have a tremendous respect for what he - and his brothers in Umphrey's McGee - have worked so diligently (and independently) to build over the course of twenty-five years.
2:45    - The Upful Update
7:00    - Introducing JOEL CUMMINS of Umphrey's McGee
14:00 - Interview- JOEL CUMMINS
I was stoked to link up with Cummins right after Sacred Rose, and chop it up on the backstory on his band's new album and the latest on the tour behind it. We get into Umphrey's McGee road-dawg trends and preferences, the advantages to routing weekend runs, keeping an improv band fresh and focused onstage, getting along off of it. We hear about the music business book that Joel authored a couple of years ago, plus some wisdom and perspective on the back end of the pandemic experience.
Cummins touches on his passion for the iconic Fender Rhodes electric piano. Nods to Keith Jarrett, Donny Hathaway, his love for Claude Debussy and classical music, as well as Metallica's 1988 prog-metal masterpiece ...And Justice For All. I was sure to sneak in a smidge of Steely Dan debate before our time ran out. Big thanks to Joel Cummins!
 
Vibe Junkie JAMZ
"So Much" Umphrey's McGee - Asking For a Friend
 
"Tonberry" lespecial Live from Rick's House June 2022
 
EMAIL the SHOW! B.Getz@UpfulLIFE.com
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW on Apple Podcasts!
Listen to Upful LIFE on Spotify !
Theme Song: "Mazel Tov"- CALVIN VALENTINE